The NXR Podcast - SUNDAY SERMON - Signs, Seals, & Covenants

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00:00:40 Amen. This morning, we continue with our series through the book of Joshua. Our text for today

00:00:45 is Joshua chapter 4, focusing our attention primarily on verses 1 through 10, as well as

00:00:51 the end of the chapter, verses 19 through 24. So again, our text for today is Joshua chapter 4,

00:00:58 verses 1 through 10 and 19 through 24. Would you join me now in standing for the reading of God's

00:01:04 word? I'll read the text in its entirety. When I finish reading the text, I'm going to say this is

00:01:09 the word of the Lord, at which point I would appreciate very much if you would respond by

00:01:13 saying thanks be to God. One final time, our text for today is Joshua chapter 4 verses 1 through 10

00:01:21 as well as verses 19 through 24.

00:01:24 The Bible says this,

00:01:26 When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan,

00:01:30 the Lord said to Joshua,

00:01:31 Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man,

00:01:36 and command them, saying, 0.99

00:01:37 Take twelve stones from here, out of the midst of the Jordan,

00:01:42 from the very place where the priest's feet stood firmly, 0.64

00:01:45 and bring them over with you,

00:01:47 and lay them down in the place where you lodged tonight.

00:01:51 Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel,

00:01:55 whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe.

00:01:58 And Joshua said to them,

00:02:00 Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan,

00:02:05 and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder,

00:02:08 according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel,

00:02:12 that this may be a sign among you,

00:02:14 When your children ask in time to come, what do these stones mean to you?

00:02:20 Then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord.

00:02:27 When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.

00:02:32 So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.

00:02:36 And the people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded and took up 12 stones out of the midst of the Jordan.

00:02:43 according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel just as the Lord told Joshua

00:02:49 and they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged and laid them down there and

00:02:55 Joshua set up 12 stones in the midst of the Jordan in the place where the feet of the priest bearing

00:03:01 the ark of the covenant had stood and they are there to this day for the priest bearing the ark

00:03:07 stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to

00:03:13 tell the people according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. The Lord came up out of the

00:03:20 Jordan on the 10th day. The people came up out of the Jordan on the 10th day of the first month,

00:03:26 and they encamped at Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. And those 12 stones, which they took

00:03:33 out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal. And he said to the people of Israel, when your children

00:03:40 ask their fathers in times to come, what do these stones mean? Then you shall tell your children,

00:03:46 no, Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground, for the Lord your God dried up the waters of the

00:03:54 Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up

00:04:01 for us until we passed over, so that all the people of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord

00:04:07 is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever. This is the word of the Lord.

00:04:14 All right, please be seated. There's two primary points that come, I believe, from the text today.

00:04:20 The first is this, that the people of God will always need a memorial. The people of God, all

00:04:27 people, all people, but especially God's people, will always need a memorial, some sign, some symbol

00:04:36 to remind us of God's covenant faithfulness

00:04:39 because we are apt to forget.

00:04:43 The second point is this,

00:04:45 the duty of children and the duty of parents.

00:04:49 The duty of children and the duty of parents.

00:04:52 Let's begin with the first point,

00:04:54 which we find primarily in verses 5, 6, 7, and 8 of our text.

00:05:00 Let me read just those four verses once more

00:05:03 so that they're fresh in our minds.

00:05:05 Joshua chapter four, verses five through eight says this.

00:05:09 And Joshua said to them,

00:05:11 pass on before the ark of the Lord your God

00:05:14 into the midst of the Jordan

00:05:15 and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, 0.98

00:05:19 according to the number of the tribes

00:05:21 of the people of Israel,

00:05:22 that this may be a sign among you.

00:05:25 When your children ask in time to come,

00:05:28 what do those stones mean to you?

00:05:30 Then you shall tell them

00:05:31 that the waters of the Jordan were cut off

00:05:33 before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord.

00:05:36 When it passed over the Jordan,

00:05:38 the waters of the Jordan were cut off. 0.90

00:05:41 So these stones shall be to the people of Israel

00:05:44 a memorial forever.

00:05:46 And the people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded

00:05:49 and took up 12 stones out of the midst of the Jordan

00:05:53 according to the number of the tribes

00:05:55 of the people of Israel,

00:05:57 just as the Lord told Joshua.

00:05:58 And they carried them over with them

00:06:00 to the place where they lodged

00:06:02 and laid them down there. I used Matthew Henry primarily in his commentary for our text today

00:06:10 in commentating on these four verses, namely verses five, six, seven, and eight. Matthew Henry says

00:06:19 the following. Some of the Israelites that passed over Jordan perhaps were stupid, silly, 1.00

00:06:26 and so little affected with this great favor, 1.00

00:06:30 this miraculous sign of God to them

00:06:33 that they felt no concern to have it remembered.

00:06:37 While others, in contrast, it may be,

00:06:41 were so much affected with this miracle,

00:06:44 the parting of the Jordan River,

00:06:46 so much affected with it

00:06:48 and had such deep impressions made upon them by it

00:06:52 that they thought there needed no memorial of it to be erected.

00:06:57 The heart and tongue of every Israelite and every age

00:07:00 would be a living, lasting monument of it.

00:07:04 So on the one hand, stopping here for a moment,

00:07:06 and this quote from Matthew Henry,

00:07:08 on the one hand, it was probably very likely

00:07:12 that at least some of the people of Israel were unimpressed.

00:07:17 And they should have been impressed.

00:07:19 It's a miraculous sign.

00:07:20 And yet, miraculous signs have always been dismissed, waved away by unbelieving people.

00:07:31 And we know that there were many in Israel that were a part of God's covenant people outwardly.

00:07:38 They were children of Israel according to the flesh, but they were not true children of Israel,

00:07:45 the true seed of Jacob, according to the promise that they were not spiritual Israel because their

00:07:53 hearts were hardened in unbelief. And for those who disbelieve in the promises of God and the

00:08:01 commandments of God, there are always ways of taking even blatant and obvious signs and wonders

00:08:09 of God and dismissing them as merely natural phenomenon or practical occurrences. And there

00:08:18 were probably some in Israel that attempted to do this, that because of unbelief and rebellion,

00:08:25 their hearts were hardened against God, and therefore they immediately probably sought

00:08:32 certain practical, physical, natural explanations to dismiss this as a miracle.

00:08:39 On the other hand, there were likely very many in Israel who thought that this miracle was

00:08:44 so clearly the hand of God at work, so clearly a supernatural work of God, that they likely

00:08:52 thought there was no need to erect a monument, a memorial, that surely everyone would remember

00:09:00 this because it was so miraculous, and that merely the memory, living memory of the people

00:09:07 of Israel throughout different ages and generations and by oral tradition, by their own tongue and

00:09:12 mouth and sharing what God had done, that that would be sufficient to remember this miraculous

00:09:18 sign forever. Going on now in the quote from Matthew Henry, he says this, but God, knowing

00:09:25 their frame and how apt they had been soon to forget his works, ordered an expedient for the

00:09:32 keeping of this in remembrance to all generations, that those who could not or perhaps would not

00:09:40 read the record of it in the sacred history books of Israel, that they might come to the knowledge

00:09:46 of it by the monument set up in remembrance of it. There are two categories that we should

00:09:52 familiarize ourself with, fallenness and finitude. And as human beings, creatures made in the image

00:10:00 of God, albeit, but still creatures. Nonetheless, we possess both of these elements. Fallenness

00:10:07 because not of the way that God originally designed man in a state of integrity, but fallenness

00:10:13 because of our father Adam and his breaking of the covenant of works. We are fallen. Sin has

00:10:20 been transmitted from Adam and Eve to all their posterity. We still possess a vestige of the image 0.71

00:10:27 of God. Every single human being, whether they are a Christian or not, is made in the image of God.

00:10:32 But the image of God, the imago Dei, has been tarnished. We believe in total depravity, not 0.59

00:10:39 utter depravity. We do not believe that people are doing outwardly as much evil as they possibly

00:10:45 could do at all times. That's not the view of Christians. Not utter depravity, but we do believe

00:10:53 in total depravity. Total depravity, in distinction from utter depravity, is that people are not by

00:11:00 God's common grace, that even unbelievers, they're being restrained by God's common grace, by natural 0.74

00:11:07 law, by the Imago Dei being created in his image, by the conscience, the law of God being written

00:11:12 on their hearts, even for the unbeliever. In all these ways, people are not utterly depraved. Even

00:11:18 the unbeliever is being restrained in terms of their outward manifestations of sin. The unbeliever 1.00

00:11:26 is being restrained from outwardly behaving consistently with their God-rebelling worldview.

00:11:34 And so we do not believe in utter depravity. But total depravity, what we're insisting in this

00:11:39 doctrine, which is painfully biblical, is simply that every facet, every element of mankind

00:11:47 has been affected by the fall.

00:11:50 So total depravity is not saying

00:11:52 that we are utterly depraved,

00:11:53 doing outwardly as much evil as possible,

00:11:56 but totally depraved,

00:11:57 meaning there is not one element of humanity

00:12:00 that has not been corrupted in some degree

00:12:03 to some measure by sin.

00:12:06 Meaning that man's reason is tarnished by sin.

00:12:10 Man's moral perception and his conscience

00:12:16 is tarnished by sin.

00:12:18 A man's physical stature, the fact that we get sick,

00:12:22 that eventually we die, has been tarnished by sin.

00:12:27 So morally, intellectually, physically,

00:12:31 in every single regard, man is fallen.

00:12:35 A vestige of the image of God remains intact,

00:12:38 but this image of God in every realm of humanity

00:12:42 has been tarnished.

00:12:44 It has been marred in some degree to some measure by sin.

00:12:49 So that's the fallenness category.

00:12:51 But the other category that we must keep in mind is, again, as I began, saying that we are creatures.

00:12:58 That even if Adam had never broken the covenant of works, even if he had never sinned against God, he was still finite.

00:13:06 He would not have died physically.

00:13:07 He would have gone on physically living forever, but he would still be finite.

00:13:12 He would never be omniscient.

00:13:14 You and I, even in the life to come,

00:13:17 even with our glorified bodies

00:13:19 that will never grow tired,

00:13:20 that will never get sick,

00:13:22 that will never die.

00:13:23 And even when our fallenness is done away with,

00:13:26 as 1 John says,

00:13:27 when this life ends,

00:13:29 we breathe our last and we go to be with Christ.

00:13:33 Paul says to be absent from the body

00:13:35 is to be present with the Lord.

00:13:36 So on that day where we go to be present with the Lord

00:13:39 because we have died physically in this life,

00:13:42 first john says that when we see him we will be like him for we shall see him as he is that is

00:13:48 to say that we will be sinless so the category of our fallenness will be done away with and yet

00:13:54 even in our glorified heavenly existence with god being done away completely done away with sin

00:14:01 even then we will no longer be fallen but still finite and what i mean by that just one example

00:14:08 is that we will never be omniscient.

00:14:12 That is all knowing.

00:14:14 That even 10,000 years into heaven,

00:14:17 we will not know everything.

00:14:20 We will still have to learn as creatures.

00:14:23 Now, I believe that there will be a quick head start

00:14:26 making up the gap in an instant

00:14:29 when we die and go to be with the Lord.

00:14:31 I think that we will quickly come up to speed

00:14:35 in many regards.

00:14:36 I think that merely just has a practical effect of our sanctification having been complete at that time.

00:14:43 That we'll, in being fully sanctified in our heavenly existence, there are certain knowledgeable aspects that will come with that.

00:14:51 We will know certain things and believe and trust certain things that we struggle to know or are lacking in our knowledge and lacking in our faith here in this life today.

00:15:02 So we'll quickly be caught up to speed.

00:15:04 But even then, even then we will not be omniscient.

00:15:08 And I believe that someone who has been in heaven for 6,000 years, such as Adam,

00:15:14 will be more knowledgeable of God and the things of God than somebody who enters heaven on day one.

00:15:21 Again, this is not fallenness category.

00:15:24 This is creaturely finitude category that we will never be omniscient

00:15:30 and we will always be in a process as creatures of learning.

00:15:35 And this, I believe, is what God had in mind.

00:15:38 Both aspects.

00:15:39 This is what Matthew Henry is getting at in his commentary on Joshua,

00:15:44 the Lord through Joshua, commanding one man from each of the 12 tribes of Israel

00:15:49 to go and fetch a stone out of the midst of the Jordan

00:15:53 where the water had receded, been held back and laid up in a heap.

00:15:58 They were to go into the bed of the river to gather 12 stones and to erect a monument.

00:16:04 And what Matthew Henry is getting at is he's saying that both in regards to man's fallenness

00:16:10 and in regards to his creaturely finitude, that we need practical, visible reminders.

00:16:19 Man is quick and prone to forgetfulness.

00:16:24 And that has not changed.

00:16:26 Whether it be Israel, according to the flesh, under the old covenant, or whether it be true Israel, you and I today, for those of us who have faith in Jesus, according to the promise, still in both instances, there is a propensity towards forgetting, forgetting the nature and character of God, forgetting the covenant and promises of God.

00:16:48 this still remains our tendency, because we are sinful, but also because we are finite,

00:16:57 both fallen and finite. Because of these things, we are prone to forget, and the Lord is merciful.

00:17:05 I love that Connor, in our liturgy, we didn't plan this, but it's very fitting in the providence of

00:17:11 God that he referenced the scripture in the Old Testament that says that the Lord remembers our

00:17:17 frame, that we are dust. That is actually not a reference to God being mindful that we are fallen

00:17:26 and sinful beings. But that's actually the Lord in his compassion and mercy towards us being finite

00:17:34 creaturely beings. He remembers. It doesn't say he remembers that we are sinful or he remembers that

00:17:42 we are rebels. No, he remembers our frame that we are dust, that even the most sanctified among us

00:17:51 are still finite. Adam was made from the dust, and to dust we will return. And God, who is infinite,

00:18:01 omnipotent, omniscient, he is also compassionate. He is compassionate and merciful. He remembers

00:18:10 our frame that is he takes account of the fact that we are not only fallen but that we are finite

00:18:17 that we are made of dust that we are weak and that we are prone to forgetfulness and so therefore

00:18:23 it is in God's mercy not him laying upon us a heavy burden an extra commandment just for the

00:18:32 fun of it but no rather in his kindness compassion and mercy God commanded Israel that they should

00:18:39 erect a memorial, a monument to help them in their fallenness and finitude, not to forget his covenant

00:18:47 faithfulness to past generations. And so too, it's worth noting that God has done that for us,

00:18:55 true Israel, under the new covenant today. We have been given memorials. We have been given

00:19:03 signs and seals, visible memorials to remind us of God's covenant, who he is, what he has done

00:19:12 on our behalf, and what he promises to all those who trust in him, namely bread, wine, and water.

00:19:23 Bread, wine, and water. Using one more quote now from Matthew Henry, and then I'll speak a little

00:19:30 bit about the sacraments for the New Testament church. But Matthew Henry, further commentating

00:19:35 on this portion of our passage, Joshua 4 verses 5 through 8, he says this, this intended monument

00:19:42 deserved to be made of stones curiously cut with the finest and most exquisite art. But these stones

00:19:50 out of the bottom of the river were more natural and more apt indications of the miracle. Let

00:19:57 It makes me think of 1 Corinthians 1, verse 27 that says,

00:20:22 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.

00:20:28 God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.

00:20:32 Now, in the context of 1 Corinthians 1, verse 27,

00:20:36 this is referencing individual people,

00:20:38 that God in his sovereignty elected to salvation,

00:20:43 that he chose by the power of his spirit to regenerate,

00:20:46 to cause them to become new creatures in Christ Jesus,

00:20:49 to endow them with the gifts of faith and repentance

00:20:52 to cause them to become Christians, believers.

00:20:57 And so 1 Corinthians 1, verse 27 is saying 0.97

00:20:59 that God chose foolish people

00:21:02 to despise those who would esteem themselves as being wise. 0.97

00:21:07 And God continues to do this today

00:21:10 in reference again to individual people.

00:21:13 God doesn't just save those who are intellectual

00:21:16 or those who are rich or those who are are elite in society. But God often chooses to save among

00:21:25 those who are foolish, those who are of little standing by the perception of society, those who 0.80

00:21:33 are, as James says, poor. Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith? And so 0.99

00:21:40 in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 27, it's referencing individual people. God chooses from among the

00:21:47 poor. God chooses from among the foolish. And he does so to despise the wise, just as he did with 0.98

00:21:53 Gideon. God is jealous. The Bible actually says his name is jealous. He is a jealous God. And as

00:22:02 the scripture further testifies, he will share his glory with no man. And one of the ways that God

00:22:08 garnishes glory for himself and ensures that his glory is not given to another is that he performs

00:22:15 great and mighty works in such a miraculous way that no man, no creature could be possibly given

00:22:23 the credit. So in the case of Gideon, he whittles down this army and then whittles it down even

00:22:29 further to a number of just 300 in order to defeat tens of thousands. And he does this not

00:22:38 to make much of Gideon, but to make much of himself. So too, in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 27,

00:22:45 God doesn't just choose the elite or the wise of this world, for the wisdom of this world is first

00:22:53 and foremost, according to scripture, demonic. It's not true wisdom, but rather God chooses those

00:22:59 who are viewed as foolish in this world in order to make much of himself, to show that it was not

00:23:05 man. It was not his innate reason, but God in his power, in his wisdom, in his glory that used even

00:23:13 those who are foolish to do incredible things. Think of the disciples. The people said, are these 0.85

00:23:19 not unlearned fishermen? But they noted that they had been with Jesus. That was the difference.

00:23:27 It was not their formal schooling. It was not that they had been to the best universities

00:23:33 or studied under the most notable rabbis. 1.00

00:23:38 It was that these uneducated fishermen

00:23:41 spent three years with Jesus, give or take,

00:23:45 that made them incredibly knowledgeable

00:23:47 to where they were able to argue and debate

00:23:51 even the wisest of their age. 0.99

00:23:55 And so God chooses the foolish to despise the wise.

00:24:00 God does this with individual people.

00:24:03 That's what we see with the disciples.

00:24:06 That's what we see in 1 Corinthians 1.27.

00:24:10 That's what we see in the illustration that I gave from the story of Gideon.

00:24:15 But beyond that, what Matthew Henry, the late great Puritan, is getting at and commentating

00:24:21 on our particular text today, Joshua 4, is that God uses this same concept not just in

00:24:28 his choice of salvation with individual people, but also in his sovereign choice of signs and

00:24:36 seals. It was not that Israel was called to gather for themselves 12 stones of marble and then give

00:24:48 them to the most gifted and skilled artist and sculptor in all the land to make some glorious,

00:24:55 intricate monument. Now that wasn't fitting for the work that God had performed. God is more

00:25:04 interested in that which is proper than that which is pompous. Now that's not to say that God doesn't

00:25:11 care about beauty. If you don't think God cares about details and beauty, then just read chapter

00:25:17 after chapter. And it gets a bit dry at times, but it's chapter after chapter after chapter after

00:25:22 chapter of all the intricate details and instructions that God gives to the construction

00:25:28 of the tabernacle and then later the temple. And God uses artists who are gifted and supernaturally

00:25:36 endowed with wisdom by God himself in order to construct the temple and to do these things.

00:25:43 But when it comes to signs and seals, articles of remembrance, very often what God chooses

00:25:52 is he chooses the symbol that is most proper to reminding his people of what he did in the past.

00:26:01 And so he chooses 12 stones, not stones of marble, intricately sculpted by someone with

00:26:09 great skill but 12 plain rocks that come directly from the bed of the river in the midst of the

00:26:18 jordan that is the middle of the river as the waters are still being held back as the priests

00:26:24 are standing there holding the ark of the covenant of the lord they were probably 12 smooth stones

00:26:30 not having been shaped by a human architect but being shaped by god himself as he guided this river

00:26:37 and waters over centuries and these 12 stones were not pompous but again proper appropriate

00:26:45 in fitting for the miracle that god had just performed they would be the better more suitable

00:26:52 reminder for god's people and so too not just for old testament israel under the old covenant

00:27:00 according to the flesh but for new testament israel under the new covenant according to the

00:27:05 spirit and the promise, we have been given signs and seals by God for our remembrance. Why? Because

00:27:12 he is merciful. Not just an extra heavy burden or commandment, but in his kindness, God has appointed

00:27:19 to the New Testament church, under the new covenant, signs and seals. And these signs and seals,

00:27:27 likewise, are not pompous. They're not intricate. What I'm saying is that they are simple.

00:27:34 It's just water.

00:27:37 It's just bread.

00:27:39 It's just wine.

00:27:42 I've had in the past, 0.79

00:27:43 well-intended, very kind women approach me 0.98

00:27:47 and say, could I make for the Lord's Supper

00:27:51 a more delicious bread with honey and raisins?

00:27:55 And my answer is,

00:27:57 I would love for you to make that bread and bring it.

00:28:00 And let's all take it home and eat it as families

00:28:03 for lunch, but not for the supper.

00:28:07 For the Lord's Supper, the bread is meant to be simple bread.

00:28:12 It's meant to be plain. 0.85

00:28:14 That's exactly what God prescribed to Israel with the Passover.

00:28:19 With the Passover, it was actually unleavened bread.

00:28:23 And there are some who theologically would hold to the position

00:28:25 that the New Testament sign of the Lord's Supper,

00:28:30 which mirrors the Passover from the Old Testament,

00:28:33 that that too should be unleavened bread.

00:28:36 There are others on the other side of the aisle,

00:28:38 theologically, who argue that under the New Covenant,

00:28:41 that we have the leaven,

00:28:43 the leaven of the gospel of the kingdom

00:28:46 that has now entered the lump, the loaf,

00:28:49 and is working through.

00:28:50 And so they would say, still simple bread,

00:28:52 but the leaven should be there

00:28:53 because it is the New Covenant in the New Testament.

00:28:56 I think that that's a profound argument.

00:28:58 So maybe the post-mill view of the supper.

00:29:00 But in either case, whether it's unleavened in keeping with Old Testament Israel and the Passover or leavened in either case, it's not a bread with honey and raisins is my point.

00:29:13 It's still a very simple bread.

00:29:16 Likewise, the wine is a very simple wine.

00:29:19 And likewise, in the sacrament of baptism, the water is a very simple water.

00:29:25 And Protestants have held that it is not holy water blessed by a priest.

00:29:32 It's not magical or mechanical.

00:29:35 There's nothing inherent to the water that does anything supernatural.

00:29:42 It is just plain water.

00:29:45 But the sign of the supernatural miracle that's being represented,

00:29:50 now that is absolutely profound.

00:29:53 this is what Peter says and speaking of baptism he says that baptism now saves you

00:30:00 not as a removal of dirt from the body not the water itself giving you some kind of

00:30:09 holy supernatural bath not as dirt being removed from the body the physical act of the water

00:30:16 covering the body being immersed in the water and and cleansing the body of literal physical

00:30:23 dirt. That's not what saves you. But Peter goes on. Baptism now saves you not as a removal of

00:30:29 dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a clean conscience. That is to say, insofar as this

00:30:37 water covering your body represents an inward, insofar as the outward action of water,

00:30:45 being immersed in water, accurately reflects the inward reality of an appeal, a plea to God

00:30:52 for the cleaning of the conscience insofar as those two things align, well, then you bet your

00:30:59 bottom dollar. In that instance, baptism saves you. Baptism does save you insofar as it is an

00:31:07 outward manifestation, an outward physical visible symbol of an inward reality. The body being washed,

00:31:16 but representing the conscience crying out to God pleading to be cleaned to be forgiven for sin

00:31:26 to be atoned for in that sense baptism saves but again the water isn't special and the Lord's

00:31:34 supper the bread is not special the wine is not special in fact I assure you brothers and sisters

00:31:42 in order to be as faithful theologically as possible,

00:31:45 Covenant Bible Church buys the cheapest wine we can find.

00:31:49 And it's strictly for theological reasons, right?

00:31:52 We would love to buy more expensive wine,

00:31:54 but it's just we want to be faithful to simple wine in a biblical sense.

00:31:58 It's both practical and theological.

00:32:01 But the point is the wine is simple.

00:32:02 The bread is simple.

00:32:03 The water is simple.

00:32:04 And so too, these 12 stones were simple.

00:32:08 And that is proper.

00:32:10 It's fitting that the sign and seal should fit the miracle,

00:32:15 the work that God has performed.

00:32:19 Joshua, this now being a greater sign,

00:32:24 so that's kind of with the supper and baptism,

00:32:27 the 12 stones with Old Testament Israel

00:32:30 and the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper

00:32:33 with New Testament Israel, with you and I.

00:32:36 But going even beyond that now,

00:32:37 looking at a sign and a foretelling of the gospel, even.

00:32:45 I've written the following.

00:32:47 Joshua was instructed by the Lord to appoint one man

00:32:50 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel.

00:32:53 Likewise, think of this, brothers and sisters.

00:32:56 See the parallel.

00:32:57 The greater Joshua, that is, Jesus,

00:33:01 after having passed through the agony of his death on the cross.

00:33:05 Remember, I've said the past few weeks,

00:33:07 that the Jordan River was a type of death,

00:33:10 passing over death, Joshua being a type of Christ,

00:33:15 a deliverer, the true Messiah and Savior.

00:33:18 So just as Joshua led Israel through the Jordan

00:33:22 that signified death, Christ Jesus passed through

00:33:26 the agony of his death on the cross,

00:33:29 and he, Joshua, led them and opened up the land of Canaan,

00:33:33 but Jesus opened the heavenly Canaan

00:33:36 to all of true Israel according to the Spirit.

00:33:40 And beyond that, Joshua, under God's command,

00:33:43 appointed 12 men from each of the tribes

00:33:46 to set up a monument to these 12 stones. 0.51

00:33:49 Well, Jesus, likewise, the greater Joshua,

00:33:52 after having passed through his river of death on the cross,

00:33:56 he appointed his 12 apostles

00:33:58 to construct the eternal memorial of Holy Scripture

00:34:03 to ensure that the knowledge of his life, death, and resurrection

00:34:08 might be passed on to all future generations.

00:34:13 We see over and over again in this book of the Old Testament,

00:34:17 namely Joshua, parallels to the New Testament.

00:34:21 We see parallels from Joshua to Jesus,

00:34:25 from the Jordan River to the cross.

00:34:28 to the land of Canaan, to the land of heaven,

00:34:32 the 12 men of each tribes, to the 12 apostles,

00:34:36 and this stone monument to the Bible,

00:34:41 God's eternal word, a forever monument

00:34:43 that ensures that every tribe, tongue, and nation

00:34:48 might know throughout all generations

00:34:50 to the end of the age,

00:34:52 the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

00:34:57 See, God instructed Joshua to furthermore instruct 12 men

00:35:01 to construct this monument 0.72

00:35:03 so that future generations of Israel would know

00:35:07 that God helped his people pass through this river

00:35:10 that signifies death.

00:35:13 But for us, under the new covenant, 0.56

00:35:16 the greater Joshua Jesus, 0.62

00:35:17 he passed through his own river of death,

00:35:21 far more filled with agony

00:35:23 under the white hot wrath of God

00:35:26 where he died as a propitiation for our sin,

00:35:29 he passes through this river,

00:35:31 not just to open up a physical land of Canaan,

00:35:34 but the spiritual, eternal, and heavenly land of Canaan

00:35:37 for all true Israel, those who believe in him.

00:35:41 And likewise, Jesus didn't just die and resurrect,

00:35:45 but he commissioned his 12 apostles, 12 men,

00:35:49 to construct a monument underneath the inspiration

00:35:52 of the Holy Spirit, namely to be authors of Scripture.

00:35:56 so that we might forever remember His miracle,

00:35:59 His miracle of His sinless life,

00:36:02 His substitutionary death,

00:36:04 His bodily resurrection,

00:36:06 and His glorious ascension to the right hand of God

00:36:09 and His promise to return for all who trust in Him.

00:36:14 These are the parallels that we see in our text today.

00:36:18 And so even in Joshua chapter 4,

00:36:20 we see a sign, a foreshadowing of Jesus

00:36:25 and the gospel of the kingdom.

00:36:28 The second and final point that I'd like to make

00:36:30 from our text today is found in verses 19 through 24.

00:36:35 Let me focus just so that we have it fresh in our minds

00:36:38 by just rereading verses 21, 22, and 23.

00:36:44 The Bible says this,

00:36:45 And he said to the people of Israel,

00:36:48 When your children ask their fathers in times to come,

00:36:52 what do these stones mean? 0.98

00:36:53 then you shall let your children know Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground for the

00:37:00 Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over as the Lord your

00:37:05 God did to the Red Sea which he dried up for us until we passed over in your notes I've written

00:37:13 the following it is the duty of children to ask questions and it is the duty of parents

00:37:20 particularly fathers, to provide answers. Let me pause there and say this once more.

00:37:27 Children, boys and girls in the room, listen to me closely. Children, especially my children,

00:37:35 listen up, pay attention. One of the things that we see in this Bible verse is that it is the duty.

00:37:43 that means it's the job. It is a child's job. Children have work. Children have duties and 0.76

00:37:50 responsibilities in their household and unto God. And one of the duties of children, just like it's

00:37:56 your duty, your job to honor your father and mother, one of the ways that you honor your

00:38:01 heavenly father, you honor the Lord, is by asking questions. It is the duty. It's not only

00:38:09 permissible, but it is actually commended and even commanded by God that children be inquisitive,

00:38:18 that children be busy about the work of asking questions, not asking questions from a place of

00:38:26 disobedience, not asking questions from a place of rebellion towards authority, but a place of

00:38:34 wanting to actually understand who God is

00:38:38 and what his commandments are.

00:38:40 Wanting to better understand the Bible

00:38:42 and the teachings about Jesus.

00:38:45 And so it is the duty or the job of children

00:38:48 to ask questions.

00:38:50 And in the same way,

00:38:52 it is the duty of parents to answer questions.

00:38:58 Ample provision requires hard work.

00:39:02 So speaking to parents now,

00:39:04 Children, ask your parents questions.

00:39:07 If there's something you don't know about Jesus,

00:39:10 something you don't know about God,

00:39:12 or something you don't know about the sermon,

00:39:14 you should ask your parents after church.

00:39:17 Ask them on the way home.

00:39:19 But parents speaking to you now,

00:39:22 it's your job to answer these questions,

00:39:25 both fathers and mothers, but especially fathers.

00:39:30 Mothers will spend, in many cases,

00:39:33 a great deal more quantity of time with the children 0.51

00:39:37 than the father who is obligated to work outside of the home

00:39:41 and making physical provision.

00:39:43 But the father is still, at the end of the day,

00:39:45 the covenant head of the home.

00:39:48 That means that he is responsible

00:39:50 for everything that happens in the household.

00:39:53 Just like a captain on a ship,

00:39:55 he doesn't do every single job,

00:39:58 but he's responsible for everything

00:40:00 that takes place on that ship.

00:40:02 He's delegating much of the work,

00:40:05 but he's ultimately the one who is responsible.

00:40:08 The buck stops with him.

00:40:11 So fathers are especially responsible

00:40:13 to provide answers to their children's questions.

00:40:17 Mothers, likewise, are going to be often providing answers.

00:40:20 And when you can't, mom's in the room,

00:40:23 you should be able to go and ask your husband

00:40:25 and he should be able to answer the question.

00:40:28 Now, that being said, I like the way that Douglas Wilson has said it.

00:40:34 A man may not be a vocational theologian, but in his home, he must be the resident theologian.

00:40:42 Not every man will be a vocational theologian.

00:40:46 Not every man will go to seminary.

00:40:49 Not every man will have a doctorate from a seminary, which, praise God for that, 0.73

00:40:54 That means you'll probably know the Bible better. 1.00

00:40:57 Going to seminary usually makes people

00:40:59 less faithful to Scripture these days, sadly.

00:41:02 It's not the way it always was,

00:41:04 but it's the way it is today.

00:41:05 But not every man will be equally apt

00:41:10 in his theological prowess.

00:41:14 Some men will be better theologians than other men.

00:41:18 But when it comes to your home,

00:41:21 when it comes to your home,

00:41:22 You are the resident theologian. You are the family pastor. You're the pastor of that home.

00:41:31 You are the pastor of your wife and children, and you are the resident theologian in your home.

00:41:37 And very practically, this is what that means. It doesn't mean necessarily that you will be able to

00:41:43 answer every question that your wife and children have, but it means that you will be fiercely

00:41:49 committed, when you don't have the answer, to finding the answer. That's a good reply for the

00:41:56 record. When a husband says to his wife, I don't know, sweetheart, but I'll find out. When a father

00:42:04 says to his children, I don't know, but I'll find out. That's a good answer. And the reason, just for

00:42:11 the record, that I'm including wives in the picture now, that not only children should be inquisitive

00:42:16 and ask their fathers,

00:42:17 but also wives should ask their husbands,

00:42:20 is because that's literally what the Bible says.

00:42:24 That wives, if you have a question,

00:42:25 this is 1 Corinthians 14,

00:42:28 ask your husbands at home. 0.63

00:42:30 So wives, likewise, 0.99

00:42:32 should go to their husbands. 0.97

00:42:34 Not expecting that on the spot

00:42:36 that he'll have a perfect answer

00:42:38 to every theological question you can muster,

00:42:41 but there should be a trust,

00:42:43 not necessarily in his perfect theological

00:42:45 competency, right? It's not that a wife trusts that the brain of her husband is so perfectly 0.54

00:42:53 theologically tuned that on the spot he can give the exact right biblical answer to every question 0.62

00:43:00 she could fathom. But what a wife should be able to trust of her husband is not the perfection of

00:43:06 his brain, but the commitment of his heart. That if he doesn't know the answer, that the heart of

00:43:14 that husband, loves his wife and is thoroughly committed to obeying God's word, to wash her

00:43:20 in the water of the word, meaning in the same way that he physically will work out of the home to

00:43:26 make physical provision, to make sure that there's food in the cupboards, to make sure that there's

00:43:32 a roof over her head, to make sure that there's clothing to wear, that in the same way that he

00:43:38 works hard and diligently to make physical provision, that he is just as committed to

00:43:43 making ample spiritual provision, theological provision. So it's not that the wife goes to

00:43:50 her husband because she believes that her husband is intellectually the best theologian in all the

00:43:56 world. It's not that he knows more about the scripture than any other man. Why do wives go

00:44:02 to their husbands? One, because the scripture commands it. But two, it's not because his mind 1.00

00:44:08 is theologically sharper than any other man,

00:44:11 but it's because his heart is more in love with her

00:44:14 than any other man.

00:44:16 It's his commitment to her.

00:44:19 It's because he is her covenant head.

00:44:21 It's because he loves her more than anyone else.

00:44:25 And therefore, in the same way

00:44:27 that he'll be willing to work two or three jobs,

00:44:30 80 hours a week, if that's what it takes

00:44:33 in order to put food on the table,

00:44:35 likewise, he'll be willing to do whatever Google search

00:44:38 he needs to perform, to go and talk to the pastor, or go and do this, or go and do that,

00:44:44 listen to however many lectures on Canon Plus app, you know, whatever he's got to do to answer

00:44:50 the question. Why? Because he loves her. Because he loves her. And likewise, I want to say to all

00:44:57 the wise in the room, I might know some more theology than your husband. And hopefully I do.

00:45:03 because the bible talks about how an elder should be able to teach and i believe the best translation

00:45:09 apt to teach he should be proficient in teaching and so the elders of the church the pastors of

00:45:15 the church who labor in the preaching and teaching of the word it only would make sense that they

00:45:20 would have a higher gifting and ability in that area right if every man in the church is both

00:45:26 more knowledgeable of doctrine and a better communicator than me then i'm in the wrong job

00:45:31 i don't know why i'm up here however that being said wives listen i might know a little bit more

00:45:39 about theology or maybe even be able to explain things more clearly than your husband but i don't

00:45:44 love you like he does i love you i'm your pastor but not like he is your husband loves you and i

00:45:53 believe in the same way that parents have been uniquely gifted to educate their children better

00:45:57 than any other adult in the world.

00:46:00 Likewise, a husband has been uniquely gifted

00:46:02 to theologically instruct and disciple his wife

00:46:07 better than any other man in the world,

00:46:08 including the pastor of the church.

00:46:11 I believe that because his heart is for you.

00:46:18 His compassion is for you.

00:46:19 But here's the thing. 0.98

00:46:20 A lot of wives aren't being discipled.

00:46:22 And I'm not saying necessarily you in this local church,

00:46:25 but a lot of wives who profess to be followers of Jesus

00:46:28 and maybe truly are regenerate

00:46:30 are not being shaped by their husbands.

00:46:32 And part of it is because apathy on the part of that man.

00:46:36 But let's be honest.

00:46:38 Let's not make the footnote the headline.

00:46:40 That footnote, it's real.

00:46:42 It's a real thing.

00:46:43 There are apathetic men.

00:46:45 But in 2023, in Western civilization,

00:46:48 the headline is that women are honoring.

00:46:52 Not honoring, but honoring.

00:46:58 And I'm talking about Christian women. 0.96

00:47:01 That they don't want to go to their husband for answers. 1.00

00:47:05 They would rather get those answers from someone else.

00:47:09 And often it's not another man like their pastor. 0.99

00:47:13 Often women want to get theological answers

00:47:16 not from their husband, but from other women. 0.99

00:47:22 They want to go to a woman who doesn't even know them. 0.51

00:47:29 Some public figure that doesn't have relationship with them.

00:47:34 Not personally.

00:47:36 That is not committed in covenant to them.

00:47:39 That isn't willing to actually die for them.

00:47:42 As a husband is called in Ephesians chapter 5.

00:47:45 Husbands, love your wife.

00:47:48 Be willing to lay down your life for her as Christ died for the church.

00:47:52 And yet there are many, and again, I'm not talking about blue-haired, progressive, atheist, feminists.

00:47:57 I'm talking about Christian women in evangelical churches.

00:48:01 Some of them even wearing a label of being conservative.

00:48:06 Now, I would argue they're not that conservative, but conservative by comparison, I guess, to the status quo today, which doesn't take much.

00:48:15 and yet they they aren't discipled by their their husband not not always because he's apathetic or

00:48:23 unwilling but in many cases because they're unwilling that their husband is trying to teach

00:48:29 them the bible and they won't listen they're just they're arguing they're just arguing

00:48:36 they won't listen to him there's actually much that they could learn if they had the humility

00:48:43 to receive it. And so that's vital too. So children should be busy about the duty

00:48:52 of asking questions. And likewise, wives, I believe to a lesser degree, but wives likewise, 0.96

00:49:00 when you have questions, should likewise go to your husband, the head of the home, 0.73

00:49:05 just as the children go to their father. And husbands and fathers, you may not be a professional

00:49:11 theologian, but you are the resident theologian in your

00:49:15 house. So study up. Study

00:49:19 to show yourself approved. You need to have an answer or

00:49:23 at minimum, at minimum, the bottom line, your answer

00:49:27 should be, I can't answer that right now. I'm sorry, but I'm fully committed

00:49:31 to getting an answer, to finding an answer and coming back.

00:49:36 So again, verse 21,

00:49:39 When your children ask their fathers in times to come, what do these stones mean? 0.73

00:49:45 Then you shall let your children know, Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.

00:49:50 For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, 0.71

00:49:56 as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over.

00:50:03 So ample provision, whether it be physical provision or spiritual provision, theological

00:50:10 provision, men, listen up, making ample provision always requires hard work.

00:50:17 Just as a father must work hard to make physical provision for his household, so too he must

00:50:23 work hard to make spiritual provision and theological provision for his household.

00:50:29 Let's pray.

00:50:30 Can I be frank with you for just a second, right here at the end?

00:50:33 Look, some of you guys, you're financially supporting this ministry, and from the bottom

00:50:38 of my heart, I say thank you.

00:50:40 I cannot thank you enough.

00:50:42 However, some of you, you just, you can't afford it.

00:50:46 In fact, some of you, you shouldn't afford it.

00:50:49 Let's be honest. 0.91

00:50:51 I mean, we're living in Joe Biden's ridiculous economy. 0.97

00:50:54 Our nation and our totalitarian political elites lost their minds over the last three years 0.91

00:51:02 due to COVID. We have written checks that we simply cannot cash. It doesn't matter if people

00:51:09 change the definition of a recession. We are living in a recession right now regardless.

00:51:16 Some of you are struggling to afford a carton of eggs at the grocery store. You cannot support

00:51:22 financially this ministry at this time, nor should you, but you could still help us tremendously.

00:51:30 I am asking you, please, if you're willing to do so, take one minute of your time. Leave us a five

00:51:37 star review on your favorite podcast platform, iTunes, Spotify, whatever that might be. This is

00:51:44 the way the system works. We want to be innocent as doves, but shrewd as vipers. We need to be

00:51:50 strategic. You leave us a five-star review, and our podcast shows up for more people. And the

00:51:56 Word of God and courageous theology applied in practical ways to every realm of life

00:52:03 gets out there. Help us get it out there. Thanks for tuning in.

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The NXR Podcast - May 21, 2023

SUNDAY SERMON - Signs, Seals, & Covenants

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