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

00:00:00.000 All right, listen, guys, I get it.

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00:00:40.720 Amen. This morning, we continue with our series through the book of Joshua. Our text for today

00:00:45.320 is Joshua chapter 4, focusing our attention primarily on verses 1 through 10, as well as

00:00:51.900 the end of the chapter, verses 19 through 24. So again, our text for today is Joshua chapter 4,

00:00:58.580 verses 1 through 10 and 19 through 24. Would you join me now in standing for the reading of God's

00:01:04.820 word? I'll read the text in its entirety. When I finish reading the text, I'm going to say this is

00:01:09.500 the word of the Lord, at which point I would appreciate very much if you would respond by

00:01:13.820 saying thanks be to God. One final time, our text for today is Joshua chapter 4 verses 1 through 10

00:01:21.200 as well as verses 19 through 24.

00:01:24.440 The Bible says this,

00:01:26.620 When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan,

00:01:30.000 the Lord said to Joshua,

00:01:31.740 Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man,

00:01:36.200 and command them, saying,

00:01:37.960 Take twelve stones from here, out of the midst of the Jordan,

00:01:42.220 from the very place where the priest's feet stood firmly,

00:01:45.180 and bring them over with you,

00:01:47.340 and lay them down in the place where you lodged tonight.

00:01:51.760 Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel,

00:01:55.300 whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe.

00:01:58.380 And Joshua said to them,

00:02:00.060 Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan,

00:02:05.360 and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder,

00:02:08.980 according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel,

00:02:12.060 that this may be a sign among you,

00:02:14.580 When your children ask in time to come, what do these stones mean to you?

00:02:20.760 Then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord.

00:02:27.540 When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.

00:02:32.100 So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.

00:02:36.860 And the people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded and took up 12 stones out of the midst of the Jordan.

00:02:43.620 according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel just as the Lord told Joshua

00:02:49.140 and they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged and laid them down there and

00:02:55.800 Joshua set up 12 stones in the midst of the Jordan in the place where the feet of the priest bearing

00:03:01.960 the ark of the covenant had stood and they are there to this day for the priest bearing the ark

00:03:07.940 stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to

00:03:13.380 tell the people according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. The Lord came up out of the

00:03:20.100 Jordan on the 10th day. The people came up out of the Jordan on the 10th day of the first month,

00:03:26.340 and they encamped at Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. And those 12 stones, which they took

00:03:33.780 out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal. And he said to the people of Israel, when your children

00:03:40.200 ask their fathers in times to come, what do these stones mean? Then you shall tell your children,

00:03:46.880 no, Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground, for the Lord your God dried up the waters of the

00:03:54.060 Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up

00:04:01.100 for us until we passed over, so that all the people of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord

00:04:07.740 is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever. This is the word of the Lord.

00:04:14.580 All right, please be seated. There's two primary points that come, I believe, from the text today.

00:04:20.640 The first is this, that the people of God will always need a memorial. The people of God, all

00:04:27.340 people, all people, but especially God's people, will always need a memorial, some sign, some symbol

00:04:36.340 to remind us of God's covenant faithfulness

00:04:39.920 because we are apt to forget.

00:04:43.140 The second point is this,

00:04:45.120 the duty of children and the duty of parents.

00:04:49.100 The duty of children and the duty of parents.

00:04:52.400 Let's begin with the first point,

00:04:54.040 which we find primarily in verses 5, 6, 7, and 8 of our text.

00:05:00.420 Let me read just those four verses once more

00:05:03.100 so that they're fresh in our minds.

00:05:05.420 Joshua chapter four, verses five through eight says this.

00:05:09.520 And Joshua said to them,

00:05:11.100 pass on before the ark of the Lord your God

00:05:14.000 into the midst of the Jordan

00:05:15.640 and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder,

00:05:19.520 according to the number of the tribes

00:05:21.260 of the people of Israel,

00:05:22.760 that this may be a sign among you.

00:05:25.480 When your children ask in time to come,

00:05:28.280 what do those stones mean to you?

00:05:30.600 Then you shall tell them

00:05:31.640 that the waters of the Jordan were cut off

00:05:33.700 before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord.

00:05:36.460 When it passed over the Jordan,

00:05:38.720 the waters of the Jordan were cut off.

00:05:41.020 So these stones shall be to the people of Israel

00:05:44.220 a memorial forever.

00:05:46.660 And the people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded

00:05:49.940 and took up 12 stones out of the midst of the Jordan

00:05:53.260 according to the number of the tribes

00:05:55.560 of the people of Israel,

00:05:57.180 just as the Lord told Joshua.

00:05:58.780 And they carried them over with them

00:06:00.980 to the place where they lodged

00:06:02.500 and laid them down there. I used Matthew Henry primarily in his commentary for our text today

00:06:10.820 in commentating on these four verses, namely verses five, six, seven, and eight. Matthew Henry says

00:06:19.240 the following. Some of the Israelites that passed over Jordan perhaps were stupid, silly, 1.00

00:06:26.340 and so little affected with this great favor, 1.00

00:06:30.500 this miraculous sign of God to them

00:06:33.320 that they felt no concern to have it remembered.

00:06:37.460 While others, in contrast, it may be,

00:06:41.160 were so much affected with this miracle,

00:06:44.700 the parting of the Jordan River,

00:06:46.660 so much affected with it

00:06:48.360 and had such deep impressions made upon them by it

00:06:52.360 that they thought there needed no memorial of it to be erected.

00:06:57.140 The heart and tongue of every Israelite and every age

00:07:00.620 would be a living, lasting monument of it.

00:07:04.640 So on the one hand, stopping here for a moment,

00:07:06.980 and this quote from Matthew Henry,

00:07:08.780 on the one hand, it was probably very likely

00:07:12.540 that at least some of the people of Israel were unimpressed.

00:07:17.460 And they should have been impressed.

00:07:19.000 It's a miraculous sign.

00:07:20.420 And yet, miraculous signs have always been dismissed, waved away by unbelieving people.

00:07:31.060 And we know that there were many in Israel that were a part of God's covenant people outwardly.

00:07:38.620 They were children of Israel according to the flesh, but they were not true children of Israel,

00:07:45.500 the true seed of Jacob, according to the promise that they were not spiritual Israel because their

00:07:53.100 hearts were hardened in unbelief. And for those who disbelieve in the promises of God and the

00:08:01.040 commandments of God, there are always ways of taking even blatant and obvious signs and wonders

00:08:09.560 of God and dismissing them as merely natural phenomenon or practical occurrences. And there

00:08:18.180 were probably some in Israel that attempted to do this, that because of unbelief and rebellion,

00:08:25.340 their hearts were hardened against God, and therefore they immediately probably sought

00:08:32.160 certain practical, physical, natural explanations to dismiss this as a miracle.

00:08:39.560 On the other hand, there were likely very many in Israel who thought that this miracle was

00:08:44.620 so clearly the hand of God at work, so clearly a supernatural work of God, that they likely

00:08:52.240 thought there was no need to erect a monument, a memorial, that surely everyone would remember

00:09:00.060 this because it was so miraculous, and that merely the memory, living memory of the people

00:09:07.000 of Israel throughout different ages and generations and by oral tradition, by their own tongue and

00:09:12.900 mouth and sharing what God had done, that that would be sufficient to remember this miraculous

00:09:18.200 sign forever. Going on now in the quote from Matthew Henry, he says this, but God, knowing

00:09:25.140 their frame and how apt they had been soon to forget his works, ordered an expedient for the

00:09:32.980 keeping of this in remembrance to all generations, that those who could not or perhaps would not

00:09:40.400 read the record of it in the sacred history books of Israel, that they might come to the knowledge

00:09:46.800 of it by the monument set up in remembrance of it. There are two categories that we should

00:09:52.840 familiarize ourself with, fallenness and finitude. And as human beings, creatures made in the image

00:10:00.140 of God, albeit, but still creatures. Nonetheless, we possess both of these elements. Fallenness

00:10:07.580 because not of the way that God originally designed man in a state of integrity, but fallenness

00:10:13.040 because of our father Adam and his breaking of the covenant of works. We are fallen. Sin has

00:10:20.560 been transmitted from Adam and Eve to all their posterity. We still possess a vestige of the image

00:10:27.160 of God. Every single human being, whether they are a Christian or not, is made in the image of God.

00:10:32.340 But the image of God, the imago Dei, has been tarnished. We believe in total depravity, not

00:10:39.600 utter depravity. We do not believe that people are doing outwardly as much evil as they possibly

00:10:45.760 could do at all times. That's not the view of Christians. Not utter depravity, but we do believe

00:10:53.420 in total depravity. Total depravity, in distinction from utter depravity, is that people are not by

00:11:00.220 God's common grace, that even unbelievers, they're being restrained by God's common grace, by natural

00:11:07.180 law, by the Imago Dei being created in his image, by the conscience, the law of God being written

00:11:12.780 on their hearts, even for the unbeliever. In all these ways, people are not utterly depraved. Even

00:11:18.200 the unbeliever is being restrained in terms of their outward manifestations of sin. The unbeliever

00:11:26.060 is being restrained from outwardly behaving consistently with their God-rebelling worldview.

00:11:34.560 And so we do not believe in utter depravity. But total depravity, what we're insisting in this

00:11:39.400 doctrine, which is painfully biblical, is simply that every facet, every element of mankind

00:11:47.520 has been affected by the fall.

00:11:50.420 So total depravity is not saying

00:11:52.200 that we are utterly depraved,

00:11:53.900 doing outwardly as much evil as possible,

00:11:56.260 but totally depraved,

00:11:57.740 meaning there is not one element of humanity

00:12:00.620 that has not been corrupted in some degree

00:12:03.900 to some measure by sin.

00:12:06.740 Meaning that man's reason is tarnished by sin.

00:12:10.900 Man's moral perception and his conscience

00:12:16.220 is tarnished by sin.

00:12:18.840 A man's physical stature, the fact that we get sick,

00:12:22.580 that eventually we die, has been tarnished by sin.

00:12:27.400 So morally, intellectually, physically,

00:12:31.080 in every single regard, man is fallen.

00:12:35.680 A vestige of the image of God remains intact,

00:12:38.700 but this image of God in every realm of humanity

00:12:42.940 has been tarnished.

00:12:44.520 It has been marred in some degree to some measure by sin.

00:12:49.440 So that's the fallenness category.

00:12:51.580 But the other category that we must keep in mind is, again, as I began, saying that we are creatures.

00:12:58.220 That even if Adam had never broken the covenant of works, even if he had never sinned against God, he was still finite.

00:13:06.020 He would not have died physically.

00:13:07.880 He would have gone on physically living forever, but he would still be finite.

00:13:12.420 He would never be omniscient.

00:13:14.520 You and I, even in the life to come,

00:13:17.220 even with our glorified bodies

00:13:19.340 that will never grow tired,

00:13:20.840 that will never get sick,

00:13:22.480 that will never die.

00:13:23.560 And even when our fallenness is done away with,

00:13:26.600 as 1 John says,

00:13:27.960 when this life ends,

00:13:29.980 we breathe our last and we go to be with Christ.

00:13:33.180 Paul says to be absent from the body

00:13:35.040 is to be present with the Lord.

00:13:36.460 So on that day where we go to be present with the Lord

00:13:39.900 because we have died physically in this life,

00:13:42.460 first john says that when we see him we will be like him for we shall see him as he is that is

00:13:48.560 to say that we will be sinless so the category of our fallenness will be done away with and yet

00:13:54.720 even in our glorified heavenly existence with god being done away completely done away with sin

00:14:01.480 even then we will no longer be fallen but still finite and what i mean by that just one example

00:14:08.900 is that we will never be omniscient.

00:14:12.140 That is all knowing.

00:14:14.020 That even 10,000 years into heaven,

00:14:17.340 we will not know everything.

00:14:20.080 We will still have to learn as creatures.

00:14:23.380 Now, I believe that there will be a quick head start

00:14:26.780 making up the gap in an instant

00:14:29.320 when we die and go to be with the Lord.

00:14:31.720 I think that we will quickly come up to speed

00:14:35.460 in many regards.

00:14:36.780 I think that merely just has a practical effect of our sanctification having been complete at that time.

00:14:43.840 That we'll, in being fully sanctified in our heavenly existence, there are certain knowledgeable aspects that will come with that.

00:14:51.480 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.

00:15:02.660 So we'll quickly be caught up to speed.

00:15:04.900 But even then, even then we will not be omniscient.

00:15:08.860 And I believe that someone who has been in heaven for 6,000 years, such as Adam,

00:15:14.520 will be more knowledgeable of God and the things of God than somebody who enters heaven on day one.

00:15:21.500 Again, this is not fallenness category.

00:15:24.660 This is creaturely finitude category that we will never be omniscient

00:15:30.160 and we will always be in a process as creatures of learning.

00:15:35.140 And this, I believe, is what God had in mind.

00:15:38.480 Both aspects.

00:15:39.860 This is what Matthew Henry is getting at in his commentary on Joshua,

00:15:44.460 the Lord through Joshua, commanding one man from each of the 12 tribes of Israel

00:15:49.820 to go and fetch a stone out of the midst of the Jordan

00:15:53.880 where the water had receded, been held back and laid up in a heap.

00:15:58.440 They were to go into the bed of the river to gather 12 stones and to erect a monument.

00:16:04.580 And what Matthew Henry is getting at is he's saying that both in regards to man's fallenness

00:16:10.700 and in regards to his creaturely finitude, that we need practical, visible reminders.

00:16:19.740 Man is quick and prone to forgetfulness.

00:16:24.840 And that has not changed.

00:16:26.180 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.

00:16:48.740 this still remains our tendency, because we are sinful, but also because we are finite,

00:16:57.320 both fallen and finite. Because of these things, we are prone to forget, and the Lord is merciful.

00:17:05.420 I love that Connor, in our liturgy, we didn't plan this, but it's very fitting in the providence of

00:17:11.660 God that he referenced the scripture in the Old Testament that says that the Lord remembers our

00:17:17.920 frame, that we are dust. That is actually not a reference to God being mindful that we are fallen

00:17:26.520 and sinful beings. But that's actually the Lord in his compassion and mercy towards us being finite

00:17:34.300 creaturely beings. He remembers. It doesn't say he remembers that we are sinful or he remembers that

00:17:42.180 we are rebels. No, he remembers our frame that we are dust, that even the most sanctified among us

00:17:51.320 are still finite. Adam was made from the dust, and to dust we will return. And God, who is infinite,

00:18:01.640 omnipotent, omniscient, he is also compassionate. He is compassionate and merciful. He remembers

00:18:10.300 our frame that is he takes account of the fact that we are not only fallen but that we are finite

00:18:17.120 that we are made of dust that we are weak and that we are prone to forgetfulness and so therefore

00:18:23.560 it is in God's mercy not him laying upon us a heavy burden an extra commandment just for the

00:18:32.440 fun of it but no rather in his kindness compassion and mercy God commanded Israel that they should

00:18:39.420 erect a memorial, a monument to help them in their fallenness and finitude, not to forget his covenant

00:18:47.320 faithfulness to past generations. And so too, it's worth noting that God has done that for us,

00:18:55.700 true Israel, under the new covenant today. We have been given memorials. We have been given

00:19:03.600 signs and seals, visible memorials to remind us of God's covenant, who he is, what he has done

00:19:12.640 on our behalf, and what he promises to all those who trust in him, namely bread, wine, and water.

00:19:23.040 Bread, wine, and water. Using one more quote now from Matthew Henry, and then I'll speak a little

00:19:30.680 bit about the sacraments for the New Testament church. But Matthew Henry, further commentating

00:19:35.600 on this portion of our passage, Joshua 4 verses 5 through 8, he says this, this intended monument

00:19:42.420 deserved to be made of stones curiously cut with the finest and most exquisite art. But these stones

00:19:50.780 out of the bottom of the river were more natural and more apt indications of the miracle. Let

00:19:57.760 It makes me think of 1 Corinthians 1, verse 27 that says,

00:20:22.260 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.

00:20:28.180 God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.

00:20:32.860 Now, in the context of 1 Corinthians 1, verse 27,

00:20:36.520 this is referencing individual people,

00:20:38.880 that God in his sovereignty elected to salvation,

00:20:43.160 that he chose by the power of his spirit to regenerate,

00:20:46.700 to cause them to become new creatures in Christ Jesus,

00:20:49.420 to endow them with the gifts of faith and repentance

00:20:52.660 to cause them to become Christians, believers.

00:20:57.180 And so 1 Corinthians 1, verse 27 is saying 0.97

00:20:59.920 that God chose foolish people

00:21:02.240 to despise those who would esteem themselves as being wise. 0.97

00:21:07.980 And God continues to do this today

00:21:10.280 in reference again to individual people.

00:21:13.540 God doesn't just save those who are intellectual

00:21:16.680 or those who are rich or those who are are elite in society. But God often chooses to save among

00:21:25.440 those who are foolish, those who are of little standing by the perception of society, those who 0.80

00:21:33.640 are, as James says, poor. Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith? And so 0.99

00:21:40.800 in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 27, it's referencing individual people. God chooses from among the

00:21:47.120 poor. God chooses from among the foolish. And he does so to despise the wise, just as he did with 0.98

00:21:53.700 Gideon. God is jealous. The Bible actually says his name is jealous. He is a jealous God. And as

00:22:02.340 the scripture further testifies, he will share his glory with no man. And one of the ways that God

00:22:08.560 garnishes glory for himself and ensures that his glory is not given to another is that he performs

00:22:15.860 great and mighty works in such a miraculous way that no man, no creature could be possibly given

00:22:23.200 the credit. So in the case of Gideon, he whittles down this army and then whittles it down even

00:22:29.820 further to a number of just 300 in order to defeat tens of thousands. And he does this not

00:22:38.020 to make much of Gideon, but to make much of himself. So too, in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 27,

00:22:45.580 God doesn't just choose the elite or the wise of this world, for the wisdom of this world is first

00:22:53.620 and foremost, according to scripture, demonic. It's not true wisdom, but rather God chooses those

00:22:59.560 who are viewed as foolish in this world in order to make much of himself, to show that it was not

00:23:05.920 man. It was not his innate reason, but God in his power, in his wisdom, in his glory that used even

00:23:13.720 those who are foolish to do incredible things. Think of the disciples. The people said, are these 0.85

00:23:19.340 not unlearned fishermen? But they noted that they had been with Jesus. That was the difference.

00:23:27.700 It was not their formal schooling. It was not that they had been to the best universities

00:23:33.960 or studied under the most notable rabbis.

00:23:38.840 It was that these uneducated fishermen

00:23:41.380 spent three years with Jesus, give or take,

00:23:45.380 that made them incredibly knowledgeable

00:23:47.980 to where they were able to argue and debate

00:23:51.500 even the wisest of their age. 0.99

00:23:55.140 And so God chooses the foolish to despise the wise.

00:24:00.480 God does this with individual people.

00:24:03.820 That's what we see with the disciples.

00:24:06.340 That's what we see in 1 Corinthians 1.27.

00:24:10.080 That's what we see in the illustration that I gave from the story of Gideon.

00:24:15.460 But beyond that, what Matthew Henry, the late great Puritan, is getting at and commentating

00:24:21.080 on our particular text today, Joshua 4, is that God uses this same concept not just in

00:24:28.080 his choice of salvation with individual people, but also in his sovereign choice of signs and

00:24:36.440 seals. It was not that Israel was called to gather for themselves 12 stones of marble and then give

00:24:48.140 them to the most gifted and skilled artist and sculptor in all the land to make some glorious,

00:24:55.580 intricate monument. Now that wasn't fitting for the work that God had performed. God is more

00:25:04.540 interested in that which is proper than that which is pompous. Now that's not to say that God doesn't

00:25:11.440 care about beauty. If you don't think God cares about details and beauty, then just read chapter

00:25:17.640 after chapter. And it gets a bit dry at times, but it's chapter after chapter after chapter after

00:25:22.980 chapter of all the intricate details and instructions that God gives to the construction

00:25:28.780 of the tabernacle and then later the temple. And God uses artists who are gifted and supernaturally

00:25:36.600 endowed with wisdom by God himself in order to construct the temple and to do these things.

00:25:43.240 But when it comes to signs and seals, articles of remembrance, very often what God chooses

00:25:52.740 is he chooses the symbol that is most proper to reminding his people of what he did in the past.

00:26:01.640 And so he chooses 12 stones, not stones of marble, intricately sculpted by someone with

00:26:09.480 great skill but 12 plain rocks that come directly from the bed of the river in the midst of the

00:26:18.100 jordan that is the middle of the river as the waters are still being held back as the priests

00:26:24.040 are standing there holding the ark of the covenant of the lord they were probably 12 smooth stones

00:26:30.360 not having been shaped by a human architect but being shaped by god himself as he guided this river

00:26:37.760 and waters over centuries and these 12 stones were not pompous but again proper appropriate

00:26:45.680 in fitting for the miracle that god had just performed they would be the better more suitable

00:26:52.880 reminder for god's people and so too not just for old testament israel under the old covenant

00:27:00.000 according to the flesh but for new testament israel under the new covenant according to the

00:27:05.540 spirit and the promise, we have been given signs and seals by God for our remembrance. Why? Because

00:27:12.220 he is merciful. Not just an extra heavy burden or commandment, but in his kindness, God has appointed

00:27:19.900 to the New Testament church, under the new covenant, signs and seals. And these signs and seals,

00:27:27.300 likewise, are not pompous. They're not intricate. What I'm saying is that they are simple.

00:27:34.880 It's just water.

00:27:37.360 It's just bread.

00:27:39.520 It's just wine.

00:27:42.020 I've had in the past,

00:27:43.900 well-intended, very kind women approach me

00:27:47.740 and say, could I make for the Lord's Supper

00:27:51.500 a more delicious bread with honey and raisins?

00:27:55.960 And my answer is,

00:27:57.540 I would love for you to make that bread and bring it.

00:28:00.640 And let's all take it home and eat it as families

00:28:03.460 for lunch, but not for the supper.

00:28:07.400 For the Lord's Supper, the bread is meant to be simple bread.

00:28:12.520 It's meant to be plain.

00:28:14.840 That's exactly what God prescribed to Israel with the Passover.

00:28:19.920 With the Passover, it was actually unleavened bread.

00:28:23.240 And there are some who theologically would hold to the position

00:28:25.940 that the New Testament sign of the Lord's Supper,

00:28:30.400 which mirrors the Passover from the Old Testament,

00:28:33.460 that that too should be unleavened bread.

00:28:36.240 There are others on the other side of the aisle,

00:28:38.420 theologically, who argue that under the New Covenant,

00:28:41.420 that we have the leaven,

00:28:43.420 the leaven of the gospel of the kingdom

00:28:46.000 that has now entered the lump, the loaf,

00:28:49.520 and is working through.

00:28:50.600 And so they would say, still simple bread,

00:28:52.280 but the leaven should be there

00:28:53.380 because it is the New Covenant in the New Testament.

00:28:56.540 I think that that's a profound argument.

00:28:58.400 So maybe the post-mill view of the supper.

00:29:00.960 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.

00:29:13.320 It's still a very simple bread.

00:29:16.460 Likewise, the wine is a very simple wine.

00:29:19.780 And likewise, in the sacrament of baptism, the water is a very simple water.

00:29:25.000 And Protestants have held that it is not holy water blessed by a priest.

00:29:32.400 It's not magical or mechanical.

00:29:35.920 There's nothing inherent to the water that does anything supernatural.

00:29:42.620 It is just plain water.

00:29:45.220 But the sign of the supernatural miracle that's being represented,

00:29:50.200 now that is absolutely profound.

00:29:53.260 this is what Peter says and speaking of baptism he says that baptism now saves you

00:30:00.500 not as a removal of dirt from the body not the water itself giving you some kind of

00:30:09.960 holy supernatural bath not as dirt being removed from the body the physical act of the water

00:30:16.980 covering the body being immersed in the water and and cleansing the body of literal physical

00:30:23.100 dirt. That's not what saves you. But Peter goes on. Baptism now saves you not as a removal of

00:30:29.120 dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a clean conscience. That is to say, insofar as this

00:30:37.260 water covering your body represents an inward, insofar as the outward action of water,

00:30:45.480 being immersed in water, accurately reflects the inward reality of an appeal, a plea to God

00:30:52.860 for the cleaning of the conscience insofar as those two things align, well, then you bet your

00:30:59.300 bottom dollar. In that instance, baptism saves you. Baptism does save you insofar as it is an

00:31:07.580 outward manifestation, an outward physical visible symbol of an inward reality. The body being washed,

00:31:16.100 but representing the conscience crying out to God pleading to be cleaned to be forgiven for sin

00:31:26.100 to be atoned for in that sense baptism saves but again the water isn't special and the Lord's

00:31:34.300 supper the bread is not special the wine is not special in fact I assure you brothers and sisters

00:31:42.300 in order to be as faithful theologically as possible,

00:31:45.520 Covenant Bible Church buys the cheapest wine we can find.

00:31:49.780 And it's strictly for theological reasons, right?

00:31:52.780 We would love to buy more expensive wine,

00:31:54.580 but it's just we want to be faithful to simple wine in a biblical sense.

00:31:58.740 It's both practical and theological.

00:32:01.080 But the point is the wine is simple.

00:32:02.800 The bread is simple.

00:32:03.680 The water is simple.

00:32:04.900 And so too, these 12 stones were simple.

00:32:08.520 And that is proper.

00:32:10.420 It's fitting that the sign and seal should fit the miracle,

00:32:15.240 the work that God has performed.

00:32:19.700 Joshua, this now being a greater sign,

00:32:24.820 so that's kind of with the supper and baptism,

00:32:27.760 the 12 stones with Old Testament Israel

00:32:30.120 and the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper

00:32:33.180 with New Testament Israel, with you and I.

00:32:36.080 But going even beyond that now,

00:32:37.740 looking at a sign and a foretelling of the gospel, even.

00:32:45.620 I've written the following.

00:32:47.400 Joshua was instructed by the Lord to appoint one man

00:32:50.700 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel.

00:32:53.440 Likewise, think of this, brothers and sisters.

00:32:56.200 See the parallel.

00:32:57.760 The greater Joshua, that is, Jesus,

00:33:01.240 after having passed through the agony of his death on the cross.

00:33:05.880 Remember, I've said the past few weeks,

00:33:07.640 that the Jordan River was a type of death,

00:33:10.920 passing over death, Joshua being a type of Christ,

00:33:15.680 a deliverer, the true Messiah and Savior.

00:33:18.460 So just as Joshua led Israel through the Jordan

00:33:22.660 that signified death, Christ Jesus passed through

00:33:26.520 the agony of his death on the cross,

00:33:29.600 and he, Joshua, led them and opened up the land of Canaan,

00:33:33.380 but Jesus opened the heavenly Canaan

00:33:36.180 to all of true Israel according to the Spirit.

00:33:40.320 And beyond that, Joshua, under God's command,

00:33:43.200 appointed 12 men from each of the tribes

00:33:46.240 to set up a monument to these 12 stones.

00:33:49.600 Well, Jesus, likewise, the greater Joshua,

00:33:52.360 after having passed through his river of death on the cross,

00:33:56.680 he appointed his 12 apostles

00:33:58.560 to construct the eternal memorial of Holy Scripture

00:34:03.780 to ensure that the knowledge of his life, death, and resurrection

00:34:08.620 might be passed on to all future generations.

00:34:13.060 We see over and over again in this book of the Old Testament,

00:34:17.480 namely Joshua, parallels to the New Testament.

00:34:21.580 We see parallels from Joshua to Jesus,

00:34:25.180 from the Jordan River to the cross.

00:34:28.560 to the land of Canaan, to the land of heaven,

00:34:32.340 the 12 men of each tribes, to the 12 apostles,

00:34:36.320 and this stone monument to the Bible,

00:34:41.180 God's eternal word, a forever monument

00:34:43.580 that ensures that every tribe, tongue, and nation

00:34:48.180 might know throughout all generations

00:34:50.620 to the end of the age,

00:34:52.980 the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

00:34:57.460 See, God instructed Joshua to furthermore instruct 12 men

00:35:01.920 to construct this monument

00:35:03.880 so that future generations of Israel would know

00:35:07.520 that God helped his people pass through this river

00:35:10.760 that signifies death.

00:35:13.280 But for us, under the new covenant,

00:35:16.100 the greater Joshua Jesus,

00:35:17.920 he passed through his own river of death,

00:35:21.400 far more filled with agony

00:35:23.680 under the white hot wrath of God

00:35:26.240 where he died as a propitiation for our sin,

00:35:29.860 he passes through this river,

00:35:31.420 not just to open up a physical land of Canaan,

00:35:34.380 but the spiritual, eternal, and heavenly land of Canaan

00:35:37.960 for all true Israel, those who believe in him.

00:35:41.140 And likewise, Jesus didn't just die and resurrect,

00:35:45.320 but he commissioned his 12 apostles, 12 men,

00:35:49.320 to construct a monument underneath the inspiration

00:35:52.460 of the Holy Spirit, namely to be authors of Scripture.

00:35:56.240 so that we might forever remember His miracle,

00:35:59.820 His miracle of His sinless life,

00:36:02.280 His substitutionary death,

00:36:04.300 His bodily resurrection,

00:36:06.200 and His glorious ascension to the right hand of God

00:36:09.480 and His promise to return for all who trust in Him.

00:36:14.380 These are the parallels that we see in our text today.

00:36:18.080 And so even in Joshua chapter 4,

00:36:20.320 we see a sign, a foreshadowing of Jesus

00:36:25.300 and the gospel of the kingdom.

00:36:28.200 The second and final point that I'd like to make

00:36:30.940 from our text today is found in verses 19 through 24.

00:36:35.420 Let me focus just so that we have it fresh in our minds

00:36:38.800 by just rereading verses 21, 22, and 23.

00:36:44.560 The Bible says this,

00:36:45.820 And he said to the people of Israel,

00:36:48.380 When your children ask their fathers in times to come,

00:36:52.000 what do these stones mean?

00:36:53.360 then you shall let your children know Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground for the

00:37:00.140 Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over as the Lord your

00:37:05.980 God did to the Red Sea which he dried up for us until we passed over in your notes I've written

00:37:13.200 the following it is the duty of children to ask questions and it is the duty of parents

00:37:20.660 particularly fathers, to provide answers. Let me pause there and say this once more.

00:37:27.880 Children, boys and girls in the room, listen to me closely. Children, especially my children,

00:37:35.760 listen up, pay attention. One of the things that we see in this Bible verse is that it is the duty.

00:37:43.920 that means it's the job. It is a child's job. Children have work. Children have duties and

00:37:50.600 responsibilities in their household and unto God. And one of the duties of children, just like it's

00:37:56.980 your duty, your job to honor your father and mother, one of the ways that you honor your

00:38:01.880 heavenly father, you honor the Lord, is by asking questions. It is the duty. It's not only

00:38:09.700 permissible, but it is actually commended and even commanded by God that children be inquisitive,

00:38:18.460 that children be busy about the work of asking questions, not asking questions from a place of

00:38:26.960 disobedience, not asking questions from a place of rebellion towards authority, but a place of

00:38:34.500 wanting to actually understand who God is

00:38:38.120 and what his commandments are.

00:38:40.440 Wanting to better understand the Bible

00:38:42.940 and the teachings about Jesus.

00:38:45.740 And so it is the duty or the job of children

00:38:48.860 to ask questions.

00:38:50.920 And in the same way,

00:38:52.520 it is the duty of parents to answer questions.

00:38:58.700 Ample provision requires hard work.

00:39:02.940 So speaking to parents now,

00:39:04.500 Children, ask your parents questions.

00:39:07.700 If there's something you don't know about Jesus,

00:39:10.200 something you don't know about God,

00:39:12.080 or something you don't know about the sermon,

00:39:14.400 you should ask your parents after church.

00:39:17.200 Ask them on the way home.

00:39:19.860 But parents speaking to you now,

00:39:22.160 it's your job to answer these questions,

00:39:25.780 both fathers and mothers, but especially fathers.

00:39:30.560 Mothers will spend, in many cases,

00:39:33.020 a great deal more quantity of time with the children

00:39:37.080 than the father who is obligated to work outside of the home

00:39:41.420 and making physical provision.

00:39:43.540 But the father is still, at the end of the day,

00:39:45.980 the covenant head of the home.

00:39:48.540 That means that he is responsible

00:39:50.420 for everything that happens in the household.

00:39:53.620 Just like a captain on a ship,

00:39:55.540 he doesn't do every single job,

00:39:58.380 but he's responsible for everything

00:40:00.420 that takes place on that ship.

00:40:02.800 He's delegating much of the work,

00:40:05.020 but he's ultimately the one who is responsible.

00:40:08.620 The buck stops with him.

00:40:11.120 So fathers are especially responsible

00:40:13.260 to provide answers to their children's questions.

00:40:17.000 Mothers, likewise, are going to be often providing answers.

00:40:20.920 And when you can't, mom's in the room,

00:40:23.360 you should be able to go and ask your husband

00:40:25.800 and he should be able to answer the question.

00:40:28.420 Now, that being said, I like the way that Douglas Wilson has said it.

00:40:34.480 A man may not be a vocational theologian, but in his home, he must be the resident theologian.

00:40:42.660 Not every man will be a vocational theologian.

00:40:46.920 Not every man will go to seminary.

00:40:49.700 Not every man will have a doctorate from a seminary, which, praise God for that,

00:40:54.620 That means you'll probably know the Bible better.

00:40:57.580 Going to seminary usually makes people

00:40:59.780 less faithful to Scripture these days, sadly.

00:41:02.940 It's not the way it always was,

00:41:04.200 but it's the way it is today.

00:41:05.900 But not every man will be equally apt

00:41:10.760 in his theological prowess.

00:41:14.480 Some men will be better theologians than other men.

00:41:18.680 But when it comes to your home,

00:41:21.260 when it comes to your home,

00:41:22.600 You are the resident theologian. You are the family pastor. You're the pastor of that home.

00:41:31.460 You are the pastor of your wife and children, and you are the resident theologian in your home.

00:41:37.640 And very practically, this is what that means. It doesn't mean necessarily that you will be able to

00:41:43.720 answer every question that your wife and children have, but it means that you will be fiercely

00:41:49.580 committed, when you don't have the answer, to finding the answer. That's a good reply for the

00:41:56.660 record. When a husband says to his wife, I don't know, sweetheart, but I'll find out. When a father

00:42:04.020 says to his children, I don't know, but I'll find out. That's a good answer. And the reason, just for

00:42:11.180 the record, that I'm including wives in the picture now, that not only children should be inquisitive

00:42:16.320 and ask their fathers,

00:42:17.800 but also wives should ask their husbands,

00:42:20.120 is because that's literally what the Bible says.

00:42:24.200 That wives, if you have a question,

00:42:25.940 this is 1 Corinthians 14,

00:42:28.180 ask your husbands at home.

00:42:30.380 So wives, likewise,

00:42:32.640 should go to their husbands.

00:42:34.260 Not expecting that on the spot

00:42:36.900 that he'll have a perfect answer

00:42:38.500 to every theological question you can muster,

00:42:41.200 but there should be a trust,

00:42:43.240 not necessarily in his perfect theological

00:42:45.900 competency, right? It's not that a wife trusts that the brain of her husband is so perfectly

00:42:53.980 theologically tuned that on the spot he can give the exact right biblical answer to every question

00:43:00.680 she could fathom. But what a wife should be able to trust of her husband is not the perfection of

00:43:06.260 his brain, but the commitment of his heart. That if he doesn't know the answer, that the heart of

00:43:14.740 that husband, loves his wife and is thoroughly committed to obeying God's word, to wash her

00:43:20.940 in the water of the word, meaning in the same way that he physically will work out of the home to

00:43:26.960 make physical provision, to make sure that there's food in the cupboards, to make sure that there's

00:43:32.180 a roof over her head, to make sure that there's clothing to wear, that in the same way that he

00:43:38.260 works hard and diligently to make physical provision, that he is just as committed to

00:43:43.280 making ample spiritual provision, theological provision. So it's not that the wife goes to

00:43:50.080 her husband because she believes that her husband is intellectually the best theologian in all the

00:43:56.060 world. It's not that he knows more about the scripture than any other man. Why do wives go

00:44:02.640 to their husbands? One, because the scripture commands it. But two, it's not because his mind

00:44:08.920 is theologically sharper than any other man,

00:44:11.140 but it's because his heart is more in love with her

00:44:14.740 than any other man.

00:44:16.720 It's his commitment to her.

00:44:19.180 It's because he is her covenant head.

00:44:21.660 It's because he loves her more than anyone else.

00:44:25.240 And therefore, in the same way

00:44:27.020 that he'll be willing to work two or three jobs,

00:44:30.880 80 hours a week, if that's what it takes

00:44:33.240 in order to put food on the table,

00:44:35.280 likewise, he'll be willing to do whatever Google search

00:44:38.900 he needs to perform, to go and talk to the pastor, or go and do this, or go and do that,

00:44:44.580 listen to however many lectures on Canon Plus app, you know, whatever he's got to do to answer

00:44:50.340 the question. Why? Because he loves her. Because he loves her. And likewise, I want to say to all

00:44:57.180 the wise in the room, I might know some more theology than your husband. And hopefully I do.

00:45:03.940 because the bible talks about how an elder should be able to teach and i believe the best translation

00:45:09.740 apt to teach he should be proficient in teaching and so the elders of the church the pastors of

00:45:15.760 the church who labor in the preaching and teaching of the word it only would make sense that they

00:45:20.180 would have a higher gifting and ability in that area right if every man in the church is both

00:45:26.020 more knowledgeable of doctrine and a better communicator than me then i'm in the wrong job

00:45:31.580 i don't know why i'm up here however that being said wives listen i might know a little bit more

00:45:39.280 about theology or maybe even be able to explain things more clearly than your husband but i don't

00:45:44.220 love you like he does i love you i'm your pastor but not like he is your husband loves you and i

00:45:53.280 believe in the same way that parents have been uniquely gifted to educate their children better

00:45:57.980 than any other adult in the world.

00:46:00.600 Likewise, a husband has been uniquely gifted

00:46:02.960 to theologically instruct and disciple his wife

00:46:07.040 better than any other man in the world,

00:46:08.660 including the pastor of the church.

00:46:11.220 I believe that because his heart is for you.

00:46:18.020 His compassion is for you.

00:46:19.700 But here's the thing.

00:46:20.760 A lot of wives aren't being discipled.

00:46:22.840 And I'm not saying necessarily you in this local church,

00:46:25.520 but a lot of wives who profess to be followers of Jesus

00:46:28.500 and maybe truly are regenerate

00:46:30.280 are not being shaped by their husbands.

00:46:32.680 And part of it is because apathy on the part of that man.

00:46:36.820 But let's be honest.

00:46:38.480 Let's not make the footnote the headline.

00:46:40.340 That footnote, it's real.

00:46:42.500 It's a real thing.

00:46:43.880 There are apathetic men.

00:46:45.620 But in 2023, in Western civilization,

00:46:48.900 the headline is that women are honoring.

00:46:52.480 Not honoring, but honoring.

00:46:58.280 And I'm talking about Christian women.

00:47:01.680 That they don't want to go to their husband for answers.

00:47:05.600 They would rather get those answers from someone else.

00:47:09.420 And often it's not another man like their pastor.

00:47:13.000 Often women want to get theological answers

00:47:16.140 not from their husband, but from other women.

00:47:22.480 They want to go to a woman who doesn't even know them.

00:47:29.240 Some public figure that doesn't have relationship with them.

00:47:34.140 Not personally.

00:47:36.040 That is not committed in covenant to them.

00:47:39.240 That isn't willing to actually die for them.

00:47:42.520 As a husband is called in Ephesians chapter 5.

00:47:45.440 Husbands, love your wife.

00:47:48.200 Be willing to lay down your life for her as Christ died for the church.

00:47:52.480 And yet there are many, and again, I'm not talking about blue-haired, progressive, atheist, feminists.

00:47:57.500 I'm talking about Christian women in evangelical churches.

00:48:01.660 Some of them even wearing a label of being conservative.

00:48:06.420 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.

00:48:15.200 and yet they they aren't discipled by their their husband not not always because he's apathetic or

00:48:23.340 unwilling but in many cases because they're unwilling that their husband is trying to teach

00:48:29.060 them the bible and they won't listen they're just they're arguing they're just arguing

00:48:36.520 they won't listen to him there's actually much that they could learn if they had the humility

00:48:43.780 to receive it. And so that's vital too. So children should be busy about the duty

00:48:52.300 of asking questions. And likewise, wives, I believe to a lesser degree, but wives likewise,

00:49:00.160 when you have questions, should likewise go to your husband, the head of the home,

00:49:05.140 just as the children go to their father. And husbands and fathers, you may not be a professional

00:49:11.620 theologian, but you are the resident theologian in your

00:49:15.620 house. So study up. Study

00:49:19.680 to show yourself approved. You need to have an answer or

00:49:23.840 at minimum, at minimum, the bottom line, your answer

00:49:27.820 should be, I can't answer that right now. I'm sorry, but I'm fully committed

00:49:31.680 to getting an answer, to finding an answer and coming back.

00:49:36.400 So again, verse 21,

00:49:39.520 When your children ask their fathers in times to come, what do these stones mean?

00:49:45.240 Then you shall let your children know, Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.

00:49:50.660 For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over,

00:49:56.340 as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over.

00:50:03.100 So ample provision, whether it be physical provision or spiritual provision, theological

00:50:10.360 provision, men, listen up, making ample provision always requires hard work.

00:50:17.640 Just as a father must work hard to make physical provision for his household, so too he must

00:50:23.600 work hard to make spiritual provision and theological provision for his household.

00:50:29.620 Let's pray.

00:50:30.120 Can I be frank with you for just a second, right here at the end?

00:50:33.860 Look, some of you guys, you're financially supporting this ministry, and from the bottom

00:50:38.060 of my heart, I say thank you.

00:50:40.320 I cannot thank you enough.

00:50:42.900 However, some of you, you just, you can't afford it.

00:50:46.620 In fact, some of you, you shouldn't afford it.

00:50:49.720 Let's be honest. 0.91

00:50:51.020 I mean, we're living in Joe Biden's ridiculous economy. 0.97

00:50:54.520 Our nation and our totalitarian political elites lost their minds over the last three years 0.91

00:51:02.660 due to COVID. We have written checks that we simply cannot cash. It doesn't matter if people

00:51:09.580 change the definition of a recession. We are living in a recession right now regardless.

00:51:16.480 Some of you are struggling to afford a carton of eggs at the grocery store. You cannot support

00:51:22.780 financially this ministry at this time, nor should you, but you could still help us tremendously.

00:51:30.040 I am asking you, please, if you're willing to do so, take one minute of your time. Leave us a five

00:51:37.020 star review on your favorite podcast platform, iTunes, Spotify, whatever that might be. This is

00:51:44.060 the way the system works. We want to be innocent as doves, but shrewd as vipers. We need to be

00:51:50.520 strategic. You leave us a five-star review, and our podcast shows up for more people. And the

00:51:56.820 Word of God and courageous theology applied in practical ways to every realm of life

00:52:03.700 gets out there. Help us get it out there. Thanks for tuning in.

The NXR Podcast - May 21, 2023

SUNDAY SERMON - Signs, Seals, & Covenants

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