Good morning. If you would turn in your Bibles to Joshua chapter four, we’re going to look at portions of chapter four and chapter five, and it’s really continuation from last week. And title today is “Striking Display of Divine Grace – Two Ordinances.” And at first sight, you might think, “Well, that looks like a contradiction, does it not? Ordinances and grace.” But we’ll see the connection. ‘
Last week I put this slide up on the screen. I want to do it again because as we read the narrative from Joshua four and five, here are some things that we know to be true.
Joshua 4-5 Narrative
Historically True
Masterfully designed by God
Embedded with Meaning
Type and Shadows
Number one, it’s historically true. It really did happen what God was doing with the Israelites. And number two, it was masterfully designed by God. He is in fact sovereign. He is the Lord of providence, and it’s embedded with meaning. And what we see are the types and shadows are all pointing to who they’re all pointing to: Jesus Christ, either Him directly or our need for Him, and as we talk about types and shadows, if you had a type that points to Jesus, there is not one single type that could encapsulate all of who Jesus is and what He’s done. Therefore, what do we need? We need several types, not just several, many, many types that point to Jesus Christ. Why? Because one is not sufficient, and hence what we see throughout Scripture is that is that there is a real history that’s happening, for example, to the people of God, and it’s pointing to an incredible reality that Jesus Himself fulfills, and so last week we learned that the overarching theme of Joshua is in fact “rest”, and we saw this in particular in the story of the crossing of the Jordan. And I know most of us are familiar with the story, but hopefully the story grew up just a bit in your mind because I get it. We love to tell our children this story, but it’s for you and it’s for me, and that story needs to grow up. And in fact, today in chapters four and five, we’re going to see it actually grow up even more and more because it is indeed theologically rich.
And so, we’re going to begin Joshua 4:3, and again to set the stage. Last week we looked at chapter three, and we saw that the Israelites were crossing over the Jordan, and so we’re picking up, and what we’re seeing is that the priests are still holding the ark in the midst of the Jordan, and we’re picking up after Yahweh tells Joshua to do something, and so here’s Joshua, and Yahweh says to Joshua, “‘Command them (and to them there is actually 12 people that 12 men that were already pre-selected) saying, ‘Take 12 stones from here, out of the midst of the Jordan, and from the very place where the priests’ feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you, and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.’” And so 12 stones, and those stones were taken from where? From the very midst of the Jordan, and so I realize there are, you know, there are conquerors, there are kings from nations past, and even today, and they built monuments, if you will, to accomplishments. Notice here how simple this is. It’s 12 stones from where the midst of the Jordan, and in fact they’re from the very place where the priests’ feet stood. Now, is it the priests that are being commemorated here? No. What are the priests doing? They’re holding the ark. The ark, which is a witness to the actual manifested presence of Yahweh, and it serves symbolically by defining the relationship that that God is their God, and they are His people, and we also know this: that that what’s represented is that God the Father, prior to even the creation of the world, was in covenant with God the Son. We saw this a few weeks ago, such that God the Son would represent the people. How so? By keeping the very covenant that no one else could keep, and so what are they to do? They’re to take the stones out of the river, bring them, and then set them up where they set them up where they lodge tonight. Where is that? That of course is in the promised land. This is the place of rest.
Joshua 4:6-7. “That this may be a sign among you.” There it is. An important call out of what this is. And so, a sign is it’s real. But what it’s doing, its purpose is not to be the real. Its purpose is to point to what is really real. The ultimate reality, and so it’s a sign pointing to ultimate reality. “And when your children ask in the time to come, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’” And so let me just pause here for a second. What God is doing here is He’s giving them something that they can remember what He’s done in the past, and it’s a teaching tool for the next generation. Now, why would they need to remember something as spectacular as God ushering them across the Jordan? Here’s the answer: because they tend to forget. Now, I know that’s not like you, but there are a few of you who forgot something this week. Did you not? Raise your hand if you forgot something this week. Yeah. And for those of you who didn’t raise your hand, you know what? You forgot that you forgot. We forget. What do we need? We need to be reminded. It’s simple as that. We need to be reminded, and so this is a sign. It is indeed pointing back to something that happened in Israel’s history, and it points forward to a future fulfillment of Christ. Verse seven, “Then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, when it the ark passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.” How long? Forever. Does that mean it applies to us? You bet. And we’ll see how it applies to us in a moment but notice here He’s giving them. Yes, this memorial is because the Israelites have now, because we know from Hebrews three and four from last week, they are now in the promised land. They are now in rest that gets consummated in the end when all the enemies are removed. But it’s also important that they know how they got there. Notice what it says: “The waters of the Jordan were cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord.” The Jordan. Now let me let me just explain that for a reason. The Jordan has carried the meaning of this, death and judgment. You say, “Well, why would it do that?” Remember, waters often carry with it the idea of judgment, but particularly the Jordan. Well, why is that? Well, think about in the future, John the Baptist. He is he in his ministry. What is he calling people to do? To repent of their sin and be baptized. Be baptized where? In the Jordan so people would come to him. They would confess their sin and be submerged underneath the Jordan. Why? Because that’s that represents the waters of judgment. That’s actually what they deserve. All the while looking forward in faith to the Messiah, and of course we know Jesus Himself was baptized in the Jordan, not confessing His sin but confessing His own righteousness. And so, the waters of the Jordan were cut off, but notice why they were cut off because or before the Ark of the covenant of the Lord, and then, if you will, he repeats it just slightly different. “When it, that is, the ark passed over the Jordan, notice the waters of the Jordan were cut off.” He repeats it. Why? For emphasis, but he also for this that that the waters were cut off only when the feet of the priests who were carrying the ark were actually in the area that the Jordan was flowing. So as long as those priests and you say, “Well, what were they doing that entire time as the people passed over?” You might think, were they dancing? Were they just walking around? Were they playing cards? Of course not. What were they doing? They were standing still, holding the ark. How long did they stand there? As long as necessary for all the people to pass over. Do we need to remember this? We do. They needed to remember it, and so do we. Joshua 4:8, So that was the command. Notice what they did, “And people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded, and took up the 12 stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of tribes of the people of Israel. (So hence, now we know the number. Why the number?) Just as the Lord told Joshua, and they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged, and they laid them down there” (a place of rest). And so, that’s the first memorial. Notice Joshua 4:9, “And Joshua set up 12 stones in the midst of the Jordan.” And what you’ll see even from pretty seasoned commentaries miss this. Notice the word “and” so they set up one memorial where they lodged. This is a second memorial. This is a second group of stones, and Joshua sets them up where? In the midst of the Jordan, and the place where the feet of the priest bearing the ark of the covenant had stood and notice they’re there to this day. So, if the people were coming from the east and they went into this area where the Jordan flowed, and then they exited out, then they set up that one monument, if you will, there. And I’m not, we don’t know exactly how they set them up, but there, in the place of rest, and God tells them exactly what that means. But then Joshua also sets up another monument, again with 12 stones, where? In the midst of the Jordan, in the midst of the place of death and judgment, a memorial, doing what? Helping us to remember what the Lord did, and here we can obviously tell this is a memorial to the victory that Yahweh had over the grave, over death and judgment. Because as long as the ark was in that area, the waters stayed back; they were cut off. In fact, not one single drop of the Jordan touched any of the persons that crossed across that that went across the Jordan. And so again, what we see is death to life, burden to rest.
Romans 6:3-4. I’m going to jump ahead just for a moment, and then we’ll get back to our narrative. Notice this: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?” Now, don’t think water baptism here yet. We’ll explain the connection. This is actually an immersion. This is, if you will, your real baptism, baptism into who? Into Jesus Christ in particular, into His death. Just as the ark went into the waters of judgment, our Lord and Savior went into the waters of judgment, and we with Him, but we were protected all the while. Verse four, “And we were buried therefore with Him by baptism.” Again, this is our real baptism. This is our real immersion with Jesus Christ into death, His death, our death. “In order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of life.” His life, our life. This is indeed rest. This is the new creation. This is eternal life. And again, do we need to remember things like this? We do. Why do I exhort you to remember? Because we tend to forget. Notice what Jude says in verse five, Jude 5. “Now I want to (what?) remind you.” Why does he need to remind them? “Although you once fully knew it (they knew it, and they tended to forget it, just like us) that Jesus (there you go, here’s your Hero) who saved a people out of the land of Egypt.” In other words, He was the agent of redemption. “And afterward, He destroyed those who did not believe.” He was the agent of judgment. This was Jesus. Now, people are offended at this. We had people last week who were offended by the Word of God. They were offended by this. That in fact it was Jesus who did it. Now we’re reminded of that. I don’t know if you needed to be reminded this morning, but now you are. You’re reminded. That’s Jesus.
Now going back to our narrative, Joshua 4:23-24, “For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over” (Okay, who did it?) as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up for us until we passed over.” Jude 5 tells us exactly who that was. Who was it? That was Jesus. And so yes, this is Jesus doing something for the people of Israel, His people. He is in fact the Good Shepherd. He’s represented by the ark, who went into the waters of judgment, and so the Red Sea and the Jordan are similar, but they’re different. Obviously, different events. What we know about the Red Sea is the waters eventually came back over, but who did the who was covered up by the waters? Of the Red Sea and died, the Egyptians judgment and in fact Exodus 15:5. You have to write this down. It’s not on the screen. “The floods covered them and they went down into the depths like a stone.” Now we don’t have that here in the Jordan, but we do have the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, which is in the present or in the midst of the Jordan, and the waters of judgment, are dried up. How long it stayed still until all the people passed through? These are types. These are types of the redemption of Jesus Christ, pointing forward to what He would do for us eternally, Joshua 4:24 “So that all the people of the earth, peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty.” In other words, He’s glorified. Think ahead to Philippians two. “Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” “And that you, the people of God, may fear the Lord (this is a root issue of your God. How long?) forever”. So, if right now you tend to forget, what do you need to be reminded of? Yeah, the truth of who God is and what He’s done. And much like we did last week, I want to repeat this verse again, John 5:24 “‘Truly, truly, I say to you, (Jesus is speaking) whoever hears My word and believes in Him who sent me, (again, He is separate from the Father, but they are He’s distinct from the Father, but not separate. They are one) He does not come into judgment but is passed from life or death to life.’” This is a big theme in Scripture: death to life. Did we not see it at the Red Sea? We absolutely did. Do we see it at the Jordan? Absolutely, passing from death to life. Again, types pointing to the reality found in Jesus Christ.
Joshua 5:2-3, so we’re continuing on the story again. This is the same day that they crossed over the Jordan. “At that time.” In other words, just as Joshua calls the priests who are holding the ark out of the river. “The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel a second time.’” Now, second time they weren’t actually circumcised. It’s referencing a whole-scale circumcision of the nation of Israel. Verse three, “And Joshua made flint knives (and what did he do? He) circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath-haarloth.” Now, what that means here, this is really just the word for “hill”, and this is we insert that’s the word “the”, and this is “foreskins”. Yeah, that’s picturesque, is it not? A hill of foreskins. Now, who did it? Joshua did it. Now, did he use other men, yes, of course he did, but notice Joshua is a type. Joshua is a type of who? Jesus Christ. Joshua circumcised. We’re going to see in a moment, pointing to the reality that Jesus Christ circumcises His own. Joshua 5:7-8, “So it was their children whom he raised up in their place.” Remember that other generation was destroyed? We read that in Jude 5, that Joshua circumcised. Why? For they were uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way. And when the circumcision of the whole nation was finished, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed. No comment. Notice though the level of faith and the importance of what they’re doing. They just entered into the promised land. Yes, but it was still enemy territory at that time. They’re located in a plain. There is no defense structure there, and because the Lord said you need to be circumcised, they stopped, and what did they do? They circumcised all the males, and they needed to be healed. At that moment, they weren’t a fighting group of men, but they were submissive to God. They crossed the Jordan and immediate circumcision, and so what I need to do now is just for a moment talk about circumcision. I know you know the term, and but we don’t always have I think a proper understanding of it. Now Steve did a great job in in Romans chapter two and Romans chapter four. He in particular preached two sermons that really detailed circumcision, and so right now I reference those for you to go back to study. We’re just going to do, if you will, a refresher.
Here’s where it started out: Genesis 17:10-11, and this is this is the Lord speaking to Abraham. “This is My covenant, which you shall keep between Me and you and your offspring after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised.” There it is, verse 11. “And you shall be circumcised (where?) in the flesh of your foreskins.” Can we agree? This is outward. This is physical, and it shall be a notice sign again. It’s not the ultimate reality, but it’s pointing to ultimate reality-“The covenant between Me and you.” And what we find here is that it’s not only pointing to an ultimate reality; it’s also pointing to the ultimate reality-a reality, the work of Jesus Christ, Romans 4:11, so I just need to jump ahead for a moment, so we understand circumcision. “He (that’s Abraham) received the sign (there it is) of circumcision as a seal of (what?) the righteousness that he had by faith.” Now he received that when he was still uncircumcised. In other words, he was saved when he was uncircumcised. Circumcision then, of itself, the physical act didn’t save him, but it pointed to that internal reality, that which was given to Abraham. He was justified by faith. Now, if we go back to Deuteronomy 10:16, this is again God speaking, and He says, “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart.” Now, obviously, He’s not talking physical here. What is He talking? He’s talking spiritually. He’s using yes this term cut off, but He’s saying, “Do this to your heart.” In other words, the filth. Cut it out. Cut out that which is what? “No longer stubborn.” “No longer stubborn”. It’s another way of saying stiff neck. In other words, you won’t bow your head to the Lord God Almighty. It means this. You’re autonomous, which means this. You’ll say, “I trust myself over the Lord. Lord, You’re a liar. I trust me.” That those are all characteristics here, and what God is telling the people to do, you need to cut that out, cut it off, cut out that part of your heart that is sinful, that is filthy. Deuteronomy 30:6. Now, of course, we know we can’t do that. But notice the gracious promise of our Lord and God. Notice, “And the Lord your God, (what will He do?) He will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, that you might live.” Again this is inward. This is Him cutting out the sin nature, that which poisons you. It causes you to love sin, and in its place, He gives you a heart that will do what? Will love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul, so that you may live. You might have rest. You might have eternal life.
Let me illustrate it this way. Let’s say later this summer you want to go spend some time alone or with your family, and you rent an Airbnb cabin, a beautiful area. You love the pictures. You go, and hey, actually the pictures represent it. And there’s a stream that you were looking forward to looking at, and when you get there, you see the stream that’s flowing down, and here’s your cabin. You’re welcome. If you’re going to use these pictures elsewhere, please give me credit. The, but here’s the problem: when you’re looking at the stream, this is what you see: pollution. You see trash, and it’s all over the place. And so, you’re thinking, “Well, I’m going to be here for a week. This is what I’ll do. I’ll go clean it up.” And so, you spend your first afternoon there cleaning it up. The next morning, you get up, you get your coffee, you go out into the back area patio, and you want to look over this beautiful stream. Ah, there’s a problem. The pollution and trash has returned, and so that second day, here’s what you do: you pick up all the trash, you pick it up, and you think, “Ah, now finally I’ll be able to enjoy this.” And the third day, you wake up, oh lo and behold, it’s still full of pollution and trash, and so you figure this out. You know what I need to do? “I need to take a hike and go upstream and see what the issue is. I need to see what the source of this stream is. I need to see where the fountain is.” And what you find out is this: it’s actually a trash dump. It’s a trash dump. So, if you have a trash dump, what are you expecting to flow out of it in the stream of water? Trash, pollution. This is a picture of our heart. This is the promise of our God. He will circumcise. What your heart? He’s going to circumcise that which is filth. He will take the sin nature and cut it away, so that what you can love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul, that you may live. Now I get it. Our experience now is that in my life I still see sin. Yeah, but what we’re learning is this: the inside has been completely cleaned by Jesus, and I’m being sanctified in my mind, will, and emotions. And yeah, I still have the vestiges of sin in my body. Nonetheless, this work is done. There is nothing else that Jesus can do to clean the inside of you. He’s cleaned it. Jesus fulfilled circumcision. He fulfilled it.
And let’s see exactly how He did it. Luke 2:21, “And at the end of eight days, when He was circumcised.” Who’s that? That’s Jesus. He was circumcised. In other words, He obeyed perfectly the law. He Himself was circumcised. Why? Not because He needed the evil sin nature taken away. He didn’t. He wasn’t born of Adam. He was born of the woman. But because this is pointing to the work that He would accomplish. Remember what we talked about last week? The work of redemption, similar to the work of creation. He had 33 years of what? Perfect law keeping, and then the atonement. Here is the beginning of this. He, in fact, was circumcised, so He fulfilled physical circumcision, but then we see Him fulfill the spiritual circumcision. We see a prophecy of this in Isaiah 53:8. “By oppression and judgment, He (that’s the Messiah, Jesus) He was taken away, and for His generation who considered that He was (notice) cut off, He in fact was circumcised out of the land of the living, stricken (why?) for the transgression of My people?” Jesus Himself fulfilled circumcision. We see this particular in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake He made Him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” “He made Jesus to be sin.” In other words, on the cross, the people of God, their sin went where on Jesus Himself, made Him to be sin. So, what happened? Jesus Himself was cursed. He Himself received the wrath. He himself experienced death. This is Jesus fulfilling spiritual circumcision. He was cut off so that we might be brought near. Matthew 3:11 These are the words of John the Baptist, and again he’s speaking forward, and we’ll see how this all ties together. And John the Baptist says, “‘I baptize you with the water for repentance whereat in the Jordan. But He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I’m not worthy to carry. He will (notice) baptize you not with water, but with the Holy Spirit and with fire.’” This is actually judgment in hell. Here, He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Now keep that in mind as we read Romans 2:29, “But a Jew, (a true person of God, a Jew) is one inwardly (not outwardly) and circumcision is a matter of the heart.” So, he’s not now talking about outward circumcision. He’s talking about inward circumcision. This is true or real spiritual circumcision is a matter of the heart, inward by the spirit, and not by the letter of the law. “His praise is not from man, but from God.” This is indeed real spiritual circumcision. Jesus baptizes His own in the Holy Spirit. They are regenerated. The Holy Spirit brings all the work that Jesus accomplished on our behalf, and the Holy Spirit applies it to our life.
Verse 11 from Colossians 2:11-14 “In Him (that is in Jesus Christ, what you) were circumcised (again this is inward, the spiritual reality) with a circumcision made without hands.” Again, emphasizing this is not outward. This is not the physical act. The physical act pointed this pointed to what Jesus would fulfill “By putting off the body of flesh,” (what is that? That’s your sinful nature, your sin nature) by the circumcision of Christ.” He Himself fulfilled it. He baptizes you in the Holy Spirit. Verse 12, “Having been buried with Him in baptism.” Oh, we got to hang on here. Baptism. This again, this is not water baptism. This is an immersion. This is synonymous with circumcision. Synonymous with circumcision. You’ve been buried with Him, “In which you were also raised with Him.” Again, what do we think? Death to life. We’ve seen it on repeat. We see it on repeat in the Old Testament. We’re seeing it here in the fulfillment of Jesus, “In which you were raised again with Him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised Him from the dead.” We see the memorial in the Jordan and in the Promised Land. They crossed over and they set up a memorial in the Promised Land, the place of rest. And they set up a memorial where? In the actual Jordan, the place where Yahweh had victory over death. Verse 13, “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh.” Uncircumcision. And in other words, your sinful nature was still alive and active. You were dead. You were helpless. What’s like the people were before the Jordan? They were helpless. You were helpless. Here, who is comes in. “God made you alive together with (who? With Christ) having forgiven us all of our trespasses.” His death is our death. His life is our life. If we are united with Him “By canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demand that He set aside, nailing it to the cross.” So again, if we were to push into circumcision, and hopefully I try to pull this together for you.
When we think about circumcision,
Abolished
Circumcision
Continues as is
There are some people who say this: “it’s abolished. Doesn’t matter. It’s abolished.” There are other people who say this: “Yeah, it does matter. It continues as is.” And then there’s a group of people, and I know there are some in here. And you’re thinking, “Who cares?” Well, here’s what we know. Circumcision, in fact, was pointing to this that Jesus wanted one day fulfill it. How did He? He fulfilled it physically. Yes, He fulfilled it spiritually. And so, what about for you and for me? Here’s what we know: we walk it out in the new and living way, the new and living way. And what is that? Jesus Himself circumcises His own. He circumcises us. He baptizes us in other language with what the Holy Spirit. This is your day, which we call regeneration. That is the moment your sin nature was removed. Who does that? Jesus does it. Jesus does it. Now, is it important for you to remember that? Oh, yes, it is. What does He do to help us remember that? Water baptism. That’s a sign. It’s a sign pointing to the work of Jesus Christ. And notice the progression here. You’re water baptized. It reminds you. Oh yeah, this is what Jesus did for me. Well, how’s that even possible? Because Jesus did this. Well, how do we know what exactly He fulfilled? It’s because we know what this is in the Old Testament. It’s that important. Yes, Jesus fulfilled it. It doesn’t mean that circumcision is abolished. Jesus has fulfilled it. Matthew 5:17, “I haven’t come to abolish the law. I’ve come to fulfill it.” Likewise, it doesn’t continue as is. Why Jesus fulfilled it? We walk it out in a new and living way. He baptizes us in the Holy Spirit. We’re regenerated. Our means of remembering is water baptism, and Jesus commands us to be baptized. It is in fact an ordinance. But think about this: what a striking display of grace. We’re reminded: “Oh yeah, I didn’t save myself. He saved me.” Well, how’s that even possible? Because He Himself suffered under the wrath that was due me. What a striking display of grace!
We have one more verse from our narrative, Joshua 5:10, “While the people of Israel were encamped at Gilgal (so immediately after they were circumcised, notice) they kept the Passover on the 14th day of the month in the evening of the plains of Jericho.” Now they came over on the 10th day, and so they were immediately circumcised. Why did they need to be circumcised? They couldn’t participate in Passover without being circumcised. Is the 14th day important of that month? It is because it is exactly the day that God in Exodus told the nation of Israel, “This is when you are to celebrate Passover.” Oh, what an incredible coincidence that they traveled all that distance for 40 years, and oh, look, behold, it’s the day of Passover. I’m being sarcastic, right? Why? God designed this all the while. This is God’s design. If you don’t have eyes of faith that see that, that’s on you. This is God designing the very history of His people to accomplish His purposes, and it always has meaning with it. Let’s go back to Exodus and learn what we can about Passover. Exodus 11:4-5, “So Moses said, ‘Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight, I will go out in the midst of Egypt, and every firstborn in the land. Notice in the land that includes Israel, they shall die. The firstborn shall die.’” Why should Israel die along with Egypt? Let me ask you: Did they sin? Yes. Okay, they deserve to die. That’s justice “From the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on the throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who’s behind the handmill and the firstborn of the cattle.” And so now He’s going to explain the mercy that He has or will have on Israel? Exodus 12:5 says, “Your lamb shall be without blemish.” Who does that sound like? That sounds like Jesus. Again, this is a type pointing to Jesus. “A male year old.” In other words, this is not an old lamb. It’s one in its prime. “You may take it from the sheep or the goats.” Exodus 12:6 “And you shall keep it until the 14th day (there it is again. His design of this month) when the whole assembly of the congregation shall kill their lambs at twilight. Exodus 12:7, “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.” Notice, it wasn’t enough just for someone to say, “Yep, I got this lamb here,” and it wasn’t enough for them to just kill the lamb. What do they need to do? They actually had to apply the blood. This goes back, if you remember last week, that that we need to go all the way in. You actually need to really believe in Jesus Christ, repent of your sin, and believe in Him as the one and only Savior. This is the means by which we are saved from His own wrath. Exodus 12:8, and “They shall eat the flesh at night, roasted on fire.” Again, what vivid imagery of the Lamb being all of it being roasted in fire. In other words, the judgment of God. “With unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.” Exodus 12:11, “In this manner you shall eat it with your belt fashion, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. (In other words, they are sojourners) And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s.” It’s not ours. Give credit to where credit is due. This Passover has an impact on Him as well as the benefit of the Israelites. Exodus 12:13, “The blood shall be a sign for you (there you go) on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, (what?) I will pass over. (That is why it’s called the Passover) And no plague shall befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.” Salvation through judgment. Exodus 12:14, “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. And it shall be a statue forever that you shall keep it as a feast.” What does that mean? Does that mean it has application to us? You bet it does. It does, and we will see what that is in just a moment, but here’s what we know: everything’s pointing to our need for Christ or Christ Himself, and here we see the Passover pointing to Jesus Christ Himself. First of all, He fulfills it this way. Notice, Luke 22:15 “He said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover.’” He Himself observed the Passover, knowing, of course, that the Passover is pointing to Him. And the quote we have here, we’re going to read more from it a bit later. But he connects the Passover celebration and how he fulfilled it, and what we are to do today in the New Covenant. 1 Corinthians 5:7, “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. (Notice) For Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed.” This is Jesus fulfilling the Passover.
And so, if we look at the Passover,
Abolished
Passover
Continues as is
Again, very similar to what we saw before. Some people say it’s abolished. Yeah, we don’t need to celebrate the Passover. Some people say, “Yeah, we do. We need to keep it as is.” Here’s what we know: Who fulfilled it? Jesus Himself fulfilled it. He was the Passover Lamb. So now, what do we do? We walk it out in a new and living way. And what is that? The Lord’s Supper, Communion. This is our means of doing what? Of remembering. Remembering what? How awesome you are? How awesome I am? You know that’s not the case. We’re remembering who Jesus is and what He’s done. Which way does that go? It goes backwards. Again we are remembering, and thus we remember who Jesus is and what He’s done. And for us to get a full understanding of that, yes, we need to understand the Passover. We’re not celebrating the Passover as it used to be, nor is it abolished. Jesus fulfilled it. We now walk it out in the new and living way. And here we go, this is our second ordinance. It is a means by which Jesus has commanded us to do what? To remember Him. And so, does it point? This is obviously a striking display of grace. Does it point to unmerited favor? Yes, of course. This is unmerited favor, and it points to empowering favor. Because think about this: in the Lord’s Supper, you’re hearing the gospel preached, and you remember, and you say this, “Thank You, Lord. I remember Your death. Thank You, Lord. I remember Your blood. I don’t bring anything to the table. You did it all.” Think about that. What you’re doing is you’re giving honor and glory to the one who deserves glory and honor, and that’s empowering favor into your life. It’s you giving up your works and living out of the rest that He has provided for you. This is indeed a striking display of divine grace.
Romans 3:23-27, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” How many? All. It was we were in a possible situation. We had a heart full of filth, much like the Israelites were at the edge of the Jordan. They couldn’t cross that on their own, but notice “And are justified by (our works, nope) by His grace.” Please do not try to take credit for the work of God. He did this. What a striking display of grace, and it’s “A gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” We see Jesus in the Old Testament again and again and again, redeem His people. He saves His people. All of those are pictures pointing to what He did eternally in His perfect life and His death on the cross, His burial, His resurrection, and His ascension. Verse 25: “Whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood.” In other words, He satisfied the wrath. All of the wrath that was due. What? The world? No, due His people. Remember that the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan. Did the world cross over the Jordan? No, just the people of God. Jesus died for His own. He received the wrath that was due us. Just as the people crossing the Jordan, there is not one drop of water that touched them. Why? Because the ark was in the midst and it cut off the waters. Likewise, there is not. If you are and belong to Jesus, there is not one bit of wrath that will touch you. That is good news, and is that because you’re awesome? Nope, it’s because of who He is and His choice. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins. It was to show His righteousness at the present time, that He might be just and a justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Again, we need to go all the way in. Verse 27, “Then what becomes of our boasting? (Yeah, nothing) It is excluded.” We can’t do this. Think about the ordinances, baptism, water baptism, and the Lord’s communion. Is that a celebration of us? Is this a celebration of our decision? No. This is a celebration of what He has done. When we see people water baptized, here’s what you should do is this: “That was me. That was me. Thank You, Jesus, what You’ve done.” In a moment, in the Lord’s Supper, what do we say? “Oh, Jesus, Your work on the cross is awesome. I’m glad I contributed a bit.” No, what do we say? “I’ve got no boasting. I come with empty hands.” “By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.” If in fact you are not saved, your next today is repentantly baptized. Come all the way. Jesus is calling you into rest. If in fact you have been saved, He has in fact baptized in you in the Holy Spirit, but you have not yet been baptized. You’re next to be baptized. Till that point, you’re in disobedience. Repent and believe. If you in fact have been saved and you’ve been water baptized, when you see baptism, what do you do? You celebrate and say, “Thank You, Jesus, for saving me.” And if you are saved, what do you do? You participate by faith in what communion, the Lord’s Supper. Why? You need to remember because we tend to forget. What a striking display of divine grace in those two ordinances. Amen.
Here’s what I want to do. I want to transition now to a time where we participate in the Lord’s Supper. So, if you want, you can begin to open up your elements again. Let me exhort you that this is a time for those who, in fact, have been baptized in the Holy Spirit; those who have been circumcised, their sinful nature removed. That that’s not you. Just leave the elements where they’re at, because there is a very stern warning in 1 Corinthians 11:27-32. “Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks of the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.” Again, these are elementary elements, if you will. But think about the stones that they pulled out. It wasn’t some great, magnificent memorial. Very simple, very straightforward. “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. (Again, this is the Word of God) But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined, so that we may not be condemned along with the world.” Having heard this warning, let’s go back to 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, “For I received from the Lord, what I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, He took bread. When He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.’ (Again, we’re looking back to what He accomplished.) In the same way, also He took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is a new covenant in My blood. Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim what the Lord’s death until He comes.’” We’re not proclaiming ourselves. We’re not proclaiming our works. We’re proclaiming His death until He comes. This. This wafer represents the broken body of our Lord and Savior. Lord, we remember. This cup represents the new covenant in His blood. Lord. We remember.
KEYWORDS
God, Jesus, Divine Grace, Ordinances, Joshua, Rest, Remember, Types And Shadows, Israelites Crossing, Jordan River, Memorial Stones, Circumcision, Passover, Lord’s Supper, Communion, Baptism, Redemption, Covenant, Spiritual Circumcision, Water Baptism, New Creation, Gibeath-haarloth, Gospel, Sign, Stream, Trash, Bible Church, Nondenominational Church, Church In Texas, Churches In Sherman TX
Speaker
Jeff Wideman