7/5/26 - THE TWELVE STONES X's TWO / Joshua 3 & 4

Identity.

What do you see from heaven above when you look down past the stars to me? You say you've washed me in His precious blood and no sin or stain is there to see, but what you see and what my mirror sees are very different indeed. And I find it hard to believe that a new creation I can be. I want to see what you see me to be and not what my mirror tells. A man in Christ is what you've made me to be and I want to be nothing else. But I struggle and try to fix the things that hold on to me, but somehow the harder I try, the harder it gets to be free. The things that I do I don't want to do and the things I want to do I can't. There's a dark cloud hovering over me and I'm troubled within. I feel trapped and I can't get away from the sin within me. Oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me? And then I saw the truth of God and my identity. I was trying to be someone God had already made me to be. I died with Christ and the old man is dead, and I live because he rose up again. My life is in him and my identity, my acceptance is in Christ and not in me. I died with Christ and the old man is dead, and I live because he rose up again. My life is in him and my identity, my acceptance is in Christ and not in me. My acceptance is in Christ and not in me, and God's word is the mirror of my identity. Amen.

So, why don't we pray together and we'll ask God's blessing. Our God and our Father, it's a privilege once again to come together around thy word. It's always a joy to gather together with others to open the word of God. Speak to each one of us, we pray. We want to hear your voice speaking into the situations of our lives that we might have direction as to what you would have us to do. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

So, I I'd like to read just a verse in 1 Corinthians 15. Tonight we'd like to talk about the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. And in 1 Corinthians 15, we have the gospel given to us in verse 3, beginning in verse 3. For I delivered unto you, Paul is speaking, for I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received. How that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. And that he was buried. And that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.

So, there's three parts that we see here to this good news, this gospel. First, Christ died for our sins. Second, he was buried. In other words, he went into death. And third, three days later, he rose again. Hallelujah.

So, this good news, this gospel, is pictured for us in the Old Testament. Many places, but I'm thinking about the book of Exodus. In Exodus, you remember that the people of Israel were in captivity to Pharaoh. And God delivered them. And the night of the deliverance, there was a lamb, the Passover lamb, that was offered. So, that judgment passed over the homes of Israel where the blood of the lamb was placed over their door posts. And then, God delivered them through the Red Sea.

So, first we have the Passover lamb. That pictures Christ dying for our sins. The blessed savior suffering for our sins. But after they had eaten the Passover lamb, they're still in Egypt. They weren't delivered yet. And so, they flee from Pharaoh to the Red Sea. And there, Pharaoh's army is behind them, the mountains on each side, and the sea in front of them, and they's trapped, it looked like. And yet God wrought this great deliverance, had Moses raise his staff, and God parted the sea.

Now, the Red Sea pictures the death of Christ and his resurrection. So, that it says, if you look at it in Exodus 14, that the people of God went through the Red Sea on dry ground. God parted the sea and brought a wind to dry the ground, and they went through on dry ground. So, that's a picture of death itself for a believer. Through Christ's death, we can go through on dry ground, go through death, and it doesn't touch us. The judgment of God does not touch us because it came upon Jesus. Oh death, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory?

Now, when they get through the Red Sea and they're on the other side, God closes that water, and then remember, they see all of their enemies, Pharaoh's army, destroyed. So, now we have in what we've just looked at here in the gospel, we've seen that Christ died for our sins in the Passover lamb. He was buried. There is his death. The wages of sin is death, which he took for us, and yet because he went into death, we no longer have to fear death if Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior.

Now, I want to give you a verse because if Jesus Christ is not your Lord and Savior tonight, the Bible says in Hebrews that it's appointed unto men once to die, and after this, the judgment. So, every person, every man, every woman has an appointment with death that God has ordered. He's given us a certain number of days to live in this world. And every one of us has an appointment with death. But after this the judgment. Now, that's for unbelievers. Because we just spoken about in the Red Sea, we see that God delivered the nation Israel by the blood of the Passover lamb and through the Red Sea. Delivered them from judgment. And the picture is from the judgment for our sins and from death itself, which Christ received for us.

So, that is that brought them into the wilderness. And really this world is a wilderness for every believer. And the Bible tells us in Peter that we're to be strangers and pilgrims in this world as we're passing through on the way to glory, to heaven. Hallelujah. But the picture for the nation Israel was that they were going to the promised land. And for that, we see another aspect of salvation that is not mentioned here in 1 Corinthians 15. So, we see that the good news, Christ died for our sins and you can't say that unless you've received Christ as Lord and Savior. Because it's a pronoun, our. Christ died for our sins. He was buried. On the third day, he rose again to the scriptures. Praise the Lord. What a wonderful gospel and good news.

So, through Christ's death, you can be forgiven. You can be justified by his precious blood as the book of Romans gives us. You can be reconciled to God. You have eternal life the moment that you receive Christ as Lord and Savior. But after they went through the wilderness, and this is another story in itself because they wandered 40 years because when God brought them to the promised land the first time they wouldn't go in. So after 40 years he brings them back to the promised land. Joshua is going to lead them in. Now this is a different aspect of salvation and we're going to find it in the book of Colossians.

If the Exodus pictures for us God has brought us out of our guilt, out of our bondage to sin in the world, in slavery to sin. Hallelujah. You know, just think about that. The whole nation Israel, the people of God, were all slaves. They were delivered slaves. Well, I'll tell you that's a picture of what every person is. They're a slave to sin and through the salvation of Jesus Christ, through that good news, through his death for us, our guilt can be taken away and we can be saved from our enemies. In our case it's the world, the flesh and the devil.

And so now they're at Jordan River. And that is the border that was going to take them in from the wilderness on the east side of the Jordan, through the Jordan to the promised land, the land of Canaan. Now for that I'm going to read a few verses in the book of Joshua that gives us the history, the event of them going in to the promised land. And I'm going to start in verse one of chapter three of Joshua. "And Joshua rose early in the morning and came and moved from Shittim and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel and lodged there before they passed over." So there before they pass over Jordan, they're staying at the Jordan River.

Now in verse 15 it tells us that at that time the Jordan was overflowing its banks. So, this is a flood time. So, if you are going to cross a river, you don't do it in a flood time when the waters are moving quickly and the waters are high. Yeah, you want to do it you want to find a shallow spot where there wasn't one. And so, God then steps in again and this is what he does. He tells Joshua in verse 11, "Behold the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passes over before you into Jordan." Now, the ark of the covenant pictures the throne of God, the presence of God with Israel. That's a whole lesson in itself about the ark.

Now, verse 12. "Now, therefore, take you 12 men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man. And it shall come to pass as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above, and they shall rise up into a heap." So, once again, God is going to bring this people through waters. Not the Red Sea, but now it's the Jordan. And he's going to stop those waters, and the waters are going to back up as they flow down from the north.

And verse 14 now. "And the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the Lord, and as they bear the ark were coming to the Jordan, the feet of the priests that bear the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, that the waters that came down from above stood up and rose up in a heap." So, just as God had said. And verse 17. "And the priests that bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on once again dry ground." And that the significance, just like we saw at the Red Sea, is that Christ went into death and he felt the full brunt, the full force, the full judgment of death itself. The wages of sin is death. But believers in Christ go through death on dry ground. In other words, it has no sting, as we said earlier, upon them. So, they stood on firm dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground.

Now, here is the aspect of salvation that we have not yet spoken about. In chapter 4 of Joshua, "Take you 12 men out of the people, out of every tribe a man, and command you them saying, 'Take you hence out of the midst of the Jordan, out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm, 12 stones. And you shall carry them over with you and leave them in the lodging place where you shall lodge this night.'" So, God says that he wants one man from every tribe of Israel, the 12 tribes, to go into the midst of the river and to pick up a stone. Now, these are large stones in verse 5. "And Joshua said unto them, 'Pass over before the ark of the Lord your God in the midst of Jordan, and take you up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder, according unto the number of the tribes of children of Israel.'" So, they each went in and picked up a large stone and put it on his shoulder and took it over to the west, the west side of the Jordan, which was Canaan. And that's where they set them.

And now verse 9. "And Joshua set up 12 stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priest which bear the ark of the covenant stood and they are there unto this day." So, you have 12 stones that came out of the midst of the Jordan where the priests were standing, what we're picturing the presence of God, taken over to the Canaan side. And then, 12 stones were taken from the east side, the wilderness side, and placed in the midst of the river. So, you got 12 stones in the midst of the river, 12 stones on the Canaan side.

Verse 18, "It came to pass when the priests that bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord were come out of the midst of the Jordan and the soles of the priests' feet were lifted up unto the dry land that the waters of Jordan returned unto their place and flowed over his banks as they did before." And so, this is a beautiful picture of what we're going to look at in Colossians chapter 3.

So, remember God places what are called types or shadows, pictures that have spiritual meaning in the Old Testament. But, they point forward to Christ. Just like the Passover lamb points forward to Christ. 1 Corinthians 5:7, "Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed unto us." But, the Red Sea, the Lord Jesus taking our sins and death itself, going into death for us. All these are pictures of the truth that we find in the New Testament. Now, what about the 12 stones? Ah.

So, in chapter 2 of Colossians now, remember, this is written to believers. If you're not a believer, you could just understand how great this salvation is, but you can't participate in it until you receive Christ. And we hope you receive Christ even in this moment. Because you're in a great danger. As I said, it's appointed unto men once to die after this, the judgment. But for those that receive Christ, judgment is passed. Jesus said in John chapter 5, "Whoever heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me has everlasting life and shall not shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life." I like that. It makes me laugh just because I'm so happy that I'm on God's side and not on the side that you might be on tonight if you don't know Christ.

So, in Colossians chapter 2, verse 20, it says, "Wherefore if you be dead with Christ," so we've been looking at the aspect of salvation of what Christ did for us. Hallelujah. But now we're looking at what God has done for us through Christ in identifying us with Christ. Remember the Red Sea took us out of the world, away from our enemies, away from our guilt and bondage to slavery of sin and the devil. And now he's bringing us into a new aspect of salvation. And in that, those 12 stones represented the 12 tribes of Israel or for us, represent each one of us. And that is that when Christ died, we died. "I am crucified with Christ," Paul said. Read Romans chapter 6. The whole picture of baptism is us being identified with Christ's death. But this is something even more than that. Inner identification with Christ's death, we die through him. It says, "If ye then be dead with Christ." What does that mean? Well, it means that the old man, that old sinful man that has that Adamic nature inherited from Adam, that he's dead. In the sight of God, HE IS NO MORE. GET A hold of this. In the sight of God when you become a believer God sees that old man just as he is, an old man who has died with Christ.

And then he goes on in chapter 3 of Colossians, "If ye then be risen with Christ seek those things which are above." Wait a minute. The moment you receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior you are identified in the sight of God with his death. You have died with him. God no longer sees you as the sinful man that you used to be. Now he sees you dead with Christ. The judgment of death that Christ received you died in him. I'm crucified with Christ. But something more. When Christ rose the third day, it says, "I have risen with him." If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. This is the resurrection of Jesus Christ was my resurrection. Jesus said, "Because I live, ye shall live also."

So we have this incredible aspect of salvation that shows us that our identity is no longer as a sinner but now it's as a saint. How is that possible? Well, by the grace of God through the blood of the Lord Jesus, through his death, through God identifying us with the death of Christ. God has now given us new life in him, just like Paul said in Galatians 2:20, "I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. Hallelujah. So, that every believer now has a new identity. He is a risen man. He is a heavenly man. Just like Israel went into the promised land. Now, that's just a picture for us because they had enemies in the promised land. So, it's not talking about heaven because there's no enemies in heaven, but it's talking about a man who is a heavenly man. And that's what every Christian is who is in a world with spiritual enemies that he must that oppose him, that he has to fight against. And that's why Ephesians chapter 6 says to put on the whole armor of God because there's a warfare here.

But the point we want to stick with is a new identity. A new identity. Dead. No longer am I what I used to be. Hallelujah. This is not some fanciful thing. This is because someone has taken my place. Christ has taken my place in death and in judgment. And now because he's risen I am seen by God identified with the resurrected, ascended, and glorified Christ. This is incredible.

In fact, in chapter two of Ephesians and verse six of I'll start in five. "And ye who were dead in sins have he made alive together with Christ. By grace you are saved." Now, listen to this. "And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Hallelujah. You see this? Not only am I no longer seen in my old sinful endemic nature. That identification is gone from God's sight. Now, I'm a resurrected in the new life of Christ. He's given me a new life. And not only that, but God sees the work of my life here is already accomplished and I'm seated with Christ in heavenly places.

This is beyond this gospel, this good news is beyond anything you could ever imagine. God does not want to leave you in the wilderness. He definitely doesn't want to leave you in Egypt. He doesn't want to leave you wandering in the wilderness, either. He wants you to know that through Christ, you could be a new man, a new identity. Hallelujah. This is absolutely awesome.

So, every believer needs to look upon himself according to this truth. Not according to what he feels, not according to what his experience is, but according to the facts. And the facts are what God gives us here that we have died with Christ, we have risen with Christ, and even in Ephesians we've ascended into the glory in Christ. Wow.

If you're without Christ tonight, you have no idea the blessing that you are missing. And you have no hope, none whatsoever. You will never change. You cannot change because Israel could not deliver themselves out of the bondage and slavery of Egypt under the dominion of Pharaoh. They couldn't do it. God had to do it. And God is offering you tonight to set you free by the blood of the lamb that all your guilt and sins could be paid for through his precious blood. God is offering that through the death of Christ, death will no longer have a sting upon you that judgment has passed for you forever. And God will bring you in with a new identity having been identified with Christ death. And now you've died and you are risen with him a new life, a new man, a new creation. Oh, my friend, that can be yours in a moment of time if you'll repent of your sins and trust Christ as your Lord and as your savior.

Let's pray. Our blessed God, we pray if any man listening, if they've never opened their heart to you, Lord Jesus, may they do it in this moment. May they have some sense of how great this salvation is that they might turn to thee, Lord, and that they might receive you as their savior and as their Lord. We ask it in your worthy name, Lord Jesus. Amen. Amen.