Book of Joshua - Ch. 3, Vs. 1-17 (12/21/2003)

Park Meadows Church

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Turn to Joshua the third chapter, please verse 1

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By the way, I have a question I want to leave with you But I don't want to give it to you now because you'd be thinking about it all the time that wouldn't pay attention to the lesson and Joshua rose up early in the morning and And they removed from Chiton and came to Jordan and all the children of Israel and lodged there before they passed over Now we're getting ready to cross the

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River Jordan the

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Hebrews Say that this was in March which it was

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They didn't have Our calendar but March and is on Wednesday the 29th at 530 a .m

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About 40 days after the death of Moses we find that they who are earnest and diligent and persevering in the discharge of their appropriate duties

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May expect to be rendered greatly useful and advanced to distinguished honor and glory

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You cannot have honor and glory and not Do your work

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Second verse and it came to pass after three days that the officers went through the host

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After three days Either at the end of them or upon the last of them

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They went through the host the second time They're preparing the people and they repeat the instructions three and they commanded the people saying

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When you see the Ark of Covenant of the Lord your God and The priests and the

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Levites burying it Then you shall remove from your place and go after it yet.

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There Shall be a space between you and it about two thousand cubits by measure or 3 ,500 feet

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Come not near unto it that you may know the way By which you must go for you have not passed this way before Now God commanded

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Joshua, you know in our study in our reading We go from One book to another and one verse to another

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But why do you suppose it is? Mm -hmm. Joshua has come into power now he was under Moses and He has now leading the people

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Dennis why is it that the people just fall in and follow him? Why why don't they argue?

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They they knew that God was with him now That's The key to it

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When they crossed the Red Sea Moses went down to the water. You remember and they smoked the water and it

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Created well, God created a strong wind that blew the water back

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But when they crossed the Jordan River, it was actually a greater miracle

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Why is this greater? David Well, let's see if we can find out

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First of all the rivers at flood stage and their crossing

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Caused a holding back of the water That were rushing down to the

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Dead Sea. Now. He didn't part the waters. He stopped the waters and the down part drained off To the

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Dead Sea also something new has been added the Ark To go down Now they did not have the

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Ark in the first in the Red Sea But they were instructed

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To stay away from the Ark by at least three -quarters of a mile or five eights or whatever two thousand cubits

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And It's be carried by the priests who are who will come down to the edge of Jordan To follow the directions of God is indicated by his word

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How else are we going to know? except through communication with him

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Then you shall go after it yet. There shall be a space between you and it these instructions

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Refer exclusively to the advance into the river now picture in your mind as we are going

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The distance which the people were to keep to the rear of the Ark was three -quarters of a mile

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What would have happened John if they had all crowded up around the Ark Dennis That's it

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You wouldn't want to crowd the Ark anyhow you'd be struck dead but Besides that it's out away from you where everybody can see it now

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Russell how is that like Jesus Christ today? Yes, that's it.

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We can all see He's not blocked by someone else

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Five and Joshua said unto the people Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow.

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The Lord will do wonders among you Now sanctify yourself, what does that mean

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David? Okay back in Exodus 19

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It's Given by Moses to the people They were to wash themselves and their garments and abstain from everything that would occupy their mind there to be pure holy and single -mindedness

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Six and Joshua spake unto the priests now this is a private conversation if you will he gathered the priests together and Instructing them take up the

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Ark of the Covenant and Pass over before the people and they took up the Ark of the

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Covenant and went before the people Take up namely upon your shoulders

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Or so they were to carry it Before the people not in the middle of them as You're used to but before it's going before now

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This order to the priests would have been given privately as I said in involving As it did the important change in the established order of March in the former order of March when

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When they would camp at night the Ark was where in relation to the people in us

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In the center of the camp so we're not going to To do that we're going to change the order here

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As soon as the priest stepped into the waters of Jordan They were

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Standing they were to stand still the Ark was to accomplish what had been done by the rod of Moses Moses struck the water

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The Ark now is to stand still or come down to the lip of the river

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And just as they put their feet in We'll see what happens and the

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Lord said unto Joshua this day Will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all

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Israel that they may know That as I was with Moses So will

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I be with thee? By making him the instrument in this miraculous passage

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He did him honor and gave him high credit in the sight of the people Now David, why why did

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God do this and was it necessary? That's right.

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And He was the next leader His authority was established

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In obedience to him as their leader fully secured What must have confirmed this authority was?

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His foretelling how the waters should be cut off as soon as the feet of the priests had touched them eight and Thou shalt command the priests that bear the

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Ark of the Covenant Saying when you are come to the brink of the water of Jordan You shall stand still in Jordan Now we've marched down their

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Three quarters of a mile ahead. I can't see that far but those around me are going and I'd go

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So when they come to the I Don't know which bank it is.

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Which way are we traveling David? Well, the river runs north and south

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East or west I think it's west The priest proceeded first with the

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Ark and entered into the bed of the river The course of which was immediately arrested

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When they got there it immediately was stopped And by immediate

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I mean right now The water shut off. It was as though you had a dam across the river and the water began to pile up The waters below began to dry up Mine and Joshua said unto the children of Israel Come hither and hear the words of the

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Lord your God. You shall stand still in Jordan the whole camp Therefore passed over below the priests where the priests were standing keeping at a distance of 2 ,000 cubits

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So they didn't pass where they were they went down below and passed and They would readily do so in a hurry.

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He he hastens them up Put yourself

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John in that position here's The Ark and the waters are stopped and now your command to go across would you?

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lally -gag around I don't think you would either Why why would you hurry?

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Because that's it The river was dry for many miles below the place where the priest entered

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But no one knew but what it would Fill up again 10 and Joshua said hereby

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You shall know that the Living God is among you and that he will without fail drive out from before you the

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Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the

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Presetites and the Good Girgashites and the

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Amorites and the Jebusites and any other heights you can think of However However dark your path is before you

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Who is it that can show you the way? Dennis Lord And however, great the difficulties in the way of duty he can remove them and Cause us in them to obey him in triumph 11 behold the ark of the covenant by the

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Lord of all of the earth Passes over before you into Jordan now, it doesn't really do that But it's coming the

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Priests were ordered to move to the center of the river first they came down and as they touched the

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Where the water would be it stopped, but then they walked on up halfway

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Now therefore take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel and every tribe a man and It shall come to pass as Soon as the souls of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the

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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 stand upon a heap

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Multitude of things here And we find that a multitude things of God which men are

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With men, it's impossible to do certain things Dennis could you have shut that water off?

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Well, you could have if you had a big enough contract and enough machinery you could have built a dam

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No Way what?

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Yes That's right

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It's therefore reasonable and a duty of to believe whatever he declares and Show that belief by our conduct now.

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Do we do that? I hope so And it came to pass when the people removed removed from their tents to Passover Jordan and The priests bearing the

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Ark of the Covenant went before the people Now to understand this the scene that's described to us.

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We must imagine That the band of priests with the Ark of their on their shoulders standing on the edge of the river while the mass of the people were

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At a miles distance suddenly the whole bed of the river was dried up a

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Spectacle the more extraordinary in that it took place in the harvest time or at flood stage

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Corresponding to our March or April or May When the Jordan overflowed all its banks the original words may be more properly understood rendered fills all its banks

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It's a channel snow fed from Lebanon Was that the greatest height?

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it was brimful a Translation well the modern -day travelers

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The Jordan River was a little different than other rivers in that country in that it originated in Mount Lebanon and Mount Lebanon always received a lot of snow now back in the early early early days

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There were lots of trees and that would hold a lot of snow

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But when the spring when the snow melted then the river expanded and That was that harvest time now look at the things that God has set in place

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First of all, he asks the priests To go down to the river and it stops second

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If you were living on the other side of the river You would laugh to see these people coming down and expect to get across But little did they know there was a bridge there

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It was on dry ground By the way bridges hadn't been named

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Hadn't been Invented yet. We'll say So he has them cross at flood stage

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Now you're on this side and They're over there and the river is possibly

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Half a mile wide And there's no danger on your part.

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At least you think we'll have several weeks before they come over But lo and behold they come over in one day now the question is

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Why Why did God Bring everything together

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In this way at this time joy Well, that's true, but the people

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In the land didn't know that David give us some reasons of why

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God did it this way. Yes That's right, all right, can we?

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He did it if we sum it all up so that he would get the glory.

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You cannot put man into this. Man could not do it. So we learned that We're brought up against impossible problems in our life

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It is show you that the Lord is the only way Fifteen and as they that bear the ark were coming to Jordan And the feet of the priests that bear the ark were dipped in the brim of the water for Jordan overflowed all its banks at this time of harvest

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When the priest came to the edge of the Jordan River The flow of water was restrained as if a dam had been built across it

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The waters that were this side of it passed down and before long there was a dry passage

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This is one of the greatest miracles recorded in Scripture actually that the people walked over on dry land

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This was the spring of the year That Land had two rainy seasons in the fall and in the spring the spring rains were most abundant the

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Jordan Jordan was at full flood stage it's entirely possible the people on the west side of the

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Jordan felt that they had several days or maybe several weeks before they could get over here

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Israelites They didn't know different they just were doing what

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God had for them they the People probably felt that there was no immediate danger

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Some of them however may have had a hidden fear now some of them had heard and perhaps knew of the sea of The Red Sea incident and they knew that they crossed that somehow

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It has been often held and remarked That there was no need for a miracle at the crossing of the

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Jordan Well as I started to say while ago the Jordan was fed from the

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Mount Lebanon and in the spring When the thaw comes if the river really is flooded

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Some different than other rivers in that day and time And as easily

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They would say well, it's easily crossed not 20 yards across there But the circumstances marked here by the sacred historian proves that there was a time of the year

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That is in the harvest that said river overflowed its banks and It's mentioned once again in 1st

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Chronicles 12 15 as the miracle Reported here took place about the beginning of April the time of In which rivers in general were less than in winter

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It may be asked how there could be such an increase of waters at this time

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The simple fact is that the Jordan as we have already seen has its origin and the foot of Mount Lebanon Which mountain is always covered with snow and it is melting

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Let's skip over here

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Sixteen that the waters which came down from above Stood and rose up Upon and heap very far from the city

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Adam That is beside Zeriton and those that came down toward The sea of the plain even the salt sea

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Failed and were cut off and the people passed over right against Jericho Whatever difficulties may be in your way

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First of all believe in God living and Strong faith will overcome them and those who exercise it will be

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In due time See the complete fulfillment of his declaration.

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The river was thus dried up as far as they could see This was a stupendous miracle

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Jordan takes its name from the descender Jordan is known for a rapid Flow of water

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Remember It's way above the Dead Sea and it has to drop at least a thousand feet to get down to the level of the

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Dead Sea So it's really Forcing the current along There is all 27

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I think Rapids horrible rapids

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Besides a great many Through the fall of that thousand feet 17 and The priest that bear the ark of the covenant of the

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Lord stood firm on dry ground In the midst of Jordan and all of the

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Israelites passed over on dry ground Until all the people were passed clean over Jordan the word clean is

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Rather odd we would have said They all got over or something

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But clean means finished. It means complete So they were completely over Now the priests have moved to the center that's that's going to show us something

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And they stood there holding the ark until all the cheap people had passed over This city

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Adam, I looked on the map and I couldn't find it Does anybody know where it is?

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Well, you won't find it on the map It was a city at that time

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And I wondered why why was it Adam? Everything in the

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Bible has a meaning And the Old Testament is spelled out for us in the physical sense

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David what could you get from? Adam I think it does

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Yes, that's right, that's right

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Well Looking for a reason for Adam It's a city from which we all came

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In a sense because Adam was the first of the human race

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And by Adam came death That was taking place that Jordan River represented the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ And his work on the cross

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It's not only reached forward over 1 ,900 years Where you and I are but it's also reached back to Adam And the beginning of the human family

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Now that's the picture we have here now. We know that they didn't

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Now the Ark is one of the finest types of the Lord Jesus Christ Given in the

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Old Testament Although there are several and they're very conspicuous

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Christ goes before us as the Ark did the

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Lord entered death He goes with us in life, but he entered death first He is with us

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But he went before us in death and when our Lord Entered death

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He entered first to please the Heavenly Father and Second for you and me

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It's not only surprising that the Canaanites did not dispute the passage nobody has

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Found that this is not true of those closest to it but some later

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Were more civilized now When we we can find fault with it the

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Lord now appears in such a way and works in such a manner as to leave no doubt concerning his

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Presence or his power or his love to Israel Next week we will

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I Think it's next week. We find out a solution to the twelve stones.

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You know that we're taking Out of the bed of the river and carried to the other side

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I think that's all of the scripture.

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Now. Is there anything from anybody? Yes That's right

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Is there anything else did you see anything as as we heard they went through it

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Yes And that's the same as today you may wonder why things work like they do

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It's the providence of God the providence is

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The human term is just showing the working out of God's will

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Well, let me get to my question I Don't quite know how to phrase this but You have something in fact every person in the world has this

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And You cannot see it you cannot touch it

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Yet everybody possesses it And I want you not to answer this week, but either next week or the one following It is as As holy as God is holy

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That's not like you taking a bucket of water, which is holy and you pouring it on this and Saying that I have that water

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Because they came from this bucket. It's more holy than the water poured out so You study on it bank on it and see what it is, baby

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It's just as holy as God It's hard to imagine but it is