Loving Lavishly Part 6
Loving Lavishly • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 1 viewNotes
Transcript
Carrying the Covenant
Carrying the Covenant
Lecture 11 of Jesus in the Tabernacle
In the Old Testament the Priest bore the weight of the responsibility of seeking the mercy of God for the people. It was the priest who took the great risk of entering into the presence of God hoping they were accepted. It was the priest who carried the obligations of seeking the face of God and the duties of leading the people in obedience to the way of the Lord.
and commanded the people, “As soon as you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being carried by the Levitical priests, then you shall set out from your place and follow it. Yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about 2,000 cubits in length. Do not come near it, in order that you may know the way you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.” Then Joshua said to the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” And Joshua said to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on before the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people.
In Joshua 3:3-6 God commanded, “As soon as you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being carried by the Levitical priests, then you shall set out from your place and follow it. Yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about 2,000 cubits in length. Do not come near it, in order that you may know the way you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.” Then Joshua said to the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” And Joshua said to the priests, “Take up the Ark of the Covenant and pass on before the people.”
Jesus is our High Priest:
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
Jesus was the presence of God among us:
In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
Jesus brought the mercy of God to us:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
Jesus made a way that we may boldly seek God:
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Jesus made us acceptable to God:
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.
Jesus carried the weight of our sin and cleansed us:
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.
For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Jesus carried the weight of the covenant in the cross:
But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
Jesus is our new, eternal and living hope:
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Jesus was the way:
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
When Jesus came to the disciples he commanded them, “Follow Me”. He was commanding them to follow the way of covenant that He was going to live and demonstrate before them. He would show them the way of this new covenant which was only through the cross.
Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?
He would reveal to them and they would see the glory of God through Him.
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
This way would demand that they forsake all, even their own lives, in order to follow.
And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.
This way is the way of the life consecrated through His obedience and sacrifice in holiness and lordship to Christ.
Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
Each of us must take up our cross. We must take up the covenant of Christ and make it our own daily.
And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Just as God told Joshua:
The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.
Christ told us that He would never leave us nor forsake us but that He would be with us always. Christ sent the Holy Spirit to be with us always.
And as for you, command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, ‘When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’ ” And Joshua said to the people of Israel, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God.” And Joshua said, “Here is how you shall know that the living God is among you and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites.
(Vs. 8-10) When we face troubled waters God commanded, they would not overtake us. We must stand still and know that He is God. Stand still in the midst of your Jordan and trust in His unfailing faithfulness. You are not like those who serve dumb idols made with the hands of crafty men but you serve the one true and living God of all creation.
Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing over before you into the Jordan.
In verse 11 it tells us, “Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing over before you.” When the first generation experienced the passing over of the presence of God the result was much death. It brought sorrow to God’s heart as once again life had to be taken because of the bondage of His people. The first born of all of Egypt died and those Israelites who had the blood of the Lamb over the door post of their dwellings were shown mercy and their lives spared. In like manner, Jesus Christ passed before all the people of Jerusalem as He carried His cross and His blood spilled down the streets. Today, that same blood must be upon the door post of your heart.
Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.
In verse 17 it says, “Now the priest bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan.”
And when the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap.”
And in verse 13 it says, “And when the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap.”
Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.
When we stand firm (vs. 17) God will place us on solid dry ground and we can find rest (vs. 13 Shalom) in Him and He will even cut off the source of that which troubles us. The previous generation had experienced the parting of the Red Sea. They had to run for their lives from Pharaoh pressing down upon their necks to slaughter them. They ran across the dry ground in great fear. But this generation would experience the parting of the waters but in very much a different way. They would walk across the dry ground in rejoicing, in peace, and carrying the presence of the Lord with them.