Arise, and Pass Quickly Over the Water.
The sermon encourages listeners to recognize their position in Christ and strive to live according to the new reality of resurrection and life.
F.B. Meyer emphasizes the significance of identifying with Christ's death and resurrection, illustrating that believers have already crossed over the Jordan of death into a new life through Jesus. He highlights that while the world is filled with corruption and death, Christians are called to live in the reality of resurrection, free from the dominion of sin. Meyer encourages believers to embrace their identity in Christ, recognizing that they have died with Him and are now called to live in the light of this truth. The sermon calls for a daily striving to 'Arise, and go over Jordan,' moving from the death side to the living side of faith.
Text
Arise, and pass quickly over the water. 2 Sam. xvii. 21.
THE water of Jordan may serve as an illustration for our position. Our David has passed over the waters of death and in doing so has taken us with Him. There is a sense in which in the morning light of Easter Day all who believed passed over with Him, so that "by the morning light there lacked not one of them that was not gone over Jordan."
We all hold the doctrine of Substitution. Do we sufficiently realize that of Identification? Not only did Jesus die for us, but we died with and in Him. In Him, as the true Noah's Ark, the whole Church passed over the Jordan of death from the old world to the new. There are some who do not understand that in the purpose of God we are already standing on resurrection ground. Across the water we can hear the murmur of the world, and detect its corruption; but we are the inheritors of the world in which there is no death nor corruption nor the dominion of sin. When a man realizes this he no longer braces himself up to meet death, because he knows that in the person of Christ he has left it behind for ever.
What is true, however, in God's purpose should be the aim and goal of our daily striving. To us there comes the unceasing call, "Arise, and go over Jordan." There is always a thither and a hither side for every experience and act. We may always do as the world does; this is to stay on the death side. We may always do as Christ does; this is to pass over to the risen and living side. Reckon that you have died, and mortify the deeds of your body. "And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness. "
Sermon Outline
- The Water of Jordan as an Illustration
- The Purpose of God
- The Call to Arise and Pass Over
- The choice between the death side and the risen side
- Mortifying the deeds of the body
Key Quotes
“By the morning light there lacked not one of them that was not gone over Jordan.” — F.B. Meyer
“In Him, as the true Noah's Ark, the whole Church passed over the Jordan of death from the old world to the new.” — F.B. Meyer
“When a man realizes this he no longer braces himself up to meet death, because he knows that in the person of Christ he has left it behind for ever.” — F.B. Meyer
Application Points
- Recognize that you have died with Christ and have been raised to new life.
- Strive to live according to the new reality of resurrection and life.
- Mortify the deeds of your body and put to death the old ways of living.