Chp. 3-4 Keeping the crossing
Joshua 3:1-5
“Go after it”
I. Intro
II. Vs. 1-2 Ready to take the plunge
III. Vs. 3-5 Dying to live
Intro
Before us are the clues to entrance into the land of promises, a road map of faith and surrender that if followed 40 years earlier would have granted entrance to a generation that perished in the wilderness. Warren Wiersbe rightly makes this assessment saying, “In the Christian life you’re either an overcomer or you’re overcome, a victor or a victim.” “God didn’t save us to make statues out of us and put us on exhibition. He saved us to make soldiers out of us and move us forward by faith to claim our rich inheritance in Jesus.” In Deut. 6:23 Moses told the nation that “He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which He swore to our fathers.” Salvation my friends is not the end all it is only the beginning of all in fact in the 13 as Joshua was old and advanced in years the Lord said to him: “You are old, advanced in years, and there remains very much land yet to be possessed.”
Keep going God told Joshua don’t stop going after it, don’t you love that? Do you realize that the only thing that you can covet more of us the Lord’s presence in your life you and I should never be satisfied with the amount of Him we have! Forty years earlier as the nation was on the brink of entering in they said, “Lets go back where it was safe” instead they should have responded as Joshua says here, “Let’s go after it where the Lord is working”. Forty years earlier Caleb had told the nation, “Let’s go up at once and posses it; for we are able to overcome it” and the people responded “we are not able”. But what they missed was that Caleb was not talking about them doing so in their own strength but rather about trusting God to do so. Friends we are told in 1 Kings 8:56 “There has not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised through His servant Moses.” Though His promises fail not we far to often fail to trust in the One who has promised and the effect of this is that we never enter into what He has promised.
Vs. 1-2 Ready to take the plunge
Vs. 1 After the return of the spies and their pronouncement of victory Joshua wastes no time in giving the nation their marching orders which suggest that he fully believed God was moving them into His promises. It appears that the Lord had the nation of 3 million camp at the Jordan for three days where they could look across at the land of promise contemplate the waste of 40 years of complacency and take a gander at the impossibility of entering into the promises in their own strength.
Early in the morning three million Israelites set out from the place of victory as well as the place where they remembered not to trust in their flesh. Even upon noting the Jordan Rivers condition he didn’t hesitate, which again tells us that Joshua was not stepping out in faith based upon the situation and circumstances being favorable but rather upon the word of God. Even more remarkable is that the leadership and the people don’t seem to object to this despite the circumstances. So they traveled the some ten miles to the banks of the Jordan River which do to the time of year was overflowing its banks. On the other side of the river lay the promises of God, the promises of a land flowing with milk and honey. In Hebrews 11:9 we are told that Abraham “By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise”, so for 500 years they had waited for this moment and it would be this generation that would get to appropriate with their ancestors only inhabited by faith. It has been well said that, “Faith is not believing in spite of the evidence it is rather obeying in spite of the consequences”, Joshua’s faith was not going to be a passive feeling it was going to require an aggressive action.
Saints do you realize the great privilege we have in living in these days? Peter wrote of this in 1 Peter 1:10-12 saying “Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven–things which angels desire to look into.”
Vs. 2 The three days of preparation were over and they were gazing across at fruitful living, of hope and joy must have been in the air. Ah but there was a baptism to go through before they could enjoy the blessings of the promises. In Romans 6:3 we are told that “as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?” So at our water baptism as we are immersed into the water we are saying that the old man the fallen flesh of our former life won’t be what we are any more. Instead according to Paul’s words in 2 Cor. 5:17 “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” What emotions of the children of those that had died in the wilderness must have had as they gazed across the Jordan and into the land of promise. I can only wonder how this conversation might have went amongst the 3 million Israelites, “Alright whose job was it to prepare the watercrafts?” On top of which they saw the banks were overflowing with the river, “Hey Josh, maybe you ought to check the weather report next time before you send us on a 10 mile hike.”
Regrets can be a good thing; times when we take stock of our lives can often propel us to take a step of faith a move forward. Regrets can put to death our complacency my friend. Crossing this river would mean death, a drowning of all that was behind and a walk into the promises which they had never experienced. The Red Sea spoke of death but it spoke of death that lead to deliverance from bondage, the Jordan’s death was the death that we are to do in order that He might live in us in a land of the fullness of the presence of God.
Now listen up dear ones as true as that is with our identification with Christ in our salvation it is equally true in our sanctification. And if you want those promised blessings of our inheritance we will have to go through yet another baptism this one at the entrance of those promises. A baptism of the Spirit but it to will require a death, in fact according to Paul in 1 Cor. 15:31 where he proclaims “I die daily” it appears that this will be a daily dying to self. Paul wrote to the Galatians in 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Friends there is no other way into the land of promise then the Jordan and no other way to inherit His blessings apart from the baptism of the Holy Spirit and no other way to receive the Holy Spirit then dying to our self centered life. There are far too many dear saints who have lived outside of what God wants to bless them with simply because they are unwilling to die to self. Friends, if what you want in Christ lies outside your grasp then you must be willing to die to in order to live. Saint’s don’t expect it to look easy when you are ready to go after the Lord and (pardon the pun) take the plunge into the land of promise. It will often seem like an impossibility, the wrong season to attempt a crossing but hear me out friend, “go after Him” don’t let a little water scare you away from His presence. It is at moments like this that our intellectual assumptions will get put to the test to see if they will…uh float! Just remember friends “Faith doesn’t float my friends no it walks on dry ground”!!!
Vs. 3-5 Dying to live
Vs. 3-4 In Exodus 33:14 God had promised the nation saying, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” You see when the nation had moved in the wilderness the ark always went before them to guide them and they were just to seek to be near the presence of the Lord. So? Well, look again at this passage and you read Joshua’s instructions, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it.” Joshua tells the nation when you see the priests carrying the place where the presence of the Lord dwells “Go after it”!!!! It’s not going after a specific gift like tongues, or going after a specific experience so you can get those Holy Ghost goose pimples; no he says when you want the more of the presence of the Lord in your “go after it”. Oh to God that you and I right now right this moment would just say “Lord I want more of you and going for it”! Friends do you realize that our God is on the move, the psalmist says in Psalm 121:4 “Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” Saint’s the enemy of the inheriting the blessings of God is no other than complacency as we are told in Proverbs 6:10 “A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep”.
But note that thought they were to go after it they were to do so at around a ½ of a mile distance. The distance is the same distance that the Levites were to dwell outside the settlements in which they were placed. What does this mean? Well it speaks to the fact that God wants you to follow Him not push Him or get ahead of Him. “Lord I want you to do this and that and want you to do so my way”, many a Christian has been guilty of that. Instead we should say, “Lord I want more of you I’m going for it but I’m given you the space to do so Your way and timing!”
Hey did you notice that Joshua didn’t send the Army Corps of engineers first instead he sent the priests? You see what this reveals to us is that the Lord saw this as a spiritual problem not an engineering problem. Friends is that hitting home in your heart this morning? We often fail to enter into the blessings and promises of God because we stand on the banks of an obstacle that is blocking our way and we think we need some feet of engineering but what our real problem is spiritual. Listen to how the Lord spoke to the nation of Israel through the prophet Isaiah in 59:1-2 “Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear”, says Isaiah the problem isn’t a feet of engineering. No the problem Isaiah says in verse 2 is that their “iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” In simple terms Joshua get your heart right and go after it.
Ah but notice that Joshua also tells them to make sure that there is a space between the people and the ark of about 1000 yards. Now I think there are two very good reasons for this:
- To remind them that God is holy: Now this is important to as it speaks to them as too who is leading and who is following. You see we have a tendency as do all children to lose respect to those that we have a loving relationship towards. The distance called into attention that our God is not safe as Mark Buchanan author of “Your God is to safe would describe”. That is what Mr. Beaver replied when asked concerning Aslan the Lion King in C.S. Lewis’ book the “The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe” “Of coarse He is not safe but He is good”.
- Second the distance gave the 3 million following a better view of the presence of God. Now this is interesting with regards to the truth our Lord wants us to get a clear view of His presence in our lives. In Psalm 34:8 the psalmist invites us to “taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” You see the distance wasn’t to obscure the view it was to enhance it so that all could get a glimpse of His glory.
God in His wisdom realized that the nation would never move forward into His promises unless they were more impressed with His ability then the obstacle that lay before them and more impressed with His ability than their inability.
Vs. 5 The final admonishment is for personal spiritual preparation as they were to set themselves apart for the going after it. Notice that this was not so they could do something but rather so they would be prepared to watch the Lord do wonders among them. After telling them to go after the presence of God Joshua next tells them to “sanctify” themselves the word means to set apart or prepare. In the scripture the sanctifying process was one that was done outwardly to symbolize a work being done inwardly. So they were to bathe and put on clean fresh clothes which was a way of saying that they were making a new beginning with the Lord.
Hey friends did you notice that with a new beginning came a new time in which they would experience personally the Lord doing wonders among them. In Psalm 77:13-14 we are told, “Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary; who is so great a God as our God? You are the God who does wonders”. Interesting to realize that if we want to go for it, to seek the blessings that God has for us our motivation needs to be right which desiring more of His presence in out lives. Then we will need to be prepared to be emptied in order to be filled. Makes sense doesn’t it? Oft time Donna and I when we go to get a soda at a fast food place will request that they don’t put in any ice because if you have ever noticed that if they fill the cup with ice you want get but ½ the soda and we don’t want to settle for ½ of what we are paying full price for. So here is how this speaks to me when we are praying to the Lord and saying, “Come Holy Spirit” we ought to right after that include the words, “Empty me of anything that will lesson all that you want to fill up in me”. Lesson to how the author of Hebrews put it in 12:1 when he wrote, “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us”.
Joshua 3:6-17
“Taking a stand”
I. Intro
II. Vs. 6-8 Step out
III. Vs. 9-13 Step up
IV. Vs. 14-17 Step in
Intro
In this book the crossing over the Jordan is in three chapters (3-5) as the Lord sought to put much commentary into this event. The most important part of the crossing appears to be the Ark of the Covenant as it is mentioned over and over. As we go back 40 years to the previous generation we see that when God wanted them to come near Him and the nation didn’t and when He told them after their rebellion that they could then they attempted to come near in their own terms. The common denominator in that tragic sequence was that in both cases it was about the people not drawing near the presence of the Lord. Now the Ark is the symbol of the presence of God to the people and at the beginning of the entrance of the nation into the land of promise two things stand out:
- The people were to go after the presence of the Lord: Now this suggests to us something wonderful and that is that the promises of God are always to be obtained as we go after more of His presence and desire to be near His presence in our lives. It is in this setting that we see that going after more of the Lord in our lives will require death to our self centered lives and the empowerment of the Spirit.
- Secondly, the fact that the presence of the Lord went before the people it suggests to us that God went before the people and desired that they only be where He is. In other words our Lord wants us close to Him more than we desire to be near Him. How wonderful is that truth that our Father desires for us to dwell in His presence and that again will be where we experience the fullness of our relationship with Him.
To “Go After it” you got to be willing to:
- Vs. 6-8 Step out of your self
- Vs. 9-13 Step up in faith
- Vs. 14-17 Step in the Holy Spirit
Vs. 6-8 Step out
Vs. 6 At Joshua’s command the priests took up the ark and head out into the water of the Jordan. Historically the Jordan was around 100 feet wide but during the fall when this crossing took place it would swell over its banks and spread out to around a mile wide. This was no small step of faith for the priests carrying the ark or Joshua who made the command. Remember Joshua had utter words of faith telling the nation to clean themselves us as “tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you”. Well its tomorrow and Joshua needed to act upon the word of God. Nobody said that trusting God and entering into His promise wouldn’t require action only that it wouldn’t be done in our strength.
Hey did you notice here that it was the priest’s responsibility to get their feet wet before God would open the waters? Then we are told that they would have to stand in the middle until all the people passed over. Folk’s the people will never move closer to the presence of God if they don’t see those of us called to serve Him be willing to do so ourselves. I can talk about trusting God each and every week but the truth is you need to see me doing so as well. Friends that is true with us as well, we too will need to act upon what God has promised and set out against what is humanly impossible to cross over realizing that the Lord is going to do wonders among us if we will but die to self and be immersed in His power. These people have spent their whole life around this destination and finally they have come to the place where none have ever seen only heard about it. “Oh you’ve got to be kidding we have spent our whole life and we get here and the river is a mile across”. If they had waited a few more months then they could have waded across but God brings these people to a place of surrender of brokenness and it is obedience in the face of impossibility; God wanted more devotion not just more emotion. Friends don’t you realize that according to 1 Cor. 1:29 “that no flesh should glory in His presence.”
In the account of the parting of the Red Sea the Lord works through Moses using him to perform the miracle but here what we see that Joshua merely issues the command and the Lord does everything else as he Ark which is symbolic of the presence of the Lord goes before the people. All of this is reminiscent of Zech. 4:6-7 where the word of the Lord came to Zerubbabel: “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts. Who are you, O Great Mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”
Vs. 7-8 In Exodus 14:31 we are told of the response of the nation to the work of the Lord in the crossing of the red Sea was that, “Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt; so the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and His servant Moses.” Now 40 years later God was about to do the same thing for Joshua that He had done for Moses. Here is what I find interesting our stature before the people rises when we simply trust the Lord to do the work. Man that is a good word for me as at times I can get caught up in herding folks instead of allowing the Lord to simply work in my life.
Coming back from the men’s retreat out side of Salmon ID God gave me a great personal experience of this. We had just passed Salmon heading back towards home when right on HWY 93 was a herd of cows around 250 head. So I stopped as several gals on horses attempted to move the herd forward. Now they were going in the right direction but not willingly and in a few moments the church truck was surrounded by cows and the truck picked up a few scratches and a dent from the experience. Now had those same cows become convinced of the greener pastures that awaited them you wouldn’t have a need to have driven them they would have gone their on their own. Dear saints may we all be led into a deeper move of the Spirit instead of herded there!
Vs. 9-13 Step up
Vs. 9-10 In these verses Joshua communicates it very positive terms when he says that the impossible obstacle will become the glorious opportunity of the God to fulfill His promises. Confidence to overcome seven enemies was to occur when they trusted God against all odds and crossed over. The living breathing God will defeat the lifeless idols Joshua proclaims to the people. The name “Canaanites” is a biblical term that describes all the inhabitants of Canaan where as the seven tribes listed dwelt in different regions of Canaan such as Perizzites were located in the central area, the Amorites were in the mountain regions, the Girgashites were found in the area near the Sea of Galilee. According to Gen. 15:16 God had given these people 500 years to repent and they hadn’t so now He was going to use the Israelites to drive them from the land.
His possession of us will enable us to posses His promises and no enemy will be able to stand and resists what God has promised and we have entered into by His Spirit. Now notice friend that there is a domino effect here as we surrender God supplies, then we surrender more and He supplies more. Having instructed the priests Joshua now shares the word of the Lord to the people. “Come here, and hear the words of the Lord your God”, Joshua said. The focus for Joshua was to get the people to see the incredible blessing of “going after” the presence of the Lord living among them. David wrote of the Lord’s encounter in his life saying in Psalm 18:35 “Your right hand has held me up; Your gentleness has made me great.” That is what we get to do in response is to magnify the Lord to as Don Cousins says, “To make God famous”! My job isn’t to make Calvary famous or myself but to continue to make Him famous. How do we do this? Well by reminding you of the His promises towards you and encourage you to continue to trust and obey Him. Look at what Joshua tells the people about God:
- Vs. 10 “By this you shall know that the living God is among you”: He is the living God among you who alone can defeat the enemies. Don’t get me wrong I think it is glorious that He can defeat the enemy but I’m personally more amazed that He is the living God among us! What I mean is I understand that God hates sin but I’m amazed that He wants to hang out with sinner and provide a way by which He can dwell among us.
- Vs. 11 “the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan”: Then here we are told that He is the Lord of all the earth, which tells mean that no one or nothing can stop Him form going and doing what He wants. Man how amazing is it to realize that we are one the winning side and nothing can thwart the work of God victory is our in Christ.
Vs. 11-13 The tribes had a responsibility to send one person form each of the 12 tribes and according to 4:2-8 who in turn would take a stone from the midst of the river for an alter of remembrance for future generations. Now go back 40 years to Exodus 14:13-14 and we are told that at the Red Sea parting that Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” Think of this a moment and you will realize that those 3 million Israelites had heard of this story of how the water had parted before they took a step they just “STOOD STILL” and this time God was requiring them to “STAND IN” (verse 8 ). There is a big difference saints between “standing still” and “standing in” but why did God require nothing ahead of time to cross over the Red Sea but required a step of faith in crossing over the Jordan? Well I suggest that the Red Sea represents our salvation where we are leaving the world of sin and death and that crossing over is all His work as we see God provision of the cross of Jesus. Ah but the crossing over into the promises is a work of faith that requires a step of faith before we see. When ever we come to issues of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives it always requires a step of faith on our part. To “Go After it” you got to be willing to:
- Step out of your self
- Step up in faith
- Step in the Holy Spirit
It is when we do those three things that we will see the Lord do wonder among us! Now this all sounds like wadding in a kiddy pool until you realize that this wasn’t some little brook it was a mile wide ragging river. Their whole lives these people had been guided by the cloud by day and the fire by night. That had experienced Manna from heaven but they awoke this day and there is no longer a pillar of fire, no more cloud or Manna. Instead they are told to follow the Ark the presence of the Lord but that was new and different something they had never gone through before. And those carrying the Ark weren’t the same people who normally carried the Ark. God was doing a new thing a new way and you all know how much we all like change don’t we? A new land, a new obstacle, a new leader, a new direction a new way of following the Lord. The key to this was to be found in the words spoken by Joshua in verse 5 “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” Listen up friends as the Lord desires to do wonders and some times the wonders are all the more glorious because He has chosen to do them in a new way. Now this reminds me of the words of Jesus with regards to the Holy Spirit in John 7:37-38 where Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” Friends there is power, power wonder working power in the presence of the Lord and when you step into Him He takes over.
Vs. 14-17 Step in
Vs. 14-15 Remember the priests were ½ a mile ahead of the rest of the 3 million people and it was they who took the steps of faith into the swollen Jordan river. I’ve had experiences like this where God has called me to move out front of the people and the further I went the more alone and on display I felt. Your heart begins to race with each step closer to the Jordan and you start thinking, “Now would be a good time to part this water Lord.” Friends it wouldn’t be faith if we know how the Lord is going to fulfill what He has promised. We may not know the “HOW” but we do know the “WHO”!
My friends, unless we step out in faith and get our feet wet we won’t maker any progress in moving forward into the land of promise. They may have stepped into water but according to verse 17 the ark of the covenant stood on dry ground while being in the middle of the Jordan and everyone that walked across on dry ground not mud. With Moses at the Red Sea it was through an outstretched arm of Moses that the breath of God parted the Sea. Ah but here it was not an outstretched arm but rather the obedient feet of the People that caused the waters to part. God wants His people to come after Him and take a stand walking over.
Vs. 16-17 The manor in which the Lord accomplished this doesn’t matter as much as the timing of the event which was at the time of their trusting God and obedience moving to where their feet touched the water. The Ark of the Covenant is mentioned 14 times in 17 verses which tells us that the presence of the Lord in the midst of the obstacle is what caused the folks to walk on dry ground.
I’m personally glad that Joshua gives us the geographical location of where these waters stood still and rose in a heap as it tell us that they did so almost 20 miles up river. Now what this suggest to me is that oft times when the Holy Spirit is working it is out of view from us, up river from where we can see what He is doing and we are just called to walk into what He is already doing by faith without understanding how He is doing it. “Oh seeing is believing”, people say but reality “Believing is seeing”! Is it not interesting that the Lord called the priests to step out first and stay in the midst of the Jordan the longest all the while the people walk through? The bible tells us in Rev. 5:10
that the Lord as “made us kings and priests to our God” so friends we are called to “take a stand” a stay planted in the overflowing water of the Holy Spirit tell everyone passes over on dry ground and into the land of promises. Oh to God that you and I would “Go after” the presence of God and be willing to “Stand in” the midst of the Spirit of God as we receive all He has for us. A.W. Tozer said in “The Pursuit of God” that, “The Presence and the manifestation of the Presence are not the same. There can be the one without the other. God is here when we are wholly unaware of it. He is manifest only when and as we are aware of His Presence. On our part there must be surrender to the Spirit of God, for His work it is to show us the Father and the Son. If we co-operate with Him in loving obedience God will manifest Himself to us, and that manifestation will be the difference between a nominal Christian life and a life radiant with the light of His face.”