Crossing Over Your Jordan

Crossing Over Your Jordan (Joshua 3:1-6; 14-17)

Introduction: When the Lord brought the nation of Israel out of Egypt, He led them toward the Promised Land. It took them two years to make that trip. During that time, the Lord gave them His Law and taught them how to worship Him. When they arrived at Jordan, all they had to do was enter the land and lay claim to what they had been given.

Instead of going forward in faith, the people of Israel refused to claim their inheritance in Canaan. They wanted to turn around and go back to Egypt, back to the very people who had enslaved them. God punished them severely for their lack of faith. He condemned them to wander around in the wilderness between Canaan and Egypt until the whole generation of those who refused to enter the Promised Land died off. Because of their unbelief, Israel was sentenced to wander in the wilderness for 40 years.

Those years of wrath and death have now expired and the children of Israel are composed to enter into Canaan. They are ready to claim their inheritance in the land of promise. Before they can enter Canaan, they must first get past one final, major obstacle: The Jordan River. Normally, this would not have presented much of a problem, since the Jordan was only about 100 feet wide at Gilgal where they crossed. God brought them to the Jordan River at the time of harvest, 4:15. I have been told that during the harvest season the Jordan River will swell to an impassable width of over 1 mile! It was over 50 times wider than it normally would have been when Israel arrived. There was no way they could cross this river on their own, they would need supernatural help. God allowed this so the children of Israel couldn’t boast of having done this on their own. They would have to give all credit to God.

* I would assume that everyone in this room have faced his or her own “Spiritual Jordan” from time to time! We never know what obstaclesthat will hinder us from obtaining spiritual victory in our lives in 2024. We will never be able to wave our flag of victory in Canaan until we cross over the old muddy “Jordan” in our life, Jesus has promised us that He will never leave or forsake us. Friends we do not know what kind of obstacles that we will face in our life; but I know God specializes in overcoming the “Red Seas and Jordan’s” in our life. We will see today how Israel “Crossed Over Jordan” moving into a new land. We can use the same strategies that worked for Israel over 3000 years ago will still work for us today. We will look at some things in Joshua chapters 3 and 4 about Crossing Over Your Jordan. There are some strategies that we must implement if we are going to “Cross over the muddy Jordan’s” that stands” in the way of our spiritual victory. Allow me to share those strategies with you today.

1. GOD WANTS US TO CONSIDER HIS MESSAGE (Vs.1-13)

A. God Message Involved A Challenge (Vs. 3-4) When it came time for the people to move forward to cross Jordan, God has a message that they needed to hear. In the words they heard, they were challenged to do three very important things. These things were designed to help them follow the Lord better. These are the same things that we need to hear today that will help up to follow the Lord better as well.

1. Keep Your Eyes On God: “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. “ Notice that the Ark of the Covenant is mentioned some 7 times in (Ch. 3). The Ark, you may remember, was that special piece of furniture in the Tabernacle that symbolized the presence and power of God. When the Ark was in the Holy of Holies, the glory of God rested upon it and it was the dwelling place of God. To Israel, it represented God’s presence in the midst of His people. In other words, when God moved, they were to move. When God stopped they were to do the same.

Note: The problem with many churches and individuals we want to lead we don’t like to follow. We have the mind set of Elvis “I will do it my way,” friends the Gospel says “it God’s way or no way.”

* There’s a valuable spiritual lesson in this passage for the church. It will help us, when we face times of crisis, or when we need direction in life to learn to be sensitive to the movement of the Lord in and around us. Friends God loves you and He will show you what He is doing, John 5:19-20. If you will Keep Your Eyes On Him, He will teach you how to live day by day.

2. Always Follow God – When they saw the Ark of the Covenant move, they were to “set out from your place and go after it” Not only were they to watch God, they were to move when He did. They were to pursue God!

Again, the lesson for the believer is that it isn’t enough to know what God is doing, there comes a time when you must “get out of your comfort zone and go after Him.” Israel was about to follow the Ark through a river that was over 1 mile wide! That couldn’t have been easy, but it was still necessary and right! Friends, following God may not be the easiest thing you will ever do, but it will be the best thing you ever do. If you ever expect to “Cross over your Jordan” where there may be many obstacles that is trying to hinder you from enter your Canaan, you must learn to follow God.

3. Always Honor God – Notice that the Israelites are told to stay at least 3000 feet behind the Ark. This was so that they could easily see what was happening ahead of them. Another reason is that the Lord wanted no one but the Levites near the Ark. To get too close would have meant death.

* There is a lesson here for us as well. We must never be guilty of treating God like He’s one of our buddies. There must always be a holy reverence and a fear of the Lord in our hearts. We don’t refer to God as the man upstairs, He is the Creator of this universal, He is Holy and Righteous God.

Simply put, these three things are most easily accomplished by learning to walk in the Spirit. That is, learning to give control of your life to the Spirit of God and to follow God as He leads through His Word and through prayer. It may not always be easy, but I can promise you that if you will follow, He will certainly lead!

B. God’s Message Involved A Command (V.5) – Next, the people were told to “sanctify yourselves.” This referred to being sure they were as clean and holy as possible. They were to put away anything that was displeasing to the Lord. They were to examine themselves and get ready for the Lord to do something great for them. If the Hebrews ate the wrong food when would be unclean, if they touched a dead body, unclean, certain disease made them unclean. ILLS: Before we can “cross our spiritual Jordan” we must get rid of all the sin that will hinder us from obeying God Command.

Note: Church if we ever expect to “Cross Over Our Jordan” that arise in our lives, we must first examineour lives to make sure they are as clean as possible. May the Lord help us to realize that many of the things that happen in our lives that prevent us from walking in Christian victory are the results of our sin and the Lord’s chastisement, “God love His children to much not to not chastise,” (Heb. 12:6-11). Church can we sing the song with a clear conscience “It is well with my soul.” Someone said “confessing is good for the soul.”

C. The Message Involved A Commitment (Vs. 9-13) God makes a “commitment” to the children of Israel. He let them know it is His job to get them across the “Old Jordan”. God had a plan and His Plan A always works. It was His plan to get them “Across the Jordan.” In these verses, He makes them a promise and tells them that He will bring them through in a powerful fashion. “God said He will not fail to drive out all the nations out of the land of Promise.” God commits Himself to bringing his people across their Jordan! All that was required of Israel was that they trust God!

May I remind you that God has not changed one bit? If God could be trusted in those days to keep His promises, then He can still be trusted today! Often, we are unable to get past the obstacles in our lives because we live a life that exhibits a deep lack of faith in the promises of God! How do I know? Because of the worry and doubt that marks the lives of the people of God. We don’t have enough faith to “Cross over our Jordan,” we want to live on the wrong side, and live in defeat.

1. We worry over tomorrow, yet the Lord has said – Matt. 6:34. (God holds the future)

2. We worry over material things, yet the Lord has promised – Matt. 6:25-33; Phil. 4:19. “Look at the birds” God said He would supply all our needs.”

3. We worry about facing various things in life, yet the Lord has promised – Heb. 13:5. God said I will never leave or forsake us!

4. We worry over so many things, yet the Lord tells us that all of our worry is sin and that our duty is to trust Him – Phil. 4:6-7. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

5. The bottom line is this: Jesus is all-powerful, He is all-knowing and He is all-present. He knows what you are going through. He knows everything there is to know about it. He even knows more about it than you do! Here is what He says to you: “The just shall life by faith,” Rom. 1:17; “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin,” Rom 14:23; “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith,” Matt. 8:26.

All this reminds us that He is the Lord and that He is greater than any problem we have ever or will ever face in life. His desire is that we simply learn to take Him at His Word and trust Him. We need to remember that what the Lord has promised to do, He will do, Rom. 4:21. That is the message; let us take it to heart!

1. There Is A Message To Consider

2. THERE IS A MIRACLE TO CONSIDER (Vs.14-17)

A. There Was A Problem (V. 15b) – As I mentioned in the introduction, the children of Israel were facing a big problem. The river was over 1-mile-wide and there were 2 million people who had to cross, and yet the Lord wanted them to go over. They couldn’t build a bridge; there wasn’t enough time or materials. They couldn’t transport everyone over in boats, there were no boats and they would have been sitting ducks for their enemies. There was only one way around their problem and that was go through it!

Have you ever sized up your Jordan and thought about how big it is? Maybe you looked at it and concluded, “There is no way around, over or past this problemyou have to go through” I suppose we have all been like the 10 spies that returned from spying out the land of Canaan with Caleb and Joshua. We have sized up our problem and think that it is more than we can ever face, (Num. 13:31-33). Our problem is the same one we always have when we face a difficult situation: we forget about God! * Where we see only problems, God sees only solutions. * Where we look at things and say, “There’s no way!” God looks at the problem and says, “Follow me, I have a plan!”

B. There Was A Plan (V. 15) – The plan was this, God said, “When the feet of the priests enter Jordan, I am going to part the waters and lead you through on the dry ground!” There was a catch in this plan and it was that the waters would not part until the priests who were carrying the Ark stepped into the water. In other words, it took a step of faith, whereby the people obediently followed the Lord for them to see the miracle come to pass.

* What a lesson for you and me. Too often, we want the Lord just to fix everything in our lives for us. We don’t want to have to make any decisions nor do we want to have to exercise our faith in Him. We just want Him to do it and that will be the end of it. However, most of the time, God will require us to take steps of faith in order that we might see our Jordan parted. God had a plan, but for this plan to work, it required faith on the part of His people! The same is true for you and me! As long as we are trying to solve our own problems we are not walking in faith. It is when we turn loose of the reigns of the problem, step away from it and let the Lord have it that we will see it taken care of for His glory. It never is about what we can do, it is always about what the Lord is able to do, Eph. 3:20!

C. There Was A Performance (Vs. 16-17) – When the priests stepped into that raging river, it parted and God opened a path of dry ground through the waters for His people. By the way, (V. 16) says that the waters backed up to the City of Adam. This is some 20 miles north of where the children of Israel were crossing. God made them a path through the water that was more than adequate for His people to get through.

* We need to remember that faith honors God and God honors faith! When He moves in power and takes care of the problem, it won’t just be patched up and ready to fall apart again; it will be done right and it will be done forever. I want to encourage you today by reminding you that this God Who did this great thing for Israel is still the same God we are serving today! What He did them; He can do now.

* Church all through the Bible God has never lost a battle, and He never will. Regardless of the circumstances, He is still God and He still works miracles. Notice the question that plagued the Jews in, Psa. 78:19-20. They asked, “Yes, they spoke against God: They said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people?” God can! Just ask, Noah, Moses, Daniel, the 3 Hebrews, a widow down in Zarephath, the Disciples on a little ship, and Saul of Tarsus. Just look back over your own life. How many times has the Lord opened your Jordan already? He is all we need! He is still the same miracle working God that He always had been. Learn to expect miracles when you are dealing with God!

Our God specializes in cutting problems down to size. When little David walked out into that valley to face Goliath, he faced an opponent that he could never have defeated on his own. That giant was about 10 feet tall. He went into that valley with a sling, five smooth stones, and faith in a powerful God. When David cast his stone at Goliath, the giant fell to the earth. David ran to Goliath. He drew Goliath’s own sword and took off the giant’s head. Now, the question that arises is this: When David took off the giant’s head, was the giant still there? Of course he was! But, he is no longer 10 feet tall; he is now about 9 feet long! God had a way of taking the things we cannot get past and fixing it where we can get over them.

3. THERE IS A MEMORIAL TO CONSIDER (4.)

When all the people had passed over Jordan, Joshua commanded one man from each of the 12 tribes to get a rock from the midst of Jordan and build a memorial on the Canaan side. That memorial is worth taking a look at today!

A The Purpose Of The Memorial (Vs. 6-7; 21-24) – These verses tell us that the purpose of the memorial was to remind successive generations of the power and faithfulness of God on behalf of His people. That memorial would be an important landmark to those who would come after.

We need to erect some memorials in our lives as well. We must use caution, because we do not want to embalm the past and by doing so cripple the future. Many churches have done that and are suffering as a result. What we do want to do is remember the things the Lord has done for us so that we can tell others about them. We want to remember the great works of our God so that when we pass that way again, we will remember that the Lord was faithful in that day and that He will be faithful in this day as well. Never forget what the Lord has done for you in your yesterdays. It is those yesterday experiences that will tide you over when the trials of today and tomorrow arise in your life! (Psa. 84:5-6,) “Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, Whose heart is set on pilgrimage. 6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca, They make it a spring; The rain also covers it with pools.” ILLS: When the people travel up to Jerusalem to worship they had to pass through a place called “Valley of Baca,” and in the Hebrew it means “weeping.” This valley was very dry, wanting to be in the present of God the valley felt like they were “pools of water” in the valley.

As believers, we need to erect some visible memorials to the glory of God. When the Lord works in our lives, we should memorialize that event. We should talk about it, share it with others, write about, and spread the word about what God did. We should honor Him for His faithful work in our lives. Listen; there will be some others coming along behind us. There are children, young people and new believers who are following the paths we have already walked. As they journey and seek to grow in the Lord, they need to be able to see the memorials left by those who have gone before them!

We have many of those monuments around this place. Some are human, some are less tangible, but they are all very real reminders of the power of God. We are reminded every time we gather here that God has worked among His people to carry them over their Jordan’s in the past. Those reminders tell all those who pass by them that God is faithful, powerful and able. We need to remember!

2. A Picture Of The Faith Of The People (V.9)– Now, what about the rock pile in the river? No one could see it but God! It stood as a monument to the faith of the people! You see, when you face a time of trial, others are often guilty of misjudging your motives and actions, but only God knows the truth about your heart. Even though Israel couldn’t see it, they knew the monument was there! They remembered that they had believed God then and it had worked. This was a monument in their hearts.

We need those same kinds of monuments as well. As I said, too often others misjudge us in our times of trial, but God alone knows you heart. When you have trusted Him and He has brought you through, never forget it! Build that monument in your heart, where only God can see it, and where you will never forget it. Then, when the tough times come again, and they will, look at that monument of His faithfulness and of your faith and know that what worked before will work again. God will bring you through your Jordan!

Remember when David killed Goliath? Before he went into that battle, King Saul tried to cloth David in his armor. David refused it because he had never fought in armor before, and because it was armor designed for a much larger man. Yet, when David killed the giant, he took the giant’s armor into his tent, 1 Sam. 17:54. Why did he do this? It was a memorial. It was a reminder that no matter how great the obstacle, it is nothing when it is placed alongside the God of Heaven!

In Closing: Church they may be some one here today that is standing on the bank of your Jordan and it may be deep and wide. I want you to know what God did for Israel He will do for you, one step of faith and God will make a highway across your Jordan the water will back up. Tell God you want to cross over to the side of victory, tell Him you want to wave your flag of victory.