New Ground

13 And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the 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 an heap. 14 And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people; 15 And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,) 16 That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho. 17 And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.

Text: Joshua 3:4;

Joshua 3:4 KJV 1900

4 Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way heretofore.

Introduction:

Here in our BR we have the account of the children of Israel crossing over the Jordan river into the promise land.

They were beginning their campaign of possessing the land that God said that he would give them.

This is taking place 40yrs after God parted the Red Sea and Israel was delivered out of Egypt.

It wasn’t God’s plan for this to have been a 40yr trip, but due to their failure and unbelief they were left to wander until that unbelieving generation died.

Christians can be the same way, they can lose sight of God’s vision and plan for their lives and can get bogged down in the wilderness of life, repeating the same mistakes over and over again. They are in a wilderness.

I. Footsteps of Possession.

1:3 Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.

God reassured Joshua in the beginning that he would bless him, saying that as he was with Moses so he would be with Joshua.

But God wasn’t going to do it on his own. The people had an obligation

The Lord said, “Every place that your feet touch will be possessed by you!”

God wasn’t just going to give it to them, they had to go and possess it!

It wasn’t going to be theirs if they stood still, they had to go forth into the land!

But God said, “As I was with Moses, so shall I be with you”

God was going to be with them every step of the way, but they had to STEP.

People sometimes don’t want to walk, they want God to bless them but they expect God to do it all for them.

God blesses ACTION

If you make up your mind to walk then you put forth a step, and God will bless your step!

All you have to do is take one step, and then look over and God is there!

Then you take another step, and you look over and God is there!

And each step you take, you have a little more confidence and assurance, and you look over, and God is still there!

Next thing you know you’ve begin to lay hold of and possess the promise!

God is working, but it starts with a step!

II. New Ground

Joshua 3:3

The Ark of the Covenant was God’s contract and promise with the people. If they would trust in God and keep the covenant. God said that the would bless them, and be their God and they would be his people.

They would be guided, they would be fed, they would be blessed.

V.4 They had to keep their eyes on the Ark. They had not passed this way heretofore

They were about to step into areas where they had never been.

They had learned the wilderness all too well.

They had gone in circles, covering the same ground over and over again.

But this was a new land, new ground, fresh scenery.

They had to keep their eyes on the covenant (the promise of God) and God said he would bring them through!

We also have a promises

Jesus said,

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness…

I’ll never leave you nor forsake you, but I’ll be with you always…

No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly…

But we have an obligation to walk uprightly.

We can keep our eye on the promises and God will led us into New Ground.

III. Sanctify Yourselves.

3:5,

Sanctify means what? Set apart for God’s use.

The people were instructed to make themselves available for God’s use.

God was about to do something great, but he needed THEM to do it!

….For tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.

God will work wonders for those who sanctify themselves. Those that commit themselves for God’s use.

This isn’t a challenge. God isn’t issuing a challenge to see if we will do something. God is declaring a promise for those willing to possess it!

It’s not about accepting a challenge, it’s about acting on promises.

God promised blessings!

Has God changed?

We hear of God blessing other peoples live, Why can’t he bless our lives?

We hear of the Holy Ghost being poured out upon people? Why can’t God pour out the Holy Ghost here?

He can, and HE WILL! HE WANTS TO!!! BUT WE HAVE TO WALK!

Conclusion – Give me this Mountain

Listen to Caleb Josh 14:6-12 He said, “GIVE ME THIS MOUNTAIN”

Again, this isn’t about accepting a challenge, but it is about taking God at his promise.

He said he’d do it, if we would just take a step!

3:17

They passed CLEAN over. Not even the mud from the river was on them, every single one of them were on their way into the promise!