Joshua 3-4
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Today we are going to be looking at a passage of scripture beginning in Joshua 3.
Last week we talked about the beginning of the time in the wilderness and today we are going to jump ahead 40 years and take a look at what happens as the nation of Israel crosses the Jordan river into the Promised land.
The book of Joshua is a historical book that talks about how God gave the Israelites victory over their enemies. And yet it is also a book about today, because God still wants to give us victories. The key to spiritual victory today is the same as it was physically for them thousands of years ago. It’s all about trusting and obeying.
In the Christian life you are either an overcomer or you are overcome.
You are either a victor or a victim.
The purpose of salvation wasn’t to put us on display, it was for us to become followers that would move forward by faith and claim the inheritance that is given to us in Jesus.
But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land he promised on oath to our ancestors.
Too many people are satisfied with being set free from slavery. True spiritual growth happens when we as Christians comes as we understand that there is a land that must be possessed after the bondage.
As we read from the book of Joshua today we do so with the reminder that this book is about “Going On”
Going On
Unbelief says “Lets go back to where things were comfortable and safe” but faith says “Lets go forward to where God is working”
For Joshua it had been 40 years since he and the other spies went out and looked at the land that God had promised the Israelites. When he saw it he knew that if it was the Lords will to be in the Land of Cannan then he would win the battles ahead of them.
But out of the 12 spies only He and Caleb had the faith. The other ten of them came back with a report that said the land was great but the people were too strong and numerous to conquer.
Just as a side note.
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Researchers are paying attention to our thoughts, and according to Michigan State University Extension’s Stress Less with Mindfulness program, a person has 80,000 thoughts a day. 90 percent of these thoughts are ones we have had before, and 80 percent of these are negative.
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Did you know that for the Israelites 84% of the spies came back with a negative message that viewed their problems as larger than their provider.
80 percent of thoughts are negative, and that number can change slightly though discipline for most people, but it stays pretty close to that.
The difference between the person of faith and the person of fear is not how many negative thoughts they have, it’s whether those thoughts have a voice at the table.
Look at the report of the 84% to the Israelites.
We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”
Their eyes were on themselves and not on their conquerer.
Their eyes were on their enemy and not on their Emmanuel.
Their eyes were on their weakness and not on their Waymaker.
And what did the entire nation do? They let their fears win out.
That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness!
Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?”
And because of this, they were stuck in the desert for 40 years.
When we look at Hebrews 11 the reason these people were esteemed was because they all believed God’s promises and did what He told them to do.
This principle hasn’t changed. But some no longer believe God enough to act on what He tells us. And because of this we fail to live in the abundance and promise that is our inheritance.
God’s promises never fail, but we can fail to be obedient.
Today we are going to look at some scripture from Joshua 3-4 and see what it means to be people who live by faith.
In chapter 3 the Israelites are waiting by the Jordan river. I’m sure they are wondering what Joshua’s plans have to be. The river is at flood stage. So for the Jordan river, some times the river is only like 100 feet wide. About like the Miami river here in Sidney. But flood stage the Jordan could be as much as 1 Mile wide. Some say that there was 1,000,000 people, creating a boat was out of the question.
Good news for the people, Joshua received his instructions from God.
Faith is not believing in spite of evidence, faith is obeying in spite of consequence.
Faith isn’t a passive feeling, it’s an active force.
As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
Look at the instructions the officers gave the people
giving orders to the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it.
The ark, which was God’s symbol of His presence, went before them.
The people recieved a word from the leaders. Instructions to follow. God has given us instructions to follow, found in his Word. If you want to have a promised land faith you pay attention to the Word.
These people received instructions they were told not to get too close to the ark. God is to be revered and honored.
Look at the Word Joshua receives from the Lord
And the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: ‘When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river.’ ”
God was going to perform a miracle though Joshua’s instructions so that people would know that he was to be their leader. Joshua trusts in God’s word.
Promised land faith puts the word of faith that they receive and trusts it.
So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge,
the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.
As soon as the Priests placed their feet in the water, it stopped flowing. It was a miracle.
Unless we step out in faith and are willing to get our feet wet we won’t have much progress in our spiritual walk.
Each step the priests took the water was pushed back until they were standing in the middle of the Jordan river with dry ground under them.
When Israel crossed the Red Sea it was their leader with staff in hand that God used to cross, but here it was the feet of the people. Walking in obedience. If we don’t obey God’s word and step out in faith God won’t open a path for our growth.
Again, the Jordan isn’t about dying and going to heaven. The red sea was about deliverance from slavery, and the Jordan is about the inheritance we have in Christ Jesus. An inheritance that we get today, and for eternity.
However, as it is written:
“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”—
the things God has prepared for those who love him—
these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.
Please do not fail to claim your inheritance and wander aimlessly in the desert. Remember the desert doesn’t have to be negative unless we remain their longer than required.
In the Christian life we will never stand still. We either move forward in faith or we go backward in unbelief.
So here we have seen the Word of faith, the walk of faith and lastly we see the witness of faith.
When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe,
and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.”
So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe,
and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’
tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”
These 12 men gathered these stones and carried them to Gilgal. 8 miles. It was to serve as a reminder for God’s people. For the Jews, one of the greatest responsibilities was to teach the next generation about God.
To someone who didn’t believe it was just a pile of stones, but to the believer it was a sign of God’s faithfulness.
But Joshua said that it wasn’t only about the Jews,
He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.”
It was so all would know who God is.
We can forget how much the faith of others impacts us.
It was by faith that in 1989 the leaders of this church decided to move from Kossouth Street to here. It took faith and sacrificial giving, of time and talents and treasure. Some of you gave up the new car, or the addition on the house, or the much needed vacation, or the boat, to give so that others would know about Jesus.
And here we stand in the fruit of the faith.
See there are people who are just happy to cross into the promised land, and there are people who set up the stones so others know as well.
The israelites heard the word of faith, they walked in faith, but God was calling them to be witnesses of faith.
The Israelites had stones to remind them.
The God who can open the river is the God we should honor love fear and obey. God goes before, cares for his people, keeps his promises, and never fails. That is something that the world needs to hear!
Unfortunately the Israelites forgot about the stones. And they would eventually forget about God. Unless the next generation is taught the truth about the Lord, they will follow the ways of the world and walk away from the truth.
Mom and dad, who has the stones so that your kids will know of the goodness of God.
Grandma and grandpa, who has the stones to make sure your grand children will know Jesus as their savior.
ENDING
God brings us out so he can bring us in. He brings us in so that we overcome and claim our inheritance. Because Christ followers are identified with Jesus in His death burial and resurrection we have the power to overcome. Overcome the world, overcome our flesh, satan.
If you want to claim your spiritual inheritance in Christ. Believe the Word, get your feet wet, and have the stones - so that the next generation follows in your footsteps.
That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness!