Crossing Over: Joshua 3

First Southern Baptist Church

Dr. Patrick Mead

Series: Forward

July 20, 2014

Crossing Over

Joshua 3 

In our study of the book of Joshua, God has made some promises to the people of God. In fact, they're promises he made beforehand to Moses, and before Moses, he made them to Abraham. He promised to give them the land they're about to cross over the Jordan and possess. He promised to give them power over all their enemies.  He promised to be with them always. 

Now it's time for Joshua and the Israelites to step out in faith and obedience and to move forward with God into the Promised Land. Now the Promised Land under the old covenant is really a picture of the abundant life under the new covenant. You see, under the old covenant, God promises to give his people land. Under the new covenant (what we're under), God promises to give his people life. Jesus said, "I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly."

Under the old covenant, they were to possess the land. Under the new covenant, Christ is to possess us. In fact, that's what the abundant life is. It's about Christ residing and reigning in our lives and releasing his presence in and through us. Now we've been studying the first nine verses of Joshua, chapter 1, and I have a confession. 

I never intended to get three sermons from there, but God gave us three sermons from those nine verses. In those nine verses, God is commissioning Joshua to lead the people of Israel. Then in verses 10 through 18 of chapter 1, God is commissioning the people. They are committing to follow Joshua, to follow him across the Jordan River into the Promised Land. 

Then you have chapter 2, which seems to be an excursion, but it's really not. God is actually confirming the promises he made to them, and he does that through an unlikely person, through a prostitute by the name of Rahab, who happens to be a Gentile who places her faith in the one, true God, the God of Israel. She is saved from her sins. She is mentioned, by the way, in Hebrews, chapter 11, for her faith. She is also in the genealogy of Jesus. Amen?

See, that's God. God has a heart for all people. He is the God of all people. He confirms the promise through a prostitute. Rahab said, "Yes, we know God is going to give you the land. We're melting before you." After God commissions Joshua and they commit to follow Joshua and then he confirms the promise in chapter 2, now it's time for them to move forward.

They have to make a choice. "Are we going to believe these promises? Are we going to believe God is going to give us the land? Are we going to believe he is going to give us power over our enemies? Are we going to believe his presence will be with us?" That was a choice, a decision, they had to make. Either they were going to believe God or not. If they didn't believe God, they would have never moved. Right? But you see they did. They had faith, and faith translates into activity and obedience. 

When we come to chapter 3, we see that faith in action. We see their faith producing works. Let's pick up the story in Joshua, chapter 3, verse 1. It says, "Then Joshua rose early in the morning and they set out from Shittim." Boy, if you're not careful with that city, you could end up on YouTube really quickly. "And they came to the Jordan, he and all the people of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over." 

We know they have faith, right? We know they believe what God has told them because it is already translated into obedience. They make their way. They're at the banks of the Jordan. They had moved some six miles east of the Jordan. Now by their faith, they're sitting by the banks of the Jordan. God is about to take them over into the Promised Land. 

Now God could have brought them there during the dry season, because during the dry season, the Jordan River is only about 100 feet wide and from maybe 2 to 10 feet deep. We're going to learn something here. God didn't wait until the dry season. In fact, we're told in verse 15 that when all of this took place, the Jordan River was at flood stage. Scholars believe it was probably at its largest point.

I want you to imagine this. Imagine at dry stage, it's 100 feet wide, 2 feet deep at points and maybe 10 feet at the most. Now it's flood stage, and when it's at flood stage, it could be up to a mile wide. That's pretty big, isn't it? Yeah! So God brought them not during the dry season. No, he brought them during the flood stage. He brought them to a point, and it says they were there for three days.

Why three days? Because God wanted to sink in that what is about to transpire in the life of Joshua and the Israelites is supernatural. It can't be done in the natural. I mean, Joshua didn't have 20 people following him. You take the men, the women, and the children, and then you have all the dogs and cats that are going as well. You can imagine there are about two million people on the banks of the Jordan. They are there for three days meditating on the fact, "If we're going to get across, it's going to take a miracle." 

Let's be honest. I'm probably in this boat. How many of us always wait for the Jordan to dry up before we walk by faith? Amen? That's not faith. That's not faith! I heard a wonderful story of a person who moved to Fort Worth for seminary. He had his house here in Arkansas, and he rented a house in Fort Worth. 

Before he rented that house, he told his uncle, who was a pastor up in Michigan, "Do you know what? When God sells my house, then I will move to Fort Worth." He said, "That's not faith. You step out in faith if you're believing God is leading you there." He stepped out in faith. He rented a home. As soon as he rented that home, his house sold.

See, that's faith. That's faith! They didn't wait for the dry season. They knew God said, "It's time to move forward." God, in his sovereignty, could have brought them to the Jordan at the dry season, but he didn't because he wants them to see what they're about to do is a supernatural adventure. When you contrast that or compare that to the new covenant and the abundant life, the abundant life is supernatural. It can't be done in the natural.

You can't live the Christian life in your own strength. It's impossible, because the Christian life is about the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, residing in you, reigning in you, and releasing his life and his presence in and through you. That's supernatural. It is impossible to cross over into the abundant life in your own strength. 

So the very steps Joshua and the Israelites are about to take, the steps they had to take to cross over into the Promised Land… Remember, for them the Promised Land isn't a place of comfort. It isn't a trouble-free life. It is a place of fullness and blessing, just like the abundant life. The abundant life is not a trouble-free life. The abundant life is not a life of comfort. It is a battle. It is a constant battle. Abiding in Christ is a daily battle. Okay?

What are the steps you take to abound in the abundant life? Well, first of all, you cross over to the abundant life by seeking consistently the presence of God. Now let's pick up the story. We know they're at the banks of the Jordan. They've been waiting there and lodging there for three days. You know they're looking at the river, and they know what is going to happen has to be a miracle. 

It says in verse 2, "At the end of three days the officers went through the camp and commanded the people…" Here's what they were to do. "As soon as you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God being carried by the Levitical priests, then you shall set out from your place and follow it."

"Keep your eyes on the ark of the covenant." Now the ark of the covenant is really central to the next two chapters. Chapters 3 and 4 belong together. What you're going to see mentioned over and over again is the ark of the covenant. The ark of the covenant! God wants to show you this really isn't about Joshua. This really isn't about the Israelites. It's about God leading his people.

You see, the ark of the covenant is mentioned 10 times just in chapter 3 alone. The ark of the covenant symbolizes the throne of God, the presence of God, the power of God, the authority of God, the provision of God, the guidance God provides. For the Israelites, they believed it was a symbol of the very throne of God, and it was a place where they could meet with God. 

He says to them, "Before you cross over, here's what needs to take place. You need to stay in the presence of the ark. Don't get too close," he says in verse 4. Can you imagine two million people just crowding around the ark? Yeah! "Don't crowd!" There needed to be some sense of reverence, because God is a holy God. You want to stay close to his presence but not too close. They were to seek, watch, keep their eyes…

As soon as they saw the ark (which symbolized God's presence and his power) move, he commanded them, "You follow it." For them to keep their eyes, they had to stay in the presence of the Lord, the presence of the ark. You know, the ark is a picture of Christ. It's a type of Christ. You think about it. If the ark symbolizes the throne of God, remember that Jesus Christ our Lord shed his blood so we can now enter into the Holy of Holies. We can now come into the presence of God, the throne of God, in a time of need, right?

What we need to do if we're going to experience the abundant life in Jesus Christ every day is we need to seek the presence of the Lord. We need to fix our eyes on Jesus. That is something we do consistently. That is something we do moment by moment. We keep our eyes on Jesus. You cross over into the abundant life by seeking the presence of God. As you seek the presence of God, you do that through daily consecration. 

Now look at verse 5, because now a second command is given to the people from Joshua. It says in verse 5, simply put, "Then Joshua said to the people, 'Consecrate yourselves…'" The officers said, "Keep your eyes on the ark. Keep your eyes on God. Keep yourself in the presence of the ark." Then Joshua says, "Oh, and you need to consecrate yourselves," which simply means, "Set yourself apart. Purify yourself. Sanctify yourself."

You see, if God was going to do some great things in them and through them, they had to deal with the sin in their lives. That's what consecration means. It means we deal with the sin in our lives. Now under the new covenant, we know in Christ Jesus we are set apart. We are sanctified, and we are holy and blameless. Right now in Christ Jesus, we are positionally… Standing before God, we are holy and blameless because he sees Jesus. Amen?

But then there's the daily setting apart that we have to do. We call this sanctification. It's working out our salvation with fear and trembling, for God is at work in us and through us. How do we do that? How do we allow the presence of Christ to live through us? Well, we do it through daily consecration, because if there is sin in our lives polluting our lives, you cannot live the abundant life. You cannot love the world and love the Father at the same time.

Those two loves are incompatible. They're explosive. They meet together, and they blow up. It just can't happen. That's why the apostle John says, "Do not love the world…" You can't love the world. "If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." So everyday if we're going to experience the abundant life and cross over into the abundant life and allow Christ to reside and reign and release himself into our lives, there needs to be that consistent drawing near to Jesus and then the consecration, allowing him to purify us.

Here's where a lot of Christians fail because they don't spend enough time at the feet of Jesus. Many of us can define our quiet time with the One Minute Bible. Have you ever seen one of those? "I have the One Minute Bible. I'm going to read the Bible for a minute, and I'm going to talk to Jesus. Then I'm going to go out and spend my day." Let me tell you, that is not a consecrated life. That's not sitting at the feet of Jesus. 

Many of us do not spend enough time in the presence of Jesus. We don't allow the Word of God… We have a lot to say to Jesus, but we never sit in his presence long enough to allow the Word of God to begin to penetrate us, to allow the Spirit of God to convict us. We get up from our quiet time, and we go on, and we live a carnal life, never allowing the Spirit of God to point out unforgiveness. Or, if it's there, we just accept, "This is the way I'm supposed to be."

You know, Scripture says you forgive as Christ has forgiven you. There are no other options. Some of us think it's okay not to forgive. Some of us have bitterness in our hearts, or we're frustrated. We allow those things. That is not normal. I guarantee you, if you sit long enough in the presence of Jesus and allow the Spirit of God to begin to convict you, he will deal with those things.

Many of us don't make the time. Unfortunately, we have made it possible where we can talk to Jesus, meet with Jesus, in a minute or two and go on. Listen. That is not consecration. Consecration is where you allow God to begin to penetrate sins in your life. Let me tell you. That is something I have to deal with every day. Every day I'm here to tell you I am a sinner, and I don't wake up from my quiet time and never sin again. I spend the day sinning. Amen, wife? Amen.

I am constantly having to go before God and say, "Lord, I know that bitterness, I know that anger keeps on coming up." Sometimes we have to battle some sins throughout the day. Sometimes it lasts beyond just a day. I've been struggling with some things in my life, and every day I am struggling. I'm working through them, but I'm allowing the Spirit of God to touch me there and say, "You know that is wrong."

"I know it's wrong, Lord. I know I am not to have that attitude. I know I'm not to have that anger. I know I'm not. Help me, God. Help me!" That's what consecration is. It is saying, "God, I can't do the Christian life on my own." It is saying, "God, I humble myself. If I'm going to live this abundant life, I give it to you. I can't do it." That's what consecration is. Some of us don't even spend enough time to say, "I can't do it."

The most important moment of our day, I believe, should be that moment we sit at the feet of Jesus, we consecrate ourselves, and we fix our eyes on Jesus. We realize, "Jesus, I know you want to expand your kingdom. One of the things you want to do, Jesus, is to allow your kingdom to live through me. So I humble myself. I consecrate myself. I'm dealing with this sin. I'm dealing with that attitude. I'm dealing with that action, Lord. Now fill me. Control me."

Then you get up, and you live with the awareness of the presence of God in your life. As soon as some sin that comes in your life begins to attack that presence, that's when you say, "Okay, God, I see. I see there's an attitude. There are some actions here, Lord. I confess I don't want to lose. I don't want to lose your presence." You see, you can walk in the presence of God all day! Amen?

Many of us Christians are not living that abundant life. You remember the abundant life is all about Jesus residing, reigning, and releasing his life through us. The fruit of the Spirit is working in our lives. It's not that we're perfect. It's that we realize we are sinners, and when we do sin, we confess, whether it be to God or to God and to people. Then we humble ourselves again. 

See, that's what crossing over into the abundant life is. It's seeking the presence of God (that's what they were to do), fixing your eyes on Jesus, and then consecrating yourself. When you consecrate yourself moment by moment, here's what happens. You prepare a way for God to do wonders in and through you. Because when he says in verse 5, "Consecrate yourselves…" he gives a reason. He gives a reason!

"Here's why you need to purify yourself. Here's why you need to stay in the presence of Jesus (or, for their case, the presence of the ark). Here's why." Watch. This is important. "Something is going to happen tomorrow. Something is going to happen if you guys consecrate yourselves. If you will keep your eyes on the ark, if you keep yourself in the presence of God, something is going to happen tomorrow."

"…for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you." Now that word wonders speaks of something unusual, something impossible and too difficult for man to do. Do you know that the work of the Spirit is an unusual work? I mean, this is normal Christianity, but it's unusual. What's normal? 

Well, the eternal God, the One who spoke everything into existence, lives in you. That's unusual, but that's Christianity. Not only that. What's unusual is that you have the ability to be like Christ, to be imitators of God. Why? Because the eternal God lives in you. Now it's unusual, but it's normal. 

We had a surprise in the first service. I don't know why it happened. Somebody thought I planned it. I did not plan it unless she comes in again. We had a lady come in, and she said, "Abounding in the presence of Christ." I'm preaching, and she is standing back there. "Abounding in the presence of Christ." It was before I even got to this point. I said, "Excuse me, ma'am?" I was looking at her. She was right back there. "Abounding in the presence of Christ in Jesus' name." I said, "I receive that word," and she left.

That's unusual, isn't it? It is in a Baptist church. Some of you think raising hands is unusual. Some of you think if somebody sneezes, that's unusual. Do you know what? I receive that word. See, that's how God works. He does unusual things. He speaks to us in indirect ways. Have you ever had somebody say something, and you knew right there that the Holy Spirit said, "God is speaking to you"? 

Have you ever had that? Somebody said an encouraging word to you or something, and you knew right then God is giving you some truth here. How many times have you sung a song, and this particular song, you get to a particular lyric, and all of a sudden, you start weeping because the Holy Spirit indirectly applies the truth to your life? Have you ever been there? I have. For some of you, crying is unusual. 

Here's what happens. Here's what happens! Do you want to see the unusual thing God did? Do you want to see the supernatural thing God did? Look at verse 8. He said in verse 8, "And as for you, command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, 'When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.'" In verse 11 it says: 

"Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing over before you into the Jordan. Now therefore take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, from each tribe a man. And when the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap."

Then you get to verse 17. It says the priests who step out in obedience are standing on dry ground. A miracle just transpired, and the people are crossing the Jordan River on dry ground. That's pretty unusual, isn't it? But it's so true with the abundant life. The work of the Spirit in our lives is supernatural. The Christian life is supernatural. 

When we cross over into that abundant life, it takes, first of all, the seeking of God's presence through consecration, dealing with the sin in our lives. Then that opens up a pathway for God to do wonders, to work in you and through you. People begin to see Jesus in your life. That's the abundant life.

As a result, there's something that happens. When God begins to work a wonder in you and through you through the abundant life, there is something that takes place. It happened to the Israelites when they crossed over, and it will happen to you when you cross over. What happens when you experience the abundant life and God begins to do wonders in you is it results in you growing more intimate in your relationship with the Lord.

Now in chapter 3, three times God uses the Hebrew word yada, which is translated know. It speaks of more than just a head knowledge. In fact, yada means intimate knowledge. It means to know somebody relationally and experientially. It's often used to describe the intimacy between a husband and wife in Scripture.

It's used three times, and those three times reveal what happened. When God's people consecrated themselves, when they sought the Lord and kept their eyes on God, three things happened in their relationship with God. They came to know God, the God of Israel, in a more intimate way. 

First of all, they knew him more intimately in his guidance. Go back to verse 4. After he gave them the command in verse 3 to follow the Lord when they saw the ark of the covenant move, he says in verse 4, "Yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about 2,000 cubits in length." Then he says, "Do not come near it…" "You want to stay at a comfortable distance." Here's why: "…in order that you may know…" You will know relationally. You will know in your experience. "…the way you shall go…" 

Now what he is talking about there is not just a roadmap. "I'll tell you where to go next." It's also he is saying, "I will tell you how to live your lives. I will guide you. You've never been this way before, and if you will just seek me and trust in me with all of your heart, lean not on your own understanding, then when you know me in all of your ways, you know me more intimately, you will see my hand guiding you. You will see how I will show you how to act and behave."

See, they had to seek God first, right? They had to consecrate themselves. They grew more intimate in God's guidance in their life. They grew more intimate with his presence. It says in verse 7 there's the second time it's used. It says, "The LORD said to Joshua, 'Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know…'" Know what? "'…that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.'"

"I want them to know through experience, through me doing some wonderful, unusual, supernatural things, they'll know my presence is with you, Joshua, just as it was with Moses. If my presence is with you, Joshua, it means my presence is also with Israel." So they would grow more intimate in understanding his presence in their lives.

Here's the third one. They'll grow more intimate in understanding his power. Verse 10: "And Joshua said, 'Here is how you shall know that the living God is among you…'" How? "I'm going to do some unusual things. I'm going to cause you to walk across a river on dry ground. I'm going to do some unusual things among you," he says. "…and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites…"

"What I'm about to do…this unusual thing, this power I'm about to demonstrate…will just encourage you as you move forward with God, knowing my promises and my power will not fail." That's what he is saying. "…he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites."

As a result, what happened? They grew more intimate in understanding God's guidance, his presence, and his power. The same is true for us. Now we need to be very careful here because there's often a temptation to think that if God allowed the Israelites to walk across on dry land, then the problem I'm facing, he will do the same thing. Do you know what? God doesn't always do that. He doesn't always divide the Red Sea for us or divide the Jordan River.

Sometimes he says, "You're going across the Jordan, but you're going through the water. Yeah, it will be deep, but my grace abounds in the deepest waters. My grace abounds in the deepest waters. The fire might be hot, but you're going through it. I will guide you. I will be with you, and I will strengthen you." 

Because if you have the mindset that God is going to deliver you completely from your problems… You see, that Jordan represents problems we face. Sometimes we want complete deliverance. We want God to do exactly what he did for the Israelites. He doesn't always do it that way. If we think he always does it that way, do you know what happens? We begin to think (and I've done this myself), "Well, I guess I'm not consecrated enough. There must be something in my life. What's in my life? Why aren't you doing these miracles?"

You know, I hear people talking about seeing angels and God doing these unusual things, and I'm starting to realize, "How come it only works for people who have money being sent to them?" Have you ever noticed that? They're seeing all these miracles, and they're saying that. Then they're saying, "Send money to me." Maybe I ought to try that. So why doesn't everybody send money to Patrick? I'm going to see if I start seeing angels and stuff, okay? Would y'all do that? Help me out here. All right. Let's see if it works.

But no. Out of all seriousness, that's how God works usually. How do we cross over into the abundant life? We seek the presence of God. We consecrate ourselves. When we do that, we prepare a pathway for God to do wonders in and through us. We grow. We grow more intimate in our relationship with Jesus.

Where are you at today? Do you need to cross over? Are you sitting on the banks of the Jordan, satisfied with the life that's not normal Christianity, satisfied without seeing God do supernatural things in and through you, satisfied with not allowing Christ to live through you? That doesn't satisfy me. 

Let's bow our heads and our hearts here this morning. Take a few moments, and really allow the Spirit of God to penetrate your life and the Word of God. Ask yourself, "Am I really living the abundant life? Can I honestly say that Christ is residing in my life and reigning in my life, and he is releasing his presence and his fruit and the gifts in my life?"

Only you can answer that. Do you know Christ as your Lord and Savior? The abundant life can only happen when you have life in Jesus Christ. This morning, do you have a relationship with Jesus? Do you know Jesus? Have you come to that point in your life where you recognize that you have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and you've turned from your sin and self and you've placed your faith in Christ Jesus? Have you done that? Have you done that? Can you honestly say, "I have life in Christ Jesus"? 

Do you need to take some time this morning as a child of God to confess you're a Martha and you're not a Mary? Do you need to take time to confess that there are some sinful attitudes and activities in your life that are preventing you from experiencing the fullness of your salvation? Listen. God is a God of grace. He is a God of mercy. As we humble ourselves, here's what happens. God begins to awaken us. God begins to fill us. God begins to control us. 

Father, allow your Spirit to move in and through us. In Jesus' name, amen.