Joshua's Conquering & Rahab's Saving Faith - Part 3 Series

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Topic: Sunday Sermon Series – Living By Faith

Text: Hebrews 11:30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days 31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.- NIV

Title: Joshua’s Conquering & Rahab’s Saving Faith! (Part 3)

VII. Finally the Conquering faith of Joshua:

Joshua 3:1 Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over.

A) Point?

1. Often, we have to wait before moving ahead with God!

B) Pause again?

Joshua 3:2 After three days the officers went throughout the camp, 3a giving orders to the people:

1. Pause was very - Practical

2. Pause was very -Principled

Joshua 3:3b “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…

a) Watch!

i. Be Ready to go when you see God Go!

ii. Don’t take a step until you see Him moving!

a. Prior generation:

Exo 13:21 By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.

iii. The Ark of the Covenant was symbolic of God's covenant with Israel, and a symbol of the Lord's presence.

iv. In essence when the ark moved, God moved. If the Ark moved, it meant that God was moving and Israel needed to follow.

v. The situation is still the same today. If God is moving, or leading in our lives, we need to follow.

vi. But what about the obstacles? River?

vii. Don’t focus on the obstacle, keep your eyes on the Lord.

viii. As God opens doors, parts the seas, we must be ready, willing, and able to follow!

C) Principle?

Joshua 3:3c you are to move out from your positions… and follow it.

1. Let God Go First!

Q: Why? For a very practical reason for it?

Joshua 3:4a Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before.

Isaiah 42:16 I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, And crooked places straight. These things I will do for them, And not forsake them.

G. Wagner - We are travelling onward, but the future is hidden from our eyes. We are not as those whose path lies across an extensive plain, and the boundary of whose vision is far away, but rather like those who are journeying in a deep valley, and who cannot see the storms that may be gathering behind the mountains. Our horizon is very limited. What Jordans we may have to cross we know not. But we have an ark, of which that which accompanied Israel is but a faint and feeble shadow — an ark that is a stronger pledge of God's faithfulness, a deeper manifestation of His love and power. The Christian's ark is Christ.

Frances Ridley Havergal- We have not passed this way heretofore, but the Lord Jesus has. It is all untrodden and unknown ground to us, but He knows it all by personal experience. The steep bits that take away our breath, the stony bits that make our feet ache so, the hot shadeless stretches that make us feel so exhausted, the rushing rivers that we have to pass through -- Jesus has gone through it all before us. "He was wearied with his journey." Not some, but all the many waters went over Him, and yet did not quench His love. He was made a perfect Leader by the things which He suffered. "He knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust." Think of that when you are tempted to question the gentleness of His leading. He is remembering all the time; and not one step will He make you take beyond what your foot is able to endure. Never mind if you think it will not be able for the step that seems to come next; either He will so strengthen it that it shall be able, or He will call a sudden halt, and you shall not have to take it at all.

A) Not only a pause is to be exercised but also

B) A Piety – Reverence, Respect!

Joshua 3:4 But keep a distance of about two thousand cubits between you and the ark; do not go near it.”

1.Reason?

a) Practical perhaps?

i. So they could see the ark– 2,000 cubits – 5.7 miles – 2 million people