Crossing The Jordan

Crossing the Jordan

Joshua 3 (sermon 2)

Spring time has come …we see it is in full bloom.

A few days ago I was trimming trees:

- and I discovered a few new birds nests

- that were hidden in the limbs of the tree

- Springtime means the birds are making their nests and raising babies.

Life is pretty good if you are a baby bird… you have a nice warm nest:

Mom brings you food.

You sit around all day waiting for Mom to wait on you

(if you have children at home, this may sound familiar!).

But then, something happens in the life of the baby bird.

The time comes when Momma bird says:

“It’s time for you to learn to fly”

…and kicks you out of the nest!

You can fly or fail…those are the only two options!

It is the “Point of No Return.”:

Life is filled with times we might call

“The Point of No return”.

- The first time you stand at the top of a high dive, and you jump – no going back!

- When you are learning to skydive, you jump out of the airplane- no going back!

- When you are a bull rider, and you sit on a 2000 pound bull, and you nod your head and the gate swings open…no going back!

- When you bring that new baby home from the hospital...no going back!

Throughout Scripture:

God brings His people to a place of transition…a “Point of No Return”

When Noah went into the ark with his family, and God closed the door, it was a Point of No Return.

When David walked out to face Goliath, it was a Point of No Return.

When King Nebuchadnezzar told the three Hebrew men to bow or burn, and they chose not to bow, it was a Point of No Return.

When Moses stood on the edge of the Red Sea, and God opened the waters so the people could escape the Egyptians, it was a Point of No Return.

Years later, when Joshua stood with the people on the edge of the Jordan river, looking into the promised land, and God opened the waters, and they crossed, it was a Point of No Return.

Many times:

- God allows us to come to a place

- where we can’t go any further

- we’ve come to the end of ourselves

- and we come to understand that God is all we have and all we need

And hopefully we come to a place, where we never should have left in the first place:

- where we have only one place to turn

- we’ve exhausted all our efforts to move forward

- we’ve worn ourselves out trying to conquer the problem on our own

And we start to draw near to God:

- and we realize that if we are to move forward, then

- we are going to need God’s help

- and we come to the Lord and pray an honest prayer like this “Help me LORD!”

Today:

- we are going to study the crossing of the Jordan River

- and how the crossing required the people to have full confidence in God

- that the crossing was a POINT OF NO RETURN

The people were about:

- to leave 40 years of wilderness wandering in the past

- they would have to trust God to CROSS the UNCROSSABLE river

- then they would begin a new adventure in the Promised Land

- The Promised Land was full of milk and honey

- but it was also full of people that they would have to fight and kill

- most importantly they would have to TRUST THE LORD

1. The people sanctified (Joshua 3:1–5)

“Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over. 2 After three days the officers went throughout the camp, 3 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. 4 Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about two thousand cubits between you and the ark; do not go near it.”

5 Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.”

As was his custom:

- Joshua got up early

- He and his officers directed the people to get ready

- to move from Shittim to the Jordan river

Shittim is 6 miles from the Jordan:

It is a large area in the plains of Moab

directly across from Jericho,