Crossing the Jordan Joshua 3:1-17
There were three men sitting at a coffee shop talking. One was a surgeon, one was an engineer and the other was a politician. And they were having an argument as to who’s profession was around the longest. And the surgeon said, “My profession must be the oldest because the Bible said that when God created woman He carved a rib out of Adam. So, that makes my profession the oldest.” And the engineer said, “Well, go back a little bit and remember that God created the heavens and the earth from chaos and turned chaos into order and let’s face it, that’s the job of an engineer.” And the politician smiled and said, “Ah, but who created the chaos.”
Last week I read you some absurd warnings that were found on certain products and this morning I want to begin by reading you a second list that were found on various products and I should mention that this list has nothing to do with the passage.
In case you weren’t aware, we’re all in constant danger because everywhere we go there are signs and labels that alert us to the dangers that are all around us. Here are some warnings that came with things people bought; for instance, on a bottle of shampoo for dogs it said, “Caution: The contents of this bottle should not be fed to fish." And then on a 13-inch wheel that was made for a wheelbarrow it said, "Not intended for highway use." Or on a birthday card for a one year old, it read, "Not suitable for children aged 36 months or less." And then on a package of silly putty, "Do not use as ear plugs." There was actually one posted on the side of a Boeing 757 that said, "Fragile. Do not drop." Or on a sign at a railroad station that said, "Beware! To touch these wires is instant death. Anyone found doing so will be prosecuted." I like the one that was on a shipment of hammers it said, "May be harmful if swallowed." Or on a package of peanuts there was a good one, it said, "Warning: May contain nuts." And there was a hairdryer from Sears that had a warning that said, “Do not use while sleeping.” And then there was a warning on shower caps at a hotel that said, “Fits only one head.” And there was a very good warning on Marks and Spencer bread pudding that said, “Product may be hot after heating.” Then there was a warning on a Korean kitchen knife that said, “Warning, keep out of children.” And just think, with all of these dangerous products like airplanes that shouldn’t be dropped, hammers than can’t be eaten, and peanuts that might contain nuts, it’s amazing that any of us are still alive.
Let me read this passage of scripture in Joshua 3 where Joshua tells the people exactly what they were to do and how they were to do it.
“And Joshua rose early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over. And it came to pass after three days, that the officers went through the host; and they commanded the people, saying, when ye see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it. 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. And Joshua said unto the people, sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you. And Joshua spake unto the priests, saying, take up the ark of the covenant, and pass over before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people.
And the LORD said unto Joshua, this day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, when ye are come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan.
And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, come hither, and hear the words of the LORD your God. And Joshua said, hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites. Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan. Now therefore take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man. 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.
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; 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,) 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. 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.”
Now, these people were literally living by faith and the problem we have when we hear that is there are a couple of misconceptions of what faith is all about. There are some who’ll say, “I have no faith” but they seem to forget that we exercise faith all the time. When we pull into a gas station we put the nozzle in the tank and then we decide whether we’ll fill it up or take whatever we want. And for the most part, listen, we don’t have a clue as to what’s coming out of that hose. We hope its gas and we have faith in the operator of the gas station that it is. And do you know what the strange part is; we actually pay for what we bought before we even start our car. I mean, if that’s not faith then what is? We believe in and trust the person who runs the gas station.
And then many of us leave church and go to a restaurant, if not today then maybe sometime this week. We order food from someone we don’t know and then it’s prepared by who knows who (Since we can’t see in the kitchen) and then we eat it. And we’re accepting by faith that they’re going to give us good quality food for our money rather than killing us. I mean, think about it, we’re putting complete faith in strangers who we’ve never even met.
And this morning you all came here by faith. Did anybody call ahead to see if there was going to be church? So, we all exercise faith all day and every day, it’s a question of what our faith is in. So, you’ve got faith in Johnny Long, you’ve got faith in Danny Patterson and you’ve got faith in Morris Mills. You see, the fact is, we are people of faith. The problem is; some of us have more faith in these three people than we do in the three members of the Godhead.
Someone once defined faith as, “A blind man looking in a dark room for a black cat that isn’t there.” And that definition gives us the impression that faith is nothing more than blind trust in nothing. Archie Bunker who was not exactly a great theologian once said, "Faith is something you believe that nobody in his right mind would believe."
And when you read the dictionary, their definition for faith is, an allegiance to duty or a person or a belief and trust in and loyalty to God or a belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion and then it goes further and says it’s a firm belief in something for which there is no proof. (And when you think about it, the people who wrote the dictionary actually agree with Archie Bunker.)
Many years ago I was involved in the charismatic movement and I remember one night when a faith healer offered to heal one of my friends who had a problem with his back and this was real back pain not the stuff these guys usually deal with. He laid his hands on him and prayed but my friend said the pain was still there and then the faith healer said, “This is your problem. You see, you just don’t have enough faith. So, you need to pray for more faith and then come back and see me." Of course, I thought, “If he had enough faith then why would he need him?”
And did you know that the people who give testimony that they were healed at Benny Hinn’s meetings and many of the other faith-healers have to be able to walk on the stage and if they can’t they’re kept off by security guards.
And yet, as we read the New Testament we see there were at least three different people who were healed by Jesus who had no faith at all and we know that had no faith because they were dead. So, where was the faith? It was Jesus’ faith and not theirs.
I’ve heard Christian’s discussing the issue of faith with non-Christians and when they couldn’t answer the non-Christians questions, they’d say, "I don’t care what you say, I still have faith" which sounds great except they don’t say what they’re faith is in. And we who have faith in Jesus Christ have got to separate ourselves from those who have faith in faith. The famous skeptic Mark Twain said, "Faith is believing what you know ain’t so." But listen, that’s not Biblical faith. That’s more like Alice in Wonderland who closed her eyes and just wished it was so.
So, what is faith from a Biblical standpoint? Martin Luther said, “Faith is God’s work in us and that changes us by giving us new birth from God.” So, Martin Luther claimed that faith must begin in the heart of God and then the book of James tells us that we have to respond. In James 2:18 it says, “Yea, a man may say, thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.” And so, James reminds us that the kind of “faith” which is required for salvation will always produce actions. It’s not just God and it’s not just us but it’s God moving and us responding.
There are some things called faith that don’t really produce or prove that anyone is saved. For instance, there are some people who are basically good and some of them might even be very religious like the Mormons or Roman Catholics or some other religious persuasion and these people are trusting in their own sense of goodness just like the Pharisees did. And there are many times we might find that some of these people are very kind and helpful but that doesn’t mean they have a relationship with God. They’re very much like the rich young ruler who was very religious but when he was challenged by Jesus about his response to the Ten Commandments, he said, "All these things have I kept, what do I lack?" In other words, he was a very moral man but he wasn’t saved and listen, he knew it.
And besides those who are involved in cults, there are many who know all about God but don’t know Him personally. And if we took the time this morning we could look at Hebrews 6 and see that it was written to people who knew all about the plan of salvation but they had never received the Lord. After all, it isn’t what you know but it’s what you do based on what you know.
And then, there are even those who are conscious of the presence of sin in their lives and they might even feel really feel bad about it but rather than repenting and asking God’s forgiveness, they spend their time and money going for counseling from the unsaved and then they end up blaming their parents or their circumstances for their problems and they never see themselves as being guilty before a holy God.
Listen, salvation begins with a love for God and a proper love for God must involve a hatred of sin. After all, if we love something we’ll naturally reject anything that’s the opposite of them. If I said, "I love my wife, but I couldn’t care less what happens to her," you’d probably wonder what I meant by love because true love always seeks the highest good of the one it loves. So if I say that I love God, then I will have to hate sin, because sin offends God and it’s why Jesus died.
So, when we come to the account of Joshua leading the Israelites across the Jordan River we see both he and they are exercising faith and it’s faith in both the ability and the willingness of God to get them where He wants them to go. And their faith wasn’t only based on the promises of God but it was also based on what they knew about God in terms of His ability to open the waters of the Red Sea.
And it’s interesting to see that God doesn’t ask Joshua to personally do the impossible He just asks him to believe that He is able to do it. And at the same time, He’s giving Joshua good reason to follow Him every step of the way.
Last week, we saw in the life of Rahab how true faith results in works as she turned to God and left her immoral lifestyle, her pagan culture and even her Canaanite upbringing behind. And we see the same kind of faith in Joshua because he doesn’t just sit around saying pious things like, “Ain’t God good” but he motivates and then mobilizes the people to do the will of God.
I So, first, we see the preparation for the crossing and it’s in verses 1-5.
Now, imagine, if you were part of these two million people who were about to head across the Jordan River the next morning. You’d have to carry or cart your children, all of your household goods and of course any animals you owned. So, the day or two before you left, you’d be getting everything packed as efficiently as possible. After all, you only get one trip across and you’re not coming back. And since you’re camped somewhere around the bank of the river you might go down and take a look at the water and try to imagine what‘s going to happen the next morning. And as you look at the water you notice that’s it’s the spring flow from the mountains and it’s about a mile across and this cold water is flowing about ten miles an hour. That’s quite a current you say to yourself and you’d have both a sense of wonder and anticipation combined with both faith and maybe even a little doubt as you think about what God is going to do the next day.
And there’s something we have to remember here and that’s that Joshua and Caleb had seen God divide the Red Sea but most of these people were too young to remember it. I mean, don’t forget that God allowed who was over the age of twenty die in the desert. And so, a few of them might have remembered the crossing but everybody else was about to experience something they had only heard about from their parents and not only that, but don’t forget that the Red Sea crossing had happened forty years before.
Well, as I was thinking about this I was wondering how Joshua slept that night. I mean, this was the greatest test of his life and the next day he’d either be recognized as God’s appointed leader of the nation for life or he’d be considered the biggest fool in the history of Israel. And there was nothing he could do about it because everything was in the hands of God.
And then we see the instructions for the people as they’re told to follow the ark of the covenant. We’re told the ark was about four feet long and it was overlaid with gold both inside and out. And according to Hebrews 9:4 we’re also told it contained three things that were symbolic of God’s leadership and they were the tables of stone on which God had written the Ten Commandments, Moses rod that budded and the budding proved he was God’s choice of a leader and the pot of manna that would remind them of God’s provision for the past forty years. And the fact that the ark was to go ahead of them also reminded them that God was leading them and that He’d prepare the way.
And then we see that Joshua’s final instruction which is also an indication of his faith as he says, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” Sanctify means to consecrate or set yourself aside for God. It’s the idea of making sure you’re right with Him because He’s going to be very close to you tomorrow.
Now, maybe this is a poor illustration but that’s never stopped me before.” One time, Sally and I were invited to a family’s home for dinner and these people were pig farmers. And they had about eight hundred head of pigs of all sizes in their barns. And after we had dinner, the man asked if we’d like to see the animals and we did, so we all went out to the barn; but before we were allowed to go in to where the pigs were, we all had to put on special boots so we didn’t track any foreign bacteria into the barn. In other words, at that point, we were sanctified or set apart from the bacteria of the world which was on the outside of the barn. And here sanctification meant that they were separated from all sinful thoughts and actions.
II And then we see that God spoke to Joshua and he in turn spoke to all the people.
And God told him that He would be with him just as He had been with Moses and according to verse 7, one of the reasons God was going to perform this miracle of dividing the river was so these people would recognize Joshua as God’s man to lead the nation and then God told Joshua that he was to have the priests and the ark go into the water first and to stand still in the Jordan. So, just as God had parted the Red Sea which allowed Moses to lead the nation out of Egypt He was about to part the Jordan River so Joshua could bring these people into the Promised Land.
And when Joshua relates God’s message to the people he doesn’t use God’s words to bolster his own credibility but he stresses that they are about to see the evidence of the presence of God and this was assure them of victory over all the nations on the other side of the Jordan. And I want you to notice that there’s no hint of pride or arrogance on Joshua’s part because his goal was to see God honored and glorified and not puff himself up. You see, God said He would exalt Joshua and so Joshua just left his reputation with Him.
III And then we see them crossing the Jordan.
The priests were to come to the edge of the Jordan carrying the ark and Joshua was to stand in the water and it says, “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.” So, as soon as they stepped into the Jordan the waters immediately rose up in a heap and listen to this, as far away as the town of Adam and that was about thirty miles upstream. That’s about the distance from here to Moncton. And not only that but verse 16 says, “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.” In other words, every little stream that fed into the Jordan dried up as well.
Now, when we hear this we might ask, “Why did God stop up all the water for thirty miles?” Keep in mind that this miracle wasn’t just for Israel but God was sending a message to everyone and by this sign they knew there was a God in heaven who was far superior than any god they had ever worshipped. And I also think He was giving them notice that it’s time for everyone to repent from sin and get right with Him. You see, to warn people of impending judgment and then forgive them if they turn to Him is part of the very nature of God. And they would also realize that God was going ahead of the Israelites and if they chose to fight with them they’d be fighting with God Himself.
Some have compared the experience of the Jews deliverance from Egypt to our experience of salvation. After several of the plaques Pharaoh said he would only let them go if they left their children behind, after another plaque he said they could go if they left their herds behind and then after the final plaque which was the death of the firstborn he just told them all to get out. And listen, that’s a picture of salvation. We come to God surrendering our families, our possessions and all of our hopes and dreams. Everything we are and everything we have whether it’s past, present or future is placed in His hands and now it belongs to Him. And just as the Israeli’s never had to worry because the Egyptians were drowned in the Red Sea we never have to worry about our sin because its been drowned in the sea of God’s forgetfulness. It was forever washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ.
And listen, if the deliverance from Egypt is an illustration of salvation then the conquest of the Promised Land is a picture of the spiritual battle that we’re all called to fight because in the strength of God we pray, witness and struggle; first against our own flesh and then against the powers of evil as we pray and witness to win the souls of men, women, boys and girls.
And just think, with every city Joshua and the people captured they enjoyed the Promised Land that much more. And the same is true of us because with every part of our lives that’s been brought under the control of the Holy Spirit we have that much more freedom to enjoy the Christian life. And unlike the deliverance from the penalty of sin that’s accomplished at salvation the overcoming of the sinful nature is a struggle that’ll last until we reach perfection in the presence of Jesus.
I see another parallel between the experience of the Jews and the Christian life. They were delivered from Egypt but then it took forty years to get into the Promised Land and most of them never even got there because there were the problems of sin, rebellion and disobedience. Listen, it wasn’t that God didn’t want them to enjoy the blessings of the Promised Land but they wouldn’t go in on His terms. And there are many Christians in the same boat. They never enjoy the blessings of the Christian life because they’re secretly hanging unto sin. They’re saved but as far as they’re concerned that’s the end of the story.
Conclusion
1. Now listen, this is important. God honors always faith but He doesn’t honor blind faith. We are to base our requests and expectations on the will of God as it’s revealed in the word of God. And if you took the time to study the lives of those who are listed in Hebrews 11 you’ll notice that each of them were obedient to God while they were trusting in Him to fulfill His promises.
So, what does God promise us today? First, He promises to meet our needs. In Matthew 6:33 it says, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” The things He’s referring to are our daily needs. Then in Philippians 4:19 He says, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” So, listen to this, God’s ability to provide your needs are only limited by the resources of the Lord Jesus Christ who holds all things in His hand. And then James 4:2 and 3 tells us, “Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” And these verses tell us that God promises to provide all of our needs but not all of our wants simply because we often want the wrong things for the wrong reasons.
I was thinking the other day about John and James who asked Jesus if they could sit one on one side and one on the other when He came into His kingdom. And what they didn’t realize was; He would be coming into his kingdom on the cross and if He granted their request they’d have been crucified beside Him and no only did Jesus refuse their request but said they were asking for something for that was arranged by the Father. And if you remember, the place on either side of Jesus was reserved for two other people; the two thieves.
There were times when I’ve prayed for something only to have God say no; because He had something much better in mind and there were times He had me wait because the waiting helped me appreciate the answer. You see God’s goal is to provide our needs and build up our faith not to give us things that’ll puff up our flesh.
So, He promises to provide our needs and then second, He also promises, to always be with us. In Matthew 28:20 He says, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” And then in Hebrews 13:5 He says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So, whether we’re conscious of His presence or not, He’s always with us. I often hear people pray and they say, “Lord, please be with us today.” Well, He is, whether we pray or not and maybe the person should be asking, “Help us to be conscious of Your presence.”
And then third, He also promises that He’ll hear and answer our prayers. In I John 5:14 and 15 it says, “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” Now, this sounds easy but we have to know His will and the question we need to ask ourselves is; what is His will? And much of His will is recorded in His word, so if we’re asking God to do the very things He’s already promised He’ll do, we can be sure He’ll answer those prayers.
When I was a new Christian I heard a missionary preach and he said, “Prayer is like a blank check and by faith we fill in the amount.” I thought that really sounded fantastic but then I started getting letters from him every month asking me for money. Well, I’m sorry but prayer is not a blank check and even if it was; God certainly wouldn’t give it to me.
The subject of answered prayer is not always easy to understand because sometimes God says yes, sometimes He says no and sometimes He says wait a while but I think the times that bother us most of all is when He doesn’t say anything at all. I mean, there are sometimes when God doesn’t bother to explain Himself.
Do you remember when Jesus called Lazarus from the grave I wonder if there weren’t a few other sisters in the crowd whose brothers were entombed in the same graveyard. He raised the son of the widow of Nain but I’ll bet there were other widows in that funeral procession who would have been just as happy to see their kids again. And then He healed the crippled man at the pool of Bethesaida and there had to be several hundred other people who would have loved to walk away. So God tells us to pray and He does answer prayer but He’s not Santa Claus who gives everybody whatever they ask for depending on how good they’ve been.
And then we also see that God honors those who honor Him. And our responsibility is to honor Him and humble ourselves. James 4:10 says, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up.” In I Peter 5:6 it says to, “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” And then in Psalm 75:6 and 7 we’re told, “For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: He putteth down one, and setteth up another.”
And then God honors the efforts of those who are sincerely trying to do His will. The communication of who God is to these Canaanites may have been of secondary importance to the Jews but it was always the intention of God. You see, one of God’s intentions for Israel was for them to evangelize the world and that was clear in the Old Testament.
So as I began this morning talking about faith maybe you sense a lack of faith in your life and if this is true, there are three things you can do. First, get into the word of God and get the word into you and remember, the key is not just knowing the word but doing it. After all, God doesn’t reveal something to us to entertain us but He makes His will known so it can be done. Second, memorize the word. Paul says in Romans 10:17, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” Faith is like a muscle and the more you exercise it the stronger it grows.
And then third, as we’ve seen in the lives of Rahab and Joshua, faith without works is dead. In other words, we all need to do something for God. Vance Havner said, “I heard a missionary say the other day, the trouble is that too many folks are singing ‘Standing on the Promises’, when they are just sitting on the premises!” We need to do something, anything to let people know what we believe and that it’s real.
Terry Cuthbert, who was the former president of the Fellowship said he has seen three responses among churches. The first is that of denial He says, "These godly men and women do not want to admit to themselves that the world is changing dramatically around them. They are carrying on, business as usual. They continue to do what they have always done, except that it has been years since they have seen any significant spiritual results."
The second response is to "hunker in the bunker" or, as younger people say while playing video games, "Shields up!" And he says, "These godly men and women see the change coming but they’ve developed a healthy fear of the negative aspects of these changes, without recognizing the significant opportunities. They would rather form the holy huddle and keep themselves untainted in this wicked and vile generation but we’ve not been called to serve previous generations. We have been called by God to serve this one, and so you and I need to adopt a third response.
And that’s to hoist the sails. We need to be fully convinced of the priority of the great commission and take the necessary risks to reach this generation.
An old story describes the scene shortly after Christ’s return to heaven following his death, burial and resurrection. The angel Gabriel came up to Jesus and said, “Lord, you suffered terribly for men down there.” “I did,” the Lord replied. Gabriel continued, “Do they know all about how you loved them and what you did for them?”
“Oh, no,” said Jesus, “not yet. Right now, only a few people in Israel know.” Gabriel was puzzled. “Then what have you done to let everyone know about your love for them?” Jesus said, “I’ve asked Peter, James, and John, and a few of their friends to tell others about me. Those who are told will in turn tell still other people, and my story will be spread the farthest corners of the Earth. Ultimately, all mankind will have heard about my life and what I have done.” Gabriel appeared a bit skeptical. He knew how little mankind could be depended upon. “Yes,” he said, but what if Peter, James and John grow weary? What if the people who come after them forget or simply don’t follow through? Haven’t you made any other plans?” Jesus answered, “I have no other plans. I’m counting on them.”
I like how Adrian Rodgers put it, “It’s not what you read but what you remember that makes you smart. It’s not what you eat but what you digest that makes you strong. It’s not what you earn but what you save that makes you rich. It’s not what you preach but what you practice that makes you a true believer. And it’s not what you hear but what you do that makes a difference.”
So, let me ask you in closing. What would happen in this world, if it all depends on you? Because, if it doesn’t, then who is God depending on?
