As we open, the second part of our series there is a story about a man who was a rather rough man, uncultured man who and for some reason as he was window shopping he fell in love with a beautiful vase that he seen in a window. Eventually he bought the vase and put it on his mantelpiece in his room. As he looked at it; it became a judgmental piece of its surroundings. He began to clean up the room to make the vase worthy. As he looked at the vase, it was beautiful but the curtains looked dingy beside it. The old chair with the stuffing coming out of the seat would not do. The wallpaper and the paint needed redoing. Gradually the whole room was transformed. And I need to tell you this morning that when you put Christ on the mantel of your heart, your whole life is transformed and things can’t remain the same they must change.
This is the kind of transformation we witness here in the second chapter of the book of Joshua. As the Israelites were about to enter Canaan and claim their promised land, the first city they would have to face was the great walled city of Jericho. If they could take this city, they could easily split the country in two and then move from there to conquer the north and the south. But before they could go about their business of defeating Jericho, Joshua sends spies to the city to gage the mood of the people and to see whether or not they were ready for war.
When these spies entered Jericho, they went to the home of a harlot named Rahab. Why Rahab? Well, the reason that they went to Rahab’s house was because they knew that the sight of men entering a harlot's home would not attract too much attention.
But something happen when they entered this harlot house. What they found when they entered the home of Rahab must have come as quiet a shock to these two men. They found a woman who had been changed by the power of God. They met Rahab, but they found out that she wasn't the girl she used to be. She was no longer a call girl, but instead she was now a girl that had been called.
Now as we enter into the 3rd chapter we know that because of their unbelief, Israel was sentenced to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. But now those years of wandering have expired and the children of Israel are on the edge to enter into Canaan Land. They are ready to claim their inheritance in the land of promise. However, before they can enter Canaan, they must first get past one final and major obstacle: which was the Jordan River. Normally, this would not have presented much of a problem, since the Jordan was only 100 feet wide at Gilgal where they crossed. However, it seems that God always does things in such a way that no man can boast of having done them with their own strength and power, and this crossing would be no exception.
You see, God brought them to the Jordan River at the time of harvest. Those who have been there during the harvest time tell us that the Jordan swells to an impassable width of over 1 mile! It was over 50 times wider than it normally would have been when Israel arrived. There was no way they could cross this river on their own. They needed supernatural help and they could only get this kind of help from God.
And my brothers and sisters, we each have Jordan’s that we have to face from time to time. When we look at the obstacles that stands between us and our spiritual victory in our own Canaan, the one that makes us feel that we may will never be able to enter our Canaan of victory and enjoy the abundant life that Jesus promised His followers. And I don’t know what kind of obstacles that you are facing in your life, but I do know a God who specializes in overcoming the overwhelming issues that burden us down and he knows how to lead his children to victory.
This morning, I would like for us to look into this account of Israel as they got past their Jordan. As we do, I would like to offer you some post human advice, and to tell you, that the things that worked for them over 3000 years ago, will still work for us today. Allow me to show you from chapters 3 and 4 of Joshua How to Get Past Your Jordan.
There are few steps that we must take to guarantee that we will be able to get past that obstacle that blocks our way and enter our Canaan. Let me share these steps with you this morning.
First we need to examine the message. When it came time for the people to move forward to cross Jordan, God had a message that they needed to hear. And In the words that they heard, they were challenged to do three very important things. These things were designed to help them follow the Lord better. These are the same things that we need to hear this morning that will help up to follow the Lord better as well.
So, FIRST WE NEED TO:
1. Watch God: as part of this series there is talked about the Ark of the covenant, and now notice that the Ark of the Covenant is mentioned some 7 times in chapter 3. And write this down, that this was that special piece of Tabernacle furniture that symbolized the presence and power of God. When the Ark was in the Holy of Holies, the glory of God rested upon it and it was the dwelling place of God. To Israel, it represented God's presence in the midst of His people. In other words, when God moved, they were to move. When God stopped they were to do the same.
The lesson here is that when we are in the face of crisis, or when we need directions then we need to learn how to be sensitive to the movement of the Lord in, and around us. It is a fact that God loves you, and if you will watch Him, He will teach us how to live day by day.
2. Follow God: When they saw the Ark of the Covenant move, they were to leave their place of complacent and go after it. Not only were they to watch God, they were to move when He did. They were to pursue God. The lesson for the believer is that it isn't enough to know what God is doing, there comes a time when you must leave your place of complacent and go after God. Oh yeah this may require us to leave our comfort zone, Israel had to. Israel was about to follow the Ark through a river that was over 1 mile wide. That couldn't have been easy, but it was still necessary and right. My brothers and Sisters of God, following God may not be the easiest thing you will ever do, but it will be the best thing you ever do. If you ever expect to get past your obstacles and enter your Canaan, we must learn to follow God.
3. Honor God - Notice that the Israelites are told to stay at least 3000 feet behind the Ark. This was so that they could easily see what was happening ahead of them.
Another reason is that the Lord didn’t want anyone but the Levites near the Ark and to get too close would have meant death.
The lesson here is that we must never be guilty of treating God as if he is one of our buddies. There must always be a holy reverence and a fear of the Lord in our hearts. God help us that we never allow a spirit of familiarity to cheapen our walk with the Lord.
Next, the people were told to "sanctify yourselves." This referred to being sure they were as clean and as holy as possible. They were to put away anything that was displeasing to the Lord. They were to examine themselves and get ready for the Lord to do something great for them.
If you and I ever expect to get past the Jordan's that arise in our lives, we are going to have to learn that one of the first things we must do is examine our lives to make sure they are as clean as possible.
In verses 9-13 the message to the Israelites reminded them that getting across the Jordan did not rest on their shoulders, but on the Lord's.
It was His plan to get them over and it was His problem. In these verses, He makes them a promise and tells them that He will bring them through in a powerful fashion. God, commits Himself to bringing his people across their Jordan. All that was required of Israelites was that they needed to trust God!
And May I remind you that things have not changed one bit? If God could be trusted in those days to keep His promises, then He can still be trusted today. We need to stop worrying because that’s not of God.
1. We worry over tomorrow, yet the Lord has said - Matt. 6:34.
Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.
2. We worry over material things, yet the Lord has promised - Matt. 6:25-33;
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Notice the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink, for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
3. We worry about facing various things in life, yet the Lord has promised - Heb. 13:5 that he would never leave us or forsake us
4. We worry over so many things, yet the Lord tells us that all of our worry is sin and that our duty is to trust Him - Phil. 4:6-7.
The bottom line is this: Jesus is all-powerful, He is all-knowing and He is all-present. He knows what you are going through. He knows everything there is to know about you. He even knows more about it than you do! That is the message, that God is trying to convey to us stop worrying. Instead we to follow chapter 3:14-17 we need to expect a miracle
There Was A Problem - As I mentioned in the introduction, the children of Israel were facing a big problem. The river was over 1 mile wide and there were 2 million people who had to cross, and yet the Lord wanted them to go over. They couldn't build a bridge, there wasn't enough time or materials. They couldn't transport everyone over in boats, there were no boats and they would have been sitting ducks for their enemies. There was only one way around their problem and that was through it.
So my question to the body this morning is have you ever sized up your problem and thought about how big it was? And Maybe you looked at it and concluded, there is no way around it, no way over it and no way past it but you’ve just got to go through it. I suppose we have all been like the 10 spies that returned from spying out the land of Canaan with Caleb and Joshua. When they said that we have sized up our problem and think that it is more than we have ever faced before. But somebody in the crowd said that even thou we’ve never faced anything like this before with the help of God we can conquer the land.
Most of our problems is that when we face our problems we so quickly forget about God. Where we see only problems, God sees only solutions. Where we look at things and say, there is no way out, God looks at the problem and says, Follow me, I have a plan.
The plan was this, God said, when the feet of the priests enter Jordan, I am going to part the waters and lead you through on the dry ground. But there was a catch in this plan and it was that the waters would not part until the priests who were carrying the Ark stepped into the water. In other words, it took a step of faith, whereby the people would have to obediently followed the Lord for them to see the miracle come to pass.
Too often, we want the Lord just to fix everything in our lives for us. But we don't want to exercise our faith in Him. We just want Him to do it. But God will require us to take steps of faith in order that we might see our Jordan parted.
It is said that when the priests stepped into that raging river, it parted and God opened a path of dry ground through the waters for His people. By the way, verse 16 says that the waters backed up so far that it reached the City of Adam.
And the city of Adam is some 20 miles north of where the children of Israel were crossing.
God made them a path through the water that was more than adequate for His people to get through.
And I need to tell somebody this morning that what He did for them, He can do now. If he’s been able throughout the Bible, and He is still ABLE today. Regardless of the circumstances:
And if you all don’t believe me Just ask, Noah, when he needed a ark during a flood
Just ask Moses about when he was down in Egypt,
You can ask Daniel about how he was in a lion den and God delivered him
Ask the 3 Hebrews boys Sharach, Meshack and Abedgo on how God delivered them from the fire
Ask the widow down in Zarephath, who had no food and God bless her beyond her expectation.
Ask the Disciples that was on a little ship how God calmed the raging sea. And some of you don’t have to go back that far some of you can just look back over your own life.
How many times has the Lord opened your Jordan already? The Lord is all we need. He is still the same miracle working God that He always had been. So, I’m saying that we should Learn to expect miracles when you are dealing with God.
So, first We Need To Examine A Message
Secondly We Need To Expect A Miracle
Thirdly in chapter 4 verses 1-24 We Need To Set Up A Memorial. When all the people had passed over Jordan, Joshua commanded one man from each of the 12 tribes to get a rock from the midst of Jordan and build a memorial on the Canaan side. That memorial is worth taking a look at this morning!)
The Purpose Of The Memorial: was to remind the other generations of the power and faithfulness of God on behalf of His people.
That memorial would be an important landmark to those who would come after.
In others word saints never forget what the Lord has done for you in your yesterdays. It is those yesterday experiences that will help us over when the trials of today and tomorrow arise in our life.
Why should we not forget
Because he has done great things for us
We should not forget because we can say great is thy faithfulness
We should not forget because he has brought us over hill and mountains
We should not forget because he has been bread when we were hungry, water when we were thirsty, money in our pocket, friend when we were lonely
As a matter of fact he has been my everything that I needed to make it over my Jordan.
So I know how to get past my Jordan I can sing, Jordan river I’m bound to crossing, I’ve got one more river to cross.
