CROSSING OVER
Deuteronomy 11:31 “For you will cross over the Jordan and go in to possess the land which the LORD your God is giving you, and you will possess it and dwell in it.
Crossing over. From one state to another. What are some of the promises God has given to us in His word?
For forty years the people of God had wandered in the wilderness. God had delivered them, demonstrated Himself to them yet a whole generation died in the wilderness through unbelief and fear, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb.
God does not want us to just get saved He wants us to be whole in every area of our lives. This is a sermon on how to get there.
Joshua 3:1-5
Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and they set out from Acacia Grove and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they crossed over. So it was, after three days, that the officers went through the camp; and they commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. “Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before.” And Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.”
Joshua 4:1-3The word cross appears 22 times in C3,4. The most significant crossings in life are when we leave the natural realm and enter into the supernatural realm. To Israel this crossing was of immense importance.
Acacia = scourging thorns
Genesis 3:18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field.
John 19:2 And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe.
Thorns were a result of the curse. They speak of:-
a. DESOLATION They are a sign of desolation
Proverbs 24:31And there it was, all overgrown with thorns; Its surface was covered with nettles; Its stone wall was broken down.
b. DECEPTION They are a sign of cares, anxieties and worries
Matthew 13:7,22“And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them.” Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.
c. DEMONISATION They are a sign of demonic oppression
2 Corinthians 12:7And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.
Jordan = to descend, in abundance, also figurative of entering into promises. In this instance speaks of Jesus descending from heaven displaying the love and glory of God.
Lodged there = to continue, dwell and endure
John 15:4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
Crossed over = a transition, specifically to cover in copulation, to go beyond, to go in over or through. Transition means passage from state or set of circumstances to another.
Canaan = the promises of God = Prosperity, blessing and abundance
Deuteronomy 8:7-9“For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills; “a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; “a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper.
It was eight miles from Acacia Grove to the Jordan.
8 = New Beginnings
Three days from crucifixion, burial to resurrection.
During this time God impressed upon them the impossibility of the task ahead – flood stage.
Sanctification means simply to set apart something for the use of God, from natural use in the sense of the Adamic nature to spiritual use.
To follow the ark speaks of being led by the Holy Spirit. Being submissive and obedient to God and His word.
Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
What do we need to leave the curse and results of sin enter God’s promises?
1. Intimacy with God
PRINCIPLE 1 It is being in Christ that we find He is being in us.
2. Faith – three types – saving, fruit of the spirit, the gift of – this faith was obedience to the word God spoke to them. Though they were not told how they should cross the river they went forward in faith.
PRINCIPLE 2 We need to proceed as far as we can and depend upon divine sufficiency for those things in which we find ourselves insufficient.
WONDERS
make great, difficult, wonderful :- accomplish, (arise...too, be too) hard, hidden, things too high, (be, do, do a, shew) marvelous (-ly, -els, things, work), miracles, perform, separate, make singular, (be, great, make) wonderful (-ers, -ly, things, works), wondrous (things, works, -ly).
Wonders refer to miracles like the performed on Israel’s behalf in Egypt and the wilderness. These are acts beyond man’s capabilities and hence, unsolvable or in accessible to man.
The greatest wonder is salvation!
We cannot cross over through our own efforts. There is no bridge no boat.
3. Purity – consecrate yourselves.
PRINCIPLE 3 The preparation for God’s wonders is holiness, the response to God’s wonders is praise.
What shall we do when faced with “crossings” our hearts must be clear so that we can see where God is leading us. We have not gone this way before. We must focus our eyes, fix them on Jesus, the ark. James 3:17 God’s wisdom is pure, Matt 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God”
4. Unity – they obeyed the commands of God together
PRINCIPLE 4 Only unity will bring us into the fullness of the Promises of God. (e.g. 12 spies)
5. Be led by the Spirit – you’ve never been this way before
PRINCIPLE 5 We need to know that although we may have never been this way before God has. Let the divine order of the Holy Spirit be you’re Guide. (God uses Holy Spirit led men to lead)
New Testament
John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus. “Prepare a way in the wilderness” – no signs wonders or miracles – a message of preparation.
He baptizes in Jordan – tradition at the place where the memorial stones were supposed to have been.
Jesus turns up wants to be baptized. God speaks from heaven, the Holy Spirit descends upon Him. He overcomes the wilderness – walks in power – Signs – wonders and miracles return in abundance.
The Crossing of Jordan is a type of the state of being of the church.
The death burial and resurrection gives us access into this state. Jesus shed blood three times, Gethsemane = soul, Crown of Thorns = spirit, Cross = body.
The Jordan was backed up all the way to Adam – all the way back to before sin – and all the way to the “Salt Sea” the dead see. The wages of sin is death.
