Text: Joshua 3
Theme: Follow after God and have faith in His leading and His timing.
Intro:
- In our study of chapter 2, considered the account of the two spies and Rahab. Rahab chose to believe in the God of Israel and side with the people of God rather than stay in Jericho and be destroyed with the city.
After escaping from Jericho, the spies returned to Joshua and brought him a good report concerning the state of the city and its people. - As we come to chapter 3, Joshua is preparing the people to cross over the Jordan river and to assault the city of Jericho, believing that God would give the city into their hands.
I. God Went Before the People (Vs 1-6)
- Israel waited for God’s leading (Vs 1-3)
a. Following the return of the two spies and the good report that they brought to Joshua, Joshua commanded the nation of Israel to move camp and approach the Jordan river.
b. The children of Israel camped by the Jordan river for 3 days before God commanded them to cross over Jordan.
– There is an important principle in this which is the need to wait in God’s leading. Don’t get ahead of God, don’t lag behind God, just follow as He leads.
– You need to have patience in your life and let God show you His way in His own timing. - Israel watched for God’s leading (Vs 4)
a. Although the people were commanded to wait on God’s leading, they also needed to be watching for God’s leading.
– We know that the plan God has for our lives is the best plan that there is, but you need to be careful that you don’t become so complacent that you miss God’s leading, all the while, you think you’re being spiritual because you aren’t fretting over the path ahead.
– It’s easy not to fret over the path ahead when you’re not paying any attention to it. You need to be paying attention so that God you point out the direction you need to go in.
b. Notice, it says that “ye have not passed this way heretofore.” That means, you haven’t taken this road before, and you don’t know the path ahead. You don’t know where you are going.
– We don’t know the way ahead, but God does. - Israel prepared for God’s leading (Vs 5-6)
a. The children of Israel needed to be clean from the world’s pollutants.
– The word “sanctify” means, “to make clean, consecrate, keep pure.”
b. You will struggle to hear the voice of God, deep in your spirit, if your soul is full of the world’s clamorous pollutants.
– You need the Holy Spirit to work in your heart and pull up the weeds of wickedness, dislodge the stones of sinfulness, break up the fallow ground of the flesh with all the sins of the self-life.
II. Priests Went Before the People (Vs 7-13)
- Joshua is magnified before Israel (Vs 7-13)
a. The miracle of the crossing of Jordan would be a further testament to God’s presence with Joshua Israel. (Vs 7-11)
– You’ll notice all through the biblical history of the nation of Israel, they constantly set up reminders of pivotal moments in their lives.
– God actually wanted them to set up reminders of these pivotal moments in which God id great things on their behalf so that, in years to come when they would doubt God’s goodness, presence, or power, they would be able to look back at these memorials and be reminded that God was with them.
b. Notice that the priests were to bear the Ark before the nation of Israel, and it was the priests who would step into the water first, then God would reveal his hand by parting the water.
– We need spiritual leaders today who are willing to take steps of faith in the direction of God’s leading and trust that God will open up a way forward.
c. Let me develop this thought a little further. The role of the priest was to act as the mediator between man and the presence of God. The priest, carrying forth the Ark of the Covenant, were pictorially going forward in the presence of God.
III. The People Followed After God (Vs 14-17)
- The people followed by faith (Vs 14-17)
a. Notice, in verses 15-16, that it says the priest feet were dipped in the brim of the water and the water “rose up on an heap.”
b. The feet of the priests had barely entered the water when the power of God began to be displayed.
– Do you see the picture here? God delights to honour even the smallest steps of faith.
c. Faith is believing what God has said He will do and acting upon it. - The Christian life is a life of faith, labour, and warfare
a. God often asks us to take a step of faith in the direction of His leading before He opens the next door or makes a way for us to cross the raging river.
– We have never been this way heretofore, but God knows the way ahead and He has promised to be with us.
b. The Christian life is not a life of ease, but it is a life of blessing and a life of rest.
– It is a life of blessing because God is with us, and we are blessed as long as we continue to follow Him.
– It is a life of rest because God has promised to work in and through us. So, even while we labour, it is actually God who gives us the strength to accomplish great things for His glory.
Conclusion:
- Are you following after God. As He seeks to lead you in His will and way, are you following Him and allowing Him to grow your faith.
- Are you seeking to live close to the Saviour, are you seeking to be clean and purified form the pollutants of the world so that you will be ready to hear and follow when God leads you?