Joshua 3 // 3rd May 2026

David Wade

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Thank you, Stuart. Let's just pray and consider what's been said. Lord, we thank you that you are our loving Father. We thank you that we don't have to make an excuse to come to you, but we are able to come to you as we would our natural Father. That Lord, you are open to us coming. And Lord, just as we've heard that we're being asked to embrace others, Lord, I pray that you will make that a reality in our lives. That we can truly be a fellowship, a family together in this place. Lord, over this word, I pray that you will help us sustain us.

unknown 0:41

Give us what you're wanting to speak to us of today.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

But Lord, we will glorify you and give you a whole glory. Amen. And Amen. Good afternoon. It's good to be here again, and I want you to just open your Bibles to Joshua chapter 3. As you know, we're moving our way through Joshua, and we've got to chapter 3 now. And chapter 3 is an incredible chapter, and you're going to understand why in a moment. I think this is the most important sermon you're going to hear from this series. I'm biased, but I do believe that it's the case. So chap wrote Joshua chapter 3. And what we're going to do is we're going to have a look at why I believe it's the most important chapter, but also we're going to have a look at some of the detail of the chapter. And so we're going to work our way through chapter 3. I quite like expository preaching because you have to deal with verses that otherwise you wouldn't normally deal with. And you have to get the context of what is being said as you work your way through. So I quite enjoy this sort of preaching. So Joshua chapter 3. This is the um common nation really of 40 years wandering in a desert. The children of Israel, as you know, disobeyed God, and they part of that penalty was that they were to wander through the desert for 40 years, and then after that generation that had disobeyed God had finally gone through, apart from Caleb and Joshua, who were the spies that came back with a good report, everyone else of fighting men and women, 20 years old and over, they would pass through. That was a generation that had gone by. Now they come to this moment under Joshua's leadership again as we read chapter 3. I'm going to read a couple of verses and then we're going to stop and reflect on them and then we'll go again. So I tell you what I would do. I will explain to you what I'm doing. I'm going to look at verses 1 to 4, and we're going to be looking at some instructions that Joshua gave the children of Israel. We're going to look at verse 5 on its own. We're going to look at verse 6 and verse 8 together because that's where we see Joshua starting to be exalted as far as the people were concerned because God had reinforced his ministry. We're going to be looking at verses 9 to 13, and that's looking at Joshua's faith words. We're going to be looking at finally verses 14 to 17, and that's going to be the miracle seen, and God glorified, and all of the children of Israel passed safely over. So that's the left layout of where we're going. So let's go back to verses 1 to 4 of Joshua chapter 3. Early in the morning, Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shitem and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over. After three days the officers went throughout the camp, giving orders to the people. When you see the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God and the priests who are Levites carrying it, you are to move out from the positions and follow it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance for about a thousand yards, because you and the ark do not go near it. How do we lead people in uncertain times? This is a real example of how Joshua was given by God these the work, the wisdom that he had, that he passed on to people of Israel. There is a real sense, I believe, that in uncertain times there is a real emphasis on making sure that you see the Ark of Covenant or the presence of God. So in times of uncertainty, the one thing I think comes out of these four verses is the fact that make sure you can see the Ark of Covenant. Make sure you're in the presence of God. Make sure you have a peace relationship with God in those times. We know that they were facing a daunting prospect. We had the Jordan River in front of them. It was mounting of the snow time, so it was at full flow. Ahead of them was Jericho, which was another battle that we'll be looking at later on in this series. But before that, they had this enormous issue of crossing the Jordan. And what does Joshua say to them? He says, make sure you see the Ark of God of Covenant, God's presence of the Lord Almighty. When you see that move, then you move. When you know God is ministering to you in order that you might take steps of faith, that's when you go. I remember when we first had the opportunity of purchasing the building that we have in Dover. It was called the Hamlet. Some of you will know that. It was a hospital, an IHospital at one time. And when we had that task ahead of us, the leadership team there were quite daunted, and you can imagine that we were, because we weren't that large a congregation. But we really sensed that God was leading us in order to buy this property. The Lord was very gracious to us and he spoke a word to us. And it was the word found in Psalm 46 and verse 19. It says, Be still and know that I am God. In other words, don't worry about what the issue is, but rely only on God's sovereignty. Anxiety and trust, let that go, but God's sovereignty is the one that you go for. It's demonstrating a sole level of confidence in God rather than in our frantic control. And I think that when we are dealing with things like this, where we've got the Jordan in front of us, Joshua knew that there was no way that he was going to be able to do anything with these children of Israel unless God's presence went with them. And the instruction that he gave to the children of Israel through the officers was that wait until you see the Ark of Covenant move, then you move. And in our day, because of the Holy Spirit, my issue would be wait until you have a sense of the Holy Spirit moving you and then you go. Not before and not after. And so we see that in these few verses already in Joshua, we've got this sense where Joshua is telling the people, we've got to rely on God alone. We're not going to make this otherwise. We've got to rely on God alone. When you understand this, when you understand that God is to be God, then you know that the quietness that comes through knowing that God is here and God is in control, that there is a peace that comes that is beyond our understanding, and we know that whatever the task is, God is with us, and he will find the way. Clearly tell the people my message to them. It wasn't a very difficult message. It was when you see the Ark of Covenant moving, you move. You know, they spent three days. Three days making sure that what the message was that they were going to be given was actually clear. And I, during the night I was working and I had these three thoughts about communication, about this whole sense of letting the people know. And that is that when we are in this situation, when we are seeking God for a way, when we are seeking God for a people, when we're in leadership, when we're wanting to know which way to go, we must spend quality time and a lot quality time in communicating what God is saying to us. It's no good just haphazardly making it known. No. Quality time, taking time, making sure everyone in the camp knows what we are doing and why we're doing it. Make sure that the correct people are actually given the task of communicating. I guess it wouldn't have helped if a Levite came up and said to you that you know we're gonna we're gonna go to war now and uh this is where we're gonna go, wait for their instruction. I don't think that would have been the same thing as if an officer comes. Joshua sent the officers into the whole of the nation. Three days. What was the message? Well, again, the third point is that it was very simple and uncomplicated what God, uh what uh Joshua told the officers to say. The content was very simple. It was this when you see the Ark of Covenant move, you move. Very simple. Yeah, time allotted, three days. The right people, the officers, and a simple message. When you see the Ark move, you move. I think there's a real sense of real wisdom there in knowing what to do when we're needing to communicate with the people of God in these sorts of situations. Leadership is the key. Leadership is the key, and there is a real sense, I think, that we noticed that they were told that they had to spend, they had to make a difference, a distance between them and the Ark of Covenant. Because even in this communication, we realized that God needed to be God, and we needed to acknowledge that this was God that was doing it. And so in the Old Testament, the Ark of Covenant was a very precious area, it was the presence of God, it was it's symbolic of God's presence. We have the Holy Spirit now, but this was something that was really important, and they and Joshua says to the to the children of Israel, don't go too close. This is God we're talking about. This is an awesome God. This is the one who's gonna see us through, this is the one who's gonna show us the way to go. And there was a respect that had to be given to the Ark of Covenant. Verse 5, it says this. Joshua told the people, consecrate yourself, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you. Consecrate yourself. What does that mean? Well, it means to separate, it means to set apart, it means to be dedicated, it means to understand a devotion to God that that the every one of those children of Israel needed to experience. Consecrate yourselves. Sometimes I think we can feel as if we're not important, and it doesn't matter how we are or what we do or who we are and what we do uh what we're where we are and what we say, but that's not the case. We heard through the prophetic this this this afternoon that God was saying he wants to be our father, he knows you, he knows the he wants the best for you, and he's saved. Joshua is saying in these few verses, Joshua is saying, listen now, you are important, consecrate yourself, separate yourself, devote yourself, come before the Lord in remembering that he is sovereign, consecrate yourself, for tomorrow God will do amazing things among you. I know that um I've been reading recently this uh a whole sense of trying to have time in my day to experience the presence of God, wherever I am, whatever I'm doing. And I think this is the sort of thing that Joshua was saying: consecrate yourself, separate yourself, give God time in your day so that you're able to understand and recognize his presence with you. That as we work our way through our day, there are moments in our day where we're just inviting God to come by his presence, by his Holy Spirit to make us understand something of what he is wanting to do with our lives. Saturate ourselves with the Holy Spirit. In this one verse, Joshua manifests his great confidence in what God is doing. He's not saying that God might do something amazing tomorrow, but he says God will do things great, amazing things among you. This is Joshua speaking. Consecrate yourself, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you. Consecrate yourself. There is a real sense, I believe, that God wants you to understand something of that relationship with himself that is able to go on in God and know him more fully. Verses 6 to 8. Joshua said to the priest, Take up the Ark of the Covenant and pass on ahead of the people. So they took it up and went ahead of them. And the Lord said to Joshua, Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so that they may know that I am with you, and as I was with Moses. Tell the priests who carry the Ark of Covenant, When you reach the edge of the Jordan's water, go and stand in the river. Joshua said to the Israelites, Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God. This is how you will know that the living God is among you, and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizites, the Gergeshites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites. See, the Ark of Covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you. Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. As soon as you see the priests who carry the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off, and stand up in a heap. Joshua instructs the priests to take the Ark of Covenant, pass on in front of the people. Again, it's the understanding that this is the reliance of God who's going to demonstrate himself as all in all and most powerful. When Joshua is humble before God and reliant on him, God exalts Joshua in the eyes of the people. Joshua followed on from Moses, as you know, and that would have been an awesome responsibility. But God, just as God was known to Moses, so God will be known to Joshua. And that transition is so important. And it seems to me that God has spoken to Joshua in such a way that he's able to stand in front of the people before any of this that happened and said, This is what is going to happen. This is what God has told me, and this is how it's going to happen. And people follow Joshua seamlessly. They recognize that God is continuing to lead. When they get to the water, it's the same water, it's the same position, it's the same river, it's the same surroundings. But what is different is the man of faith has a different eye. He sees what God has told him, and he sees how God is going to work. So verses 9 through to 13. Joshua said to the Israelites, Come here and listen to the words of the Lord. This is how the living God will, God is among you, and that he will certainly drive out uh before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Hebrezites, the Gershonites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites. See the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into Jordan ahead of you. Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. As soon as the priests who carry the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream, will be cut off and stand up in a heap. Confidence that God is going to do something amazing. And so this is what happens as we know. Joshua instructs the people on how it's going to happen. A leader is defined as one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. And in this situation, Joshua is seen among the people as a great leader, just as Moses was. And then we see this amazing instance that happens. It's a miracle. The waters back up some 18 miles upstream to allow the children of Israel to cross over the Jordan River. Even though it was in flood due to the mountain snow, sometimes God uses his sovereign power in overlords of nature, and other times God uses timing with nature. The reason I'm saying that is because in 1927 there was an earth tremor in this exact place, and the banks of the river Jordan collapsed. And the Jordan was dammed for 21 hours, and that dam was caused because of the clay, the high banks of the river have collapsed into the river into the water. Now, whether God did that through that way or whether God did it miraculously, I'm I don't think it matters. The timing was obviously incredibly correct, whatever it is. But God manifested himself in ways of wonder, and Joshua was able to understand, was able to see this before he got there. Joshua explains clearly to the people of Israel what's going to happen. And he has confidence that God will reveal, or has revealed, what he is going to do. One generation to another generation, tell your children of how this is a monument to what God did in the crossing of the children of the Jordan River. And I know that in our Christian lives, there are monuments, there are times when we have a real decision to make and we see God's awesome power over our lives. Tell your children, share it with your children, let them know that God is with you and walking with you, and that's exactly what Joshua was told to do. And so they crossed the Jordan River, they got to the other side, and they praised God because of it. Let's just finish with these last few verses. So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the Ark of Covenant went ahead of them. Now the Jordan is in full flood during the harvest. Yet as soon as the priests carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap of great distance away at the town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarephan. While the waters flowing to the sea of Arab, the Salt Sea, that was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. The priests carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completely crossed on dry ground. God provided a way. A way that didn't seem possible before. The priests carry, as I say, ahead of the people of Israel, the Ark of Covenant. Again, the children of Israel were recognizing that this is a God thing. This is God that's going to do this, not Joshua, no other person. God is going to do it. And God did it. The priests go ahead, they carry the Ark of Covenant, symbolizing the presence of God. And before them, they were able to go over, verifying Joshua's leadership. Displayed in the priest stood firm on in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel, the whole nation, completely crossed on dry ground. It's really Interesting, some of the things that uh little comments that are in the in the in the Bible that it says everyone crossed over, everyone, there wasn't one person missing, everyone crossed over, everyone went by and passed the Ark of Covenant, everyone realized this is God at work, this is not some man-made uh way of doing things, this is God at work, everyone crossed over. Now, why is this an important sermon? Why is this the most important? Well, the most important because once the people had crossed the Jordan, they were committed to taking over the promised land. Up until that point, they could have done what the generation before had done. They'd got to here, and instead of crossing, the twelve spies came back. Two of them, Joshua and Caleb, said, Yes, we can do it, ten of the spies came back and said, No, we can't. And they turned around and went their way into the into the wilderness. But this time, the children of Israel got to that same space of decision, and that's why it's really important this sermon. Because when you get to these points of decision, when you get to these points of challenge, accepting God's purpose, accepting going over into the promised land is something that you are saying with your heart toward God, I'm in for you. I'm in, I'm all in. And that's what the children of Israel did. When they got to this point, when they crossed the Jordan River, when they got to the other side, and it's all of them, when they got to the other side, it was a statement saying, We're all in for what God has got for us. Whatever it is, we're all in for it. And I believe that God brings us to these points of decision. God brings us to these points of having to say yes to God in our Christian walk. We face these moments of decision. Indecision isn't good. In fact, indecision doesn't end well. In Revelation chapter 3 and verse 16, indecision doesn't end well. But moments of decision are really important, and to choose wisely is really important. And so Joshua brings the children of Israel to this very point again, opposite Jericho, and when they decide this is it, we're all in for God, the promised land, the promise that he's given us, the lands that he has given us, even the wars that we're going to face, we're in it for God. They crossed over and made a statement.

unknown 24:54

This is it, this is it, as far as God is concerned.

SPEAKER_00 25:00

Joshua, at the end of his life, at the end of Joshua 24 and verse 15, it talks about Joshua in the latter part of his life. And he says this he says it he emphasizes making a deliberate daily commitment to serve God sincerely. And that is my challenge to you today. If you are facing a Jordan and God has told you and instructed you on what to do, then I would suggest to you don't turn back. Let God be God. Go for what God has got for us, for you. In Joshua 24 and verse 15, it says this as for me, this is Joshua speaking, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. He brings the children of Israel, once they're in the promised land, to this moment where he reflects on not doing God's will, and he reflects on doing God's will. And what he says at the end of his ministry, he says, As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Let's earth this ministry. The first thing is I want to end well. I don't want to end in any other way but doing what God has called me to do. And maybe there are some here who feel that because you're of a certain age, that's it. I'm coming today to tell you that is not the case. I want to end well, just as Joshua ended well. And so I challenge you, if you are of a certain age, I challenge you to take up what God has given you and do it to all of your power and all of your commitment. Say yes to God. Be all in for what God has got for you. Be all in for what God has ministered to you for. Be active in your ministry. Secondly, you may be one of those who are messing around with Christianity, in or out, and not really committed to what God is challenging you to do through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Well, I'm suggesting that you don't mess around anymore. But actually, you show total commitment for what God has for you. You'll never regret it. And just as Joshua was when he's old and when he was full of years, it says that he was determined, as far as he was concerned, to fully, fully realize what God had saved him to do and to be. So my suggestion to you is if you're messing around like that, make a decision. Go for what God has got for you. And then thirdly, I just felt that God was just speaking to me about Deal and the initial planting of Deal, some of you will know, some of you won't. But Deal was planted because of a direct prophecy that was given to Eric Parker, who was our senior pastor at the time, when he was in the northeast of England. And someone came, a prophet came up to him, and he said about Deal and land in Deal. And the very next Sunday, uh, as um Eric was in Dover, people from Deal were in the service. Now that's not coincidence, that is of God. And so we understand that over the years we've seen uh results of that prophetic word, but I'm absolutely totally committed to seeing God out's outworking will in Deal are you? And totally committed because I believe that God has called us to do something very, very special. So, my question: are you willing to cross the Jordan of your life journey? Has God brought you to that point where you have got to make the decision? Am I in? All in or am I not? Am I going back to the wilderness? Am I going for what God has got or am I going back to the wilderness? I pray today that you will take the decision that you are all in for God and for his purpose in your life.