Follow the Promises: Crossing The Jordan

Rivers don’t usually make way for you—unless Someone goes first. We explore the ancient crossing of the Jordan as a living map for modern change: moving from burnout and wandering to a life anchored in grace. Instead of selling you more willpower hacks, we name the three real choices in front of every heart under pressure: try harder, give up, or trust Jesus to make a way on dry ground. Along the way, we connect Hebrews and Joshua to show how the presence of God—not our plans—parts the flood, and why stepping in before the waters move is the surprising posture that unlocks peace, joy, and freedom.

We talk candidly about law and grace without fluff. The law is good, but it can’t lead you or power you; grace does what the law cannot by giving you a new heart and the Spirit’s strength. If you’ve been stuck in cycles—numbing habits, shame spirals, or spiritual exhaustion—you’ll hear how identity in Christ changes the script. Sobriety becomes alignment with truth, purity becomes worship, and everyday choices start flowing from union with Jesus rather than fear or performance. The story’s details matter: the ark enters first, the people step next, and the river parts last. That sequence becomes a practical pattern for faith.

Expect clear takeaways you can practice today: look to Jesus as the author and finisher of your faith, rest in His finished work rather than grinding for acceptance, and renew your mind in Scripture so your eyes stay on the One who loves you. Even mustard-seed trust is enough when its object is strong. Ready to leave the wilderness behind and cross your Jordan? Listen now, subscribe for more gospel-centered teaching, and share this with a friend who needs a path through the flood.

Transcript

How We Actually Change

SPEAKER_01 0:27

How do we change? This the title of today's message is called Follow the Promises, Crossing the Jordan. So we're gonna actually cross the Jordan River today in the story. How do we change? Do we like find the strength somewhere deep inside us to change? Do we adopt a new strategy or discover some new mysterious truth in the cosmos? Like enlightenment. Is that how this works? God in the Word actually gives us a different way, and it's called the way of faith. And it's got a sound effect. Bling like that. And today we're gonna see how this way of faith is freely provided for every single one of us. You can walk by faith. It's God's gift to you. Uh we're gonna see it, and it's gonna it's gonna really bless you. And the crossing of the Jordan River that we're gonna talk about today is a powerful event that symbolizes this significant transition step uh into God's promises, God's promised land, you could say. All right, so it marks Israel moving from the wilderness where they're wandering around. Remember, they were wandering around in the desert? How long? Ooh, 40 Jesus points for you. So I so they were wandering around this desert. Why? Let's reset that situation. Let's remember Israel had been wandering these 40 years, going in circles, never making progress, never finding rest or satisfaction or meaning to their life, knowing they were not in the right place, but no idea how to get out. Does this remind you of anybody? They were afraid of the battles, they were afraid of the enemies, they were completely incapable to face and conquer the challenges that were in front of them going into this promised land where there's these all these giants and scary things. Have you ever wandered? Man, have you ever struggled to walk in the freedom that God you you you kind of think maybe God wants you to have freedom, but have you ever felt lost or abandoned? Have you ever felt afraid? Have you ever felt out of control? That's the worst part of being in a car accident, isn't it? Knowing that you're in a 2,000-pound coffin that you can't control after you get hit. I hate that feeling. You ever been very aware of the impossibilities in front of you? Maybe the impossible enemy that's right there with no real hope for victory. Well, we're in that situation, we have three options, three doors, you could say. Three doors. Give me a picture of three doors on the on the screen. The first one, door number one, is keep trying, keep doing the same thing. You ever gone through that door? Yeah. It leads to insanity, it leads to being burnt out. You ever been burnt out? Man, it leads to bitterness against God. God, I've been trying to do and he's like the same thing. Yeah. It leads to disappointment, it leads to confusion. That's where we keep trying to keep the law of God to see if that works. Let me keep trying to be the best Christian I can be. I'm gonna go to church even harder. I'm gonna pray even harder. I'm gonna give even more. Okay? That will only lead you to disappointment, my friends. That's not the gospel. That's door number one. Door number two, give up and resign yourself to just live in the wilderness. My dad used to tell me this he who farts in church sits in his own pew. Amen. That's for you, dad. He he's watching right now. And he used to just laugh and laugh and laugh. The best dad jokes. Okay. Um, by the way, he's gonna be here next week. My parents are winter texting, like we're they're coming to stay with us for a couple months. I'm excited. All right. Um, yeah, when we just give up and we sit in our own pew, we sit in our own, like we're just I'm just gonna just do this. It leads to depression, apathy, sorrow, regret, self-pity, and and this one starvation of the soul. Your your soul just like, I my life sucks, and God abandoned me, so I'm not gonna do anything else. I'm just gonna, well, what do we usually do? Drink ourselves to death, or whatever we got, whatever vice we choose, we just dive into it because we've given up trying. Which we already learned trying isn't the right answer. So I get it. Like I get it, right? This is when we just stop trying to keep the law and see if that works. See, everything has to do with the law and grace in our lives. Everything. Your response to the trials and the situations in your life always has to do with what you think about God's law and God's grace. That's it. It literally applies to everything, which is why that's what we're studying in our Bible study coming up on Wednesdays. All right, door number three cross the impossible Jordan River by faith. Just cross it. How? By faith. Well, that's door number three. That leads to, let's see, peace, joy, abundance, deeper connection and fellowship with your Father in heaven, a life that testifies of his goodness and his grace and victory freely given and to undeserving people. That's what this door is. We become spirit-led people who naturally do what God's law like intended for us to do, but the spirit helps us to do it when we live with these new hearts of faith. It's it's the faith that makes everything different. We're gonna learn about how this works. So here's what crossing the Jordan means in the context of our lives and God's grace, okay? Number one, crossing the Jordan is gonna teach us we transition from wilderness wandering, which we are prone to, to the promise. Okay, just like the Israelites move from their wilderness into the promised land, we have to go through a transition from living under the law and striving to be a good person, to keep God's commandments, to resting in his promises and in his grace. That's the transition that we go through. That's what this is symbolic us, symbolic of. So we're leaving behind the old life of striving and embracing the new life that God has for us called grace or his promises. Okay, we're set free from the old wandering. And and you guys have already been set free. So when Christians, and I'm telling you, I mean like 80% of believers, I think, are in the wilderness wandering. Maybe in this room, we got so many just turning to different things, wandering. They don't, they're not living a life of abundance in their heart, maybe. And I'm not disappointed or angry, I'm just like, oh, God's already given it to you. Let's take it. But we don't know how. So we have to learn, and Joshua's gonna teach us how to choose faith instead of the other two doors. Okay? All right, the second thing this teaches us is God's faithful provision. God's faithful provision. This we're gonna see the Jordan River, spoiler alert, is gonna miraculously part and they're gonna walk through on dry land. And what does that remind you of? Red Sea, right, which happened 40 years before. Okay? You don't get any Jesus points, you're already doing a life group. It it reminds you of the Red Sea, okay? Why? Because they both demonstrate God's faithfulness and God's power, and it re-in it reassures us believers that God initiates and completes this journey of faith. God started this thing by saving them through the Red Sea, and He's gonna finish it by saving them through the Jordan River. He always provides the path through the obstacles that are in front of you. So we're gonna start actually before we get in Joshua by reading Hebrews chapter 12, verse 1 and 2. It says, Therefore, we also, since we're surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to what? Looking to Jesus. Looking to where yourself, no, your pastor? No, your efforts, no, looking to Jesus. This is really that simple. Looking to Jesus, who is the author and finisher of our faith. So that's kind of like the beginning and the end, right? Who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and he has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Jesus himself is the path to victory. He is door number three. One time in the Bible, he literally said, I am the door. He meant door number three in our context. He is the path. And all you what do you have to do to go through his door? He says, Look unto Jesus. Look at him. That is faith. Put your confidence in him and him exclusively. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. That's another way of saying, I'm the door. I'm I'm the way where you're gonna find life. So looking to him is where we find this victory that God has provided for us. The third thing we're gonna learn today is entering his rest. Hebrews chapter 4 talks a lot about how this entering the promised land is ceasing from our striving and entering his rest. I'm gonna briefly just say that right there because that's gonna be a whole nother sermon someday. Uh, and I don't want to steal my own thunder. All right. Number four, the fourth thing we're gonna learn is this is a picture of the new covenant of grace. Because in the old covenant, we were led by the law. If you think in your mind, how do I be a Christian? I follow the Ten Commandments, you are led by the law, and that is not the gospel, and it's not Jesus, the work that he did either. Now, is the law good? Yeah, the law's great, the law's perfect, but you it can't lead you because it's not Jesus. Jesus says he leads us in a different way. He crucifies our old nature and he fills us with a new nature called the Holy Spirit, and that spirit will lead us to being who God wants us to be, and it will guide us and it will empower us to live godly, holy lives. In fact, it's the only way that we can do what's right or be who we're supposed to be, who God's called us to be. That's the new covenant. So, this whole crossing of the Jordan, it's a big picture. It's a it's a movie that's got layers like an onion. And it's like all of it is moving from death to life, from self-effort to divine rest, all by grace, from living by my own confidence to God's promises. Totally different way of living. Okay, so let's dive in. Chapter 3, verse 7. The Lord said to Joshua, This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I'll be with you. And you shall command the priests who bear the Ark of the Covenant, saying, When you have come to the edge of the water of Jordan, you shall stand in the Jordan. Okay, so God has this very simple plan. All right, he makes promises, and then he fulfills those promises by his power through the servant that he's chosen. And he seems to do this plan over and over in history. He does it through Noah, he does it through Moses, he does it through Joshua, and guess what? He does it through Jesus. What's our part in it then? Well, our part is always the same. It's to believe the promises, it's to receive those promises by faith, which is you could say is believing them. All right, so he's got this simple plan, and it's what Jesus does for us. And so here's what he says He God says he wants you to fully trust in this plan. So what's what do they gotta do? He says, they got the priests have to stand in the river before it's dried up, before it's parted. He says, I want you to be all in to my plan. I want you to be all in to my plan. He says, I want you to, I want you to go. And we studied the Ark of the Covenant last week. You guys remember that? If you didn't hear last week's sermon, you have to go listen to last week's sermon because we studied about how the Ark of the Covenant is a picture of Jesus. It basically is the same as looking at Jesus, because it's got the things that are in Jesus, it describes Jesus, it's an amazing picture of Jesus. So just remember that, and that's why we study the Bible verse by verse and why it's so vital for you to keep up on all the messages so that you build this knowledge base of what God is saying, because the lessons here, the blessings for you are really amazing, but you have to build it up, you have to dig, and and you'll discover them as you dig with us here. So just a little plug on that. Um bless you. Yes, we're good. We're good. All right. So he tells them, I want you to stand in the Jordan. What's the Jordan? The Jordan is symbolic of their problems. He he we don't ignore our problems, but yeah, we got problems, we got sin temptations, we got all kinds of stuff. We rock right up to them and we step on their neck in faith and confidence. We expect victory, we have this ridiculous confidence in Jesus, he's gonna work for me. And then the devil says, But you're stupid. And I'm like, You're right. But he loves me. And the devil's like, How do you know he loves you? And you're like, ooh, wrong question. Because I can look at the cross and I can see that he loves me. I can see that he cares about me. Whenever you doubt God's faithfulness, God's love, where do you look? The cross. And you can walk right into your problems, right into your Jordan. You can stand right there. And then verse 9. So Joshua said to the children of Israel, Come here and hear the words of the Lord your God. What a good pastor Joshua is. None of his own words. He's not saying, guys, I've devised a plan. We're gonna have lasers and light shows and smoke. We're gonna entertain you across the Jordan and you'll be free. We built a cruise ship. No, he's a good pastor. What does that mean? He doesn't give his own opinions. He that's not what the people need. That's not what the people of God need. He and his goal isn't to get anything from them. He doesn't want to entertain them. His goal is to connect them with their God who loves to save them. He sees himself, Joshua does, as a servant. Uh that's what a leader is, that's what a pastor is, that's what a mediator is back in this day. So find you a church that teaches the word of God and encourages you to look to Jesus exclusively. All right? Again, Joshua, he in our story, he represents Jesus. And Jesus brings us God's word as well. Everything Jesus says to you, that's God's message to you. You want to know what God thinks about you? Go see what Jesus says. Go look at what Jesus says, and God will speak directly to you through his servant Jesus, because Jesus was God. All right, verse 10. And Joshua said, By this you shall know that the living God is among you. Oh, I love this because he is a living God. He's a living God. Now, this is contrasted with what they had all every culture had idols. Idols. And in the Bible, God mocks these idols and he calls them dumb idols. Both meanings of the word dumb are accurate because they're idols that don't speak, and God mocks them. And he says, Go pray to your idols because they're dumb. They won't speak anything to you. I'm a God that will speak to you. And we're like, Great, we have a God that'll speak to us in his word, but I'm not gonna read it because that's too much work. Because I want him to speak to me through the clouds and through the stars and through the wind. And he's like, I do speak, but it's through my word. Because Jesus was his word, and Jesus spoke it to us. Alright. God is alive, he's a living God, he's active, and he's chosen you, and he's been pursuing you your whole life. He loves you. And that's why you never get away with anything, it seems like. You always get caught. He wants you to know his heart for you. Maybe this is why you have such big problems and challenges right now. Maybe this is why you've wandered so long or struggled with the same thing time after time after time. Because he is so intent, Jesus is so intent with bringing you into his salvation. He wants you to experience his salvation so much that he's let you experience what not being saved, what not being healthy, what not being healed feels like. Because he wants you to understand his salvation when he brings it to you. He's very intent on being your savior, and it's all for your good. Nothing is ever wasted. All the pain, all the stuff that you've been through, it's not wasted. God has a perfect plan and a design design for all of it. It wasn't to break you. It was when you when you plant a tree, you have to dig the hole so it goes down deep enough, so it's roots. And sometimes we just need a big hole in our lives, so his roots. Can go in there and that life can grow up out of us. I just thought of that one. It's like lightning has struck my brain. It's all part of his design, okay? To know that the living God is among you. Why is this happening in your life? To know that the living God is among you. But this sucks to know that the living God is among you. But I don't want to go through this. To know that the living God is among you, it's worth it. No matter what it is, it's worth it for you. He says, and that he without fail, in that you should have that highlighted. That those two words without fail. And that he without fail will drive out from before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizites, the Gergeshites, the Armazites, and the Jebusites. That's why they pay me the big bucks. I can pronounce all those. Guys, this is not a wimpy promise that God's making here. These are big cultures and groups of people that could kick butt. They're a big challenge. And Israel's like, we can't do this. And God's like, Don't worry, I'm gonna do it completely. This is not partial deliverance. And look at God doesn't lose. He's not scared of this, but his people certainly are, because they don't know how big God is. And we have no clue how big God is. Behold, the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you in into the Jordan. Now therefore, take for yourselves twelve men of the tribes of Israel, one man from every tribe, and it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of your feet of the priests who bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters uh that come down from upstream, they shall stand as a heap. Okay? So God wants there to be no confusion about where the power comes from in this story. It comes from the ark. And the ark was God's presence. So he's really saying, it's me that's doing this work for you. But I put myself in this box type thing to represent what Jesus will eventually be. It's the presence of God. Jesus is the presence of God with us. We studied on Christmas Eve. Emmanuel was his name, which means God with us. No tools were required. They didn't need boats to get across this. They didn't need to divert the water upstream. There was no sacrifices that were needed. There just the only thing that was needed was complete and utter dependence upon God, and that's what we hate. And that's what the people were like, ugh. Are you sure, Joshua? We can just stay on this side in the desert. We but we've been wandering 40 years, and that sucks. So, ah, what do we do? God is calling you. He wants to prove himself to you. He said, it's no, your tools aren't doing it, your strength's not doing it, your boats aren't doing it. I'm gonna do it for you. Will you just trust in me? That's what he's saying here. That's what it looks like. Okay, so this is what faith looks like total, utter dependence upon God. Look at verse 14. So it was when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan with the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant before the people. Okay, I want you to see those words set out. The people set out, they started their journey before the river was dried up. This is great. This is what it looks like to start walking by faith. Okay, this is the thing God really showed me while I was studying this, okay? You believe God's promises before you see them. My friends, you always have to believe it before you see it. You have to take this step of faith. And if your eyes are on Jesus, his victory is yours. That's the promise. You're you're gonna be walking in his victory. So I'm gonna give you some examples of how you can start setting out to walk by faith. Example number one. You step forward to walk in sobriety before you feel like you're free.

SPEAKER_00 25:02

Hey, where are you walking this morning? To the bar.

Living Your New Identity

SPEAKER_01 25:07

Maybe let's set out to a different direction because you're free. That's maybe not the place that you need to be at this moment. Well, I'm going to church. There you're good. You can come. Come on. Jesus has already made you free. You're not your substance abuse patterns do not define you. What Jesus says defines you. And if you look to him, his identity flows through you. That's the truth of who you are. And you can always stand on that. Okay, you can set out, you can start walking by faith to make decisions about your purity, your sexual life. You can make those decisions, your sexual identity, because Jesus has made you pure. So step forward and live the life that He has given to you, that He says is yours. Step forward to live that pure life. That's where you'll find your contentment, your joy, your satisfaction. Step forward to find him. Step forward to honor him with your body. Everything that you do with your body. Our eyes just need to be on him, not on ourselves, not on our culture, not on our friends, not on anything the world says will satisfy you. Oh, doing this makes you happy. Doing this numbs the pain. All of it is a distraction. Jesus says, eyes on me. Because none of those things love you.

SPEAKER_00 26:57

The world does not love you. Your political party does not love you. Your phone does not love you. One loves you. And it is worth turning your back on everything else to know that love.

SPEAKER_01 27:22

It is worth turning your back on everything you think you are or you think you need to know that love.

SPEAKER_00 27:34

These are steps of faith that you can apply to anything.

SPEAKER_01 27:38

You can apply it to anything. How you spend your time, how you rest, how we look at people, how we study, how we eat and drink, how we listen, how we save, or how we spend every single bit of it. We can apply this. Am I gonna do it by faith or not? In fact, that's how God says He's going to judge it all. Our life will be judged, whether we lived it by faith in Him or in our own understanding. So look at verse 15. Then those who bore the ark of the came to Jordan, and and uh the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped into the edge of the water, for the Jordan had over overflows all its banks during the time of the harvest. That means this is the big time of the river, okay? And the waters which came down from upstream stood still and rose in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zaritan. So the waters that went down into the Sea of Abra, the Salt Sea, failed and were cut off, and the people crossed over opposite Jericho. And the priests who bore the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel crossed over on dry ground until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan. Alright, so it's done. If that was a Hollywood movie, it would have been the crescendo with the big musical score, and everyone crosses over. And then part two coming in 2027, season two, fighting Jericho, which we'll talk about next week. But um in this room, have all of us crossed over Jordan, or are there some still on the other side? Are there some still wandering? See, this promise that God's made, you cross cross over the Jordan, it's still in effect today. The Jordan River is just whatever is holding you back from being fruitful for Jesus. That fruitful life. No person should be left behind in the wilderness. I won't allow it. We're gonna care about each other, we're gonna invest in each other's lives so we can get to know. Is there any wandering going on? We don't need wandering. Cross over by faith. Live the life that God has called, that has He has bought for you, He's provided for you. It's like leaving Kevin Buck behind when your family goes to Paris on Christmas vacation. And then to New York the next year. Alright, so you're thinking in your mind, yes, that's me! I've been wondering, what should I do? Eyes on Joshua, eyes on the ark. That means eyes on Jesus, eyes on the new covenant of his grace. You can step over on dry land, like they walked on dry land over, you can today too. You can step, that means you can depend on the finished work of Jesus. It's a solid foundation. Jesus says, I am like a rock that you can build your house on. Dry land. Stepping over the Jordan on dry land is about moving from living under the law and striving to, I gotta do better, I gotta get victory, I gotta try harder, I gotta, oh, why am I so bad? To resting in the finished work that Jesus has, you believe Jesus has already done it for you. So I'm gonna teach you right now, real quick, how you can experience this crossing the Jordan today.

SPEAKER_00 31:40

Give up. Let go.

SPEAKER_01 31:46

It is so freeing to say, I was never meant to do it myself. God didn't tell me to build a boat to cross the Jordan, He told me, look at the Savior, and He would provide everything that I need. Specifically, it would look like this. Number one, believe in the perfect work of Jesus. You're not striving for acceptance, it's all done. You are God's child, and he is not mad at you. And this is the big thing: He is not punishing you by making you wander in the desert. He doesn't want you to wander in the desert. He wants to bless you. Why? Because you're so great. No, because Jesus' work was so perfect, he made you holy and righteous. And now God says, You're my child, so your birthright is to live a life that glorifies me by the power of my spirit. That's your promised land. So it belongs to you. You don't have to fight for it. Two, embrace your identity in Christ. Know that you and Jesus are one and he lives in you. Three, rest in his finished work, rest in it. That means stop striving to do this. You're addicted to looking at pornography. What do you do? Well, I'm gonna I'm gonna try harder. Does that ever work? No. You're addicted to this, you're addicted to that. Everything is the same thing. It's eyes on Jesus. Believe you're not made for that. That's not the identity God has for you. That's not where you're gonna find his blessings. So turn away from it and keep your eyes on Jesus. If you're looking at Jesus, you're not looking at other crap. If you're hugging Jesus, you're not hugging other things. It's it is Jesus. He is the door, right? And then we renew our mind by what we're doing right now. We dig into the word of God and we see how it applies to our life. I want you to remember this last thing, okay? Crossing the Jordan does not mean you have to generate more faith. Ooh, I gotta work out my faith muscle. You can get stronger in faith, but you don't have to generate more faith because Jesus said, if you just have faith the size of a mustard seed, it's just teensy tiny, you can move mountains. So it's not how much faith you have, it's where you place your faith. What is the object of your faith? When you like in Colorado, we had this uh coat rack, and every time we came in out of the bitter snow and freezing cold. I like living here, if you can't tell. We'd take off our coat that was caked and ice, and I would hang it on this coat rack, and then I would back away and see if the coat rack would hold it up. No, I wouldn't. I would just hang it and walk away. Why? Because I had faith. Faith in what? Faith in a coat rack. See, all of you know how to have faith. Every single one of you has faith right now that I didn't sabotage your chairs and cut a little hole to make you fall. Every single one of you has faith. You know how to have faith. It means sitting on it or hanging on it and backing away and depending on it and living like it's gonna hold. It's gonna hold. Jesus said, I've made you pure. Your heart is pure, your mind needs work, but we're getting there. But your heart is pure. So trust me and live according to the new heart that I've given you. That's what it looks like to live. Do you believe that God lives in you? That God has pure that God has purified your heart by the blood of Jesus washing you clean. If you believe that, you can't walk anymore in the stupid stuff that you were. You can't wander in the desert because you're free and you believe it. So, where are you gonna go? What are you gonna do? I don't know, but it's gonna glorify God and it's gonna be fruitful and it's gonna be loving. That's what that's your life now. As a child of God, that's the design. Live by faith.