Step into the Water

Joshua 3:1-17

 

The children of Israel are ready to leave the wilderness for good and claim their Canaan, the Promised Land of abundance and victory...the land of milk and honey.

Joshua 5:6 For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people that were men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: unto whom the LORD sware that he would not shew them the land, which the LORD sware unto their fathers that he would give us, a land that floweth with milk and honey.

In their way is the swollen Jordan River.  [read text]

 

God tells them they are going to cross the river, which looks impossible.  But mark it down and take it to the bank when God gives you such a challenge...for He will make a way!  [Red Sea Crossing!]

 

Got any rivers that seem uncrossable?

Got any mountains you can’t tunnel through?

God specializes in things thought impossible

And He knows a thousand ways to make a way for you!

 

God parted the waters in a different way than He did 40 years earlier.  The waters piled up to their north [on their right] like an invisible wall.  On their left they flowed south and away.  This was a huge victory, but they had many more victories to win.

 

The hymn book has several songs which picture Canaan as heaven...songs which talk about crossing over Jordan to our final reward.  “I Am Bound for the Promised Land” says the same sort of thing, [on Jordan’s stormy banks I stand…] and if true would mean “I’m not walking in victory, but I’m one day gonna get there!”

        Well, Israel has many more battles to fight.  In heaven there will be no more war.

 

Canaan pictures the victorious Christian life.  It means you are no longer a slave to habits and sinful thinking and ways of life.  Not perfect, but in the midst of a major make over!  It’s a place of joy, not necessarily happiness at all times.  But walking with God and trusting Him in all things, not like some Christians who walk around looking like they were baptized in pickle juice!

 

Sure, we all have rivers of difficulty in our way.  But don’t let those rivers keep you from your land of opportunity.  You know in your heart God has more for you in life, and you are right!

 

What’s your river?  Doubt?  Fear?  Grief?  Debt?  Health?  Discouragement?  Distraction?  God commands you to cross that river and good news:  He’ll make a way!

 

1.     The Reality of Miracles.

v. 5  ‘wonders’ = miracles

Some people don’t believe in miracles.  They think they can explain it in some other way.  They are afraid it will make them a fanatic.  But if you believe in God, you should believe in miracles.

 

“God is dead” was the cry of the hippies.  News flash, He’s not dead, He’s surely alive!...Evangelist Clifford Rice used to say, “He’s not even sick!”  And He’s still performing miracles today.  I’ll say something else.  I don’t want to pick a fight here, but I want to say to those who worship idols or made up Buddhas or historical figures like Mohammed, “My God is alive!  Too bad about yours!”

 

God is not bound as a prisoner to His own laws.  We talk about the laws of nature.  But God formed nature.  They aren’t laws of nature but laws of God.  God doesn’t operate according to the laws of nature. Nature operates according to the laws of God.  The laws of physics are God’s laws and physics obeys Him.  The laws of science are God’s laws and science obeys Him.

 

God has the right to step in and interrupt those laws anytime He wants to – that’s what a miracle is!

 

Ill.—a model train enthusiast spends great time and effort laying out tracks and building the set, and finally, putting the train together on the tracks.  But what if he gets a whim in the control box to turn the engine around backwards and make it pull the train in a way never intended?  Is he allowed to leave the control box and step in and interfere with his creation?  Sure!  It’s his train.  He designed it, assembled it, and can do anything he wants to with it.

 

How do you explain the miracles of the Bible?  Not the way the Science and Learning Channels will try to explain them.  They try to give possible natural explanations for supernatural events.  That’s just man trying to understand how something impossible could really be possible.  But you can’t explain a miracle any more than you can explain God.  By the way, I’m glad I can’t explain God.  I wouldn’t put much confidence in a God I can explain.  Why’s He my God anyway, if I have Him all figured out?  If I know it all, people should gather around and worship me.  No volunteers?

 

You know, sometimes we read certain miracles [like Jonah] and I suppose we’re a little embarrassed for the Bible, like it’s just a ‘fish story’. And, sometimes we try to make them a little more explainable. So, men traverse earth, sky, and sea to try to find fish big enough to swallow a man and keep him alive for three days because of the story of Jonah and the whale, or the great fish. And, they say, “Well, there’s such and such a shark that has a gullet this size. And, there’s such and such a whale that has oxygen in its innards…” And, you know they try to explain it that way. Listen, when you explain it you don’t establish the miracle, you erase the miracle, don’t you understand that? If it can be done without God then it’s no longer a miracle.

 

Listen, God made it all. If God wanted to, God could create a fish for Jonah with a side by side refrigerator and a living room full of furniture. Maybe He included a foam blubber mattress!  You see, you don’t have to worry about “Is it plausible? Is it possible?” You just admit the fact of God. The possibility of miracles, “…the Lord will do wonders…” (Joshua 3:5).

 

Ill.—I can’t explain electricity.  I don’t know how it works.  But I don’t intend to sit in the dark until I have it figured out!  And I won’t deny God’s miracles or deny myself of something that is good just because I can’t understand it all.

 

Miracles are real, and many of us have experienced them.  But on the other hand, we may use the term too lightly sometimes.

 

God’s providence is different than a miracle.  Sometimes God supplies something thru a natural means.  But sometimes thru a supernatural means.  Both are wonderful!  But there is a difference.

Ill.—Has God ever woke you up when you’ve drifted off at the wheel, just in time to prevent you from running into the back of the vehicle in front of you?  That’s providence.  But if you didn’t wake up, and God lifted your car over the one you were about to hit, that would be a miracle.  Both are plausible, and I know, I’ve experienced both.

        I’ll never forget the time I was heading up a mountain pass on my motorcycle, pushing the limits, and got into the gravel on a corner and began sliding toward a rock cliff right in front of me.  It was so real and so obvious that I was about to die that I closed my eyes and experienced that slow motion sensation as I waited for the inevitable collision...which never came, and eventually I opened my eyes to find I was back upright in the middle of the road when I experienced something else phenomenal, which was God telling me not to do anything like that again.  That voice of God may have been providential in my heart, but it was so loud and clear that I can’t debate that it might have been miraculous, out loud!

 

I’m just making a point about how we should view miracles.  Don’t say when you get a good parking place, “That was a miracle of God.”  It cheapens the reality of the true miracles, like if the person in front of you checking out doesn’t need a price check!

 

In our text, the priests had to put their feet into the water before the miracle would occur.  Sometimes before God steps in and does something on our behalf He requires us to do our part and take a step of faith.  That first step was the hardest step they took.  Their obedience led to God’s promise coming true.

 

Ill.—In early 2001, after 10 years as an Associate Pastor, I said, God, I know you want me to lead a church.  If you’ll show me where to go, I’ll resign and go there.  I started looking, but found nothing.  On 9/11, God said, stop asking me to show you where to go and ‘then you’ll resign.’  Resign, and I’ll show you where to go.  I did and then a church found me!  Then we wanted God to sell our house so we could go, but we knew we should just go, and then God sold our house, after 6 months of having no prospects or even suspects, it sold thru word of mouth just days after being taken out of realty!

I’m just saying that God sometimes wants us to take a step of faith and get our feet wet.

 

Here’s a Biblical illustration:  When Jesus’ friend Lazarus died Jesus knew He was going to raise him from the dead.  But what did Jesus do?  He told the people to roll away the stone.  Wait a minute.  Why didn’t Jesus just roll the stone away?  He wanted them to do what they could do before He would step in and do what ONLY He could do!  God helps those who help themselves.

        He multiplied bread and fish for thousands, and yet He asked the disciples to help distribute it.

 

What step might God be asking you to take right now?  The greatest miracle is getting saved...and it’s the first step out into the aisle that is the hardest.  You take that step and God will take the rest!

 

1.     The Reality of Miracles.

 

2.     The Reasons for Miracles.

Many reasons are given right in our passage.

 

        a.     To start a new program.

v. 4b        We’re heading into uncharted territory to begin a new era w/ a new generation.  In the Bible, miracles seem to come in ‘clusters’ at the beginning of a new era.  [inaugurate it]

• Creation
• The Exodus
• Elijah and Elisha’s ministries of calling Israel to repentance.
• Jesus’ lifetime
• The dawn of the church age

 

Yes, miracles are real, but they don’t happen all the time.  Sometimes hundreds of years would pass in the Bible chronology between them.  We aren’t supposed to major on miracles and signs and wonders, but on the clear facts!

 

        b.     To signify a prophet.

v. 7          God was confirming Joshua to the people as being His man.  This authenticated him...having God’s stamp of approval upon him.

2 Corinthians 12:12 Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.

In the early church days they didn’t have the complete Word of God we have today.  Some had not yet been written.  In those days God had to confirm His leaders.  They worked miracles!  Today, God authenticates leaders using the standard of the completed Word of God.  Just lay what I say up against the Bible and if it doesn’t match, I should be out on my ear!

 

Another confirmation is souls truly being saved and lives truly being changed.

John 10:41-42  And many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true. ⁴² And many believed on him there.

John didn’t work miracles, but he did something greater:  He told the truth about God and pointed people to the Lord Jesus Christ.  I would rather be able to lead souls to Christ than to raise the dead, for one is a temporary fix and the other permanent!  [Lazarus still died]

 

        c.     To strengthen His people.

v. 10        This miracle built up their faith for what lay ahead.  They were at least nervous, probably scared, and they needed confidence.  And when we look back at great things God has done in our past, it encourages us for the future.

 

I could tell you about miracles I’ve been witness to.  I’m talking about bona fide, certifiable things that cannot be otherwise explained.  It’s not always God’s will to heal, but I’ve seen healings that can only be from God.  And I have to say, they strengthened my faith.  And when it is not God’s will to heal, I’ve still seen miracles of grace poured out on people, and sustaining grace, and dying grace given that can only be explained by God.  And all of this helps me go forward in confidence that no matter what may happen in the future, I have a miraculous God with me that will make a way even when there is no way!

 

        d.     To show a principle.

Here is the principle:  That God would be with them everyday, come what may.  We should not focus on the miracle as much as the message behind the miracle.  There is a message in every miracle.

 

The miracle stands as a memorial to the message...look at Joshua 4:5-7.

        Those 12 stones were a memorial to the miracle and its message!

 

Ill.—Ananias and Sapphira lied before the church about their giving and God struck them dead.  But He hasn’t struck dead all liars since...He was sending a message by way of a miracle, and it should stand as a memorial to us even today.  [Don’t you know that boosted the building program!]

        The principles to remember:  God hates lying, esp. in church...and God judges those who rob from Him.

 

You see, the miracle was to establish a principle that when we come to rivers of difficulty, whether there’s a miracle that occurs or whether there isn’t, that God is still with us. You see, sometimes we’re wanting God to repeat miracles rather than living in the power, and the truths, and the principle of those miracles. For example, we have people who are praying, “Oh God give us another Pentecost. God, give us another Pentecost.” Now, we don’t need another Pentecost. On the day of Pentecost there were “…cloven tongues like as of fire…” sitting on every man’s head (Acts 2:3). On the day of Pentecost there was “…a rushing mighty wind…”—like a cyclone—“it filled all the house” (Acts 2:2). On the day of Pentecost they spoke in strange, unknown languages or unlearned languages. We’re not trying to repeat Pentecost, that was a miracle day. We need the power of Pentecost. We need the principle of Pentecost in our lives right now. Pentecost is a memorial day for those of us who live down through the ages that we might know that the Holy Spirit of God is within us and He is empowering us. And, the miracle of Pentecost was a memorial for today.

 

 The reality, reasons for miracles...

3.     The most Remarkable Miracle.

v. 11-13   We know from our Exodus study that the Ark of the Covenant pictures Christ.  Do you know what the Jordan represents?  Death.  So, when the ark went into the river, the waters north stopped flowing down toward them.  Translation:  When Jesus went to His death for us, death stopped coming at us...we can cross over it untouched, and arrive alive on the other side!

 

It’s an OT illustration of the most remarkable miracle of all time, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ!

 

It’s the greatest of all miracles because:

• It came at the greatest cost.

Ill.—a student asked his Christian school teacher if there was life on other planets.  He explained that the answer was no, because Eve means “Mother of all living.”  The student asked then why have all these billions of galaxies and solar systems and other planets...why go to all that trouble?  The teacher replied, “What trouble?” 

        It took only a word for God to create it all.  The only time He went to any trouble was when He died for us.

• It had the greatest confirmation – historically speaking the resurrection is an undeniable fact, with more evidence to confirm it than to support that Columbus discovered America, or that Lincoln was assassinated.  There were so many witnesses...over 500, and even secular history records this phenomenal occurrence.  If Rome wanted to squelch out Christianity, and they did, all they had to do was open the tomb and produce a body, but they didn’t, because they couldn’t, because there was nobody there!
• It had the greatest consequences – our salvation, a miracle each time it occurs!  Over time coal may become a diamond, and dino bones may become oil, but the most remarkable transformation is instant…when a soul is saved!

 

It took a miracle to put the stars in place, it took a miracle to hang the world in space, but when He saved my soul, cleansed and made me whole, it took a miracle of love and grace!