By: Dr. Wayne Barber; ©2004 |
When we receive Jesus into our hearts, and when we begin to turn to walk with Him, we’re entering the unknown. And we walk by faith and not by sight. We don’t have to see the boats, we just trust the One that’s in charge. Anything over our head is under His feet. We are never alone; we are never alone. He’s within us and He wants us to step into the water of His will. We must be willing. |
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Step into the water (Joshua 3b)
Turn if you will to Joshua 3. How exciting can it get? Joshua 3. We’re going to go over today. They’re going into the water. As a matter of fact I’m entitling this “ Step into the Water.” In chapter 3 of Joshua we saw the last time that the word ark is used at least ten different times in that chapter. Now the word ark to the Israelite had to do with the presence of God. They knew when they saw that ark; they understood that God was with them. However the ark to you and I, they didn’t understand this, we do, is the Lord Jesus Christ, who is always with us. Hebrews 13:5 says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” He’s always with us. He’s always with us. The ark was a chest made of acacia wood. Matter of fact, that was the hardest wood known at that time. It was called petrified wood in some translations it was so hard. And it was inlayed with gold, within and without, completely covered with pure gold. Of course this points to the God-man, the word Jesus Christ being man and His being God. Within that chest were several things. First of all there was the golden pot of manna. Now that golden pot of manna was a picture of Jesus being the bread of life. He sustains us, He satisfies us, and He is our every sufficiency no matter what need we have in life. Inside the Ark was also Aaron’s rod which budded, bloomed, and bore fruit—a picture of His resurrection, a picture of His ascension, and a picture of His power to reproduce Himself in the lives of those who trust Him by faith. Many of you have seen The Passion. I hope all of you will see it before it goes away. It is an awesome, awesome movie. But I tell you what, this is the next piece. People need to understand that, yes, He came and died; yes, He resurrected; yes, He ascended. But now He lives in heaven and wants to send His Spirit to come and live in us. He reproduces His life in the hearts of people who trust Him by faith. Inside the Ark were also the Tablets of Law, the Ten Commandments that were given to Moses there on the Mount. Those Tablets of Law condemn every man born of Adam. And some people say, “Wayne, if this is a picture of Christ, why would those Tablets of Law be inside of that chest?” Well, the part of the picture that you don’t understand perhaps is that the Tablets of Law were within the Ark, but covering those Tablets of Law and the pot of manna and the other things that were there, was the chest top, which was called the Mercy Seat. The Mercy Seat. Again, pure gold; it was covered with pure gold, and at each end of the Mercy Seat was an enormous, beautiful angel. That angel was a cherubim as we see many times in Scripture. The wings were held up and out and the faces of the angels were looking down intently at the top of that Mercy Seat which covered the Tablets of Law within the Ark. It was the Mercy Seat every year that bore special significance to Israel. The High Priest would go in behind the veil into the Holy of Holies and he would take the blood and he would sprinkle the blood on the Mercy Seat which would cover the people condemned by the law underneath it. It covered them for one year. It was the blood of bulls and goats. But, you see, that could only cover them for one year. The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ does not just cover us for one year. It remits our sin as Hebrews 9:22 says: “Without the shedding of blood there would be no remission of sins.” He washes them away. And so when we see the Ark, we see the law is very important to the heart of God. But we also see that the law was fulfilled by the Mercy Seat. He was our propitiation and that was translated many times in Scripture as our Mercy Seat. And the blood that He shed for us covers us and there is no condemnation therefore if we are in Christ Jesus. What a beautiful picture the ark was and is to us of the Lord Jesus being in us and with us at all times, no matter what we face, no matter what trial we’re up against. He is our sufficiency and our enablement. But not only that, any time we sin in the Christian life we run to Him and His blood that gave us the bath and salvation continues to cleanse of our sins daily and effect a fellowship with Him. Well, in Joshua 3:1 it says, “Then Joshua rose early in the morning and he and all the sons of Israel set out from Shittim and came to the Jordan, and they lodged there before they crossed.” Now I want to keep reminding you of something, and that is that Joshua didn’t have a clue how they were going to cross the water. Nowhere in Scripture does it say, “Lord, do we build a boat? Exactly how do we do this?” Because the river is at flood stage, he doesn’t know. He’s just acting by faith, taking a step at a time, trusting God. Remember I said the river was at flood stage? God had created a crisis in their lives. I wonder, what crisis God has put in your life today? What flooded river faces you and everything God says is yours in Him? What is it that we’re standing up against and God says “I want you to step into the water.” And so by faith he moved all two and a half million Israelites. Can you imagine? Seven miles from Shittim to the banks of the Jordan River and they’re ready now to step into the water—unless God has another plan, that’s all they know. If we’re going to cross it and He’s not given us a boat, then we’re going to have to step into the water. Joshua was all the time simply trusting God to do what he knew that God has done before and could do again. He just knew it; he trusted the character of God. In verse 2: “At the end of three days the officers went through the midst of the camp.” It took three days to prepare everybody to go across. They were to walk by tribe, there was a special alignment and evidently it took three days. Now, camped beside that river swollen at flood time for three days gave everybody in Israel a chance to understand what was ahead of them. Now you can just imagine, I’m reading between the lines, I don’t know, but the high anxiety that had to cause in the people’s minds. I can just hear them sitting around the camp fire as they were eating at night. “Oh my, the river is at flood stage. How in the world are we ever, oh I wish we could go back to Egypt and as they said over in the wilderness and eat the leeks and onions again. What in the world is he doing leading us to this place?” And God had a plan. People were facing the unknown. Listen, folks, in the flooded rivers of your life, that’s the unknown. When we receive Jesus into our hearts, and when we begin to turn to walk with Him, we’re entering the unknown. And we walk by faith and not by sight. We don’t have to see the boats, we just trust the One that’s in charge. Anything over our head is under His feet. We are never alone; we are never alone. He’s within us and He wants us to step into the water of His will. We must be willing. But to do that there are three things that will help us to understand and it’s right here in chapter 3. That’s what I want us to look at today.- The unchangeable will of God
- The unexplainable wonders of God
- The unsearchable wisdom of God
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