Joshua Chapter 3:8-10

I hear so many people, I'm waiting on the Lord. Well, I mean, what are you waiting on him to come back to do something or what?

I mean, what do you know? I'm waiting on the Lord. Now, there is a situation in our lives when we should wait on the Lord, but you know, far too often, he's waiting on us. I'm waiting on the Lord and God's up there going, come on, quit waiting.

Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the senior pastor of the bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. We talk about waiting on God when almost always God is waiting on us. Pastor David encourages us to get moving today as he continues in the book of Joshua, chapter three. But first, have you ever experienced the time when you felt spiritually drained?

Well, the Bible holds the cure that will bring joy and vitality back into your life. That's why we want to send you a copy of Pastor David McGee's video message, A Checkup from the Neck Up. In this inspiring teaching, you'll find biblical truths that can restore your spiritual health. A Checkup from the Neck Up is our way to thank you for your gift this month to help more people on this station and beyond cross the bridge from death to life.

So please visit crossthebridge.com to get your copy of A Checkup from the Neck Up. Now here's David McGee with part two of his teaching, Making the Journey. Joshua, chapter three, verse one. Then Joshua rose early in the morning. Then he set out from Acacia Grove and came to the Jordan and he and all the children of Israel and lodged there before they crossed over. So it was after three days that the officers went through the camp.

You'll see that over and over three days. Verse three, and they commanded the people saying, when you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God and the priest the Levites bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. Now this is a little interesting switch up because the Levites weren't the guys who usually carried the ark, but they were in this place. Verse four, yet there shall be a space between you and it about 2,000 cubits by measure. It's about 3,000 feet. Cubit, if you remember, was the tip of the middle finger to the elbow.

It's about 18 inches. Do not come near it that you may know the way by which you must go for you have not passed this way before. So this whole thing is in a new way, new place, new relationship. Verse five, and Joshua said to the people, sanctify yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. The Lord will do wonders among you. And there's so much good stuff in this verse. Do you understand that's God's plan for your life? That's what God wants to do in your life. He wants to do wonders among you. And I think far too often we as Christians are willing to settle for second best.

Just kind of status quo, how you doing? I'm all right. God died for you. God Himself died for you. Not so you could just sit there, but you've been set free to serve Him. You've been set free to press into the promises of God. He wants to do wonders in your life. He wants to do wonders in your marriage. He wants to do wonders in your family. He wants to do wonders in your church.

That's the life lesson. God desires to do wonders in your life. God desires to do wonders in your life. And if you'll place Him first, He will blow your mind with what He will do with your life.

I promise you, I guarantee it. Now the Hebrew word for sanctify is kadosh, and it's kind of an interesting word. It means to separate or to prepare. The Lord wants you to live a life to be prepared for the wonders that He wants to do in your life. He wants you to be sanctified.

That doesn't mean you're self-righteous and you're sanctimonious and you're looking down at everybody. That means you are washed and set apart for special use. Almost the word picture there in the Hebrew is how a lady will take and polish a piece of jewelry before she starts to wear it.

That's what God wants to do in your life. He wants to polish you. He wants to polish you and show you off and say, man, there's something. There's Steve. I'm doing a work in Steve. I'm polishing him. Doing a work in Jack. I'm polishing him. People are going to notice the difference and give me the glory.

That's what He wants to do in everybody's life in here. Verse 6. Then Joshua spoke to the priest saying, take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people. So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people. And the Lord said to Joshua, this day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all of Israel, that they may know that I was, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.

This must have just jazzed Joshua. This must have really charged him up for him to realize that the Lord is with him. And you know what guys, as you serve God, the Lord is with you.

Do you realize that? Some of you, you know, when you go to share the love of the Lord with somebody and all of a sudden some words are coming out of your mouth and you're going, what was that? Where did I get that? Well, don't take a bow. That wasn't you. That was God. God is with you as opportunities open up for you. That's the Lord.

That's not you. That's God. And God is with you.

Now that's something to get jazzed about. Verse 8. You shall command the priest who bear the ark of the covenant saying, when you have come to the edge of the water of the Jordan, you shall stand in the Jordan. So Joshua said to the children of Israel, come here and hear the words of the Lord your God. Notice what Joshua didn't say. Well, God, are you sure? God, this doesn't sound much like a plan.

I need steps B and C and D before I can really act on A. That's not what he said. And I know that some of us, and let me, the whole thing with Gideon's fleece, fleecing God, understand something. And I know it's a real common thing in the church. I'm going to fleece God, see if God wants me to do this.

You know what? Gideon was operating in unbelief when he was fleecing God. Understand that. He knew what God had told him to do. And let's be honest, he was trying to see if there was a way out.

And there wasn't a way out. Joshua didn't fleece God. He just went ahead and told the people the plan.

He didn't say, well, maybe if we do this, God might do that. I'm not sure. I'm not sure what exactly. With boldness, Joshua verse 10, Joshua said, by this you shall know that the living God is among you and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Ivites, the Perizzites and the Gegashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites. Coming up to the Jordan. Big river. It hadn't moved yet.

But it will move. Here's another thing. I've heard people say, well, be honest, I might even have said it before myself. Jesus died on the cross so you wouldn't have to die on a cross. You ever heard that? Jesus died on a cross so you wouldn't have to die. You could shorten it a little bit.

Same concept. Sounds good, doesn't it? Problem is it's unbiblical. Jesus mentioned the cross many times. He didn't say I died on the cross so that that whole cross thing could be done away with. I died on the cross so you could see what it looks like.

Now come on, follow me. Jesus died for us so we could have the courage to die for him, to die to ourselves. He died for us so that we could have the courage to live for him.

The courage to live for him. That's why he died for us. Now some of you may have read verse 10 and go, wow, they're getting ready to wipe all these people out. Even then that's the mercy of God. Way back in Genesis chapter 15 verse 16, it says, but in the fourth generation they shall return here for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. God waited and waited and waited and waited.

According to my calculations, 460 years for these people to repent. And then he got to a point and he said, you know what, no more. No more. You're going in and you're wiping them out.

Well, there's something we don't like to talk about. Do you understand? God graciously gives us chance after chance after chance after chance after chance. But at some point, if you keep refusing the chances, you run out of chances. I've seen it. It's sad.

It's a heartbreaker. But the Bible's filled with people, people like Judas, people like Herod, Agrippa, Pilate, they ran out of chances. They were given chances, but they didn't use the chances. Proverbs 29 one says, he who is often rebuked and hardens his neck will suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy. When the Lord convicts you of something, respond, respond. I very much believe in the grace of God. I'm very thankful for the grace of God. But as Paul said, don't allow grace to God, the grace of God to be used as license for you to do whatever you want. The grace of God is given so you might serve God.

You've been set free to go in and serve the Lord. And God gives, man, he gives us more chances than we ever deserved. And we don't deserve one chance, but he gives us more than one chance.

He gives us chance after chance after chance after chance. The children of Israel, they weren't fighting against these people. They were fighting against the spiritual evil that was operating these people, that these people were operating in. They were going in to fight the spiritual evil, just like we fight spiritual evil. If somebody gives you a hard time, consider this. It might just be to rip you off of your joy because we don't fight against people. Paul tells us that in Ephesians. We don't fight against flesh and blood.

Oh, it may seem like we do sometimes, but we don't. We fight against powers and principalities. So here's the two teams. We got the one team that's in Canaanite with all these ites, Hittites and all these people. And they're being driven. They're being controlled by things that are not of God. And then on this side of the Jordan right now, you've got the children of Israel who are being controlled by God.

Let me ask you a question. Which team do you want to play for? I know which team I want to play for because I know who wins.

Well, I know who wins in the real deal in real life as well. It's the people who are following God. It's people who are controlled by the Holy Spirit. Are you controlled by the Lord? Are you controlled by emotions? Are you controlled by a lack of love? Are you controlled by harsh judgment? Or on the flip side, are you controlled by being way too sensitive and be way too offended too easily? Are you controlled by those things? Are you controlled by God? Because if you're controlled by God, you won't be controlled by those things because you can't have two masters.

And if you allow those things to rule you, let me assure you, they will rule you. Well, you can go out and hear all sorts of stories about people that, you know, got involved with drugs or got involved with this and, and, you know, they didn't mean to get in bondage, but that's what happens. You know, I've ministered in jails and prisons, you know, and I would ask guys, I say, you know, how many of you when you're growing up as a little boy and somebody asks you what you wanted to do, would raise your hand and go, oh, when I grow up, I want to be addicted to drugs so much.

I've run out of money. I got to have drugs. I start to rob places. I get popped and I go to prison. But they get to begin to be mastered by things other than God. And that will lead you to bondage every time.

Every time. Being governed by God will lead you to freedom every time. Do you want to be free or do you want to be in bondage? I want to be free. Then you can't be controlled by those things.

It's, it's not an option. You're listening to Pastor David McGee on Cross the Bridge. He'll be back with more powerful insight from God's Word in just a moment. But first, your enemy, the devil, doesn't want you to experience the life-giving truths of God's Word. He wants to rob you of the full life God wants for you.

But you can overcome his attacks because there is supernatural power in the Word of God. That's why we want to send you Pastor David McGee's video message called A Checkup from the Neck Up. This powerful resource will show you how to revitalize your spiritual health and grow in your faith daily by meditating on God's powerful Word. A Checkup from the Neck Up is our way to thank you for your gift this month to help more people on this station and beyond cross the bridge from death to life.

So please, visit crossthebridge.com now to get your copy of A Checkup from the Neck Up. Now, back to today's message. Verse 11. Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan. Now therefore, take for yourselves 12 men from the tribes of Israel, one man from every tribe, and it shall come to pass as soon as the soles of the feet of the priest who bear the ark 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 that shall come down from upstream and they shall stand as a heap. When does this miracle take place? When they stepped into the water.

That's when the water receded, not a moment before. And some of us in our Christian life, we kind of stand off the side, well, the water's not moving. Go ahead and move the water, God, and then I'll get in.

That's not what God said. God said, get in the water. Get your feet wet.

That's where that saying came from. Get your feet wet. Get your feet wet. Because so many times we stand off the side going, well, God, do your thing with the water. And God's going, get in.

Get in. As you step the water apart, not before, not after, but when you step into the water. So don't stand to the sidelines. Don't stand off to the shore going, make the water, Lord, do the water thing. No, no, no. God said, step into the water and watch what happens.

And you know what? As somebody that has stepped into the water so many times and seen it happen, let me guarantee you He'll do what He says He'll do. Oh, and sometimes it won't make sense.

That's okay. If it always made sense, it wouldn't be faith. When trust in God is easy, that's not really faith, is it? When things are going well, trust in God when things are going well is easy, and that's not faith. But trust in God when things are difficult, that's not easy.

But that is faith. Next life lesson is we talk about waiting on God when almost always God is waiting on us. I hear so many people, I'm waiting on the Lord. Well, I mean, what are you waiting on him to come back to do something or what?

I mean, what do you know? I'm waiting on the Lord. Now, there is a situation in our lives when we should wait on the Lord, but you know, far too often He's waiting on us. I'm waiting on the Lord. And God's up there going, come on, quit waiting.

Well, it sounds spiritual, doesn't it? I'm waiting on the Lord. I'm waiting on the Lord whether I should actually serve God or waiting on the Lord about praying. Not sure I should. I'm waiting on the Lord about saying that prayer of salvation.

Do those things make any sense? I mean, let's be honest. They don't because you can spend your whole life waiting on the Lord when He in fact is waiting on you.

Don't use that as an excuse. I mean, this is a place, I'll be honest, guys, I had no idea what God was going to do here. He has blown my mind. And here in the midst of this place is a church that some of us never dreamed possible. We just didn't think it could happen, but it's happening right in our midst. And you can join with and watch God bless you as you serve Him, as you serve others, or you can stand to the side and let it pass you by. Don't do that because you'll spend the rest of your life wondering what might have been. And that's no way to live.

And it's certainly no way to die. In Hebrews 11, it talks about the hall of faith. It's all these men of faith and a couple of women of faith, Sarah and who else? Rahab.

Excellent. All of them's faith is tied to action. All their faith is tied to action. You don't see, well, and then Abraham believed God and stayed in Ur. No, Abraham believed God, and then he left everything.

Moses believed God and went before the most powerful leader in the world and said, let my people go. It was an act of faith. Their faith wasn't a passive force. It was an active living force. It wasn't just talk.

It was action. They didn't just believe. They were surrendered to the truth. Verse 14, so it was when the people set out from the camp, from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priest bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and the priest bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and the priest bearing the ark of the ark came to the Jordan, the feet of the priest who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water, for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest.

Well, stop there. What happened? What happened when they stepped out in the water?

Water receded. Well, who knew? God told them what would happen, and guess what? God always does what he says he will do. God always does what he says he will do. Always. That's the last life lesson. God always does what he says he will do.

Always. You can trust God. You can trust God. I know some of us have been damaged in relationships. Our trust has been damaged.

We've been wounded, and it's hard to build trust. It can be done, but it's a process, but God will never disappoint you. God will always do what he says he will do. Now, he won't do it on your timetable. Come on, God.

You're supposed to do that. Come on right now. Come on. You said you'd meet all my greeds.

That's not what he said. God will always do what he says he'll do. You can trust him, and so many times the Lord's like, step into the water, and I'll make the water part.

We go, no, I'm not going to do that until you make the water part. You can't bargain with God like that. He's God. Some of you may have been frustrated in your Christian life because you're asking yourself, where's the peace? Where's the joy? Where's all these things that I heard about that I've read about in the Christian life?

Why am I not experiencing these things? If God always does what he says he'll do, and he says he'll give those things to a life that is surrendered and obedient to him, and you're not experiencing those things, might I suggest there's a problem? Might I suggest maybe your life is not poured out for him? Maybe your life is not surrendered for him, and that's the problem, because God can't bless you while you're still a yard away from the Jordan. He can't do it.

He loves you too much to do that. He wants to encourage you on in your faith. Have you surrendered your life to God? Oh, I know you believe. I hope you believe.

I think most people in here believe. You believe the truth, but are you surrendered to the truth? But are you surrendered to the truth? Or the moment the truth comes against the way you want to live or your convenience, does the truth no longer apply? See, when our life hits the truth of God's word, we need to let God's word reign over our life, not vice versa, because some of us are doing this and go, where's the joy? Where's the peace? I don't understand.

It comes here and only there. Verse 16, that the waters which came down from upstream stood still and rose in the heat very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Saratan. So the waters that went down into the Sea of Arabah, the salt sea, the Dead Sea as we know it, failed and were cut off, and the people crossed over opposite Jericho.

Then the priest 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 over the Jordan. Your attention, please. It says, stand firm. And notice the leadership led by example. Leadership wasn't on the other side of the Jordan going, no, you all go on over and we'll make sure it stays dry. No, leadership led by example. That's what we do here.

You understand that? I don't go up to somebody and go, wow, you really got great leadership qualities. Let's get you to start leading people and hope you serve.

No, no, it can't be like that. See, what I do and what other people here do is we watch people and once they have a servant's heart and perhaps have leadership qualities, we go, oh, great, you know, you're a servant leader. Need more of those here. But some of those leadership gifts, to be honest, they're not as rare as leaders like to think they are. But when you find somebody with leadership qualities that has a servant's heart, it's an awesome thing.

Wow, because they lead into spiritual things like we see here. Here's the deal, guys. Until we step out in faith, until we are willing to get our feet wet, it's not going to happen. It's not going to happen.

The moment we step our feet into there, it will happen. How can I say that? God said it. God always does what he says he'll do.

Always. Remember that. And if you've ever questioned that, question the circumstances, question the people involved because God never lies. And what a tragedy that in the church today, in this body right now tonight are people who are living in the desert and they think that's okay. They think it's okay to stay in the desert and to never surrender their life. The tragedy is worse than that. People are looking on from Egypt and they go, why leave Egypt to go to the desert?

There's no need. Oh, but when they see somebody in the promised land, they understand they need to leave Egypt. You have been given an inherent inheritance by God himself. God-given, blood-bought inheritance to go into the promised land.

Don't hang out on this side of the Jordan. That's way too tragic. It's way too common and it's way too tragic. What a tragedy for God's people to be wandering around in the desert for 40 years. What a tragedy that it still happens today.

God's people wander around the desert. Why? Because they came to that place where they went across the Jordan and they were going to go in and they say, well, we can't do it. Can't do it.

But praise God, check it out. They got another chance. You've got another chance tonight. One day the chances are over. I got to tell you that.

I got to speak the truth. One day the chances are over. Tonight, you've got another chance and you're not condemned by your failures. You're not condemned by what may have gone wrong in the past. Here before you tonight is the possibility. Nah, let's go stronger. It's the assurance that if you step out in faith, God will take you to a deeper level.

Why would you not step into that? Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven? You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking Him to help you to live for Him. Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me that I could be forgiven, and I believe you were raised from the dead that I could have a new life, and I've done wrong things. I have sinned, and I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. So congratulations, friend.

You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can call us toll-free at 877-458-5508 to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ. A Checkup from the Neck Up is our way to thank you for your gift this month to help more people on this station and beyond cross the bridge from death to life. So please visit crossthebridge.com now to get your copy of A Checkup from the Neck Up. And be sure to join us next time on Cross the Bridge as we continue in the book of Joshua. We'll see you then.