JOSHUA 3 GOD WILL LEAD YOU TO RECEIVE HIS PROMISES2021 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Joshua 3 God Will Lead You To Receive His Promises

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2021. Well, as we look at Joshua chapter 3 tonight, I've titled the message, God Will Lead You to Receive His Promises.

God will lead you to receive his promises. And so here we are in the journey along with Israel, really kind of transitioning from the life and leadership of Moses to now the leadership of Joshua and a whole new experience for the children of Israel at this time.

As we head out of Deuteronomy and the retelling of those things that God had instructed and the retelling of all God's promises and the encouragement to enter into the promised land and to step in by faith and receive what God had for them, here in the book of Joshua, they're right there on the verge of it. They're sitting there camped

at the Jordan River. Now, at this time, it explains here in the chapter that it's overflowing its banks. So it's extra wide, it's extra deep, the current is extra strong. And so the Jordan River provides somewhat of an obstacle for them to cross over into the land. And so they're just sitting there

looking at this obstacle. They're just sitting there looking at this thing that's kind of keeping them from just crossing over. Now, when you go to Israel today, the Jordan River is...

not as impressive as it must have been back then. It was a quite different experience for them when it was overflowing, and strategically, crossing a river can be really dangerous. When you're entering into enemy territory, it leaves you very vulnerable. You know, to get a couple people across is no problem, but to try to bring the whole congregation across, it puts you in a place where you are vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy. And so here they are. They

are at the edge of what God has for them. They have a new leader now, Joshua, so things are changing for them. They have this obstacle that presents a bit of a danger ahead of them, and they're camped here for a few days while they wait to hear back from the spies and wait to receive the instruction from the Lord.

You know, one of the interesting things about walking with the Lord is there are those times where things are just kind of humming along smoothly, and, you know, God's just speaking, and there's movements, but then there's other seasons where it's like you're on a roller coaster, and, you know, you hear the click, click, click. You kind of feel the tension mounting, like you see the things that are coming, and you know, like, you're going to get to the top, and then all of a sudden, things are going to get real. It's going to drop. It's going to go fast. There's going to be twists and turns and curves, and

As I've been sharing with you guys for the past several weeks, that's kind of the experience where I'm at right now. Sometimes life is a bit of a roller coaster, and in the workplace, things are dramatically changing for me. And it's interesting how God has lined up this new season for me with the things that we're going through in the Scriptures.

And this new role, so if I haven't said it enough yet, so I'm now responsible for the marketing department at Urban Surfaces where I work.

It's a whole new thing. I would have refused this role, even though it was offered to me, if God had not been telling me to go forward. Like, this is not, I spent the last two and a half years avoiding any kind of responsibility or leadership. Like, I just actively, I do not want to be in this position.

But as I was praying over it and reading through Deuteronomy, you know, Deuteronomy is there, the Lord speaking to a group of people who are not equipped, not prepared for the battles that lay ahead, but God's telling them, trust me, I want you to go in, I have good things for you, so go in and enter in. And through that, the Lord just kept telling me the same thing. And so now I'm

Heading into Joshua, and I'm sitting at the camp, you know, at the border of the river, and there's obstacles, and there's danger, and there's vulnerabilities, and I'm going to, you know, be seeking the Lord. And it's interesting how the Lord lines these things up many times, and it's not just because I'm Pastor Jerry, right?

Right? The thing that I want to encourage you in is that this is what God wants to do in all of our lives. Now, not every day of all of our lives is an exciting roller coaster. Right? There's different seasons that God works. But wherever we're at and whatever God has His plan for us, the point is that He will lead you to receive His promises. Right?

He has good things for you. He has promises he wants to work out in your life, promises found throughout the scriptures, promises that he has given to you personally and individually, you know, laid upon your heart. And God wants to lead you in those things. And to lead you into those promises is it's combined with a walk of faith and a walk of obedience that allows you, that brings you in to receive those things. And that's what we see happen under the leadership of Joshua.

That the children of Israel now, the time previous to this, when they were on the border of the promised land, they did not have faith and they were not obedient. But now they're going to trust God and they're going to obey and cross over and do what he says and really begin to receive the promises that he has for them.

And so as we consider those things in this example for us, there's four points I want to walk us through tonight here in Joshua chapter 3 to help us consider what God has for us and how we can receive those promises by trusting him and responding to what he is saying to us. And so the first thing for us to consider tonight, found in verse 2 and 3, here's point number 1. Expect God to lead you in new ways.

Expect God to lead you in new ways. Check out verse 2 and 3 again. Here's what it says. So it was, after three days, that the officers went through the camp, and they commanded the people, saying, When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. Now, just reading the verses, there's nothing really seemingly dramatic here.

until you stop and reflect upon the change that is taking place here. As they're camped there for a few days, the officers now go tell the people, hey guys, when you see the Ark of the Covenant begin to be carried by the priests and the Levites, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. Why did the officers of the people have to give this instruction? This whole generation has spent their time in the wilderness being led by the Lord.

And so we would expect them to be familiar with being led by the Lord, you know, on into the next phase. But what's interesting to consider here is this is a new way that God was going to be leading them. I'm sure you remember in the wilderness as they came out of Egypt, God led the children of Israel with a cloud by day plan.

and a pillar of fire by night. Numbers chapter 9 describes it really well for us. Of course, it shows up first in the book of Exodus, but here in Numbers chapter 9, verse 17 and 18, it tells us, when the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, after that the children of Israel would journey, and in the place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel would pitch their tents. At the command of the Lord, the children of Israel would journey, and at the command of the Lord, they would camp.

As long as the cloud stayed above the tabernacle, they remained encamped. This whole time, this past 40 years in the wilderness, this generation that's on the verge of the promised land right now, they've experienced their whole lives, essentially, this leading of God in this particular way. Moving from place to place out in the wilderness, this pillar of fire, this cloud would lead them, would descend and show them where to camp.

then would lift up and go before them to show them which direction to go. And the Lord, manifesting himself through this cloud, through this pillar of fire, would lead his people. And so it says in verse 18, it was at the command of the Lord that the cloud would descend, the cloud would ascend, it would lead them on. It was the command of the Lord. It was the Lord instructing them through this particular manifestation, through the cloud, through the fire.

But that's not going to happen any longer. Here, the instruction given to the people is that those days are over. No more cloud, no more fire. Similarly, as they enter into the promised land, as they have been receiving manna every day throughout their time in the wilderness that God just provided overnight, every night, the manna was going to cease as soon as they cross over. They're really heading into new seasons where God's going to be providing for them different ways, and God is going to be leading them

Or you could understand as commanding them, giving them a course, setting them on a path differently than they've ever experienced before. Now, in some ways, it wasn't different. So now the priests and the Levites would pick up the Ark of God. And if you remember the Ark of God and the instructions of the tabernacle, that's where the presence of God would dwell. The Ark was a box about this size. That's why this is up here. So...

Not exactly, but similar, like this size. It was a box that had legs and poles, and the priests would bear it on their shoulders, and then on top of the box, there would be this covering that had two angels, two cherubim, and it was between the wings of the cherubim that the presence of God would dwell. And so,

The ark going before the people here in the book of Joshua is the presence of God going before the people, right? It still speaks of the same thing. The cloud and the pillar represent and speak to the people of the presence of God in their lives, the leading of God in their lives, the command of God in their lives. Those things were still going to be present, the presence of God, the leading of God, the command of God, but it was going to look different.

It wasn't going to be exactly the same experience. Now they're going to follow the ark instead of following the cloud. They're going to be led by God speaking to the leader, telling the priest, okay, priest, hoist up the ark and start to march. And so the chain of command was going to be a little bit different. The experience was going to be different for the leader, Joshua, for the people as they were following him.

There's going to be new things that God is doing in the midst of this, and it's here centered around this Ark of the Covenant. Pastor Thomas Constable says the writer mentions the Ark 17 times in chapter 3 and 4. It was the visible symbol that God himself was leading his people into the land and against their enemies.

And so they had this strong reminder in the Ark of the Covenant, strong reminder of the presence of God, the strong reminder that God was with them and leading them, but also it was different. And you can just try to imagine, you know, kind of put yourself in their shoes for a moment. For 40 years, having experienced this very clear, you know, everybody could look up and see the

the cloud or the fire. And if you ever wondered, I wonder if God is with us? You know, you just kind of had to like peek out your tent a little bit. Oh, I see the fire. And I could see the flickering perhaps even without opening the tent. Like there was that very clear presence of God that they had with them there in that wilderness time. But now it would be a very different experience visually. It's not going to look the same. It's not going to feel the same perhaps.

I would venture to guess that there was some different emotions that the children of Israel were kind of working through as they learned to walk with God in this new way that he was leading them and not having the same type of reference, you know, that they could just look and see. But the Ark of the Covenant is this size. Now, this isn't that big when you're considering three million people, right? The cloud and the fire was like everybody could see it. They just had to look up.

But now it's still the same presence of God, still the same command of God, still the same promises of God, but it's going to look different. And it's going to manifest the work of God in their lives differently. I would encourage you to consider that. Can you imagine that? God changing his method of leading you after 40 years of leading you the same way.

God changing the way that he's leading you and speaking to you and working in your life. After 40 years of the same thing, you know, the same process. One of the things that we always have to work for as Christians is to resist the formula.

You know, it can be such a great temptation to kind of like dial in, okay, so here's my devotional formula. Here's how I spend time with God. I do it this way. I do it every day. I do it for the last 40 years. But we have to be careful because that may be a great, you know, experience that you have in that. But we also have to expect that

Well, God has the freedom, God has the authority to come in and say, I'm going to flip all that around. And your devotional time that was so strong in the morning, now it's going to be really strong in the evening. No, no, no, this is against everything I've ever heard, I've ever known. Like, I don't know if I can hear from God in the evening, it's so hard. And, you know, or...

Maybe it's more, hey, it's been, you know, the spending time in the scriptures and I have this reading schedule, right? And God may want to change that up. You know, don't get crazy. I'm not saying like we throw out the scriptures or anything like that, right? The core essence of the presence of God and the work of God was the same for the children of Israel. It'll be the same for us. There's gonna be components in our walk with God

of the word, of prayer, of things that God is saying to us, lining up with what God has already established in his word. We can't veer off of the word. But at the same time, we can't be so stuck in our routine and formula and think that it's always gonna be this way, it has to be this way, and expect God to always work in that same format in our lives. Because here's the reality. God wants to lead you into a deeper walk of faith.

He wants to lead you into a new sense of trust in him, a new understanding of who he is that may require him changing some of the ways that he has worked in your life. And so there are many times in our lives, different seasons where God is working different things in us. You can imagine the cloud overhead by day and the pillar of fire would be incredibly reassuring. It would be a great bolster to their faith.

But now, having something much less visible, something that is completely different, the presence of God is still there, but they're going to have to really trust God and believe it even when they can't see it. And when they, even when they physically can't like look out the tent and see, yep, that's, God's here. Okay, we're good. We're right where God wants us to be. That was a little bit nerve-wracking. Now I got a little bit concerned, but oh, there's the cloud. I know, you know,

But now it's going to be a little bit more difficult, a little bit more challenging. And God's not showing up the same way. He's not revealing himself in the same way.

And sometimes we go through what we might refer to as dry spells, right, as believers, where it's like, I don't know if I'm hearing God's voice. And there's those seasons where it's just like every day, it's like, bam, bam, bam, God's showing me something. It's like the cloud by day, the fire by night. It's like, oh, yeah, it's just my life is just filled with God speaking. And then we'll head into a new season where God's going to do something different. And he's going to deepen our faith. It's not that his presence has diminished.

But he is revealing himself to us differently and allowing us to trust him even when we can't see everything that we would want to see or are used to seeing. God wants to lead you into a walk of deeper faith with him. And so maybe it's going from a season of really dramatic experiences with God to some less dramatic experiences with God. No less genuine, no less impactful, no less meaningful, no less important experience

but different, different visually, different emotionally perhaps. Maybe, you know, leading you from more visible to less visible, more tangible to less tangible. And then, don't be surprised when then God flips it around, because you know what happens? We go from kind of those experiences of like, wow, it's amazing, and then we kind of settle down into a, you know, okay, yeah, this is like a normal walk with God. You know, God speaks to me, but it's not so dramatic every day.

But then sometimes we get stuck in that mode, and it's just like a ho-hum, humdrum, I don't know the right phrase to use right there, but you get the point, right? It's just like a boring Christian life. And sometimes we need to be shaken up and reminded God is exciting and doing wonderful things and doing powerful things, and he can speak to us in radical ways. And so we can't just settle into the one or the other, and we can expect God to work in

in new ways, to lead us in new ways. And sometimes we get stuck in that, well, God always speaks to me this way. But God wants to do new things. He wants to teach you to trust him more. And so he might change it up every couple months, or he might change it up every 40 years. It's up to him what he knows is best for us.

But this we can count on. There's going to be some new things that God wants to do, new ways he wants to speak to us, new ways he wants to lead us, to teach us to trust in him. Well, to continue on, we're going to go on to verse 4 for the second point this evening, and that is to pay close attention to God's leading. Pay close attention to God's leading. Look at verse 4 again. It says, Yet there shall be a space between you and it,

about 2,000 cubits by measure. 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 here in the instruction to the children of Israel about the Ark of the Covenant, the officers tell them, okay, when you see the Ark start to get carried and moved on by the priests and the Levites, that's your cue. Pack up your stuff and follow after because God's leading us onward. But

There's some parameters here. There's some boundaries to set. You need to make sure there's a space between you and the Ark of the Covenant. Now, this space they describe as about 2,000 cubits, which is kind of a significant amount of space. But you can imagine and understand with a couple million people being in the congregation of Israel that there would be some space needed,

for the rest of the people to be able to see the priest carrying the Ark of the Covenant. If everybody was crowded around, then only the immediate circle of people could see the Ark of the Covenant. But with a distance, with a space in between, that would give the opportunity then for the whole congregation to be able to look ahead and see the Ark of the Covenant and the Lord leading them through that.

It's interesting here in this verse, he says that you may know the way which you must go. So the point is you need to have this attention on this focus on the ark. You need to give some space so that you can see where the Lord is leading you through the priest carrying the ark of the covenant, because you're not going to know the way otherwise. Now sitting on the bank of the Jordan is

You know, it might be easy to think, what are you talking about? The Jordan's right there. We just got to get to the other side. Like, we'll just cross over the other side. Like, what are you talking about? Well, that might be true for the Jordan, for where they were at. They were going to cross directly over. But then beyond that, there was so much more that God was going to lead them into. And he points out here at the end of the verse, you have not passed this way before. And that makes me think,

Their time in the wilderness. Can you imagine, you know, spending some time in 40 years in the same region of the wilderness? Like, oh yeah, I remember going around this neighborhood, right? Yeah, yeah, we make a left here and then we go up a little bit further and then, yeah, we always camp here. We always camp here. Every time we're in the area, we always go to this place and we set camp here. And then from here we go on and they could have...

developed in their minds some kind of assumptions as they're rounding that corner again. All right, God's taking us here, and perhaps learned some of those patterns and jumped to conclusions about things that God was saying or directions that God was leading them. They probably had some routines wandering around the wilderness.

And I don't know about you, but I like routines. I like to just get settled into, I could eat the same food every day. Same breakfast, same lunch, same dinner. That just is easy for me. I love it. I wouldn't have any problem with it.

Not everybody's like that, but oh man, yeah, if I could have the same schedule, same food, you know, well, maybe not same clothes in the sense of like the dirty ones, but if I had like, you know, all the same shirt, you know, maybe it changes up with a little bit color here and there, but like, yeah, I don't care. That's fine. Just, yeah, easy. Give me a routine. I love routine.

And again, that's one of the things that we have to watch out for in our Christian walk, that we don't just get settled into the routine. And God says, look, you haven't gone this way before. Don't jump to conclusions about where I'm taking you, where I'm leading you. Don't think that you know. You need to look at the arc and make sure that you can see the arc so that you don't assume I'm taking you this way and start heading that direction.

without really paying attention to what I'm doing. Now, the attention that God is calling for is pretty significant because again, there was this space. God says, I need some space. Don't crowd me. Give me some space.

Pastor Damien Kyle says, this is God's way of saying, follow me, but don't be pushy about it. Follow me, but don't be pushy and demanding and, you know, all up on me. Like, follow me and let me lead you where I want you to go. And so the space that God gave was 2,000 cubits. Now, traditionally, we understand a cubit to be about 18 inches. So I started to wonder and try to picture what this would look like.

2,000 cubits works out to be about 1,000 yards as we follow out that math and that measurement. 1,000 yards. So I'm thinking, okay, 1,000 yards. What's 1,000 yards? How do I understand? I'm not good at these kinds of things. So how do I understand 1,000 yards? A football field is how many yards? 100, right? So I'm like 10 football fields.

I'm like, I got to be exaggerating a football field in my head. There's no way it's 10 football field lengths between the children of Israel and the ark. So I pulled up some map tools, did some calculations, and figured out if you are at the corner here of Lincoln and Railroad, and you look down railroad towards Grand, where you hit Koda is right about 1,000 yards. So I was like looking, I was trying to see like, can I see Koda?

It's kind of hard to see COTA. So I got in my car and I actually drove there. Here's a picture from this afternoon in the middle of the street. It's very safe. Don't worry about it. Looking, standing at COTA, looking towards Lincoln and Railroad. Can you see Lincoln? If you look really closely, give you a little arrow there, you can see the light at the intersection. And if you can't see that well, well, here's a little bit closer look. Okay. Okay.

That's a thousand yards from Coda to Lincoln. And so you can see that it would require a lot of attention. And again, this is why I make the point, pay close attention to God's leading. This isn't like, you know, a huge cloud by day and fire by night, where it's like, yeah, no matter where you are, you can kind of see the cloud out of the corner of your eye. You never lose sight of it, right? So it's like, I just kind of go about my day, and then I always kind of know in the back of my mind, the corner of my eye, I can see the Lord's leading, no problem.

But this is like squinting your eyes, like looking like, all right, yeah, that's the Lord. Yep, yep, that's the Lord. Oh, there he is. He's going that way now. Okay, we got to change course now. He's going this direction and really paying attention to the direction, to the leading, to the steps and the course that God has set for them through the leading of the priests and the Levites carrying the Ark of the Covenant.

Now, typically for me, you'll hear me say often, you know, things like being right in the center of God's will. And in my head, when I say that, I'm picturing the cloud overhead and just kind of like being right in the center of that cloud, right? And the pillar of fire, it's like, just be right in the center, right where God wants us to be, right? And this picture here, now there's the head into the promised land, it really is a different picture. It gives a little bit different perspective for us where God is saying, look,

everything that I do in your life is not going to be so obvious all the time. You need to be really looking for me, really listening attentively to me, really squinting your heart and seeking to find out what my will is and what my plan is to understand how I'm leading you. Pay close attention to God's leading. You know, there's times in my life, like right now, where it's like I need God more than ever.

And I am like seeking the Lord. I'm like squinting for that signal, right? More than ever, I'm like, Lord, I need to hear you. I need to know what you're saying. I was sharing with Kim, it feels like this is kind of like a really big step of faith, even though it's, you know, in the workplace.

But even though I feel that way, even though that's what I'm experiencing, the truth is I always need God the same amount, right? I'm just less aware of it at other times. I'm just less. And so the times where I'm just kind of going through my routine and, you know, just, all right, God's good. Everything's great. And then I just not paying attention. Well,

I'm less aware of my need, but I don't need God less in one season or the other season. The reality is I need to be paying close attention. I need to be looking. What is it that God wants to say? What is it that God is doing, and where is he leading? And so the children of Israel here would have to pay close attention to the things that God was doing and the way that God was leading them. I've always liked Psalm chapter 32.

where God says, I will instruct you and teach you in the way that you should go. I will guide you with my eye. You know, it speaks really of that gentle guidance of the Lord. It's like this picture is the Ark of the Covenant, kind of way far away. That's a very gentle guidance, right? God is just saying, all right, follow me. And it's like a still small voice, right? You have the option, you have the opportunity. God wants to speak, but kind of like the parables, right?

The Lord taught through parables and the message was there, the truth was there for those who wanted to receive it, for those who were willing to look into it. But also if you weren't really seeking after the Lord, you would miss the point of the parable.

And this is one of those things that we need to be aware of is that God sometimes wants to lead us in ways where we're trusting him, in ways that he's speaking to us in a still small voice. And we need to pay close attention and not just respond to the big obvious things that God is saying or speaking to us about.

He goes on in Psalm 32 to say, don't be like the horse or the mule. They're stubborn. You have to draw them near and harness them with a bit and bridle, and otherwise you can't lead them. Don't be like that. Don't just respond to the Lord from those kinds of things that he imposes on your life. But let God lead you with his eye. Be very attentive. Be looking closely to him. Be seeking him and asking him.

asking, seeking, knocking, that you might know what God is saying to you. Pay close attention to God's leading. And I like the picture here as it talks about that you'll know, like keep a close eye so that you can know the direction, you can know the way, so you don't jump to a conclusion and go the wrong way, you know, based on what you foresee. But the idea here is as you're going, you're continuing to look, you're continuing to pay attention. And I shared this a while back, but it's worth considering once again.

that importance of us listening for God's direction, even beyond that first instruction. That Abraham, when he was instructed by the Lord to offer Isaac as a sacrifice, he heard from the Lord, he had God's instruction, he set out to do it, he was taking a really big step of faith and trusting God in that. And if he had stopped paying close attention to God's leading, then he would have continued on and actually fulfilled the sacrifice.

But the Lord spoke to him again because that first word was important. It was the word of the Lord. It was what Abraham needed. It was, you know, God leading him down that path. But then God wanted to speak to him again and say, okay, now change course. And God can always do that. He can always give us instruction and say, that was the instruction. You're on this path. Now change course and go this direction. And so we need to pay close attention to God's leading.

Because we see him out there, he's moving, and we can make some assumptions, we can jump to conclusions. But God says, no, no, stay, keep a close eye on me. Listen to what I'm saying, that you might follow me. You don't know where we're going, so don't think that you do, don't jump to that conclusion that you do. Wait for me, let me show you where I'm leading you. Well, moving on to verse five, we get the third point to consider tonight, and that is prepare yourself for God's leading.

Prepare yourself for God's leading. Along with this paying close attention and really seeking out what it is that God's saying and tuning our ears to hear his voice, there is some preparation that is appropriate for us to be ready to receive the leading of the Lord. Verse five says this, Joshua said to the people, sanctify yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. Joshua tells them, sanctify yourself.

Here you are on the border of the promised land, at the bank of the river. You're about to cross over, and God's going to do a work tomorrow to bring us across to the other side, to bring us into the promised land. And so since you know that to be true, since you know God is leading you in this direction, sanctify yourself. And the word sanctify, we can kind of summarize it. It means to be set apart. But as always, there's kind of two important aspects to this idea of

being sanctified or being holy, being set apart. On the one hand, you have being set apart from, but then you also have the idea and the understanding in the word of being set apart for. There's a from, that we are separate from things, but then there's also a for, we are separate for things.

This commentator puts it this way, consecration means separate from sin, separate from the entanglements of life, and separate to the Lord's mission and ready to go take the land. There's a separate from sin, a separate from being tied up in things that are not of the Lord, but of being separate to the Lord's mission. I have here in my hand a New Believers Bible.

And we keep these. There's a little shelf right here underneath the pulpit. We keep these in here. They are sanctified. They're set apart. Keeping them in here, provided any kids, you know, don't go crazy after service, it protects them from

Dirt, dust, grime, abuse, right? You look at the Bibles that are on the back table, and those are public, right? People grab them, they use them, there's pages torn out, they're dirty, there's chocolate spilled on them, or coffee spilled on them, like, you know, they're defiled in those kinds of ways. Still the scriptures, you can still use them, but you might want a hand sanitizer afterwards.

But these up here, these are not for that. They're not for common use. They're not for public use. They're not here for just everybody to just, you know, read and pass it around. These have a specific purpose. And so they're separate from those defilements so that they can be separate for each.

Hey, you've just believed in Jesus Christ and received the Lord. We have, it's called a new believer's Bible. It's just for you. Look, it's nice and clean. It's fresh and crisp. No one's ever used it before. And you get to experience your relationship with God as you dive into the scriptures for the first time. It's separate from, but it's separate from so that it can be preserved for that specific use. And that's what it's for. Now,

All of that illustrates the point, but also just to add on a little point. So if you ever need a new believer's Bible, and it's for the purpose I'm describing here, that's what it's separated for, that's what it's for, right? So you have that need, you have someone who's a new believer and needs a Bible, then that's what these are for. Come and get them. You need a Bible because you forgot yours at home? These are off limits. Do not come and get this. Use the back table ones. Just hand sanitize, that's all. That's all you gotta do. Sanctify yourself, Joshua says.

Set yourself apart from the things that defile you. Set yourself apart from sin, but also with the understanding that it's not just a stop doing things. It's make yourself available and be ready for whatever it is that God wants to do next. It's a preparing yourself that I'm not entangled in things so that I'm free.

I'm ready for the Lord's purposes wherever he leads, however he wants to use me, whatever he reveals, I'm ready to go. It's a readiness for service as well as a separation from sin. The author of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews chapter 12, you probably already thought this verse as I was talking through these things. Since we are surrounded by so great a 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. There needs to be the laying aside, separating from, in order that we can be separated for the race that is set before us. And so Joshua tells the people, guys, we're on the border here. There's some exciting things ahead. God's going to do wonders amongst us. Sanctify yourself. Is there any sin going on in your life?

Is there any sin in the camp? Is there anything that you know God does not want you to be involved in, but there you are engaged in it? You need to lay that aside. Now is the time to put away sin, not to be living in compromise, to be dabbling in things that are not of the Lord. And sometimes there's things that are not outright sins, but as the author of Hebrews says, he describes them as weights. Maybe it's a liberty that you have in Christ, but

But at the same time, that liberty does not help you in your relationship with God. It doesn't further your experience with God and your understanding of God and your connection to God. It's a weight. It holds you back in your walk with the Lord. And at different times in our lives, we experience different kinds of weights that kind of creep into our lifestyles and routines. And Joshua says, sanctify yourself, encouraging us tonight. Listen, you want God to lead in this

fresh new path that he has set before you. You want God to fulfill his promises in your life. You cannot expect to experience God's promises while your life is weighed down with sin and things that are not of the Lord. It doesn't make it now a work of merit, you know, to earn God's blessing, but it does encourage us and remind us that we need to continue to keep ourselves in a place where we are ready to receive.

Again, like the parables, like there's just some things that if we're not ready to receive it, we won't receive it. If we're not interested in the things of the Lord as demonstrated by our lifestyle of sin and the other things that weigh down our lives and keep us from walking with God and knowing God and connecting to God, then we will miss out. Those promises, those blessings, they'll pass right by us.

We won't be able to run the race that is set before us because there's too much weight. There's too much things tripping us up and holding us back. Set aside, lay aside, sanctify yourself. Joshua says, the author of Hebrews says that you're now in a position to receive the promises of God, to receive the instruction of God and to run the race that is set before you. Be set apart from those things. Be set apart for. Here's an exhortation from the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 2.

He tells Timothy, no one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. Soldiers don't get caught up in the communities, you know, where they're at. They stay faithful to

to their commanding officer. That's the idea there. They stay faithful to their mission so that they're ready. So when the commander gives an instruction, a command, then the soldier is able to respond and go forward because he can't be like, well, you know what? I promised Mary I was going to help her go to the grocery store. We're over here doing this event in the park over here with the community. The soldier was on duty in the community. Right?

And so he was to be about the business of his commanding officer. In a similar way, we're on duty. In this life, we're on duty to be at God's beck and call, that he would be able to instruct us and lead us, and that we wouldn't be so preoccupied with things and so caught up in things, so holding fast to things that we would not be willing to let go when God says, okay, you need to let that go. We're packing up camp and we're crossing over the Jordan. We're doing something brand new.

Prepare yourself for God's leading. Lay aside the things that would hold you back, that would tie you down, that would keep you from responding whatever God would say to you today. I think we have a great example with the Reese family. Pack up and head to Okinawa. That's a willingness to just let go of everything. Pastor Tom, you remember, is like,

It's like, Jerry, you're going to move into my house, and you're going to pastor my church, and you want my car too, and leave my clothes behind so you can dress like me. And I'm like, no, no, no, you take those things. I don't want those things. There's limits. But there was that willingness to just, whatever, I'll just let it go. I'll just let it go, and I'll do what God wants me to do. That's preparing yourself for God's leading.

Laying aside sin, laying aside weights, laying aside the things that tie us down so that we're ready and able, free to turn any direction, to go any path, to go any way and do anything that God wants us to do. Well, finally, point number four to finish up the night. Prepare today for God's leading tomorrow. And here we're camping out still in verse five. It says, and Joshua said to the people, sanctify yourselves for tomorrow is coming.

the Lord will do wonders among you. And I wanted to stay here in verse five for a little bit longer with this thought because it is important for us to remember and understand that what we're called to is a walk of faith. And it means that we are not going to see necessarily what it is that God is going to do, what it is that God wants to do. He's not gonna lay out the instruction for us all the time, but we are instead called to sanctify ourselves

to go through that process that we've just been talking about in advance of seeing the work that God wants to do or understanding or knowing the work that God wants to do. We're to be preparing today for the things that God wants to do tomorrow. And so it's appropriate to ask, do you want God to lead you tomorrow? And you might be thinking, well, you know, I don't know. I don't think I have any significant challenges tomorrow. So I think I'd be okay on my own tomorrow. Not a big deal.

So yeah, maybe no need for you to prepare then if you're not interested in God leading you tomorrow. But do you want God to lead you tomorrow? Do you want God's influence in your life tomorrow? Do you want his instruction and his direction in your life? The time to prepare for that is not tomorrow, but today. Right now is the time to prepare for the future things that God wants to do. And there's a lot of times where we're kind of waiting for

To see if it's worth it, right? I want to wait to see what God's plan is, see if it's worth it, see if I want to, okay, okay, that, yeah, that makes sense to me. Okay, so it's worth the sacrifice of laying aside the sin and the weights and, okay, fine, I'll give up those things because, you know, it's worth it.

That's not faith, seeing it and then deciding whether or not it's worth it. Faith is trusting God at his word, saying, look, I want to do good things in your life. Here's what I'm speaking to you. Here's the course that I've set and the things I'm leading you into. Trust me and respond right now, even when you can't see the promise clearly. You don't even necessarily know what the promise is yet, but trust me, it's worth it.

Or you know what the promise is, but you can't see how you're going to get there from here. It just seems impossible. Trust me, I can get you there. Don't wait. And so in the context of this, you can think about the children of Israel. Joshua says, sanctify yourself, get ready. And I would imagine some people would

myself in different seasons of life saying, I'm sure there'll be time. There's a lot of people here to get over the Jordan. Like, we could just, let's wait and see what happens. Is something really going to happen with the Jordan? Is there really going to be a way to cross over? I don't know. It's like, kind of looks skeptical. So, you know, my TV show's on tonight, so I'm not going to sanctify myself the day before crossing the Jordan. I'm just going to, you know, kick back and relax. I had a hard day at work, and so I'm just going to chill out here and not worry about sanctifying myself.

But if I see stuff happening tomorrow, then I'll get ready. And Joshua hears saying, no, no, don't do that. Don't wait until you see it happening to start to prepare yourself. Start now. Prepare yourself now, today, for the things that you want God to do in your life tomorrow. The psalmist in Psalm chapter 95 gives us this kind of exhortation. It's a familiar psalm in some parts. Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord, our maker. He's our God. We're the people of his pasture, the sheep of his hand.

But he goes on to say, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. At the end of verse 7, today if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. The idea is this, if you want to hear God's voice, then don't harden your heart. Right now, respond. And God's message is, sanctify yourself, prepare yourself. That's what God is saying today.

And if you want to hear God's voice, then respond to what God is saying right now, today. Don't harden your heart and say, I'm not sure I want to sanctify myself. I'm not sure I want to do that. No, don't harden your heart and refuse and resist. Respond right now to what God has already said, to what God has already spoken. And you're preparing yourself today for God's leading tomorrow. The best time to prepare is now.

And so many times we find ourselves really in difficult trial and kind of great turmoil because we haven't prepared ourselves. Now, sometimes great trouble and turmoil happens, right? We always use Job as the classic example. So it's not that, you know, everything is always easy when you're walking with the Lord. That's not the point. But, you know, when you're not used to hearing God's voice in the midst of a trial to try to then learn how to hear God's voice, boy, that's like the hardest time to learn.

Because there's all this stuff raging around you and in your head because you're in the midst of this great pain and difficulty. No, no, it's much better for us if we will prepare and learn to hear the voice of God before the trials.

If I show this again, quick, red light or green light? What is it? Lincoln and railroad, what's the light color? It's like, ah, like, ah, you know, like, it's hard to see, I can't see it. But if you would sit here and study this for a little bit, you know, if you were sitting there and watching the flow of traffic and you could, after a few minutes, you would understand, oh yeah, no, I can see the light's green. It's far away, but I can see, I can see the movement, I can tell by the way things are happening. Even if I can't see the exact color of the light, I can understand because I've got some experience now. I've prepared myself in advance.

But if all of a sudden you find yourself here and you have to decide, your life is at stake, you know, pick the right red or green color, it's like, that's so hard to do. It's like, how do I even know? I can't even find the spot. But if you prepare yourself in advance, then you're ready.

Then when the time comes, then when the opportunity is there, then when the Lord is speaking and leading, then you're tuned to his voice. You're ready. You're prepared. You've let go of the things that are holding you back and you're free to just do anything that God wants you to do. Prepare today for God's leading tomorrow. I'll finish up with this quote from Pastor Warren Wiersbe. Some of God's promises are unconditional and all we have to do is believe them. While other promises require that we meet certain conditions,

In meeting these conditions, we're not earning God's blessings. We're making sure our hearts are ready for God's blessings. And that's the question. Are our hearts ready for God's blessings? Are you ready to receive God's promises and all that he has for you? If you want to receive his promises, expect God to lead you in new ways. Allow him to work outside your box.

and to minister to you, to lead you in new experiences with him, and new steps of faith, and new ways of relating to him, and hearing from him. Pay close attention to his leading. Be looking for, actively seeking out, Lord, is that you? Are you going that way? What direction are you going in? And what is it that you are saying and doing? Pay close attention to that, and prepare yourself. When you know about sin, when you uncover sin in your life, lay it aside. When you realize things are beginning to weigh you down, lay it aside.

Right now, today, don't wait for around the corner tomorrow when that opportunity pops up that you weren't expecting. Now today is the day of salvation. That's what Hebrews takes that passage, that today passage from Psalms and applies it to us in chapter three and four of Hebrews and says it's today. Like you gotta respond today as God's speaking so that you're ready for those things that God will do in your life. God will lead you to receive his promises. Be prepared for that, be ready for that.

Be looking to him to work in your life. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word and your great promises to us. Lord, your promise of being active and working and leading in our lives. Lord, what a great comfort and encouragement that is. And Lord, that great comfort that they would have received in seeing the cloud by day and pillar of fire by night. We may not see that visibly, Lord, but the reality is just as true. You're right here with us.

You have good things ahead for us. And so, God, I pray that you would tune our hearts to yours, that we would seek you, Lord, that we would hear your voice, that we would experience all that you have for us as we respond to your guidance and direction. Teach us, Lord, to do that, I pray. Lead us by your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name, amen.

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