A very good morning to you. Before we begin, let us pray.

“Our great God and our Father in heaven, if we do not fear You, it is because we do not know You. Today, this world is full of people who do not fear You, but help us this morning as we come to know You, to come to learn more about You, that it will lead to us fearing You and worshipping You, in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.”

Now it’s not easy being a history teacher. History is usually boring to people. I remember Aaron was trying to teach us church history, and he’s excited because he knows a lot and he wants to impart that information, that knowledge to us. But sometimes we can’t fully appreciate it cause we just don’t know it. We don’t know it for ourselves, and how sometimes we wish, some history teachers wish that we could just transport these students back to those times, to those olden days where we can see for ourselves all the wonderful things that happened there. Or perhaps picture someone trying to explain and teach you how beautiful is the Grand Canyon in the US.

Now they can explain to you and give you so much information, but as long as we are not there, as long as we have never seen it for ourselves, we can’t fully appreciate it. Now let me remind you as we look at Joshua chapter 3, this is a story. We are following these people who are travelling. They are given a task by God to enter a land, and they are told to be strong and courageous many times in chapter 1. Now this is a new generation. The old generation under Moses have passed away now with their great leader Moses himself, and this is a new generation. What do they know about God? Perhaps what was told to them by their ancestors, their grandparents, they have told them stories about God.

But what marvellous things God can do? What are the miracles? Bringing things down from heaven, water coming out of a rock, but these people have not seen it. They’ve just heard about it, and they really fully appreciate it? But that is all about to change as we approach Joshua chapter 3. Let me also remind you that the book of Joshua is about entering the Promised Land and inheriting it, and the first four chapters especially, they weren’t in the Land yet. So the first four chapters is about entering the Land. And for us, it’s about how does someone enters this land, this Promised Land. There is a verse that we’ve all committed to our memory. I’m sure many of you are familiar with it. It says: “For by grace you have been saved”. It sort of describes Joshua chapter 1.

This is a people very graciously chosen by God, not because they did something good, “for by grace they have been saved”. And it is “through faith”, that is Joshua chapter 2. We’ve read a wonderful story of how someone heard the words of the Lord, heard what God can do, and she believed. Rahab believed, and that changed her entire life. How she lived? Her faith had works to prove it. And so for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourself. As we will look at Joshua chapter 3, this salvation is something that is not of ourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone can boast. So as we look at this story, let’s bear this in mind. We’re following the generation, the new generation.

These people have heard about this great God, heard about His wonderful works in the past, but they themselves have not really seen it for themselves yet. Now we’ve come to a river, this is the River Jordan. And as we approach this text today, allow me to just give you three phrases to navigate the progression of the events. First, we see a problem at the Jordan. We will soon see the purpose of the Jordan. Finally, we will see power of the Jordan. Before I begin, let me just give you a disclaimer- there is such a thing as a Hebraic literary writing style. It’s quite difficult to say, but basically, the writing style of this text is not chronological. And that’s the style, now that’s how they like to write it.

You will see a certain event happening, and then they’ll talk about something else, and then the following verses go back to that event. And so you will see me perhaps jumping here and there a little bit because the style that is being written is not chronological, and that is the way many parts of the Bible are being written. And so with that said, let us begin with verse 1: “Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and they set out from Acacia Grove and came to the Jordan, 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”. Now here we have to pause already because the Israelites rose early, started their journey early in the morning, now they are stopping.

Are they tired? Does it make sense for people to rise up early in the morning to start a long journey just to stop halfway and wait for three days? Do you call that a toilet break or a rest stop? Well, not exactly. If you follow a maybe your Google Maps showing you where your Uber driver is, and he’s coming from point A to point B. And when he leaves point A, he just stops and he just stops there. You’ll probably guess what? He’s probably stuck, maybe type punctured or something. But he’s stuck. He has just encountered a problem and he cannot proceed any further, and that is what we see in the opening verses of this book. They set out, but now they are stuck. They simply could not proceed any further because they came to a river.

There is a river in front of them, and they are stuck. Now for how long are they stuck? See verse 2, they said: “after three days”. For as long as three days they were stuck there. Does it cause us to wonder a little bit why? Why were they stuck for such a long time? Why can’t they just get stuck and God tells them alright, do this, and they’ll cross? Why the pause? Why the long pause? I don’t think it’s too difficult to understand why was there a long pause because this long pause simply gives them time to stare at the Jordan. They stayed by the Jordan to just look and appreciate and just absorb the magnitude of the problem in front of them. This is not a small problem.

If you face a problem and the duration of your problem is so long, you will probably remember it for a long, long time after that. I remember when we first move into this place, we had some small problems with the lights. Imagine one of the lights doesn’t go on. Okay, there is a problem. But then of course Uncle Michael will take his ladder, take some wires, come ra ta ta and tong tong tong. After five minutes, fixed already. Do any of us still remember those problems we faced? No, of course not. Small problem. We were stuck at that problem for a mere five minutes. Solved already, we forgot about it already. Now, consider a more serious problem. If you asked me do I remember a problem when I was younger; when I had some stomach problems? I would say I’ll probably remember it for life.

Why? Because for five years I was enduring that problem, and no doctors could find out what is wrong with me. And so having that pain for days after days, days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, eventually enduring it for five years, it is not a problem I would easily forget. I will probably remember it for the rest of my life because I was made to endure that problem for such a long time. And I’m sure you know what I mean. When you are stuck at a certain problem, given time to try and solve it, and after a long time you cannot solve it, you will surely remember that problem for a very, very long time. And so we see here that they were given three days to slowly ponder about this problem in front of them. The River Jordan, that is their problem.

Now perhaps for the first few hours, they tried. Now obviously they are staring at it for hours. Maybe one guy goes to the west, one guy goes to the east. Just walk all the way, try to find some way around it. Maybe one day later, all came back and say nope, no way. Cannot go around, cannot go across. Too far, too wide, it was too wide for them to jump across. Bridge? Nope, not doable. Swim? The current too strong. Under? The river too deep. There was no way through. One day of trying, they say it is very hard. Two days of trying, they say this is too hard. Three days were given to them, and they said it is impossible. Three days. It took them three days, and they finally realised that this is something that is humanly impossible.

And so from getting stuck at the Jordan after three days, the next piece of instruction came. Now, what is that? Verse 3: “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. Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand 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.””. The next piece of instruction that came after that three days, after that long course of simply this, this is a problem you cannot solve yourself. So, follow Me now. Follow the ark.

Now you will soon realise the ark mentioned from start to finish. In just seventeen verses, no less than ten times the ark of the covenant of the LORD was mentioned. And the Israelites, they understood it. When they looked at the ark of the covenant, they understood what it was supposed to mean for them. In the past, in Exodus 25 (you can go back and read about it more), the ark was a gigantic chest box, and inside it was the Ten Commandments. And above the ark two cherubim, in between is the mercy seat. And God said, build this. And on top of the mercy seat is where I would come and meet with My people. The ark, to them, represented the presence of God. And so when they looked at the ark, it instantly reminded them of God’s presence.

We’re gonna follow it the way we followed the pillar of fire or the pillar of cloud in the past. We just follow it wherever it go because that is the presence of God. God is leading us, and we’ll just follow that ark. Instructions will be given to them not come too close. Imagine them being part of a tourist group where the tour guide is leading you to the busy shopping centre. Everybody must follow very, very carefully, don’t get lost. Maybe someone tries to be smart and walk too fast that he goes in front of the tour guide, he also realise that he doesn’t know where to go because he’s a foreigner. He doesn’t even know this place. He has never been here before. So don’t try to be smart. You want to follow the leader, stay behind him.

In fact, stay far, far away from him. The distance here given, two thousand cubits by measure was a very big distance away. They are to stand far, far away so that they can all see the ark. Don’t come too close. You might not see the whole picture. Stay far, far away because while this is the problem you cannot solve, only God can solve it. Don’t try to be smart; don’t try to go too close. And so from a problem at the Jordan where they were stuck, where they found it impossible humanly to solve it, we are now given a bit of an explanation to why did this even happened. What is the purpose of the Jordan? Now briefly just reading through it, you will soon find two purposes, two reasons why the Jordan was even here, why did this event even took place.

Look at verse 7: “And the LORD said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.””. One of the reasons why this event even occurred is that God can take this opportunity to show these people that I approve of Joshua. Joshua is your leader because I said so. You are going to fight many wars after this. There’s going to be a daunting task awaiting you whenever you go into the next land. Halfway in between these wars they cannot be wondering: What did Joshua say ah? They ask me to do this ah? Can I trust him or not?

No, they were not allowed to doubt Joshua. Whatever Joshua were to tell them they would do it because Joshua is just telling them what God wants them to do. So this event, very significant because it shows. God is showing these people that you can trust Joshua because Joshua is telling you what I want you to know. As I was with Moses, I will be with Joshua. Do you remember how God was with Moses in the past? Moses gave them the words of God as well. And sometimes it was ridiculous, stare at a bronze serpent. When that’s ridiculous, nobody wants to do it. Or cross the Red Sea, or I’m gonna strike this rock and water is going to come out. These are called Moses’ words, but they were to obey and take it as the words of God.

And in a sense that is one of the mark of a good spiritual leader as well. Joshua is a good spiritual leader for them. How do you know? If you have a role model, someone who is your leader spiritually, just ask yourself this question: Does your leader always give you God’s Word? And so this event number one, one of the purpose of it, so that God may show that Joshua is the one I approved of and you all can trust him because he’s telling you what I want you to know. And so verse 9, as any good leader will do, he says: “So Joshua said to the children of Israel, “Come here, and hear the words of the LORD your God.”. You’ve a problem? Listen to what God has to say.

Now Joshua is about to tell them and explain to them further about the purpose of the Jordan is for them. You don’t have to guess. You don’t have to guess why did this happen. We are told explicitly here. See, Joshua said: “By this you shall know that the living God is among you”. This event is happening so that you may know something. You need to know something that the living God is on your side. What do you mean by “by this”? What is he referring to when he says “by this you will know”? This refers to verse 13, what is about to happen. Something is going to happen, something great.

“And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests 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 come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap.” Something amazing, something out of this world is going to happen. And by this monumental event, you will know who God is. You will know that the living God is on your side. Some of you who are more observant, you’ve probably realise that verse 13 is much longer than verse 8. Verse 8, what did God say actually to Joshua?

He said: “You shall command the priests 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.’”. Why is the instruction so short here? Well in verse 13, he gives so much more instruction. Is he adding to God’s words or not? Now I don’t believe Joshua is adding to God’s words here. I think Joshua is simply explaining what is about to happen. He’s explaining fully God’s word because Joshua remembers. Look at verse 8 again. When God told Joshua: “When you have come to the edge of the water of the Jordan, you shall stand in the Jordan.”. This is impossible. The Jordan is full. How does someone even stand in the Jordan?

And so when Joshua looks at the rushing river full of water, too wide to cross, too fast the current, and God says you’re going to stand in the Jordan, he immediately connected the dots. He recalled what God has done for them in the past. And as this new generation have not seen it yet, but Joshua knows what is about to happen. And just the words “you shall stand in the Jordan”, he already knew what was going to happen. And that’s why he gives so much more information in verse 13. He says: Get ready! What’s going to happen? Those who bear the ark of the LORD, the LORD of all the earth, he is telling them this God is going to show them His power. Who is this God? As the words, “the LORD of all the earth”.

This God is over everything in this world. Nature’s laws, gravity says what goes up must comes down because God made it that way. If the river is going to flow there, it’s because God made it that way. If God wants to change it as He pleases, He can because He’s the LORD of all the earth. And so when the priest who bear the ark of the LORD, the LORD of all the earth, you see what does it say? “Shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off”. It is all his explanation. “The waters shall come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap.” You see, Joshua is explaining what is about to happen. God didn’t say all these things, but he knew cause he was there in the past when it first happened.

Now Joshua, now all the instructions that he gives start to make sense. Once again, verse 10: “By this event”. By this great event where God shows you He is God over nature, who are these other people? Like the instructions to you is: “Be strong and courageous”. I know it’s difficult when you enter this Land. You’re gonna fight giants, maybe, people who are tough, people who are strong. But, this event is just gonna show you that the God who is over nature, who has power over the Jordan is on your side. If this God who can make river stop anytime He wants, are you afraid of these others, these Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, Jebusites, and parasites? Basically all of them. All of these -sites, you don’t have to worry at all. Who are they if God is on your side?

And that’s why it made sense. In verse 5: “When Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.””. What does “sanctify yourself” mean for them? Well for them, they understood in the past also that every time God is about to come and perhaps meet with them or do something miraculous, they were to prepare themselves in the washing of clothes, in the confessing of sins. And basically, Joshua is saying to them when God does come and do something so wonderful, you all better not be blur. You all better not blame, or you will miss the importance of this event. Prepare yourselves. Sanctify yourselves. Remember who you are.

When you look at the ark, you think of the covenant of the LORD, the God who is holy, the God who make covenants with you. He said you are going to be My people, and I’m going to bless you if you continue to keep My commandments, if you continue to be holy. Now if God is God over nature, if God can do such mighty acts, who on earth want to disobey and be the enemy of such a God? And so Joshua said: “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.”. So what we’ve looked at? The problem that they faced at the Jordan. We’ve understand now the purpose of this event, why did it even have to happen here. Why didn’t they just skip the Jordan and just go ahead into the Land?

You see the purpose. Well, was it successful? Well, did it really work? The people would really because of this event start to fear God? We could just skip a bit forward to chapter 4 at the end of it. Joshua was telling these people that look at all these wonderful things God can do. But why did He do all these things? Verse 24: “that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty”. So that what? What’s the purpose of knowing that God is mighty? So “that you may fear the LORD your God forever.”. So the problem of the Jordan, the problem at the Jordan was something they could not solve themselves. We saw the purpose of the Jordan. Now let’s look at how the power of God displayed over the Jordan.

The Jordan is not a problem for God. Verse 14: “So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the Jordan”. Now, you see the narrator coming in to explain a little bit now. The narrator does not come in earlier. He comes in at this point to just impress upon us how difficult it was. Just going near the Jordan, probably their legs will probably get wet already because the Jordan is overflowing, overflowing over its banks during the whole time of the harvest.

The narrator comes in here for a reason just to show that this is in fact as the Israelites found it to be- a task too difficult for humans. This is probably the worst time to cross the Jordan. Well for God, it is the perfect time to cross the Jordan. God loves to use these impossible circumstances to show His power. God doesn’t do things the easy way, doesn’t choose when it’s very calm or maybe a smaller river and bring them across. No, He chooses the biggest, He chooses the worst time to cross because for God, it is the perfect time to cross so that we would give all glory to God and God alone. None of them can say: Oh, I managed to help a bit. No, they were far, far away, two thousand cubits away. Now, how wide exactly was the Jordan?

They estimated at least four hundred metres wide, up to one mile. That was the width of the Jordan, imagine that. If you were standing two hundred metres away from me, you probably look like a tiny little ant. Multiply that by two or by four, and I cannot even see you. That was how wide the Jordan is. You can’t even see land on the other side. So don’t have in mind your Sunway Lagoon Lazy River where you can easily see across all your jungle rivers, where you can easily see the other side. No, this was a river that is just so wide that you take one look at it, and you wouldn’t even want to think of crossing it. And perhaps for the priests who were receiving these instructions, they were pretty scared as well, maybe.

Now when we think about the faith, the amount of faith that they needed to have. You look at some rushing water, and you be the first to put your leg in. If Joshua was wrong, they’ll probably look very foolish, isn’t it? The first person go in, phoom! They’re gone already. But they trusted in what Joshua said, and they went in. And what happened? Verse 16: “and the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan. So the waters that went down into the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off; and the people crossed over opposite Jericho.”. So we see God being able to actually perform this impossible task. The waters came down from the high mountains. They stood still and rose up. Imagine that.

Imagine a river going and the onrushing one just suddenly stop, and the rest just flow into the sea, and there was just a big gap. They were cut off, and there was dry ground. “Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan.” The priests were standing there, perhaps watching that scary moment where the waters are coming toward them but couldn’t touch them. God was holding it back, and the priest was just there until every one last of them crossed.

No one was left behind, and obviously, no one could also return to the other side cause once they left, it will come back, and no one will be able to return. They were on the other side of the Jordan. And so we see sheer power, pure power of God being displayed here, showing them that the Jordan is impossible. This insurmountable obstacle is not a problem for God. Now what are the lessons we can learn from the Jordan? As usually we always ask two standard questions. In every passage, we see a standard question is: Why is it here? What is the message for the people then, and what is the message for us today? Now we have looked already at what was the purpose of this account to the people then, what is the effect it’s supposed to have on them.

We saw that this all happened so that what? So that people would know that God is mighty; so that people will fear Him. For the Israelites, definitely did them some good. They were told to be strong and courageous. And did this boosts their confidence? It’s probably not just a confidence booster; it is victory guaranteed. It’s not like you’re having some game and some strong player come to your team. Oh, now we got good chance to win. Oh no, this is more like game set and match. If God can hold the River Jordan, all these parasites that we’re going to face soon, not even a problem. So definitely their faith has been strengthened. And did this effect really effects all the people around? Let’s skip forward a little bit to chapter 5, and we will have our answer there.

Chapter 5 verse 1 talks about the effect: “So it was, when all the kings of the Amorites who were on the west side of the Jordan, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel until we had crossed over, that their heart melted; and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the children of Israel.”. Imagine that. Imagine all the armies, they are waiting for them. All the people dwelling in those cities. Maybe they had some people in the watchtower looking out. Any enemy coming? Look! What is that? I see forty thousand Israelites coming. Let’s get ready to fight. Wait, what are they holding? The ark of the covenant of the LORD. No need to fight; we surrender.

This is the words Rahab uses to describe her own people. When we heard of all these stories, our courage melted. Don’t want to fight anymore. We might as well surrender because God is on their side. Even these people understood the significance of the ark, the ark of the covenant of the LORD. As they were carrying it, they knew in one instant that they sure lose. They don’t even stand a chance of winning. They heard the story. God can even open up this River Jordan. And so this is the effect. This is the message to the people then that God is mighty so that all these people would know and that they would fear. If you still find some people not fearing God, it’s probably because they don’t know it yet. Maybe the news haven’t travelled and reach their ears.

But for all those who heard, we already saw in chapter 5, that was their response. No need to fight, we sure lose. But what about us? What could this possibly teach us? What are some lessons we can learn from this? Now on an individual level, definitely we can take home some personal lessons of how we maybe struggle with some problems. We’re just facing maybe one bad thing after another, and it proves too much for us. And then we think of God, how powerful God is. Oh yes, God is on our side, maybe, so all our problems would go away. You don’t have to be so anxious. Now I think it is valid for some of us to take home points like that.

You see, it’s true every time we think of the majesty of God, how great God is, you stop fearing people around so much. Our problems in this world would suddenly seem very small. But don’t stop there. Look deeply into this story, and we will soon find that every detail included here fits perfectly into this story of redemption. The very fact that the first verse said Joshua rose early in the morning reminds you of someone who always rises early in the morning before everyone. But maybe won’t have to read too much into that. How about the Jordan? They came to a Jordan. Jesus was baptised in what? Coincidence, also the Jordan. Are we able to see Jesus’ baptism as teaching us something? Jesus was baptised. Baptism teaches us of what? Going into the Jordan, coming out of the Jordan.

Let us not forget what water in the Bible always or most often represents. During Noah’s time, water is bad news for them. During Noah’s time, water is judgement for sinful people who have transgressed and broken God’s laws, and they deserve to be punished. Water came. In Revelation we’ll see the words ‘abyss’ or the word ‘pit’. They’re all mean, refer to the same thing. What do we expect to find at the bottom of an ocean? Not life, not happiness, not laughing. Bones, dead bodies, sunken ships maybe. And that is the picture we must have in our minds as we think of water. And now this is water of the Jordan rushing. This is judgement, they’re staring at that.

And so for us, Jordan. Jordan is not a picture of physical death. Oh, we all have to face physical death. Hopefully, God will help us through this physical death. No, we are all people staring at judgement, people who have transgressed God’s law. There’s only one way, one road for us which is eternity in hell. That is what awaits us at the end. This is what causes us to ask questions like: What must I do to be saved? And the answer, nothing. There’s nothing we can do to be saved. Three days were given to them to try and solve their problem. Did they solve their problem? The amount of days, three days, it’s not just showing you that there was a short amount of time. No, three days.

We wouldn’t say that oh, if they were given four or five days, they’ll probably would find a way. No, three days simply shows that given indefinite amount of time, they would still not be able to cross. What must I do to be saved? There’s nothing we can do to be saved. No one can save themselves. And the command that we see over and over is: Stand still and see the salvation of the LORD. There’s nothing you can do. The next piece of instruction that came to them is: Follow the ark. Watch closely. The word ‘stand still’ or ‘rest’ or ‘stood firm’ appears many times as well, and it appears in the account of the Red Sea when Moses told them.

As they were panicking, Moses said: Stand still and see the salvation of the LORD. That’s the only thing we can do cause there’s nothing we can contribute to our own salvation. And the ark moving. Yes, God’s presence is there. The writer here does not allow us to lose sight of the ark throughout this whole story. Ten times is repeated to show us that this is God and God’s work. But for us, the ark reminds us of something. Yes, there is the ark where the laws are in there. And God were to come down in His glory to meet with His people, what does He see? Does He see perfect two tablets of stone there? No, He sees broken laws, and He expects death. Now, what lies in between God and these broken laws? It’s the blood that He sees there.

Blood sacrifice is the only thing lying between God and all these broken transgress laws. Is it yours or my blood? Did we have to pay for our own sins? We instantly should recall that it is not our blood but Jesus Christ. We see the ark going forward. Everyone was two thousand cubits behind. The ark went ahead, and the ark went alone. The same way Jesus went to Calvary, He went there alone, and He held back those waters until people started to pass over. And of course, on our part, passing over would show that we have faith. We have faith that as we pass over, full faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we look at the Israelites passing over, the waters did not touch them. The waters were held back. None of the people were wet.

None of the people were touched by the water until all had completely crossed over. Look at the last verse: “until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan”. Not one is left out. None whom God the Father has given to the Lord Jesus Christ, none will be left out. He will save them all that the Father would give Him. That’s why we can sing: “When I tread the verge of Jordan, bid my anxious fears subside; Bear me safe through that swelling current, and land me safe on Canaan’s side.”. And that’s what we see here, all completely crossed. Now if this whole account is a picture of salvation and how it is God and God alone who does it, then surely we must also remember that for us being a Christian is not the end.

The devil hates it when people become Christians. The devil hates it when we all live godly lives. He will attack you. Probably we can even describe the situation of the Israelites before and after the Jordan. Before that, they were not facing enemies, a bit like our old self. When we’re living in this world, we’re at peace with this world because this world is our friend. And we love everything in this world and this world loves us. There’s no struggle. There’s no fight. But the moment we crossed over, fighting begins. Just as Paul described, whatever I want to do, I never do. Whatever I don’t want to do, I accidentally do. And there’s this ongoing struggle. In our Christian life, we struggle with sin. We face persecution.

And all these things that you might fight, all these wars that you might fight are symbolic of what we see there. As they entered the Land, there were more things for them to do actually. So it wasn’t the end of the story. Once you crossed the Jordan, finish. No, once you crossed the Jordan, that’s when war begins. And the Christian, you declare war. But all you need to do is just quickly look back at your own salvation, your own Jordan. If God can save someone as sinful as you and I; if God can make someone who is spiritually dead alive, now that is a miracle. And so how about these other struggles that we might face? Oh, those are small. Those are small in comparison to the miracle of our own salvation.

So that ought to help us in our struggle, help us perhaps have the confidence knowing that God is on our side. And as we struggle, we’ve seen you can trust that God is helping us. But just one final thing I want to say before I end. If God is not on our side, if these Israelites’ God is not your God, then there’s nothing of these promises, nothing of these assurances that you can claim. You don’t get to say: Oh yeah, I’m struggling with a lot of problems. But this God who has able to help us cross the Jordan, He’s gonna help me. No, if God is not your God, then you might be finding yourselves in a similar position as the Egyptians who once pursued these Israelites. The Egyptians pursued the Israelites, and they ran from them until the Red Sea.

But when the Egyptians saw the Israelites crossing the Red Sea, what was going through their mind? Israelites’ God was holding the Red Sea, opening the Red Sea so that the Israelites can cross. It is Israelites’ God that is holding the sea for them. So we are Egyptians, their God is not our God. It is arrogance for them to actually follow them as if Israelites’ God is gonna hold back the Red Sea for these people who’s god is not the one true God.

And if that is the case, we know the end of the Egyptians. It was arrogance of them to pursue these Israelites. They went into the Red Sea as if the Israelites’ God were to hold up the Red Sea for them. No, they were utterly destroyed, completely annihilated. They all drowned in the Red Sea. So turn quickly. Think about the River Jordan. Think about what God, this powerful God can do for you. Now may God help you to put your trust in Him. Let us pray.

“Our dear Lord and our Father in heaven, we live in a world where people do not know You. And because of that, people do not fear You. We can only humbly plead that You’ll be merciful to them. And for those who do know You, we have experienced extreme power. Power was displayed at the cross when the Lord Jesus Christ defeated sin once and for all And for us, whom Christ has died for, help us live this Christian life with confidence, knowing that You are the God who has power over the Jordan, we can turn to You again and again and face this life full of confidence, for You are fighting on our side. We pray that You’ll help us continue to fight this fight, in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.”

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.