 Let's open our Bibles to the Book of Joshua. We're in chapter 3. I was going to do chapters 3 and 4. We're doing chapter 3. I got caught up in it. We're going to be looking at a portion of Scripture that concerns the crossing of the Jordan. We find it here in Joshua chapter 3. Let's begin reading at verse 1 together. I'll read verses 1 through 6 and we'll get into our study. Joshua chapter 3, beginning at verse 1, reading to verse 6. 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. 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 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. Joshua said to the people, sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. Then Joshua spoke to the priests 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. To develop a context and a foundation, Moses, we know the leader of the nation of Israel, Moses has died. His second in command is a young man, or man, not young anymore, was a young man once, kind of like me, young man. His second command is man by the name of Joshua. Joshua is now being elevated into the position of leadership in the nation of Israel. And so he's about to enter into this land that is called the land of promise. As he's about to enter into this promised land, God is now beginning to prepare him for this new role. Now, as we've been seeing, especially in chapter one, God has made it very clear that Joshua, in order to have spiritual leadership, is going to need to have certain things. He's going to need to have confidence. He's going to need to have courage. He needs to have faith. And all of this is going to be demonstrated by one word. It's going to be demonstrated by obedience. This is all going to be demonstrated because he's obedient to the commands that God has given to him. And if he is obedient to the commands that God gave to him, well, God has already promised that he would bless the people. And so leadership requires confidence. It requires faith. It requires obedience. And that's what God wants in his leaders, and that's what God wants for Joshua. It's time to cross the Jordan in order that they might receive this land, the land of promise. And as that time had drawn near, as we recently saw, Joshua decided to send some spies out to look into the land. Now, that's something that had he had done some 40 years before. He felt it was wise to do that. And so they sent out these two spies, and these two spies returned. And I want you to remember that they returned with what we would call encouraging words, faith-filled words. They had returned as it says in chapter 2, verse 24, and this is what they said. Truly the Lord has delivered all the land into our hands, for indeed all the inhabitants of the country are faint-hearted because of us. And so they brought back a report that didn't discourage. 40 years earlier there were 12 spies who went in to spy out the land, and 10 of those spies returned with a discouraging report, and the result was the children of Israel ended up wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. But these individuals came back with a different kind of report, and the report they brought was one of encouragement. And so the people now have this sense of destiny, if you will. They have this sense that we're going to be able to enter into this land, and it's going to be ours. And so they're exercising faith, and they have joy and excitement. Because that's what happens when somebody brings a good report, something that lines up with God's will for you. When somebody brings a good report very often, it just builds you up in your faith, and you reach out and you take that which God has offered to you. It reminds me of 1 Thessalonians chapter 3, verse 2, where Paul was speaking about how he sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith. And so they received a word of encouragement. They were established and strengthened, and they're about to enter into this promised land. And so this news that they have received has provoked Joshua, and Joshua now begins to move. It says in verse 1, 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 lodged there before they crossed over. Now as I mentioned before, they were geographically seven miles to the east of the Jordan River. So they all get up and they begin to move, and you need to realize that there are about two million or so people who are on the march. And as they're marching, they come now to the shores of the Jordan River, to the bank of the Jordan River, and they're now moving there and preparing to enter in. Verse 2 says that they remained at this place for three days. And so as they were there for three days, they were simply making preparations in order to cross over. They had to make sure everything's in order, and so they're taking care of their family, they're taking care of their possessions. Everything has to be set in order, and they're preparing to enter in. Now as all of this is taking place, verse 3, 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. The Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant was a chest that held the two stone tablets of the law that Moses had brought down from Mount Sinai. This Ark of the Covenant were informed by the writer of Hebrews, also had a jar of manna. It also had Aaron's rod that butted. And the Ark of the Covenant symbolized God's presence with the children of Israel. It was a picture of God going before them. Now that's intended to give the people courage because they needed to know who was going to fight the battles. This Ark reminded the people of who the true leader was, it's not Joshua. The true leader of Israel is represented by Joshua, but the true leader of the nation of Israel is God himself. And the people need to understand that. The people need to know that when you enter into war, when you enter into a spiritual confrontation, when you enter into something of that nature, this will strengthen you if you keep this in mind. You're not going in alone. You don't go into battle by yourself. You're going in following God who's leading you into that conflict. Always remember that. And God isn't a God who will leave you there, abandon you and run away so that you're harmed. When I grew up as a little boy, my dad was working in the backyard and he had removed his t-shirt. And for the first time I noticed that my father had scars on his body. My father had a scar on his left shoulder area. He had a scar underneath his heart. My dad had a scar in his back. And I didn't know where he got those scars from. And so I spoke to my mom who told me what had happened. When my dad was a young man around 20 or so, he and a friend of his had gone to a movie in Los Angeles. They entered into the movie theater. They watched the movie, but seated behind them were some gang bangers. And so when my dad and his friend got up to leave, these gangsters followed them out the door. And so they got in a fight. My dad got stabbed several times. My mom said he almost died. He had a wound underneath his heart. My mom said he had a tremendous loss of blood and he almost died. But the thing that I'm illustrating right now isn't that my dad survived, but the fact that his friend ran and left him there to be attacked and wounded in the way that he was. God doesn't do that. God doesn't leave you behind saying, oh man, there's too many for me to handle. I'm out of here. God stands next to you if God be for you who can be against you. And so we need to understand that. The God who with his fingertips flung out the stars created the heavens. God who holds the universe in the palm of his hand. God is on your side. Actually, you're on God's side. You're wise if you're on his side. And so God wants to train up the children of Israel to know that he is leading them into these conflicts and will give them victory. In the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy chapter 20 verses three and four. God was given instructions concerning the confidence they could have in him. And it says that the priest was to say, hero Israel, today you're on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint. Do not be afraid. Do not tremble or be terrified because of them for the Lord your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to save you. And so they need to keep that in mind. They need to realize that it's God who goes before them in order to give them victory and to save them. And so they're going to be watching him. They're going to be following this ark as it leads them across into the promises. Now in verse four it says, 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. Cubit. What is that? A cubit is a measurement that there's no precision as today as exactly what that represents. But most Bible commentaries that I have used will say that a cubit is about 18 inches in length. It normally was from the fingertip to the elbow. And so it's an 18 inch span. And so what you're looking at here is a distance that is being put between the children of Israel and the Lord of about a thousand yards. And there's a reason for that. It's because as they're coming down a slope and they're going to be entering into that area, they're going to be able to see clearly what is going on. And so there needs to be a distance. There's an ample distance for them to keep watch on the ark. And they're in a foreign land and so they're going to be able to be proceeding behind it and beyond that. They're going to have an opportunity to see an incredible miracle that's about to take place. Now as this is all happening, verse five, Joshua said to the people, Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. Sanctify yourself. Now when you read the word sanctify in the Old Testament, the law contained rules concerning purification rights. And there were rules that related to washing your clothes. There were rules that related to personal bathing. You see that in Exodus 19, verses 14 and 15. But this is not speaking about washing your clothes and this is not speaking about just taking a bath. This is not speaking about being set apart externally. This is speaking about something much different. What he's saying here is if you're going to be entering into the promises of God, if you're going to come in and conquer and you're going to be able to have this promise, then there needs to be something deeper than external cleansing. I thank God for those who take baths, but that has nothing to do with their position before God. What you have is a washed heart. And that's what he's speaking about. He's saying get your heart prepared. You're entering into promises from God and therefore you need to be set apart. Your hearts need to be right with God. You need to be thinking in terms of faith and receiving his promises. So turn your heart in faith towards God and trust in his promises to be with you. And this is speaking about your internal condition. Even to this day in a New Testament application, if you want to receive from the Lord the blessing that God has for you, it is of utmost importance for us to turn our hearts towards him. I can't tell you how many conversations over the years I've had with people who just don't understand. They'll say, I just don't know why God isn't blessing my life. I believe in him. But after conversing for a short time, they begin to confess that they don't really have a solid walk with the Lord. That they haven't consecrated their hearts towards God. They're continuing in known sin. They're doing things they know are wrong. And yet they'll ask, how come God isn't blessing me? I remember a young woman many years ago now, over 30 years ago now, who spoke to me after a church service. And she was saying, I don't understand why the Lord isn't blessing my life. She says, I've been asking God to give me power from the Holy Spirit so that I could do works for him. She said, and I don't seem to be receiving his promise. And didn't he say that the Spirit was given to those who ask? And I said, well, absolutely. What do you think the problem is? And she begins to share with me and begins to confess to me quite a number of sins that she was involved in that she had no desire to relinquish. And I said, you know, part of the problem we're having right now is you're asking God to fill a vessel that is filthy and needs cleansing. You need to take some time to confess to the Lord and say, God, help me be merciful and you have to turn away from that sin. If you don't, then the vessel's not going to be filled with the pure wine of the Holy Spirit. Using my father as another example, and I can do that all night, obviously. My dad was in the Navy and my dad had a coffee mug that he had brought home after his time of service. And it was his special mug and it was the mug that he would have his coffee in every morning. And so I got to a certain age where I actually was given the privilege of putting some coffee in that mug and bringing it to my father in the room. And for a little kid, that was a big deal. You know, I was probably, I was little, I was maybe 25 or 30. I was maybe about eight years old. Seven or eight. And anybody here who's ever done anything like that, you know, the kitchen and I have to take it to their bedroom. And I remember taking his mug and I remember getting the coffee pot and pouring the coffee in it and making it the way he liked it. And then I took that cup, that holy cup, and I walked across the kitchen. And I remember walking through the front room and taking a left into the hallway, taking another left into my parents' bedroom. And then very slowly, so I didn't drop a cup, I didn't drop any of the coffee in that cup. I made my way to my dad and I handed it to him. And he said, how did you make it? And I said, I made it with this and that. And he says, okay, fine. And so my holy duty had been accomplished. And my father takes that coffee and he takes a large swig out of it and spits it out. And he says, what is this? And he looks into it. Well, I hadn't checked the cup. My mom had taken, you know, some paper towel and had filled it with coffee grounds and had stuffed it in my dad's cup. And so he's drinking all these coffee grounds in this dirty, you know. But you know what? I started learning lessons a long time ago that the Lord has given to me through just illustrations like that. I'm saying, Lord, fill me, but I'm filled with coffee grounds and use paper towels. And I think the best thing to do, don't you, is to cleanse the inside of the cup? And how do you do that? Well, you sanctify yourself. You set yourself apart for God. You investigate His Word and you pray and you say, God, I want to receive from you, work in my life. And that's basically what they're doing in Leviticus chapter 20, verse 7. It says, Consecrate yourselves, therefore be holy for I am the Lord your God. Set yourself apart if you want to be used by God. So if you want to see God move in your life, be set apart. If you want to be used by God, then make sure that you follow Him. Even as the children of Israel had a distance that helped them to see with perspective where God was and followed after Him, consecrated to His service. Even so, if I'm going to be used by the Lord, then I want to be set apart. How can I be set apart? Jesus in John 17, 17, when He was praying said to His Father, Sanctify them by your truth. Your Word is truth. The Apostle Peter in 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 15 says, But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that's in you with meekness and fear. Set yourself apart. When you set yourself apart for the Lord, God will use you in a tremendous way. And just be ready because He wants to take you into His promises and He wants to use you to be a blessing to other people. There's a man in the Scriptures by the name of Philip. When you study your New Testament, you realize that there is the office of evangelist in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11. Paul begins to speak about the various offices of the Apostle Prophet. He says evangelist and pastor and teacher. And so you have what is called the office of evangelist. You also have the gifting of a gifted evangelist who proclaims the message of God in such a way that the hearer is brought to a place of confrontation, conviction, and given opportunity to receive Christ as Lord and Savior. There's only one man in the New Testament that's ever referred to as an evangelist. You might find that interesting, though there's the office of evangelist and there are people who do the work of evangelism. There's only one man who's ever referred to as an evangelist. His name is Philip. Philip the evangelist is what he's known as. And Philip was doing some ministry. And the Holy Spirit spoke to him. It's found in Acts chapter 8. The Holy Spirit spoke to him because an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a man of high authority was on his way back to Ethiopia after he had been in Jerusalem. And the Holy Spirit speaks to Philip and says to him, attach yourself to that chariot. So Philip comes walking up to him, approaching him, taking a great chance because this is a man of high authority, obviously has bodyguards and everybody around him. And yet God makes a way for him to go and speak to this governmental official. And as he approaches him, he speaks to him and the man is reading from the scroll of Isaiah. And Philip asks him, do you understand what you're reading? And the man says to him, how can I unless somebody guide me? And so what are you reading? I'm reading here. And he speaks out of Isaiah 53. And the Ethiopian says, is this man speaking of himself or some other man? So Philip, the scripture says from there, began to share with him Jesus Christ because Isaiah 53 speaks of Messiah, Jesus. And from there he begins to give him information concerning who is being spoken of there in Isaiah 53. And ultimately what happens is he's brought, this Ethiopian man is brought to faith in Christ. And so the Ethiopian after giving his heart to the Lord says, you know, what does hinder me from being baptized? And Philip says, you can be if you believe with all of your heart. And the man says, I do. And thus he became a convert, went back to Ethiopia and was used of the Lord in various ways. Well, there you just need to be ready. You need to be set apart. If you want to be used by God, you need to be in his word. You need to be obedient to his word. You need to be consecrated to his service. You want to be used by God. I always remember this as I get on this kind of tempo. And I've shared it before, but some of you have heard this more than once. Others maybe have never heard this before. But the Lord tried to teach me that lesson many years ago when I was at a pizza parlor of all places in Huntington Beach. And I was in my early 20s. And a friend of mine and I had gone to get some pizza. And my friend had been raised in a church his whole life. So he had never drank beer or anything like that. It just wasn't something he'd ever done. And so he was starting to feel his liberty in Jesus. And he thought, you know, I'm free indeed in Christ. And therefore if I want to have a beer with my pizza, I'm over 21, I will. And I wasn't arguing with him about that at all. I didn't have a say in that. But I know that as we sat down and we ordered our pizza, my friend said, why don't we order some beer? Because I hear that beer and pizza tastes good together. And I knew that it did. So I said, OK. So they bring the pitcher. I'm over 21. They bring the pitcher of beer. And he pours a glass for me. He pours a glass for himself. And I have that beer in front of me. And I'm looking at it. And I have my pizza. And I take a drink. And I'm thinking to myself, this is really not comfortable. This isn't something I'm supposed to be doing. And you know, I'm under that sense of this just isn't for me. This isn't for me. When an old man, and I mean old, he must have been in his 60s. He was probably my age. Came walking in through the door off the street and sat in the table that was right in front of me. They were like picnic bench tables. And he was seated right in front of me. So he's looking directly at me as I'm looking at him. And he can't be 10 feet away. And the Holy Spirit speaks to my heart. These things are so unusual because they don't happen all the time. But it happened then. And the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and said, Go share my love with him. I'll never forget that. I even remember the words. Go share my love with him. And I said, I can't. And the Spirit of the Lord spoke to my heart again and said, Why? My response was because I'm drinking beer. And he sees me drinking beer. And it's undermining my ability to communicate your truth with him. As God is my witness, believe it or not, it's okay if you don't. Just never come back here again. As God is my witness, this is the truth before God. I had just prayed and said, Because I'm drinking beer and he won't receive from me. Two young men came walking in the door. One sat on his left. The other sat on his right. I'm no more than 10 feet away. I can see it very clearly when this man pulls out his Bible from his pocket, opens it up and begins to share the word of God with this old man. I saw that. And then the Spirit of the Lord spoke to my heart and said this. I have never forgotten it. If I can't use you, I will find somebody else to use. I had to make up my mind. I don't want you finding somebody else to use. I want to be used by you. So people argue with me, I have my freedom to drink. You know, I can have my beer and my pizza if I want to. You're a legalist. For me, I want to be used by the Lord. I don't want something that will come between me and the ability to preach the gospel. I don't want that. Why? Because people's souls are more important than my liberties. And I believe in heaven and I believe in hell. And I believe if you have Jesus, you go to heaven. I believe if you don't have Jesus, you go to hell. So my beer and I loved beer. I have to tell you that. I loved beer. Did I tell you I loved beer? I loved beer. That went out. Why? Because I discovered something. The wine of the Spirit is more joy-filled than the beer of the world. Duh. I discovered that. And I discovered the joy of being in a place that I could be used by God at any given moment. At any time. I'm ready. Here am I. Lord, send me. I'm prepared. I want to be used by you. When I played baseball, I would come and I'd have my uniform. I'd have my cleats. I'd have my glove. And I wanted to get that uniform dirty. I wanted to die for the ball. I wanted to slide into the base. I wanted to play. I wanted to come home and have my mom say, where'd you get all these stains? Man, I had a great game today. I didn't want to come home with a nice bright white uniform, maybe with some snow cone stains on it, because they would buy us snow cones after the game. I wanted it to be stained from play. I've never wanted to sit at the bench. Do I have any people in here who like sitting at the bench? Do you like sitting at the bench? Do you have a uniform? I've got the hat. I've got the glove. I get to chew on it for nine innings. I want to play. Put me in. Give me a place. I want to play. I want to do something. I want my life to count. And see, it takes just some courage. It takes some faith. It takes obedience. It takes a consecration. And so God says, follow me. You're going to see a work that's going to be done. It's going to blow your mind. But I'm going to show you that I'm God. I'm going to show you this is what we're seeing here. I'm going to show you that that promise I gave to you for this land, it's yours. I'm going to show you this in just a minute. And that's what they're going to see. God blesses obedience and God blesses faith. In Deuteronomy 28 verse 1, it says, Now it shall come to pass if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God to observe carefully all his commandments, which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. So verse 6, 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. The priests were commanded to lead the people. These priests visibly represent God, who is leading his people into his promises. So an application would be true spiritual leaders, not only encourage others to obedience, but they lead the way. When I teach pastor classes here at this church, in times when I speak in pastors conferences, there have been opportunities that I've said something like this. I have said your people will never go where you are not willing to go yourself. You can't be the kind of person who says you ought to do this and not do it yourself. The best leaders are the individuals who not only know the way, but do it. They're the ones who say, I can do this, I have done this, God will be with you, I encourage you to do the same. The priests had to lead the way. God was with the priests, the children of Israel, following their spiritual leaders. And so if you're ever going to be a leader with any results, then you've got to be somebody who's willing to do what you tell other people to do. You've got to be willing to go that extra mile to perform that which you are telling other people. And you have to do it because people will use you as an example. It's like when Jesus and John 1315 said, I've given you an example that you should do as I have done to you. I'm giving you an example. Follow my example. In 1 Timothy 412 it says, Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. You're young, Timothy. And in a society that regards age, you're a young man. And being a young man puts you at a disadvantage. And so if you're going to have a spiritual impact in the people's lives, you've got to flee youthful lust. You've got to be a man in a society that values age. You've got to be a man that is mature at his age so that the people will see that you are an example of what it means to be a believer. I began teaching or trying to teach the Bible when I was 23 years old. I was just a little over two and a half years old in Christ. When I began to open this book, study this book in a more concentrated way and tried to communicate this to people around me. I was 23. I don't know if I've got anybody around that age here. I was 23. My dad was 47. My mom was 43. My neighbor down the street who came to my Bible study lied about her age. I don't know how old she was. She was about 40. My first students were people that were 20-some years older than me. How does a 23-year-old young man teach his father? How many young men do I have in here who teach Bible studies? Can you teach your father? Will your father sit down and listen to you when you divide the word? Will he say, God is speaking to my heart? And if you can say he will, then there's something that you're doing. What is it? You must be serious in your walk with God, right? You must be serious about your studies, aren't you? And you must be living those things out before him. Because if you want to earn respect, you do so by your behavior. And if you want to be used as a spiritual leader, you have to line up with what you're trying to teach others. And so if you're going to help people to enter into the promises of God, don't you think it's great that you've begun to enter in yourself? If you want to tell somebody about the water of life, isn't it great when you've tasted of it yourself? If you want to speak to somebody about the power of the Holy Spirit and how God works in somebody's life, isn't it wonderful when you've experienced that yourself? When you're able to speak concerning those things that you have both seen and heard. When you're able to say, I know my God is able. How do you know that? Because he's been faithful to me, he'll be faithful to you. And so the priests had the responsibility of leading the children of Israel. They had the Ark of the Covenant, the presence of God with them. And the children of Israel are watching their spiritual leaders as they're taking them into the promises of God. Now as this is taking place, verse 7, the Lord said to Joshua, this day I will begin to magnify you in the sight of all Israel that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. 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. So the children of Israel were those who originally understood and followed the leadership of Moses. And they knew that Moses was the one God had used to deliver the nation of Israel from Egyptian bondage. Moses was used by God, and we remember that when the children of Israel left Egypt, God had brought 10 plagues on that nation, and those 10 plagues that came upon that nation, one, the 10 plagues represent, every one of those plagues represent a judgment on a false God that the Egyptians worshiped, and God was demonstrating himself to be the God of all gods. And so the children of Israel knew that God had used Moses to deliver the nation and that God had brought 10 plagues which resulted in their being released. As they had left and Pharaoh finally releases them, Pharaoh has second thoughts about that, he reconsiders, and he mounts his 600 chariots and begins to pursue the children of Israel who were fleeing from Egypt. When you hear the word chariot today, you don't really think anything of it. I normally don't. I've happened to stand a little bit on it, but I was watching the History Channel thing of all things that was showing the power of the chariots, and they were pointing out something that is very basic. They said in the time of Egypt, a chariot was equivalent to a tank. They had a guy next to them with a bow and arrow. They were set up in a military sense and if it came into the lines of people because the horses were so huge and because the metal was so heavy and they would put blades on the wheels, they would devastate anything that they came into contact with. It was something that you, the minute you saw a chariot, you would be afraid. There were 600 chariots that were pursuing the children of Israel and they panicked when they saw this as they were pursuing them. The scripture speaks about that. They're about to be massacred by the Egyptians and all this has taken place behind them are the chariots and in front of them is the Red Sea. They are trapped. There's no way to get out what's going to happen. So when you read concerning this, it's exciting reading. It's found in Exodus 14. It says in verses 13 and 14, Moses said to the people, Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which he will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you and you shall hold your peace. And the scripture tells us that Moses lifted up the rod and stretched out his hand over the sea and the sea was divided. And the children of Israel crossed through on dry ground. But when the Egyptians attempted to cross over, the water returned and drowned the entire army. That was the key event that cemented Moses' leadership in the nation of Israel. In Exodus 14.31, it reads, Thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt. So the people feared the Lord and believed the Lord and his servant Moses. His servant Moses. Later on, Paul is making reference to this, now that Moses became the leader through that event in 1 Corinthians 1 and 2 where he says, Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. What he was saying there is they recognized the leadership of Moses through those events. And so even as God had used the Red Sea crossing to give authority to Moses, even so the crossing of the Jordan is going to give to him the sense that he is God's anointed leader. Again, I want you to see something here. Notice verse 7. This day I will begin to magnify you in the sight of all Israel. That they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. Here's an aside and it's a ministry application. God is the one who establishes leadership. God is the one who raises up spiritual leaders. When my son David was seven years old or so, he told me, Dad, when you stop being the pastor, I'm going to take over the church. And he said, I don't even need to change the name on the bulletin. Pastor David Rosales. You know, and as a dad, I looked at my little boy and I said, son, I'll do everything I can to help you to do whatever God wants you to do and to be whatever God wants you to be. I'll do my best to help you. If you want to be an architect, I'll send you to school. I'll help you to go to school so you can learn to do that. If you want to be an engineer, you want to drive a truck. It's fine with me. It's all good. Whatever you want to do, I'll help you to the best of my ability, but there's one thing I can't help you to be. There's one thing I can't make you into. And I honestly did have this conversation with him. I said, I cannot make you a pastor. Only God can make a pastor. Only God can. Only God can. Excuse me. There are people who go out to try and be spiritual leaders pastorally that God didn't anoint. And they spin their wheels for a long time and trying and trying and trying. God didn't anoint them for that. Whatever God called you to be, whatever it is, do it with all your might. Whether it's a truck driver, whether it's working in a store, whether it's an engineer, a doctor, a lawyer, whatever it may be, whatever it is that God called you to be, put you in, do it with all your might. Charles Spurgeon once said to his students and his lectures to my students paraphrased, he said, if there's anything else that you can do, then by all means do it. It's God who raises up leaders. It's God who makes them. It's God who births them. It's God who produces them. It's God. And that's what God is saying here. He says, I'm going to exalt you before these people. Joshua, you don't have to do that for yourself. I'll do it for you. I'm going to elevate you into position of leadership. The way I did with Moses, I'm going to do it with you. I'm going to be the one. You depend on me. I'll put you in the right place. I'll make you what you're supposed to be. Somebody says, how did you become a pastor? I was called to be a pastor and God made me one. That's how it works. My dad had somebody, my dad's, my dad's a day to day. Here he goes again, my dad. My dad had somebody say to him, you must be very proud that your son is a pastor. And my dad said this. My dad said, I raised a sinner. God raised a pastor. And that's the truth. That's the truth. I raised a sinner. God raised a pastor. And that's what's taking place here. God is saying, I'm going to elevate you. Listen, if you think you have a sense of calling, whether it's a mission, maybe I have a young man here who wants to be a pastor, missionary, pastor, whatever, you have a sense of calling. Just seek the Lord. Just do what God wants you to do. Allow him to work and he'll open the doors to a leadership class that was put on back in 1977 at Calvary Downey. It was the very first pastors class that Jeff Johnson ever did. And I was part of that class and it lasted something like six weeks. At the conclusion of the class, Jeff and some of his staff laid hands on people and prayed for them. And he said, listen, I may not pray for you, but we're not giving you an ordination certificate. We're not licensing or commissioning you for ministry. We're simply just going to lay hands on you and see what God wants to do with you. So I remember, I spoke to the Lord and I said, God, you know me, I'm kind of like Gideon. I like to have signs. If you've called me as I believe, would you have Jeff pray for me? And a few moments later, there's a hand on my head and a prayer and it was Jeff praying for me. And so I'm thinking, man, God, God's called me. I used to have this idea that if I sat in the front row and the church during services, that there'd be a holy glow around my head and that the pastor would look down and say, that man is a pastor. I better give him an office. And so I would sit up there and smile just saying, here I am, the anointed one. And so I called Jeff and said, if you want to talk, everyone to call. Just give me a call and talk to me. So I called him. And I said, Jeff, I was in your class. You prayed for me last night. Oh, yeah, yeah, Dave, how are you? I said, I'm doing fine. Listen, I want to go into the ministry, Jeff. What should I do? I honestly believed that Jeff would say, well, you know, it's a funny thing. I saw that glow. And I have some keys for you in an office. In this church, he said, I had 500 members. He said, but they're all young. He said, they're all young. He said, young people generally don't give. He said, so 500 members, I tried to go full-time so I could develop the church further. He said, but they didn't support the bills that we had and couldn't support, you know, the church's bills and they couldn't support me. He said, so I went back to work, Dave. He said, I went back to be a construction worker and I would be the very best construction worker on the job. He said, I continued to work in another year till the Lord increased the church so that it was able to supply the needs to be able to take me out of full-time construction work so that I could pass to the church. He said, so my recommendation for you, Dave, is be the best worker on whatever job you have. And I said, all right, Jeff, I remember hanging up saying, cursed be your name, oh, Jeff Johnson. You have you have no discernment. You didn't see the glow last night and you didn't see it over the phone just now. And that's what happened to me. So I had to make a determination to be the best at whatever it was I was doing. Did I become the best at that? Absolutely not. I didn't because I was still in rebellion but I heard him. He said, the day will come when the Lord's going to open the door for you and when he does, step in. It was about a year and a half later that I finally was given position, finally was ordained and went into ministry the way that I knew I was called. But you just have to wait until the Lord opens those doors because God says I will open a door that no man can close. But when you try and push that door open it's the worst thing that you can do. And so these men are supposed to go through and they're supposed to be leading as Joshua is being presented now as the one whom God is anointing. Psalm 75, 6 and 7 says, for exaltation comes neither from the east nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is judge. He puts down one and exalts another. In verse 8 he says you shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant saying when you've come to the edge of the water of the Jordan you shall stand in the Jordan. When they come to the nearest bank they are to enter into the Jordan and simply stand still. Even as Moses divided the water with the rod the Jordan was about to be divided through the ark of God. In verse 9, Joshua said to the children of Israel, come here and hear the words of the Lord your God. Joshua said, by this you shall know that the living God is among you and that he will without you drive out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Parasites and the Gurgoshites and the Amorites and the Jebusites and you know the otherites. I don't have to call them, right? Cellulites, right? Uptites and out-of-sites, etc. It still makes you laugh and I said that what, last week? It makes me laugh every time I think about it. Forgive me. So what's happening here? That they would communicate that their God is alive their God saves. They're going to learn this through the words of the Lord their God because God keeps his promises. In Deuteronomy 6 verse 3 Therefore here, O Israel be careful to observe it that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you a land flowing with milk and honey. God is a God of his word he keeps his promises and we can trust him. Notice he says in verse 10 by this you shall know that notice what he's called here guys the living God. He speaks of him as the living God the living God is among you and that he will without fail drive out before you these seven great nations God keeps his word without fail it is guaranteed even in the face of persistent opposition. He is the living God and as the living God he has the power to keep his word and that knowledge of him being the living God who is true to his word will fill them with confidence that God is on their side. Why is he called the living God he's called the living God in contrast to the idols of the pagans the idols of the pagans have no life in them. The idols have no life and therefore cannot save. Isaiah 46 5 through 7 to whom will you compare me who's my equal some people pour out their silver and gold and hire a craftsman to make a God from it then they bow down and worship it they carry it around on their shoulders and when they set it down it stays there it can't even move and when someone prays to it there's no answer it can't rescue anyone from trouble. I've shared this with you before but I always think of it when I speak think of this kind of thing statues that are lifeless Marie my wife used to have a Saint Joseph little statue little plastic one that you put on a dashboard in a car and it would face traffic but its hands were over his eyes no it wasn't um um it melted so it looked like Saint hunchback of Notre Dame it was all it didn't help her it didn't help her she still got tickets she got tickets coming to bible studies speeding she still gets tickets I'll share that at the next couple's retreat just little statues they have no life they're actually mocking another place he says you go you cut down a tree with a portion of the wood you make a fire and you cook your food with the other portion you carve out an idol you plate it with silver or gold and you place it in a portion of your house and you pray to it and you say save me it's the same piece of wood you use to cook your food with you call your God and he's saying don't you see how ridiculous it is he's called the living God we have a God who is alive Jeremiah 51 17 says everyone is dull-hearted without knowledge every metalsmith is put to shame by the carved image where his molded image is false there's no breath in them we have the living God and notice they will drive out the seven nations that inhabit the land why why are they coming and kicking out these people who have been there before them how fair is that well in Deuteronomy chapter 9 we see that they are being driven out because of their wickedness Deuteronomy 9 4 and 5 do not think in your heart after the Lord your God has cast them out before you saying because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me into possess this land but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out from before you it is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go into possess their land but because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God drives them out from before you and that he may fulfill the word which the Lord's word of your fathers to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob he's driving them out because they're wicked verse 11 behold the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan Lord of all the earth the living God, Lord of all the earth during that time there were what are called tribal gods Canaanites would worship a particular god or set of gods parasites etc they had their own gods and sets of gods, the Philistines you see that all through scripture you see different names Molech, Dagon Astarte different names for the different deities that were worshiped in that time but God is the true God and he's not a tribal god that just belongs to the nation of Israel he is the God of all the earth and that's the point he's making and God being the Lord of all the earth is omnipotent and all creation will obey him including the water itself he says in verse 12 now therefore take for yourselves 12 men from the tribes of Israel why 12? because 12 is the number of government you have the 12 tribes of Israel you had 12 spies that spied out the land you have the 12 apostles 12 is the number of government so they're representing the tribes and it shall come to pass as soon as the souls of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord 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 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 bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water for the Jordan overflowed all its banks during the whole time of harvest that the waters which came down from upstream stood still and rose in a heap very far away at Adam the city that is besides Artan so the waters that went down into the sea of Araba the Salty or the Dead Sea failed were cut off the people crossed over opposite Jericho 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 promise and assurance to the people is that the priests will stand and the water will stop it had happened before God does it again what has occurred in the past can occur in the present over 40 years ago in recent history 40 years ago God began to move amongst the young people God began to move amongst the young people God began to reach out and touch young people he touched guys like Mike McIntosh 26 years old thought that half of his head had been blown off by a a pistol he had loaded on acid and somebody had fired the pistol next to his head and he thought his head had been blown off and it was only some kind of weird miracle that he could continue to walk and talk but he was positive that he only had half a head and he walks up to Chuck and he asks pastor Chuck can you please pray for me I only have half a head and Chuck looking at him thinks no you've lost it all son you have a guy named Steve Mays got shot was laying in a in a gutter some people were pulling out of their driveway and they see this guy laying there and they throw him in the car his wound was not completely healed they actually take him into the house and he takes the shower he hadn't done that for a while they throw him in the car and they take him to one of the Calvary Chapel homes that we used to have he walks in and some mousy little guy walks up and looks at Steve in the eye and he says you're miserable you need Jesus bow your head and pray you're going to get saved Steve Mays he's got an angry martial artist we all know his story you know hammers that TV set with his his rifle goes on and there's pastor Chuck speaking about the love of God and he gives his heart to Christ young man gave his heart to Jesus I can multiply this by many many many many people 17 year old kid had seven fathers finally found the one true father his name is Greg Laurie we go on and on and on listen guys if God did it in the past he can do it now if God did it in the past he can do it now I wonder if we have any Mike Macintosh's in this room any Steve Mays's any Greg Laurie's I hope we don't have any Rawls but probably have a lot of Rawls in here God did it then look back in the past only to be encouraged in the present what he has done then he can do now why can't he use you what's keeping him from using you what is it in your life that is blocking the work of the spirit what is it in your life that's making you say I wish somebody would come to the job site and be a solid Christian so these people could be saved why can't it be you why can't you be used by God on that job site why can't you be used in your house your parents your friends your family why not what's keeping that from happening why can't God do what he did in the past he can the way that he opened up that red sea and the children of Israel walked through he opened up the Jordan and he says I did it once I can do it again and I believe that God can do it again in our day do you I believe that I believe that God can do it again and I'm praying that he will I'm praying that he will once we stop playing around with the garbage the junk the silliness that just enshrouds our life and we get serious for Jesus Christ you will see revival when we finally take the kingdom of God seriously when we stop saying oh I can be used some other day and begin saying I want to be used now you will see God move and not until then here am I Lord send not there he is Lord send him it's here am I Lord use me in my classroom use me in my neighborhood use me in the job site just use me up Lord because there's nothing better than being used by God to see people's lives forever change nothing compares to that nothing compares to seeing somebody who is going in one direction straight to hell miserable turn around and go to heaven and bring people with them nothing satisfies a soul like that I promise you that's the truth and to see the Lord move in people's lives we need to get serious if God has done it in the past God can do it right now God wants to do the work and so what happens a priest bore the ark the covenant of the Lord he stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan all Israel crossed over on dry ground until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan 15 miles to the north the waters dried up nothing was pouring anymore into the Dead Sea God miraculously dries everything up it's like a heap and they cross people are recognizing that God truly is a God who keeps his promise because he is the living God who is the God of all the earth and this work of the Lord is elevating Joshua to the place of leadership because God had raised him up to take the children in so that the children might inherit the promises that God had given to their fathers and God still is raising leaders up to help people to inherit the promises that God has given to us and let's be those who are the ones who help people to enter into those promises