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[0:00] And then Joshua giving two speeches, one to the multitude or to the commanders, and then one to the two and a half traps. And we'll see those latter two in Joshua chapter 1 verse 10, reading to the end of the chapter, verse 18.

[0:13] Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, Pass through the midst of the camp, and commanded the people, saying, Prepare provisions for yourself, for within three days you are to cross this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess it.

[0:27] To the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh Joshua said, Remember the word which Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded you, saying, The Lord your God gives you rest and will give you this land.

[0:39] Your wives, your little ones, your cattle shall remain in the land which Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but you shall cross before your brothers in battle array, all your valiant warriors, and shall help them, until the Lord gives your brothers rest as he gives you, and they also possess the land which the Lord your God is giving them.

[0:56] Then you shall return to your own land and possess that which Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise. The answer Joshua saying, All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.

[1:10] Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. Only may the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses. Anyone who rebels against your command and does not obey your words, and all that you command him shall be put to death.

[1:24] Only be strong and courageous. Joshua chapter 1 verses 10 through 18. Isn't it amazing that the admonition that the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh give to Joshua is the same admonition that the Lord gives to Joshua.

[1:40] Only be strong and courageous. We also see this interchange in this passage between what the Lord God gives the two and a half tribes and Moses gives. So what Moses gave is the same thing the Lord gave, and what the Lord gave is the same thing Moses gave, because it says the Lord gave you the land, Moses gave you the land, the Lord gave you the land, Moses gave you the land, which simply is just a great picture of whatever it is the servant of the Lord is doing, as if the Lord himself is doing it.

[2:04] And it's the same thing. We see here in these two short speeches, if you will, or this interchange, which we would have a tendency, as often in Scripture, is kind of introducing the series of events that are about to happen.

[2:18] It seems that more times than not, when we open up the first page of any book or any portion of Scripture, there's more of this introductory issues that we tend to skim over a little bit, but we don't want to do those, because what we see here is the courageous moving forward of God's people.

[2:37] The courageous moving forward. This really is a pinnacle point in the nation of Israel's history. If you remember when we studied the book of Exodus, there's this repeated phrase that really defines the Exodus event.

[2:54] The Lord your God brought you out in order to bring you in. God didn't just set his people free. He set his people free to bring them into the promised land, which is a good way of saying the whole reason God set them free was to fulfill the promise he made to Abraham.

[3:13] Because he had told Abraham, your descendants will inhabit this land. But before they could inhabit the land, they had to be brought out of the land of Egypt, where they were currently residing, in order to be brought in.

[3:24] So the fulfillment of the promise doesn't take place until God's people are in the land. There is no such thing as just being forgiven of sins for the sake of forgiveness.

[3:35] We are forgiven in order that we may be restored and we may live eternally in his presence. Salvation is a first step in the process, much as the Exodus event was a first step in the process.

[3:50] They were set free that they may be brought in. But here's the reality, and this is something that we see quite often in our own churches. It's easy to get comfortable in the newfound freedom, which means as long as we're not enslaved, it doesn't matter if we're hanging out in the wilderness or not.

[4:09] Because a lot of these people, the wilderness is all they knew. They were born in the wilderness. They had lived their entire adult life in the wilderness. As a matter of fact, the generation that was 20 years old and older that were set free from the land of Egypt are already dead, except for Joshua and Caleb.

[4:28] It is easy to get comfortable in a place of freedom. And forget that that freedom is not the end goal. And to forget that the freedom is not really the reason for the salvation.

[4:43] The freedom is in order to fulfill the promise to bring you into God's presence. And if we want to make that application, it's easy in this life to get comfortable in the fact that Jesus says we are forgiven.

[4:54] But the forgiveness is for the purpose of restoration so that we may live eternally for Him and with Him in His glory. It is not just so that we can be forgiven and enjoy our newfound freedom.

[5:08] It is rather so that we may live in that ongoing relationship with Him eternally. I am at times saddened by the reality that there are people who are planning to spend eternity in the presence of God but have a hard time carving out three or four hours a week to be in His presence.

[5:29] Because they love the thought of the freedom of forgiveness but it's the commitment of relationship that gets really hard. And see, crossing the Jordan was saying yes, we're all in.

[5:42] We're going into His presence because this is where He wants us. The presence of the Lord was to be manifested in a place inside the promised land. First of all, it will be Shechem and then later on it will be Jerusalem.

[5:56] His manifestation will be in a place not Shechem, Shiloh. It will be manifested in a place. And that place was within those borders.

[6:09] So they needed to move forward. They could not stay where they were at though they could have remained there comfortably because every enemy of that land had been annihilated. This was the land of Shittim as we will see in just a moment.

[6:23] This was the place where they were tempted in the valley of Moab. This is the place where they fell. Some 24,000 fell in a single day. But yet God restored His people as they went and defeated the Moabites and really brought back the vengeance from where they had been tempted.

[6:40] And this is where Balaam's prophecy had been spoken in the book of Numbers, Numbers chapter 23 and 24. And this is where all those things had taken place. Yet at this point, it is a place of peace because the Moabites had been defeated.

[6:55] Sion and Og had been defeated. The land had been entrusted and given. And it's a place of comforts. But they weren't supposed to be there. They're supposed to be on the other side. So God is calling His people to move forward.

[7:09] Now, you need to know that the events in Joshua 1, don't let this mess with you and don't get upset about it, but it's okay. The events in Joshua 1, verses 10 through 18, happen after the events of Joshua chapter 2.

[7:23] In Joshua chapter 2, we have this story, which we will get to if the Lord allows us to tarry until that long Wednesday night. The two spies being sent to spy out Jericho and hanging out with Rahab the harlot and being sheltered and hidden and the scarlet thread being hung in the window.

[7:46] But if you go to Joshua chapter 3, there's this phrase in Joshua chapter 3, verse 1, Then Joshua rose early in the morning and he said to all the sons of Israel, Set out from Shittim and they came to the Jordan and they lodged there before they crossed.

[8:01] So, he sends the spies out from Shittim. After the spies get back, they move to the edge of the Jordan. Now look at chapter 3, verse 2.

[8:12] At the end of three days, the officer said, Get ready. So what he said as soon as he got to the edge of the Jordan was what is recorded for us in Joshua 1, verses 10 through 18.

[8:26] In three days, we're moving. At the end of three days, they said, Hey, we're moving. We had already heard the report from the spies. We'll get to that later.

[8:37] But what we have in the introduction of the book is that God commands Joshua to lead his people and Joshua obeys that command and immediately begins to lead his people. And he leads them to move forward courageously.

[8:52] So there are some things that we see being played out for us in chapter 1, verses 10 through 18 before we get to the events in chapter 3 that what must take place for God's people to move forward courageously.

[9:07] Number one, there must be a personal preparation. There must be personal preparations because it says, Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, These are the same commanders that will come back in three days, saying, Hey, when the Ark of the Covenant moves, you move.

[9:23] When the Ark moves, you move. When the Ark steps into the Jordan River, it's going to part and you're going to go. We see that in the third chapter. But before they tell them when the Ark moves, you move, they tell them this. So three days prior to the events that take place in the third chapter, he says, Tell them to pass through the midst of the camp.

[9:40] That is to go among everyone. And command the people, saying, Prepare provisions for yourselves. For within three days you are to cross this Jordan. See, they're looking at it.

[9:51] It's in flood stage. We know that from the rest of the book. The water's running hard, but they know what God is calling them is to the other side. And they're passing through the camp and says, Make provisions for yourself.

[10:03] For in three days we're crossing this Jordan. Now on the other side of the Jordan, the manna quits falling. On the other side of the Jordan, the provisions they have stored up are going to be what sustains them.

[10:14] They're going to do a couple of things. They're going to cross. They're going to build two stone Ebeneezers or testimonial heap piles. They're going to observe the Passover. They're going to circumcise all the males.

[10:26] It's this great covenant renewal that's on the other side of the Jordan. But before they could get there, they had to make provisions over here because before we can go to where he's leading us, we must take personal responsibility for being ready.

[10:39] Make provisions for yourself. Because see, the reality is faith does not remove personal responsibility. faith highlights personal responsibility.

[10:55] Knowing that God was giving them the land, that is faith, we're going to possess that land. And the reality that God is going to do what he has promised us motivates me to be ready to move in three days.

[11:09] Because see, if I didn't think God was giving me that land, I wouldn't be motivated to get ready. I would stay here. And why would I need to make any provisions for a move I didn't think we were going to make?

[11:20] If I said, well look, the Jordan River is flooded, I don't have anything that tells me at this time of the year that in three days it's not going to be flooded anymore. I really think that it's still going to be a flood stage.

[11:31] I don't think this is a good time to cross. So I'm not going to take any steps of preparation right now because I really don't think to the best of my ability and to all of my observations that we're going to be able to cross this thing in three days.

[11:42] We're going to have to give it a little bit of time. But faith says, God says in three days it's going to be dry ground. And since faith tells me in three days it's dry ground and if faith tells me that in three days I'm walking across, then faith moves me to make personal preparations for the reality that's about to take place.

[11:58] See, faith heightens personal responsibility and ensures that I begin to make the provisions for the move I'm about to make. It is, if God is leading me I will be ready.

[12:14] The reality is we see so little provisions because we have so little faith. We have so little faith.

[12:25] I think I've shared it with you before but Henry Blackaby, the author along with Claude King of the original experiencing God, I know later on Henry and Richard Blackaby, his son, are the ones who kind of edited it and updated it but the original one, you know, when it was still on VHS, you know, had to put that big block in the thing that would play it and it was kind of, he had to adjust all the stuff.

[12:49] The original experiencing God, Henry Blackaby and Claude King, Claude King lived until his passing, I think he's passed recently in Nashville but Henry Blackaby was at that time in Saskatoon, Canada, I believe it was and he wrote this as a result of the events that were going on where he was pastoring there in the middle of nowhere in Canada and he had a heart of faith that told him God was leading them to start a college and to do all these things and to minister and he was really in the backwoods of anywhere.

[13:19] If you ever want to talk to someone about what that's like, this church had an interim pastor, Brother Sidney Gibson who also labored in the mission field in Canada and really could speak of the desolation there and really how hard it was but anyway, Henry Blackaby said the Lord put it on his heart so they started a Bible college, started training pastors, they started in this little bitty church and started doing things and giving resources and really just started doing ministry around the world and God just kept bringing these things, kept bringing these things and faith told them God was going to do it and their preparations began, they began to give financially to these things and give financially, give financially, give financially and their preparations were this is what we're going to base our expenditures upon and God was doing some wonderful things and as time went on Henry Blackaby was called away from that particular church and ended up coming and serving a church in the states and after he moved down that church called another pastor which I'm not trying to discredit in any way in any form or any fashion but history shows that when that new pastor came in he sat down and he looked at the budget and looking at the budget he said these numbers don't work and the church said well we understand these numbers don't work but they always do work and he said but you guys are supporting more than what seems to be possible and they're like yeah we understand that well he led the church to begin making preparations based on what he could figure out not what faith told him and immediately the church started going backwards because see faith moves us to make personal preparations for what we're anticipating

[14:54] God will do fear causes us to withdraw and to say we don't think he will do it and one of the things we see from this text is everyone had to make their own provisions you don't move forward on the provisions of someone else you move forward based upon your provisions prepare provisions for your selves for yourselves much like we cannot stand we stand on the shoulders of those who went before us but we cannot rest on the faith of the saints around us we see this in the parable of the ten virgins who went out with the oil and the lamps remember there were five wise and five unwise and the bridegroom delayed in his coming and half of them ran out of oil and they said give us some of your oil and they said no because it's not our fault that you didn't provide and when they went to buy more oil the bridegroom came and the bridegroom came and the five who had the oil that had prepared in advance in faith which knew he was coming went with him and he closed the door and the five who had had to go back and get stuff because they weren't fully prepared and they knocked on the door and the bridegroom says I don't know you you're not welcome here why?

[16:26] because you don't move forward on someone else's provisions provide for yourself personal preparation is what helps us to courageously move forward in faith those who are never personally prepared to move I guarantee you never will move but those who are ready those who anticipates that God's going to do something and those who are longing for the moment that he does it and are so prepared for him to do it he always moves forward we see the personal preparations secondly in this move forward we see the corporate identification because while it is easy to focus on one's personal responsibilities we must never subtract personal responsibilities from corporate identification or the reality that the individual is always a part of the whole that while the individual must take responsibility for himself his responsibilities or her responsibilities are connected to the entirety of God's people there's no such thing as a lone range

[17:45] Christian or isolated believer Peter says that we are spiritual stones being built up unto one another right we are connected and united around a chief cornerstone who is Christ we see it in the book of Joshua this way that Joshua went to the Reubenites the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh and he says this God's already given you your land and this word here God is giving you your rest now the rest is a word that is very similar to shalom that is God is giving you your peace and your security God has already given you your rest and they're like yes he's already provided sufficient land if you remember this land was well suited for their livestock which they had an abundance of it was a great land a fertile land and a beautiful land later on it will become the region of Decapolis or the ten cities in which Jesus goes back and forth on the Sea of Galilee we saw a little bit of that this morning right going back and forth on the sea and the Sea of Galilee it becomes that region the Transjordan area as it's referred to and it's there in that fertile valley of the Jordan River and he tells them

[18:49] God is already giving you your rest and they say yes but he has not given your brothers their rest so while you don't have to provide to go get your rest you do have to make preparations to move forward until they get theirs and he tells them you are to fulfill the word which you spoke to Moses and move forward until your brothers are given their rest which means you don't enjoy your rest until they get theirs because it's not just two and a half tribes over here there's not the Reubenites the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh we are the nation of Israel we are one people God has already given the provisions to some but he has not given it to all and until he has given it to all none are able to rest and here is that reminder of the corporate identification just because you have what belongs to you does not mean you get to pull apart from everyone else there's danger in that right there's danger the part is always a part of the whole and the peace always belongs to something greater which tells us that as God's people as God is moving us and leading us and we're moving forward courageously though he may have provided what he has called us to do though we know he has already put us in the place of our calling until he has put everyone in their place of calling we do not stop we continue to move forward and we continue to encourage and to spurn and to move along as a body because we are identified as one not as a multitude of others and we are united with believers and all around the world we are one body multiple members of one body now we see this being played out if we were to go to

[21:01] Joshua chapter 4 and we will eventually get there and one of the astounding things is the people say yes we will go absolutely they said we are going to do everything and the promise they had made in the past had not changed because leaders had changed right the promise they had made in the past was still as concrete because the plan and the purposes of God continued on even though there was a change of leadership and in Joshua chapter 4 when they crossed the Jordan you know it says that the tribes of Reuben Gad and the half tribe Manasseh went before the nation of Israel they were the first to cross they led the way why because they knew that the only way they could ever enjoy their rest was when everyone else was content in theirs they couldn't enjoy what God had provided them until the entire nation was enjoying what God had provided all they led the way which shows us this third truth that helps us to remove for courageously and that is future considerations the reason these two and a half tribes led the way before the nation of

[22:09] Israel is because they knew the only way they could get back was to fulfill what they had promised that the reality of returning to their land lay before them but it did not mean that their work was behind them so they were more motivated than anyone else because the others did not know what they were going to possess the land hadn't been distributed they knew what they already possessed they knew the reality of their rest so therefore looking to the future looking for the hope set before them they pushed ahead of everyone else because they knew that what was waiting them was better than what was before them sounds a whole lot like the book of Hebrews right who for the joy set before him endured the cross Jesus knew he is the forerunner or the trailblazer who goes before us because the reality that he knew the rest on the other side was better than the conflict waiting before him there was the future consideration the cross is a place of torment the cross is a place of pain the cross is a place of misery the cross is a place of suffering the cross is a place of persecution but the future doesn't consider the battle the future considers the victory who for the joy set before him the

[23:28] Rumanites the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh had a joy set before them which caused them to battle temporarily for the promise that awaited them and the book of Joshua shows us that they do not go home until the land is distributed but what was waiting on them in the future was better than what was facing them in the present friend that's the hope of believers that which is before us that future consideration is always better than that which is around us always this is how we move forward courageously and they also knew that the one who was leading them forward that he who was with them was better than anything that confronted them they left behind their wives and their children and the elderly and they were entrusting them to the security of God's covering his hand and they were entrusting the future reality that they could return to them based upon the one who was calling them to follow not

[24:34] Joshua but the Lord their God and they literally were entrusting all of their hope and anticipation of the future in him and it is on this basis that they encouraged Joshua they say listen we will go wherever you send us we will go wherever you send us only be bold and courageous empower the leader before them saying do everything God's commanding you to do and as you follow his command we'll do whatever it is you ask us to because we'll move forward and if God is calling us to move we will move because as we consider the future the reality is the future is bright the battle will be terrible the suffering may be prevalent but the future is bright we move forward courageously with personal preparations corporate identification and future considerations let's pray

[25:38] Lord thank you for this evening thank you for promise and even the challenge of your word may we take the truths of it and apply it to our life for your glory we ask it in Christ's name amen so so Thank you.

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