Joshua (Part 4) — Richard Sipley

Salvation Depends on God's Character

If I am willing to get my feet wet obeying God, God will keep me from drowning. You need to really get that one. If I am willing to get my feet wet obeying God, God will keep me from drowning. After all, it's not about me, it's about God.

I don't have much at stake. I am confident that when I pass off this scene, there will only be, you know, a few people who will feel sorry that I'm gone and the rest will say it's a good thing he went to heaven, we're getting a little tired of him anyway.

I have very little at stake, but God has his character at stake. Sometimes when people are having a problem about the assurance of their salvation, they are concerned because of their own feelings or their own experiences or their own lack of experiences or some such thing.

My friends, it's not about you, it's about God. Did you hear? It's not about you, it's about God. He's the Savior, Jesus Christ is the Savior, not you. And your salvation is dependent on him and on his trustworthiness and his truthfulness and his reliability and his everlasting, eternal, infallible character.

Amen? So I want you to get that. And if you're willing to get your feet wet for God, he will keep you from drowning because his character is at stake. God told Joshua, I love this verse, I've sort of had it for years.

Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you. So every place that you're willing to step out and put your feet on it, God says, you know, if God says, go there, and you obey him and you believe him and you step out and you put your feet on it, God says, I've given it to you, it's yours, take it.

It's not that you have to be responsible for taking it, all you have to do is be responsible for walking. You just have to take the next step. And as you take the next step, God is there. In fact, he's there ahead of you.

And he says, it's yours. Walking with God is a step-by-step process. I can remember as a young Christian when I really wanted to believe that I could get it all taken care of in a few minutes somewhere at an altar.

You know, I wanted to get done with it. You understand what I mean? I wanted to get done with struggling with my self-life. I wanted to get done with struggling with the flesh. I wanted to get done with my own weakness and my own failures.

And I wanted to have something happen that would make me everything that I wanted to be and everything God wanted me to be overnight, and it would be nice and easy from there on. And God said it doesn't work like that.

It is a step-by-step process. Yes, there are crises in the Christian life. There are times when we take big steps for God. Amen? And he does wonderful things in our lives. And he saves us. He fills us.

He does wonderful things at various times in our lives. And those crises are important. But by and large, Christian life is a step-by-step process. It's taking the next step with God. The Scriptures are really just filled with this.

Walking by Faith in the New Testament

And what I did, I took just a few statements out of the New Testament, and I'm not even going to give you the references. I'm going to read down through them, so listen carefully. I want you to just get the feel for this truth of the Christian life.

So here we go. We also should walk in newness of life. Let us walk properly as in the day, for we walk by faith and not by sight. But I say, walk in the Spirit. We are created in Christ Jesus on two good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.

I entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you've been called. This I say, then, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles walk. That is, we don't walk like the world. Walk in love.

Walk as children of light. Be careful how you walk. These are all Scripture references. So that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.

Walk in wisdom toward those who are without. Walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His kingdom. You received instructions from us as to how you ought to walk. If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another in the blood of Jesus Christ.

His Son keeps on continually cleansing us from every sin. We're talking about walking. The one who says that he abides in Him that is in Christ ought himself also so to walk even as he walked. Are you getting the point?

And finally, when we stand before Him in heaven, it says that we will walk with Him in white. I don't know what we're going to do after it's all over and we're in eternity with Him, but I'm kind of excited thinking about it sometime, just imagining what we might be doing.

We're going to walk with Him in white. Now our scripture this morning we've already read, but I want to read some of it to you again from Joshua. Please open your Bibles to Joshua chapter 3 and verse 8, and then I'm just going to read that first one because we've already read verses 14 to 17.

So Joshua 3, 8, but keep your Bible open to Joshua now for the rest of the message. Give these instructions to the priests who are carrying the Ark of the Covenant. When you reach the banks of the Jordan River, take a few steps into the river and stop.

Crossing the Jordan by Taking the First Step

Now the Jordan River was at flood tide. It was overflowing all its banks. It was rushing along. It was wide, it was deep, and it was in a hurry. And to walk out into that river meant to drown. But they had to get across that river to get to Jericho and to conquer that city and move through the pass into the land of Canaan.

There they were. And how are they going to do it? Well, the Ark of the Covenant, of course, was the most sacred thing that they had. And when it was in the tabernacle all set up, the glory of God would come down and hover over the mercy seat and the blood was offered there for atonement for the sins of the people.

I mean, this was a very sacred object. And they were to take this and they were to proceed, these three million people, and to march toward the Jordan River with all these people coming behind them. I've often wondered what went through their minds.

Oh, God, you better come through. Man, look at that water. It's roaring. What will happen if we step out in there with this ark and it sweeps us away and the Ark of God goes rushing down the Jordan River and it's gone and God's presence leaves us?

I'm sorry that I imitated some of you. Well, I've stepped in a lot of waters and I haven't drowned yet. And so have some of you, amen? So God said, I want you to do something. You see, when they crossed the Red Sea, God said to Moses, stretch out your rod.

So he stretched out his rod and God sent a wind and it blew all night and it made a path right through the Red Sea so the waters were piled up on both sides. I often wondered what it looked like. I wonder when they walked through there if they could see the fish swimming over.

I don't know. But there it was and they all went through on dry ground. But God says, now I want to take you a little deeper. See, that represented their salvation. Now this represents their sanctification.

You like that word? That's a good word. They're going to go in now and they're going farther with God. And so God says, now this time, you know, I could do that. I could have, you know, the rod that budded, Aaron's rod that budded, it was in there.

You could take out the rod and hold it over the river. You know, it could have had the same effect. God said, no, this time you're going to walk into the river. You're going to get your feet wet. And that is a major problem for God's people.

They're afraid to get their feet wet. And God is always saying to us, what I want you to do is to step out and trust me and get your feet wet and then watch me move in and meet the need. And I don't know what God is asking you to do.

I don't know what it is that he wants in your life right now. I could guess for some of you. Let me take this guess. There's someone listening to me and all your Christian life, you have had all kinds of friends out in the world.

You know, all kinds of people and they like you. You're a nice person. They like you. You work with them. You associate with them and all. Some of them even know you're a Christian. You go to church. But in all those years, you have never witnessed to anyone directly about Jesus Christ and the good news that he died for sinners and that they could be saved and offered them an opportunity to pray to receive Christ.

And you've never done it even once in your life. And you're scared to death to do it. And God is saying to you, I want you to step into the water. I want you to get your feet wet. You say, oh Lord, I won't know what to do.

I'll drown. Well, for some of us, it might be better if we did. You won't drown. No. Try it. Try it. What have you got to lose? Very little. God has his character to lose. I'll tell you what. If some of you would try it this week, you'd come back here next Sunday on cloud nine bringing a brand new Christian with you that you had prayed with and led to Jesus.

Don't you think God wants to save those people out there in this city? Don't you think he wants to save the people that you know that are neighbors and friends and work associates and all kinds of people that you've touched and do touch?

Don't you think he wants to save them? He loves them. He died for them. And he's saying, some of you need to get your feet wet. Open your mouth. You say, I'll put my foot in it. That's fine. You can pull it back out and say, let me tell you what Jesus did for me.

Hey, that's all you have to tell them. See, some of you are getting chills already. Feeling how cold the water will be. But I'll tell you what. After a while, you'll get to the point where you can just jump in and it won't bother you at all.

When you were a kid, remember? When you took the first swim in the summer and the water felt so cold and you jumped in and you nearly froze but you fooled around and played around in it for a while. After a while, it doesn't even feel cold.

So you get to the point where it doesn't even scare you anymore to get your feet wet. Now, the first thing we need is God-directed feet. God said, give instructions to the priests. When you reach the banks of the Jordan River, take a few steps into the river and stop.

We need God's direction. We need to have God leading us and God directing us. You know, we need God leading us in our entire life. Not just in our spiritual ministries, but in all of our life, we need God leading us.

God-Directed Feet and Obedient Guidance

When I was a pastor in Akron, Ohio, there was a man that started coming to our church, he and his family, about the same time that I came there as pastor. His name was Dave Ray, and he wouldn't mind me using his name.

He had been saved in a home Bible study. He had been an alcoholic for 21 years, but he was one of those kind of alcoholics that drank every day and worked every day and made a good living. When he went on a holiday, he came up to Canada with some of his buddies, ostensibly to go fishing, and for 10 days they sat on the lakes and drank till it's a wonder they didn't all drown.

And he came back and went to work. He worked in a dry goods company, and he handled, he was a salesman for gaskets. Now, it sounds very boring to me, but he sold gaskets for this company of all sizes and descriptions, and he knew all about gaskets.

But he was a salesman who sat in an office and used his phone and worked eight hours, five days a week, made a good living, and drank continually. And God saved him in a home Bible study and delivered him from drink.

And about that time, he came to our church. God touched him in a communion service and healed his back. And he got on fire for God. And God said to him, I want you to start a business for me because I want to bless you and I want you to make money to use for my kingdom.

Well, he didn't have any money. So he went out and he mortgaged his home and borrowed $10 ,000 and began cutting gaskets with a hand-operated cutter. And he had one man to help him. And away he went.

It was fascinating to watch this business. You know, I've had lots of fun watching men do things like this over the years. And we would pray together about it, you know. He came to me first when he thought God was leading him.

And his home was paid for, but he decided, you know, to take out the mortgage. And away he went. We prayed together about every step. I didn't know anything about it. I didn't know anything about profits or what he should charge or anything, you know.

So we'd pray and God would tell him. Well, God started doing all kinds of things. I still remember the day that he called me and said, You've got to come over. I've just had a miracle happen. So I went over.

And he said, A man came in and talked to me from the federal government today. I said, Are you in trouble with your taxes? He said, No. He said he'd come in to talk to me about business. I said, You've just got a little bitty business.

He said, I know it, but I've got lots of room. And he said he wants me to make gaskets for nuclear reactors for the United States government. And they will pay me $37 ,000 apiece for them. Well, that's pretty good.

And they will supply the material. And I still remember going in there and seeing these huge pieces of material laid out on the floor. And he designed it and got down on his hands and knees and cut the things out.

And they paid him $37 ,000 apiece. That gave his business a lift. I saw that thing go until that business was running three shifts. And the only time it shut down was on Sunday. You say, What did he do with the money?

He lived in the same house. He still lives in the same house. He's retired now, and I visited him the last time I was in Akron. And he still lives in the same house and drives an old car and hasn't changed his way of living one bit.

I remember a time when he was supporting 15 children in the Christian school that were not his children because their parents couldn't afford to pay for it. And God poured the money through his hands.

And you know what else? He started to be a soul winner. And he had a little book that he carried in his pocket. And he had more appointments in it than I did. And constantly led people to Jesus Christ right there in his business office.

Now he's retired and his sons have taken over. And he is working full time for the Lord. He was willing to get his feet wet. He was willing to step into the water, get his feet wet for God. And God came through.

Cleansed Feet and Holiness in Daily Life

Then we must have cleansed feet. Joshua told the people in Joshua 3, 5. Then Joshua told the people, Purify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do great wonders among you. Jesus said a person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet.

His whole body is clean. You remember when Jesus was washing the disciples' feet. And Peter said, you'll never wash my feet. And he said, if I don't wash your feet, you have no part with me. He said, well then wash me all over.

And he said, no. If you've been washed, you just need to have your feet cleaned. And Christians have been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ. And we sang this morning, not in part but the whole. He's nailed my sin to the cross, not in part but the whole.

Yes, all of our sins have been nailed to the cross. And all of it's taken away. We don't need a new bath, but we do need to get our feet cleansed. Our daily walk cleansed. Because sometimes we do things displeasing to God, right?

And if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. And to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So there is a need sometimes when we begin to step out for God. There's a need to have our feet cleansed, our walk cleansed in the blood of Jesus.

And to get things right with God. Listen to an incident related by Jim Cimbala. An attractive young couple whom I will call Michelle and Steve came forward for prayer at the end of a Sunday service. Both were nicely dressed.

He in an expensive suit and $60 silk tie. She in a fashionable dress. I could tell by the moisture in her eyes that something had touched her during the service. By contrast, he seemed to hold back just a step, not looking me in the eye.

Would you please pray for us, she asked. Certainly, I said. What would you like me to pray about? That God will bless our relationship, she replied. Did you get that? That God will bless our relationship.

That line can mean anything, especially in New York City. I felt prompted to ask a few more questions. Before I pray, help me with a little background, if you will. How long have you known each other?

A couple of years. Next question wasn't exactly polite, but I felt the spirit nudging me. So without the slightest change in my voice level or inflection, I said, Are you living together? The shock was instantaneous.

Her eyelashes blinked, his head snapped up. We stood there frozen for a second, staring at each other. Finally, she answered, Well, yes, we are. I nodded, then said, OK, that puts me in sort of a bind.

You want me to ask God to bless something that he has already expressed his opinion about? He's already made it clear in the Bible that living together outside of marriage is wrong. So it looks to me like I'd be wasting everybody's time to ask his help in this situation, wouldn't I?

They just stared at me. Would he? Yes. How could you ask God to bless something God has said he doesn't bless? Amen? Amen? Where are you? There's no way you can make that right. I don't care what the world does.

So I pressed on, he said. I tell you what, let's get on track with God's plan. Steve, how about you finding another place to live right now? You say you want God's best for your relationship. OK, this is step number one.

This will open the door for many other good things. I could tell Steve wasn't thrilled with the idea. Do you have family or friends in the city where you could stay tonight? No, he couldn't think of anyone.

Jim would not let him off the hook that easily. Listen, we can get you a place to stay. I say, if God is real and you truly want his help in your life, then go his way. Otherwise, do whatever you like.

Of course, it will destroy you in the end. You can't change God's consequences any more than you can change the law of gravity. He mumbled another excuse. I called one of the lay helpers over and requested that Steve be provided with a bed for the night.

Good for you, Jim. Steve and Michelle still weren't sure. How about if we stay where we are but just don't sleep together? Ha, ha, ha. That would be all right, wouldn't it? I replied, if you both profess to be Christians, you have to avoid the obvious physical temptation.

Besides, when you walk out of your apartment in the morning, what would a neighbor logically assume? Do this thing right all the way, okay? And praise God, they finally agreed and started to move in the direction of getting their life straightened out.

I remember getting a call one morning from, it was a Monday morning, and I got a call from a young housewife, homemaker, and she said, we were in your service last night, my husband and I. I said, great, I didn't get to meet you.

And she said, we need to talk with you about something. Oh, I said, all right. She said, recently we were in a home Bible study just last week, and we both received Christ as our Savior. I said, that's wonderful.

She said, we asked where we should start going to church, and someone suggested we should start at your church, so we came Sunday night. I said, wonderful. She said, you preached on adultery, which is a good subject occasionally, right?

You are so quiet sometimes. I said, oh, don't do that, tiptoe around, don't offend people, you know. The offense of the cross has ceased, you know, as Paul said. And so she said, well, she said, we think after being there Sunday night, we need to talk to you.

And I said, okay. So I made an appointment. I had no idea what was happening. They came in and sat down, but as they started to talk, and they already had two children, as they started to talk, the Holy Spirit nudged me and I said, are you two just living together and not married?

And they both at the same time said yes. I said, is it wrong? And they both said yes. When did you decide it was wrong? After we received Christ in the home Bible study. You say, what happened? Well, we did the same thing.

I've always done that. We got a place for him to stay. He wouldn't try the same thing. He said, well, you know, we have these children and everything, and they've been living together a long time. And he said, we have a big house.

He was a carpenter. And he said, I still have the beautiful bookcases he made for me later. Wonderful carpenter. And he said, we have this big house, lots of room in it. He said, I can sleep in one bedroom.

She can sleep in another. And the kids are all taken care of. And he said, Baloney, who are you kidding? You're not kidding me. I haven't married a while myself. You're not kidding me. And so we got a place for him to live.

And he moved out and went and lived with a young man in the church for the next two months. And they got their lives straight with God. And then we had a wedding. And they're living for God today. And every time I go back to that church, I get to see them.

And they're walking with God, and they're active in the church and living for the Lord. Amen? You see, if you're going to walk with God, you need to get your feet cleansed. If they're dirty, get them washed so you can begin to walk with God.

Faith Requires Risk and Action

The Christians who cross the river of difficulty, you say, goodness, I don't think you're going to get done with this sermon. I don't think so either, but just relax. I'll quit when the time comes. I'll let you have your dinner, because it'd be awful if you didn't get it.

The Christians who cross the river of difficulty are the ones who get their feet wet. Step into the waters. Faith is spelled R-I-S-K. Living faith means action. If you read Hebrews 12, if you read before that Hebrews 11, you will find in every case that faith is action.

Right? That's right. Remember when Jesus was in the synagogue, and there was a man there with a withered hand, and the Pharisees were watching him. They said, it's not right to practice medicine on the Sabbath.

So let's see if he'll heal this person on the Sabbath, then we can accuse him of working on the Sabbath. Hypocrites. Remember what Jesus did? He didn't go touch the man. The man had a withered hand. He didn't go touch him.

Remember what he did? He said to the man, come up here. It would be just like out of the service if I said, come up here. So the man came up in front of the crowd, and he said, stretch out your hand. He couldn't.

It was withered. He said, stretch out your hand. You know what? Suddenly he could. And it came out. And it was healed. Isn't that great? Jesus looked around on them with anger because of the hardness of their hearts.

But you see, this man had to step into the water. You remember the 10 lepers that came to him to be healed? And he said, go and go through the sacrifices and cleansing rituals that Moses commanded for people with leprosy.

And you'll be healed. And so they had to go and go through the rituals. They were supposed to go through the rituals that you went through after you were healed. So they, in effect, said, OK, if you say so, we believe you.

And they took off. You remember what happened? As soon as they started off to go and do it, God healed them all. It's wonderful. They had to step into the water. Only one come back to thank him. But they all got healed as soon as they stepped out, did what God said.

Remember the blind man at the Pool of Siloam? And Jesus took the dirt, spit it in the dirt, made some clay, put it on his eyes and said, go and wash. He had to step. He had to literally go get in the water.

He had to go and sit out of the pool and wash the stuff off from his eyes. Can't you see him? He's been blind for years and years and years. And now he's sitting there and he's washing the stuff off. And suddenly he can see the water sparkling down in front of him.

And he looks at the water and he keeps getting the water and washing the clay off. And then now he can see the water clearly. And suddenly he can see the people that have gathered around him. And he stands up and he can see.

I was in a meeting one night where we prayed for two different people with eye problems. The treasurer was a woman and she couldn't count the money any longer because she was almost blind. And God healed her and she counted the money that night, which was a good thing.

I needed the offering anyway. The pastor, he had a terrible problem with his eyes. And he took off his glasses and he could read all the gospel signs around on the inside of their little hall. You believe God?

So he went and washed and he came seeing. Feeding the 5 ,000 is the one that blows my mind. Doesn't that really just... Jesus said... He came and he said, Lord, Lord, send them away. They're fainting with hunger.

They need to go into the villages and buy food and get something to eat. They're going to starve out here and they're going to collapse. We're going to have a terrible mess in our hands. And Jesus said, you don't need to send them away.

You feed them. Us? There are thousands of them. There are thousands of them. He says, well, what do you have? And they said, well, we have five loaves and two fish. Probably a couple of fish that have been dried and were edible.

And those little loaves of bread, not big ones. Not even enough for the disciples, actually. And Jesus took them and broke them up and blessed them. And said, now, have the people sit down in groups of 50.

Get them all organized. Have them sit down in groups of 50. And then you take this bread and fish and pass it out. Now, I don't know if that strikes you as strange. It does me. I mean, I've tried to picture myself there with one of these baskets with a little piece of bread like that in it and a little sliver of fish.

And I'm going to start out. Can't you see some of the disciples looking at him like, you've got to be kidding. And I can just see Peter saying, well, what are you waiting for? Pass it out. Talk about stepping in the water.

And the 12 disciples took those little scraps and started out. I mean, they have 5 ,000 men besides women and children. I have no idea how many people were really there, 15 ,000 probably. And here they are, and they're starting out with this nothing.

They got them all seated and organized. Now they're starting out. That's stepping in the water, brother. Whoa, that's getting your feet wet. What happened? I don't know how it worked. God came through.

And I mean, that multiplied and multiplied and multiplied, and they kept going and going and going and going. And they fed all those thousands of people, and everybody had all they want. And Jesus said, now don't waste any.

And they picked up 12 baskets of fragments left over. I love it. And Peter, the great fisherman, been out all night, didn't get anything. He knew all about fishing. I can just see him saying, yeah, well, you know all about preaching, but believe me, I know all about fishing.

You go preach and let me fish. Jesus says, cast your nets on the other side of the boat. Let's go out again. So they went out again and said, cast on the other. And the boat started to sink with the fish, and they had to call for their partners and fill their boat.

Getting their feet wet. I suppose the worst one in the Bible was Lazarus, when he had been dead and buried four days, and Jesus said, take away the stone. And he argued about that. He said, Lord, he's been dead four days.

His body started to decay. It would smell bad. You can't be serious. And Jesus said, take away the stone. Didn't I say, if you would believe, you would see the glory of God. So they took away the stone.

Worship, Reverence, and Persistent Obedience

So we need to be willing to get our feet wet for God. Well, we need worshiping feet, and I'm not going to deal with that one. You can skip over it. Put anything in there you like. He had to take off his shoes, the same as Moses.

We need an awe and reverence at the presence of the Lord in our life. The captain of the Lord's host was there, and he said, Joshua, I'm in charge. And you say, yes, sir. And the Lord is in charge. You understand that, don't you?

And then we need persistent feet. Joshua 6, 2 to 5. Let me read it. And the Lord said to Joshua, see, I have given Jericho into your hand with its king and the valiant warriors. And you shall march around the city, all the men of war, circling the city once.

You shall do so for six days. Also, seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark. Then on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.

And it shall be that when they make a loud blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpets, all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people will go up every man straight ahead.

Persistent feet. We need to persist in taking the next steps that God wants us to take. We need to do it when it doesn't even seem to make sense. You know, I have no idea what went through the minds of those people.

Can you just see them marching around this city all the way around once? And then they encamp for the night. And then Joshua says, do it again. So they march around again. They encamp for the night. And then they do it again.

They march around again. And they encamp for the night. Now, we've done this three times. We're getting tired of it. Same wall, same people, same situation. But they do it the fourth time. And I can just see some people after the fourth time saying, come on.

What are we doing? Joshua says, never mind. Do it again. So they do it the fifth time. And now they're really getting tired of it. And Joshua says, no. God said, do it seven days. So do it again. So they march around the sixth day.

Now on the seventh day, they think, oh, man, we've only got to do this one more time. He says, no. On the seventh day, they got up at dawn, it says. That's what it says. And they went out. And they marched around seven times that day.

This is getting old. And sometimes there are things that God wants us to do. And he wants us to step out and trust him and obey him and believe him and do what he wants us to do and walk where he wants us to walk and be what he wants us to be.