Entering the promised land required preparation, both for the people and their leader, Joshua. Chapter two highlights the faith of Rahab, a Canaanite woman who aided the Israelite spies, demonstrating God's grace extends even to those outside the covenant. Her actions, though involving deceit, were motivated by a growing faith in Jehovah, and she was ultimately saved along with her family, symbolizing redemption through faith and blood. The sermon emphasizes that God works at both ends, preparing the land and its people for conquest, and that His grace is sufficient for all who believe, regardless of their past.
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Thank you for praying for the safe arrival of my dear wife. We were chatting with Dan Richardson this afternoon, and he says there aren't any roads, the kind of which my wife discussed here in Florida, so neither one of us knows how she got here. But she is here, and we are delighted, and thank you for praying. We did better than we did for our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. I was off in a meeting somewhere while she was in Birmingham. That's how we celebrated that one. So we're glad to celebrate our thirty-fifth Valentine's Day together. Today, that's a lot better. All right, we're glad you're here tonight, the study of the word. Let's bow again and ask the Lord to bless. Father, in the name of Christ, minister thy word to us as we have need tonight.
Let us know our hearts, our needs specifically. O Lord God, our Father, meet those needs through thy word we pray. In Christ's name. Amen. We began our study of the book of Joshua last night together. We saw the secret of success. Faith, obedience, and then success. By God's grace, we trust him for grace to obey him. And then God promises good success. We saw the preparation of the leader, Joshua, last night together.
The man of God that God put his hand upon to lead the children of Israel. crossed Jordan to conquer the land of promise. We saw possessing our possessions, the great emphasis of this book. For Israel in that day it was the land of promise. For us today, the language of Ephesians, we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Beginning in verse ten of this first chapter, we saw along with the preparation of the leader, the preparation of the people. And we want to continue that theme tonight through chapter five, Lord willing. Joshua is preparing the people and first by his own example.
Prepare you littles. We're going to cross Jordan in three days. You men from the east side of Jordan, keep your word, keep your promise. Leave your families there. Come with us across Jordan. And as we conquer together, then you may return to your families. And they said, Joshua, whatever you say we'll do. He asked just one thing of you. As God was with Moses, we want the same evidence that God's hand is upon you. In chapter two, we see the wonderful encouragement to faith as we further see the preparation of the people for this great conquest of Canaan. A familiar story, you remember? Rahab and the spies.
And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men the spies secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went and came into an harlot's house named Rahab and lodged there. You remember back in the book of Numbers, it was not the will of God to send spies into Canaan. Here God's strategy changes, and with God's blessing, Joshua sends spies into the land. So let's not straightjack at the Lord in his ways of working. And it was told the King of Jericho saying, Behold, there came men in here tonight of the children of Israel to search out the country. Here's the mission of the spies.
And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men who have come to thee, who are entered into thine house, for they have come to search out all the country. And the woman took the two men and hid them, and said thus, Why, there came men unto me, but I knew not from where they were. came to pass about the time of shutting the gate. When it was dark that the men went out, where the men went, I know not. Pursue after them quickly, for ye shall overtake them. But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax which she had laid in order upon the roof. And the men pursued after them the way to the Jordan under the fords.
And as soon as they were pursued after them, they were gone out, they shut the gate. Yes, Rahab lied, and the Lord never approves of her lying. James, as another brother has said, James says that Rahab was justified by her works, but not by her words. Here was a woman out of the depths of sin. Here was a woman who was used to this kind of thing. Here is a woman, as we shall now see, whose life's been changed. But she had some groin in grace to do. As our New Testament tells us, no, God does not approve her deceit on this occasion.
And before they were laid down, verse eight, she came up unto these spies upon the roof, and she said unto the men, I know that the Lord hath given you the land. Notice her language. I know that the Lord, Jehovah hath given you the land. We're talking about the preparation, the encouragement that comes. and that your terror has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. The spies are getting the message. Just exactly what they wanted to learn. For we have heard how the Lord, Jehovah, dried up the water of the Red Sea for you, when he came out of Egypt, and what he did under the two kings of the Amorites, who were on the other side of the Jordan. We heard about that too, about Zion and Og, whom he utterly destroyed.
We've had that report. And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt. Neither did there remain any more courage in any man because of you. For Jehovah your God, he is God in heaven above and in earth beneath. What's that? Sounds like a converted woman, doesn't it? And indeed she is. You'll remember Hebrews chapter eleven, by faith? Rahab did this wrong. Here she is, giving a great affirmation of her faith in Jehovah. Now therefore, as they make a covenant together, she asks, I pray you, swear by me, unto me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that ye will also show kindness unto my father's house, and give me a true token, and that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have and deliver our lives from death and the men to the curse.
Verse eighteen, Behold, when we come into the land, say the spies to Rahab, Thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window by which thou didst let us down, and thou shalt bring thy father and thy mother and thy brethren in all thy father's household. O man, too. Hear the report as the chapter closes, twenty-three and twenty-four. So the two men returned, descended from the mountain, passed over and came to Joshua, the son of Nun, and told him all things that befell them. And they said unto Joshua, Notice truly the Lord, hath delivered into our hands all the land.
For even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us. What encouragement to the children of Israel. Jehovah is working on both ends. He is working in the land. He's melted their heart. They're terrified. That's precisely the report of Rahab the Harlan. What encouragement to Israel to know that God has already been at work. God already preparing the land for conquest as the children of Israel cross Jordan and enter that land of Isn't it always exciting when God works at both ends?
Years ago at Southeastern Bible College, they tell me that they needed a piano teacher. And so on a given Thursday night, the trustees met in my office, and they had a prayer meeting for a piano teacher. And the next morning, a younger lady, who's been with us now, twenty-seven or twenty-eight years, Miss Ellen Wright, walked in and said... God told me to come up here and apply for a job as instructor in piano. She'd been teaching at the conservatory there in Birmingham. She was dissatisfied with her context. She wanted to serve God in her teaching of piano. And God brought the two together.
So simple. So beautiful. That God works at both ends to get his work accomplished. A thrilling to see the hand of God at work. Here is Rahab. A harlot. Tell me why did the Lord choose a harlot? Grace. Tell me why did the Lord choose you? Grace. Can I add my name quickly? Grace. Rahab was justified by grace. Amen. Romans three justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
And Rahab was justified by blood. Do you remember the scarlet print? Through the centuries of times, God's faithful servants have preached the precious blood of Jesus Christ from this text. Beautiful type, a beautiful symbol of the Savior who shed his blood on the cross of Calvary for our sins. And she was justified by faith. Hebrews eleven. The faith at work. James chapter two. It was real. Because we saw her great affirmation here of confidence in good hope. Is there somebody here tonight not a Christian? Our chapter says that God will save harlots.
Isn't that wonderful? You say I'm not a harlot. Thank God. But whatever your sin, God's grace is sufficient for you tonight. And he'll save you exactly the same way he saved right now. By grace. By his blood. by faith. He'll change your life and make you a new creature in Christ and declare you righteous in His sight all by His wonderful grace. And to put the icing on the cake, we don't have time to turn to Matthew chapter one, but you'll find Rahab's name in the genealogy of Jesus Christ.
God, Marlowe, Last summer I was down in South Louisiana. On Saturday afternoon I had a wedding under the tree on a hot August day. And there was the town harlot. Small community, everybody knew it. Also the town drunk in the same person. Wicked, wicked woman. Notoriously so. a child there by one man somewhere along the line, then married five times along with her harlotry. That afternoon she was being married to a gentleman just out of prison three days who had been saved in prison, and the town harlot had been saved.
The pastor of the church would not marry them because of their background. He there, stood there, justice of the peace, pronounced them husband and wife, but they're a Christian wife and a Christian husband. The night before she was in church, the night before she was under the word of God, the night before she was rejoicing in the word there, as we taught the word, as we seek to hear this week. Her sister who lived across the street wouldn't come to the wedding. The reason, the influence. The town harlot had on her mother. She had led her mother to Christ.
What grace. What grace. Your problem may not be harlotry. But it's sin. And if you have never been saved, I'm glad to tell you tonight that the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from what? Oh, sin. Whatever be your sin, whatever be your guilt, Whatever be your need tonight, God's still in the saving business. By grace are ye saved. Through faith, that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of works. Let's end now. The point of our chapter in terms of the flow of our book of Joshua is that all the encouragement that comes, the encouragement that God's people, as they learn that God is at work, on their behalf in preparing the people of the land for conference.
Now in chapters three and four, the exercise of faith. You know, we can talk about faith. We can read about faith. We can preach faith, but it's something else to exercise it, isn't it? And that's where we are, as the children of Israel face the same challenge as their predecessors had at the Red Sea. Now Joshua and God's people are at the brink of the Jordan to cross over into the promised land. What's the object of the faith, of their faith? As we read through the verses, notice the emphasis upon the ark as we read chapter three. And Joshua rose early in the morning, and they removed from Chittim, came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over.
And it came to pass after three days that the officers went through the host. and they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark, notice, when ye see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests of the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place and go after it. To the people, he says, Follow the ark. The ark symbolized the presence of Jehovah, didn't it? The ark, you remember, made of sycamore, overlaid with gold, Beautiful type of the deity and the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ. The ark had the mercy seat, didn't it?
Where the high priest from the day of atonement went in once a year and of the holy of holies and sprinkled the blood upon that mercy seat. Speaking of our blessed Lord, so they were to follow the Lord. Verse four, yet there should be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits. That's about half a mile. They hadn't passed that way heretofore. Verse five, and Joshua said unto the people, sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. Oh, the spiritual preparation necessary. Sanctify yourselves. Be sure you're ready spiritually for God to work.
And you can read the history of revivals. You can put them all in this verse. before God moved with great measure in the unsaved God's people first. God right with God. Joshua spoke unto the priest. Now a word to the priest as they prepared across Jordan and said, Take up the ark of the covenant. Notice the centrality of the ark. Pass over before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenants and went before the people. There the ark. says Joshua to the priest. And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.
It's important that the leader be recognized as a man of God, as we saw last night together in chapter one. And thou shalt command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye ark come to the brink of the water of the Jordan, ye shall stand still in the Jordan. So the priests are prepared. There to go forward. There they are. Put their feet in the Jordan. Now a further word to the people. And Joshua said to the children of Israel, Come here and hear the words of the Lord your God. Understand the significance of the ark, he said. Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you. His presence that we saw last night together.
And that he will without fail. His faithfulness, we saw last night together. He will drive out before you the Caternites and the Hittites and the Hittites and the Hittites and the Hittites and the Hittites, and the Hittites. Behold the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth, passeth over before you into the Jordan. Now, therefore, take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, one out of every tribe, a man who we shall be seeing in chapter four. And it shall come to pass as soon as the souls of the feet of the priest, who bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan. That the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above, and they shall stand in one knee.
What's he been saying for thirteen verses? Get your eyes on the Lord. Keep your eyes on the Lord. The number one issue at a time of trial, in a time of testing, in a time of challenge to faith, is to keep your eyes on the infinite God of heaven and earth. Isn't that our problem in the hour of testing? We get our eyes on the testing, don't we? We get our eyes on the problem. I get on an airplane most weekends off to preach somewhere the word of God. Can I come back and my wife meets me at the airport? And usually her first words after, Hi, honey, how are you? The children have been acting like their father again while I've been away.
You know, for some testing or some trial at the college, you always have to get my eyes back on my God. You say, Lord, your grace is revealed. Lord, you have grace to work it out. Lord, you have wisdom. The ark's symbolic of the present look you over. Get your eyes on him. Follow the ark. Bear the ark. Understand the meaning of the ark. As you are now to cross the ark. And it came to pass, verse fourteen. When the people removed from their tents to pass over the Jordan and the priest bearing the ark of the covenant before the people.
And as they who bore the ark were come unto the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, for the Jordan overflowed all its banks of time of harvest. So it was in flood stage that the waters which came down from above stood and rose up in one heap very far from the city of Adam, that is beside Zeratham. And those that came down toward the sea of the Ereba, even the salt sea failed and were cut off. And the people passed over right against Jericho. And the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm, here's a miracle, on dry ground in the midst of Jordan.
And all the Israelites passed over on dry ground until all the people were passed completely over Jordan. The step of eight, when they put their feet in the water, the water started highly. There was a priest with the ark, in the midst of the Jordan. That great, great host of the people of Israel crossed Jordan into the land of the house. Now the memorials to faith in chapter four, it came to pass when all the people were completely passed over to Jordan, that the Lord spoke unto Joshua, saying, Take you twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe of man, and command you them, saying, Take here out of the midst of the Jordan, out of the place where the priest's feet stood firm, twelve stones, and he shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging place where he shall lodge this night.
And verse eight continues, And the children of Israel did so. As Joshua commanded and took up twelve stones out of the midst of Jordan, as the Lord spoke unto Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them under the place where they lodged and laid them down there. Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, two memorials, you see, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood. And they are there unto this day. pile of stones, the Gilgal on the west side of Jordan, a pile of stones in Jordan.
You see, there were times of year when the Jordan would be low enough so the people could witness the pile of stones in the Jordan as well as those on the west side. What's the point of it all? Verse twenty-one. And he spoke unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones? Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel, came over this Jordan on dry land. For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over.
That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord that it is mighty that ye might fear the Lord your God alone for ever memorials to God's power to God's presence to God's faithfulness imparting the waters of the Jordan can't you see The children of Israel, and as we shall move through the book, Lord willing, the book of Joshua this week together, we'll see that again and again and again the children of Israel, after a battle, after a conquest, came back to Gilgal.
They went off for another conquest, came back to Gilgal. And can't you see the encouragement of these stones go off there to Jericho? And then you come back to Gilgal. There are the stones in the West Bank. There are the stones. Ah, that God who was able to bring us through Jordan, certainly able for AI, eh? Then they go to AI and, after due time, a conquest, a victory, and come back to Gilgal, and there's that pile of stones. Why, the God who is faithful in crossing to Jordan is able now for the southern campaign. And come back to Gilgal after the southern campaign. Ah, the pile of stones is still there. The power of God that brought us through Jordan.
He's able now for the northern campaign. A constant witness and testimony to the power of God, not only as an encouragement to Israel and to their children, as our text says, but that all the earth may know the power of God, the hand of God, that it is much. And can't you see a generation later, a dear old granddad living in that area? And there's his grandson. And Granddad puts his arm around his boy and they walk over and see that pile of stone. Granddad said, Son, do you see those stones?
Yes, Grandpa. Do you know what those mean? No, tell me. You won't believe this, son. But when I was about your age, we came across Jordan on dry ground. Jehovah our God brought us through on dry ground. He parted the waters of the Red Sea, son. And as the priest there with the ark and the Jordan stood there and the great host of Israel walked through Jordan, the water just piled higher and higher and higher and higher. It was a gigantic wall of water. And Jehovah our God held that water right there while we all passed through on dry ground.
That's our Godson. That's the greatness of our Godson. And he's able for you to go off, trust him, walk with him, and serve him day by day. And can't you see a little Samuel or a little Absalom or a little Eli or whatever their names were in those days? Just go back and look at that pile again. And again, God, God are terrible. God brought our grandparents through on the ground. Isn't this why we need to go back to the book again and again? Just to be reminded over and over and over what God has done.
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is our God today. And the God of Joshua is our God today. And the God who could perform that genre can solve my problem, meet my need, lift my burden. and read us forward in our conquest, in our day, since he's the same yesterday, and today, and how long? Whatever. Memorial of the power, of the faithfulness of our God. We cannot leave these two chapters until we pause to recognize that it was that exercise of faith in the priests putting their feet into the church.
but resulted in God's heart and faith. And that's how we live by faith, beloved. The just shall live by faith. We walk by faith and not by sight. We have a printer at Southeastern Bible College named Bob. Lots of Bob's around. And Bob came to a youth conference several years ago. But again, I want to be a printer. I want to serve God with printing at Southeastern. I said, we have no plans at the moment for printing here at Southeastern. He said, you pray about it. Yes, sir. We've prayed for a year. He came back next year to the Youth Conference.
You got that printing going yet? No, sir, but we're thinking about it, Bob. You keep praying about it. Third year, we actually have started. One of our students and older students who'd been a printer. Had God just started limping along on a small press and just beginning in the early stages and Shortly after, God had started and set up why God called him to a church and he recommended a brother who hadn't had as much experience and things were limping along so far and we were now ready for Bob to come full time. So we got on the phone and said, Bob, we're ready. Come on. Well, he said, my family doesn't want to come. We'll pray about it. So he brings his family to Birmingham. His family looks over the city. A family wife and children, they drive back home to Illinois and together agree, this is the will of God.
We're ready to go to Birmingham. Great. Telephone range. Got a problem. The house won't sell. If the Lord doesn't sell the house by August first, we'll understand it's not the will of the Lord to come to Birmingham, he said. Shortly thereafter, he and his pastor had breakfast at six a.m. once a week. The pastor said, Bob, how things going? Why are you going to Birmingham? Oh, he said the house was not selling. The pastor said, Bob, I thought you had to put your feet in the water. You asked God to be a printer in Birmingham, southeastern Bible College.
Your family wouldn't go, and now they're ready to go. But now you won't go. Put your feet in the water and get them soaked and head for Birmingham. He accepted the spiritual leadership of his dear overseer, and they packed their goods, and they came to Birmingham. House on soap. So they now have two houses, one in Birmingham and one in Illinois. And the house in Illinois doesn't sell, and it doesn't sell, and we pray, and it doesn't sell. But shortly thereafter, it is rented for three hundred dollars a month. He's doing very well by his house in Illinois. In eighteen months, the Lord sells the house in Illinois.
We have a printer in Birmingham with a special blessing of the Lord through his ministry, through our college, and other Christian works. came a time when Bob put his feet in the water. There's somebody here tonight that needs just that. You got a burden? You want to go forward? You want to move? One step left getting your feet wet. Lord, we're going. We're trusting you. Let's go. You need that, amen. God would encourage you to get your feet soaked.
Say, Lord, your brother Bob Willie through these years, I believe God. One more chapter. Chapter five. It came to pass when all the kings of the Amorites who were on the side of the Jordan westward and all the kings of the Canaanites were by the sea, Heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel until we were passed over that their heart melted. Neither was their spirit in them anymore because of the children of Israel. That preparation continues. That time the Lord said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp knives and circumcised again the children of Israel the second time.
The first time was wood. The worst time was way back in Egypt. Forty years before. Joshua made him sharp knives, circumcised the children of Israel at the hill of the four skins. Verse nine explains, And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you, wherefore the name of the place is called Pilgal, rolling unto this day. Here are the final touches of preparation before the children of Israel begin to conquer, as we shall be seeing tomorrow night, Lord willing, in chapter six and four of us.
Circumcision. Why make an issue of circumcision? Genesis seventeen tells us that circumcision was the sign of the Abrahamic covenant. The covenant that said the children of Israel were the seed, the nation, before God, forever. His covenant people. And the Abrahamic covenant said that that land through Jordan to which they have now passed, that land is their everlasting possession. And here they are, a people uncertain. And verse nine calls that a reproach. The reproach of Egypt. Egypt got to be rolled away.
What in the world is that? Well, here are a people, the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the people of the covenant, to whom had been given this land of promise, and they were acting as if that land were not there. They had come out of Egypt circumcised, but the generations Apollo, no circumcision over that period of forty years, this is the second time. They're acting as if they were not God's covenant people, and they are acting as if that land were not their everlasting possession. And they displayed it when they came to Cain's Barnea, did they not? There they were, sending twelve spies in to walk by sight.
No, we can't go in. Let's make us a king and go back to Egypt. Acting as if that covenant were not theirs. Acting as if they were not the people of God. Acting as if that land were not their possession. No, we are not able. Let's go back to Egypt. to the onions and the leaves and the garlic. They've forgotten them. Now roll the reproach of Egypt away. Live up to your position. Live up to your covenant. Here you are now through Jordan. Here you are with your feet in the land of promise. Be circumcised for that's your witness that you believe that you are the covenant people of God.
and that this land is your everlasting possession. Act that. Give a witness. Today, water baptism is. We're not saved by baptism. We're not saved by water. Once we trust to the Savior, we take that step. A witness, as a believer in Jesus Christ, can say to our fellow Christians, can say to the world, Jesus Christ died for me and rose again, and I confess him to be my Savior. Witness. That was one of the final touches of preparation for entering the land.
There's a second one in verses ten and eleven. The children of Israel compassed in Gilgal, camped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho. Then they did eat of the old grain of the land on the next day after the Passover, unleavened cakes and parched grain on the very same day. Passover. That was one of the feats of Jehovah. Leviticus twenty-three, wasn't it? From witness they moved to worship. Fourteenth day of the month, that blood was applied, wasn't it? Back there on that first occasion, you remember, God looked for blood, didn't he?
When I see the blood, I will pass over you. And every year, they were to celebrate that Passover. As we, on the first day of the week, gather together and remember our Lord. With that bread that was symbolizes the body given. The cup symbolizing the blood is shed for us. and you gather together as God's people around the Lord's people. And we remember this. Another essential in these final hours of preparation for conquest, witness, worship.
Now in verse twelve, the manna ceased on the next day after they had eaten of the old grain of the land. Neither had the children of Israel manna anymore, but they did eat of the fruit of the land that came in that year. It's marvelous how God timed things till they at the time of the year when the grain was there for God's provision for his people. For it's our food. Our Lord said, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall not never thirst. Paul, writing to the Corinthians, says that as we look in the mirror of the Word, we are chained from glory unto glory, even by the Spirit of the Lord.
Where do I feed upon Christ? In the book. Where do I need him? In the Word. Where is he revealed? In the precious pages of this book. I behold. My wonderful Lord. Dr. G. Christian White went back to the Bible set on our campus this last week in a great, great missionary conference. He's had one of the greatest chapters, passages in all the Bible, as Luke twenty-four. As our Lord says that there, there in the Torah, there in the law, there in the Psalms, the writings, there in the prophets, all throughout the Old Testament, He explains the things concerning himself.
And it's through the Word, beloved, that the Spirit of God leads us to our daily fruit, that which strengthens us, that which enables us for conquest. So as the Lord puts the finishing touches upon the people of Israel, as they are now to move forward in conquest, he said, Wait a minute. I want a clear witness. Wait a minute. I want people who've learned to worship. Wait a minute. I want you to be gathered around the word that speaks of my Lord. Please be sanctuaries.
as you go forth. One final word. There's a difference between the crossing of the Red Sea and the crossing of the Jordan. The crossing of the Red Sea, you remember, was a means of the destruction of peril in his hopes. Symbolic of the world. symbolic of Satan, symbolic of sin, and the crossing of the Red Sea was victory over sin, over Satan, over the world, take glorious triumph over that which is negative.
Then the wilderness wanderings, you remember, for thirty-eight years. Now the new generation crosses Jordan into the land of Satan. The one negative, the other positive, the one separation from, the other separation unto, the one victory over sin, the other victory unto conquest, unto possession, unto entering into all God has put it. There are a lot of God's people, beloved, who are content to be able to say, we've got victory over sin in our lives.
We don't stand for this exumenical movement. We're against the evils of the day and the cult and take a stand against all its evil. And I stand with you tonight and say, thank God. That's about as far as they go. They just get through the Red Sea. And many of them are wandering, wandering, wandering in the woods. Say, there's a whole land of Canaan to conquer. There's a land to be possessed. There are spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ to claim in the name of Christ. There are souls to be saved. There are victories to be won. There are backsliders to be reclaimed into precious fellowship with our wonderful Lord.
There are neighbors to minister to. God's people who need a word of encouragement and season. There are defeats in our lives that need total victory. Ah, there's conquest. The Lord hasn't returned yet. the last sinner has not been converted. I'm still to go preach the gospel to every creature, to make disciples of all nations, to build his church. You see, it's the positive side to all this. I then am not to be content that I take a stand against what's wrong and against sin and let us stand there till Jesus Christ comes. Ah, but there are sinners to be saved, a church to be built.
to hear the shouts of the coming of our wonderful Lord. Tell me, are you involved in a positive witness for Christ? Tell me, are you conquering by the grace of God? Tell me, do you have a ministry by the grace of God to God's people and a ministry to a lost world needing Christ? Do you pray? Do you pray for your missionaries? Do you give sacrificially for the spread of the gospel around the world? Are you involved in personal witness and testimony? Are you going forward and confess for Jesus Christ by His grace and for His glory. Separation from Egypt? Yes. But as well, separation under King, under the will of God, under the place of blessing, under the place of conquest and victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.