Confidence for the Next Step | Judah Smith

We've uh we've done a collection of talks. I think this is part six um entitled the the other 3:16. And we've of course based it on what is um pretty sure the most famous verse in all the Bible which is John 3:16. It says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever whoever simply believes in him receives the free gift of forgiveness shall not perish but have everlasting life."

It is this verse that frames for us the essence of what we believe and the essence of what Jesus has done for us. And so in an effort to further understand what is called the gospel, we've looked at other 316s in the Bible that shed more light on what Jesus has done.

And I am so excited. I have been waiting to share with you from the book of Joshua. Right thousands of years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, there is this perfect, beautiful portrait of what he would do when he came to the planet. So we're going to go to Joshua chapter 3.

And you know what? Let's begin our reading in verse 14 if that's okay. I know that's not a 16, but we'll start in verse 14. It says, "So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water."

Now, parenthesis, the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest. And then verse 16, the the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away. This interesting language now very not just far away but very far away at Adam. That's interesting.

A town called Adam. And that that city is beside uh Zerithan. [snorts] I don't know if that's how you say it. And those, by the way, most scriptures just make up pronunciations like this in the Old Testament. And and so don't believe everything you hear. And those flowing down toward the sea of Arabah, the salt sea, were listen now, very far away and completely cut off.

And the people passed over opposite Jericho. Now the priests, verse 17, now the priest bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord [clears throat] stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan. And all Israel, all Israel, 2 and a2 million Jews, all Israel [clears throat] was passing over, excuse me, was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.

Wow, what a passage. Would you join me in prayer? Jesus, thank you so much for the moments we share um together around you and who you are and your story of grace and goodness. Lord, I pray a special blessing on every person who has decided to come to church on a sunny, beautiful Memorial Day weekend.

Lord, these people are serious about learning about you. And so, I pray that you would speak to us and bless us. Uh bless the Mariners. Help us to keep winning. Um uh bless all the other sports teams in the city that um I will get emails about because I have forgot to add them to the prayer and um be oh God be with the Seattle Seahawks in these offseason workouts in Jesus name.

And everyone said has it been kind of one of those weeks for you? It's amazing to me. I'm definitely the kind of person that believes like, man, I'm I'm generally like pretty like secure and pretty stable and steady and then like I don't know uh I don't get a parking spot at the mall and I'm like ah I'm just get like the littlest thing can just frustrate me and agitate me and that's embarrassing to admit.

But maybe you're here and it's been a rough week for a small thing. Maybe you're here it's been a rough week because you lost a loved one. Maybe you're here. It's been a rough week because you just um you just kind of keep waking up during the week agitated and and you don't even know why.

Ever had one of those days where you're like, I don't know why I'm bothered, but something's bothering me and I know I'm on edge. I know I'm frustrated. I know I'm agitated. I think one of the one of the amazing purpose and plans of God in our life is that we are to experience abundant life, right?

John 10:10. I'm sure you've heard of it. If not, let me quote it. I have it memorized. It's not a big deal. I'm a pastor. Um, but the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. But I came, Jesus said, talking about himself. I have come that you may have life and have it abundantly.

Have you had one of those weeks where it's like, yeah, John 10:10 is not real, man. like I that that can't be true because I don't feel like I'm living an abundant life. It's been kind of an interesting week for uh myself personally. A lot of um phone calls in one case of FaceTime with a friend in the hospital um battling dealing with with cancer and at the same time talking to a friend who was losing their their mother and and she indeed did pass.

And though my life in a lot of weeks is is filled with kind of the juxtaposition of people experiencing a newborn baby to people losing the the love of their life, it's kind of what what pastoring uh brings. And and I I welcome that. But but this has been just one of those weeks, one of those challenging weeks and one of those weeks where you look at your friend on FaceTime in the hospital and you go, "It's not supposed to be like this, man.

I'm sorry." and he's asking for scripture and I'm doing the best I can to give him scripture, but it's like this is uh this world is challenging. This world is is difficult and I don't want you to feel if you're here today and you say, "Man, I've had a pretty good week."

That's awesome. And God loves you and God has enabled you to have that week. So, there is no point in feeling sorry for a great week that that you've had. But I'm also aware that many of us in this room have had a a challenging week. In fact, maybe you're sitting here and you're like, "Jude, I wish it was a challenging week.

It's been a challenging year. It's been a challenging era. It's been a challenging season. Where do we find our confidence? Where do we find our security? Where do we find our steadiness? What is our true north in life?" that the these talks that we've put together, these sermons, these messages, kind of the the felt need that [clears throat] we've been addressing is that we live in such an unstable and unsure world.

This world by definition is subject to futility, the Bible says, which is to say it's not secure. Things happen outside of our control. If you're like me, every once in a while, every blue moon, I my my mind wanders to what if something happened to my children? and you kind of go, "Oh, I I no that that that can't happen."

It's it's such an unsure world. Where do we find our confidence? Where do we find our security? And I I mean no disrespect by this, but anybody can, you know, be confident and sure when all your ducks are in a row, so to speak, when everything is working out, when the sun is out, you and your spouse are getting along if you're married, your kids are being quiet.

Oh, dear God. You know, like we're talking optimal environment here. And it's it's utopia when the kids are are just quiet. You know, what a concept. Anybody can have a level of of shurness and and confidence and security. But but but have you ever met one of these people who in the midst of total calamity, loss, pain, brokenness, they still have a steadiness and a confidence?

There's a difference between just faking it and being someone whose waters are so deep and roots are so strong and trust in Jesus is so real that they are in fact the same. They are oh they're in pain. They're experiencing the pain of loss and brokenness and hurt.

But there is a stillness within them. There's a sure about them. There's a focus about them. Have you ever gone to uh comfort a friend like this and in the midst of their pain they end up comforting you? Ever had one of those experiences where like wait a minute I came over to your house to a comfort you why are you encouraging me?

It's an extraordinary person to run into. And I would like to suggest that I think that's part of God's plan for each and every one of us. That we would experience this depth of trust and profound reliance on Jesus that that actually transcends circumstances and situations. I believe we find our security and our confidence ultimately and truly and eternally in what Jesus has done.

Not in what we've done, not in what we have not done, but in what he has finished. and completed for you and for me. No matter what you're going through, I think we're always supposed to be able to say, "Jesus loves me. This I know. Bible tells me so.

I'm forgiven. I'm loved. I have a place in his family. And I will be with him for eternity." That's transcendent. that that that can overcome anything that you're facing in this life. I I've said this before. I I'll I'll be the pastor by your side praying for a raise, praying for you want a sports car, I'll pray with you for a sports car.

I got no problem with that. I don't think God is bothered by your desire for a sports car. But how many know sometimes a sports car and a raise can't even hurt, can't even help the hurt and the pain that we face in life? It would be almost insulting.

There are people in this room if I said, "Hey, you're not doing good. I'm going to buy you a new car." It would almost be insulting to say, "Do you think a new car is going to help what I'm going through?" There are those moments, aren't there, in life where the only thing that'll get you through.

The only thing that truly helps is not somebody saying sorry, not somebody saying, "Well, well, hey, brother. Well, it's it's sunny outside." The only thing that'll get you through is Jesus loves me. I'm forgiven. I'm his. And what I'm going through right now is not going to last forever.

And someday I'm gonna be home. And someday I'm gonna be in his arms. And someday he's going to wipe away all the tears. And someday in in the meantime, I can get through this day because I know who I am. I know who's I am. And I know that he loves me.

I'm forgiven. I'm righteous. That's okay. Okay. Okay. I can I can make it through another day. That's what we've been speaking to and that's what we've been leaning into. And it brings us to Joshua. And one of the reasons I love the book of Joshua, obviously there's so much that that that uh pictures of Jesus and what he's doing.

Even Joshua himself is a portrait of Jesus as a deliverer. But but really the whole book of Joshua is about God saying, "I keep my promises. I just keep my promises." And and I just had this thought the other day that that God is so um incredible. I'm reading the book of Joshua and and if you've ever read it, there's these moments where God like I'm doing this because I said this to to for instance Abraham.

Kind of the big idea in Joshua is that God made this promise to this guy named Abraham approximately 500 years before Joshua lived. 500 years. And and God making a promise to a human is very hard for us to understand cuz we're humans. So we think God's promises are a big deal.

But I want you to imagine for a moment the smallest of commitment and promise you've ever made in a a whimsical moment. It it it doesn't even compare to God making a promise to you. I'll give you an example. Um years ago when my boys were smaller, they would say, "Dad, will you be will you make a hoop?

We want to we want to shoot in the hoop. And so at at you know, I think I'm like 6'4. I can't remember. But um [clears throat] you know, at my height, it makes sense, but I'm conveniently sitting down. I was listed at 6'4 in high school though on the basketball team, and I think that's what counts.

So, you know, dads, you're out there, moms, you know, you make the hoop. And you know, over a few minutes, like, you know, the basketball hoop gets tired, you know, and I don't know, Chelsea's talking to me and I'm like, and all a sudden I hear, "DAD, DAD, YOU SAID YOU'D MAKE A HOOP."

And I'd be like, "All right, all right, relax, man. I did it for five minutes. It's a lot." "All right, all right, let's do it again." And over process a few minutes, I'd be talking or ESPN or whatever. I'd kind of drop the HOOP AND DAD, DAD, DAD, DAD, you said you would you would you would make a hoop.

Now, you think to yourself, it's not a big deal. Like, Judah, don't beat yourself up about, you know, dropping the hoop every once in a while. You know, it's just it's a simple little Is it a promise? Is it a commitment you made to your kids? Yeah, kind of.

But it's no big deal. Let me tell you something about God. It is to him. And I know this may sound silly, but when you ask God to make a hoop and he commits to it, he's going to be like this forever. I mean, and and you're going to be like, you're going to be like, "God, I it was years ago.

I just asked you to be a hoop." No. Well, I said yes. Yeah. But I mean, you can you you don't have to do the hoop thing anymore. I I told you I would. I'm true to my promise. But this is the God we worship. He is so serious about his promises.

And that's what I'm saying. When God makes a promise to you, you can count on it. And if this story tells us anything, GOD ALWAYS delivers on his promise. NO MATTER HOW SMALL it is, over and over, I SEE GOD LIKE THIS IN THE BIBLE, and I'm like, "What are you doing?

It's just IT WAS THE SMALLEST." But I said I would. >> But I said I would. And so if you're here today and you're wondering, is God going to keep his promise? Um, I'm looking at his body of work. I'm looking at his history and I CAN GUARANTEE, you can't guarantee a lot in this life, BUT I CAN GUARANTEE God will be like this for you. >> He's true to his promise.

Now, I think we all got to be honest for a second, though, about God keeping his promises. His timetable is a little different. Somebody's like, "Is he going to say that or we just going to move on? Are we just going to gloss over the fact that it was a A PROMISE GOD MADE 500 years before he fulfilled it?"

So, God has a little different schedule than you and me, right? He's the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That's a really like like like like fancy way of God saying like I'm I'm the God of generations, and one day is like a thousand years. in a thousand years like one day.

And so like I see things generationally. I see things like historically. So God can make a promise to you. Let's let's be clear about this. And and and and you might um pass away. But God will fulfill it in another generation or a generation after that. But he is always true to his promise. >> Always true to his promise. which is which by the WAY IS KIND OF crazy when you start to consider asking God for stuff because you be careful now.

You might be asking God for stuff and he might have given you a promise that he'll do it and uh your great grandkids might get a delivery. Your great grandkids might get a package from God and they're like how did this happen? I made a promise to your great-grandfather and now you get the promise.

I said this before and and the point is not my life, but my grandfather Lwood pastored a church in Tacoma where hundreds of people were and some things unfolded that weren't weren't exactly the healthiest and that church kind of evaporated. I I it is not lost on me that I'm standing here today probably up under some of the answered prayers of Grandpa Lwood and things he asked from God I didn't even ask for, but he asked for and God's like, I'm I'm a I'm a I'm a fulfill that one.

Um, but uh it'll be it'll be a few years. So, so it's kind of cool sometimes when you're talking to God to be like, "Lord, I'm going to ask so big that you have to deliver this a few generations down line, >> right? God is true to his promise."

He's so amazing. So amazing. Now, one of the aspects uh of this story that is very very important for us to understand here in in the book of Joshua is that this this whole uh uh uh wandering and traveling of the people of Israel is really a portrait and a picture of of humanity.

To to go back just for a moment to say God made he he talks to one guy named Abram. He'll later change his name to Abraham. But in this in this commitment, in this promise, he says, "I'm going to make you great. In fact, I'm going to create a nation and they're all going to come from your body.

They're going to come from your lineage and line." Now, if you remember the story, Abraham's like, "I don't even have a kid, and we are mad old. Like, we are so old. Sarah is not going to be able to have babies." And and God was like, "Yeah, man.

Like, when I say stuff like I'm going to go ahead and do it." So um they there's a delay. Welcome to following Jesus. There's a slight delay in the plans or according to Abraham and Sarah. So they take matters into their own hands. Abraham has a baby from another um woman and that um creates complication as you can imagine.

And um so then they have Isaac. Isaac. And Isaac is the beginning the small beginnings of God fulfilling his promise. Fast forward, some argue over 600 years, but we'll ballpark it at 500 years. And now Abraham has become two and a half million people. Abraham has now become Israel.

Abraham is 2 and a half million Jews walking around. But listen, God still has an aspect of the promise he hasn't fulfilled. And the aspect is they don't have their own property yet. They don't have their own land. AND GOD PROMISED TO Abraham that they would have their own land.

They'd have their own property. And they're still wandering around. Two and a half million wanderers. There's this guy Moses. He does a great job of leadership. I'm sure you've heard of him. He's now dead. By the way, it wasn't uh that long ago that Moses has finally put pen to paper and he's recorded for us, for instance, the book of Genesis.

So these 2 and a half million Jews have just received, if you will, the writings of Moses. So you can imagine the buzz, right? It always had been passed down verbally, but no one had ever put pen to paper. So that's kind of the space we're in right now.

Two and a half million wandering Jews. They've received the writings of Moses. They're learning about Adam. They're learning about Eve. They're learning about the garden. It's kind of like, wow, this is such a cool story. This is amazing. And now a new leader has stepped up. His name is Joshua.

By the time we read here, Joshua is probably approximately 80 years old. He's young and ready to roll. I was expecting a little amens in here. Come on, we're getting better with age. And um and God comes to Joshua and he goes, "It's time." Joshua's like, "What? Um I want to give you the property I promised."

It's like, "Okay, when are we going to do it?" He says, "Right now." Just tell everybody get ready. Tomorrow I'm going to work. I'm gonna to Tomorrow, Lord. Yeah. Tomorrow. Now, there's a little parenthesis we read a few minutes ago. Did you catch it? At this time, the Jordan overflows its banks.

Um, that's the way the writer would like to tell you this was a really bad time. This is not a good time. But now, think you want to understand God a little bit more. He he he um he's been waiting a long time to fulfill this promise. And if it like 500 years and the one day he chooses is the day where the Jordan River is out of control.

And his plan is the property I want to give the two and a half million Jews is right on the other side of the Jordan. So Joshua, tell everybody to to to get ready because we're going to cross over. Now some of you heard this story so many times it kind of becomes elevator music.

You're like, "Jordan, cross over, promised land." Got it. We can kind of check out check the ESPN app during service because I know this one. When Joshua had to deliver to two and a half million Jews, they were going to go over the Jordan River. I just want you to imagine for just a slight just second how many of those amazing, beautiful Jewish people were like, "I do not like the new guy.

It's not my guy. I miss Moses." Good thing Moses is dead or they would have definitely put him back into leadership 100%. God had to be like, "Mo, I got to take you cuz there's going to be this minute where everybody's going to want you back." Joshua is like, "THIS IS THE DAY GOD TOLD ME."

BY THE WAY, IF YOU'RE IN AN aky season of your life and you feel like things are overflowing and overwhelming, I'm just giving you a little hint about God. IT'S RIGHT ABOUT THAT TIME GOD WILL WORK a miracle in your life. I mean, IT'S JUST HIS TRACK RECORD.

HE HE KIND OF GETS A KICK OUT OF THE IMPOSSIBLE. >> I believe one of the reasons the banks are overflowing is God just wants his people to know and his people today to know. I specialize IN THE IMPOSSIBLE. I WAIT 500 YEARS AND I CHOOSE THE DAY that the banks are overflowing.

[snorts] So, I'm telling you, man, and this isn't just good sermonizing and preaching. I understand preachers are famous for preaching this stuff because it sounds good. Everybody, I'm telling you, this is ink on paper. This is how God works. >> In the the the worst season of your life, here comes a miracle.

Now, there's another thing at play here that I think we got to consider, and that is that it wasn't that long ago, God did a water miracle, too. Remember, he did the Red Sea thing. Remember? So, now remember in that miracle, God just did water walls. Water walls, right?

And then you can see the the the the whales swimming. At least that's what the prince of Egypt says. Okay. So, and God doesn't do water walls this time. Why? I don't know. Cuz he's God. By the way, if if you're looking for the same approach to your miracle, >> I'm telling you, God God will mix it up. >> You'll be like, "Lord, let's do the water walls again." and he's like, I'm I'm over that.

I'm going to do something else this time. And he does something completely different in this water crossing miracle. Why? That's that's God. We're getting little hints at who he is and how he likes to roll. And so, if you're like, "God, I want you to do like you do."

Yeah, but I'm going to do it a little different this time in your life. I think sometimes we miss miracles because um they got to look like the 80s or the '9s. And God's like, I'm I'm the same yesterday, today, and forever. But when I do the impossible, I often times do it differently.

That's that's what I do. And so he says to Joshua, he says, I I'm going to take I want you to take the box. I want you to take the ark, and I want the priests to uh go into the surging, swelling, overflowing river first. That was the worst day to be a pastor.

The worst. Right. These poor priests are like, "Man, I signed up to read the Torah, man. Like, I signed up to like be around Moses and how I got to I got to I'm going to die." You I mean, Joshua doesn't know. He's like, "I don't think so, man."

But I appreciate that. So, so remember the ark, the ark arc of the covenant, which is a sign of God's promises. The ark is made of wood, but covered in gold. The ark is clearly a type of Jesus. For the wood represents his humanity, the gold representing his divinity.

Jesus is fully God, fully man. So the ark really only finds its significance in Jesus. So the point here is very clear. Jesus will go first. And of course the Bible later will tell us he's the first fruits of many. He will suffer for us. He will defeat He'll go to hell first.

He will defeat death, hell, and the grave. He will be a first fruits. Which also tells me something about your journey in this life. If you are a Jesus follower, it guarantees he's always before you. >> He's always before you. SO THERE IS NOWHERE YOU WILL GO THAT HE HASN'T already been.

And so though you walk through THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH, YOU WILL FEAR no evil. FOR YOUR SHEPHERD, YOUR RABBI, YOUR MESSIAH, YOUR TEACHER IS walking right before you. And by the way, though he can change everything, he still empathizes with what you're going through. We prove that in the book in in I say the book of Lazarus.

We prove that in the story of Lazarus because Lazarus, his close dear friend and his older sisters, remember he gets there late. Lazarus is dead. Jesus knows in a matter of minutes he will RAISE LAZARUS FROM DEATH AND YET HE STILL SITS DOWN AND CRIES WITH Mary and Martha because that's how God works.

Now, if you're like me, we've run into a few Christians who in the midst of your pain will tell you, "Hey, hey, God's good. Just have some faith." I want you to know Jesus doesn't work like that. >> Jesus doesn't sit down with you and say, "Hey, you don't think I can fix this?

Why don't you stop crying and have some faith? It's that Jesus sits down and cries with you. How great is this God? He cries with you and then he says, "Now, Lazarus, get on up." Now, if I was Mary Martha, I'd be like, "Why were we crying?" And I think Jesus will say, "Because that emotion is still real and the pain is still real even though I'm going to change it. >> Even though I'm the answer to it."

No, he always goes before Jesus is always first. He's always first. What can give me confidence and security in this unstable world that Jesus is always first. And then it says when the priests stick their I look what it says as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan and the feet of the priest bearing the ark were dipped in the brink.

Like I think it's clear here. The scripture wants to know it would it was like it was like tippy toe. And you you know that's how those priests were carrying that arc. They're like all right. All right. All right. I'm going just relax. I'm do this. Oh, we good.

We good. All right. It says the Jordan flows banks through the time of har. And look at the next verse. And it says the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap approximately 20 miles away. At where? at Adam. At Adam, that's not a that's not that that that's not an accident.

At Adam, these people are reading a letter that Moses wrote and they're finding out for the first time, at least visibly, tangibly, they've maybe heard it verbally, that the first guy who ever lived was Adam. It's like it it and now they they won't know this immediately, but they're going to hear later as they walked, it probably took 20 plus days for two and a half million people.

It took a long, long time to cross over. This was a long process. But at some point, they're going TO HEAR. LOOK, I LOVE GOD. THEY'RE GOING TO hear that. IN CASE YOU DIDN'T KNOW, GOD CHOSE EXACTLY 20 MILES UP RIVER TO CUT OFF THE FLOOD THAT COULD DESTROY YOU, HE CUT IT OFF at Adam. >> I mean, YOU KNOW WHAT'S CRAZY?

LIKE, GOD IS SO CRAZY. HE MADE FISH IN THE SEA FOR HIMSELF THAT YOU AND I WILL NEVER SEE. LIKE GOD'S JUST I LOVE GOD FOR THAT. Like God's like nobody ever going to see him, BUT I AM. LIKE GOD DOES LITTLE STUFF JUST CUZ HE CAN AND HE WANTS TO AND IT PLEASES HIM.

And in this case, THE MESSAGE IS LOUD AND CLEAR AND WE'VE GOT TO PICK it up that when Jesus gets involved IN YOUR LIFE, THERE IS A STOPPAGE. IT IS COMPLETELY CUT OFF. THE FLOOD OF SHAME AND GUILT AND TEMPTATION AND ALL THESE THINGS THAT HAVE OVERWHELMED YOUR LIFE.

HE CUTS IT OFF ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE FIRST man who got us in this mess in the first place. And now we are a new man. Now I'm a new creation. And that's the story of the scripture. That's the whole story of the book. IT POINTS US TO THE FULFILLMENT of the ark.

FULLY GOD, FULLY MAN. His name is Jesus. And he steps in THE MIDDLE OF OUR FLOOD of wickedness AND SIN AND SELFISHNESS AND SHAME. AND HE CUTS IT OFF. Let me this says it says IT SAYS VERY far away completely cut off. Man, God is good. Why? All he had to say was far away.

All he had to say is cut off but very far away. Completely cut off. You ever heard preachers back in the day say as far as the east is from the west. So he has removed and separated my sins from me. That's real. He very far away. When God sees you, if you've put your faith in the savior in Jesus, he has no thoughts of your sins at all.

They're so far away. And I'm not just talking about the sins you already. I'm talking about the sins you about to do. God doesn't even Now listen listen God doesn't completely cut off stuff and let it leak. >> Grace doesn't leak. The gospel doesn't leak. You are not not most of your sins are forgiven.

Most of THE D OKAY ONLY THE STUFF GOD ONLY WORKS YOU KNOW IN BACK IN TIME. So there is no chance that God has forgiven you for your sins in 2024. You going to have to deal with those yourself. No listen to the language. It mirrors that of Jesus on the cross who says, "It is finished.

I've cut it off." By the way, you got right your brain has to go there. You see this swelling, surging, overwhelming river, which during this time could could be as wide as 20 miles. It could it's just this is a powerful river. It's not a creek. This is a river. you.

It's got to It's got to be a picture of how it feels sometimes subject to sin and temptation and selfishness and guilt and shame. Have you ever felt like you're just taken away by the current? Like, I just can't I can't do it anymore. And boy, growing up as a as a pastor's kid, you know, you just you're doing your best.

You feel like your whole life sometimes is fighting the current, right, of your friends and culture and stuff. when you're like and there were times as a young man just like man I I just can't I can't do this anymore and it feels like my whole life is counterculture against the current and I think growing up and learning more about Jesus and growing in knowledge of his grace and his goodness I realize it's those exact moments where you feel like the current is going to take you that you have to remember it has been completely cut off in relationship to your But I but I still feel the effects of it and the draw of it.

That's right. It'll lie to you. It'll lie to you. But where you get your confidence, your steadiness, and your security is to remember not what you've done, haven't done, about to do, did last summer, what it it what he's done. And the power to transcend and cross over sin, shame, guilt, all these things is only in the one who goes in first, Jesus.

And so our focus is not a river. Our focus is not ourselves. Our focus is not a a promised land. I'm telling you, our focus is a person. And when you put your focus, see, there was a moment in history where God spoke to these two and a half million Jews.

He said, "Keep your eyes on the ark cuz you've not been this way before." I'd like to remind you today, wherever you are in your journey, you keep your eyes on Jesus. Fully God, fully man. You've not been this way before, but all you do is you keep your eyes on Jesus.

And I'm telling you, you will walk over what has destroyed other people's lives. What I love about this story too is the the strong distinction that on this side of the Jordan, the two and a half million Jews live this way. On the other side of the Jordan, they're going to live a completely different way.

Cuz that's what Jesus does. He changes YOUR WHOLE EXISTENCE. HE DEFINES A new way to be human, a new way to actually be alive. See on this side of the Jordan, WHAT WHAT DEFINED THE journey for the Jews? Wandering, anxiety, fear. That was their WHOLE LIFE. AND GOD'S TRYING TO PAINT A PICTURE FOR US.

AND WHEN THE ARK GOES IN the flood, IT OPENS UP AND THEY CROSS OVER. AND ON THE OTHER SIDE, what defines their existence? They're home. They're secure. >> THEY GET PROPERTY. There going to be a few more miracles in the story, but ultimately the message to us is this is what Jesus does. >> Our life is NO LONGER DEFINED BY RANDOM wanderings and meanderings.

Our life is NO LONGER GOD DOES NOT AUTHOR CONFUSION. SO MY LIFE IS NO LONGER DEFINED BY CONFUSION. SIDE NOTE, MY LIFE IS NO LONGER defined by me having to take care of me and lead me AND UNDERSTAND me and and and be the CAPTAIN OF THE SHIP.

NO, NOW I GET TO STEP BACK. HE LEADS THE WAY AND I DISCOVER SECURITY AND CONFIDENCE and assurance. And if you're like me, MAN, I I HAD SOME MOMENTS LATELY WHERE I'M LIKE, GOD, THIS IS ON YOU, MAN. This one's on you. In fact, it's all on you.

I'm back here drafting off you. It's on you. Is this This is This what you want us to do? That's I'm blaming you for this one cuz you're the captain of the ship. And now I've gone from wandering and worrying and fear and insecurity and lack of confidence and belonging.

I've crossed over. And now I'm in a place of promise. I'm his. I'm loved. I got my own space. I I you you you can hate me. You cannot like me. You can But but Jesus loves me. He chose me and he brought me He brought me through.

He brought me through. I just think it's interesting that that that God wants us to know that the ground was dry, which by the way, that might be the craziest miracle in the whole story. The the worst part about this would have been mud, muck. I mean, they they they'd lose they they'd lose children.

They'd lose grown adults in that mud. But God wants you to know it was completely cut off, very far away, and the ground was dry. your sin is done. >> Look what it says in 1 John 4:17. It says in this scripture just blows me away. This is love perfected with us so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment.

Because as he is, so also are we in this world. No, I stand on dry ground. >> My righteousness is secure. Yeah, yesterday Chelse and I were praying. It's It's not a big deal. You know, we're very spiritual. We pray and stuff, but um I love pastors. Yesterday, I was reading all the gospels.

You know, you're like, "Oh, man." Um but we were praying and Chelsea said something so profound. She doesn't know that I'm quoting her prayer today, but she said, I know she wasn't doing it for me. She was just talking to God. And she says, "You know, Jesus, I with everything that's going on in the world, it seems weird that I'm asking you for this stuff from for more, but I just you told me to ask big, so I'm just going to" and she goes, "I know we don't deserve any of this, but I don't think that's the point.

You just want to bless us, and so I'm just gonna I'm gonna ask big." And I was like, "That is my girl." That's right. This ain't about what you deserve or what you Don't DON'T DON'T SPEND ANOTHER DAY FEELING guilty as if that'll do you any bit of good.

No. No. I'm on dry ground. >> Yeah. Well, that ground gets a little muddy once you start doing, you know, and you don't follow through. NO. THE GROUND DIDN'T GET DRY BY THE Jews wishing it to GET DRY. >> THE GROUND GOT DRY BECAUSE JESUS made it dry.

Jesus worked a MIRACLE AND SO HAS YOUR SINS and your condemnation and your guilt and your performancebased emotions. >> NO, I'M ON dry ground. [laughter] [gasps] Woo! THIS WORLD IS CRAZY, BUT I'M ON What is the ground that you stand on? It is the finished work of Jesus that he who knew no sin became sin so THAT I MIGHT BECOME THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD in Christ Jesus.

That's my dry ground. That's my dry ground. And and if you forgot that you crossed over, please hear me, Christian. If you forgot that you crossed over, let this be your weekly reminder. You've been crossed over. >> You've been crossed over. God already crossed you over. No, that there's nothing back there on that side of the Jordan for you.

You've been crossed over. This is a new life. We're not going back. LET'S STOP FOR A SECOND AND REMEMBER HOW DUMB IT WAS BACK THERE. ALL THE WANDERINGS AND WONDERINGS. WE THOUGHT WE WERE SO SMART. WE WERE DUMB. BUT we crossed over. But now the knowledge of his grace and his goodness and his mercy and gifted righteousness.

OH, IT'S A WHOLE NEW [screaming] WORLD. I'm not going back. No, he he he crossed me over. I love I I promise I'm I'm I'm done. But you got to see this. I think is it Psalms 114? I just This is I got a kick out of this verse.

Look at this. This is written about this story. What ails you, O sea, that you flee? Oh Jordan, that you turn back. I love I love the attitude in this verse because what's what's the writer saying? He's saying, "What happened to you, Red Sea? You look scared. What happened to you, Jordan?

You get scared and turn back?" I love this because it speaks of the confidence we're supposed to have towards sin and shame and guilt AND DEATH. OH, DEATH. WHERE IS YOUR STING? >> HEY, WHY YOU RUNNING, JORDAN? RED SEA, WHAT'S UP? ARE YOU SCARED? NO. NO. SIN, DEATH, TEMPTATION ARE NO MATCH FOR OUR CREATOR GOD, OUR CHAMPION, OUR KING, JESUS.

WHAT HAILS YOU, OC? WHY DID YOU TURN BACK, JORDAN? BECAUSE I HAD TO. It's finished. It's complete. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. AND HE HAS CONTROL OVER THE ELEMENTS AND EVERY ASPECT OF YOUR LIFE. And you are by definition forgiven. one moment of faith.

Whosoever, WHENEVER, WHEREVER, WHOEVER SIMPLY RECEIVES JESUS IS FORGIVEN FOREVER. YOU HAVE DRY GROUND. HIS PROMISES ARE SURE. AND THAT YOU CAN BANK ON AND HANG your hat on. >> That gives me security. That gives me confidence. And that ultimately is what I got to give my babies as they grow up.

I can't give them I can't I can't guarantee anything other than that. I love you and let me tell you about Jesus. But sometimes the adults need to remember too that no, I am who I am by the grace of God. And um the steps of a righteous man are ordered of the Lord.

That word ordered means established. They're firm. in in your next step. God's already there and he's laying it out so that you don't slip and that you are secure. There are some people the next step in your mind is very unsure and unclear. I text a pastor friend yesterday.

I said, "I know less today than I've ever known before." And I'm going to say something that I've been saying to our church, but something about Abraham's journey. know that verse where it says, "And he started out not knowing where he was going, but he was with God."

And I'm telling you, the faith journey that's ahead of church home, this is not a public announcement. I don't have anything in my mind. I'm not saying that we're going to Brazil. I do love Brazil, though. I'm down with going Brazil. But that if this is happening in your life, it's because we're connected as a community.

There are a lot of people in this room. I'm aware you are taking a step and you're not exactly sure where you're going, but that's part of God's plan for your life that you are to keep your eyes on Jesus. You've not been this way before. And something's happening to this church.

Something's happening to me. Something's happening to you. God is asking us to launch out into the deep and do what we've not done before. For there remains, I want you to think about it for a second. I promise I'm done. There remains billions that do not know the love of Jesus and the forgiveness of Jesus.

So no, we can't sit with truth in our lap and not carry it to the world. So we're going to step out and we're going to keep stepping out.