Ron Dunn Podcast - Preparing To Possess

Episode Date: August 24, 2022

Ron Dunn continues his sermon series Life Of Victory with a message on preparation

What I'm going to do, he said, now I want you to prepare. I want you to get ready for what God is going to do. And so tonight, as we continue studying the principles of possessing the land, the principles of living a life of spiritual fullness, I want us to think tonight about this principle of preparing to possess, the principle of preparation. Throughout all our lifetimes, it may be said that God is preparing us for what he wants us to be and for what he wants us to do. But when God is ready to

do a special work, an unusual work, a prophetic work in the life of his people. He always calls them to make preparation. And I repeat, I do not believe that God will work unhindered without measure in a people who have not prepared themselves to be used of God. I remember what Vance Havner said from this pulpit several years ago. He said, I hear people pray like this, Lord, use me. Lord, use me. He said, don't pray like that. Stop praying like that. He said, you just pray, Lord, make me usable. He said, if you get usable, the Lord will use you.

He said, you don't have to pray that the Lord will use you. You just have to get usable. And he said, he'll wear you out. And there's a principle there that is scripturally true, that it's not so much our sitting back and saying, Lord, use me, and Lord, do this, but it's a matter of our becoming usable, preparing our own hearts, preparing our own lives to do what God is going to do. Tremendous word that Joshua gives to the people. He said, you're going to pass over Jordan, and you're going to

possess the land. That must have sounded great. I especially like the way he says you're going to pass over Jordan and you're going to possess the land that must have sounded great I especially liked the way he says you're going to pass over it they certainly didn't want to pass through it but they had no idea how it's going to be done but they knew that God had said they would get on the other side somehow or another they were going to get on the other side and there are a lot of people that want to pass over the barriers. They're willing to let God take them over the obstacles. And they're very eager to possess the possessions and to enter into a land flowing with milk and honey.

But a lot of people want that, but they're not willing to prepare for it. To prepare for it. And Joshua says, before you can pass over Jordan and before you can possess the land, there's something you have to do. You have to prepare yourself. I was reading just this past week out of 1 Chronicles, I believe it's chapter 12 and verse 14. It may be 2 Chronicles, I can't recall which one it is, but it's one of those. But it's speaking of the king Rehoboam and the fact that he did evil in the sight of the Lord because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord. And I thought it was very interesting as I read of the account of Rehoboam's reign,

and I read of his ungodliness and how he forsook the law of God, how that when God came to just sum up his evil, he summed it up in a very unusual way. When he summed up the evil of this king, he did not sum it up by detailing all of his acts of rebellion. He simply said he did evil in that he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord. And that said something to me. That said that I may live what some may call a righteous life or a moral life, but if my heart is not constantly being prepared to seek the Lord, then as far as God is concerned, I'm doing evil in His sight. This matter of preparation is very important. And so I want us to look at this preparation.

And there are three ingredients that are involved in this preparation that we have in these verses that I've shared with you tonight. Here are the people standing on the brink of victory. And you'll remember that going into the land of Canaan symbolizes the believer walking in the fullness of blessings, walking in the fullness of Christ, walking in the fullness of Christ, possessing all that God intended him to possess. He's leaving now the wilderness of defeat and moving into the land of victory.

Now before they can move, God's ready. God's ready. But he says, first of all, there must be preparation. I'm just waiting for you to get in a situation, to get in a condition where we can move So three things that have to be prepared three things that are involved in this preparation number one and this struck me as interesting and

Mysterious when I first read and I'll have to be honest with you The reason that I've taken so long coming to this verse is because I knew there were more in it There's more in it than I understood. The first thing he said, you need a new diet, a new diet. He says, prepare your food. I thought, well, now, wait just a flood season, overflowing its banks, and we're here, and we're going to get over there, and we're to make preparation. What is it that we're to prepare? I would have thought he would have said prepare a bridge, at least if not a bridge, prepare a boat, but he didn't say that he said prepare bread you mean uh the thing that is most essential the top item on the list of priorities if i want to

move over jordan is to prepare some food some nourishment and i think what the god is saying to us in this and of course as you go back and study all of these scriptures you'll find what a great position nourishment has in the plan of god for his people the symbolical meaning of manna and the fact that god had constantly nourished his people with one diet after another and all throughout the wilderness they lived on manna they lived on manna and says, now I want you to prepare a new diet. Now it's a new diet. Before all they had to do was to go out and gather it up. But Joshua chapter 5 and verse 12 tells us that once they crossed over the boardings of Canaan, they never, they never again ate manna. That was the diet of a wilderness believer. And he says, I want you to prepare you some food.

You're going to move into new victory. What God is saying is that nourishment is the most important thing in moving into this life. Nourishment. The nourishment of your soul, the nourishment of your spirit is the most important thing. But the nature of this nourishment

is what is interesting. And if you'll go and study, if you'll find that when they got over into Canaan, they began to eat the fruit of this nourishment is what is interesting. And if you'll go and study it, you'll find that when they got over into Canaan, they began to eat the fruit of that land. They no longer ate any manna. Now, we've made really too big a deal out of this manna. Now, if you were out in the desert and you don't have anything else, manna's all right. But because of some poems and some hymns and some of our preaching, we've had

the idea that manna was strawberry shortcake or that manna was a juicy T-bone steak about medium rare with onion rings fried on top of it and a baked potato with cheese and chives and... Folks, that's not what manna was. You know what manna was? Manna was next to nothing. Manna was a coarse... Well, it's got three-day-old bread compared to our three-day-old bread.

It was a coarse, rough... It was the bare necessity. It was the bare necessity. Now, God provided for them. He sustained them, but he did not satisfy them. And while they were in the wilderness, they were living on manna. Now they're moving into a life of victory, a life of warfare, and the first thing God says you're going to need is a new diet.

Now I want to tell you something, and I want you to hear me very carefully. If you're going to move into victory, friend, you're not going to be able to live on the same diet you've been living on in the wilderness. A fellow lying on a sickbed doesn't need the nourishment that a soldier needs

to fight the battle day by day. And what you've been having in your time with God and the Word and your fellowship and your communion and the nourishment of your soul, it may have sustained you while you've been living in defeat and while you've been living in the victory, but I want to tell you something,

it'll not sustain you when you're in the land of Canaan. And you're not going to be able to get by in the land of victory what you've gotten by with while you've been living a nominal nominal christian life this is one of the hardest lessons i had to learn you know we all like to just get a big push once in a while and for many of us the christian life is like a soapbox derby where we get a big shove you ever have a soapbox service i know ward walk Walker is the type you can look at him and tell he's the type that would have a soapbox derby. I love soapbox derby.

And what all you need is a good hill and somebody to give you a big push and man you're flying. And you're just you're feeling so great and you're moving ahead. But you know what? You begin to slow down and go a little slower and a little slower and a little slower until finally you just stall. And there you are, moving nowhere. And I think that many of us have an experience with the Lord in a time of revival or a time of renewal. And it's like God giving us a big push.

And we just move on the impetus of that experience. We're just catapulted by the power of that experience, and yet we don't measure up in our time with the Lord. I remember that I discovered that I had been trying to get by on the same amount of time with God, the same amount of time in this Word, I had been trying to get by on that same amount of time after I've entered the land of Canaan that I got by with when I was in the wilderness and you just won't it won't go I'm convinced

this is to stay in they always retreat and always fall back and it is because they have not they have not prepared themselves and you die and i'll just tell you this much the bible says to whom much is given i'll just tell you to stay in they always retreat and always fall back and it is because they have not they have not prepared themselves and you die and i'll just tell you this much. The Bible says to whom much is given, much is required. And the more God gives you, the more God shows you, the more

revelation that floods your soul, the more light from heaven that you receive, the more God is going to require of you. And your diet is going to have to be updated. And the same kind

of spiritual food you had, the same amount of little fiddling time you spent in the word and prayer, in the wilderness, will not suffice when you cross over and get into the land of victory. That's the first thing. Prepare for that. Prepare for that. And I'd be willing to say tonight,

if there are any who are contemplating crossing over Jordan and seeing what it's like to live in the fullness of Christ, if you're contemplating that, I think I just ought to tell you, if you're not willing, if you're not willing to update your diet and nourish your soul as it needs to be nourished with the Word and with prayer and with the communion of God,

then you may as well stay where you are because you'll never survive. You'll never survive over there because there's warfare over there. There's warfare over there. You're going to have to have the nourishment of a soldier. So the first preparation is a new diet. Now the second part of preparation is even more surprising. A new delay. A new delay. He says in verse 11, Pass to the host and command the people, saying, Prepare you provisions, for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan. In three days ye shall pass over this Jordan.

A new delay. They had been delayed for 40 years. By the way, did you know that the day they did finally enter into the land of Canaan, it was 40 years to the very day that they passed through the Red Sea? The day they passed through the Jordan River was the 10th day of the month, the very day of the very month that 40 years previously they had passed to the Red Sea. Here they've been waiting for nearly 40 years. They had been delayed. And now Moses is dead.

The last barrier is out of the way. Joshua has been commissioned. The people are here. They're ready to go. And God says, now wait three days, three days, three days before you go over. You know, God never gets in a hurry. I keep telling God what time it is.

I keep telling God how old I'm getting. I keep telling God how little time there is left. I keep telling God how impatient I am and how anxious I am. You know, we live in an instant coffee age. We want everything immediately. And this is one of the curse of credit cards. We can have everything we want without the joy of anticipation. One of the greatest joys that you have is the joy of anticipation, longing for it, looking for it. We don't have that today. We want everything right now. And yet I'm finding that God is never in a hurry. Those things that I want God to do, oh, there's some things I want

God to do. There's some things I want God to do. There's some prayers I want God to hurry up and answer. And I plead with him and bargain with him and beg him and I play on his sympathy and I try to do everything I know. And yet God is unmoved and unmovable. God never gets in a hurry. And just that moment when you think, man, I'm ready to go, God says, I want you to wait for three days. Now, in studying this, I kept asking myself, Lord, why? Why?

I know this. God never wastes time. And when God says, I want you to sit down and wait for three days, there's a reason. I think I know why. I think, first of all, this period of waiting was a time of observation. It was a time of observation.

Chapter 3 tells us that they camped by the Jordan River. And it puts a little parenthetical phrase in there that Jordan overflowed her banks all the season. That's cruel. Making those folks sit there for three days watching that Jordan. What was God doing? God was trying to impress upon them the impossibility of the task. For three days they sit there encamped by Jordan.

Joshua's word ringing in their ears, you're going to go over Jordan, but nobody's building the bridge. Nobody's building a boat. And yet you're going to go over this Jordan. And for three days they sit there and they watch that Jordan River as it overflows their banks. You know what God does with me? He sets me down beside my Jordan and says, now I want you to watch it. Just observe it.

Just look at it. And the longer I look at it, the more impossible the task seems and the more desperate the situation becomes. And when finally I am convinced that apart from God there is no possibility of this thing ever being solved. God says, I believe you're just about ready.

Those times of delay are times of observation. What is your Jordan? Can you think of a Jordan tonight? Can you think of something in your life, something in your realm of influence, something in your realm of living that is like a Jordan River that's overflowing its banks, and victory for you would be on the other side.

You say, oh, Lord, if I could just get on the other side, if I could just get this river behind me, oh, if I could just ever get this problem behind me, God, I'm ready. I'm prayed up. I've done everything I know to do, and God says, just sit there. And you keep looking. And you keep watching. And you keep watching. You see, when they got on the other side, we'll get to that later on.

When they got on the other side, they erected a monument. And they put the stones there. Why? Because God had done it. God had done it. It's a time of observation. I want to tell you something. Sometimes God will just sit you down in front of that problem,

let you watch it just roll before your eyes until it becomes an impossibility. But not only that, it's also a time of confirmation. A time of confirmation. In the second chapter, you have an unusual incident. I'm surprised they sent out spies again. Forty years previously, when they came to Cetus Barnea, Moses sent out twelve spies. This time, Joshua sends out two. This time, when the spies come back, they make the report privately to Joshua. They've learned something. Previously, the twelve spies came back and just blurted out their report to the whole congregation,

and those folks weren't mature enough to take it. Paul says, we speak wisdom to those that are what? Mature. To those that are perfect. Joshua had enough sense to know that if the report was bad, don't tell the whole congregation about it. They'll not be able to take it. And so the spies went out.

But I want you to notice something. God, for three days they waited while the spies went into the land, spied out the land. What was God doing? It was a time of confirmation. They meet up with Rahab. Notice what she says in verse 9. And she said unto the men,

I know that the Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt and what you did under the two kings of the Amorites and so forth, so forth. No spies as they listened to one of the enemy and the enemy is already convinced they're defeated.

God confirming their faith. And so in verse 23, it says, So the two men returned and descended from the mountain and passed over and came to Joshua the son of Nun and told him all things that befell them. And listen to this. And they said unto Joshua, notice the first word, truly. They've underlined it now. Now there's an amen. Truly, the Lord hath delivered into our hands all the land, for even all the inhabitants of the country

do faint because of us. That time of waiting was a time of confirmation. And I tell you something, you'll just keep your eyes open and your ears open and you'll listen to God during those times of waiting. God will give you one evidence after another of his faithfulness, of his faithfulness. But there's one other thing, and I think this is very important and very tragic. Not only was this new delay a time of confirmation and a time of observation, it was also a time of confirmation and a time of observation. It was also a time of separation. Have you wondered about this strange incident beginning in verse 12 and going to the end of the chapter

where Joshua singles out the tribe of Reuben and the tribe of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh? If you'll go back to Numbers chapter 32, you'll find their story. After Moses had come to the eastern side of Jordan, now they're still in the wilderness, they're on the east of Jordan, and he has conquered this far the tribes of Gad and Reuben and half the tribe of Manasseh. They look at that land, and it's fertile land, it's good-looking land, and they say, The tribes of Gad and Reuben and half the tribe of Manasseh, they look at that land, and it's fertile land, it's good-looking land, and they say, listen, Moses, we don't want to go on over to Canaan.

We don't want to have to go on over and cross Jordan. We don't want to wait on what God has for us. Moses, let us have this land. It's still in the wilderness now. It's almost out, but it's still in. About as close as you could get to Canaan without getting in on the east side of Jordan. And it was a good land. And they said, we're a rich people. We have a lot of cattle. We don't need anything else. We have all that we need right here in the wilderness. Let us just stay here. Moses got angry. He said, oh, you mean you'll let your brothers go on and fight the land? They said, no, tell you what we'll do. If you will let us stay here, if you'll let us possess this land, if you'll not make us go on over into Jordan, we promise you that when the

time comes that the people cross over the Jordan River, we'll go with them and we'll fight. And once they've subdued the city of Jericho, we'll come back. We promise we'll do our share, we'll support the program, we'll do the fighting, we'll send our warriors if you'll just let us stay right here. And what's happening in verses 12 and 18 is that Joshua is confirming their choice. He is confirming their choice. It was a time of separation. The people that wanted to have all that God had for them,

who wanted all the possessions that God, by the blood of that slain lamb on the Passover night, had purchased for them, they were going on over. But those who were satisfied, those who had all they wanted, those who were content to dwell on the east side of Jordan, there was a time of separation. You know, when they asked Moses if they could do that,

Moses had no choice but to let them do it because God lets a man choose where he'll live and how he will live his Christian experience. And God may provide you everything in Christ. There may be stretching before you tonight a land and a life of victory, but God will allow you to choose the level of your Christian experience. And if you think that living in the wilderness and staying on this side of Jordan satisfies you, God will let you stay right where you are.

You know, as I thought about this, and I was studying again this afternoon, I thought, now, I want you to get this picture. I thought, here they are. They're willing to go in with the rest of the people, and they will fight. They will stand side by side. As a matter of fact, they went in first, and they'll do their share of the fighting. But when the fight's over, they'll come back to the wilderness. I thought, Lord, I've got church members just like that. You know, there are people in this church, they'll do anything you ask them to do. We have revival, they'll support it. They'll give to the white Christmas offering next Sunday. I'll tell you,

they're right there. They're right there. They'll help with the building program. They'll give to the building program. They'll support a revival. They'll be right with you. They'll help with the building program. They'll give to the building program. They'll support a revival. They'll be right with you. They'll support the program. But when it's over, they go back and live in the wilderness. Some of you here tonight, you're supporting the program. And you gave your offering today, and you're here tonight.

It's Sunday night. This is the Lord's day. Your place is to be found right here in the house of God, and you're here tonight. It's Sunday night. This is the Lord's day. Your place is to be found right here in the house of God, and you're here, but when you walk out this door, when it's over, you'll go back and dwell on the east side of Jordan.

It's a mystery to me. You support. You're faithful. But in your heart, in your life, you've never, you've never died to yourself. You've never enthroned Christ as Lord.

You've never moved into victory. If you'll read in 1 Chronicles chapter 5, the last verse, you'll find that these folks were the first ones captured when the Assyrians attacked. They went down in defeat. They were carried off into captivity and they never and they never returned and when the time of real spiritual struggle comes and when the enemy comes in those who go down in defeat first

will be those who have supported the program of the church and have been faithful to all the ceremonies of the church but they have always lived on the east side of Jordan. They've never, they've never moved into this. They'll go down first in defeat. And so this time of delay was a time of separation. All right, one last thing. Not only a new diet, not only a new delay,

but there had to be a new dedication before they could enter in. In the fifth verse of chapter 3, And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. They had last heard those words in Exodus chapter 19 as Moses came to them and said, I'm going up, God's going to come down, and he's going to speak the words of

the law. Sanctify yourselves. Get ready. Get ready. That was an old dedication. They had long since, they had long since been unfaithful to that dedication. Now Joshua comes and he says, I want you to dedicate yourselves. Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. I never read those words without thinking what tremendous expectation the Lord will do wonders. The Lord will do wonders among you. What a message of hope that would be for you tonight if God were to come to you and say,

listen, tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. But first of all, you're going to have to sanctify yourself. A new dedication, a new dedication. This word sanctify literally means to purify. It involves making yourself holy. Now, there is a sense in which God sanctifies us, but there's a sense in which we say amen to what God has done. And there are two commands in the Bible run parallel. One is the fact that God himself sanctifies us, and there's another one that tells us to sanctify ourselves. This is something we have to do. It means that we are to set ourselves apart unto holiness. Set ourselves apart unto holiness. As I did some research on this process of purification, this sanctification,

I discovered that there were two very important elements in it. When Moses and Joshua, throughout the Old Testament economy, when there was a time of purification or a time of setting apart to holiness, it involved two basic things. I think you'll be surprised at what they are. Number one, there had to be marital abstinence.

Husband and wife could not live together as husband and wife. Now, not that there's anything wrong, but it was symbolizing something. What? It was symbolizing holiness in the personal, private life. And during the process of sanctification, of dedication, husband and wife did not live as husband and wife. Holiness in the most personal and private affairs of life. I'd like to ask you tonight

if there is holiness in your private life, in your personal life. You sit here and you look to me to be holy. I stand before you and I may give the appearance of being a separated, dedicated, holy person. But that's not what counts. That's not what counts. How are you in your personal life, in your private life,

where no one but God sees you, where no one but God knows you? I'm not asking you the kind of life you live before your pastor or your parents or your children or your husband or wife, but what kind of life do you live before God? Is there holiness in your private life? Is there holiness in your personal life?

And I doubt seriously that there's not a one of us tonight that would flee from any exposure of our personal life where nobody knows us but God. I thank the Lord every day that He's not given to gossip, that He is a God who keeps to Himself what He knows. But I know this, that when God really gets down to business

and I really get down to business with God and He begins to deal with me and He's saying, I want to show you a wonder, I want to do wonders among you, I know that God gets right down to the very personal and private aspect of my life and demands holiness in the private and personal life. The other thing they were supposed to do,

not only this miracle abstinence, but they were supposed to wash their clothes, wash the garments. This spoke of holiness in the public life. They were to be seen wearing clean clothes. And when people observed them, they were to observe a man with clean clothes. Holiness in the public life. They were to walk through the camp of the people with clean clothes, not a spot on them. Is that true of you? Is that true of you? I take my heart's burdened tonight in a way that it hasn't been in a long time there have been so many things happening

all that's been going on nationally and politically and economically and I've spent more time before the Lord about these things than ever have in my life I feel that God is trying to say something to us. I feel that God is trying to say something to us. I think that the church of Jesus Christ today is being presented with one of its greatest opportunities. I think what God is trying to say through all of the political mess and all the economic confusion and all of the

galloping pornography in our country. I think what God is trying to say to the church of Jesus Christ, listen, get holy, sanctify yourselves. I want to show wonders among you. And if there's one call, I'm convinced that God has been making some own life, and one call that God is making to our lives in Private and public it is a call to holiness And we may as well admit it we're being brainwashed by the televised bubble of the devil Things that you and I would have been disgusted at five years ago we accept today is commonplace And it happens without even knowing it it's like that old old joke of boiling a

frog without him knowing it just turning the water up to heat up just a bit at a time a degree at a time and pretty soon you can boil him and he'll never know it you know what the devil's been doing? He's corrupted us without our ever knowing it. One day we wake up and we realize how far we are from God. I am amazed and appalled tonight in my own heart how far we are from the holiness of God. Busyness is not holiness. Activity is not holiness. Success is not holiness. Activity is not holiness. Success is not holiness.

You want the Lord to do wonders among us? He says, sanctify yourselves. If we're wondering why God's not doing wonders among us, we might ought to look and see if we have given ourselves the holiness. God leads and blesses a prepared people. God comes and acts on the behalf of a prepared people. And that preparation, most of all, more than anything else, involves a new dedication. Holiness in the private life.

Holiness in the public life. Are you prepared? God's ready to lead you in. Are you prepared? Let's pray together. The Ron Dunn Podcast is available only for personal edification, not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web, or resold without prior written consent. It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church.

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