THREE DAYS' WALK INTO THE PROMISED LAND

November 17, 2002 am
MF Blume



I am continuing today from last Sunday morning's message about entering the Spiritual Promised Land of Blessings.



Exodus 12:25 And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the LORD will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service.

Deuteronomy 6:3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.

Joshua 1:3 Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.

Joshua 1: 9-11 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. (10) Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, (11) Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare you victuals; for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the LORD your God giveth you to possess it.

Ephesians 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

Ephesians 3:6 That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:

Ephesians 6:10-13 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. (11) Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. (12) For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (13) Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Ephesians 6:15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;


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Ephesians is the spiritual version of JOSHUA.

Last week we spoke about the First chapter of Joshua.

I want to continue with more truths about this story that apply to us as Christians.

Notice that God told Joshua the land was his to give as an inheritance to Israel.

* Then Joshua responded and told the people they will pass over into
the land within THREE DAYS.
* And Paul told the Ephesians, they have an inheritance in heavenly
places.
* And there are enemies to fight in those heavenly places.
* Put be encouraged, put on armour to fight, and PUT ON YOUR FEET
THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL.

I want to stress this point of the footwear.

* Shoes help us walk.
* The Bible speaks of God's will for us to "WALK BY FAITH".

As God told Israel to land his foot on all God gave them, and told Joshua the same thing, we also land our foot on THE PROMISES OF GOD.

Deuteronomy 11:24 Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be.

Our land as Christians is also a PROMISED LAND.

* God's promises to Israel were mostly physical blessings.
* We have SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS (Eph 1:4).

Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

And we need to STAND ON THESE PROMISES.

* If its a land of PROMISE, then we need to STAND ON PROMISES.

We do that BY FAITH.

When you can "STAND" by faith on something God has promised, then it is your's.

By "standing by faith", I mean being convinced it is your's to the extent that you demand hell to let go of whatever it is, in bold challenge, knowing God is with you, and you're not afraid of the devil for one iota.

You stand by faith also in not giving up hope for it if it takes some time to gain it.

* We have to believe God for things that sometimes He does not give
to us on the spot.
* And if we know He promised it, but we did not get it as soon as we
asked, then faith tells us it just is not time, for some reason
(by faith), but we thank Him that IT WILL COME.
* You cannot think that positively unless you really believe that if
God says it's for you then it's for you, and have faith.

Paul told the church at Ephesus in the book of EPHESIANS to fight for their inheritance in the SPIRIT, and put on armour, among which was spiritual SHOES that he called "the preparation of the Gospel of peace."

Ephesians 6:10-13 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. (11) Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. (12) For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (13) Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Ephesians 6:15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

The shoes are special.

* The stress in verse 13 is to STAND.
* The Sword is the Word, and the Shield is faith, but the shoes with
which we stand strong are the GOSPEL.

So the footwear is the preparation of the Gospel of peace.

* The GOSPEL is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus to save
our souls.
* And if that is OUR FOOTWEAR then it is trying to tell us that WE
WALK AS THOUGH WE DIED, WERE BURIED AND RESURRECTED.
* We made PEACE WITH GOD by being saved, since mankind is in war
with God until he gets saved.
* So it is FAITH that we walk as though we really were crucified,
buried and risen with Jesus.
* And that is the only way to have God with us.

Being strong in the context of Joshua and Ephesians is speaking about FAITH.

* Resolute.
* Confident.
* Without worry.
* Holding yourslef up and not being discouraged easily.

If God stressed the need for JOSHUA TO BE STRONG, then what does that tell you about how important it is for us to have faith.

Matthew 21:21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.

You cannot expect to have God with you to defeat enemies greater than you if you will not obey His gospel.

* And this is not some mental assent and agreement to the Gospel
that it is true.
* I am talking about WALKING THIS GOSPEL.
* Experiencing it and living like it.
* TALK THE TALK, AND WALK THE WALK.

1 John 2:4-6 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. (5) But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. (6) He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

Keeping his commandments is associated with not just saying we abide in Christ, but actually walking the way Jesus did.

Take this a "step" further, and realize we actually do WALK IN NEWNESS OF LIFE as Jesus did by BELIEVING we actually were crucified, buried and risen with Him.

Romans 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

If you are going to enjoy the PROMISED LAND, you have to ENTER INTO IT, POSSESS and then DWELL IN IT.

And that means USE YOUR FEET.

WALK IT!

2 Corinthians 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

Its not physically seeing something, but rather FAITHFULLY understanding and believing something.

The two books Joshua and Ephesians are parallel to one another.

* Joshua shows the physical inheritance, the land of Canaan, that
Israel was given to enter and enjoy.
* Ephesians speaks of the spiritual inheritance Christians are
supposed to enter into and enjoy.

God first spoke of the land of Canaan to Abraham.

Genesis 12:7 And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.

Genesis 13:14-17 And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: (15) For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. (16) And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. (17) Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.

Abram stood on the land and was told to see the length and breadth of it.

The Bible calls the people of the church the children of Abraham if we have the faith of Abraham.

Romans 4:11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also: Romans 4:12 And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.

Whereas the natural seed of Abraham were God's chosen people and entered the land of Canaan, the spiritual seed is made up of Believers who have faith.

* And we move into the spiritual realm of heavenly places.
* Our inheritance is spiritual.
* It's power.
* And its riches of glory that we cannot even fathom in this life
right now.
* But there is a whole lot more to this life then living and dying
so we can get to heaven.
* There's power now, also

Abraham was told to walk through the length and breadth of the land to see what the inheritance for his seed would be.

Paul wrote:

Ephesians 3:16-19 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; (17) That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, (18) May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; (19) And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

We need to see the length, breadth, height and depth of this spiritual land.