Spiritual Preparation

Good to be with the Saints here again in Garnavillo. Thanks for the privilege to come and be with you for the weekend and to labor with our brothers Stephen and Brody, and it has been our exercise and our prayer for many months that this conference would be a conference that would change me. I can't pray for you, I do pray for you, but if we come to this conference looking for help for the other guy, we might go away disappointed.

But if we come listening to what God would have to say to us, we will go away with something from the Lord. So we're glad you're here. We're going to read in the book of Joshua in chapter 3. For this conference to take place, there must be very much preparation, and having been with the Saints here in Garnavillo, I can only assume that as soon as the conference ended last year, you began to prepare for this year.

I can imagine there was notes that were taken, and any changes that might have needed to be addressed would be addressed, and everything is because you are organizers here. You get it done. You do it well.

But when it comes to the conference and the preparation for the accommodations of the conference, there are many things that needed to take place. There needed to be the security of this building. There needed to be the cleaning of the building.

There needed to be an audio system set up. There needed to be chairs set in order, and all these things are all part of preparation. But what I'd like to begin this conference with is spiritual preparation.

How much effort went into my studies and my brethren's studies for preparation, but more than that, how much preparation have you put in to this conference spiritually? I'm not talking about the expense of it and the organization of it. I'm talking about the heart's desire to be ready for this conference spiritually. There is preparation that is needed.

I've been reading through Joshua this slowly here the last couple weeks. I'd like to take two readings from this book in chapter 3, and we're going to read again in chapter 7. Joshua, excuse me, chapter 3, and we're going to break in at verse number 5. Now the children of Israel are about to cross the river Jordan, and Joshua says unto the people, sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. And Joshua spake unto the priest saying, take up the ark of the covenant and pass over before the people.

And they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people. 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. And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant saying, when ye are come to the brink of the water Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan.

And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, come hither and hear the words of the Lord your king. And Joshua said, hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Hivite and the Perizzite and the Girgashite and the Amorite and the Jebusite. Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passes over before you into Jordan.

Now therefore take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every man a tribe, and it shall come to pass as soon as the souls of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, that the Lord of all the earth shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from waters that come down from above, and they shall stand upon and heap. And it came to pass when the people were removed from their tents to pass over Jordan, that the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and as they that bear the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bear the ark were dipped in the brim of the water. For Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest, that the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon a heap very far from the city Adam that is beside Zarethan.

Chapter seven, please. Chapter seven, verse one. Joshua chapter seven, verse number one.

And but the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing. For Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdai, the son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel. And you know the story how they went to Ai and they lost to the small army of Ai, verse six.

And Joshua rent his clothes and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the even tide. He and the elders of Israel and put dust upon their heads. And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us? Would to God we had been content and dwelt on the other side, Jordan.

O Lord, what shall I say when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it and shall environ us round and cut off our name from the earth. And what wilt thou do unto thy great name? And the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up. Wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? Israel hath sinned and they have also transgressed my covenant, which I commanded them.

For they have even taken of the accursed thing and have also stolen and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. Therefore, the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies. Because they were accursed, neither will I be with you anymore, except to destroy the accursed from among you up.

Sanctify the people and say, Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow. For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel, thou canst not stand before thy enemies until you take away the accursed thing from you. And you know the story, how that they were brought by tribe and by family and so on, and it was found out.

Lord have blessed to us the reading of his precious word. Preparation. Would have been a marvelous day for Joshua and Caleb especially, having lingered and wandered in the wilderness for 40 years until their companions of opposite mind, but of like age, perished in the wilderness.

And those that came back with the evil report, you remember. And now the time has come when they're about to go into the promised land. If you were a young person in that day, under the age of 20, and you had wandered in the wilderness, and you would have heard the older ones tell the great story of the exodus out of Egypt, how the redemption there in Exodus 12 and 13, and how they would come out and they would be at the Red Sea, and you would hear the story.

If you were, if you were anything like me, I would be on the edge of my seat, you know, waiting for grandpa or dad to tell me the story. Tell it to me again. How the, how that Pharaoh was behind them, and the sea was in front of them, and they come there, and the cloud protected them, and the fire by night, and then they went around, went across on dry ground.

Would have been thrilling to hear those stories. And by the way, brethren, you older ones especially, keep telling us the stories of God working in your life. They're thrilling.

They're thrilling. Now tell us about the good old days. Tell us about the tent meetings where dozens were saved.

Tell us about those things, because right, frankly, our young people here today, they don't understand what normal is. Those that are under the age of 30, under the age of 20, tell us how God used to work, and those of us that labor and see the providence of God, let us tell God's people that God is still among his people. Can you imagine? The water parted, and now they come to the point where they're about to cross Jordan, and God tells Joshua to tell the people to prepare.

Prepare. Prepare. Why? Because God's presence is going to be absolutely real again.

Oh, God was with them through the wilderness. But he says this, when the soles of the feet of those preached priests touch the water, the waters are going to part. I cannot help but put myself in this story, and there they go, and the soles of the feet of those priests touch the water, and apart the water goes, just like the Red Sea.

What is the new generation going to say? This is God. The same God that they told us about. The same God that did the miracle there at the Red Sea is the God that is with us.

That would be thrilling. It would be thrilling. Joshua tells the people to prepare, because God is going to work a wonder tomorrow.

Now, don't be smart and say tomorrow never comes. We say that in the gospel, don't we? Oh, don't wait until tomorrow, because tomorrow never comes. But Joshua was telling them the very next day that they needed to be prepared.

He says, sanctify yourself. And sanctify means to be clean. It means to be purified.

It means to be holy. It means to be dedicated. And God's message through Joshua was just simple.

Prepare for blessing. Prepare for the wonders of God. Why was it that they must be clean? Why would it be that they must be purified and dedicated? Because it was of utmost importance to God that his people would be living in obedience, that his people would be relying entirely upon him, and that they would examine themselves and they would sanctify themselves.

And if there was something in their thinking that it might be taken care of, if there was something in their life that it might be forsaken, because God takes his presence among mankind very seriously. Sometimes I'm afraid that we don't take it as serious as God does. I know we don't.

When we come together in assembly capacity, the Lord is in our midst. He is in our midst. And before we come and we come into the Lord's presence, do we not for blessing? We come together around the Lord Jesus to feel and to understand afresh and to really experience the presence of the Lord among us.

And you know when the Lord is among us, don't you? And you can sense when the Spirit of God is working in the worship meeting, and they're just absolutely wonderful, and he braids the whole thing, and he orchestrates the whole thing, and the worship just seems to crescendo until the breaking of bread seems to peak sometimes. And you go away and you just say to yourself, the Lord was in this place. And then there's other times that we go, and it's flat, and it's dead.

What makes the difference? Has God changed? No, God has not changed. You know that. Could it be that we haven't sanctified ourselves, and we're coming into the gathering in the presence of the Lord, and we're not prepared for a blessing? As we preach the gospel, we try to preach the gospel from time to time, I often wonder, is my heart right? And I know that God saves and God works to spite men, and it's a good thing.

It's a good thing. But as we approach this weekend, are we prepared for a blessing? They would have been expecting something wondrous from God, because that's what Joshua said, that the Lord is going to work wonders among you tomorrow. And I can see that they, almost as if I was standing there in the banks as a little boy, and the priest sets foot, and the sole of their feet touch the water.

They had to move by faith, you know. They had to take the step. And then just like that, the waters abate, the fountains from above are stopped.

What would that mean to you? What would that mean to you? Would it be a scary thing? Would it be an intimidating thing? Oh, it would be intimidating to know and to see. It would be a humbling thing that God is among us again, that God is for us, and that God now is working, and he's fulfilling his promises, just as he said. Always remember that it is a faithfulness of God to himself.

God is always faithful to his promise. He is always faithful to himself. And so they were preparing for a blessing.

They were to make themselves clean. And how do we do that today? Well, we read that we're made clean by the word of God. The Lord Jesus said, sanctify them through thy truth.

Thy word is truth. And we read in Ephesians chapter 5 that Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the word. And so the word of God cleanses us.

We pour it into ourselves, and God is faithful to speak to us and to show us if there's an issue in our life. And if you go through Samuel, there was the people there, and the Ark of the Covenant was gone for 20 years. And they started to lament the fact that the Ark was gone.

And there was repentance in their heart. And there was a turning, and Samuel says, if you're serious, get rid of the idols. Clean the house of God.

Get rid of the idols if you're serious. You know, do we from time to time, we have to get rid of the idols, don't we? God will not share his glory with false gods. God gets all the glory.

And from time to time, we search our hearts, and we have to rid our hearts of these idols, things that are taking up our time. They're taking up our thoughts. They're taking up our attention.

They're taking up our energies. They're taking up our efforts. And sometimes we have to say, that's gotta go.

That's gotta go. And so I trust that as we approach this weekend, that we all are prepared to prepare for the blessing of God. Is there anything specific that you're looking for in this conference? Did you come here to hear the voice of God? That's a preparation of attitude.

And that's a preparation to listen to the voice of God. This man that Iftikhar that we prayed for, he's been coming to Black River Falls for some years now. He's a Muslim man, and he loves to debate after the meeting, but he just won't listen.

He doesn't come to hear something from God. He comes to get ammunition to try to debate. I hope you didn't come here for ammunition.

I hope you come here for a word from God. He will not let you down. Then we come down to chapter 7, and it's a different situation there.

Altogether different. They have now crossed the River Jordan, and they have gone to Jericho, and they have won a miraculous victory there by the power of God. But there was a problem, and the problem, simply put, was disobedience.

God had told them not to take of the accursed thing, and not to take of anything there for their spoil, and Achan did. And Achan did. And he hid it.

And the reason he hid it is because he knew it was wrong. And he didn't want to be found out, and he wanted to keep this goodly Babylonish garment, and his wedge of gold, and those things that he had hid under the floor of his tent. And it seems obvious that when this is starting to boil down, that he didn't come to confess right away.

Oh, the process has got to run its course. The tribe has to come, and the family has to come, and it gets narrowed right down. And it's Achan.

It's Achan. And now God tells Joshua to tell the people to sanctify themselves. There's going to be a wondrous work done, but the lesson that the people are going to learn would be burned into their mind, wouldn't it? They had experienced the blessing of God, the power of God, and the presence of God.

And now they've experienced what it was to go to fight the battle without the presence of God. And they knew what it was to be absolutely, utterly helpless in the face of the enemy. And they knew what it was now to flee and to run.

And that was never God's intention. And now, what are they going to learn about the character of God? Again, put yourself there. You young people, you hide stuff in your room like I used to hide stuff in my room.

I worked for an Amish, several Amish families, and there was this one young fellow, and you know, radios aren't allowed for those folks. And he had seven radios hidden in the sawmill. Seven of them.

Seven accursed little walkmans were hiding in different places where he would go and sneak out and listen to them when his mom and dad were sleeping. He was found out. He was found out.

But what these people are going to learn is that God means what he says. God means what he says. And what they're going to see that day, you would have thought they'd learned the lesson, wandering 40 years through the wilderness.

Because what they did with the bad report, and what they did by not obeying God and going in and possessing the land, a disobedience is here. The family is called forth. God said, sanctify yourself.

He says, sanctify yourself. I wonder sometimes where these people that night, because again, it says tomorrow. What took place that night was the whole congregation on their knees, in their own tents.

Were people, were parents talking to their children? Were the older ones there? Were they saying, you know, wonder what's going on? The whole place would have been in a fear of God. There would have been reverence. There would have been worry, because God is going to expose.

And that's exactly what happens. And Akin's sin affected his whole family. They were all destroyed.

But you see, they were to prepare. A spiritual preparation is a real thing. If the heart's not right, and I'm only, this is a confession.

The heart's not right. Nothing can be right. Are we prepared? Are we prepared? It says, sanctify the people.

Tell them to sanctify yourselves. It says, thou canst not stand before thine enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you. Spiritual preparation.

The Lord wills tomorrow we might speak a little of spiritual discernment and spiritual work. And it all starts with spiritual preparation. You Sunday school teachers, to go teach the young ones, you prepare.

And you prepare your lessons, and we prepare our gospel messages, and we prepare our ministry messages. But the question is this, is the heart right? And sometimes I'm afraid. And sometimes we're gifted men, but we're not spiritual men.

We come behind in no gift. God has provided for local assemblies gift. Tremendous gift.

Some of you young men have tremendous gift. But if the heart's not right, if it's not prepared. I had an old neighbor, her name was Julie.

She wasn't in the assembly, but I believe she was saved. And after we were in the Lord's work, we go out and see her from time to time, her and her husband, sweet people. He never said much, but she always had advice.

And one day she said, Brandon, she always asked where we were preaching and how the Lord was working. And she said, Brandon, let me give you some advice. And I said, Julie, let me have it.

She said, you keep your heart quiet. I said, okay, what do you mean? She said, you keep your heart quiet so you can hear the whisper of God. A two people can't talk at the same time.

And I'll never forget that coming from her. What was she saying? She was saying, keep your heart right. Keep it quiet.

Listen more than you speak. That's what she was saying to me. And so I just want to leave these few simple thoughts to exercise my own heart.

Am I prepared? Because when we're prepared, the presence of God is remarkable. You think of all the battles, even Gideon. What was God doing with Gideon? He was preparing his heart.

He was working on the man and the man needed to know that it wasn't about him. And he needed to know that it wasn't about the size of the army. And he needed to know it wasn't even about his own frailty and his own weakness in his own eyes.

But what God was preparing him for. And so that when God did the work, God would get the glory. You see how it works.

God humbles us that he might get the glory. God exposes our faults and the things that need to be cleansed. Why? That he might get the glory.

You see, Joshua was told that he was going to be as mighty as Moses. And if you follow that through the book, he never once tells the nation that. He never once says that I'm going to be your leader.

I'm going to be as great as Moses. Never once. He just leaves it all with God.

And trust that the Lord will help us to prepare for a great weekend. And that we might go away from this place having experienced personally each one mighty presence.