Never Forget: Joshua 4:1-5:1

First Southern Baptist Church

Dr. Patrick Mead

Series: Forward

July 27, 2014

Never Forget

Joshua 4:1-5:1

The picture you see on the screen is from the 9/11 Memorial in New York City. If you look closely, you'll see where that rose is. The name of the lady is Vanessa Lang Langer. Then it says, "…and her unborn child." There were many of those like that, many of those. It's a memorial to remember that evil that took place that September day in 2001.

Visiting the memorial is somewhat unusual. You take pictures, but you don't want to smile because if you were alive (most of us were in this service), we remember that day very well, don't we? It brought back so many memories of that day. I started to think about what I was doing that day, that morning. I was in my study. I was preparing a sermon from 1 Timothy, chapter 3. I received a phone call from a church member. She was crying and weeping, and she said, "Pastor, a plane hit one of the World Trade Center towers."

So I went and plugged the TV into the cable we had there at the church just in case for emergencies. I started watching the news, probably like many of you. I watched in horror as I saw the second plane hit the tower. Then, of course, we heard about the Pentagon. We heard about the plane in Pennsylvania. So going there had all of those memories and all the feelings that came with it.

Memorials have a purpose. They are to remind us, to keep us from forgetting, whether it be a tragic event or a joyous occasion. Memorials have a purpose in the life of God's people. In Joshua, chapter 4, it's going to teach us. It's going to teach the importance of having lasting memorials in the life of God's people.

Now we've been studying this since chapter 1. In the first chapter, what God does is he commissions Joshua to lead the people of God into the Promised Land. Then they commit to follow him. That happens in chapter 1. In chapter 2, God affirms the promises through a Gentile woman named Rahab, who would end up being in the genealogy of Jesus. He affirmed what he had already told them, what he was already doing to the inhabitants of the land.

Then you get to chapters 3 and 4, and God is now beginning to fulfill some of his promises. The first one, of course, was getting them across the Jordan. That was a supernatural miracle. It was a miracle. So in chapter 4, what God does is he doesn't want them to forget this experience in their lives. That's what we're looking at today, chapter 4.

Now chapter 4 breaks down into two sections, and really they repeat one another. They're just a repetition. The first section runs from verse 1 to verse 14 of chapter 4. What that section does is when you get to verse 14, it tells us how the crossing of the Jordan affected Israel. We'll look at that a little bit later. Then he basically restates what he already states from verse 15 of chapter 4 to verse 1 of chapter 5. Then you get to verse 1 of chapter 5, and it shows the effect the miracle of the Jordan crossing had on the inhabitants of the land.

Now it's paramount that God's people not forget or never forget this miraculous event in their lives. There's a good reason. God's people have a tendency to get spiritual amnesia. We're talking about ourselves as well, right? We have a tendency to get spiritual amnesia. If you've read the history of Israel in the Old Testament, anyone who has, you know Israel had a problem about forgetting all the things God had done for them. 

So what we remember concerning God's work in our lives, especially in the past, affects how we move forward in our Christian experience. So what chapter 4 does is it gives us at least three (I'm going to call them) truths that will help us to never forget what God has done in our lives so we can move forward.

1. Moving forward in your Christian experience is rooted in your ability to remember past experiences with God. Let's pick up the story in verse 1, chapter 4. "When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, 'Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man, and command them, saying, "Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests' feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight."'"

So God gave Joshua some instructions. Choose 12 men. It says in chapter 3, verse 12 he did choose 12 men. He has already chosen them. They need to represent each tribe. So this choosing of the 12 and them getting 12 stones would represent the unity of God's people. So that was the instruction God gave to Joshua. Now he turns around, and he gives the instruction and the command to the people. We pick that up in verse 4.

"Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel, whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe. And Joshua said to them, 'Pass on before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel…'" So he gave them some clear instructions: "Go get 12 stones."

There's all kinds of debate over verse 9 of chapter 4 because it says Joshua himself had some stones set up in the water. So there were two memorials that day. I believe there were two. I believe he had to take stones out of the river to set up where they were lodging that night. Then I believe also he had some set there in the river because when the river was at its driest and not overflowing during flood season, they could see those stones, and they would be reminded of the mighty work God did in their lives.

That's what the stones were. They were a historical marker. They were to be a sign of how God did a miracle in their lives in the past. That's what he says in verse 6. "I want you to take these stones, that this may be a sign among you." These stones were to represent a time and a moment in the life of Israel when God did a mighty work. So it was a sign of God's work, a sign of God's work.

Now when that Hebrew word sign is used, it's usually in the context of some awe-inspiring event. For instance, when they were commanded to keep the Passover in Exodus, chapter 12, they were to do that yearly. They were supposed to do that yearly. Why? Because it was a sign. 

The Passover meal was a sign. The Passover lamb was a sign of how God in the past delivered them from Egyptian bondage. 

It was a memorial. It was something they could go to every year and be reminded of the powerful work of God. Not just that he delivered them from Egypt, but all he did to deliver them from Egypt. He says, "Now you have another sign. You pick those 12 stones up. You put them there in Gilgal." We'll see that in a few moments. "When you put them there, you go back there because that will remind you of the presence of God, the power of God, and the provision of God."

This isn't the only time God said, "I'm going to give you a sign," or, "Here's a sign for you." Do you remember the sign God gave Noah? I know you do because every time you see a rainbow, you say what? "God loves me." Right? I do. "Thank you, God. Thank you for your promises. Thank you for your love." Every time you see a rainbow, if you're a believer and you know the Scriptures, then you think, "My God loves me." That rainbow ought to be a sign for you, a memorial in your life of a God who loves you dearly.

Then, of course, for Abraham and Israel, there was circumcision. Circumcision was a sign of the covenant. "You're my people. You're in covenant relationship with me." The temple was a sign. It was a sign that God dwells among his people. The ark of the covenant, the very thing that was leading them through and stopping the water was a sign of God's power. It was a sign of God's authority, his presence, his provision, and his throne. So all of these signs were given so they could be reminded of who God is, what he has done, and not only that, but what he will do. 

We have our signs as well under the new covenant. We have baptism. Baptism is a sign. It is a sign that those who have trusted in Jesus Christ are now freed from condemnation. Can I get an amen? "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Baptism is a sign that I have identified with Jesus, and I am no longer condemned. It's a sign of new life, life that is given only through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's a sign.

The Lord's Table is a sign. It is a sign. Every time we as believers partake of the Lord's Table, it reminds us of the atoning work of Jesus Christ, that all of our sins, past, present, and future, all of them, were taken care of on the cross of Calvary. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can wash away your sins but the blood of Jesus Christ. Come on. I'm preaching now. Amen. I started getting ready for Sunday at 5:00 p.m. yesterday, because this is a good message. I'm excited. It's exciting me.

When we come to the Lord's Table, it's not just to remind us of the atoning work of Jesus Christ. It reminds me that his bride will be eating with Jesus…where? At the marriage supper of the Lamb. Yeah. If you're a believer and you've been baptized, you can always go back to that baptism. When you see baptism take place in the church, it ought to take you back to that time where you trusted Jesus Christ, and it changed your life. It reminds us. It reminds us of that.

These signs mean nothing if the work they represent did not make a significant difference in the life of individuals, right? So this sign needs to be personal. The significance of God's work needs to be something very personal, something you can say, "Yes. This happened to me." I want you to see what happens. 

In verse 6, he says, "This is to be a sign." He says, "When your children ask in time to come, 'What do those stones mean to you?'" Now he asks the question again in the second section, but it's not "…to you?" It's, "What do these stones mean?" The first section is very personal. "What do those stones mean to you?"

For every man, child, woman who walked across the Jordan River on dry ground during flood season, they had a personal experience with the power of God, the presence of God, and the provision of God. That's why when they got out, God said to Joshua, "You make sure you take 12 stones. I want you to take those 12 stones, and I want you to put them where you were lodging." In verse 19, it says the place they were lodging was Gilgal. So they would go back to those stones, and they would be reminded of God's power, God's presence, God's faithfulness. 

The same is true when we look at baptism. Those of us who have been born again, those of us who can declare with great confidence that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, we ought to look at baptism. It should take us back to that day when we gave our lives to Jesus Christ, and our lives changed.

Baptism and the Lord's Supper are not religious rituals; they are declarations on the part of the person partaking in them. Whether it be baptism or the Lord's Supper… When you are baptized, you will say, "I have been changed by the power of the gospel." When you partake of the Lord's Supper, you are making a declaration that, "God's work has done a significant work in my life. Once I trusted Jesus, I was never, ever the same again." Amen? So the Lord's Table should always take us back to that day, that moment we gave our life in Jesus Christ.

I believe there are other things that can be signs of remembrance. It can be a place. There's a place in my life. It's a two-bedroom apartment with the balcony overlooking a golf course off La Prada drive in Dallas, Texas. You come off of Centerville. You go under 635, and you're on Ferguson Road. The next street on your left is La Prada Drive. You take a left on La Prada Drive. You go down about a half a mile, and there are apartments there on your right. 

There are apartments all the way down, but there is a specific apartment where one night, I had a Charles Lowery study Bible my brother and sister, who were Jesus freaks, gave me one Christmas five years before. I decided, "I'm going to start reading the Bible," because it couldn't hurt me. I started reading. I got to Matthew, chapter 5. I remember. I was wearing shorts and a tank top. I was on my knees reading Matthew, chapter 5: "Blessed are the poor in spirit…"

I read the first 12 verses. I was under conviction, and I gave my life to Jesus Christ on La Prada Drive in Dallas, Texas. My life has never, ever been the same. I drive by there when we're in Dallas, and I remember that moment I gave my life to Jesus Christ. So that memorial, that Gilgal in your life, can be a place. 

It can be a person. There are so many people who have influenced my life, who are spiritual Gilgals. The one who has impacted my life the most is a man by the name of Marty Ketchum, who is now with the Lord. He died at the age of 47. He spent four years invested in my life. A month does not go by where I do not think about Marty. 

I pray for his family every Thursday, his wife and five children. There are times where I can remember Marty talking to me. I can see it just as if it were live right in front of me. When he talked to me, he encouraged me to continue in my walk with the Lord. So your spiritual Gilgal may be a person. It could be a place. It could be an experience. 

It could be a daily coming into the presence of God reading your Bible. I do that every morning. I want to spend at least an hour with God. That's my Gilgal. Do you know why I spend time with the Lord every morning? Because I want to remember him. I don't want to forget him. I don't want to get spiritual amnesia. So why is it so important that we remember the past experiences with God? 

2. Remembering these past experiences with God gives purpose to your life. It gives purpose to your life. Now let's look at verse 7. After he asks the question about the children, when the children say, "What do those stones mean to you?" then he says in verse 7, "…then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD." 

I love that. It didn't give credit to Joshua; it was God. God is the hero of the book of Joshua. "When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones…" Again, a purpose. "…shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever," a lasting memorial. These memorials, these stones, had a three-fold purpose. 

First, instruction. These stones need to be a moment in the life of Israel and the people who made up Israel where they can instruct the younger generations to come. Two times he mentions the needs of telling children. Verse 6: "…that this may be a sign among you. When your child ask in time to come, 'What do those stones means to you?'" Verse 21: "And he said to the people of Israel, 'When your children ask their fathers in times to come, "What do these stones mean?"'" They need to be an opportunity for you to tell the next generation of the mighty works of God. 

Now obviously this applies first and foremost to parents. Parents need to be able to explain God's past work in their lives. Not just salvation, but how is he working in their lives now? Do your children see salvation? Do they see a difference in your life? Do they see God in the family? Do they see God working in their own lives? Are you helping them to see that? Not only as parents, but grandparents.

Then all of us have a responsibility to tell the next generation of…what? The mighty works of God. That's why I appreciate some of you in here who invest in Awana, who invest in the nursery, who invest in anything that enables us to communicate to the next generation the mighty works of God.

What we do now, what I do isn't for me. What I do isn't for you. What I do is for those who are coming behind me. Nobody wants to say amen to that. We tend to forget about that. We can become very self-centered and think only of ourselves. What are we leaving? What kind of legacy are we leaving to the next generation? Are we giving them something to take the baton with and run, or are we, as was said last Thursday, criticizing and pointing the fingers?

Remembering the past gives us purpose. Our purpose as the people of God is to tell the mighty works to all the generations, but to the coming generation, we need to be investing in their lives. You need to be investing in young marrieds. How many of you have young married couples you are friends with? Do you know they are struggling in their marriage? They would love, they need people who will invest time in their lives who have been together for 40 years. How many young people will be at your funeral? 

Secondly, witness. It was a sign of God's work in the past. That experience in the past now gave him a purpose, and that purpose was to witness. Go to verses 23 and 24. It says, "For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty…" 

"I am doing these things because I want people to know there is only one God, the God of Israel. I want you to remember these past experiences with me because you have a responsibility, Israel, and that is to be a witness and a light to all the nations around." God's purpose hasn't changed. 

For Jesus said, "I have redeemed you, church. I have saved you. Now I want you to take the gospel, not hoard the gospel, not keep it to yourself, not enjoy it to yourself, but go. Take what you have received. You go out on the highways and the byways, and you go out to the ends of the earth. You tell people about Jesus, to witness, to make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit."

Thirdly, your walk. The last part of verse 24: "…so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever." I want to give you a definition of what fear looks like when you fear God. Do y'all want one? I got it this morning from the Scriptures, so I think I'm pretty good with this. I'm just going to quote the Scripture. If you really fear God, here's what it looks like: You are faithful, and you have an undivided heart.

There are a lot of Christians who forget what God has done in the past, and they lose their way. They lose their way. The next thing you know, they get away from church. Church attendance is a spiritual Gilgal, isn't it? I come every Sunday because God called me to be here to pastor, but I would come anyway. I really would because it reminds me of what God has done in my life, and it reminds me of what we're going to be doing in heaven. Now a lot of Christians get spiritual amnesia, and they lose their way. They forget. 

3. Your past experiences with God instruct you to live out God's purpose in your life. What happened to them in the past, the Jordan River, gave them purpose in the present. What is that? Well, you need to teach your children, instruct them. You need to witness. You need to let all the world know there is only one true God. You need to fear God. You need to walk with God. That's your purpose now. That equips you with confidence for the future.

I want you to see how this works out. Look at verse 18. It says, "And when the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the LORD came up from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet were lifted up on dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks, as before." So it returned to flood stage.

Now this is where God led them, between a rock and a hard place. You look back, and you think, "Oh my goodness. There's no more dry ground." You look ahead of you, and you say, "Oh my goodness. Is that Jericho? Oh my. What if they come out and they attack us? Where are we going to run?" God is like that. Sometimes God will burn a bridge so you can't go backwards. Sometimes he will bring the river back to its banks so you can move forward.

So here they are. They've crossed the Jordan. They have Jericho before them. At any moment, they could have been attacked. All they had to do is look down to those stones. What would those stones do? Remind them of what God has already done. Amen? He is powerful. He is with them. He is always faithful to his promises. 

Here's how it unfolded. I want you to see the effect it had on the people. In verse 14, notice the effect it had on Israel. It says, "On that day…" What day? The day they crossed. "…the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they stood in awe of him just as they had stood in awe of Moses, all the days of his life." 

Now go back to verse 7 of chapter 3. "The LORD said to Joshua, 'Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all of Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.'" "Today I will," and by the end of the day he did. God is faithful to his promises. Now look at verse 1, chapter 5, because here's the effect it had on all the inhabitants of the land. 

"As soon as all the kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the people of Israel until they had crossed over, their hearts melted and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the people of Israel."

Verse 10 of chapter 3: "And Joshua said, 'Here is how you shall know that the living God is among you and that he will without fail drive out before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites.'" "Here's how you'll know. What I'm about to do with the Jordan is just affirmation of what I'm going to do before you, but here's further affirmation. I'm already working in their hearts, and they're terrified of you."

God is faithful to his promises. God gives us promises for the future to sustain us in the present, right? Amen? God gives us promises for the future to sustain us in the present. Those promises are supported by…what? The past. Past…what? Past faithfulness. God gave me a promise for the future. It sustains me in the present. That is supported by what is already done in the past.

This right here is a sign for my family. It represents a place. It represents a people. It represents an experience. It is a Thomas Kinkade picture. At the bottom, it says, "Clearing storms." If you look closely, he was the painter of light, right? I don't know if you can tell, but right around the lighthouse there's light coming out. The clouds are now clearing, and it's symbolic of a storm ending.

Now it's more special to my wife and I because Abigail and Maribeth were very young at the time. We got this the last Sunday we pastored the church that split. We were going to Oklahoma. In fact, they gave this to us on September 22, 2002. That was Christy's birthday as well. I look at this picture, and it has a lot of meaning because that experience was not a joyful experience, at least not at the time. It was painful. It was very painful. 

It reminds me a time where I tried to run from something God allowed me to go through. I did all I could to run from that storm, and God said, "You're not going to do it. You're going through it." It reminds me of people, some good, some not so good. It reminds me of how God, through it all, was faithful. So when I'm struggling and I'm in a storm now, I'll spend a lot of time praying and looking at that picture, that sign. It reminds me God is faithful. God is with me. He will provide. Never forget. Never forget those spiritual Gilgals in your life. Visit them often. Visit them daily.

Where are you? Do you have spiritual amnesia? The church in Ephesus had spiritual amnesia, and it says they left their first love. They forgot it. That's how easy it is for us to forget, isn't it? We forget about what Jesus has done for us. We forget about the life change. We forget about his faithfulness. For some reason, we want to take things into our own hands, and we leave our first love. 

Where are you this morning? Do you need to return to the cross? Do you need to return, not literally but figuratively, to the baptismal waters and remind yourself? Oh, I have died with Christ. I was buried with Christ. "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Never forget. 

Maybe this morning it's not an issue of remembering; maybe it's an issue of experiencing for the first time the saving grace of Christ Jesus. For me, the first time was on my knees crying out, "Jesus, I want to be a Christian, but I can't do it. I need your help." I didn't have the sinner's prayer. 

But guess what? I was saved that day because it wasn't the words that saved me; it was my heart that surrendered to God and said, "I want you. I give up." Maybe today this becomes your spiritual Gilgal. "On July 27, 2014, at 10:06 a.m. in the morning, I gave my life to Jesus Christ for the very first time." Let's bow our heads and our hearts.

Spirit of God, draw that man, draw that woman who needs to trust Jesus, who needs this place to become a spiritual Gilgal in their life where they have committed their life to the very first time to the saving work of Jesus. I pray that you would draw them and that they would not resist the grace of God, but respond to you in obedience. May they not leave here today without declaring in front of all these people, "I have trusted Jesus. This is my spiritual Gilgal."

For every one of us who profess Christ as Lord and Savior, God, we need to remember. We need to remember the day you saved us. We need to remember the power you've given us. I just thank you, Lord, that the Holy Spirit will bring back to remembrance things we need to remember. I pray right now, Holy Spirit. Some of us need to be reminded of the grace of Jesus Christ. Some of us need to be reminded of your power. May we never forget the grace of Jesus. Have your way, Lord. Have your way. In Jesus' name, amen.