Sunday Morning Service

Joshua 4

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“Look Back, Come In And Speak Up!” • 11.10.13 • Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service

Intro.

- In chapter 3, we are told that the people of Israel miraculously crossed over the flooded banks of the Jordan river when God stopped up the waters before them.

- The priests carried the Ark of the Covenant, the symbolic presence of God's throne, to the banks and the water stood at attention as God's people crossed over safely.

- Chapter 3 gives us the nutshell. Chapter 4 takes us back through some of the details of what was happening while the crossing took place.

- The crossing of Jordan is first an historical event, and then a picture of our crossing into a life directed by God's Holy Spirit. Consequently, I'd summarize that we have three commands here.

I. "Look Back!" (v.1-9)

II. "Come In!" (v.10-14)

III. "Speak Up!" (v.15-24)

Text

I. "Look Back!" (v.1-9)

• Joshua 4:1-3 : "And it came to pass, when all the people had completely crossed over the Jordan, that the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying: 'Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from every tribe, and command them, saying, ‘Take for yourselves twelve stones from here, out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet stood firm. You shall carry them over with you and leave them in the lodging place where you lodge tonight.’"

One cannot minimize the wonder of this moment. Millions of wandering slaves have entered into the land that God has promised to their give them as a possession.

- With a miracle behind them and a godly leader in front of them, you have to imagine a great amount of optimism toward that end.

- God speaks to Joshua about the gathering of these 12 stones from the dried riverbed which will be carried by the tribal leaders to what will be Gilgal, a 10 mile hike. Joshua explains why.

• Joshua 4:4-8 : "Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the children of Israel, one man from every tribe; and Joshua said to them: 'Cross over before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ Then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.' And the children of Israel did so, just as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones from the midst of the Jordan, as the Lord had spoken to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them to the place where they lodged, and laid them down there." : Why did God want these 12 stones? To create a memorial that would pique the curiosity of the children and force the parents into a faithful conversation.

- "But all that optimism!" Who could possibly forget what had just been seen? In the minds of the adults, it was indelibly marked upon their memory, as an unforgettable miracle experience.

- But God knows that the children will ask the personal question: "What do these stones mean to you?" What is your personal testimony? This is why we must look back and remember!

- Belief in any community, is one generation away from dying out. This is why God's people must explain personally why it is that these memorials exist.

- This is why it is vital for parents to communicate the authenticity of their faith to their children, first through example and then through explanation!

- God even furnishes them with the correct answer! These stones symbolize the power of God's presence which stopped the mighty waters of the Jordan.

- "God's presence, symbolically pictured in the Ark of the Covenant, was mighty enough to let all 2 million of us cross that river on dry ground! That's how powerful our God is!"

- Can you imagine the faith that would build? Can you imagine the trust that this answer would bring to the hearts of the children? To hear a Dad or Mom talk like this would change a family culture!

- It's a true testimony that our kids will have the Christianity that is left to them by their parents! We can only determine whether that is a good or bad one!

• Joshua 4:9 : "Then Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood; and they are there to this day." : After the 12 men removed stones from the riverbed, Joshua alone took 12 stones and placed them in the midst of the river!

- I wonder if the 12 men looked back and said, "We could simply have left these stones there!?" Was Joshua being an environmentalist, worried about the fragile ecosystem?

- God wanted Joshua to set up a second memorial. One set of stones would be at Gilgal and would be seen at any time. The other set would be hidden most of the time.

- Certainly when the river flooded back over, the stones in the midst of the river would vanish from view.

- There is always a public witness to our faith that can be seen by all. Our lives are out in the public view and our faith is judged by our decisions.

- In the eyes of the world, our experience of His presence gives weight to the reality of who God is and could be for them. Our children witness the same thing.

- But then there are the things that only God sees that are hidden from view most of the time. It's the private life of the person of God that nobody sees.

- It's the decision to live out your faith when nobody is watching, when nobody can reward you and when nothing is gained from your obedience. We might even deem it worthless.

- But here is the beauty of this picture, because practice makes a man or woman of God. When would these stones be seen? During the times of drought, when the waters were not high!

- "Oh their lives are so full of blessings and they are living in the fullness of the promise! Look at that river rushing behind them. What will they be like when things are not so bountiful?"

- When the water was low, the stones in the river could be seen standing tall in the midst. A Christian character forged in the unseen will still be seen when the waters are low!

II. "Come In!" (v.10-14)

• Joshua 4:10-11 : "So the priests who bore the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the Lord had commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua; and the people hurried and crossed over. Then it came to pass, when all the people had completely crossed over, that the ark of the Lord and the priests crossed over in the presence of the people." : The stones have come out and Joshua has finished arranging the stones in the river bed. Everything that God wanted finished was thoroughly complete.

- Notice how the people crossed: They hurried and crossed over. They wanted to get over the other side. "Maybe God will change His mind! We better hurry!" No.

- Truly, I believe that once somebody is convinced that God's best lies in a vibrant relationship with His Holy Spirit, which this section typifies, they have no reason to continue wandering!

- Why stay in a half baked, unenthusiastic, unfulfilling meandering through life? They hurried across to the life that God intended for them!

- That is an excellent example for you and I! Would you hurry across to what awaits you in the Lord? I wish that the same could be said for all, but it's not.

• Joshua 4:12-13 : "And the men of Reuben, the men of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses had spoken to them. About forty thousand prepared for war crossed over before the Lord for battle, to the plains of Jericho." : The backstory to this verse occurs in Numbers 32 which I would suggest for your afternoon reading.

- Suffice it to say, these tribes had a lot of livestock and the pasture land there on the East side of the Jordan was great for that purpose.

- They were looking at their lives through the lens of their business. One Pastor put it this way: "They were thinking about making a living, not making a life!"

- The other side of the Jordan, the life of deliverance but not promise, was enough for these tribes, but at a significant cost.

- These tribes chose to live among a great many enemies, removed from their allies who lived on the other side of the river.

- They carried within themselves a vestige of the culture that had carried them, but would be removed from the presence of God, which would be dwelling in the Promised Land!

- Eventually, you'd hear nothing from them, as they remained nationally Israeli, but culturally mixed in with the other nations, which is what happens to those on the fringe.

- Yes they had their riches, yes they did not have to deal with the sustained conflict that their brothers would face over the next several years, but the toll would still be paid.

- When the Assyrians came down to take Israel in 722 BC, these tribes were taken first. With that as a background, don't you think that they would have made a better decision on this day?

- I wish we could see so clearly the end of our choices! Yes, it seems like the right decision today to remain spiritually aloof and in supposed control.

- Look ahead and see spiritual captivity, spiritual decline and a life that never makes a spiritual difference! That's an enormous cost to pay!

- 40,000 crossed over armed and ready for battle. That seems like a rather large force, but the last numbering for these tribes in Numbers 26 calculates the men of war at 141,930 men!

- There is no rebuke here, or any other place in scripture. Neither is there any comment from Joshua as to how 101,000 men were allowed to remain on the other side.

- This may reveal to us just how tenuous their position was on the other side of the river. They needed to leave the majority of their fighting men to defend their settlement.

- After all, once the river went back into it's normal flow, the help would be cut off for good!

- The sad thing to me and to anyone else is that there are people, over 100,000, the majority, who did not participate in this event.

- How many are meandering through a Christian life, but not giving themselves over to what God intends for them? Would it be a majority today as well?

- How many Christians are leaving wonderful gifts from God on the table in an effort to save or keep the life that they have?

- I pray that you will ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit! Let Him do what He wants to do! Why? Because the truth is that there is conflict on both sides of the Jordan!

- But for those who are looking to be in the center of His will, there is resource in God's present help, as well as a community that helps to keep us accountable.

• Joshua 4:14 : "On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they had feared Moses, all the days of his life." : The result of this day brought a significant change in the people's opinion of Joshua.

- God had exalted Joshua. He magnified Him. He caused the people's perspective to change. Everyone felt this way about him.

- The feared or reverenced Joshua, as they had Moses all of His days. This doesn't mean that they obeyed perfectly or that there weren't seasons of upheaval in Moses' ministry.

- There were pockets of rebellion that rose up and God answered for His man, which issued in a proper return to reverence for who Moses was.

- The people now thought of Joshua in that same light. He's been given the reins and is commanding the troops of God's army!

III. "Speak Up!" (v.15-24)

• Joshua 4:15-18 : "Then the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying, 'Command the priests who bear the ark of the Testimony to come up from the Jordan.' Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, 'Come up from the Jordan.' And it came to pass, when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord had come from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet touched the dry land, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks as before." : Notice that God has raised Joshua's profile amongst the people, but He was still calling the shots.

- It always bears repeating, especially in a day and age when people have made a life out of usurping God's authority over His church, but no minister gets to set the agenda!

- Joshua did not act independantly of God or seek a new job description now that the people considered him in a greater light. He's still taking orders from the Lord! That's our business forever!

- Joshua, at God's command, calls the Priests up out of the Jordan. In the same way that the Jordan stopped up, it also roared back into it's usual stage of overflowing!

- The moment that their feet touched the dry land, the Jordan returned to it's previous state.

- Another word on miracles: It's not just the act that is astounding, a river stopped up from it's tumultuous state. That could happen by natural means.

- The miracle is in the precision. When they put their feet into the river, it receded and when they put their feet onto the dry ground, it resumed!

- What's the big idea about it being their feet? Remember that God told Joshua that every place that the soles of their feet touched would be a place of victory!

- They are seeing this fulfilled in this very moment! The first obstacle could not stand before them and neither would any subsequent one.

• Joshua 4:19-24 : "Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they camped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal. Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: 'When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ then you shall let your children know, saying, ‘Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land’; for the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over,  that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.'" : For the Jewish people, the 10th day of the first month is sacred, as it was the same day that they came out of Egypt!

- They had been freed from a physical slavery to a powerful foe. In the same way, we were freed from a spiritual slavery and a very real devil. That was the first Passover.

- On this same day, the people were freed from a life of unbelief and wandering, to a place where God would reveal His purpose for them and they would live in the promise of life with God.

- For us, the Promised Land is the Christian life, fully powered by the Holy Spirit living through us toward all that God intends for us.

- The people reached Gilgal, which according to Josephus, was 10 miles from the Jordan, but only 2 miles from Jericho.

- Can you imagine the sight of 2 million people camped two miles from your city? This must have been an eerie sight for the already frightened people of Jericho.

- These representatives carried their stones to Gilgal and Joshua arranged them, it seems from the word, in a raised fashion.

- He repeats for them the same information that he gave them back in verses 6 and 7, but adds the dynamic of the twin miraculous work.

- The Red Sea and the Jordan are connected together by Joshua. Both required God's hand, both were dried up for the people to cross over and both stood as testimonies to the watching world!

- Rahab had already commented upon the Red Sea and God's involvement there. Imagine what they were saying on this day!

- The world had known God's mighty hand for them 40 years earlier, but once again, His power was on display in a very similar fashion!

- Notice this final dynamic. God has done this work of bringing you into a full life with Him. You have been baptized in His Holy Spirit and are living a life directed by Him to honor Jesus Christ.

- Why did He do that? That all the nations may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty! God wants to be known! He has revealed Himself and His most powerful proof of reality is you!

- Your actions are extensions of His purpose. Your voice gives testimony and explanation to the world that will eventually demand to know he details. Fear the Lord and speak up!

Conclusion

- Look back at what God has done for you and tell it to your kids, your family. Remember that you were a slave and then that you were a meandering Christian, until you asked for His Spirit!

- Come in fully to what God has for you! Don't view life through the lens of a business or a life that you believe you can control. Come in and let Him have His way!

- Speak up when the world wonders about you! Tell them you went to church, read your bible, prayed for a co-worker. When they ask you why, fear the Lord and introduce them to HIm.