Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / February 2, 2025 | Joshua - Crossing the Jordan

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February 2, 2025 | Joshua - Crossing the Jordan · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: When um I know I don't know how many of you loved uh geography when you were in in school, you know, probably was your favorite subject.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: But when you were if you were to be asked what's the most important river in the world, you might say the Nile, maybe the Mississippi or the Amazon, but in the Bible, the answer is very clearly the Jordan River.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um the Jordan River uh sort of sets, particularly where we're at right now in the book of Joshua, sets the eastern edge of the promised land, and it's this mighty, beautiful river.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: And uh for the nation of Israel, they have been waiting to cross this river for a very, very long time, depending on how you want to do your math.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: The current people who are about to cross it have been waiting over 40 years to do that.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: They've sort of seen it as this symbolic um gateway into the gift that God had given to them.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: But if you want to track all the way back to the promise to Abraham when God told him in Genesis 12, hey, to your descendants I'm going to give this land that you are sitting on, and Israel has now come back around to retake and live in the land of promise.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's about 600 years.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Either, whichever way you cut it, the nation of Israel has been waiting to cross the Jordan River.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: And this morning, we're going to talk about that in Joshua chapters 3 and 4.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's one of the most important events in the whole Bible.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you might not think of it that way, but for what it represents for this group of people, for God's chosen, what how it kind of establishes a new timeline.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Really, it's a watershed moment.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's one of those events in history where things come before it and things come after, but it's a reference point.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: When did Israel cross over the Jordan River into the land of promise?
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: But what's most interesting to us this morning, really, I should say, what we can take away, is not so much the miraculous crossing of the Jordan, which is we'll get to for sure, but it's really what God told Israel to do before the crossing and after the crossing.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: There was something they were supposed to do to prepare for this miracle, and then after God delivered them over into the land, something they were supposed to do to remember it.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: And though crossing the Jordan River needs to be seen in its context as showing Israel that they have a living God who is powerful, who will defeat their enemies.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Often today there are many places where we could say we're crossing a Jordan River of our own, and it's good to remember what they were supposed to do before and after.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: So let's go ahead and look at Joshua 3.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's where we'll get started.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: Joshua chapters 3 and 4 cover the same event, but sort of on different sides of the river.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: You might remember last week, or rather two weeks ago, last time we had our series here, and Joshua, um, they had spoken with the prostitute Rahab, and she had given them information.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: They had scouted out the land, and then they went back and told Joshua, um, hey, the Lord has prepared it for us.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: He has given it to us as a gift.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, that was Rahab's own words as well.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: She had said that too.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord has given this to you.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so as the spies come back, it's go time, right?
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: God has given them the land, it's time to cross.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: So Joshua started early the next morning and left the Acacia grove with all the Israelites.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: They went as far as the Jordan and stayed there before the crossing.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: After three days the officers went through the camp and commanded the people, When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God carried by the Levitical priests, you are to break camp and follow it.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: But keep a distance of about a thousand yards between yourselves and the ark.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: A very important sentence.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Joshua told the people, Consecrate yourselves, get ready, because the Lord will do wonders among you tomorrow.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Then he said to the priests, Carry the Ark of the Covenant and go on ahead of the people.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: So they carried the Ark of the Covenant and went ahead of them.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: For those who don't know, right, the Ark of the Covenant is this sort of gilded box that contains the Ten Commandments, it contains a jar of manna, it contains the budded staff from Aaron.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: But really it is where it is the artifact that, well, it melts the face off of Nazis, if you read Indiana Jones.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: But besides that, it sits deep in the tabernacle in the Holy of Holies.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Later on, it will be in the deepest part of the temple.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: And though God does not live in it, don't think that, it is a representation of his physical presence.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so that is why, for instance, if you touch it and you're not supposed to, you'll die, because the sinful hands of man cannot touch a holy God without his cleansing power.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so the Ark of the Covenant really represents God's physical presence in the camp.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so the priests are supposed to, because there were a few who could, pick it up, and they're going to lead the whole nation.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: The nation is going to follow behind the Ark of the Covenant, and these priests are supposed to take it to the river.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: And what is significant about that event and God telling them to do this, is that all the way through the desert, the Ark was leading the way.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: God was always leading his people into the next thing, the next chapter, through the wilderness where they did not know where to go or how to go that far.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: God was the one who was leading them, and the same thing happens here.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: He says, You so that you can see the way to go, for you haven't traveled this way before.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: The point was not like, can you see the other side of the river?
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's God is leading them into the land of promise.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: And furthermore, they don't know how they're going to cross the river.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: As we'll find out later, it's the flood season, and so it's overflowed its banks, and it is difficult for a few spies to cross, let alone tens of thousands of people, their families, and their livestock.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Not a thing that they have an answer to right away here.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: We're not building bridges across the Jordan for all these folks.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so God simply says, You need to expect great things to happen.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: We, I've already told you, we know they're about to cross the Jordan River.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: They don't know how.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: They have just been told from the Lord, follow the ark and expect great things.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: They get to the edge of the river.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: Then Joshua told the Israelites, Come closer and listen to the words of the Lord your God.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: He said, You will know that the living God is among you, and that he will certainly dispossess before you the Canaanites, Hethites, Hivites, Perizzites, Gergashites, Amorites, and Jebusites, basically all the bad dudes in the land.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: When the ark of the covenant of the Lord of the whole earth goes ahead of you into the Jordan.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: Now choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man for each tribe, when the feet of the priests who carry the Ark of the Lord, the Lord of the whole earth, come to rest in the Jordan's water, its water will be cut off.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: The water flowing downstream will stand up in a mass.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: Throughout history, Israel's crossing of the Jordan River has given rise to many interpretations.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's very easy to make a symbolic or allegorical message out of this, right?
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's, you know, it's a sign of baptism, it's a sign of faith, it's perseverance, it's endurance, it's all of these different things.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: But in context, which is always our first look here, right?
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: What does Joshua say the purpose is?
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Well, you will know that you have a living God that is among you, and that he will certainly dispossess before you these nations.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: You have a God who is living and not dead.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: That contrasts with all the other fake gods and idols they're about to encounter.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: He is among you.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: He is not far off and distant.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: He is not a God who is just sort of uh living on the fringes of your life, but he is here present, and in fact, he is leading the charge.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: And then, third, you will see him remove the mighty nations that are in front of you immediately following this.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: Next week, we'll talk about the fight against the first major city of Jericho, right?
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: And they need to know that they have a living God who is among them that is going to kick them out.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so, for a lot of folks who were living during this time, or I should say for everybody, basically except for Joshua and Caleb, they were either little children or unborn.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the last time such a magnificent event occurred, being the crossing of the Red Sea.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: God did miracles throughout the 40 years of wandering, but the crossing of the Jordan River not only forms a bookend, I mean, parting waters to go over on dry land at the beginning and the end of a wandering journey, but on top of that, it was a sign for the next generation.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: The previous generation crossed the Red Sea, the previous generation got to see the ten plagues in Egypt.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: If the folks who are here right now did get to see it, they were at least younger than twenty years old, and most of them hadn't been born.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so this is a sign for the next generation.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: And basically Joshua is saying, Do you want to see God?
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Watch what happens next.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: When the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carried the Ark of the Covenant ahead of the people.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: Now the Jordan overflows its banks throughout the harvest season, but as soon as the priests carrying the ark reached the Jordan, their feet touched the water at its edge, and the water flowing downstream stood still, rising up in a mass that extended as far as Adam, a city next to Zarathan.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: The water flowing downstream into the Sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea, was completely cut off, and the people crossed opposite Jericho.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: The priests carrying the Ark of the Lord's covenant stirred fur excuse me, stood firmly on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel crossed on dry ground until the entire nation had finished crossing the Jordan.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a lot of language in this passage, which is basically one long sentence in Hebrew, and in a way that we don't really appreciate because it's in English, the author here is doing a really good job of building suspense.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: And essentially he's just sort of listing out the events as they happened so that it builds to this kind of climax when the nation of Israel finally crosses over.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: And as that's happening, and as we're reading this story, um, there are other elements that mirror the way that the crossing of the Red Sea was described.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: For instance, the fact that the Red Sea, the waters, when Moses parted the Red Sea, and the waters stood up.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's a very specific word.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: The same word is used here for the waters of the Jordan.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: They stood up.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: Same thing that they were passing through on dry ground, is the same thing that is said about the crossing of the Red Sea when they were fleeing from Egypt.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: It is not that they were like, you know, put on their waders and just were trying to trudge through a little bit.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's like the ground was dry.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: God had backed up all of this water.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then it even gives sort of a reference point about how far it went.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: See, we know vaguely, I shouldn't say vaguely, approximately where Adam is, because we know where Zarathon is.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: And we know approximately where they cross the Jericho.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so using the kind of geography of the land, see the Jordan Valley is very wide and very deep.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: The Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth or the lowest body of water on earth.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so the Jordan River Valley is very deep, but it's also very wide.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you're thinking about the flood season and all of these different things, look, I didn't do the math.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: I just wanted to show you this picture, okay?
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: They the point is that this is not, even if you just think about the Jordan, maybe you've been over to Israel and had the privilege of wading in the Jordan, and you're like, okay, this isn't, it's not the most gigantic river of them all, you know, it's not the Mississippi or something.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, but it was flood season, and in order to uh have tens of thousands of people passing through and their animals and their families safely over an entire day, think about the volume of water that is getting stopped up here, such that those who are walking through.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact, we see in the text that the priests who led the way with the Ark of the Covenant end up stopping in the middle of the river, so that as the nation of Israel passes by, they are seeing the Ark of the Covenant holding back the waters.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: So the priest don't go across the other side until all of Israel has passed through.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the crossing of the Jordan, I've said it a couple times, it is one of the most important events in the nation of Israel's history, and in fact, because of that, the Bible.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: So why though?
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: Why is this so important?
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's a miraculous event that the waters were parted, stood up, and they got to cross over.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: But there are a couple reasons why this runs a bit deeper.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: No pun intended.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: It fulfills God's great promise to Abraham.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: There is the rest of Joshua and even part of Judges, is going to be kicking out the inhabitants of the land and the success and failure to do so.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: But the idea that this is sort of the moment that is representative of God telling Abraham, I will give this land to your descendants.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: And now Israel has crossed over.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: Up and until this point, after really, you know, Joseph and his family, Jacob, they had gone down to Egypt.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: No Israelites have gone back into the promised land except for the spies.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: And not even all the spies reported back properly.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: So this moment, this moment right here, when they now set foot on the other side, it fulfills God's great promise to Abraham, which will continue to be exercised from Genesis 12.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, it reminds Israel of God's strength.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: We already talked about that, but there is this sort of active desire that the Lord has that the generation after generation would understand who he is, what he has done, and then would be able to tell the next generation.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's going to become a huge point here in a moment from Joshua chapter 4.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: But the purpose why God does this is he says, I want you to know that I am a living God who is among you that will drive out these nations.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like some of you have forgotten those things.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you have become used to, you know, it's just like, oh, manna from heaven again this morning, right?
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: Again, God has delivered water from a rock or whatever it is.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: And he's like, So I'm going to do a big thing.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to do a really big thing that reminds you that as you go up against these mighty nations, that I can handle them, believe me.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: And third and finally, it establishes a new era in Israel's history.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: This is one of those events that there is a before and an after.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: I've said already that it's like a bookend to their wandering.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: They cross a body of water at the beginning of this journey, and they cross a body of water heading into the promised land.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: From this point on, everything will be about driving out the inhabitants and fulfilling, because some of it definitely is their responsibility, their obedience helps make sure that God's promise is fulfilled the way that He has desired.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, He has given them the power to do it, will they exercise it?
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: But also that they will be able to maintain the land and have it be at rest.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: This becomes one of the continuing themes of the promised land.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: And ultimately, if you're familiar with the Bible, why later on the exile is such a big deal, is it's because, oh, the enemies have returned.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: We cannot maintain the land.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: We're no longer at rest from war.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: We've been disobedient to God.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: But there's history before and after the Jordan River that is separated.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: Now, all of the commands, you know, you go back to Leviticus, God had given them all these rules and regulations, and you read them and you recognize there's a lot of those rules they can't fulfill properly until they're in the promised land.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: God had been preparing them for this moment for a long, long time.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: So, to this point, though, that it was not just about this moment of crossing, but that they were supposed to expect great things beforehand, and then, as God is about to tell them, there is a key activity they are supposed to do now that they have crossed over to the other side.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: Joshua chapter 4.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: After the entire nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord spoke to Joshua, choose twelve men from the people, one man for each tribe, and command them Take twelve stones from this place in the middle of the Jordan where the priests are standing.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: Carry them with you, and set them down at the place where you spend the night.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: So Joshua summoned the twelve men he had selected from the Israelites.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, he had done that before they crossed, one man for each tribe, and said to them, Go across to the ark of the Lord your God in the middle of the Jordan.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: Each of you lift a stone onto his shoulder, one for each of the Israelite tribes, so that this will be a sign among you.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: Picture for a moment, you're one of the twelve, right?
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: Why from each tribe?
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's representative of the whole.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: What they're about to do is for the entire people.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just for these twelve and their families.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: They take the heads of the tribes, and they are to go, they've crossed over, everybody has.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: The only thing that's left in the Jordan is are the priests, the Ark of the Covenant, and a gigantic wall of water.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: And they're supposed to go back in and uh go around the priests and grab stones from nearby their feet, sort of this location that represents what God has done.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: And they carry them back, and they're supposed to set up a memorial or a sign.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: And a sign to what and why are we doing this sort of thing?
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: What are a bunch of rocks supposed to do here?
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the point is that anytime Israel would go by this location, any time that they would see these stones, and in particular, any time their children would ask about what happened to them, they could reference this point as a reminder, as a sign, as a memorial of what God has done and all of his power.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: Might seem a little odd to have these twelve stones there, but if you can kind of take a step remove from how it's built, we do this all the time.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: If you drive in Kansas City at all, you're familiar with this, which is the memorial to those who fell in World War I.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: And if you go and you should, you see there the stories of bravery and courage expressed by the Americans and Allied forces in the Great War.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: None of us were alive when World War I happened, right?
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yet this stands as a testament to what they had done, what they did, excuse me.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: And as you go back and as you see them, it draws into your mind things that we should be thankful for and things that we should respect and honor and pay deference towards.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: And it just keeps things going in a different way than somebody saying, Well, you know, my grandpa or my great-grandfather fought in that war.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: It draws us into a place of particular remembrance.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so this is what those 12 stones were supposed to do, but then you also have to think about who were they for?
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because they're not for the people who just crossed through.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: They have their memories to give them a reminder at all times.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: I doubt for the rest of their life you would ever forget walking across the dry Jordan River with water a hundred foot high on your right side.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think you forget that thing.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: But their children might.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: Or those who are not born yet might.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: And ends up that this becomes one of the problems with the next generation.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: Joshua set up in Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken from the Jordan, and he said to the Israelites, In the future, when your children ask their fathers, what is the meaning of these stones?
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: Dad, why do we have stones lying here?
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: You should tell your children, Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground, for the Lord your God dried up the water of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, just as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up before us until we had crossed over.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: This is so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord's hand is strong, and so that you may always fear the Lord your God.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: The generation who is crossing the Jordan River.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Joshua 3 and 4 were either children or unborn when their parents crossed the Red Sea.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that was their parents' memorial to God's power and strength and fear, as we find out.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually after the Red Sea crossing.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: You can go back and look in Exodus.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: It is after that moment that they placed their trust in God and in his leader Moses.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: The Red Sea is this amazing event that sort of unified the nation following after the Lord.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: Well, now the crossing of the Jordan River is going to be that for the next generation.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: And the question becomes, what will it be for the generation after?
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: Because we have this very terrible habit of forgetting God's power and his might and the fact that he is worthy of our respect and that he can do these kinds of things.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: And even, you could say, just as important is maintaining the promised land, making sure that you are able to persist, live in the land that God has made for you and brought you back to.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: This is what the children are inheriting, right?
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: Those who are crossing right now, that are in their diapers, they are walking into a land that is going to be filled with abundance, the land of milk and honey.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: And they are not going to have the memory of walking through the desert.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: They are not going to have the memory of manna.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: They are not going to have the memory of all the struggles that their parents and their grandparents went through.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: They're just going to walk into a beautiful land.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so the danger then becomes: will they be able to maintain it?
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: Which is connected directly to their faith and obedience.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: And with that, will they be at rest from their enemies?
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: Well, are they successful in that?
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: But that's not our focus right now.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: Our focus is on the current generation.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: God says, you need to tell them of what I have done.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: You need to make sure that they know.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: Israel will always know the strength of God and have respect and fear for his mighty hand.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: Later on, when there is downfall and there is exile and there is no longer rest from the land, what has happened?
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: That generation has often begun to worship other gods, or they do, not often, they are.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: And they have forgotten that the Lord's hand is strong, and they have forgotten what it means to respect and fear God.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: This, these twelve stones are a sign of God's love for them, so that they may be able to keep the gift that He has just given to them.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you take the crossing of the Jordan River and you say, okay, well, um, I mean, the Kansas River, some people can afford that just on their own.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you can get a good kayak and just cross to the other side, right?
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: What is the real impact for us?
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's important to keep in mind that the context of this passage is not immediately to draw it into what's the Jordan River in your life, right?
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: The immediate context, as Joshua says, you have a living God who is powerful and is going to drive out your enemies, but nevertheless, we can still take these principles because there are many, many moments in our lives where we are heading towards a situation and we do not know how God is going to solve it or how we are going to cross it.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: It seems like an impenetrable barrier, right?
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: Something that we can't get through on our own, and we go before the Lord and we ask him for his help.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, will you divide the waters?
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: Will you help us cross through on dry land?
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: Will you give us the answer to this prayer?
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: God, it seems like your promise is on the other side.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: What you have said is coming, and yet I don't see how we can get there.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: And in that moment, what we learn from Joshua 3 and 4 is not so much that God is faithful to maintain his promises.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: We know that.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: And that is told to us in many other stories.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: But really, what is interesting here is what he tells the people to do before and after.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: The first part is they're to expect great things.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to overlook this point because it's so interesting that the nation of Israel has been told, hey, we're crossing over.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: But really, the only thing that they are specifically given is they just say, the priests, you need to follow them, and they're going to walk towards the river.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: Even the priests who are picking up the Ark of the Covenant, they're just told, like, just start walking.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: And it's, notice in the text, as soon as their feet touch the water, then the waters part.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: It is not the waters part, and then they walk through.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: It is they literally literally take a step of faith into the overflowing Jordan River, and then the waters stand up and part.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: It seems to be in the Bible that God's preferred way of working in the world and with his people, when the miraculous comes, when the answers to prayer come, are that we have taken a step of faith first, and then he answers.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: There are definitely examples in the Bible, plenty of them, and even in your own life, where God has told somebody to do something and they go, Show me a sign first.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: Occasionally he responds in grace and does that.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe in your own life you've had one of those moments where you say, Take this addiction from me, heal me, uh, deliver me from this situation, and then I will follow after you.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: And God, in his grace, answers that plea.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: But far more often, what God desires is that people take that step of faith, and then he does the thing that he was planning to do all along.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: Oftentimes we place conditions on God.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: We say, I'm not gonna do this until you move first.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to change until you change first, until you alter my situation, and then I'll know that you're really the God that you say that you are.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine for a moment you uh invite a good friend out to lunch, okay?
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: And you're gonna meet with that friend at noon or whatever, and your friend gets to the restaurant and is waiting.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: Waiting 15 minutes, texts you, you okay?
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I was just making sure you got to the restaurant first, now I'm leaving my house, right?
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: Not too many lunch dates in your future with that friend.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: There's an aspect of faith that is shown, and even just assuming that your friend is going to appear at your designated time for lunch.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: And yet, so often we treat God as if he must be the first mover in every single respect.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: Show up first, and then I'll leave my house and I'll meet you there.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: But that's often not the way that God works.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: You can look at other examples in the Bible.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: One other clear one would be when Peter needs to step out of the boat onto the water in the stormy sea with Jesus, right?
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: Before Peter does it, Jesus just says, Hey Peter, come to me.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't say, I promise that when you step out of the boat, it's going to feel like you're on firm ground, everything's going to be okay.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: He just says, Peter, come on, let's go.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then Peter steps, turns out everything's just fine, and it's later on when he lacks faith, oh ye of little faith, Peter, that he begins to sink.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so the first part here is that we need to expect great things.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think it is very fair for us to anticipate that God would do many great works when we do not have the faith to expect that they are coming.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: To think that he is going to move in all circumstances and situations and answer every single prayer, and yet we are reluctant to think that he will even do it in the first place.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's a hard position to be in.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so what Israel is told is that they must expect great things.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, and once they had crossed over, is they are to remember his works.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: And this is where I want to just dig down for one moment because I think this is where there's a lot of practical application.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: What does it look like in your life to basically pick up 12 big stones and put them on the other side of the river?
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: Keep in mind what the purpose is here.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: The purpose is not so much that you remember, though surely that's part of it, it's that those who come after you will have a legacy of that faith.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: And when they ask questions, that you will be able to say, this is what God has done.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: That the stones, in fact, will be a reminder and will draw them into this place.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: What does it look like to remember his works?
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: Well, here are a couple suggestions.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: Give your testimony.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: One of the most powerful things that you can do, especially if you are mature in your faith in Christ and you have walked with him for a long period of time, you've gone through the highs and the lows, right?
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: Is to be able to tell the next generation and those around you what the Lord has done in your life.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: It is the sort of verbal act of placing twelve stones, is telling people about what God has done.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: You could literally place physical reminders.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: You can pick up twelve big stones if you wanted to, but you know, this could be a plaque, this could be a picture, it could be a piece of artwork, it could be um a something that you picked up on a uh a significant journey, you know.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, uh in my office, when I went to Israel, like I have a couple stones that I picked up there and are on my bookshelf right now.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: But you can literally place physical reminders that when other people see them, we'll make them ask a question.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: You can practice family rituals.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know, Hannah and I, we're in the process of figuring this out with our kids right now.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: What will be the rhythms that our family hits that consistently uh drive our children towards this idea of their God?
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: Is it around the dinner table?
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: Is it before bedtime?
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: Is it in the car taking kids to practice?
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: How can you regularly talk about God with your family and especially with your kids?
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to make it even bigger, you can play in an annual event.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_00: There are a lot of families who go to family camp during the summer with the church, and for them it's sort of this great time to just come together and celebrate faith as a family.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: You can celebrate spiritual milestones.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: If you have ever had the privilege of leading somebody to life in Christ, to a saving faith, if God has used you in that way, or you just know of somebody who has trusted in the Lord, you can celebrate that date.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: You can celebrate it as an annual reminder of the decision they made.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody gets baptized.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's why we love, I know it's somewhat unusual that as a church we just kind of do one big annual baptism for everybody who wants to get baptized.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: But part of the reason why we do that is so that it is this continual reminder, and those who've been baptized can come and celebrate the next generation who are doing it, and it is just this annual activity for our church of celebrating God's good works.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: You can make the moments that mattered memorable.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then finally, though it's not exhaustive, is you know, one of the greatest things that is happening right now as we speak is that over in the College Avenue building or over there, there are many wonderful people who are serving the children and the youth.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: They are leading them to life in Christ.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: They're answering their questions, they are going through Bible studies, they're making a safe space, they are providing godly mentorship, they are living out what the Twelve Stones are supposed to represent.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: And you can do that too.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so the point here is that you're supposed to remember God's works, that there is an aspect and responsibility in your life to carry forward the things that God has done and to tell other people about it.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_00: I know there are some of you who have truly, just by God's grace, like picked up a Bible and nobody ever told you about it and started reading and understood the Lord.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_00: But for the vast majority of you, the reason that you are here is because somebody introduced you to the faith, somebody brought you to this place, somebody did something to pass on what they already knew so that you could be here as well.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so now it's our responsibility to do that.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_00: So in crossing the Jordan River, we see this clear picture of God leading Israel once again through the unknown, where they need to go.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: And Israel was asked to literally step out in faith, uncertain of how God would act, but certain that he would.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: And our lives are often filled with moments of uncertainty, and the question is not whether God will move, but whether we have the trust to take that step of faith before he does.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_00: And then once he does, whether we will be obedient, to continue to tell the next group of people about his power and his might and why he is worthy of fear and respect.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_00: Because what history has shown is that if we fail to do that, good things do not often follow, right?
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's an amazing testament of Israel crossing the Jordan River.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's huge for them.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: And like I've said, as we go forth in Joshua, the book is going to change now.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: They're in the promised land.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_00: Stuff is different.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_00: But in our own lives, the question is not so much if God is going to be there.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_00: The question is if we are expecting great things to happen and if we will tell people about them after he has done it.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we come before you today, and Lord, we expect great things to happen.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, we expect that you will do mighty works in our life.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: And God, we don't necessarily mean that there's health, wealth, and happiness for every single answered prayer.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: God, often you work in ways that we don't fully understand, but yet we know that you have not left us.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: You are a living God who is among us, who is walking before us through the uncertain steps ahead.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, you are the one who guides us every step of the way, and we are thankful for that.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray that we would expect great things in our own life, that your spirit would increase our faith so that we could do this, Lord, and that when you do it, inevitably, God, that we would have the obedience and the faith to just place some stones of our own.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, wherever it is to have a reminder, a memorial of your good and beautiful purposes.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_00: God, we thank you for all of these things.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it's in Jesus' name we pray.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.