Joshua 4 Bible Study (Twelve Memorial Stones from the Jordan) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

So let's go to Joshua and meet me in chapter four. And as you turn there, I think it is appropriate to do a quick recap to understand where we left off. And so what we know from Joshua from chapter one, is that Moses, the leader of the nation of Israel, he died. That's what we finished off in Deuteronomy, and that's how we are introduced to this book. Joshua was chosen and anointed to be the leader that would take the place of Moses and lead the people into the promised land.

Everything about chapter one has to do with Joshua being encouraged in that role, not just by God himself, but also by the people that would be led by him. Then you go to chapter two, and Joshua, as a wise leader, sends not 12, but two spies to go into the land of Canaan and to specifically focus on Jericho, because Jericho would be, one of the first places that they would face, and they would have to conquer in order to get to where God wanted them to be. So these two spies go in there, introduced to a woman by the name of Rahab. We talked about that one Friday, about how she is a picture of faith and God's grace and mercy, and there was so much gospel truth in that chapter. Then we go to Joshua chapter three, where Joshua finally gets the call, and he begins to move the people and mobilize them towards the Jordan River, the border between where they are and the land of Canaan.

And he received specific instructions about what they were supposed to do because through this, Joshua would be exalted in the sight of the people, and they would begin to esteem him just as much as they did Moses. And so as he gets there, he is told that the ark of the covenant is supposed to go way ahead so that the people can follow appropriately. And once they got to that water and the Bible tells us it was at it was at a specific time. It was during the time of the harvest, so the water was overflowing. And it was it was God's strategy to bring them there at that specific season so that it would be a greater challenge that would require greater faith.

And the instruction was, let the priest put the ark on their shoulders, and let them step into the water. And as we read in chapter three, the water as though a divine hand came in, pushed it to one side of the river, creating a dry place so that the people can cross, mirroring what happened with Moses and the Red Sea. In this way, Joshua would be exalted and the people would receive a testimony of the faithfulness of God. And so here we are in Joshua chapter four, and we are about to see them crossing this river and the instructions, very unique instructions given by God to know what to do with this dry place so that it would bring something of sanctifying truth to not just them, but to us. But before we do that, we need to pray.

We need to ask God to help us understand this text, or else we will see it as a historical event, and we won't understand how it applies to our lives today. So let's do that. Would you join me in prayer? Lord, we thank you for this time together, and we pray in Jesus' name that you would, by the Holy Spirit, bring all of our hearts to rest, that our mind to stillness so that we can receive exactly what you want us to receive from this chapter. We thank you for the pray, Lord, that you would speak to us like you have been.

And we believe that you have something for us. We pray that the power of the Holy Spirit would rest upon this word and that every person watching, wherever they're watching from, would be touched by the presence of God and the truths that come from his word. We thank you in advance for the testimonies of this bible study. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Let's read here in verse one. Now this is a bible study. We have a lot of scriptures to go through, so hold on to your bibles tight, and let's read from verse one of chapter four. When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, take 12 men from the people, from each tribe of man, and command them saying, take 12 stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priest feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight. We're gonna learn a lot about stones in this chapter, these stones specifically.

Here is the instruction that God gave them. As this entire nation crossed the river into the land of Canaan for the first time after forty years, God says, before you move on, Joshua, I want you to take one man from each tribe. I want them to go into the river while it is dry, and I want them to take 12 stones, one for each tribe, and they were large enough clearly to be placed on their shoulders so that when you would come back into the land of Canaan, you would set them up as a memorial. You would set them up as a staple, pillars, testimonies of what I've done in this moment. You can imagine how exciting this was for the Israelites.

Here they are for the first time. They've been striving. They've been dealing with temptation. They had to deal with their parents' disobedience. And finally, they've come to this place where they are experiencing a red sea moment.

And you can imagine how thrilling it was. And so thrilling it was that God never wanted them to forget it. And so for him to capture this moment, he says, I want you to record it this way. Grab the rocks that were buried by the water. Take these rocks, these stones, and I want you to bring them to where you're gonna lodge tonight.

Plant them into the ground so that for generations to come, you would have something to look forward to. Every time you would see these things, you would realize what I'm able to do. You would realize how to handle your situation in your life that would require a miracle or an intervention from God. That's exactly what this is all about, and it's a wonderful thing. And so there are details here that we cannot just read quickly by.

He says here specifically, I want you to take 12 stones. Now wouldn't you think one stone would be enough? Wouldn't it be enough for them to just take one giant rock and bring it to where they needed to bring it to, and then they would all know, they would mark it somehow and say, this came from the River Jordan. This is the time that we crossed it. No.

God says specifically twelve, one for each tribe. And I think that's important for us to understand because it it was a message that God wanted to relay to the tribes, to the nation of Israel. It would have been appropriate for one, but he says, I want 12. Why do you think that is? Here's one reason I believe, that each tribe, when they would come to this memorial site, they would realize that God was, yes, faithful to Israel, but he was faithful to each one of the sons of Israel.

That he had led them, and he had loved them, and he had provided for them, and he had moved on their behalf all equally. All equally. Yes. Some might have disobeyed more. Yes.

Some had different prophetic callings based on what was said by their fathers, but God loved them equally. God led them perfectly, and there was no favorites in his leading. No. They were they were all there, and he brought them to where he wanted them to be. That is exactly the message that he is trying to to relay.

And I I think this is not a stretch to to interpret with because we see something similar back in Exodus. If you remember the book of Exodus, specifically with the garments of the high priest, god gave specific instructions of how that high priest was supposed to be dressed. And at one moment, it came to the breastplate. And the breastplate, it tells us here in Exodus twenty eight twenty nine. Listen to this.

So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment on his heart when he goes into the holy place to bring them to regular remembrance before the Lord. So he was supposed to have this breastpiece, and on this breastpiece would be 12 different stones, beautiful stones, gems, jewels, and they would bear the names of the sons of Israel, and they would be placed on his heart. Is that a random location? No. It's the the work of the high priest who's coming before God representing the nations, but on the place where it is the seat of his affections and his desires and his delight.

Their names were on the high priest's heart. It was one of the strongest symbols of covenantal love, of commitment and faithfulness and adoration. And this picture to the Jews in the old testament was so strong pertaining to what love is that in the chapter of a book that is all about love between a man and a woman, it's a it's a book that's rarely visited by people today, but it is intense with the fragrance of love and even romance. By the end of that book in the song of Solomon, you read in chapter eight verse six from the woman. Look what she says concerning her beloved.

She says, set me, in verse six of song of Solomon eight, set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord. So here's this romantic poetic exchange between a a man and a woman, and the woman at the end of this book says, oh, would you set me as a seal upon your heart? Would you set me as a seal upon your arm?

This young girl knew her old testament very well. She knew her bible, and she knew what the high priest was wearing, and she is making, an association between the love of the high priest that he would have for the people. And she was saying, oh, would you love me like that? With that kind of covenant and commitment? Now why is she saying seal upon the arm and not just the heart?

Because the high priest wouldn't just have 12 stones on his chest, he would have two onyx stones on his shoulders, and six names of the tribes on one and six names of the tribes of the other one. And so the shoulder being part of the arm, she goes, the same way that high priest has those names on his heart and the same way that that priest has those names on his shoulders, would you love me the same way? Would you would you be faithful to me the same way? Would you remember me the same way? Would you do all things in light of me being on your heart and on your shoulders in the same way?

And Jesus is our high priest. And Jesus does not just have the names of the sons of Israel on his heart. He has the name of every single one of his sons and daughters who have put their faith in him. Those who have been adopted by him have been engraved on his heart, on his arm, specifically in the palms of his hand. And this is a this is a language, this is a picture of commitment to you as a god, as the only god, as your god.

And so these 12 stones, the fact that they're even stones, he's not talking about something that's temporary, something that's flexible, something that's changing. No. It's unchanging. It's it's there. It's concrete.

It's stable. It's forever. And so when they would take these stones, even the material itself would testify the kind of love that God had for the people. And that's a picture for you and I to understand because we have to believe that the same love that he had for them and the same way he led them faithfully will he not do for you and I? You know, you come near to the end of Jesus' ministry in the book of John, and when he is about to wash their feet, and when he's about to even wash the feet of his betrayer and show them what it means to really be the greatest, it tells us in chapter 13 of John verse one.

Listen to these words carefully. Says, now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew his hour had come to depart out of this world to the father, having loved his own who were in the world, listen, he loved them to the end. He loved them to the end. He didn't love them just in the beginning when they said yes, and they gave everything up to follow him. He didn't love them when they faithfully obeyed his crusades and obeyed their responses to his miracles.

No. He loved them until the end. You know what that means? It means he loved Peter even though Peter boasted that he would die for him, and he betrayed him. He loved him still.

He loved the disciples even though at his greatest hour of need, they deserted him. He loved them still even though they heard the greatest preacher who ever lived, the most anointed man, the one who had the spirit without measure and displayed his power and his authority and did things that no man could ever replicate, even though they heard all those messages and witnessed his power, they still didn't understand what he had to say. And they still didn't know who he was, and they didn't they didn't understand his mission. He still loved them after three years of preaching and teaching and living with them. How did he love them until the end?

He loved them that in such a way that despite their failures and their lack of commitment, his arms were still wide open if they chose to return to him. That's the love that Jesus has. It's an unbroken love, unchanging love, incomparable love. And we are told that he loved them until the end. Do you know he's gonna love you and me until the end?

And all the ups and downs that we create, all the moments of unfaithfulness, all the times we abandon him and we give him vows and we break those vows, This is where you and I can fit our names. He loves us until the end. And not just feel something towards you, not just, well, you know, because I don't break my promises, I don't like you, but I'm gonna just I'm gonna make sure that I do something for you because I wanna look good. No. He sincerely loves us.

He sincerely desires us. And so this is something for you and I to hold on to. And here's the thing, he loves us perfectly even when we fail him continually. And why is he doing this? Why does he wanna show his love with the hopes that we would return the same kind of love to him?

This is his proposal to us. And the only way that you and I can really love, whether it's loving God or loving our fellow man, is when we understand his love for us. The stronger we understand the revelation of his love for us, the greater we'll be able to share that love to others. If you ever met anybody, even a professing Christian, who who is struggling in their demonstration of love, genuine, sincere, compassion, mercy, it's probably very likely that they don't understand God's love for them. The bible says, we love because he first love us loved us.

You can't love until you understand that he first loved you. You can't mirror his love. The Bible even says right after that that if you claim to love God but you hate your brother, John said you're a liar. You're a liar. If you claim to love God but you hate your brother, you're disrespectful to your brother, you dishonor your sister, you speak bad about her, you can't forgive him, you you can't fellowship with them, you can't share something with them, If you can't, then no matter what kind of claims you make for your love for God, it is it's void.

It's futile. And your understanding of God's love for you is surely tainted because you can't grasp God's love and not show that love to others. It's impossible according to the Bible. And so God here is is wanting to create a memorial, wanting them to not forget his faithfulness and his goodness towards them. Why?

So that they can return that same commitment and love towards God himself. God is interested in a return in his investment. God is not just wanting to shower his love, and whether you respond to that love or not, it doesn't matter to him. No. God wants to show his love.

He initiates it with the hopes that you will say yes to the proposal of covenant relationship with him. How do you know that to be true? Well, because he loves everybody, but there are gonna be some people who are gonna spend eternity in hell, and he still loves them. No. He wants that love to so stir us, break us, melt us, that we would say, oh, god, if this is how you love me, you, a perfect holy being, then surely I will love you in return.

And so these memorials, these 12 stones would be a declaration to each tribe, each one of you. I led perfectly. See, God doesn't love the pastor more than he loves you. God doesn't love this famous speaker or the author more than he loves you. God doesn't have a special plan for them greater than you.

That's how we understand that there's this class of Christianity. Here I am, a poor peasant believer. Nobody knows my name. I don't have a pulpit. I don't have anything for anybody to be impressed by or to be stirred by.

And look at this person who's speaking, who has this and that. Surely, God loves them more. Surely, God will protect them more, provide for them. No. Absolutely not.

And if you ever fail to believe that, look at the fact that he provided 12 stones, each one of them, and they all had different callings and different prophetic destinies, so to speak. He says, each one of you. I'm your god, and this is the kind of love I have for you, a concrete solid, rock solid love. Do we believe that? We should.

And the greater we understand his love for us, the greater we'll be able to extend that love to others. But that's not the only lesson from these stones. You come to verse six, and what do we see about these same 12 stones that they were supposed to carry? It says that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, what do those stones mean to you?

Then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever. So it wasn't just for the adult generation. These stones would be a teaching tool for the next generation.

So that as they would be there as pillars in the days to come, as they would travel by or as it would be a site for the nation of Israel to visit from time to time, the children would look at these stones, how they were placed in order, and they would look up to their father and say, dad, I don't get it. Why are these here? What are the what do these mean? And then the one who experienced it and further down, the ones who were told what happened would be able to look down at their child and say, let me tell you what god did. You know what this tells me?

This tells me that god is very concerned with the young generation. God is very, very, very concerned about the little ones. And here's a question that we should ask ourselves as a church. How much do we invest in the little ones? How much do we care about the future of the church?

Do you know why many churches are failing? Let me tell you why many of the Arab American churches are failing, because they don't care about the younger generation. They don't think about the next generation. They don't think about how they can invest in the next generation. And that's true for many of the churches, ethnic churches in the West.

But we have to think about the next one. We have to think about the future. We have to think about who's going to take down the baton. And here's another question, not just for leaders of the church. Here's a question for parents themselves.

Young mother, young father, as you're watching this, can you honestly ask yourself this? What do I care the most about my children knowing when they grow up? What do I care about the most for my son, my daughter becoming as they grow up? Do you know what the heart of God is? That they may know the works of the Lord and who the Lord is through them.

That's God's heart. That's God's agenda. That's God's plan by making sure that they would take these stones so that the next generation would be ready to understand who God is and then live according to his word. This is a sobering thing for us because we need to get on track with God's heart and God's program if we wanna see God's blessings. If we want God to work in our midst, please keep in mind that part of his work is seeing the next generation touched.

God is concerned about how we disciple and lead and bring up those who are gonna come after us, And that should be true in our prayers. That should be true in our planning. That should be true in our raising of children. We have to understand God's heart. So do you realize that the fact that he did this miracle in part in great part was, I really want the younger kids to see and to understand and to comprehend and to learn who I am?

That's a powerful thing, and it should awaken us to really consider where we're at with that same agenda. Now here's the amazing thing. Do you realize that if the parents had not obeyed, if the parents had not obeyed what God said in chapter three you know what he said in chapter three? He said, let my ark go before you, and let him lead you. Those who would hold the ark, my presence, let that go before you, and don't get ahead, but trust in my leadership and where I'm going because you don't know where you're going.

And secondly, he said, consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow you will see wonderful things. So it was a trust in God's leadership, and it was a renouncing of any sin, any known sin that would lead the people to this point and experience this wonderful testimony. How true is that for you and I today? That's the same principle. We don't have a physical arc to follow, but we have God's word.

We have the Holy Spirit who is aligned with this word. When we allow him to lead our lives, and when we consecrate ourselves from this world, then we set ourselves to experience wonderful testimonies, and then we will have something to be able to share with the next generation. See, if the the generation before this young one didn't care, guess who else it's gonna affect? The next generation. It doesn't stay with one generation.

One generation's compromise can lead to the next generation's demise. And so it requires an understanding that the way I choose to relate to God now, the way I choose to obey his word now will have a positive or negative effect, not just on the kids that I barely know in my church, but on my own children and who they will grow up to understand God to be. You know what I love? I love there's a psalm that tells us about the heart of David for the next generation. Go to Psalm 71.

Look at verse 17 and see his heart. He says, oh, God, Psalm seventy one seventeen, from my youth, you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, oh, God, do not forsake me. I love that. That's his retirement plan.

That's his desire for him in his older years. You know, a lot of people in their older age, they have a lot of plans and desires for how they wanna experience when their strength is failing them and when they can't have accessibility and they can't have mobility as free as they had when they were younger. You know what was consuming the psalmist mind? Oh god. Don't leave me to myself.

I want your hand on my life. I want your presence in my life. I want your leading. I want your voice. I want you.

Don't forsake me as I get older. He says, even to old age and gray hairs, verse 18, oh God, do not forsake me. Now look what he says. Until until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come. So he's saying don't let me leave this earth, not until I get to go and travel to this place as a vacation spot, not until I do this.

No. Lord, you've exposed me to so much of your wonderful deeds and your power and your might. I'm praying and I'm asking that you don't let me pass on from this world until I get to testify to this next generation of how wonderful and how real you are. Well, he has something in the bank. Clearly, he has something in his journal to be able to testify.

Clearly, God was so real to the psalmist that he could not wait to share with the next generation. And only a life surrendered to God, only a life that is desiring the things of God, only the life that is consecrated and allowing God to lead and have his way can have such a wonderful thing to look forward to when he's older, to be able to pour into people's lives, his own grandchildren, and say this is who God is, and this is what he's done. Look what he's taught me in his word. Look how he's answered my prayers. Look at how he's used this and used that.

Listen to this story of how real God is. I wonder as you're listening through this livestream if you're distracted or if you're burning in your heart to say, God almighty, don't let me be bankrupt of how real you can be in my life for me to show nothing to the generation that would follow me, even the generation from my own loins. But this psalmist, that's what he wanted. And this psalmist was in line with God's heart because God in Joshua four had that same desire. And what's amazing is that David in this psalm believed.

He really, really believed in the power of investing in the next generation. Why do you think that is? I mean, is this so he can show off and tell other people, look who I am. Look at the man of god I am and and listen to these stories so that they can boast in him. No.

He knew that there was power in it. He knew that his own simple life, because of his connection with God, can actually impact at least one other life. How do you think that is? Why do you think David believed that? I'll tell you why I believe it.

Not just because he's inspired by the Holy Spirit, but because he experienced it himself. Go to Psalms 86, and look how David describes a person that you probably rarely even see apart from this part and different portions of scripture. Listen to what he says in Psalms eighty six eight 16. He says, turn to me, speaking to the Lord, turn to me and be gracious to me. Give your strength to your servant.

He's the servant. Now look what he says here. And save the son of your maidservant. So he's asking God, give me strength. I'm your servant.

And then he goes on to relate to God by saying, save the son, which is him, of your, he says to God, your maidservant. Now, maidservant is a feminine term. So for him to say save the son of your maidservant means that he's speaking about who? His mother. David is telling God, oh, God, save the son of your maidservant, the one who served you, loved you, cherished you, obeyed you, surrendered to you.

God, you know how she walked before you, and I know how she walked before you. And because of your relationship with her, I'm calling upon the relationship you had on her with her, and I'm making an appeal that I'm the son of your maidservant, that godly woman that bore me in her womb and that raised me to fear you, that raised me to know how to worship you in private, that raised me to fear you and to love you and to cherish your presence. Oh God, do you know that I am the son of your maidservant? Because I am, give me strength. Wow.

It seemed like David really believes that a godly mother can have influence, that a godly father can have influence, because surely he was influenced. He knew the impact that his mother had on him. He watched his mother. He heard his mother. He received from his mother in such a way that he can identify her as God's maidservant, not churchgoer, not plays on the worship team, no, God's servant.

And he appealed to God in prayer through the relationship that she had with him. That's powerful. And that's the same opportunity that you and I have, despite how we grew up with maybe parents who have failed us. Do you realize that this generation in Joshua four that's entering into the land of Canaan and God is instructing them to set up memorials for their children, do you realize that all of their parents were failures? Do you realize that all of their parents died in the wilderness for their lack of faithfulness to God?

And do you know what unfortunately many people who have been bruised and beaten spiritually, emotionally, and sometimes physically by their own parents who claim to be professing Christians. You know what many of them are doing? They're allowing that wound to cause them to run towards the world and substances instead of taking the invitation that God is giving to this nation to say, despite the failures of my parents, despite their inconsistencies, despite the fact that they didn't inspire me to love God or believe God, I'm gonna take it upon myself by the grace of God to give to my children what my parents could not give to me. That is the attitude that God is promoting here. See, this generation isn't saying, well, you know, our parents failed us.

This isn't work. They profess believed that I saw my dad read his Bible, and he wasn't a man of God. I saw my mom coming to church and lifting her hands, but I heard her gossip all night at home. This thing isn't real. This thing isn't true.

Let me just live my life. I'll go to church here and there. No. No room for that. God didn't give room for them to do that.

He said, despite, you're gonna raise your children in a different way, and you're gonna inspire them to live for me. It's a wonderful thing to see how stones can preach to us. It doesn't end there. Something interesting happens. You look at verse nine and you realize that Joshua does something so inspirational.

It says, and Joshua set up 12 stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant had stood, and they are there to this day. Do you see what Joshua just did? We're talking about a separate set of stones. This isn't the same original 12 stones that he called for the people to take out of the river and to place where they would camp out in the land of Canaan. Joshua was so stirred and inspired by the sight of this miracle that he was the one to initiate a taking up of 12 stones and planting them in the midst of the river.

He takes up these 12 stones and he plants them right there in the dry place where the people traveled by, and he kept them there as a memorial. So so Joshua is operating in much wisdom here and and something worthy to examine. He says, I'm gonna do this because I want I want the people to not just remember God's faithfulness generally, I want them to see it specifically. And I want them to understand it in a particular manner, in a particular way. How does he do it?

He goes right by where the feet of the priests were. We're gonna plant these rocks. And clearly, they were visible enough and they were placed in such a way that even when the water would come back, they would be able to see it. And if they wouldn't be able to see it there, they would be able to see it in different seasons of life when the water would subside a little bit. But no matter how when he has in mind that these rocks would show up, he knows one thing for certain, that there is a message here that I wanna give by planting these rocks.

And here was the message that whenever an individual Israelite would stroll by the Jordan River, or maybe a family on vacation would come by the Jordan River, whatever it may be, they would park by the edge of that water and they would see the placement of those stones, perhaps in line, I don't know, it doesn't tell us how, and they would be reminded specifically, yes, of God's love and his faithfulness, but they would be reminded God is able to make a way when there seems to be no way. They would look and they would realize that in Joshua chapter three and four, God had brought the nation of Israel when the waters were gushing and rushing, and they were overflowing. And then he he was still able to push the water aside and make a path for the nation to travel through. And Joshua says, this is too amazing. This is too valuable.

This is this is too precious to waste. I'm gonna take 12 stones and set them up so that the generation after me and the generation after them would be able to look and see. God was able to take an entire nation and dry this thing up and lick up all the water so that they can travel through and get here without without anything of the physical, without anything that would make sense in the natural. If God was able to do it for my parents, surely God is able to do it for me. And that's what this message is about these stones.

You know what it teaches us? It teaches us that when you and I are faced currently with any kind of thing, I don't care what it is. It doesn't matter what it is. If it's defined by impossibility, if it is defined and described as something that is not possible to conquer or overcome or make a way for, in the natural, if you and I are in that place, observing it and witnessing and undergoing the anxiety and the pains that come with it, we shouldn't despise it, nor should we run away from it, nor should we lift our fist to heaven and question God's love and his leading. No.

We should trust that he's gonna make a way where there seems to be no way. And if you trust God enough, God will do it at one point in your life so strongly that it will create a future hope for future challenges in your life. I can testify that when I first started walking with Jesus, there were some things that I I could not understand how God would make a way for, but they were so marvelously solved by God that to this day, I can look back, and I can see stones in the midst of that river, And whenever I need present hope, I can just take a peek back, go to the Jordan River, and look at those stones and realize, no, he did it before. He'll be able to do it again. He'll be able to do it again.

And it makes future impossibilities and challenges so much easier to face, and this is exactly what Joshua has in mind. Think about all the acts of God for the nation of Israel up to this point, and think about how many of them were experienced in the midst of a trial or a test. Think about it. Think about the times that God intervened in Exodus in the wilderness. They needed food.

They needed water. God made it rain with bread. God provided water from a rock. You think about all these different things that they needed, and they were grumbling in their stomach, and they were thirsty in their mouths, and they were questioning their direction, and God always seems to intervene the strongest in the times that we need it the most. And that's certainly true for this portion of Israel's history, and that was certainly true for the psalmist in Psalm 71 who says, I can't wait.

God, by your grace, give me the opportunity to share with the next generation what you've done in my life. You want proof? It's Psalm 71 verse 20. That same psalm, look what he says. He says, you who have made me see many troubles and calamities.

This psalmist loves God. This psalmist says he's been taught from his youth. This psalmist has said that he wants to live for God even when he has the gray hairs and he's giving his dying breath. This psalmist is saying that you have maybe seen many troubles and calamities? Yes.

Because even the ones who love God the most are still guided by God's hand to experience the worst. Says, You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again. From the depths of the earth you will bring me up again. So this psalmist who longed for God to give him the chance to be able to preach to some young people, maybe his own grandchildren, where do you think his testimonies are gonna come from? I believe they're gonna come from the many troubles and calamities that he's seen God's deliverance manifest in.

And so as much as your mind and mine crashes with doubt and fear and what if and how and why, Take note of this chapter that there's something that God wants to create a memorial for, and he's able to do it if you just trust him enough. You have nothing to fear in life, in any category of your existence. If you have wholeheartedly allowed the presence of God, the word of God, the ark of the covenant, so to speak, to lead you and where you've consecrated yourself to God, you have nothing to you do might have something to worry about if you were living in a way that does not please God and you're experiencing something because it could very well be an act of discipline. But for the one who says, God, I love you. You've taught me from my youth.

You've led me throughout my life, but I don't understand what's going on. You have nothing to worry about because there's just another testimony for the treasure chest that God wants to fill in your life. And then we see something else, and we'll close here in a moment. It says here in verse 11, and when all the people had finished passing over, the ark of the Lord and the priests passed over before the people. The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh passed over armed before the people of Israel, as Moses had told them.

About 40,000 ready for war passed over before the Lord for battle to the Plains Of Jericho. Now why would why would the Holy Spirit mention this? We know that 12 tribes went through, so why is he highlighting two and a half tribes that they went through and armed? Well, if you remember, these two and a half tribes didn't wanna pass through the Jordan. They they they were there where they were before, and they said, we really like this.

And so they told Moses, we don't wanna we don't want what God has for us. We want it. We wanna be right here. We love it. It's enough space.

We wanna raise our families here, and that was not God's will. But God gave them what they wanted. How many know that if you really want something, even if it's not God's will, he'll eventually give it to you? And so they said, we want it. And and Moses said, you know you're gonna discourage the people's hearts, and so he made a deal with them.

He said, as long as you send your armed men to cross the Jordan to fight with your brothers and you coming back, that's fine. Can we make a deal on that? They said, that's fine. But Moses warns them. If you read there in numbers 32, Moses warns them.

He says, listen and paraphrase. We're making disagreement now, but it's very likely that you're gonna be tempted that when I die, that you don't keep your word. Do you know why that would be a temptation? Because going into the land of Canaan to conquer the land would take a very, very long time. It wouldn't be immediate.

And so that would be that much more time for them to go back and raise their families and spend time with them. It was a hefty call. It was a weighty thing. It wasn't some light thing. It wasn't a weekend endeavor.

And so Moses says, I know you're gonna be tempted that when I die, that you're just gonna probably wanna stay back, and then he gives that famous phrase that we always quote, be sure your sin will find you out. What does he mean by that? Even though I will die and you're not necessarily directly accountable to me, your sin will find you out and you will pay for you giving a word and not keeping it. So why is this being brought up in Joshua four? Because the Holy Spirit wants to show us that they were faithful to their commitment.

And when they said we will go, they really meant it. That's why it says as Moses had told them, even though Moses wasn't on the scene anymore, their commitment surpassed even the life of Moses. They said Moses said it. We made an agreement. We're gonna go.

And they looked at each other and they went. Now what would have happened if they didn't give that agreement or they didn't obey that agreement? I'll tell you one thing at least. Sure, their sin would find them out, but they wouldn't have been able to witness this wonderful, awesome miracle. They wouldn't have maybe they would have witnessed it from a distance, but to be able to travel through the Jordan River, that would be absent from their history.

That would be something that they would not be able to testify that they experienced firsthand. And so it is with anybody else who does not want to consistently follow the Lord, who may make vows to the Lord and take back those vows, who may in the spur of a moment say, yes, sure. I'll be committed to the word that God has given me, but now walk in it. As much as you and I think we gain by looking at a temptation around us and saying, you know, that looks like it'd be a a strong and long thing to do. We're gonna take back our word and enjoy our lives.

As much as you and I think that we're gonna gain from backtracking on our commitment to the Lord, we will always lose. These tribes would have lost out on stepping foot on the dry land that God had created for them to cross over, and here's a strong exhortation for you and I. We must be a consistent people. And as long as we are consistent, we will inherit wonderful things from God. The temptation for these tribes would have been and will be the same temptations that you and I will face, comfort, ease, doing it the way I wanna do it, sitting back and relaxing.

I don't wanna have to pick up my sword and fight. I don't wanna have to help my brothers and sisters. I don't wanna have this warfare mentality. It's too exhausting. But in reality, the one that's gonna lose and the one that's gonna miss out is you.

As much as you are investing, you're not just investing in what God deserves plainly, and that is our commitment. You are investing in the things that they experienced, wonderful, wonderful testimonies of God's goodness and power. Keep that in mind. Keep that in mind as you walk with Jesus. Keep that in mind as you are gonna be tempted by even good things in life.

Keep that in mind as other people will make that decision to stay back. Don't pull back. Don't give up. Don't look back. Stay in your if you said yes to Jesus, keep saying yes to Jesus.

People will come and go in your life. You know, it's a it's a very predictable thing that when a spiritual leader dies or moves on or is led to be going somewhere else, that that much of the commitment from the people who are under that person shrivels away. But I don't see that with these tribes. As much as their decision to stay back wasn't right, at least they kept their word. Moses had died and they said, let's they had their arms.

They were ready to go to war right there, right then. I love that. Because whether there's a Moses in or a Moses out, the ultimate commitment that we're making is not to a spiritual leader. It's not to a church name or a denomination. It's to God himself.

And when we said yes to God, it's the same yes that you say to your husband or to your wife when you're at that altar and you commit yourself in the covenant of marriage through sickness or through health, through good or through ill. I'm committed to you. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that we get to come back to Joshua and see all that you have for us. Lord, if there's anything that we need in this day, it is your Holy Spirit cutting our hearts and comforting our hearts, and we ask that you would do whatever people need the most tonight.

Lord, we pray for every person who's watching that they would be able to live with a desire for you to create memorials of your goodness through their obedience. Lord, we ask for our government to give us the grace to meet together again. We ask, Lord, for an acceleration for the ability to meet in person so that we can experience your presence and our voices combined together in one place as you've designed it to be. Lord, may any person watching tonight that is overcome by something before them that seems impossible and that seems to be holding them back, that seems to demand so much from them, God, let them be comforted to know that you're able to do something out of that calamity, out of that trial that's gonna be a story worth telling in the future. Oh, we praise you and we honor you with everything within us.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. God bless you and God willing, we'll see you in these pews sooner than later. We'll see you this Sunday morning.