Monuments in the Land Part III

Against Forgetting

Recently I was contemplating on how the terrain beneath us is shifting. So much so it is becoming increasingly difficult to tell what a Christian actually is. We’re all Christian and have no defining characteristics so long as we have something that looks like God.

The dilemma we encounter with this position is when we blur the lines so much we profess to be believers of the word but fail to ascribe to its entirety.

2011-Pastor Andrew Farley in an effort to create a path for “Christians to regain their faith...” exclaims we are to abandon all of the Old Testament Traditions and ignore the law as we are no longer bound to the law.

1. while this arises from the need to truly understand grace and the narratives found in the OT it fails to see the damage it could or would eventually catapult on the church

2018-Andy Stanley progresses this idea by stating “The bible did not create Christianity the resurrection did… Unhitch the OT from the NT… by doing so we bring liberty to the Christianity”

1. Being that the NT mentions the OT (contrary to Andy’s statement) we cannot abandon the OT and pretend like it has no bearing on us as Christians.

2023- Sitting through a ministry event I hear a young adult state how his mom is an apostle and prophet, she has taught him to unhitch from the bible…

“It does not contain all we need to know in life… it is not written with authority it simple has suggestions and guidelines we could use.”

She apparently is also a Dr. in Theology and so her word carries authority that now supersedes the text we read. She is speaking to todays problems the bible does not address.

This perhaps is why it was so necessary for the word of God to declare its importance in our lives

1200x references to remembering God or His word

300x told not to forget His word or what He has done

50 “approximately” references to meditating onHis word

Approx. 70 verses on having His word written on our hearts

It would seem to me that remembering what God has said in its entirety is immensely if not, critically important to the Lord.

In the promise we must continually remember His word.

Joshua 8:30–31 ESV

At that time Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the people of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, “an altar of uncut stones, upon which no man has wielded an iron tool.” And they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings.

Early success was marked with Blessings and curses which the Israelites would have to remember

Mt Ebal was one peak the other was Mt Gerazim

More than just a ritual remembrance this monument pointed to God

***most important***Anyone who desired to be a part of this people would have remember the word of God

Uncompromising Word

Joshua 8:32 ESV

And there, in the presence of the people of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written.

Make note of what is stated specifically.

An exact copy of the law would be placed here

His opinion is absent

The placement… in the midst of the people

we cannot hide the word it must be plain for all to see

At the heart of every church… at the heart of every home… at the heart of every aspect of our life… the word must be present.

His Word Must be the Core of the Believer

Joshua 8:33–35 ESV

And all Israel, sojourner as well as native born, with their elders and officers and their judges, stood on opposite sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, half of them in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded at the first, to bless the people of Israel. And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them.

All who are part of the nation are called to know the word. it is not just the “leaders”

from the youngest to the eldest

There is a need to teach as Joshua read the law… the intent is not about lording over someone as much as it is to teach them.

Not a word must be missed… this is why we are commanded to make disciples and not just converts. His word must be at the heart of all we do and all we are.

More Than Words to Hear

James 1:22–25 ESV

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

Knowing the word is not enough

dwell, meditate, remember on His word

It must burst forth

I know the word but wont do it is foolishness.

Blessing is found in the pursuit of His word… living in the promise.

The Monument on our Hearts

Jeremiah 31:33–34 ESV

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

You the living temple of the living God are the generation with the word written on your heart.

The intent is from the least to the greatest

5x this is referenced from the OT to the NT where we see it in Heb 10… the word is being inscribed in our hearts…

all of His word not part of it… this in large part is why we cannot forget one part of His word

We become the monument people look at and either see (a) a distorted version of His word or (b) the Word being carried out to the fullest.

The remainder of our time in Joshua we will note the battles that besiege the nation of God… regardless what may come it is the very word of God that sustains His people and calls them back to remain in the promise

Finally, anyone who desires to call themselves Christian must themselves confess the Word of God and cannot dismiss any part of it.