Sermon Tone Analysis

Yesterday, this church celebrated 150 years of service to Jesus Christ.

Now, if you were not able to attend the celebration, let me tell you that you missed a great time of fellowship and memories.

One of the highlights of the day was when Hazel White shared an abbreviated history of the church.

It turns out that we can trace that history all the way back to the 17th century.

I’m certain that Hazel wasn’t around back then, so I have to assume that she got her information from some of the other folks here today.

I’ll just say that we’re blessed you have such long memories.

Seriously, though, it was good for Liberty Spring to mark 150 years of God’s work.

Every once in a while, we should step back and take some time to reflect on what God has done in and for us.

If you were here yesterday, you heard a former pastor talk about the memorial stones the people of Israel erected in Canaan after having crossed the Jordan River.

God had directed Joshua to build a memorial so that generations to come would always remember how He had provided for them, how He had protected them and how He had delivered them from Egypt and into the Promised Land.

Scripture is full of examples of such memorials, and each time we see one, the idea is that they serve to remind the people of GOD’S provision.

Perhaps He understood that we are quick to forget.

Perhaps He understood that we have a tendency to take the credit for the work that only HE could have done.

In the case of the Israelites, the 12 stones they used to build the memorial had been taken from the bed of the Jordan River.

Imagine walking past that memorial with your grandchild.

Wouldn’t the first thing you told them have been, “Son, those stones came from that river, and the only reason we were able to get them was because God Himself parted the waters so we could pass over on dry land.”

Today, I want to talk to you about a couple of other such memorials recorded in Scripture, and I hope you will see that there is more going on there than simply remembering the good times.

In each case, the memorials were intended to cause people to look back at the work God had done, but they were also intended to cause us to look forward with hope for what He WILL do.

Furthermore, they were intended to serve as encouragement to keep moving.

First, let’s look at .

We’ll pick up in Verse 10, and while you are turning there, let me give you some background.

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Jacob was one of the sons of Isaac and Rebekah, and you will recall that he had a twin brother, Esau.

Isaac loved Esau best, and Rebekah loved Jacob best.

You’ll probably also recall that Esau gave up his birthright to Jacob in return for a bowl of red stew and that Jacob tricked their father into giving him his blessing, instead of giving it to Esau.

Today, we would call this a dysfunctional family.

Well, after securing his father’s blessing, Jacob realized that his brother might kill him if he stayed around, so as we pick up the text in Verse 10, we see Jacob leaving his home.

Now this is an interesting dream, and Moses, who wrote the book of Genesis doesn’t give us much context for understanding it.

But I want to show you something incredible before we move on through this chapter.

It’s a slight rabbit trail, but I think it’s worthwhile.

The Apostle John records that Jesus met Philip in Galilee near the beginning of His public ministry.

He called out to Philip and said, “Follow Me,” and that’s exactly what Philip did.

But Philip then set a precedent that we should all follow.

He went out and told someone else about Jesus.

Nathanael was skeptical — his response was “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?

— but he went along with Philip anyway, and then John records an interesting meeting between Nathanael and Jesus, a meeting that culminated with Nathanael’s incredible confession:

But take a look at how Jesus responds to him.

Doesn’t something there look familiar?

Jacob had the dream in which he saw the angels ascending and descending a ladder to heaven.

Here, we see Jesus describing Himself as that ladder.

In other words, He is saying that HE is the route of blessing for the people of Israel — and, indeed, for all the people of Earth.

Jesus Christ, whose sacrifice we remember each time we partake of communion, provides our access to Heaven, to eternal communion with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

This would not have been something that Jacob had any way to understand when he had his dream, but God progressively revealed His plans for the redemption of mankind, culminating with His perfect revelation in His only Son, the Christ whose sacrifice paid the sin-debt for all who follow Him in faith.

I love how Scripture connects to itself and how God gave both signs and memorials for us to see and understand that He has been working His plan of redemption since the very beginning.

So Jacob had his dream, and he saw the angels ascending and descending the ladder.

And we pick up again in verse 13.

14

Now, these are the same promises God had given Abraham and Isaac.

God is reminding Jacob that He has not forgotten His covenant with Abraham.

But God makes another promise to Jacob, one that would have been especially significant to him as he headed into the unknown from his home.

Isaac would likely not have understood the reference, but we do, because we have been given the fuller revelation of Scripture.

We know that

So God has reconfirmed His promises to Jacob, and He has promised to be with Jacob wherever He would go.

And Jacob responds to these promises in an admirable way:

This was a promise to send the Holy Spirit to be their Comforter and Guide, to bring His words to their remembrance, and to help them to continue to abide in Him.

16

Just as Jacob was going out essentially as an orphan and needed to know that God would be with him, the disciples were about to lose

And then Jacob erects a memorial.

What was the point of this memorial?

Clearly, Jacob wanted to commit an act of worship, and he wanted to set up a reminder there of his encounter with God and of the promises God had made to him.

Later, we see that Jacob returned to this place, and the reminder was still there.

But there’s an important point to be made that we can see in verse 1 of the next chapter.

You see, Jacob did not allow this incredible experience to be the end of his journey.

He moved on, knowing that God was with him and knowing that God had a plan for him.

He could have stayed in that place, enjoying the memories of what had happened there for the rest of his life.

He could have expanded the altar and beautified it and said he was doing all this for the glory of God.

But God’s plan is never for us to rest in the blessings He has given us.

To Adam and Eve, He said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.”

After the flood, He said to Noah, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.”

To Abraham, He said, “Go forth from your country … to the land which I will show you.”

Through Jesus, He said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations....”

The memorials — and the memories — we have are supposed to be reminders of what God has done, but they are also supposed to be an encouragement for us to do the work that God has given us to do.

If He has been faithful to us in the past, He will be faithful to us in the future.

The other day, Annette was glancing through the scrapbooks that were set up for the anniversary celebration.

In one of them — I think one that dealt with the church’s rebuilding after the fire — she came across a photo or newspaper clipping with Andy Damiani in it.

I think he was the mayor of Suffolk at the time.

Now, I loved Andy Damiani.

And I was thrilled when I heard that the city was erecting a plaque to honor him after his death.

But I was upset at first when I learned that the plaque was tucked away in the little park at the corner of Main and Washington streets.

But as I’ve thought about it, I think there’s something appropriate about this location.

It’s in the middle of Downtown Suffolk, which, of course, would have made Mr. Downtown very happy.

But I think he would have especially appreciated the fact that this plaque is located in a place where most people don’t stop for long periods of time (well, except for the Jehovah’s Witnesses).

You see, Andy loved Downtown Suffolk, and he was always trying to do things that moved it forward.

He was a great cheerleader for anything that would help the businesses located there.

So I think that Andy would appreciate the fact that his plaque is located in a place where people stop for a few moments to remember him and then move on.

Andy would have said we should get on with the work of improving Downtown Suffolk.

I think the monuments and memorials we see in Scripture are similar to this.

God wants us to remember His provision for us, but He wants us to continue the work He has given us to do.

We see this concept again with the Lord’s Supper.

In his letter to the church in Corinth, the Apostle Paul talks about the Lord’s Supper, and he quotes Jesus’ words: “Do this in remembrance of Me.”

This communion that we will celebrate in a few minutes is a reminder of the work that Jesus did on the cross.

He allowed His body to be broken and His blood to be spilled as payment of the debt incurred by our sins.

Without the willing sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, each of us would have been in debt to the perfect and holy Father for our rebellion against Him.

It is a debt that would have been impossible for us to repay.

But for those who have followed Jesus Christ in faith, that debt HAS been paid.

His death on the cross paid it in full, and His resurrection was proof that God had accepted the payment.

Furthermore, His ascension into Heaven, along with His promise to return and take believers home, gives believers confidence that we will be in Heaven with Him one day.

Now, if you are a believer, you could easily rest in that hope.

You could take communion every month, looking back in remembrance of Jesus and of His great gift to you.

But Paul says something else in this letter to the Corinthians.

1 Cor

Communion is, itself, a proclamation of Jesus Christ.