Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

God has wired us, as human beings to remember things based on symbols and pictures.

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I am going to put some pictures up on the screen that have meaning and create emotion.

You can respond with your thoughts as we look at each one.

What words or phrases come to mind as you look at each image?

Red Cross - Veteran Memorial - Wolf - Baby - Cross

Throughout scripture, the Lord uses, and encourages His people to uses images to remember.

To stir our hearts to think about the mighty things He has done.

Reading through chapters 3 and 4, if we think of it as we would a movie, we have different scenes, and flashbacks to to the same situation from different angles, different perspectives.

These flashbacks are used for a specific purpose.

The first is verses 1-14 of chapter 4.

Our camera angle on these verses is from the east side of the river, from outside the promised land looking in.

The purpose of this was to show God’s work, to show a parallel between God’s work to raise up Moses and now to raise up Joshua.

God had established Moses and now establishes Joshua as Israel’s human leader, and the people are united in their “awe” (Joshua 4:14) or fear of him as their divinely appointed chief man, just as it had been with Moses.

This section of story is being told from the peoples point of view as the prepare and cross over the Jordan.

From the outside looking in, the purpose of the miracle, the purpose of the memorial, was to remember what God had done.

That God had provided for them a way to cross the Jordan on dry ground.

That God brought them to the land, just as He promised.

And that God was exalting Joshua, just as He promised.

The crossing completed: stage two.

15-18

Beginning in verse 15, our angle changes.

We are now on the other side of the river.

Our point of view as readers is from the inside looking out.

Strictly chronologically, verses 15-18 belong before v. 11, which tells us that the priests and the ark crossed over to the other side.

But we are again reminded of the miracle because it points to God.

The final stage in the miracle of the crossing was the priests’ leaving the Jordan riverbed and the waters returning to their place

The priests leave the river, the soles of their feet lifted up on dry ground, and the waters of the Jordan return, overflowing their banks as if nothing had happened.

It is more than the physical miracle though that points to the greatness of God.

Israel’s crossing covers boundaries of time and space.

4:19-5:1

Verse 19 introduces two new pieces of information.

It gives a name to the place where they lodged, and gives the day of the crossing.

These pieces of information show how this crossing also covers boundaries of time and space.

A significant day.

v.19

Our text tells us that the people came up out of the Jordan on the 10th day of the first month.

The significance of the day is that it was when the Passover lamb was selected, in preparation for its sacrifice on the fourteenth day of the month

the timing underlies the connection of the entry of the land with the exodus from Egypt some forty years earlier.

Even the day of the crossing points to the greatness of God.

This day would be remembered for the preparation to leave Egypt, and now as well for the Lord’s work to hold back the river that the Israelite’s could pass into Canaan.

The promised land.

we might say this day had marked the beginning of redemption; now it marked its completion.

What Yahweh began he brought to completion.

Yahweh has written his faithfulness across another date on our calendars!

Israel had been a slave; now Israel was an heir.

A significant place.

v. 19-20

The place where they come to rest is called Gilgal.

the name of the place is derived from the Hebrew verb “to roll,” with the suggestion that implicit in the name is the rolling away of the shame of their Egyptian slavery and their wandering in the desert as at last they cross the frontier and enter the land of promise.

As Joshua rehearses to the people the purpose of the memorial, he refers firstly to the historical event (v.

22), then to its explanation (v.

23), and finally to its purpose (v.

24).

The emphasis is entirely on Yahweh, “your God,” mentioned four times, as the heart of the story.

He dried up the Jordan just as he had done to the Red Sea, and he did it “for us,” his people

This place would become the base of operations for the people as they would go forth to conquer the land.

The memorial here would also serve as a reminder of the mighty work God had done to bring the people into the land.

This is the first reference in the Book of Joshua to this important religious site.

Here, the Israelites celebrated several religious rituals, including circumcision and Passover (Joshua 5), and it was the place where a sanctuary and an altar were built for God (9:23, 27).

It remained as an important place of sacrifice for many centuries later (see 1 Sam 10:8).

It was one of the cities where Samuel judged (1 Sam 7:16) and where Saul was made king (1 Sam 11:14–15).

A memorial that transcends time.

v. 21-24

In verses 21-24 we see the question again raised as to what theses stones mean?

The Lord God alone is deserving of worship because by his mighty power and gracious love he delivers his people, as at the Red Sea and the Jordan River.

Israel’s memorials are tributes to God, not to human achievements.

They reflect a living faith in the Lord that he receives with favor

Memorials are for the living, not the dead, to contemplate and reverence the Lord God.

Although they are tributes to God’s works in the past, they call for change in the present.

They call the living to remember, and to recognize the one true living God.

The God who works mightily on behalf of His people.

That present impact on the people during that time was on more that just the Israelites though.

The impact of the crossing extended to the nations that were living in the promised land.

The impact of Israel’s crossing goes beyond those crossing the river.

5:1

The remarkable events of the crossing and the memorials are not in themselves the object of the people’s attention.

The power and grace of God are the focus of these chapters, not on the miracle of the crossing alone.

The purpose of what happened was to encourage worship.

The events of the story lead to a call for humility and devotion to the Lord.

The memorial functions as a reminder of God’s mighty works.

There is some significant symbolism involved with the Israelites crossing the Jordan.

They leave behind a life of wandering.

They were lost.

They are now found, they enter into God’s promise.

This is the picture of our lives when we place our faith, our trust, in Jesus.

When he becomes our Lord and savior.

We leave the lostness of lives enslaved to sin.

Living according to worldly values.

We move into God’s promises.

What has the Lord done in your life?

God is so gracious to us.

He knows we have spiritual amnesia.

He knows that we are forgetful.

So he gives us memorials.

He commands us to do certain things that will serve as reminders.

I want to share six practical ways, among others, that we can combat spiritual amnesia.

1. Think.

What are some events that you can look back on as a pile of stones marking a defining moment for you — a moment when God showed his power in your life, when he was guiding you in a very clear way, when he answered a prayer, fulfilled a promise?

“I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds” (Psalm 77:12).

2. Thank.

Engage your heart in gratitude for what he has done.

“I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds” (Psalm 9:1).

3. Tell.