Crossing The Jordan

Amen. Amen. I have no video. Testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing. That looks good there. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

All set, Greg? Alrighty. We'll give it a try. Good morning. We are glad to be here, and we're thankful for another day to gather for worship. Just a couple notes, one of those is that communion is going to be at the end of our sermon time, so we're going to use that to sort of lead us to communion. We'll use Joshua 3 and 4 to sort of help us move to the cross, and then if you are watching with us online this morning, there will be, if you're on Facebook or YouTube, there is a number you can text for prayer requests. If you're watching on our website, there's a little place you can put in prayer requests, and we can get those so that we can pray for you. So we're going to go ahead and have a word of prayer, and then we're going to read from Ephesians chapter 2, and begin our time of worship.

Father in heaven, thank you for allowing us to be here this morning. We thank you for your goodness. We thank you for your grace. We thank you for how you lead and how you save your people. We just ask that you would be with our time of worship this morning, that we would be encouraged, strengthened, that we would be refocused on you, that you would help us. We just thank you so much for your Spirit, who helps us. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So this morning when we get into Joshua chapter 3 and Joshua chapter 4, one of the remarkable things, there are many remarkable things about these two chapters, but one is the picture of how God provides and how He saves His people. So we're going to, as we sing this morning, we're going to sing a lot about that. And before we do, we're going to read from Ephesians chapter 2 about how God saved us.

So let's go ahead and be standing, and we're going to read together. But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved, and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So that in the coming ages, He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. We're going to start by singing "Mighty to Save." You might be muted back there, Greg.

The hope of nations. Savior, He can move the mountains. My God is mighty to save. He is mighty to save. Forever author of salvation. He rose and conquered the grave. Jesus conquered the grave. So take me as you find all my fears and failures. Fill my life again. Give my life to follow. Everything I believe in. Now I surrender. Savior, He can move the mountains. My God is mighty to save. He is mighty to save. Forever, author of salvation. He rose and conquered the grave. Jesus conquered the grave. Jesus, shine a light and let the whole world see. We're singing for the glory of the risen King. Jesus, shine a light and let the whole world see. We're singing for the glory of the risen King. Jesus is mighty to save. He is mighty to save. Forever, author of salvation. He rose and conquered the grave. Jesus conquered the grave. Savior, He can move the mountains. My God is mighty to save. He is mighty to save.

Forever, author of salvation. He rose and conquered the grave. Jesus conquered the grave. Shatter light and let the whole world sing. Singing for the glory of the risen King. Jesus, shine a light and let the whole world sing. For the glory of the risen King. Behold our God. In Joshua chapter 3 and 4, these two chapters, they both call back to the things that came before them in the Bible and look forward to what comes after. Joshua chapter 4 ends with this reminder to God's people that God has done these great things so that the nations would look upon His glory, but also so His people would look upon Him and worship. His greatness. All nations tremble at His voice. All creation rises to rejoice. Behold our God, seated on His throne. Come, let us adore Him.

Nothing can compare. Come, let us adore Him. Who has given counsel to the Lord? Who can question any of His words? Who can teach the one who knows all things? Who can fathom all His wondrous deeds? Behold our God, seated on His throne. Come, let us adore Him. Behold our King, nothing can compare. Come, let us adore Him. Come, let us adore Him. Who has felt the nails upon His hands? Bearing all the guilt of sinful man. God eternal, humble to the grave. Jesus, Savior, is now to reign. Our God seated on His throne. Come let us adore Him. Behold our King. Nothing can compare. Come let us adore Him. Be seated. Wearing a lot of different hats. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray.

Let's go to Joshua 3 and 4. This morning we're going to sing another song about how God saves us, lifts us up, and then we'll be in Joshua 2 and 3, and we will bring that to sort of help us bring that to communion. So if you haven't picked up your communion elements, those are available in the back. So we're going to go ahead and sing "Glorious Day."

I was buried beneath my shame, who could carry that kind of weight? It was my turn, till I met you. I was breathing but not alive. All my failures I tried to hide. It was my turn, till I met you. You called my name, and I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness, into your glorious day. You called my name, and I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness, into your glorious day. Now your mercy saved my soul. Now your freedom is all that I know. The old they knew. Jesus, when I met you, you called my name. And I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness, into your glorious day. You called my name. I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness, into your glorious day. I had rescued. My sin was heavy. But chains break at the weight of your glory.

I needed shelter. I wasn't open. Now you call me a citizen of heaven. When I was broken, you were my healing. Now your love is the air that I'm breathing. I have a future. My eyes are open. 'Cause when you called my name, I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness, into your glorious day. You called my name, and I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness, into your glorious day. All right, let's go ahead and have a word of prayer, and we'll dive into the third and fourth chapters of Joshua. Father in Heaven, thank you that you know our names, and you have called us into your family, and thank you that you have brought us from death to life, and we just ask this morning, as we see your hope and your salvation, how you can

overcome the biggest obstacles that we might face, that you would move us to hope and to joy, but you would also help us to see the depth of how your Scripture connects to itself, that you would help us to see the wonder of the foreshadowing of our Christian lives in this passage, that you would help us to see how even thousands of years before you had planned salvation for us. We just thank you for the good news of the gospel. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So in our house, growing up, we had this little plaque on the wall, a little brass plaque about this big, and it said, "On this site in 1865, nothing happened." And obviously, probably something happened. Some cows were grazing, or a deer ran through a field, but we all know what it means. There's nothing memorable that happened or

needed to be commemorated. And we like to erect monuments to commemorate sort of big events. In fact, if you drive down just about any little road in Virginia, you'll come along a place, and there'll be a little monument, and you'll say, "This is where so-and-so lived," or "This famous event happened." Or if you drive through Winchester, you'll see the first battle of Winchester, second battle of Winchester, third battle of Winchester, right? We have all of these monuments to big events. And then in our lives, most of us can remember or have at least a monument in memory to big events that happened to us. For example, I was thinking about this. One of the things I can remember very clearly is where exactly what I was doing and where I was standing when, in Bible college, the Dean of Students steps out of his office and tells me that I'm preaching at a church the next Sunday,

that I had absolutely no interest in ever being a preacher or wanting to be a preacher, and it's one of those pivotal moments for me. I can remember the very first time that I met Rachel. We have very differing memories of this occasion, but it was like right over where Brett and Tiffany were sitting, and evidently I wasn't very nice at the time when I first met her. We can remember a lot of pivotal moments where things changed in our life. And what we're going to see for Israel, this is one of those pivotal moments, not just in their memory, reflected even in the Psalms, but with a physical monument as well. So I'm going to read through parts of Joshua chapter 3 and Joshua chapter 4, not all at once. We're going to take it sort of bit by bit and talk about it.

I think we're going to see some wonderful things this morning. So we're going to begin in Joshua chapter 3, verse 1. Then Joshua arose early in the morning. Now remember, he has been chosen by God to be the new leader of God's people. He has sent two spies in the land. And in the first two chapters, we've seen how Joshua foreshadows for Christ, right? In fact, their names in Hebrew are exactly the same. And God has said to Joshua and encouraged him to be strong and courageous, not because Joshua is good, but because God is good and God is great. And so we see how God is going to lead his people through Joshua, and God will empower and take care of Joshua. And then in Joshua chapter 2, we see how God saves somebody who was very, very unlikely. And so now in Joshua chapter 3, we have Joshua

getting up early in the morning. They set out from Shittim, and they came to the Jordan, he and all the people of Israel. And they lodged there before they passed over. And at the end of three days, the officers went through the camp and commanded the people, "As soon as you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being carried by the Levitical priests, then you shall set out from this place and follow it. Yet there shall be a distance between you and me, and about 2,000 cubits in length." And if you need a translation for cubits, because I have no idea where to get a cubit tape measure, but that's between half and three-quarters of a mile. And so they were supposed to give the ark, you know, between half and three-quarters of a mile of space as they set out. "Do not come near it in order

that you may know the way that you shall go, for you have not passed this way before." So they are literally walking into the unknown. "Then Joshua said to the people, 'Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.' And Joshua said to the priests, 'Take up the ark of the covenant and pass before the people.' So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people. And the Lord said to Joshua, 'Today I will exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. And as for you, you command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant that when they come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, they shall stand still in the Jordan."

Now, so as Israel is coming into the promised land, they immediately face what is almost an insurmountable obstacle. And that obstacle is the Jordan River. We'll learn this sort of from a parenthetical note later in the chapter, where in Joshua 3:18, it will talk about how during the harvest season, which is when they are coming into the land, that the river overflows its banks. And we learn from history that when the Jordan River overflows its banks in this time period, right before all the water is sort of moved from irrigation and the Jordan River now is much smaller, but at that time, the Jordan River could be a mile wide, right? We're not just talking about, you know, kind of a shallow river that if it's in the dry season, you can kind of walk across. You're going to get your feet wet, but it's

not going to be too unpleasant. We're talking about from bank to bank, you're likely looking at about a mile in the middle, probably more than 12 feet deep is what archaeologists tell us. And this water is not just sort of standing water like a lake, but it is moving incredibly swiftly. And so in front of all of the people of God, there is about a mile of water that's not still water or easy water where you can kind of construct a raft and go across, but we're talking about that it's deep and it is moving incredibly fast. In addition to this, the place where they're crossing is known historically to be very difficult terrain. So you're coming downhill to where the Jordan is, there's these brush and these thickets that are described by some commentators of the time as sort of being like a jungle around this river. But in addition

to that, rivers are kind of a tactically difficult situation, right? Because when you're trying to get across the river, especially in a military conflict, you're pretty vulnerable. You're vulnerable to attack because oftentimes you can only have a few people at a time, and so here they are. They're going to cross the river into hostile territory, and the river crossing is going to be difficult. The approach to the river is going to be difficult, and there very well could be an ambush on the other side. And so they have all of these unknowns that stand before them. And additionally, if you know much about the history of the Israelites, they have not done, historically, have not done well in these type of situations. Do you remember that the last time they were standing in front of a body of water with an army behind them,

what they said, "Oh, you brought us out here to die. You brought us out here to kill us." Now, that generation has passed away, and this is a new generation, but still sometimes those habits run deep. And so you have all of these challenges, right? The challenge of the river crossing, the challenge militarily, the challenge emotionally and spiritually to put your faith in God in the face of an almost impossible situation. And I want you to see how God deals with these problems. The very first thing that God does, and I love this, is He calls the people to consecrate themselves. And when we talk about consecration, what we're talking about is sort of setting something aside for a special purpose, or in this case, when it comes to worship, making something holy, right? To get ready because God is going to do

something, right? And we've probably experienced this picture of having to get ready, right? You have people coming to your house, you have company coming over, so you want to straighten up and make sure everything is in its right place. And so you kind of move around real quickly to make sure everything is where it's supposed to be, so when they get there, you are ready. When we talk about consecration, we're talking about sort of making ourselves holy. And in this picture here goes back almost to Sinai, where God tells people to consecrate themselves. And the picture here has to do with focusing not on all these external distractions, but putting your focus on God. And so what God is doing, as he tells them to consecrate, he's saying, "Put your eyes on me." Right? Stop looking at all of these different things, right? It's not just preparation, but it's preparation for

a wonderful promise. And I don't know about you, but sometimes when I face difficulty, I tend to add up all the little things in my mind, and those little things then turn into big things, and then your worry makes it even bigger and bigger. And before you know it, all you can see in front of you is all of these problems. And I imagine the Israelites were the same way, right? How are we going to get across the river? What if we're ambushed on the other side? How are we going to get to the river? How are we all going to get across quickly? What about my family, their safety? Is God going to do something? And right, you begin to build all these problems up in your mind to the point where it blocks everything out. And so God, what does he do? He says,

consecrate yourself. And the picture here is put your eyes on him, prepare your life, set aside all of the other distractions, and look at him, right? You're not looking at the problems. You're not looking at the river. You're not looking at your fears and your struggles. You're looking at God and who he is. God is saying, "Look at me. Don't look at the difficulty. Look at me." And I would say this, that God doesn't just call Israel at the Jordan to do this. He calls us to do this as well. The book of Hebrews, in many ways, is a parallel to the Old Testament wanderings of Israel. And we go back to those wanderings several times in the book of Hebrews. And the church that Hebrews was written to was a church that was struggling with fear and

persecution and difficulty. And you know what God says to them in Hebrews chapter 12? "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and sin that clings so closely to us. And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that's set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of God." And you know what he tells the struggling Christians in Hebrews? And what God tells us? That part of running the race is to set aside all of those extra things and to fix our eyes on Jesus. And that's exactly what God is doing to the people in Joshua.

So he calls us to focus on him. The second thing that God does is he says he's going to lead them, right? And so God has said, "The obstacle's big. Look at me. Don't look at the river." And oftentimes when we face a situation where I'm familiar with, we don't know what to do. And in some cases we run away. In some cases we're paralyzed. But look at what God says. "As soon as you see the Ark of the Covenant being carried by the Levitical priests, then you shall set off from the place and follow it. You shall be a distance between you and it of about 2,000 cubits. Do not come near it in order that you may know the way you shall go, for you have not passed this way before." He says God is going to show you, right?

Into the uncertainty of this unknown land and your destination and how you're going to get there, God just simply says, "Follow me." Right? And the reason for this 2,000 cubits of separation, this between half a mile and three-quarters of a mile, is the Israelite population at this point probably numbers at least a million, maybe more, right? And what tends to happen when everybody wants to see something at once, right? We all sort of clump up around it and hide it from view. And it's often easy to sort of surround it, and so God says, "What I want you to do is stay back really far so that you can see where the ark goes, so that if it turns, you can turn. If it stops, you can stop. If it goes this way, you go that way."

And the reason for this separation, in part, is so that they could see where to go. So they wouldn't be walking into uncertainty. They can say, "There the ark went, went down that hill, now I go down that hill." Right? God is showing them where to go. And I would say this: God doesn't just lead His people to the Jordan. He leads us today through His Word, through His Spirit, through our brothers and sisters in Christ. But we also see in this chapter that God surrounds His people. Here you're going to see the ark going in front. As they cross the Jordan River, they're going to buy the ark. The ark will be in the center of the people. And as they leave, the ark will come behind them. You see, God is in front of them, in the middle of them, behind them,

that He is surrounding them with His presence. Because the picture of the ark of the covenant is the fact that this is a symbolic picture of the presence of God among His people. And God is saying, "You are not alone." Right? The same thing that He said to us, for example, in Hebrews 13, as He talks about people struggling with all circumstances, and He says, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." It's in the promise of the Spirit, that we will not be alone, but that God has given us His Spirit. It's in Jesus, as He's called Emmanuel, which means God is with us. And so you begin with this insurmountable obstacle, God's saying, "Look at Me, follow Me, and I will be with you." And you and I, as we face those uncertain and sort of insurmountable obstacles, we hear the same call, right? "Look at Me, follow Me, and I will be with you."

Now look at God in this raging river. The Lord said to Joshua, "Today I will exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so they may know as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. And as for you, command the priests who bear the Ark of the Covenant, when you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan." And Joshua said to the people of Israel, "Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God." And Joshua said, "This is how you will know that the living God is among you, and He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girishites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites. Behold the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing over before you into

the Jordan. Now therefore take twelve men from the tribe of Israel and from each tribe a man. And when the souls of the feet of the priests bearing the Ark of the Lord and the Lord of all the earth shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing, and the waters coming from above shall stand in one heap." So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant before the people, as soon as those bearing the Ark had come as far as the Jordan, and the feet of the priests of those bearing the Ark were dipped into the brink of the water, now the Jordan overflows its banks throughout the time of harvest, and the waters coming

down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away at Adam, that is the city beside Zarethan. So one side of the river is Adam, the other side is Zarethan. And those flowing down toward the sea of Ereba, the Dead Sea, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off, and the people passed over opposite Jericho. Now the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel passed over on dry ground until the nation finished passing over the Jordan. Now I want you to see here God's power, right? This river is at flood stage. You get a mile wide, and these priests, on faith, simply step into the water, and the water stops flowing. But it doesn't just sort of stop flowing. It says that God piles it up at these two cities.

And the reason for these two cities is they are between 15 and 20 miles away from where the Israelites are. And for the water to stop flowing at that moment, and for them to be able to stand on dry ground, on dry ground, right? You have numerous miraculous things happening. God stops the water 15 or 20 miles away. And if they're stepping into that water, and all of a sudden it stops flowing, that means that God has already stopped that water before they even get there, right? And now they walk across. But more than that, it says they walked across not through mud and slop, right? You've all been to the place where water, it's rain, and it's rain, and you step out into the ground, and it's muddy, and it's soft. It says they were standing on dry ground. God not only stops the water perfectly,

but the ground is dry as well. And I want you to see God's plan and God's purpose in doing this. So, God's plan, it's a good one, right? He's not panicking, going, "They're almost there. What are we going to do?" Right? God brings His people to the edge of this impassable river, not to discourage them, but to encourage them. You notice what He says? They will see this, and they will know that God is going to keep His promise. This is meant, as they see this miraculous stoppage of the water, as they go across on dry ground, to see that God is good and He is in control, right? They see the presence of God surrounding them as they go through this water. And it's a good plan, right? Remember, we're not just talking about a few people. We've got maybe close to a million people having to go across, right?

So if you have just a little bridge that's maybe this wide, how long would it take a million people to go across? Take a while. What if God only did like a 10-foot or 20-foot gap, right? It's still going to take a while to get a million people into that space. But what does God do? He stops 15, 20 miles this way, a whole bunch of miles this way, all the way to the Dead Sea, right? They can all go across like in a line if they want to, right? God makes it so this river crossing can happen very, very quickly. Remember, one of the problems is what happens when we get to the other side, right? If you have an army waiting for you, how are we going to get our fighting men across quickly?

We'll find that God has planned for that, too. Because remember, when they come to the land on the one side of the Jordan, they've already conquered some land. There's two and a half tribes. Those tribes leave all their stuff and their women and their children at home, and there's 40,000 fighting men that go across this river first, right? God has planned it out so perfectly and so wonderfully, right? Well, you see how God dries up the waters. And the purpose of this we find at the end of chapter 4: "So that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of God is mighty, and that you may fear the Lord your God forever." The purpose of this is worship, right? So that all the nations will look and say, "That God is truly God."

God's people will look, and they will respond in reverence and worship and awe to the goodness of God. God's purpose in crossing Jordan isn't just to get people to the other side, right? It's not just a matter of practical convenience. He is trying to drive His people and the nations that surround them to worship. That when God does amazing, miraculous things, His purpose is that He would be worshiped, that we would see His goodness, and we would find joy in Him. Now let's talk about when we encounter seemingly immovable obstacles. Right? Sometimes God does remove those obstacles. Right? Sometimes that happens very quickly, right? You go through this and you say, "I don't know how this is going to happen." And it happens, right? There are times I can look back on my life, and we look at this situation, and we say, "How is this going to happen?"

And God just takes all the obstacles away. And it's wonderful. That's not always how God deals with obstacles. Sometimes God deals with obstacles to redirect us. Right? Remember Paul, as he's on his missionary journey, and he goes this way, and God says no. He goes this way, and God says no. He goes this way. God says no. And finally, he's in the only place he can go, and he has this vision from God to go to Greece or to Macedonia. That God used the obstacle of opposition to send Paul to where he was to go. You're going to see this a little later in Joshua, as the people don't seek the counsel of God like they should. And God uses the obstacle of this city to stop them in their tracks and redirect them to where they're supposed to go

and what they're supposed to do specifically in terms of holiness and righteousness. And then sometimes God will bring us through the difficult part of the obstacle. I think about the Apostle Paul who had this thorn in the flesh, probably a physical ailment, and he will say this in 2 Corinthians, "I pleaded with the Lord that it should leave me three times." But he said, "My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly that my weakness of the power of Christ may rest upon me for the sake of Christ. Then I am content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." You see what Paul says, "I asked for this obstacle to be removed." But God said, "I'm not going to take it away, but I'm going to point you to my strength."

And in your weakness, and in your struggle, and in your hurt, you depend on the strength of God. And so sometimes God gives us these obstacles, not so that he could take them away, but so that we could learn to depend on him. Now here in Joshua, he removes the obstacles. Sometimes he will do that in our life. And then other times he will use obstacles to send us in a different direction. And often he will use obstacles to take our eyes off of ourselves and to put them on him, that we would depend more deeply on his grace. But in the end, God's purposes for obstacles are the same as they were for the people of Israel, that the world would know his goodness, and that we would worship him. We come to chapter 4, and we won't read all of chapter 4, but I want you to hear just some of the verses.

I'm going to read the first few verses, and then I'm going to read sort of the last few verses. When all the nation had finished passing over, the Lord said to Joshua, "Take twelve men from the people." Remember, we've already foreshadowed this in chapter 3. "From each tribe of man, command them, saying, Take twelve stones from here, out of the midst of the Jordan, in the very place where the priest's feet stood firmly. Bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight." And so he has these twelve men already assigned, and as the priests stand with the ark, and it's carried on poles, so on your shoulder, the place where their feet were, these men were to take probably the biggest rocks they could grab. Each man, one from each tribe, grabs a rock, and they're going to carry them with them to the place where they camp.

Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel, whom he had appointed a man from each tribe, and said, "Pass before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan. Take up each of you a stone on your shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. This may be a sign for you. When your children ask in times to come, what do those stones mean to you? You shall tell them. The waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and when it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off, and these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever." And Joshua is actually going to do two monuments. God's going to command him to do one,

and Joshua is going to do an extra one. So they're going to have one monument that they're going to carry with them to camp and set it up to be a pillar to the goodness and the power and the graciousness of God. But Joshua, you're going to find as you read on, will actually build the second monument with the same twelve guys and twelve stones, but he's going to do it in the middle of the river. And what's going to happen is that when they leave this river, the water is going to flow back over, that monument is going to disappear. But in the dry season, when the river goes down, you'll look out in the river, right in the middle, there will be this monument to how God stopped this, and it will help people see the weight of this miracle. Not just that God stopped this river,

but when those stones were ten feet under water, God stopped this river. So the people came out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month. They encamped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho, and those twelve stones that they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal. And he said to the people of Israel, "When your children ask their fathers in times to come, what do these stones mean? Then you shall let your children know, Israel passed over the Jordan on dry ground. For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan until you had passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over. So the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty,

and you may fear the Lord your God forever." And God calls his people to remember, right? Because it's easy to forget, especially when we're discouraged, right? When everything seems to be going wrong, it's easy to look at all of the bad things. And what Joshua is doing is you have to intentionally take those good things, those things that God has done, and keep them before your eyes, but not just for you, so that when your kids go, "Why is there a random pile of stones out in the middle of nowhere?" He said, "God opened the Jordan." Why is there a weird pile of stones in the middle of the Jordan? You can tell the story from generation to generation. And part of our call from God is to do the same, right? To tell of his good news from generation to generation.

Now I want you to see some of the remarkable things about the crossing of the Jordan. The preparation these people undergo to cross the Jordan River is almost the same preparation that these people undergo at Mount Sinai. You've got three days, you've got a consecration, you meet God at a mountain. You've got three days, you've got consecration, you meet God at a river. It mirrors what we find in Exodus 19. In fact, Joshua says this: "Remember, just like you came across the Red Sea." Just like those things that had happened before, we are doing the same thing. And this is important for these people, right? Because most of these people would have been infants or not even born yet, because that first generation dies in the wilderness. So these are people who hadn't seen God split the Red Sea, who maybe hadn't stood at Sinai.

And so what God is doing is refreshing in a whole generation of people his covenant with his people. But secondly, it's remarkable the time in which this happens, right? Joshua in 4:19 includes the date. The people came out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they encamped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho. And you might say, "Well, why does this matter? Who cares what the date was?" This is included for a very specific purpose. Let's go back to Exodus chapter 12 and listen as God institutes the Passover. "The Lord said to Moses and Aaron," remember the date we're looking for is the tenth day of the first month. "The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 'This month shall be for you the beginning of months.

It shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell the congregation of Israel that the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to his father's house, a lamb for a household.'" So as God provides salvation in Egypt, the very same day, what happens? He provides salvation at the Jordan River. We move forward more than a thousand years, and on this same day, God does what? Provides salvation for us on the cross with that Passover lamb, Jesus, without spot or blemish. I want you to see the wonder of how Scripture ties together. It's not accidental. God institutes Passover and saves his people as he passes over that night. The Jordan River, the same exact day, Jesus at Passover. God has a plan, and he's picturing salvation for us. But also, I want you to see the place where they're at. This Jordan River across from Jericho,

because this location in and of itself has deep significance, not just for God's people coming across, but it would be in this area when Elijah is taken to heaven, and Elisha prays for a measure of the Spirit of God. And remember what happens to Elisha? He takes his master's cloak, and he strikes the water of the Jordan. The waters divide, and he walks across on dry land. There's an enemy of Israel. His name is Naaman. And he's told to go dip in the Jordan River, likely in this sort of same stretch or similar stretch of the Jordan River. And he's cleansed from his leprosy. There are people who are saved near the Jordan River. In the town of Jericho, we have Rahab. We have Zacchaeus. We have blind Bartimaeus. And then, at the beginning of his ministry, there's a man by the name of John the Baptizer.

And he's baptizing in a deep part of the Jordan River where there's much water, likely in this very area. And he looks up the hill, and he sees somebody coming, and he says, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world." And what happens? Jesus walks down to this very area, very likely this area, and is baptized in the Jordan River, where Israel crosses, where Elisha crosses, in the area where Naaman is cleansed from leprosy, in the region where you have all these remarkable conversions of outsiders, from Rahab to Zacchaeus, to Brian Bartimaeus, to John the Baptist, and to Jesus. Right? It's a remarkable, remarkable area. Now this is not just trivia for us, right? To see as God saves Israel as they pass through the waters, as they celebrate Passover,

on the other side, in those moments, what you find is just the picture of our salvation. The monuments to our salvation. Because when we come to Christ, and we make a decision for Christ, and we follow Christ, how do we do that? We come to this point, and our faith brings us to what? It brings us to the waters. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ have been baptized into His death? And we were buried, therefore, by Him in baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Just as in faith God's people are brought to the waters of the Jordan, God brings us to the water as well.

And that stands as a monument to the Gospel, to our salvation through the Gospel by faith, to our hope in the Gospel, stands as a wonderful monument to us. But something else is pictured here, as they celebrate the Passover together, where Jesus, as He celebrates the Passover with His disciples, He says, "This is my body, which is for you. This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is given for the forgiveness of your sins." You see, this isn't just a wonderful, amazing picture of how God saves in the midst of obstacles, right? It's a foreshadowing of us, of the monuments to God's salvation that we celebrate. And it's not just my idea. From the very beginnings of the early church fathers, they will write about Joshua 2 and 3, and they will say, "This is not just a picture of Israel, but this is a picture of the church."

Of God's monuments to His goodness through baptism and through the Lord's Supper for His people to remind them of what God has done. He hasn't just parted a river, right? He's parted death. He hasn't just consecrated us to walk across the river. He has taken away our sin. He hasn't just fed us with manna in the wilderness, but He's fed us with Himself. That He nourishes the very depths of our souls. And I love the fact that God, as He brings across the people through this obstacle and into the land of promise, thousands of years later we can look back and say, "Look what God was doing, and look what He has done for us." So what we're going to do this morning is we're going to celebrate that stone that was erected there to remember God's goodness that Jesus set up for us.

So I'm going to pray. We'll read from Matthew and partake together. Father in Heaven, thank You for Jesus and for grace. Thank You that You have saved us. Thank You that You have brought us to this place. I ask that You bless this bread and this cup, that we would remember that we have come through the water to follow You. That You have saved us through the Gospel, not through our strength or our ability, but You have saved us through Your grace. You have brought us into a new life and help us to remember that and to proclaim that goodness to the world. And help us as we partake of this bread and this cup, that You would remind us of the sacrifice for our sin, the hope and victory, the fact that we can come to You, not as outsiders, but as Your children. Thank You for grace and mercy. Be with us. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Now, as they were eating, Jesus took bread and after blessing it, He broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat. This is my body." And He took a cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you, for this is the blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." And just as Joshua's monuments proclaim the goodness of God to the people of the land of Canaan, Paul tells us that by partaking of this meal, we proclaim Jesus until He comes again. That the monument for us is not a physical location, or a physical pile of stones, or a big sign, but the memorial to God's goodness is the lives of His people. So we're going to stand and sing "Battle Belongs," as we remember, that ultimately God is the one who gives us the victory.

He gives it to the Israelites as they come into the Promised Land, and He has given it to us through Jesus at the cross as well. Let's stand and sing. When all I see is the battle, you see my victory. When all I see is the mountain, you see a mountain moved. And as I walk through this shadow, your love surrounds me. There's nothing to fear now, for I'm safe with you. So when I fight, I'll fight on my knees, with my hands lifted high. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. And every fear I lay at your feet, I'll sing through the night. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. And if you are for me, who can be against me? For Jesus, there's nothing impossible for you. When all I see are the ashes, you see the beauty. When all I see is a cross, God, you see the empty tomb. So when I fight, I'll fight on my knees.

With my hands lifted high, oh God, the battle belongs to you. And every fear I lay at your feet, I'll sing through the night. Oh God, the battle belongs to you.

Almighty fortress, you go before us. Nothing can stand against the power of our God. You shine in the shadow. You win every battle. Nothing can stand against the power of our God. Almighty fortress, you go before us. Nothing can stand against the power of our God. You shine in the shadow. You win every battle. Nothing can stand against the power of our God. So when I fight, I'll fight on my knees with my hands lifted high. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. And every fear I lay at your feet, I'll sing through the night. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. We are so glad that you are here with us this morning. Next Sunday, we're going to be moving into Joshua chapter 5 and Joshua chapter 6. We're going to see God renewing the covenant with his people,

which is remarkable because most of these people would have been either very, very small children or not yet born yet. The first time when they came through the Red Sea, and they were at Sinai, and so God is going to give this whole new generation this moment of renewal. And chapter 5 ends with this remarkable picture of Joshua encountering this soldier of light. He goes, "Whose side are you on?" And the guy says, "Nobodies. You need to ask yourself whose side you're on." And so rather than asking if God is on our side, we want to ask ourselves if we are on God's side. And so some good things coming in Joshua this Wednesday night. We will be here at 7 p.m. We're going through a series on the gospel. It's a little different than some of the things

we have done before because it's essentially about 20 to 25 minutes of a video. A guy goes around and he talks to people about the gospel, people who have experienced it in very wonderful ways, people who have expertise in different areas. And so we've talked about what the gospel is. We've talked about trying to live that out. We've seen some evangelism, and so we're going to talk more about that this week. Probably one of my favorite people he's going to be interviewing this week and next week. And so we will actually, we're changing kind of our email schedule, and we're going to send that out on Monday, so I'll include a little more information about that. So I would encourage you, if you are able to, to join us on Wednesdays as we are encouraged by this and by the discussion that we have. Are there any other announcements? There's ladies' class this

Thursday? Okay. 1 p.m., right? All right. Totally slipped my mind. All right. So we're going to go ahead and sing, and then we will read. We're working on kind of memorizing some Scripture together. So we'll remind ourselves of this week's verse. We'll read that together, and then we'll sing the doxology. So let's go ahead and pray. Father in heaven, be with us as we go out from here. Help us to remember the good news of the Gospel. Help us to be encouraged and strengthened by our brothers and sisters in Christ. And help us to be lights that point not to ourselves, but to you. In all that we do, in all that we say, help us to point to your goodness. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right. Let's read this together from Romans

chapter 12, as Paul writes to the church, encouraging them to live out the salvation that God has given to them. It says, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." This is the Word of the Lord. All right. Let's sing the doxology, and we'll be dismissed.

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below. Praise Him, above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Evelyn's birthday is tomorrow, so we're going to sing happy birthday to Evelyn. So, let's just, we're just going to go for it. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday. Happy birthday to Evelyn. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.