We read this morning, congregation, the word of the Lord as we find it in the book of Joshua, Joshua chapter four. Perhaps you were expecting me to continue in the book of Hebrews, but since I think within God's providence this is the last time I'm going to be preaching at Immanuel DeMont prior to the coming of your new pastor, Reverend Worries, it might become evident to you in the sermon that this is a passage that I should encourage you to pray for your new pastor that he would be among you, one who would minister the Word of God and the sacraments in such a way as to keep alive among his people in this place a constant remembrance of what he's done for us through Joshua, that is through the Lord Jesus Christ, for our salvation. So we read the word of the Lord as we find it. It's a little bit of a long chapter, but notice especially the concluding sermon or verses 19 through 24. Joshua chapter 4, let us listen now to this word the Lord speaks to us. When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, take 12 men from the people, from each tribe a man, and command them, saying, Take 12 stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priest's feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you, and lay them down in the place where you lodged tonight. Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel, whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe. And Joshua said to them, Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each one of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, what do these 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. And the people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, just as the Lord told Joshua. And they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged, and laid them down there. And Joshua set up twelve 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. For the priest bearing the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to tell the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people passed over in haste. And when all the people had finished passing over, the ark of the Lord and the priest 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. On that day, the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they stood in awe of him just as they had stood in awe of Moses all the days of his life. And the Lord said to Joshua, command the priest bearing the ark of the testimony to come up out of the Jordan. So Joshua commanded the priest, come up out of the Jordan. When the priest bearing the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord came up from the midst of the Jordan and the soles of the priest's feet were lifted up on dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks as before. The people came up out of the Jordan on the 10th day of the first month, and they encamped at Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. And those 12 stones which 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 this Jordan on dry ground. So the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up for us until we passed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever. May the Lord bless this reading and our hearing of His word this morning. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, it's rather striking, and not a few commentators offer, some of them not very helpful comments, that in the book of Joshua, the great event in fulfillment of the Lord's promises to his people, first to Abraham, repeated thereafter, that they would be given a land that he would give them, provide for them, where they would have rest, and they would be a people, a kingdom of priests who would serve the Lord together in that promised land. Now the comment that some commentators make is there are two accounts of the crossing of the Jordan under Joshua. Don't forget the whole story hinges on the fact that the name Joshua means the Lord saves. It's exactly the name of our Joshua, Jesus, in whom that salvation, here typified, has come to its full expression and realization. But why two accounts? If you read chapter 3, and I was thinking perhaps I should read chapter 3 as well, but I knew that would probably delay us overly much. were an impatient people, but I didn't read it, but when you come to the end of chapter 3, you think you're really at the end. They've gone over the Jordan, through the Jordan, as the Lord held back the waters from Adam onward, southward, and the people under Joshua's leadership and the Ark of the Covenant held up in their viewing some 2,000 cubits, which is almost more than maybe possibly as much as three-quarters of a mile away, so they could all see it. But why does the author of the book of Joshua come in chapter 4 to give us a second account? And the short answer is this, the second account or the further exposition of this great event focuses upon the Lord's merciful provision to his people of a sign or a memorial that would, in generations thereafter, remind the people of what the Lord their God had done for them. Now here's the interesting question. Why would they need such a sign? I mean, imagine, boys and girls, young people, if you had held tightly to your father and mother's hands as you hastened across the Jordan. I like that language there in verse 10. They passed over very quickly for fear, perhaps, that the wall of water held back would come cascading down upon them because they're crossing the Jordan in the springtime at flood stage. Surely, if you had seen the spectacle of the Ark of the Covenant held up before the people of God by the Levitical priests, symbolizing the Lord's presence, His going before them, this is His doing, a day would never pass thereafter that you wouldn't remember, right? Well apparently the Lord was not sure. Now this speaks to me fairly directly. I was talking to the council before the service about this problem of memory. I don't know about you boys and girls, when you were young I can remember as a child I would actually write on my palm something that if it was very important that needed to be remembered. Sometimes you'd tie a little string around your finger. Other times you'll put a little note on the calendar or some such thing as that. Because you don't want to forget whatever it is. Maybe it's your wife, your and your wife's anniversary. It wasn't too many years ago. I made it all the way into the early afternoon before I realized, it's our anniversary. I'm in trouble. This is not good. Same is true of birthdays. You don't want to forget them, especially the little grandchildren are quite anxious that you should take note and not be forgetful. of the day of their birth. After all, they wouldn't be here if they hadn't been born. Their life, if it's important to you, its beginning, in a manner of speaking, needs to be celebrated. And you get to be a person of a certain age, as I am. You can go rushing, as I said to the council, into a room, bent on a certain aim and project, and you get to the room, and then you ask your wife, what was I coming here for? Well, here's something very striking. When it comes to God's people, the Church of the Old Covenant and as well the New, we're apt to forget very quickly, sometimes it happens before we've exited the doors of the Church, the things that we've heard concerning what the Lord has done for us. And so the whole focus of the book of chapter 4 of Joshua is to tell us the story of how the Lord secures and makes a monument of 12 stones, one representing each of the tribes of Israel, that is piled up on the border of the promised land near Gilgal, so that in the perpetual remembering of coming generations, they would not forget. Now there are two things that I would like us to consider here this morning. First of all, what exactly did the Lord want His people to remember? And then secondly, what means of remembrance did He appoint? Those two things. And you're hopeful now and you're going to say to yourself, well, Dr. Venema, you can be real quick with the first one. What they were to remember was the event of how the Lord brought them, the whole of the people under Joshua's leader, successor to Moses, finally after 430 plus years into the land that he had promised to give them. So we can go immediately to point number two. But we need to pause. What was the significance of this event? I have four things. First of all, it proved, demonstrated, made apparent to the children of Israel that God is a God who does what He has promised. He is faithful. The second thing it does is it exalts Joshua. In the previous chapter, the Lord had said to Joshua, I am going to, through this event, I am going to exalt you among the people of Israel so that they will recognize that I am with you, the God who is with you, as I was with Moses who went before you. The third thing is, It reminds the people of Israel that their God is mighty. Not only Israel, but all the peoples of the earth will see, as we're told in chapter 3, and Joshua reminds them of that at the end of chapter 4, they will witness that the Lord, the God of Israel, the one who redeems his people and gives them this land, he is the Lord of the whole earth. There is but one who is God, who has the right and who is able to do what the Lord has done. And then lastly, it's a sign of God's grace. Let's consider those, each of them in turn, for a moment. If you know the history, A lot of, in a manner of speaking, water has flowed over the dams since God first pledged and promised and swore an oath to Abraham that he would give them the land as their rightful inheritance. I mentioned the language of 430 years. It's language coming from Paul's letter to the Galatians. between the time of the Lord's giving that promise and through Moses revealing his law to the children of Israel upon their being brought through the exodus out of captivity in Egypt. And you know the story I trust. It's a story of constant murmuring and grumbling. And it's a story of repeated occasions where the children of Israel said, God's not going to do it. It's beyond his reach. He will not bring us and we will not enter into the land of promise. You may recall that and that event is also evoked in Joshua's sermon when the children of Israel after generations of their captivity were led by Moses out of Egypt, God having by his might and power visited plagues upon the people of Israel such that Pharaoh let them go. Pharaoh has a change of heart and comes after them with his chariots and warriors. And what's the very first thing that comes out of the mouth of the people of Israel? After they had just seen the Lord's glory and grace in liberating them from their captivity, they said, well, this is just like God. That he'd take us out here so that when Pharaoh, now coming after us, will all perish at his hand." Were there not enough grave sites where we could be buried in Egypt rather than that we should be in this place of desolation and be buried in the wilderness? Now you fast forward When they finally threw Moses, you know how the Lord destroyed Pharaoh and all his hosts at the Red Sea, they saw his glory and power again. As they approached the promised land, I mentioned that in a sermon a few weeks ago in the book of Hebrews, chapter 4. They sent out spies, and the spies came back. Ten of them bore witness to the fact that it's a mission impossible. We'll never get into this land. The people are too powerful. We're too weak, except Caleb, son of Jehunah, and Joshua, who said, it'll be a piece of cake. And so the Lord had to judge that entire generation, only Caleb and Joshua. saw and entered in, as Joshua records it, the promised land. Even Moses looked at it from a distance, because they said again and again, the Lord will not do what he has promised. There's a very striking verse in chapter 21, sort of a thematic verse in the book of Joshua at verse 45. It says this, not one word, not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed. All came to pass. Isn't that wonderful? I think the Apostle Paul may have had it in mind in 1 Corinthians 1 when he spoke of our Joshua, in whom all the promises of God, he says, have their yes, to which the people respond with their amen. You know, politicians make promises. Sometimes we make promises that we neither keep because we forget our promise, or keep because we can't do what we say we are going to do. Not so with our God. Not so for His Joshua. Not so for all the promises that are sealed to us by the blood of Jesus. Now, just a quick note on the exaltation of Joshua. This event also confirmed to the people of God that God was with Him. What does that remind you of? Did not God demonstrate and declare His own dear Son to be God with us when He went through the waters of judgment? when under his exodus for your and my sin, upon the third day he was vindicated and exalted, subsequently ascending to the Father's right hand, whence he rules over all things. So the exaltation of Joshua is an important theme. There's another theme, and it's this. It's one of the points that's made both in chapter 3 and chapter 4, and it's that the Lord of Israel is not like the gods of the Canaanites. They had all kinds of gods, largely gods and goddesses of fertility. Little gods, some of them were gods of the hills, some of them were gods of the valley, some of them were gods of the plain. Little gods, no gods. Who is it who owns the whole creation? Who has the right to apportion to his dearly loved people the land that he chooses to give them, and by his might and power, he accomplishes it. That's the symbolism of the ark. This is the Lord's doing and it's marvelous in the eyes of the children of Israel. And it's a missionary word that's to be made known to all of the peoples. The Lord alone, the God of Israel, Joshua, greater than Joshua, Jesus. He is the Lord and King. among all the nations which will be given to him as his rightful inheritance, and this promised land is but a picture of the whole earth, the new heavens and the new earth that will be scrubbed clean of sin and that will be the inheritance of God's people from among all the tribes, nations, and peoples of the earth. And then thirdly, fourthly, It's also a reminder to them that it's all of grace. You may have noticed in verse 19 when at the end of the chapter it says, the people came up out of the Jordan on the 10th day of the first month. What's the significance of the 10th day of the first month? It reminds Israel of the appointment of the sacrament or the rite of the Passover. which when God established the Passover, and they having chosen the Passover lamb, whose blood was smeared upon the doorposts of the households of Israel, God spared the lives of his people by the blood provided, which was symbolic typical of the ultimate Passover lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, by whose blood, provided by God's grace, he spares, redeems, and forgives his people their sins. Does not bring upon them judgment, but The Lord Jesus Christ, our Joshua, interposing himself and his precious blood, purchases our redemption. You see, the tenth day of the first month, was the day of the selection of the Passover lamb. In the next chapter we'll read that at Gilgal on the 14th day, the fourth day of Passover, the Passover lamb is slain. And the Lord had told the children of Israel, He had promised them at their first Passover that they would see the Lord's grace and his promises fulfilled when they celebrate the Passover in the land that he promises to give them. And now maybe you say to me, Dr. Veneman, that's all very interesting, but what does it have to do with us? Let's turn to the second thing for a moment. This specific provision of the Lord of a monument of 12 stones taken up from out of the Jordan, each by one representative of the 12 tribes, and erected in a heap as a monument to the people of Israel and generations thereafter. And if you read the text, you'll notice at least twice in this chapter, maybe three times, it's mentioned that when you see this monument, your children are going to ask, what's the meaning of this pile of stones? And you're going to say to them, I'm glad that you asked. He gives me the opportunity to tell you what the Lord did in fulfillment of his promises, in demonstration of his power, as he exalted his servant Joshua and brought us to this land of blessing where you will find rest. A little catechetical exercise, you might say, among the children of Israel. But I go very quickly from that, brothers and sisters, to remind you of something. You know it, even parents. When the Lord's Supper is administrated and is to be administered regularly or frequently, we won't go into the question of how frequently, how little children, infants, instinctively want to take the bread Take the cup. And you say, no, no, no. I hope that's not all you do. What a wonderful opportunity that is to say to your little children, that bread, it represents the body of our Joshua, Jesus, given for us. And your access to eating the bread, drinking the cup, in what? Do this, says the Lord, in remembrance of me. And I don't know whether we often recognize what a beautiful thing the Lord's Supper is in its simplicity. When we preachers make it all complicated and lose the people's attention and interest, when we administer the table as a means of remembrance, It becomes manifest as surely as I drink this cup, as I eat this bread. So surely was our Joshua, the one who came for us, the one with whom God was present and through whom we are brought to glory, to our inheritance. that is ours in Him. But I could enlarge on that a little bit, congregation, and say to you, what is the Lord's Day? The Christian Sabbath, which celebrates not simply that God is the Creator, and when He finished His work of creation, He rested in the joy of His wonderful handiwork. which is a ground for Israel's Sabbath, but also delivered them out of their bondage in Egypt. And for us, through our Joshua, Jesus, on this day, the first of the week, the dawn of the new creation, entered subsequently going before us to prepare for us a place. that where he is we might be also in a new and better country, a greater promised land to which the Old Testament land of promise was but a type. What I'm getting at is this. It's not accidental that at the time of the revolution in France, Voltaire and company tried to change the calendar from a seven-day week to a 12-day week, if I remember it correctly. And Voltaire is said to have opined, if you give me the church's Lord's Day, we will eradicate, we will erase from the memory of the French people the so-called gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I was listening to, as I often do, 9 o'clock, family radio, James Boyce, who's been going through the book of Joshua, and he had a very homely illustration, brushing one's teeth. What was he illustrating? Well, he says, you don't resolve every morning anew and ask yourself the question and deliberate over it, should I brush my teeth this morning? No, that's a regular, fixed, resolute, repeated, your dentist will tell you you should repeat it, you should do it, not once, but probably at least twice, but at least once in the morning. What am I talking about? Well, the Lord's Day, which is a day of all the weak, the best, the day when the means of grace, the ministry of the Word of God, which is nothing more than a declaration of the God of our salvation, the recounting of all of His mighty works, culminating in the mighty person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Your attendance and use of the Lord's Day is of a higher measure of importance than brushing your teeth. But it has in common with it, it's not up for discussion. So when your new pastor comes, as a servant of the Lord, to open up the mysteries of the gospel from week to week, laboring in the Word in preparation for the Lord's Day, gathering assembly in festive worship of God's people. For the good Christian people of the Emanuel United Reformed Church in DeMott, Indiana, it's like brushing my teeth. I'm going to be there. I'm going to be there. So are my children." Notice, if you expect parents, your children, and your children's children to know the Lord, to celebrate what He's done for us in Jesus, to marvel at the rich inheritance that is ours in Him. It's big, much bigger than most of us. Imagine it to be. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He's not finished until He's made all things right. And the eternal rest of God and His people involves the celebration of a glorious work of redemption completed, a creation, a world where He dwells with us and we dwell with Him. And we worship and adore and praise him and serve one another in his name in a world where there are no tears, no sorrows, no distresses, no anguish. Because our God is great and greatly to be praised. I have only one son and some of you know him. I remember when he was a little boy, he was pretty interested in baseball. Big baseball card collection, and he could tell you who had hit the most home runs, and the top ten hitters in the National and the American League, and on and on he'd go. I don't forget the time I sat him down and I said, Joseph, it's all well and good. Baseball's great. I like it too. But I hope when you get to be a young man, you'll be more fascinated, more anxious to hear, to celebrate this great God of ours, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who is worthy of the praise of the whole of creation and all of its nations, who will ultimately be gathered before his throne. By God's grace, I think he took it to heart by the working of the Lord's spirit. Not as interested in baseball as he used to be, becoming more interested in the things that really matter. And I think sometimes as I grow older, some of you probably think I'm really old, others probably think, he's not that old, I'm older than he is. I say to my wife, one of the privileges of the Lord's giving us a few more days and a few more years, is that we can get it right, recognize what really matters, and recognize the stuff that's worthy to be forgotten, not remembered. But there's nothing that God has done for us through our Lord Jesus Christ that is not worth remembering. I trust you will agree, and you will pray that the Lord will use Reverend Worry's week in and week out as he ministers the word, as he ministers the sacraments, to remind you of how great our God is and how wonderful is the salvation and the promised land to which he takes us in the Lord Jesus. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we acknowledge that we are a forgetful people. We often fail to remember or seek to know what needs to be remembered. And so make us, by your spirit, hunger and thirst for the things of your kingdom, the things concerning the Lord Jesus, and the marvelous work that he has done to obtain for us an inheritance that will never perish or fade away. May our Lord's days, may the hearing and the ministry of your word and sacrament be held high among us so that we, together with our children, will remember and bless the Lord with all that is within us. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.