Making the Father Unforgettable

Making the Father Unforgettable

Joshua 4:1-24    

This morning we are going to study a section of Scripture from Joshua chapter 4, where we read the Lord’s instruction to a new generation of dads, who had just entered a new territory, and the Lord’s instructions are valuable and important, I believe, for fathers to know and remember presently.

As we pick up in Joshua 4, we pick up after the Israelites had crossed the Jordan river. This generation was the one that entered into the promised land after Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years. They wandered in the desert because the previous generation was faithless. The Lord had led them out of Egypt and the grip of the Egyptian King, Pharaoh. But when they left Egypt and Moses sent spies over to spy out the promised land, 12 of them, 10 were faithless and only 2 trusted what God could do.

The account is recorded in Numbers 13, Caleb and Joshua had the faith to move forward, but the 10 others were filled with fear. They were fearful of the giants in the land, and rather than believe Joshua and Caleb, that the Lord would give them the land as He had said, the people believed the 10, they started to express their desire to go back to Egypt, they grumbled against God, and so the Lord said that those 20 years and older, with the exception of the Joshua and Caleb, would not enter into the promised land. That generation would wander and pass away in the wilderness. The people were faithless after the Lord had led them across the Red Sea and away from Pharaoh.

Then in the book of Joshua, after than generation had passed away, they finally had the faith to enter into the land God promised. Their entry into the land came after they crossed another body of water, the Jordan River. The Lord cut off the water of the river when it was at flood stage. The priests stood in it, all the people passed through after the waters were cut off and the ground was dried up. The people could see clearly that the Lord had made the way for them.

Before the priests came up from the middle of the river, however, the Lord had Joshua send 12 men from the twelve tribes of Israel back into the Jordan river to take up stones, one representing each tribe (12 total), and take them out of the middle of the Jordan River to be put together as memorial stones so that the people would never forget what God had done in making a way for them. Once those stones were set up, the fathers were to tell their children what the Lord had done, so that for generations to come, the Father would be unforgettable.

 

Read Joshua 4:1-7

 

Just as the Lord instructed, the people would do, we will see them take the stones to the place they were headed, Joshua will set them up, the stones would be seen by many. It was through remembering what the Lord had done, that their children would be informed for generations to come. I want to look back on some of the details of that story, but also what ends up happening historically, and my prayer today is that for fathers on this Father’s Day, we would take the opportunity we have presently to make the Father unforgettable in our families.

 

1. Set Up Memorial Stones for Your Family

 

Joshua 4:4-7, So Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the sons of Israel, one man from each tribe; and Joshua said to them, “Cross again to the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel. This shall be a sign among you; when your children ask later, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ then you shall say to them, ‘That the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.’ So these stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever.”

 

• What the Lord has Joshua do is take one man from each of the 12 tribes of Israel. These twelve tribes were families, the twelve sons of Jacob.

 

Joshua 4:8, So the sons of Israel did exactly as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, just as the Lord spoke to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel; and they carried them over with them to the encampment and put them down there.

 

• We don’t know exactly how the stones were, but they had to travel eight miles carrying the stones on their shoulder and they’re going to set them up as a memorial, as we will see, before the Lord.

 

• The stones were being set up, so that what God had done would be spoken of and remembered.

 

Joshua 4:7, These stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever.

 

• The stones, then, were stones of remembrance. To remember something is to recall it to mind, by an act or effort of memory; to remain aware of something, or to think of it again.

 

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

 

Psalm 77:11, I shall remember the deeds of the Lord; I will certainly remember Your wonders of old.

 

Psalm 103:2, Bless the Lord, my soul, and do not forget any of His benefits.

 

• In addition to the Psalms declaring the importance of remembering, the Lord has given the Holy Spirit, who works with our memory!

 

 John 14:6, But the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and remind you of all that I said to you.

 

• Our remembering the Lord as we go forward is very important, however, we see continually in the scripture that God’s people were often a forgetful people.

 

• So the Lord has Joshua set up the stones, so that the people would remember and know, the only way they were able to get to the place they were, was because the Lord brought them through.

 

• The Lord did not want his people to forget. So, he ensured that they would be continually reminded.

 

Deuteronomy 4:9, “Only be careful for yourself and watch over your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons.

 

Deuteronomy 6:10-12,  Then it shall come about when the Lord your God brings you into the land that He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build, and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and carved cisterns which you did not carve out, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

 

• The Lord wants the people to remember how they got where they got. It is easy to forget, the Lord knew this, He was making sure they remembered.

 

Illus. Remember.

 

• The Lord was making sure the people remembered how they got to the place they had arrived at.

 

• This was important for them, this is important for us! We are not self-made, we are not our own source, it is God who has gotten us through, and it is God who we need to be reminded of if we, and our families are going to make it through.

 

• The Lord told him to set up 12 stones. I love God’s monuments!

 

Illus. Set some reminders.

 

1. Share What the Lord Has Done for You Personally

 

Joshua 4:6-7, This shall be a sign among you; when your children ask later, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you? then you shall say to them, ‘That the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.’ So these stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever.”

 

• In verse 6, Joshua gets personal. He didn’t just say, when your kids ask, “what are these stones all about” … He made it personal, “when your kids ask later, saying, “what do these stones mean to you?””

 

• The fathers didn’t just need to know what the Lord had done, they were to apply it personally, and share with their children diligently.

 

Illus. When they ask.

 

• It is important for fathers to share what the Lord has what the Lord has done, and what He means to them personally.

 

Deuteronomy 6:1-2, “Now this is the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you, so that you may do them in the land where you are going over to take possession of it, so that you, your son, and your grandson will fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.

 

Deuteronomy 6:4-7, Hear, Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. And you shall repeat them diligently to your sons and speak of them when you sit in your house, when you walk on the road, when you lie down, and when you get up.

 

• Moses pointed to you, your children, and your grandchildren. He wrote, “the Lord has given a commandments, His Word, the truth, and when you keep them, your life will be prolonged…

 

• What were they to do? Love God personally, learn the truth inwardly (place it on their heart), and share it with their children diligently.

 

• It started with their personal relationship. They were to “Love the Lord with all their heart, with all their soul, and with all their strength.”

 

• It was to be personal. The truth was to be on their hearts.

 

• Then they were to share it diligently and constantly.

 

Illus. What they see…

 

• These verses are speaking to what a father shares with their children and the importance of keeping the instruction of the Lord at the forefront of their own lives and the lives of their children.

 

Proverbs 20:7, The righteous who walks in his integrity— blessed are his children after him!

 

• The picture painted in Joshua 4 is of children asking about the stones that were set up in memory of what the Lord had done, and the instruction and role of the fathers to tell them.

Joshua 4:9, Then Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan at the place where the feet of the priests who carried the ark of the covenant were standing, and they are there to this day.

 

• What Joshua does here is interesting. He goes back into the middle of the river and set up stones there. The interesting thing about that is, they would be covered up by the waters once they began to flow again. Some have suggested that they would be sign if a drought every came upon the land that would remind of God’s faithfulness, but mostly, these would be covered up, unseen, yet Joshua makes sure to set them up personally. This speaks to His personal memorial, in his heart, the hidden place, but he did not forget to set it up before the people.

 

Illus. Share.

Deut. 6:7…And you shall repeat them diligently to your sons and speak of them when you sit in your house, when you walk on the road, when you lie down, and when you get up.

• In verses 10 to 20, we read about the priests coming up from the middle of the Jordan River, and the river waters returning to flood stage once the people had crossed and the priests came up.

 

• Often in the Old Testament, we read about what was going to happen from the Lord to a leader or prophet, then the leader or prophet telling the people, and then we see the response, what actually took place.

 

• The men didn’t just take the stone and assign meaning to the stones personally…Joshua set up the stones so that everyone would see.

 

• Show Your Children What Their World Needs to Know

 

Joshua 4:20-24, As for those twelve stones which they had taken from the Jordan, Joshua set them up at Gilgal. And he said to the sons of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ then you shall inform your children, saying, ‘Israel crossed this Jordan on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed, just as the Lord your God had done to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed; so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, so that you may fear the Lord your God forever.

• Once the stones were set up, Joshua tells the men again, “the sons of Israel,” when your children ask about the stones, you are to inform them of what happened, what the Lord did for you and His people…so that all the peoples of the earth may know…

 

• In other words, they transfer the truth to their children, and their children tell the world.

 

• Godly fathers were to make the Father unforgettable by informing their children.

 

• This was a beautiful promise of what was ahead if they did not forget.

 

• But what we see historically is that God’s people would forget: perhaps the fathers got tired of telling the same old story about the same old stones, or since the next generation didn’t see it happen personally, what their fathers told them simply faded from their memory.

 

• One writer wrote of what took place in the generations to come in Israel is “this serves as a reminder that it only takes one generation for degeneration to take place…”

 

Deuteronomy 6:12, Be careful that you do not forget the Lord…

 

Judges 2:8;10-12, Then Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110. All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and another generation rose up after them who did not know the Lord, nor even the work which He had done for Israel. Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals, and they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they followed other gods from the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them…

 

• May this be a reminder to us this morning, to never stop setting up memorial stones of what the Lord has done, never stop sharing, never stop showing.

 

• Let us remember what the Lord has done and share diligently how the Lord make a way historically, in our lives personally, and inform our children continually.

 

• Let us be sure to show what their generation needs to know.

 

Illus. Forgotten?

 

Joshua 4:1-24