Skip to content Remembering God's Faithfulness May 19 · 43 min ...more
May 19, 2022 · 43 min · Messages of Hope
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Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative and author of over 100 books, booklets and Bible studies.
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0:00 Joshua told the people of Israel in chapter 3 verse 5, then Joshua said to the people, consecrate yourselves for0:12 tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. He told them, get ready. God is getting ready to0:23 do something abnormal in your midst. He's getting ready to show off. He's getting ready to demonstrate0:35 to you something the likes of which is beyond your wildest dreams, so get ready. What he was referring to was God was0:47 going to part the waters of the Jordan river. And so Israel, as you'll see in a moment, would walk through the Jordan on dry land. Talk about a0:59 breakthrough. That's a literal 1. God was going to dam up the waters so that there would be a pathway1:12 through an impossible situation. And they were to commemorate this occasion with what is called1:23 stones of remembrance. They were to not let this occasion ever go down in history to be forgotten.1:36 Why did God tell them to have stones of remembrance? Why did he tell them in chapter 4 when you finish crossing the Jordan? Verse 3, take for yourself1:48 12 stones from the middle of the Jordan where the priests are standing. Why did he want them to memorialize this occasion?2:01 Well, God had told them earlier, be careful not to forget the Lord your God. Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 12, God says, be careful not to2:13 forget the Lord your God. Some of us here today have had breakthroughs in our past, and we have forgotten. Some of us are looking for future breakthroughs, but we've forgotten past2:24 breakthroughs. We've forgotten the Lord our God. In fact, he tells them, the reason that you ought not to forget the Lord your God is that when you forget the Lord your God, it will be because2:36 you have gravitated to other gods. This miracle that they are about to witness with the opening of the Jordan River is a miracle that only comes when2:48 they were ready to let Egypt go. How long have they been in the wilderness? 40 years. Why were they in the wilderness for 40 years? Very2:59 simply, they were too attached to Egypt. Until God could get Egypt out of their system, he would not let them break through and cross over3:11 the Jordan River to Canaan land. Some of us are wondering why it's taking so long for God to give us our breakthrough to Canaan because we're still too attached to3:23 Egypt. You see, if you still got Georgia on your mind, Georgia. If you still are attached3:35 to yesterday, but you want a breakthrough for tomorrow, God will hold off your breakthrough until3:47 he knows that you are ready for it, even though it may be ready for you. Canaan was ready 40 years3:59 earlier because God told him to go up and take the land. It was it was ready to be taken. The problem was they weren't ready to take it.4:10 As long as you want Egypt, that is as long as you're attached to your past, you negate what God wants to4:22 give you in your future. And so you wind up going in circles of confusion and circles of despair. And for 40 years, they have wondered, but now4:34 they were ready to break through. It was now time, 40 years later, for them to see the hand of God. But in case you've been in the4:46 wilderness wondering, waiting for God to do something day after day, week after week, month after month, and maybe year after year. I just want you to know4:58 that God has been faithful even in the wilderness. Deuteronomy chapter 8, he says, even though I've had you in the wilderness all these years, he says, your shoes did not wear out.5:11 I fed you manna from on high. Your clothes did not wear out. The beauty of God is that he's faithful even when he keeps us in the5:23 wilderness. Because even when he hasn't come through with that mega blessing, we'll call that Canaan land, what he has done is given you5:34 and sustained you until it's time for the blessing, and you know he's done it because you're here. Joshua says in chapter5:46 3 verse 9, and Joshua said to the sons of Israel, come now and hear the words of the Lord your God. And Joshua says, by this you shall know the living God is among5:58 you, and that he will surely dispossess from before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites. He goes on and he tells them that6:10 you're gonna know when God opens up your Jordan that there is no God but your God. When you get your breakthrough, it will be clear that that could have6:21 only come from God because it would have been something that only God could do the way it was done When we see God show up in our church and6:33 however he chooses to do that, it will be clear that the Lord our God is the only true God, and he is faithful to his6:44 word. They were about to behold the powerful breakthrough of God. It's described in6:56 verses 12 through 17. We won't read it all, but he says, I want verse 13, the priest to carry the ark of the Lord into the Jordan river.7:08 Now, the ark of the Lord was a big chest where God's presence resided. So they were gonna follow God's presence into the Jordan river. It says in verse7:20 14, it came about, the people set out their tents to cross the Jordan with the priest in front. And when those who carried the ark, verse 15, came into the Jordan, the feet of the priest carrying the7:32 ark was dipped in the edge of the water for the Jordan overflowed its banks all the days of the harvest. Now I like this. That means it was flood season.7:45 So if there was ever a time you weren't gonna cross the Jordan, it was this time. The water overflowed its banks. I like that about God.7:57 He put you in impossible situations. So it becomes clear the Lord your God is the only true God. He puts your back up against8:09 the wall. Joshua wants us to know this wasn't regular tide. He wants us to know this is flood season.8:21 And the waters, verse 16, which were flowing down from above, which rose up in 1 heap, a great distance away. And verse8:32 17 says it all. And the priest who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan,8:44 while all Israel crossed on dry ground until all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan. Now, when I get to heaven, I want a video of this 1.8:58 I'm gonna say, Gabriel, this 1 I gotta see. This 1 in the Red Sea. This is like a replication of the Red Sea. See, they had a breakthrough 40 years earlier at the Red Sea,9:11 but they still had Egypt on their mind. So they had to go in circles until they were ready to let the past go and see God's glorious provision9:23 for the future. And so now they are there, and the Bible says that a long way down river, God blocked the waters and the waters back up in a9:35 heap. So here they are crossing the Jordan, the priest step in the water, and downstream, the water is blocked, and so it9:47 spirals up into a heap unable to go down as though there were a dam there. God perhaps created an earthquake so that the rocks were9:58 thrown into the river blocking it up, or God just said stop and it stopped. Whatever happened, God stopped the flow of natural movement. To put it another way, he intervened in the10:10 history. Natural law are the natural ways things work. A miracle is when God intervenes in the natural flow of the10:22 river, in the nature of things, and creates a circumstance that creates something different. When you look for your Jordan experience, it could10:34 happen very naturally, or God could stop the natural flow of things. That's the beauty about looking to God. He doesn't need nature.10:46 In other words, he doesn't need the natural flow. It doesn't have to come the way you expect it. God breaks through normally or naturally, but also when he interferes10:58 with the natural flow of things. Another thing about this miracle is it says in verse 17, they crossed over on dry land. Now, that's not normal if you crossing11:10 over a riverbed. It's gotta be wetland. You see, he says it twice in the verse so that you don't pass it over. God not11:21 only opened up a way supernaturally and gave them a breakthrough. He dried out the land so that they didn't11:33 get muddy going through it. See, so y'all y'all you mean, I'm opened up a way when there was no way. He stopped the natural flow of11:44 things. But then when he opened up the way, he confirmed that it wasn't luck or chance because all of a sudden, the land that ought to have been muddy was11:56 dry. You can't walk through a place where water has been forever and it'd be dry. He12:08 says, you will know if there won't be any question when God comes through, because he's gonna interfere with the natural flow of things, block the water up downstream, and dry out your12:20 path so you can walk across this baby and not get muddy. It won't be messy. You you know mud.12:31 Mud is messy. It won't be messy when God is in it. It won't be messy. It'll be clear because God will dry it out. It12:43 won't be messy when God comes through for you. He says, I want you to put some stones down when this happens. You record12:55 it. When God comes through for your breakthrough, and the reason is because you will know that God is alive.13:08 Because some of us think it, but don't know it. If the truth were told, many of us are here because we were always told that God is alive.13:20 And we believe it academically, but it has not been part of our experience. We're always having to live off of somebody else's testimony because he's13:32 never stopped the flow of things for you. Well, when it comes through and gives you your breakthrough because you've consecrated yourself, because13:44 you have thrown yourself on him and and you have said, am willing to pursue you first. And the result will be my breakthrough because you have done this,13:56 I will know that there is no God but you. He tells them to record this thing,14:08 to make a record by stones of remembrance. So Joshua verse 4 of chapter 4 calls 12 men who had appointed of the sons of Israel, and he says, cross14:20 again into the ark of the Lord your God in the middle of the Jordan, and each of you take up a stone on his shoulder according to the number of the tribes of Israel. Make a record of this thing.14:33 We have trophies and awards. We have commendations on walls to commemorate an event in the past. We we recognize making14:45 records. When you get baptized here, you get a baptism certificate and a membership certificate so that you have a record14:57 that you are a part of this church family or the day you are recognized. We have a stone as you come in to our church sanctuary recognizing when this church was15:09 established. 1 of the reasons that you keep records is to trigger memories. Records trigger memories.15:21 In Washington, there's the Vietnam memorial. It triggers a record of all the people who lost their lives defending this country. Even15:33 in a questionable war, we have Memorial Day to remember the veterans and and all those who sacrificed.15:46 Even now, we celebrate Martin Luther King's birthday. It triggers a memory. A memory about a dreamer and a dreamer15:59 who went through so much, he and those who were part of the civil rights movement in the sixties that are responsible for many of the freedoms that we16:10 enjoy today and the breakdown of of Jim Crow and the breakdown of segregation and laws that would change things in our society and bring us to16:22 where we are today, they are to trigger memories. He says, let this be, in verse 6, assigned to you. In other16:34 words, this was to be a record of what happened when God broke through. Keep a calendar of the day you16:46 get your breakthrough. You keep a record of that thing. You don't let that thing linger in uncertainty. God is big on this.16:59 All through the old testament, he had ways to help people remember. For example, he's gonna tell Israel in chapter 5, circumcise every male.17:13 That was unheard of in the biblical world, the circumcision of males. But he says, you circumcise every male. Why? That a man could never escape. You17:25 are different, unique. You're part of the covenant. He had the Passover celebration, which is continued in communion,17:38 where we are to be reminded perpetually that we are part of a covenant. This was a big thing for God to keep a record of the hand of God in17:50 your life, and don't you forget it. Brothers and sisters, God has always been there. We just haven't kept a record. He's18:01 been even in your wondering, he has been there. Some of you ought not be alive right now, but God has been there. Some of you18:13 were in situations that if it were not for the fact that God's grace overruled that circumstance, you would not be here today, but God has been18:25 there. He says, you keep a record that God was there. You never18:37 forget the hand of God by your stones of remembrance. You know, judges, they set bail for an accused person. The prosecuting attorney, however,18:49 tries to get the bail as high as they can or get the bail negated altogether. And 1 of the ways the prosecuting attorney does that is by showing a rap sheet of all the other things this19:00 criminal has done or the hideousness of their crime. And he argues, judge, based on this rap sheet, bail should not be offered. In other19:12 words, judge, we couldn't trust him in the past. So we ought not set bail, let him out, and expect he's gonna be any different in the19:23 future. Conversely, if you have a record of the faithfulness of God,19:36 if you got a rap sheet on God, where you have recorded stones of remembrance, If you have a rap sheet of what19:47 he did yesterday, what that is supposed to remind you is that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.19:59 And if his rap sheet was good when you weren't consecrated. If his rap sheet was good when you were rebellious. If his rap sheet20:10 meant he kept your shoes from wearing out, your clothes from wearing out, he sustained you in the worst of times, and that's on the rap sheet. Then20:22 most certainly, you can trust him for the future. Because that's what the record is for.20:34 Notice what he says in verse 10. He says, by this you will know in chapter 3 verse 10, the living God is among you, and he will assuredly dispossess you from your enemies. The20:46 purpose of a memorial in the Bible is not merely to remember yesterday. It is to be reminded that yesterday's20:58 God is good for tomorrow. Let me say that again. The purpose of your breakthrough when it comes, The21:10 purpose of a stone of remembrance is not merely to tell you like a trophy case, this is what happened 10 years ago. That's a museum.21:22 You go through museums, and you see pictures, and you see statues. When we were on vacation, we toured Europe, and we saw all these museums.21:34 You asked me what was in them. I can't tell you today. They were nice for the moment. They were very interesting. But if you ask me what was in France or what was in Germany21:45 or what was in England, I mean, I I I couldn't tell you. You know why? Cause they were museums. And museums tell you what happened yesterday. Now, nothing wrong with that.22:00 But I didn't leave Europe having visited the museums with anything that's helping me right now.22:13 Over in our family life center, you walk in on the right hand side, there is a trophy case Of all the basketball games we've won, of all the baseball games we've won, we've got our series of22:24 trophies. You walk by there and you say, wow, they've won a lot of games. So what? It's nice to be able to say, yeah, we won all those games.22:37 Some of you have trophies when you used to be an athlete. My mother back in Baltimore has trophies in her house of22:48 me from football and me from from the swim team and me from baseball and me from the ping pong tournament at the Y. They have trophies back. I haven't even asked them to ship them23:02 because they're only good for yesterday. That's not why you write stones of remembrance. He says that you might know that your God, watch this, is the23:14 living God. And that he will watch this now. The purpose of a stone of remembrance is to not only23:26 know what God has done, but it's to know what God has done so that you have a down payment on what he will do.23:41 The reason you'll be able to look forward to the future is that the God of the past is still alive. And the God of the past, who is still alive, is23:53 to remind you through your stones of remembrances. Whether it's a diary that you keep, a journal that you24:05 keep, a marker that you place. I don't know if you've ever noticed it, many of you have, on the other side of our sanctuary wall is a fairly24:17 large plaque with stones on it. And beside each stone, for those of you who weren't here, when we moved into this building, we went around24:29 to every site where we had had church since the beginning of our established church in 19 76, starting with the first place where we worship, which was my24:41 house with a little bible study of 10 people. And we went and we picked up a stone. We went to the apartment complex. We24:53 picked up a stone. We went to the Advent church where we used their center. We picked up a stone. We then went to Adele Turner Elementary School. We picked up a stone. We worshiped at Carter High School for a while. We25:04 picked up a stone. We bought a little chapel down the street. We picked up a stone. We then built the family life center. We picked up a stone. We picked up stones, and we had them placed on the plaque.25:19 So that there would be a perpetual reminder that when you weren't even a church, I was there. When you were looking for your first place to meet and you25:31 had no place to go, and I showed up at that apartment complex to give you your first little meeting, but I was there. When you had to move to your next location, I was25:43 there. When the Lutheran church told you, you couldn't meet there anymore because you'd overgrown the facilities, and you were wondering how you were gonna meet at the elementary school, Adele Turner showed up. I was25:55 there. When you did not have the money to buy a little chapel, and I raised up a man who wrote out a check for 200000 dollars when you didn't have a dime to your26:07 name, I was there. When you didn't know how you could afford the family life center, I was there. When you built your26:18 sanctuary, I was there. Now that's a great history lesson. But when I see the plan, I don't just see history, I see now when you get ready to expand and go to the next26:29 level, what do those stones say to you? That the same God who was living back there can take me to my future.26:43 He says, look at my rap sheet, and you'll see I can be trusted. So what do these stones do? Chapter 4 verse 1. It came about26:55 when all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan. Let me say that again. When all the nation had finished27:07 crossing the Jordan. When all the nation. God didn't just open up the Jordan for an individual. He opened it27:19 up for everybody. God doesn't have favorites. If you're part of the family, if you're part of the covenant27:30 community, everybody didn't get the same thing in Canaan, everybody got something. Because everybody crossed. God will keep the Jordan open27:42 for everybody. You're part of this thing. We need each other. It's for the whole group. They were blessed collectively, everybody, as well as individually.27:55 Everybody got their own piece of land. In fact, in a few chapters, Caleb comes and says, give me this mountain. I want my own piece of the real estate, but he can only get his own piece because everybody had28:07 crossed. God's not just showing up for me or showing up for you, he's showing up for us. That's why I'm not only praying for your blessing, I'm praying for us so28:18 that we all cross over and get to see the hand of the Lord. It also shows the power of faith. Imagine looking downstream and28:30 seeing this wall of water sitting up there, And you're raising the question. First, the the preacher is raising the question because they're the priest out front. The priest had told, you step in first.28:45 So the question is, does the preacher believe it? That's the first thing. Because I'm telling you now, if the leader doesn't believe it, don't follow it. Because everybody drowning. So28:57 he's supposed to step in first. When he stepped in, they saw something and the waters began to part. Now, they had to take a risk. It's called the risk of29:09 faith because remember, without faith, it's impossible to please God. And the only way you know you have faith is where you step in. You don't know you have faith because you have good faith conversation. Where your feet29:19 touching, the bank of this water. That's faith. Faith is your walk, not your talk. Faith is acting like God is telling the truth. Even though it29:31 didn't happen until they took their first step. And then God moved when they took their first step.29:43 Not only that, but watch this now. After the waters part and after everybody's gone29:55 through, Joshua tells 12 men, you go back in the Jordan and get 12 stones. They didn't get 12 stones coming30:07 through. After they went through, they had to backtrack and go get 12 stones. Now, don't know about you, but I had to think about that. Wait a30:18 minute. You want me to go back there and pick up stones of remembrance. After we've come through, Joshua says, yes, and30:30 I'm going back with you. In fact, when Joshua went back, he built his own memorial in the middle of the Jordan. He told them to pick up 12 stones out of the Jordan, and you30:42 come through. It tells you that when you act in faith, you can look to see God work. Now, let me correct something here. It's 1 of the most misunderstood30:54 things. We've all sung songs about crossing the chilly Jordan river. Alright? What people mean by that crossing the Jordan, they mean dying going to heaven. Alright?31:09 Nothing could be further from the truth. Now understand the the analogy and, well, that's okay for an analogy, but that's not what it means to cross the Jordan. God says, when you31:21 cross the Jordan, you're gonna run into the Canaanites. There are no Canaanites in heaven. When you cross the Jordan, you're gonna run into the Hittite. There are no Hittites in heaven. In other words, there are no31:32 enemies in heaven. There is no conflict in heaven. There are no warfares that you have to fight. When they crossed the Jordan, they had to go to Ai. They had to go to Jericho. They had to go31:44 to Gilgal. In other words, there were new battles to be won when they crossed the chilly Jordan. Crossing the Jordan has nothing to do with going to heaven. Crossing the31:56 Jordan means inheriting the promises God has for you. When you get your breakthrough, it's not over. Your problems aren't all gonna disappear.32:09 Just because God gives you that new husband doesn't mean there not gonna be some fusses and fights, some personality conflicts. To cross the Jordan does not mean all the enemies are gone. Crossing32:21 the Jordan means that the same God who got you through that mess can get you through this mess. The same God who got you through this problem can get you through that problem.32:36 He tells them in verse 6. Let this be a sign to you. So when your children ask later, what do these stones mean?32:49 Then you'll tell them because the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant. What he says is somebody ought to be asking some questions33:03 because stones of remembrances are always visible. You put them in a visible place so that people ask questions. Somebody ought to be asking, what's that for?33:15 What's that mean? Why do you have that there? So that when your kids raise the question,33:27 what do these stones mean? You can tell them the story of how you got over. Why are you gonna tell them the story of how you got33:39 over so that they can look to the same God you found to be true? Now let me show you something. The worst book in the Bible33:51 related to God's people is the book of Judges. The book of Judges is a grand mess. If you've never read the book of Judges, I mean, you need to read read the book of34:03 Judges because because it says, there was no king in those days, and everybody did what was right in their own eyes. And God has to keep raising up these judges to bring Israel34:15 back himself, and some of the judges were shaky. How come the book of judges is such a mess?34:27 Look at the book of Judges verse 8. Chapter 2 verse 8 and verse 10. Then Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died34:39 at the age of 110. Verse 10. And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. The generations crossing the Jordan that we're34:51 reading about in Joshua. But now look at the rest of the verse. And there arose another generation, their children, after them who did35:03 not know the Lord. Now watch this. Nor yet the work which God had done for Israel. Anybody35:14 following? You got 1 of the worst books in the Bible, Judges. With all kind of chaos going on. 135:26 chapter right after another, and he tells you why. The generation who saw God in Joshua never passed it on.35:37 And so they not only did not know God, they did not know what God could do because they never sat down long enough to tell them. They never passed it35:49 on. And because the stones of remembrance were never passed on, because there were no heirlooms, you know, have heirlooms. You pass on rings, and you pass on bracelets, and you36:01 pass on property. He says, make sure you pass on 1 other thing. Make sure the next generation knows that God has done something for you.36:13 We say, what's happened to our next generation? I'll tell you what's happened. This generation is not passing anything on. Nothing to pass36:25 on. He says, pass the baton on. In fact, in Joshua chapter 4, he says it twice. Verse 21,36:37 he says, when your children ask their fathers in times to come, what are these stones? You will inform them, Israel crossed this Jordan on dry ground. You36:50 will tell them what God has done. But not only that, when you get your breakthrough, tell your children. If you have children, tell your friends. If you have37:02 friends, tell somebody. This is what God has done, and this is what this stone means. When God does it, you hang37:14 it, you put a post out there, and you let it be known. Don't be ashamed. If you can keep a trophy out where folk can see it, that is only good for the past, then you37:26 better put something up there to remind you, because that trophy can't help you in the future. Only your God can. But he says, it's not only for your children.37:38 Look at what else he says. Verse 24. And all the people of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty. Tell them it worked.37:51 Tell them in the in the neighborhood. You like to brag about everything else? Brag about God. Brag about God. You you're not38:03 ashamed to talk about human feet. Then when God shows you your breakthrough, you brag about God. Don't tell me I can't bring my God's name up. You can cuss like a sailor38:15 when you wanna cuss. You can use the name of God in vain, but then you wanna tell me you don't talk about religion and politics. Well, let me explain something. When38:26 my God gives me my breakthrough, I'm gonna tell you who did it. I'm gonna give God the glory. Now, I'm a do it properly. I'm a do it responsibly, but I'm gonna do it.38:41 We live in a world today where people can talk about everything, bring up everything, and we are ashamed to be identified with God. And people ought to know38:53 where you stand. That I give glory to God, and in the New Testament, you get more specific. And his son risen from the dead, Jesus Christ.39:07 He gives the final reason at the end of verse 24, so that you may fear the Lord your God forever. First of all, so that the next generation carries it forward. Secondly of all,39:19 so that everybody else knows your God is mighty. And finally, so that you remember your God is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God.39:32 We've all used 7 11. Where would we be without 7 11? 7 11 convenience stores have come through39:45 for so many of us so many times. Before they had 24 hour minions and 24 hour Kroger's, there was always the39:56 convenience store of 7 11. When you remember you didn't get something, you run out to 7 11. I'm amazed at how much stuff40:08 is in 7 11. They got a little bit of everything in 7 11. The reason why growing up, 7 11 was so critical was too. They wereShow more
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