A Purpose And A Need To Remember Series

Series: Joshua

Text: Joshua 4:1-9, 19-24

Title: A Purpose and a Need to Remember

I. The Need for Memorials

• To Remember

Deuteronomy 6:12-15 -- 12 then beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 13 You shall fear the LORD your God and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name. 14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you 15 (for the LORD your God is a jealous God among you), lest the anger of the LORD your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth.

• The fact of the matter is we have short memories (Dentist)

• This particular memorial was built because a time was coming when the children of Israel would need to look back and remember how God had worked in their midst, especially during trying times.

o Each time they looked at those stones they would remember God’s power and faithfulness.

o Each time they would go to battle another Canaanite army where the odds seemed stacked them, they needed to be reminded that they were relying on God’s power and faithfulness and not their own.

o Have you ever had a time when God stepped into a situation that seemed impossible and He worked everything out for good.

Romans 8:28 (NKJV)

28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

o I think of when our house had mold.

• However the need for our memorial (the Lord’s Supper) causes us to look upon the body and blood and remember the sacrifice of Christ’ the fact that our salvation was purchased with a price.

1 Peter 1:18-19 -- 18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

II. The Use of Memorials (6-7, 21-24)

• To Teach

• Every time we observe a memorial it is an opportunity for us to teach the next generation what God has taught us.

o Could you image taking your son or daughter to the WWII memorial and not teaching them about how this country came together and sacrificed for the freedom of others.

o Memorial cause us to be intentional about what it is we are teaching our children.

o Jesus said that every time we observe communion, “you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”

o This is obligation or opportunity is not limited however to just our time of communion, but it should always be something of importance.

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 -- 6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.

• Not only is it an opportunity to teach the next generation, but also to reach others with the message of the gospel.

Vs. 24

• “that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the LORD.”

o Memorials are also a witnessing tool to those who are from without.

o Other nations would see this and ask about the living God who held the waters still so the children of God could pass through.

o The same with communion, it is a testimony to unbelievers about the Son of God, Jesus, who hung on a cross between heaven and earth so He could clear a path that we could pass from death into eternal life.

1 Corinthians 11:27-28