Joshua 4
What a strange memorial we find in our text! A stack of twelve large stones standing in a heap seems strange. They had been taken from the Jordan when Joshua and the Hebrews had crossed over the riverbed en route to Canaan. God had dried up the river so His people could cross over, as He had done at the Red Sea forty years earlier. Therefore, Joshua was instructed to leave the stack of stones as a remembrance for generations to come. When children yet to be born would ask their parents, "What do these stones mean?" they would be told of God’s mighty acts and be encouraged to reverence Him forever.
God’s ordering of this memorial is a solemn reminder of how prone our hearts are to forget. Occasionally our memories have to be prompted!
There was once a man a guy named John who had a really horrible memory. One day John ran into a friend whom he had not seen in a long time. He greeted him and said, "Bill, do you remember what a bad memory I had?" Bill answered, "Yes, I certainly do." "Well, it’s not bad any more. I went to a seminar that taught us how to remember things. It was a great seminar, and now I have a wonderful memory."
Bill answered, "That’s great! What was the name of the seminar?" "Well," John said, "Wait a minute, my wife went with me. I’ll ask her." He turned and saw his wife on the other side of the store. Then he turned back to Bill and said, "What’s the name of that flower with a long stem with thorns on it and has a red bloom?" "Do you mean a rose?" Bill answered. "Yeah, thanks," John said, "Hey, Rose, what’s the name of that seminar we attended?"
It is quite obvious from the Bible that remembering is something which is important to the Lord. He understands that we are prone to be forgetful.
It is interesting to note that the words "remember," "remembrance," and "memorial" are found more than 230 times in the Bible!
The Lord commanded his people in the O.T. to observe certain days as days of "remembrance."
They were to observe the Passover feast in remembrance of God’s deliverance of them from Egypt through the blood of the lamb.
In the N.T. as well, the church was given the ordinance of communion as a way to remember what Christ did for us on the cross.
Tomorrow is “Memorial Day.” It was set aside as a day to remember those who have lost their lives in cause of freedom! Yet, to so many it has become only another day off from work, another excuse to go to the lake and have a barbeque.
This morning, as we look at the subject of "remembering" I want to share with you 3 important things that we need to remember!
I. We Need To Remember The Soldiers Who Died For Our Freedom!
John F. Kennedy once said, “Let every nation know. Whether it wishes us well or ill....that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of LIBERTY!”
Jesus said in John 15:13 “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
In the Civil War, 365,000 Northern soldiers were killed, and 133,000 soldiers from the South died.
In World War I, 116,000 American soldiers were killed. In World War II, 407,000 died, 54,000 died in Korea, 58,000 in Vietnam, 148 in the Gulf War. And as of May 25th 1,648 American soldiers have died in Iraq and 185 in Afghanistan.
More than a million Americans have died in our wars, each one much loved by someone.
Everyone of those men and women paid the ultimate price in the support of and defense of our freedom! We are free today..... free to pray, free to worship, free to speak, free to assemble, free to vote because of their sacrifice.
These men and women are our real heros!
A. It is the soldier, not the theologian, who has secured our freedom of religion.
B. It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has secured our freedom of the press.
C. It is the soldier, not the protestor, who has secured our freedom to demonstrate.
D. It is the soldier, not the judge or the lawyer, who has secured our judicial system.
E. It is the soldier, not the entrepreneur, who has secured our economic opportunity.
F. It is the soldier, whose coffin is draped in the flag, who has secured freedom for those who wish to burn the flag.
A MAN IS NOT DEAD UNTIL HE IS FORGOTTEN. We must not forget those who have given their lives for freedom.
“The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified shall be direct proportion as to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation.” - George Washington
I was alarmed this week in a report about a cemetery which refused to allow a little boy the opportunity to put flowers on the graves of those who had died in the service.
II. We Need To Remember The Saints Who Died For The Faith!
Heb 13:3 “Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.”
We are so spoiled in America. We take for granted the marvelous liberties that we have!
Millions do not enjoy the liberties that we do! It is important that we remember our brothers and sisters in Christ who suffer! They are members of our body. We need to remember those who are in bonds, and those who suffer adversity for the cause of Christ!
How prone we are to forget the courageous Christians of the past who labors and sacrifices make it possible for us to minister today. While we don’t worship people or give them the glory, it is certainly right to honor them for their faithfulness.
Oh, the trail of blood that goes before us. Bishop Ridley was burned at the stake because he maintained that was not Peter who was the church’s foundation but Peter’s confession that Christ was the Son of God. Bishop Latimer was burned at the stake because he maintained that Christ made one sacrifice for the sins of the whole world and that communion was only an acceptable means of remembering what Jesus did on the cross. He refused to accept the mass as a sacrifice for sins and stated that “there is no propitiation for our sins except the cross.”
Time will not permit me to talk about John Huss, Lady Jane Grey, William Tyndale, John Wycliffe, and others.
It is estimated that 43 million Christians have been killed for their faith since the crucifixion of Christ. However, some twenty-six million of these have occurred in the last 100 years.
Estimates are that there is an average of 150-165 thousand Christians martyred each year!
It has been stated that more than 200 million Christians worldwide live under the threat of persecution!
Since 1983 approximately 2 million Christians have been killed by Muslims in the Sudan. Most of these deaths occurred at the hand of militant Muslims!
Churches are regularly burned along with their Bibles and hymn books. Ministers have been murdered while government soldiers looked on. Christians have been crucified!
In Iran where Islam is the official religion, a person who converts to Christianity is subject to execution under Islamic law.
In Saudi Arabia which is one of our closest allies supposedly, there is no freedom of religion. No public worship services other than those at Mosques are allowed. Anyone who converts to another religion is subject to execution. Anyone who participates in trying to convert someone to another religion may be imprisoned or executed!
Church, our brothers and sisters in Christ are being persecuted around the world. While we set in our comfortable building insulated from the elements, Christians are dying for their faith. Believers are suffering persecution in other parts of the world while I speak! Remember your persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ the world over!
III. We Need To Remember The Savior Who Died For Our Forgiveness!
See 1 Cor 11:24-26.
What causes up to stray, to wander sometimes away from the Lord? Is it not because we sometimes stray from the cross? We lose sight of it, and become forgetful of what the Lord has done for us! It is imperative that the cross be fresh in our mind.
How do we remember the Saviour who died for us?
A. We Remember Him When We Are Faithful!
B. We Remember Him When We Are Forgiving!
C. We Remember Him When We Are Fruitful!
If you had visited an old broken pier on the eastern seacoast of Florida on any Friday night prior to 1973, you would have seen an unusual sight. You would have seen an old man slightly stooped, walking slowly with a bucket of shrimp. The seagulls would flock to the old man, and he would feed them shrimp from his bucket. Why did the old man do this? He was remembering! You see....many years before in October of 1942 this man Captain Eddie Rickenbacker was on a mission in a B-17 to deliver an important message to General Douglas MacArthur in New Guinea. However his mission was tragically interrupted when the plane crashed into the Pacific. For almost a month, Capt. Eddie, and the other survivors lived on life rafts. The largest was 5’ X 9’. They endured the sun, the storms, the sharks, but the greatest foe they faced was starvation. After 8 days, their rations were gone. It would take a miracle for them to survive! It occurred after a worship service led by the plane’s Captain, William Cherry. The service concluded with a prayer for deliverance, and a hymn of praise. Following this, Captain Eddie pulled his hat down over his eyes, and dozed off to sleep! Rickenbacker describes what happened next with these words, "Something landed on my head. I knew that it was a sea gull. I don’t know how I knew, but I knew. Everyone else knew as well because no one moved, and no one said a word." Rickenbacker moved his hand slowly and the seagull remained upon his hat. The seagull became the miracle from God. Its flesh was eaten, and its internals were used for bait to catch fish! The survivors were sustained, and their hopes renewed because of one seagull that was uncharacteristically hundreds of miles from land! Ultimately, the men were rescued, and Eddie Rickenbacker never forgot what had happened so that he might survive!
This morning........don’t forget Calvary! Keep your eyes, your heart, your mind focused upon what Christ did on the cross. Jesus, Keep Me Near The Cross.
Conclusion:
Today, as we have our invitational hymn maybe you need to offer a word of thanks for those who have died for our freedom and offer prayer for the persecuted church around the world.
However, remember the supreme sacrifice.....the death of our Lord Jesus on the cross for our sins!
