The Celebration after CThe Celebration after Crossing the Jordan

Let's take our Bibles tonight and open them to the book of Joshua and find verse 4 or chapter 4 rather.

And I've decided to go ahead and read it all. It's quite a bit. So settle back there with your Bibles in hand or your iPods or pads. I mean not pod, pads. Whatever. Whatever you have the scripture on. Bible. Amen.

Amen. What's that? Chapter 4. Chapter 4. And it came to pass when all the people had completely crossed over the Jordan that the Lord spoke to Joshua saying, Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from every tribe. That would be twelve tribes, twelve men.

And command them saying, Take for yourselves twelve stones from here, out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priest's feet stood firm. You shall carry them over with you and leave them in the lodging place where you lodge tonight.

And Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the children of Israel, one man from every tribe. And Joshua said to them, Cross over before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder.

So we know these are pretty good sized stones. On his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, What do these stones mean to you?

Then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off, and these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.

And the children of Israel did so, just as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones from the midst of the Jordan, as the Lord had spoken to Joshua according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them to the place where they lodged, and laid them down there.

Then Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood, and they are there to this day. So the priests who bore the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan, until everything was finished that the Lord had commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua, and the people hurried and crossed over.

And it came to pass, when all the people had completely crossed over, that the ark of the Lord and the priests crossed over in the presence of the people. And the men of Reuben, and the men of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh, crossed over armed before the children of Israel as Moses had spoken to them.

About forty thousand prepared for war crossed 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 feared him, as they had feared Moses all the days of his life.

Then the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying, Command the priests who bear the ark of the testimony to come up from the Jordan. Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, Come up from the Jordan.

And it came to pass, when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord had come from the midst of the Jordan. And the soles of the priests' feet touched the dry land, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and overflowed all its banks as before.

Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they camped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan, when Joshua set up in Gilgal.

Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying, When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What are these stones? Then you shall let your children know, saying, Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land.

For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up before us until we had crossed over, that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.

In chapter 5, verse 1, So it was, when all the kings of the Amorites, who were on the west side of the Jordan, and all the kings of the Canaanites, who were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel until we had crossed over, that their heart melted, and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the children of Israel.

All right. A long text, but I wanted to read the entire thing. Now, chapter 4, excuse me, chapter 4 is a celebration of the event that took place in chapter 3.

And what event was that? The crossing of the Jordan River. The miracle where God stopped up the Jordan River and the water flowed on downstream and the children of Israel were able to walk across the Jordan River at its flood stage and walk across on dry ground, walking across over into the Promised Land.

So that event took place in chapter 3. Chapter 4 is a celebration of it. I think that's the right word to use. It's a celebration of commemoration, a celebration of this great miracle that occurred in chapter 3.

And so, because of that, much of what we have in chapter 4 is a repetition of what we have in chapter 3. In fact, there's a great deal of repetition right here in chapter 4.

If you noticed that as I was reading the chapter. It's just repetition. And you find a lot of that in scripture and it's not, you know, designed to be boring to us.

It is an emphasis and a highlighting of the tremendous power and might and working of God. And so, that's what we have in chapter 4.

Kind of repetition of what has happened before. What has happened in chapter 3. And yet, clearly, chapter 4 does add some bits of information that we do not have in chapter 3.

Some very significant things are included in chapter 4. So, it's not just simply repetition of things that have already happened. It's not just kind of rehashing that and going back over that.

There is that, a repetition of the very same thing you have in chapter 3, but then you have a couple of things added to it. And, of course, it's these things that are added that we want to focus on tonight.

In fact, really, the second of two things we want to spend most of our time talking about. But let me talk about the first thing that is added that we don't have in chapter 3.

And that is, we have some statements about the effect of the miracle. The effect of the miracle. First of all, upon Israel, God's people.

And then, second of all, the effect that the miracle had upon the pagan nations, the surrounding nations. I think primarily he's talking about those nations inside the promised land because they, some of them observed these things and the word got around pretty quick about what God had done at the Jordan River.

Now, they had already heard about what God miraculously did at the Red Sea. And so, already, you know, there's much talk about Israel and their God and so forth.

And so, we have then two statements about the effect of it. Let me just mention them briefly and then we'll go on from there because I really believe that the most significant thing in this chapter is the second thing and we'll get to that in just a minute.

Now, but let's just consider this just briefly. the chapter, chapter 4, and really, you have to include verse 1 of chapter 5 because it goes with it.

This chapter, it can be very neatly divided into two parts. And I think once I identify how they're divided, how we can identify these two parts, I think you'll see it very clearly.

The two parts are verses 1 through 14. That's the first part. Verse 1 through 14 is one part, one division of the entire chapter.

And then verses 15 and all the way to chapter 5, verse 1. That's the second division of this chapter. And how do we know that there's a division here?

Because of how each division is concluded. And that's why I say that what you have here is a statement about the effect of the miracle because there's a statement about the effect of the miracle concluding each of those two sections.

Look at it. Verse 14, which shows the effect of the miracle on Israel. Well, what effect did it have upon the people of God? Verse 14, and on that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel.

Joshua had already been called by God, already selected by God to be the leader of Israel in place of Moses.

He would be his successor and God had already done that. But just as the parting of the Red Sea established Moses as the great leader and deliverer, this miracle at the Jordan also established Joshua as that leader.

This is what verse 14 says, and on that day the Lord exalted Joshua in sight of all of Israel and they feared him, that is they respected him, revered him as their leader as they had feared Moses all the days of his life.

So there's a concluding statement about the effect of the miracle, the great miracle, the stopping up of the Jordan River to conclude the first section of this chapter, first main division.

The second main division is concluded with verse 1 of chapter 5 and it shows the effect not upon Israel but the effect of the miracle upon the pagan nations that surrounded that region of the world.

I think the pagan nations in the promised land. So look at it, verse 1, so it was, so it was. That's a statement about, here's a conclusion about the result, the effect of all of this.

So it was when all the kings of the Amorites who were on the west side of Jordan, those in the nation, in the promised land, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel until we had crossed over, their heart melted.

That is, their courage just went away. Their pagan courage their idea that they were strong enough to take care of these invading Israelites, the might of their armies, and so forth, their courage, all that just melted away, and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the children of Israel.

Actually, because of what God had done on behalf of the children of Israel. So, there's pretty clear to see, isn't it? We have a repetition of the events taking place in chapter 3, but we have this added to it.

We have added to it some very strong statements about the effect of the miracle, God's miracle. And God, you know, doesn't just perform miracles to wow people.

He doesn't just perform miracles to, you know, reveal His mighty power. And He does that, but it's not just, it's always for a purpose. And according to His purpose here, it was to exalt Joshua in the sight of the people as God's appointed leader.

And it was also to melt the hearts, the stony hearts, of the nations in the promised land. All right?

So, there's that part. There's a second thing that is added, second bit of information that is very significant, very important, I think very practical.

And it is that we have God's instructions on how Joshua and Israel were to memorialize, to memorialize their miraculous crossing of the Jordan River.

Those two things. The effect of the miracle and God's instructions about memorializing. In a sense, celebrating, but really more than that, it is a way to establish a strong, permanent reminder of what God had done for Israel by parting or stopping up the Jordan River.

And really, to see this, the structure is very logical there in the chapter. Let me just point that out and then we'll focus on this idea of memorials.

The structure is really very clear to see. Within the two divisions, major sections or divisions of the chapter that I've already mentioned, that is verses 1 through 14 and then verses 15 through to chapter 5, verse 1, within those two major divisions, we have some smaller divisions.

In fact, for each of the main divisions, we have two subdivisions or two divisions, so a total of four divisions of the chapter. And what's interesting is they mirror each other.

They mirror each other. Let me explain. For example, in verse, well, to begin with, in verses 1 through 10, we have the memorializing of the crossing.

That's the main gist of verses 1 through 10. The memorializing of the crossing of the Jordan River. For example, verse 2, take for yourselves 12 men.

We saw that back in chapter 3, didn't we? We didn't know why then, but now we know why. Verse 3, command them saying, take for yourselves 12 stones. You shall carry them over with you and leave them in the lodging place.

He's giving instructions about how to memorialize the crossing. Verse 5, each one of you take a stone on his shoulder. Verse 6, that this may be a sign among you.

Verse 9, then Joshua set up 12 stones in the midst of the Jordan and they are there to this day. Now, really, there's mentioning here of two separate memorials and we'll get into that a little bit later.

But so, verses 1 through 10, memorializing of the crossing. But then, in verses 11 through 14, the focus is the completion of the crossing. So, we have the memorializing of the crossing and then the completion of the crossing in verses 11 through 14.

Verse 11, when all the people have completed crossing over, completely crossed over. Verse 12, including, of course, as promised, as demanded by God, the tribes of Reuben and Gad and half of Manasseh who had been given permission to settle on the east side, on the other side, outside of the promised land.

But they had promised that they would send their warriors to go across into the promised land in order to be a part of the conquest of the promised land.

All right, so, what do you have? This is very logical. First, the memorializing of the crossing, then, the completion of the crossing. And then we have the mirror image of that throughout the next section in reverse order.

That's what happens when you look at a mirror. It turns everything opposite of what it is, you know. And so we have a mirror image of it. So in verses 15 through 18, we have the completion of the crossing again. We have a mention of that.

Verse 16, the priests who bear the ark of the testimony come up from the Jordan. Verse 18, the waters of the Jordan return to their place and overflowed all its banks as before.

So that's clearly a statement, again, about the crossing or the completion of the crossing. And then, verses 19 all the way to verse 1 of chapter 5, we again have the memorializing of the crossing.

It's just a mirror image. First, memorializing the crossing, then the completion of the crossing ended by a statement about Joshua being exalted. Then we have the completion of the crossing again, and then the memorializing of the crossing concluded by a statement about the effect of that, the result of that on the nations, the surrounding nations.

You see? And so, the focus here, what the author is wanting us to pay attention to by way of repetition, by way of structure, structure of how it is written, what the order of things, what the author is wanting us to focus upon is this idea of memorializing, setting up a memorial.

And he's not just wanting us to consider that whole idea, but he's going to tell us why, for what purpose the memorials were set up, and not just the purpose for the moment, but of course the whole idea being a purpose related to the future, ongoing future.

In fact, the Bible makes a very strong statement about forever to this day. And so, this is where the focus ought to be on these memorials.

Memorials. Now, let's focus on those. There are two of them. Two memorials. the one Joshua set up in the middle of Jordan at the place where the priest stood with the Ark of the Covenant.

Stones were collected there, and Joshua set up a memorial there in the midst of the river, the Jordan River. The second one, Joshua also set up in Gilgal, that is on dry land.

Gilgal, the place where Israel encamped after they crossed over into the promised land. They were now within the borders of the promised land. And so, Joshua set up that memorial there in Gilgal.

And these memorials were very important to Israel. And there's tremendous emphasis here about the importance of these memorials. And this is not, by the way, the first time that you have in Scripture God instructing that his people set up markers or memorials that would be, you know, substantial and permanent to remind them of the things that God had done for them.

I want us to consider, then, three applications to these memorials. Three applications. Applying this whole idea of memorials.

The first one, I think, is the primary application of the text. And that is what I would call the parental application. The parental application.

Surely, as I read through the passage, surely you noticed the emphasis on family. For example, verse 6, when your children ask in time to come, what do these stones mean to you?

It's very personal. I mean, it's very direct. Children asking their parents, what do these stones mean to you? And then we have a similar thing said in verse 21.

When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, what are these stones? So, the emphasis here is upon family.

Of course, family is very important in the life of Israel as it should be in our life as well. And God has ordained and established the family for a number of purposes.

And so, family is very important in this whole idea of spiritual markers and what they mean and what they are intended to do within that family unit. and then collectively, all families collectively, what those memorials are to accomplish in the family of God.

Now, here's the primary purpose and this just comes right from the passage. That's why I say that this particular application, I think, is the primary application.

There are four purposes that I can identify in the passage. four purposes for these memorials in relation to family. First of all, the memorial causes your children to ask for the meaning.

Whatever the memorial, whatever that memorial may look like for you. And there are many different ways that we could establish a memorial, something to remind us, whether it's something written or something hung on the wall or something that we speak of.

All of those, of course, related to something God has done in our lives, in the life of the family or has done for God's people. You know, the connection, specific connections would be endless.

But whatever form the memorial takes place, it, number one, is meant to cause your children to ask for the meaning.

That's the purpose for a memorial, the benefit of a memorial. Dad, what does this mean? What does this mean? Why do we speak of this?

Why do we have this particular scripture, for example, maybe written on a plaque or in our house? Or why this memorial?

It causes the question to be asked and that's very important because, because of the second reason for a memorial, second purpose for a memorial. And this is very logical.

Number two, when they ask for the meaning, we can tell them. It's very simple, isn't it? It takes a lot of, a lot of imagination. But this is how, how the text, what we can glean from the text.

First of all, the memorial causes our children to ask for the meaning. When your children ask, he says in verse 6 and also in verse 21. And then, when they ask for the meaning, then we can tell them because we might not remember to tell them.

And so, they ask us and we say, oh, I'm glad you asked that. verse 7, then you shall answer them. And then that leads to a third purpose for the memorial.

And again, one leads to the other and that one leads to another. So this is, there's kind of a logic, kind of a flow of things here. Third, the result is, that is when they ask and you tell them, then the result is that they might fear the Lord.

That is, reverence Him. Revere the Lord. Worship Him. Verse 24, that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty that you may fear the Lord, your God, forever.

And so, whatever form that spiritual marker as Henry Blackaby, I think, called them, whatever form the memorial or reminder may take place or may manifest itself, it is intended to cause your children to ask and then so that you can tell and so then that they will fear, they will respect the Lord.

And that leads to a fourth one. To teach them to pass it on to subsequent generations because it doesn't end with your children. It is to continue on from there.

Verse 7, And these stones shall be for memorial to the children of Israel forever. That means generation after generation.

Your children, their children, their children's children, and so forth and so forth. And that's one of the problems, identifies one of the problems in our culture here in America.

We don't know anything about spiritual markers. We don't think about that. And to our loss. And so, we're not about, as we should be about, passing it on generation to generation to generation.

Not only the very general, I mean, the overall works of God in behalf of His people, but even those specific things that God has done in your life, in the life of the father or mother or the family as we pass that on and on and on.

My grandparents, my great-grandparents, what God has done in their lives. It is to be passed on. It's the parental application. Second, there is the, what I would call the personal application.

There are two memorials. You notice in the text two of them. One in the water, the other on the dry ground. One could not be seen once the Jordan returned to its banks, possibly at, you know, when there was a drought or something, maybe they could be seen or just the tip of them, but I think the idea is that it's hidden.

It's in the water. It's not something that you can see but you know is there. The other, of course, is visible. Visible all the time because it has been erected on dry ground.

And I think if you go back to Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, well, 24, 26, somewhere in there where God gave commands to establish this altar there in the promised land.

It was not just rocks piled on top of one another. They were plastered so that it was a permanent thing. In fact, they were even written upon. God's law was written upon them. So one is in the sea and invisible.

The other is on the dry ground and visible. So one was for all the people to see that is on the dry ground, all the people to see and to use as a tool to instruct their children, teach their children.

The other, the one in the sea was there, I think, was between Joshua and God. I think the idea is that this was something, because you don't have this real, this big buildup to God instructing Joshua beforehand and then, you know, so forth, and then finally he's building an altar there in the sea.

It just suddenly kind of comes out of nowhere. Here's Joshua building an altar in the midst of the sea as God had commanded. I think it points to something very personal between Joshua and God.

And so, have one for all to see, one in the sea, one is public, one is private. So what's the application? It's a personal application.

Private memorials and public memorials. private memorials in the sense that they are very personal to you.

Something you don't just readily share with others. May even be attached to things that were very personal to you and not something to be shared with everyone. But God did a wondrous work in your heart and in your life for a very private thing.

And it's a private memorial. I think symbolized by Joshua's memorial in the middle of the sea where it's hidden. But he knows it's there. I have one in my life.

I've shared this a few times. I'm not sure if I've shared it to our congregation. But a bunch of years ago when I was pastoring in Arkansas, I was just having one of those times.

You know, have you ever had one of those spiritual times? Actually a very dead spiritual time. Pastors have those. And I called one of my deacons who lived on a farm.

He and his wife had quite a bit of acreage and I asked is there some place out on your farm that I could go where there'd be no one? No houses within sight?

No one at all? And he said well yeah. He said there's a place a pond out on my property and I go there often myself. And so I went out there and brought my little lawn chair, Bible, notebook and I was just going to you know find out what's going on and do some business with God.

And in the course of the day, I won't tell you the entire story but in the course of the day I finally was just impressed by God I believe to take my notebook and begin to write down every single sin that I committed that I could think of.

Not because I doubted God's forgiveness. In fact when I was done with that list and it was quite lengthy I was sure even when I prayed I said God I know that some of these I know have confessed to you and you may even be asking me well then why are you bringing these up again?

They're forgotten. But God just wanted me to write all that down. It was page after page of things I could remember. All the way back to my high school days.

Those things I could remember. I could barely remember last week much less back to high school. And I listed all of those things. And then I took that piece of paper or several pieces of paper and folded them and I found a rock and a piece of wire, some rusty wire off of a dilapidated fence out there by this pond and I wired that piece of paper to that rock.

And you think this is silly. And I prayed. First I said God, some of these I no doubt you have already forgiven me but I want to fresh, freshly say God deliver me, forgive me, cleanse me of all of these sins that you have allowed me to bring to my memory.

And then I took the rock and I threw it out in the middle of that pond. and it's there today. I can't see it. If I were to go back I couldn't see it, couldn't find it.

But I know it's there. And it's a spiritual marker. It's a memorial of something that God did for me that day, giving me a great peace in my life about things in my past that go way back.

I wasn't just real sure if I was right with God on. That's a memorial. It's very private, though I've shared it with you.

It's not seen. No one else knows where it is. No one else can find it. No one else knows it's there. You don't even know what pond it is. My wife might remember. And that's a private memorial.

And then there are, of course, public memorials. So there was the memorial that Joshua erected in the bed in the midst of the Jordan River that eventually was covered over by water.

But then there was the memorial that was erected upon the dry ground that was intended to be seen by all who would pass by. But specifically by the people of Israel and even more specifically their children who had not been there at the Red Sea, had not been there in the wilderness of sin, had not been there when the Jordan was blocked up by God so that they could cross over and dry ground.

And so they would see the memorial and ask the question. So it's very public, you know, where you can say, this is what God has done for me. It may be something you say quite often and someone might ask, well, what does that mean?

And then you say, well, let me tell you. Or some, you know, again, some tangible, visible thing where you can publicly say and want to publicly say, this is what God has done for me.

I know this is going to embarrass him all to pieces, but our son Jonathan, in a sense, is a public memorial. Not one that you might make any connection about.

But when Jonathan was in Sherry's womb and physically there were some problems for Sherry. In fact, she had quite a hemorrhage and we weren't sure whether Jonathan was, and then we didn't even have his name, whether he was going to be born or not.

And great concern about it. And at the time I was a part of a prayer group, a bunch of pastors and some laymen in that area, in that city.

And we would meet every Wednesday night and pray and I just shared that with the group and we prayed about it. And eventually, of course, because Jonathan's here with us today, we know everything turned out okay.

And, you know, where we were very uncertain. And even his name is in a way attached to that because after we were sure that he was fine, had a great heartbeat and all that kind of thing, I was back again with those pastors praying and I shared that with him.

And one of the pastors, a good friend of mine, prayed and he prayed, you know, God, we just thank you and God, I'm sure that you have some special plan.

Just like a Jonathan Edwards. And so, there's Jonathan. Not Jonathan Edwards, sorry, it's Jonathan Nathaniel. But, you know, he is, he doesn't realize it and we don't think of it very often.

But, he is a marker, a memorial of something that God did. And we can say that publicly and be very excited about it and say God did a wonderful thing and preserved his life and preserved Sherry's life too because we weren't sure what was going on at that time.

So, there is then the personal application. There is the parental application and then one more. And this is not a stretch.

You may start to think so. That's why I appreciate some of our songs tonight were related to the cross. There is the prophetic application.

Gilgal is where Israel encamped after crossing over the Jordan River. Gilgal over from Jericho. Gilgal is also, of course, where Joshua erected this memorial, this second memorial.

And Gilgal is a very important place, very important name. The word Gilgal means the reproach has been rolled away.

Think about that. Think about Israel. Israel. What that would mean to them. For 40 years, Israel has known nothing but defeat, spiritual defeat and failure and disobedience.

They have been wandering in the wilderness as a result of sin. And now, the reproach has been rolled away. And that memorial reminds them of that.

And so, what a picture of salvation. I think a very clear picture. The reproach of sin has been rolled away because of Christ, because of the cross, because of his death and his resurrection.

And so, we have two memorials that point to that blessed reality. You know what they are? baptism and the Lord's Supper.

Two memorials. One in the water and one out of the water. One memorial was in the water and it reminds us of baptism.

A memorial, testimony of our salvation. salvation. Now, we don't repeat that memorial, but we saw that memorial today, this morning. And it should have been not only a blessing to you to see someone baptized, but should have been a reminder, reminder of your salvation.

Because just as Andrew this morning was immersed, he was buried with Christ, died with Christ and buried and was raised to walk a new life.

That has happened to each and every one of us. And so the baptism, a memorial in the water, reminds us of our salvation. The Lord's Supper, the other memorial was out of the water and it reminds us of the Lord's Supper, a memorial of our salvation.

Both of them are. So, both serve to remind us of the mighty work of God in salvation, in our salvation. Both serve to remind us that the reproach of sin has been rolled away.

Both of these do. Both serve to remind us that we have crossed over. Just like the people have crossed over the Jordan River, we have crossed over from darkness to light, from death to life.

John 5, 24, Most assuredly I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgment but has passed from death into life.

Having said that, let me very quickly remind you of something. In case we have some misunderstanding here about baptism, about the Jordan River being a picture of that.

Let me remind you of something. Memorials are reminders. believers. They are not originators. That's very important.

You say, what do you mean by that? Well, the stones in the Jordan River and those stones erected there at Gilgal, these stones stood as testimonies to what God had done for his people.

Alright? Baptism and the Lord's Supper also stand as reminders of what God has done through Christ for every believer. reminders, but not originators.

The baptism and the Lord's Supper are not the way of salvation, the way to salvation. And really, listen, think of this logically. To believe that baptism and the Lord's Supper are the way to salvation is like saying that Israel crossed over the Jordan River walking on stones.

The stones were not the way into the promised land. they were a reminder of what God had done to bring them in to his promised land.

So, to end this, we need memorials. We need them to remind us of what a mighty, how mighty and wonderful our God is. We need memorials.

Maybe for you, it might be something different, whether it's an entry in a journal or a diary or something you hang on a wall or something that you memorize and speak to your family and to others, whatever it may be.

I don't know, there's an endless number of possibilities. But they're important to remind us of God and his mighty works in our behalf. And the problem is we're so prone to forget those wonderful works.

Aren't you prone to forget them? We all are. And really, when you think about Israel, it would be easy for us to look at Israel and be, you know, what's wrong with those people always forgetting?

And we're just as guilty. Just as guilty. So I think among many other things, the Lord has initiated these memorials that we have, the Lord's Supper and baptism, so that we will never forget.

And that is especially true of the Lord's Supper. That's why Jesus commanded as often as you do this, do it what? In remembrance of it.

Never mind all that God has done. Thank you.