What Do These Stones Mean? - Joshua 4:14-24

and let's turn again to Joshua chapter 4 Joshua chapter 4 we're going to be looking at the the last half or so of the chapter verses 14 through 24 this morning been looking at the last few weeks of Joshua's account of the nation of Israel crossing the

Jordan River we saw that a couple of weeks ago the account of their crossing and last week we saw that in addition to this miraculous crossing of the nation of the people across the

Jordan River God causes the the waters to stop flowing and the Israelites are able to cross over on dry land in addition to this we saw last week that God commissioned this memorial to be built on on the banks of the

Jordan we saw that it was God who commanded this this was not something that Joshua did on his own initiative or volition saw that God commanded this we saw that just as he commissioned

Israel to build a memorial to what he had done already for them we also are to ground what we do and what we will do and what

Christ has done that we don't we don't obey God we don't act in in righteousness or in obedience because of our own righteousness because of our own ability to merit our salvation or to merit favor with God but we do that because of what

God has already done for us he has made us righteous through the righteous high priest

Jesus so we're to ground what we do and what Christ has already done we also saw the nature of this memorial that this memorial was made of 12 stones each one representing a tribe of Israel these were representative but they pointed forward to something greater something better as we considered last week that that as as both

Paul and and Peter tell us in their writings that we are a living we are living stones being built up into a temple a holy dwelling of God and so whereas the stones of this memorial and Joshua were representative each one of us as individuals are a part of the true temple that is being built we considered the source of this memorial the power behind this memorial we talked about how that the

Israelites that the priest were standing in the riverbed of the Jordan and and they're holding they're carrying the

Ark of the Covenant and and this Ark of the Covenant which is the dwelling place of God which holds the mercy seat it was from here and from God's presence

God's power that was holding back those waters and so our hope likewise it anchored in Christ's past what he is do what he has done what he is currently doing and what he will do in the future for us last week we we mentioned that we were looking the first half of the chapter focusing on the nature of the memorial again this how it was constructed what these stones were representative of and this week we are looking at the why the purpose of the memorial what purpose was the memorial supposed to supposed to perform and was it supposed to be about and so we're going to look today at what it points to what what the memorials purpose was for the

Israelites so again picking up in verse 14 we'll read through the end of the chapter on that day the

Lord exalted Joshua in sight of all Israel so that they revered him just as they had revered

Moses all the days of his life now the Lord said to Joshua command the priests who carry the

Ark of the Testimony that they come up from the Jordan so Joshua commanded the priests saying come up from the

Jordan it came about when the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant of the

Lord had come up from the middle of the Jordan the souls of the priests feet were lifted up to the dry ground that the waters of the

Jordan returned to their place and went over all its banks as before now the people came up from the

Jordan on the 10th of the first month and camped at Gilgal on the eastern edge of Jericho those twelve stones which they had taken from the

Jordan Joshua sat up at Gilgal he said to the sons of Israel when your children ask their fathers and 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 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 father we thank you this morning that we are able to come into the presence of a righteous and holy and just and perfect God that that when we come before your throne we do so not on our own merit we do so not because of our own goodness we do so with the full knowledge that we only can come into your presence because Jesus Christ first was made to be sin for us he who knew no sin became sin on my behalf for my blessing and my good so Lord we acknowledge we have no claim to hope we have no claim to sonship to an inheritance in your kingdom apart from what

Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross I have no hope of being empowered of being able to do your will and to obey you except for the grace and the mercy that you have shown to me through Jesus who died on the cross who was buried who rose again and who now sits at your right hand and intercedes for those who come to faith in him father would you guide our thoughts and our words as we consider your word as we think about it would we glory and exalt and boast and only you and our

Savior Jesus and we ask this in his name amen ever ever since I was a kid

I I was interested in those historical markers that you see on the side of the road and even now

I'm one of those people who you know you wonder does anybody ever turn around and go and look at those things and I'm one of those people who sometimes will stop and they'll turn around and read what the sign says and maybe it started because there was on the way in and out of our town the town that I grew up in there was a sign that was always on the side of this of the road the main road going into town and and I would ask my mom what what is what is that sign about I it was faded over time you couldn't really read what it said and the only thing that I could read was

Gerrard's Calvary raid I remember asking my mom what does that sign mean and she would say oh it's something about the

Civil War and then she'd just go on she was probably more concerned with getting us to school so she could get to work on time so she could deal with all of the requisitions and the bids and all the memos and the things that were awaiting her that day and for my part as a kid of seven or eight years old

I was trying to imagine what was what was you know so important about silver that people would fight over it and then

I remembered oh I got a piece of you know a quarter in my pocket what what ice cream am I gonna buy today so it kind of just went in you know and out of your head later

I would I would research and learn the story of that that sign that it was it was there to commemorate the raid of a of a brigadier general who came through our town during this the

Civil War not the Silver War as I thought and and was instrumental in causing the fall of the city of Atlanta and bringing to an end the

Civil War the sign told a story that had lasting effects the question that we see in our passage today is the same one that I would ask many times what does this sign mean what is the story behind this sign what do these stones mean last week we considered the nature of the memorial and it was important to start off by considering who commanded the memorial to be built in the first place what was the nature of the stones that were used to build a memorial but today we're considering the reason for the memorial the purpose that it held and we can see that there are three things that this memorial brings to mind three things that the memorial represented and the first one is

God's appointment of servants to lead his people God appointed those men to lead the nation of Israel both both in terms of administration of political leadership per se of military leadership and of spiritual leadership first we see that God exalted

Joshua so the people had reverent fear for him seen this previously but we saw it again in verse 14 on that day the

Lord exalted Joshua he's making it very clear that Joshua is his leader he is the successor to the leadership of Moses Moses was the spiritual leader and the lawgiver of the people he was the administrator of the people and so much as as the nation of Israel had a political leader

Moses was it he was making decisions between parties and and administering justice and administering and giving the law that was given to him by God and Joshua now will carry on as Moses Moses successor but he will also lead the people into battle he will be a military leader as well

Joshua also makes mention of the priests again that on the heels of this of this verse speaking of the

Lord's exaltation of exalting Joshua of setting him apart and making it very clear that he was the leader on the heels of this

Joshua says that the Lord tells him to tell the the priests to come up out of the riverbed of Jordan the priests of course were the mediators between God and the people they were the ones who in the

Tappernackle would make sacrifices on behalf of the people later when the temple was built the priests would be that mediator the high priest on one day of the year on the

Day of Atonement that one high priest would go into the Holy of Holies and make intercession for the people and in this case we see this this literal protection of the lives of the people of Israel as as the priests are standing in the riverbed and they're holding the

Holy of Holies and the water does not begin flowing again until the priests have come up out of the riverbed and on to dry land they were the means by which

God brought the Israelites safely across the river they don't move from that spot until God has commanded them to do so so they we see in these men representative servants of God who who lead the people who give

God's commands to the people who lead the people militarily in battle who mediate between God's people who represent and are the ministers of God's protection for the people literally keeping them alive but at the same time we we read this this this verse that says

Joshua was exalted and there's there's probably something at least I know for me there's something that kind of twinges at that a little bit the idea that God would exalt a person that God would cause the nation of Israel to fear or to revere this person and on one hand at that it makes sense because there had to be a leader of the people of Israel and so and so God God is making it very clear that he has anointed

Joshua to lead the people he's making that clear to the nation of Israel that this is

God's representative he is God's leader for them and for their good but at the same time the reason that that causes a little bit of conflict in our hearts when we hear this is because we know we know instinctively if we have the

Holy Spirit enlightening us as we read God's Word we know that Joshua was human he was fallible he was not perfect eventually he went the way of all the earth he succumbed to whatever illness or disease or old age we know that Joshua went the way of all the earth just like everyone else we know that Joshua was a sinner we know the priests were sinners they were imperfect they were in need of the same mercy as the rest of the nation of Israel and so we see that God exalted

Joshua not to bring glory to Joshua it wasn't to magnify Joshua but Joshua in being exalted points forward in reality to the true lawgiver the true battle commander

Jesus Christ as we considered in our introduction to the book of Joshua weeks ago the name for Joshua Yeshua is the is the

Hebrew name for Jesus God here exalts

Joshua in the sight of the people and again this exaltation of Joshua points to an even greater exaltation a perfect exaltation of a greater and perfect Joshua in Philippians chapter 2

Paul tells us have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus who although he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped but he emptied himself taking the form of a bond servant and being made in the likeness of men being a found an appearance as a man he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross for this reason also

God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is

Lord to the glory of God the Father in the sense that Joshua here was exalted above all the people

God exalted in a more infinite way Jesus because only

Jesus was able to have equality with God and yet to empty himself to humble himself come to earth as a man and be obedient to death on a cross in the same way this ministry of mediation that the priests performed really pointed forward to the great high priest again who is

Jesus just as the priests stayed in that place and I and I wonder this we didn't talk about this last week but I wonder as the priests were standing there this this wasn't just a 45 -minute walk across the

Jordan River for the nation of Israel this would have taken hours it could have even taken more than a day for the nation of Israel to pass through that spot and go from one end of the

Jordan River to the other and and up onto the banks but just as the priest stayed in that place for what would have been hours it would not have been a comfortable assignment for them in much greater way

Jesus remained in agony on the cross until he cried out it is finished where the priests mediation was imperfect and it was short in duration and it was short in the sacrifice that they made

Jesus the great high priest and his sacrifice his mediation is perfect it's infinitely greater it's for this reason that the writer of Hebrews will tell us and give us the assurance in chapter 4 of Hebrews therefore since we have a great high priest who is passed through the heavens

Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our confession for we do not have a high priest priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses but one who has been tempted in all things as we are yet is without sin therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need in the sense that the priests were a mediator between God and man as they stood in the

River of Jordan and a far infinitely greater way our great high priest

Jesus was and is a mediator for those who will come to faith in him because he was obedient to the point of death on a cross we see this appointment of servants to lead

God's people as a foreshadowing as signs that would point forward to our Savior Jesus who is our leader who is our lawgiver who is our warrior and who is our great high priest and mediator we see secondly

God's deliverance of his people see that the memorial is given to point back to the men that God gave to lead his people we also see that the memorial is intended to remind the people of Israel of his deliverance we see an additional detail in verse 19 that we didn't see last week

Joshua kind of gives us an extra piece of information here in verse 19 we're told that the people came up from the

Jordan not just on some random day there's a reason why

Joshua specifies when they came up they came up from the Jordan on the 10th of the first month and then they camped at Gilgal on the eastern side of Jericho back in Exodus chapter 12 the

Israelites are in Egypt they're getting ready to leave Egypt God is going to deliver them and he's giving them instructions for what they should do in preparation for the

Passover when the angel of death will pass over the houses of all of Egypt bringing death to some of them bringing life to those of Israel who act in faith and who sacrifice this

Passover lamb and they they plead the blood of this animal over the doorposts of their house

Exodus 12 we're told specifically that it's on this same day the 10th day of the first month

Nisan when the people are to select the

Passover lamb for their household Moses tells the people in Exodus chapter 12 this month shall be the beginning of months for you it is to be the first month of the year to you speak to all the congregation of Israel saying on the 10th of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves according to their father's household a lamb for each household now if the household is too small for a lamb that he and his neighbor nearest or to take one according to the number of persons in them your lamb shall be unblemished a male a year old you shall take it from the sheep or from the goats you shall keep it until the 14th day of the same month so four days later then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lentil of the houses in which they eat it they shall eat the flesh that same night roasted with fire and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs this blood will be a sign for you in the houses where you live and when

I see the blood I will pass over you and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt so it's this day that is is in a sense it begins the the preparations for the

Pete the feast of Passover on this 10th day of the first month of the year and it is on this same day that the

Israelites walk up out of the river they come up from the

Jordan on the 10th day as we see later in chapter 5 they will celebrate

Passover in this land of promise as they camp at Gilgal chapter 5 will see that it's on the 14th day of the month that they encamp and and so this this period of preparation and then of looking forward to the celebration of the

Passover this is all happening at the same time that the Israelites are camped out here not none of this is happening by chance none of it is coincidence it's not a random day even in the timing of their crossing of the

Jordan God is reminding them of what he has done and of course in celebrating the

Passover itself it is pointing forward to what God will do we mentioned last week that the crossing of the

Jordan and the crossing of the Red Sea they act as these bookends the the Israelites leave Egypt first thing they do is they cross the

Red Sea and then they wander in the wilderness for 40 years and then they come to the

Jordan River finally after they have after they have have committed the sins and the idolatry that they committed and and God causes them to stay in this wilderness for 40 years because of that in verse 23 now we see

Joshua explicitly tying the crossing here to the miraculous and merciful act that God performed at the

Red Sea so this deliverance from Egypt at the Red Sea that happened after the first Passover the deliverance from the wandering that occurs here at the

Jordan this all is coinciding with the Passover which points forward to the death of Jesus that occurs when at Passover because he is our

Passover Lamb John declares this and we see this recorded in John chapter 1 when when

John the Baptist says behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world Paul declares this to the church at Corinth when he says for Christ our

Passover also has been sacrificed and Peter reminds his readers of this you're not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers but with precious blood as of a lamb unblemished and spotless the blood of Christ this period of the four days between the selection of the

Lamb and the sacrifice of the Lamb as a reminder it points forward to those three and a half years nearly four years that Jesus walked on the earth in his ministry from the time that he was baptized until the time that he dies as the

Passover Lamb that he would minister among the people he would live among them they would know him they would see him they would hear him teach before he was offered up as that Passover Lamb say that Joshua then directs the stones that the twelve representatives gathered they are taken till and set up at Gilgal and we'll consider

Lord willing next week in more detail the significance of this setting up and and what happened there at the city but we see that that these were taken with them and when they encamped and celebrated the

Passover this memorial is there among them we also see here the central idea of of the purpose we come to kind of the crux of what this memorial is supposed to be the stones were to be teaching and reminding stones to Israel I saw this question in our passage last week in verse 7 what do these stones mean what is the purpose see in verse 7 that the cutting off of the water is mentioned well they're set up because the

Lord calls the waters of the Jordan to stop again in verses 22 and 23 we're given an additional piece of information or Joshua makes us a specific includes a specific detail that not only were the waters stopped but that the people were able to cross on dry ground there was a purpose behind the miracle

God didn't just cause the waters to stop just to do it he caused it so that his people would be saved

God knew that the people would need to be reminded they would need to be reminded they would need to remind themselves of God's mighty works now these stones that were set up as a memorial no longer stand the location of these stones are known only to God at this point but God has given us memorials given us memorial stones as the

Bride of Christ we have these as as the ordinances of the church and baptism and in the

Lord's Supper in God's grace and providence we will celebrate the first one this evening as we celebrate the ordinance of baptism and Lord willing we will celebrate the other one next week and the

Lord's Supper I'd like to say that Brian and Reid and I got together and we prepared this and we choreographed it and we made it works just so we would come to this passage today but we're not that good at least

I'm not this is in the Lord's grace and mercy that we come to this passage that speaks of memorial stones that point so clearly forward to the ordinances of baptism in the

Lord's Supper when our children ask us what is the bread and the cup mean why do we do that when when we meet tonight at the

Mills house and and we have praise the Lord six people baptized and our children ask why why are they getting that stock tank and getting baptized like getting you know laying back in the water what's the reason for that these are opportunities to talk with our children about the gospel to explain the purposes of these ordinances to literally fulfill what

God commanded of the people with these memorial stones not only that but this process of reminding is to be continual we think back to the the book of Deuteronomy in chapter 6 when

God tells the people of Israel here Oh Israel the Lord your God the Lord is one you shall love the

Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might these words which

I am commanding you today shall be on your heart you shall teach them diligently to your sons you shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way when you lie down and when you rise up you shall bind them as a sign on your head and it shall be on the frontals of your forehead you shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates the ordinances of the church are a time for us to answer that question what does this mean but the speaking of gospel truth and this teaching of it and reminding of it is something that we are to be doing in our homes continually an opportunity to ask for our children to ask for us to ask one another what do these stones mean and then to answer that with the gospel and finally we see

God's declaration of his glory that this memorial points forward to God's glory to his plan for the nation's we see really the paramount reason for the stones to bring glory to God this is a bigger story than just getting people across the river as important as that was to the nation of Israel it's bigger than just this generation that will cross the

Jordan River and we'll live and we'll die and we'll be buried and eventually we'll be forgotten as individuals even as we considered last week the the deliverance of the nation of Israel would be temporal if you read the rest of the story the rest of the

Old Testament we know what happens the Israelites come into the land they don't take all of the land that God commands them to take and just a few generations the nation will be fractured it will split into the northern kingdom of Israel the southern kingdom of Judah they will both continue in idolatry and they both will be influenced by the the pagan nations around them they will be taken both into exile but there are two abiding and durable and eternal reasons for God's deliverance of the

Israelites here in the setting up of this memorial first there's an evangelistic purpose that we see verse 24 that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the

Lord is mighty the Israelites originally their mandate was to be ministers to be intermediaries to the nations in Exodus chapter 19 we're told that after the sons of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt they came into the wilderness of Sinai Moses went up to Sinai and the

Lord called him from the mountain saying this you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel you yourselves have seen what

I did to the Egyptians how I bore you on eagle's wings how I gathered you to myself now then if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant then you shall be my own possession among the peoples for all the earth is mine and you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation these are the words you shall speak to the sons of Israel so the purpose of Israel was not to live as an isolated cloistered nation it was not to keep

God's law and God's message to themselves they were to be a kingdom of priests they were to minister to the nations they were to take

God's law God's Word to the nations of course sadly we know this is not what happened instead of becoming a light to the

Gentiles Israel quickly became came under the influence of the nations around them again we see this mandate as a sign as a foreshadowing that points forward to the bride of Christ this light to the nations was fulfilled in the

Great Commission it's one that we saw just a short number of weeks ago when Jesus comes to them to the disciples and he says all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth echoing this word from God that all the earth is mine go therefore and make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the

Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and lo

I am with you always even to the end of the age as John opens his letter to the seven churches that are in Asia this letter that we refer to as the

Book of Revelation he states he says

John to the seven churches that are in Asia grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and is to come from the seven spirits who are before the throne and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness the firstborn of the dead the ruler of the kings of earth to him who loves us released us from our sins by his blood and has made us to be a kingdom priests to his

God and Father to him be glory and dominion forever and ever amen later in John in Revelation John will say he will record the words of praise that are given to God at the throne in heaven these elders who are worshiping

God they say worthy are you to take the book and break its seals for you are the lamb who was slain and purchased for your

God with your blood men from every tribe and language and people and nation you have made them to be a kingdom of priests to our

God and they will reign upon the earth we see in the church the fulfillment of this mandate that was given back in the book of Exodus this kingdom of priests points forward to the time when from every tribe from every language every people in every nation

God would make for himself a kingdom of priests second we see the purpose of these stones is so that the people who see these stones the people of God would fear and worship him these stones which memorial memorialized

God's long -suffering his loving kindness this was not just about bringing the people of Israel across the

Jordan River we have to go back and we have to look at the previous 40 years of all the long -suffering of all the merciful the merciful grace that God showed to these people in the midst of idolatry in the midst of grumblings his protection of the

Israelites from their own sin as well as from the nations that were around them the recalling of these acts were intended to induce the people of God to to worship him to give thanks and praise

Thanksgiving to him and as we observe the ordinances of baptism and the

Lord's Supper these are opportunities in the baptism to remind ourselves to remember our own profession of faith remember that time if we were in Christ when when

God convicted us of our sin and we had a need for a Savior we had that genuine realization of our total hopelessness apart from him and our need for Jesus our own time when we publicly identified with the people of God when we celebrate and we observe the

Lord's Supper it's an opportunity for us to remember to glorify God in the body that was broken in the blood that was shed for us that we would remember that it wasn't done for no reason it was done for our sin it was our sin my sin that required that sacrifice and in the spreading of this gospel to the nations of this fear and reverence and worship of God that he will be lifted up that he will be magnified we will be we will make much of God we will glorify him rightly so what do these stones mean to you why did

God save you if you were in Christ what was the purpose of your salvation because it wasn't to give you a good life it wasn't to give you a fun life or a comfortable life ultimately it wasn't even for your own exclusive personal benefit

God saved you if you were in Christ he made you a part of his people a part of the body as Paul talks about the different parts of the body to serve him to be a blessing to others that in this memorial of what

God has done for us as we observe the ordinance of baptism tonight as we celebrate with those who will be baptized as we observe the

Lord's Supper Lord willing this coming Lord's Day we are to rejoice in God's appointed

Savior God exalted Joshua in the sight of the people but this points forward to even an even greater and infinitely greater exaltation of Jesus Joshua was revered and the people were told gladly submitted to his authority are you submitting to the authority of Jesus today am

I submitting gladly to the authority of Jesus today where am

I resisting his word our reverence is not paid to a fallible

Joshua who will die one day but to the better Joshua Jesus who died and rose again and intercedes for us at the right hand of God these memorials call us to recall and also to teach the faithful and merciful acts of God these stones at Gilgal are a reminder that we are we're to build these stone piles in our in our churches and in our homes when our children ask what does baptism mean or what do we what is the

Lord's Supper mean why do we do these things are we ready to give an answer to them are we ready to explain that and talk about it

God has given us the gospel and these ordinances they're not just things that we do because God tells us to do them although that's important enough but these are the gospel proclaimed in what we do

God has shown us the gospel and his acts and mercy that he's shown to us personally as well our own testimonies our own our own accounts of how

God has worked in our hearts and shown us mercy crossing of the

Red Sea and the Jordan are not just cute little stories for children's picture books or or flannel graphs there their signposts pointing to the ultimate provision of deliverance of salvation of inheritance deliverance from the bondage of sin their signposts pointing to the ultimate fulfillment of that Passover lamb in Jesus Christ if God tells us to be intentional in these things to remember them it is because he knows that we are prone to forget so be encouraged this morning that God is faithful that if you have forgotten if you have taken for granted that grace that was shown to you if your heart has grown cooler lukewarm as you think about the mercy and the grace of God be encouraged that God is merciful he knows that we need to remind ourselves of these things this is why fellowship in the body of Christ is so important it is why it's so important for us to to be in God's Word and to teach that in our homes as we read earlier in the psalm he knows our frame he knows that we are but dust but at the same time as far as the

East is from the West so far has he removed our transgressions from us just as a father has compassion on his children so the

Lord has compassion on those who fear him this is a gracious reminder from God that we should be diligent in reminding ourselves of the truths of the gospel we must be diligent and intentionally teaching and living the gospel in our homes must be diligent in spurring one another on to love and to good works these ordinances of the

Lord supper and baptism are the two clear stone stacks that God has given us from generation to generation a memorial at Gilgal finally had two purposes and our two memorials have the same two purposes that the work of God in my life would be a testimony to the earth that we are to live as missionaries our individual lives our home our church should be those memorial stones that point forward to God and give him glory so when the lost ask what does this mean we can point to the gospel these stones should also lead us personally to worship as our observance of the

Lord's Supper lead you to worship as an observance of the baptism when we see believers following the

Lord and obedience does that lead you to worship when you think of the multitude of ways that God has shown mercy and grace upon grace to you does it drive you to worship

I'll just pray that it does and that it will do so in an ever greater measure that the urging of Paul would be the prayer and the reality of our hearts and our lives that by the mercies of God that we would present our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship that we would not be conformed to this world but we would be transformed by the renewing of our minds that we may prove what the will of God is that which is good and acceptable and perfect therefore since we have a kingdom which cannot be shaken let us show gratitude by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and with all for our

God is a consuming fire father we thank you that your word from beginning to end is full of your grace and your mercy your loving kindness that from the sin of Adam and Eve that you literally covered with the skin of an animal the loving kindness and mercy that did not destroy the

Israelites as a people but protected them preserved them and brought them into the land of promise a mercy and a loving kindness that would preserve a faithful remnant who never about bent the need to bail a faithful remnant who would hear your words and proclaim them and record them and keep them until in the fullness of time our

Savior Jesus was born of a virgin born under the law so that we who have been condemned by the law might become the righteousness of God a loving kindness that would not leave us alone after Jesus's death and ascension but would send the