A Day to Remember
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A Day to Remember

 (ID: 3697)

Have you heard the phrase “Out of sight, out of mind?” It can be easy for us to forget about something once we cannot see it. God knows this—and so He instructed Joshua to build a monument to commemorate God’s provision to the Israelites at the Jordan River. This marker would prompt His people to share the story of their redemption with their children. We mustn’t neglect to share God’s faithfulness, goodness, and loving-kindness with the next generation, warns Alistair Begg—or else they will live with the repercussions of our forgetfulness.


Sermon Transcript: Print

I invite you to turn with me to the Old Testament again, to Joshua and chapter 4. If it’s helpful to you, this reading is on page 180. And we’ll read not the whole chapter, but we will start reading from the first verse.

Joshua 4:1:

“When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man, and command them, saying, “Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the [priests] stood firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.”’ Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel, whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe. And Joshua said to them, ‘Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God [in] the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.’

“And the people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, just as the Lord told Joshua. And they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged and laid them down there. And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood; and they[’re] there to this day. For the priests bearing the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to tell the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua.

“The people passed over in haste.”

And then let’s go to verse 19:

“The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they encamped at Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal. And he said to the people of Israel, ‘When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, [and] that you may fear the Lord your God forever.’”

Amen.

Well, a brief prayer:

Father, help us as we turn to the Bible now, that we might, beyond the voice of one mere man, hear your voice and, in hearing, trust you and obey. For we ask it in Christ’s name. Amen.

Well, perhaps you’ll keep your Bibles open there at Joshua chapter 3 and 4. It’s always good to check to make sure that what’s being said is actually in the Bible. And it is very, very clear that the stones here in chapter 4 are right front and center. I noticed it again, even reading it out loud. I wanted to pause and say, “I think the stones are very important, don’t you?” And they are. And the reason will become apparent, I hope, as we go on.

It is an immense privilege for me, I should say, to be invited to be a part of this with you today—first because of fellowship with your pastor. But then, as I rehearsed this with you, these scenes here, many of those people (your previous ministers) were known to me, and others, I knew them by name at least, so that this church… I don’t know that there’s been a time in my Christian life when I was unaware of this church—but, never having been here, always wondered who the Lass of Richmond Hill was. I’ve been looking for her since I got here on Thursday. Apparently, she’s not around at the moment—although maybe Margaret, given how long she’s been here, that might be it.

But it is a wonderful thing. Days like this are very, very important, because we have an opportunity to look back and learn from the past, to be reminding ourselves that we are living in the present—living in the present, learning from the past, but looking to the future.

And poetry and hymnody has chronicled events like this all the time. I was thinking, as I prepared, about 1965 and the Rubber Soul album with the Beatles and the song “In My Life”:

There are places I’ll remember
All my life, though some have changed;
Some forever, not for better,
Some have gone, and some remain.[1]

And they’re really just doing there what others, in a more biblical framework, have remarked on as well.

Now, chapters 3 and 4 actually need to be taken together. That means you’re going to have to do homework. You’re going have to go back, and you’re going to have to read chapter 3 and then read chapter 4 and put the pieces together. Because, as my art teacher used to say, “I’ll get you started, Begg, but I’m not doing it for you.” And so you must have an understanding of that.

In chapter 3, the emphasis, you will discover, is on the stopping-up of the waters. The waters were miraculously stopped. That’s chapter 3. And then, when we come into chapter 4, we discover that the emphasis, as we have said, is on the setting-up of these stones.

I should warn you that when you read this (and perhaps you even picked it up as I was reading), it almost—for those of us who have lived in the world of being able to fast-forward things and rewind things—there’s a lot of fast-forwarding and rewinding going on here in chapter 3 and 4. And sometimes you look at it and say, “But didn’t you just tell me that?” And then it flashes back and fills in some of the details. I mention that just so that when you study, you will have it in mind. But we’re not going to delay on it.

The emphasis is on the most important event, actually, in the whole book of Joshua, and that is that God’s people crossed over the Jordan on dry land. And God provides, as he does in other places and at other times, a visual aid to help us to remember.

But, quite frankly, this is 2022. That was a long time ago, and it was very far away. And we might be forgiven for saying, “Well, goodness gracious, the 150th anniversary! Why would you come here? Why not point us to the future? You take us not only back 150 years but so far back we don’t even know where it was or when it was.” And you may be saying, “Is this actually even relevant? What does it mean? Why does it matter?” Well, of course, that’s my task: to try and explain that it really does mean something, and it really does matter.

My history teacher at Ilkley Grammar School was a fellow by the name of Norman Salmon. He was an interesting man in many ways, and he taught us the history of Britain, mainly the history of England. And he used to say to us with regularity… He always sat up on a radiator—he perched himself up there—and he would say, “Now, listen here, lads. When you get out of this class, if you forget everything I’ve ever taught you, do not forget this: that in 1911, Bradford City won the FA cup.” Now, at that point, I think I was seventeen. I’m now seventy. He did a fantastic job. ’Cause the only thing I remember from his class is that Bradford City won the FA cup in 1911.

But really, the key to it, if you like, in coming to Old Testament narrative and to this passage, is provided for us by Paul when he writes to the church in Rome. And in the course of that in chapter 15, he reminds them, “Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”[2] So we need be in no doubt about the abiding relevance of God’s Word at whatever point in history we find it being addressed.

And in light of that, I have just three points to help you remember. If you remember one of them, then you will be with me out of the history class. If you get two, you’ve moved into the honors course. And if you get three, then I think it’s probably a PhD on this particular day.

What does this mean, and why does it matter?

A Day to Remember

Well, first of all, it is clearly a day to remember. A day to remember.

The crossing over the Jordan River is, as I’ve said, the most important point in the book. This is in order—in chapter 3, it says, “This is how you will know that the living God is among you.”[3] “How will you know that God is among you?” He says, “On account of what has taken place today. The ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing on before you. And as you walk behind this in the presence of Almighty God, then you will realize that God is among you.”[4]

And the passage that I read in part one ended in verse 10 with the very lovely little sentence “The people passed over in haste.” “The people passed over in haste.” As I read that and thought about it, I said, “Oh, of course they did!” And I think we would have done so, too, when we were all lined up, and he said, “Now, what we’re going to do is we’re just going to walk out into the Jordan,” and we nudged our friend and said, “Are you doing it?”

And someone says, “I don’t know.”

He said, “Well, he says that if we follow along, it’s going to part.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, why don’t you go first? I’ll be right behind you. And whatever you do, go through it fast. Just go fast, just in case in doesn’t work the whole way.”

“The people passed over in haste.” It’s wonderful, isn’t it? It’s a great encouragement to me, because I would have been one of those characters going, “Oh, I don’t know. I think I’d better just run for my life.”

And having passed over in haste, we’re told that they “came up” and “out of the Jordan,” and they made their camp. They camped. This is in verse 19. (We’ll spend most of our time at the end, which is really the punchline of the two chapters.) The camp was in a memorable location. There you will see it: They had camped “at Gilgal on the east border of Jericho”—a memorable location on a memorable day. Think Jericho. Think, “Joshua fought the battle of Jericho.” That’s exactly right. That’s where they are. They’re just in the proximity there, and when you read on a wee bit, you’re going to have that amazing story of what happens on that day.

But it is also true that the day itself was supremely significant. You will notice: “The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month.” Now, when you read that in the Bible, you’re forced to say, “Well, that’s a very interesting detail, isn’t it? Why would he actually say what day it was and what month it was?” Well, some bright spark in the group would have said to his friend, “You know, this is a very important day for us as a people, is it not?” And the fellow would have said, “Well, what are you talking about?” And he said, “Well, wasn’t it on this day forty years ago that preparations were being made for the Passover, when our people came out of Egypt?” And the fellow would have said, “Well, I don’t know. We should check.” And then they checked, and in the book of Exodus, they discovered right there, in Exodus chapter 12, that is exactly when it was, and on this particular day,[5] reminding them that as they anticipate what is now about to happen—had happened in some ways prior to this on this very same period of time; that Moses had led the people through the Red Sea, bringing them out of Egypt, and now Joshua, the new leader, was going to bring them into Canaan and, once again, in this dramatic and exceptional fashion.

Now, when we read our Bibles, it’s important that we read them backwards, in the sense that we read the Old in light of all that the New has provided for us. And so, when we read this incident, we begin to put the pieces together. Here is Moses, and he leads the people out and through the Red Sea. Now comes Joshua. And then we say to ourselves, “Doesn’t this point forward to the Lord Jesus Christ himself, who has done exactly that—that he is the Moses, as it were, who has led us out of? That he is the Joshua? Joshua has led us into.”

The Bible is a book about Jesus. If you take your eyes off Jesus, you lose your way round the entire Bible.

And, of course, the hymn writer gets that, doesn’t he? “When I tread…” (It’s interesting: You’re going to spend an evening thinking about dying. What a remarkable night. But anyway…) “When I tread…” (It’s a good idea. I love the idea.)

When I tread the verge of Jordan,
Bid my anxious fears subside;
Death of death and hell’s destruction
Land me safe on Canaan’s side.
Songs of praises, songs of praises…[6]

So here you have this picture: the unfolding story of the Bible. It’s always pointing to Jesus. The Bible is a book about Jesus. If you take your eyes off Jesus, you lose your way round the entire Bible. And so always we’re saying, “How is this pointing me forward?”

Well, it’s seen in the camp, and it’s also seen in the cairn. In the cairn. (Most of you can’t say cairn the way you should. You say “cairn.” And that’s all right.) But a cairn is just a monument of stones. If you’d been up in the north of Scotland or perhaps in the Welsh hillsides, you know that’s exactly the case. And Joshua, we’re told in verse 20—these twelve stones were set up at Gilgal.

But… And here’s an interesting thing for your homework. When you go back to verse 9, he set up another cairn of stones. He set them up in the base of the river. And, of course, the base of the river, then it rolled over again. And so, on any particular day when anybody was out for a picnic and said, you know, “What is that that I can see just kind of sticking out here?” or when the water was to subside, when it was down a little more, and the children would have said, “Who would have put that there? How could he have put that there? How could you build that cairn in the middle of a river?”—and someone said, “Well, that was the day when God stopped the river.” Children would have said, “That’s a miracle!”—said, “Yeah! That’s exactly what it is.”

That’s, you see, the privilege of being a grandfather now, isn’t it? That the children, their tiny minds, we’re able to say to them, you say, you know, “Look at the moon. Who put that up there?” And they say, “I don’t know!” We say, “Well, God put it up there.” “Uh-huh?” We tell them, “Before there was time, before there was anything, there was God.”

“Look at what God has done! [Joshua] put these stones here, building them as a memorial, first there and then here—twelve stones from twelve tribes, a picture of the unity of the people of God, so that they might understand this together. Because God was saving a people for himself.”

Now, that’s the day. Somebody would have said, “Well, it’s been quite a day. Let’s get some sleep.” And just in case you were planning on getting some sleep, let’s go to point two.

A Question to Be Answered

It was a day to be remembered, and it provided a question to be answered. And the question is right there: “When your children ask their fathers in times to come…” “When [they] ask their fathers in times to come…”

Because children are immensely curious. And you’re going to tell them. And you’re not going tell them what might be tempted to be said in the day in which we’re living, where you ask a question like, “What does this mean?” and the reply comes, “It means whatever you want it to mean,” or “It means whatever it means to you.”

Some people are actually trying to do that with the Bible now. They say, “Well, what does it mean?” They say, “Well, whatever you would like it to mean.” Many a home Bible study goes south very, very quickly with some lady called Mrs. Jenkins who likes to operate on that basis. She likes immediately to say, “Let me tell you what this means to me.” We don’t really care, Mrs. Jenkins, what it means to you. We want to know, first of all, what it means. Once we know what it means, then we’ll be prepared to take other comments—so that they’re going to ask, “What does this mean?”

And the answer is straightforward. Why is it so important? It’s so important because we’re forgetful people. And if we forget, then the generation that comes behind us will live with the impact of our forgetfulness. One generation turns its back on God, the next generation learns to live without him, and the subsequent generation has got no knowledge of him at all.

And if you take the circumstances in my own neck of the woods—namely, Scotland—and you read the newspapers at all, you can see how this has been a progression, a downward progression. One generation turns its back on the Bible. They’re no longer asking even what it says, never mind asking what it means, definitely no interest in why it matters. And they begin to drift and go. The children are no longer in Sunday school. They’re now grown up. They’re adults, and they’ve got no concerns at all. And you meet their children in the grocery store, and you realize what a predicament we’re in.

Now, the curiosity of children is a great benefit insofar as when we have a story to tell them. And it’s of interest—and I hope you noticed it—that the first time that this is made mention of, which is up in verse 6: “When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do [these] stones mean to you?’” You say, “Well, wait a minute! You just criticized Mrs. Jenkins for asking the very same question.” Well, let me backtrack and point out that it is an important question: “What does this mean to you, Dad? What does this mean to you?”

Well, there’s some dads here, perhaps that is the question, even this morning. What does this 150th anniversary mean to you? Where do you fit in the framework of things? Do you understand how God has shown himself strong through the years? Has he become your God? Are you able to speak to your children and to your grandchildren in these terms? What does it actually mean to you?

Memory is a tremendous thing, and the loss of memory, as our contemporary culture reveals, is a peculiar challenge, isn’t it? Forgetfulness. Forgetfulness in a marriage may actually be the crumbling framework for its dissolution—not necessarily a big, major blowout, just forgetfulness; just forgetting to say, “I’m sorry”; just forgetting to say, “Forgive me”; just forgetting to say, “I love you.” In our relationship with Jesus, the same thing may be the case—not some major event, but we’ve just begun to forget, forget to say, “I’m sorry, Lord Jesus, for the way in which I have been living or thinking. Please forgive me. I do love you.”

You see, moments like this, markers in time, are wonderfully important. Otherwise, why celebrate in this way the significance of it all? “Tell me the story often, for I forget so soon.”[7] That’s it—so all this wonderful visual aid. These things in the Shema they had already learned from Moses: “These things are to be upon your heart.” Shema, the Hebrew shema, “hear.” That’s Hebrew for “hear”: “Hear O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord God. These things are to be upon your hearts. You shall teach them to your children when you walk along the road, when you lie down, and when you get up.”[8]

If my father had not been led to Christ as a thirteen-year-old boy, he would have been completely unable to lead me to Jesus when I came home from the Sunday school. From one generation to another passing on the wonderful truth, looking back, seeing all those faces, saying, “God was in this, and God was in that, and God is with us today. Help me not to forget. Help me when the questions come—‘What does this actually mean?’—to be able to answer.”

And the answer is given right there. The answer is that “Israel passed over [the] Jordan on dry ground.” And “For what the Lord,” he says, “did to the Red Sea he has now done in the Jordan.”[9] It’s a miracle. It’s a miracle.

You got any rivers you think are uncrossable?
You got any mountains you can’t tunnel through?
God specializes in things thought impossible.
He can do just what no others can do.[10]

Where is there hope in our broken world? Where is there hope in the face of death? There’s only hope in the Lord Jesus. And it is memorialized in anticipation, and it is memorialized in retrospect. “These stones,” he says, “are going to be a sign to the people of Israel. They’re going to be a memorial forever.”

Now, think about it: It wasn’t an everyday occurrence. If it was an everyday occurrence, there would be no reason to make a fuss about it. You know, if they set up these things every second Wednesday, people would say, “Oh, we know about that. Yeah, he does that on Wednesdays regularly.” But no, they hadn’t done that before. It was memorable. You haven’t had a 150th anniversary before, have you? I don’t see how you possibly could have. And you won’t have another 150th anniversary again.

You saw the tin church, the octagonal church. Why was it octagonal? You don’t know, and neither do I. Seemed like a great idea. Thirty-six years paying off a mortgage is a bad idea. So there’s a lot of history right there. Then we got it done in eight years; then we can pat ourselves on the back for that. Good! So here we are. But it’s this morning. It’s whatever day in October. It’s 2022. What does all this mean? Why does it even matter? We mustn’t forget. That’s the point: God’s faithfulness, God’s goodness, God’s lovingkindness in the past.

Where is there hope in our broken world? Where is there hope in the face of death? There’s only hope in the Lord Jesus.

And that’s exactly what happens, isn’t it, when we gather around the Lord’s Table? I could remember, again—this is not a feature of my father or my mother, for that matter—but I would sit there, and I don’t know what age I was. I couldn’t have long trousers until I was twelve, so I must have been at least twelve. I mean, if you can imagine what a dreadful childhood I had… I mean, in the freezing winters of Scotland, if I went sledging, I had to wear shorts, because I was not a man yet, and I longed to be a man for only one reason: to get long trousers! When I passed my eleven plus, I still didn’t have long trousers. When I became twelve, I got trousers. So it was memorable. You say, “Well, thank you for sharing that with us. It didn’t really mean much to us at all.”

How did I get there? Well, I get there by the same thing: that I would sit at Communion and say, “Why are you doing that?” I pulled my father and said, “What are you doing this for? What is this? Why do you do this?” That’s what’s happening here: “In the generation to come, when the people tug your coat and say to you, ‘What does this mean?’ you’re going to tell them, ‘This was a miracle, and this is a memorial.’”

A word to those of us who were born earlier. I mentioned this yesterday when we had a lovely time with some local ministers. And Psalm 71:17–18 are increasingly my camping point. It reads as follows: “O God, from my youth you have taught me.” There’s boys up there on the back row—I can see them. I’ve been watching them. Yeah. And so glad they’re there, and others too. ’Cause I used to be like there. And I survived. When I was there, I never thought I’d be here—so you be very, very careful up there.

“O God, from my youth you have taught me.” True. “And I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.” True.

So even to old age and gray hairs,
 O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
 your power to all [who are] to come.

That’s your part. That’s your part. “Yesterday’s dead and gone. Tomorrow’s out of sight.”[11] Today’s the day.

A Purpose to Fulfill

a day to remember, question to answer, and finally, a purpose to fulfill. And I’ll just say a couple of things about this. You will notice: “For the Lord your God has done this. He passed over before you. He dried it up.” Verse 24: “so that…” “so that…”

So you read the text. You say, “What?” and then you say, “So what?” and then you say, “Now what?” Okay. “What?” This is what happened. “So what?” “So that”—and let’s take it in reverse order—“so that … you,” the people of God, “may fear the Lord … forever.” There’s nothing of slavish dread in that statement. To fear God is to love God. To fear God is to trust God, is to obey God, is to take God seriously, to acknowledge that he is God and that he deserves all that we offer to him.

The psalmist gets it perfectly, doesn’t he? Psalm 130:

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
 … [which of us] could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
 that you may be feared.[12]

“That you may be feared”—in other words, that the people of God have a sense of God; that people who do not know God don’t have any sense of God. That’s why on the tube all the time, you see people taking the Lord’s name in vain all kinds of ways: “Oh God,” “Jesus,” everything, just all the way into Waterloo and all the way out. And I say, “But this is not the way we speak of God. He made you. You couldn’t even be on this train were it not for his creative power. He loves you. He sent Jesus for you.” I didn’t get up and preach, you should understand. But that’s all the emotions going through my mind. “Worship the Lord,” church,

        in the beauty of holiness!
Bow down before him; his glories proclaim.
With gold of obedience and incense of lowliness,
Come, let’s adore him; the Lord is his name.[13]

He says that’s why he did this: so that the people of God would worship him.

And finally: “so that,” as a result of the people of God taking God seriously, notice, “all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty.” In other words, this takes us right out of the door, doesn’t it, up the high street? Because we get in here; this is a happy time, like when you have a birthday for your granny or whatever it is, and all there, good ol’ Granny, and this is wonderful. It’s got nothing to do with anybody else, really, at all—maybe your grandpa, if he’s still around, but nothing beyond that. But when you have an event like this, it’s actually not really ultimately about us coming in here and saying, “What a wonderful past we have, and what a wonderful pastor we have,” and so on. No! It’s about all the peoples on the high street—the most cosmopolitan city in the entire universe, probably, London—so that all the peoples, all the peoples of the earth might know that the Lord our God is mighty.

Two comments. One: quite fascinating to me that none of the individual names are mentioned in here. It doesn’t say anybody’s name. I mean, we know we’ve got a Joshua, and a couple of others show up later on, but by and large, none of the people that were involved in doing this. I watched the Zoom thing when you did it, when we were COVIDized, and the lecture by your genius man from the historic society. And also, I think it was you, John, that pointed out that George Eliot lived and wrote in this area here. And I can’t remember which… I think it was… I can’t remember which book you mentioned, but it triggered a thought for me. Because in Middlemarch, there’s a wonderful quote from Eliot. And I can’t quote it exactly. But she’s talking about characters in the novel, the unfolding story, and she says, “You know, life would not have been as good for you were it not for X.” And then she says… (George Eliot was a lady, incidentally. I haven’t lost my mind.) George Eliot then says, “And so it is that the greater good of the world unfolds on account of those who have lived faithfully and now lie in unmarked graves and in unvisited tombs.”[14] None of us will even be a footnote in history. No! But what we’re doing this weekend and what we are able to rehearse of all the weekends that have led to this weekend are actually about the purpose of God for the entire world.

Talking to one of those no-names… And with this I will definitely finish. I used to visit always in Scotland. When I was the assistant to Derek Prime, he used to send me on visits. I never was as fit in all my life as running up and down those tenement buildings in Edinburgh, three stories up and three stories back—got all my steps in before I knew there was anything you had about steps. And I used to visit ladies. Mrs. Nicholson, who had worked for the post office, she would actually spy on me out of her window. She had a bay window. And I often… I didn’t have a pass. Your pastor has a special pass. He can park anywhere, apparently. I don’t think that’s fair, but it’s the way it is. And I had no such pass. Sometimes, under pressure, I would just park it wherever I fancied. And I’d go three stories up, and she’d open the door, and she said, “Pastor, you parked in the wrong place. Go back downstairs and repark it.” I was afraid of the lady, so I went back down the stairs. It took ages for me to come back.

But anyway, people like that, and then one lady who had had a stroke—many had had strokes, but the one in particular. And she would ask me to sing with her, because when her speech had now become limited, she could remember songs but not much else. And her favorite song had these lines:

We are building day by day,
As the moments pass away,
A temple that this world cannot see;
And every victory won by grace
Will be sure to find a place
In that building for eternity.[15]

What does this building mean? It means that we’re pointing to that building. That’s why we’re thankful for those who have served us in the past. That’s why we’re grateful for the privilege of being alive in the present. And that’s why we want to renew our commitment to see unbelieving people becoming the committed followers of Jesus Christ.

A brief prayer:

Lord, grant that the words of my mouth, the meditation of our hearts may be found acceptable in your sight. Lord, you are our strength and our redeemer.[16] In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.


[1] John Lennon and Paul McCartney, “In My Life” (1965).

[2] Romans 15:4 (ESV).

[3] Joshua 3:10 (NIV).

[4] Joshua 3:11–13 (paraphrased).

[5] See Exodus 12:2–3.

[6] William Williams, trans. Peter Williams, “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah” (1745, 1771).

[7] Arabella Katherine Hankey, “Tell Me the Old, Old Story” (1866).

[8] Deuteronomy 6:4–7 (paraphrased).

[9] Joshua 4:23 (paraphrased).

[10] Oscar Carl Eliason, “Got Any Rivers?” (1945). Lyrics lightly altered.

[11] Kris Kristofferson, “Help Me Make It Through the Night” (1970). Lyrics lightly altered.

[12] Psalm 130:3–4 (ESV).

[13] John Samuel Bewley Monsell, “O Worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness” (1863). Lyrics lightly altered.

[14] George Eliot, Middlemarch (1871–72), finale. Paraphrased.

[15] Fanny Jane Crosby, “Building Day by Day” (1890). Lyrics lightly altered.

[16] See Psalm 19:14.

Copyright © 2025, Alistair Begg. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations for sermons preached on or after November 6, 2011 are taken from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

For sermons preached before November 6, 2011, unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® (NIV®), copyright © 1973 1978 1984 by Biblica, Inc.TM Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Alistair Begg
Alistair Begg is Senior Pastor at Parkside Church in Cleveland, Ohio, and the Bible teacher on Truth For Life, which is heard on the radio and online around the world.