Beeson Podcast, Episode #608 Dr. Robert Smith Jr. June 28, 2022 >>Announcer: Welcome to the Beeson podcast, coming to you from Beeson Divinity School on the campus of Samford University. Now your hosts, Doug Sweeney and Kristen Padilla. >>Kristen Padilla: Welcome to the Beeson Podcast. I’m your host, Kristen Padilla. Today, you’re going to receive a real blessing by today’s preacher and sermon. But before I tell you about what you’re about to hear allow me to invite you to our October 24-25 conference on the Beauty of God: Preaching, Worship, and the Arts. This is a collaborative event between our school and the school of arts at Samford. As we seek to help ministers of the gospel and lay people think about how God’s beauty affects our preaching, worship, and the arts. So, if you’re looking for a time of fellowship, encouragement, learning, and networking, we hope you will join us this fall. Learn more about this conference and buy tickets at www.BeesonDivinity.com/events. Also, our spring 2023 term applications are now open. So, if you or someone you know has been thinking about theological education or even on the fence about starting seminary, reach out to my wonderful colleagues in the office of Admission, Kyle and Emily. They’ll be glad to tell you all about Beeson, the advantages to starting your degree in the spring, and they’ll walk with you through the process so that you don’t have to walk it alone. God is doing some amazing things at Beeson. And we hope you’ll look our way. Learn more at www.BeesonDivinity.com/admission. Today’s sermon you’re about to hear was preached by our beloved professor, Dr. Robert Smith Jr., last fall. His sermon is entitled, “Have You Been to Gilgal?” It comes from Joshua 4 and 5. If you’ve ever heard Dr. Smith preach before, and I’m sure many of you have, then you will know that his sermons are biblical, theological, and doxological. He worships while he preaches and he preaches while he worships. And he really invites you in to the preaching and worshipping moment. This sermon was part of our fall series called, “Tokens of the Providence of God in Times of Trouble: Where Is God In Times of Trouble?” Dr. Smith’s sermon may just be what you need to hear today. Dr. Smith is the Charles T. Carter Baptist Chair of Divinity and Professor of Divinity, Christian Preaching. He has written two books on preaching and has traveled all over the world, preaching the good news of Jesus Christ. But perhaps most special to me is that he calls me “daughter” and I call him “father.” And I’m just one of his many children in the Lord whom he has taught and mentored here at Beeson. So, let’s go now to Hodges Chapel and listen to Dr. Smith preach a sermon called, “Have You Been To Gilgal?” >>Dr. Smith: Just as the approach of shame was rolled away at Gilgal, so the reproach of sin is rolled away at Golgotha through the death of Christ, raised by the Spirit of God, that we may worship him anew in glory. Just as the reproach of shame was rolled away at Gilgal, so the reproach of sin is rolled away at Golgotha through the death of Christ, raised by the Spirit of God that we may worship him anew in glory. The children of Israel were to remember God and his law, the God of the law and the law of God. God knew that they were subject to amnesia. So, God said to them in Deuteronomy 6:6-7 that when your children lie down at night and when they get up talk to them about my law and talk with them about me. When they sit at home or when they walk along the path, talk to them about the God of the law and talk to them about the law of God. And when you are sitting, think about it. Write my law in phylacteries and put it on your wrists and on the foreheads of your bodies. And write my word on the gates and the doorposts of your residence. Because I don’t want you to forget my word. The Book of Joshua is sandwiched between the Book of Deuteronomy and the Book of Judges. In Deuteronomy they are to remember not to forget the law of God and the God of the law. In the Book of Judges, they are to recall it so that they put it in action and live it out. But in Judges they forget to remember. The bible says in Judges 2:10-11 that another generation arose that did not know the Lord, nor what he had done for his people. That they did evil in the eyes of the Lord. And that they served Bales. They forgot to remember. But in the Book of Joshua, 24:31, the text says that the people of Israel served the Lord during the lifetime of Joshua. And during the lifetime of those elders who survived Joshua. They remembered to remember. And God calls us today to remember his law and to remember him, because there is within us this inherent proclivity, propensity, and tendency to forget God. No wonder James Weldon Johnson lifts up the lyrics of the word of, “Lift Every Voice And Sing,” when he says, “God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou who has brought us thus far along the way, thou who has by thy might led us into the light, keep us forever in the path, we pray. Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee. Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee. Sheltered beneath thy hand may we forever stand true to our God, true to our native land.” Because we have this propensity, this proclivity, this tendency to forget the God of the law and the law of God. “King of my life, I crown thee now, thine shall the glory be. Lest I forget thy thorn scarred brow. Lead me to Calvary. Lest I forget Gethsemane. Lest I forget thine agony. Lest I forget thy love for me. Lead me to Calvary.” And God constantly reminds us sometimes by symbols to remember the law of God and to remember the God of the law. It had been a long time coming, they had finally come to the edge of Canaan on the wilderness side, ready to cross over. It wasn’t so they could sing the song, “On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand and cast a wishful eye. To Canaan’s fair and happy land where my possessions lie. I’m bound for the promised land. I’m bound for the promised land. Oh, who will come and go with me? I’m bound for the promised land.” Been a long time coming. They waited through 40 years of slavery in Egypt. Serving under Pharaoh who didn’t know Joseph’s children. Called to make brick without straw. Their backs looked like fresh plowed new ground from the whips of the slats, the slave task masters. It had been 40 years. Watching their boys thrown into the rivers of Egypt in an effort to wipe out the Hebrew male population, which of course would exterminate the Hebrew population altogether. 400 years. They’d waited 40 years in the wilderness. In the longest funeral procession in history those of military age, 19 and older, dropped dead every day as they continued to march around the wilderness because they balked and hesitated at [inaudible 00:09:49] when God said, “Step.” They stopped. And then when God said, “Stop.” They stepped. And they were discomfited and slaughtered by the giants in that particular land. And they continued moving but making no progress. They waited. They waited 30 days to mourn for Moses. They waited and finally God will say to them, “The days of mourning are over. Moses, my servant, is dead. Now, Joshua, you take and lead these people over the Jordan River to a land that I’m about to give to them. In fact, I’ve already given it to them. I’ve even provided the boundaries, 500 years ago.” In Genesis 15:18 to Abraham, “This is the land. It’s yours. As long as you take and possess your possession. And wherever your feet are placed that will be your land.” Moses died. The worker died. God buries his workers, but not his work. No wonder Shakespeare reminds us all of life is a stage and we’re just actors. We must remind ourselves that we’re not indispensable. We are expendable. We come here to do our work and when our work is over God has a replacement system. Someone to step in our place and we must do it well. The Lord says to Joshua 1:5, “As I was with Moses, so will I be with you.” I was with Moses at the Red Sea and I opened up the Red Sea and caused the walls to stand up at attention as retaining walls. I dried up the bottom and the people walked through as if it was a super highway and they didn’t have mud between their toes, they had dust around their ankles. I’m going to be with you at the Jordan River. And I’ll do the same thing. I will cause the walls to stand up and hold back the waters of the Jordan from flowing that would come down south from up north and you will lead the people over to the promised land. Because God says, “As I was with Moses, I will be with you.” So, the people understand that you are my chosen one. I was with Moses at the burning bush. And I put an amplification system in the burning bush and I spoke to Moses and said, “Moses, don’t come any further. Take off the shoes from your feet. The ground you’re standing on his holy ground. And I’m going to be with you outside of the fortress city of Jericho,” in 5:13-15. And Moses and Joshua will stand there and hear the voice of the captain of the Lord’s host, which may be a Christophany, perhaps even a theophany. “Take off the shoes from your feet. The ground you’re standing on is holy ground. As I was with Moses, I am going to be with you.” I think he had a great report from the two spies who had participated in espionage campaign. They went to Jericho. Joshua was wise. He didn’t send 12 spies, like Moses did. But he sent two because he understands that the worst thing that can happen is you put too many people on a committee and when you do that then you lessen your success and your effectiveness. He just sends two. And they come back and they say, “The people’s hearts are melting and running like water. We are going to take the city, because God has said we would and the people know because of what you did with [OG and SAMON 00:13:26] the Amorite Kings. It will be so. And now they come to the edge of the wilderness. It’s been a long time coming. But they’re there. And God says to the priests, “Take the ark of the covenant and take it down to the water’s edge of the Jordan River.” Hold it there because the ark of the covenant represents the presence of God in the midst of his people. And in that ark are three items of historical significance. There is the pile of manna, which represents the provision of God because God from heaven’s kitchen baked bread for 40 straight years in order for them to have something to eat. But then there’s Aaron’s rod that budded without the benefit of photosynthesis, without the sun, without rain, or without soil, without cultivation and fertilization. Just instantaneously blossomed and bloomed and produced almonds, which represented the power of God. But then there were the two tablets of stone on which were written God’s word, which represented the Word of God. And it’s lined with gold. And on the outside of the acacia wood is gold. The lid is gold, representing the mercy seat. Take that and stand at the river’s edge. And the bible says that that was to be 3,000 cubits between the first Israelite to follow the ark and the ark. 3,000 cubits. A cubit being 18 inches. That is a tenth of a mile. It’s the same distance from here to the soccer field across the street of Samford University. Why that kind of distance? Number one, God is holy. There must be separation between humanity and divinity. Between deity and dust. Separation. Also because they needed to be able to see where the ark, which represented the presence of God in the midst of his people, was going. They must not be distracted. And sidetracked by anything peripheral. They must keep their eyes on the ark of the covenant. And when the priest’s soles of their feet touched the river’s edge, God dammed up and held up the water up north. And the children of Israel began their march across. Of course, the priests are standing in the middle of the Jordan. They’re acting like school crossing guards for children to pass by. And as long as they’re holding the ark and standing there the waters stand up and they don’t congeal to come down and drown the people. This, for some of them, was déjà vu. 40 years prior they had been there, because they crossed the Red Sea. And now here it was again. Now it’s the Jordan River. But for all of them it had to be a moment in which they understood God did it. This couldn’t happen except God did it. No explanation, except God did it. God is not logical. God is supra logical. He is beyond logic. And there must be some things in my life and in your life that can only be explained and attributed to God. Nothing scientific, nothing educational, no luck. All you can do is say what the Psalmist said in Psalm 124, “Had it not been for the Lord on my side ...” that’s all you can say. Your GPA can’t explain it. Your heritage can’t explain it. The only reason I’m here today is because of what God did. Have you any rivers that you think are un-crossable? Do you have any mountains that you can’t tunnel through? God specializes in things that seem to be impossible. And he will do what no other power can do. And God wanted the people of Israel to know that he was confirming and ratifying and certifying Joshua as his chosen leader. Because he says in 3:7, “Tomorrow I’m going to exult you in the eyes of all the people so that you will not have to vindicate yourself. I’ll do it.” And in 4:14 he actually executed what he said he was going to do. And the people understood. No one voted Joshua in. No one elected him. God chose him. Brothers and sisters, if you have a call of certitude, you know God has called you and placed you, you can be comfortable that God will vindicate you. You will not have to prove yourself. You will not have to grandstand and talk about your greatness. If God has called you, he will vindicate you. And he’ll keep you there until his work is done, no matter what is against you. And now they are crossing over. And when the last Israelite gets to the other side, the Canaan side, Joshua has 12 men who have been selected, one out of each tribe, to come to the area where the priests stood holding the ark of the covenant of God to pick up a boulder and put it on their shoulder and carry it to the other side and form a monument of remembrance. When that’s done the priests come. And when they get to the other side and get out of the river, God releases the water from up north and it comes down and flows again, and it flows and floods the bank because this is harvest time when the flooded waters of Jordan overflowed the land of Canaan. And the place where this took place is called Gilgal. Have you ever been to Gilgal? For just as the reproach of shame was rolled away at Gilgal so the reproach of sin was rolled away at Golgotha through the death of Christ, raised by the spirit of God that we may worship him anew. Gilgal is a place of preparation. When you read Joshua 12:24 you discover that there were 31 kings that Joshua defeated. The only loss of course was [inaudible 00:20:43] because of sin. 31 kings. Every military battle was planned at Gilgal. They’d go out, execute their plan, come back, and plan again. Gilgal was the New Testament Capernaum for Jesus. It was the headquarters. It was the place of preparation for them. I like to think that Beeson Divinity School is a Gilgal. You are here for three, four, five, six ... it doesn’t make any difference how long you’re here ... and it’s time for your preparation. Your goal is not getting out of Beeson. Your goal is what you get out of Beeson. What are you going to get out of it? In a way, the success of your ministry might just lie in what you do at Beeson. Will you look back and regret that you never put in the dedicated time for studying biblical languages? History and doctrine? Oh yeah, a discipline called “preaching?” Because this is the platform. This is the launching pad for you. This is where God is preparing you for what God is preparing you for. It’s not a place just to get a diploma. No. It’s a place for God to put in you the equipment that you need so that you can edify others when you go to minister unto them. It’s a place of preparation. Jesus left earth to go to heaven in order to prepare a place for us. But initially he left heaven to come to earth to prepare us for the place. And he sent his spirit who lives in us, who continues to sanctify us so that people can see us as a Kodak moment of the future state of eternity. You can look at us and see heaven in us. The way our lives are lived they can give just a sample of what heaven will be like. Because we are living in a heavenly way even when we are on earth by the power of the Spirit. It’s a place of preparation. Have you been to Gilgal? Because Gilgal is a place of remembrance. A place of remembrance. The bible says in 4:23-24, when your children ask you in the future, it’s almost as if a son is walking with his father, and you know how inquisitive and curious children are. Like Isaac, going up Mt Mariah with Abraham. “Daddy, I see the fire. The instruments, elements for making the fire. I see the wood. But where is the lamb for the sacrifice?” And he is a little boy going through the Gilgal National Park and he sees this strange monument of stones. They’re not chiseled because God forbade that. There’s no mortar there. They’re just held together. And some of them are larger than the others. Like some of the tribes. Judah and Ephraim are larger that Issachar and Asher. But it makes no difference because we’re talking about unity. And when it comes to the church, because that anticipates the church, it makes no difference what your gift is. You’re not better or lesser, depending upon your gift. The foot can’t say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” No, whatever you have, put it in the monument to build up the church, to glorify God. You may not be able to sing like angels, and you may not be able to preach like Paul, but you can tell the love of Jesus – that he died to save us all. So, don’t take and despise and look down upon smaller things that don’t get the kind of notoriety that other gifts have. Take what God has given you to bless the people that God has given you, to bless. And here is an instance which they remember what God has said. These stones have a story in the words of Dr. Tyshawn Gardner. And the stones tell the story. Verse 23-24. “When your children will ask you in the future times, ‘What do these stones mean?’ You are to tell them that God dried up the Jordan River and we crossed over on dry ground. In order that they might see that the hand of God is mighty. And that all of you will fear the Lord.” That’s what these stones meant. Everyone I think ought to have a memorial. I remember, I’ve got some very beautiful diplomas and plaques and jewelry my wife has given me – all of them very valuable things. Not monetarily speaking. But in terms of significance. These mean so much to me. It’s a hospital hand band, 1996, January, Christ Hospital, cancer. God brought me through. It’s a memorial. I just keep it. It’s not worth much monetarily. Here’s another one. 2005, is another one. Cancer, Christ Hospital. Here’s another one. 2010, hospital, cancer. Three times. Because I keep these to remind myself, “Son, you don’t have time to waste. God’s been good to you. God has spared you. God has done what no one could do. Had it not been for God ... You’re not here just to do time in the pulpit. You’re here to give glory to him and to carry out the ministries given to you. Not with mediocrity, but with excellence. Because you want to please your father.” I wonder, do you have any memorials? Things that keep bringing you back to the center where God has called you when you get sidetracked by other attractions that seem to loom large and God brings you back to a place where you remember your call and what God has called you to do? It’s a place of remembrance. That’s why Jesus uses this word [inaudible 00:28:16] in Luke 22:19, “Do this in remembrance of me.” That’s why Paul says in 2 Timothy 2, “Remember Jesus Christ,” because we have the proclivity, propensity, and the tendency to forget the Lord. It is a place of remembrance. Have you ever been to Gilgal? Because Gilgal is a place of removal. A place of removal. At Gilgal, the name is associated with this truth – the reproach of shame has been rolled away. That’s what it means. The reproach of shame has been rolled away. Shame that which we perceive of as being guilt that which we have done. Don’t mix up the two. We need guilt in terms of being conscious that we have sinned, so that we turn to God for grace. But shame, the shame of Egypt has been rolled away. The shame of backlashes. The shame of genocidal attempts. The shame of embarrassment, in terms of the treatment of the people. The shame of trying to make brick without stone. The shame of living 400 years in a place where you were considered in some instances less than a human being. It’s been rolled away. The shame has been rolled away. What the Lord does for us is to roll the shame away. That’s why we sung this song, “At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light. And the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight and now I am happy all the day.” Rahab could tell you, “My guilt has been forgiven and my shame has been rolled away. I was the prostitute. I was the Madame of the best little house in Jericho. That’s what I was. And I was a pagan, but God did something for me.” Because in Hebrews 11:31 she’s not in the hall of infamy, but she’s in the hall of faith. And the text says that Rahab welcomed the spies and did not perish for disobedience. Justified by faith. But in James 2:25 it says Rahab is justified by works. Because she gave lodging to the spies and sent them another way. Justified by works. Because justification by faith perceives justification by works. Justification by works is working from salvation. And God justifies us and declares us now what we will altogether be when we are in glory. Because God sees the end for the beginning. And because he knows the end from the beginning. He can declare us as he sees us in glory, though we’re still living on earth and being sanctified and progressively becoming more and more like his son now. We are declared to be what he has made us. Therefore, when Corrie Ten Boom looks at Psalm 103:10-12, God takes and forgives our sins and casts them as far as the east is from the west. Because the east and west never meet. There is a north and south pole, but the east and west never meet. In other words, they are forgotten. And she says, to paraphrase that, God takes and puts a “no fishing allowed” sign on the banks so that no one is allowed to purchase a license to fish up your sin. In fact, you can’t even fish up your own sin. They’re gone. Therefore there’s now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Stop, saint of God, walking in condemnation. You have a new identity. You are his children. You can never have that nullified. That relationship can never be aggregated. That relationship must and will always be intact. From now even until eternity. It is a place of removal. That’s what Jesus does. Installment payments were made for sin. All the way through the Old Testament, every sacrifice that was made for sin, was an installment payment that could never be paid off, ever. But in Mark 15:38 Jesus died and when he died the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom. Do you know what God was doing? God was tearing up the mortgage note. “Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. My sin, oh the bliss of that glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the whole. Is nailed to the cross. I bear it no more.” Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, oh, my soul. He has removed them and they’re gone. And my identity has changed. Have you been to Gilgal? Because Gilgal is a place of rest. A place of rest. These people were tired. They’d been walking around in the wilderness for 40 years. They’d been mourning the death of Moses for 30 days. A million plus people have crossed the Jordan River. Old women, pregnant women, middle aged men, all of them crossing over – tired. And then in chapter five the men are circumcised since no one was circumcised during the 40 year wilderness journey. The bible says they stayed in their homes, verse nine of chapter five, until they were healed. They’re tired. Some of you are really tired. You’re tired of infertility. You’re tired of going to Mother’s Days and seeing mothers holding babies. You’re tired of being turned down by the adoption agencies. You’re tired. You’re tired of being unemployed or employed in the wrong job. And those who are unemployed and they have an MDIV, their wives say, “You got your MDIV, now what about a J-O-B?” You’re tired. You’ve got an MDIV and you work in delivering pizzas. You’re tired. Tired. You’re tired of making the hospital your second home. The doctor’s office your second home. You’re tired. Like Fanny Lou Hamer of Mississippi would say, “Being sick of tired of being sick and tired.” The report is always bad. There’s some more surgery that is needed. I’m tired. I cannot be well and live a normal life and enjoy what everyone else is enjoying. I’m tired. You’re tired of relationships that have soured. Marriages, friendships, the dissonance between you and your mother, you and your father, sisters and brothers haven’t spoken since daddy died. You’re tired. Some are so tired that they just wish that at night they wouldn’t wake up in the morning. Just tired. Gilgal is a place of rest. And Jesus epitomizes and personifies that. Do you hear him saying in his word in Matthew 11:28 and following, “Come unto me, if you labor and are heavy laden. I will give you rest.” Because the Old Testament Joshua, according to Hebrews 4:8-9, did not give the people of God rest. If he had then God would not have spoken of another day where the people of God will have their Sabbath. He gives rest. That’s why Augustine could say in his Confessions, he could say, “Thou has made us for thyself and our souls are restless until they find rest in thee.” Because God has made a god-sized hole in us and nothing will fill that hole except God. He gives us rest. Jesus is the fulfillment of the ark. Because just as the reproach of shame was rolled away at Gilgal, so the reproach of sin was rolled away at Golgotha through the death of Christ, raised by the Spirit of God that we may worship him anew in heaven. And there’s that ark. And Jesus fulfils it. Because in that ark there is manna, bread, provision, and Jesus is the Bread of Life. And in that ark there is Aaron’s rod that budded that represents the power of God. And Jesus is the power of God. And in that ark there are two tablets of stone which represents the law of God, and Jesus is the Word of God. The Living Word. And what does he do? The bible says in John 1:14, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” He dwelt among us. That is the word for Tabernacle. The word for ark. In the words of Eugene Peterson, “He moved into the neighborhood.” He tabernacled on earth. But I hear John saying, in my closing remarks, in Revelation 21:2, “And I heard a voice saying the tabernacle of God is with people and they shall be his people and he shall be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” Even in eternity he will be our ark. He will be our tabernacle. He will dwell in the midst of his people. I have a home prepared where the saints abide, just over the glory land. And I long to be by my Savior’s side just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land. I’ll join the happy angels band, just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land. There with the might host I’ll stand, just over in the glory land. Have you been to Gilgal? >>Kristen Padilla: You’ve been listening to the Beeson podcast. Our theme music is written and performed by Advent Birmingham of the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama. Our engineer is Rob Willis. Our announcer is Mike Pasquarello. Our co-hosts are Doug Sweeney and, myself, Kristen Padilla. Please subscribe to the Beeson podcast at www.BeesonDivinity.com/podcast or on iTunes.