December 5, 1999
Joshua 24:24-28

Jesus Is Our Rock

Introduction: Earlier in this chapter, Joshua challenged the Israelites to serve Jehovah, and to abandon all the false gods of the Canaanites and the Egyptians. "As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD," he said. The Israelites vowed to serve the LORD, and here we see Joshua setting up a stone as a monument, a memorial to the promise of the people. Whenever they saw the monument, they would be reminded of their vow. We have great monuments we have set up in Washington, DC. The Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Washington Monument, and so on. The purpose: to keep fresh in memory the great events of the nation's history. That's what Joshua was doing.

We have two great monuments or memorials in the Church today: baptism and the Lord's Supper. Baptism reminds of that we are in the Abrahamic Covenant, that we are saved by grace through faith, and not works. The Lord's Supper is a memorial of the atoning death of Jesus on the cross. The Israelites had a literal rock, we have memorials that point us to Jesus. Jesus is often pictured as a rock in the Bible.

I. Jesus is the Rock that gives life.

A. In Israel, thousands of years ago, large rocks, small rocky mountains, were seen to be fortresses and places of safety and refuge. When Saul was chasing David to take his life, he escaped into the rocky wilderness. David often wrote Psalms comparing God to a rock. For example, Psalm 18:1-3.
B. In I Corinthians 10:1-4 Paul refers to the rock that gushed forth water, and said that the rock was Jesus (Exodus 17:1-7). In Him we find the water of life. There is no other source of spiritual life except Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God. "I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father, but by me," John 14:6.

II. Jesus is the Rock on which the Church is built.

A. Peter explains it in I Peter 2:4-6.
B. Jesus admonished people to build their houses on the Rock (Matthew 7:24-27).
C. Not only the Church is built on Christ, but our individual lives should be built on Christ. Is Jesus and his teachings the foundation of your life? Have you made a decision to be His disciple?

III. Jesus is the Rock that offends many people.

A. Paul said so in I Corinthians 1:22-24. The Jews could not bear the thought that they were so sinful the Savior had to be crucified for them. The Greeks thought the whole gospel story was silly, because they didn't believe in God or sin or the possiblity of really knowing concrete truth.
B. People today have the same reactions. The self-righteous ones believe they can save themselves by good works, and they don't need the Savior to die for them.
The intellectuals believe that there is no ultimate truth, and every faith is as good as any other faith, and let's all just get along.
C. Those who preach the Gospel may be persecuted for it (John 16:1-4). The early believers were tossed out of the synagogues, and we too may be tossed out of the circle of acceptance of our society. Try preaching the Gospel on the Oprah Winfrey show, and see how quickly the audience will boo you into silence! You will be mocked as a fruit-cake fundamentalist fanatic.

Conclusion: Joshua built a memorial. He set up a stone so that the Israelites would remember to keep their vow to be faithful to the Lord. We must be faithful to the Lord in our generation. Jesus is our Rock! You may be scorned for staying faithful to Him, but remember: He is the only source of the water of life, and He is the only foundation strong enough upon which to build a life. May God make us all faithful! Amen.