Open—R. Hale, N Whatmough, L Mayhew
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Ecclesiastes, chapter 4.
And the first verse.
It says so I returned and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun, and behold the tears of such as were oppressed.
And they had no comforter. And on the side of their oppressors there was power, but they had no comforter.
Well, it's all my heart this afternoon to speak about that little word comfort or comforter for just a few minutes. And I was just thinking of this verse and these con, these verses here in Ecclesiastes are con concerning the things under the sun. And so we find here those under the sun, and they were greatly oppressed and they had no comforter. Brethren, I'm sure we're all aware here this afternoon.
That these are times of great oppression in this world. This whole creation groans in travail, and the Bible says that we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. So we're not set apart for this from this growing creation. We ourselves grown brethren, but we don't groan as the rest of the world. How sad it is that this world does not know the comforter that you and I know.
It says here.
About the tiers of them that are oppressed. But you know God in His word, it says in the Psalms, it says, thou tell us my wanderings, put down my tears into thy bottle. Are they not all in thy book? And the Lord knows our tears, brethren, every single one of them, and He's able to comfort us. You know, this world doesn't have a comforter. It's sad, isn't it? But we do, brethren. And that comforter is the very same One who created this world. He created this universe.
And he's also the very same one who went to Calvary's cross and had those nails put through his hands and that crown of thorns on his head, and he went there for us. He's the very same one who's able to comfort us in all of our sorrows, brethren. So this world, sadly to say it doesn't have that comforter, but you and I do. And we can bring comfort to this world. You know, that's what Christianity is. Christianity brings with it something it doesn't take it brings.
But what's on my heart this afternoon?
Is for us as brethren, you know, in First Corinthians 14th chapter, we read that all things that are said, it should be done with a view to edification, to exhortation, and also to comfort. And that little word is so very important in these days. It's interesting the order in which those things are put. First of all, it's edification that is building up. Building up.
And that's what we need, brethren. We certainly need edification.
You know, we had a little bit about that this morning in the meetings. We enjoyed those meet, that meeting this morning where we had edification, instruction in the in the things of God, teaching from the Holy Spirit. And we certainly need it because brethren, I believe that it's a day where we could say, like the Apostle Paul had to say to those Hebrews, you are like those in need of milk. And brethren, if we're honest with ourselves, I believe into a large degree that's what we become.
Those in need of milk, we can profess high things, but we need to walk in them. And so that's the second thing is, is exhortation. And because we don't walk into things that we profess, sometimes the Lord has to bring in difficulties in Soros. He has to touch our consciences because we're not walking in those things that we know. So that's the exhortation. And sometimes the Lord has to bring in difficulties to exhort us.
To touch our consciousness. And we need that. We really need that, brother, and especially in a day like this. Because again, if we're honest with ourselves, we're not only very weak, but we're also very failing. And so there's the exhortation. But aside from those two things, what's really on my heart this afternoon is the third thing, because it comes after the exhortation. And that's comfort. You know, the Lord desires to give comfort. He turned over to the 51St Psalm. Umm, maybe I better read it.
Just a little verse there.
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Psalm 51 and verse eight make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
Sometimes the Lord has to break some bones to draw us near to himself, because that's one of his desires, brethren, He wants us close. You remember what Joseph said to his brethren when he made himself known to them. He said, Come near unto me, I pray you. He didn't just say come near unto me, He said, come near unto me, I pray you. And the Lord desires us to be near to him, brethren. He wants to comfort us himself. He doesn't want someone else. There's a lot of little children in here today.
And mothers know that when that little child hurts himself or herself, the mother doesn't say, well, you go to your father and get comfort. No, she picks that child up in her arms herself, and she holds it close and comforts it. And that's the little the Lord's desire, brethren, to have us close to himself so that he can comfort us. And so we have a comforter and Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. He wants us close and He wants to comfort us, you know.
Many years ago there was an old servant of the Lord just to vote at the end of his journey, and someone asked him that if he could change anything, what would he like to change.
Any thought from it And he said there's one thing I'd like to change and say, He said my desire is that if I could go back, my ministry might have been a little more of a comforting nature.
A little more comforting ministry and we need it, brethren. There's many things amongst us, many painful things that we're suffering right here in this room. I know that there's those of you with heavy hearts. And why do I know it? Because we all have heavy hearts. The Lord passes us all through different things, but it's with a desire to bring us close. You know, we had in our meeting in in the opening him this morning of his soon return. And the Lord is coming soon, brethren.
He wants a welcome, He wants a welcome. He wants us watching for him. And how else could he do it but to allow difficulties to allow Soros to come into our lives so that it would drive us to our knees and drive us to the Word and give us the look up and desire his return?
When I when I was a little younger and my boys were little, the biggest thrill when I came home from work was to have them run with their arms up and say Daddy, Daddy, oh wow, that that cheered my heart after a day at work. It was that welcome. You know, if I had given them things to do and they hadn't done it, I could take that up with them later. But the most important thing to me when I returned was that welcome. If I had come back and they were busy doing what they had to do, but there was no welcome.
It might have been nice that they were doing what I asked, but it was really the welcome that I look for. And brethren, the Lord's coming soon, and He wants us ready. He wants us watching for Him. He wants that welcome. And that's the only way He can do it, by allowing those things in our lives. But He's the one to comfort us. Well, I was just thinking about this little word comfort and how we have it. Perhaps you might say in three ways, comfort as to the past.
Comfort as to the present.
And comfort as to the future. So I'd just like to read a verse in the Gospel of John first of all.
Gospel of John, chapter 6.
I'm sorry, verse uh chapter 16 and verse 6.
But because I have said these things unto you, Sorrel, have filled your heart, nevertheless I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you, and then back in the 14th chapter.
Verse 16.
The Lord Jesus says, I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever.
Well, the first comfort I'd like to speak about, and it's the comfort as to the past, and that is salvation. And before I continue, maybe I could just say if there's anyone here this afternoon who has yet to open your heart to the Lord Jesus, I urge you solemnly to do it now because the time is short. The Lord is coming. And if there's anyone here who doesn't know Him as Savior, now is the time you can enjoy comfort in your heart knowing.
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That your sins are forgiven and that you're on the way to glory. And that's the 1St and most important comfort of all, to know the Lord Jesus as your Savior. And what a comfort it is when we think of all its past, all those things heaped up against us, all gone. And what do we have here? We have the Spirit of God indwelling us. What a wonderful thing we have, brethren. He's the earnest of our inheritance.
Were sealed with the Holy Spirit.
The Lord Jesus says in a couple of chapters back in the 10th chapter of John, none, no man can pluck them out of my Father's hand. And there's nothing can change that you belong to Christ. Nothing, nothing can pluck you from the Father's hand. What a comfort that is to know sins forgiven, to know that you're on the way to glory. And I just say, if you don't know that this afternoon, don't put the question off. Decide for Christ this very minute and you can have that comfort too.
But you know, we often lose that comfort, don't we? We often, just as David had to say to the Lord, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. And oftentimes we lose that. We lose the joy of our salvation. And why is it? Well, brethren, it's because other things come into our hearts. Isn't that right? I know it. It's because something gets between myself and the Lord.
And I lose the joy of my salvation. We can all remember back to that day when we were saved. Perhaps we can't remember the exact day, but we remember it and the joy that filled our hearts, that first love. But just like those Ephesians Saints in Revelation, we Rea, we read that they had lost their first love. And that's often happens, brethren, and we lose the joy of our salvation. And so the Lord desires to draw us back. He wants us close to Himself.
So that He can have us all to himself. You remember in that chapter in Luke we often read on Lord's Day morning with desire. I have desire to eat this Passover with you, brethren. He wants us close. And so He wants to bring us back to that first love, to the joy of His salvation.
Is there a way back? Yes, there is. We lose it because other things come in. But you know, God is for us. And if God before us, who can be against us? And so he works to that end. He sees us, He sees me, perhaps sees others getting away and losing the joy of their salvation, losing that first love. And So what does He have to do? Well, he has to bring in the next thing. Sometimes He has to bring in sorrows and difficulties. And it was mentioned this morning we have some severe, severe sorrows and trials in our lives.
And we all know it. We all suffer them. None of us are exempt. I mentioned that verse at the beginning. We ourselves grown within ourselves, we're not separated in that way from the things under the sun. We suffer along with this world, many of the same source. But brethren, it's different for us because we don't sorrow as others, sorrow which have no hope. There's a purpose in it for us. We need to see God in everything. And so the Lord brings things, but it's His hand. And that's what we need to look beyond those things.
And see the Lord. So that's the second thing, comfort as to the present, He sometimes has to bring in, like we read in, in the 51St Psalm, the bones which thou hast broken, and sometimes to draw us back, or sometimes to protect us, various reasons. But He allows things to come in. And that's the second thing, comfort as to the present. Because when He allows something, it's for a purpose of blessing. It's not just to cause a sorrow, brethren, it's for blessing. And it's only if need be. The Lord sees the need be. I don't see the need be. I don't see what's going on gonna happen tomorrow.
Sometimes I don't realize the course I'm taking is going to get me into trouble. Sometimes I don't see the danger ahead, but the Lord does. And so He allows things to come in, and often they're very difficult to bear. But I say again, He's the God of all comfort, and He knows just how much we can take. He won't. He won't tempt us above that we're able, or try us. Above that we're able. You think of that terrible trial that Abraham had with his son.
But it was her blessing.
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It was for great blessing. You know, God didn't try a lot. God tried Abraham.
God doesn't try a believer who's going on and doesn't has no desire for the things of God. You know, Satan likes to whisper that in our ears, doesn't he? When we pass through something, he'd say, oh, it must be something you've done. God is punishing you. He's seeking to undermine our confidence in the Lord.
Is God punishing Abraham? No, He loved Abraham. He was seeking to bring Abraham into greater blessing, greater confidence in himself.
And very often that's why the difficulties are there to strengthen our faith, to draw us nearer to himself, to bring us into a greater blessing. And it's hard sometimes to say to trust when we don't understand. It's difficult to trust the Lord. That path of faith is never easy, but it's the path of path of blessing. Well, I say again, the second thing, uh, maybe I can turn to Romans chapter 15.
Verse 4. Romans 15 and four.
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope.
Well, the second thing is comfort for the present. We have comfort for the past, but what about comfort for the present? You know, I find in my own life, and I think many others would agree, we can really have confidence and we, many of us are at peace about our salvation.
We have that, that, uh, piece of conscience, but if we're honest, very often we don't enjoy Peace of Mind and that is comfort as to the present.
There's a lot of Soros.
And instead of seeing the Lord in them, instead of enjoying his comfort, instead of enjoying us near, we fret and we fuss.
And it causes great anxiety amongst us and in our hearts, and so many of us don't enjoy that comfort for the present. But is that the Lord's desire? Does the Lord want us to go on unhappy and comfortless for the present? Does he save our souls? And does he promise us glory? And then does he say, well, I want you to have an unhappy life? Oh no, that's what Satan would like you to believe. That's what Satan would like you to believe when he whispers in your ear, this has happened to you.
That's what he said to Eve. You know, he tried to undermine her confidence.
He tried to convince her, and He did convince her that the Lord was holding back the best thing from her. And that's what Satan does to you. And I look at the sorrow that's coming upon you. How could a God of love allow such things? Well, brethren, the Lord allows it for that very fact because He loves us too much to let us go astray. He loves us too much to let us go to anyone else. Well, the first thing is we have the comfort.
Of the scriptures, and I can't stress how much importance, how important that is, the comfort of the scriptures. Do you spend time, do we spend time with the word of God? You know, there's real comfort, real comfort in reading the word of God because the Spirit of God that indwells you, of which we've spoken. He takes the word of God, the sword of the Spirit and he makes use of it. And if you take the time to sit down and read your Bible.
I don't mean just a few verses before you hop into bed at night, take time, spend it alone with the Lord reading his word, and you'll be amazed at what the Spirit of God will do with the word of God to give you comfort, the comfort your heart in all things. I'd like to read a verse in in Isaiah.
Chapter 51.
I might say that we had that before us this morning in our reading too. In the second verse, you know, Paul said he was in a great conflict and you read the second verse. What does it say that their hearts might be comforted? Lord desires our comfort. And so in Isaiah 51, He says in the 12Th verse.
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I, even I, am he that comforteth you. Who art thou, that thou should be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the Son of Man, which shall be made as grass and forget us? The Lord thy Maker, that has stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth, and has feared continually every day, because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy. And where is the fury of the oppressor?
You know, those verses are so precious to me because I think if there's one thing that most of us suffer from, and that is a lot of fear and anxiety in these days, things are happening that.
Shake our minds that shake our hearts, things in the world and amongst the people of God that really tend to shake us up and cause us to fear. But you know what the Lord says here? I'm the one that comforts you and he says, who are you to be afraid?
Because you know, brethren, when we're afraid like that, it's because we have a lack of confidence in the Lord.
We have a lack of confidence in the Lord.
And.
It's not a shame to be afraid. The Lord allows it just for that fact that so He can strengthen our confidence in himself so He can come in and be the one to comfort us and show us that He's there and that He'll take care of our every need. So let's go to Him in our need. He's the comforter. He's the comforter. Well, that's comfort as to the present and how much we need it. But you know, there's also comfort as to the future.
And we had that read before us this morning. I'm not gonna take much more time. I just wanna turn over to that portion that was read to us in First Thessalonians.
And I'll just read from verse 17 of the 4th chapter of First Thessalonians.
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Can you think of anything more comforting in the Word of God than that hope that we have, That sure hope of being soon, forever with the Lord? And it's a sure hope, brethren, because it's founded on the Word of God. It's not your thoughts or my thoughts. It's the Word of God, forever with the Lord. What a wonderful hope before us. We have comfort as to the past. We have ample comfort as to the present, and we have comfort as to the future. And it's all found.
In the Lord Jesus. But you know this last verse is the one that I enjoy, it says.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words. It doesn't just say wherefore be comforted with these words, it says Wherefore comfort one another.
And brethren, the Lord didn't leave us here to walk through the path alone.
He didn't leave us here to walk the path, just with him, although he's sufficient. And precious as that may be, he's left us here as brethren together so that we can be a comfort one to another, and how needed that is. Comfort is hard to do, isn't it? Comfort seems to be, for me anyway, the hardest thing in the world to do, because you feel so helpless. You see a brother or a sister and they're passing through something and you wanna be a help.
You long to comfort them because.
Why? Because they're a child of God, just like you, and you long to be a help, but you don't know how, you don't know what to do. So sometimes you just stay back.
And your heart's breaking for them, but you don't know what to do. Well, says here, comfort one another with these words. It doesn't take much sometimes just to say I'm thinking of you. I feel for you. Maybe I can't understand just what you're going through, but I feel for you. Oh, how that how that cheers the heart of a brother or a sister. Just a pat on the shoulder to let them know I'm thinking of you.
Comfort one another with these words.
Desire. You know, if you turn over to 1St Corinthians, I'll just read that little portion there.
Because it's been a help to me too.
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2nd Corinthians, I'm sorry.
Two Corinthians one and verse 3.
Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, who comforted us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
And that's one of the reasons why the Lord allows us individually to pass through things so that not only to bring us to Himself, but so that we can be a comfort to one another.
It's hard, brethren. The path of faith is not easy, but it's the happy path. And let's remember, we have the God of all comfort. It's the Lord Jesus, the same yesterday, today, and forever. And His desire is that we be close to Him. His desire is to that we'd be close to one another, comforting one another. And so we have these things to pass through.
But it's not going to last forever. We're soon going to be forever with the Lord.
And he's gonna wipe all those tears away. There's not gonna be any more sorrow or crying or death or any such things. But even now, he desires brethren, and he's able to comfort us in all of our sorrows. And we have each other. I just wanted to mention this because.
It's important, the other things, we really need all three of those in this day.
We need edification, we need exploitation and we need comfort.
But we're not going to have them by forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.
Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, and so much the more as you see the day approaching rather than the day is approaching. Let's not forsake the assembling of ourselves together for those three things, for edification, for exhortation. And let's never forget comfort.
I'd like to look at a chapter in the Old Testament that illustrates what our hymn was about and I believe.
Brings comfort to our hearts as believers.
Him we thank you in the meeting with, uh, said once we stood in condemnation and we're in an entirely new position before God. But her brother read that verse in Corinthians about, uh, the things that happened beforehand that they, we through comfort and hope through the, the things that happened to them might have comfort and hope. And so the Lord would use these illustrations in the Old Testament to help us to understand truths in the New Testament because all of this was anticipated.
And certainly our him suggested to us Romans chapter 8.
Of the position in which we now stand before God.
In an entirely new position and I was just thinking of a chapter in.
Joshua But before we turn there, I would just like to turn to a verse in Hebrews chapter 4, because we spoke of fear in the meeting and what the ground of this comfort is.
Let us therefore the first first. Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entering into His rest. Any of you should seem to come short of it.
Well, Paul is really referring to, uh, an incident here in Hebrews in connection with the history of the children of Israel. And they were to fear, and we are to fear unless we come short of the promise because of unbelief.
And you know, after they had, uh, not listened to Paul on that voyage and asked after a long time, Paul stood forth and he said, be of good cheer, I believe God.
And that will bring comfort to our hearts. And that really is why we get distraught, whether as to the condition of our soul or whether as the condition of our circumstances or in the assembly. Whereas those two on the road to Emmaus, going away from the place that the Lord had told them to be, they were discouraged in their hearts and the Lord had to afraid them because of their unbelief.
And that is the root of our failure. I never knew Harry Hayhoe personally, but I understand he said that often. Is that all our failure, whether St. or Sinner, stems from unbelief and the goodness that is in the heart of God. So we need to labor to enter into his rest, that is, to believe what God has said. And if we turn back to this chapter in Joshua, I think it's very lovely because it typically illustrates to us that passage from Romans 7 to Romans 8.
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Joshua chapter 3 though commenting on every verse of it, I believe that it helps us to see what the Lord is doing doing and really brings the person of Christ before us.
If we turn back to the early chapters of Deuteronomy, we'll realize that the children of Israel were brought out of Egypt. And as her brother was referring to in the reading meeting. And any of us who have been there realized that really it is a pleasant land. And especially where the children of Israel were in the land of Goshen, the palm trees and the cool breezes in the evening in the river. But it was a land of slavery.
And so God was going to bring them out of that, and it was the Passover that delivered them from Egypt. And when he saw the blood, he passed over them, and there was a question of faith, because it was not their estimation of the blood, but His.
And so it's not my estimation of the value of the blood, but it's God's estimation of the value of the blood that gives us this value. And so the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sins. And so when there's settled peace to God's estimation of the blood of Christ, and faith simply believes what God has said. But there they were, if I may put it that way, the blood was there, but they were still in Egypt. And so they had another experience in a typical sense. And I think these things are familiar to us, but in a typical sense, the Lord had to take them out through the.
Red cedar separates them from Egypt.
And so just as we sing that song, Jehovah lift up is Rado, Christ that fell on thee, that we realize that Christ suffered the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. That's what he's really trying to do. He's trying to bring us into fellowship with himself.
And Moses really is the, uh, minister of the law. He lifted up his rod and the waters were parted. But if you can imagine, if you were one of those children of Israel, it was like our experience. I believe if we look back to the time, if we remember when we were saved, that it was just like that. We were walking right through. There was a wall of water on one side and a wall of water on the other side. And we were very conscious of the danger that we were in. And it's a good thing people go on carelessly, not realizing the Egyptians barged through this, these walls of water, indifferent to the danger they were in a wall, wall of water on either side.
And so perhaps.
Umm, I remember as a boy I realized I was in real danger of hell because of my sin. But then I saw that it was not the judgment fell on me, but it fell on Christ. Jehovah lifted up his rod, O Christ, it fell on thee. And I walked through on dry ground. But there was a consciousness, very real consciousness of the danger I was in. And even as the children of Israel could look back on that scene, they could see the waters crashing around the Egyptian.
But I think that we all realize when this church is taken, when the church is taken to heaven, that the terrible judgments of God will fall upon those that are not believers, that don't have real faith. They may have tried to follow the same pathways, but there was no faith in connection with it. They were just pursuing the children of Israel, but they got into the wilderness. And there's one little verse that's in brackets in Scripture at the beginning of Deuteronomy, and that is that there is 11 days journey from Kadish. Umm, I perhaps just read it. I don't quote Scripture well.
It's just in brackets in Scripture, but it says there are 11 days journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir onto Kadish Parnia. That was took them 40 years to take an 11 days journey. And so now we bring in our souls experience we've made for many years belaboring to enter into that rest, but it's by faith. And if we turn to the story in Deuteronomy, we see what happened was that they didn't believe God.
There were the two. There were the 12 spies that went into Spy Out the Land.
And the two which speaks of adequate testimony, all 12 bore testimony to the fact that it was a good land. If you'd asked any one of those 12, they would have said it's a good land. But the two encouraged the heart of their brethren, and they said, let's go in. And the other ten, they discourage the heart of their brethren. And they said, there's giants in the land, and we as Christians may do that 10 feet of responsibility, There's 10 commandments, there's ten fingers on my hands. And it speaks of what we do.
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And the tan really seeks a responsibility, the two Speaking of adequate testimony in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established that was adequate. If nobody else believed it believed what the two or three bore witness to in Matthew 18. It was an established fact as far as God was concerned. And the two that bore testimony to the land before the children of Israel, according to God, it was an established fact that nobody else in the in the among the children of Israel believed it.
And in fact, as we know that every other one besides those two, Joshua, which is Hebrew for Jesus and Caleb, which is Hebrew for dog, Jesus and the dog, if I may put it that way, that they went in, but all the others died except for the children. And so it reminds us, except we become as little children, we need faith as a child just simply to believe and to rest and what God said. We cast down all those re adult reasonings and thinkings and we simply rest and believe what God has said.
And so this is really what it means to enter into the rest of God.
And so here now we find ourselves in Joshua and Joshua.
And Caleb. But Joshua as a type of Christ is leading them who's, as I said, in Hebrew, his name is. In Greek, his name is Jesus.
In Acts you get that, you know, Ji Joshua is translated Jesus in the book of Acts. Umm, and uh, they're there before the river Jordan. 40 years to get 11 days.
And uh, we'll just see this deliverance and I'll pass, try to pass over this quickly. The third verse. And they commanded the people saying, when you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God and the priest and the Levites bearing it, then you shall remove yourself from your place and go after it. And yet there shall be a space between you and it, about 2000 cubits by measure. Come not near onto it that she may know the way by which she must go.
For you have not passed this way heretofore.
Well, this to me is very lovely. I think most of us know that the arc is a picture of Christ because in one place it says, describes the construction of the ark, and it doesn't even really mention the giving of the law. It just says you're to make this arc and you're to cover it with gold. And he says to Moses, I'll tell you what you're going to put into it. And it was a picture of Christ that vessel. And he was, of course, that one is in the first Psalm and, uh, that meditated in his law night and day.
That the law was hit in the heart of the Lord.
And he was the part of mana and that part of mana that the arc was a picture of Christ. And that I, I can't develop that all right now, but they were to stand back very far.
And we need to stand back, brethren, from a great distance, 2000 years, and see that there's a finished work in connection with our rest.
That the battle is finished.
The battle was won at the cross. He's overcome. And we need confidence and we need faith to believe that we find ourselves in the midst of turmoil and battle at work, at home, perhaps in the assembly and in everywhere. And we need to realize that the battle is finished. He won the battle at the cross and all we have to do is just to rest and face as to what he said and the reason that we get fighting with our brethren and fighting among ourselves and contending and perhaps there's discord in the homeless because we don't believe God.
And simply to act and face on what God has said.
Will bring us into rest and will bring us into communion with our bread. And that's what a pure heart is, is simply to believe what God said and to act on the basis of that. And so as Paul said in Romans, let God be true in every man, a liar. That's the pure heart. Not looking around to see how many more people are gonna join me. God will take care of that. He will maintain a testimony to the truth. And I'm not just Speaking of gathering, but He will maintain a testimony to the truth. He did in Israel.
Until the very end. But what we need is confidence to believe God has faith and that itself is a gift of God. But we're to stand back very far.
And so it's not anything of our doing, not something that I do or I've done, but it's something that's going to be done. And yet I can observe from a distance. And he said, uh, we've never gone this way before. And verse five. And Joshua said unto the people, sanctify yourselves for tomorrow. The Lord will do wonders among you. And Joshua spake unto the priest, take up the ark of the covenant and Passover before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people. And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day I will magnify thee. That is Joshua, the type of Christ in the sight of all Israel.
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That you may know, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee, and thou shalt command the priest that bare the ark of the covenant. When ye shall come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan. And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come, hit her, and hear the words of the Lord your God. And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Gergesites, and the Amorites and the Jebusites. Behold the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
Of all the earth passes over before you into Jordan.
Now, therefore take you 12 men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every man of tribe, and it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the Lord of all the earth shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above, and they shall stand upon a heap.
Now I think we know that water speaks of judgment in Scripture.
And they were at this moment that the pre Christ offered himself to God. But the moment that the priest's feet touched that water, the water was rolled right back. And when the Lord uttered the words on the cross, it is finished. It was finished. Man came into my office at work and with some fanciful idea that the Lord went into hell and suffered for our sins. No, he said, Father unto thy cans I command my spirit, I commend my spirit. And that that thief on the cross, he said, Today thou shalt be with me in paradise.
So the thief on the cross, it was a wonderful revelation, you know, because the thieves that Remember Me when I come in, when you come in your Kingdom, a Kingdom. But the Lord revealed something to that thief on the cross because he had faith. He said today thou shalt be with me in paradise. To be absent from the body was to be present with the Lord. He already had a bit of Paul's doctrine, I'd say, to be absent from the body and present with the Lord because he believed.
What God had said and so that the moment the Lord uttered those words, he passed, we see he brought life and immortality to life. Uh, through the gospel is that we learn what death is, is to be the Lord was absent from his body and present with his father. And when a believer passes from this Dean, he passes absent from the body to be present with the Lord just as that thief on the cross and just as the Lord, his body was laid in the grave and resurrection, the first fruits. He's the first one of the first resurrection. He took up his body.
And was raised again, glorified body in heaven. That's not yet our portion. It will be. But uh, we see that it was finished when the Lord uttered those words. So as soon as the sole of their feet touched that water, the water rolled back into great heat. And we see in the book of Genesis that all the waters were gathered together into one place.
And so the interesting thing that we have here that we don't have in connection with the Red Sea and really answers to our hem once we stood in condemnation.
Is that, uh, we'll notice here that it was at a time when the Jordan overflowed its banks at the time of harvest. And so it was at the perfect time of that the Lord suffered for our sins. But let's just look at the 16th verse.
That the waters which came down from above and stood and rose upon a heap very far from the city atom, that is, beside Zaratin, and those that came down toward the sea of the plain. Even the salt sea failed and were cut off, and the people passed over right against Jericho.
Now this is a beautiful picture of what the Lord Jesus Christ did on the cross, because not only did he deal with what I've done, but he deal with what I was and what we were.
You know, you could take a crab apple tree and take all the crab apples off of it, but it would still be a crab apple tree. The Lord could cleanse your sins away, if I may put it this way. But if you didn't change our natures when we got to heaven, we'd still be the same.
So, but he's dealt not only with what we've done, but what we are. And so the judgment here was not just a mirror dealing with what we've done.
00:45:07
As I think is really seen at the Red Sea, but he's dealing with what we are. And so the waters were rolled right back to the city, Adam, right back to the first man and right down to the salt sea, which is, uh, I think the Jordan is a picture of in a way of humanity right down. I believe it's the lowest spot on earth. I think it's 1000 feet or more below sea level. And so there, there was no water, no judgment inside anywhere. We, they walk clean over.
There's many other scriptures to show this, but I think you'll see that if you we look that they went down into the Red Sea and we don't read of them coming out, but we read of them coming out of the Jordan. And so it's viewed as one complete thing in Scripture. But there was that necessity to stand back very far and to see that Christ is the answer to all that we were in the first man.
And so they passed over, it says in verse 17, and the priest that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan. And all the Israelites passed over on dry ground until all the people were passed clean over Jordan. And so now they found themselves in Jericho and that was the real place of their conflict. And that's the real place of our conflict, if I may put it this way, is when we have settled pieces to the work of Christ and full deliverance.
And there's many more things, details that we can pick out here, but I just wanted to take up this illustration of what our him was Speaking of and really to show that it is if it is really founded on believing what God has said. And there is no comfort if there's unbelief. And so that's why in Hebrews it takes up four, it takes up the question of the word of God. And so.
That it's sharper than any two edged sword and so on because it's really that, uh, we need to fear unless we be falling under the same example of unbelief. But when they came out of Jordan, as many other lovely pictures in connection that with that they came to Gilgal and it says that Gilgal then was the reproach that they were slaves in Egypt paroled away. That's what Gilgal means is rolling away at Gilgal. They could PR practice self judgment. That's of which I believe circumcision really is a is a picture. I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.
Very private thing we may like to practice self judgment on each other, but it says make sharp knives for yourselves. They couldn't do that until they stood saw that they stood in an uncondemned position before God that they were delivered as slaves from Egypt. It wasn't possible in the face of Mount Sinai for them to do that but to realize that our new position that we stand before God in Christ accepted in the beloved that they had power to do that and so it goes on and they were constantly to return to that place to self judgment. But we really see.
The entire position into which we've been brought delivered. Once we stood in condemnation, but now we stand in an entirely new position before God. And, uh, it's all Co. It's all by faith. Every blessing of God is laid hold of by faith.
That's where the comfort is, You know, it's just to believe God is Paul standing forth, He said, Sirs, be of good cheer. I believe God.
This afternoon, brother and I'd like to talk to you on, uh, four things that.
Moses that Pharaoh said to Moses he was led by the devil to do it and those four things that he said there as being said to you and to me today and how it is cheered my heart when I looked around here today and seen so many small children, so many of them and.
It, it has really warm my heart. I guess where I come from there's not that many children and you think, well, our children are all gone, our children are all gone. But when you see so many here today, it's really an enjoyment to my soul and I would like to.
Go back to Exodus.
Chapter 8 and uh.
Verse 25.
There's four things that Pharaoh says to Moses. When Moses says we want to go, we want to go, we've got to go, and we've got to take everything with us. But the devil has four things to say.
To him, the first one is in umm, Exodus 825.
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And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye sacrifice to God in the land. And Moses said, It is not meat for so us to do, for we shall sacrifice.
The Abomination.
Of the Egyptians to the Lord our God. Lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their horizon. They will not stone us. We will go three days journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as he shall command them. What a solemn request Pharaoh has made to Moses.
Go and sacrifice in the land.
How could we? Where did Moses sing? Where did the children of Israel sing when they got on the other side of Jordan?
But what happens?
Pharaoh wants him to sacrifice in his land. No separation. You have your God, we'll have ours. It's just the same. There's no difference. No separation. But that's not what God wants. He wants them to leave. And.
They have to go over Jordan, so the first request is do it in the land. Would you like to re remember the Lord in the.
Land in the common so-called churches that we have today.
I heard a story this spring.
My best friend's mother died. She was 91 years old and.
She she went to a denomination they would call it, and the man came who was supposed to take the funeral.
And.
He talked to this, uh, brother and his sister whose mother had died, and he said, what verse would you like? Now this is supposed to be a man of God.
And the sister said there's a verse, I think it's in Matthew. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not on thine own understanding.
She says. I think it's in Matthew.
Somewhere.
And the, uh, man that was there said, well, I think, I think she's right. I think she's right. And Alan said, I'm sorry, but it's in Proverbs. I'm not sure sure exactly if it's Proverbs three or five, but it's in Proverbs. And the, the man that was there said, oh, no, Sir, I think you're wrong. So he went and got his Bible and come out and he put it on the table and showed him. Now it's sort of scared the man, He thought, wow.
I got somebody here that does know a little bit about the Bible. I better be careful.
And the brother said, you know.
The funeral was disaster. The funeral was a disaster.
The man stood up.
The only thing that he said?
About his mother was he hoped there was dancing in heaven because his mother wanted like to dance. That was at a funeral. Brethren, how thankful you and me should be that God has taken us and given us this precious, precious privilege of having the word of God to be able to open. There was nothing about Christ. There was nothing about anything other than.
He hoped there was dancing in heaven because his mother liked to dance. Brethren, it's a solemn thing. Would you want to go and sacrifice to the Lord in a place like that?
Would you like to go there? How could we? There's no separation. We've got to separate from it. And where do Moses say now? The second one is in verse 28.
You shall not go very, only ye shall not go very far away. Well, what's the difference in being there and being not very far away? You've still got the rudiments of the world. You've still got it. You have to get that three days journey on the other side of Jordan. You have to get over the cross. You have to go through the cross and get onto the other side. Then you can sacrifice to the Lord because.
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Moses saying what kind of a song would he have in the land of Egypt?
With the men of the world now, brethren.
I said, I said there was four things. I said two. But the third one has hurt me, has made me think. And I want to make it each one of us realize what it what it is.
Uh.
Romans 10 and eight.
Uh, actually, excuse me, Exodus 10 and eight. Excuse me, Exodus 10 and eight. And Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh, and he said unto them.
Go, serve the Lord your God. But who are they that shall go? And Moses said, we will go with our young, and with our old, and with our sons, and with our daughters, and with our flocks, and with our herds. We shall go, for we must hold a feast under the Lord.
How solemn.
That speech to us today.
Ferrell said this to Moses. Pharaoh said it to Moses. But what's the devil saying to you and to me today, you and me?
You go ahead, you go ahead and sacrifice the way you want, but leave me the children, leave me your children. Have we not seen it? How many families here are not affected by that one thing? You go and sacrifice to the Lord.
The way you want, but leave me, your children, in my world, where I can look after them and fill them full of myself.
Does not speak to us. I know there's a lot of parents here.
I know there's a lot and I know there's a lot of grandparents here too, including me.
Have we got our children with us?
Have we got anything to pray about?
You say it only takes me two minutes to say my prayers at night. I do it fast. I'm tired after the end of the day. But do we ever think that we have children?
We have grandchildren.
Nieces and nephews and you say I'm I'm single, I don't have anybody, but have you got the family of God? The world is getting worse, brethren, and why? Everybody says the world is getting worse, but why is it getting worse? Why?
One reason it's taken a long time, but they finally got rid of the word of God as we had this morning and you'll have an every conference.
Once you give up the word of God, there's no.
True. Who is the devil anyways? He's the father of lies. Today you can't believe people. You can't believe people what they say.
But because they're, they're taken after their father, the father of lies.
The Corrupt 1.
And all how it should speak to each one of us, brethren.
All these very little ones here, they're going to pass through trials and troubles that you and I never even thought of. And I'm not the oldest here, but when I was in high school, I remember back that far, there used to be a place out in the backyard, a little corn, corn dog place that you could go out there and if you had to have a smoke, if you couldn't refrain until you got through school.
You could possibly go out there and have it, but look at today, brethren, look at the drugs that are in the schools, the awfulness that the men that are coming selling it right into the schools.
Is it worse? Is it bad? Yes. But is it too bad for Jesus?
It's just it's just got them all scared and excited rather than there's nothing that he's going to get excited about.
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Of of Vadnais in the world. Just think of it before you and I were even born. Our name was written in the Lamb's Book of Life before we were even born. He knows all about it. And as you say, we've had the words spoken today about trials and troubles.
Did it get him excited when we got, uh, trouble at trial?
No, He knew all about it. In fact, he even gave it to you. And why did he give it to you for? Because he hated you. No way. No way. Because he loved you. What did Romans 8 and 28 say? All things work together for good to them. That love the Lord. All things, even those bad things, even those terrible things, those awful things that we have to get through.
You know, some children will say, you know, if I only had better parents, if I only had a better mommy and daddy, They're hard on me. They're so hard on me. They make me do what I don't wanna do. And they it's just if I only had better parents.
Think of it person, young child, young boy, young girl, you have a daddy and mommy that love the Lord Jesus and they're only doing it for your good and.
I had two boys and a girl.
And I know one boy. He.
They seem to get it quite frequently, in fact, even at times you put a telephone book in his pants so that it wouldn't hurt that bad. And he thought at that time he had the worst parents in the world.
But then, after a while, he looked back at it.
And he thanked us for what we did.
It's something, brethren, we might not think that these people that are trying to be hard to us, our parents and our grandparents and all that.
They're not doing it for fun. They're doing it because the Lord wants them to do it and because they love us, you know? I'm sorry, I guess.
I've I've got 2 little grandchildren now and I guess if I didn't know the grandchildren were so much fun. I'd like to have my children. I'd have my grandchildren before my children. But it's something to think of brethren, that the devil wants. The devil wants our children.
And hasn't he got it? Now, the next point, the 4th point, is very, very important for each and every one of us who are at the Lord's Table. There's something in this. It's very, very precious, and I don't want you to miss it.
In in 20 fo uh uh Exodus 10, verse 24. And Pharaoh called unto Moses and said, Go, ye serve the Lord only. Let your flocks and your herds be stayed. Let your little ones also go with you. And Moses said, Thou must give us also sacrifices.
And burnt, burnt offerings that we may sacrifice under the Lord our God.
Our cattle also shall go with us, There shall not a hoop he left behind. For therefore must we take to serve the Lord our God, and we know not with what we must serve the Lord until we come together. Isn't this lovely? Isn't this beautiful?
Pharaoh says OK, take your children and and yourselves and get gone. Go.
But leave your cattle. Leave your cattle. Why?
I mean, that's a big company and maybe they would kill some for even for food. But Moses doesn't say we have we need them for food. What does he say he needs to hurt for? What does he say he needs the cattle for?
To sacrifice, to sacrifice under the Lord, isn't that wonderful? He wants them all too. Why couldn't he have left some of them there? He could have taken half of them, 3/4 of them. But no, he takes it all. And why does he take it? Because verse 26 says, our cattle also shall go with us, for there shall not a hoof be left behind.
For therefore must we take to serve the Lord our God, and we know not with what we must serve the Lord until we come thither. I've enjoyed that. I've really enjoyed that.
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The devil wants to take away the communion that you've had with the Lord all week. And why does Moses say it this way? Because the communion that we've had with the Lord all week were to bring it to the Lord's table on Sunday morning. And why? Why are we to bring it there? Because we don't know what the Spirit of God is going to need for that Lord's Day. So we must bring everything.
To the Lord's table, so that the Spirit of God can use.
Whatever he wants, it's not what I want or what I think I should bring. It's what he wants and how important it is that we are to leave Egypt, leave the world. There's nothing there for us, only hardships and toil and trial. As we saw with the children of Israel, and as we said, they had the blood in the land, in the land, the blood did cover them.
But they weren't free then they were told to leave. And you say, I, I have fears like they, like other people don't have. I do. But think of it. Here's the people that the Lord told to go to the Red Sea, and they're going along into the Red Sea is right there, as high as it can be. There's no way in the world they're going to get across it. And they look behind and the enemy is right behind them. Surely the Lord wasn't just going to take them out and leave them.
What troubles, what fears these people had, and if they'd had gone a day before?
Into the water they would have drowned, but the day the Lord said to go, he opened the way they went through. The enemy came right behind him till he got in the middle of the sea. As Neil said that the judgment of God. And what happened as soon as they were out passed to judgment, The water went over top of all those people, and then what did they do when they got there? As I said before, they were ready and able to sing.
And that's where we should be when we come in March day morning to bring what we have, umm, got in communion through the week with the Lord. Bring it in and He will use it for the Spirit's glory.
#44 the appendix.