Kentucky YP Camp: 2018
Table of Contents
Wilderness Journey Part 1
Address—Jim Hyland
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I'd like to sing another hymn from the Little Flock hymn book. It's Hymn #18.
Hymn #18.
I shall lamb by God.
I understand.
Prayer on the rain.
Everybody should have one of these little handouts. It's very basic, but I thought it'd be helpful. And you can actually take a few notes on here as well if you like. There's also of course some notepads and tablets and pens at the back if someone wants something else to take notes on and you didn't bring something up, uh, yourself.
We're going to take up in the three talks we share together, the subject of the wilderness journey.
Now you might wonder why I have put on the front of this from Egypt to Sinai. Usually when we think of the wilderness journey, we think of the journey from Egypt until they cross the Jordan and went into the promised land. And certainly that is the whole scope of the wilderness journey. But what I want to do this weekend is take up the part of the journey before they were under the law. In other words, if we can put it this way for our purposes today, they were still under grace in the part of the wilderness journey that we are going to consider.
And I believe it's very relevant for you and for me. Not that the whole journey isn't important, I'm not saying that. But you and I today live in what we sometimes refer to as the dispensation of the grace of God. We live in the Christian era where if we're not under law, but we're under grace. And so we're going to take up that part of the journey. Now you'll notice on the front too, I put a scripture and.
Let me just say this, we're gonna have to move very quickly. We're gonna only gonna mention a few things in connection with each of these aspects that I have spelled out on these pages because we only have a certain length of time, you know, ministry like this. Meetings like this are really simply to whet your appetite to search it out further. So I'm gonna give you a little outline, hopefully make some practical applications and hopefully you young people will then take this and search it out for yourself. Because young people, it's.
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Wonderful to sit in meetings like this and to go to conferences and in your home assembly. But it really in a sense, isn't enough, because you never have something until you search it out for yourself. So hopefully that's what this weekend will, will do. You'll notice the verse on the front. It says Now all these things happened unto them for in samples and are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. This is a quote, of course, from First Corinthians 10.
The reason I put it here is if we were to go to 1St Corinthians 10 and we will notice a couple of things there later on.
But in the first few verses of 1 Corinthians, chapter 10, we have a little summary.
Of the history of the children of Israel in the wilderness, and at the end of it, this is what he says.
Showing that it is important and relevant for us to take up the Old Testament history of the children of Israel. And again, the whole Old Testament is important, but we're focusing on this part of it. And why do we are we? Why is it important or needful for us to take up this part of the Old Testament? Because this scripture tells us that it was. It's recorded for more than just being historical facts and interesting stories.
Yes, it is historical. Yes, they're interesting stories, but God has caused them to be written down for us. More than that, they're written by inspiration, part of the living word of God, for your learning and for mine. And of course we find in Romans chapter 15, verse four, that all scripture is. I'm sorry that the things that are written aforetime are written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope. So again, very important for us to go back and consider these portions.
In the Old Testament. So this morning we're going to consider a couple of things. The first, of course, is the Passover. Let me read just a few verses in that connection. I'm sure most of you, if not all of you, know the story very well, The story I heard from the very early days of my youth. And so in the 12Th chapter of Exodus, I'll just read a little bit here.
Chapter 12 of Exodus and verse one. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months.
It shall be the first month of the year to you Speak unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the 10th day of this month they shall take of them every man a lamb according to the House of their fathers a lamb for an house. And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto him under his house Take it according to the number of of the souls. Every man according to his eating, shall make your count for the lamb.
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. I'm gonna stop there again. I'm not gonna read all these verses for the sake of time.
But just to get the context, we know the story well. The children of Israel had been slaves in Egypt.
And they were under the ******* of Pharaoh and the Egyptians. Pharaoh for the most part in the Old Testament is a very apartment picture of our enemy, Satan, the Egyptians, a picture of Satan's host, because Satan has a vast host of underlords or demons at his command today. And we find with the Pharaoh character of Satan and the Egyptians, it was it's the devil and his host seeking to keep souls.
From coming under the good of redemption and deliverance. Satan does not want people to get saved. He doesn't want them to become redeemed with the blood of Christ. And he doesn't want them to experience full deliverance from Satan and from and from the world. And so this was what was happening when our chapter opens. The children of Israel were in *******. It's a picture of you and I born into this world without Christ. We're under the ******* of Satan and his hosts and this world, Egypt again, for the most part in Scripture.
Is a picture of this world. But God heard their groanings and he looked down and he said he was going to deliver them.
But if he was going to deliver the children of Israel, it must be in a way that made them realize two things.
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Their guilt and his provision for them, because that is always the way of blessing. And in the instructions given to Moses at the beginning of this chapter, he tells them that it was going to start a new calendar is this month shall be unto you the beginning of months. Now if there's someone here at camp this weekend that isn't saved, I want to stress that this camp today.
Can be a new beginning in your life. What was going to happen for the children of Israel is they were no longer going to be under the ******* of Pharaoh and the Egyptians. There was going to be a new, a new beginning in their lives. And as we're going to see, they will eventually be off Egyptian ground and under the authority of Moses. A picture of the Lord Jesus. Moses was the one raised up to lead them through the wilderness.
And so if there's someone here and you haven't had this new beginning in your life today, right now can be that new new beginning. Now you'll notice here this lamb. Very interesting because it was to be taken on the 10th day and kept up for four days. I want to make a little application here, because remember, redemption and God's plan of deliverance for sinful man was never an afterthought with God.
It was way back in the eternal purposes and counsels of God. For those of us who are saved, we can turn to verses like Ephesians Chapter One and find that we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
But just hold your finger here and let's read a verse that corresponds or two that corresponds with this.
In First Peter.
First Peter chapter one.
We're gonna read from verse 18 because we'll refer back to a couple of these verses later, but let's read verses 18, uh 19 and 20 for as much. First Peter 118. For as much as she know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things of silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your Father's, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
Now here's the verse I want to focus on right now, verse 20, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you. So again, way back in a past eternity, the Lord Jesus as the lamb, as the sacrifice was in the purposes and counsels of God and the Godhead, this was not an afterthought with God. You know, sometimes we have plan A when we go to do something.
And then that doesn't work and we all of a sudden have to scramble and come up with plan. BI want to speak carefully and reverently. When man sinned in the Garden of Eden, God did not have to scramble and come up with Plan B.
God had planned had this plan from a past eternity. Now why was it 4 days? They had to keep it up.
Well, first of all, in a practical sense, it was to be a perfect lamb. It had to be without spot and blemish. And we'll speak of that in a moment because it speaks of the perfections of the Lord Jesus Christ as as they as, as a man. But there's also something else in Peter. There's a nice little key to a number of scriptures. It says this. A day with the Lord is as 1000 years and 1000 years as one day.
That's a nice little key to understanding certain scriptures that speak of different days. And why was it 4 days here? Because for 4000 years of man's history in the Old Testament, all the sacrifices that were offered from Abel's sacrifice right through the Passover, and all the Levitical sacrifices that were instituted later on, they all spoke of the Lord Jesus.
Who was going to come, as it says, in the fullness of time after 4000 years of man's history?
He was going to come, and he was going to give himself as that supreme sacrifice. So they had to keep it up until the 14th day. Now you'll notice at the end of verse 3 it's a lamb. Then in verse four it's the lamb. It becomes a little more specific, but at the beginning of verse five it is your lamb. Because again.
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Redemption and deliverance are a very personal thing.
You know, God looked at this feast of the Passover really in the sense of there just being 1 lamb. Now, for practical purposes every household had to take a lamb, of course, but God saw it in view of the Lamb of God that John the Baptist announced twice in the first part of John's Gospel. Behold the Lamb of God, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
But it has to be your lamb. And so, before we pass on, I ask you again.
Is the Lord Jesus your savior? Have you availed yourself of the finished work of Christ? Can he say you say He's as it were, your lamb? OK, we're going to skip over again. There's many things we could say, but I want to bring out some very practical things in connection with each aspect of this. Now in connection with the lamb, as I say, it had to be a perfect lamb, a male of the first year. It had to be without blemish, because it spoke to the heart of God.
Of the Lord Jesus who was going to come in the fullness of time, I want to drop down.
Two, we're gonna drop. Uh, we're gonna jump around a little bit, but I wanna drop down to verse 9.
He says eat not a bit raw nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire. Now this is what I wanna notice. His head with his legs and the pertinence they're out. Three things we wanna notice. Before I comment on that, you'll notice that it was to be roast with fire when you have fire in connection with the.
Lord Jesus, it's not so much what he suffered at the hand of man.
It's not the scourging and the abuse that he suffered in those hours when he was shuffled from pilots judgment hall to the Jews and back and forth and so on. It has to do with what he suffered in those hours of darkness. Just quickly turn to Lamentations and we'll see this from the word of God, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations.
Think it's Chapter 3.
Or perhaps the chapter one?
Uh.
Yes, chapter one. And we often read verse 12. Is it nothing to you? All ye that pass by, Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow. But what I want to notice is verse 13 from above. Hath he sent fire into my bones, and it has prevailed against them. Notice where the fire comes from here. It's from above. It speaks to us of the judgment against sin, that the Lord Jesus.
Bore in those three hours of darkness.
When, as Peter says, he bore our sins in his own body on the tree, you have it again. You can look it up in the 8th chapter of Song of Solomon, where he speaks of the sufferings of Christ in a couple of ways. There he speaks of the coals of fire. It says the coals of fire are coals that have the most vehement flame. Again, it's what reached into the very soul of the Lord Jesus when he bore my sins.
In those hours of darkness. But I want to notice these three things that are mentioned here because these three things, I believe correspond with three scriptures in the New Testament that confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt the sinless humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're gonna turn quickly to them. But let me just say this before we do. I know young people that you are sometimes bombarded by Christian friends.
With the thought that the Lord Jesus could have sinned, that is absolute blasphemy. If the Lord Jesus wasn't the perfect, sinless Son of God, we have no foundation on which to rest.
And I just say that because the Lord Jesus is the same man in heaven today.
As he was here when he walked on earth, apart from the fact that in his pathway here on earth he was the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
He walked here in lowly grace, and now he is exalted and glorified at God's right hand. But he is the same man. And if he could have sinned on earth, then why not say he could have sinned in heaven? And your salvation and mine would be we would have no foundation, we would have no salvation, we could have no peace, we could have no rest in our souls. If we really believe that the Lord could have sinned, He was the perfect sinless son of God. And I want to turn to three verses that correspond with these three parts of the Lamb that are mentioned specifically that show this beyond a shadow of a doubt. So the first is the the head.
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Let's go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 and find the corresponding truth.
2nd Corinthians chapter 5.
And verse 21 For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Now when we think of the head, we think of the mind, we think of intelligence. You know, it's very interesting when you go through scripture. Here's a little tip that has really helped me in my study of the word of God and understanding context. Not just the context, but notice the the writer who God used.
To write what you're reading because God often put, or perhaps always put, the writers in certain circumstances, or chose writers with certain characteristics to give impact and moral weight to what they wrote. Now who better to write? He? He knew no sin. And concerning the head with the lamb in the in the 12Th of Exodus, who better to write that than the intellectual? Paul was the intellectual Paul was the one who I suppose by today's standards, we would say had gone to university.
He was the one who, perhaps again by today's standards, we might say had a had a masters or a PhD. Paul was the intellectual, and so God used him to record that the Lord Jesus knew no sin. OK, that's the head. Now let's go to First Peter, chapter 2.
First Peter, Chapter 2.
And uh, I'll just read the middle of verse 21 to get the context. Christ also suffered for us. Verse 22, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. This is the legs we think of. The legs we think of doing. So the the the head has to do with the mind. He knew no sin. The legs have to do with doing. He did no sin. Now who did God use as the inspired writer to record this? Peter?
Peter was the doer. You know I I like Peter. I think he was probably the multitasker. I I can relate to Peter. I like to have a lot of projects on the go and and be working on on different things. Peter was the doer, he was the one with the seemingly with the energy. I know sometimes he didn't said things before he thought about it but he was sincere and zealous and he really loved the Lord. And so the Lord uses God uses Peter to record that he did no sin.
But now let's get right to the heart of the matter and go to 1St John Chapter 3.
First Epistle of John, Chapter 3.
So we had the head. That was Paul. He knew no sin. We had the legs. That was Peter. He did no sin. But then there's the pertinence thereof that's the inwards. And here's what the apostle John says in first John chapter 3 and verse 5. And we know that he was manifest to take away our sins and in him was no sin. You see John, who writes so lovingly about the Lord Jesus.
Who brings before us the person of Christ? As the Son of God, He, I say, gets right to the heart of the matter. He doesn't just say he knew no sin. He doesn't say he did no sin. A lot of people will say, yeah, that's right, but John takes it even a step further. The pertinence thereof in him was no sin. So again, these three scriptures confirm, and there's many others, But these three scriptures confirm beyond the shadow of a doubt, the sinless humanity of the Lord Jesus.
And they correspond with this beautiful Old Testament illustration of the Passover lamb. Now what I want to do for a few moments is I want to know the seven things in connection with the keeping of this feast of the Passover. Again, they were about to be redeemed from by the blood of the Passover lamb. But there were seven things that were to characterize them. The night that they were, they were going to have this feast and the night that they were going to leave Egypt.
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Now maybe I better say this again. Remember this that the way of blessing.
Is always in connection with the death and the shedding of blood of an innocent victim. That's how it began with Adam and Eve in the garden. I know there's no mention of death or blood in connection with a victim there, but to have coats of skin provided for Adam and Eve when they send necessitated the death of an innocent victim or victims and its blood being shed. I suspect that that's why Abel understanding this and having heard the story.
From his parents as he grew up. That's why he brought a more excellent sacrifice than Cain in the he brought something from the flock. He realized that if he was going to be accepted before God, it had to be on the basis of a sacrifice in that way. And so again, that is always the way of blessing and will always be, even for those who are blessed in the Millennium and so on. It will be on the basis of death and the shedding of blood. Having said that, now we're going to go back here and we're going to notice, as I say.
Seven things in connection with this uh with this Passover. So first of all we find that they were going to have a feast. Now a feast would speak to us of rejoicing or happiness. You remember when the UH prodigal son returned from the Uh far country as a repentance center, There was a feast prepared. And they went into this feast, and there was music and dancing. The older brother heard that and so on, and it was a happy time.
Because God wants us young people to be a happy people, we sometimes sing that hymn happy people, happy though despised and poor. And so sometimes people look at Christians and think, you know, that must be a pretty dull and boring life, a pretty unhappy life. Well, there's a sobriety that is connected with Christianity and following the Lord, but there's a rejoicing and a happiness. And I want to encourage you when you go off to school and to work or you're with.
Other acquaintances in your day-to-day life, show it. Show that you're a happy person. You know, sometimes we sing that hymn happy people and we sing it something like this.
Happy people and we drag it. That's not the kind of people that God wants. No, He wants those we don't want to be.
Charismatic and I I I know sometimes this has been abused in certain Christian circles and so on. But again.
As with that, the world says, if you're happy, let your face show it. And so we ought to go about as a happy people. And so there was a feast prepared. Now what were they feasting on? They were feasting on the Rose lamb when the prodigal son returned to the Father's house, what did they feast on? They fed up, feasted on the fatted calf. Again, it speaks of Christ and his death for us. And what is going to give us joy and peace and rejoicing in our souls? It's to be enjoying the Lord Jesus Christ.
There are many other aspects of the person and work of Christ. We can enjoy and will speak of that in another meeting. But one of them, and of course first and foremost, is that we are feeding on Christ in connection with his death for us and the provision he's made through that, through that death. So there was to be this feast, but now I want to notice.
Some things that are listed here. First of all in verse 11. So the first thing is this was a feast, the feast of the Passover.
But now I want to notice in verse 11 The first thing is, and thus shall ye eat it with your loins girth. Now there's several thoughts in connection with the loins. Let's take a minute and turn very quickly to some scriptures in the New Testament that bring out what the loins being Gert would typify. Let's go first of all to Luke's Gospel chapter 12.
Luke's Gospel, chapter 12.
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And verse 35.
Let your loins be gird about, and your lights burning, and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord.
When he will return from the wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Now I think we all understand what it is to gird our loins. You know, still when I'm in the Middle East in the summer, uh, some of the men still wear the uh gala bears, the long robe and uh it's usually, uh, just let loose and flowing. Because that time of year when I'm over there, it's very, very hot and I've worn A gala Bay and they're actually very cool and comfortable to wear in that kind of of climate. But if you're going to move quickly, you have some purpose.
And you need to get along. What do you do? You gird it up. You tie it up. You, you, You make sure it's not flowing, that you're not. It's not going to hinder you. And so this is the thought in having our loins skirt first of all, here it tells us why we're to have our loins skirt. We're to have our loins girt in testimony, our lights burning as we walk through this world. We are to be lights for the Lord. It tells us in Philippians chapter 2 That you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God.
Without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as light in this world. You know, when the Lord Jesus was here in this world, he spoke of himself as the light of the world. But the Lord Jesus today is not the light of the world, because the Lord Jesus is not on earth the way he was when he walked amongst men 2000 years ago. And now he says to you and me, ye are the light of the world.
And we are to walk through this world as those that shine for the Lord and young people. I think it's a very serious thing to consider in the day in which we live, that perhaps the only light this world is going to see is what is shines in your life and mine, and especially in a day when they've closed the pages of God's Word generally. It's not read in public places or schools or whatever anymore. What light is the world going to see of Christ?
Today, it's what is what shines forth in the life of the believer. Also we find in this verse that were to be like those who are waiting for our Lord. So we are to live as those who are waiting for the Lord to return that we're not to, to live as those who are permanent. Here again, if you see someone in those countries where they still wear the Galileas and those rope, if you see them with their loins girt, you know they're not staying in the same place very long. They're on their way somewhere else.
And you and I need to walk through this world as those that are on our way to somewhere else. And that somewhere else, of course, is the Father's house when the Lord Jesus comes. Now let's go to Ephesians Chapter 6.
This, of course, is in connection with the Armor of God.
Ephesians chapter 6.
And verse 14 stand therefore having your loins gird about with truth. So we are to what's you know. The loins speak of power, you know the you, someone who can lift weights or when that you're working out, you use your, your, your, your loins. OK, so it's the it's the middle part of us here and it speaks of power or strength. But what is going to give us power and strength to stand against the enemy?
And to live for God's glory in the wicked world and we find ourselves in.
It's the truth of God. That's why we encourage you to read the Bible, read the word of God.
Absorb the truth and then stand for the truth. We're so often in Scripture we're told to stand, to stand fast. Timothy was told to continue in the things he had learned and so on. So I'll just leave that with you first, Peter, Chapter one.
And just the first expression of verse 13.
Wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind. I I wanna say a special word on this of warning. You know, there's a great deal today that would teach us and encourage us to empty your mind or to let your mind go. Sometimes. It's called meditation. Now, meditation in connection with Scripture.
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Is right and proper, of course. But you know, there's a lot coming in from Eastern religion and cult. And it all sounds good and pious at at the begin. On the surface they talk about relaxation, meditation, emptying your mind, letting your mind go. That is very dangerous. We are never taught to empty our mind in scripture. We are taught to bring our thoughts into conformity with the word of God.
We must have our minds governed by Scripture. If you try to empty your mind, the enemy has got lots to fill the vacuum. Don't create a vacuum. And so often in Scripture it speaks of the mind, sets your mind. I know the King James in Colossians says your heart, but if you notice Mr. Darby's translation, set your mind on things above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God, David said in the Old Testament By type he said, thou anointest my head with oil.
There was a special piece of armor for the head in Ephesians chapter 6, and so were to gird up the loins of our mind.
We're to bring every thought into captivity under the obedience of Christ.
So saturate your mind with the word of God. We need to get it down into our hearts as well. But saturate your mind with the word of God. I tell you, it will stand you in good stead against the Wiles and the attacks of the enemy. Now back in the 12Th chapter of Exodus, the third thing I want to mention is still in this 11Th verse. Shoes on our feet. Now we're not again, we're not gonna take time to turn to some other verses, but there are a number of scriptures that talk about shoes.
It says how beautiful are thy feet with shoes. I'm quoting from the book of Song of Solomon. Shoes would speak to us of a couple of things. It speaks to us of separation from this world. I have been out on the Sinai Peninsula some 13 times and traveled through a good cross section of it. I wouldn't want to be out there in my bare feet. It's hot desert sand with rock and other things. And you would certainly burn and cut your feet if you tried to walk across the Sinai without shoes.
And we need to walk through this world in separation from it, not isolation. I'm not an isolationist. I I I will listen to a newscast. I want to know what's going on in the world. If we isolate ourselves like the monks did in the early centuries, will never shine, as lights will never be a testimony in this world. But we need to walk through this world with spiritual shoes, shoes on our feet. Shoes also speak of of power and endurance. It says of Asher. And you can look it up in the book of Deuteronomy by shoe. Shall be as iron.
That's that's power. And as brass that's endurance. So there's power and endurance for you and I to walk through this world. If we are walking. Uh, in separation and with the Lord. OK, that's the shoes. Now I want to notice the, uh something else here. Umm, I wanna notice the uh staff.
Uh, let's see if we can, uh, focus on A first.
Oh yes, it's still in verse 11, I'm sorry. And your staff in your hand. Now again, very quickly, a staff in scripture speaks of support, It speaks of dependence. So David said, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Recently I went on a hike up Mount Souffrae on the island of Saint Vincent with some other young people, and it was good to have a stout staff in our hand to get over the rough spot and the climbing and so on.
And so Jacob, at the end of his life, Jacob was a very independent person. He thought he could do a lot of things on his own. But at the end of his life he he learned the need for dependence. It says he worshiped leaning on his staff. And so it speaks of dependence because we are to be a dependent people.
Now notice too in this same verse.
They were to eat it in haste, and so why were they to eat it in haste? They were to be an expectant people.
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Not just ready to March, but to be ready to leave Egypt at a moment's notice. And so you and I, we've already spoken of this. We're not just to be waiting for the Lord to come, but we are to be expecting the Lord to come at any moment. I can't tell you when the Lord is coming, but I know one thing. We are closer this morning to the Lord's coming than we have ever been before. And we ought to operate and act in this world as those who are expecting to leave at any moment.
Now if you drop down to verse 15, you'll have the, uh, sixth thing, seven days shall you eat unleavened bread? So the feast of the Passover was in connection with another feast, the feast of Unleavened Bread. Now leaven in Scripture is invariably a type of sin. Always. It's one of those illustrations, one of those things that never changes in its application.
And the Lord Jesus spoke of it twice in connection with the Pharisees, once in connection with their immoral life, their practices, and once in connection with their doctrine. It corresponds to what you have in the book of Corinthians and Galatians In Corinthians they were It speaks of unleavened bread in First Corinthians 5 because that's in connection with their moral life or immoral life. They were allowing things that the Lord's table that were.
Uh, that were sin that were not conducive to the Lord's table. Because one thing God always teaches his people is that sin is a thing that is not fit for his presence or for the presence of his people. And in Galatians it also speaks of a little leaven. 2 Two times it speaks of a little leaven leavens the whole lump in Corinthians in connection with the Absolute.
Immoral situation that was happening there. They were in fornication at the Lord's table, they were drunk at the Lord's table and so on.
But in Galatians there was another form of leaven, and that was doctrinal. Leaven. And so leaven has to do with those two types of of evil. But they were to keep evil, or 11, I'm sorry, out of their houses, out of their lives for seven days. I want to make just a little application. If you and I are going to find ourselves, by the grace of God at the Lord's table, to remember him in with with the Lord's Supper, we claim to be in His presence. What are we to do? We're to keep evil out of our lives for the whole week.
That's really, I believe, the practical lesson we learn from the fact that they were to keep living out of their houses for seven days if they were going to come and eat of the of the Passover.
The seventh thing I want to stress is that they were to eat it, but not only were they to eat it, but they were to eat it with bitter herbs, so he says.
Let's go back here to the verse 8. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire and unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Now again they were to eat it, because when we eat something, it becomes part of us. And eating in Scripture is always synonymous with the thought of fellowship or communion.
And so there was to be fellowship and communion, but they were to eat it with bitter herbs. The bitter herbs would speak to us of our entering in, in some little measure, to what the Lord Jesus suffered for us. Now we're going to quickly apply this in connection with the memorial that you and I have on Lord's Day Morning For Israel. Their memorial was the Passover, and they were told to keep it every year. They were to never forget.
What God did in redeeming them by the blood of the Passover lamb and bringing them out of Egypt, you and I have a memorial.
Our memorial is the remembrance of the Lord Jesus in the breaking of bread, not once a year or on a special occasion. But as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till he come. And that's why, before the Canon of Scripture was completed, we see in the Book of Acts that it was already the joy and exercise of the early believers to come together on the first day of the week to break bread. So we need this memorial.
We need it. We need it. Often I just say this, and I say this particularly to the young brothers who are starting to take part in the meetings and so on. And we're thankful to hear you, young brothers speak up and especially Lords the Morning and worship and so on. But I believe it is very good for our souls on Lord's Day morning to read from scripture something of the sufferings of Christ that's entering into the bitter herbs. You know, sometimes I sit in the breaking of bread and there's nothing read from scripture.
00:45:28
Concerning what the Lord Jesus suffered there on the cross, it's good to sing those hymns that bring before us in a very precious way the sufferings of Christ, again, not just at the hand of man.
But at the hand of God, O Christ, what burdens found thy head? Our load was laid on thee, and so on.
How good it is that's eating it with the bitter herbs that's entering in to something of the sufferings of Christ. Now I want to pass on very quickly to the next page before we end this morning again, please go back over the 12Th chapter. We've skipped a lot. There's a lot there for our meditation and connection with the person of Christ and in connection with our redemption. But I want to just speak a little bit for a few moments of the crossing of the Red Sea.
And that we have in the 14th chapter of Exodus. Let me just read the verse.
That I have quoted here on our page, verse 30. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore.
Now the night they ate of the Passover lamb, it satisfied the claims of God, the lamb being slain and the blood being shed satisfied God's claims. But they were still on Egyptian ground the day they the night they crossed the Red Sea, which was sometime later the night they crossed the Red Sea. They were no longer under the authority and claims of Pharaoh and the Egyptians.
In other words, the crossing of the Red Sea was completely delivered. So when they got to the Sinai Peninsula, they now had two things. They had redemption which took place the 9th of Passover Lamb was slain. The blood was placed on the door. That's what saved them. That's what saved the first born in each home and so on. But they were still on Egyptian ground. Now remember Egypt? Egypt speaks to us.
Of this world. And so God was going to deliver them now from the claims of Pharaoh and Egypt, because we won't turn to it. But in Galatians that well known verse says, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. You see, the cross of Christ separates us wholly from this world, you and I, who've been redeemed by the blood of the Passover lamb. We have also been delivered from this world and its claims and the judgment that is hanging over it by the Lord Jesus himself.
And so it was necessary that they passed through the Red Sea. And that's why after they passed through the Red Sea, then in the 15th chapter, they can finally sing this song as a redeemed and as a delivered people, they can sing as they look back and they see their enemies dead on the seashore. And so while it's true, the enemy seeks to to discourage and dishearten Christians, and we have an enemy as a roaring lion seeking whom?
Walking about, seeking whom he may devour. Yet you and I who know Christ as our Savior, we will never be part of this world again.
But I want to apply this in connection with how it is brought before us again in First Corinthians 10. Now instead of turning to it, I've quoted the verse at the bottom of our our page here. Moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea. Now notice this, And we're all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, the crossing of the Red Sea.
Is a figure of baptism. You know, there are certain things in the Old Testament, certain types and pictures that are so important for us to get ahold of that the New Testament confirms what they mean. Let me back up for a moment. When we say the Passover lamb is a picture of Christ's death for us, that's not some application. 1St Corinthians 5 tells us. Christ, our Passover is sacrificed for us.
00:50:07
That's what that sacrifice typified, and that's what it means from Exodus 12 when we say the crossing of the Red Sea is a figure of baptism. That's not just some application that older brethren have come up with. That's what it actually means. The New Testament here in the verse we have just read shows us that the children of Israel passing through the Red Sea, they it's a figure of baptism. Now why were they baptized under Moses?
Just hold your finger here before I comment on that and let's read a verse in Galatians chapter 3.
Galatians, chapter 3.
And verse 26 I'm sorry, verse 27. For as many of you as have been baptized unto into our it's actually unto Christ have put on Christ. Baptism is always unto someone. So when you and I are baptized in Christianity, we're baptized under Christ. They were baptized unto Moses because as I said earlier, Moses becomes a picture of the Lord Jesus.
He was the one that was gonna lead them out of Egypt. He was the one that was going to lead them through the Sinai Peninsula. They were now going to be under not the authority of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, but they were going to be under the authority of Moses. And that that's what baptism does it. Baptism in the various aspects in which it's taken up in Scripture always brings us from one ground onto into another. That's what water does generally in Scripture. It brings us from one place.
To another place, it brought the children of Israel from Egyptian ground out to the Sinai under the authority of Moses. And when we are baptized in Christianity, we're baptized under Christ. What we're really saying is, now that we are redeemed with the blood of Christ, we want to outwardly own His authority in our lives. We're saying that Christ is not just our Savior, but we're owning Christ as our Lord.
It's an outward thing, you know. I have heard of some young people.
Who refused to be baptized? I know they're believers. I know they're washed in the blood of Jesus. But they refuse to be baptized.
I often wonder why. You know, in some of the countries that I've had the privilege of visiting, when you are baptized, they understand the significance of baptism better than we do because it puts a mark of death on them. Baptism is always a sign of death. Always. Now, of course, we don't leave a person under the water. We bring them up when after they're baptized. And there's the thought of resurrection after. But baptism has the thought of death. It's owning our death with our it's owning that Christ died for us and that now we want to.
Own his authority that we are no longer part of the world. Positionally, we'll never get back to the world.
We've been delivered from it. It does say of the children of Israel, though, after they went through the Red Sea.
It says that in their hearts they returned into Egypt. You get that in the 7th chapter of Acts, where Stephen recounts their history. You know, you and I who know Christ will never be part of this world again positionally, but we can return in our hearts into Egypt and they wanted they lusted after those things that they had left behind. That's a little aside baptism though. It doesn't save us as far as our sins and our eternal destiny. I believe it is important in our lives and I want to read one more verse.
In one Peter, in connection with what Baptism? The practical effect of baptism.
First Peter, Chapter 3.
And verse 21 He's Speaking of Noah and the flood here. And then he says in verse 21 The like figure were unto even baptism doth also now save us. I'm going to skip the the italics for a moment by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So if we skip the italics, it seems that baptism is necessary for salvation.
But remember, salvation is taken up in different ways in the in the word of God, it isn't always the salvation of our sins. Salvation simply has to do with deliverance or a new ground and so on. And so it's not always in connection with the initial salvation that we need to put our sins away and make us fit for heaven. Now let's go back and read the verse again. The light figure were unto Baptism does also now save us not the pudding away of the filth of the flesh.
00:55:26
Now notice this but the answer of a good conscience toward God. I don't believe that a Christian who refuses to be baptized can really have a good conscience before God, because this is something that God has asked us to do. You know, it's interesting that when they were saved on the day of Pentecost and they asked Peter, what shall we do? He uses very strong language. He says, I commend you to be baptized.
That's pretty strong language, isn't it? I commend you to be baptized, and I feel that perhaps that's where I have sometimes failed. Believers have confessed the name of Christ. They've been saved, and I haven't stressed perhaps that the next, very next step is baptism. And I don't believe when a person is saved there needs to be the waiting for baptism, the Ethiopian eunuch, when he was saved there reading the 53rd of Isaiah.
With the Evangelists there to explain it to him, and the power of the Spirit of God.
Why? That chariot never didn't go very far until they came to some water, and the Ethiopian eunuch said, what hinders me to be baptized? And Philip went down and baptized him. So it's a very important aspect of our lives. But again, they were redeemed by the blood of the Passover lamb in Egypt. They were delivered by a mighty hand by the power of God, from the authority of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, and from Egypt, the type of this world, through the Red Sea. And in the 15th chapter they sing as a rejoicing people. Again, I know we've covered a lot of ground.
But I hope you'll go back over those scriptures and meditate on them.
Luke 4:1-15 Part 1
Reading
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62 if someone can start that.
I said amazing the president every night for a year and wander out because of me transparent, condemned by his brain.
How marvelous.
So wonderful.
It reigned on my will, upon my.
Height and thumbnail. Sorry.
Green blood, sweat, drops of blood bore my mind.
Umm, great and summer and I love.
The Brown Wonderful.
And my son tell everything.
Oh my God.
I will be in my no my incredibly.
Dangerous.
And I'm all I need.
How I would love.
Wonderful. And my son.
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Two Lukes Gospel Chapter 4, where we were yesterday.
And I think what we'll do, we talked about it in a general way. So perhaps, uh, Nathan will read the whole thing again just to keep it in context. So for loop 4 verses one through 15.
All right, Luke. Luke, Chapter 4.
And Jesus being born like the Holy Ghost, the true Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.
The 40 days tempted of the devil, and in those days he did eat nothing, and when they were ended, he afterward hunger. And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command his stones, that it be made bread.
And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
In the devil, taking him up into a high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of that, for that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I get it.
If thou therefore will worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan. For it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. And he brought it to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from him. It is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee.
And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thy dash thy foot against the stone. And Jesus answering, cut unto him. It is said that shall not tempt the Lord thy God. And the devil had ended all the temptation. He departed from him for a season.
And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and there went out of fame with him through all the region round about, and he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.
Just before we mentioned these three specific temptations.
Just stress again that you find as you trace through the life of the Lord Jesus that it was a life completely in the power of the Spirit of God, because the Spirit of God, as we've already said, is the mighty energy in which God has always moved. So let me just quickly give you some examples.
In Matthew's Gospel in connection with the incarnation of the Lord Jesus, his birth, it says that holy thing that shall be begotten of thee is begotten. Born of thee is begotten of the Holy Ghost.
Now I realize in the King James it says conceived, but if you notice your margin, and it's the way Mr. Darby translates it lates it, it is begotten. And it's a very, very important truth to hold on to because the woman conceives, the man begets. And so again, as we have said in these meetings before, the Spirit of God is so very, very careful whenever you have the manhood of the Lord Jesus, His incarnation.
Very careful to guard the eternity of this person. He was the eternal Son of God. Yes, Mary was the instrument that God used to bring the Lord Jesus into this world, but he was the only begotten of his Father. That's why the Lord Jesus said 12 years of age very gently corrected his mother in the temple. She said your father and I have sought for the sorrowing. The Lord Jesus very gently corrected her. He said, wish you not that I must be about my Father's business.
And it's interesting that in Scripture, Joseph is never referred to other than in by Mis in in a mistaken connotation like what Mary said. He has never referred to as the Lord's Father. Mary was his mother because she was the instrument used to bring him into the world, but it is always God who is his Father. So he was begotten of the Holy Ghost. Then, as we have noticed, we find that at his baptism.
The Spirit of God descended upon him in the bodily form of a dove. There are two times in Scripture where the Spirit of God becomes momentarily visible. That's one of them. Who can think somebody else? Help me? Who can think of the other time the Spirit of God became momentarily visible?
00:10:11
The fire coming down from heaven on the umm Apostle, Yeah. On the day of Pentecost, when the 120 or so were gathered together, the Spirit of God came and rested upon them in cloven tongues of fire. Thank you, Clement. So these are the only two times. But it was important that it happened there because it was to mark out the Lord Jesus at his baptism, lest there be any doubt in the minds of those who stood on who the Lord Jesus was. He was the anointed 1.
He was the one of the Father. You remember just a little aside, but you remember when Noah let the dove out of the ark, it found no place for the to rest its foot until the Lord Jesus came and the dove finally found a place of rest in on the Lord Jesus, the perfect man walking here in this world. And the dove comes to light on him. The Spirit of God comes to light on him in the bodily form of a dove. Then we find that when he goes into the temple at the beginning of his public ministry.
He reads in the book of Jeremiah, the place where it says, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, preach the gospel, and so on. So to confirm that his whole public ministry was in the power of the Spirit, It says of his death, It says, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, His death on the cross within the power of the Spirit, as far as His resurrection.
It says in Corinthians, he was put to death in the flesh, quickened or made alive by the Spirit. So I just say that it's, it's, it's, it's a beautiful study. And it's very important to see how the whole life and work of the Lord Jesus was in the power of the Spirit. And so as we noticed yesterday, he was LED of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted.
Now the reason I bring this out young people is because we have an example for us now. He, the Lord Jesus was perfect, I understand that, but he left us an example that we should follow in His footsteps. And what is the power for your life and mind? It's the Spirit of God and your life and mine as believers Now being indwelt with the Spirit of God, it ought to be one completely in the power of the Spirit as the Lord Jesus gave us the example.
I wanna point out too that this little expression in verse 3.
And the devil said unto him, I want you to notice this, if thou be the Son of God. Now if we were to go back to Genesis, the first recorded words of Satan in the Old Testament are half. God said immediately trying to raise the doubt in the mind of Eve. Did God really say that? Raising a doubt as to the spoken word of God? And then when the living word came, the eternal word, the Lord Jesus.
The first recorded words of Satan in the New Testament are, if thou be the Son of God, immediately trying to raise a doubt in the mind of the Lord Jesus. What's he really who he said he was? And I believe that the enemy has been busy all down through the history of man to raise a doubt as to those two things to apply to you and me today. He's trying to raise the doubt as to the word of God we hold in our hands. Is this really the word of God?
Has God really said that?
And then seeking to raise the doubt in the minds of folks, if the Lord Jesus really who he said he was, was he really the eternal Son of God? Was He really the sinless Son of God? And so that is the great attempt of the enemy.
And I know if you haven't experienced it yet, you're going to experience it even from those who profess Christianity and perhaps are real. They're going to question because Satan Satan's great attempt is to question the Word of God, the written Word, and the living Word as as to the person of the Lord Jesus.
So we noted yesterday that there are three specific temptations given to us in Scripture. We realized that the the devil tempted the Lord for 40 days, but these were three special temptations that are recorded for us for a very, very specific reason. And we noticed that in Luke's gospel they are in a different order than in Matthew's gospel, because in Luke's gospel they're given to us.
00:15:08
To correspond with what the Apostle John said, let's go to first John and see that first John chapter 2.
First John chapter 2 and verse 16.
For all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, that's one, the lust of the eyes, that's two, and the pride of life, that's three. So there are these three things that the enemy uses. Now someone has said that perhaps these three things affect us in a special way at three different points in our lives, and I think to some degree that's true.
Perhaps the loss of the flesh is what we experience more when we're young, however young people.
Don't ever think that the lust of the flesh, that Satan's attempt as is to the lust of the flesh, ever becomes any easier as we get older. It does not. Satan does not give up in that way. Then there's the lust of the eyes. Some have have suggested that's more during the prime of life. We see things that we want and covered and desire. We work hard. We set our goals on goal on it.
Well, that may be true, but I I'm not so sure. That doesn't affect us at all points in our lives, even when we're young and certainly when we get older. And then there is the pride of life. And I I agree that does come a little later.
Scripture speaks of an old and foolish king who will no longer be admonished.
That's the pride of life. So we'll speak of this perhaps a little more, but just notice then back in our chapter in verse 4.
Uh, and Jesus answered him saying, uh, or let, let me uh back up here, uh, verse three. And the devil said unto him, if thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. Now remember the Lord Jesus was a real man. He felt things the way we do sent apart, but he was hungry.
Scripture tells us that in the verse before he hadn't eaten for 40 days, he was very, very hungry. But remember, the temptations here are all from without, not from within. You know, when we're tempted, we have the flesh within us that still corrupt. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. It never changes, even in a believer. And we have something within that will respond, all the temptations for the Lord Jesus.
We're strictly from without. The devil cometh and hath nothing in me, it says on another occasion. And so the Lord Jesus, I want to notice the answer here, verse four. And Jesus answered him, saying, it is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. Now I think it was already mentioned that in each case here, the Lord Jesus never argues with the devil.
Never tries to fight with the devil, he simply quotes the word of God and on all three occasions he quotes from the book of Deuteronomy.
Which is very significant because Deuteronomy is one of the books that over the centuries has come under fire from the critics as to whether it's really part of the word of God and so on. But the Lord Jesus gives it veracity here, I believe, anticipating what the critics would come up with. He gives it veracity here by quoting all three times, uh, from the book of Deuteronomy. But he quote, the point is he quotes the word of God.
Meets the devil, as we said in the afternoon or maybe it was this morning May wasn't this afternoon. We said we spoke of the sword of the spirit. It's the word of God used in communion by the spirit that's going to do that's going to have its effect on on the devil when it comes to tempted.
Should we read what happened in Genesis?
Yes, please.
OK.
But where should I start?
It was.
For whatever you have on your heart, Andres, yeah, please, there's more. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. For God doth know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God's knowing good and evil.
00:20:19
And when the woman saw that the tree was loose, as soon as it was pleasant to the eyes, and the tree to be desired to make one wise, he took the fruit thereof and didn't eat, and gave also unto her husband and her, and he and he.
In the eyes of them both were open and they knew that they were naked and they so we used together and made themselves a place.
For six, that's, that's, uh, we're, uh, you were talking about the three ways the devil uses to.
And, uh, like you said, it's in the right order. The rest of the flesh, uh, she saw that the tree was filled with food in this case, and then.
The last of the.
I she saw, and then it was pleasant to the eyes, and then the fried applied.
And agree to be desired to make one wise.
I think that, yeah, like you said, that does come to everyone of us.
Should be in separate times, but the natural man wants to.
Once these things and I guess that's why the devil wants knows what to attack us with.
And uh.
I'd like to know your loop chapter four. We have a way to.
Uh.
Lancing those kinds of temptations that, like we have said before, it's with the word of God.
So this is how we resist the devil turn turn to a verse in James chapter 4.
That gives us some good instruction that follows up on what Andreas has just said. James Chapter 4.
And verse seven, we're gonna notice two things here.
James chapter 4 and verse seven. Submit yourselves therefore unto God.
Resist the devil and he will flee from you. So how do we submit ourselves under God? Well, it's the word of God, isn't it? It's bringing the word of God into our lives. But then how do we re? But. And in doing that, then we we're resisting the devil.
So we have confidence in God, we submit to His will, and we bring the word of God in as we have with the example of the Lord Jesus. And we're never told to fight the devil. You and I are no match for the devil. Now I maybe this illustration won't work so well for your generation, but you know what a chimney sweep is. OK, So do they still have them around for big chimneys and big houses? Probably so.
But you know, a chimney sweep gets pretty dirty. A chimney sweep cleans the soot out of chimneys and you get filthy. And someone has said you'll get pretty dirty hugging a chimney sweep and you'll get pretty dirty fighting a chimney sweep. So of course, we don't want to ever embrace the things of Satan, but we'll get just as dirty trying to fight Satan as as well. What do we do? We resist the devil. How do we resist the devil?
In Ephesians 6, where we read earlier, we stand fast, we don't run and we don't move forward. We stand fast with the sword of the spirit and the armor of God. Sword of spirit, part of the armor of God, and we stand fast and we meet the devil in that way. I say we never run either because it's very interesting when you read the account of the the armor that denoted there in Ephesians 6.
There's no armor for the back, never any armor for the back. It's never assumed that we're gonna turn and flee. We're to flee evil and flee fornication and so on. But we're never told to flee from the devil. I've heard little choruses about running from the devil and so on. Uh, that's, that's not accurate. We stand fast, we use the word of God and we resist the devil. And what's the re result?
00:25:18
The devil flees from us, and so that's what happened, isn't it, with the Lord Jesus. He resisted the devil with the Word of God and what happened? Satan left him for a time. That's again the example, the perfect example for you and for me. But young people, that's why you have to store up your mind with the Word of God. If you don't read the Word of God, the Spirit of God can't bring scripture back to you at the at a time when you need it.
The Spirit is the remembrance, Sir, and you'll never remember something you didn't read or hear from the Word of God. So you've got to read the Word of God, Saturate your mind with it. You know, when I was younger, I heard the scriptures read and expounded from my parents, from the brethren at meeting and so on. You know, I didn't understand a lot of it, but I heard it and I read it. And as I've gotten older, the Spirit of God has brought it back to me at times when I needed it. Scriptures I didn't even realize were.
I had stored up and the Spirit of God brought them back just at the right time when there was some temptation or difficulty in my life.
What's the difference between?
Resisting the devil and fleeing from evil. What are some examples?
Well, to flee from evil is to get as far away from it as you can. So it says, uh, not even to look at it. The surpass, not by turn away and, uh, and so on. I'll give you an, an example. Now, again, this is a, an example from a past era, but I think you'll get the point. Back in England in the, uh, early days, there was a very wealthy man who, uh, had, uh, carriages and coaches and horses and so on.
And he lived in a, uh, great Manor house at the top of a hill and there was a steep, winding, narrow Dr. that ran up to the, up this hill to his home. And so he needed to, to, uh, hire a coachman. And so there were several applied for the job. And when they came in for the interview, one of the questions he asked them was how close could you go to the edge of the driveway and not go over?
And some of them had great explanations on how they were expert horsemen and they could come so close and so on. And finally he asked one man. He said, why Sir, I stay as far away from the edge as possible. He said, you're the man for the job. You're the man I want. The others might be very skilled, but maybe the horse would give alerts or something and or be spooked and or some gravel would roll and he'd go over the edge. No, this man wanted a coachman that stayed as far away from the precipice as he could.
And that's what we are to do. If we if we put ourselves in vulnerable situations, we're going, we're opening ourselves for a fall as far as the temptations of the devil.
If we see or hear something now, young people I know sometimes at school and at work and so on, you can't help it. And the Lord can give you the grace to get through. But if we, if we knowingly put ourselves in a in a bad situation, we're leaving ourselves open for trouble. If we come to a situation where there's evil being discussed or practiced, what are we to do? We're to get out of there right away. And if we don't?
Then the devil is going to get an advantage. So we flee evil. We get as far away from it as possible. I'll give you an example from the Old Testament. Joseph, he was tempted by Potiphar's wife. She kept after him and after him, and finally, when she grabbed his coat, what did he do? He fled. He got as far away as he could. That's fleeing evil. Now, when it comes to the devil again, we can't flee from the debt. We don't flee from the devil. We don't try to fight the devil.
We simply resist the devil by with the armor of God lifting the shield of faith, resting on the word of God, the sword of the Spirit, and uh, we meet the devil in in that way. And if we do.
Then he flees from us. Maybe you have something to add, John. No, that was good. Thank you.
00:30:11
So the next temptation then is the lust of the eyes. Let's read verse five. And the devil taking him up into a high mountain showed him all the kingdoms of this world, of the world in a moment of time. Not interesting. A moment of time. You know, that's what the kingdoms of this world really are. They're just for a moment of time. And how many kingdoms have risen and fallen throughout the history of man? And when it's all said and done and this world is finished.
At the end of the Millennium, the kingdoms of this world are in view of eternity. They're just for a moment of time. Now, I wanna say this in a practical way, young people, what do we want? What are we seeking? Are we seeking something of this world to be great in the kingdoms of men, to be great in this world for a moment of time? Or are we seeking the Kingdom of God, that which is going to last for eternity and have eternal value?
Why would the Lord Jesus want the kingdoms of this world for a moment of time?
When he knew that there was a Kingdom going to be given to him by his father in the coming day, and it says he shall reign forever and ever. And so he could refuse that which was just temporal, just for a moment of time, just passing.
Now you might say what? How could the devil do this? Offer him the Kingdom of this world? Well, Satan is the Prince of this world. He's the Prince of this world politically. He's the God of this world religiously, but he's the Prince of this world politically. And he will be until the prophecy of the time is fulfilled when it says the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our, of our God and of his Lord.
That is yet future. He's going to take it all back in the coming day. But again, Satan is the Prince of this world. You know, my mother had an interesting expression. She said it's a higher up you get in this world the closer you get to the Prince of it. Is that interesting? If we strive to be high in this world, we get close to the Prince of this world. Now I I don't wanna be misunderstood. God has used great men and women in this world.
And Daniel was promoted in his business the under each of the kings and so on. But I believe it's what we strive after. God may give us a position where we can be a testimony and a light for him. But the question is, what are our hearts striving after? Daniel never, never strolled to be next to the king or great in the kingdoms of this world. God placed him there and used him in a wonderful way. But I believe we need to be careful. Yes, you need to get through university or college or.
A vocation, whatever it may may be, whatever you feel you the Lord is calling you to. But, uh.
Don't strive to get ahead in this world. Work hard. Do all to the glory of God.
And God will give you the position that He wants you in, and He will place you just where He can use you, just where you're needed as a testimony.
So this is the lust of the eye.
So he offers him all this in verse six, but there is a, uh, there's a criteria given verse seven. If thou will worship me, all shall be thine. You see, the enemy had Satan hadn't changed. Satan had risen up in the beginning and uh, in his pride and sought worship, cast out of heaven. It hadn't changed him in any way. And Satan still desires that today.
You know, I've been appalled to realize how, how much Satan worship is really seeping into the Western world. It's, it's been for thousands of years in the heathen world. But it, it really scares me. I live in a small town of 9000 people in, in basically rural Ontario. You know, on Halloween, there's a lot of actual Satan worship and animal sacrifices and so on that go on.
00:35:09
That's not in Nigeria or Guyana, South America, that's right in rural Ontario. And so we need to be very, very careful. Satan is still seeking worship, worship. But I would like to say this about worship. It is only deity that we worship. We worship the Father and we worship the Son. You know, John the Baptist, John the Baptist, John the John the Evangelist tried to worship in Revelation, the Angel, I think twice.
And the Angel said to him, See that thou do it not. I am thy fellow servant, worship thou him. We only ever worship a deity. I know under the old British order of things. And even today there are those in political office who are respectfully referred to as Your Worship. But that's not really, really scriptural.
Well then there was the 3rd temptation and as we said, it's in connection with the pride of life. Again we have the order in first John, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. And I suppose again, the pride of life is something that affects us more as we get older. But perhaps it even effects, if I can put it this way, older young people perhaps. Yet they we the tendency is to look at some of the younger ones coming along and feel.
That you have more experience and you've arrived at a different station along life than than the others. And so again, I think to some degree these three things affect us all, uh, although perhaps more in different stages of our life. So the devil in verse nine, he brings the Lord to the pinnacle of the temple. He said, how could he do that? Well, we're not told how he did it and it's not for us to know. And we could sit here and discuss it all day and not be anymore ahead or edified. But the scripture says that the devil does that. He brings them to the pinnacle of the temple.
Tells him to cast himself down, quotes the scripture from the Old Testament that the angels will take care of him, and so on.
But the Lord Jesus, again he answers with a with a verse of Scripture, verse 12, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
I think there's a broad application of this too. You know, it's good to learn to trust the Lord, but we never want to tempt the Lord. What I mean by that is.
If I go up on the roof of this building tonight and decide to jump off and say, well the Lord will protect me and he's got a host of angels and camping round about me and so on, I'm tempting the Lord. That's just absolute foolishness. Now if I'm up on the roof of this building trying to repair a leak or something and I slip and fall, the Lord can take care of me. So there's, there's quite a difference. So we never want to put ourselves in a situation where we are tempting the Lord.
Going beyond what we, what the common sense, if I can put it that way, that the Lord has given us, yes, he does take care of each one of us, but we're never to put ourselves in a vulnerable situation, uh, on purpose.
Is there any significance in like the location that he takes him? Like he takes him to the pinnacle of the temple or that mountain so you can see the world a minute or the stones, uh, changing the stones. Is there any significant in those particular items in place?
I I'm not I'd like to hear what someone else says. I would only suggest this that Satan being the God of this world, he takes him to that which is reality. The the the temple was still at that time owned of God. It was still owned by the Lord Jesus as the center. Later on it was disowned. Later on when he was fully rejected, he said your house is left to you desolate, but at this time it was still God's center.
For worship and the enemy always seeks to mix as the God of this world religiously and as an Angel of light, he always seeks to mix that which is, which is true and that which is false. That is always the work of the enemy. I suggest that that may be one reason why it is centered at this, at the TE, at the temple. There may be more to it than that. But having traveled around the world to various places where something other than Christianity is the order of the day and the profession of the country.
00:40:21
You realize very quickly how much overlap there is in false religion, you know, Hinduism, Buddhism, uh, heathendom, umm, Islam, you know, they, they take a lot from Christianity and from the Bible.
And it's mixed together with that which is false. So I I suggest that that may be what the devil was seeking to do, mix that which was reality, the really the truth and God center with that which was a lie.
Well, our our time is gone as far as our schedule goes, but just say that in in conclusion that in the 14th and 15th verses. Then we have the beginning of the Lord Jesus public ministry. So again he returns in the power of the spirit. He had been LED of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted. He had met the the temptations of the devil with the word of God and now.
Have God having shown the fact that His Son was the sinless Son of God, now He starts His public ministry as a man. He starts it in the power of the Spirit, and there's great blessing as a result. So I just say this in conclusion. Maybe there's a young person here and you're going through some real temptation or trial in your life. God may be preparing you for something special in His service.
If you follow the example of the Lord Jesus in the way that He met the temptation in the wilderness, then you can go forth to like the Lord Jesus and the power of the Spirit and have an effective ministry. It may not be a public ministry like the Lord had, but young people, remember this. Everyone of you here who know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, our ministers, your ministers of Christ, He has a little ministry for you to do.
I don't know what it is. You've got to get before the Lord and He'll tell you what it is. It may not be public, it may be more private, but that's not the issue. It's doing that little ministry for Him in the power of the Spirit. And so if you're going through some trial or temptation, special temptation, don't be discouraged. Meet it with all the resources that you have in Christ. And I believe then the Lord will use you in a tremendous way.
Maybe someone has a hymn we can conclude with from either book.
S.
In the Blue Book.
53 Thank you.
All right, straight as well.
Now it's turning back low. Turning back.
And Christ before me.
The world we are.
Great, and Christ before me.
00:45:04
The world behind me.
And Christ before.
OK.
It's all about.
Why I can't see you?
How's life going?
I'm behind the door.
That's a very serious prayer we've just sung. And I hope and trust is the desire of each of our hearts to follow Jesus and not go back because.
Q&A 1
Q&A
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
01/14, OK. So thanks Kyle.
And they're on the way. There is a day and they'd return.
And I'm not familiar with.
Him.
Umm, love everything. Everything.
'S good.
Hand.
My Thunder and everything that I'm going to do all right.
I'm resting there and.
Glory.
Nsnoise.
Umm, do you think? Umm.
What's the ring?
00:05:14
So we have some questions this evening that report in the box, we actually have about 7, we have seven of them. Some of them we can answer in short order I think and others perhaps will take a little more time. So what we'll do as in other years, I'll read the question, I'll make a few suggestions and then wait and hopefully somebody else has something to add on and sometimes a question leads to a question.
As well. So the first question is how did people age in Bible times? Were they young people at the age of 100? So I assume the person that's asking this is speaking perhaps more specifically before the flood. So before the flood, the people live to be hundreds of years of age. There was about 1600 years or so between Adam and Noah.
It's very interesting. If you look at a timeline, we read their stories one after another.
But we don't realize that when men live to be 8 or 900 plus years of age, many of those men overlapped and some for several 100 years. So some of them knew each other. Uh, even though you don't realize that when you read their story. Uh one after another in the umm in the Bible, in the book of Genesis, So before the flood as we know, people live to be even over 900 year years of age. Now as we often have pointed out, the oldest person recorded person.
To live before the flood with Methuselah. He lived to be 969 years. Nobody as far as recorded scripture goes, made it to 1000 years. I'll think of that in a few minutes. But no one made it to 1000 years. That's reserved for something else. After the flood, the average age seemed to drop to about 120. Now the reason I say that is if you go through and between the flood and the giving of the law.
Men live different ages, some more, some less. But if you average it out, the average age after the flood dropped to about 120 years. But now I want to read a verse in Psalm 90.
The 90th Psalm.
And verse 10.
Now, before I read this, if you notice the the context of the song given by the title. And as we pointed out many times, the titles of these psalms were not added by the translators. They're inspired. And many of the titles of the song give us the author of the song, not the one who was used by inspiration to write it. Not all the songs were written by David. Many were. Some were written by others, some were not told who wrote them.
But if you notice the author of this Psalm, it's a prayer of Moses, the man of God.
So this was written no doubt sometime shortly after the giving of the law that gives us the context of what we're going to read now. So notice verse 10, what Moses says. The days of our years are three score years and 10 and if by reason of strength they be 4 score years, yet is their strength labor and sort sorrow for it is soon cut off and we fly away. So it seems that with the giving of the law.
Moses then tells us that the average age has dropped to 70 years of age, 3 score years, and 10. Now, of course, some people don't live that long, some people live a lot longer, but all that we are promised is 3 score and 10 years. If we're given more, it tells us there's going to be some hardships and difficulties, some physical limitations, and so on. So this gives us an idea of the progression.
Of aging from the creation down to now. Now you to answer this question more specifically.
What was the aging process like before the flood? Well, I would suggest, and I I I want to be careful. We're not going to be dogmatic on this because there's many things scripture doesn't tell us. But I would suggest that from the activities of those individuals before the flood that probably a middle-aged man was 500 years of age.
00:10:14
If 35 is middle age now, more or less. I know they keep pushing it up. But if 35 is middle age now according to scripture, 3 score years and 10 and people lived before the flood to be almost 1000 years of age, I suggest that a 35 year old man was probably in his in his prime. God wouldn't. It wouldn't have been merciful of God to allow someone to become an old man at 100 or 200.
And to live for hundreds of years with limitations. And like I say, when you read the activity of these people and they bore children at several, 100 years of age, they were still having sons and daughters. So it meant that the aging process was very different than it was today.
I'll leave it open for a minute if someone else has something and then I want to add just a little addendum to this.
So let's turn to Isaiah 66 and let's jump ahead to the to a future day after the church is gone.
Isaiah Chapter 66.
By your turn. Now just say this. You know, I've often thought of people living before the flood, hundreds of years of age. Imagine sitting around and talking about something and saying, now, did that happen 300 years ago or 400? I mean, you laugh, you smile. But imagine being able to think back over that many years. Some of us who are getting a little older think it's great to think back over 50 or so years and remember what we did when we were children.
But imagine being able to look back and all the generations you would have seen just, uh, something A little bit aside from scripture, but something I've I've thought about. Now let's notice in Isaiah 66 and verse 20 and they shall bring your breath. Uh, no, I'm sorry. Umm.
Maybe it's 65. I'm sorry. Isaiah 65 and verse 20. There shall be no more hands than infant of days, nor an old man that has not fulfilled his days.
Now notice this, for the child shall die and 100 years old, but the Sinner being 100 years old, shall be a curse. Now I don't want to go into all what we have here, but in these chapters at the end of Isaiah we have brought before us something of what the Millennium is going to be like, the thousand year reign of Christ on earth, and death. While there will be death in the Millennium and sin will be judged every morning, yet death will not be as prevalent in the Millennium, in fact as long as people don't outwardly sin.
Because it's actions that are judged in the Millennium. As long as people do not outwardly sin, they're going to go on and live.
To be 1000 years old. Remember I said there was nobody recorded in the early history of man in scripture that lived to be 1000 years old. I suggest that it is safe for the Millennium. And here we find in connection with the aging process a child mentioned at 100 years of age. Now we're not going to go into all the insurance and outs of what these verses are saying, but just to merely point out that at 100 years of age in the Millennium.
A person is still looked at as a child, so the aging process will be very different and go back, I suppose to something like it was before before the flood.
Now the next question.
Very interesting the way it's worded. Please briefly outline Paul's doctrine well.
There's, it's a good question. I I will grant you it's a very good question.
It's impossible really to briefly outline Paul's doctrine, but let's talk for a few minutes about what it is and look at a couple of scriptures. We get this expression from a verse in Second Timothy chapter 3. Let's go to it.
Second Timothy, chapter 3 and verse 10.
But just the first expression. But thou hast fully known my doctrine. Now Paul is writing at the end of his life. This epistle is the last epistle that Paul wrote by divine inspiration and he's writing to a young man. And Paul realizes he's about to lay down his life and that his ministry is over.
00:15:23
And that what was given to him to record as doctrine or teaching, because that's what the word doctrine is. It's merely teaching that that was complete now that there was nothing more going to be revealed to him.
By inspiration. And so Paul had passed on this truth that he had been given to Timothy, who was to pass it on to faithful men who would be able to teach others also and pass it on down the line. You get that at the beginning of the second chapter of this epistle. Now what is Paul's doctrine? Well, without being specific, Paul's doctrine, or he refers to it in Romans as my gospel.
It was everything that was given to the Apostle Paul to pen by divine inspiration in the epistles that he wrote to give us the truth of Christianity. That's a very, very brief summary of what Paul's doctrine was. Now let me just give you a few sentences to help to qualify or develop that Paul's doctrine opens to us the truth of the Church of God.
It's called a mystery, the mystery of the church that was given to the Apostle Paul.
Now just say this young people, that that's why we need Paul's doctrine or Paul's teaching. There are many true Christians, pious Christians who love the Lord, who do not read Paul's ministry, and they're very confused on Christian position. They don't understand what the church is. They don't understand what its calling is, what its hopes and goals are, Paul's doctrine.
Separates us from this world.
In every way, except that we're still physically in it. Our hopes, our goals, our aspiration, our connection with this world has been completely severed. We took that up this morning when we spoke of how it's the cross of Christ that separates us completely and positionally from this world. So that's part of Paul's doctrine, the truth of the church. What the church? The the responsibility of the church.
As being heavenly, but still here in this world Paul S doctrine also gives us.
The hope of the Lord, The truth of the Lord's coming. You know, all the New Testament writers in some way bring in some aspect of the truth of the Lord's coming. But if you don't get it from Paul's teaching, you're not really going to understand the series of events that's going to take place. And you're not going to understand the difference between the Lord coming for us to call us to the Father's house and then the Lord coming back with us to reign on the earth.
You're not gonna understand his coming on the cloud and his coming with clouds and coming back to earth later on and.
The Millennium and our and and all that kind of thing in connection with the Lord's coming is spelled out very clearly in Paul's teaching. Why are people, Christians confused about the Lord's coming? Because they're not reading and following Paul's teaching on the subject. Now let's go to Ephesians 4 for another verse. Again, we've got to be very brief on these.
Ephesians chapter 4 and verse one.
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called. A vocation is simply a calling. Sometimes young people opt for a vocational school rather than a university. They're not book studious, but they have some skill or ability. They feel they're called to be a plumber or an electrician or a Carpenter.
Or something in the trades. And so they opt for a vocational school. And you and I have a calling, a vocation as well, and it's spelled out in Paul's doctrine, in Paul's ministry, in the first three chapters of Ephesians. It's brought before us, perhaps unique to any other book in that again it severs us from this world in every way, and that we are positionally seen in Christ and seated in heavenly places. And that our position and Our Calling is?
00:20:04
Is heavenly again. We don't have time to develop that now. One more verse in Colossians.
Chapter One.
Colossians Chapter One.
And verse.
25 Whereof I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you. Now notice this to fill, to fulfill the word of God, or to complete. Mr. Darby translates this word fulfilled, complete. And then he says, even the mystery which has been hid from the ages and from generations, but now it's made manifest to his Saints, and so on. So Paul was used to reveal.
Secret. That's what the word mystery means in the New Testament. Not something that's hard to discern or that'll never get solved like mysteries today, but it's a secret that was kept from man in the past.
Within the counsels of God. But now it's revealed. And who is it revealed by? It's revealed through the Apostle Paul and a number of times. Maybe this is a little homework. Search out the number of times Paul speaks of the mystery that was revealed through him. And it's always in a little different context. The mystery of his will, The mystery of the church and and so on. Here, it's the mystery that was hit. But what I want, what I want to notice here.
That it was given to the Apostle Paul to complete the word of God.
What he's really saying is, young people, there's no revelation beyond what the apostle Paul was given. I know John wrote later than the apostle Paul, but John didn't bring out any new things. He said no new commandment, right I unto you. But that which you have received from the beginning as far as the truth of Christ and the church and the calling of the church, there's nothing beyond Paul's revelation. If someone comes along and tells you there's new revelation today.
It's a red light. Turn to this verse and show them that it was given to Paul to complete the word of God. That's again, very brief. Maybe someone has something to add that could be helpful.
So Paul's ministry then. In summary, Paul's doctrine teaches us what we are as a heavenly people. That's the bottom line of Paul's teachings. It associates us with Christ in Heaven where he is now.
So the next question is very interesting and this is a question I've seen come up a few times, uh, recently in my experience, and I I think it's it's helpful. The question is, is Satan omnipresent? And if he is not, why do we often make it sound like he is? It's a very good question. No, Satan is a created being. Satan is not. I'm going to point out three things that he is not.
He is not omnipresent, He is not omnipotent. That's all powerful. And he is not omniscient. That's all knowing. Those three things are reserved for deity and deity alone.
Sometimes as this question indicates, we asked like Satan is everywhere and knows everything. Let's answer this part of the question first, is Satan omnipresent? No. Again, Satan's a created being. However, in the scripture to think well before I say that what let's let's let's understand that when Satan was cast out of heaven because he rose up in pride against God, when he was cast out of heaven there was a vast host.
Of Underlords or fallen angels, demons, whatever term you want to use.
That followed him a vast host and Satan. Though he is not omnipresent, he has a vast host of underlords or demons that go about at his bidding. And they they are going about doing several things, trying to keep the unbeliever from coming under the good of redemption and deliverance. Just like Pharaoh and his host typified as we had this morning, they are also trying to distract and discourage and confuse and weary the people of God.
00:25:00
And get them to sin and to spoil their testimony and so on. But it isn't always that the devil is present at the time. However, there are different events in Scripture where Satan did not leave it to one of his underlords, events that were so paramount in the mind of Satan that Satan desired to have carried out, make sure they were carried out, that he came and took care of it himself. I'll give you a few examples. One was, of course.
Who? Who can tell me what's the first one?
There's one before that.
What's that? Yes, when? When it came to the temptation in the garden, we find that Satan came himself to tempt Eve. He didn't leave it to one of his of his underlords. Then, as was said with Job, Job was such a righteous man and astute evil that Satan came before God himself to have at least part of the hedge, the wall around Job removed so that.
Satan could do what what he did.
Uh, another incident. Let's see if someone can think of another incident where Satan came himself.
48 In the wildness of Jesus, yeah, that's that's good. So the 40 days in the wilderness, again, he didn't send one or more of his under Lords. Uh, there's a couple of others that come to mind in the New Testament. Judas. So with Judas, who was an unbeliever, an unregenerate man, it says Satan entered into Judas he, the Satan was determined that this act of betrayal was going to be carried out.
And so he himself entered into Judas, another incident that somewhat related.
With Peter, the Lord said Satan has desired to have thee, that he might sift thee as weak. Because of the position of leadership that Peter took amongst the other disciples, Satan was determined to have Peter deny the Lord and spoil his testimony and so on. And so again he came himself. I just mentioned that the difference between Judas and Peter is that.
With Judith he entered into him, and an unbeliever can be possessed by the devil, and I have actually in other countries seen.
Cases where I believe an unbeliever was possessed by the devil or demons.
We we know there was the case of the man where the Lord sent the demons into the swine and they went down the hill and so on. And there were other other cases in scripture, But with Peter it was different. Peter was a real believer. He was weak. Wheat is always a symbol of that which is real and of Christ. And so it wasn't that Satan entered into him. But Satan has desired to have thee, I believe the our enemy Satan can harass and tempt a believer.
But I don't believe a true believer can be possessed by the devil. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost, and so it's very you. You see the contrast between a believer like Peter and an unbeliever like Judas. So Satan is definitely not omnipresent, although he has a vast host of underlords who go about the world doing his command. He's the Prince of the power of the air.
Now, he's not. He's not all powerful either. He's not. He's not omnipotent. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. He is powerful. He's a roaring lion. He's referred to in in Revelation as a dragon, and so on. He's a very powerful enemy, but he's not all powerful. We have one at our disposal, the Lord, who is all powerful, So we have a greater resource.
At our disposal. Now the other one is omniscient, that is, umm, he. He's not all knowing.
This is something that sometimes people don't think about. You know, Satan as a created being does not know what I'm thinking.
You can't read my mind. Satan is not a mind reader. The Lord knows what I'm thinking. He knows my thoughts are far off, it says. But Satan cannot read my mind now. He can put things in front of me to corrupt my mind. That's why he got Eve saw the fruit, that it was good, and so he showed her and said certain things that corrupted her mind and tempted her in that way. And she and Adam did what they shouldn't have have done.
00:30:06
But Satan again, is a created being. He's not all knowing. He cannot read my mind. When you pray in your mind to the Lord, Satan does not know what you're saying. He can hear what you do, his demons, his under Lords can hear, what I hear, what you say, I should say. He sees what you do. But again, he is a created being, very important to understand.
No, except that he does know Scripture. And so there's a verse in Revelation we sometimes quote that certain knows he has a short time. That does not apply now in its context, that's when he passed out of heaven for a short time at the middle of the tribulation, and then he knows he has a short time. But let me put it this way, if Satan can listen in on a reading meeting.
Or you and I discussing the Lord's coming, if he knows Scripture, which he does because he quoted it to the Lord.
How be it inaccurately but are not fully. But he knows scripture he can listen into on discussions on scripture. In that way he has some idea of what is what is ahead. But again as you say, only God knows the future.
In the sense that that you're Speaking of it, no, he does not know the future, except he does have an outline of scripture and prophetic event. Because he's a very intelligent being. He's a he's a far, far more intelligent being than you and I are. Does he believe it?
Well, that's the other thing that that's a good. What do you think John?
I don't know. I it kinda seems like he thinks he's gonna win. He's determined, yeah.
I I would suspect there are certain things he he believes, though he doesn't want to. One is the devils believe and tremble. It says when it comes to it's the true and living God.
But if whatever he might mentally give a sense to, that would be as far as it goes, but yes, that that's a very good point. Satan, though he knows scripture, he's determined to wreak as much havoc not only in the world but amongst the people of God as he can. He might, he might, might accept his ultimate defeat, but he's sure going to take as many with him as possible.
Very good way to sort of the spirit of hatred. That's very good, yeah.
The next question This is question #4. What do you do if you have doubts of being saved, even though you gave your heart to the Lord?
No this question it's a good question and I know there are many who struggle with it. I have to say for myself, I have a lot of difficulties and a lot of struggles with scripture and inward struggles. But this question I cannot empathize with.
But I realize there are many who have doubted who have dealt this to their salvation, and I've talked even to older brothers who and sisters who've been at the Lord's table for many, many years and times come in their lives when they have struggled.
Uh, with their their salvation. But let's go to Ephesians.
Chapter 6 in connection with the Armor of God. I believe there's a good principle there.
Ephesians chapter 6.
And uh.
16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked. Now, first of all, we might ask ourselves, what are the fiery darts of the wicked? Well, I believe there are. They are those arrows that Satan is shooting at us to get us to doubt. It may be for different people, different things, but certainly for some people he's getting them to doubt their salvation, to doubt whether they're really saved. And what are we to do?
When Satan shoots one of those arrows of doubt at us, we are to lift the shield of faith. Faith rests on the word of God. Faith does without question trust what God has said. So how do we practically lift the shield of faith? Well, we go to avert. We lift the shield of faith by going to a verse like this. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
00:35:27
Is that what? The truth of God? If you really believe it, then you have quenched the fiery dart of the wicked. You have stopped that doubt as to your salvation that the enemy wants you to have. Maybe you say, well, what about the sins I've committed after I'm saved? And so on. Lift the shield of faith. When Satan sends that doubt, the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin.
And there's so many verses.
That you can quote and re rest your confidence on. Now I know that sounds easy and it's easy for me to say, but it does work. Now I'm gonna give you a little example from the Old Testament. You remember when David went to meet Goliath? Goliath is a picture of the enemy Satan. What did David do? Well, first of all he went down to the brook and he gathered 5 smooth stones and put them in his shepherd's bag.
And I believe that gathering those stones from the brook speaks of appropriating for ourselves in the power of the Spirit of God, the word of God. Why do I say that? Because running water in Scripture is usually a picture of the Spirit of God. A brook, a fountain. A well out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. And this he spake concerning the Spirit. That's the key to a number of scriptures.
Contained water is usually a picture of the word of God, the water in the labor, the man bearing the pitcher of water, and so on. But running water is more often a picture of the spirit of God. And so David went down to the brook, the picture of the spirit of God, and from that he took 5 stones, took them to himself, and then when he went out to meet the enemy, he was able to take one of those stones at the right time and use it to bring down the enemy.
And if you read the word of God, rest on it, make it good to your soul, Meditate on it, believe it as God's word. Then when the enemy approaches, whether it's the Goliath sense or the fiery darts from afar or whatever aspect the enemy tries to get, you just reach in and get one of those verses that you have appropriated for yourself and the power of the Spirit, and use it in defense of the enemy.
That's what's going to take away your doubts, whether it's salvation or any other aspect of your life, so I'm not sure if that's helpful or answers the question.
In order to have those verses to use in the situation, you have to know them. And Jim referenced a couple of well known verses, but you definitely, I think it's a big key I found in my life is you need to read your Bible. If you're not sure, you need to read it yourself and see what it says so you know that's what you believe. You're not just believing it, believing, thinking. You're hoping you're saved because you believe what your parents told you. You need to read the word of God yourself.
Make sure that when you read the word of God that you're searching for what it says to you, Not to Christians, not to uh, not to Gentile, what it says to you, John says. And I'll just say one of the verses, one that's that I've made for myself, like we've been discussing these things, had a first drawn 1/5 or sorry, first on five and uh, verse uh 13.
These things have a written unto you, I believe, on the name of the Son of God, that you may know.
So you have eternal life.
Right. That at at some point I don't know when it when it happened with that first meant something to me. All right. And that's and that's where I took my my personal assurance not that my my parents knew not that my my friends knew is what is when I knew, right.
So I need to speak to you.
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So sometimes we say, well I find it hard to believe that scriptures quoted or we read the scriptures find it hard to believe that perhaps it would be more honest to say I find it hard to believe God. When you think of it that way, it makes a difference doesn't it? Because every time I question this book I'm really questioning whether what God says is really the truth. And so it tells us on more than one occasion. One verse that comes to mind is Hebrews chapter 6. It is impossible.
For God to lie, I might tell you something, and it might be part of the truth. It might be, might not even be the truth at all.
But what God says is the absolute truth. And so remember, it's not hard to believe God, really. It might be hard to believe somebody else, but it may. It's not hard to believe God when we realize that everything he said is that says is absolute.
And just because we know it's true doesn't mean we want to necessarily believe it. I read a book a while ago, I think it was called Something More Than a Carpenter and at the last chapter it's kind of an apologetics book. But at the end of the the last chapter, he goes through and says, I realize I proved to myself that this definitely was true. It was legitimate, but I still didn't want to believe. I still needed faith. And if you're worrying, wondering if you're safe or not, I think that's a really.
That's a good thing to be scared, but it's good to be real about it. Not just Oh yeah, I'm saved. But to it's good to be worried. And maybe you aren't safe if you don't know what you believe. I'm just it's something to think about at least and be serious about it. It's important. It's very good.
OK, moving along. I'm sorry. We gotta move quick if we're gonna get through.
These questions uh, this is question #5. Is there a difference between biblical prohibitions and biblical suggestions for how we are to live our Christian lives? If so, what's the difference and what should our attitude be towards each one?
Let's go to Proverbs chapter 4.
N.
This isn't a direct answer to the question, but I want to bring it in Proverbs chapter 4 and verse 14. Enter not into the path of the wicked and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it and pass away. So we're just going to leave that for a moment. I would I I'll just say that.
Yes, there is a difference. So there are some things we are definitely told in scripture to avoid.
As the author of this question has said, Prohibition, for instance, we are told not to steal. Thou shalt not steal. We're told not to covet. We're told not to commit fornication. There are quite a few things that are specifically spelled out to us in Scripture, but the Bible is not a book of rules, it's a book of principles. And if we were told everything black and white.
We wouldn't need faith and we wouldn't need spiritual discernment. So the Bible, much as perhaps we'd like it to be, is not a self help book. You cannot open and get to a certain chapter and in 12 easy steps get from point A to point B. That would be. Sometimes we think that would be great if we could do that, but God doesn't give us specific.
On many of our of the things of life, the questions that arise in life now there are guidelines by word. Is a lamp under my feet and a light under my path, and there are sufficient guidelines.
To teach us how to go. But one thing we are to absolutely, uh, avoid as this these verses tell us, is to go in the way of wicked men. Because if we choose our own way, and to go in the way of wicked men, enter into the path of the wicked. We're never going to have spiritual discernment or know how we ought to go, how we ought to walk now again, if we're going to walk for the Lord.
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It takes faith. It takes spiritual discernment. Gonna give you a little example. There was a problem many years ago in an assembly and after some discussion at a brother's meeting, a younger brother turned to an older brother and said brother, What decision or what step will you be taking in this matter? The older brother very wisely said, I hope when the time comes to take a step that I am walking close enough to the Lord that I know what step to take.
And I believe young people, that's the way it is in our Christian life. Yes, there are things we are told definitely to avoid, but there are certain things that we are only going to discern in nearness to the Lord, in closeness to His presence. The more you have a friend, I'm speaking in a natural standpoint now, the more you spend time with a friend, the more you get to know what pleases that friend. You get to know what things to do or not to do when you're in their company.
And that is how it is with our friend the Lord Jesus. We've got to walk close to him and spend time in in his company. Now one other thing too in this connection, and that is well, God has not given us a book of rules. He has given us a conscience. As soon as man sinned in the Garden of Eden, he received a conscience. And that conscience is like the yellow traffic light or the warning light. You may not be able to put your finger specifically on a scripture and say This is why I shouldn't do this.
Or why I'm not gonna do it in this situation. But let me give you another illustration with the young man went upstairs one night, a teenager one night to get ready to go out somewhere and he called down the stairs to his mother and he said mother.
Can you come and see if this shirt is clean enough to wear tonight? And she called up back up the stairs. No, it's not clean enough to wear, he said. Mother, you didn't even come and look at it, she said. If I knew a few questioned it, it wasn't. That's like our conscience. And if our conscience is pricked, if our conscience is twigged about something we want to do or about to do, we need to stop and really consider in the presence of the Lord. Is this what we ought to do or not?
So that's a little bit. Not sure that maybe exactly what the, uh ask for this question was thinking about, but maybe someone else can add something. Or maybe there's an aspect that I didn't kept pick up here.
I think the bottom line is this. Whatever you do, whether you have a scripture that says you should or shouldn't do it, ask yourself this question. Is it for the glory of God? Because we're told to do all for the glory of God, Even what we eat and drink? Were to eat and drink for the glory of God. Is it for the glory of God? Will this spoil my testimony?
Will this discourage another believer? There are a number of questions we can ask ourselves, and when we get the answer to that, then we will know whether we should or shouldn't do it, even though we may not be able to turn to a specific verse of scripture.
OK, question number six in Hebrews 7 verse 7. Let's go to that and read it.
Hebrews 7 verse 7 This is talking about Melchizedek and Abraham and without all contradiction the left is blessed of the better talking about back in Genesis when Melchizedek blessed Abraham. But let me read the question. It states that bless that blessing is given.
From the greatest to the least. In context, this is a pretty great application, with Melchizedek being a picture of God, really a picture of the Lord Jesus. But does this apply further? For example, is it appropriate to say we bless the Father, etcetera in Scripture? There are many places where we can find blessed be the name, etcetera, but this is less direct.
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I think I've read that, uh, somewhat correctly. So again in the context here, first of all, we find that Melchizedek is a picture of the Lord Jesus. He's a picture of the Lord Jesus in his unchanging priesthood living for us. Now there's a contrast made here in the book of Hebrews between the priesthood of Aaron, which passed from father to son, and on down the line it was a changeable priesthood.
The contrast is Melchizedek is an is an unchangeable priesthood. Melchizedek was a priest of the Most High God, it says without mother or father. Now naturally speaking, of course he had to have a mother or father. But the point that scripture is making is that we have a priest, the Lord Jesus, and we never have to start over with him. You know, with the with the priesthood under air and they had to start over with each generation.
But you and I have a priesthood. We have a priest, and we never have to start over. You know, I had a doctor that had treated my case from the time I was a boy till I guess I was about 45 years of age. And finally at 80 some years of age, the doctor retired. You know, I found it very frustrating. I had to start over with a new Doctor. That doctor I had, he knew my case from the beginning, so to speak.
He knew my family background. He knew all the history of diseases I'd had when I was a child, and different accidents and different surgeries I had. And then I had to take my UH records and I had to start over. But again, you never have to start over with the Lord Jesus. He has, it says, a priesthood, an unchangeable priesthood, or a priesthood that doesn't pass from one to another. And so we find here that Melchizedek blesses Abraham the greater.
It's less of the of the left. Uh, the the left is left of the greater. I'm sorry. OK, that's the context here, but the question goes on to ask here. Uh, I think I've got this right. Is it proper for us to to bless God? Let's go to Ephesians chapter one, which is just one of many scriptures we could go to.
Ephesians chapter One.
And verse 3.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Now we understand very clearly that God has blessed us. He's blessed us with every heavenly blessing, every believer here, no matter how long or how short a time they've known. The Lord Jesus is blessed with all spiritual blessings. He has blessed us and blessed us in many wonderful ways, and we get that all through scripture.
But it's interesting here that the Apostle Paul says blessed be the God and Father.
Of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's actually the same word that's used for God blessing us and we blessing God. It has the the sense of praise and Thanksgiving, speaking well of a person with gratitude, with praise, with Thanksgiving. That's really the sense in which it is taken up. And so we sing certain hymns where.
We we bless, uh we bless our Savior's name. Our sins are all forgiven to uh, earthy uh He wants to earth. He came. He now is crowned in heaven. So we sing hymns in that way. So yes, it is very right in that way to get to bless God, to bless the Lord in the sense of a reverent praise and Thanksgiving and appreciation for the fact that He has blessed us. Now let me confirm what I'm saying about the thought of blessing.
Being the thought of Thanksgiving, let just let's go to Matthew Chapter 26.
Connection with the Lord Praying at the Institution of the Remembrance Suffer Matthew, Chapter 26.
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And verse 26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread. Now notice this and blessed it and break it, and gave to the disciples. Here it's the bread. Now what did he do? He gave thanks for it in blessing it. It was the thought of giving thanks for it. Now in First Corinthians, it's in connection with the cup, the cup of blessing which we bless.
Is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?
So in that sense, tomorrow morning when someone feels LED of the Spirit of God to give thanks that the Lord's table.
For the loaf and the cup, they're going to follow the example of the Lord Jesus here, who instituted the feast, and then Paul gives it to us again by divine revelation and in connection with both the loaf and the cup is blessed. In other words, we're going to give thanks for the loaf, we're going to give thanks for the cup. And so I just say that that that it has that same connotation and we're going to bless the Father.
We're gonna bless the sun. We're gonna give thanks to the Father and for the Father, to the Son, and for the Son. So it is proper in that way to bless the Father and the Son.
Just one other example too to confirm what I'm saying. We won't turn to it but in the 24th of Luke and the 30th verse when the Lord Jesus went in to partake of a meal with that those who are had traveled to Emmaus, it says that he blessed he gave. Well let let me read it just so we get it. And Luke 24 and verse 30 and it came to pass as he sat at meet with them, that is they were out at meals.
He took bread and blessed it, and break it and give to them. This is not the Lord's Supper, of course. This was the partaking of a meal. We apply it sometimes in connection with the Lord's Supper, and there is an application. But they were partaking of a meal. So when we sit down to a meal, what do we do? We bless the food. How do we do it? We do it by giving thanks to the Lord or to God for the provision He's made for us.
OK.
Now our time is gone, but this one last question. I'm gonna read it, maybe make a very brief comment and then I'm gonna recommend some reading on the subject, because this is a very bad subject. This question is really in three parts.
What is the definition of a covenant? How many covenants are there in the Bible?
Is the dispensation of Grace ever referred to in the Bible as covenant? OK, so very briefly, what is a Co A covenant? Well, a covenant is a contract. We talked about this a little bit at the Reading meeting in Mayfield the other night when I was in business, we used to have contracts with different companies to supply and service their fire equipment.
And so we would draw up a contract and both parties would sign it. But a contractor, a covenant, always has the thought of both parties holding up their end of the bargain. And so in the contracts that we had in business, there would always be a clause that said if one party didn't hold up their end of the bargain, that is the things that were delineated in the contract, then the contract became null and void.
The the keeping of the contract to keep it going. Both parties had the employer and the employee. The the client had to keep up their end of the of the bargain. So that's what a covenant is. In the Old Testament, God made covenants with men. We don't have time, but let me just listen. Very few. There are many covenants in the Old Testament. Here's some of the major ones. God made a covenant with Noah after the flood.
And he confirmed that covenant with a rainbow. And you can it's introduced in the 6th chapter in the the eighth verse. I'm sorry, the 18th and 19th verses of the 6th chapter. Then after they come out of the ark, he confirms that covenant. That's the first time you actually have the word covenant in the word of God. So there was a covenant with Noah. There was a covenant with Abraham. Abraham answered the call of God by faith and God made a covenant with him that he would bless his seed.
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And you get that in Genesis chapter 15 and verse 18, and then later on that all the through him, all the families of the earth would be blessed and so on. You can search that out.
He made a covenant with Moses concerning Israel. That's Exodus 19 verse 3 to 8. And it's interesting there that God said he would bless them if he they kept his way. And the people said all the Lord hath commanded us that will we do well became very quickly evident they couldn't hold up their end of the bargain. And so that's that's the covenant with Moses and his with Israel through Moses.
Then there was a covenant with David, Two Chronicles 7, verse 18. And that covenant was that the seed of David would sit on the throne of Israel forever, and God will keep that covenant in the coming day. There will be a man sit on the throne in Israel, a vice region who will be of the throne of David. The Lord is going to reign from the heavens over the earth, but he's going to have the seed of David, one of the descendant of David, sit on the throne in Jerusalem. You get that in Ezekiel 45, I believe in other places.
It's not the Lord himself. It's an appointee. In Canada, we call it a Governor General. In other countries they call him a vice Regent and they act directly under the Governor General acts for the Queen. Uh. A vice Regent acts under the direction of the one that has appointed him to that UH position. There is of course, the new covenant that is for Israel. Now, again, very briefly, I'm not, I can't tell you how many covenants there are in the Bible. Those are some of the major ones, but there are many.
Covenant Not only that God made with man, but that man made with man and so on. The dispensation or the administration of the grace of God, the Christian era in which we find ourselves is in no way related to covenants. OK, God never made a covenant with the Church. Covenants are always connected with man's responsibility on the earth. But remember, you and I are a heavenly people. We're not connected with this earth, and so God does has never made a covenant with the Church.
Not only that, but we are the bride of Christ. We're going to be the Lamb's wife in the coming day.
And so he doesn't make a covenant with his bride, doesn't make a covenant with his wife.
Uh, in in in that way the new covenant that he will have with Israel. Sometimes people confuse and say we're under new the new covenant because and the better word is testament. In the New Testament, the the cup of blessing which we bless is it not the communion of the of the blood of PRI uh this is a New Testament in my blood I should say that is shed for you, the Lord said and so people think we're under the new covenant or the New Testament. But what he's simply saying there is.
That it's the blood. What's being stressed is the blood there and that all blessing whether it's for.
Those who have been under covenants or will be under the new covenant in the coming days where you and I in this day of grace, it's all based on the blood of Christ. Every blessing for man is based on the the blood of Christ. Perhaps it would be good to look at one scripture in connection with what Paul said in 2nd Corinthians 3 this I know our time is gone, but just let's take one minute and then I'm gonna recommend some reading for you. Second Corinthians chapter 3.
And again, this has been confusing to those who press things like Covenant Theology.
2nd Corinthians chapter 3 and verse six. Who also this is Paul Speaking of himself, who also has made us able ministers of the New Testament or New Covenant, New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter Killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.
What he's saying here is that he was made a minister of the grace of God. The letter killed. We're not under the letter of the law or covenant now we we are under the the the spirit of the spirit of of uh of grace. And so the it's the principle that he's bringing out here. We're under the principle not of law. The law killed. The letter of the law killed.
But it's the spirit of grace. So again the stress is not on the fact that it's covenant or testament, but it's the fact that Paul was a minister of the great, the grace of God. I know that very brief, but I got, I have a number of these books on the back table there for you to take. This book is very helpful by Bruce Anstey, goes into a lot of detail, but it is very, very helpful on the subject of UH Covenants and New Covenants and covenant theology and all that kind of thing.
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So if you're really interested, I suggest you take one of these books. But the bottom line is you and I in the dispensation of the grace of God are not under covenant. We're under grace and God deals with us in that way. He will again take up Israel on the grounds of the new covenant in the coming day, and that covenant will actually be on the grounds of grace as well, not the letter of of the law, because what covenants in the Old Testament prove beyond the shadow of a doubt is.
That man couldn't hold up his end of the bargain. Every covenant God ever made with man in the Old Testament, man failed utterly. And so God brought in something on the grounds of pure grace, Christianity, for you and for me, and then they'll be on the grounds of pure grace. In the coming day. There will be the new covenant for Israel and their blessing connected with this earth.
Well, we don't have all the answers, but as we said earlier, we have the answer book and I trust that you will search these things out further, talk to others. There's good written ministry on the subject and uh, please avail yourselves of it.
First Sing
Wilderness Journey Part 2
Address—Jim Hyland
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
And 75 Our body is lightened, though we go across attractive, wild our Jesus footsteps ever show the path for every child.
275 as someone will please start it.
Our God is light, and there we go.
Across that time when I fall.
Our Christians and were outside and I'm going to show love. Forecasts, forecast.
OK.
Granny blah blah blah blah blah.
I don't know. So uh.
Appreciate it.
Going on for everything, so uh. So I'm appreciated. Uh.
Uh.
Long time.
Uh, we're going to go on in our little handout here. Yesterday we spoke of, uh, how the children of Israel got to the wilderness. But today and UH, this morning and UH, this afternoon, we're going to speak a little more specifically as to the wilderness. We're going to start in Exodus Chapter 15 with Elam. And I'll just say this while you're turning there.
That I believe the thought in a wilderness, in scripture is it's a place where there's nothing to sustain life For the children of Israel, it was a physical wilderness and again, having traveled throughout the Sinai Peninsula, it certainly is a place where there's nothing to sustain the the natural man. In fact, you realize very quickly how miraculous the whole thing really was and we'll speak of those some of those provisions.
00:05:22
That God made in the course of the of today, as the Lord allows and directs now for you and for me. We're not in a physical wilderness. We've enjoyed, uh, a lot of good things, naturally speaking. Today, uh this weekend. And uh, we're not in a physical wilderness, but young people. We are in a spiritual wilderness. In other words, there is nothing in this world to feed the new man. You and I have the very life of Christ now.
We have the new nature, and that new nature, I should say. In this world there, there's nothing to feed that new Northeast, that new nature. There's plenty to feed our lust. Plenty to feed the flesh. Seems like you can hardly drive down the highway or stand at the checkout counter anymore without seeing something to feed our lust. We hear it every day at school and at work. And how are we going to feed and sustain the new man?
Well, it's God's provision for provisions for us, which we're going to speak of. And so you and I are in a spiritual wilderness, and we need God's provision and the resources that he has made through Christ and the finished work of Calvary. Let's start here in the 15th of Exodus at verse 23.
And when they came to Mara, they could not drink of the waters of Mara for the water, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Mara. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?
And he cried unto the Lord, And the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There he made for them a statute and an ordinance, And there he proved them, and said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and will do that which is right in his sight, and will give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes. I will put none of these diseases upon me which I have brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord that healeth thee. And they came to Elam, where there were 12 wells of water.
And three score and 10 palm trees and they encamped there by the waters. Before we comment on Elam, I'll just make a couple of brief comments on the previous verses in connection with Mara. So here we find the children of Israel. They have come out now they're in on the Sinai Peninsula and they come to this place called Mara where there was no water for the people to drink. That is, the waters were bitter.
And I want to apply it in a practical way in your life and mine, because we come sometimes, don't we, to some very bitter circumstances in our lives.
You think of our brother Jonathan that we've mentioned today. He's going through a bitter circumstance in his life with the loss of his shop and his equipment, and we go, we come to those mirrors in our lives. And I realize that sometimes when we come to those circumstances, it's very hard perhaps to see the love of God and His purposes for blessing in our lives. We say, I just don't understand how the Lord is working all this out for good.
I just don't see his love in my circumstance. But we find that the answer to the problem at Mara was they were to cast the tree into the water, and the tree was the only thing that would make the water sweet. Now the trees so often in Scripture speaks to us of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And what I want to encourage you as you go on with life. If the Lord leaves us here because you're gonna come to more bitter waters, you think you've had some problems as a young person.
Believe me, it doesn't get any easier. We come to those difficult circumstances in our lives, but throw the tree into the water. In other words, bring the cross into the into the circumstance. Because you might not see God's God's love in your circumstance, but you can always see it at the cross. When we look to the cross, how can we doubt His love? How can we doubt His purposes of blessing in our lives? And so we always need to have the cross before us.
And so they threw the tree into the water, and there they were able to drink of those waters. The waters were made sweet.
And I just challenge you if you bring the cross into your circumstances, what seems like very bitter waters.
00:10:05
Will always be made sweet, but then they come to Elam. This little Oasis, if you look on a map today, it's called the Wells of Moses. Very interesting to stand there, right where the children of Israel were. They've excavated those wells. The palm trees are long gone, but they've excavated those 12 wells. They're spread over a pretty big piece of real estate and they're pretty large wells in the Middle East back in those days when they dug wells.
They were often fairly large around and they had stone steps that went down to a ledge at the bottom where they would walk down with their buckets or perhaps sometimes they had equipment, but they would walk down and stand on this ledge and fill their buckets with water. And that's the way the wells of Elam that have been excavated were built. Very interesting to see those 12 wells of water. And so they come to this, these little Oasis and don't we often come to those points in our Christian life?
I suggest, and I I hope, that this camp this weekend has been a little Elam, a little time of shelter, a little time of relaxation and being away from the world and the cares and responsibilities of life. You notice they didn't stay at Elam very long because we have to go on, don't we? Some of you said to say you're gonna have to leave this afternoon, and all of us are going to have to leave tomorrow morning if the Lord doesn't come. But we God brings us to these little times of special.
Refreshment and encouragement. And so there they came, and they encamped by those waters.
But I want to make a little application here because we might wonder why it's so specific that there were 12 wells of water and three score and 10 palm trees. I believe it was last night in the question and answer period that we mentioned and even quoted the verse that is on your hand out from John chapter seven. Let me just read it. He that believeth on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
But this he spake, This spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive.
For the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified.
And so I believe, as I said last night, that when you trace through the word of God running water, a book, brook a well, a spring, a stream, running water is usually a figure of the spirit of God. And that's the way the Lord Jesus brings it out in those verses in John 7. And what do we learn from the fact that there were 12 wells of water? There was one for every tribe and everyone of us here who know the Lord Jesus as our Savior.
Have the Spirit of God indwelling us, and he doesn't give the Spirit by measure.
If I can put it this way, the 12 wells typifying the spirit of God speak of power for our pathway. You know, there was a long trek ahead of the children of Israel, and maybe you sit in meetings like this as a young person. I know I did. And I used to think, how am I going to get along in the path of faith? I used to look at the older brethren and think, well, they have it made and they've they've arrived. Don't ever think that as we get older, the enemy has.
Different kinds of problems and difficulties to present to us.
And we'll speak of this a little in the Bible study this afternoon. But it doesn't get any easier as you get older. But the power is the same. Every one of you have the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God is the power for our divine life to walk through this wilderness world for God's glory and to give light and testimony for him. And so we have 12 wells of water. That's power. But then there were three score and 10 palm trees.
I used to ponder why were there three score and 10 palm trees. Well, we touched on it last night in connection.
With the verse in the Psalms, and I have it quoted here on your handout, the days of our years, our three score years and 10. That is, there's provision for the whole journey. And uh, so you're young now. You wonder how you'll get along if the Lord doesn't come as you get older, but there's provision for the whole journey, all the days of your life for three score years and 10:00. So at Elam we have in tight this play, little place of refreshment, this little Oasis.
And we learn that there's power and provision for the whole journey. I'm not going to stand here and tell you it's easy to follow the Lord and live for the Lord. But I can attest to the fact in my own experience that there's plenty of power and provision if we're only willing to avail ourselves of it. But then they take their journey on. And so if you turn the page, we're going to spend the rest of the meeting this morning speaking about the manna. And if you'll bear with me, we're going to read some scripture here. I'll take some time and read a good chunk of scripture.
00:15:32
We won't read all of this 16th chapter of Exodus, but I want to get the gist of what is brought before us in connection with the mana. We'll start at verse four of Exodus chapter 16.
Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will reign bread from heaven, for you, and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law or know, and then just drop down.
To verse 14. And when they do that lay was gone up. Behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as an hoar frost on the ground.
And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, it is manna, for they wist not what it was.
And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat. This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded.
Gather of it every man according to his eating, an Omar for every man according to the number of persons.
Take ye every man for them which are in his tents. And the children of Israel did so, and gathered some more and some less. And when they did meet, and when they did meet it with an Omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack. They gathered it every man according to his eating. And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning, notwithstanding they hearken not unto Moses, But some of them left it until the morning.
And it bred worms and stank, and Moses was wroth with them, and they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating. And when the sun waxed hot, it melted, and then just dropped down to the 31St verse. And the House of Israel called the name of thereof manna. And it was like the coriander seed white, And the taste of it was like wafer, like wafers made with honey.
Now just hold your finger here. We're gonna come right back to this portion, but I wanna read a portion in the book of numbers.
Chapter 11.
Numbers, Chapter 11.
And verse 7. And the manna was like coriander seed, and the color thereof as the color of bedellium. And the people went about and gathered it and grounded in mills, or beat it in a mortar and baked it in pans and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was the as the taste of fresh oil. And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it. Now I want to connect this with John, Chapter 6. John's Gospel, chapter 6.
John's Gospel, chapter 6 and verse 48. I am the bread, that bread of Life your Father's did eat man in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If a man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give in is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. And the Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed he that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him as the living Father hast sent me, and I live by the Father.
So he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is the bread which came down from heaven. Not as your Father's did eat man in the wilderness. He that eateth of this bread shall live forever. Well, this is a lot of scripture, and we're gonna refer to some others. And so we can't hope to comment on just a few of the things that we have here. We're going to, in a few moments, speak of the man in connection with it being a type of Christ.
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The mana is a type of Christ as the man down here in this world. It's the man in the circumstances of life in this wilderness world. And that's why, as we said yesterday in the little Bible studies we're having, we're taking up the Lord Jesus in the temptation in the wilderness. We'll speak of that in a moment, but I want to make a couple of practical comments in connection with the gathering of the manna. First, you'll look at the picture that I have here.
And uh, I'm gonna ask someone if you can spot the inaccuracy of this picture.
Give you a minute to think about it. There's an inaccuracy here and we read about it.
Well, I'll tell you the inaccuracy of this picture, and this is usually the way you see the mana. The gathering of the mana depicted is that, as we noticed from the 16th verse of the 16th of Exodus, it was not the women and children that gathered manna. Now we're going to talk about the need for gathering man of food in our personal lives in a moment. But I want to talk for a moment to those of us who are older here, who are heads of our homes, and you young men, who, if the Lord leaves us here and in the natural course of things.
Will become head of your home. Because I believe from the 16th verse of the 16th chapter, it was the men that went out and gathered. They were to gather every man for himself and for his household. And now you've heard me say this before, At least most of you have. And that is that I have the memory of growing up in a Christian home where my father sat at the breakfast table every morning with an open Bible.
So that he could catch his children and young people as they trickled out to school and hurried off to catch different school buses. So he could read us a little portion of the word of God. It was never much. Sometimes he didn't even really make a comment on it. But I believe there was a man who gathered for himself and for the his household. And so the men were to get up every morning and go out and gather a little manna responsibility of the head of the home.
And I want to encourage you as the Lord leaves us here and you young men, become heads of your home, be exercised to gather for yourself and for for your family gathering. The man is really opening this book, the word of God and feeding on Christ and then sharing it with with your family. You know, I'm saddened to find that there are many homes of believers, sincere believers, where I don't believe there is a regular reading of the word of God together.
You know, the children of Israel were told after they entered the land that they were to have the word of God posted in their home. The father was to share it.
With the family, they were to be able to explain certain things that had happened to them in the wilderness and the crossing of the Jordan and why stones were set up and all these kinds of things. It's a it's it's important if we're going to have a vibrant Christian home and be light and testimony in our community, and if our young people and children are going to grow and be healthy, happy, fruitful Christians.
There must be the reading of God's word in the home. Now I realize that there's different schedules, but I enjoyed what a brother told me one time as he was raising his family. He had to get up and go to work very, very early. And So what he would do is he would read a few verses of the Bible before he went to work. Then he would post those verses on the fridge with just one little sentence or two of something he had enjoyed.
And when his wife got up to get the children ready for school, she would share what dad had left posted on the refrigerator. There was a man that gathered for himself and for his his family. And it takes real exercise and real discipline to do that. Now, having said that, young people, there's another application I want to make, and that is that I believe it's important for each of us to gather a little food from God's word every day.
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Job said in. I think it's the 23rd chapter of Job, he said. I have esteemed the words of his mouth.
More than my necessary food. You know, when the food is served out in the dining room at meal time, I don't see anybody heading the other way. No, it's important to eat good, healthy food if we're going to grow and be healthy naturally. But it is just as important, or perhaps even more important, that we feed on the word of God. Now, as I said yesterday, there are some illustrations and types in the Old Testament that are so important for us to get a hold of.
And not make some way out application that they're given to us in the New Testament, that the type is given to us in the New Testament and what it actually means. And when we say the manna is a type of Christ, that is not an application because we read at length the Lord Jesus explaining it in John chapter 6. The manna speaks of Christ. Now how do we feed on Christ? He speaks there of the need to feed on himself.
And how do we feed on Christ? Well, we open this book and we read a little bit of it, and we take it in and meditate on it, and then we hopefully digest it. Because remember, it's not what we eat that does us any good, it's what we digest. That's why we so often stress not just casual reading of the word of God, but meditating on the word of God. He uses the analogy of eating, because when we eat something, we take it in and it becomes part of us. Now, wherever you read in the word of God.
I believe the subject is always Christ. You don't have to read very far to realize that it's Christ. In the Old Testament, the types and shadows, the prophecies concerning the coming of Christ. In the Gospels we have the life of Christ. In the Acts we have the the beginnings of Christianity and the Lord Jesus sending the Spirit of God down, and so on. And the work of God in the the work of Christ, in the power of the Spirit. In the Epistles we have the truth of Christ.
Developed as to Christian position and so on. In the Revelation we have the full exaltation of Christ in a coming day. But it all speaks of Christ. And I want to encourage you to read the word of God like that. Read the Word of God and see Christ in every verse, in every page of the of the Word of the Word of God. Now just say this in passing you We won't turn back to it for the sake of time, but you can jot this down as a reference.
When we go back, if we were to go back to John's Gospel chapter 6.
When the Lord Jesus spoke of eating there in connection with himself, there are two tenses. I'll just give you the reference and you can look this up. We don't get it in our English, but if we were to look in the best manuscripts, we would see that there are two tenses to eating here in verses 51 and verse 53. It's a one time tense. It's a past one time tense. That is if eating of Christ, it's appropriating Christ.
For salvation, that's the beginning. We appropriate the person and work of Christ for our salvation. Give you a second to write that down. I realize I talk fast, so.
Then we find in versus 545657 and 58. It's an ongoing tense. It's not just a one time thing. So if I can put it this way.
In verses 51 and 53, it's eating to obtain life. OK, it's eating to obtain life. But then as you go on in the other verses I've just mentioned, it's eating to maintain life. The divine nature, the divine life that we have is a perfect life. It's the very life of Christ. But it is a dependent life if we're going to grow and be happy, healthy.
Fruitful Christians, we must feed on Christ, and we must feed on Christ every day of our lives.
You notice they had to go out and gather the manna every day. They had to gather it in the morning. Now, young people, I realized some of us are more morning people than others. I'm a morning person. I have no trouble getting up early in the morning, and even before my cup of coffee, I can get a lot of reading and studying and writing done before my wife imessages me down in the office that she's up and we can get on with with the day. We're all different. Some of us are morning people, some are not.
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But I want to encourage you in this regard. You, whether you're a morning person or not, whether you have a lot of time in the morning before you head out to school or work or not, be sure to have something of God's word. Because we read here that some gathered more, some lot less. If you're a morning person and you have time to read a couple of chapters in a little ministry with it, and before you head out, wonderful, that's great. You need all you can get of the word of God. But maybe you only have time for two or three verses.
It says some gathered more and some less. He that gathered much had nothing over you need all you can get.
But I love this. It says he that gathered little had no lack. It wasn't how much they gathered, it was what they did with it. When they put it into their Omer and took it with them and dipped into their Omer during the day, God knew just what they were going to need. And so take a few couple of verses with you and dipping into your Omer during the day speaks of meditation. Take time every once in a while to just go over what you've read.
And you're gonna have to discipline yourself to do it, because there'll be no such thing in this day and age of pressure of saying, well, I had lots of time to meditate on the word of God. Maybe years ago. A couple of generations ago, a brother could walk behind the plow or work at his bench with his tools and have a Bible prop there and or have time to think about what he read in the morning and the word of God. But you can't drive down the freeway like that. You can't run a computer like that. You can't manage A-Team at work like that.
You can't work on a project like that. So there's an old hymn we used to sing Take time to be holy. You're always gonna have to take time to stop during the day and dip into your Omar. And as I say, you'll find he that gathered little had no lack. We learned too that if they kept it over it read worms and stank, they couldn't eat it the next day. What is God teaching us? That we need fresh food every day? You know we don't eat a big meal on Lord's Day and expect it to last us till next Lord's day. No, we eat good, healthy food. I trust every day. And so we need that man every day.
In the simplicity in which they gave it, it was palatable and will speak of that a little late in a few in a few moments. But it's they they were too. They could eat it just the way they went out and gathered. Now one other comment before we speak quickly about these eight aspects that we are going to speak of in connection with the person of Christ, and that is if you notice the context carefully, The manner did not fall at their tent door. They had to go out of the camp. It fell round about the camp. What do we learn from that It what do we learn from that, That it takes energy to get up in the morning?
And gather a little food from God's word. They had to get up, leave their tent and go outside the camp and gather the manna. And so again it takes discipline, it takes real energy of of faith. But now I want to speak of these eight aspects of the manner as you notice we have here and you can list them as we go along and some references.
It's a type. The man is a type of Christ as a man in the circumstances of life. And this is going to be borne out, I believe.
By these eight characteristics that we're going to quickly mention, the first characteristic is in the 16th chapter of Exodus here and the fourth verse. I'll just read it. Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will reign bread. Now notice this from heaven. Now this corresponds with what we have in John's gospel. The Lord Jesus spoke of himself as the bread that came down from heaven.
It speaks of the heavenly man, the Lord Jesus, in the circumstances of life down here.
But we want to make this very clear that he was the man from the man from heaven. In the 6th chapter of John and verse 38 he says I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. So that's the first characteristic. But now let's notice, let's drop down in our chapter here to the 14th verse where we have some further characteristics.
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It says and when the due I wanna notice that.
Now again, let's go back to numbers 11. Let's take a minute to turn back there.
Because I wanna notice another comment made about the due that I believe is very very significant. I just I just wanna pick this up again.
Notice verse nine of numbers 11. And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night now notice this, the manna fell upon it. Very interesting comment here now.
We know that the when the dew melted, the Manor was gone, so they had to get up early and it is very interesting to see how much do there is. Even today on the Sinai Peninsula they only get about 1/10 of an inch of rain a year. But quite often when we're out there, I get up very early and try to go for a walk and there is a lot of dew that falls. And so when the dew fell, the manna fell on it. Now we're gonna notice the manna isn't really again what we normally picture it. We normally picture the man and the artist depicted by white fluffy stuff all over the ground.
But we're going to see that that's not what it was. We're going to notice that it was little coriander seeds, these little seeds of manna. We'll talk about that in a in a moment. But these seeds of man, I believe fell on these drop, were placed by God on these drops of dew and the manna never touched the ground. What do we learn from that? We learn from that, That the Lord Jesus walked through this world in complete separation.
He was not an isolationist, you know. He was the most accessible man, I believe, that ever walked the face of planet Earth. And individuals could come, even children could come, and he picked them up in his arms and he blessed them and so on. But he was wholly harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners. I don't want to go too far from with applications, but as I said to sometimes water is a picture of the spirit of God, and I've wondered if it isn't a little picture too of the Lord Jesus walking through this world.
In separation in the power of the Spirit after his public ministry, and I'm sorry, after his baptism and his temptation in Luke and his public ministry began, he goes into the temple, and they hand him the Old Testament. And he read in that very spot where it says, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. For he has anointed me to preach the gospel and so on, and his whole public ministry in life was one.
In the power of the Spirit. So this is the manna that fell on the on the dew. Now back in the 16th chapter and that same 14th verse we have another characteristic. Later on down the verse it says it was small. Now I suggest this corresponds with a number of verses, but perhaps we think of Philippians chapter 2, verse seven and eight where it speaks of the Lord Jesus.
It says he made himself of no reputation. He humbled himself and so on. The Lord Jesus was here as the humble lowly man of grace. You know when it says he made himself of no reputation. I want to take that just the way for a moment, make an application just the way it is in our King James Bible. I know some translations, including Mr. Darby, translated a little different, but.
He made himself of no reputation. You know, that's a remarkable statement because we all have a reputation. You know, it doesn't take us long to develop a reputation. Even you young people amongst your peers, you've got a reputation for something. It might be a good reputation, it might be a bad reputation, but it doesn't take us long to develop a reputation as individuals. But the Lord Jesus came into this world. He made himself of no reputation.
And that's why when he was reproached as a man, he never spoke back. Often been pointed out that there was on one occasion they accused the Lord of two things. They said Thou art a Samaritan and hast the devil. It's interesting that as to being a Samaritan accused of being a Samaritan, he never answered that, because that was a slur on his manhood. The Samaritans were a despised people. Even the woman at the well said the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. The Lord never answered that. Who when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not. He made himself of no reputation. Now he did answer.
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When it was a question of his deity and the glory of God, and so as far as having a devil, he did answer that.
It's interesting too in in front of pilot. There were times he did answer pilot. We sometimes quote that verse unequivocally. He answered him never a word. That was when again it was a question of who he was as a man. But when it came to the glory of God or his deity, he did answer in that regard. And so that this is what is typified. I believe in the man of being small. We also find in conjunction with that in that 14th verse it was round.
Young people, I'm only making applications and I'm not saying this is the only application that there may be.
In connection with these characteristics of the manna, but I have enjoyed it in in as to being round in this connection, it speaks of perhaps two things. One, the eternity of his person. We always want to guard that he was the eternal Son of God, the eternal word. And so This is why this typified in being round, you have a ball, you have a spear, There's no beginning or no, no ending. But I think there's something else too, and that is the evenness of his character. Remember, we're Speaking of the Lord as a man here in the circumstances of life.
You know, the Lord Jesus could say I am altogether what I saith unto thee. We have an expression. You know, that person has a lot of rough edges. Or we say, well, that person, the rough edges, will get knocked off as they interact at work or with their brethren or whatever it might be. You know, we are extremists by nature. That's what man is. He's an extremist by nature. But the Lord Jesus was. Again, it's typified in the fine flower.
It's the evenness of his person. I can't stand here and say I'm all together. What I Seth unto thee, You bring my wife in and she'll straighten you out very quickly. No, We sometimes appear to be something that we're not, and we put on a front. Sometimes we tend to be hypocritical. But the Lord Jesus, he could say I am altogether what I saith unto thee. And there was no characteristic that overrode the other. It was the evenness of his person.
As as a man, then just drop down in the 16th of Exodus.
To the uh.
So the uh six UH characteristic.
All right, perhaps it's the. I guess it's the 5th characteristic, verse 31. And the House of Israel called the name thereof Manna, and it was like coriander seed. Now again, as I say, the manna wasn't what we picture it as an artist draws depict depicts it. It wasn't quite fluffy stuff over the ground. It was like a coriander seed. And like I say, those coriander seeds were on those drops of dew they never touched.
Uh, the ground. But what do we learn from it being a seed? Well, it makes us think, does it not? Of John chapter 12, verse 24, the Lord Jesus said, except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. And so the Lord Jesus was that corn of wheat. He was that seed that fell into the ground and died. And what's the result? Well, you're the result if you know the Lord Jesus as your savior, because the Lord Jesus.
In resurrection came forth and it was Christ the first fruit. It's Christ the first fruit Afterward, they that are Christ that is coming. But you're part of that fruit now as a result of the Lord Jesus being that coriander seed. And there may be other thoughts in connection with it being coriander and so on, but we won't take time for that at the present. But then again, notice in that 31St verse, there's another characteristic.
It was white. Now again this speaks of the purity of his person. White in scripture speaks of the perf perfection of Christ. We sometimes quote that verse. He he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. I believe we had that scripture before us. The other day you find with the Tabernacle there was that fine twine linen which again spoke of the perfection of the Lord Jesus. I I stress that because I realize again.
There's so much false teaching in so many Christian circles as to the sinless humanity of Christ. It's one thing.
00:45:06
We never wanna give up tenaciously. Hold on to that precious truth of his sinless humanity. But notice another characteristic in this same verse. It uh, the taste of it was like wafers and honey. Now it's interesting that when they tried to do other things with it, they beat it in a mortar and they baked it and so on. It tasted like fresh oil, but when they took it the way in, the simplicity in the way God gave it to them.
It tasted like wafers and honey. Now I would rather eat wafers and honey than fresh oil. Wouldn't you? And so I believe what we learned from this is it. It speaks to us of the sweetness of the person of Christ. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. The prophet said how sweet are thy words to my taste. Yeah. Sweeter than the than honey and the honeycomb. You want some. You want sweetness in your soul. You wanna be encouraged in your soul. You've gotta feed on the manna. The man Christ Jesus. It's the wafers and honey is that which is going to sustain you. And.
Give you that sweetness in your in your soul, and again, I believe it speaks of enjoying Christ in the simplicity in which God has given it in His word. Six of the simplicity of Christ. You know, sometimes we try to complicate things. We try to make a formula out of things, perhaps, but if we do that, it's going to be more like the fresh oil rather than it being palatable like the wafers.
And honey, now go back to Numbers Chapter 7 for the 8th characteristic.
I mean Numbers, Chapter 11, I'm sorry, and verse 7.
We've noticed the first part of this verse, the manna was as coriander seed and the color thereof. And now this is what I wanna notice as the color of beddellium.
Now there's umm, the the Bible. Scholars and those who know, uh, these things from ancient history will have a little difference of opinion about what medallion is. And I'm not about to split hairs.
Over it. But it is interesting. If we were to go back, you can note this down Genesis chapter 2.
Verse 11 and 12, you'll find that there were four rivers went out of Eden, and one of those rivers was the river Python. And in that area of the world at that time there were a number of things that are mentioned and that were precious, and one of them was Vidalia. And so I want to make this application. It speaks of the preciousness of Christ.
How precious is the person of Christ to your soul this morning?
Have you enjoyed something this morning in your personal reading of the person of the Lord Jesus? You know, the Lord Jesus is very, very precious to the heart of God. When the Lord Jesus was here in this world, heaven opened up on on occasion, and heaven would be occupied with that precious man walking here in this world, and the Father would declare his delight in the sun. You know the Lord Jesus is the one that God would always occupy his people with.
And so it says unto you, therefore which believe he is precious. I'm quoting from first Peter chapter 2. How precious is the Lord Jesus to you? And so these are the 8. These are 8 characteristics. Maybe there's more, but they're eight that I have enjoyed in application to the person of the of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I would like for a moment to go to the book of Hebrews.
Where we have the mana mentioned again.
Hebrews Chapter 9 I believe it is.
Yeah, Hebrews Chapter 9.
And he is recounting here in connection with the uh items. Uh in the UH worship in the Old Testament. Umm. Let's read verse 3 to get the connection. And after the second veil the Tabernacle which is called the holiest of all and the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid roundabout with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna and Aaron's rod that budded and the tables of the covenant?
00:50:15
So we find here there were three things that were laid up in the.
I'm sorry. In the ark of the covenant and these three things again speak of of Christ. I've thought of them in this way. The Lord Jesus said I am the way, the truth, and the life. There may be other applications, but we find here there was the.
The golden pots that had mana, that was the sustenance for their pathway. It speaks of the man down here.
Who left us an example that we should follow in his footsteps? I am the way. Then it says there was Aaron's rod that budded, that was of course speak to us of the life, and there was the table of stones written with the finger of God that would speak to us of the truth that which never changes again. I'm not saying that's the only application, but you can see again and I point this out to show that wherever you read in scripture.
The subject is that is brought before us is the person and work of Christ in one way or another. But we find here there was the golden pot that had manna. This Omer we're not told, I don't believe in the Old Testament that was gold, but here is gold because the Spirit of God in scripture is very very, very careful when we He brings before us the manhood of Christ is always very careful to guard His deity.
Very careful. In fact, I've noticed as I've gone through the word of God when it speaks of the manhood of Christ, you don't read very far till you have something either in type in the Old Testament or by doctrine in the New Testament that reminds us that he was not just man, but that he was God, God manifest in the flesh, the eternal Word. I'll give you another example. It's out of context, but I think it'll be helpful.
In Isaiah's prophecy in connection with the incarnation of Christ.
It says unto us, a child is born. That's his humanity. The Lord Jesus was born. That holy thing that shall be born of thee is begotten of the Holy Ghost we read in the New Testament. That's his manhood. And immediately it says unto us, the Son is not born but given. You know what it talks about the Son. The Lord Jesus is the Son. He's never born. He's always sent or given. The Father, sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Unto us the Son is given.
Very, very important. That is the eternity of his person, the eternal sonship of Christ.
Both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, the Spirit of God is very careful to guard this. You know, I don't have any sons.
So I could never send a son to be a help to you, or to or to get you out of some situation. I don't have a son, but God had a son from a past eternity, and in the fullness of time he sent forth his Son born of a woman. You see again his his deity, his the eternity of his person, and then his manhood. Mary was the instrument used by God to bring the Lord Jesus into this world. And so it was the golden pot, that man that held the man. And now one other thing.
One other mention of the manna, it's in Revelation chapter 2. We'll just mention it very quickly in closing.
Revelation Chapter 2 in connection with the letter to the Assembly of Pergamos that John was used to write.
It was a uh. There was much wanting in uh in in Pergamos, in the assembly. In in Pergamos there was fellowship with the world, and that which they ought not to have been uh uh in communion with. But notice what he says in the 17th verse of Revelation 2. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches, and to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna this.
I believe is the privilege of enjoying the hidden things of Christ, even in the midst of circumstances where there may be a lot of failure in giving up and a lot of.
Those who are having their communion and fellowship with the world, like they say in Pergamos, things we're wanting in that regard, but there were those in Pergamos who were enjoying the manner that is, they were enjoying.
00:55:04
The per the personal relationship, personal communion with the Lord Jesus. And it was sustaining them and giving them the the power to overcome, even in a difficult situation. Because young people, you might sit here and you might say, you know Jim, it's OK to talk about all these things, but you don't know how difficult it is. In my circumstances. You don't know the situations in the little assembly I come from.
You don't know what I have to go through at work. You don't know what happens at school. You don't know how bad it is in the neighborhood that I operate. Well, perhaps I don't. But I do know this, that every one of us can be overcomers in the measure in which we are feeding on the hidden manner. Why is it hidden? Because it's the personal enjoyment in the soul of those precious things concerning the person of Christ that are given to us in this blessed book.
And I can't stress enough the importance of reading this book every day. And young people we talked about reading it in the morning.
But you need it for more than just the morning. I'm glad when I go to the dorms at night. And some of you young people have your Bible open. And even though you've had scripture all day and you're reading a little bit of the word of God before you go to bed, that's wonderful. We need as much of this blessed book as we can get. And so I trust that what we've taken up this morning will encourage you. Are we in a wilderness? Yes, we are in a wilderness. Is there anything to sustain the new man in this world, wilderness, world? Not a chance. There is nothing.
But there is everything provided by God in the Lord Jesus Christ.
To give us refreshment and power and courage and food for our souls to go on.
In spite of what we find around us, we can go on until that day when we're going to feed on the manna for all eternity. I believe that. I believe we're going to have a personal enjoyment of Christ when we get to heaven. There's going to be a vast host, a vast host of redeemed in heaven, but every one of us are going to be able to enjoy, and will enjoy fully a personal relationship and enjoyment of the person of the Lord Jesus. He's going to remain a man for all eternity.
And it's going to thrill and sustain us throughout the ages.
Wilderness Journey Part 3
Address—Jim Hyland
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
136.
Umm.
We didn't go happy in Jesus.
No shine with my grasp, your cantaloupe.
I know that the fire God described Sir, which made out continually throughout.
Reading my love.
Reading.
Forever I am.
I know I shall be in his beauty.
I can't do the word I need.
A good long thing. May God have my clothes and.
You have seen something in the night?
Umm, umm, forever.
Crying out?
OK. If someone has another one from either book, you can sing that as well.
241 Thank you.
Alright, let's go on to the next page of our UH handout. It's entitled The Rock and we're going to go for this to the 17th chapter of Exodus.
Again, we have a lot of material to cover this afternoon and we can only help to scrape out a little bit here and there, but with the Lord's help I trust it will be beneficial. I'm going to take the time to.
Well, actually, maybe what I'll do is I'll just read the first part of this chapter first. So we're going to start at verse one and all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin after their journeyings according to the commandment of the Lord.
And pitched in rapidum, And there was number water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why Chai Ji with me? Wherefore do ye tempt the Lord? And the people thirsted there for water. And the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children, and our cattle with thirst? And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do?
Unto this people they be almost ready to stone me. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee the elders of Israel, and thy rod, wherewith thou smote us the river taken thine hand, and go, Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock and Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel, And he called the name of the place Masa and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel.
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And because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not?
Now just hold your finger here. I want to read a portion in Numbers 20.
Numbers chapter 20 and verse 7.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou and Aaron thy brother, And speak unto ye unto the rock before their eyes, and it shall give forth his water. And thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock. So shalt thou give the congregation and their beast to drink. And Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock. And he said unto them, Here, now ye rebels, must we fetch you water out of this rock. And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smoked the rock twice.
And the water and the water came out abundantly and the congregation drank, and there be Sultan. Now one New Testament portion before we make some comments in First Corinthians chapter 10.
Talking again about the children of Israel, we've been to this portion before, but let's pick it up at verse 4.
First Corinthians 10/4 and did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. Well, here we come to the rock. Now it's very interesting that the children of Israel now as they begin their journey, they come to this place called Rapidum and there was no water for them to drink. Now in the chapter before, as we noticed this morning, there was nothing for them to eat. You know, apart from air, we can't live without food and water. They are the two. They are too, essential things that man needs to survive.
So God gave them food, He gave them the manna, but now they needed water. But it's interesting that they came to refit them by the commandment of the Lord. Why does the Spirit of God record that? Well, I make this suggestion that sometimes we come to those places in our lives where there doesn't seem to be any refreshment. There seems to be some difficulty, and our initial reaction perhaps is we've missed the mind of the Lord in coming this way.
Now sometimes it is true we come to tough spots in our lives because we do miss the mind of the Lord, but not always. The Spirit of God is very careful to tell us that they came there by the commandment of the Lord. They did not miss the leading of the Lord in any way. And So what you say, why did the Lord allow them to come to this place? Well, as you often find in the wilderness journey, the Lord brought them to certain spots to do 2 Things.
To bring out what was in their hearts and to bring out what was in his heart. Because there's two great lessons that the wilderness teaches us. The first one is that the flesh profiteth nothing, that there's nothing good enough, naturally speaking. And the second one is that God is faithful. If we could sum up the wilderness in two statements. If those two statements, the flesh, profiteth nothing and God is faithful, and God often brought them to these situations.
To prove them, and more than that, to prove what his was in his heart and to prove his faithfulness to his people. Because young people, as you go on in your Christian life, and sometimes they'll be failure and things in your life that you look back and say you shouldn't have allowed. But don't be discouraged. Judge it, of course, but don't be discouraged if we don't abide faithful. It tells us In Timothy he abides faithful he cannot deny himself.
If we're not faithful, we have a faithful God, and we can always count on him. Where sin abounds, grace much more abounds, and so they come to this place by the commandment of the Lord.
And now we find that they start to blame Moses. They often did that during the wilderness journey.
Isn't that what our hearts are like? You know, we get into trouble, we come to some difficulty. We like to blame someone, don't we? I suppose it goes right back to the Garden of Eden, where after Adam and and disobedience had eaten of the forbidden fruit, he said to to the Lord. Well, the woman whom thou gave us me, she beguiled me. He passed it on to Eve. And when the Lord spoke to Eve, she said, well, it was the serpent. See, they just passed it on. In the end they really blamed God.
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And so we want to be careful when we get into difficulty we don't blame someone else you know we used to do a lot of driving across North America and uh in those early days my wife would be with me and uh if we got lost in a strange city and she wasn't reading the map I'd say why weren't you reading the map and if she was watching the uh or I say why if she was reading the map I'd say why weren't you watching the road signs and if she was watching the road signs I'd say why weren't you following the map.
One time she closed it all up and said who do you blame when I'm not along I said it's pretty frustrating and it is isn't it but that's human nature they were blaming Moses and really ultimately blaming God but it's very significant with Moses that when they did that he always turned to the Lord he knew where to turn in his extremity and that's where we need to turn when we come to those difficult spots in our lives and so Moses cried under the Lord?
Now it's interesting when they complained at the end of the 3rd verse they said you brought us you brought us that was bad enough but then they said our children our families and that was bad enough and then they said our cattle to apply it to ourselves that was their business they said it's bad enough you brought us out here but you brought our children as well because remember Moses was the one that said to pharaoh we're going to leave with our children and our cattle and we're going to take everything with us.
And so they said what about our families and as I know most of you here don't have families yet but the day may come when God gives you a family and remember when he brings you to a tough spot he's interested in not only you as an individual but he's interested in the blessing and welfare of your family then there's our business tough isn't it sometimes there's some real tough situations you say why does the Lord allow this in my life I've got to make a living for my family and so on?
Well the Lord understands that as well and so we find that Moses cries to the Lord and what does the Lord tell Moses to do.
Well in the 5th verse he says go on before the people and take with you the elders of Israel I find this very striking because the whole congregation had turned against Moses but they were God 's people and God loved them and God said I want you to go on with them go on before the people and take the elders the very ones that have spoken of stoning you because sometimes the tendency of our hearts is well I'm not I'm going to follow the Lord I'm going to go on for the Lord but I'm not going to go on with those people they don't appreciate what I've done.
They're rebellious against the Lord I'm just going to go on but I'm not going to go on with them now young people we never want to tolerate sin as I said yesterday God teaches us that sin is a thing that is not fit for his presence or for the presence of the people of God but you know I have seen situations arise in the local assembly and people leave because they're hurt they're disgusted they say well nobody appreciates me Moses could have done that easily.
And I suppose God would have taken care of him but he goes on before the people because these were God 's people he loved them.
And in spite of their failure and complaining he was going to bless them so he goes on before the people and he the Lord shows him this rock now I read in the New Testament because again it's one of those types that were not left in any doubt as to what it typifies that rock was Christ and he specifically talking about the rock that we have here in our portion that rock spoke of Christ and so often in scripture.
The rock speaks of Christ both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament but what was he to do he was to take his rod and he was to strike the rock this rod has an interesting history before pharaoh it was the rod of testimony we find when he lifted it over the Red Sea it was the testimony of power but here we find it's going to be in connection with atonement because he was to strike the rock what is typified by Moses striking the rock.
Well it says in lamentations prophetically of the Lord I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath it speaks of the Lord Jesus coming under the rod of God 's judgment in those hours of darkness when he bore my sins in his own body on the tree so sometimes we sing that hymn 1:37 in the little flock jehovah lifted up his rod oh Christ it it fell on thee.
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Thou was forsaken of thy God no distance now for me thy blood beneath that rod has flowed thy bruising healeth me and so it's a picture of the Lord Jesus coming under the rod of God 's judgment.
And then again and I know we've said it several times in these talks then and only then could the water flow out again the water is a picture of the spirit of God and if we were to go back to John 's gospel we would find that the spirit of God could not come until Christ had gone to the cross risen from the dead and was glorified at the right hand of God now I say that it's a picture of the spirit of God because we read in the in numbers.
Chapter 20 that there came a point when the water dried up why did the water dry up because sin had come in amongst the people of God and when sin comes into our lives individually or collectively we quench and grieve the Holy Spirit of God to grieve the spirit of God is to hinder the work of God in US to quench the spirit of God is to hinder the work of God through us and it's a result of sin in our lives.
This is what had happened in numbers 20 but you know it's interesting that it tells us in first Corinthians that that rock followed them.
Young people it was not the stream of water merely that followed them through the desert it was the rock that followed them it was with them the whole time and as long as the there things were in order the water flowed out Moses could still go to the rock they're in numbers chapter 20 we were talking about this one time and someone said well that was miraculous but the whole thing was miraculous and God can do what he does.
And so the rock was still with them and what was Moses to do he was to go and speak to the rock because when sin comes into our lives what are we to do we're to go and speak to the Lord Jesus if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness but what happened well Moses lost his patience with the people of God you know after being out on the Sinai Peninsula 13 times.
I kind of smile at this because you know we shake our head and we say oh Moses lost his patience with the people of God I say just once in 40 years to me it was a pretty good record I don't think I would have made it much past Sinai but Moses was the meekest man in all the earth but they provoked his spirit so that he lost his patience here and he called them rebels but even more than that he disobeyed the Lord the Lord said to go and speak to the rock but when he got there he said ye rebel shall I fetch you out of water out of this rock and he smoked the rock twice.
Now Moses didn't understand that he spoiled the type Moses didn't understand that the rock was a type of Christ and what the rod signified and so on but he did understand that he disobeyed the Lord it's a very serious thing to disobey God 's word very serious and it was so serious that it caused the Lord to have to tell Moses he wouldn't be able to go in and possess his inheritance but there was something else very serious too.
He spoke I'll of the people of God he called them rebels were they rebels yes indeed they were rebels but it wasn't for Moses to say it was they were still God 's people and so it shows how careful we need to be young people of speaking I'll of the people of God you know there were children came out of Bethel one time and spoke I'll of a man of God and you know God caused bears to come out of the forest and destroy them that's how serious it was for them to speak of one of God 's servants and so let's be careful what we say.
In connection with the people of God now I believe it's in the psalms or at least in another portion.
Even though Moses struck the rock twice says the waters gushed out.
Here it says they came out abundantly why because the blessing didn't depend on Moses it depended as I said earlier on God 's faithfulness and God 's desire uh to bless his his people and so here we find them back in our chapter the waters come out initially and they're refreshed and they're drinking there and now we're gonna see another problem because young people if you think you're home free just because you get through one situation.
00:25:02
Or independence on the Lord you have one victory in your life oh don't be fooled the enemy is always going to try in one way or another so back in the 17th chapter of exodus now we're going to read the next account and if you turn the page of your hand out you'll notice it's the battle with amalek.
So I'll read from verse 8 of chapter 17 then came amalek and fought with Israel in refitim.
And Moses said unto Joshua choose us out men and go out fight with amalek tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand so Joshua did as Moses had said to him and fought with amalek and Moses Aaron and her went up to the top of the hill and it came to pass when Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed and when he let down his hand amalek prevailed but Moses hands were heavy and they took a stone and put it under him and he sat there on.
And Aaron and her stayed up his hands the one on the one side and the other on the other side.
And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun and Joshua discomforted amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
And the Lord said unto Moses write this for a memorial in a book and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua for I will utterly put out the remembrance of amalek from under heaven and Moses built an altar and called the name of it jehovah nissi and he for he said because the Lord has sworn that the Lord will have war with amalek from generation to generation so here we have this battle with amalek now amalek.
Was a powerful enemy that the children of Israel encountered in the wilderness?
I'm just going to sum up the enemies that the children of Israel encountered in various stages.
Of their history as we noted yesterday when the children of Israel were in Egypt it was pharaoh and the Egyptians and pharaoh and the Egyptians are a picture to us of Satan and his hosts seeking to keep individuals from coming under the good of redemption and deliverance and Egypt 's a type of this world if we were to jump ahead in the history of the children of Israel we find that later on they did cross the Jordan river and go into possess the land of Canaan their inheritance and the land of Canaan typifies to us.
That which we haven't can have an enjoyment of now it's that vast panorama of spiritual blessings that are yours and mine in Christ sometimes in some of the old hymns not ones we sing but in some of the old hymns the Jordan is referred to as death and and Canaan as something we enjoy after we leave this world in connection with heaven and so on but Cain and I believe pictures to us that which we can have an enjoyment of now it's everything we have been given in Christ.
And spelled out so very beautifully for us in the New Testament in the epistles.
In Canaan that's where the real conflict began they had quite a number of enemies as they went into possess the land and those enemies represent to us the work of Satan to keep us from enjoying what is rightfully hours in Christ and young people in the measure in which you seek to go on for the Lord in your Christian pathway in the measure in which you're reading your Bible enjoying the things that you are reading and walking with and for the Lord the enemy is going to be right there to discourage you because the enemy does not want you to have an enjoyment of the things of Christ.
As you go through this this world and so expect conflict in that way and that's really the conflict that you get in ephesians because ephesians brings before us those wonderful blessings and then we have the armor of God because we don't wrestle we don't fight against earthly enemies like they did we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and so on you know the verse very well but in the wilderness they had a another enemy and that was amalek amalek is a picture of Satan 's working on the flesh.
To keep us from to hinder our walk with God through this wilderness world.
That's what amalek tried to do he tried to hinder their progress in the wilderness and so as say again it's AP amalek is a picture to us of the enemy 's attempt to hinder our walk with God through this wilderness world it tells us the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and the 2 are contrary one to another and so we find that there was this battle with amalek but the secret of the battle.
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Were 2 Things first of all there was a hidden quiet work that was going on on the mountain nearby because as we read Moses went up on the mountain and he's a picture of the Lord Jesus gone on high to fill all things he's a picture of the Lord Jesus living for us now and 2 men came and stayed up his hands till the going down of the sun now on the one hand there was Aaron now young people I realized that Aaron had not yet been officially put into the priesthood I understand that?
But I think we get the picture very clearly Aaron pictures to us one of the offices that the Lord Jesus is fulfilling today for you and me at the right hand of God because Hebrews develops the fact that the Lord Jesus is living for us there as our high priest it tells us we have not an high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are.
Yeah without sin and so the Lord Jesus is living for us as our high priest to preserve us in the path of faith and service if you and I fail in the path of faith and service it's because we haven't availed ourselves of the Lord Jesus praying for us every hour of every day isn't that a tremendous thought to think about you know we think about praying for one another we pray for for our own needs.
But isn't it wonderful to realize that the Lord Jesus is praying for us he's there and he knows every need of every person every person is an individual you know sometimes we pray in a general way for people and for our our brethren and for our families but the Lord Jesus is praying for each one of us as an individual in the Old Testament the high priest had a breastplate and there was a separate stone for every one of the 12 tribes of Israel?
Teaching us that we are all individuals on the heart of the Lord Jesus.
And so there he is he's praying for us and remember this 2 young people the Lord Jesus as our high priest does not just sympathize with us he empathizes you know to empathize is something far deeper than sympathizing to empathize with someone you have to go through a similar circumstance you know last afternoon when Tim cell was hurt I sympathized with him.
But I didn't empathize I've never dislocated my shoulder and I've never broken a bone.
I sympathize but I really didn't enter into what he was going through but the Lord Jesus it says he was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin in other words there is nothing that you will ever go through in the path of faith and service that the Lord Jesus as a man hasn't felt the Lord Jesus knew what it was to grow up as a boy in this world he knew what it was to be a young person he knew what it was to be reproached it says reproach has broken mine heart.
He knew what it was to suffer physical physically he knew what it was to be thirsty to be hungry to be weary with his journey he could say all my bones are out of joint the Lord Jesus empathized with Timothy with Tim yesterday I couldn't because I've never had a similar experience but the Lord Jesus knows what everyone of us go through you can never say no one knows or understands it may be true from an earthly perspective.
But just look up when you're going through something that you feel you can't share with anybody that no one understands just look up and realize that the Lord Jesus says your high priest is there living for you another thing just quickly in connection with this high priestly work and there are many things but one other thing I've enjoyed is that that high priest as we mentioned I think the other day his priesthood doesn't change.
We never have to start out over with the Lord Jesus he has an unchangeable priesthood he knows us through and through he knew us before we were formed in the womb we were chosen in him before the foundation of the world he knows our down sittings and our uprisings he knows our thoughts are far off and so on well how wonderful to have one who's living for us so Aaron on one hand represents to us the high priestly work of the Lord Jesus.
00:35:15
But there was a man on the other hand and his name was her and I believe that her represents to us the advocacy of Christ there's another office that the Lord Jesus is fulfilling for us today at the right hand of God so if I can put it this way his high priestly work is to preserve us in the path of faith and service his advocacy is to restore us and so it tells us we have an advocate with the father Jesus Christ the righteous.
Now I just want to mention a couple of things in connection with the advocacy of Christ.
Because there are certain contrasts or differences between his priesthood and his advocacy we don't have time to mention them all but a cut just a couple his high priestly work is in connection with God because that's power but his advocacy is in connection with the father because that's relationship and young people I believe this is one of the clearest scriptures on eternal security I know you have Christian friends who through mist teaching.
We'll try to tell you that when you sin you lose your salvation that you're no longer a child of God.
If it said we have an advocate with God we might well wonder but it doesn't it says we have an advocate with the father?
Showing that when I sin, in no way is the family relationship broken, but I do have to do with my father. So any of us who have had children understand this. When they disobeyed or went against us, we didn't bring them up to the court of law and disown them. But they did have to do with us in the family circle as parents. And so we have an advocate with the Father. And then it says, I'm quoting from First John, it says Jesus Christ.
The righteous when I sin it's just as if the Lord Jesus in the presence of the father says I paid for that sin that's how he can be a righteous advocate there's never compromise in connection with sin on God 's part or the Lord 's part how can he be a righteous advocate he went to Calvary and he bore my sins in his own body on the tree so let me try to illustrate it this way.
If I go against society and I'm brought up to the judge and I get a good lawyer or I'm a fast talker I might get off the judge might let me go but if I'm guilty he's not a righteous judge but if the judge says now Jim I know you're guilty and the penalty for going against society is thus and so but I'm going to pay the penalty now so you can go free now he's a righteous judge because the claims of society have been met and the Lord Jesus has met all the righteous claims of God?
Against sin because of his grace and because I have by the grace of God availed myself of that mighty mighty sacrifice so again we have these 2 offices represented by Aaron the high representing the high priest on one hand.
Her on the other hand and hers name means purity or righteousness so he's a picture of our righteous advocate and so they held up his hands till the going down of the sun.
Because young people as long as we are here in the valley of conflict as long as we're here in this world.
The Lord Jesus is going to be living forth praying for us as our high priest and as our advocate just one other comment I believe this.
In the measure in which we avail ourselves of the high priestly work of the Lord Jesus in that measure we won't need his advocacy you know the Lord said to Peter I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not and if Peter had only availed himself of that resource he never would have denied the Lord 3 times with owes and curses thankfully there was restoration for Peter full restoration but he had a resource that could have spared him that bitter experience.
Well then we find out in the valley there was this very real conflict because as I say we have very real enemies and I don't want to stand here as an older person and minimize what life is in a world like this and I know the enemy is busy perhaps like never before and I know the enemy is putting things in front of you to tempt you and draw you away perhaps like never before I don't understand everything that you're going through you're going through things in your life today.
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And in the world we live in that I never had to face, there's a spirit in this world. There's a, there's a an agenda in this world that I didn't have to face when I was a teenager or in my 20s. But I know this, The Lord is sufficient. He hasn't changed. And again, greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. And so we find down in the valley there was Joshua. Now, generally speaking, Joshua.
Speaks to us. But let me make one other comment about the rod of Moses. We've commented on it several times in this. In this instant, it becomes the rod of intercession. So as I said earlier, it was the rod of testimony in Egypt. It was the rod of power in separating the Red Sea. It was the rod of atonement in connection with the rock. Here it's the rod of intercession. So just a little parenthesis. But here we find Joshua. Now Joshua is generally a picture.
Of the Lord Jesus and his name means Jesus. He's generally a picture of the Lord Jesus in the aspect later on where they went in to possess the land. He's the captain of our salvation, bringing many sons to glory. But you know, often the man in scripture is also a picture of the Spirit of God, and I suggest that's what we have here. We have Moses up on the mountain interceding with Aaron and her. He's a picture of the Lord gone on high to fill all things.
The Lord Jesus seated at the right hand of God. But here we have Joshua with a sword in his hand and he is the one that fights for the children of Israel or leads the battle, I should say, because there was conflict, and there is conflict for you and me. But he's the one that leads the battle with this sword and will speak of this sword in a moment. I suggest he's a picture here of again what the Lord said, what before he was about to go away and leave the disciples.
He said I will not leave you comfortless, we will come to you. In other words, he was going to send the Spirit of God.
That's the other Comforter. Why is it another Comforter? In John's Gospel, the Lord was the comforter when he was here. You know, when the disciples were burdened about the death of John the Baptist, why they went and told him all about it. He drew them into a desert place to rest while he was their comforter and sustainer all through his public ministry as they walked with him. Now he was physically going away, but he said, I'll send another comforter. He'll be with you and in you He'll abide with you forever. And so on. Because young people, as long as we're here, the Spirit of God is here.
He doesn't leave till we leave. That's one of the unique things about the Christian era. That's why at the end of your Bible it says the Spirit and the bride say come. Why? Because he doesn't leave till we leave. He's going to be here as long as we are here. And so we have Joshua here and he leads this battle. And notice verse 13. And Joshua discomforted Amalek and his people. And I want you to notice this with the edge of the sword. Now the sword in scripture often speaks of the word of God.
It speaks of the word of God being sharper than any two edged sword. Even in the coming day when the Lord Jesus comes to judge there's going to be a sharp sword go out of his mouth and so on. So it's the sword is often used in connection with the word of God. It's the sort of the spirit. This is just a little parenthesis. But remember this, it's not our sword, it's the sword of the spirit. You know sometimes I hear people say having their Bible in hand, I've got my sword with me, it's not my sword.
Because it's only when it's used in communion with the Spirit of God that it has the power.
You know, Peter had a sword in the garden and Peter used it. Peter had a real desire to defend his Lord, but he used that sword without the sanction of his Lord and what he did. And he only added to the problem, he didn't help it. As someone has said, he only ended up giving the Lord more work to do and so we always want to use it in the power of the Spirit. And I know we've gone over this several times in several of the meetings, so we won't develop it again. But we notice here that Joshua type of the spirit of God.
He has the sword here. It's the word of God and the power of the Spirit. And we're going to notice this evening when we speak again of the the temptation in the wilderness. We'll develop this a little further because we see the perfect example with the Lord Jesus. He answered Satan always in the wilderness temptation by quoting the a verse of scripture with the power of the word. It was the word of God in the power of the Spirit. But you notice too that they didn't. They never annihilated or really overcame Amalek.
00:45:22
They discomforted Amalek or Joshua discomforted Amalek with the edge of the sword. Why? Because you and I will never be done with Satan's working on the flesh as long as we're here in this world. Again, I will quote from Galatians the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. And the two are contrary, one with the other. And we're not going to be done with the flesh. We're not going to be done with the wilderness. We're not going to be done with the Amalek character of Satan.
Until we get home to glory and then we will leave it behind forever. There's going to be, as it says here, war with Amalek from generation to generation. But Joshua did discomfort him with the edge of the sword. Then we find that Moses was to write it in a book. They were to never forget how the Lord had undertaken for them. We find 2IN verse 15 that Moses built an altar. There was worship and he called the name of it Jehovah Nissi.
Or if you notice your your margin, the Lord is is my banner. You know this is a illustration from olden times when they had the battles. Sometimes in in the olden days when there were walled cities that were miles apart and they were feuding one another, they had those battles out on the on the plains, sometimes quite a ways off from where the uh the city was. And they would have Watchmen and those Watchmen would be on the city walls looking in the direction that the battle was taking place.
And what were they looking for? They were looking to see the whether there was a victory or not. And there would be a runner, or there would be someone on horseback. And they would come and they would have a banner, often with the colors of the city, and that banner would declare that there was victory in the city. And so you and I, while we will never be done with the Amalek aspect of Satan, as long as we're here in this wilderness world, we can, through Christ and in the power of the Spirit, have victory.
Again and again and again and again we can overcome through the resources that that we have. And so there was this altar Jehovah Nissi, the Lord is is my banner. Now we won't turn to it. But you'll notice on your handout I have a couple of verses printed. I'm just going to read them that make a comment about this battle that we don't have in Exodus Chapter 17.
Just notice under the picture here it says, remember what Amel Amalek did under thee, by the way, when you were come forth out of Egypt, how he met thee by the way, and smoked the hinder most of thee when thou was faint and weary and he feared not God. This is that quote of course, from Deuteronomy chapter 25. So we have this little comment that Amalek smoke behind her, most of them in other words.
He smote those that were farthest from the captain, those that were farthest from Joshua. And what do we learn from this young people? We learned that if we're not walking close to the Lord, the enemy is going to get a victory. In our lives. We find that there were those who were faint and weary. I believe that one of the great attempts of the enemy today is to weary the Saints of God, to just wear us down, and it's not necessarily with wrong things.
It's just the daily grind of life. Don't you feel? Sometimes at school or work, you're just treading water. All you can do is keep your head above water. You're really not getting anywhere. We live on a treadmill of society that's being pumped up faster and faster all the time. And I don't know how you young people do it at school and at work. It was fast enough when I was your age. It's a lot faster today. The enemy's real work today, I believe, is to wear down the Saints of God.
You can look it up and it's a little different context because it's talking about a future day, but in the book of Daniel it says of of the man of sin. In a coming day he will wear out the Saints of the Most High.
Isn't that what's happening today, is we're just getting worn out? Now, Scripture always has a present application, and you know, we often quote the verse in First Peter. Your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour. And usually when we think of that aspect of Satan, we think of persecution and violence against believers. And that's certainly right and many of our fellow Christians in other parts of the world today.
00:50:24
Are really suffering physical persecution? Many are in prison being tortured and facing martyrdom, and scripture encourages us to remember them and pray for them. But there's got to be an application for you and for me here in the Western world. We're not afraid this afternoon of the government busting down the door and coming in and shooting us or arresting some of us for having a Bible camp here. No, But what is the application of the roaring lion for us? I believe it's weariness and discouragement.
That's what Satan is walking about seeking to do to you and me. You ever notice a cat with its prey? You know, a cat doesn't usually kill its prey right away. We've had cats, and I grew up in the country, and there were cats. And we, I would notice that that cat would catch that bird or that mouse or that mole, and it would play with it. And then it would let it go and it would run a few feet, and then the cat would pounce on it again, and then it would play with it again. And when that little creature was so absolutely tired that it dropped with exhaustion, then the cat would come in for its kill. And isn't that again what Satan's doing? He can never rob us of our salvation.
But he's like that cat seeking to weary us and wear us down. And so they were there were those who were weary. But what? Why were they weary? Why did Amalek get an advantage? Because they were, as I say, the farthest from the captain. You know, I really believe that was Peter's problem that led to what he did in denying the Lord. You know, Peter, there was a progression of things. It's interesting if you follow through the different accounts and the different gospels.
We find that first of all Peter followed afar off. He followed the Lord, but he followed afar off. Sometimes I do that there are I want to follow the Lord, but there are certain things I want to keep for myself, certain things I want to do for myself. So I keep at a distance. Peter followed afar off that in one of the Gospels that says he went in and stood by the fire, and then another gospel, it tells us he sat down by that fire.
With those who had no love for his Lord. You see it was a progression of walking, standing and sitting. You get the progression in, uh, the counter of it, in the first Psalm, where it says, Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, or standeth in the way of sinners or sitteth in the seat of the scornful. Peter did all three. He walked in the council, the ungodly he stood, he stood where he shouldn't have been, and he sat in the seat of the scornful. And we all know the sad results. And so I believe we learn here from Amalek that we need to keep close to the Lord.
You know, young people, that's really what he wants. He wants us to follow him and to walk closely by his side, the Psalmist said. Thou hast hold in me by thy right hand. Thou wilt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. To have be conscious of someone holding your hand, you have to be right there with them, right there beside them, just about the last words the Lord said to Peter.
Before he left this world, where follow thou me, You know, it's a lot easier to follow someone than just have them give you directions. And God has given us infallible directions and guidelines in His word. His word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. And then he goes before says he goes before his sheep hear his voice and they follow him. I remember one time years ago, we were in a strange city and my wife and girls were with me and we got lost. I'm a person that's absolutely directionally challenged.
And so you can spin me on my backyard just about, and I get lost. But you know, something within us doesn't like to admit it and we don't like to stop and ask for direction. So finally, after being remonstrated by my with by my wife several times, I stopped at a gas station and there was a lady there and she just filled up her car with gas. And so I asked her for directions and she said, well, you go down the street three blocks and when you get to the light, you turn left.
And when you, you go about a half a mile and you'll turn right and then you'll come to a fork. It wasn't exactly like that, but something like that. And when you come to the fork in the road, go this direction and you'll come. And by that time she knew by the look on my face, I wasn't taking all that in. She said, you know what, I'm going that direction. Just follow me. And it was a lot easier to follow her than just have her give me directions. God has done both for us. He has given us the directions in his word. And then he goes before.
00:55:23
And all we have to do is follow him. Well, I realized in these three talks that we have been able to share together, we have run a lot of information by us. But let me just remind you, Brother Tom here has been kind enough again this year to come and to do the recordings. Those recordings will be available, some of them are already available, but they will be available very shortly on those gathered.com. And so perhaps you can go back over them, you can take.
Take your notes. But more than that, even get your Bible out and search these things as like the Bereans. You know it's not enough for you to come to meetings like this. That's good, wonderful. We're thankful you're here, thankful there's been good attention in the meetings, and I see a real desire to get something and to take notes. But that's not enough. You never have something until you search it out for yourself. Search it out for yourself and you'll have it. The Bereans were more noble than those of Thessalonica. Why?
You know, the Thessalonians were noble too, because they listened to the oral ministry of the Apostle Paul. But the Bereans were more noble because they didn't just take Paul's word for it. They went home and got out whatever portions of the word of God they would have had available in their day. They wanted to make sure what Paul was teaching didn't conflict with any part of the word of God. They searched it out for themselves. And so I want to encourage you to do that.
Luke 4:1-15 Part 2
Reading
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See in the Blue Book just the first and last verse, and of course the chorus of 150.
So instead of right, we're running into one there. Why is no getting?
Up on the day long while there are others and slamming about.
Never know whatever glowings are on the wrong.
Oh man, the guy.
Thank you.
And I brightened.
Him will understand.
All I am sorry.
Yeah, my brother.
Look at him in the sunshine.
Will understand.
It all by him and my.
OK, so as we mentioned this morning, we're going to read the first part of Luke Chapter 4.
And uh, we will read the 1St 15 verses and I've asked Nathan Castleberry to read the portion. So Luke chapter 4, the 1St 15 verses.
Chapter 4.
And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being 40 days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing, and when they were ended, he asked to work hunger. And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone, that it be made bread.
And Jesus answered him, saying, that it is risen that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. And the devil, taking him up into a high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them, for that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I get it. If thou therefore will worship me, all shall be thine.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, and Satan.
Credits written, Thou shall worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a tentacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from him. For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any any time thou dash thy foot against the stone. And Jesus answering, said unto him, It is said.
That shall not tempt the Lord thy God. And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season, and Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and there went out of fame of him through all the region round about, and He taught in their synagogues, being glorified, evolved.
00:05:05
So as I mentioned this morning, we felt exercise to take this portion up because it does connect us with the story of the wilderness in the Old Testament.
Because here we find the Lord Jesus as a man in the circumstances of life here in this, so to speak, wilderness world. But it is at a special time led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Now there were two things that were necessary to take place before the Lord's public ministry. If we were to back up just a little bit, we would find that we He comes to John the Baptist.
And he is baptized John the Baptist. There were, there was a little remnant, godly remnant in Israel who were coming to John the Baptist for the baptism of repentance, and they were being baptized in the river Jordan. Now the Lord of course had nothing to repent of and the temptation in the wilderness and connection with what we said this morning will show that. But why was the Lord baptized? And he, the reason being he identified?
As a man, as a Jew with the godly remnant in Israel, because remember, baptism always identifies us with someone, just as in the Old Testament when they went through the Red Sea, a figure of baptism, it identified them with Moses. When you and I are baptized in Christianity and identifies us with Christ. And so it it always has to do with identification. And so the Lord Jesus is a godly Jew as a man.
He identified with this little remnant that were confessing their sins and coming to John for the baptism of repentance. But there was something else that needed to take place before his public ministry, and that was what we have in this portion, and that was the temptation in the wilderness. Now in Matthew's Gospel, we have it in some detail. Mark only mentions it very, very briefly, just in a couple of verses, and Luke brings it out perhaps.
In the, uh, in, in, in the best way. I, I, I want, that's not what I really wanna say. But he brings it out and props the fullest way and he brings it out in a moral sense. And we'll talk about that as we go down these verses. But those two things were very necessary. The baptism of the Lord. And the other thing the baptism of the Lord did, it marked him out by the Spirit of God as to who he was, that this was God's anointed, that this was the Christ. The Spirit of God descended upon him in the bodily form of a dove. Now the Spirit of God is gonna lead him into the wilderness to be tempted.
And we'll speak about why that was so necessary.
So you'll notice he was LED of the Spirit and the whole life and work of the Lord Jesus was one in the power of the Spirit. And if you trace his life, it's just give you a little challenge, a little homework. Go through the life of the Lord Jesus and notice the times where it speaks of him being LED of the Spirit or something he does in the power of the Spirit.
From his birth it says that holy thing that shall be born of thee is begotten of the Holy Ghost. And all from that point on, everything he does is in the power of the Spirit, because the PO, the Spirit of God, is the energy in which God always moves. So if I can make it practical, here's the Lord Jesus, lead of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted. You and I as we go through this wilderness world, we have the Spirit of God then.
In US and with us to lead us in every aspect of our lives. And if we want power in our pathway through this world, it's to give the Spirit that place so that we can be LED where he le where he wants us to be, where he wants us to go. And everything we do in our Christian life that's going to have ways or impact is going to be in the power of the Spirit of God.
Could you tell us the significance of the 40 days?
Yeah. So for numbers, as you well know, have their significance in Scripture. And 40 is always God's time of complete testing. So the children of Israel were 40 years in the wilderness. It was a time of testing for Israel. And there are a number of times when you have 40 days or 40 years or 40 something in in the word of God. So 40 for the Lord here was 40 days because it was a complete time of testing.
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And what's interesting in connection with your question is that in Luke here it indicates that the temptation went on for a full 40 days. So what is what is denoted here are three special temptations at the end of those 40 days. But the devil had come to him, and for 40 days he was tempted. Now again, let's make this very practical. There isn't a day in your life and mine when the devil.
In some way isn't going to put some temptation before your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion walks about, seeking whom he may devour. He never gives up. He can't rob you of your salvation.
But he can rob you of your joy in the Lord. He wants to discourage you. He wants to spoil your testimony. He wants you to even deny the Lord if he could get you to do to do it. So the Lord wasn't just tempted in these three ways. These are three special ways, and we'll see why they're given to us in this way. But he was tempted for a full 40 days.
So we might ask ourselves then, why was this so necessary? If the Lord Jesus, as we said this morning, if He knew no sin, if He did no sin, and in Him was no sin as we had those 3 verses this morning, why the temptation in the wilderness? Throw that out of the question. Maybe somebody has a thought.
He said he needed to be tested in every way.
Yes, and not to prove to God or to himself that he was perfect, but to show beyond the shadow of a doubt to mankind who this one was. I'll give you a little illustration that might help us to understand it. I wear a gold ring. And suppose I tell you that this gold ring is 24 karat gold, and you come to me and you say no. Come on, Jim, you're you're sure that's 24 karat gold.
You're really sure that it's 24 karat? And I say, yes, I'm really sure. So I say let's give it a test. So I know nothing about these things. Science wasn't my thing. But we'll say for the sake of the illustration that we bring a, uh, beaker of some kind of acid that we use you use to test gold. I can see Chris smiling. But anyway, let's, let's just, uh, this is all in layman's terms. So we bring the beaker of acid and I drop the ring into it and I say, now we're gonna leave that ring in there for 24 hours.
And see what happens. And after 24 hours we come back and we pull the ring out and you say, OK, I can see you are completely honest about it. It is indeed 24 karat gold. Now, the test didn't make it 24 karat gold. It was 24 karat gold. But the and the test didn't prove it to me because I already knew that. But the test proved to you the reality of what this ring was made out of pure 24, pure 24 karat gold.
And so I believe that helps us to understand why God allowed his beloved Son, the perfect Son of God, to go through this temptation in the wilderness before his public ministry.
Let let let me just sum it up again. In his baptism, the Spirit of God had given confirmation as to who he was. Now God himself gives confirmation through the wilderness, so that as he leaves the wilderness and goes out in his public ministry, there is no question in the minds of those who have faith to know who this the Lord Jesus is. He's the anointed one. He's the one who's come in the power of the Spirit.
He's the Son of God. God the Father finds all his delight in this one, and there is no question as to the veracity of what he ha has said, that he is indeed the Son of God.
Might be worth mentioning that at any point, uh.
At all points in his time on earth, Jesus was still divine.
OK, but in order to.
Occupy a position whereby we can read Hebrews chapter 2 at the end of the last verse and saying he being tempted in all ways is now able to sucker those who are tempted must uh, have necessarily laid by those divine attributes OK to be to experience hunger and all the other temptations that the human race, uh.
00:15:17
Deals with OK if a man did not go through everything that a human being could go through and reach the cross.
Not being fully tested.
Then the punishment is, is not, is not for not to punish the, the, the the sacrifice is not full, right? There needs to be a man who walked on earth, who completed, who walked in perfect harmony according to the spirit in, in communion with the Father and in communion with God, uh, such that the, the his atoning sacrifice could successfully, umm.
Be.
Doesn't work.
So that's very helpful because let me stress again what Austin said, there is nothing that you and I will ever pass through in the path of faith and service that the Lord Jesus as a man hasn't already felt as often said he was in all points tempted leap like as we are. And then of course, Scripture adds without, without sin. So in John chapter 14, I believe it is. I think you can look it up. I think it's verse 30.
He says the Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me. So you have this temptation at the beginning. And then when the devil does return, you know, it says the devil departed for a season, but the devil didn't leave him alone. And the devil doesn't leave you and I alone. We might triumph through the power of the Spirit of God and nearness to the Lord in one difficulty or temptation, but the devil is always going to come back with more. But at the end of his pathway, the Lord said, the Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me.
So He was it. It shows that He was the perfect, sinless Son of God. But it's been said he passed through everything. There's nothing that you've passed through will ever pass through in your life that you'll be able to say, no one understands me. Maybe no other human being on earth will understand you. But the Lord Jesus as a man at the right hand of God understands and empathizes because He went through it before.
That thought carried through to the judgment, seat to the judgment. John 522. For the father judges no man, but have committed all judgment unto the Son.
Men are going to have to stand before a judge who has experienced it all. There is going to be no excuse. You don't understand what it was like to be rejected because you were doing the right thing or that you tried to do the right thing or whatever the excuses.
Jesus can say I've I've been through that. I know what it was like.
It's.
It's gonna be a summer. God has has completed the the whole picture from start to finish. Jesus is a man.
Umm, in every sense of the word, at the same time as he is God.
Umm, you've completed, fulfilled the sacrifice, and he's gonna fulfill his place and his judge.
Not as not so much as God. Maybe as a man.
Why don't they do it?
With template Jesus.
I mean, we're asked ask Jesus to worship him. Didn't he know who Jesus was?
Well, it goes right back to why he fell from it was cast out of heaven and the host that followed him there, he sought worship for himself. He exalted himself really at that point. And as a result, he was cast out of heaven. So Satan, Satan hasn't changed a bit. There's no, there's nothing no betterment than Satan and his his host. And so it was the the ages had passed since he'd been cast out of heaven.
00:20:08
Now, he still thought he could somehow, uh, tempt the Lord and get him to, uh, adhere to these three specific temptations that are brought out. It's interesting too, that when man was tempted in the garden, it was in the best of circumstances. And there we find the, the defeat of man. Satan was able through Eve to, uh, bring in sin into the world and the human race and whole creation fell.
Under the effects of the curse. But here we find the victory of the triumph of Christ, the perfect man, and there's nothing in him that that responds. But again, it's interesting, isn't it, Because Satan left him for a time, but then he comes back later to seek again. And I suppose one of the again, one of the practical lessons we learned from this is Satan doesn't give up in any one of us. And just because you've had a victory in your life.
In connection with some tests or trial and.
Temptation of Satan doesn't mean you're home free, so to speak. The enemy is going to come back in one way or another. And I've sometimes said this, that Satan is the greatest dealer in antiques that there is. And what do I mean by that?
He takes the same old lies and the same old deception that he's used in the past, and he may dress them up a little bit different. You know, people who deal in antiques, they get an old piece of furniture and what do they do? They put some new upholstery on it and some new padding. They may be varnish it a little de or paint it a little different color, but underneath it's the same old piece of furniture that is 200 years old.
It may be presented a little bit different, a little different color or so on. And that's what the enemy Satan does. He's had all these thousands of years to work on mankind. He knows mankind through and through, and he knows how to present things in just a little bit different color or shade, uh, according to the course the world's on, according to the spirit of the age or whatever may be the movement of the world, uh, at that time.
So that's why I think one year we took up the armor of God and we noticed that the armor of God is necessary not to stand against the power of the devil, but against the Wiles of the devil. You know the the Knights of old, they put on armor so they could stand against the power of the enemy, but we put on the armor of God to stand against the Wiles or the subtlety of the devil where no match for the devil and he comes in various ways. So again he came in various ways to the Lord Jesus.
And we'll notice these three different ways.
Under the best of circumstances, that everything they could ever want provided for them, and they still were tempted and entailed miserably. Whereas here the Lord is tired and hungry and alone in the wilderness and still able to live.
And it, it shows, doesn't it, that well, yes, I to some degree our environment affects us, but we can't blame our environment on our sin and failure. If I'm tempted of the devil, I can't say, well, you know, it was because I was brought up a certain way and my parents failed a certain way, or I had to go to a certain school or this and that and the other thing, or I got into bad company or we lived in a bad neighborhood.
You hear all those kinds of excuses. Yes, our environment to some degree affects us, but in Christianity we have everything we need to meet the temptations of the devil. I realized we're not like the Lord. The Lord was perfect. Of course he was sinless. But you and I have, as it says in another place, all things that pertain unto life and godliness. If I listen to the devil, fall under the devil's spell, if I'm tempted by the devil and LED away in something in my of my own will, I cannot blame.
Anybody I I cannot blame my environment. I can't blame anybody else. I listen to Satan and I didn't avail myself of the resources that I had, that God has given me. The Spirit of God, the divine life, Christ living for me, the word of God, prayer, on and on goes the list of resources.
00:25:01
Perfect man, God come down, and so he had special.
Power to resist, and it wasn't a temptation to him. But how did he respond as a man?
He showed us how we need to deal with the temptation.
Did you He referred to God's word? That doesn't work. That doesn't sound right, because God said differently.
OK.
Yes and we'll develop that next time a little bit Our time is almost gone, but I I'm gonna give you a little homework before the umm, next session on this tomorrow.
I'll I'll give you a verse and then I'm gonna give you something to think about First John chapter 2 and verse 16. So I want you to really think about this and maybe some of you will have a thought on it by tomorrow afternoon. First John chapter 2.
And verse 16.
For all that is in the world, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. Three things here, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Now we won't develop it now, but when Satan came to act to even the garden, he came with those three things. He hit the when he tempted Eve, there was the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. You can go back to there and see if you can figure it out.
From the scripture in our chapter here, we find the same thing again. Like I say, Satan uses the same tactics over and over again. So in Matthew's Gospel where you have the temptation in the wilderness.
The order in which the temptation is given is different. You can look that up and notice it there. It's chronological, but in Luke it's not. Nothing's ever chronological in Luke, or very rarely at least, because Luke gives us things more in a moral order in in an order to, in a sense to, or in an order to teach us the sense of the doctrines that that the Lord was seeking to bring out or that Luke by the Spirit of God is seeking to bring before.
So in Luke, the temptation is not chronological. It's in the same order that we have in the verse in first John and the in the same order that we have it back in in Genesis. So I'm going to leave that with you. Look it up, think about it, and maybe some of you tomorrow will have a little bit of a thought on it.
Second Sing