Nazarite's Vow, Lesson from Exodus

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All right, in the appendix.
For thou hast heard our prayer.
Walk on Earth a stranger.
And the Son of Eric and the dear of God.
Portion is elsewhere.
It's all wrapped up in thee and in thy son.
He asked thee for thy help this afternoon, the rest of the day, the gospel tonight.
Pray the Lord Jesus may be honored and glorified. We ask it in His name. Amen. Amen.
A real burden on my heart.
For a short time.
Turn back to Revelation 3.
For justice diverse.
Verse 11 again.
Behold, I come quickly.
Hold that fast which thou hast.
That no man take thy crown.
Now let's turn back to the 6th chapter of Numbers.
Which has to do with the Nazarite.
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Number six.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel.
And say unto them.
When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite.
To separate themselves unto the Lord.
He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine or vinegar of strong drink.
Neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, or eat moist grapes, or dried.
All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk. All the days of the vow of his separation, there shall no razor come upon his head.
Until the days be fulfilled in the which he separated himself unto the Lord.
He shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.
All the days that he separated himself unto the Lord, he shall come at no dead body.
He shall not make himself unclean for his father or for his mother.
For his brother or for his sister, when they die, because the consecration of his God is upon his head.
All the days of his separation he is holy unto the Lord.
We talked a bit about what holiness means, and here we have it coupled with being separate, separated to the Lord being consecrated. These words all describe the the Nazarite. And I would say that that address that we've been looking at to Philadelphia is really an address.
To the Nazarites.
And address to the Nazarites.
To those who are.
Completely totally separated to the Lord, consecrated all for him.
He is everything and nothing that appeals to the to the natural man.
Those things were not to be indulged in.
Says when either man or woman shall separate themselves to Volvo the Nazarite to separate themselves onto the Lord. Now this bow had a limit to it didn't go on forever, but the Lord Jesus was the true Nazarite was he not?
He was the one whose meat it was to do the will of him that sent him, and to finish his work. I delight he said, to do thy will, O God.
The Father hath not left me alone, for I do always those things that please him.
None of us can say that.
None of us is a, if you want to be quite accurate about it, a true Nazarite. But he was.
That's why to say that we are Philadelphians is to say we're Nazarites.
We are truly, totally, completely separated to the Lord. Well, I don't claim that for myself, and I don't think you can either, but we can. We can see what a Nazarite is according to the thought of God and that no man take thy crown. That word crown is a very interesting word. If you have a new translation by Mr. Darby, read the number number six and the note in verse 2.
Under the word Nazarite. And he connects that with a consecration, A separation. And there are even passages where it's it's the same word that's used for the crown that goes on the King's head. When he's crowned, it separates him. It uniquely sets him apart from all the rest. He's the king, and also the priest too. The diadem is the same word that comes from.
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The word that makes up this Nazarite.
And.
No, man, take thy crown. What was the crown of the Nazarite? Well, we'll read it here in a moment.
He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, those things that are intoxicating, and it doesn't have to be liquor, but anything that is so, you're so absorbed with in your life that you are intoxicated by it and you can't live without it.
It's a part of your very life, and the Nazarite is not that way.
He has one object, of course, and that is to please his father. I'm Speaking of the true Nazarite, the Lord Jesus now.
So this Nazarite separates himself from wine and strong drink and.
Shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink. Neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, or eat moist grapes, or dried. Anything that comes from the vine is to abstain from.
All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the fine tree.
From the kernels even to the husk, even down to the grapes themselves when there's no liquor involved. But there are things that we indulge in that are perfectly legitimate in most instances that are not intoxicating in themselves, although they could become so if they become so all absorbing in our life.
I was speaking to a brother between meetings and and said we can often tell.
Where one is in his thought life right after the breaking of bread, you move around and you talk to this one. And if one is a farmer, he talks about farming. If one is a computer expert who talks about computers, if one is a sports nut, he you talk about sports, and if one is in the the arts, he talks about painting or drawing or playing music or whatever he is interested in. You see this world in which we're through which we're passing.
For every taste, no matter what it is something that would appeal to us, something that we get so absorbed with that it just comes out in our daily conversation. We generate to that we.
You know, you were really occupied with those things.
All the days of the vow of his separation, there shall no razor come upon his head.
Until the days be fulfilled, and the which he separated himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy. That word means separate to God holy.
Holy. And he shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow, grow.
That's the first thing it says about the Nazarite.
He I don't believe that the Lord necessarily was the Nazarites in the literal sense of this. He was certainly morally A Nazarite. But what is the significance of the long hair?
For the for the man in particular beginning of the chapter it says either man or woman.
But that signified in Sampson's case, that was a secret that.
The enemy tried to find out through Jezebel.
And.
Finally they succeeded.
His secret of strength was in his separation.
That was the crown of the Nazareth, the long haired. He was totally separated to God. Now that's the Philadelphian movement. It was a movement that was totally consecrated, totally separated, totally committed and devoted to the Lord who was the Holy One and the truth.
He was everything to them and they didn't have anything else that this world has to offer that that they were so interested in that that just absorbed their life. Not that they didn't enjoy this or that occupation at times, sitting at the piano and playing or playing a game, but it didn't. It didn't occupy his life fully.
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And.
Samson strength was in a place that you would never think of. Strength in hair. Strength in your hair is long hair. Hair is just a flimsy thing that can be cut and done away with. How can there be any strength in that? Usually when you see pictures of Samson that men have drawn, they have great he has great bulging muscles, but his his strength was not in his muscles. No, his strength was in his hair, his long hair.
Philadelphia has spoken of as being.
Of little strength. Little strength you'd see a man with long hair, maybe.
Down to his waist and.
You'd say he isn't. He doesn't have any strength. That's not the source of strength.
But morally it speaks of total consecration and separation to God.
To God.
And there was a man in this world that was that, and that was the Blessed Lord himself.
Totally committed to his father.
Always to do his father's will, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me, he said. And to finish his work.
He was not of this world.
It came from heaven into it to bring us into association with himself. He was the true Nazarite and the assembly at Philadelphia. They they are the true Nazarites as seen by God. Laodicea is just the opposite.
Laodicea is what's in it for me. It's all self but Philadelphia. The true Nazarene is all for Christ.
So he shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. That's where his strength was, That's where his crown was. If you have Mr. Darbys translation, look up #6 and verse two and read the note. And he gives you all the different references of how that word is used in the Old Testament. And one of them, several of them, referred to the crown that was put on one's head to distinguish that person.
For a special place.
That no man take thy crown once we get.
Ensnared in the affairs of this world, we've lost our crown.
Our hair has been cut.
And we have no strength.
The strength of the Nazarite lay in his hair, and the strength of the Philadelphia, and lays in his total consecration and separation to God, just like his master, just like the Lord Jesus.
Verse six says All the days of that he separated himself unto the Lord, he shall come at no dead body.
That would defile him even if it was his near of kin.
He shall not make himself unclean for his father or for his mother, for his brother or for his sister.
When they die because the consecration of his God.
Is upon his head now. You could put in there for consecration. You could put in separation or crown.
That same word is used to represent those things in Scripture.
All the days of his separation he is holy unto the Lord.
So he there's three things here. He's not to drink anything from the vine that speaks of pure, natural joy.
And there's nothing wrong with that. But you see that with the Lord Jesus when they came to him and said, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without desiring to speak with thee.
And he said, Who is my mother? And who are my brethren? But they that hear the word of God and do it.
The Roman system says we were to go to Mary, his mother, because she has more of a tender, compassionate heart, and she'll bring your supplication to the Lord. That's blasphemy.
That's blasphemy against the blessed Savior.
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No, she had no special unique place except to bear the Christ, which was tremendous, tremendous, and to raise him which was tremendous. But she did not stand out as having any special claim upon him.
When he grew up.
Wish ye not that I must be about my father's business. They had gone a day's journey or two, and he wasn't with the company, and he was 12 years old, a boy, and he they came back seeking him, and after a couple days they found him in the temple, hearing the doctors and asking them questions.
And she said, and I didn't detect a note of irritation in her voice. A son, Why hast thou thus dealt with us? Thy father and I have sought these sorrowing. And he said, How is it that she sought me, wish she not that I must be about my father's business? First recorded words of the Blessed Lord wished you not that I must be about my father's business. And the last was it is finished, Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.
He finished his father's business.
In perfection.
True Nazarite.
Didn't have anything else that could be dangled before him, like it can be you and me that that gets our attention and we get into it. I remember as a boy, I'd get all absorbed in something and I just went into it with full energy and it lasted a little time and then then it was something else and it lasted a little time and then it was something else. I I don't think any of you boys are like that, but that's the way I was.
You know you are.
We're all the same. We're all made out of the same stuff. But he had one object that was before him, the true Nazarite. That's what a Philadelphian is. Dare anyone, in the light of what I am saying, say I am a Philadelphian.
Well, we desire to be like that. We desire not to allow the enemy to, with all that he has out there, all that glitters and all that, the attractions and everything that that could attract us.
Not to occupy us.
Not to occupy us, not to become the all absorbing object of our heart.
He only had one, and that was the Father. Please him the will of the Father. So the Nazarite was not to to drink anything that would.
Render him less sensitive to the father's will and guidance. And he was not to allow his natural affections for his mother or father, mother other her he would.
He would not do that. And then even if someone of them died suddenly, he was he was not to be defiled by that.
Let the dead bury their dead, he taught when he was here. There are things more important than these earthly things. Well, I couldn't help but think and just wanted to express these thoughts that if you read the notes in Mr. Darby's on numbers and one of the places.
One of the places in Jeremiah.
Speaks of shaving off the hair, and in doing so.
Loses their consecration.
That's what happened to Samson.
And he was just as weak as any other man. And when the Philadelphian movement, if I can put it that way, when that which is characteristically Philadelphian, gets occupied, you and me, all of us, any of us, with things that are out there in this world and take away our total absorption with Christ and His Word, then we're having our hair cut.
Because that's our strength, that's our crown. That's our crown. Our separation from the world and all its allurements. And if we give that up, we've lost our crown.
Well made these thoughts.
Encourage you to hold loosely.
The things here.
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Hold loosely to things here.
His coming is very soon.
It might be before we lay our heads down on the pillow tonight. Shout will be given.
Does that.
Honestly, answer it not to me. I'm nothing.
Answer it to God. Does that thought fill you with happy desire, Lord Jesus, come or no, not yet. Brother was talking to a sister once at lunch, and and he was telling her he may come today. And she said, I hope not. You hope not. Oh, she said, I have too many things I have to set in order, too many things I have to do yet here.
Well, may the Lord deliver us from things and occupy us with himself, the Bible says having food and clothing, let us be there with content. I don't think there's anyone in the room that would be content with just food and clothing.
There's a lot of people in the world that are that way.
A lot of people in the world that are that way.
Well, these thoughts, May God bless them to you.
I like to read a verse in Romans.
Chapter 14.
Verse 4.
For whatsoever things were written, a poor time were written for our learning that we.
Two patients and comfort of the scriptures might have hope that certainly fits to what and supports to what has come before us just by Chuck.
There is also a verse in Timothy.
Two Timothy 3.
Verse 14.
But continued down in the things which thou hast learned, and has been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them, and that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make the wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable.
For doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect.
Thoroughly furnished unto all good works, and also to 1St Corinthians.
Chapter 10.
He is in this chapter Speaking of what has happened.
To Israel.
That they were all under the cloud, they were all baptized unto Moses. And then in verse 11 it says, Now all these things happened unto us.
Poor and samples, and they are written for our admonition, of whom the ends of the world are calm, so the age is calm.
Well, my exercise is to.
Point some things out from the book of Exodus.
My grandfather.
Told me.
He knew the scriptures well.
And he said, if you read the book of Genesis carefully, you have gone through the scriptures.
Because typically they present.
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Truth that we have in the New Testament. But he said there are two things missing.
In the book of Genesis, and that is redemption and the sanctuary.
So it's very important for us to become familiar.
With the typical teachings of the Old Testament.
You know, it's very important because sometimes you might have trouble understanding some portion in the New Testament because you don't have the backing of.
The Old Testament.
But you know, the book of Exodus.
Speaks of redemption.
Egypt is a picture of the world.
Pharaoh is a picture of the devil.
And we need to be delivered from this present evil world. That's what we learn in Galatians.
And from the power of the devil.
And God raised up Moses to be that deliverer.
One of the beautiful types of the Lord Jesus.
And when God called him.
We have in Chapter 4.
He says. They will not believe me.
The Lord gives him two signs by which they were to believe, and we have that in chapter 4.
What is that in your eyes? In your hand? The rod?
In verse 3. And he said cast it on the ground, and he cast it on the ground and it became a serpent, and Moses fled from before it.
The Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand.
That they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared unto thee. And the Lord said furthermore unto him, Put now thy hand into thy bosom.
Put his hand into the bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. Then put it back into the bosom and it became normal again. What are these two signs teaching typically?
We are under the power of Satan.
Tara speaks of that which the power of Satan represents.
You know, I've been in Egypt a number of times, and I found a figure there.
That represents Pharaoh. And what does he have in his hand? A rod that speaks of the power. You see the devil by us, listening to him and being deceived by him, we have come under his power, and we need to be delivered from the power of the devil.
But we are also sinful.
Sin has entered.
Born sinners.
And we need to be cleansed from sin, and that is done by the Blessed Lord, the Lord Jesus, by coming to him.
We not only spared from going to hell, we are now right now delivered from the power of sin and the devil.
That's what you and I can enjoy if we know the Lord Jesus as savior now.
I hope we will all come into it, if we haven't already come into it, but then there's also something very important, and that is that there is real satanic power in the world. We have heard of what our brethren are facing in Malawi.
Demon power is demonstrated there, and it is demonstrated in the book of Exodus.
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God tells.
Aaron to cast down the rock and it became a snake.
And a magician cast down their eyes and it became a snake. You see, the devil can do quite a bit. He has tremendous power. But what happened to those rods?
They were swallowed up.
We have heard several times at this conference greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. It's demonstrated there and the book of Exodus, when the rats of these magicians were swallowed up.
You know, wonderful to realize that that we have a power available for us.
That can overcome the power of the enemy. We have no power in ourselves.
But we have a power available for us, and that power is greater than the power of Satan.
But then.
Before they can be delivered.
From Egypt, 10 Plates fall upon the land of Egypt.
And they were plagues for the Egyptians, but they were signs and wonders for the Israelites.
We can still benefit from entering into what these plates represent.
And I believe that.
In three groups of three.
Why do I say three groups of three?
Each group begins with a mourning.
And then it is important that the first three fall upon all the length of Egypt.
But then there's a difference made between the land of Egypt and the land of Goshen, where the Israelites dwell.
You know, there are things that are good for us.
Know experimentally.
Water turning into blood. That was the 3rd sign that God gave to Moses if they wouldn't believe those two signs.
The rod and the hand becoming leprous.
And water would be turned into blood. In other words, if they didn't believe, judgment would fall upon them. And the first plague is judgment. The water turns into blood. The river turns into blood.
You know we have chance sitting here and.
I've been privileged to be in Egypt a number of times. The land of Egypt couldn't exist without denial, could it? It would be a desert. But what does the Nile speak of?
Typically.
The live stream of this world, I believe that's what it represents.
But it is under judgment. Dear young people, remember that lesson.
That which the world offers the life stream of this world is all under judgment.
But we have things.
That are not under judgment. We have things that God has given us for food and for drink.
You know, remember that water from the rock?
Doroth smoked that rock water came out. That speaks of the judgment that the Lord Jesus bore for us, the manner that came from heaven.
Wonderful. And we know from the New Testament.
That that's a picture of the Lord Jesus.
Men come down as a man, I should say he is that threat.
That we can feed on.
It's nourishment for our soul and then we have the water, that which refreshes, that which encourages the believer.
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But then there were other plates.
The frogs that come up, well, what do we find the frogs to be representing?
Demon power.
Demon power.
Well, I don't want to go into all the details of these plagues, but what I want to point out is.
The third after the third play.
These plates did not fall upon the land of Goshen.
And that suggests that what these plagues represent, especially that second group.
Should not be found where God's people dwell.
We should not find irritation and aggravation.
Which he slice speak of amongst God people, unfortunately.
Sometimes we have that kind of a problem amongst us, don't we?
You know we are aggravating each other instead of encouraging each other.
But the last group of three all speak of future judgments which will fall upon this earth.
The hail is one of them, you know. You can find that if you search the scriptures diligently, that what I'm saying is correct. The last three plates speak of future judgment that will fall upon this earth. Darkness is one of them.
You know, darkness is already increasing.
But when the church is gone, and the believers and the Spirit of God is gone, there is tremendous spiritual darkness coming upon this world. Apostasy is going to come.
You know, it's a wonderful thing that we won't be here anymore when that happens. But there is already this spirit of apostasy, and there are many things that are being presented opposing the truth of God. And do you know that any time anybody gives up truth that he once held, that's the spirit of apostasy. I'm not saying that a believer can become an apostate.
But I believe the spirit of apostasy can be sometimes unfortunately seen in believers.
In my short Christian life, I have witnessed this that people preach certain truths themselves in my own relationship, my uncles.
And he turned away from it, gave it up.
Have you not experienced that in the United States and Canada?
You know.
Truth given up?
They haven't given up. Lord thank God. They are not truly apostates. But the spirit of apostasy is anytime we give something up.
That's the spirit of apostasy and Revelet ends.
So we have had at these meetings.
Holt asked That which thou hast let no man take thy crown.
Well, what I like to also point out is that in the midst of these plates.
For these signs.
There are 4 compromises.
That Satan offers to Moses and Aaron.
And they're very important. You can learn tremendous spiritual lessons from them because what Pharaoh was trying to do, Satan is trying to do in a spiritual way.
The first compromise is in Chapter 8.
Three day journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as He shall command us. We cannot do it in the world system. We have to go that three day journey. What does the three day journey speak of? What is it that will effectively separate us from the world?
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That is death.
The death with Christ.
What a tremendous truth it is, beloved Saints of God. It's not only that the Lord Jesus died for me.
When he died to him, writers said. Then we died with him buried in his grave relay.
How wonderful. That's not the end.
We also raised with him. Romans chose us, having died with him. Colossians chose us, being raised with him, and we are a new creature now.
You know, the death of Christ is that which effectively separates us from the world. That's what the three day journey speaks of.
But then there is.
Still another compromise.
And that is.
In.
Chapter 10.
Verse 10.
He said unto them, Let the Lord be so with you as I will let you go, and your little ones look to it, for evil is before you not so Go now ye that are men, and serve the Lord for that he did desire, and they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence.
Leave the children in Egypt.
Isn't that what you sometimes see?
The enemy has succeeded doing.
Christian parents let their children grow up in the world system. When we came to this country, I heard brethren literally make the statement. Chuck might have heard it too, because we were with the same brethren that we cannot decide things for our children. They have to come to their own decisions. You know well no, when the children are little.
We as parents determine what kind of life they're going to live.
Hopefully as they get older they will come to know the Lord Jesus as personal savior and then for themselves want to follow the Lord.
But children, obey your parents.
That is even as to what you should be allowed to do or not to do. You better listen children to your parents, to your parents.
May I be very blunt?
I'm troubled.
By seeing Christians bringing the television into their house.
And exposing their children to the tube and to that worldly influence.
In the very home which is to be a sanctuary for the children.
Computer is another thing. Now I realize with the educational system you today can hardly go to the schools and especially when you get older without having a computer because they use it all the time in connection with education. But be careful.
There's a lot of garbage on that stuff.
You know and.
Do we allow our children to be exposed?
Unnecessarily, yes. They will come in contact with people in the world.
But our homes ought to be the sanctuary for them.
Where they're not exposed to the world. Where they are exposed to Christian teaching, Christian living.
Of course, when you get to be older.
It's no longer a question of obeying your parents, and I'm not in the position to tell you when that changes.
You know used to be that a person was considered an adult when they were 21. Now it is 18.
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You know but.
I would like to suggest for those that are young.
Don't try.
To get out from under the authority.
Of the home and your father prematurely.
Be thankful if you have Christian parents.
But I hope by the time any of you will be 18 years old, you have come to know the Lord Jesus as your savior and made it a habit to read the Bible and pray for yourself not to start at that time.
Started earlier. I've told that story before and bear with me if you have heard it.
I had one of the greatest thrills in my life. Some years back when my granddaughter, less than 10 years old, was visiting with her family. She comes to me and says, OPA, let's read the Bible. Nobody put it up to death. She came on her own. She said, OPA, let's read the Bible. Oh, I said, where are you reading? Oh, she said, I'm reading in the book of Exodus.
She said on my lap, as long as they were in a house. And every night she wrote me, read to me a chapter of the book of Exodus. She's now in Jordan.
And I asked her not long ago, I said, Deborah, are you still reading the Bible for yourself? Yes, she said. Well, I said, where are you reading? She said, in the Book of Revelation. Oh, I said, Deborah, that is not an easy book to read, I know, she says. But the first chapters are not that bad.
She is now around 12 years of age. I wouldn't discourage her from reading the Book of Revelation, but anyway.
What a privilege it is, dear young people and children to grow up in a Christian home. I already had Christian grandparents, godly Christian grandparents.
And I grew up in a Christian home.
What a privilege. What a responsibility.
And the mothers?
You know, sometimes the danger is that.
The ladies.
Might not feel it's so important for them to read and meditate upon the scriptures.
But you know who has more influence on the children than the mother? Who has more time with the children than the mother?
Why had a godly mother?
In what I and my brothers have spiritually, we owe to our mother.
She would know the Scriptures and quote the Scriptures, and whatever happened, any situation that arose, she would try to bring the light of the Word of God into that situation.
And I realized more and more the effect that that had on us boys to come to realize we need the light of the word of God in connected with anything that might happen.
So what a privilege to grow up in a Christian home.
Thank the Lord for it.
I hope you do. If you haven't done it, start thanking the Lord for bringing you into a Christian family.
And then read the Bible. And when you don't understand something, go to your dad.
And if Dad doesn't have the answer, maybe he will encourage you to go to a brother in a meeting and ask him. That's how we learn.
You know you don't expect to understand everything the first time you read it. There are still things in this book I don't understand.
I'm still learning.
You know we won't.
And learning until we get home.
But then there is another compromise.
To 4th compromise.
And that is still in chapter 10, verse 24.
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And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye Sir the Lord, and let your flocks and your herds be stayed, Let your little ones also go with you.
Moses said, Thou must give us also sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the Lord our God. Our cattle also shall go with us. There shall not be an hoof be left behind, for thereof must we take to serve the Lord our God. And we know not with what we must serve the Lord until we come bitter.
But the Lord hardened their old heart.
Here again, it isn't that difficult to understand. The wealth of the two for people living at that time was.
How many animals do they have?
You know how many animals joke has?
He was a very wealthy man.
Here the devil is trying to say, separate your Christian life from your business life.
You know, leave your possessions identified with the world.
No.
Whatever you do in Word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.
You can go to school for the Lord.
Yes, and then when you look for employment.
The question you should ask yourself can I engage in this kind of work without compromising a Christian principle?
You certainly cannot be a Tavern keeper.
As a Christian, could you?
Or drive a beer truck.
I'm just making drastic statements to bring the point across, but there are many things that we can do for the Lord.
And we can do it unto him.
Whatever you do in Word, or indeed to all in the name of the Lord Jesus, and then whatever he entrusts us with.
In a material way, who does it really belong to?
We learn from another passage in the New Testament in Luke.
If we are not faithful in debt, which is in others, that's the material things, how shall the true riches be entrusted to us? The material things that are entrusted to us belong to the Lord. We are only stewards.
We have to handle it for him.
Well, that's an important lesson to learn, and the answer is we don't even know with what we should serve here.
He leaves it open that anything that he entrusts us with might be asked by the Lord for us to use for him.
Well, these are very practical lessons that we can learn from the book of Exodus.
I believe we all have to admit that we don't perfectly carry out what we learn in the word of God. That's why we have meetings like this.
To have our consciences exercised by the word of God.
And we need to hear it over and over again.
Because we forget, you know, and we who live.
In Canada and the United States.
We have the opportunity to have things.
And the danger is that we want to have things we want to accumulate.
Those who desire to be rich.
Fall into all kinds of evil.
01:00:02
It doesn't say to be rich is evil.
No. And Timothy, it even says that those who are rich ought to do good works.
You know.
When we see the needs that exists.
Among our brethren in Christ, like Malawi.
And other countries.
We have a responsibility to help.
And we have done so.
And the Saints have proven very generous and willing to help. Of course, we have to be careful that we don't develop them to become dependent.
We have to encourage them to do for themselves what they can do.
One thing that we have done and allow me to permit to say that.
Most of our brethren there in Malawi, they have a few acres of land and they raise food and that's all they're doing for a living. Very few of them have a job.
So sometimes they have lack of water.
So we have seen to it that each family has a sprinkling can.
So that when there is lack of rain that they can go and sprinkle the crops.
You know, so that they do not develop a dependency on us.
But you know, sometimes they don't even use.
That kind of a help, one brother said to me. You know, that's hard work to carry the water to the garden.
I'm 500 meters from my garden where the water is, you know. Well, I said, does it take you 8 hours to carry water from the well to your garden? No, he said. Well, I said, oh, bread. And in Canada, in the United States they work 8 hours or more.
Why can't you do that?
Why can't you do that well?
And I don't think Kim Ruga will be offended when I give you the information that he is trying to help.
Get wealth or find out where he should dig for wealth where there is like a water so that they would have water and can grow food. You know they have the regular growing season and usually it rains but sometimes taste lack of rain they could then use.
Sprinkle their gardens for during the dry season they even can grow.
Food, so that they do not depend on support from us over here? Well, anyway.
It's wonderful that we have instructions in the word of God, but.
How can we really benefit from the word of God if we only?
Try to fill our minds with them with the truth of the scriptures. It won't accomplish much and the motive for doing anything.
Should be love for the Lord.
Love for his people.
You know, isn't it wonderful that the love of God is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit?
Romans chapter 5 and in John's epistle it says we laugh because he first loved us. The King James says we love him.
Because he first loved up, the correct entering is we love. Because he first loved us, we have the capacity to love because it has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
So love for the Lord and love for man, the loss.
And love to our brethren, you know, it's a wonderful thing as we move amongst the Saints of God and we experience and get a taste again and again of the love of our brethren, their hospitality, their kindness, their well, it's wonderful. You know, this is not generally the way in Christendom.
That there is such hospitality shown.
And we weren't here very long until the lady that we came to know had quite a bit of contact with, she says. I can't figure that out.
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You're hardly over here in America.
And people come from Canada and from all over the United States and visit you. And when you travel somewhere with your family, they always take you in.
He was not used to hearing that kind of love being shown, but that's the way it is amongst the Saints of God.
But you know, it is all because we love the Lord Jesus, and the love of God has been poured out in our heart by the Holy Spirit. We don't manifest it enough. I'm sure that we have to readily admit we could demonstrate it much more in all of our lives.
And we love not just our father and our mother. Sure, we should love them.
And we should love our children, but we also should love those of like precious faith.
You know, we are a big family.
You know, we ought to look at.
Our brothers and sisters and their children in the meeting almost like an extended family.
We all belong to the family of God.
And we have the capacity now to love and to.
The imitators of God as beloved children.
So there's never been there's a lot of great.
Things.
Our loving God and our Father. We lift our hearts and our voices to Thee.
Thank thee for the privilege of being under thy precious word. Father. This afternoon we thank thee. Our God is the subject of thy word. Is thy beloved Son, the one who was the true Nazarite, who has separated to the blessed God.
From the very beginning of His life here in this world, we think of the Lord Jesus.
In thy pathway how that thy father, after 30 years could say of thee, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. We think of thee our God, receiving him up into the glory after the work was finished there at the cross.
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And now He sits and waits for the moment to claim his own from this world, watching over thy people. Lord Jesus, to thy heart. So dear old precious Savior, make Thyself more precious to us moment by moment as we wait for I return. Make thy these meetings precious to our souls. May this living word of the written Word of God get down deep into our hearts.
And give us, Lord, the appetite for us. We pray, and may the the Spirit of God have liberty to bring it home to our souls. And so we look to Thee. We thank thee for this meeting. We ask thee to bless our fellowship between meetings too, and that thou would undertake in everything. For the rest of this day we give thanks and thy name, Lord Jesus, our Savior. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.