Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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Into the 17th chapter of Exodus.
And the eighth verse. Then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Rephidim.
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.
That Moses hands were heavy, and they took a stone and put it under him.
And he sat thereon, and Aaron and Hur 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. Joshua discomforted Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
The Lord's help I'd like to look at a little bit at the life of Joshua and see some things that God passed him through in order to prepare him for the work that he had for him to do. For you know, the Lord has something for each one of us to do. Tells us in the Gospels that the Lord is as one going away who gave authority unto his servants and to every man his work, and commanded the Porter to watch.
And every brother and every sister here.
Everyone who belongs to the Lord has a place to fulfill in the family of God in the body of Christ. How important it is that we should learn that place by hand can do its job much better than any other part of the body could do the same job. And my feet do a certain job, my eyes do a certain job. And how lovely it is that God has set in the body as it has pleased him.
He's given each one of us a place to fulfill.
And how much we need to be before Him. I believe it tells us in Galatians that it says, Let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. That is, just to be happy in the place where the Lord has put you, in the assembly, where He has put you, in the city or town where He has placed you, and to realize that He can use you there.
But you know, he has a school in which he passes all of us through. We don't learn quickly.
And God gives no diplomas now, that is, we can never say that we have attained, Paul said. Not as though I already had attained either were already perfect.
But we are learning down here. It's good for us when we learn in the school of God. The reason he doesn't give diplomas is because we never fully learn our lessons and there's nothing in which the flesh can glory.
That I believe we see some very precious examples and I'd like to look at different passages in the life of Joshua to show how the Lord was leading him.
No, the name Joshua means Savior. Just before this meeting, another brother and I were speaking about how interesting it is that we have the book of Joshua, which means Savior, and the book of Judges follows because they didn't go on in that place that God had brought them into and there were judges.
And it tells us about Moses, that this man who would be a ruler and a judge, the Lord raised up to be a ruler and a deliverer. But he had to go through 40 years in the backside of the desert to be prepared to be a ruler and a deliverer. It's very easy to be a ruler and a judge. It's not hard to see, as Mr. Darby said, the flesh in another is easily detected. It's not hard to see that.
But to be a ruler and a deliverer, to be able to be.
A help to our brethren in the midst of situations that are difficult and trying and that hurt us at times. That is very important. And we'll never learn how to do it, brethren, in the schools of men, but we will learn if we seek to learn in the school of God.
It has been said, too, that there are two things. There are actions and reactions. And I've heard it commented that the prodigal had to learn that his actions were wrong, the older brother's reaction was wrong. You know, sometimes we judge other people's actions, but we fail to judge our own reactions. And so I believe what we learn in the life of Joshua is very instructive for us.
To begin a little bit with the life of Joshua, we can think of him as one who was once back there in Egypt and the Lord provided a way of deliverance. We know He told them that the blood was to be sprinkled upon the lentil and the two side pulse, and in those homes they were to feed upon the manna.
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And then God and that night of judgment delivered them from that judgment, because he said, when I see the blood, I will Passover you. And you haven't even begun in the school of God, if you haven't first taken shelter under the blood. Does any young person or older one here who has not yet received the Lord Jesus? I hope that you will realize that the only way of escape from judgment is to be sheltered under the blood.
Well, that was the beginning of Joshua's life.
We might say in the things of God, because he couldn't have been here in this position if he hadn't first been under the blood.
And delivered from Egypt the Lord Jesus died, that he might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father. And so here he was now on the other side, young man, probably because he was one of the ones who were 20 years old and more who went through the land, who went through the.
Waters of the Red Sea, and so is a young man at this time.
And this situation arises among the people of God. They were murmuring, they were complaining things weren't going on just the way they should. And God is about to provide deliverance for them. You know, after we are saved, things don't always run smoothly. Sometimes there can come times like this. Refit them. That was the place they came to. And there was no water for the people to drink.
And perhaps you've been saved a little while and you saved.
Had a lot of discouragements. I really feel down and things haven't turned out in my life the way I would like them to. And you have, so to speak, come to Rephidim and.
So it tells us how the Lord provided the water from the smitten rock. And you know that's what the Lord Jesus has done. He was the rock that was smitten for us. He said, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He's the one that was smitten and bore the judgment that we might have a drink of the water of life. But after they had had a drink of the water of life, well, I suppose of this water that came from the smitten rock, I should say.
I suppose it must have been very, very discouraging them for them to see Amalek come over the hill. And perhaps when you were first saved you thought everything was lovely and you were going to go on so happily an Amalek came over the hill at you too. He came out because Amalek is a picture to us in the Bible of Satan's power over us through the fallen nature that we have within.
And all of us find this, maybe when we're first saved, we think, oh, I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to do that. I'm going to live to please the Lord. But Amalek comes out against us full strength. We're discouraged because there's been a lot of hardships in the way, and we just feel that we can't take it, so to speak. And so this was the very situation here. Amalek came. How were they to have victory? How could they overcome in this difficult situation?
And wasn't it lovely to see that when Moses cried to the Lord, that the Lord provided a way of deliverance? If I'm talking to anybody who feels just like that, you feel like you're at raphidom and you feel sort of discouraged. You feel sort of there's no refreshment for you. People say things, but they don't seem to help, and you feel cast down.
And Abolish is attacking you and you feel so helpless. Isn't it very beautiful how the Lord takes over the whole situation? We see here that Joshua is chosen to be the leader. The word Joshua means Savior. And so how blessed it is that we have a Savior too. We have one who went to Calvary's cross and died for us, not only to put away our sins, but to give us.
Deliverance from that old man, it says that.
In the 6th chapter of Romans, her old man was crucified with him, that henceforth we should not serve sin. And so we see that God provided a captain, and may we have, may we look to the Lord Jesus. He's the captain of our salvation, bringing many sons to glory. So I want to say to anyone who is discouraged, look to the Lord Jesus. But there was more than this too in the story. We don't have time to go into it in detail.
But when he was going out here to meet Amalek and all these forces of Amalek, why it tells us that Moses and Aaron went up onto the top of the hill and it tells us that Moses held up his hands. And it says that Aaron stood on one side and her on the other and Moses hands were held up. Well, isn't that lovely?
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Do you feel the need of help? Do you know who's at the right hand of God for you?
The Lord Jesus, He's our great high priest.
Says he ever lives to make intercession for us, and he invites us to come boldly. Do you feel very helpless? The Lord says, I've walked the whole path ahead of you. I know every difficulty that you're going to have to meet. I was hungry and thirsty and weary. I was despised and rejected. And he's up there and he enters into all that we pass through.
And He's willing to help us in every situation. He supplies grace to help.
In time of need. Oh how blessed it is. And when Moses hand went down, Amalek prevailed. I mean, you and I tried to meet the situations of life in our own wisdom and strength. We break down every time. We've all experienced this. We break down. But when we look up and say, Lord, I am helpless, I can't handle this, there is one there at the right hand of God.
And it says he ever lives he's able to save to the.
Outermost all that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth, to make intercession for them.
That verse means that you can't be in such a situation, that you're beyond the Lord's help.
Save to the uttermost is as a believer you get in a situation you say mine's worse than anyone ever was in before. The Lord says I'm able to save till the uttermost.
And so as long as Moses hand was up, why Israel prevailed.
But when when Moses hand went down, Amalek prevailed. And when we don't avail ourselves of the Lord's help, like dear Peter, when he didn't ask the Lord's help, when he thought he had a strong enough character himself, he went down to defeat.
But then there was the other hand. Unless we've been having in our Bible readings, the other hand represents Christ as our advocate.
My brother Robert spoke to us yesterday about it and how the Lord Jesus is there as our advocate and you say, oh, I failed, now it's all over with me. Oh no, the other hand never went down. The other hand was always steady. And as our brother brought before us in the reading, there's a constant work going on for us. It isn't just when we failed, it's all the time. That hand was always up. And isn't it blessed? We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
You can lose the joy of your salvation, but you can't lose your salvation. Wasn't this a lovely lesson for Joshua to learn? Oh, you say, I've learned that I'm under the shelter of the blood. God wants you to learn a little more than that. He wants you to know the provision he's made for you. He knows just how difficult the Christian pathway is. And so Joshua is learning this lesson. Perhaps we might say the first lesson for him individually after he's been under the shelter of.
And delivered from Egypt is to learn that Amalek is pretty strong and that he can't meet the situations in his own strength, but that there is one there that's living to help. And even when we failed, there's his advocacy to restore us. Oh, what an encouragement, what a blessing this must have been to Joshua to realize this. And it tells us that it was to be written in a book and we heard in the ears of Joshua.
You might say, well, I know those.
Those things, well, they had to be rehearsed in the years of Joshua because every time we get in trouble, we seem to forget all the things that God has given to us for our help and we have to be reminded over and over again. So this was rehearsed from time to time in the ears of Joshua so that he would know that he wasn't a strong enough character for Amalek. He wasn't able to do it without that work that.
Christ is doing, and you and I will never, never get through the Christian pathway in our own strength.
That's what Peter means when he says, if the righteous scarcely or with difficulty be saved, where shall he Ungodly and the Sinner appear poorly ungodly appear. They don't have any help. They say, I couldn't help it, but you and I, we have helped. It's difficult, all right. God doesn't minimize the difficulties, but he'll, the one who's for us is stronger, greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
Well, I believe we could say this was.
Perhaps the first lesson for Joshua to learn was this wonderful lesson that there was an enemy against him, the flesh, but there was one who was living to supply the help that he needed, and there was one who was able to restore. And the psalmist could say, He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
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Now you turn over to the 24th chapter of Exodus.
And the 13th verse.
And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua, and Moses went up into the mount of God.
And the 14th verse. And he said unto the elders, Terror ye here for us.
Until we come again unto you.
And then the 15th verse and Moses went up into the cloud of the mound, and a cloud covered the mound, and the glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it 6 days.
What I wanted to bring before you here is perhaps two things. First of all, the company that Joshua chose. He he is seen here as Moses minister. You know, the company you choose is so important.
The Bible says evil communications corrupt good manners. There's a verse in the 119th Psalm that says I am a companion of all them that fear thee and of them that keep thy precepts. And I just like to give this little warning and word of encouragement to be careful of the friendships of the ones that you call your close friends, because they can influence your life perhaps more than you realize and isn't.
Nice to see that this young man, Joshua, he chose the company of a man who could be a help to him, man who would really encourage him, because Moses had been through the school of God in many ways himself.
He had been.
As many have said, his life was divided into 3 parts. 1St 40 years he was learning to be somebody. He was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and deeds. And then God sent him to the backside of the desert for 40 years and he had to be emptied of all that self importance that he had. So much so that this man who could talk so well.
40 years later, he said. I can't speak. I don't know how to talk.
You'd say, well, that was a strange school where a man was going to be used instead of being learned in how to talk. He's not even able to talk. But you know, the Lord empties us of ourselves into order to teach us total dependence upon him. How needful that is, brethren. I say again, the school of God teaches us that we're nothing. And then what did he learn in the last 40 years that God was everything?
This was the company that Joshua was in.
And are your friends helping you and encouraging you? When you get together, do you talk about the Lord? When girlfriends and boyfriends get together, you encourage one another in the Lord. Do you seek to speak of those things? We can see the kind of company that Joshua chose. And he didn't go down, he went up, didn't he? He went up. He said we're going up to God, and that's what we need. And I believe that we could say perhaps Joshua is learning this lesson.
To.
Follow that upward path to have his eyes upon the glory of the Lord.
Tells us we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. So now He had learned his own weakness. We see Him in company with Moses, and we see Him going up to the mount in the company of this man, and he sees there the glory of the Lord. Oh, may the Lord grant that our eyes will be upon him looking unto Jesus.
The author and finisher of faith.
It was the only way he was going to be able to be any use to the people of God was himself to be occupied with Christ. You know how we need this in a day like this, because the condition of the people wasn't very good after the law had been given. We know how things had come in and they fell into sin and so on. But here we find Moses.
Going up to the mountain, Joshua with him and.
The Lord is with Joshua. He's preparing him for a place of usefulness.
And her brother, our brother Wakefield, he used to so often bring before us, keep looking up. I think we have a little picture of this in Joshua here in this story in the 24th chapter. Well, I don't want to continue on with it, but I just wanted to show you how that after he had learned his own weakness, he wasn't looking in. He's looking up, it says.
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The glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai, and so may our eyes be upon him, that one who has gone up as we have in Hebrews 2. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor. Let's look up and see that precious Savior there at the right hand of God.
Now we learn another experience that he had if we go over to the 32nd chapter.
The 15th verse.
And Moses turned and went down from the mount, had the 2 tables of the testimony were in his hand? The tables were written on both sides, and the one side and the other were they written. And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God graven upon the tables. And when Joshua hurried the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There's a noise of war in the camp.
And he said, It is not the voice of them that choked for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome, but the noise of them that sing do I hear? And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and he saw the he saw the calf, and the dancing. And Moses anger waxed hot. And he cast the tables out of his hand, and braked them beneath the mount.
Well, here we find Joshua. Now he's coming down from the mound. Conditions haven't improved among the people of God, things of God, shall we say, worse instead of better. Perhaps I hear you say, well, you don't know what things are like in the school I go to and the job that I have. Sometimes I even get discouraged in the assembly. But here was Joshua. He's been up on the mount. There he's seen the glory of the Lord, and now he comes down to a most.
Disturbing situation. He sees what is happening. And so we do have to have those experiences in our life. Everything will not run smoothly. Things will be difficult. And isn't it terrible to think that people here had fallen into the worship of the golden calf? But what did Moses do here? Well, he broke the tables of sun, you say. Why did he do that? Well, the people were never placed under.
Pure law. If they had have been, it would have been condemnation. And when we see difficult situations, we're liable to judge, so to speak, in a judging way. But isn't it nice to see here that the people were not placed under law? And God, as we learn in the end of the chapter, made a gracious provision not to overlook their sin, but to provide a way that He could meet them in spite of all their failure? This is something we have to learn.
Too, we can get very cast down, we can become very judgmental, and yet we see that there is a way in which situations can be met, can be met in the fear of God, can be met for his, his glory.
God didn't overlook what had happened, but we find that He made a provision whereby a guilty people could come into His presence, and that was through the Tabernacle. That was through the provision that He made in the Tabernacle and in the sacrifices and so on.
Isn't it blessed to know that when difficulties do arise, there is a way that we can meet them?
According to the mind and will of God, it's very easy for us to, as it were, carry the tables of stone to the camp.
We were talking yesterday about.
Paul, I think it's so beautiful, for in Second Corinthians chapter 3, he contrasts law and grace, and he speaks about when the law was given. He says it was a glorious thing when the law was given, but he said the ministration of righteousness exceeds in glory.
And then he goes on to say how that in spite of things that had come into that Corinthian assembly, things that might cast him down and cause him to be discouraged by things that had come in. Why he saw that there was underneath all of the parts that had come in. There was the fleshy table of the heart. And he said, and such trust have we through Christ to Godward. I just like.
To repeat again, if I may, what I was mentioning yesterday. It's always been a cheer to my own soul.
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That when he saw all that was taking place in the Corinthian assembly, just as Joshua saw what was happening here among the people of God, we see that. Paul saw that. And he said, I'm not going to write on a table of stone. He said, I'm going to write Christ on the fleshy tables of the heart. And it's always been an encouragement to me, brethren.
I just pass it on to you that when you know a person really belongs to the Lord.
There is underneath everything that you see a real desire to please the Lord. Underneath it all there is a divine life. And what is characteristic of the divine life?
Delighting in the will of God, finding its joy in Christ. And so underneath everything that we see, instead of bringing in the tables of stone, isn't it wonderful that God made provision? And so Moses came down from the mount later on, and his face was shining. Why? Because God has changed his standards not at all. But because the tables of stone were placed in the ark, and on top of the ark was the mercy seat. And he said God's found a way that he can meet a guilty people.
Well, how wonderful the grace of God we need to learn these lessons, brethren, many things would be corrected if there was in us that grace to meet the situations in that way. But we see instead that we can be we can be judgmental, shall I say, instead of recognizing that there is a way that it can be met in grace. What we find in Joshua that he's learning these lessons for in the end of this chapter that I read, Moses goes up and.
He intercedes for the people instead of interceding against them. Remember, never intercede against the people of God. Intercede for them, never against them. There's only one person recorded in the Bible who made intercession against Israel. It's been commented that's the only failure of an Old Testament St. recorded in the New Testament is that it says Elijah made intercession against Israel. Pray for the brethren, not against them.
Try and find a way grace finds a way to meet difficulties and situations that arise rather than this is part of the school of God and Joshua was learning these things. Now we come to the 33rd chapter here.
And in the seventh verse.
And Moses took the Tabernacle and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp.
And called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass that everyone which sought the Lord.
Went out into the Tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp.
Came to pass when Moses went out into the Tabernacle, that all the people rose up and stood every man at his tent door and looked after Moses until he was gone into the Tabernacle.
What we find here that this had come into the among the people of God, and so it became necessary that the Tabernacle of the congregation should be placed outside the camp. Well, this is a place of separation, isn't it? Because read to us this morning. Let us go forth therefore unto Him, without the camp, bearing His reproach.
And how many people were at this Tabernacle of the congregation, I don't know.
It doesn't give the numbers here and apparently it seems to me there weren't very many, but it says everyone that sought the Lord. What out under the Tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp? Most of the people apparently.
They.
Would rather.
Worship at their tent door. Perhaps because of all that had come in among the people of God, they didn't want to take this step. They didn't want to be despised, they didn't want to be rejected. Scripture speaks of bearing his reproach. So we find that Joshua took a very unpopular position. He could have said, well, everybody's going the other way, I might as well just be like the rest.
But it says. I think this wording is very nice what it says here.
In the 11TH verse. And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again unto the camp. But his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed, not out of the Tabernacle. Why would he stay there? Well, I could say there's only one reason, because those that sought the Lord went out onto the Tabernacle of the congregation. Why are you in the little assembly where you are? You say we have a lot of good fellowship. Young people have a lot of nice times.
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Really, I really enjoy the fellowship of my brethren, but if that's the reason you're there, you may sometimes get pretty disappointed and discouraged. But if you're seeking the Lord, by then you won't depart. Even when troubles and difficulties come in, even when others drop out. There are quite a lot of dropouts here. They worship in their tent door, but they didn't go out to the Tabernacle of the congregation that was without the camp.
And I hope is there any here that are exercised as to what the Lord would have you to do in a day of confusion, as there is in the Church of God in his public testimony today, that you will seek the Lord, not seek a nice company of people because you might be quite disappointed, but everyone that sought the Lord.
Went out into the Tabernacle of the congregation. Let us go forth, therefore unto him without the camp. And may I say, brethren, sooner or later we're tested on this point. Sooner or later every one of us are going to be tested as to why we're there. Something's going to happen to hurt us. Something's going to happen that upsets and disturbs us, and we're tested as to why we're there. Why was Joshua there? He was there because the Lord was there. When you say the Lord's working elsewhere.
Yes, Moses could go into the camp and the Lord is working elsewhere. Souls are being saved in many, many places, and we praise God for it. But there's a place where the Lord would have His own to be gathered according to His Word. May you give us the value, that place? Well, I say to you, because it's nice here to be with perhaps 1000 people, but many are going to return to where there's two or three.
Or half a dozen or something, and we're going to be tested about why we're there.
There may be problems when we return to there are plenty of problems in Israel. This is part of God's school, brethren, and we're the Lord is seeking to instruct us and teach us and he was preparing Joshua for a very useful work. Oh, may the Lord keep us, may give us grace in the situations that come up that he would that he would cause us to be there because he is there.
So it says.
Joshua.
And his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not from the Tabernacles. I would gather at this time that he was probably just in his 20s, just a very young man, but he valued the place and privilege of being where the Lord had put His name. Well, may the Lord give us to appreciate and value this too in our lives, so that we might go on for the Lord.
Now let's turn over to Numbers Chapter 11 in the 10th verse.
Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent, and the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly. Moses also was displeased. And Moses said unto the Lord, Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? And wherefore have I not found favor in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all his people upon me? Have I conceived all his people? Have I begotten them that thou should have say unto me, Carry them.
Bosom as a nursing father, beareth the sucking child unto the Lamb, which thou swarest unto their fathers. When shall I have flesh to give unto all his people? For they weep upon unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat.
Well then we find that there were 70 elders chosen and the 26th verse.
But there remained 2 of the men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them, and they were, and they were of them that were written, but went not out unto the Tabernacle. And they prophesied in the camp. And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad prophecy in in the camp.
And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men.
Answered and said, My Lord Moses forbid them. Moses said unto him, Envious, Thou for my sake would God, that all the Lord's people were prophets, and the Lord would put his Spirit upon them.
Well, I think we learn another lesson here. There were a lot of problems that were coming in as we see the people were murmuring and all this just as you might say, come to the end of what he feels he can endure. He said I can't bear all the.
He says, I, I can't bear all this murmuring and this strife and all that. It says, thou layest the burden of this people upon me. He couldn't, he couldn't bear it. And he was becoming greatly discouraged. And this must have affected Joshua too. And then he comes and he hears that there are those who are prophesying in the camp.
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And he asked Moses to forbid them. He didn't like to see them.
They are prophesying in the camp. Shouldn't they be prophesying outside where the Tabernacle was? Well, Moses reply, was envious thou for my sake. Well, I believe this is a very practical lesson. Brethren, we ought to rejoice everywhere the gospel is preached. Paul could say, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached. And I therein do rejoice, yeah, and will rejoice.
Was this a reason for Moses, for Joshua rather to leave the place that he had taken?
A place outside the camp where the Lord was the Tabernacle of the congregation? Were all the murmurings and the strifes and even the complaining of others to be a good reason for him to just go and identify with those who didn't take that outside place? No, as one brother has said, we need to have large hearts.
The narrow feet.
And let's, let's be careful or we don't say get envious because we see a lot of blessing that's going on among those who are walking in a wider position. Let us have large hearts and praise God everywhere the gospel is preached. Thank God for all the souls that are being saved here and there, that there should be no reason for us to depart from the Tabernacle of the congregation. There should be no reason for us to leave. This should only make us.
Thankful that God is working in grace, but thankful also that He has revealed in His precious Word a place where we can meet and give expression to, perhaps we might say the most wonderful truth within the whole covers of the Bible, that Christ has a bride and that there is one body. We had a lovely privilege this morning. There was that one loaf on the table.
We saw in every member of the body of Christ.
We met here just to give expression to the truth that there is one body. That one loaf didn't represent the 1000 people here. It represented every true member of the body of Christ, everyone in the family of God. And what a privilege it is to meet outside the camp and give expression to this truth. But let's not have narrow hearts, brethren. Let's not be finding fault and want to stop efforts that are outside. Let's leave it all with the Lord. Let's rejoice that Christ is.
But Joshua the young man departed not from the Tabernacle of the congregation, that is, without the camp. Well, we have to learn these things in the school of God. How often we find that these things affect us to the point where we either get envious and jealous and want to perhaps follow their ideas and methods, or perhaps go and identify with them.
The Lord didn't say to Joshua, will you go along and work with them?
No, those that sought the Lord remained in the Tabernacle of the congregation that was without the camp. But still Moses reply was so beautiful, he said would God all the Lord's servants were prophets, and that he would put his Spirit upon them. And so here we find a beautiful balance.
In in what is brought before us here in connection with the attitude that Joshua was to have. May we have that attitude Just go on happily.
Rejoicing that Christ is preached, but never giving up the path of the truth into which the Lord has LED us and seeking His grace to walk in it.
I believe this was a very needful lesson for Joshua to learn.
Turn over to numbers again in the 4th chapter. 14 Pardon me, the 14th chapter, I should say the sixth verse. And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were them that searched the land, rent their clothes. And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, the land which we passed through to search it, it is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then He will bring us into this land and.
Give it us a land which floweth with milk and honey only. Rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land, for they are bred for us. Their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Fear them not, but all the congregation bade stone them with stones, and the glory of the Lord appeared in the Tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.
00:40:16
Well, we know a little bit about this story and how Joshua was one of the ones that was chosen to go in and spy out the lamb. Perhaps we remember how that.
Moses was told to chose choose a man out of each tribe, and so Joshua was one and Caleb was one who were chosen to go. And then there were ten others. Well, when they went in and saw the good land that God had promised to give to them, they came back with a report that it was indeed a good land. But ten of them, the majority by far said it is a good land, but there are giants there and.
Cities and it's just far too difficult. I believe that there are Christians, real Christians, who know that the truth that you and I know and profess is the truth of God, but they find it far too difficult and far too narrow a path. And so we find that ten of them said it's no use. There's far too many giants and there's far, it's far too difficult.
And the enemy may be saying to somebody here this afternoon, it's far too difficult to wholeheartedly follow the Lord. It says about Caleb that he wholly followed the Lord. And he and Joshua were friends. They were ones who stood up for the Lord. They valued the place that the Lord had provided for his people. They had gone in and they had seen.
The good fruit of the land, they carried back some of it so that the others could see it. And so I just want to say to you, become acquainted with the truth of God. Just think of how richly you and I are blessed in Christ, blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. What a privilege to know these things.
We meet other Christians and we find how little they know. They don't know eternal security. They don't know the precious things that you and I know about the truth of God and how thankful we should be for the grace that has made these things known to us. But it's a difficult path. It's not an easy path.
And so you see that, you may see the giants, you may see how difficult it is, or you can say it's a good lamb and it's worth all the effort. The Lord will take care of us. The Lord will give us that good lamb. And Saul tells us about Caleb and Joshua. They tried to stay the people. He tried to tell them what a good land it was. We know that those other spies that saw the good land, they never entered in.
But.
Who did value that lamb where they entered in, and they enjoyed that portion that God had provided for His people?
So I believe the point is this, that there are times when the path may seem very difficult.
But everybody seems against us. Imagine here it tells us that when these two men talked about what a wonderful land it was, and that the Lord delighted in them, and that He would bring them into that land, the congregation bad stone them with stones.
They might easily have given up. They might have easily said it's no use.
We just can't go on because we're misunderstood. But they love the Lord, and they loved His people. And so they pressed on, they went on, they counted upon God.
And you and I need to do this. There are times when others may become discouraged and say the path is too difficult. But we see that Moses, rather Joshua, was being prepared in the school of God to be a help and a deliverer among the people of God. And these things come. They come in our personal lives. They come in the assembly.
And I think it's very lovely to see Joshua and Caleb standing with him.
And telling them what a good land it is. And may I say for those of us who minister, let's not minister the difficulties, Minister Christ, minister the wonderful things that we have in him.
Tell of what he has done for his people. For that good land wasn't just for Caleb and Joshua, it was for all God's people to enjoy.
It was for all. The truth of God is for all.
I think it's very lovely to realize this too. I want to say never copyright the truth of God. We have no right to copyright the truth of God. It's for all the people of God. It's for everyone. It's not our truth, It's not brothers truth. It's God's truth. And it's our privilege to let it be known to every believer that he might enjoy that good land which God has provided for his people.
00:45:14
What we see here then Joshua encouraging the people of God.
That God would lead them in and give them this good land. Let's be an encouragement to our brethren. Let's seek to help them to see the precious things of Christ when we come together.
Tells us about those in Ephesus they'd fallen into a snare and there were it says there was a lot of.
Going on, it says.
They were ministering questions rather than God edifying, which is in faith and he says the end of the commandment.
The correct translation is the purpose of what is enjoying is love out of a Let's turn to it because I'm in it. Quoted correctly, it's in Timothy.
Second First Timothy rather.
And the first chapter.
As I besought thee to abide still in Ephesus when I went into Macedonia.
That thou might discharge some that they teach no other doctrine, neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies which minister questions, rather than godly edifying, which is in faith so do.
Now the end of the commandment, or the purpose of what is enjoined, is charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned.
To me, brethren, there's a real lesson for us in this.