Open—Robert Boulard
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Right.
Our loving God.
Father, we ask for help for this time before us.
That we have just had the privilege of giving back to. These are.
Father and the Lord Jesus and remembrance of the Lord reminded of that love. If any waters could not quench that here shown, we'd be sad as we've considered the Lord Jesus.
Submission to be, to be our father. And in that halfway here.
Thought it not robbery equal to God, but made himself no reputation. So we thank you for the ministry for the food that we've had so far. We need it. But now before Jesus, we ask the US out of the church to provide that which is needed for the day that we live in that.
That word from the prophet that they would speak two or three that thy mind would be made clear to us As for for the wilderness pathway and then it's a day-to-day trial of it. It would be that portion for each one of our hearts caused that there would be liberty of the spirit caused the Spirit be much blessing as a result of this time this afternoon. We ask these things our Father and our God.
In the name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
I'd like to turn to the Little book of Exodus. Read a couple of verses there in chapter one.
I was just praying I had this uh.
Subject upon my heart, and I just asked the Lord that maybe the hymn might suggest the portion and that a brother might pray and suggest a portion as well. I feel encouraged, you know, just to take this little passage. These are the passages of Scripture up in the Book of Exodus and the Book of Numbers in connection with the 10 temptations.
That the children of Israel tempted the Lord with.
But I'd like to read just introductory, a couple of verses because I believe as we consider the wilderness path and the testings that the Lord gives us in the wilderness, that we have to have a sense of the grace of our God. We have to have a sense of the delivery, the deliverance from Egypt, and the mighty power of God, the intervention of God in every one of our lives individually.
To deliver us from the power of sin and Satan, the power of this world.
That it was a mighty deliverance, and if we have a sense of the grace of God in connection with each one of us.
Then will be preserved as we face the testings as we go through the wilderness scene. So chapter one of Exodus verse.
13 The Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor.
They made their lives bitter with hard ******* and mortar.
And then brick in all manner of service in the field, All their service wherein they made them serve was with rigor.
You know that word? We don't use it very often. Rigor. It means with severity and with cruelty.
This world knows what it is to make those that are slaves to sin to serve with severity and with cruelty. And it took the Lord's deliverance to deliver us from so great a a *******. And we find then later in verse 22 That Pharaoh charged all his people saying every son that is born.
You shall cast into the river every daughter. You shall save a life.
And so the enemy in this world wants to throw our young men.
Into the river, into the river of the pleasures of this world and the pleasure system of this world. That's what it wants to do. Maybe you know what it says in I think it's Second Corinthians that we are not ignorant of his stratagems, Mr. Kelly's translation. We're not ignorant of his devices. One of his devices is to take the young men and to throw them.
Into the river of Egypt, that is, to get them taken up with the pleasure system of this world, so that they are lost to the people of God and they lose their fruitfulness.
The fruit that could have been born Godward. And then in chapter 3 it speaks here.
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Of the deliverance in verse 7, the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters.
For I know their sorrows, and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up.
Out of that land into a good land and a large onto a land flowing with milk and honey. And then a little bit later on it says in verse 10, come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel out of Egypt. And so just with this little backdrop, we have a picture of the.
The illustration in the Old Testament it was God's picture book, and he gives us a very clear illustration of our.
Hopeless situation under ******* to Satan. A picture of Pharaoh is a picture of that.
And with serving, with cruelty and with severity.
And no doubt they serve seven days a week. I'm not.
For sure, historically, what the fact is that I believe that there wasn't rest.
And those that serve the enemy of our souls, Satan. There is no rest. There is no time.
Forrest And so the Lord has intervened. Well, if we turn.
A little further on into umm, let's just look at.
Numbers, I think it's numbers Chapter 11. We'll see there. Just, uh.
Little snapshot.
No, it's Chapter 14. I'm sorry, Chapter 14 of Numbers. We can hold our place in Exodus. We'll turn back there.
Numbers, Chapter 14.
And verse 22 because all those men which have seen my glory and my miracles.
Which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these 10 times, and have not hearkened to my voice. Surely they shall not see the land which I swear unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it. So there you have the expression that the Spirit of God uses. The Lord tells us that the children of Israel, as they walk through the wilderness, they tempted the Lord.
10 times.
They provoked them to anger. And you know, these are lessons for us. We can read of the children of Israel. We're no different. We're made of the same stuff. And the Lord desires to have us learn these lessons so that as we read the wilderness journeys of the children of Israel that we wouldn't repeat the same mistakes. And so we've had in our meetings these.
This past day, and perhaps this afternoon, if Lord Tarries, we've had the.
Thought of the murmurings and the complainings of what Paul was speaking to the children of Israel about and umm, so they murmured and they complained. Let's turn to chapter 14 of Exodus and we'll begin and we'll just look very briefly at each one of these 10 temptations of time permit.
We'll leave a little time for another one or two, as the Spirit would lead the chapter 14 of Exodus. We'll look at the first temptation, verse 10, Exodus chapter 14, verse 10. When Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them, and they were sore afraid, and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord.
And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, thou hast taken us.
A way to die in the wilderness. Wherefore hast thou dealt with us?
To carry us forth out of Egypt. Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness. Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show you today. For the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall see them again no more. Forever the Lord shall fight.
For you, and you shall hold your peace.
Well, here they really didn't value.
This work of deliverance they had been they had not yet crossed the.
Jordan.
Or the umm, the Red Sea.
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They were about to cross it. And so it speaks of really a quickened soul. The doctrine of the New Testament gives us a little picture. Uh, this is a little picture of being quickened, but yet not delivered yet. And so they had the enemy behind them and they're awakened to their danger. And a quickened soul is awakened to their danger and they are awakened to the fact that they are Sinner and that they need to have deliverance.
And so they're taken up with themselves. And so perhaps verse 11 and 12, they refer to themselves.
Many times that now it's taken us away to die in the wilderness. Wherefore hast thou dealt with?
Thus with us to carry us forth out of Egypt. So the focus wasn't on the Lord, it was on themselves. And so the lesson is really here that we need deliverance and we need to have our consciences cleared and remember that we cannot deliver ourselves and not to have our thoughts upon ourselves, but on the Lord himself. And so Moses, you know they cried.
To the children of Israel they cried out unto the Lord. It was a good thing for them to cry to the Lord.
But it was a temptation. They tried the Lord. They tested the Lord in this connection. And here the Lord had an answer. He says in verse 15, The Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore Christ, thou unto me, speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.
You know, brethren, it's wonderful to be able to just take one step forward in the path of faith, one step at a time. And God just gives us light for one step at a time. Isn't that true? You can't see He doesn't give you more light than for just one step at a time in the path of faith. And you and I can shine as it were, the as we were speaking yesterday of the light, and we can see what the end of the path is, the path.
Faith, but we need the light of the Word of God. We need specific instruction for one step of faith at a time. And so the Lord spoke and He gave them this direction that they go forward. Well, we know that they were delivered. They crossed the Red Sea and a little further on in chapter 15 we have the 2nd temptation in verse 23. So Exodus chapter 15.
And verse 23 they came to Mara.
When they came tomorrow, they could not drink the waters of Mara, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Mara. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? He cried unto the Lord. Moses showed him, and the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet.
There he made them a statue 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 thee which I have brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord that healeth thee. And they came to Elam.
Where were.
12 wells of water and three score and 10 palm trees, and they encamped there by the waters. Well, we noticed that there was murmuring. There was a little bit of muttering under the breath. There was people were thirsty. And you know, this world is not a place of refreshment. The believer can't find refreshment in the things of this world, in the entertainments of this world, in the careers that this world has. All those things don't have any.
Refreshment. And the world doesn't give that nourishment to the believer. And so they came into the wilderness, seen and they murmured. They came to this water, and the water was bitter and the bitter waters of this world. You don't have to live very long in this world. And you're going to find that there's bitterness in connection with this world and what nourishes this world, what the world tries to get as nourishment, what it tries to.
What it uses to try to forget.
The eternality of the soul, what it tries to.
Engage in with forgetting that God exists and that God himself created this world.
It's a world filled with bitterness and it doesn't refresh the heart, doesn't refresh the soul, the music of this world, the all the things that they have. It doesn't refresh this world at all. It doesn't refresh the believer. And so they came to this world. They came to this water. It was bitter and it required that the tree would be cast in. The Lord showed him a tree.
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And that wonderful to just have the word of God presented.
To present Christ and to show us by the cross that we were delivered from this world.
You know, it's we have New Testament doctrine all throughout that we could refer to in connection with each one of these temptations. I don't think that we're going to have a lot of time to do that. But in Galatians chapter 2, we have this little verse of Scripture that we often quote Galatians 2 verse 20, it says I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh.
I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
You know, you know, wonderful just to be able to read the word of God and to read.
Of what took place at the cross, and that were delivered from this world, and that it's Christ himself what took place at the cross.
Allows us to be refreshed even in this world that's filled with bitterness for the unbeliever and can be filled with bitterness for the believer if he doesn't walk with the Lord in communion with the Lord.
Is filled with bitterness, but you and I can walk through this scene as we have Christ before us and the work, the finished work of Christ before us, and recognize that we can live a new life in the newness of life and because we have the very life of Christ and we're indwelled with the Spirit of God.
That we can walk through and that we can receive nourishment. And it's the.
Cross of Christ, that will bring sweetness to those waters. Well, we notice too, that there were.
They came to this encampment in verse 27 to Elim and there were 12 wells of water and three score and 10 palm trees. Now, you know, in the book of, uh, in the, uh, umm, word of God, there's seventy books. Now we know that we often say there's, uh, 66 books, but if you include the five books of the Psalms.
Another seventy books in the Bible, and so we have complete provision in the wilderness scene.
12 wells of water speaks of refreshment, and it speaks to these three score and 10 palm trees. We have every provision for us in connection with the word of God. And you'll notice here in this little passage in connection with the 2nd temptation that the statutes are mentioned in verse 25. The ordinances, the commandments, and.
There are 10 words used in the 119th Psalm in connection with the Word of God. Because it's vital.
For a believer to know the word of God and the statutes speak of the divine regulations for life.
God wants you and I to have a regulated life and habits that are good habits as we walk through this scene and God helps us in His Word to know what it is to have a regulated life, not just a free for all and just get up in the morning and say, well, I wonder what I'm going to do today and how I'm going to do it. No, we have a regulated life. The ordinances teach us as to what is acceptable in connection with worship.
Divine instruction as to what is acceptable to God.
In connection with our worship and we find we could turn to different passages of Scripture in the Old Testament that would speak of ordinances, but you can search it out yourself and you'll find that we have really only two ordinances in Christianity. One is baptism and the other is the remembrance of the Lord. Those two things, those are the only two ordinances that we have in Christendom in in Christianity.
But in the Jewish religion, why, they had something like 613 laws. They had all kinds of things that they had to remember.
But in Christianity, when connection with the person of Christ and his work, we have baptism and just simply to remember Him in his death. Oh, how simple it is to walk in fellowship with the Lord and to just recognize in the wilderness seen in a place that has bitter waters, that there those bitter waters have been made sweet because of the work of Christ.
While we have the third temptation.
In chapter 16, verse two, it says the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron.
In the wilderness, and the children of Israel said unto them, Why would God?
Would God we had died in the hand, by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots.
And when we did, eat bread to the full, For we ye have brought us forth into this wilderness to kill.
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This whole assembly with hunger.
Verse four. Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will reign bread.
From heaven. And then a little bit further on we could read uh.
Just verse 14, when the dew that lei was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there was there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. And then just turn to verse 31 as well.
Umm, verse 31, chapter 16 of Exodus, verse 31, the House of Israel called the name of the man thereof manna, and it was like coriander seed white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.
Well, you know, they lacked bread.
They murmured here you had the refreshment at the Elam and they had these bitter waters at Mara that were made sweet. And first thing you know, they they're hungry and they wanted bread and it speaks of.
Heavenly food and Christ as food for our souls in the wilderness, doesn't it, to have the manna? And so the whole congregation murmured they wanted bread. The Lord sent bread from heaven. You know, I often think in connection with these little expressions that the Lord gives in his word, just turn just.
Think of John's Gospel chapter 21. You know when the Lord baked the bread and he cooked the fish for the disciples?
They fished all night. They didn't get anything. And they had when they came to the shore, there was the Lord. He had a meal for them.
Do you think there was ever any bread that tasted any better than that? Do you think there was any better meal of fish that anyone has ever had than what those disciples had?
The one who created the fish, the one who designed how bread would be made and who baked it himself, was there any better meal? But here, you know, the Spirit of God records that even though the people of God tempted the Lord, and they murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, it says in verse 2, the Lord sent them bread from heaven. I will reign bread from heaven. But it was a type of Christ. And so I'll just point out in verse.
It says a small round thing speaks of the eternality of this person roundness, you know, it's there's no beginning or end. And then it speaks as small as the hoar frost on the ground speaks of his humility. Wonderful Savior that we have humble he humbled himself.
Became a man, humbled himself, became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross.
And then you know, if we just turned over to verse 4 here of this, it says, the Lord said unto Moses, I will reign bread from heaven. So the Lord Jesus came from heaven. We had the heavenly blue color before us in the garments of the priest last yesterday, and the bread was from heaven, those three things. And then in verse 31 it says that the House of Israel called it mana.
Really a type of that heavenly grace necessary for us to walk through the wilderness.
In fellowship with the Lord. And then it's white. Or the coriander seed, a seed.
The seed, the source of life itself. And then we have its white, the purity of Christ.
The wafers made it was just the taste of it was like wafers made with honey that speaks of the sweetness of Christ.
You know, we oftentimes complain. It seems to me that complaining and murmuring are just about as natural to the human heart as breathing. Isn't it true? We, we get up and sometimes the first thing we do is we look out the window and we, we see weather that's a little inclement. And we, we, maybe we don't say it audibly, but we kind of sigh and groan that it's raining again today, or snowing or whatever.
We readily complain.
But you know, I believe the Lord Jesus had a thankful spirit for everything that ever took place.
In his life. And he was he could thank the Lord, He could thank his father Even so.
Father, For so it seemed good unto thee in thy sight, and so he had a thankful spirit. And the Lord has provided us food for the wilderness. Seen. It's Christ himself. And so that's the third temptation. Then we have another temptation in verse 25, chapter 16 of Exodus, verse 25.
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Moses said eat that today, for today is a Sabbath.
Unto the Lord eat today, and you shall not find it in the field. 6 days shall you gather it, but on the 7th day, which is the Sabbath.
In it there shall be none.
It came to pass that there went out some of the people on the 7th day before the gather. They found none. The Lord said unto Moses, How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? You know the children of Israel. It was a new concept for them not to work seven days a week.
You know, apparently a man left to himself without any principles and he wants to just work and work and work.
He will work himself to death. And I think we look in the news and we see evidence of men that are very wealthy men and they work and they work and they work. And one day you read of their death in the newspaper. They died working. They worked. They they served their enemy Satan with cruelty and with harshness. He ruled over them and they.
Served with rigor all of their lives but the Lord in his mercy and His kindness.
A little type of eternal of the Millennium, he said He made an agreement with them. It was a law that they were to keep the Sabbath and that is the last day of the week. So they were to use the first six days for themselves and to make a living, and then they were to use the last day for him.
But you know, he told them, go out, gather for the six days the the manna they were to labor to gather it up.
Are you laboring? Am I laboring to search the scriptures daily?
And to gather up for myself, gather up, you know, as those that are husbands and fathers, you need to gather up.
Enough for the household to be able to feed the household the things of God and bring them into the.
Knowledge of the truth and the enjoyment of the truth and to help them to understand that it's necessary to buy the truth. All of those things are necessary for one that is the head of a home.
But on that 6th day, they were to rest. It was the mercy of God. It was a type of the Millennium, as I say. But in Christianity we don't have a Sabbath. We have the first day of the week. And it's referred to they came together upon the first day of the week to break bread. It says in Acts chapter 20, I think it's maybe verse 7 or so. They came together on the first day of the week.
But you know, God hasn't given us that as a law during the first during the.
Christian era. It's by grace that we recognize that the first day of the week.
Is his that we ought to give it to him?
It's remarkable to me, you know, that in the day that we live in, we not only have the last day of the week as a day off, so to speak, we also have really, by law, the first day of the week as a day off as well. And so often times we have two days to rest or to do a little work for the Lord, the last.
Two, the 1St the last day of the week and then the first day of the week.
In Christendom, in Christianity, in the Western Christian world, largely.
But oftentimes, you know, we use that first day of the week for ourselves. We don't use it for him. It's not that we're under law. I'd just like to turn to Isaiah chapter 58, just to refer to this as a principle.
Isaiah chapter 58 and verse 13.
You know, it says in the 37th Psalm that.
We should delight ourselves in the law, in the Lord.
That's I think I'm just going to read it before I read that in the 58th, 58th chapter of Isaiah verse 13, but it says in the 37th Psalm, it says delight thyself also in the Lord. He shall give thee the desires of thine heart, Commit thy way unto the Lord, Trust also in him. He shall bring it to pass.
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Well, here he tells us what it is to delight ourselves. And Lord, he says, if thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord honorable, and shall to honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words, then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth and feed thee.
Heritage of Jacob thy father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. While this refers to the Sabbath, but we could apply the principle to the first day of the week, could we not? Could we say that we could use the Lord's day not for ourselves, Turn away our foot from using the Lord's Day for ourselves, not doing our own pleasure on the first day of the week?
And you know this world dishonors the Son of God, and by grace.
The sovereign grace of God, we have the liberty to be able to use the first day of the week for the Lord and how the Lord must value in his affections for us the price that was paid to deliver us from this world. How we must value you and I using that first day of the week for Him for His glory and how he must value it that we set aside of all of our commercial ventures, all of our.
Umm, activities at school we just lay everything aside and we use the day for himself, perhaps read a little ministry use use the day to read a little booklet, perhaps in the afternoon if we don't have.
Anything going at the Sunday school and that sort of thing, we can use it to go and sing hymns at the nursing home, different activities like that, and we can use the day for himself, how he must value it.
Well, it was a temptation. It was they provoked the Lord this 4th temptation in Exodus 16, verse 25, because they used the day for themselves and they ignored the rights of the Lord. Now we turn a little bit further on to chapter 17 and I'll just read verse 2. That's the 5th temptation.
Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water, that we may drink. Moses said unto them, Why chide you with me? Wherefore do you tempt the Lord? The people thirsted there for water. The people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this, that thou has brought us up out of Egypt to kill us, and our children with our, and our cattle with thirst? Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do?
And then verse 6 Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in orb, and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it.
That my people, that the people may drink. And Moses did so on the sight of the elders of Israel. He called the name of the place Masa.
And Maraba, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not?
Well, these five temptations, these first five, the throne of Israel really didn't have the word of God.
Before them, they didn't have.
The 10 words hadn't been given to them, the 10 commandments yet.
And umm, they were, perhaps you might say, just beginning in the wilderness scene. And so the Lord dealt with them, you might say, in grace, even they murmured. And so, you know, sometimes we get saved. We know the Lord Jesus is our Savior. We've taken Christ, and we're delivered from the power of sin and Satan and from our rigor of service to this world.
And there's murmuring we don't really understand as much as we should.
And the Lord deals with us graciously all. He loves his people. He loves each one of us. And if we look back and we were honest with ourselves and our lives.
Before we read the word of God, perhaps we had, uh, were saved and umm, he dealt with us graciously.
But uh, when we find from the six temptation on that they were more responsible because they had the word of God and so God dealt with them a little more harshly.
But I just point this out in connection with the thirst of the people, that it was Christ himself.
That rock that followed them through the wilderness scene, the rock was smitten and Christ was smitten, stricken, smitten and afflicted. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We hid as we were our faces from Him. You know the Lord Jesus was smitten at the cross of Calvary. It means to smite. It's the same root of the word to smite someone. He was smitten of God.
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That you might find refreshment, That you might be nourished.
While you walk through this scene, that you might be have the water of life and be refreshed, and that you might not just have life, but that you might have it abundantly, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. And he says, I am come, that they might have life, and that they might have it abundantly. And so we have flowing waters that speaks of the Spirit of God as well as the word of God. And the Lord gave life through this.
This water that flowed forth, but he records it.
As a temptation, he records it as an incident in the people's lives when they tried it.
Now, trading isn't like murmuring.
You might murmur and we might grumble a little bit because things aren't very good, but chiding was a full blown in your face.
Very, uh, confrontational occurrence between the throne of Israel and Moses.
Well, sometimes we're very confrontational with our brethren, and yet the Lord is gracious and here He provided this water, may we be.
Exercised about not being confrontational with one another in connection with these things and connection with what we have from the Lord and this confrontation, the Lord records one of the things that they said.
In verse seven, is the Lord among us or not?
Very strong language is the Lord among us or not?
Oh, dear brethren.
Do you have a sense of the presence of the Lord, the sense that by grace you've been delivered from the power of Satan and brought into his very presence? You know, the children of Israel could actually have the physical. They saw physically the evidence of the presence of God. They saw the pillar of cloud during the day and the pillar of fire during the night, and they saw a visible evidence of the presence of the Lord but in the day of grace.
During the Church period on this earth, we don't see a physical expression of the presence of the Lord, but we have by faith.
The recognition that we come into the presence of the Lord, and based upon the Word of God, where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them. So when you come to the assembly meeting, do you think to yourself that you're coming into the presence of the Lord?
Or do you think that you're just coming to the meeting, a meeting of the brethren?
So it might be a meeting with the brother and all right, It might be.
But that's really not the highest.
Thought that you might have? Isn't it nice for us to be able to recognize by faith that we're being brought by the Spirit of God into the presence of the Lord? You and I, You, me, who are we?
We were once sinners of the Gentiles. I'm not a Sinner of the Gentiles anymore. I'm a Saint of God.
He doesn't see me as a Sinner. I have a new standing before God because of the work of Christ. He sees me as a St.
And He wants me to be in His presence. But isn't it something they tempted the Lord?
And this is what they said. Is the Lord among us or not? Let's not doubt.
The Word of God and the presence of the Lord Jesus in the midst of his people. Well, if we look a little bit further on in the book, I think it's close to the end chapter.
32 The 6th temptation, verse seven. Six chapter 32 verse 7.
The Lord said unto Moses, Get thee down. For thy people which thou brought us out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned quick aside, quickly out of the way which I commanded them, and have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
And then verse 15, Moses turned and went down from the mount.
And the two tables of the testimony were in his hand. The tables were written both on both their sides.
On the one side and on the other, were they written?
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And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.
When Joshua heard the noise of the people, they shouted. He said unto Moses, There's a noise of war in the camp.
He said it is not the voice of them that shout 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 then just.
Verse 22 Aaron said, Let not the anger of my Lord wax hawk.
Thou knowest the people that they are set on mischief. They said unto me, Make us gods.
Which shall go before us? As for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not what has become of him. And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me. I cast it in the fire, and there came out this calf.
Then just the last verse of the chapter, Chapter 32, verse 35.
The Lord played the people of Israel.
The people because they made the calf.
Which Aaron made.
You know, I've wondered about this expression, Aaron. You know, he got, he was kind of caught, wasn't he?
He of any of those that were there should never have been involved in idolatry. He was the priest, the high priest among the children of Israel.
A type of Christ, but he failed in that type and he makes this excuse, he says.
You know, I just put all this gold together and poop, out came this calf. Just presto. I didn't have to do anything. It just kind of came out.
Well, it was a bold faced lie to his brother Moses.
But you know, sometimes it speaks idolatry, speaks to us of.
Covetousness. Covetousness is idolatry, and we live in a day, perhaps one of the most idolatrous days that have existed upon the face of the earth. We have enough money to buy just about anything that we'd like to have, and the world is doing everything it can, and it's advertising to make us unhappy with what we have and wanting something else.
That's what the advertising in this world is doing, is making you unhappy. Every single advertisement that you and I see.
It's making us unhappy with what we already have and putting the desire in our heart.
To have something else that God hasn't given us.
And so they fell into idolatry. They had the word of God and Moses, we know that broke those.
Broke those tables of stone. If we just turn to the New Testament to get some of this teaching. Let's look at First John. Just the last part of First John.
Because.
I feel we need to recognize that it provokes the Lord.
If we're covetous.
That provokes them.
As provocative.
To want to want to want to want and not to receive what we have from the Lord. You know that God has created you and I to be dependent creatures to depend upon him and to ask him for what we have need of and this world tries to make us independent of God. So chapter five of first John the last verse he says little children keep yourselves from idols. And then if we looked at first Corinthians chapter 10.
It just brings in before us this little instruction.
In verse 14, chapter 10, verse 14. Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.
While we have that instruction given to us in in Christianity, the Lord gives us to us in the epistles, John's epistle, the epistle written by the apostle of the affections. The Lord used John to give us ministry that helps us to maintain our communion with the Lord.
And Mr. Darby said that he trusted that the brethren would not set aside John's ministry, that they would in the as the day grew darker, that we would continue to read John's ministry and not be taken up with idolatry. And so they tempted the Lord, and it was a price to pay.
In this aspect of things, because the Lord plagued the people and so that didn't bring happiness, it brought the judgment of God upon them. Now let's turn to.
00:45:02
Uh, numbers Chapter 11.
Numbers Chapter 11 and verse one. This is the 7th temptation. When the people complained, it displeased the Lord, and Lord heard it, and his anger was kindled. The fire of the Lord burned among them, consumed them that were in the uttermost part of the camp. And the people cried unto Moses. And when Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was quenched, and they caught. He called the name of the place.
Tabara, because the fire of the Lord burnt among them.
Well, here we have the people complaining. It wasn't just perhaps muttering and murmuring, but there was a.
Complaining.
They were complaining. They were still in the wilderness. You and I are still in the wilderness, by the way. You know, we're seeing as as believers, we're seen as being in Egypt. We're in wilderness, and we're also in that heavenly land. We're seated in heavenly places in Christ. We're seen in all three places. But the children of Israel went through the wilderness historically.
Well, they complained, and there was judgment for it.
But you'll notice those that suffered them that were in the uttermost parts.
Of the camp.
Are you and I seeking to walk closely with the Lord? Are we?
Walking at the fringes, just kind of, uh, got one foot in the assembly, one foot in the world, so to speak.
Oh, the Lord desires to have his people close to Himself.
To walk with him in communion, to desire his company. And if I could just use it this way, do you, do you have the desire to be at all the meetings in the assembly where you come from or do you pick and choose which assembly meetings that you're going to go to?
You know the Lord desires you to be there to every meeting and to enjoy His presence and enjoy His Word.
And I believe there is a blessing for us at every meeting that we go to. The Lord will have something for us. And His delight is to feed, to nourish his people, to refresh His people, and to give them a fresh sense of the grace that has sought to release them from the rigors and the ******* of Egypt and the cruelty of Satan. And to have that sense of grace. And we need to be in the presence of the Lord, not just at the fringes.
But we need to be in the presence of the Lord and near to Him so that we have that sense of grace and the sense of His deliverance and the mighty work that was done, the value, the price that He paid to redeem us. Well, Moses prayed unto the Lord and the fire was quenched. And so, you know, there may be some in your assembly that are walking in the fringes. And that's one of the things that we can do is pray for them.
And ask the Lord to deliver them to warm their hearts.
And we could perhaps do a little bit of shepherding work. You know, the Lord Jesus, he saw those two that were going on the road to Emmaus.
And he drew near to them, and he walked with them.
They were going in the wrong direction, but He walked with them and it was the Shepherd in action. He was drawing their hearts and He was speaking to them. Of those things that had to do with himself. He brought Himself before them.
Well, we have the 8 temptation in verse 4.
It says the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting and the children of Israel also wept again.
Said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely.
The cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, the garlic. But now our soul is dried away.
There is nothing at all beside this manna before our eyes, and the manna was as coriander seed, the color thereof as the color of dallium. The people went about and gathered it, and grounded in mills and beat it and mortar, baked it in pans, made cakes of it, and the taste of it was as a taste of fresh oil. When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it.
Well.
Here there is another temptation. They kind of got tired of the manna.
You might come to the assembly meetings and feel like there's not a lot of food. Perhaps it's the same food that you had all your life. But isn't it wonderful to be able to come to the assembly meetings and read the Scriptures yourself in your own home and privately and receive the freshness of Christ, and to enjoy Christ and a portion of Christ on a daily basis?
00:50:06
In his presence, but here they were just trying to re manufacture things and trying to, as we know, ground. They grounded in mills, they beat it in a mortar and they baked it. They did all kinds of things to make it a little more palatable. Brethren, let's not never get tired of the simplicity that we have in Christ, the glory of this person, the heavenly aspect of Christianity and our heavenly calling and to enjoy the fact that we're blessed with.
All spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. Now we have the very best that God has given us, the very best heavenly food for the wilderness. Let's never get tired of hearing of Christ. You know, it's wonderful to be able to come to meetings like this and to hear and to get a portion of Christ for our souls. Oftentimes we hear the comment made well, just wish the ministry was a little more practical. We need more practical ministry and so on. There there is a place for that.
And there is a necessity for practical ministry.
But what really nourishes our souls and gives us a sense of the greatness of the deliverance from Egypt as a little portion of Christ, a little glimpse of the person of Christ, the love of the Savior for us and the price that He paid for us, and grace, The sense of the grace that were delivered from so cruel a master. Let's not get the idea that we have to remanufacture the truth and remanufacture things and try to get self help books out of the camp and so on. I'm not trying to condemn all.
The writings of those that are not gathered to the Lord's name. But I just say let's be careful to read those things that we know that aren't laced with a little bit of poison. And let's read ministry that we know that those that have written it walked in the truth of God and valued the truth of what it was to be gathered to the Lord's name and valued the simple teaching.
The valuable teaching of the apostle Paul Now if we just look at.
Chapter 12 We have there that incident. It's the 9th temptation Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman.
Whom he had married, for he had married an Ethiopian woman. And then you find.
A little later on, we don't have time to read much.
Umm.
Let's read verse 11, Aaron. And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas, my Lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us. Where? Wherein have we done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned? Let her not be as one dead or stillborn, of whom the flesh is half consumed, when he cometh out of his mother's womb. Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, Heal her now, O God, this I beseech thee and the Lord son of Moses.
Well, let you just read the rest yourself. 1St 15 Miriam was shut up, shut out from the camp. Seven days in the people journeyed, not till Miriam was brought in again.
You know, there was a grumbling in the camp and there was a grumbling here.
They speak against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married now.
Mr. Darby and his notes and jotting suggests, and maybe you've had the same question in your mind, is this a different woman from Zipporah? Did he have a second wife? He suggested It's probably a different woman than Zipporah.
And you know, Sapporo went back with his her two sons. She didn't appear that it appears that she didn't spend all of the wilderness journey in the in the wilderness with Moses. So he was lonely. He wanted a companion and perhaps this Ethiopian woman, a little picture of the Gentile and.
So Moses wanted the companion.
And he married this woman, and perhaps it was years before, but there was a grudge that these two.
Miriam and Aaron held a little bit of a grudge against Moses, and maybe it was hidden for a long time, but then there was a time when it came out and they had a grudge against him. It came out and they complained against him and, uh, he had married this woman.
And it came out, you know, brethren, we need to keep short accounts with the Lord and with our brethren and not to have a grudge against our brethren on any matter, because sooner or later it's going to come out and the Lord will allow it to come out, and He will judge what is brought in, in disobedience to him. So he dealt with this and he dealt in judgment. Miriam was a leper. She was healed. And then.
She was restored.
But we have this lesson in connection with grumbling and then The Last Temptation.
00:55:03
Is in verse chapter 14 verse one all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried and the people wept that night.
Let's read UH chapter 13, verse 30.
Caleb stilled the people before Moses said let us go up at once and possession for we are able.
Well able to overcome it.
And they said, verse, uh, four, they said one to another, let us make us a captain and let us return into Egypt. And Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of children of Israel. Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Japuni, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes. Well, we don't have time to go further.
But this temptation, the last temptation, was the temptation of apostasy. They gave up.
They were really in essence giving up the knowledge of God, setting up a new order of things. They wanted to just leave the Lord, leave the wilderness journey and return into Egypt. Now, why didn't God want the people of Israel to return into Egypt?
Was a mighty deliverance. He loved his people. But Egypt is a picture of this world in its independence of God, and this world is trying to make you go back into Egypt.
It's like a big magnet and it's doing everything it can to draw you back to that world system that's independent of God.
And in opposition to enslave you.
And so the Lord didn't ever want them to return. And so instead of going up into the land of Israel.
In the cross, Canaan into that land across Jordan, they wanted to go back. Well, it speaks of to us as to whether or not our hearts have forsaken Egypt. Moses, it says he didn't leave Egypt, He forsook Egypt. So in his heart.
He said I don't ever want to go back there again. I don't want it. He could have had perhaps the very best, but he said the Spirit of God records it in Hebrews Chapter 11. He first took Egypt. I want to ask you a question. Have you forsaken Egypt or have you left in testimony, left Egypt and perhaps you're gathered to the Lord's name, you come to the assembly meetings, but you haven't forsaken Egypt in your heart.
Well, it's necessary to judge that desire to have what Egypt has and the food that Egypt has.
We need to judge those things.
I very much enjoyed Whatever Brother Robert.
Brought before us is searching how that.
Murmuring seems to come natural to us, but the Lord desires that we might be rejoicing in His presence, and I believe that this is brought before us in another incident in.
The, uh, the count of Israel in the Old Testament.
Deuteronomy chapter 26 number.
Deuteronomy chapter 26.
And, uh, perhaps we'll just.
Read a portion here, it says, And it shall be, when thou art come in unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possesses it, and dwelleth therein, that thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth which thou shalt bring of thy land, that the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shall put it in a basket.
And shall go unto the place.
Which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name there, And thou shalt go unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto the Lord thy God, that I am come unto the country, which the Lord swear unto our fathers for to give us. And the priests shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar of the Lord thy God.
Now this land that God brought his people into, it was a good land. It was a land that flowed with milk and honey.
And the Lord has good things for us to enjoy.
And He has brought us into a place of unspeakable favor.
In Christ.
01:00:00
And we had opportunity today.
To be gathered in the presence of our Savior, the Lord Jesus.
And to enjoy.
Together, that which God has given to us.
In Christ and it involves worship.
It involves praise and Thanksgiving.
And this is what God delights in.
And here are the people were to bring of the fruit of the earth.
But notice it says, When thou art come in unto the land.
In verse three, they were to take this basket of fruit to the priest and say, I am come unto the country, which the Lord swear unto our fathers for to give us. You know this basket of first fruits, it wasn't brought to the priests in order that they might get into the land, but it was because they were already in the land.
And.
As believers, we know that we are in Christ. We are not seeking a position.
We have come, we have accepted the Savior, and God puts us now in Christ. This is our position. We're not striving to get there.
But the Lord has placed us there, and we are to be enjoying in our souls the wonderful.
Position that is ours now.
In Christ.
And he is made unto us, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. We find in him one who not only saves our souls, but He satisfies. He's the bread of life and He's the water of life.
And how wonderful it is to contemplate the salvation that is ours. It's a full and free salvation, and we have it.
You know we have all the blessings that God has to bestow upon us. When we accept the Savior, when we believe in Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, we receive it all.
We're blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
And it's so wonderful, but we only enter in, it seems a little bit at a time to what we have been brought into.
But I do believe in order to.
Bring this offering.
In order to worship, in order to offer the sacrifice of praise to God, we have to.
Have a sense in our souls of security, of peace.
Because if we don't, if we question our salvation.
If we question.
The goodness of God and what He has provided for us, certainly we're not going to be.
Offering to him.
Because we're gonna be suspicious of him, we're gonna be questioning his goodness, and this is what Satan is up to.
He hasn't changed his tactics back in the Garden of Eden.
He sowed in the mind of Eve.
But out as to the goodness of God, he made Eve suspicious.
Of the Lord.
And try to give her to believe that the Lord was withholding something from her that was for her happiness. This is what Satan is up to. He's a master of deceit.
And may we?
Look to the Lord that we not be taken in by His.
Deception.
I want to tell you today the Lord is good.
And how could we question the goodness of God when we contemplate the sacrifice He's been willing to make on our behalf?
01:05:10
And we spoke of it this morning and we thought about it this morning.
We saw it in Abraham. He was willing to offer his son.
But he was spared the agony of offering his son.
Iran.
God provided instead of Isaac, but there was no substitute for the Son of God. God he spared, not his own son.
But delivered him up for us all.
This, beyond a question of a doubt, shows.
To us the infinite love and goodness of our God.
And He wants us to be reveling in the sunshine of His love and grace.
Because.
This is what's going to produce.
Worship and praise and Thanksgiving.
So this Israelite was to know that they.
Had come. He had come into the land.
And it was God that gave them the land.
God gave it to them.
Because the Lord is a giving God, and every good and perfect gift it comes down from above.
That's what we learn in James. It comes down from the father of lights, with whom there's no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Now they were to bring this basket.
And put the first of all the fruit of the earth in the basket.
And bring it where?
They were bringing to the Lord.
They were to bring it, as it tells us here in verse 2, on to the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place His name there.
They just couldn't bring it anywhere they pleased but.
They were too. Let the Lord make the choice as to where this offering was to be brought.
And so this is actually putting the Lord 1St and this is what we need. You know, there was a brother.
Ron Reeves Years ago, I recall he'd give me a little piece of wood.
Is about four inches piece of corner molding.
4 inches long. It had two words on it, God first.
And you know, this is what I'm seeing in this portion.
There's 5 words that seem to just jump out at me in verse 2.
It's the word.
1St.
And it's the words, the Lord thy God.
5 words. First, the Lord thy God.
We live in a world where the Lord is.
Not even given a place.
I imagine it appeared that he is. You know, we we have that which is called Christianity. But the fact is, man seems to rule.
And the Lord doesn't have his rightful place, but I believe.
We find in scripture that God wants to have the 1St place.
And if we don't give him the 1St place, he won't get the 2nd place. He's going to be way down the line somewhere.
So may the Lord help us to give him the 1St place. You see, God gives us so many things to enjoy.
He's a wonderful God.
But we find that.
Our natural tendency is to take what God.
Gives us.
And enjoy it selfishly.
01:10:01
Rather than recognizing that this is what comes down from above, this comes from the Lord.
Years ago we were distributing invitations.
In Fredericton and I talked to a man as he stood in his garden.
It was a beautiful garden.
A vibrant growth and there were large vegetables.
And you could see them hanging off the vines and the plants.
But he was sending the tomatoes, you know, and I thought to myself, these tomatoes are beautiful, big, red, juicy tomatoes.
And so.
I said to the man.
Isn't it wonderful that God gives to us tomatoes like these?
And it was just like I was talking to a wall.
You don't want to have anything more to do. I couldn't even give him an invitation.
To the Bible hour, He wasn't interested. He was interested in tomatoes.
But he wasn't interested in the one who gave the tomatoes. You know this is a serious problem.
When we become.
Interested in God's creation and leave the Creator out of the picture?
This is.
Not good.
And it's going to lead to destruction, man's destruction.
Placing more importance on the creation the.
Creature than the Creator, here they were to bring 1St through the Lord.
What God had given to them.
And to enjoy it in the Lord's presence.
In the place that the Lord.
Would choose to put his name there, you know. It's not up to you or to me to choose.
As to where the Lord, well, let me put it this way.
We need to look to the Lord to make the choice as to where He would have us.
To offer the sacrifice of praise.
I'm talking in a collective way.
But.
I talked to many.
And I have to be careful, even myself, that I don't get in the way of God with respect to making a choice.
There's many today that they're simply looking at what pleases them.
You know the dynamic preaching at this place or the beautiful building.
Or or. The people are so very nice.
And they seem to be.
Friendly people.
I think this is probably where I want to go. Well, I mean.
We need to be looking to the Lord, don't we, about the choice, and He can make that plain to us through His word as to where He would have us to go. So we find that the.
Israelite brings the basket of first fruits, presents it to the priest and acknowledges his past condition, he says.
I'm a Syrian ready to perish was my father. He went down into Egypt, verse 5 sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation great, mighty and populous. The Egyptians evil entreated us, inflicted us, laid upon us hard *******. And when we cried unto the Lord God of our fathers, the Lord heard our voice and looked on our affliction, and on our labor, and on our oppression. And the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with.
Terribleness and with signs and with wonders, and yet brought us into this place and has given us this land, even a land that flows with milk and honey. There's no murmuring here. This Israelite is very thankful.
For what the Lord has done for him or for her?
01:15:01
And in verse 10 says, And now, behold, I have brought the first fruits of the land which thou, O Lord, has given me, and thou shalt set it before the Lord thy God, and worship before the Lord thy God.
And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the Lord thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house, thou and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you. Now you notice what this kind of activity results in when we put the Lord 1St and we follow his word.
And we find ourselves where he has placed his name.
And together we enjoy what the Lord has given to us.
Is rejoicing. It's a place where there's joy.
And.
We must acknowledge that there are problems in the assemblies, but you know, God is above all these problems. The Lord is above the problems, and sometimes we come up against situations that seem impossible.
We had our brother bring before us about the Red Sea. The people, they seem trapped. What are they gonna do? Impossible situation. Well, they look to the Lord and he works it out.
And I'm thinking, too, of how they came to Jericho and here are these huge walls.
And this place is blocking their entrance into the land. What are they going to do?
Well, God has that all figured out too, and so we know.
In a remarkable way.
The Walls of Jericho fell down and twice it says he fell down flat. I like that word flat.
Didn't fall down in heaps that make it rather difficult to get into the city, but they fell down level horizontal with the ground.
So we can see how God comes in and gives deliverance and he will in his time and way. And sometimes it's exciting, you know, to anticipate how the Lord is going to work things out.
But his deliverance, it doesn't come too soon that we miss out on the blessedness of trusting in the dark.
But neither does it come too late that we experience the misery of trusting in vain.
So.
Take heart. Look up. Don't give up, look up.
And the Lord is able and willing.
To come in and undertake for us.
And we can trust him.
For the future, you know, as we read on here, we see that they were.
Tithing.
And uh.
Verse 12 When thou hast made an end of tithing, all the ties have thine increased the third year, which is the year of tithing, and hath given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, you know, you see here.
Uh, when we give the Lord the 1St place.
And there's worship and praise. We're not only going to be thinking about the Lord.
We're gonna be thinking about.
That are in need.
And I think we have the truth of it in Hebrews chapter 13.
You know, there we have.
Offering the sacrifice of praise to God continually. So this is.
Vertical.
But when you come to the next verse, it says, But to do good, and to communicate, forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. This is horizontal.
And so they were to.
Be looking out for those that were in need, The Levites, you know, he was involved in the service of the Lord. He didn't have a earthly possession. He was provided for the stranger, the fatherless, the widow, here's one that perhaps cannot support herself and so on.
Well, these ones, they were to eat within the gates and be filled.
01:20:06
Well, may the Lord bless His word.
These few thoughts and may we give the Lord his rightful place.
And remember.
That the Lord has said, they that honor me, I will honor.
Because my heart a fresh could burn 26 in 30.
Again, if you need to tell me. Oh yeah, I certitude with thy consenting.
Oh give me a little bit of earth and cause my oil and fresh sugar river.
Oh dear sweet friend, please do free service.
I don't know what's my apologize. I'm impressed too and we're doing.
All right.
Let me go away on the floor.
By 10 minutes towards our beginning grace.
Joy and one more time and wait for anything.
Process my day your sexy.
You're almost as long as you wait for longer to be.
Ye are not looking at all the chance Friday and better soon as you're spelled and sighed. Then come on and come on, come on.
My hopes to be taking everything.
Alright, thank you for your help. So you're working on days to $5 a hundred?
It's trash, that's it.
Still a little scary and wait for your baby.
Thank you for the faithfulness of our brethren to minister to.
And, uh, pray for those who are traveling from home.
Think about our brother mentioned in his word about or on the fringes.
Pray for them, Father.
01:25:04
Closer to the center.
He asked us to do the right thing, to see Jesus.