Address—G. Hayhoe
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Our souls in our grace.
God bless the quiet.
Live our God.
Let's look at the different ways in which we can feed upon Christ. And so first of all, I'd like to turn to.
Exodus Chapter 12.
Exodus chapter 12 and the fifth verse.
5th verse Your lamb shall be without blemish a male of the first year. He shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats, and ye shall keep it up until the 14th day of the same month. The whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening, and they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side pulse, and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
And they shall eat the flesh in that night well with fire and unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs they shall eat it, eat not of it raw, nor sadden it all with water, but roast with fire his head with his legs, and with the pertinence thereof Ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning. But that and that which remaineth of it until the morning, he shall burn with fire, and thus shall eat it.
Your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and ye shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover men just passing over to the 32nd verse of this chapter.
00:05:11
It is a night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord to be observed all the children of Israel in their generation.
Well, as I said, I'd like to look at the different ways that we feed upon Christ. Here we have the Passover, and then we have in the 16th of Exodus the manna. And then in Joshua we have the old horn of the land, the fruit of the land of perhaps you could say, just putting a brief link to that. Feeding upon Christ as the Passover is our appreciation of what He has done for us on that cross of Calvary to put away our sins.
Bring us into such a place of favor and blessing, and then in the Nana I believe it's the food for the wilderness. It is a figure as we know of Christ. He was the bread that came down from heaven. And so in His blessed pathway here in this world we see one going through all that was possible to go through as a righteous man and glorifying God and leaving us an example that we should follow in His steps.
And so perhaps we could say in the manna, it's our appreciation of him and his pathway here that helps us in all the things that we have to meet. Because it tells us that he is a merciful and faithful high priest, Tells us too that he has tried in the path before. It says he was in all points tempted, like as we are set apart, but that he might be faithful to us as our high Priest, and so as we feed upon him as the manna.
You think about all the things that we have to meet in life, and there's one who's gone before. He's not them, all in perfection. And more than that, he's left us an example. And perhaps I could say still more, He's given us his life so that we can walk in that path enjoying his company and all the difficulties and trials that we need. When we think of them as the old corn of the land, I believe that brings before us Christ in glory. It was after they had even entered the promised Land that they fed upon the old corn of the land or the fruit of the land of Canaan.
And so sometimes the Lord lifts us above the trials. We have our appreciation of what He has done through for us. We have His help in the trials, but sometimes He lifts us above them. I think a little Him expresses that thought nicely. If here on earth the thoughts of Jesus love lift our fore hearts this weary world abroad, what will the sunshine of His glory prove? What the unmingled fullness of His love? Well, He gives us forecasts of this brethren, and in this way we feed upon Him as the.
One who's gone up there, and we see ourselves in Him, accepted in the beloved, holy and without blame before him, in love and enjoying the fact that that's really our home. We're not of this world, and so we need food for our pathway, we need food for our natural bodies. And God has provided so bountifully for the national needs of our bodies, but I've been impressed by them as I read the Scripture.
Both in the Old Testament and in the New.
How important it was that God's people should be fed, tells us in the book of Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament. But everything had broken down among the people of God. Yet the Lord said, Prove me now here with saith the Lord, that I might oh, that I will open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing, that there might not be room enough to receive it. And in that same connection he says.
That they would bring his thighs, and that there might be meat in my house. When the Lord rose from the dead, he said to fear. Feed my lambs, shepherd my sheep. Then, Paul said to the elders. The overseers at Ephesus, he said, feed the flock of God Peter. In addressing those who were in that position, he also said the same thing the feed the flock of God.
So we all know the need of natural food. Probably we can ask ourselves, are we really feeding on Christ? There was a lot of other things that are really the United States trash that can occupy our minds, can depress us, can rob us of the joy and the Lord. But there is that which we can enjoy. And I believe the Christian life consists of enjoying our portion. We only enjoy it in part down here, but in glory we're going to enjoy it in fullness.
00:10:14
Mr. Garvey once made the comment. He said our testimony to the world is our joy in the Lord. And when you see a Christian get into difficulty and you can see that he has a joy that rises above his problems and situation that he's in, then you know he's feeding on Christ. He has something that sustains him in the midst of it. Well, you can easily understand them by the Passover comes first and why it was so important.
Because until a person knows the Lord Jesus as his Savior, he certainly cannot enjoy these things at all. In fact, by nature, brethren, we were enemies in our minds by wicked works. That was our natural state, and every one of us can look back, even if we were brought up in a Christian home where there might have been times when we resented having to have been told we should be reading our Bibles.
Because by our natural birth, we were enemies in our minds, and it wasn't until we got to know the Lord Jesus and our Savior, and that we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son. And so the proof of the Christian is that he possesses a new life that enjoys new things. He enjoys The Lord often said that if you're a true child of God gives you a real thrill to meet somebody else.
That knows the Lord. Perhaps in your travels or something, you meet somebody, you find out that person knows the Lord.
Did you enjoy the same thing? Because you're in the family and so are they. You enjoyed this, perhaps passing a few words between you above your portion in Christ and what he means to you. Well, so you can see why I read the Passover first, because the Passover is the beginning of our Christian life. That is in type, of course, but we all know from First Corinthians 5 that the Lord Jesus is the true Passover.
It says when Christ is Who is our Passover was sacrificed for us. So the Lord Jesus is the true Passover lamb. And as we read these verses we can see such an app picture of him a lamb without blemish and without spot, one and the only one whose precious blood could meet our need. And so this was when that lamb of the blemish was slain and the blood was sprinkled on the lentil on the side pulse.
Then those in that home were safe from judgment As long as often said. It doesn't even bring up the question of how they felt. It was just enough that the blood was there. They might possibly even have those. But if the blood was there, God didn't say. When I see how you feel, When I see you have strong faith, what he said. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. Does anyone here who's having doubts, remember. It doesn't depend on your feelings.
If you have laid hold of the blood of Christ as the only ground of your blessing, then you are safe, because it was the blood that made those homes safe. How? How could they be sure? Or just resting upon the word of God tells us. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. And so they had the blood to make their home safe, but to have peace in their own hearts, they took God at His word.
Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So peace is a result of in simplicity, believing the value that God has put upon the blood of his Son. He says that it cleanses from all sin and it's a simple faith on our part to take God as His word. And so that was what made their home safe, what made them secure.
But as I said, and what I'd like particularly to dwell on, is there was a feast inside of these homes. God didn't just want them to have security in their homes, He didn't just want them to have peace, that nothing could touch them. That night when the Destroyer passed through the land, that was a wonderful deliverance, but he wanted them to be feeding upon this rose land and so in order to have a happy feast in their homes.
00:15:03
There were certain provisions that were made.
About this feast, you know, we might say, well, I know the Lord Jesus is my savior, but I could ask myself, you can ask yourself, are we feasting upon Him? Are we like these people? Supposing one said, well, I'm just satisfied to know my home is safe and he isn't feasting upon the lamb. While he's not enjoying his portion, many dear Christians are not enjoying their portion.
It's easy in a world like this, with so much to distract and discourage, to lose our enjoyment of the Lord. And I haven't any doubt, brethren, that that's Satan's great attempt to try and keep us from enjoying our portion. And they bring in all kinds of things in order to hinder our enjoyment. So it tells us how they were to enjoy it. They were to eat the flesh in that night, Roast with fire, and it says in the ninth verse, eat not with rum or sodden at all with water.
But rose with fire. That was the first thing that was mentioned. And that is to know that the Lord Jesus has borne all the judgment and when it says more sudden that all the water we might say boil. And I think we all know that when you loyal something it doesn't matter how hot your fire is. Whatever you boil doesn't get the full heat because.
You have to be it has to be roasted in order to get the full heat of your albums, say 400. Well, it'll get the full heat, but if you put it on top of the oven in water, then it'll only blow up a size blowing .212°. And that's a side doesn't go. In other words, it doesn't get the full heat of the fire. But you know, there are people that believe something like this. Yes, I believe the Lord Jesus for the judgment, but I have to do my part too. And they add something to that lesson. Finished working.
They're enjoying only believe that there are real questions who don't enjoy eternal security. I believe that there is not properly taught. I believe they're secure because they're under the blood, but they're not enduring the feast. They're not enjoying the full blossomness of their salvation. It's very interesting in the end of the Romans when Paul speaks about our security. It's a very unusual thing. The way those last two verses of Romans 8 are worded. It says I. Now that's singular, isn't it? I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature.
Shall be able to separate me? No, He changes to the plural. You don't very often in a sentence change from singular to plural. Why does he do that? Well, Paul was persuaded. Paul was enjoying it, but he said others can't be separated from the level by which they would be persuaded. But it certainly can't be separated from the law. It can't be separated from the value of the lung who bore all.
The storm construction. So it wasn't gonna be raw, that is without the judgment. It wasn't to be just very part of the judgment. It was to know isn't it wonderful thing, brethren, that judgment is fast for us. Remember visiting a dear man in the hospital?
Real believer and many times he preached himself, but the last time I visited him voice was very very weak and I could still remember how he looked up, said Gordon. Isn't it lovely to know that judge him is passed for the believer, judgment is passed all just to know that the Lord Jesus for all the fire of God's gentleman and not one sin can be charged to you because it was laid upon Christ.
So it tells us here roast with fire and then unleavened bread.
You know what 11 as a figure of Scripture tells us?
You were to keep the feast not with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. We can easily spoil your enjoyment of the Lord and your security. Now we're talking about feeding on Christ. You can often spoil your enjoyment, and I can spoil mine by allowing a bad feeling.
In your hearts, malice is bad feeling, and many of us have a bad feeling for somebody else. Very, very important that we don't allow it to remain there. Very important that we ask the Lord for grace, not to bow that feeling, but to forgive as we have been forgiven. And Saul says, not with the leaven of malice and wickedness, Supposing I allow something in my life that's dishonouring to the Lord, will I be a happy Christian?
00:20:32
Can I really enjoy beating on Christ? I mean, maybe, and if I'm truly saved, I'm secure for all eternity, but we're talking about feeding on Christ, enjoying him to feed upon the low sand.
They were to feed upon it with unleavened bread and then with bitter herbs. I believe it just brings in the thought that we should never forget that it was our sins that calls him all that suffering. When you and I sit down on Lords Day morning to remember the Lord Jesus and his death, to all of us think well, why do we have to suffer like that? Why were those hours of darkness when he was forsaken of God?
And so I think that him writer had that thought in mind. Having said with joy and sorrow minded, we do remember thee so that the the bitter herbs I believe bring before us. He runs a feast and Allah with joy and feed on his roast lamb. And there was that which caused them to consider it was always sins. Really. We won't forget that in heaven he was saying that he redeemed us to God.
Mind as well. And He washed us from our sins in his own blood. So it was.
There and then it says His head with his legs and with the pertinence thereof. Isn't that lobby to think of the Lord's purpose? Nothing could turn something aside from that purpose. Sometimes we have a purpose, but things happen and we get the stories, and we don't go on with purpose apart. We allow things to turn us aside.
But nothing. Not all the rejection of the nation, no holy lack of appreciation of the disciples or of the people of the deal. So many of them. So few.
When he healed 10 leopards, just one came back and helped. You gave thanks for what he had done, but he went on in that pathway of love and went on to the cross. And I believe when it says his head with his legs, with a pertinence thereof, it was not love. It was in his heart that just let him onward.
To the cross, in spite of everything that man could put him away. And even when Satan's was attempted, the Lord Jesus went on in that pathway. And I believe that's the thought of the enemy of this verse. And then I believe when it says here in the 10th verse.
They were not to let anything remain to the morning. I believe the Lord would have us to have a fresh appreciation of Him. We can have an appreciation on Lord's day when we gather to remember the Lord.
And just carry it through the week without feeding upon Christ through the week, so that he sat there in his presence and you enjoyed thinking of his love and remembering him. But you know we need diligence through the week, don't we? So that one day we appreciate him, on Tuesday we appreciate him. And so it's something that goes on. We all know that with food, it's always nicest when it's fresh. And so they were not to leave it over.
It says it was leftover. It was to be burned with fire. Every keeping to the Passover was together flesh and Joyner of thought the Lord had done to deliver the mount of Egypt. And then with your loins burden I believe the loins speak of our desires. Grit up the loins of your mind. Be sober. You know there's a lot of things that.
Tend to put thoughts into our mind in a world like this, and we have to.
Screwed up the lines of our mind, We need to be careful what we let ourselves think about as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Anil, if you just let your mind go after all kinds of things, you find that Satan will fill your mind with a lot of things. And you know the mind is quite a story place. Very often you get things in your mind and you wish they were never there. So you need to watch.
So we don't allow our minds. We need to Garrison for our minds in the in the armor in the 16th of the 6th of Ephesians. Rather it tells us the loins heard about with truth so that I believe this is important. The lines girded shoes on your feet as they often say, the shoes on your feet that keep your feet from getting dirty if the load is dirty that you have to walk through.
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You have shoes on the end of the day. Your feet are dirty. Maybe your shoes are, but not complete because those shoes were your protection from picking up dirt. And you know, brethren, we have to walk through our world. It's awfully easy to pick up here. It's really a very defiling world. I feel sorry for children and young people, parts more than those of us who are older, because some of us don't have to meet the world in the same way. But you younger ones need to go to school. Some of them, some have to go to their employment.
There's a lot of things, and you really need shoes on your feet that you don't pick up, that you found out that you have to wade through.
All all the time in a world like this, so they would keep out to be violent by having shoes. It's interesting in the Song of Solomon how the bridegroom looked at the brides feet and he said I'm beautiful. Our live feet with shoes called Prince's father. He knows that she had shoes that would keep out, but if I'm not other places where she had to walk.
And it says your staff in your hand. That's dependence. I believe the staff, just like the person, carries a cane. And you say, well, why are you carrying that cane? Well, if you're a little unsteady on my feet and I don't want to have a fall, so the gap and carry a tree.
Well, it's interesting here that it doesn't just say all the people you know, It says your shoes and your feet and your staff and your hand. And I often wondered when they left Egypt, if you know, didn't all have a step. Because it doesn't matter what your age is. Old people can fall, young people can fall, any of us can. That we don't lean on the Lord.
It says preserve the old lot, for indeed life of my trust you may have long faithfully for a long time.
But the person who carries that staff, right, probably 9/10 of the time, he doesn't need it, but it's going to be a time when he does. And so he carries it last becomes the point where he's a little unsteady or something's in the way. And so we need it all the time, but every day.
We need to be dependent and solve its nose. He shall leave it in half in haste. The reason for that was they were expecting marching waters. They were going to leave Egypt, and they were going to leave Egypt for good. They were going to start out for the promised land. And we're waiting for that too, rather than aren't we? We're waiting for the marching orders. We're going to leave this world for good, perhaps sooner than someone else might expect.
The Lord is coming. Well, so I just wanted to mention these things about the Passover. So as I say, there was a blood that made their homes safe. It was simple resting on what God said that gave him security in their souls. But God wanted them to enjoy a peace, and he wants us to be happy Christians. He wants us to enjoy the knowledge and the constant population with what He has done for us.
And that's the way we feel on him. We we all understand how feeding is making a thing your own. You go down to a nice meal, sit there, there's the food in front of you. Doesn't do anything unless she is. And God provided a lot of good food for us as Christians. But it doesn't. It isn't enough just to know about it. You can know a great deal about the truth of God. Some of those satisfials have been people who knew a lot about the precious word of God.
But it's feeding the planet that makes it our own that becomes part of ourselves. And that's what the Lord meant. Either eateth me, even He shall live. That is, as we make Christ our own in a practical way, then we have the strength to live in a world like this as Christians. So I stay at the end. The Council, I believe, brings before us the enjoyment of what the Lord has done for us.
By that work that he accomplished on the cross of Calvary, the enjoyment of it is so precious.
It's our it's our theme here.
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There's a little song that we sing sometimes and put in scenes of glory. The glory I sing, the new, new song will be the old, old story that I have loved so long. What we sing in heaven and what we sing down here, but we enjoy in heaven and what we enjoy in part down here is the same gossip person.
It's the same glorious work. And so the Passover brings that before us, I believe. Now let's turn over to Exodus 16.
Here we have above the mass.
That.
First in line.
Moses lake on there on the same underwear stand alone congregation of the children of Israel come near before the Lord.
He hath heard your murmuring, and came to pass, as Aaron mistake under the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they look toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. The Lord is faithful to Moses, saying, I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel speak unto them, saying, that even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread.
And you shall know that I am the Lord your God. And it came to pass that and even the quails came up and covered the camp. And in the morning the view lay round about the holes. And when the Jew that lay was gone up, he rolled upon the face of the wilderness. There lay a small round thing, as small as a hoard cross on the ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, it is manna. But they was not what it was. Moses settled to them. This is the bread which the Lord had given you to eat.
This is the thing which the Lord had commanded Gather up if every man, according to his eating an Omar, for every man according to the number of your person, is taking every man for them that are in his tents, And the children of Israel did so, and gathered some more, some less.
When they did meet it with an Omer, he would have gathered much, had nothing over, and he had gathered little, had no luck, and gathered every man according to his eating. Moses said, let no man leave of it till the morning.
Understanding they hearken not unto Moses, but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bread worms sang, And Moses was rough with them, and they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating. When the sun blacks hot, it melted.
And the 35th verse.
And the children of Israel did eat and have 40 years until they came to a land inhabited.
Until they came under the borders of the Land of Famine.
So here as I said we have a mana and to read in the 6th chapter of John. I won't take time but it speaks about your father's did eat manna and the wilderness and our dad. Then the Lord Jesus said I am the true bread who came down from heaven, that a man may eat there out and not die.
So this man was the wilderness food, as we noticed at the end of the chapter.
It continued through their passage, right through the land, until they entered the land of Kingdom, and brings before us the pathway of the Lord Jesus. It tells us in John about him being the bread, and then he tells us too in Peter's epistle that he left us an example that we should follow in His steps, and in Hebrews that he is the captain of our salvation.
And that he was in all points tempted life as we are sent apart. So I believe the manna then brings us before us the pathway of the Lord Jesus is the food for our souls, and also as that which gives us a pattern and strength to go on.
You know those that the people murmured, and the Lord answered it by sending this man what we often remember when difficulties come in our wilderness life, because rather than we're going through the wilderness too. This world is a wilderness slide. We have nothing to see for to choose. And it's very, very easy, when things get a little difficult, to murmur and complain. And we see two things the Lord sent the quails and the quails.
00:35:03
Made them safe That we find from another place in the book of numbers. And more than that, it tells us also in the Psalms. He gave them their desires. He sent leanness into their souls. You know, sometimes we're getting problems and we think we're just straighten out. This matter. The way I like it, it'd be so wonderful. But sometimes if we got our own way, it wouldn't be for the best. Sometimes we have to admit.
That when the Lord gives us our desire, it sends leanness into our souls. It doesn't really satisfy, in other words.
And so it's good for us to be content with the provision the Lord makes for our pathway. Because if we murmur and complain, that displeases the Lord, and if we think that the way to get this problem solved is the way we think best. But to me, it's like the fails when we get them, they don't satisfy, they don't bring the happiness that we expected.
What the Lord said to Manna and that continued, and more than that, tells us here. Perhaps I should have read the 33rd verse.
Moses said unto air, And take a pod, and put an almost full of manna therein, and lay it up before the Lord to be kept for your generations. The Lord commanded. Moses saw Aaron ladies before the testimony to be kept. And if you remember, when the ark was built in the mercy seat on top of it, And in that ark was placed the mammal I, remembrance of how the Lord had fed them all through their wilderness. And there it was.
In the in the Ark.
I believe that when we get home to heaven, we're going to remember the way the Lord LED us.
We're going to recall all those circumstances that the judgment seat of Christ. We're going to see the wisdom and love of all God's ways. They'll be lost for anything where we only wanted our own way. Because it says if any man's worth be burned, he shall suffer loss. But if any man's worth abide, he shall receive a reward. And so there, if we just have a long way and live for ourselves, we'll be lost in that delay. But.
This man, when I was, her remembrance of how God had them there in the wilderness. There's a few details about this that are.
I believe important for us to notice it was very small. It must have taken a little bit of difficulty to gather it. You know, for big pieces they could gather very quickly, but it definitely took a little energy. Don't you find it takes quite a bit of energy to have time to read God's word? It seems that it really takes energy because there's so many other things brought into our minds. Everything we've got to do this. I've got to do that first thing, you know, you squeeze out anytime.
That needed for the reading of God's word, and it says when the sun came up, it waxed hot and then it melted. So you know we do need to feed on God's word and we need that portion for our souls in order to go forward and meet the difficulties of the way. And you just think of yourself in different situations and.
If we just ask this question when we meet a situation, how would the Lord Jesus act in this situation? You'll find his life in that all kinds of things in order to be a pattern for us. We see people don't appreciate what I do. Well, they didn't appreciate what the Lord did always say. People say things that hurt me. The Lord said, reproach has broken my heart and full of happiness, always say a friend let me down.
Well, the Lord Jesus said, give it to an enemy. I could have worn it, but my own familiar friend Judas betrayed the Lord. And so the Lord has been through all these things that we have to make. He was hungry, He was thirsty, he was weary, He faced all those things in his pathway, and that's the food. And when we meet these situations, isn't it lovely to be able to look up to him about and know for that he went through?
Those situations before us.
Have a feeling nobody understands, nobody cares. But there's one above who says I'm through it all and I'll supply the grace and the help that you need. Phyllis comes early under the throne of grace that we had obtained mercy and find grace to help in time of need. But you might say, well, I don't have time to read very much either gathered little ignorant and that says.
00:40:18
Well, I I read several chapters this morning. Well, he had doubted much, had nothing wrong. The question was to measure it into the owner. I don't believe they found out until they measured into the Omar which was the need of a day. And you know, I could read 5 chapters and just go away like James says and forget what manner of man it was. More you may only read a few and like the clean animals, they chewed and cut and.
Often found maybe just read a few verses. There's one verse that sticks with you. That verse was what you needed for the day. In a special order. You measure it into your owner which will need to the day. And then I say this to parents. It says in the end of the.
16th verse.
Every man for them which are in his fence. And so this is a family thing now that is, as individuals we need to gather. But let me say this for those who are parents, how important. But there is a reading of the word in the family gathering. The man that's just for us, older ones and parents, but for the children too. And so fine here that there was full provision. They couldn't keep it all work.
Because.
His little poem that says tomorrow's race and strength I can't borrow, and why should I borrow its care? So you can't really do it for tomorrow. What you read is for the day. What you read tomorrow will be for tomorrow's needs. I don't mean that you can have it stored in your mind, but I believe the thought is that it needs to be a fresh thing.
Day by day. So all this instruction was given to them. And then there's another interesting thing. There was no manner that fell on the on the Sabbath day. Now for us, of course the Christians day is the first day of the week. But I think the idea perhaps is that someone might think well monthly busy during the week but when the Sabbath comes by I'll sort of catch up on what I.
Didn't do through the week because.
They couldn't workout in the fields in the Sabbath day, so had a little more time and they might think, well, as the man would just fall on the saddest day, then they could make up for what they had failed to do through the week. But really, I think it's the same with us. I don't believe that we can make up on Lords Day for what we failed to do through the week. Nice to read our Bibles on Lord's Day. I believe that we ought to read it each day, but I believe that the point is that you can't sort of catch up on the Lord's day. We need to do it day by day.
Those men, as I say it, continued all through their wilderness journey and.
And then it tells us that it was laid out there before the Lord, and how wonderful it will be when we remember, like Israel all the way the Lord our God LED us. Now let's just take a few minutes with Joshua where we find about the.
Children did well.
Verse chapter 5 and verse 2.
At that time the Lord said to Joshua, make these sharp knives and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time, and Joshua made him sharp knives and circumcised the children of Israel at the hill of the forest skins.
But this is the cause why Joshua did circumcise all the people that came out of his Egypt, that were males. Even all the men of war died in the wilderness. By the way, after they came out of Egypt, all the people that came out were circumcised. But all the people that were born in the wilderness, by the way, as they came forth out of Egypt, then they had not circumcised.
It says in the eighth verse it came to pass when they had uncircumcised and all the people that they abode in their places in the camp till they were whole. And the Lord said unto Joshua, this day have I rolled away the approach of Egypt, the mafia. Therefore the name of the place is called Gilgal under this day the children of Israel in Campton, Gilda, and kept the Passover in the 14th day of the month, and even in the plains of Jericho.
00:45:17
And they did eat at the old corner of the land on the Morrow after the Passover, unleavened cakes and parched corn in the self same day. And a mammoth ceased on the moral after they had eaten of the old corn of the land, neither had the children of Israel manna anymore, but they did eat at the fruit.
Of the land of Canaan that year.
And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes, and looked before there stood a man over against him. With his sword drawn in his hand. Joshua went unto him and said unto him, Or thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay, but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come, Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant?
The captain of the Lord's soul said unto Joshua OSU from off 5 foot to the place where I'm now standless, He's holy, and Joshua did so.
Well, I'd just like to say a little about the children of Israel and during the land of Canaan. We know that they passed through the Red Sea when they came out of Egypt and sang on the banks of the Red Sea. And I believe that the Red Sea brings before us Christ death for us. And that is the death of Christ brings us outside of this world. It says he died that he might deliver us from this present evil world to the longer part of it anymore.
Then we have dilimess experiences.
We think about the Lord. They have to deliver us from judgment as the Passover. You think it probably helps us in all our wilderness experiences, but here we have them coming over and entering the promised land in figure. I believe it brings before us what we have in Ephesians.
Ephesians, as many of us know, is not really a wilderness epistle, But that is, we don't have the experience of the wilderness, but rather to enjoy the fact that God sees us already seated in the heavenlies in Christ. He sees us as already in the enjoyment of the land, that is in the enjoyment of what our position is in Christ, and so that looks just above.
Full of him puts it nicely. If here on earth the thoughts of Jesus love lift our poor hearts this weary world above that. Yeah, as I mentioned before, it shows that we're not viewed as an Egypt. We're not going through the hardships of the wilderness. The Spirit of God lifts us above to enjoy those things that are alive. Or Christ sits at the right hand of God, perhaps all of us.
We.
We're so happy when we were saved and then we have a lot of problems that we have to meet in wilderness life. But if you ever come to the meeting and you almost forgot all the problems as you just sat there and enjoyed your portion up there in the heavens, You enjoyed the time when all tears would be wiped away when you get home there in the Father's house. And you almost forgot that you were here in a wilderness full of trouble because spirit of God lifted you above those things.
That's why it says the man is ceased. In other words, when you're enjoying heavenly things by, you don't hardly need somebody to be comforting you about the problems because you're lifted above them in the enjoyment of Christ. I sometimes tell a little story that helps me to see the thought. There was a young man and he was visiting in the hospital, and he perhaps had an unusual approach, but he said that this old lady that he was visiting.
Are you going to heaven? And she said I was there today and he was sure she didn't hear. So he said a little louder the next time. And again she said I was there today, the third time being sure that you couldn't hurt. He said really loud And she said I heard what you said, but I was just lying here from my dad and I was just enjoying heaven as I lay here. And he didn't have to comfort her for her problems. It doesn't mean that at times she didn't need the comfort. We need the whole 3.
But there are times when the spirit of God lifts us above trial and feeds us up there with heavenly things. Now you notice previous to this there was the circumcising that took place. Perhaps I could say, when they crossed the Jordan. It's what God has done. He has put an end to my old standing. He has brought me into an entirely new position.
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For us in the favor in the beloved one, then. So I believe that Jordan tells us that those stones were left in the bottom of the Jordan, and they're there until this day. And thank God, Lord, I have the old nature within me. In God's account, by old man is crucified with him. It's in the bottom of Jordan. God doesn't see me in that world standing. He sees me in a new standing. And so they took the man. You know, Joshua should say.
Put the stones in the bottom of Jordan and brought them up to their lodging place, then pitched them together, and to you and I realized, like Colossians said, dead and risen with Christ by then. Before I say the wilderness of those experiences are we we lifted above them. But I believe, rather than that the circumcision is the practical application of this in our lives.
Before God it's a fact. We die. And someone has mentioned that these three verses need to be put together. We are dead, and your life is hid with Christ and God. And then in Romans 6 reckon yourselves to be dead and be unto sin, but alive unto God. And then the third one, always faring about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. The first one is what God has done, the second before we lay hold of it in our souls.
But the third one is that it's a daily thing with us.
And if I let that old man which I should recommend, act in my life, it's going to hinder my enjoyment of heavenly things.
Until I got right with the Lord that's going to hinder and saw those sharp knives that they made are the practical application of this in our lives. But that is putting the life on self. It's something of the thought in 2nd Corinthians 4 where it says.
Always very close the body. The dying of the Lord Jesus at the length also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. And so why do they make these knives? To deal with the people of the land? No, to deal with themselves. So lift the knife on self and you know whether we'll never be in the happy enjoyment of our portion in Christ up there, unless.
We constantly practice self judgment. Someone has said self judgment is the inseparable condition of a God in communion with the Lord. So those knives were to be used themselves. And it tells us we are the circumcision, which worship God by the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Please, they didn't have to go out and fight the enemies, yes, but first.
Lift the knife on itself. And then when they won a victory, if they didn't go back to Gilgal, the next thing was defeat. Because just like when they won that victory of Jericho, they thought, oh of course it's wonderful warriors, we just need to send a few men over to that little city of AI. We can easily handle that. And they went there and got defeated and they had to come back to Gilgal. They had to lift the knife on self. Something had been allowed.
It was a hindrance to victim itself had been allowed instead of been put in the place of death.
So through the death of Christ, our old man has come to an end before God. But circumcision, brethren, is the practical application of it in our lives day by day. And everyone of us have a self within that's holy, so bad that God himself hasn't attempted to improve it. God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and forcing condemns in the flesh. And it was so bad that.
That it was crucified with Christ.
I say come use you or I expecting this old man to change, because it'll never change. It'll never change. It just needs to have a nose constantly on it because it wants to pop off in every situation that comes. Or perhaps we get proud and things we'll have to handle that problem. All right, then we find that we can we have to get before the Lord and realize we can't do anything in our own strength, and that's what we have on the end of the chapter.
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After this, circumcision had taken place and the word Guildhall doesn't mean low, but rolling, that's what you're looking to margin means rolling. In other words, it's a constant thing rather that when a self exerts itself in our lives that we put the knife upon it. If we have failed, just like with the children of Israel, and they can take that wedge of cold and things, then it had to be dealt with and we have to deal with.
Self coming up in our lives and that's what self charging is. We have to deal with it because lights to assert itself likes to say I'm somebody, I'm important. I can do this where we all have that within and we can easily be let us say aside because Amalek is a picture of satans power over us through the finish. If Satan wants to get a victory over me, he works on that fallen man and it should be in the place of death and if I haven't put it in the place of death.
It's got some material. They were coming and what do people see? They see old self instead of the life of Jesus.
See in their bodies the life of Jesus. And so is it lovely at the end of this chapter.
The Lord appears as the capital of the host, and Joshua says, art thou for us or for our adversaries? He said. Hey, as captain of the Lord's host will never be right unless they own the Lord Jesus as the captain. As the woman, Walton said, there's one person who has a right to tell me what to do anytime and every time.
As the Lord Jesus.
Had given us and he is the captain of our salvation. And so he appears here and it says here he fell on his face and did worship often said you can make a simple test of any doctrine that's presented if it is all man or does it exalt purpose. And so with things in our lives, are we doing it to set self forward? Are we thinking that we're better than somebody else and the Lord has to show us again and again?
Well, that flesh.
And so it's nice here to see what Joshua said. What saith my Lord unto his servant? And he said, Loose thy shoes from offside feet, for the place where on thou stand was his whole site. In other words, here is the man who was the captain of the holes down here upon earth, who was leading. And what must he do? He must come to himself, and be resident in the presence of the world, And it doesn't matter who the person is.
Maybe it's a very important person in Christianity, but if we don't take the humble place before the Lord.
We're nothing in ourselves. And so after they had learned this, then what did they enjoy? They enjoyed the fruit of the land of pain. They enjoyed the store that was there, the horn of the land of the harvest that had been weekly. They enjoyed it. And then what was freshly coming off that year, they enjoyed it too. And the Lord wants you and I to be enjoying heaven. He wants us to be in this world as heavenly men.
There's a war along now. It's very easy to get occupied with it. Don't mean that it doesn't interest this because we see God's movement in these things, but you know, the one who's over at all, he's just accomplishing his own purposes. Isn't a blessing to be able to look out. The men of the world are puzzled and know that the captain of the Lord's host, he's leading. He's the one, and he's going to accomplish his own purposes.
And it's not going to be very long until he takes us away and then.
The kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. He's going to deal with this world in righteousness, man castrating the things out. God may use them to bring about temporary situations, but nothing will be really settled until the Lord Jesus has his rightful place. I will overturn and overturn it. It shall be no more till he shall.