Those that I gave you last evening, you'd
probably stay home and do the cards.
But, uh, great to see you, and I
appreciate, on a blustery night, that you have
come to join with me as we explore
together, again, in the Word of God.
There are quite a number of you tonight
who will be here for the first time.
So, just this, uh, very brief word of
recapitulation to bring you into the picture.
The King David called a great convocation of
his people, and the proposition that he put
forward to them was this.
Let us bring again the ark of our
God to us.
That was the proposition.
Let us bring again the ark of our
God to us.
Because the ark had gone out of context.
The place where it should have been, was
in the holiest of all, behind the second
veil, and beneath the mercy seat, that once
a year was sprinkled with blood, in anticipation
of that redemptive transaction, of which it was
foreshadowing, when the Lord Jesus, the incarnate Word,
would give his life upon the cross, a
ransom for many, to reconcile us to a
holy God.
And the ark, with its content, some of
which we're going to examine tonight, represented God's
covenant, God's pledge to his people.
It represented the spiritual content of that salvation
that is to be ours through the Lord
Jesus.
But the content of which is only valid
in context, beneath the mercy seat, sprinkled with
blood.
But the ark was out of context, and
last evening we spent some time seeing how
it happened.
At a time of great spiritual decline, when
a man called Eli, a pathetic old man,
who had judged Israel for forty years, settled
for something less than God best.
He came to be acclimatized to the social
conditions of his day, and he learned to
live with sin.
Ritual had taken the place of reality, and
token obedience had taken the place of total
obedience.
The priesthood was in a state of apostasy.
And because ritual had taken the place of
reality, and token obedience had taken the place
of total obedience, the ark, with its contents,
had taken the place of God Himself.
And it became the object of their idolatry.
And it fell into the hands of their
enemies.
And Eli, as we saw last evening, when
his sons slain and the bad news came
to him that the ark of God's covenant
was in the hands of those who were
God's and their enemies, fell backwards off his
bench and died of a broken neck just
before he could die of a broken heart.
And the ark of God finally found its
place in the house of Abinadab, in Curjeth
Jerusalem.
And there it remained.
And during the reign of King Saul, the
first of the kings, who superseded the judges,
David says, we never inquired of it.
Because, you see, the ark was to be
in the holiest of all, where God would
meet His people, and by His presence fill
His temple with glory.
It was to be the place, not where
they came to it, but where they worshipped
and communed with Him.
And there had been aroused within the heart
of King David a holy ambition to get
the ark back to where it belonged, that
once more, in context, they might meet with
their living God in the place where He
would once more speak and commune with His
people.
Now, that's the background of the story.
Now, the content of the ark.
How is it that its content represented the
spiritual content of that salvation that God has
provided for you and for me in the
person of His Son, the Lord Jesus, who
is the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world, was to shed His blood as
the Savior foreshadowed by the splinting of the
blood by the high priest once a year
upon the mercy seat in the holiest of
all.
So, will you turn with me to the
ninth chapter of the epistles of the Hebrews.
The epistles of the Hebrews and chapter nine.
And here the apostle says, in the second
verse of chapter nine, there was a tabernacle
made, the first wherein was the candlestick and
the table and the showbread, which is called
the sanctuary.
And after the second veil, the tabernacle, which
is called the holiest of all.
Now, you get the picture.
There were two tabernacles.
The first was called the sanctuary and the
second was called the holiest of all, the
holy of holies.
And there was a veil between the two.
And just to remind you, it was this
veil, that forbade entrance into the holiest of
all, that was rent in swains, ripped in
two, from the bottom to the top, when
the Lord Jesus accomplished His redemptive work in
that He died for you and for me
and rose again from the dead.
And that, of course, was gloriously symbolic of
the fact that when the Lord Jesus, in
the sinlessness of His humanity, when He died
upon the cross and paid the price of
our redemption, the door was flung wide into
the presence of the holy God to every
boy, to every girl, to every man, to
every woman who pleading His name received forgiveness
and would be accepted by a holy God
as one cleansed in His blood and clothed
with His righteousness.
Beautiful picture that God gives.
And that's why this veil was actually ripped
in two at the time that the Lord
Jesus rose.
After the second veil, verse 3, the tabernacle,
which is called the holiest of all, which
had the golden censer and the ark of
the covenant overlaid around with gold wherein was
the golden pot that had manna, an errant
rod that budded, and the tables of the
covenant.
Now those were the three items that were
contained within the ark.
The golden pot that had manna, errant rod
that budded, and the tables of the covenant.
Those three things.
And over it, verse 5, the cherubims of
glory shadowing the mercy seat.
Because the content, the golden pot with manna,
errant rod which budded, and the tables of
the covenant, and all that symbolically they represented,
all this was valid only in content beneath
the mercy seat sprinkled with blood in the
holiest of all.
Its fulfillment to await the coming of the
Lord Jesus as the ones whom some of
us this morning reminded ourselves was the seed
promised to faithful Abraham when God preached before
the gospel to his faithful servant Abraham saying,
in thy seed shall all the fams of
the earth be blest.
And in the meantime all this that was
pictured so beautifully in the temple was a
foreshadowing of his coming.
When these things were thus ordained, verse 6,
the priests went always into the first tabernacle
accomplishing the service of God.
But into the second, the holiest of all,
went the high priest alone once every year
and not without blood which he offered for
himself for the errors of the people.
Because you see, he too was a sinner.
The high priest who was allowed on pain
of death only to go into the holiest
of all once a year first had to
offer blood for himself and then for the
errors of his people.
The Holy Ghost, this signifies, verse 8, that
the way into the holiest of all was
not yet made manageable.
While as the first tabernacle was yet standing
which was a figure for the time then
present in which were offered both gifts and
sacrifices that could not make him that did
the service perfect as pertaining to the cause.
Because that first tabernacle simply represented the law
that foreshadowed the coming of the Lord Jesus
in whom the second and greater covenant was
vested in God's promise to Abraham saying in
thy seed shall all the famines of the
earth be blessed.
The Old Testament simply foreshadowed the coming of
the Lord Jesus in fulfillment of the New
Testament.
For the law, chapter 10, tells us in
verse 1 having a shadow only of good
things to come and not the very image
of the things can never with those sacrifices
which they offered year by year continually make
the comers thereunto perfect.
This is what the law as we saw
some of us this morning cannot do.
It cannot make anybody perfect but it can
prove us guilty in need of the one
who does make us perfect.
The Lord Jesus.
So you see the Old Testament is characterized
by the fact that it cannot.
The New Testament is characterized by the fact
that he can.
For every priest verse 11 of chapter 10
standeth daily ministering and offering often times the
same sacrifices which can never can never take
away sin.
But this man after he had offered one
sacrifice for sin forever forever the
tables of the law these represented a salvation
process that God enacts in the process of
getting his people out of Egypt into the
land of Canaan.
And that story God's dealing with his people
Israel and bringing them out of Egypt into
Canaan is one of the most magnificent pictures
that's given to us in the Bible of
God's redemptive and regenerative purpose in your life
and mine which he fulfills in the person
of his son the Lord Jesus.
But remember the ark with its content with
its content is only in context beneath the
mercy.
There must be the shedding of blood to
make it valid in your experience or mine
for without the shedding of blood there is
no forgiveness.
So the beginning of that process that represents
God's salvation made available to you and to
me in Christ began with what is described
as the Exodus 12th of Exodus which we
shall turn to beneath the shadow of the
shed blood of an unblemished lamb.
That's where the story begins.
And we'll turn to that.
Exodus in chapter 12 the Lord spake unto
Moses and to Aaron in the land of
Egypt saying this month shall be unto you
the beginning of month.
It shall be the first month of the
year to you.
In other words something is going to happen
this month which will be so significant that
it'll be as though you had never lived
before.
It's going to be the beginning of month
and it will become the first month of
the year.
Now this is precisely what God says about
that personal encounter with the Lord Jesus that
we call redemption that introduces us to a
peace relationship with God our maker who thereby
on the grounds of redemption can restore to
us that life in which you and I
were created which was forfeited in Adam.
So that if any man by an act
of faith stepped into Christ he becomes a
new creation.
All things have passed away everything has become
new.
New birth.
That spiritual regeneration whereby a boy a girl
a man a woman becomes a new creation.
That was certainly true in my experience.
I was converted as a boy of twelve.
But quite frankly as I look back now
I can hardly remember anything that happened to
me before the age of twelve.
I can hardly remember anything that happened to
me before quarter to nine Saturday night 13th
of August 1926.
That was the beginning of months to me.
And it became to me the first month
in the year.
That's when I began to live.
And this is what God said to his
people Israel something is going to happen of
such amazing sickness that from now on life
for you will never never never be the
same again.
Speaking unto all the congregation of Israel saying
in the tenth day of this month shall
they take to them every man a lamb
according to the house of their fathers a
lamb from her.
Your lamb said he verse five shall be
without blemish a male of the first year.
It's got to be perfect.
Without any blemish whatever.
Of any description.
This is particularized for us.
Don't bother to turn to this allow me
to read it to you.
From the 22nd chapter of the Division.
He shall offer at your own will of
your own free volition a male without blemish
or of the bees or of the sheep
or of the goats but whatsoever hath a
blemish that shall you not offer for it
shall not be acceptable for you.
Whosoever offers a sacrifice of peace offerings unto
the Lord to accomplish his vow or a
free will offering in bees or sheep it
shall be perfect to be accepted.
There shall be no blemish therein blind or
broken or maimed or having a wen or
scurvy or scab you shall not offer these
unto the Lord nor make an offering by
fire of them upon the altar unto the
Lord.
You shall not offer unto the Lord that
which is bruised or crushed or broken or
cut neither shall you make any offerings thereof
in your land.
It must be perfect.
I don't have to tell you that this
picture the coming of the Lord Jesus has
the incarnate word of whom the Father could
look down from heaven and say this is
my beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased.
For God made him to be sin for
us who knew no sin.
He suffered the just without blench for the
unjust that he might bring us to God.
The lamb shall be without blench a male
of the first year and you will keep
it until the fourteenth day of the same
month and 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 posts and
on the upper door post of the houses
wherein they shall eat it and thus shall
ye eat it Exodus 12 11 with your
loins girded shoes on your feet staff in
your hand and you will eat it in
haste if the Lord's part of you and
of this unblemished lamb in verse 46 neither
shall ye break a bone thereof not a
bone of its body should it be broken
why not?
Well you see because when the Roman soldiers
came out at the request of the Jews
lest the Sabbath should be contaminated by bodies
still hanging on a cross to ensure that
those who were being executed were dead they
smashed the legs of this one and they
smashed the legs of that one the thieves
who on either side were crucified with God's
dear Son but when they came to smash
his legs they found that he was already
dead for he lay down his a ransom
for them and that unblemished lamb the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sin of
the world died on that cross but not
a bone of his body was broken and
it was to be eaten by them with
their loins girded with shoes on their feet
and a staff in their hand and I
like the the German translation here Aus die,
die in Betz Island that means it was
to be eaten as those who were just
on the point of hurrying away it was
the threshold of a journey at this point
they were going to turn their back upon
the past and they were setting their face
toward the future this, said God is how
you are to eat the Passover as those
who are saying goodbye to the past and
saying good morning to a future that will
be so fantastically different that it will be
as though you had never never lived with
it now that's the picture given to us
here of God's plan of redemption that when
you and I enter into a faithful relationship
with the Lord Jesus and come to him
as the one who is the Lamb of
God laid down his life and shed his
precious blood that our hearts might be cleansed
from sin it is as those who are
embarking upon a journey who say goodbye to
the past and who say good morning to
the future as those who have become new
creatures in Christ Jesus and for whom life
now can never never be the same again
and I will pass through the land of
Egypt God said this night and I will
smite all the firstborn of the land of
Egypt both man and beast and against all
the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment
I am the Lord and the blood shall
be for you a token upon the houses
where you are and when I see the
blood I will pass over you and the
plague shall not be upon you to destroy
you when I smite the land of Egypt
in other words the blood is going to
protect you and when my judgment rests upon
this land those who are beneath the sprinkled
blood painted upon the doorposts and the lintels
will be preserved I will pass over you
and God says those who claim redemption through
the blood of Christ and by faith paint
his blood upon the doorposts and the lintels
of their hearts I will remember your sins
no more I have blotted them out as
a thick cloud though your sins were as
scarlet they will be white as snow though
red like crimson whiter than wood accept it
accept it in the blood that's redemption and
that's where the Christian life begins has it
begun to you?
can you remember the day when conscious of
the fact that you are a sinner you
humbly said thank you Lord Jesus for dying
for me thank you for the blood that
was shed as of a lamb without flesh
in that day when dying on a cross
not a bone of your body was broken
but they pierced your side and pressed a
crown of thorns upon your brow thank you
Lord Jesus I'm stepping out into a future
at peace with God my maker knowing now
that I have boldness of access into that
holiest of all through the blood of Jesus
because by the breaking of his body the
veil of the temple has been rent into
now as well you know it was from
this occasion that there was introduced what we
celebrate today as the communion or the breaking
of bread the Lord's Supper it was at
the commemoration of God's intervention in bringing his
people out of Egypt through the Red Sea
that he might lead them on and into
the land of Cain that the Lord Jesus
gathered with his apostles at the Passover Supper
and it was no coincidence that the Lord
Jesus was crucified on the occasion when the
whole of Israel were remembering in obedience to
God's command that occasion when beneath the shadow
of the shed blood of an unblemished lamb
painted upon the door post and the lintel
of their homes they were led out of
slavery to begin a new life was that
a coincidence?
this is why in the first of Paul's
epistles to the Corinthians chapter 5 and verse
7 Paul says Christ our Passover is sacrificed
for us and as he took the bread
and broke it this is my body broken
for you as he took the cup and
passed it this is my blood to be
shed for you the Lord Jesus knew that
that moment he in his own person was
to become the substance of which that Passover
lamb had been but the shadow this day
said God in the 14th verse of Exodus
12 shall be unto you for a memorial
you shall keep it a feast to the
Lord throughout your generations you shall keep it
a feast by an ordinance forever it shall
come verse 25 of chapter 12 it shall
come to pass when you be come to
the land which the Lord will give you
according as he had promised that you shall
keep this service and it shall come to
pass when your children shall say to you
what means by this service that you will
say it is the sacrifice of the Lord's
passers who passed over the houses of the
children of Israel in Egypt when he smoked
the Egyptians and delivered our houses and the
people bowed their head in worship God said
to Moses this is a service that is
to be kept by my people when they
enter into the land to which I lead
them from this place of slavery and when
their children ask what are you doing why
is the little lamb being slain why shed
its blood you'll say because there came a
day when God intervened into our unhappy lot
and beneath the shadow of the shed blood
of an unblemished lamb he led us out
of Egypt Moses said chapter 13 and verse
3 remember this day in which you came
out from Egypt out of the house of
bondage for by strength of hand the Lord
brought you out from this place and it
shall be verse 5 when the Lord shall
bring thee into the land of the Canaanites
that thou shalt keep this service in this
month verse 8 and thou shalt show thy
son in that day saying this is done
because of that which the Lord did unto
me when I came forth out of Egypt
he redeemed me and it shall be for
a sign unto thee upon thine hand and
for a memorial between thine eyes that the
Lord's law may be in thy mouth for
with a strong hand hath the Lord brought
thee out of Egypt thou shalt therefore keep
this ordinance in his season and from year
to year it shall be for a sign
unto thee upon thine hand it shall be
for a memorial between thine eyes that the
Lord's law may be in thy mouth in
other words when you keep the Passover it
is to indicate the fact that on the
basis of that redemption that God wrought when
he brought you out of Egypt through the
Red Sea and poised you upon the threshold
of a new life that it would change
everything you do a sign upon thine hand
it will change all the things you think
a memorial between your eyes that the Lord's
word may be in your mouth it will
change all the kinds of things you say
it will change what you do it will
change what you think it will change what
you say in other words it's going to
precipitate a radical transformation of character now this
was the purpose that God had in mind
when he brought his people out what actually
happened after God by the hand of Moses
led them through the Red Sea and they
went through on dry land which the Egyptians
are saying to do were drowned so that
their enemies were left buried in the place
of death while they by God's miraculous intervention
were brought out of the place of death
upon the threshold of a new life what
actually happened during those first forty years in
which they wandered in the wilderness it is
to be a sign upon thine hand that
everything you do has been changed it is
to be a memorial between your eyes that
everything you think has been changed that the
Lord's law may be in thy mouth that
everything you say has been changed what actually
happened well if you turn to the book
of Deuteronomy in chapter twelve Moses said these
are the statutes and judgments which you shall
observe to do in the land which the
Lord God of thy fathers giveth thee to
possess it all the days that you live
upon the earth there verse seven of chapter
twelve in the book of Deuteronomy you will
eat before the Lord your God and you
will rejoice in all that you put your
hand unto you and your households wherein the
Lord thy God hath blessed thee everything to
which you put your hand will be a
source of unparalleled joy and blessing to you
you will not do after all the things
that we do here this day every man
whatsoever is right in his own eyes for
you are not as yet come to the
rest and to the inheritance which the Lord
your God giveth Moses said you're not going
to do there in the land what you're
doing here in the wilderness a redeemed people
but what were they doing in the wilderness
verse eight every man whatsoever is right in
his own eyes everybody was still pleasing himself
because Moses said you haven't yet entered into
that rest which God redeemed so we have
a redeemed people who have come out but
who have not yet got in and it
hasn't changed what they're doing because every man
still does what is right in his own
eyes he claims the right to exercise jurisdiction
over his own life that was the first
thing they did in the wilderness they did
as they pleased since you became a Christian
since you claimed redemption through the shed blood
of Christ since you made your profession of
faith who's been calling the shot has
it changed the things you do have you
come to the place where you've recognized that
the Lord Jesus who died to bring you
out is the one who by his indwelling
presence through the Holy Spirit alone can bring
you in to that relationship to God that
allows God to be king in his kingdom
so that every morning when you get up
and say Lord Jesus thank you so much
you not only died for me I know
that you rose again from the dead to
come and indwell me by your Holy Spirit
that every part of my being body, soul,
spirit mind, emotion and will the totality of
my personality my body shall be yielded to
you a living sacrifice not conforming to this
world of aping its patterns but being transformed
by the renewing of my mind having that
mind which was in Christ Jesus adopting that
attitude towards you Lord Jesus that you was
a man constantly adopted towards your father allowing
your father to be who he is in
you in action I'm happy now to allow
you to be who you are in me
in action my hands are yours to work
with my feet are yours to go with
my lips are yours to speak with all
that I am and have this flesh and
blood to clothe your divine activity I'm so
glad that when the blood of that unblemished
lamb was slain upon the cross it was
that he who died for me risen from
the dead might come and take up residence
within me and give to me the priceless
unspeakable privilege of being that humanity on earth
today in which he again in the 20th
century incarnate can walk the streets of this
city is that your Christian life or do
you still say I'll do as I please
even Christ Roman 15.3 could not please
himself what were they doing in the wilderness
pleasing themselves what were they thinking about in
the wilderness well in the 11th chapter of
the book of numbers it says in the
4th verse that the mixed multitude that was
among them fell alasty and the children of
Israel also wept again and said who shall
give us flesh to eat we remember the
fish which we did eat in Egypt freely
the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks
and the onions and the garlic but now
our soul is dried away there is nothing
at all beside this manner before our eyes
what were they thinking about in the wilderness
Egypt we remember the fish which we did
eat in Egypt freely the cucumbers and the
melons and the leeks and the onions and
the garlic strange that they should remember these
things and somehow forget the lash of the
Egyptian past master strange that they should go
alasting after these things and forget that they
were an enslaved people what were they thinking
about in the wilderness they were thinking about
in the wilderness as a redeemed people the
things that they had left behind in Egypt
since you became a Christian what preoccupies your
mind what fills your imagination what is the
kind of literature that you read what is
the kind of program that you watch what
are the things that fascinate you and amuse
you Egypt God said
when you remember as you keep the Passover
it's going to be a sign upon your
hand that everything that you do has changed
it's going to be memorial between your eyes
your thoughts and your mind and your imagination
the things you think about have been completely
changed quite frankly since you became a Christian
have you lost an appetite for the things
that were characteristic of that unregenerate life that
you left in the day that you claimed
Christ as your redeemer or quite frankly is
your salvation simply a date on a calendar
all that you can say about your conversion
is that such and such a day yes
I walked the aisle or I put my
hand up or I knelt by my bedside
or I counselled with a man and I
received Christ quite frankly that's all you can
say about your Christian life if I were
to ask you are you saved that's really
what you would understand me asking you have
I made a decision for Jesus and that's
the content of your salvation just a date
on a calendar a decision that you made
an occasion in the past when you claimed
in receiving Christ as redeemer to escape hell
and have assured the fact that one day
you'll get to heaven that's your salvation that
it should change your appetite change your ambitions
completely revolutionize and transform the things that preoccupy
your thinking and your mind never dawned upon
you what were they still doing in the
wilderness they were still enslaved within their minds
and their imagination and their thoughts by those
things that were characteristic of that slavery from
which they had been redeemed they were still
in their minds enslaved to that which God
had buried in the Red Sea why?
well because they'd never got to Canaan they'd
only heard about it it was a land
flowing with milk and honey with the new
corn in the land and the pomegranates and
the grapes but you see if you don't
go on and get in and enjoy what
God has provided for you on the other
side of Jordan living in the wilderness you'll
feast upon the memories of the past and
everything that was characteristic of Egypt the land
of your captivity there's one thing absolutely certain
if you won't go on to enjoy Christ
you'll want to go back to enjoy the
world what were they doing?
pleasing themselves what were they thinking about?
Egypt what were they saying?
in the wilderness Numbers chapter 16 16th
chapter of Numbers now Korah the son of
Israel the son of Kohath and a few
other folks and Dathan and Abiram and on
they verse 2 rose up before Moses with
certain of the children of Israel 250 princes
of the assembly famous in the congregation men
of renown I want you to notice that
these who were named were identified with 250
princes of the assembly famous in the congregation
men of renown in other words those whose
names made news those who held office those
who considered themselves to be of some personality
and influence those who considered themselves to be
the pillars of the church men of renown
they were the ones whom they considered should
be consulted and they gathered themselves together against
Moses and against Aaron and they said this
you take too much upon you seeing all
the congregation are holy every one of them
and the Lord is among them wherefore then
lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of
the Lord you see because what Moses and
Aaron had to say to this people was
this God never brought us out of Egypt
to dump us here in the depths God
never brought us out of Egypt to stay
in this place God brought us out to
take us in God brought us out to
enjoy the land God brought us out that
we might enjoy the golden corn and the
milk and the honey and the pomegranates and
the grapes and they said get off our
backs get off our backs you take too
much upon you seeing all the congregation are
holy every one of them where in the
wilderness how holy holy enough by whose
standards God no by their own you see
you can always be holy enough by your
own standards and by and large as evangelical
Christians we have settled for the standards you
attend church once a time you may or
may not tie the income tax deducted you
witness to a few folks and support a
few missionaries the rest of the time is
my own the rest of my money is
my own what I spend my vacation how
I spend the rest of my money what
I do with my home what I do
with my life is nobody's business but mine
and having established this as a pattern and
the standard we are holy enough every one
of them how many members of churches that
would claim to be redeemed saved have settled
for once a week in church and would
feel almost entitled to launch a libel suit
if you were to suggest that they were
less than holy enough what were they saying
in the wilderness what were they saying in
the wilderness these who worship the golden car
and who Moses found half naked and half
drunk as the tables of stone were shattered
at his feet do you know what they
were saying we're holy enough every one of
them get off our back in the wilderness
say excuse me may I ask you how
holy are you you're holy enough by who
stands God said be ye holy even as
I am holy those are God's and you
and I can be holy only as he
is holy as we allow him to be
who he is in us not once a
week but 24 hours a day seven days
a week that's holy enough for God when
you and I can say I for all
that I am apart from all that he
is and crucified with Christ because that's all
I'm fit for nevertheless I live yet not
I Christ lives in me because he's the
only one who can he's the only one
of whom the Father can look down from
heaven and say this is my beloved son
in whom I am well pleased he is
the only man that ever walked approved of
God since Adam fell into sin so I
know now if I am to be holy
even as he is holy all I can
do is to bow myself out and take
my place on that rugged Roman gallows where
God sentenced him for what I am for
what I deserve I am crucified with Christ
nevertheless I live yet not I as I
bow myself out I bow him in Christ
lives in me and the life it is
now my privilege to live is the life
of Jesus Christ to whom I have presented
my body a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto
God it is my reasonable service he is
the only one who can so he is
the only one who must and any measure
which you may recognize in what I do
or say or am his righteousness please bear
in mind that there is only one person
to be congratulated Jesus Christ because he is
the only one who can and he is
the only one who must to me to
live now is Christ because you see God
has not appointed me to wrath he has
appointed me to obtain salvation through Jesus Christ
because he died for me that whether I
live on earth or live in heaven whether
I am physically alive or physically dead whether
I wake or sleep whether I am here
or there whether I am earth or in
heaven I am to live every moment together
with him in that identity that is made
possible alone by the gracious presence of his
divine spirit through whom he has come to
take up residence within my human spirit that
from within my human spirit he might have
unchallenged access to every area of my soul
to think through my thinking to love through
my loving to decide through my deciding so
that controlling my mind and my emotions he
may control my will and control my behavior
so that my humanity may give a valid
expression of his invisible person and others in
my presence may know that Jesus Christ is
Lord that he dwells within my heart and
that he is king in his kingdom that
is holy enough for God when your holiness
is Christ himself who of God is made
unto us wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption that
is why you see in the twelfth chapter
of the book of Exodus God made it
abundantly clear to Moses that this day the
day of their redemption when they were to
be led by the hand of Moses through
the Red Sea and out of a place
of death be poised upon the threshold of
a new life this day was to be
remembered in a land to be possessed it
was a not it was not a day
that they could legitimately remember in the wilderness
and in point of fact after the second
year the Passover was not celebrated for thirty
-eight years until finally by the hand of
Joshua they were led through the Jordan and
at last with their feet in the land
for the first time in thirty-eight years
they celebrated the Passover and had the right
to remember what for thirty-eight years they
had forgotten that redemption is calculated not just
to get a man out of hell and
into heaven it's calculated to get God out
of heaven into a man that he may
be king and his king well what is
all this to do with the golden pot
with manna well quite a lot and for
our encouragement because you see hardly had they
been led by the hand of Moses through
the Red Sea and arrived in the wilderness
on the threshold of that journey that was
ultimately to lead them on and in to
the land of Canaan the true content of
their faith not heaven but Christ they began
to murmur and to grumble look at Exodus
sixteen they took their journey from Elim and
all the congregation of the children of Israel
came into the wilderness of sin which is
between Elim and Sinai on the fifteenth day
of the second month after their departing of
the land of Egypt they had hardly been
redeemed before the whole congregation of the children
of Israel murmured against Moses and they murmured
against Aaron in the wilderness went to God
they said we died by the hand of
the Lord in the land of Egypt when
we sat by the flesh part and when
we did eat bread to the full for
you have brought us forth into this wilderness
to kill this whole assembly with hunger which
of course was utter nonsense God brought them
out to bring them in it was an
eleven days journey from the borders of Egypt
to the borders of Canaan they could have
done it in eleven days and it took
them forty years and they grumbled all the
way then said the Lord to Moses behold
I will rain bread from heaven for you
and the people shall go out and gather
a certain rate every day and when the
Jew verse fourteen of chapter sixteen that lay
was gone up behold upon the face of
the wilderness there lay a small round thing
as small as the hoarfrost on the ground
and when the children of Israel saw it
they said one to another it is manna
for they whisked not what it was and
Moses said unto them this is the bread
which the Lord has given you to eat
manna the word manna means literally translated what
is it never tasted this before something entirely
new they said it is manna for they
whisked not what it was now what is
it that any boy or girl or man
or woman receives the moment they are redeemed
through faith in Christ and cleansed in his
blood and accepted in the beloved that they
have never never never tasted before what is
it if you want the answer you will
find it in the 14th of John John
14 said the Lord Jesus verily verily I
say unto you verse 12 of John 14
he that believeth on me the works that
I do shall he do also and greater
works than these shall he do because I
am going to my father and I will
pray the father verse 16 and he shall
give you another comforter that he may abide
with you forever even the spirit of truth
whom the world cannot receive because it seeth
him not neither nor knoweth him you know
him for he dwelleth with you and he
shall be in you I will not leave
you comfortably I will come to you the
Holy Spirit is that which the world cannot
receive it sees him not and knows him
not the presence of the Holy Spirit the
experience of his indwelling is open only to
those who claim redemption in the blood of
Christ no boy girl man or woman ever
born in this world or ever yet to
be born will ever or can ever receive
or experience the presence of God the Holy
Spirit unless they first have been redeemed through
the blood of Christ but the first thing
that happens when any boy girl man or
woman convicted of their sin in humble repentance
toward God puts their faith in Jesus Christ
is that instantly they receive what only God
can give life and that life is imparted
by the gift to them of the one
who was forfeited in Adam when he fell
into sin the Holy Spirit so if you
turn to the Ephesian epistle and chapter one
Ephesians and chapter one and the sixth verse
to the praise of the glory of God's
grace wherein he hath made us accepted in
the beloved and this of course is written
by the apostle to those who have already
entered into a redemptive relationship with Jesus Christ
they have been converted they are genuinely redeemed
and of such the apostle says we have
been made accepted in the beloved we have
been credited with the righteousness of Jesus Christ
and the father God accepts us as those
who washed in his blood now have boldness
of access into the holiest of all for
we enter through the veil of a temple
that has been wrenched from top to bottom
because our high priest has already gone ahead
who died for us and who rose again
from the dead he has sprinkled the mercy
seed with his blood in whom verse seven
we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness
of sins according to the riches of his
grace the lamb that was slain in
whom you also trusted verse thirteen after that
you heard the word of truth the gospel
of your salvation first of all you had
to hear clearly enunciated God's terms upon which
he as a holy God would be prepared
to receive back to himself a guilty sin
and when you heard the word of salvation
you believed Paul said in repentance toward God
you put your trust in Jesus Christ in
whom verse thirteen continuing also after that you
believed not after time wise but actually literally
translated when in consequence of as an immediate
consequence of your faith in whom also when
you believed in consequence of believing you were
sealed with that holy spirit of promise the
moment any boy girl man or woman conscious
of their sin turns to Christ and claims
redemption God immediately accepts that individual in honoring
his son accepted in the beloved when he
receives you he does not honor you he
honors his son for the moment you call
upon the name of Jesus who saves his
people from their sins God the father is
in honor bound to God the son to
accept you otherwise he would betray the Lord
Jesus he cannot and he will not and
the moment he accepts you in the beloved
instantly that redemption transaction is sealed by the
restoration to you of the holy spirit of
promise the one who was forfeited in Adam
when falling into sin he died for Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the
law being made a curse for us that
we might receive the promise that God pledged
to faithful Abraham through Jesus Christ that is
that we might receive the promise of the
spirit Galatians 3 13 and 14 so when
you believed upon the Lord Jesus and claimed
him as your redeemer you were sealed instantly
with the holy spirit of promise whose presence
within you is the earnest or guarantee or
hallmark or stamp or down payment of our
inheritance until the redemption of the purchase possession
under the praise of his glory that word
earnest is an old English word it means
guarantee it's still used in cattle markets in
the north of Ireland if you want to
buy a cow then you bargain with the
man who wants to sell you a cow
he asks for 70 pounds you offer 50
pounds and finally you settle on 60 pounds
and the moment you've agreed on the price
he claps his hands that means the deal
is done and immediately then you pay him
what's called the earnest which is the down
payment and that seals the transaction and the
earnest that seals the transaction when a sinner
is redeemed in the blood of Christ is
the gift by God of the Holy Spirit
restored to the human spirit by whose presence
who is the other self of the Father
and the Son in co-equality with the
Godhead in total trinity in whose presence a
guilty sinner receives life the life of God
restored to the soul of man by the
presence of the Holy Spirit restored to the
human spirit and the manner in the golden
pot is a picture of the gift by
God of the Holy Spirit to every boy
girl man a woman who has been redeemed
in the blood of Jesus see by the
Holy Spirit if you have never received the
Holy Spirit you are not yet a Christian
period if you have never received the Holy
Spirit you are none of his if you
are son then God has given to you
the spirit of his son for when the
fullness of the time was come God sent
forth his son made of a woman made
under the law to redeem them that were
under the law that we might receive the
adoption of sons and because you are son
because you are son God has sent forth
the spirit of his son into your heart
crying Abba Father testifying to this new relationship
how do you become a son of God
John 1 12 as many as not one
more not one less exactly as many as
receive him believing on his name Jesus to
them gave he power to become the sons
of God and because you are the sons
of God he has sent forth the spirit
of his son to live within your heart
crying Abba Father Romans 8 verse 16 tells
us that self same spirit bears witness with
our spirit that we have become the children
of God and this is the feeling of
the Holy Spirit and it's the first content
of the art divinely sealed just only a
word or two more then we finish you've
been very patient but I want you to
notice what it tasted like Moses said unto
them this is the bread which the Lord
have given you to eat in the wilderness
and in the 16th of Exodus and the
31st verse it says the house of Israel
called the name thereof manna what is it
something entirely new never tasted this before and
it was like coriander seed white and the
taste of it was like wafers made with
honey so it had a double taste first
of all it was like coriander seed when
the children of Israel in the wilderness thought
back and lasted after the things they had
left behind in Egypt they said we remember
the fish which we did eat in Egypt
freely the cucumbers and the melons and the
leeks and the onions and 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
numbers 11 and verse 8 and the taste
of it was as the taste of fresh
oil say what does oil speak of in
the Bible always Old Testament and New Testament
the Holy Spirit always and the taste of
manna was as the taste of fresh oil
for by the coming of the manna God
daily stamped this people as a redeemed people
as the Holy Spirit comes the moment you
claim redemption to seal you as a redeemed
child of God but it not only tasted
of oil the Holy Spirit but it was
like wafers made with honey in other words
tasting as it did of oil that spoke
of the sealing by the gift of God
of the Holy Spirit to those whom He
redeemed it gave a foretaste just a tiny
thin wafer foretaste of the land of Cain
it wasn't honey in itself because that was
reserved for God's people in the land to
which He would lead them but the Holy
Spirit in the wilderness gave them just the
tiniest foretaste just to arouse their appetite for
what God could only give them in plenitude
on the other side of Jordan now every
redeemed sinner has received the Holy Spirit by
whose presence they are sealed as those redeemed
to become the children of God and the
office of the Holy Spirit within the human
spirit of the redeemed sinner is to introduce
that sinner to the plenitude that God has
provided for them in the fullness of Christ
but you can never enjoy it in the
wilderness you can only have your appetite arouse
that's why it says in the eighth chapter
of the book of Deuteronomy concerning God's people
in the wilderness He humbled thee verse 3
of chapter 8 He suffered thee to hunger
and fed thee with manna that's a strange
thing to say isn't it?
in the wilderness God suffered them to hunger
but fed them with manna in other words
what God gave them as manna in the
wilderness was never designed to satisfy them it
was designed only to sustain life until they
were prepared to get to the place for
which God had redeemed them out of Egypt
in other words God sealing you by His
Holy Spirit will demonstrate the fact that you
have been redeemed by His immutable promise He
will never forsake you He will never leave
you but He will never satisfy God did
not satisfy them in the wilderness because the
table was laid on the other side of
Jordan He simply sustained them and the tragedy
is that the vast majority of those who
claim redemption through the blood of Jesus are
on a starvation diet wandering around in the
wilderness what they do unchanged what they think
unchanged what they say unchanged holy enough never
to be satisfied always grumbling always complaining always
saying get off my back because God refuses
to satisfy His people in the wilderness He
simply sustains until they get into the place
where they belong thou gavest them bread from
heaven for their hunger broughtest forth water for
them out of the rock for their thirst
and promised them that they should go in
to possess the land which thou had sworn
to give them but they and our fathers
dealt proudly and hardened their necks and they
hearkened not to thy commandments they refused to
obey neither were they mindful of thy wonders
that thou didst demand them they hardened their
necks in their rebellion they appointed a captain
to return to their bondage but thou art
a God ready to pardon gracious and merciful
slow to anger and of great kindness and
you forsook them not numbers worshipping
a golden cask saying this is the God
that brought us out of Egypt he never
forsook them never forsook them and do you
know on the very morning they worshipped that
golden cask and the shattered tablets of stone
with the demands of God's righteousness in pieces
on the ground that morning there was no
man in the world for you see when
God redeems you other foundation can no man
lay than that is laid of course let
every man take heed what sort of a
building he builds thereon gold silver precious stone
wood hay stubble every man's work will be
tried in that day any man's work abide
of course the gold and the silver and
the precious stone he'll receive a reward any
man's work be burned out because he lived
all his life as a redeemed sinner in
the wilderness doing as he pleased dreaming of
Egypt holy enough God says he will suffer
loss he'll stand in that day eyes cast
to the ground in utter shame in the
presence of his redeemer in a heap of
ashes but he himself one Corinthians three he
himself shall be saved so as by fire
sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise unto
the day of Jesus Christ by God who
refuses under any circumstance for the sake of
his dear son to forsake any whom he
redeems and may divinely see yet
now be strong O Zerubbabel saith the Lord
and be strong O Joshua son of Josedek
the high priest and be strong O ye
people of the land saith the Lord and
work for I am with you saith the
Lord of hosts according to the word that
I covenanted with you when you came out
of Egypt so my spirit remains among you
fear not and the glory of this latter
house shall be greater than that of the
former saith the Lord of hosts and in
this place will I give peace saith the
Lord of hosts Haggai chapter two and verse
five the golden pot with manna valid
beneath the mercy seat sprinkled with blood that
tells you that if there came a moment
when in genuine repentance toward God you claim
redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ though
you worship the golden coffin throw it all
back into his feet there'll come a day
when you'll stand before your saviour and he'll
show you his hands and his feet again
and will remind you these are the hallmarks
of my saviourhood you asked me to redeem
you and I did and I sealed you
by my indwelling spirit and you wandered in
the wilderness I brought you out to bring
you in to share my life on earth
twenty hours twenty four hours every day but
you got stuck in the wilderness you did
as you pleased in your heart you still
lived in Egypt though I pleaded with you
you were always holy enough but I never
forsook you never because you asked me to
redeem you and I think in that day
your eyes will fill with tears as you
look back over a wasted life and stand
empty hands in the presence of a saviour
with whom you are going to share his
kingdom forever and of which place he says
I hath not seen nor heard neither hath
it entered into the heart of man the
thing which God hath prepared for them that
love him you'll almost wish you had never
got saved when you realize how little you
deserve what he so graciously provided the
golden part with man divinely sealed all right
let's have a word of prayer