Endtime Ministries...
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We are looking at Victorious Christian Living, a deeper Christian walk. You will remember that last time we looked at Moses and the burning bush, that was when God told Moses that He had chosen him to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt and into the promised land. Remember we said that any old bush would have done and we are all bushes that the Lord can use, if only Christ is allowed to work within us. Of course, Christ is IN US from when we are first born-again, from the very first moment. But it is a question of whether WE live the Christian life, or realise that Christ Jesus Himself is our new life, and yield to Him.
Exodus chapter 3 verse 1: "Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the back side of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. (2) And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
Verse 3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. (4) And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I."
Now down to verse 7: "And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;" Now to verse 10, [the verse where the Lord commissioned Moses] "Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt."
I love that verse, I have a ring around the word "come" and the word "thou". "Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people...."
And you will remember what happened after this, and we are not going through it in detail, God instructed Moses what to do and how to go about leading the Hebrews out of Egypt. You see Moses didn't have to figure it out himself.
Look at verse 15, "And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. (16) Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt.
(17) And I have said, I [note that word "I", it is God who is going to do it] I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey."
Then you know what happens? Moses is instructed to go to the King of Egypt, the Pharoah himself, verse 18, "And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The Lord God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God."
You know there is an interesting thing if you look at this. God didn't ever force Pharoah to keep the Jews back. He didn't force him, or rather God with God's omniscience, He knows of the wickedness of Pharoah. He doesn't force Pharaoah. This is what God says:
Verse 19: "And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand."
It doesn't say, "And I will stop Pharoah from letting you go." Pharoah could have let them go, it is just that God did know what he would do. Why? because of God's foreknowledge of Pharoah's wickedness. Look at verse 20:
"And I will stretch out my hand, (this is what God will do) and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after he will let you go."
You remember how God through Moses instructed the Jews to take a little lamb without blemish and slay it and paint the blood on the lintel and the door posts, and this was to be known as "The Passover"? Now remember that Pharoah had plenty of warnings and evidence from Moses that God was on the side of the Jews. You may think Pharoah was rather stupid! He had plenty of evidence. And he had all the plagues, one after the other, and all the judgements and so at last God brings what will be the ultimate judgement. This is the big one. He has been given plenty of warning and he has ignored it.
God knew what Pharoah's heart was like. Now turn over to Exodus Chapter 12. We are just touching on some of the essential points. You think that Pharoah, who is a bright boy, would have a few brains in his head, but he hasn't, he just kept on rejecting God.
Verse 1: "And the Lord spake to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying (2) This month shall be unto you the beginnings of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. (This is the month of Nissan in the Jewish calendar) (3) Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house: [This is the day the little lamb is selected - on the tenth day]. Just step ahead to verse 5:
"Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats. (6) And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth (a very important day of the same month): and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. (7) And they shall take of the blood, (note the blood) and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper doorpost of the houses, wherein they shall eat it."
Verse 12: (This is the reason for doing it) "For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt (note that there were some gods of Egypt, and these are satanic gods) I will execute judgement: I am the Lord. (13) (A tremendous verse) "And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye 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."
And you know what happened? To verse 29, they put the blood, "And it came to pass, that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle."
Just imagine it! Incredible! Look at verse 30, "And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead. (31) And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as ye have said. (32) Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also." (What a thing to say, Bless me also.)
(33)"And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, we be all dead men." God sure moved on them! So what happened?
Moses and the Hebrews (the Jews) left Egypt. Look at Exodus 13, verse 21: "And the Lord went before them (the Jews) by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:" Look at verse 22: "He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people." They had a 24 hour guide and what happened next?
Pharoah had second thoughts. He had all this evidence but now look what happens, Pharoah starts to have second thoughts. Turn to Exodus Chapter 14 verse 5: "And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servents was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us? (6) And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him: (7) And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt and captains over every one of them." (Six by the way, is the number of man. Remember that.)
(8) "And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel, and the children of Israel went out with a high hand." (That is with proud confidence if you like. They are going to get these Jews and really bury them - that is what they think!)
(9) "But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-zephon.
(10) And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord.
(11) And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness?" (What a group of grumbling, murmuring people!) wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?
(12) Is this not the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness." (How is that for being grateful for what has been done for you?)
(13) And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, (isn't that a wonderful little passage - we could put a ring around that! `Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord') which he will show to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, (look at this part - you should have this underlined) ye shall see them again no more forever." (How is that for a promise?)
(14) "And the Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
(15) And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:
(16) But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea."
Go down to verse 21, "And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. (22) And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.
(23) And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen." (So now you have all of Pharaoh's horses, chariots and horsemen, six hundred chariots in the middle of the sea here, with the water held back up the side.)
Now people say that God just drowned all the horsemen and the chariots, if you look at it properly, He did more than that. Look at verse 24: "And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the Lord look unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians". Verse 25 is the key verse: "And took off their chariot wheels, (how would you like to have a car with only three wheels on it? With the chariot, it would have had only one wheel on it) that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians."
(26) "And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen." And they were all drowned in the middle of the sea there.
Verse 31: "And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses." Make a note of that, the people feared the Lord and believed the Lord and his servant Moses. So you would think from now on it would be plain sailing - straight forward. The Hebrews had been brought out of Egypt and where were they headed? Just turn back for a moment to Exodus Chapter 3, let us be very clear about this.
God Himself tells them where He is taking them to - up out of Egypt. Verse 8, God is speaking, and He says: "And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites."
Now let me ask you a very important question. Do they enter into the land? You would think that they would be so relieved, so obedient, so trusting, as they had had so much evidence, God is on their side, that they would just march straight from Egypt into Canaan. But instead they don't, what do they do?
For forty years they wander around and around and around the wilderness - for forty years, even though the land of Canaan is ready and waiting for them. It is there, it has just got to be entered into. In fact, it has been waiting for them for forty years. They could, if they wanted to, gone straight from Egypt, straight into Canaan, IF they had been obedient to God. Their wandering in the wilderness was a direct result of their own disobedience, their murmuring and their longing for life back in Egypt, those are the three things -
Turn over with me to Deuteronomy Chapter 1. Let us see something that is very interesting. This is God's promise, look at verse 8, " Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them." Could not be a plainer thing than that, could it? But after fortyyears of grumbling and disobedience, look what God has to say in verse 35 - terrible! "Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers (36) Save [or except] Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, (why?) because he hath wholly followed the Lord. (37) Also the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither" (that is poor old Moses.) (38) But Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it."
Look at verse 39: "Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it."
And you remember how Joshua finally led this new generation, not the old generation, this new generation of Hebrews, forty years they had been wandering, into the Promised Land with God performing a repeat miracle. A lot of people don't realise this. Crossing the Red Sea and parting the Red Sea, that was just stage number one.
Look at Joshua chapter 3, God did it once and now He is going to give them a little repeat. Verse 7: (God is so good to these people!) "And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee (look at "THEE") in the sight of all Israel, (God is now lifting up Joshua as the new leader) that they may know that, as I was with
Moses, so I will be with thee." Verse 8 "And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan." So they have got this ark of the covenant to the River Jordan and they are to just stand still. Look at verse 13:
"And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon a heap." (Have you ever seen water stand up in a heap? - God has done it once, He is going to do it again.)
Verse 17: "And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan." And from a human point of view, let us not forget that this was the worst time to cross over the Jordan, because up in verse 15 it says, " (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,)" This was a time of harvest, yet God just pushes back the water and across they go!
And so, forty years after the Lord delivered Moses and the children of Israel from Egypt, this new generation passes into Canaan. Moses and the generation who had witnessed such an incredible miracle at the Red Sea and all these plagues beforehand, and had previously suffered so much at the hands of the Egyptians, they never made it!
Now what has this got to do with us today? You ask "What are you getting at?" Well, we can learn a lot from this, we have briefly looked at three places, Egypt, the Wilderness and Canaan. Three places. Now each one of us is right now living in one of these three places, timewise.
EGYPT is the life of the believer before they trust in the shed blood of Christ, a lost person is down there in Egypt. Remember the blood on the lintel? This pictured the death of Christ upon the cross. How do we know? Let us turn over to 1 Corinthians 5:7. This is a verse that many will probably know by heart, "Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:"
Christ is our passover. All a lost sinner has to do to escape from Egypt is to apply the death of Christ as His shed blood to his own need, a bit like they had to put the blood on the lintel and humbly say, "Thank you Lord, I am saved." And they are saved!
Now let us go to the other end. They came out of Egypt, through the wilderness to Canaan. What does Canaan represent? Do you know what most commentators tell you tht Canaan represents? They say "That is heaven". Rubbish. It has got nothing to do with heaven. You know this pie in the sky, bye and bye? It's got nothing to do with it. Canaan is not heaven, not at all.
CANAAN is the land of promise and plentiful provision and it represents the richness and the enjoyment of Christ's indwelling within the believer right now! Canaan is Christ himself, right now, living the victorious Christian life through the believer. As a believer, you should be in the land of Canaan now, Christ should be living in you now and through you now.
You remember a couple of Bible verses that we looked at in the very first Bible study? Turn with me to 1Thessalonians chapter 5, you see Canaan is our living right now! Verse 24: "Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it."
He will do it, we just have to allow him to work through us as we are obedient to Him, so He is able to work through us, but if we are like these Jews were, going from Egypt over to Canaan - going through the wilderness, what did they do? They were disobedient. You remember the terrible things they did. Made the golden calf and held all their orgies and terrible things, they were disobedient, also they were murmurers and they were grumblers. I wonder, are you a murmurer? Do you grumble and grouch about things? The Lord is very clear, there are many passages about people who are always grumbling - thumbs down about things. That is a way of disobeying the Lord.
Turn back to Philippians chapter 2:13, we have another little verse here that is so important. "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." (Note, God which worketh in you.) Look at verse 14, what a wonderful little verse: "Do all things without murmurings and disputings:" I wonder, do we do all things without murmurings or disputings, or do we have a gripe? Was it God's good pleasure to take the children of Israel into the promised land into Canaan swiftly? Of course it was!
What was it that blocked these children from going from Egypt into Canaan? It was disobedience, it was murmurings and it was memories of Egypt. They kept thinking back about Egypt, and hence they finished up in the wilderness. Now the Bible also talks about three types of people.
There is the NATURAL man, the CARNAL man and the SPIRITUAL man. The natural man, he is a lost man, we know that - he is the person who is over in Egypt. He knows nothing of the shed blood of Christ and he in Egypt before the Passover, he is a prisoner.
What about the carnal man? Well he is the guy that is in the wilderness, the carnal Christian has been born again, he has received the Holy Spirit into his live, he has become born-again, bone of the Lord's bone, body of His body and so on - by one Spirit - 1st Corinthinas 12:13 - are we born into that body? And all the fulness of Christ dwells within that person, but what happens? He ignores Christ and he struggles to live the Christian life as though Christ was not in him. This is a problem with many Christians. He will often beg and plead for all that has already been given to him, he says "Please Lord do this and do that for me". He has already got the fulness of Christ in him, if only he will allow Christ to live in him.
The carnal man is just like the children of Israel who lived for forty years in the wilderness, they were plagued by the memories of an enemy that God had absolutely buried - every last one of them in the depths of the Red Sea. The carnal man - this is a sad thing - he neither enjoys the flesh-pots of Egypt, nor the milk and honey of Canaan, he is in between the two, he is in a sort of limbo. He is sort of dumped in the desert. I wonder if you have been dumped in the desert?
Do you know what it was that cheated the children of Israel out of their promised destination? Sure, it was disobedience and grumblings, but not any more, it was really their unbelief! The
Christian life, let's never forget, is an exchanged life of FAITH. Turn with me to Galatians chapter 2. I wonder if you have exchanged your life for the life that can be yours if you will allow Christ to live in you. Again, this is a verse we have emphasised before. Galatians chapter 2 verse 20:
"I am crucified with Christ: (let me ask you a question, "Are you really crucified with Christ?") nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ - liveth - in - me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith (your faith? No!) The faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
Let me ask you a question, are you still in Egypt? I hope not, I hope that there is no body reading this who is in Egypt. It is a question of trust in Christ. Let me ask a another important question; "Are you still in the wilderness?" You see so many Christians are, why not thank the Lord for saving you, and also thank Him that He is able to work through you, if you will but allow Him!
Turn over to Ephesians chapter 3. You want a prayer promise, man this is it! Verse 20: "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, (that is the sort of God we have got!) according to the power that worketh in us, (note that little phrase? How?) according to the power that worketh in us. (21) Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen".
You see that power is there, it is like a motor car with the engine sitting under the bonnet and all you have to do is to put the key in and turn it, and all those horses are harnessed and that car can move.
Remember, the first section, I talked about a car with a powerful engine and you get out and push it all over the place! What a silly thing to do! So many people do that. There is a first blessing which is being born-again, all the fulness of Christ available to you, if you will allow Christ. You see there is no such thing really as a second blessing if you want to call it that, it is just the first blessing that you have never properly appropriated to yourself.
I wonder are you not in Egypt, not in the wilderness, but are you in the Promised Land? - a spiritual man? Then your portion is to know the joy unspeakable and the peace of God that passeth all understanding. You know the Spiritual Christian can enjoy so much.
Let just turn to one final passage and we will close there. 11 Peter chapter 1 verse 3: "According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue. (4) Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."
Look at verse 5: "And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; (6) And to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; (7) And to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity. (8)For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."
I wonder if you are barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ? Verse 9: "But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins." He is, if you like, going around and around in circles in the wilderness.
Verse 10: "Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fail:"
I wonder can you say that, that the Lord Jesus Christ is energising your life so that you know where you are going, you know the direction you are on and you have gone into that land of milk and honey. I trust that you will take these verses to heart, that you will be obedient to the Lord, that you will not grumble about things, that you won't think back about the old days - and we are going to look a bit further ahead on that next time. See also in your own study Hebrews chapter four, the believer is kept in perfect rest from his own labours, by mercy and grace, through the indwelling Son of God.
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