Participants: Stephen Bohr
Series Code: OTR
Program Code: OTR000573
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01:11 Last night I lay a sleeping.
01:16 There came a dream so fair. 01:21 I stood in Old Jerusalem beside the temple there. 01:30 I heard the children singing, and ever as they sang, 01:38 me thought the voice of angels 01:43 from heaven in answer rang. 01:47 Me thought the voice of angels from heaven in answer rang. 02:01 Jerusalem! Jerusalem! Lift up your gates and sing. 02:17 Hosanna in the highest! 02:24 Hosanna to your king! 02:52 the streets no longer rang. 02:56 Hushed were the glad Hosannas the little children sang. 03:05 The sun grew dark with mystery, the morn was cold and chill, 03:14 as the shadow of a cross arose upon a lonely hill, 03:23 as the shadow of the cross arose upon a lonely hill. 03:38 Jerusalem! Jerusalem! Hark how the angels sing. 03:53 Hosanna in the highest! 04:00 Hosanna to your king! 04:23 And once again the scene was changed, 04:28 new earth there seemed to be. 04:32 I saw the Holy City beside the tideless sea. 04:41 The light of God was on it's streets, 04:46 the gates were open wide. 04:50 And all who would might enter, and no one was denied. 05:04 No need of moon or stars by night, 05:11 or sun to shine by day. 05:18 It was the new Jerusalem that would not pass away. 05:47 Jerusalem! Jerusalem! Sing for the night is o'er! 06:03 Hosanna in the highest! 06:10 Hosanna forever more! 06:17 Hosanna in the highest! 06:27 Hosanna forever more! Amen! Amen! 06:54 I'd like to invite Eva to come forward at this time. 06:59 This is a radiant, glorious day. Amen! 07:02 I can tell by Ted Jeske's smile. 07:05 Actually, Ted and Julie have been working with Eva 07:09 for a long time now. 07:10 And she's joined Joe as a member of our church, 07:16 and I know that this is a glorious and wonderful 07:18 day for Joe as well. 07:19 And, Eva, as we have as our custom here at Fresno Central 07:22 Church, we want to give you a copy of your baptismal 07:26 certificate, as well as the book Seventh-day Adventists' Believe. 07:30 Thank you. Welcome to our family. 07:32 God bless you. Amen, Amen. 08:22 Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation. 08:33 O my soul, praise Him for He is our health and salvation. 08:44 All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near. 08:53 Join Him in glad adoration. 09:11 Praise to the Lord who o're all things so wondrously reigneth. 09:20 Shelters thee under His wings, Yea, so gently sustaineth. 09:29 Hast thou not seen how thy desires e'er have been 09:37 granted in what He ordaineth. 09:49 Praise to the Lord who doth prosper thy 10:02 Surely His goodness and mercy here daily attend thee. 10:16 Ponder anew what the Almighty can do, 10:32 if with His love He befriend thee. 10:53 Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore Him. 11:04 All that hath life and breath come now with before Him. 11:14 Let the 'amen' sound from His people again. 11:25 Gladly for aye we adore Him! 11:31 We adore Him! We adore Him! 11:38 Praise to the Lord! 11:41 Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! 11:47 Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Amen! Amen! 12:58 Shall we bow our heads for prayer? 13:00 Our Father in heaven, what a wonderful privilege it is 13:07 to come to Your house of worship on Your Holy Sabbath day, 13:10 to render You honor, glory, and praise such as you deserve, 13:18 because You are our Creator, and our Redeemer. 13:22 We ask that as we open Your Holy Word, that Your Spirit 13:26 will hover over this place. 13:28 Give us clear minds and tender hearts. 13:32 And give us the willingness to live in harmony with Your will. 13:37 We thank You for hearing our prayer for we ask it 13:41 in Jesus' name, Amen. 13:46 In 1 Corinthians 10 the apostle Paul tells several experiences 13:54 of the children of Israel as they left Egypt 13:58 on their journey to Canaan. 14:00 And at the conclusion of this passage, the apostle Paul 14:07 tells us that these experiences were actually written for us 14:13 who are living in the last days of human history. 14:18 I'd like to begin by reading from 1 Corinthians 10:11. 14:26 Here the apostle Paul says this: 14:33 That is to Israel. 14:39 The Greek word is types. 14:55 So the apostle Paul tells us that all of the experiences of 14:59 Israel, from Egypt to Canaan, were types, or they were 15:03 illustrations, or examples for us who are living in the last 15:09 days of human history. 15:11 Now what I would like us to do in our study today is to examine 15:17 the journey of Israel from Egypt to Canaan. 15:21 And as we examine this story we're going to notice 15:25 that their experience actually parallels our own personal 15:32 journey from this world to the heavenly Canaan. 15:36 I would like to begin at Exodus 1:13, 14, Exodus 1:13, 14. 15:48 You see, the children of Israel were in bondage. 15:52 They were slaves. In fact it tells us here that they were 15:57 in hard bondage. They served with rigor. 16:02 Let's read verses 13 and 14. 16:33 In other words, the children of Israel were slaves in Egypt. 16:38 In fact they were born as slaves. 16:41 They had no choice in the matter. 16:42 Imagine them day after day, week after week, year after year 16:49 serving, building perhaps the pyramids of Egypt. 16:54 Now they had no merit to offer God for God to deliver them. 17:00 In fact they had fallen into the idolatry of Egypt, and therefore 17:06 they deserved exactly what they were involved in. 17:10 And as they were there serving day after day, many times they 17:16 must have thought that their case was hopeless. 17:20 There was no way that they could deliver themselves. 17:23 You know their plight is similar to our plight 17:27 before we accepted Jesus. 17:28 The Bible tells us that we are born into slavery. 17:32 The flesh cannot perform good. 17:35 We are just as much spiritual slaves as Israel were slaves 17:41 literally in the land of Egypt. 17:43 Born in to slavery, bitterly serving sin, not able to deliver 17:49 ourselves, no merit to offer God; it appeared like 17:55 our life was hopeless. 17:58 But the Bible tells us that in the midst of their bondage, 18:02 and their pain, and their sorrow, without any merit 18:06 to offer to God, they cried out to God. 18:10 We find this in Exodus 2:23, 24. It says here: 18:28 Notice the terminology. 18:40 So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant 18:46 with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 18:50 Notice the terminology: groaning, crying out to God 18:55 in their helplessness, in their desperation, because they knew 18:59 that in themselves, they had no hope of being 19:04 delivered from bondage. 19:05 How similar this is to our own personal experience. 19:10 In our bondage to sin, in our bondage to the world, 19:15 when our case appeared hopeless, born into slavery, we cried out 19:22 to God, and God heard our plea, God heard our cry. 19:29 Now who were Israel in bondage to? 19:34 You know, in the book of Ezekiel 29:3 we find a reference 19:42 to Pharaoh who was the king of Egypt. 19:45 Ezekiel 29:3. And, by the way, I'm reading from the 19:53 New King James Version. 19:54 I prefer the way that it reads in the King James Version. 19:58 And so I'm going to make a slight change from 20:00 the New King James. 20:01 It says there in verse 3 of Ezekiel 29: 20:19 The New King James says monster. 20:34 So Israel was in bondage to the great dragon, Pharaoh, 20:38 according to Ezekiel 29:3. 20:43 And as we read the story in the book of Exodus we discover 20:47 that this great dragon had no intention of allowing 20:51 Israel to go free. 20:53 They were his slaves. 20:55 They were his servants. 20:57 And he was not going to allow them to escape from his hands. 21:02 In fact, we find in Exodus 5:2 the attitude of this despot, 21:08 of this great dragon. It says there: 21:28 You see Israel served the interests of Pharaoh. 21:32 Pharaoh could not carry on his program without them. 21:36 And so he hung onto them for dear life, not wishing to lose 21:41 them for his service. 21:43 But the Bible tells us, and we just read it from Exodus 2:24, 21:51 and verse 25, that God remembered His covenant. 21:56 Let's read again Exodus 2:24. 22:19 I want you to notice the reason why God acknowledged Israel. 22:23 He did not acknowledge Israel because they were good, 22:27 because they were obeying God's law, 22:32 because they were holy. 22:34 God decided to intervene in their case 22:38 because of His covenant. 22:41 Not because they earned His favor, 22:44 but because of His pure grace, and His pure mercy. 22:49 His love for them expressed in the covenant which He gave to 22:54 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 22:56 And which, by the way, was the covenant that Jesus made with 22:59 His Father in the ceaseless ages of eternity; that He was going 23:05 to intervene to save. 23:06 Not because Israel was good, but because God was good. 23:11 How similar to us who are born into bondage, 23:16 who are born into sin, whose case appears to be hopeless. 23:20 We cry out in our desperation to God. 23:24 We're slaves to Satan who, by the way, 23:27 in the Bible is called also the great dragon. 23:30 We appear to not be able to be freed. 23:34 And yet God, because of His mercy, and because of His grace, 23:38 not because we're good, not because we've earned His favor, 23:42 He delivered us from bondage to sin and to the world. 23:47 Now it's interesting to notice, as the story develops, 23:53 that a deliverer was born in Egypt. 23:58 His name, of course, was Moses. 24:01 We find this in Exodus 1:22, Exodus 1:22. 24:09 Pharaoh knew that a deliverer was perhaps going to be born. 24:15 And so Pharaoh decided that he was going to nip this 24:19 in the bud, so to speak. 24:21 And so we find in Exodus 1:22: 24:41 Notice that this great dragon, Pharaoh, 24:43 aware of the possibility that a deliverer was going to be born, 24:47 killed all of the male children in the hopes of 24:53 killing the deliverer. 24:55 We find in Exodus 2:10 that this deliverer was born. 24:59 It says there in verse 10: And the child grew, 25:03 and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, 25:07 and he became her son. 25:18 How similar this story is to the story of Revelation 12. 25:23 There you have a great dragon standing next to the woman 25:28 to devour her child as soon as the child is born. 25:32 Interestingly enough, it was a king called Herod who had all 25:37 of the male children, two years and under, killed. 25:42 In other words, the story of the deliverer in Egypt is being 25:46 reenacted on a larger scale with the deliverer of the human race. 25:50 Because Satan, the great dragon, stood next to the woman 25:55 who was about to bring Jesus into the world. 25:58 And the devil wanted to do everything to destroy Him. 26:02 But as Moses was preserved in Egypt, and protected in Egypt, 26:07 so Jesus was protected as He was born into this world 26:12 to bring salvation and liberation to the human race. 26:16 Now it's interesting to notice, as I've mentioned previously 26:21 in our study, that God did not deliver Israel from bondage 26:26 because they were obedient to Him. 26:27 In fact as we read the story, God did not give Israel 26:31 the ten commandments while they were in bondage in Egypt. 26:35 We're going to notice that He gave them the 26:37 commandments later. 26:38 Now why did God not give Israel the ten commandments and say, 26:43 Folks, I'm giving you these commandments. 26:45 When you obey them, then I'm going to deliver you. 26:50 When you measure up I'm going to deliver you. 26:53 The fact is that they could not obey the commandments of God 26:58 in Egypt, because they were slaves of Pharaoh. 27:01 And no one can serve two masters. 27:05 God could not ask Israel to obey Him until He had delivered them 27:11 from their first master. 27:13 In fact, do you know that Israel tried to keep 27:18 the Sabbath in Egypt? even before Exodus 16, 27:22 the manna episode. 27:24 We find that Israel attempted to keep the Sabbath. 27:30 You say, How do we know that? 27:31 Well, in Exodus 5 we have Moses going into Pharaoh, 27:36 Moses and Aaron, and they say, We want to take Israel 27:41 out into the wilderness for three days to worship the Lord. 27:46 Do you know what Moses and Aaron were actually 27:49 asking Pharaoh to do? 27:51 They actually were going to go out, and they were going to 27:54 celebrate the Holy Sabbath. 27:56 You say, How do we know that? 27:57 Well, in Exodus 5 we find the answer. 28:02 Exodus 5:5. When Moses and Aaron go in and they say: 28:08 Let Israel go to celebrate this feast in the desert, 28:11 or this religious celebration in the desert. 28:14 Notice in verse 5: 28:23 Shabbat 28:26 The word there is Shabbat, which is consistently used in the 28:31 Old Testament to describe the Holy Sabbath. 28:34 In other words, Moses and Aaron were saying, We want to take 28:38 Israel out into the desert to celebrate God's Holy Sabbath. 28:41 Could they do it? Not while they were slaves. 28:45 Because we're told in the story that Pharaoh made their 28:49 bondage even worse. 28:50 You see, they couldn't keep the Sabbath while they were 28:53 in bondage in Egypt. 28:54 They had to be delivered from their first slave master, 28:59 so that now they could render service to 29:01 their new master, God. 29:03 And, of course, the night that they were delivered there was a 29:08 very special ceremony that indicated their deliverance. 29:13 We all know what it is. 29:16 It is the Passover. 29:19 Go with me to Exodus 12:26, 27, Exodus 12:26, 27. 29:53 So the people bowed their heads and worshipped. 29:58 What was the sign of their deliverance from bondage 30:02 to their first master? the Passover. 30:04 By the way, a lamb was chosen. 30:08 The lamb had no defect. 30:10 It was to be sacrificed at evening. 30:13 No bones were to be broken. 30:16 And the blood was to be applied to the doorposts. 30:20 Have you ever read what the apostle Paul says in 30:24 1 Corinthians 5:7 where he explains that Christ, 30:29 our Passover, has been what? 30:31 Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed for us. 30:36 So the sign of our deliverance is the death of Jesus. 30:41 You see, Jesus was also a lamb without defect. 30:45 Jesus also died at evening. 30:48 No bones of His body were broken, and His blood was to 30:53 be applied to our own personal lives. 30:56 So as the sign of deliverance for Israel from Egypt was 31:01 the blood of the lamb, so the sign of our deliverance also 31:06 is the blood of the lamb that takes away the sin of the world. 31:11 You see, we can't serve God anymore than Israel could, 31:16 as long as we are in bondage to sin, to Satan, and to the world. 31:20 We had to be delivered from bondage so that 31:24 now we can serve God. 31:25 And, of course, the deliverance came as a result of the blood 31:29 of the lamb which was shed. 31:31 But folks, Pharaoh was not about to let Israel go 31:39 without a fight; without a fight to the death. 31:43 And so we find in Exodus 14 that Pharaoh got 600 31:48 of his choice chariots. 31:50 He got his armies together. 31:51 And now he decided he was not going to let these people, 31:55 delivered by the blood of the lamb go. 31:58 And so he gets his 600 chariots, and he goes after Israel, 32:03 which has escaped his power. 32:05 He's not going to give up these people 32:07 without a fierce conflict. 32:09 How similar it is to our experience. 32:12 When we choose to receive Jesus as our Savior, 32:16 when we accept the blood of Christ, 32:19 the devil doesn't give up! 32:20 The devil comes after us with a vengeance because he wants 32:25 to take us back as his servants. 32:27 He doesn't want us to be free. 32:28 And so Pharaoh comes after Israel. 32:31 And now Israel is at the edge of the Red Sea. 32:35 There's no escape. 32:37 The Egyptians are behind them. 32:39 There are mountains on one side, a desert on the other side, 32:43 the sea in front of them. 32:45 It appears like their case is hopeless. 32:48 But then something spectacular happens. 32:51 Notice 1 Corinthians 10:1, 2, 1 Corinthians 10:1, 2. 32:59 There's a very important expression that I want 33:01 us to notice here. It says: 33:13 And now notice verse 2. 33:24 Question: Was Israel baptized? Yes, they were. 33:27 Who were they baptized into? 33:29 They were baptized into Moses, interestingly enough. 33:35 They were baptized in the sea! 33:37 In other words, after they were delivered by the 33:39 blood of the lamb, they come to the baptismal font, so to speak. 33:44 And now they're going to go through the waters. 33:46 They are going to be baptized. 33:48 And have you ever noticed what happened at their baptism? 33:52 All of their old life was buried in the waters. 33:57 All of their old taskmasters, their old man 34:02 is buried in the waters. 34:04 And when they come out on the other side of the sea, 34:08 they come out to newness of life, a fully and completely 34:13 delivered people. Amen, Amen. 34:15 How similar to our experience. 34:17 We were born into bondage; slaves of the great dragon, 34:22 not being able to escape, our case appearing hopeless. 34:26 And yet we cried out to God, and God by His mercy, 34:30 not because we're good, but because of his mercy, 34:34 He delivered us from bondage to Satan, and to sin. 34:38 And He delivered us through the blood of the lamb 34:42 that takes away the sin of the world. 34:43 And then, of course, He led us to the baptismal waters. 34:48 And in the baptismal waters our old life was 34:52 buried in the waters, and we were born to newness of life. 34:58 Do you know, folks, that in Galatians 3:26 we are told that 35:04 when we are baptized, we are baptized into Christ. 35:09 Do you remember the expression, into Moses? 35:13 Israel was baptized into Moses. 35:15 We are baptized into Christ. 35:18 And when we're baptized into Christ all of our old life 35:23 is buried, and forgotten by God, and we come forth from 35:28 the waters to newness of life; delivered from our 35:31 old life of bondage. 35:33 And then, of course, in Exodus 15 the people now sing. 35:38 Notice Exodus 15:1. It says here: 35:50 And we're not going to read the whole song. 35:52 It's all of Exodus 15. 35:54 Now let me ask you, Do you believe that Israel sang that 35:57 song with enthusiasm? 35:58 Or do you think they just stood around? didn't open the hymnal? 36:03 Because it was written by Moses for them to sing. 36:05 It wasn't spontaneous. 36:06 Do you suppose they sang with enthusiasm, and with meaning? 36:10 Absolutely! And the reason why is because they were singing 36:14 about their experience. 36:15 You see, when we come forth from the baptismal waters, 36:19 we come forth to newness of life. 36:21 And now we can sing praises to the Lord. 36:24 We can sing Redeemed, How I Love to Proclaim It! 36:27 You know, it's interesting to see what happens when I 36:30 baptize some people. 36:31 I remember one woman that I baptized in Torrington, Wyoming, 36:35 many years ago when I pastored there. 36:37 She had been involved in drugs, and in alcohol. 36:43 Her life was a mess! 36:45 And I studied with her. 36:47 She made her decision for Jesus. 36:49 The day of her baptism, I buried her in the waters. 36:52 When she came out of the waters, she came out... 36:54 I didn't know what had happened to her. 36:56 She raised her arms and she started going shew, shew, shew. 37:00 And, you know, I didn't think that she'd swallowed water. 37:04 It didn't look like it. 37:06 And so I said, What happened to you? 37:07 She says, I'm so excited that this is the only way 37:11 that I could express it. Ha ha. 37:14 Talk about enthusiasm when we're born into Jesus; 37:17 when our life is buried, when we've accepted deliverance 37:22 through the blood of the lamb. Amen! 37:23 But now listen up. 37:24 The pilgrimage of Israel did not end there. 37:28 You see, they had to go all the way to Canaan. 37:32 You see, for most Christians when you receive Jesus 37:37 as Savior, and you're baptized, that's it. Not so! 37:42 You see, Israel still had to cross a desert, 37:45 and they had to finally arrive in Canaan. 37:49 Now let me ask you, If you were going to cross a desert, 37:52 which two things would you make provision for 37:55 before you started your journey? 37:58 Food and what? and water. 38:02 Now remember that the pilgrimage of Israel 38:05 is a sign of our pilgrimage. 38:07 See, as they left Egypt, we've left the world. 38:10 As they cried out, we cried out. 38:13 As they were in bondage we are in bondage. 38:15 As God intervened without merit, He intervenes without merit. 38:19 As they received the blood of the lamb, 38:21 we've received the blood of the lamb. 38:23 As they buried their old life, we buried our old life. 38:27 As they resurrected to newness of life, 38:29 we resurrected to newness of life. 38:31 As they sang, we are to sing. Amen! 38:35 But it doesn't end there. 38:37 We still have a desert to cross. 38:40 We still have to make it to Canaan. 38:46 We cannot believe that once you're saved, 38:48 you're always saved. 38:50 Jesus said, He who endures unto the end shall be saved. 38:55 And do you know what's interesting? 38:56 It's no coincidence that immediately after Israel 38:59 sang that song of their redemption in Exodus 15, 39:04 in Exodus 16 God rains bread from heaven. 39:08 And in Exodus 17 He gives water from the rock. 39:12 Because He knew that they were going to cross the desert. 39:15 and that even after their baptism they needed food, 39:19 and they needed water to conserve their strength 39:22 in order to make it to Canaan. 39:25 Notice Exodus 16:4. 39:29 It speaks about the bread that God rained from heaven. 39:32 God had some bakery in heaven! 39:34 He did this for forty years. 39:35 It's amazing! And it wasn't any old kind of bread, 39:39 and it tasted like wafers of honey the Bible says. Wow! 39:41 You know when God makes food, He makes it good. 39:45 Notice Exodus 16:4. 39:54 And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every 39:58 day, that I may test them whether they will 40:01 walk in My law or not. 40:03 So God rains bread because He knows that they need to eat 40:07 in order to make it to the land of Canaan. 40:09 But in Exodus 17 God also gave water from the rock. 40:13 Notice Exodus 17:6, Exodus 17:6. 40:32 And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 40:37 So in Exodus 16 God gives bread. 40:40 In Exodus 17 God gives water. 40:42 Now folks, this bread and this water was not only literal bread 40:48 and literal water. 40:49 Once again God is trying to teach us a lesson on our trek 40:54 from the world to Canaan, to the heavenly Canaan. 40:58 Go with me to 1 Corinthians 10: 3, 4, and you're going to see 41:02 this spiritual dimension. 41:06 1 Corinthians 10:3, 4. 41:09 Actually, let's begin reading at verse 1 so we catch the context. 41:14 It says, moreover brethren, I do not want you to be unaware 41:17 that all our fathers were under the cloud. 41:20 All passed through the sea. 41:22 All were baptized into Moses, in the cloud and the sea. 41:26 And now notice: All ate the same physical food. 41:30 Thank you, thank you very much. 41:33 You're reading out there. Good! 41:44 For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, 41:49 and that Rock was Christ. 41:51 Did the manna represent something beyond 41:54 the literal manna? 41:55 Did the water represent something beyond 41:58 the literal water? Absolutely! 42:00 Now the question is, what did the manna represent, 42:03 and what did the water from the rock represent? 42:06 The fact is the Bible tells us. 42:09 Notice Deuteronomy 8:3, Deuteronomy 8:3. 42:15 What do we need to partake of in order to be strong 42:18 to make it to Canaan, to the heavenly Canaan? 42:20 What do we need to drink in order to make it sound 42:24 and safe to the land of Canaan? 42:26 Notice Deuteronomy 8:3. 42:29 Here God explains why He gave manna. 42:43 And now notice: 42:57 What did the manna represent? 42:59 The manna represents the word of God. 43:02 What must we assimilate in order to be strong to enter 43:06 the heavenly Canaan? the word of God. 43:09 And, by the way, Israel preferred junk food. Ha ha! 43:15 Does that have something to say to us? 43:17 Are there many Christians that prefer spiritual junk food? 43:21 And they died in the wilderness. 43:24 Now I want you to notice also what is meant by 43:29 the water from the rock. 43:31 Go with me to Deuteronomy 32:4, Deuteronomy 32:4. 43:38 You see, Israel should have understood that the manna 43:42 represented something spiritual. 43:44 They should have understood that the water represented 43:47 something spiritual. 43:48 You say, How do we know that? 43:49 Because it says so in Deuteronomy 8:3. 43:52 God gave them manna to teach them that they're to live 43:55 by the word of God. 43:56 Now what about the rock? 43:57 Should they have understood that the rock was not merely 44:00 a literal rock? Sure! 44:02 Notice Deuteronomy 32:4, speaking about the Lord, 44:07 about God: 44:12 Should they have understood that whatever came from the rock 44:15 came from God, who is the Rock? Yes. 44:31 And so you notice that God is the Rock. 44:34 The manna represents the Word of God. 44:37 Now allow me to say a few things about the rock. 44:39 There are three symbols related to this episode of the rock. 44:43 And, by the way, there are two episodes of the rock. 44:46 There's this one in Exodus 17, and there's another one 44:48 in Numbers 20:8-11. 44:51 I'm going to synthesize what is contained in those two episodes. 44:55 God told Moses to go and stand by the rock at Horeb. 44:59 This is in Exodus 17. 45:01 And He said, Raise your rod and you will strike the rock 45:07 with your rod, and the rock will give its waters. 45:11 Now we have three symbols here: the rock, which represents whom? 45:18 We read in Deuteronomy 32 that it's the Lord, 45:21 but in 1 Corinthians 10 it says the rock was whom? 45:24 The Rock was Christ. 45:26 So we know that any blessing that comes comes from whom? 45:29 from Christ. But now notice. 45:31 What does the rod represent? 45:32 Every time that Moses raises his rod a judgment falls 45:37 upon the Egyptians. 45:39 In other words, the rod represents 45:41 punishment or judgment. 45:43 Notice that the rod falls on the rock. 45:46 What does that mean? 45:47 That the judgment, or the punishment 45:50 of God, fell upon who? upon Christ. 45:52 It says in Isaiah 53 that we esteemed Him smitten, 46:00 stricken by God, and afflicted. 46:03 In other words, the rod of God's judgment fell upon Jesus. 46:06 And as a result, what is Jesus able to pour out upon us? 46:10 Jesus says, Whoever thirsts, let him come to Me, and what? 46:14 and drink. And do you know what the drink represents? 46:18 1 Corinthians 12:13 says, We have all been made 46:22 to drink of one spirit. 46:25 Now what do we have in all of this symbolism? 46:29 The rod represents God's judgment. 46:31 The rod of God's judgment falls upon the Rock, Jesus Christ. 46:35 And as a result, Jesus Christ is able to pour out His what? 46:39 to pour out His Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost 46:42 to bless our lives. 46:44 Now there's a second rock episode. 46:46 And in this rock episode God tells Moses to take his rod, 46:51 to go to the rock, and to do what? to speak to the rock. 46:57 And the rock would give it's what? it's waters. 47:01 Of course Moses struck the rock twice. 47:04 Why did Moses only need to speak to the rock 47:08 in this second episode? 47:10 Because Jesus was only going to fall under the 47:13 judgment of God once; under the rod of God's punishment once 47:18 for our sins, as it says in Hebrews. 47:20 And if we want to benefit by what He did, all we have to do 47:24 today is speak to the Rock. Amen! 47:28 All we have to do is pray to Jesus for His Holy Spirit. 47:31 And so what we have here is if we want to make it to the 47:35 heavenly Canaan, we need two very important elements 47:38 in our life: we need to assimilate the Word daily. 47:43 And in the second place, we need to pray to Jesus, talk to Him, 47:48 and speak to Him, so that we can receive, each day, a new portion 47:53 of the Holy Spirit. Amen! 47:56 Now let's talk a little bit about their journey to Sinai. 48:00 Do you know that when God took Israel out of Egypt, 48:03 instead of taking them north to Canaan, He took them 48:06 south to Mount Sinai? 48:08 And the reason why is because He wanted to reveal 48:11 to them His holy law. 48:13 Do you notice that God gave them the law after He delivered 48:18 them from bondage? 48:19 God didn't say, Here's My law. 48:21 Keep it, and I'll deliver you. 48:22 God delivers them because they cry out. 48:25 That's God's grace, unmerited favor. 48:28 And then He takes them to Sinai. 48:30 And He's saying, If you love Me, because of what I've done, 48:33 keep My commandments. 48:35 Notice Exodus 20, Exodus 20, and let's read verses 2 and 3. 48:42 Notice how the ten commandments begin. 48:44 You know some people, I'll ask them, 48:45 How do the ten commandments begin? 48:47 They say, Thou shall have no other God's before Me. 48:49 But the ten commandments have a prologue. 48:51 They have an introduction. 48:52 Notice Exodus 20:1, And God spoke all these words saying: 49:04 You shall have no other gods before Me. 49:09 What is the motivation for Israel keeping 49:13 God's commandments? 49:14 It is because God has what? God has delivered them 49:19 from bondage in Egypt. 49:20 Should that be our motivation for serving the Lord? 49:25 Because He has poured out His grace, and His mercy upon us 49:28 without us deserving it? simply because we cried out to God? 49:32 Now we say, O Lord Jesus, Thank You for delivering me 49:35 through Your blood. 49:36 Thank You for burying that old past in the waters of baptism. 49:39 Now I've been born into newness of life. 49:41 Oh Lord, I want to serve You, because I love You so much. 49:45 You see, we keep the law because we love Jesus, 49:48 because of what Jesus has done. 49:51 But listen up, Israel was buried alive. 49:59 Their old selves did not die in the waters. 50:04 You know, the problem with Israel is that they constantly 50:09 wanted to return to Egypt. 50:11 Have you noticed that? 50:12 By the way, are there Christians that constantly 50:15 want to return to Egypt? 50:18 Their past has been buried in the waters. 50:22 They've been delivered by the blood of the Lamb. 50:25 But they're always looking back. 50:26 They say, Oh what life was when I was in the world. 50:29 You see Israel wanted the diet of Egypt. 50:33 They wanted the lifestyle of Egypt. 50:37 They wanted the music of Egypt. 50:40 They wanted the entertainment of Egypt. 50:43 They wanted to worship the gods of Egypt. 50:46 And the amazing thing is, that because they had one foot 50:53 in the world, and they wanted one foot with the Lord, 50:55 none of that generation, except for those twenty years 51:00 and under, entered the land of Canaan. 51:03 Listen up folks! These were people who had been delivered 51:07 by the blood of the Lamb. 51:09 These were people who had been baptized in the 51:13 waters of the Red Sea. 51:14 These were people who began their pilgrimage correctly. 51:19 But they failed in the wilderness. 51:22 You see, they had the title to Canaan when they were delivered. 51:26 But God expected them also to have the fitness for Canaan. 51:32 But they were always complaining, 51:34 and they were always murmuring. 51:37 And therefore they fell in the wilderness. 51:39 Notice what we find in the book of Hebrews 3:16-19, 51:45 Hebrews 3:16-19. Here we find the apostle Paul, 51:51 whom I believe to be author of the book of Hebrews, 51:54 well not the author, the writer. 51:55 The author is God. 51:56 But in Hebrews 3:16-19, we have an explanation of what happened 52:02 to Israel in the wilderness. It says here: 52:45 What's our situation? 52:47 Are we murmuring? Are we complaining? 52:51 Are we looking back at the world, 52:54 the dress of the world, the entertainment of the world, 52:56 the food of the world, the music of the world, 52:58 the lifestyle that we had in the world; and as a result 53:03 fall in the wilderness because of our unbelief? 53:06 Because of our disobedience, as it says here? 53:09 Because of our rebellion? 53:10 You know, the Spirit of Prophecy says that God is not to blame 53:14 for us not having entered the land of Canaan yet. 53:18 She says it is because of the sin of insubordination. 53:21 It's because we have not met the conditions. 53:24 It is because we have not appreciated what 53:28 God has done for us. 53:29 A good beginning does not guarantee entrance 53:34 into the heavenly Canaan. 53:36 We must have both the title and the fitness. 53:41 I'd like to read a statement that we find in the book, 53:44 The Faith I Live By, page 116. 53:48 This is a classical statement by Ellen White. 53:50 And it's a wonderful statement because succinctly she explains 53:54 the relationship between sanctification 53:56 and justification. 53:57 She says this: The righteousness by which we are 54:00 justified is imputed. 54:02 The righteousness by we are sanctified is imparted. 54:09 The first is our title to heaven, 54:14 the second is our fitness for heaven. 54:19 Folks, God is not going to take anyone to heaven who does not 54:23 have the title and the fitness. 54:26 There's a lot of debate about what happened at 54:28 Minneapolis in 1888. 54:30 I'll tell you, Ellen White has a statement where it's very 54:32 succinct, and very simple. 54:34 She says that Jones and Waggoner taught the righteousness 54:38 of Christ, which is manifested in obedience to all of 54:41 the commandments of God. 54:42 There it is! You know you can debate, and you can argue, 54:46 but that is the essence of the message that Ellen White, 54:49 and Jones, and Waggoner, gave in 1888; 54:52 was that the righteousness of Christ, received in the life, 54:56 imputed to us, is manifested by obedience to all of the 55:00 commandments of God. 55:02 I'd like to end our study today by going to the book of 55:07 Romans 6, Romans 6:22, 23, Romans 6:22, 23. 55:15 And I want you to notice the stages here. 55:17 There are four key ideas, particularly in verse 22. 55:22 It says here in verse 22: 55:30 Is that what happened to Israel when they were 55:34 redeemed from Egypt? 55:35 Were they set free from bondage? Yes, notice: 55:43 Did Israel now become slaves of God, servants of God? 55:46 Yes, they did. Absolutely! 55:48 Now notice what it continues saying. 55:54 What is the fruit when you've been freed from your first 55:57 slave master, from the slave master, and you become 56:00 a slave of God, voluntary slave of God? 56:03 What comes as a result? holiness. 56:11 And then notice: at the end what? everlasting life. 56:17 And, by the way, that's Canaan. 56:18 In this verse you have everything that we've talked 56:22 about this morning: deliverance from bondage, 56:26 becoming slaves of God, producing fruit unto holiness, 56:32 and eventually entering the heavenly land of Canaan. 56:38 Folks, by what's happening in the world, I have no doubts 56:42 that we are at the very doors of Canaan. 56:45 It's amazing what we've been seeing in the news. 56:49 But what we need to do is realize that we who have been 56:53 baptized, we who have accepted the blood of Jesus, 56:56 we need to feed on the word. 56:59 We need to learn to pray fervently to Jesus. 57:03 We need to hang in there. 57:05 We need to obey God's commandments, not because 57:08 we have to, but because we love God. 57:10 Because of what God has done for us. 57:12 And in this way, not only have the title, 57:15 but the fitness for heaven. 57:17 And may it happen very soon. 57:20 Let us pray. Father in heaven, we thank You for the marvelous 57:25 way in which You have revealed Your plan of salvation in the 57:29 journey of Israel from Egypt to Canaan. 57:32 Father we thank You because You delivered us from bondage. 57:36 We thank you because now we can be Your slaves, 57:39 and You're a loving Master. 57:41 Father we ask that You will help us to appreciate 57:44 what You have done for us. 57:45 Reveal Your love to us each day so that our hearts might be 57:49 filled with love for You, and we might obey you; 57:53 not because we have to, not as an obligation, 57:56 but because we love You. 57:57 Father, we want to spend eternity with You 58:01 in the heavenly Canaan. 58:03 And so we ask that You will prepare a place for us. 58:06 We thank You Lord for hearing our prayer for we ask it 58:09 in Jesus' name, Amen. |
Revised 2015-06-01