3ABN On the Road

Exodus, Grace & Law

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Stephen Bohr

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Series Code: OTR

Program Code: OTR000573


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.


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Revised 2015-06-01