Turn to Exodus 23, Exodus 23. The title of this message, THE ANGEL OF THE LORD, THE ANGEL OF THE LORD.

Scripture teaches us THAT THERE IS AN INNUMERABLE COMPANY OF ANGELS CREATED BY GOD TO MINISTER, TO LOOK AFTER THOSE WHO ARE TO BE HEIRS OF SALVATION. THEY ARE VERY REAL. WE DO NOT WORSHIP ANGELS IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM, BUT THEY ARE CREATED TO LOOK AFTER YOU. WATCH AFTER YOU!

I have no doubt this place is surrounded by angels. Was it Elijah when the young man was scared of that army and Elijah prayed and said, LORD OPEN HIS EYES. And when he opened his eyes, the whole hillside was full of chariots of fire, angels, angels SPIRITS OF GOD.

THERE IS MORE WITH THEM, WITH ELIJAH AND THAT YOUNG MAN, THAN THERE WERE IN THAT ARMY. AND THERE IS MORE WITH US THAN THERE IS AGAINST US. WE HAVE, NOW THE WHOLE WORLD IS AGAINST US, BUT MY SOUL. WE HAVE AN INNUMERABLE COMPANY OF ANGELS THAT LOOK AFTER US. WHY DO WE WORRY? SERIOUSLY, WHY DO WE WORRY? SIN, I'll give you the answer, SIN, that's why.

It says in Hebrews 1.14, speaking here of angels, Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? They've been watching over you from the cradle to the grave.

Now here in verse 20, We have an angel that sent of God. He said, behold, I send an angel before thee to keep thee in the way and bring thee into the place which I have prepared. First of all, this angel, if you'll notice, this one has a capital A. This is not just an angel. This one is the messenger of the covenant. This is the angel of the covenant. THIS IS THE ONE WHO FULFILLED THE COVENANT. THIS ANGEL IS THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. THIS ANGEL IS THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. And we'll see that as I go along in what God has to say about this angel.

Christ Himself is this angel And it says here, I send an angel before thee. Christ Himself said that He was sent of God. In John 7, verse 29, He says, But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He hath sent Me. He sent Me into this world to look after and take care of His people, His church.

Behold, I send an angel before thee, I thought this morning. I wrote this down this morning. He has sent this angel, the Lord Jesus Christ before us in the covenant of grace. He went before us in that covenant of grace. He went before us in creation, all things created by Him and for Him. He went before us in type throughout the whole Old Testament. All these types and pictures speak of the Lord Jesus Christ. He went before us to the cross. in order to die for our sins. He went before us to the grave. He's already been to the grave I'm going to and He took the sting out of it. He took the victory out of it. He went before us in the resurrection. He's the firstborn from the dead. He went before us into the veil of the Holy of Holies. He's called in Hebrews the forerunner. He went before us. Our Lord has gone before us.

and here's His work to keep thee in the way. This angel which is the Lord Jesus Christ has gone before us to keep us in the way. He has full responsibility of you, all you who believe and all who shall ever believe and all who have believed. He has full responsibility to bring you home SPOTLESS. He's our surety. I'M HIS RESPONSIBILITY TO BRING HOME. THAT GIVES ME COMFORT, THAT GIVES ME COMFORT.

You know, salvation, and I've told you this many times, is NOT A COOPERATIVE EFFORT ON OUR PART. THE LORD SAVED ME, AND HE'S BRINGING ME HOME, AND HE'S GOING TO BRING ME HOME SPOTLESS. He'll go before thee in the way. Now they were in the wilderness. They didn't know the way. They didn't know where they were going, but He did. I don't know what tomorrow brings, but He does. I don't know how long I'll live, but He does. He'll keep thee in the way. New Union of Scripture tells us this. Christ said in John 14, I am the way. I am the way of righteousness. I am the way to the Father. He said no man comes to the Father but by Me. I'm the way and He keeps us in that way.

You know the scripture says that if it were possible that this false gospel being preached is so close that if it were possible it would deceive the very elect of God. You know why you're not deceived? He keeps you in the way. There's that still small voice that's spoken of over in the Old Testament that says, this is the way, this is the way. Every time you come here and you hear the gospel, you're hearing that voice again say, this is the way, this is the way. He keeps us in the way.

Our perseverance is grounded in His power, not our strength. It says in 1 Peter 1.5, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. He keeps us believing. I don't keep myself believing. He does. How much unbelief is still in us? How many times does He say to His disciples, Oh, you little faith, why are you so fearful? Why do you doubt? Oh, our God keeps us by His power and He keeps us through believing Him. Though at times it be ever so weak. But it's there. It's never non-existent. It's there.

And he, listen, he keeps us in the way and he's bringing us to a place. He says, the place which I have prepared. Eden, nobody prepared Eden. Adam didn't prepare Eden, did he? Adam and Eve didn't go in there and dress it up and take care of it. They didn't go in there and prepare Eden. God did. God created the heavens and the earth, He created a place called Eden, and the last thing He made was Adam, and then put him in a garden, in a prepared place. He's taken them to a prepared place, Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey. And He's taken us to a prepared place, Heaven.

In John 14, one of my favorite verses. LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED. YOU BELIEVE IN GOD, BELIEVE ALSO IN ME. FOR IN MY FATHER'S HOUSE ARE MANY MANSIONS. IF IT WERE NOT SO, I WOULD HAVE TOLD YOU. I GO AND PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU. I'M NOT GOING TO GO AND PREPARE A PLACE TO SEE WHO SHOWS UP. I'M NOT GOING TO GO AND PREPARE A PLACE TO SEE WHO ACCEPTS ME. I'M GOING TO GO AND PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU.

He's talking to his disciples. I'm talking to some of his disciples this morning. He said, I prepared a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will, that's a promise, come again and receive you to myself. I think, why in the world would I ever kick against dying? The Lord's come to get me. When I'm ripe, when this fruit is ripe, the Lord will pick it and take it home when it's time.

In Matthew 25, verse 34, Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. God prepared a place for us from the foundation of the world. This place is prepared, and He is not going to lose one of those for whom this place is prepared. He said, I won't lose one sheep. No man was able to pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which is greater than all, gave them to me, and no man can pluck them out of His hand.

And then verse 21, look here at the authority of this angel. Beware of him. People think so little of Jesus Christ, the Jesus Christ of this Bible. They think so little of Him. BEWARE OF HIM AND OBEY HIS VOICE. PROVOKE HIM NOT, FOR HE WILL NOT PARDON YOUR TRANSGRESSIONS.

This is how I know this angel is God. None can forgive sin but God only. FOR MY NAME IS IN HIM. He's never said that about any other angel, but this one he says, MY NAME IS IN HIM.

Here, first of all, is a call to reverence. Don't take Him lightly. When you hear the Gospel preached and you hear the Word of God read as Matthew read, you're hearing His voice. This is His Word. This is God speaking. Don't take that for granted. Beware of Him.

And you'll notice something here. It's not the law they are told to obey, is it? It's a PERSON. OBEY HIS VOICE when He speaks. What was it Mary said? WHATSOEVER HE SAYS, DO IT. She said that to the servants. WHATSOEVER HE SAYS, DO IT.

And this angel, which is the Lord Jesus Christ, He has POWER TO FORGIVE. He has POWER TO PARDON. ONLY THE LORD JESUS CHRIST HAS AUTHORITY TO PARDON OUR TRANSGRESSIONS. THAT'S WHAT IT SAYS OVER MATTHEW 9-6. IT SAYS THE SON OF MAN HATH POWER ON EARTH TO FORGIVE SINS. BECAUSE THE SON OF MAN IS ALSO THE SON OF GOD. AND HE HAS THE POWER TO FORGIVE SINS.

LORD FORGIVE ME. I COULD ASK YOU TO FORGIVE ME. YOU MIGHT AND YOU MIGHT NOT. AND IF YOU DON'T and it's not going to have any eternal consequences but the Lord can forgive me and put away my sins. He can do it and He's done it if He has saved me.

So here's a gospel warning when the gospel is preached obedience is required. You know over on the Mount of Transfiguration in Matthew 17 5 when our Lord was transfigured in front of His disciples THERE WAS A VOICE SPOKE FROM HEAVEN, AND THE VOICE, GOD THE FATHER, SAID, THIS IS MY BELOVED SON, IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED, HEAR YE HIM.

Listen to Him. Listen to Him, and those who reject Him will perish under God's wrath. You go over and read Revelation 6.16, and you will read of the wrath of the Lamb. you'll read of the wrath of the Lamb. And He says here, My name is in Him. Every attribute of God is seen, revealed in Jesus Christ. It says the whole Godhead dwells in Him bodily. The whole Godhead does. If you want to know God, see Him, go to Jesus Christ. Look to Jesus Christ. He said, Take my yoke upon you and learn of ME. ME. If you learn of Him, you'll learn of God.

And then we see here in verse 22, VICTORY THROUGH OBEDIENCE. He said, If you obey His voice, I'll be an enemy unto thine enemies and an adversary to thy adversaries. God Himself takes the side of His people, not rebels. NOT REBELS. There is obedience to the faith. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. He that believes and is baptized shall be saved. That's the first act of obedience, bowing to Him, believing on Him. That's the first act of obedience. He saves rebels but He saves them from their rebellion. They don't stay that way. I'll be an enemy to your enemy and adversary to your adversary.

Who are our enemies? Who's our true enemies? Well, my greatest enemy you're looking at, me. That's my greatest enemy. That's my greatest problem. Nobody on this earth is a bigger problem to me than me. I struggle with sin daily. I struggle with unbelief daily. It's a struggle.

And then he says here in verse 23, My angel shall go before thee. The first time he said that, he said over in verse 23, Behold, I send an angel before thee to keep thee in the way, and bring thee into the place which I have prepared for thee. That is salvation, that is his part. That is him saving us.

Now here is our experience of salvation in this narrative here. He says here in verse 23, My name shall go before thee, here it is again, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, and I will cut them off.

How many times have you just read that? I've read this many times and we read these nations that are in the Promised Land. And we read of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, Jebusites, but you know, in the Bible, every name has a meaning. You know that? You know, we throw out names now, you know, you name your kids because it's usually a cute name or something. But they named their names, they named their children with names that had meaning.

And these names, when you start learning to do a word search, Then you see the spiritual aspect of this. He says, I want to drive these out. My angel is going to go before you. He's going to bring you into these. He said, listen here, for mine angel shall go before thee and bring thee in unto the Amorites.

You know what? Amorites comes from a word that means self-boasting. I'm going to bring you into, here's the real conviction of sin. Let me try to make sense of this. When God saves us, He reveals to us our self, doesn't He? And you realize how much self-boasting there is in you. And God says, I'm going to drive that out of you. I'm going to drive it out of you.

Hittites has this meaning, fear, terror. Adam said, I heard your voice and I was afraid. But now you want to hear his voice, don't you? You know the natural man's afraid of everything. Someone said this, he that fears God fears nothing else. He that does not fear God fears everything else. I'm going to drive that kind of fear out of you. You're going to trust me. You're going to learn to trust me.

Parasites or parasites are parasites too, but parasites that has a meaning of unrestrained. You know, you know that there was a time in our life that we would like to have been unrestrained. Unrestrained lust. I mean that could be power, money, sex, it don't matter. Unrestrained. Do we not see that in people? Do we not see that in our country? Unrestrained. Defund the police. Get rid of the law. We'll be our own law. Unrestrained. I do not want God to leave me to my unrestrained self. It would be disaster! He's going to drive this out of you. This spirit of unrestrained, whether it be lust after power, whatever it is, He's going to drive this out of you.

Canaanites! Merchant! Peddler! Peddler of works. Peddler of works salvation. A merchant. What was it Simon Magus said It was, I think it was Simon Magus, offered money to Peter to have the power, the gift of the Holy Ghost to heal. He said, here's some money, let me have that. Merchant. God's going to drive that out of him. He's going to drive it out of his people.

Hivite, a villager, a person of the world. He's going to bring you out. You're not of the world anymore. You used to be. You're not now. You're not of the world.

Jebusite, one trodden, polluted, polluted, polluted in our sins like that baby cast in the field. He said, I'm going to drive that out of you. I'm going to drive it out of you. But here's a very crucial point. God does not remove these enemies all at once. When the Lord saved us, He put away our sins completely. He made us to know that our sins have been put away. But yet THE PRESENCE OF SIN HAS NOT BEEN PUT AWAY. THE TEMPTATIONS OF SIN HAS NOT BEEN PUT AWAY. YOU SEE, HE USES SIN TO KEEP US HUMBLE AND DEPENDENT. SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS WILL GROW IN ITS PLACE.

Look down in verse 29 and 30. This is just, boy, the spiritual light that's in this. I will not drive them out from before thee in a year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field multiply against thee. By little and little I'll drive them out from before thee until thou be increased and inherit the land. Isn't that something? I'll do it little by little. I'll do a little but a little. Now I'll get back to that when I get down to that verse.

But now He calls here, and this is where, I'm telling you, this is what I said the other night, this is where the rubber meets the road. He calls for separation in worship. I cannot go where a place does not preach the gospel. I don't want to go someplace where they're close to preaching the gospel, where they got close to it or most of it. No, it's all of it or none of it. I'm not going. And here's one of the reasons why. God said don't do it. God said don't do it. In verse 24, Thou shalt not bow DOWN TO THEIR GODS, NOR SERVE THEM, NOR DO AFTER THEIR WORKS. And the reason God told them this is because He knew they were going to do it. They did it too. They did it. Don't think you wouldn't do it. You'll do it. If God lets you alone, I wrote an article, I think it's in his bulletin, I WOULD HAVE IF I COULD HAVE. I WOULD HAVE IF GOD HADN'T RESTRAINED ME. That's the only difference, restraining grace.

But thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images." Don't you keep any of it? What was Solomon's downfall? What was his downfall? Besides 700 women, or 700 wives. I have nothing against wives, but 700 of them? That's not very wise, yes. No, I'm going to get off that. But he kept their gods, he kept their groves, he built groves to their gods. And God took the kingdom from him later after he died, separated that kingdom because of what he did. You say you wouldn't do that. God brings Israel across the Red Sea. He brings them out of Egyptian bondage. HE DESTROYS EGYPT RIGHT IN THEIR PRESENCE AND THEY FLOAT ASHORE AT THEIR FEET. THEIR ENEMIES ARE LAYING AT THEIR FEET. Well, not long after Moses goes up on a mountain, you know what they do? They have Aaron make a golden calf and they fall down before it. You think, HOW CAN THEY DO THAT? Well, you would have if you could have. If God let you, you would do it too. That's the reality of grace. You would do it too.

But he says here, Thou shalt not bow down to their God. There can be no mixture of true worship with a false gospel. There can't be. There can't be. Some think they can do that. But it can't be. God says, No, don't do it. You know, 1 Thessalonians is a good example of this. Paul says, You forsook your idols and followed the Living God. He said, You followed Me and you followed the Living God. You see, God must be worshiped in SPIRIT and in TRUTH and EXCLUSIVELY.

And then we see the blessing here in verse 25 of service. You shall serve the LORD your God. We are His servants. We're not our own. I'm not my own. Has God taught you that? You're not your own, what you have is not your own, it all belongs to Him. The earth is the Lord's, the fullness thereof, and they who dwell therein. It's all His. He's just given us what we have. Have you ever really thought about whose servant you are? Somebody says, I'm nobody's servant. Oh, yes you are. If you're not God's servant, you're a servant of darkness. You're the servant of the spirit of darkness. Satan, you're the servant of Satan. You don't even know it. Don't even know it. I didn't know it. You'd never convinced me as I was growing up as a teenager and all that stupid stuff I did that I was a servant of Satan. You'd never convinced me of that until God saved me. And he translated it to me, it says in Colossians, From the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of his dear Son, now I see. Now I see.

And he blesses here, look, he blesses our daily provision and he preserves, he preserves our spiritual health. He's doing it right here, right now. Spiritual health is being preserved listening to this message, this gospel. And you shall serve the Lord your God, and He shall bless thy bread and thy water." We pray, Lord, bless this food today. He does, doesn't He? He does. And I pray, Lord, bless the bread and the water here today, the bread of life and the water of life. Enable us to drink and eat of Christ.

I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. And in verse 26, look here, we see the FRUITFULNESS of His promise. There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren in the land. The FRUITFULNESS! You know, God's blessings is, YOU PEOPLE ARE A FRUITFUL PEOPLE! You're a GIVING PEOPLE. God's blessed you, and you give. You take care of me and my wife, wherever she's at, there she is. You take care of us. The Lord's giving you a heart to take care of missionaries and help people. Oh, he said, there shall nothing cast their young nor be barren in the land. The number of thy days I will fulfill. I'll bring you to your full life. You'll have a full life. So he's saying, the number of thy days will be fulfilled. You'll have a full life. IT DOESN'T MATTER IF A PERSON DIES AT 20 OR 90, THEY HAVE A FULL LIFE. THEY HAVE THE LIFE GOD GAVE THEM. I'LL BRING YOU TO A FULL LIFE, THE LIFE I GAVE YOU.

And in verse 27, the Lord wins the battle. He said, I'll send my fear before thee. Victory belongs entirely to the Lord. He controls the hearts of men. He said, I'll send my fear before you. You know, over in Joshua, he tells him that. And over in Deuteronomy 11 and Deuteronomy 2, God says, I'll put my fear of you in their hearts. I like what Mary, Queen of Scots said. She said, I fear the prayers of John Knox more than an army of soldiers. He said, I'll put my fear in their hearts. They'll be afraid of you.

And then in verse 28, we see our God is a God of means. He said, I will send hornets before thee. Hornets, I'm going to drive them out with hornets. You're not going to have to go in there. No, I'm going to do it. I'm going to drive them out with hornets. You know, all serve God. God has many servants. God has many warriors that we don't even recognize. I'll send hornets. This is a promise, listen, this is a promise rooted in God's faithfulness. I will. Take God at His Word, I will. How many times does He say over in Isaiah, I will and you shall, I will and you shall. It's not you shall, if you shall, I will. No, it's I will and you shall. My God, if He waited on us, nothing would happen. But boy, this struck me. This struck me. He said, I'll send horns before the. .. Now remember those Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, and so on. And there's just a real picture of sin that's in us. he says I'm gonna send hornets before thee and drive them out

I thought this morning I thought here is a picture of the stinging conviction of sin brought on by the Holy Spirit Has anything ever really pricked your heart? You've learned the message and it's really pricked your heart and just stung you. And you said, oh Lord, I'm not going to do that again. Lord, help me not do that again. Forgive me. Forgive me. Forgive me of all these sins that I mentioned earlier. Forgive me of them.

I'm going to send hornets, a stinging conviction of sin that drives us to Christ. And we ask for mercy, forgiveness. And we ask God to help us to walk in a manner pleasing in His sight.

And he says here, I'm not going to drive them out from thee in one year, lest the land be desolate and the beast of the field multiply. But little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased and inherit the land.

Here is growth over time, and it comes through this conviction of sin and work of the Holy Spirit. But here's growth, you know, here's how spiritual growth is, little by little. Don't you feel like spiritual growth is so slow? It's like, man, I've believed the gospel 50 years. Why am I not further? Why do I not know more of the scriptures than I do? It seems like I take one step forward and two steps backwards.

NOW THIS DOES NOT MEAN, LISTEN, THIS DOES NOT MEAN WE BECOME LESS AND LESS SINFUL BY NATURE. WE STILL HAVE A SINFUL NATURE THAT'S JUST AS SINFUL AS THE DAY WE WERE BORN. THAT DOESN'T CHANGE. THAT'S STILL IN US.

But here's what I think it does mean. It means we grow in maturity, we grow in grace, we grow in knowledge of Christ, and our desire to know Him and be like Him grows stronger and stronger as we get older. If not, there's a problem.

Oh, little by little, he said, I'll drive them out. If you drove them out all at once, we'd just end up self-righteous, wouldn't we? Self-righteousness will grow on concrete. It'll grow anywhere.

And then He sets our boundaries. I'm going to wind this up. He said, I set thy bounds here in verse 31. In verse 31, He says, let me get the right page. And I will set thy bounds from the Red Sea even to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river." And God said, I'll set thy bounds.

There ain't no country without boundaries. You've got to have boundaries, borders. He said, I'm going to set your borders. That's what He's saying. But God determines where we live in the time of our lives. I didn't just happen to be born in the United States. That was by the will and purpose of God. And the year I was born, the very day I was born, the very second I was born, is of God. It's of God.

He gives us, listen, He gives victory, yet He commands His people to act in faith and obedience, even though He gives the victory. Because here, I'll set thy bounds from the Red Sea, even to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the river. For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and thou shalt drive them out before thee.

This is FAITH! This is FAITH! These people act in FAITH and OBEDIENCE. We're not sitting in a rocking chair watching it happen. We are PARTICIPANTS in this thing of salvation. We are EXPERIENCING this matter of salvation. We don't CAUSE it, but we EXPERIENCE it.

HE SAYS THERE IN THAT PART, AND THOU SHALT DRIVE THEM OUT BEFORE THEE. AND I THOUGHT THAT SCRIPTURE, WHEN PAUL WROTE IN ROMANS 6, SIN SHALL NOT HAVE DOMINION OVER YOU. THESE PEOPLE, HE'S SAYING HERE, AND THESE SINS WE LOOKED AT, WILL NOT HAVE DOMINION OVER YOU. HE SAID BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT UNDER THE LAW, YOU'RE UNDER GRACE. SIN IS NOT YOUR MASTER NO MORE.

that used to reign in you like a king but not anymore it's under my control it's under my authority it not it it can't condemn you it can't condemn you and then we see here in verse 32 no compromise thou shalt make no covenant with them do not bid false religion godspeed he said don't tell him have a good day that's what john says don't tell him to have a good day You can tell everyone else to have a good day, but when they start coming to you with a false gospel, don't tell them to have a good day. Tell them to leave. Don't bid them Godspeed, even if it's your family. That's the hardest one.

Friendship, listen here, Thou shalt make no covenant with them. Friendship with the world, James said in James 4 verse 4, is an enemy with God. An enemy with God.

And here's the reason why in verse 33, and I close. Here's the reason for the separation. Lest they make thee sin against me. And you will. If you rub shoulders with them, you will not, listen here, the world will not improve the believer. There is absolutely no situation where the world will improve you. Compromise always brings a snare every time.

The angel of the Lord goes before His people, keeps them in the way, defeats their enemies, brings them safely into their inheritance that He has prepared for them. Our confidence is not in ourselves but in Him who was sent of God to lead us in the way and bring us home. This is the ANGEL OF THE LORD, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.