That's a good hymn to sing with
this message, very good. We talked about when I go over
Jordan. It's the final place the Israelites
had to go across into the promised land. All right, go back to Exodus
13 with me. Exodus 13. Let me, I need to
remind everyone what this story of the children of Israel is
all about. The story of the children of
Israel is the story of all of God's people. What happened to
the sons of Jacob? That's the children of Israel,
sons of Jacob. What happened to them represents
what happens to all of God's elect. Israel was God's elect,
whereas Jacob have I loved. And what happened to the Israelites,
sons of Jacob, represents what happens to all of God's people. Now, Paul said in Romans 2, he
said, A Jew is not one outwardly, and neither is a Christian. A
Jew is one inwardly, whose circumcision, or that is the mark, the sign,
The true sign of a true Jew or a believer, a Christian, is in
the heart, not in the outward flesh. Are you with me? Paul said that very clearly,
that those who are redeemed are not redeemed by an animal, never
have been, never will be, but they're all redeemed by a lamb. That's what John got up and said,
Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away sin. Those lambs
could never do that, but he did by one sacrifice. And they were
led, it says in the story of the Israelites, the angel of
God led them through the wilderness. Well, the Holy Spirit of God
leads all his people. He leads them through this wilderness.
And just as God, just as God, and here's the story of the Jews,
and in short, God came to them through a messenger, Moses. They didn't know God. They were
in Egypt in bondage. They didn't even know that. Or
at least it didn't bother them. But God chose them, loved them,
in mercy and grace came to reveal himself to them. And he did. He did it through a messenger
of the covenant. Are you with me? You've heard
this so many times. I just told Brother Gabe, I said,
it's difficult as this is. It's tough as it is to try to. Convey all this and and and just
stand up in front of people difficult as that a as I really enjoy this. I really did have nothing I'd
rather be doing. I'm not talking about preaching
person I'm just talking about me and about these things. But just as God. Came. through a messenger to reveal
to his chosen people, his covenant, what he purposed to do, save
them. They weren't any better than
the Egyptians, but God in love and mercy and grace chose them
and purposed to save them and he sent this message of deliverance,
redemption for these rebellious God ignoring people, the Israelites. And he told them how to worship
him. There's one way. He told them that. One way to
approach me. One way to worship me. You're
going to be redeemed one way. It's by blood. You're going to
know that. I'm going to keep telling you
this over and over again until you know it. But it's the blood
that makes it atonement for your soul. And it's not animals. God's going to send his Messiah
down here with his own precious blood. He's going to redeem his
people from their sin. Now, he told that to the Israelites,
not the world, not the Egyptians, the Israelites. And he performed
wonder after wonder after wonder right before their eyes as tokens
of signs to show them that this is for you. You're mine. You're bought with a price, you're
not your own. I've chosen thee. I'm bringing you out and I'm
bringing you in. Now, that's exactly your story
if you're a spiritual Jew. That is your story. It's exactly,
God has hid these things from the world. God is bringing his
people out and they're sojourned through this world. An angel
led them by a cloudy pillar. cloud and a pillar. And David
put them both together, a cloudy pillar. He led them all and never
took it away. So, he says in chapter 13, verse
3, Moses said to the people, and I say, you remember this, You remember when you heard the
gospel came out from Egypt out of the house of bondage. Remember. Don't ever forget that. Why does
the gospel ever cease to? Why would the gospel cease to
move us? As everyone is, I think it was
Wednesday night or maybe last Sunday morning, if the gospel
when's the last time the gospel really moved, I mean, Bunyan
in his book, Holy War, said, Where is Mr. Wetteyes? Where
is Mr. Wetteyes? Why would the gospel, such a
glorious gospel of God's mercy and love and grace and wonder of wonders, so great salvation,
cease to move us? Why, we forgot where it came
from. That's exactly why we forgot
where we came from. We begin to be lifted up with
the knowledge we have and take things for granted, just like
the disciples of old, the apostles. They were with the Lord for about
three years, and they were somebody. They were somebody. And the Lord said, except you
repent and be converted and become as little children, you'll not
enter the kingdom of heaven. May we always remember, he said,
remember this. The Lord said, this do in remembrance
of me. Peter wrote, I write unto you,
I write unto you to stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance.
It's what we come in here every time for, is to remember the
pit from which we were digged and remember how merciful and
loving and gracious and Marvelous, the Lord's salvation is being
toward us and remember where we're going. That's what we do every time
we come here, remember. Peter said that you might be
mindful, consider. And you know, every one of us,
me included, would do well before hearing the word every time.
Listen to me. Every time before we hear this
message, every one of us would do well to think back where we
were when the Lord found us and sent this gospel to us. I mean,
go way back if you've been around a few years. Like the children
of Israel should have stopped and thought, you know, just twenty
years ago. And that's nothing, isn't it? They should have stopped
and thought. Just twenty years ago, I was
down in the muck, in the mire. in a filth and in a slime, a
slave, and didn't know it. Had food and drink and thought
I was all right, but look where I was. But God, praise Jehovah,
if they had just stopped and thought along the way when they
were to murmur and complain, just stop. Oh, how could I do
this? Look where I was. Now I've got good shoes on. I've
got good clothes on. I've got bread falling out of
the sky. I've got water following me out
of a rock. I've got an angel going before
me. I've got all these companions with me. I'm free! If I had just
stopped and thought, I came out of the pit, literally. You're looking at a man that
was literally in the gutter. How could I forget that? How could the story of my redemption
cease to move me unless I forgot that? That's exactly the reason. Don't ever forget. Don't forget it. Remember, remember
where He brought you. He came out from Egypt, not of
this world. He came out of the house of bondage. Oh, how'd He do it? How'd He
do it? What got us out? John, how'd
we get out of that pit? How'd we get out of that pit?
We'd crawl and scrape. We didn't know we were in it.
Look at it, verse 33. My strength of hand. I want to
contain myself here. Maybe I shouldn't. How to get out of that pit? The
Lord reached down. We sing that song. You know,
we quit singing it. These songs get commonplace,
don't they? These songs get too familiar to us. The Lord reached down. How far
down? Way down for me. I was lost and undone, without
God, without his Son. When he reached down his hand
for me. A whole bunch of fellas in the
pit with me. Who did he get a hold of, Kelly? Me. Why me? With the strength of hand. Whose
hand? His hand. His hand. Strong hand with a high hand.
The Lord brought us out. High hand. Not underhand. A high hand. Oh my, don't forget the pit from
which we were buried. He says, remember, you remember
this day. And don't let any leavened bread
be eaten. Remember that? You remember that study? Oh,
the Egyptians, that's all they eat. Don't you eat it. Get puffed
up. You'll think you're full and
you're empty. Don't have any of that in your
houses anyway. Just basic bread. And you know
what? We went through that. Verse 9,
now he says, You'll show your son in that day. You show your
son. This is done. What we're doing here is because
of that which the Lord did to me. Son, daughter, this is what
we're doing. This is why we're here. We're
here. We're doing this to show what
the Lord did for us. We're not just going to church. We're not going through the motions.
We're worshiping the Lord for his great goodness to us. We're here because we want to. We're supposed to, yes. But we're
here because we want to be. We're doing this because of what
the Lord did for us. And this is nothing. This is
our reasonable service. He'll ask you, tell him that.
Tell him. Verse 9, tell him. We're doing
this. This is done because of that
which the Lord did unto me. Verse 8, I mean, I'm sorry, verse
8. We're doing that because of that which the Lord did unto
me when I came forth out of Egypt. And it shall be for a sign unto
thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes. Now in verse sixteen, it says
something similar. It shall be for a token upon
thine hand. and for frontlets between thine
eyes, for by strength of hand the Lord brought us forth out
of Egypt." So he said, verse 9, this will be for a sign on
their hand, a memorial, something to remember between your eyes,
and that the law be in your mouth, that is, you express it, because
with strong hand the Lord brought you out of Egypt. Now stay with
me, this took a lot of time to dig this up. What's it mean? What is this token on the hand?
It's front lip, between the eyes. What is it? A token. Now, the Jews take this very
literally. I told you about the phylacteries,
didn't I? That's what they do. Now, the
Lord condemned that. Remember, he said, you make broad
your phylacteries. You do what you do to be seen of men. Yeah,
we see all those scripture verses on your hands and on your head.
They literally strapped verses of scripture on their head and
on their hand. And if they were real religious,
they made them real big so everybody could see just how religious
they are. Me and Jehovah are good buddies. I love Jehovah. T-shirt. That's what they did, basically.
They brought their phylactery. This is not taken, this is not,
he says it's for a token. not this will be a for a token. A token a front look. Now remember
Jew is not one outwardly nor is a Christian neither is circumcision
outward we're not told to do that anymore. But yet we must
be. You understand some of you do
and then this token is front look we better be wearing it. What is. A token. That's a tough. To that that's on my hand that's
a token that the nearest thing I can use. As an illustration
is when we do these marriage vows it's the very words that
I use my pastor use other. The ring shall be for a token
of your love and unity. A token is that, a token is a
symbol, something that distinct, a mark of a pledge, of a pledge. And as I said in the wedding
vows, we say that, that it's a token of love and commitment,
token. Everybody will say I'm married.
It's a good thing to wear, man. It's a good thing to wear. It's
been done for years by wise people. It's a token. It's a sense before
your eyes and the eyes of the world. It's a good thing to wear.
See, my job doesn't let me do that. Don't give me that stuff.
I've worked every job there is. I've hung off of railroad cars
with one hand and my finger wasn't ripped off. I climbed on railroad
cars for a living. This is a good thing to do. It's a convenient thing for a
man not to wear. It's too great a temptation. You hear what I say? and consider
the wisdom of. Well it's a token of love I would
not. I love this one. Why would I be a man well token. You say that this will be a token
for you what this gospel of redemption. This has to be this. Level 11 bread all that we do
here is a token. Token. A front lip and I want
to be a little deeper with it a front lip on between your eyes
what's that well in eastern mostly far eastern countries right now
and the Jews still do it but in far eastern country you see
these Indian women that wear these little bracelets on their
foreheads with a jewel right here. It's a problem. I brace
the forehead bracelet. OK. And there's something we need
to have right between our eyes. If you have something between
your eyes, what? Tell me. If you have something between
your eyes, can you go anywhere and do anything without seeing
it? No, it's ever before your eyes. All right, I'm going to go on.
Now, so the Lord says you do all of this. This is all for
a token. on your hand front look when
you are going to solve what might go with the song. Nobody no commentators
have anything to satisfy me on this but God's word the. Psalm ninety. Over there with
the hand what is the hand he said it will be a token upon
your hand what the token. Johnny talking about everything
and talking about Passover these all of that. All of that together
is a token for a token. All of that together, unleavened
bread, they couldn't put, I'm not being foolish here, but they
couldn't. The Jews take those passages
of scripture and put them on there. Now, all of that, he says,
shall be for a token upon your hand. Well, the hand, everything
you do, everybody in here does everything with their hands,
right? everything is not a person in
here who does not work with their hands. Right whether you're at
a keyboard or a shovel and you work with your hands everything
your hands are always before you your hand this is what you
work with this is what you think yourself is what you wash yourself
with your hands. Most active part of your body
your hand and like a ring of the token I see that all the
time. A token on the hand and other people see it's a reminder.
It's always a reminder in all right look at Psalm ninety verse
sixteen and seventeen let by work let by work appear unto
by service and by glory unto their children let the beauty
of the Lord our God be upon us and established now the work
of our hands upon us. Yeah the work of our hands established
value the work Thou work. The work, let thy work appear
unto me, and the work of our hands establish it. Go over to
Psalm 92 verse 4. Psalm 92 verse 4. Thou, Lord, hast made me glad
through thy work. Is anybody with me here? This
shall be a token to the children of Israel, to them and them alone.
Oh, not some silly thing they wear on their hands, you know,
but this, all of this, what I've done, what I've done, my work
of salvation. You're going to remember it always
in all your works, all that's before you, everything you do
or say. Go back to the text. This is
what exactly what he's saying. Remember, in all that you do
or say. Verse 9. Go back to the text, quickly.
Stay with me now, come on. He says, this will be a token,
a sign, or a sign upon thy hand, a token. Verse 16. Lord, what's it to show us? A token of my strength of hand. The Lord brought you here. Are
you with me, Gabe? Establish thou thee work. I'm glad through thy work. Let
the beauty of the Lord, the work of the Lord, thy work be upon
me. You with me, John? What's he
talking about here? This work of redemption. This
is the token. It's ever before our eyes and
we long for everybody to see it. I'm married. How'd you get
married? The Lord chose me. I was gone. He's Hosea. He found me in the
ditch. He chose me, bought me, and so
forth. It's not a physical thing, an outward token. And whatever
we do, he says, establish thou the work of our hands. Whatever
we do, we need to remember, we need to consider. Not by our
works. It's not by works which we have
done, lest any man should boast. His workmanship. Does that make sense? Sure it
does. Every time it thunders, what
do you think? I hope most of you now, when it thunders, think
of what the Lord said. That He's glorified His name
and He'll continue to glorify it. Does anybody think that when
it thunders? I hope you do. I hope that's
been ingrained in you for a sign. God has glorified His Son and
still glorifying Him right in my ears. Thank you, Lord, for
reminding me of that. Well, every time you look at
your hand, it's always there. Every time
you look at your hand, you remember, with His own hand. With His hand, my times are in
His hand. With the scars in His hand, I
was redeemed, bought with a price. The first thing the Lord Jesus
Christ showed his disciples when he arose from the grave, he said,
look at my hands. This shall be open on your hand,
for with a strong hand. Not your hands. It's not to promote
your works. No, sir. His work, thy work. Establish it on my hands. Everything I set out to do and
say and all that, let it be for your glory, redounding to thy
work." John Gill didn't know that. He'd say, Amen, right now. That's what that meant. That's
what that meant. Well, what about this front look
between the eyes? This front look. Newton, I'm
not putting myself above Gill. You know that. He's forgotten
more than I'll ever. Learn, but each Newton said every
generation to have a little more light than the other. And one
person should learn from their mistakes and so on. With strong hand on the other
hand, I mean, on the other hand. On the other hand, this will
be the nail on this point. On the other hand, listen to
this carefully in the revelation chapter. 13. of all chapters. Revelation 13,
it says that the beast causeth, will cause, all others, that
is, unbelievers, to receive a mark in their hand, and upon their
forehead. What mark is it? It goes on to
say, the mark of the beast is the number of a man. the number of them and they'll
all have it in their hand and on it for you are you with me
here is anybody understand what he's saying. That God's people
have this token on their hand and between their eyes that God
has given them a God alone but yet the whole world has this
mark no it's not a visible one it's not visible you can't see
it nobody's going to have a six six six on their head but they're
going to have the mark of a man in their hand and in their head
between their eyes that is. They think they're doing something
for God. They actually think. The man,
it's man's works, man's worth, man's will, man, man, man's the
mark of a man. They actually think that they
chose God. They actually think that they
decided. They actually think that it's their will, their work.
They actually think they're working their way. They actually think
that. Who did it? That God of this world blinded
their mind. and put this mark whatever they do it's corrupted
with their work and between their eyes they actually think in their
head. That's what they think. I stopped a woman the other day. A loved one had died. And. I wanted to express my condolences
to her. And I know she's religious she's
visited this service. And. I said, I just wanted to
say how sorry I was to hear about so and so. And she just cut me
off quickly. Oh, she loved the Lord. She loved
the Lord. She's in heaven because she loved
the Lord. I said, well, that's good. And I walked out. That's what she thinks, that
that woman, that person is in heaven because she loved the
Lord. God, may it be said of me when
I die, may someone say, I believe he's with the Lord because the
Lord first loved him and gave himself for him and washed him
in the blood of the Lamb. Huh? See what I'm saying? That's what
they think. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. Well, it's this front lip between
the eyes. I had so many places in order
to turn proverbs so many places. This front lip between the eyes
is something you see, like I said. Our Lord said, if not, I'll be
single. If you had something between
your eyes, it'd make you a little cross-eyed, wouldn't it? Wouldn't it? That just occurred
to him. If you had something right there, you'd always be... It'd cross your eyes where they'd
be like one. Now do you know what he's saying?
All of this message of redemption, of God choosing you. of God bringing
you out, of God passing you over in mercy and grace, of God sending
His Son to redeem you with such a costly pride, of God bringing
you out and God bringing you in. Let it always be on your
mind. Be ever mindful of this, that the Lord, and I be single. Thy whole body is full of light
and understanding. You understand? It's the Lord's
work. It's all the Lord. By everything I do and everywhere
I go, it's the Lord. It's the Lord. frontlets between nine or by
strength of hand look down this hurry I want you to see these
verses seventeen says and up there in those previous verses
he redeemed everything that everything had to be redeemed if he's going
to be redeemed had to be redeemed by a lamb everything and nothing
wasn't redeemed without a lamb even beasts what a picture that
is of redemption only one way but if what someone will be redeemed
what happened to break his neck. Your son's life be redeemed.
Your daughter's going to have to be redeemed by the blood they're
going to have to know Christ or what. Right then. That. Sounds hard. Can you imagine the shock that
don't break that don't you know. The Lord said it's that serious. That's serious. It's not a religious game. This
is life and death if your son is not in the name of the land
or your daughter. God's going to do away with them. How serious is this? Just how
serious is every message that I'm preaching, or whoever's preaching? Are you doing your child a disservice
by having them here? They're trying to save their
neck. God's word's amazing. It's just
amazing, amazing how relevant, how true it is. It's just his
word. It shows me it's his word. Well, it says now, verse, that
God led the people, came to pass, God led the people, verse 18,
about. There was a more direct route
for them to go out of Egypt, a more direct route for them
to go to the promised land. If you look at the map, I should
have brought it up here, but there's a more direct route right
by the seaside. It would have been a little more
pleasant way, no mountains to traverse. They got to go to China. Easy by the coast, no breeze
blowing. But now there were Philistines
in the way. There were enemies in the way. God said if they
see these enemies and war begins, they're going to return to Egypt.
If the going gets real tough at first, if it gets too hard
at first, they're going to want to turn back. No, we're going
to leave them around a bad way. It's going to take a while. This
thing's going to take a while. Moses didn't know how long, neither
did anybody else. God did. Forty years. You have
400 years in bondage, it's going to take 40 years to lead to the
promised land. It's not really long, but it
seemed like it. A roundabout way. And God, in
his goodness, doesn't make a young believer. You understand that,
Vicki, don't you, what he's saying here? God, in his mercy and his
goodness, does not take a young believer. I mean, a newborn,
weak believer anyway. Without much understanding, and
just throw them to the wolves. No, no, no. Now, they're all
going to go through the same thing. Every one of them, in time. But that's a picture of how God
does not put on, especially a young believer, more than they can
bear in His goodness. You don't put a soldier, or even,
well, It wouldn't be wise to put a fellow who didn't have
any experience at all leading the charge, you know, right up
in the front. No, you get him accustomed a
little bit to some danger, some battle. Well, he said in verse 18, God
led the people by way of the wilderness. They all had to go
through the wilderness. The wilderness. Where's that? That's away from everything,
apart from the world. separate from. Not with the world's
not going to help you. They're not going to help them.
Nobody along this way helped them. Nobody helped them. Everybody was against them. And
so they had to go around these cities. They had to go through
the, apart from, far from the maddening crowd. You understand? Look at verse,
I love this. I love this. The reason I'm going
on, because you've got to see this. It says in verse 18, God
led the people about, the roundabout way, through the way of the wilderness
of the Red Sea. The children of Israel went up,
harnessed. Harnessed. Okay, did you get
that? Yoked. Together, it's a lot easier. When you're yoked with your harness,
it's a lot easier. We're going to pull me, help
me, help me. I'll help you. Harnessed. Anybody
like that as much? Apparently not. Let's go on.
Harnessed. Yoked together. Heading to glory. Harnessed. He doesn't leave us
alone. Verse 19, Moses took the bones
of Joseph with him. Joseph had swore, saying, God
will surely visit you. You will carry my bones out of
here. The scripture says, The Lord
shall raise these vile bodies. Scripture says in 1 Thessalonians,
We shall not prevent them that which sleep, but the dead in
Christ shall rise first. And so shall we all meet them,
and not a bone left behind. They're all going to the Lord,
and I'm going to leave one toe bone of His people on there. I'm going to raise all of them
there by all bodies. Nobody left behind, not a bone,
because I know not a bone will be missing or broken of Christ's
body. Well, I'm just enjoying this more than anybody. I'm going
to go on another hour or so. You can all free to leave. They
took their journey from Succoth and it camped in Ethan, an edge
of the wilderness, And the Lord went before them by day in a
pillar of a cloud, that lead them the way, pillar of cloud,
and by night a pillar of fire. And verse 22, to give them light.
You remember over there, chapter, where was it, 11, chapter 19,
I forget, where it says that it was darkness to the Egyptians,
but light to them. And David summed it all up, he
put it together, a cloudy pillar. Cloudy pillar, put them both
together, cloudy pillar. Light the way, day and night,
and said the Lord did not take it away. Never. He will not take
it away from them. All the way, going to lead them
with a cloudy pillar. Cloudy pillar. That's God's Word. This whole story is a cloud.
and obscure and vague and without meaning and hidden to the world,
to the Egyptians. But it's absolute light to you.
It just absolutely magnifies the sun's rays, filters them,
focuses them. And a pillar of fire. Oh man, we could go on and on
about that. God's Word, which speaks of Christ's consuming
fire, pillar and ground of the truth, Christ whose legs were
pillars of the truth. And on and on we could go with
that. Cloudy pillar. He'll never take it away. He'll
never take it away. He's never going to take it away
from us. That's how he's going to lead us to the promised land,
the Beulah. We're going to get there. Now, the Lord, with a strong
hand, brought us out. and led us all the way. It's
a token. This is all a token. Okay. Okay, you come, please.