Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Exodus chapter 6 and reading
for our text, verse 9. Verse 9. And Moses spake so unto
the children of Israel, but they hearkened not unto Moses for
anguish of spirit. and for cruel bondage. Exodus 6 and verse 9. And we have in our text a people
being delivered. God is delivering his children,
his people, the descendants of Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob. He is at this time bringing them
out of Egypt. Pharaoh was dealing very hardly
with them, he had been for many years. And yet here is the time
that Moses had been sent And when he first came to the children
of Israel, they really rejoiced at the expectation that God would
deliver them. But then Pharaoh, his heart hardened,
made their bondage even harder. And if it had appeared at the
beginning that they weren't really in much bondage, that they could
just walk out of Egypt. As time went on, it would appear
more and more that they were captives and that Pharaoh was
determined not to let them go. We would be reminded that this
is the history of the nation of Israel. Israel that is a nation
today, Israel, that according to the prophecies, were brought
back to their own land. And for some of us, just before
our lifetime, maybe our dear age friends, during their lifetime,
the Lord bringing about His word, that there after some 2,000 years
or 1900 years, they're brought back to
their own land. The Word of God, the Holy Bible,
is in one sense a history book. And it records the lives of men
and women. We've had it here in this chapter,
tracing the lineage of Moses and of Aaron. and a nation of
Israel that came from Abraham and through his seed. The Holy
Word of God, the Bible, describes this line. It is not, as some
will charge, a book that has cunningly devised fables in it. No, it is the true Word of God,
a history and yet a word that is a word of salvation that reveals
the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the seed of the woman
that should bruise the serpent's head and the promises of the
coming of Christ were then given to Abraham and then confirmed
to Isaac and to Jacob and they flow right through And the Lord
Jesus Christ has come. He has come of the seed of Abraham,
of the seed of Adam. He has come of the seed of David. He has come through this nation,
this nation of Israel. He has come not only to save
that nation, but to save his people out of every nation and
kindred and tongue, Jew and Gentile also. But this nation, Israel,
was a typical people, a people that we can draw lessons from
in a spiritual way. In this instance, they were being
formed into a nation. As yet, they were part of Egypt,
mixed in with them, if it were, and not yet brought out, not
yet formed into a nation, not yet having their own laws. And yet these things were just
being brought about. God was bringing them to be a
people for himself. And this really is a picture
of God's people that are in this world. Egypt is like this world
and all of God's children. are in it. They are all fallen. They are all in bondage to sin. They are all held captive by
this world, by Satan, by their own sin. They are dead in trespasses
and sins. They are unable to deliver themselves. And yet every one of them, God
does what he has done here with his literal nation Israel. He brings them out spiritually,
out of this world, makes a very clear separation. And that's
what was very vital in this instance here. God's children, Moses, Aaron, the descendants
of Abraham, They couldn't serve the Lord. They couldn't be a
nation to the Lord while they remained in Egypt and under its
laws and under its influence and under its power. That had
to be clearly broken. They had to be clearly brought
out. Pharaoh many times was trying
to get them to just stay in Egypt and to worship the Lord there,
or just go a little way and then come back. You know, there are
many most solemnly like that, that have a religion that never
separates them from the world. A religion in which they might
go a little way, and then they return back and they take up
with all of their same old sins and old ways and the ways of
the world. The world still has a power and
authority over them and over their lives. But that was not
to be so with Israel of old, and it is not to be so with God's
true people. It's not just a change of belief,
a turning over new leaf. It is to be a complete new life. They're under a complete new
headship, a new lords, not in this world, but going on pilgrimage,
going through this world as a wilderness and to a promised land. And so
we have the picture here with Israel of this time, this important
time, this time of real change, a time when They went from being
in bondage and being under Egyptian law and power to being set free. And we get a picture of what
they were going through, what they were feeling, what was happening
to them at this time. In the previous chapters, at
the end of chapter four, when Moses first came to the children
of Israel, Then we read there that the people believed that
God had appeared to Moses and Aaron and that he had visited
the children of Israel, looked on their affliction, they bowed
their heads and worshipped. Little did they know that it
wasn't just going to be a case of just asking to be set free
and off they go. Many of God's children have different
ideas of how they could be a Christian and how they would be the Lord's
people. But like the children of Israel
here, and Israel, of course, is the name which is given to
Jacob. And then came the name of his
children and descendants, Jacob's 12 sons being the 12 tribes of
Israel, of Jacob. And the reason why he was given
the name of Israel was because he wrestled with God and with
man and prevailed when Esau was seeking after him. Therefore,
God changed his name from Jacob, which is the planter, to Israel,
which is a prince. And so the children of Israel
here might have thought, well, God will just bring us out and
there won't be any conflicts, any troubles, any hindrances,
any distress, those distresses are behind us. But here in the
very time of being delivered, in the process of being delivered,
in a time of blessing, a time that God had foretold to Abraham
and to Isaac and Jacob, This time, even though Moses and Aaron
comes and brings to them many promises that God had just given
to them, Moses spake so. The words of our text, he spake
so. These promises that are in the
earlier part of the chapter, especially from verse six to
verse eight, spake so unto the children of Israel, but They
hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit and for cruel
bondage. That is how they were feeling
at this time. Anguish of spirit, straightness,
trouble, sorrow, grief, for cruel bondage. Pharaoh, he was reacting
to the request for them to be set free. by taking away the
straw that they made the bricks with and then expecting them
still to do the same number of bricks. And their bondage, their
trials had got harder and harder. Well, we would go then from the
picture that we have before us of Israel as a nation and learn
how it is that God brings his people out from spiritual bondage,
out from this world, from the power of sin, and brings them
to himself and forms them a people for himself. So I want to look
with the Lord's help at three points this morning. Firstly,
a deliverance purposed and planned. by God, a deliverance purposed
and planned by God. And then secondly, the trials
in being delivered. They hearken not unto Moses for
anguish of spirit, for cruel bondage. But then lastly, the
promises of God not hearken to for anguish of spirit, and yet
nevertheless fulfilled. Just because they didn't listen
to these promises, because of what they were going to, didn't
stop God fulfilling them. But firstly, we have a deliverance
purposed and planned by God. This was so right back in Abraham's
day, In Genesis chapter 15, we read of what God promised to
Abraham. He says in verse 13, know of a surety that thy seed
shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall
serve them, and they shall afflict them 400 years, and also that
nation Whom they shall serve will I judge, and afterward shall
they come out with great substance. Thou shalt go to thy fathers
in peace, thou shalt be buried in a good old age, but in the
fourth generation they shall come hither again, for the iniquity
of the Amorites is not yet full. We have that also in speaking
in Exodus, where they were then brought out, and when they were
brought out, it refers back to this time in Exodus 12 and verse
40. Now the sojourning of the children
of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was 430 years. And it came to pass at the end
of the 430 years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all
the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. The Apostle Paul refers to this
same time, writing to the Galatians in Galatians chapter 3 and verse
17. And he speaks of the promises
that were given to Abraham. Verse 16, Now to Abraham and
his seed were the promises made. He saith not unto seeds as of
many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant
that was confirmed before of God in Christ, That is the promise
of Christ and the promises that were given to Abraham that his
seed would be a stranger in that land and then they would come
out and go and be brought into Canaan as an inheritance. The
law, which was 430 years after, cannot disannul that it should
make the promise of none effect. Now the law was given on Mount
Sinai after they came out, 50 days after they came out of Egypt. And so when we put together with
the Apostle Paul and the promises and the 430 years, we have that
time is from the time that God gave the promise to Abraham. And though it does read as if
it is 430 years actually in Egypt, it was 215 in Egypt, 215 going
into Egypt, because we had Abraham's life, we have Isaac's life, we
have Jacob, and then we have them brought into Egypt. And the time then in Egypt, 215
years and then brought out. So from the time
of the promise, the time of promise to Abraham, to the time brought
out. And so it is a deliverance that
was purposed and planned by God 430 years before it came to pass. And we would save him further,
even from eternity. The purposes and counsels of
God are from eternity. And so what we have is a working
out of what God had already appointed and planned. And dear friends,
that is the case, not only with Israel as we have it here. And of course, if we went through
the history of Israel even further, We come to when they were in
bondage again in Babylon, that that had been foretold as well,
that they would have 70 years in Babylon and then be brought
out again. And even 130 years before they
went into Babylon, that was told to Hezekiah at the time that
the Lord delivered them out of Assyria's hand. So we have right
through the Word of God very clear evidence God knows the
end from the beginning and He is planning and it is His counsel,
His purposes. And this is especially so with
His people, His chosen people out of every nation, kindred
and tongue. We have all sinned. We have all
sinned in Adam. We've come short of the glory
of God. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. No man can redeem his own soul. We are dead in sins. We are dead in our transgressions,
our trespasses, and we are under the sentence of death. Our bodies
must die. We know that, we have the graves
around us and we have many of our loved ones that we've seen
laid in the grave. We know that one day we must
also die. But after death, the judgment,
and then either eternally in heaven or eternally in hell,
unless the Lord works a work of his grace and mercy here,
unless he saves us and gives us eternal life, unless he opens
our eyes and brings us out from this world and from the love
of the world and the love of sin and from being dead in sins. Unless He does that work and
in a spiritual way makes us new creatures in Christ, makes us
to have, instead of the God of this world being our God, have
the true and living God, Instead of being governed by the laws
that are contrary to God's laws, we are governed by His laws. Instead of trusting to our own
righteousness, be brought to trust to the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ, to trust that He has, through His shed
blood at Calvary, put away our sins. satisfying the justice
of God, endure the wrath of God against us for our sin, that
the Lord in that way has made a way of escape for us. And there is a time with every
one of God's people, those that he has chosen and purposed to
save from eternity, a time just like the children of Israel here,
that He will set them free from the bondage to sin, to Satan,
to the world, make them new creatures in Christ, make them a people
that are His people and that shall serve Him, believe in Him,
love Him, and be a people that shall be with the Lord forever
and ever. But we want to make it very clear
that God's children, those that shall be in heaven for eternity,
when they come into this world, they are in as much bondage as
what the children of Israel were in Egypt. They are as unable
to deliver themselves as the children of Israel were unable
to deliver themselves. They are in much held under the
laws of this world, under the laws of sin, under their own
deadness. and worldliness and godlessness. Man by nature is alienated from
God. Really, Pharaoh, he articulates
exactly what is the language of this world when the Lord is
set forth before them. We read that when Moses came
to Pharaoh, then Pharaoh has this word to say in chapter 5
and verse 2. Pharaoh said, who is the Lord
that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not
the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. And really that is
the language of this world. We know not the Lord. We have
no desire to serve Him and also we don't want those of our loved
ones, our friends, we don't want them to change and be converted. We don't want them to walk in
the ways of the Lord either. Man by nature is alienated from
God and we ourselves will resist the Lord. We will say ourselves, this man
shall not reign over us. And so it needs God's work to
deliver. God's purpose to deliver Israel
from Egypt. He has purpose to save every
one of his children from this world. From the spirit of it,
from being destroyed with it, Like those in Noah's day were
destroyed with it that weren't in the ark. Like those in Lot's
day, Lot was delivered, the rest were destroyed. The Lord will deliver his people
and his purpose to do it. The purposes of God. And so with
Egypt here, Because God had purposed it, he foretold it, and it is
foretold in the Word of God that in the Gospel day that the Lord's
servants shall go forth, they are commissioned by God to preach
the Word, the Word of God is sent forth. He that believeth and is baptised
shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned. The Lord
sent the promise of his Spirit after his servants. He promised
that he would be with us always, even unto the end of the world,
and that it hath pleased God through the foolishness of preaching,
for a poor sinner to stand up and declare the Word of God.
The preaching of the Word is the authoritative declaration
of the Word of God. That it hath pleased God through
that way, that He will save His people. He will deliver them,
He will teach them, He will instruct them, He will give them life.
He will lead them in the way. He will bring them at last to
heaven. He will reveal to them the way
of life in the Lord Jesus Christ. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. God has already then a deliverance
that is purpose, the means that are used, but for each individual
person, those means are purposed. How many could perhaps date the
time of the Lord's work in their hearts by when the word of God
came into their hands. This is what we pray in sending
forth the holy word of God, the Bibles from the chapel here,
that God will order that word, direct it, direct it to those
whom he determines to save and to bless through his word. And
that is God's work. We know it is. A man's work is
not able to save or to deliver a single soul. Moses and Aaron,
they could bring the word, but they themselves had no power
to change Pharaoh's heart. They couldn't bring the children
of Israel out, but God used them. God used them, but they themselves
had no power, and God was in control, not them. May be an
encouragement to all that speak in the name of the Lord. God
is in control, not man. And it's God's power that saves,
not man's power that saves. And so this is a deliverance
here with Israel planned by God. The whole gospel and the churches
and the order in the churches and the preaching of the word,
the reading of the word, all is planned and appointed by God. and especially to think of it
like this, a deliverance purpose and planned by God. How many yet in dead in trespasses
and sins may be, it is our loved ones, our children, our grandchildren,
that are yet still in nature's darkness, they're still held
in fast bondage. May this be a real encouragement
to you, to me, to pray, that there is yet a deliverance purposed
by God, a time not to propose but call by grace. You can look
at our beautiful hymn 76 in Gadsby's selection. There is a period
known to God when all his sheep redeemed by blood shall leave
the hateful ways of sin and turn to the fold and enter in. It is planned and purposed. And we could apply this as well
to those of us who know the Lord, that still may get into times
when we're in bondage, in darkness, in trouble, in trial, and we
know not how to deliver ourselves. We read, command deliverances
for Jacob. God right through his word. has
commanded deliverances for his people, and it may be you this
morning. Your cry to the Lord is, Lord,
command a deliverance from me. Save me from this trial, from
this adversary. Save me from my spirit. Save
me from my besetting sins. Save me from the evil of my heart. Deliver me from this low, dead,
hard, cold place I seem to be in. at this present time. Set me free from almost a path
of being full of indifference and carelessness. Make me concerned. Give me the fear of the Lord.
Bring me out of this low, dark place, maybe the valley of the
shadow of death. And you think, am I really one
of the Lords? Do I have the life of God in
my soul? How long will I stay in this
dark place of despondency? May this be an encouragement
to God, for his dear people has deliverances purposed and planned. How was it with the children
of Israel? Moses at this time was eighty
years of age. Already when Moses was born,
they were throwing the men's children into the river. That
was 80 years ago they were doing that. But God schooled Moses
in the Pharaoh's household for 40 years, then in the backside
of the desert for 40 years, feeding the sheep of his father-in-law. And all this time God was preparing
him, preparing him for this time that he would deliver his people
out of Egyptian bondage, a deliverance purposed and planned by God. That applies to every one of
God's dear people's deliverances. They're called by grace, every
deliverance, and yes, even at the very end when we're delivered
from this world and the Lord redeems us and takes us through
death to be with himself. that redemption, that deliverance
being brought to heaven that is also appointed. He fixes our first, our second
birth. He fixes the time of our birth,
the time of our death. Those things are appointed by
God. We're going to look then secondly
at the trials in being delivered. I want to be very clear at the
outset of the very fact that there are
trials in being delivered. That it is not just the Lord
speaking and immediate deliverance. The Lord does work. and he certainly
did at the end in this matter in that way, through the Passover. But very often the Lord's ways
are not our ways. Naaman's deliverance was not
how he thought it would be. And so it is with many that are
brought first under the sound of the truth, have a Bible, and
seek to walk in the ways of the Lord. They think they can just
be a Christian, with no opposition, with no trouble. They can just
believe, they can just easily just walk out of this world and
walk into the blessings of being a Christian, but it's not like
that. They don't understand the way,
they don't know the way, they don't also know how strong The
spirit of this world holds us. How Satan does not let go his
captives easily. We think of the reaction of Pharaoh
here. We mentioned about already they
were building his pyramids, already they were making brick, but he
was going to take the straw away, they still had to make the same
ones, and then When they didn't, then those overseers that were
of Israel, they were beaten by the Egyptians. They were falsely
accused of being lazy and careless. All of these things were adding
to their burdens that were already there. And how is it in a spiritual
way? The Apostle Paul says that the
law is a schoolmaster unto Christ. And the law of God, it demands
that we obey in every least particular, the soul that sinneth it shall
die. The apostle Paul, when the commandment
came, sin revived and I died. It was when the holy law of God
was known to him, that then he became instead of less a sinner,
more of a sinner. And more and more he realized
and knew that in him that is in his flesh dwelt no good thing. To will was present with him,
but how to perform that he found not. And some of the oppositions
that we will find. If we are those that, as in every
generation, and certainly when the Lord first sent out his disciples,
who are those first-generation Christians, those that were hearing
the Word of God for the first time, those that were hearing
them as new things. And what shall they find? And
what shall they find at the end of the world? The world itself,
its pleasures, they still pull and beckon to that soul. It's
a hard thing, impossible thing. just for ourselves to turn away
from those pleasures we've lived in for years and years. If you're
first seeking the things of God, don't expect that suddenly there'll
be, the pull of the world is gone. It will still tug and pull
at your heart. What about your friends? those
that have been with you into every sinful worldly pleasure,
those that know not the Lord and view it as a threat to the
whole group of friends and that one of the number should turn
a Christian or should turn to the Word of God or want to obey
the Word of God. What opposition, persecution,
horrible words, ridicule, mocking comes from even those who have
been so close to us. What about our own sin? Our habitual
sins, our love of sin, and we do love sin. What about with
Satan and his temptations, laying his baits? What about things
that happen in profitance? Our minds say, well, now we're
seeking the Lord, everything will go well. We'll be healthy,
we'll be strong, we'll get a good job, we'll have an increase,
we'll have children and grandchildren. But when there's troubles in
our employment, when there's sickness or maybe even bereavement,
when there's all of these things, it doesn't seem to be the right
way. Why are all these things? How
many have started to go in the ways of the Lord The Lord tells
this in the parable of the sower in Matthew 13. Many that receive
the word, and they receive it gladly first, but then they have
the things of this world, it chokes the word, it becomes not
fruitful, and others, when persecution ariseth, or troubles and things
happen, then they are offended, and then they go back and walk
no more. And even in the Church of God,
we can have opposition and troubles, and instead of thinking, well,
we come to the Church of God, we come to the Lord's people,
they'll be perfect and spotless, and they'll always be kind and
always do things that are right, but when we find the Lord's people
are also sinners and also do things wrong and walk in a contrary
way, how do, Hannah was praying for a son. She was falsely accused by Eli
of being drunken. But how kindly, graciously she
answered him, I'm not a woman of drunken, but of a sorrowful
spirit have poured out my heart to the Lord. Job with his friends,
miserable comforters are ye all. From those that he thought he'd
get some relief, he wasn't. And so when we think of this
second point, the trials in being delivered, the children of Israel,
all the cruel bondage, all of those signs and wonders, nine
of them they were, they weren't delivered. Their trials got more
and more. God was judging Egypt, God was
preparing them, that they should go out, but the children of Israel
were walking through this way, and that their trials were so
great, that in the words of our text, when Moses come, there
may be with you this morning, I could come with the promises
of God, I could come with the encouragements of God, I could
come to encourage you to keep in the Lord's way, to look to
Him, to cry unto Him in your troubles and sorrows, but the
things that have happened in your life, your sorrows, your
grief, and all that is going on in your mind, you don't even
want to hear, you can't hear it, you can't receive it. And
yet God speaks these precious promises. This was the case here. May this word then be a help. If you're in this position, God
is working in your life. God is working in your heart. God is working through His Word.
But it's not working out what you thought. There's been many
troubles, many sorrows. Now you can hardly hear the Word
of God at all. Hardly hear its promises. I want
to look then in the third place at those promises of God not
hearkened to for anguish of spirit and yet, and yet, they nevertheless
were fulfilled. The Lord knows our unbelief. He knows how weak our faith is. And maybe some of you have looked
at the promises of God. You long to lay hold on them,
to believe in them, to embrace them. You feel your faith so
small, so tried, so troubled. How can they be yours? These
promises, they were given to Israel, and Israel would have
them, whether they would hear them, whether they would receive
them at this time or not, and God would bring them to pass.
What beautiful things, then, God has to say to his people,
and they reflect what is here. What the Lord has said, there
are three things that the Lord says, I have done in this portion. We have that in verse 4. The Lord says, I have also established
my covenant with them. The Lord has established that
promise that he has promised to Abraham. He has also said
in verse 5, I have also heard the groaning of the children
of Israel. And then he says again in verse
5, that he has remembered his covenant, and I have remembered
my covenant. So there are three haves, three
things the Lord has already done at this point. Established his
covenant, heard their groaning, and remembered his covenant.
And here we are in the middle of the Lord's working when he
is delivering them, in the process of delivering them. And these
are the promises, there are seven, I wills that are in verses 6
through to verse 8. In verse 6 there are three beautiful
promises, the I wills of the Lord. He says, I will bring you
out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will. And the second one is this, I
will rid you out of their bondage. And the third one, I will redeem
you with a stretched out arm and with great judgments. Redeem
is to set free by the payment of a price. And that was the
way that the children of Israel were brought out of Egypt through
the death of all of the firstborn of the children of Israel. of
Egypt, but the children of Israel, the firstborn, they did not die. Why? Because the lamb had been
slain in their stead, the Passover lamb. It sets forth the Lord
Jesus Christ, who died in the place of his people, who suffered
at Calvary, who was to suffer at Calvary in this time. But
now in these gospel days, we know he has. And when the Lord
saw that blood, the promise to the children of Israel was, when
I see the blood, I'll pass over you. The children of Israel were
to shelter within their houses on this particular night. And
the blood of the lamb that was slain was to be put on the doorpost
and on the lintel. They would see it outside, but
when they went inside, they wouldn't see it, but they would trust
that it was there. And when the destroying angel
passed over the whole land, then those that were sheltering beneath
the blood, they lived. And those that had no blood,
they died. And that is a type, a most solemn
type, yet beautiful type, of those that are sheltering beneath
the precious blood of Christ, those that are trusting that
God's wrath was poured out on Christ, and therefore they are
safe. that Christ bore their sin in
his body on the tree. And those that are trusting and
sheltering in that, they shall live, they shall not perish eternally. They shall be saved, they shall
be brought to heaven at last. And so these, in verse six, these
first three I wills then culminates in the Lord redeeming his people. setting them free and he did
we read later on there in chapter 12 how the lord redeemed them
how the lord brought them out just as he said that he would
then we have in verse 7 another two beautiful i wills he says
i will take you to me for a people the children of israel were to
be god's people But not only that, and I will be to you a
God. And you shall know that I am
the Lord your God. So in verse seven, there's a
beautiful thing, it's on two sides. The Lord has those people
for his people, and that people has the Lord for their God. And
in every conversion, In everyone born again, in every believer,
they are brought to be God's people and the Lord is their
God. Is that the case with us? Has
the Lord redeemed us? Has he set us free? Are we no
longer serving Egyptians and their laws, but the Lord and
his laws and his way? Are we His people? Do we desire
to know His will and His way and walk in His ways? Are we
unashamed of the Lord and His name and to clearly say, I am
a Christian, I'm a follower of Christ, I'm a believer of the
Lord Jesus Christ, I trust in Him alone, I follow His laws,
His way. I love His people, I love His
house. I love his day. I love everything
about him. I will take you to me for a people
and I will be to you a God. A beautiful two-sided I will. The Lord doing it. The Lord bringing
it about. We don't make ourselves the people
of God. We don't make the Lord our God
ourselves. The Lord does it. who know the
Lord, be able to look back this morning and say, the Lord made
us his people. We didn't make us his people. He made us to be what we are. He put us amongst his children.
He made us his people. And he made us that he is our
God. What a beautiful thing to see
and realise in our own lives. where the Lord has fulfilled
these things and done these things. But what about verse 8 then? In verse 8 we have another two
beautiful I wills. I will bring you into the land
concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac,
and to Jacob. And then there's another I will,
and I will give it you for an inheritance. I am the Lord. Not only does he bring them into
the land, but he gives it to them for heritage. We know, of
course, when they came in the land, there was many conflicts
and the Lord had to give it them, even there in the land, not only
bring them into that land. But we know this is a beautiful
promise of heaven. The Lord bring his people to
be with himself. Father, I will, he prays in John
17, that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am,
that they may behold my glory. And that is for an inheritance,
a heritage for them. And this is a beautiful I will.
None of us hearing the word preached this morning are yet come into
that land. We come into the church here,
but one day in the Lord's time away, that we shall be brought
the same as the children of Israel through the wilderness and into
that promised land. And you know, right the way through
that wilderness, they had to prove again and again what a
murmuring, deceitful, evil heart they had. But the Lord still
brought them into that land. And maybe there's those of us
here this morning that are proving more and more as we go through
this world on pilgrimage. Our worst enemy is ourselves,
our idolatries, our murmurings, our complainings, just like the
children of Israel. But what a blessing that the
I wills, the promises of God, the children of Israel here,
they didn't hearken to these promises because at this particular
time they were in anguish of soul. They were not listening
to them and yet God didn't. He brought them about. But if
we are in that case, we're not listening to them. The Lord give
grace and help to stay with the word, to still have an ear to
hear the word of God, to still wait upon the Lord and May the
promises of God, he which hath begun a good work in you will
perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. All the promises of God
in Christ are yea and amen in Christ Jesus. May we be helped
to go on and if we have already known these deliverances and
are now not partially not a Christian that is still half in the world,
but clearly separated unto the Lord, clearly saying, thy people
shall be my people, thy God, my God, clearly saying with Ruth
these words, and clearly saying with Joshua these words, as for
me and my house, we will serve the Lord. May the Lord make us
to be not an almost a Christian, but an altogether one. And that
these precious promises be ours and these deliverances, a people
being delivered, changed to be a people that is delivered and
is set free. The Lord bless the word and forgive
all that has been amiss and make clear what may be not have been
plainly spoken this morning. Amen.