I want you to take your Bibles
and turn with me to the book of Judges. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges. Judges chapter two. I want to read a verse of scripture. Judges chapter
two. Verse 1, And an angel of the Lord came
up from Gilgal to Bochem and said, I made you go up out of
Egypt and have brought you unto the land which I swear unto your
fathers. And I said, I will never break
my covenant with you. I've entitled this message an
assurance to God's people. And we need some assurance. We
do need assurance. I've got three points. I want to just rehearse from
these scriptures. what the Lord has done for us,
what he's done for us. Secondly, what he's doing for
us right now. And then thirdly, what he's promised
he'll never do to us. Never. Now this, this verse of scripture
right here, it's a message from the Lord. And it says, an angel
of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochem. Now, you know it's
a miracle of God's grace when God's people are able to hear
from heaven. We know so little. We're just,
we're ignorant people. We want to believe we know a
lot. We don't know anything. We see through a glass darkly.
We don't know. Old Don Fortin, I told you this.
Don told me one time, he said, Marvin, we don't know what God's
doing. We walk in this world by faith. And we just, we believe
God. We believe what the Lord says
to us. But this angel, an angel of the
Lord, and this is none other than the
angel of the covenant. This is the Lord Jesus Christ. And I know that because of what
he said. This is what he said. An angel
of the Lord came up and he said, I brought you out of Egypt. Now who can say that but the
Lord? Nobody can say that. I brought you out of Egypt, up
out of Egypt. I brought you into the land which
I swear unto your fathers." Again, only the Lord said that. Then He said, I'll never break my
covenant with you. That was His covenant. He's talking
about His covenant. So, the angel of the Lord came
to Israel, came to God's people. That's a picture of God's people.
But I want you to know where He came from, where he came from. The scripture says that he came
up from Gilgal. Came up from Gilgal. Now, there's
nothing in this book that's just written for no reason. The Lord
just doesn't put words in there, words that so many times we can't
even read or pronounce. There's a reason. Gilgal means
Rolling. That means rolling, rolling. And there was something about
that place right there, Gilgal, that was very significant about
that word, Gilgal, rolling. And I'll just read this to you.
Joshua 5, 9. It said, and the Lord said unto
Joshua. They've gone over the Jordan
River. And, uh, they're, uh, they're
in a place there where God's brought them. And the Lord said
unto Joshua this day, have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from
off you. I've rolled it away. Wherefore,
the name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day. That's what Gilgal means, roll,
to roll, to rolling off, like rolling off of a big stone, you
know? You get a big old rock on top
of you that weighs a whole lot more than you do, and you know
what you're gonna need? I need a little help. I need
somebody to roll this off of me. I can't get it off. That's
what it means. This day have I rolled the reproach
of Egypt from off from you. Now that rolling away of the
reproach, the scorn, the taunting, the disgrace that came from Egypt
when the children of Israel were in bondage. Oh, the reproach
that was spewed out upon the people of God. You hold your
place right there. Turn back to Exodus. Genesis,
Exodus. Exodus chapter 5, just look at
the reproach. Now this is where it came from,
this reproach toward the people of God. It came because the Egyptians,
which is their picture, you know this, the picture of bondage,
sin, that has God's people bound up. Where did it come from? Well, the attitude, the attitude,
this is the attitude of an unbeliever before the people of God, because
of their attitude toward God. Look at Exodus 5. The Lord has
sent Moses into Egypt, and he said, you go tell Pharaoh that
I said, let my people go. You go tell them that I said,
you let my people go. Exodus chapter 5, verses 1 and
2, and afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh. Thus
saith the Lord God of Israel, let my people go, that they may
hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said to him, who's
the Lord? That I should obey his voice and let Israel go.
I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. Now where do you think that reproach
comes from? It comes out of a heart of those that don't know him,
don't know the Lord, don't know God, and don't respect him. That reproach manifests itself
in a way that's hard and unloving toward God's people. Same chapter,
Exodus 5, look at verses 5 to 9. Here's Pharaoh's attitude
whenever Moses told him what the Lord said, and Pharaoh said,
behold, the people of the land now are many, and you make them
rest from their burdens. And Pharaoh commanded the same
day the taskmasters of the people, and their officers saying, you
shall no more give the people straw to make brick as heretofore. Let them go and gather straw
for themselves, and the tail or the amount of the bricks which
they did make heretofore, you shall lay upon them, you shall
not diminish aught thereof, for they be idle, therefore they
cry, saying, let us go and sacrifice to our God. Let there more work
be laid upon the men, that they may labor therein, and let them
not regard vain words. You're telling me that you want
these people, you want me to let them go so they can go worship,
I tell you what, Looks like to me they got too much time on
their hands. We're not going to gather straw
for many more. They have to gather their own straw. And I want the
same amount of bricks made. Maybe that'll settle them down.
That's it. That's it. That's it. Hardness
and even turn over to Exodus 14. That reproach that comes
forth whenever they, those that are doing the reproaching. What
they're doing, they're setting forth, that they doubt, they
doubt very seriously the Lord's ability to deliver His people. This is the attitude of the world.
They hear what God's people has to say, because they agree with
these scriptures, and this is what, this is their attitude.
Exodus 14, verses one to four, and the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, now, here's the people, they've already come out of Egypt,
They've come out. The Lord has brought them out
of Egypt. And they're in the wilderness, and they're right
before they're gonna get ready to walk across the Red Sea. And
they're at that point. And here comes the Egyptians.
The Egyptians is coming after them. The Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and
encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdal and the sea, over against
Baal-zaphon, before it shall Before it shall you encamp by
the sea, for Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, they're
entangled in the land. The wilderness has shut them
in. I will harden Pharaoh's heart that he shall follow after them
and I will be honored upon Pharaoh and upon all his host that the
Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. And they did so. Here they come. They're gonna,
they're gonna, They're gonna get them. They got them hemmed
in. The wilderness has got them hemmed
in. God's not gonna deliver them. That's what Pharaoh said. Let's
go get them. We'll get them. They can't go
anywhere. Well, back in Judges chapter two, when Israel entered
the land of Canaan, this is where they are. The Lord told Joshua
this day, I brought you across the Jordan River, and now here
you are. I have rolled away the reproach
of Egypt off you. The world taunts, the world scorns,
the world speaks harshly of God's people, but I'm telling you there's
a day of reckoning. There's a day of reckoning coming
at Calvary. All the accusations of Satan,
the world, sin, old flesh, All of those accusations are going
to be proven to have been rolled away by the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's where they were back in
Judges 2, 1. Angel of the Lord came up from
Gilgal. But where did he go? Well, he said he went to Bochum. They were in Gilgal, and that's
where they heard the glorious message of deliverance. I've
taken all the reproach off of you. I've rolled it over. It's
gone. It's gone. But now they're in
bochum. Now what does that mean? Well,
that bochum means weeping. Weeping. And what happened? They were in Gilgal. What happened?
Well, let's turn back one page to Judges 1. Judges 1, verses
1 and 2. It said, now after the death
of Joshua, now Joshua was the one that brought them in. Moses,
the Lord wouldn't let Moses bring them in. Joshua was going to
bring them in. Joshua brought them in. Joshua brought them in. They
were in Gilgal. The Lord told them, I've rolled
away the reproach of the Egyptians off of you. But after the death
of Joshua, it came to pass that the children of Israel asked
a asked the Lord, saying, who shall go up for us against the
Canaanites? They've gone now into the land
of Canaan. Who's gonna fight against them? And the Lord said,
Judah shall go up. Behold, I have delivered the
land into his hand. I read that verse of scripture,
Neil, and I thought I could preach on this one right here. I'll
just go ahead. I'll put it in the hand of Judah. What do you
think? Oh, behold, the line of the tribe
of Judah hath prevailed. That's what the book says, Revelation
chapter five. The line of the tribe of Judah.
There's a glorious picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, the line
of the tribe of Judah. Who will bring us in? Who gonna
fight for us? The Lord said, Judah shall go
up. Behold, I have delivered the land into his hand. Who is our mighty victor? The
Lord Jesus Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Here they are. The scripture
says that God had promised them. I've given everything. It's all
delivered. It's in your hand. This is where
I brought you out of Egypt and I brought you into Canaan. I'm
going to let Judah lead the mighty victory. It's all delivered. It's all yours. It's all yours.
Oh, but something happened. Something happened. It's all,
it's all delivered. The one that shall not fail.
He going to prevail. But then something began to happen. They were to go into the land
of Canaan and take it. It was theirs. The Lord had delivered
them, had delivered the land unto them. It's yours. I've given
it to you. I'll drive everybody out. This
is yours. This is the victory. But something
began to happen. In Judges chapter one, same book,
chapter one, Judges, it went into the land and the Lord began
to give it to them. Verse three, Judges chapter one,
verse three, Judah said unto Simeon his brother, come up with
me into my lot that we may fight against the Canaanites. I likewise
will go with thee into thy lot. So Simeon went with Judah and
Judah went up and the Lord delivered the Canaanites And the Perizzites,
in their hand, they slew of them Bezek. 10,000 men, they found
Adonai Bezek in Bezek. And they fought against him,
and they slew the Canaanites and the Perizzites, and on and
on and on. They were victory after victory
after victory. But something happened, Fred.
Something happened. Judges chapter one, verse 22. And the house of Joseph, they
went up against Bethel. And the Lord was with them. And
the house of Joseph sent to descry, to spy out Bethel. Now the name of the city before
was Luz. And the spies, the spies from
Israel saw a man come forth out of the city and said unto him,
show us, we pray thee, the entrance into the city that we may show
thee mercy. And when he showed them the entrance
into the city, they smoked the city with the edge of the sword,
but they let go the man and his family. And the man went into
the land of the Hittites and built a city and called the name
thereof Luz, which is the name thereof unto this day, thereof
unto this day. Something began to happen. Something
was different. I'm going to show you what happened
in just a minute, but I want to show you what they did first.
The Lord has delivered the land into their hand. It's yours. Take it. I've given it to you.
I've given it to you. Look at verse 27. Neither did
Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Beth Sheehan and her towns,
nor Tayanak, her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns. nor the inhabitants of Iblium
and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns, but
the Cainites would dwell in that land. And it came to pass when
Israel was strong that they put the Cainites to tribute and did
not utterly drive them out. Now, here they are. I'm still
gonna look for a moment here in chapter two, Judges chapter
two, Verse 1, the Lord said, I made you go out of Egypt. I
brought you out. I brought you into the land which
I swear unto your fathers. I brought you here. Here is what
the Lord has done. I brought you out of Egypt. And
this is what he's doing for us right now. He's keeping us. He's keeping us. They're in Canaan
right now. But the Lord had told them in
verse 2, 3, 4, 5 of Judges chapter 2. Here's what he said. You shall make no league with
the inhabitants of this land. You shall throw down their altars,
but you have not obeyed my voice. That's what we just read. I've
delivered the land into your hand. You go in and I gave you
this. This is your land. This is your
land. belongs to me and I gave it to you. The earth is the Lord's
and fullest thereof. Wherefore, I also said, I will
not drive them out from before you, but they shall be thorns
in your sides, and their God shall be a snare unto you. And
it came to pass when the angel of the Lord spake these words
unto the children of Israel, that the Lord lifted up their
voice and wept, and they called the name of that place Bolshev.
The sacrifice there unto the Lord. The war's taken us out of Egypt.
Where are we right now? We're in Bochum, and we're suffering,
and we're seeing. We're seeing something, two men
in us. Oh, the beauty of being able
to behold in a believer a heart that is willing to obey. Joshua,
after Joshua died, The Lord said, I'm going to send in Judah. Judah
is going to lead. They're going to take them. And
they did. They did. And they did. And they did. But
then all of a sudden, something happened. They began to compromise
a little bit. Just a little bit. And they began
to suffer because they didn't drive out that which was oppressing
them. Hold your place there. Look at
Psalm 103. Psalm 103. Psalm 103, and here's, I jotted
this down, it was just a verse of comfort to me. Psalm 103,
verse 10. He hath not dealt with us after
our sins, nor rewarded us according to our infirmities. You know,
while we look at what the Lord did for Israel, Look at the mighty
hand when he took them out. I made you come out of Egypt. Sent those plagues. Finally,
the Egyptian says, okay, we're done, we're done. Leave. The Lord said, I made you come
out of Egypt. I brought you out. And they came
out and there they were in Gilgal. And they were just rejoicing.
Oh, thank God that the Lord rolled away the reproach from us. Then
the Lord found him in Bochum to remind us of what, thanks
be unto his name, what he's doing for us right now. There's an old man in all of
us. Somebody said, I can't believe the nation of Israel, after God
brought him through the Red Sea, after all those plagues in Egypt
and brought him through the Red Sea, and all the time he just
kept, fed him with manna and their clothes never wore out.
I can't believe that they would not believe the Lord. Paul said, I see in me that is
in my flesh there dwelleth no good thing. To will is present
with me, but how to accomplish that which I would I find not.
Oh, wretched man that I am. You see yourself in Bochum, weeping. Lord, have mercy on me. Lord,
forgive me. Lord, have mercy on this sinner. This is where he brought us from,
y'all. He brought us out of Egypt. Thanks be unto his name. He's
rolled away the reproach from off of us. And we're going through
this world right now, right now, suffering, suffering with this
old flesh, this battle that's going on. I'm telling you, we're
gonna stay right here until we leave this world. Who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? The scripture says, 2 Corinthians
1 10, this is the hope of a believer. Second Corinthians 110, who delivered
us from so great a death and doth deliver us right now, in
whom we trust that he will yet deliver us. Lord, what you've
done for me, what you're doing for me, and what you shall do
for me, or what you shall never do to me. Here's my third and
last point right here, back in Judges chapter two. Verse one,
the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochum and said,
I made you go up out of Egypt and brought you into the land
which I swear unto your fathers. And I said, now here's our hope
right here. I will never break my covenant
with you. Lord, if you deal with me after
my iniquity and you promised that you would, If you dealt
with me for what I deserved, I'd be cast out. I pray that
God bless this to our heart, what he's done for us, what he's
doing for us, and what he's promised I'll never do to you.