We looked at verses 1 through
8 and we'll just look at verses 9 through 11 this evening but
just in these verses prior to verse 9 you'll remember that
it says that God established his testimony. Now we know that,
we know that his people are never going to be left without a word
from him. God who at sundry times and in
diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets. in these last days spoken unto
us by his son he's always spoken to his people of his son that's
what that's talking about in verse 5 there he established
a testimony in Jacob that's Israel among his people in his church
is what it's saying his testimony is established and that's important
because he said that he did that so that the last part of verse
5 they should make them known to their children That's what
we're doing, too. We want our children to learn
the gospel that we know. And what's the point of all that?
Why? We teach them the gospel. What for? That the generation to come might
know even the children which should be born, verse 6, who
should arise and declare them to their children. They're going
to teach their children. My daddy taught me. Took me to
hear the gospel and taught me the gospel himself. And now I'm
teaching my children and I pray they'll teach theirs. That they
might set their hope, verse seven, in God. That's what this is for,
that's what we're doing. And God put his word in Jacob,
in his church, among his people, established it now. He didn't
just trust it to us, it's not just a hearsay handed down, he
established it. We have his written word. And
that's why, these are written that you might believe, that
you might set your hope in God. And having set your hope in God,
that you might have life through the name of his son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And verse eight, so that they
won't be like their father, so they won't make the foolish mistakes
that we've made. Don't you want that for your
children? Look look at the opportunities. We've squandered as believers
look at the foolishness that we've gotten ourselves into look
how weak our faith is being we've been given much and Produce so little I want them
to be better. Don't you? We don't want this for them and
now in verse 9 he gives examples of of what we don't want for
them. We don't want this for our children.
The children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned
back in the day of battle. You know Ephraim, one of the
tribes of Israel, why they're particularly named here, there's
speculation about that, doesn't matter. But you see this here,
this represents any battle in life. any endeavor, any undertaking. We don't want our children to
be like their fathers. For example, Ephraim, the tribe
of Ephraim, and really it represents all of Israel, it represents
the church, God's people, being armed and carrying bows, but
they had to turn back, they had to retreat, they failed. And
as I said, this represents any battle, any undertaking, any
pursuit, any cause, that we have in this life. The children of
Ephraim, this one tribe singled out for some reason here, they
failed, though they were equipped for war. They were armed, they
had swords, they carried bows, but they had to turn back. They
had to retreat, and we'll see why in the next verses, and we'll
look at them more particularly in a moment. But know this, and
may we learn this priceless, vital lesson. I've tried to get
this across before, and it seems so hard. to make clear, and yet
it's such a simple truth. They had swords, they had bows,
but they did not have the blessing of God. We'll see that, as I said, more
particularly, but it says in verse 10, they kept not the covenant
of God. No blessing, no favor, no presence
of God. God wasn't with them, and so
they had to turn back. Nothing wrong with their swords.
Nothing wrong with their bows. But they didn't have God with
them. In this particular instance now, talking about God's people,
but in this particular instance, He didn't go with them. What
does this have to do with me, Chris? I'm not fighting any battles.
Oh yeah, you are. You may not recognize them for
what they are, but every day you work in this world, it's
a battle. Not with flesh and blood. And it's a battle in a greater
war, in a lifelong war with the flesh. And with the world. And with the enemies of God. Every challenge that you face
is a battle in that war. And understand something. Each
battle carries with it a danger of defeat. This is real life
now. This is real life. There are losses. There are injuries. There are consequences. But also, each battle is an opportunity
for victory. Every battle is an opportunity.
What represents victory? Well, I came out richer. This
is a spiritual battle, you see. Victory is God's glorified, and
we learn something for His honor and glory. We know Him better. We're comforted. We're strengthened. The trial of your faith is precious
to Him. It's precious to us, too, because
it produces patience, steadfastness, and all the graces that God gives
through those means. And we're fighting for ourselves,
we're fighting for our children, but ultimately, and more importantly,
we're fighting for the Lord Jesus Christ. For His glory in this
world, we're fighting for His glory, for His cause in this
world, for his people. We fight for his sake. Look at
2 Timothy 2. This is a verse that I quote
fairly often, but I don't often look at the context surrounding
it. I don't want to do that tonight.
2 Timothy 2.1. Thou therefore, my son, We're
talking about a battle now. Ephraim, they had swords and
bows, but they had to turn back. I don't want that for my children.
I want them, I want them to be strong. I want them to go with
him, to be sure the Lord's with them. I fought a lot of battles and thought I was in good shape,
but the Lord wasn't with me. Thou therefore, my son, be strong
in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and the things that thou
hast heard of me among many witnesses. The same commit to faithful men
who shall be able to teach others also." That's in our text too,
isn't it? Teach your children, your daddy taught you, your parents
did, you teach your children so that they can teach theirs
also. There it is right there. Faithful men who will be able
to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness
as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that woreth and tangleth
himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him
who has chosen him to be a soldier. Why are we fighting? For him.
Ultimately. For him. It'll be for our good
too. And for our children. For those
that we love. For all who who are influenced
at all by us. When he gets the glory, when
we fight in his strength. And if a man also strive for
masteries, verse 5, yet he is not crowned except he strive
lawfully. The husbandman that laboreth
must be first partaker of the fruits. Consider what I say.
And the Lord give thee understanding in all things. God give us grace
to learn this lesson. They had swords, they had bows,
they had won many battles before. They were confident that they
would win and they wouldn't have gone up. But they had to retreat
in failure. Why? Just one reason. Look at
Deuteronomy chapter 1. Deuteronomy 1 41 Then you answered and said unto
me This is the Lord speaking. We've sinned against the Lord.
We will go up and fight according to all that the Lord our God
commanded us and And when you had girded on every man his weapons
of war, you were ready to go up into the hill. We're going,
we're going, we're ready. We've got our armor, we've got
our weapons, we've got the men necessary. But the Lord said
unto me, say unto them, don't you go up, don't you fight. For I'm not among you, lest you
be smitten before your enemies. I'm not in it. I'm not with you.
So I speak unto you and you wouldn't hear me. You rebelled against
the commandment of the Lord and went presumptuously up into the
hill and the Amorites which dwelt in that mountain came out against
you and chased you as bees do and destroyed you and seer even
unto Horma. And you returned and wept before
the Lord, but the Lord wouldn't hearken to your voice nor give
ear unto you. You wouldn't listen to God. Now
he's not gonna listen to you. So you abode in Kadesh many days
according unto the days that you abode there. What you need,
what I need, in every effort that we make, in every undertaking,
in every cause, every pursuit in this life, what we need is
God with us. God with us. He said I'm not
going with you and he didn't and they failed. The right tools won't help us.
The right training will not be sufficient. The devotion and
strength of the mighty will never prosper without him. The perfect
situation, the best imaginable ground will not benefit us. The
perfect strategy will prove tragic if God is not with us now. And
that's something we need to understand every day of our lives. We need his blessing. We don't
need the cooperation of this world. When will we learn this? Well, I can't worship God because,
well, why not? Well, I'm so busy, you know,
it costs me too much money. Whose money is it? Whose money
is it? You don't need money, you need
God. You need God with you. And I say this a lot because
I hear this a lot. I hear this a lot. I wish there
was a gospel church here. The question is, why are you
here if there's no gospel? Well, this is where my job and
my family are. You're fighting all wrong now. You believe the Lord's going
up with you in that battle? You need to rethink your strategy
because all you need is God with you. All you need. All the details
are in his hand. All of them. Remember the two
houses that were built, one on the sand and one on the rock.
The one that was built on the sand was a fine house, I'm sure,
beautiful and strong. One problem, no rock. And that rock is Christ. What makes a better job a better
job? What makes a home a good home? Whatever you're building in this
life, whatever you're building, if you don't have time for God
or His people because you're too busy building it, then when
it's built, it'll be a dark and godless place. You'll have everything
else, but you won't have God with you. The one thing needful,
the one thing. Everything else is in your favor,
but God said, I'm not going up with you there. I don't think
it's that hard to figure out what the Lord will bless and
what he won't bless. You read this book, I don't think
it'll be that hard for you to figure it out with regard to
the details in your life. I don't think it'll be that hard. John Newton wrote, while blessed
with a sense of his love, a palace of toy would appear. And prisons
would palaces prove if Jesus would dwell with me there. That's
what we're talking about. Now the next verse reveals our
problem in more detail in that it tells us why God by nature
is not with us. This is why he's not with us
by nature now. Verse 10, they kept not the covenant of God.
They refused to walk in his law. Sin is willful. Rebellion against
God. They refused to walk in His law. God's blessing is contingent
upon obedience. Well, wait a minute, Chris. I
thought salvation not by works. It's not. Because you can't obey
God, and therefore you can't be saved that way. But if anybody's
going to be saved, somebody's going to have to obey God. God's blessing is contingent
upon obedience. And these Ephraimites, all the
tribes of Israel, were rebels and sinners against God's law. And so they failed. Adam refused
to walk in God's law and fell. The Israelites refused to walk
in God's law and failed. And so do we, by nature, refuse
to walk in God's law. And we will die in our sins unless
God be for us. And the reason he's not for us
is because of our sin. Because we broke his covenant.
Even as believers, though we would do that which pleases God,
how to perform that which we would do, we find not. Romans
7. And it doesn't matter what we're
armed with, our religion and our works and our will and our
church membership or whatever else. We've done many wonderful
works. Yeah, but, you know, Christ said, I don't know you. Many wonderful words, I don't
know you. We can't win without Him. As
Martin Luther wrote, did we in our own strength confide, our
striving would be losing. We're not the right man, capital
M, on our side. The man of God's own choosing. If it's up to us, it doesn't
matter what our qualification, what our advantages, our striving
is losing. We have swords and bows, but
we're going to be turned back in the day of battle, whatever
the battle is, unless the man of God's own choosing is on our
side. Just ask who that may be? Christ Jesus. It's He. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified. By nature, we are enmity against
God. We're fighting against enemies
that we cannot overcome. God being the primary one. God
is our enemy by nature. That's what enmity is. By nature,
we're the children of wrath, even as others. So that's the
problem. Verse 10, you've not kept my covenant. You've refused
to obey me. That's why God's not with us.
And that's why we fail. In every battle in life and in
the battle of all battles. But then look at verse 11. And
you forgot his works and his wonders. They forgot his wonders
that he had showed them. Marvelous things did he in the
sight of their fathers in the land of Egypt in the field of
Zon. his marvelous works. Now think about this with me.
Though the Israelites were stiff-necked and rebellious, what are these
marvelous works he's talking about? He said you're a stiff-necked
and rebellious people. They murmured constantly. They
created idols and took upon themselves the idols of other idolatrous
peoples. yet God still kept blessing them,
and blessing them, and blessing them. Why did He do that? That's
the wonderful Word. Wait, did God go back on His
covenant? He said, if you keep not my covenant
my curse is on you. But He kept blessing them anyway.
He blessed them and blessed them. Why would God, though they utterly
destroyed that covenant, why would He bless them with manna
from Heaven for example? Why would He rain manna from
Heaven? Well you see Christ is that bread that came down from
Heaven. Christ is God's blessing upon
his people in spite of them. That's what he said to the Jews.
You remember he said I am that bread which came down from heaven
and they wanted to kill him for saying that. He said they said
Moses get what are you going? What miracle you going to do
for us? Moses gave us bread from heaven. He said Moses didn't
give you that bread. And the bread that God gave them
they ate it and died. But I am that bread which came
down from heaven. When you eat of this bread, you'll
never die. So you see verse 13 in the text. You remember how that happened?
He said he parted the sea and you went through on dry ground.
You remember how that happened? We've seen this recently, haven't
we? All of the plagues that God sent had only hardened Pharaoh's
heart further. And then one day, God said, I
want you to take a lamb tonight now. Every household, a lamb. One without blemish, without
spot. And I want you to kill that lamb and put its blood on
the door and roast it and eat every bit of it with bitter herbs.
And he said, when you do, Have your walking stick in your hand.
Get ready to be free. Get ready to walk out of this
place. After how many years of bondage? Kill a lamb. And eat it. And have your walking stick in
your hand. You're going out of here. That's the story of the
Red Sea Party and his people going through on dry land. His
wonderful, marvelous works. You know what they are? You see verse 15? Though they
were murmuring and crying out against God and his servant Moses,
who pictures the Lord Jesus Christ by the way, and they said, we'd
have been better off in Egypt, you should have left us there
to die. You brought us out here in the wilderness to die of starvation,
and God still gave them water out of the rock. How? Why? Well,
you see, that rock was Christ. And God's blessings in Christ
don't depend on your obedience. They don't depend on you not
rebelling and not being a wretched, murmuring, God-hating fool. They
depend on Him. That rock was Christ. That's
how God blesses them, though they annihilated that covenant. It was literally broken in every
way that it could be broken. And God still gave them bread,
and water, and freedom, and a cloud by day, and fire by night, protection,
and comfort, and every blessing that they needed. Why? Because
that's Christ. God showed them through these
wonderful works that are mentioned in our text, He showed them that
though they had broken His covenant and they deserved His wrath,
that His blessing was still upon them because Christ is the fulfillment
of the old covenant and the messenger of the new. That unconditional
covenant of grace, His blood is the blood of the everlasting
covenant, Paul wrote. They forgot the wonders that
He showed them. They forgot that. Do you know
what He showed them? In every miracle, in every deliverance
from every enemy, in every picture, in every type, in every ceremony,
in every sacrifice, He showed them that Christ is all. Christ
is salvation, even for covenant-breaking rebels. He showed them that in
every one of those marvelous works that He did in their midst.
Christ is salvation, and He's still showing sinners that tonight. Christ is the blessing and salvation
of God in spite of the broken covenant. Belong was a schoolmaster
to bring them to Christ. And He showed them those marvelous
works and set forth the glories of His Son in every one of them.
But He's saying, now you forgot about that. Think about this now. Here's
the message tonight. Verse nine shows us that we must
have God with us. They had swords and bows, but
they had to retreat in failure. Why? Because God wasn't with
them. Verse 10 shows us why God's not with us. And verse 11 shows
us in all of the mighty works and wonders of God, the one who
is God with us. That's who he is. So here's the
lesson tonight. Brief message, simple lesson.
Very simple. You, like these Israelites, have
not kept His covenant. And you can't do anything about
that. By the deeds of the law, no flesh justified. You're not
going to make up for it. You're not going to turn over
a new leaf. You're not going to decide your way out of it. Your
will is impotent in this matter. But by His grace, may you and
I remember His marvelous work. All of which were done to show
us that God's blessing and favor and salvation and life are in
Christ and Him crucified. Kill a lamb and put its blood
on the door. Smite the rock and out comes
life. Hit it one time. Once in the
end of the world had he died to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. Hit it one time, Moses. And always remember that God
with us is salvation. The difference between success
and failure in everything, in everything. And I don't know
what you call success and failure. And I'm not sure I always know
the difference. But I do know this, the difference
between success and failure is God with us. And his name shall
be called Emmanuel. which being interpreted is God
with us. God with us is a person. Salvation
is a person. Let's pray.