Isaiah 52, that last song and
that psalm Eric read will go with our message this hour. I
told Melinda that I realized after I was preparing this week
that I was preparing two messages on the same subject. But maybe
we need to hear that. It was sure on my heart and I
didn't realize it really. Let's read Isaiah 52 verse 11
and verse 12. Depart ye, go ye out from thence,
touch no unclean thing. Go ye out of the midst of her,
be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord. For ye shall not
go out with haste, nor go by flight. For the Lord will go
before you, and the God of Israel will be your re-reward." Now
you and I, as a family of God, we want to We want a God and
we want a Savior who is a living Savior. We want a Savior who
can hear us pray. We want a Savior who will answer
us. And when we get ourselves into
situations in this valley of this shadow of death where we're
full of sorrow and are we in a trial or we're in afflictions
or are we very discouraged, that's the case. We want a God who who
is able to hear us and comfort us and protect us and keep us.
And that's the God and Savior that we have. That is the God
and Savior that we have. We have a God who can answer
our prayer. We have a God who can speak in
our heart and comfort His people. Have you been praying to God
and asking God for something this week? Have you been praying
to Him and asking Him and pleading with God this week? Well, a lot
of times the Lord is the one who puts that prayer into your
heart. If it's a true prayer prayed
to Him, He always puts it in our heart. And a lot of times
He puts a scripture on the heart of His preacher. And then, when
that preacher is preaching, it is, a lot of times, it's the
answer. It's God answering you in that
scripture. And this is the scripture God
put on my heart this week. So, it's for somebody. I don't
know who, but it's for somebody. He said in verse 11, Depart ye,
depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing. Go ye
out of the midst of her. Be ye clean that bear the vessels
of the Lord. Now this is the God who rules
heaven and earth and he's saying to you, child of God, concerning
all of this world's idolatrous religion, concerning all of this
world's treasures, this world's honors, this world's praises,
this world's... anything that this world offers,
this world period, he's saying depart ye, depart ye, go you
out from thence, touch no unclean thing, go you out of the midst
of her, be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord. Now
Christ has redeemed his people out of Babylon, and the Spirit
of God has quickened his people, regenerated you who believe,
broken our chains, and he's called us to leave Babylon, and now
Babylon is religion. It's false religion. It's falsehood
in the world. It's clinging to the things of
this world. He said make a clean break from
it. We're journeying now across the wilderness, across the desert
sands, like Israel was, and we're on our way to our heavenly city,
to our heavenly Jerusalem, like they were on their way to their
earthly Jerusalem. And the Lord tells us to depart
from it, to leave it behind, and don't take anything out with
you, because anything that false religion has, anything this world
has, you're not going to need it. on this journey, you're not
going to need it where you're going. So he says, don't try
to bring something out, no weapons, don't try to bring out any of
the treasures, don't try to hang on to anything, leave it alone
and come out of it. That's what he's saying. We live
in this world, but the believers are not of this world. We heard
Christ say that this morning in John 17. We're still journeying
through this world, but we're not to live for this world. Our
Lord tells us to make a clean break from it. And it's good
for us to do so because all that's in the world, the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not
of the Father, but is of the world. And that's all that's
in the world. That is all that's in the world.
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof, but he that
doeth the will of God abideth forever. Now, Here you are, you've
been asking God to help you. You've been asking God to give
you an answer. You've been asking God to help you with what it
is you've been praying to Him about. Well, He gave this Word
to part you to part you. That's the way that's glorifying
to Him. That's the way that's safest to us. That's the way
that He promises His blessings upon His people. Now, if He spoke
this Word affectionately into your heart already, then it's
quite possible you've begun departing from whatever it is that's holding
you in bondage already. Because that's what, you know,
when the Lord walked by Levi, when He walked by Matthew, remember
He said, follow me. And the scripture says He departed
and then He got up and followed him. Before He ever moved a toe,
He departed. And God's able to do that. He's
able to speak that word like this and it's just what you need
And He knows right at the time you need it and He can make you
start departing in your heart right then when you don't even
move a toe. He'll unloosen that hand and make you lose your grip
on whatever it is that's been interrupting your communion with
Him. But for those who only heard me preach, or me read the Scripture,
those that only heard the earthen vessel, I can tell you what you're
already doing when you hear that word. You already put this Scripture
beside the traditions that you really want to follow. Or we
put that scripture up against the friends that are going the
way that we really want to go. Or we think about, well, this
is going to make me unsuccessful in the thing that I really want
to do. You know, we've been learning the formula, Babylon's formula
of success for so long that we think loss is success. We think
that loss is success. You remember that day I brought
those bubbles in here? It's been a long time ago now,
I brought a bottle of bubbles in here. Before I ever said a
word, I just dipped that little wand in those bubbles and I just
blew bubbles in the air. And we sat there and watched
those bubbles start floating down. And I said, that's Rocky
Hill and that's Pennington. And that's Spotswood, and that's
Newtown. And we just watched them float
down and bust. That's what everything in this
world is. That's what everything that you and I will latch on
to and think that we just, we got to have this. That's what
it is. Anything in this world. Now truth
wouldn't be truth if they walked hand in hand with error. Truth
would not be truth if it walked hand in hand with error. The
children of God are called light. Children of light in this world. And this world is called darkness.
We're children of light and darkness. Now can light and darkness abide
together? It's impossible. If we got the
lights on right now, it's not dark. We turn the lights out,
it'll be dark. But they can't abide in the same
place together. Light and darkness can't. Truth
and error can't be one. Holiness and self-righteousness
and self-exalting, self-made religion can't. Can't get along.
Can't get along. Be ye not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness
with unrighteousness? What communion hath light with
darkness? What concord hath Christ with
Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth
with an infidel? What agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? You see what we're saying here?
This false religion, works religion, free will religion, Cut loose
from it. Be done with it. I mean all together
done with it. Christ said, go through Scripture
sometime and look up some of the names that God the Holy Spirit
moved the writers of the New Testament to give to preachers
of false religion. They're not very flattering names.
Dogs, evil workers, concision. It's just not flattering at all.
And he moved Paul to say, I would if they were cut off. Cut off. And God says, cut loose from
them. But we've seen it time and again.
And God told, He told the children of Israel when He took them into
Canaan, He said, don't mix with them because He said, light is
not going to go into the midst of darkness and dwell in darkness
and turn darkness to light. That's not going to happen. And
we've seen it time and time again. What darkness will do when you
try to live in the midst of darkness and worship in the midst of darkness,
darkness will turn what we thought was light to darkness. That's
what will happen. It won't be the other way around.
And usually those who insist and say, well, I just feel like
I can help them. I just feel like there's something
I can do for them. Usually the real case is that person really
likes to be in the midst of that darkness. They like what they're
hearing there. Well, but this is comforting right here, very
comforting. Look at this next word. God not only says go out,
He gives this promise, verse 12. For, isn't that interesting
how that starts? For you shall not go out with
haste, nor go by flight. For the Lord will go before you,
and the God of Israel will be your reward. Now notice the Savior
doesn't say, if you go out, you shall not go out with haste.
He says, for you shall not go out with haste. There's no question
that you're going out if He speaks affectionately. There's no doubt
about that. When God calls His child and
commands affectionately, we're going out. But he's saying here,
now, are you afraid of leaving your false religion behind? Are
you afraid of letting go of your fool's gold, of this world's
honors, of this world's praise, or whatever it is? Are you afraid
somehow you're going to be overcome some way? The Lord God says,
touch not the unclean, be ye clean that bear the vessels of
the Lord. For you shall not go out with
haste, nor go out by flight, for the Lord will go before you."
We don't like to do anything first. You know that we really
don't. We don't like to be the first
one to do something. Well, God says, He says, this
is why you're going to let go of everything and depart with
everything because you're not the first one going out. He said,
you're not going to go out with haste and you're not going to
go out by flight because, He said, the Lord, Jehovah, all
powerful, He will go out to be your guide and your protector.
He's going out first. He's going to be your deliverer
to lead you out. That's the Lord, the Jehovah,
all-powerful God. And, this is the other reason,
and the God of Israel shall be your reward. The God of Israel
is the covenant God of His elect people. When you find the God
of Israel, God in connection with Israel, it means the God
of His covenant, the God of the everlasting covenant, the God
of His covenant people. He's saying, and when you find
the God of His covenant people, it means the God who forgives
those past sins that you're leaving behind you that you either really
want to hold on to or you really, really regret. He says, I'm the
God who forgives those. When you look back, He says,
when I'm behind you, you won't see Him. You'll see Him. You
won't see them. You'll see the God who says,
you're forgiven. What sins are forgiven? Past
sins are forgiven. Past sins are forgiven. Only
past sins are forgiven. I tell you all the time, we're
forgiven sins past, present, future. But really, only our
past sins are forgiven. Because the only sins we sin
are past sins. Which ones are those? Let's say
right now, till right now, all those were past sins. They're
forgiven. They're forgiven. And that's
the case with all our sins. They're all past sins. All right. I want to persuade you that our
God shall lead us safely and gather us up by following God
our Savior as He leads His people through some of the history of
the church. I want to follow Him as He leads
His people through the history of the church. That's why I said
that last song was a good song. He leads us all the way. I've
titled this, A Journey Through the Ages. All right. First of
all, our text says the Lord will go before you. So when did God
begin going before His people? When did He start going before
us? Let me read this to you, Micah 5, 2. He says, But thou,
Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands
of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto me, that is
to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth He's been going
forth whose goings forth have been of old from everlasting. That means from eternity. He's
been going forth. Our Lord God began going before
His people in the eternal council when the three in one entered
into the everlasting covenant of grace. That's when He started
going before His people from everlasting. That's when God
determined How He would form a people for Himself to bring
Him praise and glory and honor by showing them His honor and
redeeming them from their sin. And God the Father determined
He would give His Son. God the Son determined He would
lay down His life. And God the Holy Spirit determined
He would give them life and faith and repentance and keep them
and bring them to the Father. This is when God started going
before His people. Turn to 1 Peter chapter 1. We
read this morning in John 17, 24. Let me read this to you. Our Savior said, Father, I will
that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am,
that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me, for
thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. And then we're
familiar with Ephesians 1.3, Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ according as He chose
us in Him before the foundation of the world. And then we read
here in 1 Peter 1.18, For as much as you know that you were
not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from
your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation
of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who
by him do believe in God that raised him up from the dead and
gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God. You
see, Our incarnate Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth. He's
older than Adam and Eve. He's older than the mountains.
He's older than the stars and the sun. He made all of them. He's from everlasting. He went
before us and was our re-reward when Adam and Eve were in the
garden. That's when He was going before us. And when they were
cast out, He went before us. After Adam's sin, and He plunged
all mankind into sin before casting them out. Who do you think it
was that was the voice of God walking in the cool of the day
in the garden? That was the Word. The Word was
with God and the Word was God. That was the Word who was the
light and life of men. That was the Word that pre-incarnate
Lord Jesus Christ who has had the mediatorial office since
the beginning. He's the one speaking to the
man on behalf of the Father from the beginning. And He's the one
who took away His light and His life when Adam sinned in the
garden. But before He sent forth Adam and Eve, you know what He
did? He called them to himself out of darkness. He revealed
to them their sin and what they had done. He preached the gospel
to them. He told them about the woman's
seed in Genesis 3.15 who would bruise the serpent's head. He
clothed them in coats of skins that he made from sacrificing
an animal. He preached the gospel to them
and he sent them out clothed in that gospel. Well, when he
went out, he went out before them. How do you know that? Well,
as he went before Adam and Eve outside the garden, just like
he's the reward, it means he'll gather you up before he let them
go out of the garden. You know what he did? He gathered
them up. That's what he did. He gathered them up. And then
when he went out, we know he went out before them because
Because Abel knew the gospel. Abel had been taught the gospel.
Probably through Adam. But it was made effectual in
his heart through our Redeemer. He's the one who was the head
of the church. He made it effectual in his heart. And what happened?
Abel came with blood. He knew that he couldn't approach
God without blood and he came with blood. And Cain came by
the works of his hands. He came by something that he
had grown and worked out himself. And God had respect to Abel's
sacrifice. He didn't have respect to Cain's. And Cain did what
men do today when you tell them the gospel. He got mad and he
said, I'm going to kill him. And killed him. And you know
what happened? As far as we know, as far as
the scriptures reveal, that's the first one of His saints,
of His church, that our God, our re-reward, gathered up to
the victory and to eternal glory. He gathered Him up, April, took
Him to glory. He won the victory. He won the
victory. And then not long after that,
a little later after that, Enoch was translated that he should
not see death, for he had this testimony that he pleased God,
and that was through faith in Christ. There you go, he's going
before them, teaching his people and gathering them up all along
the way. And then we see our God going
before us and gathering up his own in Noah's day. He raised
up Noah, a preacher of righteousness. Look at Genesis 5 and verse 29.
Why did he raise up Noah? This is why he did. His father knew something about
why Noah was coming forth. Look at Genesis 5 and verse 29.
Lamech, his father, called his name Noah, saying, now this wasn't
just him pulling a name out of thin air, this is God who goes
before us telling him what to name his boy and why. He told
him, this saying shall comfort us concerning our work and toil
of our hands because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed. He's
telling him what's going to happen. He named him Noah and said why
long before it ever happened. long before it ever happened.
God gave Noah instruction. Look at verse 6. He gave him
instruction to build the ark informing Noah he would destroy
the world in judgment. And here's why. Genesis 6 verse
5. God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually. Preacher, don't I have some good
thoughts? Not any. They're only evil continually. Well, I thought this work I did
was a good work. Apart from Christ, everything
about us And this is our heart, our thoughts, our only evil continually. That's what they are. That's
what it is to be a sinner. That's what it is to be a sinner. And
it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and
it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy
man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man
and beast and the creeping thing and the fowls of the air, for
it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in
the eyes of the Lord. Now who's zooming who here? Who's looking at who here? Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. It's not Noah looking at
the Lord and seeking the Lord and finding grace. Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. That's what grace is. And so
God saved Noah, and he made him a preacher of righteousness.
And Noah stood in that generation similar to how I'm standing here
today. I don't know if they stood in a building like this, but
they probably did. I think, personally, that in the days before the flood,
it was much more advanced than we realize. I think it was much
more advanced. But he stood there preaching
to them. And there was millions of people in the land then. And
he's preaching the gospel to them, and he's using that ark
to preach it. And he's telling them that there's
going to be a flood. There's going to come a flood
of judgment. And he's telling them, those
that are in this ark, that ark's going to bear the judgment in
place of those that are in the ark. But those outside of the
ark are not going to have an ark to bear the judgment of God
for them. They're not going to have an
ark that's going to bear the wrath of God for them. So the
best thing for you to do is get in that ark. Get in that ark. And Noah being a preacher of
righteousness means Noah knew who that ark pictured. And I
guarantee you this, Noah said, and that ark picture is the one
that's coming. The one who's called the Christ,
the Messiah. You heard about Abel back yonder
when Abel was killed by Cain? Y'all all know Abel and Cain.
Y'all all related to him. You remember back there when
Abel and Cain got killed? You know why Abel got killed?
Cain killed him. Because Cain tried to come in
his works and he didn't come in blood. You know who that blood
represented? The Messiah that's coming. That's
what Noah told him. Noah knew this. He knew it. You
know how you know? Because sinners saved then are
saved like they're saved now. They're saved by the Holy Spirit
of God who teaches men in the heart the Gospel. The Gospel. They might not have known it
as fully as we know it. And I'm not sure about if they
didn't. That's what men say, but maybe they didn't. I don't
know. But they knew the gospel. They knew Christ was coming.
They knew He was going to lay down His life as a substitute.
That ark's a picture of Christ. So Noah preached that. And you
know what he was telling the whole time he was saying that?
He's telling them what I'm telling you. Depart ye, depart ye, go
you out from thence, and touch no unclean thing. Don't take
anything with you. The Lord will go before you,
and the God of Israel will be your reward. And you know what
God did? He went before them, He went
before them, but nobody in all of that land that heard Noah
preach had cared anything about what he was saying. They said,
Noah, have at it, do what you want to. We've never seen God
come in judgment to the earth. We've never seen it. And by that
they're saying, we've never seen it rain. Because that's how Noah
was saying it was coming. And they were saying, we've never
seen it. Just like you sit here today and say, I've never seen
this wrath of God you're talking about coming. I've never seen
this wrath that you're saying is coming where He's going to
destroy the world and all those that are not in Christ. I've
never seen it, so I don't really care about it. I don't really
care a thing about it, a world about it. That's what they did.
And you know what they inherited? They might have inherited some
riches from Mama and Daddy for a little while, but after the
time period was up and that ark was finished, you know what they
inherited? They inherited a lung full of water from God. That's
what they inherited. And after that, eternal wrath
in hell. But you know what God did? He
went before Noah, and He went before those in His house, and
He carried them into that ark, and He was their reward. He sealed
them in that ark, and pitched it on the outside, so they were
sealed up in there. And then, that's after that.
After they were in that ark, The first drop of water fell.
And the first spring of water began to come up out of the ground.
Because God broke up the springs. And people began to look and
see that. They began to look and see that waterfall. And they
looked at that ark. And it was too late. It was over
then. It was done. Too late. And they
sat there and watched that rain come. And they went to the next
highest mountain. And they watched that water get up to that mountain.
And they went to the next highest mountain. And they kept trying
to find higher ground and higher ground until they couldn't find
a higher ground to hold enough people, to hold the people that
was there. And the ones that wasn't there, they showed what
kind of gracious sinners they really were. They kicked them
off the mountain and said, you can't stay on this mountain with
us. There ain't enough room for me and you. And they died. They died. Now God says He's
coming again. Peter said He's coming again.
And this time He's going to destroy the world with fire when He comes
again. But I'm just showing you that
Noah preached the gospel. He preached the gospel. And I'm
showing you that the Lord went before. And He's gathering up
His people. He's gathering them up. Well, after the flood, God
went before His church. and he saved three boys out of
Noah's family, and he used them to repopulate the whole earth.
And out of those three boys, some would be his elect, some
would be his true chosen people that would come out of those
boys. Because he saved their fathers,
he saved those in the sense that they were born of their fathers,
on down the line. So they were physically born
in this world. Some of you standing here today were saved, all of
us standing here today were saved, physically born because God saved
those three boys. Because He populated the whole
earth from them. Populated the whole earth from them. And had
He not saved those three, we wouldn't be here today. But we're
here because He saved them. And then, some of them, He rebirthed
them again in spiritual life and gave them life to believe.
And some of those that would come out of that, though, would
be descendants of Babylon, and descendants of Sodom, and descendants
of Gomorrah, and descendants of Ur. And God wouldn't even
look at them. He didn't choose them. He didn't
have any mercy on them. And He saved... He would use
them to manifest His glory in calling His people out from among
them. That's what He used them for.
Because He'll be gracious to whom He'll be gracious, and on
whomsoever He will, He'll harden. That's His glory. That's His
prerogative to do as God. So, let's look here then at the
next thing. All the way down then, he saved
Shem. That was one of these boys Noah
had. And he had some sons on down the line to a man named
Terah. And Terah, from him comes Abraham. the father of the faithful. See, the Lord's gone before us
all the way, saving his people. Then in Abraham's day, Jehovah
went before his people, calling Abraham out of Ur of Chaldees. There he was in the land of idolatry,
where his father lived and all his family lived, and the Lord
told him, leave this land. Come out of this land and leave
it. And so the Lord told him, Depart ye, depart ye. Go out
from the midst of her. Don't take anything. Will ye
leave? But Abraham took some uncleanness with him. He took
his father with him. He took his nephew Lot with him.
And all it did was cause him trouble. It caused him grief
because God separated him from those things. He separated his
father in death. He separated Lot through an argument
that him and his herdsmen had. But he separated them from him.
Turn over to Psalm 105. Psalm 105. But the whole time they were
in that wilderness, this just a little small, this was a remnant,
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. But how did they survive in the
midst when the whole rest of the world, don't have in your
mind you know, cavemen and stuff like that. We're talking about
a well-populated earth full of people. How did Abraham and Isaac
and Jacob survive in the midst of all those people? Psalm 105,
13. When they went from one nation
to another, from one kingdom to another people, God suffered
no man to do them wrong, yea, He reproved kings for their sakes,
saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm."
Hold your place right here now. He wouldn't suffer any man to
do them any wrong. You know what God's telling us?
He says, depart from here, go out from hence, leave whatever,
If ungodly religion in this world, leave it. Don't take anything
with you. For God will go out before you and be your real reward. And He will not allow anybody
to do you wrong. He won't allow them to do you
wrong. And if He does allow somebody to do you wrong, it's because
He allowed it. And if He allowed it, it's going
to turn out for my good. And it's going to turn out for
His glory. And so I can rest in the fact that He did it. He
did it. Sometimes the Lord's going before
us, though, does things where it looks like the Lord's against
us. But He's not ever against us. He's always for His people
when everything He does. It just appears that way to us.
But keep on trusting Him. Keep on looking to Him. You're
going to find out it was for your good. Let's see that. We
skip forward to the time of Joseph. Stay there in Psalm 105. Look
at verse 16. Moreover, he called for a famine upon the land, he
broke the whole staff of bread." Can't you just imagine everybody
murmuring and complaining about that? Just like we did when the
economy went, you know, went kaput. Everybody, they didn't
have, this was bread, they didn't have anything to eat. Well, he
sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant. And can you just think of that?
He's sold for a servant. That don't look like God's doing
anything. Whose feet they hurt with fetters. He was laid in
iron. Until the time that his word
came, the word of the Lord tried him. Until the Lord's word came,
the Lord tried Joseph the whole time. The king sent then at the
Lord's word and loosed him. even the ruler of the people,
and let him go free. He made him lord of his house,
ruler of all his substance, to bind his princes at his pleasure,
and teach his senators wisdom. And then this is what Joseph
said when his brothers came down later in Genesis 45, 5. He says,
Now therefore be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that
you sold me hither, for God did send me before you to preserve
life. And he said, And God sent me
before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your
lives by great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent
me hither, it was God. And you know what God did by
that? What He does by all His providence,
He brought glory to Himself. God our Father called for a famine
in the land. There's none righteous, no, not
one. Not one. But He sent Christ before us
to preserve life. Whose feet they hurt with fetters,
Christ was laid in iron. Until the time that God's Word
came, the Word of the Lord tried Christ our Savior. Christ was
tried by Satan, and Satan found nothing in Him. He was tried
by this world, by the rulers of this world, and they found
nothing against Him. He was tried on the cross, that
furnace of affliction, He did seven times on the cross. And with the sin of His people
on Him, and during the separation of God, the forsaking of His
brethren, Even then, He remained faithful
on that cross. He never cried out in anger.
He never cried out in unbelief. He never cried out sinfully at
all. He remained faithful on that
cross the whole time. Verse 20, Then the king sent
and loosed Him, even God our Father. the ruler of the people
and he let him go free. And you know what he did? He
made him lord of his house and ruler of all his substance to
bind his princes at his pleasure and teach his senators wisdom.
And when Christ calls his brethren to his feet and he calls them
to himself just like Joseph called his brethren, Christ says into
our hearts and by grace, now therefore be not grieved Don't
be angry with yourselves that you sold me hither, that you
put me on that cross. For God did send me before you
to preserve your lives. And God sent me before you to
preserve you a posterity in the earth and to save your lives
by a great deliverance. So now, it wasn't you that sent
me hither, it was God that sent me here. That's what Christ tells
us in our hearts with His gospel. And we hit our face and we believe
on Christ and we praise God for His great wisdom in sending Christ
before us to save us and being our reward and gathering us up
to Him. You see Him going before His
people? Alright? Right there in Psalm 105. Then
Israel went down into Egypt. But because of Joseph, they had
a full provision made before they went. Because Joseph had
gone down there. Verse 23. Israel also came into
Egypt, and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. And he, God,
increased his people greatly and made them stronger than their
enemies. I've been showing you that God
keeps preaching to His people and teaching His people all along
the journey. From the garden all the way through
the ages, He's been teaching His people His gospel. And He's
doing it right here too. You know, you think about it,
you think, well now if they've got all this good and all this
plenty down there, how then is it going to be that God's going
to be able to teach these the gospel and show them His grace
and His mercy in saving His people? How's He going to do that? Well,
it's the same thing he did before with Adam. The same thing he
did with Adam. God overruled everything. Even
though Adam had a full provision of everything in the garden,
God overruled everything for his people so that Christ could
be glorified and honored. Look here. Look here. Verse 25. He turned their heart, that is
the Egyptians, to hate his people to deal subtly with his servants.
That's what God did. He overrode the fall in the garden
so He could manifest His glory in saving His people from our
sins. But then look what God did. In verse 26, He sent Moses
His servant and Aaron whom He had chosen. They showed His signs
among them and His wonders in the land. And that's what Christ
did. He's been sending His preachers
forth, and Christ has been going forth with them, just like Aaron
went forth, the high priest went forth with Moses. And you know
what His preachers are doing, what Christ is doing through
His gospel? He's showing His signs and His wonders of His
grace. And then what happened? Verse
37, He brought them forth also with silver and gold, and there
was not one feeble person among their tribes. And Egypt was glad
when they departed, because the fear of them fell upon them.
This is God going before His people and gathering up His people.
When He gets done, when Christ gets through, He's the Passover
Lamb and He enriches us with all the riches of His graces
like they went out with all these riches. And there's not one feeble
person in all of His churches because every one of His people
are thoroughly complete in Christ. Oh, we're feeble, we talk about
our I got a shoulder that just won't quit hurting. The thing's
been hurting me for four years. It won't quit hurting. I'm not
joking. I do. We've all got our infirmities
and our feeble. But there's not a one of us who
God's called by His grace that are feeble. Not in Christ. We're
complete and perfect in Him. Every one of us. Not only are
we glad to depart Egypt, they're glad for us to depart. Because
just like them, Egypt was glad when they departed because the
fear of them fell upon them. God works amazing, doesn't he?
He makes it so that his people, you and I, we don't see good
in ourselves. We don't see righteousness in
ourselves. We see our brethren serving the Lord so much better
than we do. And we're constantly in our minds
thinking about, I don't serve him like I ought to do. That
other brother serves him better. You know, I'm not envious. I'm
just saying that's That's how God makes it. So you see yourselves
as you are. But while we're seeing ourselves
that way and we're so fearful that Egypt's going to do something
to us and they're going to hurt us, you know, God's made Egypt
terrified of us. And we don't even know it. You
just start talking around men about God and find what happens. You'll find out it terrifies
them. It terrifies them. to talk about God. They get mad
because they're scared to death. They're shaking in their boots
is why they get angry and mad. But that's so. Just as much as
we don't want to be around Egypt, Egypt don't want to be around
us. Alright, so God brought the church out of Egypt. He goes
before through the wilderness. Look at verse 39. He spread a
cloud for a covering He gave fire to give light in the night.
The people asked. He brought quails. He satisfied
them with the bread from heaven. He opened the rock. The waters
gushed out. They ran in the dry places like
a river. For He remembered His holy promise
and Abraham His servant. And He brought forth His people
with joy and His chosen with gladness. And He gave them the
lands of the heathen. And they inherited the labor
of the people that they might observe His statutes and keep
His laws. Praise ye the Lord. And that's
how it is with our journey. He feeds us with Christ the bread
from heaven. He refreshes us with the Holy
Spirit through Christ our smitten rock, sometimes flowing like
a river in this wilderness of our flesh. And He brings forth
His people with joy and He's chosen with gladness. And you
know why He does it? He remembers that servant. from
a long time ago that was here, that served Him, whom He made
that covenant with that He won't break. He said He did it for
Abraham's sake with them. You know whose sake He does it
for with us? Christ's sake. Christ's sake, the Father of
the faithful whom Abraham pictured. And for their sake He brings
forth His people with joy and He's chosen with gladness. Moses
said, The Lord thy God bear thee. He gathered you up as a man does
bear his son. And all that way that you went
till you came to this place. He's carrying us, brethren. When
we're down and we just can't go and we can't lift our head
up and we've got no power and no strength in us. How do you
think we got that way? The one who's carrying us. The
one who's carrying us. He brought us to that point because
that's where we needed to be. Because when a person's there,
you know what he's doing? He ain't got anything but God.
He don't have anything but Christ. And when you don't have anything
but Christ, that's a good place to be. A good place to be. Because that's when we see who's
carrying us. So, He's delivered us out of
bondage of the law by Christ observing His statutes and keeping
His laws and paying our sin debt for all our transgressions. And
by His grace, we obey Him now under the laws of grace, believe
in His gospel, believe in all Christ. We keep His ordinances
of His baptism. We observe the Lord's table and
we delight in the law of God after the inward man. So believer, depart from Babylon. Don't do it in haste, because
the Lord will go before you and He'll be thy reward. And every
trouble you're going to face, as you face it, it has been preordained. Every trouble you're going to
face has been preordained to meet your need. measured to what
you can bear according to God's love and wisdom. And God goes
before you to have everything ready in providence so that when
you get to that trial, everything will be ready. The whole stage
will be set just like it needs to be so everything goes just
like it should go in the midst of what you think is total chaos.
That's right. And He's going to gather you
up, carry you over every hurdle, and hold you to His bosom just
like a father does a little child. And then, when you come to death's
door, remember this, He's gone before us there too. He's gone
into judgment on the tree, He's gone into the grave, and then
before us to reserve our inheritance within the veil. The forerunner
is for us entered. Even Jesus made a high priest
after the order of Melchizedek. So death has no more sting. Death
doesn't have anything to say to the righteousness of God.
Death has nothing to say to eternal life. And Christ is our righteousness
and we have eternal life in Him. And if Christ shall come again
before that, just imagine this. If Christ shall come again before
that, it's because our rear ward has gathered up the last one
in this long caravan, this long train of believers. He's gathered
up the last ones. That's why He's come back. And
you just picture this. When those last ones are walking,
following our Savior, If you had a camera shining behind them,
you could just see the world burning on fire, flame, just
a ball of fire. But if they look back, between
them and that ball of fire of judgment back there is their
rear war. Between them and judgment, just
like it was when he went between Israel and Pharaoh's army at
the Red Sea. And there's a great gulf fixed.
They can't come to us, and you can't go to them. And then, He'll
deliver up the kingdom to the Father, and there won't be any
need of a mediator. Then, God will be all in all,
and His church will be complete and saved completely. And then
we're going to sing this song. Daughters of Zion, awake from
thy sadness, awake from thy foes, shall awake, for thy foes shall
oppress thee no more. Bright o'er thy hills dawns the
day star of gladness. Arise, for the night of thy sorrow
is over. Strong were thy foes, but the
arm that subdued them and scattered their legions was mighty afar.
They fled like the chaff from the scourge that pursued them.
Vain were their steeds and their chariots of war. Daughters of
Zion, the power that saved thee extolled with the harp and the
timbrel should be. Shout for the foes destroyed
that enslaved thee. The oppressor is vanquished and
Zion is free. And we'll say, He followed us
the whole way and He led us the whole way. Amen. Let's stand together, brethren,