This. Exodus chapter 24. Exodus chapter
24, I do hope you will. Hope you have a Bible and I hope
you'll make use of it this morning, we're going to look. throughout
the first five or six books of the Bible, at several passages of Scripture. The message should not be long,
though. I love the Old Testament types
of Christ in the Scriptures. I love—this is perhaps my favorite
type of preaching—the story of Joshua. is one of the clearest types
of Christ in all of Scripture. If you were able to follow along
as we read, you've probably already greatly been blessed by the book
of the first chapter of Joshua. I was. I thoroughly enjoyed just
reading that. Now, we've looked at Joshua before.
We have studied him as a type of Christ before, but we're going
to study him again. And this time we're going to
look at a companion of his, named Caleb. This is a beautiful picture
of Christ and his people, of salvation. And to set the story,
I want to use Moses as a type of God the Father. Moses will
be used throughout this as a type of God the Father, and Joshua,
of course. Will be the Lord Jesus Christ
all right. First thing I want you to notice.
Is that Moses or Joshua I'm sorry Moses. Had Joshua as his minister
look at verse 13 of Exodus 24. Exodus 24 verse 13 it says Moses
rose up and his minister Joshua. Joshua ministered unto Moses. Joshua was with Moses in the
beginning. Joshua was with Moses wherever
Moses was in the beginning. Joshua was with Moses, his devoted,
faithful servant. Now, that's a picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ, who in the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God. And the word was God, ever with
the Father from the beginning. He's called wisdom over in Proverbs
8. He said, I was set up, or the
Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works
of old. I was set up from everlasting,
from the beginning, wherever the earth was. I was daily his
delight. Moses delighted in Joshua he
was his faithful servant and companion and so is the Lord
Jesus Christ unto God the father. The father delights in the son
he is this eternal son of God the faithful devoted servant
and minister of God with the father from the beginning. Now
look back at Exodus 17. Exodus chapter 17. The second thing about Joshua
is Joshua was Moses choice man. Moses chose Joshua. Moses chose Joshua and it was
by him by Joshua that other men were chosen. Are you with me? That should have evoked a smile.
There's one. All right, Exodus 17, look at
verse 9. Joshua is Moses' choice man. Verse 9, And Moses said unto
Joshua, Choose us out men. Moses chose Joshua, and Joshua
chose men. And this is a picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians
1, he said, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Jesus Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him."
In Christ. You see, God hath chosen Christ. He is chosen from among the people. He's his choice servant. That's
what he said in Isaiah 42, Behold my servant whom I have chosen. And all other people are chosen
in him, in the beloved, by Christ, because of Christ. And the next thing, Joshua was
chosen by Moses to fight the enemies of the people. Moses
said this, and look at verse 9 and 10 of chapter 17 again. Verse 9, And to Moses said unto
Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the
top of the hill with a rod of God in my hand. So Joshua did
as Moses had said unto him, and fought with Amalek. And verse
13 says, He discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge
of the sword. Jesus Christ. Chosen by God to be the captain
of the salvation of his people to defeat all their enemies to
be the destroyer. of the principalities and powers
of this were to be the destroyer of the enemies of God's people,
sin, Satan, self, to be the one to crush the serpent's head.
Jesus Christ was chosen by God to defeat all the enemies of
his people, to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Well,
did he do it? Yea, he did it. He discomfited. And he comforts me by discomforting
Look at the next thing. Chapter 17. All this was written
in a book. All that God told Moses to tell
Joshua and the conquest of Joshua was written in a book. Look at
verse 13 and 14. Verse 14. The Lord said unto
Moses, write this for a memorial in a book. Write what I've said,
my commandments, and write what Joshua's done in a book. And
rehearse it in the ears of Joshua. I will utterly put out the remembrance
of Amalek from under the heaven. Do I need to comment on that?
I will. Jesus Christ is the subject of
God's book. God's Word. God wrote a book,
and in that book is the Word, the Word of God concerning the
Word of God. Christ is the Word. And this
book speaks of the conquests of Christ. This book tells us
that Christ utterly put out the remembrance of our sins from
us by the sacrifice of himself. See, Joshua was with Moses when
this book was written. So was Christ. Scriptures are
God's Word, and of Christ's conquest, and he was with the Father when
the book was written. As a matter of fact, it's called
the Lamb's Book of Life. He's called the Word. Look at
the next thing. Look over chapter 24. Exodus
24. Look over there. Joshua was with Moses when the
law was written. When the law was written, Joshua
was right there. Look at chapter 24, verse 12
and 13. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Come up to me into the mount, and be there, and I will give
thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments, which I have
written. that thou mayest teach them.
And Moses rose up, and who was with him? His minister, Joshua. I told you, wherever Moses was,
Joshua was. And so it is, the Lord Jesus
Christ is and was with the Father when the law was given. He is
the lawgiver himself. Christ is the Word of God again. He's the Word made flesh. And then, after Moses and Joshua,
the writing of the law, you see it all the way through Exodus
and Leviticus and Numbers and so on. The writing of the law,
after receiving all the instructions, God gave Moses and Joshua all
the explicit instructions for worship. Explicit, they must
be, he said, see that you carry them out according to what I
told you, exactly according to the pattern. After receiving
all the instructions for worship, just this one way, and the blueprints,
Moses and Joshua received blueprints of a tabernacle. See, this was
the way, this was the, the, the way set forth by God to worship
God only in a tabernacle. You must have, well, three things. You must have three things to
worship God. This is from the beginning. Three
things to worship God. And these three are one. You
must have three things. You must have a tabernacle, a place in which to appear before
God. You must have a high priest.
One who must appear to God for you, and you must have that all-important
thing. Do you know it? You must have
a blood sacrifice. Well, these three are one. These three are in one. Jesus
Christ. He is the tabernacle. He is the
one in whom we may approach the holy God he's our great high
priest who went in within the veil for us and not without blood. These three well after Moses
and Joshua received this These blueprints, these instructions
concerning the tabernacle, and this was so important, this wasn't
just another building or a tent or just another way to worship.
No, this was all important. This is the only way to worship
the God of the Bible. All right. Look at it here in
in Chapter 33. What I'm sorry. Yes, Chapter
33, look over there, Chapter 33, look at verse 11. Look at verse 9. As it came to
pass, verse 9, as it came to pass, as Moses entered into the
tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended and stood at the door
of the tabernacle. And the Lord talked with Moses. And all the people saw the cloudy
pillar stand at the tabernacle door. And all the people rose
up and worshiped. Where? At the door, at the door
of the tabernacle stand in his tent door. Verse 11, And
the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto
his friend. And Moses turned again into the
camp. But his servant Joshua, who was
right there, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out
of the tabernacle. He stayed right there. He stayed
in the tabernacle. Sounded like he was about the
business of the tabernacle. Sounded like he was in the tabernacle.
Oh, he was. Oh, he was. And this is a picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ, who became flesh and tabernacled among them. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. The eternal Son became a man
who will always dwell in flesh. Yes, Jesus Christ has a flesh
and bone body right now. He has that tabernacle. It's
a glorified one, but he's in the tabernacle right now, and
we're going to see that tabernacle, and we're going to be in that
tabernacle, behold that tabernacle, and worship at the door of that
tabernacle. Jesus Christ. In him dwells all
the fullness of the Godhead in a body. You see, if Christ had
not assumed a body We couldn't approach God whose Spirit, but
He did. And He'll always dwell in flesh
that flesh may dwell with Him. We have a body. We're going to
have a body. When we are raised from the dead, we will have a
body. Christ had a body. And so that we, in my flesh,
Job said, I will see God. We're going to see flesh, but
we're going to see God. It's Jesus Christ. He's still
in the tabernacle. He'll never leave that tabernacle.
He'll never. Never. And he'll ever be in that
tabernacle for the next thing I want you to notice about Joshua.
And I'll skip this. Back in chapter 24. Back there
quickly. Chapter 24. Oh, I covered that. Forgive me. I've covered it.
Go on. Go on. I covered that. Look over
Numbers 13. Numbers 13. See, I'm not normally
an outline preacher, and I have an outline here, so forgive me. Numbers 13. Look over there. Next thing I want you to see
is Joshua's name. I want us to look what his name
meant, and I want us to look what Moses called him. See, he
had a name to begin with, and Moses called him something else.
In Joshua, or Numbers 13, look at it. Numbers 13, verse 8. Of the tribe of Ephraim, Oshiah,
son of Nun. Who's that? That's Joshua. Oshiah. Oshiah meant, or means,
Deliverer. That's what his name means, Deliverer. There's some other name. There's
no name. There's nothing in the scriptures without significance.
No names. God didn't name people something
just because it had a good ring to it. God named names because
it meant something, and it had eternal spiritual significance.
The son of none, what does that mean? What does none mean? Well,
it doesn't mean some black and white little woman sitting in
a little... That's not it. The son of none
means... None means perpetual. So here
you have the Deliverer, the son of the perpetual one. Joshua, the son of Nun. Look down at verse 16, though.
You see, Moses had a name he liked to call Oshiah. Verse 16,
These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy up the
land. And Moses called Oshiah, the son of Nun, Yehoshua, Joshua,
which means God our Savior. And in the Greek, it would be
pronounced Jesus. Call his name Jesus. Oh, he's
the eternal Son. He's the Deliverer, set up before
the world began with the Perpetual One, the Christ, the Lord of
all. And under the Son, the Father
saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever. But when he was born,
he said, I've got a name for you to call him. Call him Jesus. Emmanuel, call him Wonderful
Counselor of the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father of the
Prince of Peace. Call his name Savior, God with us, God our
Savior. I've got an affectionate name
for him. Now I'll turn over to the book
of Joshua. And if you had trouble finding the book of Joshua before,
let me give you a good way to remember it. And it's not just
put there by happenstance in the same place. You see, the
five books of Moses, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,
you have the law. The law came by Moses. Then you got Joshua. That's how
you remember where Joshua is. The law came through Moses. grace
and truth through Jesus Christ. Translated, well, where are we
going to put Joshua? Well, let's put it after Deuteronomy. Good place. Good place. Look at it here. Joshua. Joshua.
Joshua is God's chosen deliverer to take the people into the promised
land. God's chosen deliverer to take
the people into the promised land. Now Moses can't deliver.
This is important. Moses can't take the people into
the promised land. He can't do it. He never could
have done it. You understand that? He never
could have done it. Moses could never have taken
those people into the promised land. Why? He's the law. Moses represents the law. The
law came by Moses. The law can't take you to God.
The law can't present you to God wholly blameless, unapproval
in his sight. The law can't defeat your approach.
The law can only say one thing about us guilty Israelites. Guilty! Die in the wilderness. Somebody
can take me in, though. His name is Joshua. Only he can. He's the only one that can. Moses
can't. Oh, look at this. This is wonderful. Did you see
it in reading it? Verse 1, Now, after the death
of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the
Lord spake unto Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying,
Moses, my servant, is dead. Now, therefore, arise. Go over. Oh, my. My, my, my. You see, we are become dead to
the law by the body of Christ, who arose from the dead, smitten
by that law, but is now appearing before the right hand of God
for us. And we'll go over Jordan because
Christ went over for us. He arose from the dead. He lived
according to God's perfect law. Do you understand what I was
saying when I said that Moses' law can't take a sinner into
glory? It can't, because God's law requires
absolute perfection in thought as well as being, in motive as
well as action. God's law requires absolute perfection. So Paul concludes in Romans.
Over and over again he says this in Romans. And let me make this
very clear to all, young and old alike, by the deeds of the
law, no flesh will be justified. None. Another place, he said,
if I be circumcised, if you be circumcised, Christ profits you
nothing. In another place he said, if
righteousness come by the law, then Christ died in vain. What's he saying? You can't get
there by doing good works. We can only get to God by Jesus
Christ taking us there. By Jesus Christ doing those good
works for us. Why? Because he's the only one
that can. He's the only holy one. In him
there's no sin. He's the only one that can live
according to God's law perfectly in thought as well as deed. In
motive, in heart. as well as action only one only
one God said I'm pleased with him he can come right only and
that's what song twenty four says is somebody coming in as
a man coming in the very gates of heaven the gates of heaven
and heaven are going to go wide open for this man walking in
the globe or who is who is it why it's Moses no no why is David
no it's not no it's not Joshua no well another one who is this king of glory himself
who lived that law perfectly as a man, and therefore a man
is in glory. Well, somebody's behind him.
Somebody's with him. Look there, covered in his robe,
his train, coming in with him. A host of people who are found
in him with him. God's chosen man to deliver the
people into the promised land was Joshua. Look at verse 3.
God said, every place, Joshua, every place that the sole of
your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you. Joshua's
going to be Lord of the land. He's going to own it all. Yes,
the Lord owns it all, the Lord Jesus Christ. The earth is the
Lord's, and the fullness thereof, the world and all the inhabitants
thereof." Look at verse 6. He said, "...be strong and of
a good courage, for unto this people shalt thou divide for
an inheritance the land." And the margin, do you have a marginal
reference? What does it say? It says, you're
going to cause the people to inherit the land. You're the
heir I've promised it all to you, Joshua. I've given it all
to you. Joshua, you own it all. If anybody
else gets anything, they're going to get it through you. They're
going to be joint heirs with you, Joshua." That's Christ. Verse 7 and 8, "...be strong,
be courageous, that ye may observe the due according to all the
law." Joshua, you've got to do according to the law. Don't turn
to the right hand or the left, that thou mayest prosper. Withersoever
thou goeth, the book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth."
You've got to keep every jot and tittle of it, Joshua. You
represent these people. Meditate therein. Look at it, verse 8. "...that
thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein."
You've got to do it all. Then you're going to make your
way prosperous. You can come in and they can
come with you. You live the law, Joshua. That's
Christ, isn't it? That's Christ. Look at chapter
3. Turn over here. Chapter 3. Look at verse 7. Chapter 3, verse
7. Joshua was magnified by God,
and the Lord said, verse 7, to Joshua, This day will I begin
to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may
know that I, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee." Oh, Christ magnified the Lord
and then made it honorable. Therefore, God has given him
a name which is above every name. God has magnified him before
all the people, hasn't he? Glorified him. And God tells
us the Father is in him. Christ said, As I am in the Father,
and the Father in thee. He set him forth. Now over to
chapter 6. The last thing concerning Joshua
is this. Chapter 6. Not only is he the
lawgiver, the law writer, not only is he the son of the perpetual
one, not only is he the captain of salvation, not only is he
the keeper of the law, not only is that that, but he's the savior
of sinners. Chapter six, I went through chapter
two and I wanted to, I wanted to preach it today, but I can only allude to it.
Chapter 6, verse 17. You remember a woman named Rahab.
Well, she was saved. Who saved her? The word came
from Joshua. Look at verse 17. The city shall
be accursed. Cursed is everyone in the city
but one, a harlot named Rahab. She's going to live. All that
are with her in the house Because she hid the messenger. Joshua
is the savior of sinners. Verse twenty-five. They came
over there. Verse twenty-four. They burnt the city. He's the
judge and destroyer. That's who Joshua is. He's going
to destroy it all. And he did. Verse twenty-four.
Burnt the city with fire and all that was therein and all
of its idols. Verse twenty-five. But Joshua
saved Rahab. He burnt the city. But he saved
that one harlot who had a red cord hanging out of her. Is that all? And that's all speaking of Christ,
isn't it? Because he's all and in all. Well, Joshua had a friend, a
companion. Turn to Numbers 13, Numbers chapter
13. Back a couple of books to Numbers
13. Joshua had a friend. Now, this friend didn't do any
saving. He himself was saved. Joshua
did the saving. Joshua did the law-keeping. Joshua
did the leading. Joshua was God's chosen man.
But this fellow was with Joshua. Just as Joshua was with Moses
wherever he was, this fellow was with Joshua wherever he was. He was found with him wherever
Joshua was. He was like in him, practically
in him. one with him and all that he
did. Look at Numbers 13. Look at verses
1 through 3. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan,
which I give unto the children of Israel. Of every tribe of
their father shall you send a man. Joshua chews out a man out of
every tribe. And Moses, by commandment of
the Lord, sent them," verse 3, "...from the wilderness, and
the heads of the children of Israel." And look down at verse
6, "...of the tribe of Judah." Well, that's a good tribe for
him to be found in. Let's see, what tribe will he
be found in? Judah, the surety tribe. Good one. Verse 6, Caleb, the
son of Jephunneh. Jephunneh. Well, I wonder what
that means. Caleb. I'll tell you what Caleb
means. You know what Caleb means? If
you're thinking of a name for your child, your unborn son,
he's going to be a son. If you want to name him Caleb,
let me tell you what it means first. It means dog. It means dog. Faithful dog, but
dog nonetheless. But that's all right. That's
a good name. I'm going to show you. All dogs
go to heaven. I'm going to show you that here
in a minute. Only dogs go to heaven. Not pretty
little Cheshire cats or Himalayan, if you will. Dogs. dead dog. Only dogs go to heaven. Joshua is chosen of God. You see that? He was one of the
chosen, wasn't he? He's one of the chosen. Choose
you out, he said, out of every tribe. So God, through Moses,
through Joshua, chose Caleb, didn't he? There were others
in that tribe who did choose Caleb. And God had chosen a particular
people out of every tribe and kindred and nation under heaven,
a particular people, but known to him. And they're all Caleb.
And he's the son of Jephunneh. Jephunneh means he will be prepared. You didn't hear that, did you?
Jefunah means he will be prepared. He's chosen by God, and God's
going to prepare him. He will be prepared. And out
of every son, or out of every tribe, there are sons of Adam.
Not many wise. You see, Caleb wasn't anybody.
Did you hear anything about Caleb before this? He wasn't wise. He wasn't mighty. He wasn't of
noble Heritage he's just an old faithful dog. But God chose him. And he's going to be prepared.
By the power of God, he's going to be prepared to inhabit. He's
going to be made meat to be a partaker with all the saints of the promised
land. Oh, Caleb was saved. Look at
verse 14 down here. Verse fourteen. Well, that's
not it. Chapter fourteen. Excuse me.
Chapter fourteen, verse eighteen. Look at here. Are you with me? Chapter fourteen, verse eighteen.
The Lord is long-suffering, of great mercy, forgiving iniquity
and transgression. Oh, he by no means clears the
guilty. Visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children of the third and fourth generation.
Verse 21, But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled
with the glory of the Lord. Verse 24, But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit
with him, hath followed me fully. Him will I bring into the land. I'm going to bring Caleb into
the land. I won't acquit the guilty. I
won't clear the guilty, but I'm merciful. I'm long-suffering.
I do forgive iniquity and transgression. And so Caleb found grace in my
eye. You see, Caleb had another spirit. Yeah, he did. And so do all God's
people. What spirit was that? No, we
have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit
of God. For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God. Now, they're the sons of God.
They are the sons of God. Who went in the promised land? What men went in the promised
land? Do you know? One man. Back in this time, nobody over
20 years old went in the promised land. They perished in the wilderness. One man went in. Who was it? Joshua! That's the man I was
talking about a while ago, and his chosen man. He was only considered a man,
as is with Joshua. In Joshua. He went in. Joshua
and his dog. You know who were going into
heaven? The Savior, Joshua, and his faithful dogs. That's it. Ask that Canaanite woman. She's
there now. That Syro-Phoenician woman, you
know? When the Lord said, when she said, Oh, please, Lord, help
me heal my daughter. He said, heal my son. She said,
or he said, It's not fit to give the children's bread to dogs.
He called her a dog. Christ called that woman a dog.
What'd she say? Did she get offended? Did that
offend her? Did she say, that's not me? No,
she said, true Lord. Even dogs get some crimes though.
Do you know the Lord marveled? You know He only says He marveled
one time? And commended her, is that one
having great faith? What did she say? as one having
great faith. What did she say? She said, I'm
a dog. He marveled. There ain't many
of you around here, dogs. I see a lot of high and mighty
men and women, but your dog, your dog, you're going in with
me. Any dogs in here? You go to glory, you're going
to have to kiss the master's feet. There was a leper, wasn't there?
He came down from the mountain. And it says he fell on his face
at Christ's feet and worshiped him. You know what the word worship
right there in that passage means? Worshiped him. It means literally
like a dog licking his master's hand. That's worship. Not like Judas, an equal, kissing
his Accepting Jesus as your personal Savior, letting him into your
heart. No, a dog on his knees, kissing the master's feet. I
don't deserve to go in. You ever had one of those dogs?
You ever had a cowing dog? Huh? I have one now. And it'll come up to you and
it's cows. It's been mistreated before.
And it come up to you cowing like that. Do I kick it? I speak
roughly to, oh no, I receive it. I receive it. Now barking
dogs, I'll kick them in the teeth. Yeah, don't need a dark barking
dog, bark at me. Dogs. Listen to me, Joshua went
in, so did Caleb. Joshua saved, Caleb was saved. Joshua lived, Look at verse 38
of chapter 14. Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb
the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search
the land, live still. Well, they're living still. Well,
you'll find, you want to find Caleb? You know where Caleb is?
Same place he was here with Joshua. With Joshua. Except they're both
standing before B. Joshua. Marveling at the story. Marveling at the story. Oh, my. Mephibosheth said it, didn't
he? Mephibosheth, that's my favorite story in all of Scripture. You're
too in the stand. I see you laughing. That's your
favorite story, too. Mephibosheth, who said to David,
the king, who am I that you should show such kindness to a dead
Dog like me, David, the mighty king of Israel, said, You know,
I'm going to sit at the table with me. And there's stuff I'm
going to be outside, and this dog, my favorite chef, is going
to be sitting beside me. Are you a dog? Are you willing
to take your place as a dog, unworthy, unfit? What good is
a dog? Let me tell you a story. Here's another dog story for
you. Now the dog story. I have a dog. Not the one I was just describing,
but I have a dog that, really my first dog I personally bought
as my own dog. I had them as children, as a
child, but children don't own dogs, parents do. Right folks? Oh, you go get Johnny or Billy
a dog, and it ain't Johnny's dog. He ain't going to feed that
dog. You going to feed that dog and care for that dog and take
it and do this and that. Well, I bought me a dog. I said
I'd just buy it for you, didn't I? Well, I have a dog, and he's
a good dog. He's a dog of pedigree. He's
a purebred dog, an obedient dog. Yes, he is. He's a loving dog,
and I love that dog. You saw that didn't you Nancy?
Came over or went by and they were standing outside and that
dog had his head. Yes he had his head on my shoulder
and I did not remove it. I loved that dog. I loved that
dog. Well I decided one day, not so
long ago, to obtain a companion for my dog. I decided for his
happiness. that I would obtain another dog
for him. I didn't need a dog. I had a
dog. And really, he didn't need another
dog. He had me. See, I didn't need a dog. I had
him. And he didn't need one. He had me. We were happy. We
walked together everywhere. But I decided, and I purposed,
to buy another dog just for him. Abner is his name. Abner. Just
for him, to buy him. So, where did I go? Went out
on 220 South, near a garbage dump. You know, it's the dog pounds.
You know why it's near the garbage dump? Do you know why it's near the
garbage dump? They put it there strategically. Because daily,
they're killing those dogs and throwing them in the dump. And I went to the dump, to the
garbage dump, where that dog pound is, and asked the man,
do you have any dogs here? He said, I got a bunch. I'm full
up with dogs. He said, they're all we do to
be killed today, but we put it off for some reason. I said, but we're going to kill
them tomorrow. So what I did was, I started in the first cage.
And I started looking at dogs. First cage, some big dog, pretty
dog. Second cage, nice dog. All dogs. I went all around. All the way
around. Started in the first. Where do
you reckon I found my dog? Anybody like to guess? The last
cage wasn't the biggest. wasn't the prettiest. As a matter
of fact, she was the skinniest. She was the tiniest little black
female. I said, you are last, but you're
going to be first. You're mine. I said, I want that
dog. But there's a prettier dog. I
want that dog for my other. I'm going to take him home to
my other. You know what? I had to pay for
her. I mean, this is the power. This is the garbage dump. These
are dogs. Nobody wants these dogs. But
the man said, that'll be $10. You know what? I did not hesitate
a moment. I didn't say, that ain't worth
it. Why, she's not even going to pay it. I got my wallet out
and said, Bradley. He said, wait. He said, you've got to sign an
agreement. He said, you've got to put your name on this agreement
of grain that you will care for that dog, that you will provide
for that dog, that you will cast that dog out, that you'll take
that dog home with you, that you'll immunize it, give it all
its shots, pay the price, sign a covenant. Will you do it? I
said, give me the pen. I signed that agreement, that
covenant, paid the price in full, reached there, picked that little
scrawny girl up and spoke kindly to her and said, Come on, darling,
we're going home. And I took her home and presented
her to Abner. I named her Annie. Ain't that
original? Abner and Annie. Named her Annie. Took her home to Abner. And you
know what? Oh, Abner loves Annie, and Annie
loves Abner. They're inseparable wherever
you see Abner, you see Annie. Do you see this story? That's this dog story. Oh, my, I'm no pedigree dog. There's only one of any worth,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And God Almighty decided one
day before the world began to give His Son a people, and I
was one of them. Where did he go to get them?
Well, first of all, he didn't need them, but they sure needed
him. That little gal didn't, I didn't
need her. Oh, but she needed me. She was going to be killed, wasn't
she? She was going to be killed, but
she sure needed me. And I, God didn't need me, but
I sure needed him. I was due to be killed. Yeah,
I was dead while I lived. And where did God go to find
me? Not, he went to the pound, the
garbage dump, Lodebar. Huh? Lodebar had found me, and
I wasn't the prettiest, and I wasn't the biggest. Less than the least,
not fit to be called a disciple, but he chose me. Less than the
least, chief of sinners, he chose me, and he had to pay for me.
He had to pay a price, and it wasn't ten dollars, the price
was infinite. The blood of his son he had to
pay, and he was required to sign an agreement, a covenant concerning
me, saying that he would never leave me nor forsake me, that
he would provide all the things necessary for me for the rest
of my days, that he would immunize me to prevent me from catching whatever
and picked me up one day and spoke kindly to me and took me
home to Christ and gave me to him and now we're inseparable.
I love Christ and he loves me. What are you now? I'm just a
dog. You know that little Annie, she's
getting fat. Oh, she's getting fat and she's
so happy. She's so happy. But she's still just an old worthless
dog. That's all she is. That's all
she'll ever be. But she's my dog, and I gave
her Abner, and Abner loves her, and we're going to keep her. No price now would buy that dog
from me. Go ahead, offer me something. You'll not pluck her out of my
hand. I signed an agreement. My name's
on the line, and I love her. She's mine, all mine. Heavenly Father, thank you for
sending your Son to be our Joshua, to assume flesh and blood, to
come down into this pit of iniquity, this garbage dump, and find the
likes of Mephibosheth Caleb's, and buy them, buy your blood,
and sign the covenant, and take them home, someday to be changed
from dogs into sons of God. Lord, thank you. For Christ Jesus,
in his name we met together. Amen. you