Once again, what a blessing it
is to be here. It warms my heart. Thank you
for all your encouragement. Continue to pray for us. While
Nancy was in Florida, she was in a home of a lady that heard
the message. Nancy was Zooming and that lady
made two comments about the message. Number one, it was filled with
scripture. And number two, there wasn't a word said about giving. So I appreciated that a lot.
We're going to be in the 33rd chapter of the book of Numbers
today. Put your marker there, but we
would like to read a couple of passages that lead up to this.
This 33rd chapter of the book of Numbers shares with us the
journeyings of the children of Israel from the time they left
Egypt until they got up to the edge of the promised land. And
there are 42 different places that the Lord had them stop.
And they're all listed there. And I'm sure if we took the time,
there is a wonderful message in all of the definitions of
those 42 places. But that will be another study.
But if you would turn with me, before we go to the book of Numbers
chapter 33, to the book of 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel chapter 12, In 1 Samuel chapter 12, we have
a summation, a short summation of what we have here in this
book. In fact, it covers some more
time, but it lists, it gives us an idea, a history of the
children of Israel from different vantage points. Here in the book
of 1 Samuel chapter 12, and beginning with verse six, and it says,
and Samuel said unto the people, It is the Lord that advanced
Moses and Aaron. It is the Lord that advanced
Moses and Aaron. Moses would have continued herding
sheep on the backside of the desert, and Aaron would have
been unheard of. except the Lord advanced them. The Lord put them where they
were and that brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt.
It was the Lord that advanced them out of Egypt. Now, therefore,
stand still that I may reason with you before the Lord of all
the righteous acts of the Lord, which he did to you and to your
fathers. when Jacob was coming to Egypt
and your fathers cried unto the Lord. And then the Lord sent
Moses and Aaron, which brought forth your fathers out of Egypt
and made them dwell in this place." 400 years are in that one verse. The children of Israel were in
servitude for 400 years after there arose a Pharaoh who knew
not Joseph. All right? And it tells us there
in verse nine, and when they forgot the Lord their God, he
sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the host of Hazar.
and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king
of Moab, and they fought against them. And they cried unto the
Lord, and said, We have sinned, because we have forsaken the
Lord, and have served Balaam and Ashtoth, but now deliver
us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve thee. And the
Lord said, Zerubbabel, Jeroboam and Bedan and Jephthah
and Samuel and delivered you out of the hand of the enemies
on every side and you dwell safe. So it brings us up to the judges
at that point. And that's where we are in our
Wednesday night study. We're not quite at this point. The
first judge hasn't been assigned yet, but we have in those views,
short verses, the history of Israel, but we just want to keep
in mind, it was the Lord that brought them up. All right. Another
passage of scripture I'd like to go to before we go to the
book of Numbers chapter 33 is found over in the New Testament
in the book of Acts. The book of Acts and chapter
13. The book of Acts chapter 13. And in this chapter we find so
much said about Israel. Chapter 13 of the book of Acts.
How precious it is when we get down to verse 48 of this history. This list in verse 48, we have
these words. And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as
many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Now, just think,
a history lesson, and the conclusion of it is, as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed. Well, let's back up just a little
bit, because we want to especially pay attention to a verse, verse
18. But start with me in verse 16.
Then Paul stood up. And beckoning with his hand said,
Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience. Now there's
a whole bunch of these people that he's talking to when he
says those that fear God, they thought they did, but they didn't
know what the fear of God is. To truly have fear for God is
to be regenerate, to have respect and honor. and bow before him. Then he goes on to say in verse
17, and the God of this people of Israel chose our fathers. Notice where the Apostle Paul
begins in this. The God of this people Israel
chose our fathers and exalted the people when they dwelled
as strangers in the land of Egypt and with a high arm brought them
out of it. and about the time, verse 18,
notice this, about the time of 40 years, that's our time we've
been traveling through the book of Numbers, suffered he their
manners in the wilderness. He suffered with their unmanners,
in other words. He suffered He their manners
in the wilderness. And when they had destroyed seven
nations in the land of Canaan, he divided the land into their
lot, book of Joshua. And after that, he gave them
judges about the space of 450 years until Samuel the prophet,
the book of judges covered in one verse, the book of Joshua
covered in one verse. And afterward they desired a
king, and God gave them Saul the son of Sis, a man of the
tribe of Benjamin, for the space of forty years. And when he had
removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king,
to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David
the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, which shall fulfill
all my will. So we've got 1st and 2nd Kings
and 1st and 2nd Chronicles going on here. And this man see God,
according to his promise, raised unto Israel a Savior. We've got
to the New Testament. The history has traveled so quickly
in these few verses. It is common knowledge to most
of those. This is what they've been taught
in their elementary, middle, and high school, and even college
courses. This is their history, and he's
just bringing it up. Of this man's seed hath God,
according to his promise, verse 23, raised unto Israel a Savior,
Jesus. When John had first preached
before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people
of Israel, and as John fulfilled his course, he said, what think
ye that I am? I am not he, but behold, there
cometh one after me whose shoes of his feet I'm not worthy to
loose. Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and
whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation
sent. You know, everything that we
read in the book of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,
all has to do with this great salvation that Paul is mentioning
here about this. You, the word of this salvation
is sent. The salvation that only comes
from God has been sent in every generation, has been declared
in every generation, has been declared in the generations that
look like they were dark generations, the dark ages. You know what?
The gospel continued to be preached in those times, in medieval times,
wherever it was, and we have it down to this day that God
has given us the word of salvation. for they that dwell at jerusalem
and their rulers because they knew him not nor yet the voices
of the prophets which are read every sabbath they have fulfilled
them in condemning him so they read genesis exodus leviticus
numbers deuteronomy the old testament prophets the psalms the proverbs
ecclesiastes all of those and they continued and what do they
do they declare the lord jesus and what the prophets had to
say, and they fulfilled him in condemning him. And though they
found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that
he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all
that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and
laid him in the sepulcher. But God raised him up from the
dead. You know, as we go down to verse 48, it says, the many
of the Jews says, we don't want this. But a bunch of Gentiles
said, we would like to hear more about this. And then we get to
verse 48 and it says, and when the Gentiles heard this, they
were glad and glorified the word of the Lord and as many as were
ordained to eternal life believed. That's what's going on in every
generation, and that's what's going on in this one. All right,
would you join me back in the book of Numbers chapter 33? The
book of Numbers chapter 33, and we're going to go not through
all of this. There's a lot of naming places here. It's like
reading a map. If you're going to go cross country,
where are you going to spend the nights? You know, I used to be able to
travel about 18 hours. Now it's three. I'm looking for a motel. I want
a place to rest. The book of Numbers chapter 33,
we have here in the opening verses of this chapter, these, verse
one, these are the journeys of the children of Israel which
went forth out of the land of Egypt with their armies under
the hand of Moses and Aaron. And Moses wrote these goings
out according to their journeys by the commandment of the Lord. And these are the journeys according
to their goings out." So this is a commandment of the Lord.
Did you know what? All of the writers of the Old Testament
and New Testament wrote by the commandment of the Lord. Moses
wrote this by the commandment of the Lord and he wanted Israel
to have a history of how he had led them. As we go through here
we find so much about the children of Israel declared in this chapter
of scripture. First of all we find out that
they spent two years before they got up to Ramoth and then they
spent 38 more years in the wilderness. All right, now keep your finger
right here and turn with me to the book of Deuteronomy chapter
eight, if you would. Deuteronomy chapter eight. We
have a similar passage of scripture here in Deuteronomy chapter eight
that shares with us what's going on here. Deuteronomy chapter
eight, verse two. Deuteronomy chapter eight and
verse two. The Lord encouraged the people to remember their
travels, where it was. Some of you have got far enough
into my office to notice that I have some pictures of my hometown. It's a clutter in there, but
it's my clutter. I know where most things are. There's some
pictures of my hometown, very small town on the California-Oregon
border, south of Lakeview. There were supposedly at one
time 260 people there, and my grandmother said they had to
count the cats and the dogs to get that many. But I have those
pictures there that I can see from my desk, and the pastor
who brought me the gospel said, never forget where you came from.
Never forget where you came from. Now, that's my way of remembering
where he brought me from out of a horrible pit. He set my
feet on a solid rock. He established my goings and
put a new song in my heart. But I have that for that reason,
it is good to remember. Now notice here, and thou shalt
remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these 40
years in the wilderness, to humble thee and to prove thee to know
what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments
or no. For 40 years, he led the children
of Israel and he wanted them to remember all the way. So that's why we have chapter
33 in the book, in the Bible, because he wanted them to remember.
Now there's some things that he's going to ask us to remember
too. We find out here that Moses wrote this list and True to fulfilling
his word, it was for good or evil, but he did have it written.
It's a memorial, not only of the historical interest, but
of the deep religious significance as showing how Israel had been
led by him who was faithful and true in keeping his promise. Now, over in the book of Deuteronomy
chapter eight, again, in verse four, I believe it is. Verse
four, notice that there. The blessings of this travel. Now this saying blessings to
God's people after he saves us, we're not looking for new shoes
and we're not looking for new raiment. Oh, here it says in
verse four, thy raiment wax not old upon thee. For 40 years,
they didn't have to go to, what do we have here in town now?
Fred Meyers or Coastal to get some clothes. They didn't go
shopping. They had the same clothes for
40 years. It did not wear out. Now I have some shirts that are
20 years old. My dear wife says, you can't wear those in public. You know, they wear out in such
a short time. And then if you'll turn with
me to Deuteronomy 29, some more is shared with us with regard
to their travels through the wilderness. Step by step, day
by day, we have this. It tells us here in chapter 29,
verses one through five of the book of Deuteronomy. And these
are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses
to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside
the covenant which he made with them in Horeb. And Moses called
unto the children of Israel and said unto them, Ye have seen
all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt
unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and to all the land,
and great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs and
the great miracles. And then Moses said, yet the
Lord hath not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and
ears to hear unto this day. I have led you 40 years in the
wilderness and your clothes are not waxen old upon you and your
shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot. Another passage it shares
with us that their feet did not swell for the 40 years. Well,
we find out when the Lord saves us, he gives us raiment that
we're not looking for different raiment. We have his robe of
righteousness and our shoes is the preparation of the gospel
of peace. We're not looking for more shoes. God gives us everything
we need when he gives us the new birth that will last us not
only for this life, but for eternity. That is the clothing that he
gives us. Moses shares with us much about
this, and he tells us, if you'll go with me back to the book of
Numbers chapter 33 for just a moment, Numbers chapter 33, it shares
with us there verse 4 of that chapter 33. When the children of Israel left
Egypt, This is said about those left behind, the Egyptians. For
the Egyptians buried all their firstborn, which the Lord had
smitten among them upon their gods also, the Lord executed
judgments. Now that's an interesting verse.
When children of Israel, those chosen by God, they represent
or pictured the church, those left behind, they buried their
dead and he judged their gods. The gods of this world are judged
at the cross. There is no value in them whatsoever. The value is in the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. How much these stages of the
Israelites' travel resemble our stages. You know, if we start
here, it says in verse four, or verse five, the children of
Israel were removed from Ramses and pitched in Sukkoth, and they
departed from Sukkoth and pitched in Etham. 42 different names
are listed down through as we travel through this book, and
it's just one place on the map to the next place on the map.
And when we find that they did not go into the promised land
there, when the spies came back with an evil report, They traveled
back and forth across the land. Their map was in a very small
area, but they continued to travel over and over and over through
the same parcel of land. But the scriptures tell us one
thing, very important about this, that it was when the pillar of
fire moved, they moved. When the pillar of light moved,
or the cloud, they moved. Whether they camped a day, a
week, a month, or a year, whether it was day or night, when those
two items, one or the other, moved, they camped, pulled up
camp, and moved. And when it stopped, they put
down their tents and stayed there. Every step that they travel,
they have absolute, sovereign, godly leadership. Even those
who did not know Christ. They had leadership from a heavenly,
holy father. The children of Israel that knew
Christ had special kind of leadership. They had the Holy Spirit leadership
of them. Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of Psalms, Psalm 107. Psalm 107, we find here that
even the psalmist was caused to write about these stops and
everything that they traveled through the wilderness there
in that 40 years of wilderness. In Psalm 107 and verse 1, The
scriptures share this, O give thanks unto the Lord, for he
is good, for his mercy endureth forever. Let the redeemed of
the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the
enemy, and gathered them out of the lands from the east and
from the west and from the north and from the south. They wandered
in the wilderness in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell
in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul
fainted in them. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distress. Verse
7, and he led them forth by the right way, that they might go
to the city of habitation. He led them by the right way. We say, is this the right way?
If it's the Lord's way, it's the right way. It may go contrary
to what we think about things, but it is the right way, and
we will be at the right place. What a history of the travels
of the children of Israel as we go through this chapter. Now,
I'm gonna leave the reading of it to you, the rest of it. We're gonna deal with the last
five or six verses, Lord willing, next Sunday. But I asked this
question, what is the history of the travels of the church?
I have a history of the travels of the children of Israel, and
it's very explicit. Travel here, to here, to here,
camp, go, camp, go, camp, go. The Holy Spirit led them, pillar
of fire, pillar of cloud, every step of the way, just like he
does for the church today. But what is the history of the
church? Now, I'm not talking about church
history. I've got books in my library of church history, and
some of them are good and some of them are bad. You know, one
old preacher said, books are like fish. You gotta pick out
the bones. And you have to, because most
of those writers have some ax to grind. But church history
is fine, but I'm talking about the history of the church. What
is the history of the church? I know the history of Israel.
You know, we can trace the history of Israel clear back to Abraham. But we don't have to stop there
either. But Abraham is generations before the children of Israel
are taken into the Sinaitic travels. Before that list in Numbers chapter
33. We have Abraham chosen out of
Ur of the Chaldees. Abraham is given a son of promise. Now we have him raising up a
son. And God said, then. We don't hear it in the Old Testament,
but we hear it in the New Testament. Paul said, this is an allegory.
We have the son of Hagar and we have the son of Sarah, and
these are an allegory. You know, in that, Abraham could
be comforted. We have an allegory. We have
that which represents Mount Sinai, which gendereth bondage. And
we have that which represents heavenly Jerusalem, Mount Zion,
which gendereth peace and freedom and liberty. So we have those. When you go back there, Isaac
born. God asked Abraham to offer up
Isaac. You know what Abraham believed?
He believed he was going to have to offer up Isaac up there. But
he also believed that he was able to raise him from the dead.
Where does a person get that kind of faith? From God and God
alone. You know, I've read a lot of
comment, oh, God would never ask that to be happened. Never
asked that to be done. He did. It was. And Abraham came
down off of that mountain victorious. He told those people who kept
the donkeys, we will be back. All right, so we can trace the
line of Israel. We can go back to Abraham. We can go back to Noah. We can
go back to Adam. And in all of that, he had chosen
out a people to be his people, to deliver the son of God in
his time. through the tribe of Judah after
the line of David. Now, what's the history of the
travels of the church of the living God? Well, I take great
comfort as I read into the scriptures that God had an interest. He
has the history of the church beginning before there was time.
And you really, when we look at the history of the church,
we have two words that make up that word, H-I-S, S-T-O-R-Y. His story. He has his story about
the church. And we find out in the scriptures,
we will not come to this conclusion in our own natural mind, but
we find out in the scriptures that he had an interest in the
church before the foundation of the world. You know what? That's just the way it is in
the natural world too. The child doesn't know how he
got here at first, but it was someone else planning. All right. Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of Matthew. As we think about the travels of Israel in
the wilderness, they much resemble the travels of the church. As
God leads his people from here to there, as he leads his people
from Egypt to the promised land. As he leads us from where he
found us in our desperate condition and the gospel was brought to
us until we meet him in glory, there is a history that he gives
us and this history began before the foundation of the world.
He had an interest in his people, his people, a people, his people
before the world began. In the book of Matthew chapter
25, We read these comforting words that Lord comforts his
church with every day. As we go through the scriptures,
we find that there is great comfort to know that God not only watched
over Israel from the time that Jacob went down into Egypt. Oh,
let's back up a little bit. That he looked, watched over
Israel in Isaac. Let's back up a little bit more.
He looked over Israel in Abraham. And we back up a little more
and we get back to Noah. He looked over Israel in Noah.
And you know what? He looked over Israel in Adam. just as he had a people in Adam
before the foundation of the world. They are going to fall
with him, yes, but he's going to bring them out. Matthew chapter
25 and verse 34, this just comforts my soul. Then shall the king
say unto them on his right hand. Now, if we look at this, the
whole incident here, we find as a shepherd does separate his
sheep from the goats, they all belong to him. But he is in a
separation mode now. He's going to put the sheep on
the right hand side and the goats on the left hand side. And he
knows them all. They all belong to him. They
are all his people. And he says here, come ye blessed
of my father. You have a special blessing from
God almighty. Come thou blessed of my father. and inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. Now this is just not
a solitary passage of scripture but God had an interest just
like he did with national Israel. He had an interest and watched
over them and cared for them until they came down to the promised
land and then he continued to care for them. Why were they
not just utterly destroyed? Because in Judah shall my son
be called. So Judah's going to have to endure
down to, we call it, zero year. There's no BC and there's no
AD. It's that zero point when the
Messiah came and was born. All right. Look with me, if you
would, over here into the book of Revelation chapter 21. Revelation
chapter 21. In Revelation chapter 21, and
the book of Revelation is such a comforting book. You find a
problem, you're gonna find a deliverer. Problems are gonna come up and
some of them look so insurmountable. How in the world will we ever
get out of this? The enemy is described with such
huge words and such tactics. And we find, oh, but he that
is the deliverer has much greater and better tactics, but they
overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. Here in the book of
Revelation chapter 21, and there in verse 27, we read these words. It says, and there shall in no
wise enter into it, into this city, anything that defileth.
Neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, but they which
are written in the Lamb's book of life. These who are in that,
now these have a new heart. These have a pure heart. These
have a heart to love God. These have a heart to love Jesus.
It's not our natural instinct to love God. In fact, it's the
opposite. But God gives us a new heart
so that we can love him. In the same vein, travel back
with me to the book of Titus. Titus, as we think of the history
of the church, the history of the church is bound up in the
word of God, and God's word tells us, informs us, is commanded
to us that these things are just the way they are. I have you
in my mind before the world began. Titus chapter one, verses one
and two. We read these comforting verses
of scripture. Titus chapter one, verses one
and two. The scriptures say this, Paul,
a servant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ according to
the faith of God's elect, and acknowledging of the truth which
is after godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, that
cannot lie, promised before the world began. God had promised
eternal life to some before the world began. And we could go
to the book of Romans, but let's go to the book of Ephesians chapter
one. As we think about the beginnings of the history, now there is
no beginnings because the church is found in the everlasting covenant
and that's just what it means. There is no beginning to it and
there's no end to that covenant. There is no beginning of God's
love for the church. He loved us with an everlasting
love. So there's not a time that he
didn't have love for the church and not a time that he did not
have a purpose in the church. You explain that. Everlasting to me is inexplainable.
It's just, that's a word I like to use though, because it means
also everlasting life. Here in the book of Titus, chapter
one, verse one, Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus
Christ, according to the faith of God's elect and a knowledge
of the truth, which is after Godliness in hope, excuse me,
I was going to Ephesians, wasn't I? We've already read that. Let's
go to the book of Ephesians, chapter one, verse four. Chapter one, verse four. These great list of blessings
here, just like God gave to national Israel. Blessing of manna, blessings
of water, blessings of raiment that didn't wear out, blessings
of shoes that didn't wear out, blessings of always having leadership,
blessings of a tent, Blessings of Moses, blessings of Aaron,
blessing, blessing, blessing. We have every spiritual blessing
in Christ Jesus. And here it says, according as
he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. So
we have our history begins before the foundation of the world in
God's mind in his purpose, in his grace. He had the church
in mind before the foundation of the world. And then we find
that God must and will do something on their behalf in time. What
did he do with national Israel for that 40 years? He fed them,
gave them water, protected them, gave them that leader, Moses,
gave them Aaron, all these things. He took care of it. Well, you
know, in the purpose of God, he has decreed that the message
of the Messiah, Christ, he must die in the place instead of all
his elect children. Now that's the gospel. He must
die. in the stead and in the place
of all his children. In the book of Galatians chapter
three, the book of Galatians, and this is the gospel, but you
know, in Galatians chapter three, we find out that that man Abraham
over there in the Old Testament had this brought to his attention. Galatians chapter three, and
there in verse eight, Abraham, so long before the children of
Israel went from Ramses to Sukkot, over to the Red Sea, over to
Sinai, on and on they traveled for 40 years in the wilderness.
This message is brought to us. It was brought to Abraham in
the Old Testament. It tells us there in the book
of Galatians chapter three and verse eight, it says, and the
scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through
faith preached before the gospel unto Abraham saying in thee all
nations shall be blessed. The gospel was preached unto
Abraham. Absolutely. That's what must
intersect everyone that God chose before the foundation of the
world. The gospel must intersect them. The good news about a Messiah
that had been promised to come in the covenant of grace, had
been promised to come and lay down his life, a ransom, a payment
price. We're all sinners by nature and
we have a big debt to pay, but we can't pay it. Because when
we start paying it by ourselves, we're incurring more debt. God
requires. You try to pay it, you're incurring
more debt. You're not paying off anything.
You're saying, well, I didn't send much today. Well, yesterday
it took care of today too. And what you're going to do tomorrow
is going to take care of all of it. So there's just an incurring
debt built up. Monstrous interest is brought
up. And the great gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ says, I will take care of all their debt and all
their interest. And this is well pleasing to
the Godhead, that he would take care of that. And that's the
gospel. He would take care of our great debt. We incurred debt
in Adam. Yes, in Adam all die. But our debt also is our own.
From the very moment we're born, we came forth from our mother's
womb speaking lies. He talked to most Moms, they
don't believe that until they get about two years old. Then
they say, oh yeah, now I know. Yeah, that's the problem. We
have that incurred debt. Adam passed to us and then we
have our own. But there is a promise given,
the Lord Jesus. It tells in Hebrews chapter four,
in Hebrews chapter four, we have this mentioned about Israel.
Hebrews chapter four, during the travels in the wilderness
from place to place, the gospel was continuously being preached
to them. There was that picture and type
and shadow of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus on every morning
and every evening in the sacrifice of the morning and evening sacrifice. A lamb was required, blood must
be shed. You know, the children of Israel
left Egypt because blood was shed. In the household of Egypt,
I've said this many times, there was death in every household
in Egypt. Firstborn or an innocent lamb. But there was death in every
household. And those members of every household witnessed
that death. They witnessed that shedding
of blood. They witnessed that blood being placed on the doorpost
by the head of the household. And we find that the church has
witnessed the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ,
or it would not be in Scripture. It is as valuable to us to see
that as it was to Mary, the mother of Jesus, to see her son hanging
on the cross. It's as valuable to us as it
was to John or Peter to see him in his resurrected glory. That's
what the word does for every believer. By faith, we believe
it just like they do. All right, here it says in verse
two, for unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them.
Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 2. But the word preached did not
profit them, not mixed with faith in them that heard it. You know
what that means to me? It was not mixed with faith.
That's the general call. The gospel was preached, but
it made no effect. But the gospel was preached. And faith was given, that's the
effectual call. God provides the necessary when
he calls effectually to those that were written in the Lamb's
Book of Life before the foundation of the world. So our history
is traced before the foundation of the world. God placed us in
some home somewhere in time, and in time, that person that
was born whose name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life is
gonna come across with the gospel face to face. The parents can't
take care of it, and the grandparents can't take care of it, but we
will face it face on. He will bring it right to our
doorstep. We will hear the truth of the
gospel, and by that, God gives us the next part of our history,
and that is the new birth. Before the foundation of the
world, he chose a people. In time, he's gonna have those
people hear about what Christ had purpose in the covenant of
grace, and his purpose in coming into this world, and his purpose
of death, burial, and resurrection on the behalf of them. The gospel
will be brought to them, and then God will provide something
we cannot provide for ourself, just like everything else when
it comes to spiritual things. We read, ye must be born again,
and we find out we are begatten. We are begotten. Turn with me
to the book of James, if you would, chapter one. This is our
third stop. Well, it's just one of the points
along our way. You know, when the Lord saved me,
I just was really distraught because, Lord, I would have preferred
you'd saved me much quicker. I would have loved to have been
saved when I was pastoring. And it struck me, as also came
to the Apostle Paul, when it was the right time. Yeah, okay,
James chapter one. James chapter one, verse eight,
or 18, excuse me. We have to have this begatting.
It's part of the history of the church. It's not church history
because I read a lot of people that don't have it. They never
were begotten and they're trying to write about things they don't
know about. Most commentaries are written by people who don't
know anything about the gospel. But here it says, of his own
will begat he us by the word of truth, by the gospel. It's
not just some pablum. It's not just some story. It's
not a dead dog story. It's not what most people consider
the gospel, which is not a gospel, when it's left up to us to make
the right decision. Of his own will begat he us by
the word of truth, which we should be a kind of firstfruits of his
creation. Wow. It's a new creation in Christ
Jesus. So the history of Israel, we
could follow that as they pass through the wilderness wandering
step-by-step, name of places, water given, leadership and all
of that. But that didn't do a thing for
them. The gospel was preached unto
them as well as unto us, but to many of them, the gospel was
not mixed with faith, so it did nothing. You know, the general
call, it is what we are commanded to do. Give the call, preach
the gospel. But that effectual call when
faith is granted, faith is given by God Almighty, then we have
something. That is the effectual call. And
so it is here. Marvel not that I said unto you,
you must be born again. When God does this, we learn
of his great gift of imputed righteousness of Christ. The
forgiveness of sins. Eternal life. They're about up
on the edge of the promised land. In this chapter, Aaron dies.
He's reminded. This is just prior to Moses dying,
just before Joshua takes him into the promised land. And God
commanded Moses to give them their history. That's the glory
of preaching the gospel. God commands us to give us our
history. I loved you with an everlasting
love before the foundation of the world. You were born in Adam,
a sinner. You are a sinner in every capacity,
but I have your names written down in the Lamb's Book of Life.
I know where I will find them. I send out the Hound of Heaven.
The Holy Spirit, he connects them with the gospel of the truth
of the gospel. God grants to us the glorious
new birth and by it we have faith to believe God and we're given
repentance towards God and a faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
our history continues. You know, that through death
we should be placed in his presence. Our history continues.