One more time, it's such a delight
to be with you this morning. Good to see everyone. And I would
ask you if you would turn with me to the book of Numbers. The
book of Numbers chapter one. You often pick up one-liners. One of the one-liners I appreciated
a lot was from a pastor friend of mine. He said, I think there's
just a little bit more meat on this bone. Verse one of Numbers
chapter one. And the Lord spake unto Moses
in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of the congregation,
on the first day of the second month, in the second year after
they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying, take ye the
sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel. A thought
struck me this last week as I was looking for some thoughts from
this book. Where did Israel begin? Now we all have thoughts about
that. The scripture has a lot to say
about that. And we will find, I pray in our
message this morning, some answers to that question. And they are
all based upon some of the thoughts that we just heard in that psalm.
God's eternal, everlasting purpose being carried out in time for
His glory and for His saints. That same pastor that shared
that little one-liner also shared this in a message. He entitled
his message, Christ's post resurrection agenda. And that title struck
me just a little bit enough to have me stay for the rest of
the message. And he talked about what Christ
did and who he visited after his resurrection. I would like
to take that in reverse here in this passage of scripture
and talk about Israel's pre wilderness of Sinai's agenda. So would you
turn with me? back to the book of Genesis chapter
11 for a reading here. Now this doesn't take us clear
back to the beginning of Israel because they all could trace
their line back to Adam. And they all could trace their
line back to Noah. But there's an incident here
in the book of Genesis chapter 11 that shares with us some information
about a man who played a very important part in the line of
Israel, and his name was called Abram to begin with, and his
name was later changed to Abraham. But here in the book of Genesis
chapter 11, just one chapter before we are introduced to Abraham,
an incident takes place that really shares with us what is
going on in the heart of natural man all the time, from that time
before that time and after that time that people have this idea
about what is important in life. In the book of Genesis chapter
11 verse 3, we read these words, Genesis chapter 11 and verse
3, there was a whole host of people, we have no idea how many
in number, that spoke all the same language. When I was in
elementary school, there was a lesson that we had to do once
a week about, and I can't even remember the name of it, but
it was supposed to be a language that everybody was going to learn
in the world so we could communicate. Well, that fell flat on its face. If you want to communicate with
another country and other people, you have to go through a lot
more trouble than that. Well, everybody spoke the same
language. Now when they came to a conclusion
about what to do with this language, it tells us here in Genesis chapter
11 and verse 3 and 4, and they said one unto another, go to,
let us make brick and burn them thoroughly. And they made brick
for stone. Now there is a, problem here
when we look at this from a spiritual standpoint, because the Lord
never uses brick. He always uses stone. He will
only use stones. And he is called the rock. He is called the rock. I am the rock. And here we have
a group of people deciding that they're going to build a city.
And they do it for a religious purpose. They fired brick and
then it tells us there in Genesis chapter 11 and verse 3, they
burned it thoroughly and they had brick for stone and slime
they had they for mortar. Now, if you've ever been on the
edges of Goose Lake over there where I grew up, you know what
slime is. It's not something that you want to put into a good
building. And the Lord does not use slime when he is building.
He's using the blood of Christ. That's what purchased the stones
that his building is made of. That's what purchased the church
of the living God was the blood of Christ. Now let's go on here
and read just a little more. And they said, go to let us build
us a city and a tower. You know, God had already spoken
of a city. New Jerusalem. That's what he
revealed unto Abel in the Garden of Eden when he said he believed
God and he offered a more acceptable sacrifice. He was not looking
for a physical city to be the answer to his spiritual needs.
He was looking to a spiritual city, that heavenly city, and
God is the producer of city. So we have people by nature stumble
at God's instructions and they stumble at the word and we find
that they're going to build brick for stone and they're going to
use slime for mortar and then we're going to build a city here
and it's going to be very important to us, goes on to tell us there,
whose top may reach unto heaven. Now they Pictures that I used
to see in the Sunday school material had it going way up into the
clouds. That wasn't the purpose of it. They were going to study
religion on that building that they were building. And they
were going to study astrology and astronomy. and make that
their God, and let us make us a name. Now that's so characteristic
of people that don't have any idea who God is or what God's
about. We're gonna make ourselves a
name. We're gonna make ourselves important. And they did that
very thing, and then it goes on to finish that verse, lest
we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. Well,
They didn't realize beforehand that God had already determined
to scatter these people around, and that's why we do have the
languages. Now, it's interesting that the
very next chapter found in the scriptures, we have one of the
most important people in the line of Israel is called out
of a place that is worshiping the same thing those people were
worshiping. The book of Genesis, as we move
ahead, we're looking at the pre, Visit to Sinai agenda that God
had for Israel. We don't have a people called
Israel yet We're going to be introduced to their prodigy or
their Patriarch, but he's not an Israelite He's a man from
Babylon. He's a man from Ur of the Chaldees. He never looked at his pedigree
as something valuable to God. He looked at God's pedigree for
him as something valuable to God. He said he believed God
and it was counted unto him for righteousness. He was not a pedigree
man. After he got out of there, he
didn't trace anything. Well, let's just look over here
in chapter 12 and verse 1. It tells us these words about
the patriarch Abraham. Now the Lord had said unto Abram,
get thee out of thy country. Now when we turn over to the
book of Acts chapter seven, we find that Stephen, when he brought
up this subject, he said the God of glory appeared unto Abraham
in Ur of the Chaldees. This is someone very important
that appeared unto him. This is the God of heaven. This
is the God of glory. This is the God that we find
speaking to Moses there in the wilderness of Sinai and the book
of Numbers. This God appeared unto, he says,
and get out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy
father's house unto a land that I will show thee. So God came
down and kicked him out of the land. Now he went willing after
God convinced him that's the thing to do. Abraham exercised
his free will as much as he could. But God overcomes our free will
and God's people are thankful for that very thing. Now he leaves,
he takes along some family with him, he takes his dad along with
him. And it tells us in Genesis chapter 15, would you turn there
with me? Genesis chapter 15 and verse 6. A lot of things have
taken place and yet here in Genesis chapter 15 and verse 6 we have
now God coming down and visiting with him with something very
special. Chapters 12, 13, 14, now 15. God has led him, God has instructed
him, God has brought him to a place, and it is here that Abraham has
something given to him that he did not have down in Ur of the
Chaldees. You know, in Joshua, recounting
the history of Israel after chapter 24, I believe, of the book of
Joshua, they're just about settled down. He went back and says,
now Abraham was on the other side of the flood, the other
side of the river, and he worshipped other gods. You know it was brought
after all of those centuries that this man, they counted as
the patriarch of their family, was a man who worshiped other
gods, and this news had been brought down to them. But it
was also brought to them that God intervened in his life. God brought him out of that place. God brought him to a place he
wanted him, and there he instructed him in the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. For it tells us in the book of
Genesis chapter 15, and there in verse 6, it says, and he believed
in the Lord, and he counted it unto him for righteousness. God
counted it unto Abraham for righteousness. Now who gave him that belief?
The same one that brought him out of Ur of the Chaldees, broke
him away from all those false gods that he had been worshiping
down there. He was just like the people that there were at
the Tower of Babel. He took his religion with him,
his grandparents, his parents, and he took the same religion
with him down to Ur of the Chaldees that they'd been practicing over
here. Let's make brick. We don't need stone. Let's build
a city. We don't need gods, and let us
make a name for ourselves. Don't you think for a moment
that Abraham was not making a name for himself? He was an important
person down in Ur of the Chaldees. And you know what? Even a beggar
in the streets, when it comes to religion, is important in
God's eyes. to themselves. Well, further
about these folks that ended up down in right before Mount
Sinai and they built the tabernacle there and they were given the
law there. In the book of Hebrews chapter
11, would you turn over there with me? Hebrews chapter 11. As we look at the pre agenda,
What brought them? What were they? Who were they
that are there assembled around Mount Sinai? In the book of Hebrews
chapter 11, and I want to begin reading with verse 8. Hebrews
chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11 shares with
us a lot about God's people in the Old Testament. That they
were believers in the same God that he reveals to his people
today. They trusted the same God. They
trusted in the same Savior. They trusted in the same salvation.
They trusted in the same eternal life. They trusted in the same
thing that God's people have always done. They believed God
and it was counted unto them for righteousness. Now we know
from the scriptures that we don't have the belief in us to believe.
It must be supplied to us. I've used the analogy a number
of times of having a dead battery, and that's what we are by nature.
We're just a dead battery, and we don't have the ability of
turning over the engine. Must come along, put a new battery
in it that is charged, or the old simple way of putting a jumper
cable on and getting a jump and having to start our car. And
we're thankful, but there's nothing we can do with that battery that
will make it better until some energy comes from the outside.
And the same is true about faith. We don't have any faith in our
battery. We can't reach out to God in
any manner whatsoever until, first of all, he gives us that
energy to respond to him. Then we believe God, and then
it's counted unto us for righteousness. In the book of Hebrews chapter
Chapter 11, verse 8, it says, by faith Abraham, when he was
called to go out of a place which he should after receive for an
inheritance, obeyed. And he went out not knowing whether
he went. My sheep, hear my voice. And
you know what? God's sheep hear his voice before
they're even caused to know that they're God's sheep because God
has dealt with them in eternity past. He will deal with them
in eternity present and lead them to eternity future. God
has worked a work of grace, and here Abraham is called to go
out. Why in the world were you where you were when God brought
the gospel to you? I wasn't looking for the gospel
myself. I thought I already had it. I was already building my,
using slime, and I was already making a name for myself, and
I was already satisfied with the city I was building. because
I was doing it for God. Read Abraham, or excuse me, read
Paul's account. We're all like this, agreement
with Paul's account, because the Lord reveals to us that is
just worthless, worthless. All right, Hebrews chapter 11,
verse eight, the scriptures share this. By faith, Abraham, when
he was called to go out of a place should after receive for an inheritance
obeyed. And he went out, not knowing
whether he went. By faith he sojourned in the
land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles,
with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.
And he looked for a city which had foundations, whose builder
and maker is God. Through faith also Sarah herself
received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child
when she was past age because she judged him faithful who had
promised. Therefore sprang there even of
one and him as good as dead, 100 years old. His wife is 90
years old. And out of this couple comes
Isaac. We have another step in the line
of Israel. We have Abraham called out of
Ur of the Chaldees. And we have his son, a son of
promise. A picture of the son of promise,
the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a son of promise given
to Abraham and to Sarah after they was of age, old age. Now Abraham tried to help God.
We kind of heard those disciples this morning try to help God
out too. We know that we can have a little competition here
and be the best one for you, Lord. Well, Abraham tried to
help God out with fulfilling that promise and had a son by
a slave woman. And Paul used that in the book
of Galatians to point out we're not the children of bondage,
but we're the children of the free woman. That's what believers
are. Now, those over there at Tower
of Babel and those who carry that religion down to this day
are the servants of the bondwoman. But the people that trust Christ
are the servants of the free woman, the children of the free
woman. Well, it goes on to tell us here in verse 12, therefore,
sprang there even unto one, and him as good as dead, so many
as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the
seashore innumerable. And they all died in faith. Well,
Isaac is born, and he has two sons. And one of them is Jacob,
and the other is Esau. And we know the account that
was given. Jacob was a supplanter. My grandfather's
middle name was Jacob. And I thought that was an honorable
name until you read out what the meaning of that name is.
Supplanter. A man that's a scoundrel. A man,
don't take your hand off your wallet, man. You watch him because
he is going to take you. What we find in the providence
of God, he was given everything by his brother and his brother
didn't count it very valuable. How many have eaten lentil soup?
That's how valuable his inheritance was to him, a bowl of lentil
soup. Now that's not very valuable,
but it was extremely valuable to Jacob. Now Jacob's name is
also changed to Israel. That's where we get the name
children of Israel. Jacob changed to Israel. Now every once in a while we
find God calling him Jacob. You know why he does that? To
remind him where he came from. Just a reminder. And then we
find him called Israel. And what does that mean? Child
of God. Servant of the Most High God. But Jacob, don't you forget
where you came from. Jacob had these 12 sons, plus
daughters. So we have the 12 sons of Jacob. As we follow this out, there's
a lot of jealousy between these 12 sons of Jacob, about one son
in particular. God had told Abraham while he
was still with him. God was still alive. He says,
I'm going to tell you ahead of time that you're going to have
a great big family, and they're going to be taken down to a land
that is not their land, and they're going to be put into captivity,
and they're going to serve there for 400 years. And you know why
God told Abraham those words? Because the naughtiness, the
badness, the iniquity of the Amorites are not yet full. Isn't it something that God would
put his children in captivity for 400 years waiting for the
iniquity of a tribe over here in Cain to take care of them?
Well, we find out that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and his 12 sons
are living in the land that God is later going to bring them
back to. I find that ironical. They're in the land of Canaan.
And while they're in the land of Canaan, one of the boys is
sold down into Egypt by the other 11. And he goes down there, and
he's a servant and a slave until God gives him some information
about some dreams, and he is promoted to a very high place.
And the king down there, Pharaoh, has a dream, and this dream says
there's seven good cattle coming out of the river, and then there's
seven really, really bad cattle coming out of the river. What
does it mean? And the person who can interpret that dream,
I'll give him half the empire. Well, they tried all kinds of
things to find out, and finally one guy remembers, oh, there's
a man down in prison there. If you get him up here, he might
be able to help us out. Jacob, or excuse me, Joseph, is gonna
later tell his brothers this. You meant selling me to the Egyptians
as good. You meant it for evil. But I
have learned that God meant it for good to her the peapod from
a very serious famine. Speak so highly of our Savior,
the Lord Jesus, that they would take him and try him and convict
him and take him out and nail him to a cross. for the sins
of his people, and people would say, oh my, oh my. And the Lord
Jesus Christ said, they meant it for evil, but God intended
it for good for the deliverance of my household, the children
of Israel, spiritual Israel. Well, when things got so bad,
and it tells us in the Bible, it was the whole world was in
a famine. And there's Jacob down there,
and he tells his sons, 11 sons, go down and get some food. Buy
some food for us. And they go down and do that.
He left the one son home. 10 go down there. They come back
with food. And they run out. Safeway and
Fred Meyer have no more. And even the corner grocery stores
that are too expensive have no more either. So Jacob decides
that he's going to send his boys down again. Now turn with me
to Genesis 43, if you would. This is a very interesting verse
or passage here as Jacob, Israel is going to send his boys back
down to Egypt to get more grain, more food. And it tells us in
Genesis chapter 43 and verse 11, these words, And their father
Israel said unto them, in preparation for going, their father Israel
said unto them, if it must be so now, do this, take of the
best fruits in the land. We got the worst famine going
on in the world and this man is going to do what? take the
best fruits in the land in your vessels and carry down the man
a present, a little balm and a little honey, spices, myrrh,
nuts and almonds. You know, you think about that
for just a moment. Here is Israel going to send
down a little pouch of groceries to the man who has all the food
in the world. He's going to send some nuts
down there to the man who owns all the world. I just, and then
it reflects on me. Isn't that just like us? Lord,
I come here for a blessing, but I want to tell you what I did
for you today. I'm going to bring some nuts. How poor that is. to try to gain favor with the
one who has all the spiritual food in the world by sending
a little bit of food that we have ourselves. Well, anyway,
they went down there and you know the story. Joseph kept himself
hidden from them, spoken Egyptian. If you've ever looked at hieroglyphics,
you could just about guess how difficult that language was.
to understand and here are 10 young men that just cannot understand
what he's saying but he knows what they're saying because he
has hidden himself from them. God hid himself from Abraham.
The God of glory hid himself from Abraham and led him out
to the country where he wanted him, and there he revealed himself,
and Abraham believed God and was counted unto him for righteousness.
God is able to hide himself from people just like he did to the
two on the road to Emmaus. They was until he was revealed
unto them, and when he was revealed unto them, they said, did not
our hearts burn within us when he showed us the word of God?
God is able to do that, but as he has purposed, he is able to
reveal himself, and Joseph did to his brethren. He revealed
himself as the son that they had sold into slavery, and now
the rest of the story. Things are so bad that Joseph
said, dad, brothers, family, come down to Egypt. I'm inviting
you to come down and guess what Israel does? Jacob does. Okay. He comes down to Egypt
as God opens the doors just like he instructed Abraham so many
years earlier that my people will be in a land that is not
theirs and they will be harshly treated while they're down there
for 400 years. So they come down, Joseph is
second in charge, Joseph takes care of his family, he settles
them in Goshen and when we have those great Tribulations down
in Egypt, those nine plagues down in Egypt. When there is
darkness that you can feel, there's light in Goshen. When there's
flies, no flies in Goshen. When there's moraine on the animals
over here, there's none over here in Goshen. Talk about God
making a difference between his people and the rest of the people
of the world. He demonstrates that so clearly
with Egypt and then he instructs only one family down there in
Egypt to do something with a lamb. He never sent anybody over there
to talk to the Egyptians about this. He spoke to his own family
Two, the children of Israel, you take a lamb on the first
day of the first month and you set it aside for 14 days and
you will slay that lamb and you will apply the blood. Now the
head of the household did this. I've heard preachers say, you
need to go out there and splatter the blood on the doorpost. No,
sir, the head of the household has already taken care of that.
The head of his household is the Lord Jesus Christ. He has
already taken care of the blood issue. Well, those who didn't
have blood, firstborn died. Those who did have blood, a substitute
died. The innocent lamb died. The innocent
lamb shed his blood so that there would be deliverance in this
household. This is God's eternal purpose
of substitute. We're not able on our own to
do the job. It must be taken care of by a
substitute. And the substitute is pictured
by a lamb without blemish and without spot. Blood was taken
and applied. And then when God came to the
land that night, When I see the blood, I will pass over you. Well, the Bible tells us that
when that night was over and they were ready to leave, a dog
didn't even bark. And beside that, those Egyptians
were so glad to see them leave, they gave them jewelry and gold
and all kinds of cloth and said, They left with great gain. What was happening? They got
paid all their 400 years. Well, it's not quite the end
of the story because when those folks left after 400
years, they ran smack doodly dab into
a Red Sea. They thought they were free.
And the Lord is going to show them a great sign. Would you
turn with me to the book of Exodus chapter 14? Exodus chapter 14. Here's those people. They've
got to be quite a multitude of people. Some people estimate
there were six million of them as they were left Egypt with
all their goods. It tells us here in the book
of Exodus chapter 14, and the Lord spake unto Moses, verse
one saying, speak unto the children of Israel that they turn and
encamp before Pha Heloroth between Migdal in the sea over against
Balaam Ziphon before it shall be, shall ye encamp by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the children
of Israel, they are entangled in the land, the wilderness has
shut them in. Now notice, and God said, I will
harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them. And I will be honored upon Pharaoh
and upon all his hosts. that the Egyptians may know that
I am the Lord, and they did so. What does it tell us in the Book
of Romans? God said about Pharaoh, for this purpose have I raised
thee up that I might show my power in thee. To begin with,
Pharaoh had no interest in going after them, but God stirred him
up, and now he has an interest. And it tells us there, And it
was told the king of Egypt that the people fled, and the heart
of Pharaoh and all his servants was turned against the people.
And they said, why have we done this? That we have let Israel
go from serving us. And he made ready his chariot
and took his people with him. took 600 chosen chariots, and
all the chariots of Egypt, and the captains over every one of
them. And the Lord hardened the heart
of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And he pursued after the children
of Israel. And the children of Israel went
out with a high hand. But the Egyptians pursued after
them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and in his army,
and over-camping by the sea beside Phaharoth, before Balaam, Ziphon. I think it's very important for
us to notice that the Lord moved that all of the chariots and
all of the horsemen and all of Pharaoh's men are on the scene
ready to take Israel back to Egypt. and when Pharaoh drew
nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold,
the Egyptians marched after them, and they were sore afraid, and
the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord, and they said
unto Moses, because there were no graves in Egypt." Can you
imagine that? After 400 years, there's still
no graves in Egypt? A little play on words, I think.
Has thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore
hast thou dealt this with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?
Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying,
Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been
better for us to serve the Egyptians than we should die in the wilderness.
And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and
see the salvation of the Lord without your help. Stand and see the salvation of
the Lord, which he will show to you today. For the Egyptians
whom you have seen today, ye shall see them again no more
forever. What a word. And the Lord shall
fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. And the Lord said
unto Moses, wherefore cryest thou unto me, speaking to the
children of Israel, that they go forward. Now, we know what
happened. They went through the Red Sea
on dry ground. All of them marched through.
And I heard someone the other day say, for that many people
to get through that quickly, there had to be six miles of
Red Sea opened up. Doesn't matter to me. Everybody
got through. Dry shot without one of them being injured or
one of them being left behind. And all of the Egyptian army
was in that same place on that dry ground. And God let the power
of that water go, and the Egyptians are gone, and Israel is on the
far side. You know, from this point forward,
till the end of the Canaan, or almost to the end of the Canaan,
they don't deal with one enemy except themselves. We don't have
any Egyptians after them. The Canaanites, the Hivites,
prepped the Jordan River. For 40 years, they're out there
wandering around, and their only enemy is themselves. And to many
of them, they died in the wilderness, dying unbelief. Only two that
left Egypt entered into the promised land, Joshua and Caleb. Not to say that there were others
that were saved, because I believe Moses and Aaron were. But they
died before they got in there. In Exodus chapter 40, would you
turn there just before we close? As we look at the agenda beforehand,
the pictures, the types and the shadows of our Lord taking care
of his people, just like he did Israel, he takes care of his
people today. He takes care of every enemy of the church. He
did that at the cross, not to be seen anymore. My worst enemy
is myself. I'm thankful for the covenant
mercies of God that keep His people, that watch over His people,
that are with His people, and will not turn loose of His people.
Left to ourselves, we do just what Israel did, but God is not. Here in the book of Exodus chapter
40 and verse 17, it tells us these words, and it came to pass
in the first month in the second year on the first day of the
month that the tabernacle was reared up. So from leaving Egypt
on the evening of the Passover to this time when the tabernacle
is raised up at Sinai has been one year. God took care of them
and they built a representation of the Savior of his people.
All of this is a picture of what Moses saw on the mount, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, going back to Numbers chapter
1 for just a moment. Numbers chapter 1. On the first day of the first month,
one year later, the tabernacle is raised up. And what did we
find here in Numbers chapter 1 verse 1? as we've watched the entire calling
of Abraham settling down, his son Isaac, Jacob, Israel, the
children of Israel, going off into Egypt, headed for the promised
land, and they're right here, and it says, and the Lord spake
unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of
the congregation, on the first day of the second month, in the
second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt. Had
a month there that we don't have a record of, but here we go with
what is contained in this wonderful book of numbers as God illustrates
again to us his wonderful care over his people and his judgment
on those who are not his people. Wonderful pictures of his savior,
wonderful Condemnation, if you please. God said he will do this
and he does it. He will judge people who are
not his people. And it tells us in Numbers chapter
14 and verse 22, and you have tempted me now these 10 times.
We've just got to chapter 14 and are tempted, God, 10 times. There were a few that could say
by faith, as Abraham did, believed God,
and it was counted unto them for righteousness. And a whole
bunch of them were building brick, building a city out of slime,
praying for themselves, and God said, I will not have it.