Good morning, and would you join
me once again in the book of Numbers. Numbers chapter 1, the
gospel according to numbers. I've been listening to some of
the old CDs that we did a number of years ago on the book of Revelation,
and I can't help but think a lot about that because in every one
of those is, boy, tonight's lesson is really good. And I've had
a good time studying for it. Well, I feel that way about Numbers. It's just one of those pasture
lands that I never thought was there. It's just green grass
I didn't realize was just over the next hill. And here we are,
the book of Numbers chapter 1. Now we're going to spend our
time again in the verse 1 of Numbers chapter 1. The first
lesson we looked at was kind of a broad overview of the whole
book and to some of the great blessings that God has for us
in this wonderful book of Numbers. And then we spent three Sundays
looking at Jehovah, Jehovah and his different names as he's called
in the scriptures to his church. And then last week we looked
at that Jehovah spoke. As it tells us in 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 and the second year after they were come, out of the land
of Egypt saying, it was and still is only by grace and grace alone
that Jehovah came down and spoke to Adam after the fall. It was
by grace and grace alone that he came unto that being that
he had created and commanded with his very own words face
to face that you shall not eat of this tree. And then we read
that he went ahead and ate of that tree and plunged his whole
being into sin and every one of his descendants would be in
the same place. And yet we find that the Lord
Jehovah came down to him and spoke to him, number one, to
identify where he was. Adam, where art thou? And then
we find that he goes ahead and does something most miraculous. He did something for those, our
first parents, that they could not do for themselves. They illustrated
the point that they couldn't do it when they covered themselves
with fig leaves. And God said, this is unacceptable. Now, he doesn't use those words
per se in the scriptures, but he does share with us that it
was necessary that he cover our first parents with a substitute. And he used the skins of animals
to demonstrate that very thing, that it was going to be by the
shedding of blood that a covering would be made that would be satisfactory
and we read through the scriptures in so many types shadows and
pictures of that shed blood that that slain sacrifice and that
shed blood and then we read about the Lord Jesus Christ in his
own personal ministry to this earth, that he went through that
entire regime as he was brought before Pilate, he was taken and
crucified and slain, and then all of those Old Testament pictures,
types, and shadows took upon great meaning, and we also find
that the fulfillment of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus would require
these words from the Lord from the cross, it is finished. This whole thing is wrapped up
the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. In our book of study,
this book of numbers, God will declare in a number of ways how
his grace can be exercised to his people and we're going to
see that again in this first chapter and in the first verse.
Jehovah, we read, is the revelation of the Godhead. We find that
the Lord Jesus Christ is the revelation of the Godhead. And
would you turn with me, keeping your finger right here, but turn
with me to the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 4. And there in verse
6, 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 6, and we read about Jehovah
here. In fact, in the New Testament,
we know him as the Lord Jesus Christ. We know him as the one
that was born of a virgin. You shall call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins. We know him
as the person Lord, that is a title given to him of authority. He
has always had that title. He has always had this authority.
He has always been King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Then we have
the word Christ that is added to his name, which brings us
back to Old Testament Messiah, the word that was brought to
Adam and Eve there in the Garden of Eden, that there would be
one that would come that would take care of the problem you've
brought on the world. Well, we've said this many times.
You can read it in commentaries of those who know something about
the gospel, and you can hear it from gospel preachers. God
was not caught off guard when that happened in the Garden of
Eden. He was not caught short. He was not surprised. He did
not know what to do, but he already had a lamb in the wings, prepared,
slain from the foundation of the world. So God was in absolute
control even of that. He is King of kings and Lord
of lords. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse
6, we read this about the Lord Jesus Christ, about the glory
that he has and that he reflects the glory of the Godhead. 2 Corinthians
chapter 4 and verse 6, we read these words, it says, for God
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, takes us back
to creation, takes us back to us before we were saved, and
then the glory that he brought to us in the light of the gospel,
in the light of Christ, in the light of the ministry of the
Holy Spirit. He shines out of darkness, has
shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. If you ever
want to know anything about God, we must come through Christ because
he is the revelation of the Godhead. He is the revealer of the Godhead.
He's a revealer of all the things that are spiritual, this one,
the Lord Jesus. Then back up, if you would, to
the book of John chapter 1, verse 14 and 18. John chapter 1, verses
14 and 18. This is the one that's speaking
in the book of numbers and as we find he's the one that's speaking
throughout all of the Old Testament and Bringing that word through
the New Testament This is the one the Lord Jesus that spoke
Jehovah spoke to Moses in the wilderness in John chapter 1
and verse 14 the scriptures say this and for the word was made
flesh this word of God was made flesh and He took upon himself
the form of a servant. He came in the likeness of sinful
man. That's what we find in the scriptures.
And dwelt among us for 33 and a half years. He dwelt among
us. For a number of years, he was taken care of, just like
our children. We take care of them. But this
one, the Lord, was taken care of by his mother and his stepfather
until he became of age, just like we did. And then at the
age of about 30, he identified himself as the one that came
to preach the gospel to this world and to declare the gospel
in the giving of himself. This one, the Lord Jesus, he
became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory."
Now John is saying that as well as the other disciples that knew
about him. Judas saw a blank face. Judas saw nothing. Judas never
saw any light. He saw a candle. That's all his
life was, was just a candle. But to the others, this one was
the light of life. To others, this one was the light
of glory. To others, this one was the light
of the world. To Judas, it was just a candle
of life. And when that candle went out,
it was over for him. But to the others, When this
light of life goes out in our life, we get to see him face
to face as he is. What a difference. Goes on to
tell us, we beheld his glory as the only begotten of the father,
full of grace and truth. And if you drop down with me
to verse 18, no man has seen God at any time. The only begotten
son, which is in the bosom of the father, he has declared him. He's revealed him. He declares
him. declared in the gospel, he reveals all the Godhead bodily. This one, the Lord Jesus. Now,
Jehovah speaks to a man. That's amazing. Even after the
fall, by 2,000 years, he speaks to a man and his name is Moses.
Now Moses was a descendant of that very Adam that we read about
in the book of Genesis. Moses was a descendant of that
very Noah that was called on to build an ark for the saving
of his household. Out of all the thousands and
maybe even millions of people that were on the earth at that
time, we find that Noah was called on to deliver eight souls and
he was one of them. Moses was a descendant of Abraham.
Now Abraham was called out of Ur of the Chaldees. Abraham would
have stayed there all his life if God had not got involved with
his life. He came down to a pagan city.
He came down to Ur. He came down to a man who was
not looking for him, and he came down to that man and called him
out of that place to go to a place he had never seen before, never
heard of before. This man, Moses, is a descendant
of Isaac, that promised son to Abraham. Abraham went through
several things trying to bring about God's will, brought on
a son that's going to be a picture of the world, of the flesh, of
natural religion. And then he gave to him a promised
son by the name of Isaac. This is the son of promise. This is the one that I promised
you. And we read in the Old Testament
that Abraham and his wife both laughed, but we get to the 11th
chapter of the book of Hebrews, and they didn't laugh at all.
Under grace, under the blood of Christ, they were taken care
of. We don't have that record. I'm
thankful under the blood. I don't have that record before
God of what I am by nature. I have a record before God that
I'm a child of God purchased by his blood and his blood has
put away all my sin. This same Moses was a descendant
of Jacob. Jacob was the supplanter. I was interested this morning
in the lesson, James and Jacob are the same names. So both of
them mean supplanter. This Jacob was a scoundrel. And
yet we read in the word of God, God gives us this message. He
said, Jacob have I loved, Esau I have hated. Jacob I love, Esau
I hate. Now that doesn't ring very well
with natural man. But with the person that believes
the gospel, believes the Lord Jesus Christ, and Christ revealed
unto them, They find themselves in a thankful spot because if
it wasn't for the grace of God and his eternal love for his
people, nobody out of all people would ever come to Christ. There would be no salvation of
any kind if it wasn't for God being involved in natural man
and then knowing them as spiritual beings in the covenant of grace.
I am called on to remember about this Moses that God spoke to
in the book of Numbers, and he speaks to Moses almost 50 times
in the book of Numbers alone. The Lord Jehovah spake unto Moses. Now as we go through there, we'll
find those spots. We're not going to take time
to read them all today, but I want you to turn with me to the book
of Hebrews for just a moment, chapter 11, and notice that the
Lord came down, Jehovah came down and spake to Moses in the
wilderness. And this is the Moses that the
Lord came down to speak to. In numbers, excuse me, in Hebrews
chapter 11 and verse 23, it tells us something very important here
about Moses. In Hebrews chapter 11, verse
23, it says, by faith, Moses, when he was born, now this is
the faith given to his parents. Faith is always a gift of God.
Spiritual faith is always a gift of God. Now we may have faith
in something, we may have faith in somebody, we may have faith
in ourselves, but that doesn't mean that that's the faith that
God has given. God gives faith, and that faith
is true, honest, and spiritual faith. It is a gift of God, for
by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God. If we are
depending on our faith, then we're depending on false faith.
If we're depending on his faith, then he's given us the privilege
of having that faith, the blessing of that faith. Here it tells
us that Moses' parents, by faith, they saw that their son needed
to be delivered. Well, God had a ministry for
him. God had moved on his parents to take care of him. The edict
had gone out by the Pharaoh that all the male children in the
realm were to be killed. That was the law. And it tells us here, Hebrews
chapter 11 and verse 23 by faith Moses when he was born was hid
three months of his parents because they saw he was a proper child
and they were not afraid of the King's commandment they saw what
does that mean they saw God had something to do for him By faith
they saw this. Now by faith Moses when he was
come of years refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
He'd been taken up out of that Nile River by Pharaoh's daughter. He was adopted by Pharaoh's daughter.
He was going to inherit as Pharaoh's daughter and in in verse 25 choosing
rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy
the pleasures of sin for a season. Now notice verse 26 because this
connects us from Old Testament to New Testament person. In the Old Testament he's always
called the Messiah when he's talking about Christ. Here we
have Moses esteeming the reproach of Christ. Did you catch that? Moses esteeming the reproach
of Christ now Old Testament through New Testament eyes we run into
Christ as the Lord Jesus Christ this is who we find that Moses
was esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the
treasures in Egypt for he had respect upon the recompense of
reward By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the
king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. These words
are written about Moses and this took place prior to Numbers chapter
1 verse 1 when Jehovah came down and spoke to Moses. When we find
this we find that the Holy God Almighty Jehovah is coming down
and having conversation with one of his children. He's having
conversation with one he had revealed himself unto. He's having
conversation with one that had been written down in the Lamb's
Book of Life from eternity. When it tells us in Numbers chapter
1, verse 1, the Lord spake unto Moses, he's speaking to one of
his children, and he's going to give him a great love letter. We don't think often that Numbers
is a love letter, but it is filled with the love of God coming down
to his people. And that is only what God does. God's love promotes him to come
down to his people that he has in the wilderness. This is an
interesting thing, that the Lord descended to the wilderness to
speak to one of his children. Child by salvation, child by
gift of faith, child by redemption, child by regeneration, Moses
was a man of grace and grace alone. There was nothing in Moses
that would attract God because he is just a mere descendant
of Adam. And this conversation covers much of the book of Numbers.
He came to Moses. He spoke to Moses. He spoke to
a son of grace. He spoke to a child of his. He brings to him the message
of comfort. He brings to him the message
of grace. He brings to him the Lord Jesus
Christ, and some 56 times does that happen over there in the
book of Numbers. Jehovah spoke to Moses in a very
special place, the same place he finds all his sheep. We're not on some high plateau.
We're not elevated halfway between heaven and earth. When God finds
us, we're here in a wilderness. And there it was called the wilderness
of Sinai. What had just come down off of
that mount? God had just delivered the law.
Now, we know that nobody is saved by the keeping of the law. That's
brought out when we get to reading about Abraham. Abraham was not
saved by the law because that law hadn't even been given. He
was a child of faith. By faith, Abraham believed God
and was counted unto him for righteousness. That's the way
it's always been. Now he gave us that law and he
showed even those who were so taken care of by God, those children
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, those 12 tribes that saw God
in a way that no other person had ever seen, that no other
tribe had ever seen, that no other group had ever seen. He
provided such convincing thought and points to the Egyptians.
He brought upon them those plagues, and those plagues affected the
Egyptians, did not affect those, his people. When there was darkness
in Egypt, there was light in Goshen. When there was this over
there, there was not that over here. He showed that there is
a great dividing line between Jacob's and Esau's. Now he comes
over here into the book of Numbers chapter 1, and throughout the
book of Numbers, he is visiting with his people in the wilderness.
And that wilderness is where you and I were born. Now we may
have been born in a city. I have a good friend. Right now,
he doesn't want to admit that he was born in Portland. And you know what? We have to
bring it up all the time. Oh, you were born in Portland.
I was not. You know, it doesn't matter where
we were born. We're each one born in the wilderness. This place changed so dramatically
after Adam fell. And then really changed after
the great flood. People, Adam, before the fall
visited with Jehovah. And when he came down, Jehovah
came down after the fall, he could only do one thing, and
that was to cover this man with a covering acceptable. And that's
the only way that God can have converse with worms. Now we're
in the wilderness. The wilderness is all about us.
Did you hear read this morning there in the book of Luke, where
it says a man, what man of you having a hundred sheep, if you
lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness
and go after that which was lost till he find it? Where did he
find it? In the wilderness. He found in
the book of Matthew, it talks about being in a mountain of
way. That's where he finds his people
is in a wilderness. Now, it's a wonderful thing to
find out that God knows where every one of his lost sheep are.
We don't, and we don't even know that we're lost, but there he
is. This mighty God knows all things. He has the knowledge of where
his lost sheep are. He knew where Moses was. every step of his life. He knew
him from before the world. He knew them in conception. He
knew them in birth and took care of him before he could even think
about taking care of himself. He put in the heart of Pharaoh's
daughter to be a mother to him, protect him from all the harm
that even the king, her father said, I'm going to take out on
these people. He was protected from the very
beginning. and he was protected till his
passing and he's still protected because we heard of him read
today. He was on the Mount of Transfiguration with the Lord
of Glory talking about his demise. In the wilderness, that's what
Jehovah said he would do. He would meet with us in the
wilderness. Now turn with me to the book
of Deuteronomy, would you? Another wonderful Old Testament
book that if I live to be 120, we may get to. Deuteronomy chapter
32. This is a wonderful statement
made about the Lord finding his people in the wilderness because
that's where they all are. We're all in the wilderness of
this world. It's a pasturalist place. Mephibosheth? He lived in Lodibar, which is
just another word for a pastoralist place. We have no green grass
to give us spiritual food. here in this wilderness unless
it's supplied. We don't have any pure air to
breathe, spiritual air to breathe, unless it's provided. It has
to come from someplace else. This world has been put into
a terrible plight as a result of the fall. In fact, it tells
us in the book of Romans that this earth groaneth in itself
as a result of the fall. It groans. Well, some people
say, well, that's the earthquake. I don't know what it all means,
but I know what the Bible says. It groans. It went through a
terrible event as a result of the fall and is still going through
that event. Well, we find here in the book
of Deuteronomy, chapter 32, that God tells us with regard to his
people. Now, forgive me, but I find the
church in the Old Testament all over. The church is there. God's people
are there. The church didn't start on Pentecost.
The church didn't start during the ministry of the Lord Jesus.
The church was counted out in the council halls of eternity,
and their names were written down in the Lamb's Book of Life.
Now the first church member that ever got to sit before the Lord
in glory, we know him. His name was Abel. He went up
there and found his chair. It was marked out for him. And
all of the thousands since that time have found their place marked
out in glory just like the Lord said it would happen. I have
my people. I will call them to myself. Blessed
in the eyes of the Lord are the death of his saints. I'll welcome
them to full honors because of Christ. Deuteronomy chapter 32
and verse 9, the scriptures share this, for the Lord's portion
is his people. Now that's the church. The Lord's
portion. Now Israel is a picture and a
type and a shadow. And we find out that there were
a few in there that were in the spiritual church. Not all Israel
is of Israel. Those that are of Israel, they
have faith in God Almighty. They're not depending on some
national scene. Well, it says here, the Lord's
portion is his people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. Now that's one of the people
that are directly in the line of Moses. He found him in a desert
land. Where did he find Jacob? He found
him in a desert land. He found him in this world. He
was not on some high plateau waiting for God to come find
him. Jacob was just like the rest
of us. run from God until he found us and brought us to himself.
He drew with cords of love. He resurrected us out of the
spiritual death. He found him in a desert, in
a waste howling wilderness. He led him about. He instructed
him. That's exactly what God does
for his people. He is the only one that can truly
teach us the truth of the gospel. The preacher may come along and
declare it, but how do we know it is revealed to us by the Holy
Spirit? He's the one that teaches us.
It's the Lord that teaches us, and all those that are taught
by the Lord know him. He kept him as the apple of his
eye. You know, even though Jacob was
off running around one time, a whole bunch, you know what
the apple of the eye is? That's I'm close enough to see
my reflection in your eye. That's pretty close. He kept
Jacob as the apple of his eye. What's he mean? He says, I'll
lose none. I'll keep them. I'll watch over
them. I'll bless them. I'll bring them. I'll call them.
Some may be young. Some may be middle-aged. Some
may be in religion. That's the wilderness he found
me in. was just accepted religion. I wasn't one of those strange
religions. You know, the religion I was in used to always talk
about the strange religions, all religions thrown up in the
air, you couldn't tell the difference. You know what it all is? Works,
works, works, works, works. And the church, Christ, Christ,
Christ, Christ, Christ. That's the difference. Goes on
to say here, he found him in a wasteland wilderness. He instructed
him, he kept him as the apple of his eye, as an eagle stirreth
up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her
wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings. So the Lord alone
did lead him, and there was no strange God with him. Turn with
me, if you would, over to the book of Nehemiah. The book of
Nehemiah, as the Lord came down that day and spoke to Moses in
the wilderness, I wonder what everybody else was thinking when
they saw that glory. Because the Lord coming in his
glory to his people is glorious. You know, we read in the New
Testament that some heard thunder. That's all it was. And some heard
the word of God. This is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. Psalm heard thunder. I wonder
what the rest of the folks thought when God spoke, the Lord spoke
to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus. He was traveling
with a whole host of folks. I wonder what they thought. Oh,
that sounded like thunder. I don't know what happened. You
know what Saul thought? God spoke to me. He came in such a manner. You
know, we have all this idea about how people are saved today, that
they just volunteer for it. Talk to Saul of Tarsus about
volunteering for it. He came down. Saul had nothing,
wanted nothing, did nothing, had no, absolutely no interest
in whatsoever. But God, who comes down in the
wilderness and speaks to his lost sheep, spoke to him and
said, Saul, Saul, why persecutes thou me? Who are you? Lord, I'm
Jesus whom thou persecuted. And the rest of them heard nothing.
I'm glad that the Lord came down to Moses and spoke to him and
gave us the book of Numbers. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
and Deuteronomy. And I'm glad he came down and
spoke to the rest of the prophets and gave us all of the Old Testament
and the rest of the apostles that gave us the New Testament.
How glorious it was for him to speak to them. here in the book
of Nehemiah. Would you travel with me to the
book of Nehemiah chapter nine? Nehemiah is giving an account,
giving an account of God's great blessings to Israel. And we see
through this, if we look at it from New Testament eyes, we see
the Lord speaking to his church. What a glorious thing. This all
pictured, it was a type and a shadow. It pictured these things, but
to speak to the church with such glory. In the book of Nehemiah,
he's recounting what God had done with Israel, and greater
than that, what God does for the church here in the wilderness.
How he blesses the church and calls his people out. Nehemiah
and Ezra were contemporaries. And one day, they decided they're
going to have a service out here, because a lot of people had forgot
the things about God. In Nehemiah chapter 9, verse
6, the scriptures say, Thou, even thou, art Lord alone. Thou hast made heaven, the heavens
of the heavens, with all their hosts, the earth and all things
that are therein, the seas and all that are therein, and thou
preservest them all, and the host of heaven worship thee.
You know, if we could just get a hold of what happened in the
first creation, we wouldn't have near the problem with the second
creation. I have a lot of friends that believe that God created
the heavens and the earth But when it comes down to salvation,
they have to contribute something. How much did the eye of the cow
contribute to being created as a cow? How much did grass contribute
to becoming grass? Not one thing. And how much do
we contribute to our salvation? Not one thing. We're just an
empty, broken vessel that he comes along and fills with his
glory. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels. We're not made glorious on the
inside. He told a bunch of the Pharisees,
he said, you have cleaned up the outside, but your inside
is filled with Yuck! Hasn't been cleaned up. You're
like a painted sepulcher. Dead men's bones. But God deals
with us and puts that treasure in earthen vessels. Nehemiah
9, verse 6, he said, verse 7, Thou art the Lord, the God, who
didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees,
and gave us his name of Abraham. You know, Moses was not even
a name given to him by his parents. You know who named him? Pharaoh's daughter named him.
Gave him an Egyptian name, which means taken out of. Or similar,
taken out of the river. Delivered from the river. But
you know what his spiritual name is? The Lord our righteousness. That's the name of everyone God
ever saves. The Lord our righteousness. His name was Moses, but he learned
what it was to be the Lord our righteousness is my name. He
says he changed his name to Abraham and found us his heart faithful
before thee. Who made that heart faithful?
God Almighty. He's the only one. made us a
covenant with him, and gave him the land of the Canaanites, the
Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Gergesites,
to give it, I say, to his seed, and has performed thy words,
for thou art righteous, and did see the affliction of our fathers
in Egypt, and heard us there cry by the Red Sea, and show
us them signs and wonders upon Pharaoh and upon all his servants,
Upon all the people of his land, for thou knewest that they dwell
proudly against them. So didst thou get thee a name
as it is this day. And there in verse, drop down
to verse 19. It says, yet thou in thy manifold
mercies forsakest them not in the wilderness. The pillar of
the cloud departed not from them by day to lead them in the way,
neither the pillar of fire by night to show them light and
the way wherein thou shouldest go. Thou gavest also thy good
spirit to instruct them and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth
and gavest them water for their thirst in the wilderness. who took care of them. Thou forsookest not them in the
wilderness. You led them, it tells us there
in verse 19. You led them, you showed them
the way that they should go. Thou gave us them a good spirit
to instruct them. Even in the wilderness, he took
care of his people. And even today, when he saves
his people, he saves them and he delivers them. And yet he
leaves us in the wilderness, but not alone. I'll give them
light. I'll lead them, I'll direct them,
I'll teach them, I'll be with them until they leave the wilderness
and join me in glory. Jeremiah chapter 2. Would you
turn with me to Jeremiah chapter 2. Jeremiah chapter 2 and verse
4. We have Jeremiah speaking about
the subject again as the Holy Spirit throughout all the Old
Testament Scriptures as well as the New Testament Scriptures.
Where did he find Saul of Tarsus? Even though he was a highly religious
man, very educated, he found him in the wilderness. Where
did he find Matthew and Mark and Luke? In the wilderness.
Where did he find John? In the wilderness. What did he
do with them? He saved him by his grace, and
led them by his spirit, and taught them the things of the Spirit
of God. They said with conviction, to
whom shall we go thou hast the words of eternal life. Who am
I? Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the Living God, who taught them that, God Almighty, and
who led them through their life by the light of the glory of
God, the Lord Himself. Jeremiah chapter 2 and verse
4, it says, Hear ye the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob,
and all the families of the house of Israel. Thus saith the Lord,
what iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone
afar from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become
vain? Neither said they, where is the Lord that brought us up
out of the land of Egypt, and led us through the wilderness,
through a land of deserts and of pits? Can you grasp what he's
saying here? He's led us through the wilderness
through a land of pits, not peach pits, through a land of drought
and of the shadow of death. That's where he leads us. Oh,
things sometimes just don't go as we planned, but it's according
to God's eternal purpose. He leads us through the wilderness,
the wilderness that God has here. He brings his great grace. Where
did Christ find all of his disciples? Where did he find Moses? Where
did he find Abram? Where did he find Noah? Where
did he find Abel? In the wilderness of this world,
in a fallen place, there wasn't anything spiritual that would
cause them to turn to God, but he finds us there, lost sheep,
finds us, brings us back, and teaches us the great grace of
God. Where was Zacchaeus when the
Lord found him? Well, we say up a tree, but that
tree was in the wilderness. Where did he find the maniac
of Gadara? That Gadarene. Where did he find
the woman at the well? You know what? finds all his
people in the wilderness. And he speaks to them and calls
them. And when God calls, God's people
come. And he teaches them the glorious
truths of Christ in the gospel. That truth about his blood purchase
us and put away all our sin. In the book of Romans is a quote
from the Old Testament. It says, I was found to them
that sought me not. I was made manifest unto them
that asked not after me. That's really what the wilderness
is about. I have no interest. Don't talk to me about that.
I don't want to hear that. Have you ever said that? I'm
through with that. I tried that. My brother made
one of the clearest statements about religion, and he's just
a nothing. He says, Norm, I know this. There
is nothing in religion. And I says, you're right about
that. There is nothing in religion. But there's everything in Christ. He comes down and speaks to us
in the wilderness. really much.