If you would, turn to Exodus
chapter 13. I haven't even got the preaching
good yet and two kids are already totally out of it. Exodus chapter 13. Let me read. It's only five or six verses.
Exodus 13 verses 17 through 22. And it came to pass, when Pharaoh
had let the people go, that God led them, not through the way
of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God
said, lest peradventure, the people repent when they see war,
and this is not a good repentance. The people repent when they see
war, and they return to Egypt. But God led the people about
through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea, and the children
of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt. Moses took
the bones of Joseph with him, for he had straightly sworn the
children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you. and ye
shall carry up my bones away hence with you. They took their
journey from Succoth and encamped in Etham in the edge of the wilderness. And the Lord went before them
by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way. And by night in a pillar of fire
to give them light to go by day and night. He took not away the
pillar of cloud by day. Now this is talking about right
now, but he did that all throughout that wilderness journey too.
All the murmuring and complaining, all the unbelief, that pillar
of cloud was still always there. He took not away the pillar of
cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night from before the
people. One songwriter had these words. Judge not the Lord by feeble
sense. That's a good statement. Because
you and I are so prone to judge the Lord by our sins, which is
feeble at best. At best. Think about it. Think back for a moment with
me if you can. Recall the first joys of your
gospel conversion. Now maybe you don't remember
a lot about it. But if God ever converted you, unless you're
totally losing your mind, you still can remember some of those
first joys. I'm not talking about, you see,
God slays you before he ever brings you to life. God'll kill
you. He'll make you to see your death. God will wound you before
he ever heals you. But I'm talking about the healing
part. And you remember that time when, and I'm not gonna talk
about just a certain day or hour as religious people talk about.
I'm talking about that time back yonder. when God Almighty begin
to reveal to you His glory in the face of Jesus Christ. You
remember the great fullness you felt? And you could feel that. You remember the great peace
that you begin to have? Peace. Even sometimes you may
have felt ecstatic. This is great. Nothing else bad
will ever happen to me now. You remember feeling like that
at times? God's revealed himself to me. God's shown me the glory
of his son. There's almost at times this
sense of just ecstatic. Nothing's gonna ever get me down
again. But soon, soon after that we
were shown, I still need God to lead me. It's almost like the bondage
is lifted. I'm out of Egypt. Everything's
gonna be great now. It wasn't going to be great now,
was it? But still yet, Joe, I shall not want. I shall not want. Read it again. And it came to
pass, just a couple verses, when Pharaoh had let the people go.
They're moving out. that God led them not through
the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. And if
you look at a map, you see the way they went, at least as been
supposed, all of that journey. God didn't take them through
the land of the Philistines, which is right up here near the coast.
Didn't even have to cross the Red Sea, per se, as the Red Sea,
and go right up the coast and right there to land. And someone, and I read that,
when I first read this, I thought, huh? Now, you know the account
of what happened to the children of Israel. They rebelled and
wandered through the wilderness for 40 years. Wait a minute,
war? Is that the real problem? God
had just conquered Pharaoh. And you think a little bit of
war in the land of the Philistines is gonna stop God? Judge not
the Lord by feeble sense. God has a wise, sovereign purpose. He's going to carry out, and
that's best. But it's not always gonna be
the quickest or the easiest. You see it? He led them not through
the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God
said, peradventure, the people repent when they see war. Well,
look at what they've just seen. So don't judge the Lord by faith,
don't try to, okay, let me put God in this box now. God's not
worried here. God's not worried here. God knows
exactly what he purposed to be done from before the foundation
of the world. But God led the people about.
You see verse 18, through the way of the wilderness of the
Red Sea and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the
land of Egypt. Briefly, consider this word,
harnessed. Here's my title and my message,
I can say. Harnessed, but led by God. Harnessed, but led by God. But now don't let this word Fool
you. You think sometimes of harnessed,
you think of being in a bind, right? I'm harnessed up. That's
not the word. Harnessed, consider that, but
led by God. Harnessed, and some say it means
this, and I see how they get to it, but I'm not here to argue
about that. They know a whole lot more about
the Hebrew than I do, but they say it means this, and it's actually
made up of two words, marshaled in ranks of five. And I can see
how, I'm not going into all that, it don't matter. And I can see
how that's true. And Ellen, you talk about how
many people there was, think of them in rows of five. That's
even more amazing. This wasn't just a big, like
a swarm of bees, they were lined up like an army. But here's the
simply stated meaning of the word. There's a whole lot more
to it than this. But simply stated, if you just
kind of boil it all down, here's what this word harness means,
full bellied. It's even sometimes been used
in the scripture as obese, but it don't mean just fat. It means
full-bellied. So they're going up full-bellied,
but led by God. Do you see it? Now you remember,
now you know why I told you, asked you to recall back when
God first began to show you the joys of your gospel conversion.
Wasn't you full-bellied? Wasn't you full-bellied? but I still need God to lead
me. Think of it, and I'm not gonna
preach on this. Joe, you preach on this sometime.
Full belly, the children of Israel went up as a full-bellied army. Think of it, full of lamb. Wasn't
they full of lamb? Wasn't they just done the night
before? Full belly, feasting on the lamb. Full of lamb. Full of unleavened
bread, full of bitter herbs. Yes, sir. Fully clothed, fully
shod, and staffed. That's right. And spools to boot. Yes, sir. Right? Is that not
what we need? And full bellied. Amen. Full bellied. There's your
message, Joe. But I'm not going to preach you
the message. And yet, still in absolute need of God's lead. Had they went through the land,
the way of the land of the Philistines, God said, they'll change their
mind, they'll run, they'll tuck tail and run back to Egypt. So
I'm gonna take them this way. Well poor God, didn't he know
what they was gonna do in the garden? Or garden, I'm sorry, in the
desert? And we did it in the garden too, I guess that wasn't
a slip, was it? Did he not know what was going to happen? Why
don't he just wipe out the Philistines and let them walk on through?
Because God's way is the right way. You see, if I was all powerful,
and I heard a preacher say this the other day, it's not an exact
quote, but if I was all powerful, I would change everything about
my life. Almost everything I would change in some way. But if I
was truly all-knowing, I wouldn't change a thing. Because I know the all-powerful,
all-knowing God does His way because it's the best way. And people say, well, God looked
down from heaven to see what you would do. Does that apply
to these Israelites? God knew what they were going
to do in that wilderness, at the mouth of Sinai, plucking
off some of this gold they'd got from the Egyptians and making
them a golden calf and dancing around naked, worshiping this
calf. Yet God, listen to me, I know
somebody else, God led them there. Now you hear what I'm saying. We are saying God's the author
of sin. I'm saying God led them there. That's what I'm saying,
because that's what this book teaches. Because these people
had to learn a lesson of not only how great God was. They'd
seen that. They needed to learn the lesson
about who they are. And when God saves you, he's
going to show you both. Now that's his prerogative is
how long he takes in it, and how he does it, in what order,
whatever. That's his prerogative. But God's going to teach you
both if he ever saves you. who he is, and who you are. And
Joey's gonna do that for the rest of your life. Till you die,
or he returns again and transforms you. Think of it, full-bellied
army. But still in absolute need of
God's lead. Just two things this morning.
First of all, I'm not gonna read verse 17 and 18, but this is
the first point God knows best. Isn't that simple enough? I'm sure after all, thousands
of their carcasses died and rotted in the wilderness. But I'm here
to say God knows best. Does he not? Some murmured and
complained and they suffered because of it. And you and I
will too, if we murmur and complain. But some of them did not believe
God and their carcasses rotted in the wilderness. And there's
a difference. Now all unbelief has murmuring and complaining.
But even believers can murmur and complain. And that's called
our unbelief. I know what that man meant when
he cried out, Lord, I believe. And he didn't say, make me stronger. He said, help thou my unbelief. God knows best. Even when it hurts, God knows best. Things happen and I think to
myself, why God? You ever done that? Because God
knows best. Two things here, God knows best.
The near way, is not God's way. I know religion presents it like
this, come forward, give your heart to Jesus, or come forward,
join the church, make your peace with God, whatever they use.
And they speak to men and women as though, now the battle's over. No, now the battle is starting. Because you're going to find
out your worst enemy wasn't the Philistines, Your worst enemy's
you! My worst enemy's me! Because
if I wasn't my own worst enemy, all the other enemies would not
matter. The near way is not God's way. The near way leads to apostasy. That's turning around and heading
back. You see, the one reason we're
still sticking by the stuff today is because God's made it so difficult.
But He led us all the way. Now if He don't lead you, different
story. Right? If He's not leading you,
that's a different story. But if He's leading you, then
no matter what the way is, it's the best way. And I have so much
trouble believing that. Matthew chapter 13. Let me just read you a couple
verses. And you'll recognize it. Matthew chapter 13, verse 20
and 21. But he that received the seed
in the stony places, the same as he that heareth the word,
and this is the good word of God, not a false gospel. This
is the good word of God. But he that receiveth the seed
in stony places, the same as he that heareth the word, and
immediately, that's what that word anon, the easy way, it's
easy, and immediately with joy, does what? Receives it. Yet he hath no root in himself,
but doeth for a while. For when tribulation or persecution
arise, because of the same word that they so quickly receive,
and persecution and tribulation will arise because of the word. What does it say? By and by he is, what? Not just
become slack, is offended, what? At God. Because this has happened
to me. That's what it's all about. Offended
at, well it means his word. If you're offended at God's word,
you're offended at God. If you're offended by God's providence,
you'll be offended by God's word. If you're offended by God's word,
you'll be offended by God's providence because it's all like this. You cannot separate anything
that has to do with the person and work of God. Now we might
like to break it down theologically, I understand that, that's okay,
but never think that we can separate it out and have one part, well
which part's more important? When it comes to God's person
and work, there ain't no part less important or more important. This is God we're talking about
here. So remember, the near way is not God's way. The easy way
is not God's way. The quick way is not God's way.
I have been here in this place for about 34, 35 years now. This place. And then, of course,
we were at Mabscot. But still, our numbers were not
a whole lot greater back then, even when we had all the kids.
Right? And God's always put clothes
on my back. Right here in this armpit of
West Virginia, and he's put clothes on my back and food in my belly
and a roof over my head and a people to worship with. I don't deserve
that. So Walter Pendleton, quit your
bellyaching and murmuring and repining. Thank God you got what
you got. Secondly, God's way is never
the easy way. Oh yeah, the land of the Philistines.
War, they were a warring people. But God didn't take them that
way just because of war. God, look what he did to Egypt.
Look what he's going to do to Pharaoh and his armies in the
Red Sea. But yet that's exactly where God took them rather than
through the way of the Philistines. Why? Because God's going to manifest
his glory. He's going to manifest his glory in saving a bunch of
sinners. Isn't that true? Isn't that what
this whole book's about? God's way is never the easy way.
The Red Sea, Sinai, the wilderness, 40 years. And yet we know, Romans chapter eight, all things
work together for good. All things. It may not and probably
will not feel good, but it works together for good. But to whom? To them that love God. To them,
and who is it that loves God? To them who are thee called according
to his purpose. Earl used to say it this way,
and I've mentioned it here lately because of different circumstances,
which I had trouble dealing with. God's got a place to take you,
and he'll take you there. If you're one of his, then he'll
bring you back. And he ain't talking about a place here, he's
talking about a place in here. Wherever you go, wherever God
leads you, that's the best place. Now you may make some horrible
choices in the process and suffer for it, but it's still God's
lead. Yes or no? Yes. Yes. Number two, we have proof
of this. We have past proof, present proof,
and abiding proof. We have this past, present, abiding
proof of God's wise, sovereign, gracious purpose. And that's
seen then in verses 19 through 22. And of course carried out
through the rest of the book, all the way over to the book
of the revelation of Jesus Christ. Number one, past proof, Joseph
and his bones. Spend a lot of time here, but
what did Joseph say? God will S-U-R, ain't this the
way you spell it? E-L-Y. God will surely visit
you. Bless God, he will save his people. Surely he'll visit you. And when
he does, take my bones up out of here. Isn't that what he said?
He said, I'll make you swear on it. Isn't that what this is
saying? So what's Moses? Moses didn't even know Joseph.
But he said, they kept me in his bones. Because God's visited
us. We're coming out. We're going
to take his bones with us. And other sheep I have, which
are not of this fold. Them also I, what's the next
two words? Them also I must bring. Christ had to come down here
and visit His people. Because He, Father, Son, and
Spirit swore on it in eternity past. God Almighty will save
His people, but He's gonna do it according to His dictates,
not mine. And that includes all of your
salvation. That includes where you live
in this world and where you don't live in this world. God's in
absolute control of it. Walter Pendleton, bow down. bow
down. Present proof. Our journey is
by God's lead. Yes sir. Isn't it? He led them. He said, you're
not going that way. That's right. I know what you'll
do if I take you that way. That's not my intent. Yeah, exactly. Now the way they went wasn't
no bed of roses. No sir. Was it? God is all wise. He knows what is best. In Philippians, Paul puts it
this way. You want to talk about walking
in this world? Look at Jesus Christ as your example. He was
obedient unto death, but not just laying down on a bed and
dying. Even the death of the cross. That's a high standard, folks.
But then he says, He says these words for it is God which worketh
Not just work back yonder Not just gave me the full belly tonight
now make it make it make it to the promised land as best you
can God led him all the way He's right there in the pillar of
cloud and the pillar of fire and Remember when the tabernacle
was first erected? What happened? That cloud came
down over the tabernacle and the very what they call the Shekinah
glory of God settled in right between them two angels whose
wings come up here and met on that Ark of the Covenant. Now
that's the best place to be no matter how tough it is. Is it
not? The present proof is God is constantly
working in us, both to will and to do this. Not the Bible, though
that's a part of it. Not just the commandments, whether,
whatever they be, that's a part of it. But God worketh in you
both to will and to do of his good pleasure. And it may take
you by Sinai. It may take you to journey through.
Remember the folks that made it in still had to spend 40 years
in that wilderness. The ones that believed God suffered
just like the ones who didn't believe God when it came to just
have to trudge through the wilderness. And yet the whole time, God gave
them manna from heaven in the mornings and quail in the evening. Isn't it? Preacher, I just don't understand
that kind of mercy and grace. Don't try to understand it. Just
say, oh God, give it to me. Oh God, I need that kind. That's
what I need. I need the kind that will save
me in spite of myself. Is that the kind you need? Now
if you need another kind, I got new message for you. Go find
your message. But this is the message I'm preaching.
Number three, it's abiding proof. See, see it? He took not away. They deserve for it to be taken
away. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. You and I deserve for him to
abandon us in the midst of the blackest, darkest spot of hell
or the lake of fire forever. Even after he saved me, Joe,
I don't earn his salvation. Amen. That's right. I'm just
like my brothers and sisters in Israel. Yes, sir. Thank you God. for my harness,
my full belly. Don't say, well God, why can't
it always be the full belly? God knows best. But thank you God, because I
have a full belly whether I realize it or not. Go back and listen
to what Joe just preached about 15, 20 minutes ago. I got a full
belly. But God, thank you also for still
leading me. Because I would take this full
belly and use it to my own flesh's satisfaction. I know. God helped me. I know I've done
it. And Mason, he's still got the pillar of cloud and the pillar
of fire. He's still leading me. And I didn't deserve it. and
back yonder in eternity. I know that's probably not the
best, but back yonder in eternity. I didn't deserve it when he purposed
it for me. When I was born into this world to my parents, I manifest
in my life, in my conduct, I don't deserve it. And yet God brought
me the gospel in life and converged it anyway. I'm a gomer of the worst kind. And yet God was taking care of
me and leading me even then. And Mason, he actually saved
me, converted me. I was full bellied. But I'll use that full belly
to satisfy my flesh every chance I get. But thank God he still
leads me. Now if that's the kind of grace
you need, that's the kind of God I serve. If not, again I
say, Got nothing for you. That's it. We're done.