In the 15th chapter of Deuteronomy,
Moses is giving the children of Israel and us instruction
with regard to the year of Jubilee and the treatment of the poor
and the needy, those who are in bondage. He tells us always
to be charitable and merciful, to care for the poor and needy
with an open hand and an open heart. And he speaks of this
in connection specifically with the year of Jubilee, representing
redemption and deliverance from sin and death and hell by the
redeeming work of our Lord Jesus Christ and the grace of our God. Right in the middle of the chapter,
in verse 15, he says, and thou shalt remember, and thou shalt
remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt. and the
Lord thy God redeemed thee. Remember. Remember. That's my subject. In the word
of God, we are constantly called to remember what we are by nature,
what we were and where we were when God saved us by his grace,
and to remember what the Lord has done for us in the redeeming
of our souls. Everything in the kingdom of
God, everything in the kingdom of God, everything in the family
of God, everything among believers is motivated by the remembrance
of mercy, by the remembrance of redemption, by the remembrance
of grace. Therefore, the Lord God commands
us, thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land
of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee. I'll tell you
again a story I've told you often from this pulpit. In his biography,
William Jay tells the story. Jay was a preacher in Bath, England. He once was visiting his good
friend John Newton in Olding. And he noticed that Olney had
this text of scripture, Deuteronomy 15, 15, written out in large
letters, framed and hanging on the wall right over his desk. So that as he prepared his sermons,
he would look up at this text of scripture and remind himself
to remember that he was a bondman and the Lord had redeemed him.
When he came in, Newton said, I'm glad to see you. I have here
a letter from Bath. Perhaps you can assist me in
answering it. Do you know anything of, and
he called the man's name, and he said, Mr. J said to him that he once attended
the ministry of the gospel there and now had become a very wicked
man, a leader of every vice. Newton responded, perhaps a change
has come over him. He writes a very penitent letter,
and he had the letter in his hand. Then William Jay says of
himself, I said, I can only say that if ever he should be converted,
I should despair of none. And I, said John Newton, have
never despaired of any since I was converted myself. Newton
remembered what he was and where he was and what God had done
for him. And Mr. Jay acknowledged he had
for the moment forgotten. May God, his Holy Spirit, now
bring to our memory as we come again to the close of a year
of God's providence and grace in Christ, bring to our memory
what he's done for us by his grace in the rediction of our
souls. And as we remember Oh may God
give us grace truly to remember and meditate upon him and his
grace and worship him. And as we do, you who are yet
in the bondage of sin and the gall of iniquity, I pray God
will be pleased to grant you this same redemption and grace
that we remember in Christ Jesus. That which motivates us is our
remembrance of redemption and grace in the Lord Jesus. So that
as we seek to serve Him, as we seek to worship Him, as we seek
to walk together and labor together in the cause of Christ, our hearts
are motivated. Not by fear of judgment, not
by fear of wrath, not by anticipation or hope of reward, but by the
remembrance of what God has done for us. by His grace. Now let
me call your attention to three things, maybe four, as I look
at this text of Scripture. First, let me call your attention
to the picture of grace set before us in the redemption of Israel
out of Egyptian bondage. When we deal with types in the
Scriptures, it's very, very important that we understand what the types
are intended to do. Like parables, I know that we
tend to like to get into details and make things, say lots of
things. But parables, our Lord would
give a parable. And when he gave a parable, it
was like me telling the story I just told you about William
Jay and John Newton. The intention is to show one
thing. Now it may indicate many things,
but the intention of the parable is to show one thing, to give
one specific lesson. And the same thing's true of
the types given in Old Testament Scripture. The types are intended
to teach, to show us one thing. And anytime somebody comes, myself
or anyone else, says, I think this is a type of this, that,
or the other thing, show me in the Word of God why you say this
is a type. If you can't show it to me from
the Word of God, you're only imagining what the type is. We
need the instruction of God's Spirit to teach us what the intent
of the Word of God is. And this picture of redemption,
this picture of God's grace in Christ in dealing with children
of Israel is represented throughout the Word of God as a picture
of our redemption and God's salvation of our souls by Christ Jesus.
1 Corinthians 5, verse 7, just one text. Christ, our Passover,
is sacrificed for us. The whole thing with regard to
Israel coming out of Israel and the observance of the Passover,
remembering that redemption, was a picture of Christ and of
our redemption by Christ Jesus and the grace of God in Him.
Great care was taken by God that the Jews never forget what He
did for them in bringing them out of Egypt. Back in chapter
12, in verse 2, we're told that their deliverance Was made to
be the first month of the year to them back in exodus chapter
12 and verse 2 This is the first year the first month of the year
to you so that this marked a new beginning This marked a new life. This marked all things new for
them. And so it is with us We have
a new life in the experience of redemption. We are brought
into a new life, a new relationship with God. We're brought into
the life of the Spirit, into life by Christ Jesus, into life
in living union with the Son of God. Turn back to chapter
12 of Exodus, if you will. A special ordinance was established
to be kept by the children of Israel called the Passover. The children of Israel were required
by God from the time they came out of Egypt until the time that
our Lord Jesus Christ, our true Passover, was sacrificed for
us, they were required to keep this day once every year. Perpetually, throughout their
generations, Israel was required to keep the Passover. Look at
it, verse 3, Exodus 12. Speaking unto all the congregation
of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month, They shall
take to them every man a lamb, according to their fathers' houses,
a lamb for a household. And if the household be too little
for a lamb, then shall he and his neighbor next unto his house
take one according to the number of the souls. According to every
man's eating, ye shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb
shall be without blemish, a male a year old, a strong, vibrant
lamb. an innocent, perfect lamb. You shall take it from the sheep
or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth
day of the same month to be examined, make sure there's nothing wrong
with it. And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel
shall kill it and even. And they shall take of the blood
and put it on the two side posts and on the lentil and upon the
houses wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh
in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread with bitter
herbs shall they eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor boiled
at all with water, but roast with fire its head, with its
legs, and with the inwards thereof. And you shall let nothing of
it remain until the morning. But that which remaineth of it
until the morning, the carcass and the bones, you shall burn
with fire. And thus shall you eat it, with
your loins girded. Why is that? We're getting ready
to leave this place. Eat this lamb with faith. Eat
this lamb believing God with your loins girded, with your
shoes on your feet, with your staff in your hand, and you shall
eat it in haste. It is Jehovah's Passover. For
I will go through the land of Egypt in that night and will
smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And against all the gods of Egypt,
I will execute judgments. I am Jehovah. And the blood shall
be to you for a token upon your houses where you are. And when
I see the blood, I will pass over you. And there shall no
plague be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of
Egypt. And this day shall be unto you
for a memorial. And ye shall keep it a feast
to Jehovah throughout your generations. Ye shall keep it a feast by an
ordinance forever. This Passover was ordained by
God to be the annual New Year celebration for the children
of Israel. A celebration of redemption.
A lamb for each house in Israel. A lamb without blemish and without
spot, a male of the first year, an innocent lamb in the prime
of his life, a picture of our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus. The
lamb was to be killed, slaughtered by the whole congregation, slaughtered
by the high priest, and yet each man himself for his house, taking
the lamb and slaughtering it. And the blood sprinkled, sprinkled
upon the doorpost and the lintel of the house. And the children
of Israel required to eat the lamp with that blood sprinkled
on the house. And the Lord said, the blood
shall be to you for a token. A token of this word from God. A token of this assurance from
God. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. Those words never
meant so much to me as they have in the last many, many years. But when I first heard Brother
Scott Richardson deal with this text of Scripture in Exodus 12,
13, he and I were preaching together, and he said, God said, when I
see the blood, not when you see the blood. He had just come from
seeing his brother, whose mind was about gone with Alzheimer's
disease, sitting in a wheelchair, and Scott used the illustration.
He said, the time may come when I, like my brother, will not
be able to see the blood. And you can talk to me about
the blood and I have no appreciation of blood. My mind go. But it's
not when I see the blood, but when God sees the blood. And
God's eye has been on the blood since before the world was. God's
eye has been on the blood before we came to see the blood. God's
eye is on the blood when we see the blood. And God's eye is on
the blood even at those times in our lives when we can't see
the blood. This blood was sprinkled not
on the inside of the doorpost, little, but rather on the outside
of the door. And the door sprinkled on the
outside, beyond the reach of human eye, beyond the reach of
what natural man could see, was God's token of their assurance. He said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. No plague will come on you to
destroy you. So it is with the redeeming blood
of Jesus Christ. Sprinkled on our hearts and consciences
by the grace of God. But the blood is not seen by
natural eye. It is not seen with carnal understanding. It's not seen with carnal feelings
and carnal emotion. The blood is seen only with the
eye of faith, believing the Word of God. God sprinkled the blood
on the mercy seat. And God says, I'll pass over
you. No plague shall come nigh you to destroy you. In addition
to the Passover ceremony, the Israelites were required to instruct
their children in the matter of Look at Deuteronomy chapter
6. Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse
20. The gospel was to be handed down
from generation to generation orally, from father to son, generation
after generation. Deuteronomy 620. And when thy
son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean these testimonies? and the statutes and the judgments
which the Lord our God hath commanded you. Daddy, what do all these
things mean? Why are we observing this Passover
every year? We've been doing this since I
was a little boy. Been doing it for as long as I can remember.
Why are we doing this? Then thou shalt say unto thy
son, We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt, and the Lord brought
us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. If this was the responsibility
of parents in those days, how much more it's our responsibility
to instruct our sons and daughters in the gospel of Christ. God
has given us his word in the written word of God. But the
gospel of God's grace is to be taught by us orally, taught to
the generations to come, father to son, and children for children's
children, teach them generation after generation. Seize, my brothers
and sisters, seize every opportunity to teach your children in their
infancy and as adults. Seize every opportunity to teach
them the gospel of God's grace. Explain to them why we come to
the house of God. Why we give of our means to the
cause of Christ. Why we preach the gospel of God's
grace. Why we build our lives around
the worship of God. Daddy, why is this so important?
Why is this so important? Why do we go to church three,
four times a week? Why do we go and hear a man preach
three and four times a week? Why do we go to Bible classes?
Why do we do this? We remember we were bondmen in
the land of Egypt and the Lord our God redeemed us. That's your motive. That's your motive and that's
all. even in giving of their law.
The children of Israel were commanded to remember their redemption
from Egyptian bondage by the hand of God. God spoke these
words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which hath brought thee
out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou
shalt have no gods before me. So repeatedly throughout the
Old Testament scriptures, the Jews were commanded by God to
remember. Remember thou wast a bondman
in the land of Egypt. And the Lord thy God redeemed
thee. They were carefully instructed
as to how to remember God's work. And yet their deliverance and
redemption was only typical. You read the laws. The laws,
what was it? The scribes said that God gave
his law to Israel in 603 commandments, I believe it was. Remember all
that instruction. Why such meticulous detail? Because
it's a picture of something infinitely, infinitely, infinitely greater
than what they could see with the natural eye. It's a picture
of Redemption by Christ. That Redemption, our experience
of God's grace in the experience of Redemption, ought never to
be cast into the background of our minds, but always held in
the forefront. and in all our worship and service
to God, whether public or private, whether we're talking about praying
or singing hymns in the public house of God, the preaching of
the gospel, teaching the word, always redemption by Christ is
to be held in the forefront. That's the primary matter of
consideration. When Paul endeavors to promote
peace between Jew and Gentile, he does so by reminding Jew and
Gentile believers of redemption. It's been a long, long time ago
now. Oh, I guess 1980, first time I went down to Kingston,
Jamaica, and my very good friend, Brother Eric Dumas, the pastor
in Kingston, picked me up at the airport. We drove from Antigua
Bay down to Kingston, about a 90-mile drive, visited for a little bit,
got in the house, He introduced me to his family. And the first
thing he said that I remember after we sat down in his living
room, he said, in this house we don't see color. And I said,
Averyn, that's just not so. That's just not so. That's just
not so. You and I are both racist. You know it and I know it. There's
no getting around that. The difference between us and
other folks is we're believers and we see the evil of the racism
and deal with it. And he looked at me and he said,
you're exactly right. We see the evil of it and deal
with it. Jew and Gentile in Paul's day were racist, antagonized
against one another all the time. Kind of like they are today.
It's kind of covered up and folks don't say much, but it's there. It's there. And you feel it in
every conversation because you've got to say everything exactly
right or you're going to be judged horribly by folks around you,
misunderstood and misrepresented. Well, Paul deals with this conflict
between races, social conflicts that divide men. And this is
how he does it in Ephesians 2. Wherefore, remember that ye being
in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision
by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands that
at that time you were without Christ being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise
having no hope and without God in the world but now in Christ
Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood
of Christ for he is our peace who hath made both one and hath
broken down the middle wall of partition between us. Made both
one. Made both one. You know my friend, Brother David
Wright. David and I have been friends ever since God saved
him. A friend of my grandson. You know who bought Willis' first
ball glove? David Wright. Black fella. Raised in a totally
different background from me. A black fella. A dear friend
to me. And I to him. But you folks have
nothing in common. Oh, we got everything in common.
We got Christ in common. We got grace in common. We got
redemption in common. We've got justification in common.
We've got righteousness in common. We've got forgiveness in common.
We've got a family in common. We've got God in common. We've
got heaven in common. That's the thing that breaks
down the barriers. When Paul seeks to provide mercy,
or to provoke mercy, brotherly love and kindness and forgiving
among God's saints. I just had a conversation with
a friend today about this very thing. There's more to be considered
than my feelings and yours. There's more to be considered
than how this affects you. Well, I don't like what he did
to me. I don't like what she said. I don't like... God forgive
us for being so petty. So petty. There's more to be
considered. The kingdom of God, the church
of God, the family of God, the gospel of God are things that
are far more valuable than your feelings and mine. your emotions
and mine. Paul says, be ye kind one to
another, forgiving one another. Well, I'll forgive him if he
asks me. Aren't you glad God didn't wait for you to ask? I'll forgive him if he repents.
Aren't you glad God didn't wait for you to repent? Be kind one
to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. Now listen, even
as God Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Even as God for Christ's sake
hath forgiven you. I reckon that means I never have
a justifiable reason for holding malicious, angry, hard thoughts,
let alone deeds, against any redeemed sinner. My God teach me that and teach
you that. Never forgiving one another even
as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Now watch what
it says. Be ye therefore followers of
God as dear children. That word followers imitators. Act like God. Act like God. Nothing more honors a father
in his little child than for that son to try to act like his
daddy. Nothing more honors him. Nothing
more honors him. Nothing more honors God and you,
his dear children, than for us to act like God. Be ye imitators
of God as dear children. What's that mean? Walk in love
as Christ also hath loved us and given himself for us, an
offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. Redemption
and grace by Christ Jesus is not the primary thing in our
doctrine. It's not the primary thing in
our religion. It's not the primary thing in our creed. Redemption
and grace by Christ is everything. Everything. It's our doctrine. It's our motive. It's our inspiration. It's our guide. It's everything.
Therefore, secondly, I want us to consider the bondage of sin
for which we've been redeemed by the mighty hand of God our
Savior. Man's natural bondage in sin is very well pictured
by the bondage the Jews experienced in Egypt. We were all children
of wrath by nature. We were all the servants, the
slaves of our lust and of Satan by nature. Ye were the servants
of sin is the language of the book. Before God saved us by
his grace, we were enslaved by a power Against which we were
utterly without strength. I don't suggest that all behave
the same way. You know better than that. Some
behave one way and some another. But we were all rebels against
God, living after the lust of our flesh. We had no will to
righteousness, or righteousness that men approve of, and righteousness
that men brag about, and righteousness that men can demonstrate, those
things being called righteousness. Yes, we might have had some will
to that, but not to the righteousness of another, not to the righteousness
of a substitute. Yet even had we the will to escape
the power of Satan and the slavery of our lust, we were without
strength to do so. Have you forgotten? That time
when you were yet without strength, you'd read or hear the commandment
of God and have no strength to obey. Temptations before you, no strength
to resist. Hear the gospel of God's grace,
no strength to obey. Be called upon to believe on
Christ and try hard as you could, you couldn't believe. Our bondage
was such that we had no heart, desire, or even inclination to
escape it. I'm a Southerner. I'm so much
a Southerner that if I weren't a Southerner, I'd at least be
ashamed. I say that with just a little humor. But the greatest blight on our
Southern heritage is that terrible inhumanity that many still try
to defend, slavery. It's one of those things I wish
had never happened, somehow could be erased from memory, but that's
just not going to happen. Slavery is a huge, ugly, oozing
sore on the side of the South particularly that forever mars
the beauty of that land. And here's a reason. One of the
worst aspects of slavery, is the fact that it so degraded
men that they frequently became content to be slaves. Such contentment is a moral castration
of manhood. He is not truly a man who's content
to be a slave. And yet such was our spiritual
condition by nature. We were not only content to be
slaves to sin and Satan, we hugged our chains and kissed our manacles
with delight. We loved the way things were.
We loved it. Satan is a hard taskmaster. Like Pharaoh made Israel serve
with rigor, compelling them to make bricks without straw, forcing
them with brutality to build his pyramids, So Satan is a hard
taskmaster. It's a costly thing to serve
your lust. Oh, how costly. Serve your lust
and they'll debase you. Serve your lust and they'll bankrupt
you. And in the end, they'll destroy
you. Sin, when it's finished, bringeth forth death. At last
our bondage brought us into misery. Do you remember? Remember when
the Lord brought you down? Caused you to feel the weight
of guilt and bondage in your soul? Like Israel in Egypt, you
sighed and cried. You moaned and groaned by reason
of your bondage. And just as God heard the groanings
of Israel in Egypt, so He heard our groanings and remembered
His covenant. Like Pharaoh, Satan's aim was
our destruction. The strong man armed wouldn't
let us go. Though our hearts were pricked by the preaching
of the word and our souls were terrified with the curse of God's
law and we were tormented with screaming consciences. Though
we were sometimes deeply moved at the hearing of the gospel,
we simply couldn't escape the captivity we were in. And then,
oh, bless his holy name, Our Savior came in omnipotent, irresistible
power and He broke down the bolt and bar of our hearts door, entered
in and cast out the strong man and set Himself upon His own
throne in our hearts. Glory be to God. We were once
bondmen in Egypt. We were once the servants of
sin, but now we've been redeemed. Try to picture Joshua and Caleb. They get into the land of promise,
and they're telling their children about redemption. They've got
their children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren gathered
around them at Thanksgiving or Christmas, at the beginning of
the year, the end of the year, and they say, you see these scars? These scars are scars of bondage. I got them by Pharaoh's whip.
You see those stones set up there in the Jordan? You see those
stones? Those stones are stones of a covenant, a covenant God
made with His people. You see this Lamb? This Lamb
we sacrifice this day in the name of God. This Lamb is a picture
of one to come who is the Lamb of God, the sacrifice of God
for our sins. Now third, I want you to think
about the redemption of our souls. There's no subject like this.
Of all subjects, it's my favorite. Nothing I prefer to think about,
study, discuss, preach, or hear preached than redemption. Redemption
is my joy, my song, and my message. But when we think about redemption,
we tend to think of redemption only in terms of that which Christ
did at Calvary Believe me, I hate to say only in terms. If you
think of it no other way, that's wonderful. But redemption includes
much more than that. Redemption means not just ransom,
but deliverance. Deliverance. Ours, like the children
of Israel, is redemption by price. Those Jews were redeemed from
Egypt by the blood of the Paschal Lamb, and by the blood of the
Egyptians themselves. So too, Bill Raleigh, you and
I have been redeemed by the blood of Him who is our Passover, Christ
the Lamb of God, our substitute, redeemed from the curse of God's
holy law. Let's look at a couple of passages.
Turn over to 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter chapter
1. Verse 18, for as much as you
know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, things
like silver and gold from your vain conversation, from your
empty, meaningless life received by tradition from your fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish
and without spots. Oh, thank God for that precious
blood, the blood of the lamb who verily was foreordained before
the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last
times for you. Look at chapter 2, verse 24. Christ his own self bare our
sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins should
live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed. Healed by his stripes before
ever the plague came from eternity. Healed by His stripes in the
experience of His grace when He applies the blood to our hearts.
Healed by His stripes when He died at Calvary. Healed by His
stripes forever. Look at chapter 3, verse 18. For Christ also hath once suffered
for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God,
being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.
sacrificed his darling son to save us. Having sacrificed his darling
son to save us. Having sacrificed his darling
son to save us. The God of glory will not hesitate
to sacrifice anything or anyone for our souls. Isaiah 43, opening verses, give
one of the clearest declarations of limited atonement, particular
effectual redemption to be found in all the Word of God. The Lord
God says, don't you be afraid of anything, I have redeemed
you. He said, I'm your Savior, the
Holy One, your God. I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba for thee. I sacrifice nations for you.
God Almighty raises up nations, maintains them, and tears them
down for one reason, for one reason, just one reason,
the saving of His elect for the glory of His name. I was talking to men back in
the office. Brother Mark, I mentioned to you the other day, he and
Donna spent a good bit of time in Africa before God saved them. As barbaric, as heathen, as horrible
as that land is today, that land was once the place from which
the gospel was sounded into all the world. God raises up nations and treads
them down. He raises up powers and puts
them down for just one reason, the saving of his elect at his
appointed time. We were redeemed by the purchase
of Christ's precious blood and we're redeemed by power. The
word redemption implies much more than just paying the ransom
price. Whenever you think about Christ's
great work of redemption, always remember that all for whom Christ
shed his blood shall be delivered from sin and death, from the
curse of the law and from hell. In Bible terms, redemption and
deliverance are exactly the same thing. Redemption and deliverance
cannot be separated. What Christ did at Calvary in
putting away sin, cannot be in any way separated from what Christ
does in time in the work of His grace. We've been redeemed by
the ransom price of Christ's blood, and we've been delivered
from the bondage of sin, Satan, and the law by the irresistible
power of God's omnipotent grace. This, too, is illustrated by
the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt. As God brought Israel
out of Egypt with a mighty hand and a stretched out arm, So he
brought all his own out of the house of bondage at the appointed
time of love. The Lord God made the Egyptians
willing to come out of Egypt. They were perfectly content to
stay there for 400 years. But God fixed it so they wanted
deliverance. He made them able to come out.
And so he's made us willing to come out and able to come out.
by the power of His grace and God brought them out. Brought
them out and sent them forth with all the riches of Egypt. With everything worth anything
in Egypt. Everyone of them. Pharaoh went
into, or Moses went into Pharaoh and he said, He said, you're
going to let my people go. And Pharaoh said, OK, these folks
can go out. And Moses said to Pharaoh, when
we leave here, there shall not a hoof be left behind. He said,
every calf we've got, and every cow, and every bull, and every
lamb, and every sheep, and every ewe are going out with us, and
every child of Israel going out. And you know what went out of
Egypt? everything that belonged to Israel. Everything of worth
in Egypt went out with them. And God brought them to the Red
Sea and delivered them by His stretched out arm. But there's
more to come. They came out of Egypt, but God
promised them, I'm going to give you this land, this great, great
land called Canaan. I'm going to give you this land
as far as you can see, these two directions and these two
directions I'm going to give you the whole thing. I made a
covenant promise to your father Abraham saying I'm going to give
you this land and their deliverance out of Egypt was not just deliverance
out of Egypt but deliverance into the possession of God's
covenant promise. And when the Lord God got done
with them he brought them into the land of Canaan and gave them
a that he promised to give them. Joshua 23 14, Joshua says, I
take you to record this day, this day, this day the Lord God
has done everything he told Abraham he was going to do. Everything. Remember Israel was just a type
and picture of the church of our God. Just a type and picture
of the church. People talk about, you know,
God still having promises for Israel and, you know, reading
the newspaper in light of what's going on in Israel and try to
interpret the Bible by those things. God's done with that
nation. We are the Israel of God. And
as Joshua said to Israel, the physical seed of Abraham, this
day God has fulfilled every word of promise in covenant to Abraham. So our Joshua, the Lord Jesus,
will present all his elect, holy and without blame, spotless before
the presence of his glory, and will announce to the world, God
has this day fulfilled every word of promise he made to Abraham's
spiritual seed, the church of God, the Israel of God. Now,
one last thing. Let me lead you in the remembrance
of God's mercy. The remembrance of God's mercy
and God's grace in the redemption of our souls ought to make us
humble before God. I mentioned Brother Scott again.
I can't help but have him on my mind going up there this week. I was preaching one time and
I made the statement, I said, that'll take the starch out of
a fella. Brother Scott's sitting right there, he said, some of
it. Some of it. It ought to make us humble. It
ought to make us humble. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? What hast thou that thou didst
not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory
as if thou'st not received it? The remembrance of redemption,
mercy and grace, ought to make us thankful. Oh, how thankful
we ought to be. Thankful and content. Wherever
we are, whatever our circumstances, oh, what have I got to complain
about? I've been redeemed. I'm forgiven of all sin. Christ
is mine. Heaven is mine. God is mine.
Years ago, We took about 100, 150 kids to camp one week a year
and did it for nine years. One year we invited Brother Bob
Lucilius to come preach for us. And the campgrounds weren't really
adequate. They were kind of rough. And
the place we had even for the guest speaker was not much more
than what Elijah had, just a desk, a table, and a roof. And I was
apologizing to him, and I had apologized a number of times.
And finally, he stopped me while we were walking along. He said,
Brother Don, all this and heaven too? All this and heaven too? Oh, my soul. How content, how
thankful we ought to be. How patient, patient, patient. patiently wait. Wait for good things yet to come. This remembrance of redemption,
mercy, and grace certainly ought to make us kind, tenderhearted,
gracious, and forgiving of one another. How hopeful it ought
to make us. Hopeful for ourselves, hopeful for sons
and daughters committed to our hands, hopeful for rebels who
hear the word, hopeful for those to whom we preach, and how it
ought to make us zealous for Christ. When John Newton was
an old man and his health was failing, he was often asked why
he didn't retire. And this is how he responded.
Shall the old African blasphemer leave off preaching Christ while
there's breath in his body? No. Never. He remembered that he was a bondman
in the land of Egypt, and the Lord God redeemed him out of
bondage. Remember. God give us grace to
remember. what he's done for us in Christ
Jesus the Lord. Amen.