Exodus chapter 13, and let's begin reading
in verse 17 through the end of the chapter. 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
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. And
Moses took the bones of Joseph with him. For he had straightly
sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit
you, and you shall carry up my bones away hence with you. And 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 the cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night from
before the people. I would just remind us that we're
at the point here when we read these verses when God had passed
over Egypt. Remember the Passover had taken
place when God had told Moses to take a lamb and slay the lamb
and take the blood from that lamb and apply it to the doorpost
and the lentils of their houses. And when God passed through Egypt
that night, he passed over that door. He passed over that house. And the death angel did not enter
into that house, but into every house Where the blood was not
applied, we know that the firstborn in that house did die. From Pharaoh upon the throne
to the maids in the kitchen, everyone where there was no blood
on the doorpost and the lentils, the firstborn in those houses,
they all perished. And we see here that Pharaoh
had pushed them out that night. After that last thing that God
brought upon Egypt, that is the destruction of the firstborn,
then Pharaoh and his counselors, they said, out, get you out. talking to Moses and the nation
of Israel. And God led them, we read here,
God led them, led the people through the wilderness of the
Red Sea. I want us to see the place where
they were. The Red Sea was before them,
and when they crossed it, when they crossed the Red Sea, then
they would be in the wilderness. Now there were no roads. There
were no roads through the wilderness for them to take and travel on
to the land of Canaan. There were no guides that they
could hire and pay to lead them through the wilderness to the
land of Canaan. The wilderness is described like
this, untrodden, trackless, and the way through it difficult
to find. It being a sandy desert, As soon
as a path was made, it was immediately covered with sand and to be seen
no more. What was God's remedy? What was
God's answer for them in such a condition? Here they are. They've
got to go through the wilderness and there's no way marked and
it is a A wilderness of sand, and like the writer said, it
was untrodden, a trackless way through it. What is God's answer? What is God's provision for his
people to lead them to the land of Canaan? Well, it was a pillar
of a cloud. Notice that, a pillar of a cloud
to lead them in the way. a pillar of a cloud to lead them
in the way. Well, tonight, as we think about
this pillar, I want us to see how it may picture Christ to
us, how it does picture the Lord Jesus Christ to us. We're not
going to force anything, but we know that all the scripture,
we know this from the New Testament, that all the scripture, the Old
Testament, both Moses and the prophets, they all wrote of Christ. They all, in some way or the
other, wrote of Christ, and he we must see as we read the word
of God. A person can read the scriptures
and miss Christ, and if he does or if she does, miss everything.
because the scriptures are given to us to reveal Christ, to show
us Him. It is a hymn book, isn't it?
I still love that. It's a hymn book. It's all about
Him, about Christ. Well, I have three ways tonight.
First of all, the pillar of a cloud was singular. It is a pillar. We don't read of pillars of cloud,
but a pillar of a cloud. And that reminds us of this fact,
of this truth, that there's one mediator between God and man,
the man Christ Jesus. That he said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life, and no man cometh unto the Father but by
me. There was one pillar of clouds. And that pictures to us this
wonderful truth that God has provided for his people a savior,
but only one savior. You know, it's not like there's
several saviors and you just pick whichever one you like and
whichever one that appeals to you. No, there's one savior. And there was one pillar of cloud
that God provided for the nation of Israel. You know, the Apostle
Peter, in the end of his second epistle, he tells us there are
some things hard to be understood in the writings of Paul. Remember
that? Some things hard to be understood
in the writings of Paul. Well, we know there are some
things hard to be understood throughout the Bible, not just
in the writings of Paul, But throughout the Bible, there are
some things hard to be understood. Some people have a problem with
that. But remember, this is the Word of God. This is God's Word. Think of who God is, infinite
in wisdom. This is His Word. Yeah, there's
some things hard to be understood. But there's one thing, there's one thing that is as
God said in the book of Isaiah, though fools, though a man is
a fool, lacking much education at all, though fools shall not
err therein. There's things hard to be understood,
but my friends, there's one thing in the word of God that cannot
be misunderstood. Right? There's one way. I mean, you don't have to have
a college degree. You don't have to be a PhD. No,
to understand that the word of God declares that there's one
way to the fathers. Look at that verse in Isaiah
chapter 35 and verse 8. This is one of the promises that
God made through the prophets in Isaiah 35. in verse number
eight. Isaiah 35, in verse eight, we
have this prophecy. And a highway shall be there,
and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness. The unclean
shall not pass over it, but it shall be for those, the wayfaring
man, Though fools shall not err therein. Now, before the Lord
saved us, if you're saved tonight, before the Lord saved me, saved
you, in our unregenerate days, our thinking was, yeah, there's
probably many ways to God. That's probably true, what religion
tells people today, that there are many ways to God. We don't
all go the same way. But once a person is enlightened
by God the Holy Spirit, born of the Spirit of God from the
Word of God, that's never the case any longer. No, we're convinced,
we know of a surety, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God. We know that. There's one way
only, and Jesus Christ is the way. Now I looked at that verse
and I thought about a highway. A highway. We've all probably driven on
trails, you know? Sometimes, I remember in Mexico,
going out to villages, especially up in the northern part of Mexico,
I was with another missionary who I was driving, but he was
pointing the way out, and you couldn't tell where the road
was and where the road wasn't. I mean, but he knew the way.
But this is a highway, a highway, a way that's lifted up. How that
pictures the Lord Jesus Christ, right? When he said, and I, if
I be lifted up, Now, he was lifted up on the cross, wasn't he? If
I be lifted up, I shall draw all unto me. He was lifted up, as I said,
first on the cross to redeem us unto himself. But now he's
lifted up on high. to rule us and to impart eternal
life, to give eternal life to his people. There was a pillar of a cloud,
one, one pillar. It was a pillar that was a shade. It was a column that evidently
spread out closer to the earth. And it was a column that gave
shade in the day to give comfort and to spare a person from the
burning heat of the desert. You've traveled, I'm sure, where
maybe on a beach or something and the sand is so hot and that
heat just comes up. That's the way that desert was.
But here God provided this pillar of a cloud as a shade for them
to give them comfort and give them relief. And isn't that a
picture of Christ? As we go through this wilderness,
that he gives us comfort and that he relieves us as we grow
weary and experience the things of this life. It was a pillar of shade in the
day to give them comfort. But it was also at night a pillar
of fire to give them light. The Lord Jesus Christ, what I'm
saying here is the Lord Jesus Christ, whether it's daytime
or nighttime, he is able to meet our needs and he is able to lead
us and guide us and to comfort us and to strengthen us. He's able to meet every need
as we travel through the wilderness of this world. He's our comfort
in days of trial, and He's our light in days of darkness. Look with me in this verse in
John chapter 8. You're familiar with it, but
let's look over here, John chapter 8. You know, this chapter begins,
I think that first verse probably maybe should have gone with chapter
seven, if you read where it says, and every man went unto his own
house. Well, where did the Lord go?
He didn't have a house, did he? The foxes have holes, the birds
of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to
lay his head. Every man, when, unto his own
house, where did Jesus go? Jesus went unto the Mount of
Olives. Did he spend the night there in prayer? Did he pray
for you? Did he pray for me? He spent the night at the Mount
of Olives. And early the next morning, notice, early in the
morning, he came again into the temple. And I think as he came
into the temple, the sun is just coming up. And of course, they bring this
woman to them, to him rather. And it was all a plot, wasn't
it? It was all a plot to cause him
or to entrap him into saying something that would give them
fodder to accuse him. They bring a woman, they say,
who was taken in adultery. Now the law, and they point out
the law says that she's to be stoned. But what they didn't
point out is it wasn't just the woman. It takes two to commit
adultery. It wasn't just the woman who
was to be stoned, it was the man as well. But they don't bring
him. No, they just bring this woman
in. Remember, they asked him that question, and he just bent
down and started writing on the sand. I wonder what he wrote. Again,
that's one of those many things that God hasn't revealed. But
I'll tell you what happened. He said, he that is without sand,
let him cast the first stone. And he bent down and started
writing, and those men, And it points this out, from the oldest
to the youngest, they started disappearing. They started disappearing. And he asked her, woman, where
are thy accusers? Where are those thine accusers?
Hath no man condemned thee? And she said, no man, Lord. And
Jesus said unto her, neither do I condemn thee. He did not
come into this world to condemn the world. He came to save the
world. Right? He came to save the world,
save his people. The world's already under condemnation
because of our sin in Adam. Neither do I condemn they go
and sin no more. But now notice, then spake Jesus
again unto them saying, I am the light of the world. And I
wonder when he said that if the sun was just coming up. It was early in the morning.
And you can just see the giant light in the sky. He's the father
of lights, isn't he? God is, the father of lights,
that is the creator of all. Yes, the stars and the moon and
the sun and everything else. And the Lord Jesus Christ said,
I am the light of the world, that pillar And we're looking
at, it was a light at night. I am the light of the world.
He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have
the light of life. As we see, it was a cloud to
shade them by day, and it was a pillar of fire to give them
light through the night. So the first point is, there
was one pillar. There was one pillar. There's one Savior. Do you know
Him? Do you trust Him? Do you look to Him tonight as
your Lord and Savior? I pray that you do. I pray that
we all do. That we look to Christ alone.
For only in Him is salvation. As for the Israelites, only in
that one pillar was their shade to be found and was their light
to help them as they walk through the wilderness. Number two, the
pillar of cloud led Israel to lead them. This was its purpose
if you look back in our text tonight. The purpose of this
cloud was to lead them. In verse 21 it says, and the
Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead
them in the way. God provided this pillar to lead
his people through the wilderness. When the cloud moved, the people
moved. When the cloud stayed stationary,
the people did not move out of the camp. Now, it's true tonight
that you and I, we don't live under a cloud like the Israelites
did for 40 years as they went through the wilderness. We don't
have a cloud to guide us But that doesn't mean that he doesn't
lead us. Not at all. No, no. He guides his people tonight. First of all, he guides us today
by his word. And that is such a fundamental
truth. God will never lead you, he will
never lead me to do anything contrary to his written word. You know, I've heard over the
years someone make a statement like this, well, we prayed about
it and we just felt like this was God's will. So we divorced
and married someone else. No, no. God's never going to
lead you to do something contrary to his will. And when I said
that, I'm talking about people who profess to be Christians
in the same church, members of the same church, and they They
prayed about this and they divorced their spouse and another couple,
they did the same thing and married each other. God didn't lead them. God will
never lead us to do anything contrary to his written word,
his revealed will unto us. You know, one of the marks of
a believer, a child of God is A child of God loves Christ. Peter, in his first epistle,
he said this, to you that believe, and that's how we're saved, isn't
it? By faith. To them that believe, he is precious. Christ, he is precious to them
that believe. One of the marks of a person,
a child of God, is Christ is precious. We love to hear about
him. We love to read about him. We
love to sing about him. Someone said a message, a sermon
that doesn't have Christ in it is a sermon that should have
never been preached. Christ is precious to his people. But another thing that is precious
to His people is His Word, His written Word. God's people love
His Word. Look with me in Proverbs chapter
six. What I'm saying is, as this pillar guided or led the nation of Israel,
so God leads us, and He leads us by His Word. I love this. passage here in Proverbs chapter
6, where we read, beginning with
verse 20, Proverbs 6 and verse 20, My son, keep thy father's
commandment and forsake not the law of thy mother. Now, what
is he talking about there? He's talking about the word of
God. That's what he's speaking about, the father's commandment,
the law of his mother. It's the word of God, the written
word of God. My son, keep thy father's commandment
and forsake not the law of thy mother. Bind them continually
upon thine heart. Now how do we bind the word of
God on our heart? We read it. We meditate upon
it. And we should commit it to memory. As the psalmist said, thy word
have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee. Bind it, bind it. continually
upon thy heart and tied about thy neck." I like to see scripture text,
don't you? Plaques that some people have
in their houses, sometimes on the wall or sometimes on a table. That's good, isn't it? To have
that in your house and when you are Day by day, you just glance
there, and the word of God. Brother Carl Pounds made me a
plaque, and it's out on my back porch. And every time I'm sitting
out there, I'm reading that. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he hath loved us. What a blessing,
right? To read the word of God, to bind
it upon thy neck, however you want to interpret that. Now notice,
now when thou goest, it shall lead thee. Just like that pillar
led the children of Israel, the word of God, when thou goest,
it shall lead thee. When thou sleepest, we can lay
ourselves down in safety. When thou sleepest, it shall
keep thee. And this is what I really like.
And when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. The word of God
speaks to us. Not an audible voice, no. Things
are brought to our memory. The word of God is brought to
our memory. For the commandment, now notice,
for the commandment, for the word of God is a lamp. When you're
traveling in the dark, that's what you need, right? A flashlight,
light. The word of God is a lamp, and
the law is light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of
life, to keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the
tongue of a strange woman. Lust not after her beauty in
thine heart, neither let her take thee with her eyelids, for
by means of a hoarse woman a man is brought to a piece of bread.
And the adulterous will hunt for the precious life. Now, here we just read there's
one particular sin which is mentioned. The word of God will keep you
from that particular sin that is uncleanness, adultery, and
fornication. It'll witness against that. But
that's just one or two sins. The word of God will keep us
from other sins as well. My wife and I listened to a very
short devotional the other day, and it was about covetousness.
And I think it was about two minutes long, but basically they
were just reading the scripture about covetousness. That's a
wicked sin, isn't it? It's idolatry. A lot of people, they think nothing
about it. It can be easily hidden. Covetousness
can. But listen, Ephesians 5 and verse
3, but sexual immorality and all impurity and covetousness
must not even be named among you as is proper among saints. Colossians 3 in verse 5, put
to death therefore what is earthy in you and covetousness, which
is idolatry. 1 Timothy 6 in verse 10, for
the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some
coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves
through with many sorrows. 2 Timothy 3 verses 1 and 2, this
know, This know also that in the last days perilous times
shall come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves. Covetous. Yes, the Lord leads us, just
like he led the children of Israel, not with a pillar of cloud for
us, but by his word. And number two, he leads us,
he guides us by his providence. And you know, providence is always
singular. Whenever we read of providences,
providence is always singular. What is it? It is the outworking
of God's decreed purposes. Providence is. And God guides
us by his providence. And I don't, I'm not going to
take the time, but what a wonderful example we have of this and the
servant of Abraham, Eleazar. Abraham sent him on a mission
to find Isaac a bride, to get Isaac a bride, remember. And
there he goes off with all those camels and jewels and all that
other stuff he had to take with him. And he comes to the place
where he knew Abraham's kinfolk came from. And who comes out
to meet him? But Rebecca. comes out to guide
the water of the camels. He said, well, that was lucky.
No. Well, that was accidental. No. No. It was providential. It was God's providence. And
that's what he admitted to. He said this, I've been in the
way. And when you look at that, he
said, I've been in the way. What was his way? He prayed. He prayed, that was the way. He sought God's direction, he
prayed. And he said, I being in the way,
the Lord led me to the house of my master's brethren. How
providential that was. Think about Joseph, when his
brothers wanted to kill him, and I believe it was the oldest
brother, Reuben, who said, no, let's put him in that pit. Well,
you know, those pits usually were filled with water. But that
pit wasn't. That pit wasn't. No. And then
those Ishmaelites, I believe they're called, just coming across
the desert, you know, traders traveling from country to country,
trading in spices and things like that. And they just happened
to come up at the perfect time. And Joseph is sold away. And
that's all God's working out his purpose is in providence. And God guides us by his providence. We have a wonderful example in
the book of Esther where that Artaxerxes, the king of Persia,
he couldn't sleep. Couldn't sleep one night. And
so he decides he wants to hear the chronicles read, the most
boring thing probably you could think of to read to put you to
sleep. But no, they just happened to
turn to the place in that scroll where it is revealed that Mordecai
had warned of a plot to kill him. You remember that, don't
you? We see the providence and the
word of God and we see the providence in our life. Surely goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. We sang
that hymn just a few minutes ago. God's providence. How God brought you under the
gospel. How he brought me under the gospel.
God's providence. How he brought you to your wife
or to your husband. Providence, providence. You young people here tonight,
God's providence in putting you in a family that love the Lord,
that bring you here to hear the gospel. When many children are
born in homes where the only thing they ever hear is blasphemy. God's providence, he leads us. What about Onesimus? Runaway
slave. Runaway to Rome. And in God's
providence, he crosses the path with the Apostle Paul. And here's
the gospel. And God saved him. Here's the
third thing, briefly. The pillar of the cloud never
failed Israel. Look back here at our text, here
in Exodus chapter 13. The pillar of the cloud never
failed Israel. Now you think, as you read through
the Pentateuch, how many times did the nation of Israel fail
and they began to murmur and they began to complain, they
didn't like the food, they didn't like the way Too
hard, too rough. How many times did we read about
them complaining? But you know this pillar of cloud,
it was above them until they crossed over Jordan into the
land of Canaan. Over 40 years. How many times
have you and I, no doubt, provoked the Lord by our lives, by our
actions, and yet his boundless grace He continues to look over
us and nothing can quench his love for us. If it could, if
God's love for his people could be quenched, I'll just confess it would have
been quenched for me a long time ago. And I know you feel the
same. No, just like this pillar followed
them until they reached the land. And until we reach heavenly,
heavenly Canaan, God's going to continue to guide and lead
us. I ask David to lead us in this
last hymn. All the way my Savior leads me,
what have I? to doubt and fear.