In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of allowing God to take over and lead us into a new chapter in our lives. He encourages the audience to desire to leave behind the wilderness and experience God's best for them. The preacher reminds them that they can have as much as God is willing to give and they don't have to settle for less. He uses the example of the Israelites entering the Promised Land under Joshua's leadership to illustrate that getting in is just as easy as getting out, as long as they trust and believe in God.

Hard to say again that it's been a tremendous joy for me to be here night by night, and I'd like to add my welcome once again to those of you who have gathered with us this evening. I'm grateful too to Pastor Alan Catchpoole for his good offices and so much donkey work behind the scene. Takes a donkey to do donkey work, and he was a good donkey at Capon Ray at home in the Bible school, and we've learned to love him there and his wife, whom he met in the Bible school. It's just part of the service. They're not the only two, but we've had some very lovely fellowship during these days, and I'm grateful too to the past and officers, members of this church, for the rich fellowship, as also for campaigners for Christ, Mr. Rymers, Mr. Bryson, and others who've played their part in making these meetings possible. I'd like you to turn with me for a few moments to the twelfth chapter of the book of Exodus. Exodus chapter 12. Just like to read you one or two verses, Exodus 12 and verse 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. In other words, this was going to be a month from which life should never be the same again. Speak ye 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 the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house. Verse 5. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. He shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month. And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper doorpost of the houses wherein they shall eat it. Verse 11. And thus shall ye eat it, with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And ye shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And against all the gods of Egypt will I execute judgment. I am the Lord. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not 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 the Lord throughout your generations. Ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever. Now this is the familiar story of God's redemptive intervention in the affairs of his people Israel in bringing them out of Egypt, out of their place of bondage, through the Red Sea, and then to poise them upon the threshold of their onward march on and in to the land of Canaan. And it was God's purpose that they should be brought out beneath the shadow of the shed blood of a little lamb without blemish, the lamb that was to be slain, and its blood to be pasted upon the doorpost and the lintel. This beautiful picture that God gives us of the Lord Jesus Christ, for you will remember in the 46th verse of the same chapter, it says, in one house shall it be eaten, thou shalt not carry forth all to the flesh abroad out of the house, neither shall ye break a bone thereof. Not one bone of this little unblemished lamb was to be broken as it was slain, and its blood pasted upon the doorpost and the lintel. And you will remember that when the Roman soldiers came, because the following day was a Jewish Sabbath, to ensure that the victims who had been crucified were dead, to smash their legs. They broke the legs of the two thieves, one on either side of the Lord Jesus, but because when they found him dead, they did not break his legs, they pierced his side. For not a bone of his body was to be broken. This is one of the unique, beautiful, Old Testament pictures that God gives us of the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world. And as by faith we apply his pressure-shed blood, his atoning sacrifice, to the doorpost and the lintels of our hearts, so God passes over. And judgment fails to fall upon us, for judgment fell in our stead upon him. Now that's the picture of the Passover. And what Moses says here to the people at God's command is this. This month shall be unto you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. This day of this month shall be unto you a memorial. Ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever. Or look in verse 3 of chapter 13. Moses said unto the people, Remember this day in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage. For by strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place. Remember this day. Moses says, This is a day to be remembered. For beneath the shadow of that shed blood, God led his people. It came to pass, verse 51 of the twelfth chapter, the seventh same day that the Lamb was slain and its blood was shed, that the Lord did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their arms. And it was a day to be remembered. For it was to be the beginning of months from which life was never to be the same again. Now my dear friend, this is the purpose of God in Christ. In the day that you recognize yourself to be what you are in the sight of a holy God, and recognize that you were born spiritually destitute of life, dead in trespasses and sins, uninhabited by God, and in true repentance toward the God who made you, you put your trust in the Christ who died for you, it is the beginning of months for you. This is a day to be remembered. And there are so many of us here tonight who can look back and remember the day. I can remember, I've told you already, quarter to nine, Saturday night, 13th of August, 1927. I could almost take you to the blade of grass. It was a day to be remembered. When in the silence of my heart, unsung, unknown, unsuspected by those who sat around me in that big canvas marquee, by faith I claimed to shed blood of Christ to cleanse me from sin, that I might be at peace with God my maker, and that he in the power of his Holy Spirit might come and live within me as my Savior and my God. It was a day to be remembered. And I can honestly say that from that moment, life was never the same again. You know, I can hardly believe anything that happened until I was 12 years of age. I don't think I lived until I was 12. I just existed. But something happened that day that changed the whole course of my life's history. It's the only tangible reason for my being here gladly in your midst tonight, so far away from my own family, my wife, and unspanked sons. A day to be remembered. Can you remember the day? Can you remember the day when you put your trust in Christ? Like the small boy, you know, who was asked at a meeting that was thrown over to testimony to tell the folk how he so recently had received Christ as his Savior. He was terribly nervous. His ears went like beetroots, and his feet felt like great big lumps of lead. But at last he managed to get up, and he stuttered it out. He said, well, he said, all I can say is this, that I have received Jesus Christ as my Savior, and I'm happier now when I'm not happy than I used to be when I was. It was a day to be remembered. And there are so many others. For whom this day is a day indeed to be remembered. I trust you have a day that you can remember when you put your trust in Christ, and knew that your sins were forgiven, and knew that your name had been recorded in what is described in the Revelation as the Lamb's Book of Life. That record in heaven of names of those who have been cleansed in the shed blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, and on the basis of redemption have been re-inhabited by God, for God, by the restoration to them of his Holy Spirit, in whose gracious presence the Lord Jesus dwells within the redeemed humanity of a forgiven sinner. A day to be remembered. But there's something more than that. For this is what it says, Exodus 13, verse 5, and it shall be when the Lord shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, and flowing with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this month. In other words, this celebration, this memorial, this remembrance of the day, which is a day to be remembered, to be celebrated in terms of the Passover sacrifice, the feast of unleavened bread. This day is a day to be remembered in a land to be possessed. It is a day to be remembered. But listen, Christian friends, it is a day to be remembered in a land to be possessed. For the purpose of God in bringing them out of Egypt was that they might go in, into Canaan. Exodus, I beg your pardon, Deuteronomy, chapter 4, where Moses recounts the purpose of God in bringing them out of Egypt. Deuteronomy 4, verse 37, And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them. And therefore brought he thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt, to drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance as it is this day. He brought thee out, verse 37, to bring thee in, verse 38. The purpose and economy of God was not that you might come out to be dumped in the desert. His purpose was to bring you out to bring you in. Now I need hardly remind you tonight that Egypt represents the unconverted, the unforgiven sinner, the uninhabited man, woman, or child who is still in the condition in which all men are born dead in trespasses and sins, alienated from the life of God, cut off from the divine source, spiritually bankrupt. That's Egypt. And Canaan, if I may remind you yet again, in spite of all that your hymns may tell you, is Christ on earth living in you in the power of his resurrection. You partaking of what he is, his joy, his victory, his fullness, his power, his plenitude, his righteousness. This is Canaan. It is something for you now, in the today of your experience on the way to heaven, out of my spiritual bankruptcy, to be filled with Christ in the fullness of his resurrection life. He died for what I've done to get me out of Egypt. He rose again to take the place of what I am, that I might live in Canaan. Now that's the spiritual significance of the story of God's dealings with his people. And the tragedy was this, they got dumped in the desert. They got stuck halfway in the wilderness. And the wilderness is not your weary journey through this world until one day you go through the dark cold waters of Jordan and then pop up in Canaan. And find you've got wings flapping around behind you, sitting on a damp cloud playing your harp. That is not Canaan. And that is not the wilderness. The wilderness was never in God's economy. The wilderness represents God's breach of promise. Did you know that God committed breach of promise? It's a strange expression, but you'll find it in the 14th chapter of the book of Numbers. Numbers 14. When God is declaring his judgment upon an unbelieving bunch of believers. Because that's what the children of Israel were in the wilderness. They were unbelieving believers. They had enough belief to get them out, but they didn't have enough belief to get them in. They had enough belief to get them out, and enough unbelief to keep them out. You see, these were unbelieving believers, carnal Christians. After the number of the days in which you searched the land, verse 34 of Numbers 14, even 40 days, each day for a year shall ye bear your iniquities, even 40 years. And ye shall know my breach of promise. And if you happen to have a marginal translation, you'll see that breach of promise means the altering of my purpose. The altering of my purpose. My purpose was to bring you out to bring you in. But because you only have enough belief to get out, and you don't have enough belief to get in, my purpose is altered, and you'll be buried in the wilderness. That was never in God's economy. And that a Christian should live a dull, deflated, defeated, bewildered, baffled Christian life is not in God's economy for you. His purpose for you, as some of us saw last night, is that you should rejoice evermore, be consistently, incurably, aggravatingly cheerful in every situation. That's God's purpose for you. You are to be more than conquerors through him that loves you. You are to reign in life by one Christ Jesus. You'll have to have a superlative quality of living, joy unspeakable and full of glory and love that passeth knowledge and peace that passeth all understanding. This is God's purpose for you in Jesus Christ. Brought you out to bring you in. And the only place that you can truly, legitimately celebrate and remember the day that is worth remembering is in Canaan, the land to be possessed. It was a day to be remembered in a land to be possessed. And a Christian who's living a defeated life and goes around celebrating the fact that he's converted is a poor adversary. And that's why, you know, lots and lots of folk aren't terribly impressed. Out in the old tin ford with the rolls in the garage. Well, let's have another look at Exodus 13. Remember this day, says Moses, in the land to be possessed. Verse 8. And thou shalt show thy son in that day, when you celebrate the Passover, thou shalt show thy son in that day, saying this is done because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt. This is done because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt. In other words, says Moses, when your small boy comes nosing around, when you're keeping the feast of unleavened bread and the Passover, and he says, Dad, what's all this about? You ought to say, son, we're remembering the day, we're celebrating the glorious day that God brought us out of Egypt. Can you imagine what the reaction of a small boy would be who'd lived for seven years in the desert? He'd say, can't see himself much to celebrate. What's all the fuss about anyway? I don't call this particularly enchanting. Nothing but arid desert. I know almost every grain of sand by name. And there isn't a cactus bush round here I haven't sat on at one time or another. I don't know what the excitement's about. Why celebrate this? From folk who've been in Egypt, so far as I can see, it's far better than Egypt ever was here. I don't see why we don't go back to Egypt. What was there to celebrate in the wilderness? Manna for breakfast, manna for lunch, manna for tea, and manna for supper. And what do you think they had for breakfast? Manna. And the parents had encouraged the small boy to ask one of his small chums home, so that he could be introduced to God's, to Israel's wonderful God who brought them out of Egypt. And what do you think his parents gave his small chum for breakfast? Manna. And lunch, manna. And tea, manna. And the small boy says, I'm going home. This is dull as ditch water. I mean dull as manna. I'm going back to Egypt. I like it better there. And the small boy was discouraged. How could he impress his school chums when he brought his school chums home and just found them living in the desert on manna? Did God intend them to live on manna for 40 years? Oh no. Oh no. Deuteronomy chapter 1, Moses reminds them as part of his last will and testament before he died himself a disappointed man in the wilderness. Verse 2, there are 11 days journey from Horeb, just inside the wilderness from Egypt, the place where the rock was smitten and the water flowed, Christ and him crucified. There are 11 days journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Sea under Kadesh Barnea, on the very frontiers of Canaan, the place where the 12 spies were sent from in to the land, to spy out the land. 11 days journey from Egypt to Canaan. How long did it take? 40 years. Well, that was some delay. God never intended them to have manna for 40 years. He tells you in Deuteronomy 8, verse 3, he humbled thee and he suffered thee to hunger and fed thee with manna. That's a strange thing, isn't it? It seems a contradiction in terms. It says God suffered thee to hunger and fed thee with manna. While God was feeding them with manna, he was suffering them to hunger. Of course, because the manna was never designed to satisfy, it was only designed to sustain. God says, I will sustain life in the desert, but I will not satisfy life in the desert. I don't satisfy the people in the wilderness when I have laid the table in Canaan. That's what God said. If you want to be satisfied, then get on and get in. But don't expect me to satisfy you dumped in the desert. Neither one thing nor the other, neither hot nor cold. Now, I wonder if that's why some of you Christians have never really been satisfied. I wonder if that's why some of you said, let's go back to Egypt. I wonder if that's why some of you have campaigned to get Egypt into your church. You never got to the place where God could satisfy you. You've just been playing the fool in the desert, living on the scrub, playing hide-and-seek around the cactus bushes, sand castles in the wilderness. God will never satisfy you there. He never can, and he never will. Thou shalt show thy son in that day, saying, this is done because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt. Christian parents, if you're living in the wilderness, don't expect your children to be particularly thrilled with your God, not in the desert. Maybe you wonder why they kick over the traces. Maybe some of you have wondered why you haven't been able to bring them up keen, earnest, out and out, 100% Christians. Maybe it's because they've lived in the wilderness with you in your home for too long. Don't blame them if they've had manna to eat and never tasted the grapes and the pomegranates. You see, if you don't give them memories of Canaan, they'll feed on memories of Egypt. Nature abhors a vacuum. Verse 9 of Exodus 13. This Passover shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, for a memorial between thine eyes, that the Lord's law may be in thy mouth. For with a strong hand hath the Lord brought thee out of Egypt. This feast, which is to be celebrated every year, is to be a sign upon thine hand, a memorial between thine eyes, that the Lord's law may be in thy mouth. It was to have a threefold significance. A sign on the hand, it will change the things you've done. A memorial between your eyes, it's to indicate that this God's redemption has changed the things you think. And it is to put the Lord's law in your mouth. It has changed the things you say. When a man is really converted to God, when a man is truly regenerate, when a man is anything but a make-believe Christian, a person who's just playing church because it's the cheapest social club that he can join. If a man is really born again, truly converted to God, means business with God his maker, then his redemption will involve a radical change in what he does, a radical change in what he thinks, and a radical change in what he says. That's how you can know whether a person's genuinely converted. That's how you'll know whether they're real Christians or just flabby, let's pretend, Christians. Well, it'd be interesting to see what happened in the wilderness. This was a feast that was to be celebrated every year. If you look in 23rd of Exodus, it says this, verse 14 of Exodus 23, three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year, three feasts to be kept annually. Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread. Thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days as I commanded thee in the time appointed of the month for in it this month thou camest out from Egypt and this is the day that is to be remembered, the beginning of months when life was never to be the same again. That was the first feast. And the feast of harvest, verse 16, the first fruits of thy labors which thou hast sown in the field. And the feast of ingathering, that's the third which is in the end of the year when thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the field. How much sowing did they do in the wilderness? None. How much ingathering did they do in the wilderness? None. How much harvest was there in the wilderness? None. So how could they keep those feasts in the wilderness? They couldn't and didn't, because the wilderness was the altering of God's plan. They had no legitimate grounds for remembering the day in the wilderness. And how could they keep the feast of unleavened bread when there was no corn in the wilderness? They could only keep it by using up what they brought with them out of Egypt. And if you don't enjoy the indwelling resurrection life of Jesus Christ to sustain you and to fill you and to satisfy you, that his life may flow out from your innermost being like rivers of living water, the only source of energy that you can tap as a Christian apart from Christ is what you bring with you out of Egypt. Your own unregenerate condition, that is to say your flesh. And so your activity will all be carnal activity. The sweat of fleshly effort instead of the unction of the Spirit of God. And I may be wrong, but I can find only one occasion upon which they kept the Passover in the wilderness, and that was in the second year when they still had just enough corn left over from Egypt, and then it ran out. And then they didn't celebrate it for another 38 years, because there was no corn except in Canaan. And your enthusiasm in the energy of the flesh may last you for a month or two or a year or two, and then there'll be no more celebration. You'll just settle down to going round and round in the wilderness. Every now and again you get in a shot in the arm, you'll go a bit quicker. And when in the wilderness you go a bit quicker in circles, you get that much quicker back to where you started. And that's what's been baffling some of you. Why it is that your Christian life has never gone on straight but gone round and round, and you're always finding yourself back where you start. Well, what happened in the wilderness? It should have changed what they did, it should have changed what they thought, and it should have changed what they said. Interesting to see what happened. Turn with me to Deuteronomy 12. And don't think I'm talking about the children of Israel. I'm just borrowing them tonight. I'm really talking about you. Verse 1 of Deuteronomy 12. These are the statutes and judgments which ye shall observe to do in the land, that's Canaan, which the Lord God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it. You haven't got to buy it. It's given to you. All the days that you live upon the earth. That's where you are to enjoy Canaan. All the days that you live upon the earth. Verse 7. There in the land that is given to you to enjoy all the days that you're on the earth, there ye shall eat before the Lord your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that you put your hand unto, ye and your households wherein the Lord thy God has blessed you. In the land that you are to enjoy all the days that you are on earth, in God's economy, you will eat before God to the full and you'll rejoice in everything you put your hand to do. Your Christian life will be a sheer joy. You'll rejoice evermore. Christianity won't be a drudgery. To do this and to do that won't be a solemn, heavy, cumbersome duty. You'll do it gladly from a free heart because you want it. In the land. Verse 8. Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day. Where? In the wilderness. What were they doing? Every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes. That's what they were doing in the wilderness. Everybody was doing in the wilderness what was right in their own eyes. Everybody was his own little master. Everybody had his own peculiar concept of what he ought to be doing. No reference to God, no recognition of his totalitarian sovereignty, no relationship that released his jurisdiction. Every man did what was right in his own eyes. It doesn't even say that every man did what was wrong in his own eyes. Every man did what was right in his own eyes. They all had their own personal subcommittee where they decided on God's behalf what they considered to be right in their own eyes. And when you get six people all deciding what's right in their own eyes on the same committee, you need a nerve tonic. Now that's what they were doing in the wilderness. Every man that was right in his own eyes. They claimed to have the jurisdiction over their own activities. In complete repudiation of the basic truth which is this that man is man only by virtue what God is in man for it is God in man exercising his own divine prerogatives in total sovereignty that makes man man. And the devil's basic lie is this. Man is man by virtue what man is not by virtue what God is in man. Do what's right in your own eyes. You're adequate without God. You can be morally adult and morally mature without the need of being spiritually regenerate spiritually alive or spiritually submissive to the sovereignty of God. Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes for verse nine ye are not yet as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which the Lord your God giveth and that is not heaven that is the land that God giveth to be enjoyed every day that you are upon the earth but he says you haven't got there yet you've not entered into that rest for hebrews 4 tells us that he that has entered into his rest has ceased from his own work a man who spiritually has entered into his rest on earth is one who has ceased doing what is right in his own eyes he recognizes that there is only one person who has the has the right to do what is right in his eyes and that's jesus christ have you got there have you got to the place where you recognize gladly the totalitarian claims of jesus christ so that from this moment on you have absolutely no right to please yourself last night we saw in romans 15 3 that even christ pleased not himself because as perfect man he recognized the perfect right of the father always to decide at all times what he should do i do only always those things that please me i say if you haven't come to that place spiritually in your life you may profess to be converted but please don't rush around telling people keep them out because that's a day to be remembered in a land which you've never yet presented and if you start giving your testimony and telling people how wonderful it is to be saved when everybody knows perfectly well that you're running your own life in your own way egocentrically satisfying and pleasing only yourself they won't be the slightest bit impressed they'll tell you to go home and stop being childish they'll tell you they've got better things in egypt than you've got in the wilderness well that's what they were doing in the wilderness i said what were they thinking in the wilderness for this was calculated to change the things they did a sign upon their hand and the things they thought a memorial between the eyes well turn to numbers again 11th chapter numbers 11 and verse 4 and the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusty and the children of israel also wept again and said who shall give us flesh to eat we remember what do you remember with your thoughts your imaginations that's what you remember with what you remember is what you're thinking as i reminded some of you the other night while you're sitting here in church and your body is sitting nicely propped up between two well-clothed individuals on either side of you in your imagination you can be miles away you just prop your house up and keep looking in the right direction everybody thinks you'll listen but what what while you're looking at me are you remembering where are your thoughts but it tells us here where their thoughts were here were people whom god by his own right hand miraculously beneath the sign of the shed blood of the unblemished lamb had redeemed them out of egypt and it says we remember the fish which we did eat in egypt freely the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic we remember that's where our thoughts are they're way back in egypt where are your thoughts where would you have liked to have been tonight if somebody hadn't dragged you here where are your thoughts where's your imagination although they had been brought out of egypt they were still living in egypt in their thoughts some you've been converted god's redeemed you in your names in the lamb's book of life and you'll never perish you'll get to heaven whether you want to or not now because god will never never go back on his faithfulness to his son he was redeemed you're his you're purchased he won't let you go and yet in spite of the fact that you'll get to you're living away back in egypt still influenced by the enemy whom god buried to a man in the red sea that was the tragedy of the children of israel in the wilderness they lived for 40 years under the subtle influences of an enemy whom god had buried their bodies were in the wilderness and their hearts were in egypt we remember the fish fish fish in a hot climate the cucumbers 12 inches of indigestion and the melons 95 percent water and five percent pips this is what they were thinking about this is where they lived this was the realm in which they were living and my dear christian friend you laugh but that's just about as poverty-stricken as you are god had promised them milk and honey golden corn pomegranates grapes everything luscious to the full in canaan these were the miserable things they were thinking about leeks onions garlic things that speak for themselves so or you can always tell from a man's breath where he's been living even though he may profess to be converted did you know the company he's been keeping they said now our soul is dried away there is nothing at all beside this manner before our eyes verse 6 they were sick and tired of manner of course they were so would anybody be after 40 years of it and they blame god because life was dull and boring and restricted whoever told them to live for 40 years in the wilderness not god and there are some of you who've never once allowed jesus christ to exercise his sovereignty in your life and you think the christian life is a bit dull without going back into the world a bit restricted a bit narrow without going back and doing the things that you used to do before you on your way to hell you blame god because you refuse to have what god redeemed you for the fullness of god the holy spirit the overwhelming wealth of what christ is in you in all his sovereignty flowing out in untold blessing to your fellow men so that you may daily witness the miracle of bringing men out of darkness into life and you're playing the fool in the wilderness and wonder why you were never satisfied with your christian life that's what they were thinking about in the wilderness you can always tell a church that's living in the wilderness you just watch the folk who go there it won't take you long to detect where they're living what company they're keeping and the kind of activities they'll want i say what were they saying for redemption should change the things you do it should change the things you think and should change the things you say number 16 verse 3 maybe we'd better read the first two verses korah the son of isha the son of kohath the son of levi and dathan and abiram the sons of eliab and on the son of pileth sons of ruben took men and they rose up before moses with certain of the children of israel 250 princes of the assembly famous in the congregation men of renown these were all the bigwigs in town 250 princes of the assembly famous in the congregation men of renown all the folk who had big big big big bank balances chairman of the building committee treasure of this society and that it wasn't to be careful who you picked for that these were the big names the big influences the folk who could pull strings oh there's a curse on a church that panders to the susceptibilities of human flesh how many a church has been brought into bondage under the thumb of one man who pays the bills oh there's a curse in a church like that and they fell for it in the wilderness a church in the wilderness always falls for that because a church in the wilderness never really wants to face up to the true sacrificial issues of true discipleship and if you can find a mud big enough to pay your bills for you the kudos he gets in being the bloated man around town that just suits to a team the church in the world all the folk who are not paying the bills will spend their time patting on the back the man who is oh i'm patting anybody on the back couldn't pay my bills this is the church in the wilderness and so they came along with the 250 princes of the assembly famous in the congregation all the folk to whom everybody cowed down and they gathered themselves together against moses and against aaron this is what they had to say in the wilderness ye take too much upon you seeing all the congregation are holy every one of them there's not a there's not a man jack amongst us who isn't as holy as god wants a man to be that's what they said in the wilderness and the lord is among all this business about cain all this business about us not living on the level that god wants us to live this is just have a look at this have a good look at this every one of god's congregation is holy these were the people who half drunken and half naked dancing around the golden car had been worshiping an idol while moses was up in the presence of god and while the finger of god was writing the ten commandments thou shalt not covet lust greed avarice selfishness crime all these things were written written by the finger of god upon tables of stone and when moses came down from the mount with the finger of god's writing upon the tables of stone that interpreted the minimum demands of god's righteousness upon a redeemed people he smashed them to pieces on the ground as he saw god's redeemed people dancing half drunken making melody worshiping the golden car and these were the people who had the effrontery these are the people who had the impertinence to come to say to moses all this business about holiness all this business about sanctification all this business about victory every one of us every drunken one of us is holy that's what they said that's what some of you would say as if god expected men to be holy i say where do you live spiritually maybe you're still in egypt ever been converted maybe you live in the wilderness maybe you live in canada there came a day when god when god had buried the last rebel in the wilderness for if you won't live in canada god will bury you in the wilderness you'll get to heaven oh you'll get to heaven not because you deserve it but because if once you've repented toward god and put your trust in the shed blood of christ god will not betray his son you'll get to heaven as moses will get to heaven but god will bury you and i wouldn't need to be much of a prophet to have to say that there will be some sitting right in this church tonight whom god will have to bury in the wilderness will never get to care will never know on earth what it means to live in the fullness and power of a resurrection savior in the fullness and power of his holy spirit there'll be some of you who'll never know you'll trade your soul into the world but thank god i believe in such a congregation as this tonight for only a few i believe there are far far more who with all their hearts want to be in the place where god intends them to be and the day at last came when under the hand of joshua he led them on and he led them in it was a very simple discovery do you know what joshua taught them joshua taught them that it was easy to get in as it was to get out that's all he had to teach how did you get out he says well we put our feet in the red sea and what did you do then nothing we just stood still and we saw the salvation we simply believed god enough to believe that he could get us through what he did well so joshua that's how you get in you just stick your feet in jordan and stand still it just depends whether you want to get it if you want to go on going round and round in circles in the wilderness that's precisely what you'll do until god buries you but the moment you become sick and tired of the wilderness and you say i don't want anything but god's best i want god's canaan i want to be satisfied as god intended to be satisfied then joshua says all you've got to do is put your feet in jordan and stand still god will do it and that's exactly what they did they put their feet in jordan and god opened the jordan and they went through we're told on dry land and they got in and the way they got out how much more difficult no more difficult it took them 40 years to find that out how long has it taken you to find out that you enjoy by faith what christ is in you at the moment you want him exactly the same way as you enjoy what christ did for you an unconverted person will be converted just as soon as they know they're sinners and want to be saved from the punitive consequence of their sin that's how quickly that's how quickly an unforgiven sinner becomes a forgiven sinner just as soon as he wants to be a forgiven sinner and if there were an unforgiven sinner unconverted unregenerate who came into this church tonight you will be a forgiven sinner just as soon as you want to be you won't even need to wait till the end of the service you won't need to wait for any instruction you won't need to wait for any appeal from me right where you're sitting at this moment you'll say god i came in here unforgiven and i don't intend to remain unforgiven your son died for me the blood of that spotless lamb was shed upon the cross that it might be pasted upon the doorpost and little of my heart and right now where i sit before that man's finished this sentence i'm going to be redeemed and you would be and you would that's how i got saved that night as a boy i didn't wait for the end i got saved because i meant business the moment you're sick and tired of being what you are with all your petty bankruptcy with all your hankerings after the world that you should have left long long ago as a redeemed sinner the moment you want what god intends you to be the moment you're prepared to give back to that to christ that which he purchased with his blood the moment you're prepared for him to have his inheritance in you as you want your inheritance in him just so soon you'll have christ not as a dead christ but as a living christ monopolizing your whole human personality filling you flooding you with god and i hath not seen or heard neither hath it entered into the heart of man the things which god prepared for them that love and here we finish chapter 5 of josh the very day that they got in it says this verse 9 of joshua 5 the very day they got in the lord said unto joshua this day at last 40 years late have i rolled away the reproach of egypt from off you christian friend has god ever yet been given the chance to roll away from you the reproach of egypt or you're still living under the subtle influences of a defeated enemy are you still a carnal christian dominated by the memories of a past that should long have been forgotten this day god says this day have i rolled away the reproach of egypt from off you and the children of israel verse 10 in campton gilgallen kept the passover on the 14th day of the month and even in the plains of jericho 38 years no passover but now in the land they remember the day god brought them out and they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover unleavened cakes and parched corn in the self same day where did they get it from the land that's where it had been for 40 years and verse 12 and the manna ceased they had eggs and bacon for the first time in 40 years for breakfast and the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land neither had the children of israel manner anymore all boredom all monotony all the stale diet of the wilderness is banished in the day that you yield to the sovereignty of the risen christ within then you have a full diet of all god's dainties they did eat of the fruit of the land of canaan that year ever tasted it and it came to pass when joshua was by jericho that he lifted up his eyes and looked and behold there stood a man over against him with his soul drawn in his hand a man for you see the answer to the wilderness experience is not a method not a new technique not a new system a new sovereign oh a man and joshua went unto him and said unto him in the language of the wilderness are thou for us or for our adversaries joshua came to the man with the sword in his hand and he said to him whose side are you on are you on our side are you on their side and the man said hey that's part as captain of the host of the lord am i now come i've been waiting to do this for 40 years i'm not on your side i'm not on their side i haven't come to take sides i have come to take over i have been waiting to do this for 40 years i take nobody's side as captain and joshua fell on his face to the earth and he did worship and he said unto him as he stepped out with his people now in canaan upon an entirely new principle what saith my lord unto his servant we no longer do what is right in our own eyes we do only what is right in your eyes what saith my lord who doesn't take sides but takes over what saith my lord to his servant and the captain of the lord's host said to joshua loose thy shoe from off thy foot for the place whereon thou standest is holy you are in the presence of god who for 40 years has been waiting to take over and joshua did so and there began an entirely new chapter in the history of god's redeemed people tell me how long has god been waiting to take over i believe that tonight in this building there stands one unseen god's own son with a sword in his hand he is here as captain you are in the presence of god and maybe tonight will be the night upon which for the first time you will celebrate a day well to be remembered but which can only be remembered legitimately in the land to be presents he brought you out to bring you in is that what you want sick of the wilderness tired of the desert fed up with the sheer monotony of having less than god's best you cannot have more than god is prepared to give and you do not need to have less and you will know the fullness of the indwelling christ in all his power and lordship in the very moment and i believe there are some of you folk here tonight young and old who want this kind of there are some of you who evidence that that last night and there are some who've walked in the good of it already today and you've been celebrating and remembering the days you never dreamed it would ever be and aren't you glad of course you and i feel that i would be doing you an injustice tonight if i didn't give you the opportunity of taking this step out of the wilderness into care god gives you no more than you already have you simply discover that the one whom you have is not there to take sides he is there only to christ enthroned in your heart there will be a brief instruction at the close of this service as there was last night i know of no better way than to give you the same opportunity that i gave others last night to join us for that brief word of instruction may i clearly explain again that inviting you to leave this building and to assemble in the side hall i'm not asking you by that act in itself to face the issue we shall talk for a few minutes only in the side hall and then we will face the issue for the issue is one that you should face quietly silently is in the presence of god but in order that you may so do undisturbed by the inevitable legitimate bustle of those who must and will have to leave it i simply ask you in the course of the closing him to leave this building and to proceed to a side room now the gangways in the front are rather cluttered up so instead there will be folk at the back of the church and instead of coming forward you'll just go backwards and there will be somebody to guide you just into a room alongside this main church building you'll go backwards through the rear doors of the church and you will be direct there will be a very brief word of instruction that is the place where i'm going to ask you to face this issue i shan't embarrass you in any way i shall simply explain the issue to you then lead you quietly in prayer then we shall dismiss and go home but the issue that is before you that i shall ask you there to decide is this are you satisfied to have christ only as your redeemer and still cheat him of his lordship are you prepared quite honestly to be redeemed out of egypt and live dumped in the desert or honestly tonight do you seek and want and will you claim nothing less than all that purpose which god will do and if you happen to have come here tonight and you're not yet a christian you've never had certainty about it but you really with all your heart would love to know that christ is your redeemer and your lord to you also i give this simple invitation to face the issue quietly apart from the crowd in this brief word of instruction we shall sing together as our closing hymn number 633 633 as last night we shall all stand and we shall all remain without moving as we sing together the first verse all love that will not let me go i rest my weary soul in thee i give thee back the life i owe that in thine ocean depths its flow may richer fuller be and when we've sung that verse quietly and thoughtful if you would like to take part in this brief word of instruction on the very first word of that first line of the second verse i want you to proceed quickly and quietly to the rear of the church where you'll be direct don't hesitate to do that at once and with the briefest possible pause between the close of the hymn we shall commence a word of instruction and prayer together the issue is one that is calculated to transform your whole life as you never dreamed it could be may god lead you on and lead you in