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- Mid South Conference 1981 06 The People Of Israel
Mid South Conference 1981-06 the People of Israel
Aldy Fam Fanous
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Sermon Summary
In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of Christians being like Daniel, standing firm in their faith regardless of the circumstances. He references 1 Corinthians 3:11, which states that Jesus Christ is the foundation upon which all believers should build their lives. The preacher highlights the idea that every person's work will be revealed and judged by fire, and those whose work remains will receive a reward. The sermon concludes with the preacher expressing gratitude for the invitation and welcoming received.
Sermon Transcription
I come to the last time that I'm privileged to share with you something from God's Word. And I wish to thank you very much for your invitation, your love, and your patience with me, and the welcome that you gave me. Thank you so very much indeed. I have with me here some shots of the coverage of our broadcast from Cyprus, Bonaire, and Monte Carlo. I'm sorry I don't have enough to fly. We ran out of them, but we have some here. You can come take one after the meeting. And if you leave your name and address with me, I promise you I shall do all I can to see that the copy is sent to you by mail. Please stand with me to the Book of Exodus, Chapter 14. Exodus, Chapter 14. We're going to read selections here and there from this chapter. Verses 1 and 2. I'm sorry I don't have it. I don't know where it is. Thank you so much for reminding me. I always remember to forget. Thank you so much. Exodus 14, Verses 1 and 2. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before five high hills between Magdal and the Sea, over against Baal Ziphon, before it shall be encamped by the Sea. Then verses 5 to 10. And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled, and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us? And he made ready his chariot and took his people with him, and he took his six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them. The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel. And the children of Israel went out with an high hand, but the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamping by the Sea, beside by high high earth before Baal Ziphon. And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them, and they were sore afraid, and the children of Israel cried unto the Lord. Verse 13. And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Which he will show to you today. For the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more. The Lord shall fly it for you, and ye shall hold your peace. Then verse 30. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the Sea. And Israel saw the great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and his servant Moses. May the Lord bless to us the reading of this word. Remember, it was the Lord who told them to encamp near high high earth. Now again we have a complicated word there, which is also Arabic and Hebrew. It means the gate of liberty. This word means the gate of liberty. And please remember it was a place which proved afterwards to be a tight situation by the sea. They could have gone all the way through the wilderness from Egypt into the land of Canaan without coming to the Red Sea. But the Lord directed them to come to that place for a different purpose. It was a very tight situation. It was a very dangerous spot. But it is not dangerous when the Lord is with you. There is no danger when God is there. There may be danger physically. But if we are given the eyesight, the spiritual eyesight, and we can see through, we can see that the curse that you think is a curse is a blessing in disguise. Friends who are tested today, again I say, Remember, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world, the Lord said. And if he is with us all the way till the end, we should fear no evil. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for thou art with me. In the Psalm 84 there is a beautiful picture there of people who are going through the valley of Baka, B-A-C-A. Again, this is an Arabic word, and a Hebrew word which means tears. Let me translate literally from my Arabic Bible. Who passing through the valley of tears, change it into a well of joy, or a spring of joy. You may pass through the valley of tears, but because the Lord is with you, you are able to change that into a well of joy. In verse 30 we read that the Lord saved Israel that day out of the land of the Egyptians. Did he not save them on that night of Passover? Were they not saved? Were they not saved? How does the scripture therefore say that he saved them that day from the hand of Pharaoh and the Egyptians? Well, on the night of Passover they were saved from the wrath of God, from the destroying angel who was passing through the land of Egypt. But on that day, he saved them from Pharaoh. Remember, they were not saved from Pharaoh until they have crossed the Red Sea. They were not saved from the power of the enemy of the flesh until they reached the Red Sea and passed through the Red Sea. Child of God, you are saved from the wrath to come. You are saved by grace through faith, and this is the gift of God. But the flesh is still there. Pharaoh is still there. You have to pass through the Red Sea. And the Red Sea is a type of death of the flesh and the resurrection again because we are crucified with Christ and we are raised with him. We have not yet reached the time when I can say I am saved from sin, from the very presence of sin. God saved me from the penalty of sin. God saved me today from the power of sin. And God will save me by and by from the very presence of sin when he comes to receive me unto himself. Praise God for this great salvation which is yours and mine through faith. Remember, they passed through the Red Sea on dry ground. They passed on dry ground. And this reminds me of the resurrection of Christ, Jesus our Lord. And when we remember the resurrection of Christ, Jesus our Lord, we remember two things, please. We remember the victory which is mine today, here and now. We are passing through the valley of Baka, but we have the assurance of victory. Victory is ours. I am come that they might have life. Not only life, but they may have life, more abundant life. And the more abundant life is the victorious life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Then I am reminded of another thing, that the resurrection of Christ is an earnest for my resurrection. As Christ was raised, I will also be raised. Of course, Lazarus was brought back to life, but this is not resurrection. Lazarus was not resurrected. Resurrection of the dead is sown in corruption, raised in corruption. That is not the case with Lazarus, because Lazarus died again. It is not resurrection with Lazarus. It is not resurrection with Jairus' daughter. It is not resurrection with the young man at Nain. They were brought back to life, but Christ Jesus was resurrected. And the day is coming when I shall hear the trump of the Lord. When I shall hear the voice of the Archangel. And the dead in Christ shall rise. And they who are alive shall be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air. And by the way, I am going to take just a few minutes to talk about this in brief. This very all important subject, the coming again of Jesus Christ our Lord. Of which we are reminded by the passage of the people of Israel through the Red Sea. Because this is a type of resurrection. I want you to remember three very important words in connection with the coming again of Christ. The first word is rapture. And rapture is a point of time. In a twinkling of an eye. In a second. In a moment. In the twinkling of an eye, which takes no time. It is just a point of time. The word itself does not appear as such in the King James Version. But we have it in the Arabic Bible. It means snatched. Caught up together in Arabic is translated snatched away. In a time, in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye. And we shall not be here. We shall wear the body, glorious body, which is according to the glorious body of our Lord Jesus Christ. The second word is parousia. Parousia. What is parousia? Please turn with me to 1 John Chapter 2. 1 John Chapter 2. And verse 28. 1 John 2, 28. And now, little children, abide in him, that when he shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming. This word coming is parousia. We shall not be ashamed before him at his coming. What happens between the rapture and the last word which I want you to remember, the last word is the Revelation or Apocalypse. It will be seven years. I don't believe at all, this is my firm conviction, that the Church will not pass through the Great Tribulation. This is my conviction. During the seven years between the rapture and the Revelation, there is a period of seven years, during which time we shall be with the Lord in the air. Amen. And on earth there will be the Great Tribulation. The Church cannot go through the Great Tribulation. May I remind you of Lot in Sodom and Gomorrah. The angels came to Lot and said, get out from here. And naturally he lingered. He didn't want to leave his oxen and horses and asses. He didn't want to leave his wealth behind. And he lingered. And they hurried him and said, hurry, hurry. That was good at that time, you know. Get out from here. Get out from here. We cannot do anything to the city as long as you are here. Because Lot was precious in their eyes. He is precious in God's eyes. And you are precious in God's eyes. We cannot do anything to Lot, to Sodom and Gomorrah, as long as you are here. So it will be. During those seven years, when the Tribulation of Jacob. The Great Tribulation shall be on earth. We shall be with the Lord. But something will take place there. This is the beam, the judgment seat of Christ. And please remember three things here. Three things. Turn with me please to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. That is 2 Corinthians and chapter 5. And look please at verse 10. 2 Corinthians 5, 10. For we must, must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. That everyone may receive the things done in his body according to what he has done, whether it be good or bad. Every one of us. When we say us, he means all believers. Born again believers. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Please remember it is not the great white throne. The great white throne is not for you or for me. It is for the unbelievers who have not accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. And why, why, why? Because the righteousness of God is there. The righteousness. No other throne on which God sits is termed as white. This is white for judgment. For condemnation. For the righteousness of God. You have to measure up with the righteousness of God. And praise God Jesus Christ has counted unto us righteousness. Him who knew no sin was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And we are not to stand before the great white throne. But we stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Why? It says here that everyone may receive. Please remember this. You are not going to stand for condemnation. There is therefore no condemnation for them that are in Christ Jesus. Because he bore the condemnation. But we stand before the judgment seat of Christ to receive. This is personal life. For your personal life which you lived here on earth, you will receive a reward from the Lord. Young man, young lady, brother and sister, what kind of life are you living here? What kind of life are you living here? We are living in a wicked world. And the tide of the world, I admit, is very strong. The pull of the world is very strong. But greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. I think of a man, a young man in the prime of his youth, in the prime of his youth, much beloved by his father but betrayed by his brethren and sold as a slave and brought down to the land of Egypt. You know his name. And he passed through a fiery temptation. I want you please to note two things about Joseph there. A. That woman was married to a eunuch. And it is mentioned in black and white in the Arabic Bible. Potiphar was a eunuch. This was a practice at that time that anybody who joins the service of a king in his court for obvious reasons, I just prefer not to mention, had to undergo surgery. And he was a eunuch. And it is mentioned, as I say, in black and white in the Arabic Bible that Potiphar was a eunuch. You can understand why the Bible says that this woman was after Joseph every day. She spoke to him every day. Remember those two things. Every day. It was a fiery temptation before Joseph. And Joseph could have said to himself, my father will never know about it. My brother will never get wind of it. Nobody that I know will know about it. And after all she asked for it. I didn't ask for it. He could have easily fallen into temptation. But he stood firm. How can I do this great evil and sin against God? And I can imagine this wonderful, wonderful declaration and statement uttered by Joseph still rings throughout the whole universe today. How can I do this great sin, this great evil and sin against God? Oh, word to God we have many Josephs today. Word to God we have many Josephs today. Remember this young man. Brothers and sisters. Same thing happened on a different scale with Daniel. Turn with me please to Daniel chapter 1. Daniel chapter 1. Look at verse 7. Speaking about Daniel. Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names. Why prince of the eunuchs? What was he doing there? Was Daniel a eunuch? He was not before he was taken to the king's palace. But, again, the wicked evil practice of those days. He joined the service of the king. Not voluntarily anyway. But there he was. And he had to undergo surgery. What was his response? God, I have been honest to thee. I have been faithful to thee. And this is the recompense? Did he shake his fist against God and say so? No. No, no. He purposed in his heart to be honest to his God. Come what may. No matter what circumstances. And friend, Christian friend today, dare to be a Daniel. Dare to stand alone. Dare to have a purpose firm and dare to make it known. That's what we need today. We need Christians who would say no to the world. And yes to the Lord, whatever the circumstances may be. Yes, indeed, we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. To give an account for our personal lives. Remember that. Secondly, I don't have much time. But look please at 1 Corinthians 3. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Right. Verse 11. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble. Every man's work shall be made manifest. For the day shall declare it. Because it shall be revealed by fire. And the fire shall retry every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he has built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burnt, he shall suffer loss. But he himself will be saved, yet so as by fire. That's the assembly life. Or your ministry life. Your ministry. You and I are builders. Builders. And there's only one foundation which to build. Jesus Christ our Lord. Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. But what sort of work are you building? Gold? Pure doctrine? The gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord? Salvation by grace? No other foundation can be laid. And no other building is worth building than that. And the silver speaks of redemption. Redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ my Lord. And the precious stones. Friends, he's not talking really about diamonds and sapphires and rubies. No, no, no. This is the temple of God we are building. This is the church of Christ we are building. He builds it. He enables you and me to build. And the precious stones are you and me. And the believers in Christ. Everyone is precious in God's sight. Yes, how are you building? But is it hay? Wood? Stubble? The day shall reveal it. I wish I had more time to dwell more on this point and other points. But let us move on. Look at Romans chapter 14 please. Romans 14. Before the judgment seat of Christ. Romans 14 verse 10. But why dost thou judge thy brother? Or why dost thou set at naught thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Why do you judge your brother therefore? Why do you speak against him? We've said enough about that last night. But remember friend. God hears every word you say. Do you believe that he is with us all the time? Lord I am with you always. Even unto the end of the world. Praise God for this wonderful promise. If he is with us therefore he hears every word we say. He hears every word you say. And he hears every word you say against your brother or sister. And remember one day you will give an account for that. You will. This is God's word my friend. And God's word is forever established in heaven. So we are today in a period that you call the engagement period. The day is coming when the bridegroom will come to receive his bride. And may I just refer in passing to the scene of the engagement time in the Middle East. The engagement ceremony is quite elaborate. We don't have a dating system as you have it here. I don't know. I'm not saying for or against. But the system is that you ask the hand of your future wife from her parents. When the time came for me to get married. I'm not going to go in detail here. I went to her parents with a friend of mine to give me moral courage. And I asked my father and mother-in-law to be for the hand of Berlanti. Well they said they would be honored and glad but. I said oh boy. She had an older sister who was not married. It was not customary to give the younger in marriage before the older. And my name was not Jacob you know. So I did hardly say I went out with a heavy heart. And I began to pray for the husband for the other one. That's very true. And I always believe God answers prayers. Two months later no more. I had the wonderful news. She was engaged. I wasted no time. And ran to ask for her hand again. And the answer was in the affirmative. What did I do? I wasted no time and went and bought two rings. And put a ring on her finger. We always in the engagement period we put a ring on the right hand finger here. And on the day of wedding we change the places only. So I put a ring on her finger and she put a ring on mine. I bought both rings mind you. She put the ring on my finger. Every time I looked at the ring on my finger I was sure that she is mine. I had no shadow of a doubt she was mine. This is the very same word used in Ephesians 1.14. The Holy Spirit is the engagement ring. That has been given to me. That I am his and he is mine. That brings tears to my eyes. Oh he is mine. I am his and he is mine. And the day is coming when I shall see him as he is. Praise God. Friends. Friends. The engagement period may be long or short. But we know for sure that he is mine and I am his. So the children of Israel passed through the Red Sea on dry ground. They came out on the other side and they looked behind. What did they see? Pharaoh was dead. They were victorious. And they sang a song. Of course they would. They were happy. The only person in this world who has the right to be happy is the Christian. We are happy not because we are going to be happy by and by. We are happy in the nasty now and now. We know him as our savior. And we know him. Our joy. There are three words. Please turn with me to the chapter in Exodus again. Chapter 14. Exodus. Chapter 15 rather. I beg your pardon. They sang a song. And the song was wonderful. Please remember the song began and ended with the same theme. God is at the beginning of the song. At the end of the song. It says in verse 1. Sing unto the Lord for he has triumphed gloriously. And verse 18 at the end of the song. The Lord shall reign forever and ever. It begins with victory for the Lord. And ends with the glory of the Lord. The song is the Lord. He is my song. Also please look at three words in verse 2. He is my strength. He has become my song. And for him I will build a place of habitation. Those three words. He is my strength. He is my song. The one who is strong is a joyful Christian. If you are defeated, you cannot be joyful. You cannot be joyful if you are a defeated Christian. But the secret of joy. The secret of strength rather. Is joy of the Lord. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. So it is. Because you are joyful in the Lord. You sing unto him. You are strong. And you are in fellowship with him. You build him a place of habitation. You are in fellowship with the Lord. The very same thought is expressed also in verse 10. In verse 11 rather. Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like unto thee? Glorious in holiness. Fearful in praises. Doing wonders. Holiness. Praises. Doing wonders. You are strong. Because you are joyful. Because you are living a holy life. Those three words. Please remember them. Don't forget. If you wish to be joyful. If you wish to be strong. In the Lord. In the power of his might. You have to lead a holy life. Separated unto him. And this is possible only. Through the strength that he gives. So we pray. Loving Heavenly Father. We bow before thee now. We praise and thank thee. For the glorious salvation that we have. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. He is our song. He is our salvation. We praise thee for the fellowship that we have with thee. Father we pray. That we may live in close touch with thy throne. Day by day. And we know that we are born conquerors. Through him who loved us. And gave himself for us. We ask it in his name. And for his sake. Amen.