A good start

Exodus chapter 12 please, verse number 5. Exodus 12 and verse number 5. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You shall take it out from his sheep or from the goats. 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 door posts of the houses wherein they shall eat it. Says verse 9, eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire, his head with his legs, and with the pertinence of the inward parts thereof. Now verse number 15, same chapter.

Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread. Even the first day you shall put away leaven out of your houses, for whosoever eateth leaven bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. Now turn please to chapter 14, verse 13.

And Moses said unto the people, fear you not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you this day. For the Egyptians, whom you have seen today, you shall see them again no more forever. For the Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

Verse 16, but lift thou up the rod and stretch out thine hand over the sea and divide it, and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. Now chapter 15 please, verse 23. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter.

Therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? Now another verse in the book of Joshua. First of all, chapter 3, verse 17.

Joshua 3 and 17. And the priests that bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan. And all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.

Chapter 4, verse 8. And the children of Israel did so as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of Jordan, as the Lord spake unto Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them unto the place where they lodged, and led them down there. And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bear the ark of the covenant stood, and they are there unto this day. Now we know that God will bless the reading of his word with what we have already heard.

I was thinking a little bit along what we have heard already, but the thought of making progress in the things of God. And each one of us would like to make progress. I don't know if all of us will make much progress, but I'd like to make at least a little progress, day by day, in the things of God.

But you know it's very important really to get a good start, isn't it? We're going to make progress, we need a new start. And the children of Israel, they got a good start. They were down there in the land of Egypt, and you remember they brought the lamb that we read about, and they got the blood of the lamb, put it in the basin, and they applied it on the door posts and so forth of the door.

But you know, putting this into modern language today, if you had asked an Israelite, the firstborn, how were you saved down there in the land of Egypt, what do you suppose he would have said? Well, today in many modern circles, they would have said, well, I give my heart to the Lord, or I turned my life over to the Lord, and now that's all that really matters. You know, that's not a very good start. And many places they would want you to put your hand up or sign your name on a card or something like that, but you know, you're not going to make much progress if that's all you have for your salvation.

The Israelite would have said, my, I was under bondage to sin. When we preach the gospel, we need to preach the conviction of sin. It's people that are lost, it's people that are sinners that really get deliverance from sin, that's what salvation is.

And they would have said, you know, Pharaoh, and for us it would be Satan, he would have done anything to keep us down in the land of Egypt and in bondage. And what is it that keeps people in bondage to sin? What was it that kept me in bondage to sin? Well, I'm not going to go through all the gory details, but I'll tell you some of the things. I like the pleasures of the world.

And you know, you say, now if I get this salvation, am I going to, I can't continue in this, I knew that much. No more drinking, smoking would have to go, I could see that that wouldn't be a very good testimony. And go on and spend time on the dance floor, in those days where ballroom dancing was a whole rage, and things like that.

And what about the sports field? I'll tell you, nobody was more interested in sports than I was. I liked to play. I used to think I was good, but the older you get, you look back, I really wasn't as good as I thought.

But still, I liked the sports and that keeps you. And you know, I can't be interested in the things of the world and really get this. And then you see, I realize the cost of my salvation.

Satan wanted to hold me. He wants to hold you. He wanted to hold each one of us.

You don't have to get away back into, into a lot of sin to be in bondage to sin. But then he brings the lamb here. And I'll tell you, if that wouldn't touch your heart, I don't know what would.

To think of the Lord Jesus Christ as the lamb. Little lamb. We were studying that this morning.

And it really should touch each one of our hearts. A sheep before its shears is dumb, so he openeth not a mouth. A gentle little lamb.

There's nothing more gentle that I can think of. And then think of the Lord. I know it's not here in this passage, but it said, I'm a worm and no man, defenseless as it were.

And yet bearing the wrath and the judgment of God, being slain, taking our place. There's one thing that no Old Testament sacrifice ever did. It never suffered.

It never went voluntarily to his death and it never suffered. But the Lord Jesus Christ went voluntarily to his death and he suffered. The suffering was depicted after the lamb was slain.

Roast with fire. Sodden at all, not with water, but roast of fire. The head and the legs and the inward parts thereof.

Why was there no water around this, the lamb when it was roast? It's because of the intensity of the fire. You see, that's what needs to get a grip of your soul and mind. Likely it did in some measure when God saved us, but you often heard me say maybe or that I found out how great a sinner I was after God saved me.

I found out what sin really was and how I was held captive and I needed to be delivered from my sins. And there's one who come into this world, the lamb of God, who has taken away the sin of the world. And I'm glad that I can tell you and you can say the same thing.

He took my place. The blood was applied. I'm sheltered under the blood, saved for all eternity.

But that's only the beginning. I could go into speaking about how you need to feed on the lamb. That's what we've been doing in the conference.

We've been feeding on Christ and the things pertaining to him. You know, that's going to make us like him. You know, they say in the world today, you are what you eat.

Well, I'll tell you, you study what the children of Israel had to eat. Go there to the book of Leviticus and see that the animals that they ate had to be, chew the cud and have a part of the hoof and so on. They left a mark just as the Lord left a mark in this world.

We need to take these things home and chew on them. Meditate upon the things of God that give thyself wholly to them. Paul said to Timothy, and if Timothy needed, I'll tell you, I need it and you need it as well.

So there's salvation. Good to have a good start. And if you preach the gospel, don't be afraid to preach.

Well, the gospel is about Christ. That's the first thing, preach Christ. But as a background of the gospel, we must preach heaven and hell.

There must be a conviction of sin. And if there is, there'll be a greater appreciation of the sacrifice of Christ. And I tell you, that'll be a good start because you'll want to please him.

Now, the next thing normally we would speak about would be baptism. We've heard a little bit about that. But you know, before they were baptized there in the Red Sea, we we read about about leavened sin.

Always speaks of sin in the word of God. And he said, no, you've got to get this sin out of your house. You say, but they baptize people right away in the New Testament times.

And I know they did. And I, I'm not, I couldn't fault them for doing it. That's what God told them to do.

Arise and be baptized and confess your sin and so on. But you know, we're living in a different day, aren't we? In those days of a person wanted to be baptized, they're putting their head right in the chopping block. I don't suppose there were too many.

I know Magnus, he was, he, he was one that was baptized and wasn't saved. That's possible. But really, today we, we should look for holy living.

When we baptize someone, I know it's linked with their salvation, not so much with the assembly, linked with their salvation, yet there's an association, isn't there? With those that baptize them. Certainly there is. We said, you get rid of the living, leaven.

God wants you to live a holy life. He wants me to live a holy life. And he said, not only have it in the house and don't eat it, but get it out of the house.

Anything that's going to tempt you. And there's lots of things that we can have in our homes today that contempt us and, and get us occupied with sin. And then you say, but some of these programs you watch in your house, I don't watch them.

I don't have one thing to watch them on, but you watch them and you say, and they're innocent. Well, I'll tell you something. A lot of the people that are acting out the parts aren't innocent.

And that's the same as what you have in Romans one, glorying in them that do these things. We need to get sin out of our lives altogether. That's why God said, you see the roast lamb, what tells me what the sufferings of Christ for my sins.

Can I tolerate then anything in my life for what Christ died for? Good thing to exercise our, our hearts, but I must go on because I made a promise. So then we'll come to baptism and a baptism in the red sea. You can tell from first Corinthians 10, that's what it speaks off.

They were all baptized to Moses in the cloud and in the sea. And our brother Portman has brought that before us. It meant under new leadership, they're all baptized onto Moses.

We're not baptized onto him, but the Lord Jesus, he's our new leader. And, and you know, all those things that we could be enjoyed in the world for the children of Israel, even before they were baptized here, they were complaining and thinking of it. It wasn't really just so bad in Egypt after all.

When there are no graves in Egypt, often they said, and we could have eaten all those things and, and, and the grow on the ground, the leeks and the garlic and the melons and the onions. And I'll tell you when somebody has been eating those things, you know where they've been, you know what they've been feeding on. Don't you certainly do.

And it's very obvious to, it'd be obvious to others what you and I are feeding on is that the things low down in this world soon be evident, but you know, and their baptism, while we may not have understood all about it, maybe we still don't. When we were baptized, we understood this Christ died for me. And he's already said, all those enemies that you had before, you're going to see them no more.

They're all finished. You're defeated. And, and, and, and our baptism brought out of the land of Egypt, not to wander in the wilderness, but to worship in the wilderness.

That's why they were brought out. But I read about the bitter waters of Mara. And what I wanted to remind us of that is often after baptism, that's when the suffering comes, when the persecution comes.

They may not. Oh, I remember Mr. Sidney Maxwell. You always warned our hearts to hear him, you know, tell him how God saved them.

And when he went in, his father was reading the newspaper and his mother was doing the knitting. And he told him God saved me. And the father put down the newspaper and looked at him and the, and the mother put down her knitting and there wasn't much said, but then, you know, he told them later, I'm going to be baptized.

Well, he said, the father said, if you're going to be baptized, just pack your belongings. In those days, one good thing about it was we didn't have too many belongings to pack. But you know, his father relented and eventually he saw his father and mother saved.

I'm sure they could see he was determined to follow the Lord. But anyhow, good to see when people are interviewed for baptism, make sure that they have a desire to live a holy life. I helped the brethren sometimes.

Our assembly was very small in Ferndale, and they would ask me to sit in on some of these interviews. And I'll tell you, I learned a lot. And I learned to ask a lot more questions because you take a lot for granted and people have habits that they still continue in and it's not making progress for God.

And they end up, you have to put them away from the assembly, maybe. So there's times of testing. You see, when the Lord was baptized, and the voice attested to who he was, what took place then? Into the wilderness and into the temptation.

So that's usually the order. But you know, God can sustain you. You want to live for God and make progress.

God had provision for them. I'm making this very simple, but I'm a simple soul. Anyhow, you know, he fed them with manna.

Why did he feed them with manna? Why did he not feed them with something up in the trees that they could stretch for and get apples or pears or whatever? Why didn't he? You see, manna speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ and his humility. How am I going to get through this wilderness world? Well, I'll tell you, if I'm humble, I'll get through it. How can I be humble? What really is humility? What made the Lord humble? By going according to the word of God, the words of his father.

That's what humility is. It's not my will, but thine be done. It's doing what God wants me to do.

And that's why they fed with the manna, Christ and humility. Think how humble our blessed Lord was coming from the glories of heaven. And we should emulate him in that.

Now, when we come to the book of Joshua, of course, we come to the Jordan and it's not the rod of judgment falling on the waters as it did on the Red Sea. What is it? It's the ark. Speaks of the glorious person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And it goes into the Jordan and the children of Israel go in and they go through the Jordan. What's the difference in between the Jordan and the Red Sea? Well, a simple way to look at it is this. At the Red Sea, Christ died for me.

The judgment fell on him. The rod of judgment. What about the Jordan? I died with Christ.

Maybe that's what most of us didn't know when we were baptized. It's associated with the same thing, but it takes a while, doesn't it? And we're obedient to the Lord. We want to follow him.

We want to live for him. And then I find out that I'm gone. All that I was in Adam is gone.

I still have the flesh and they still had problems in the inheritance, but God was bringing into some things to enjoy. And that's what he's done for us. He's brought us into things that we would enjoy, not endure.

Salvation is something wrong if you're enduring your salvation. I'm enjoying mine. And I'd like to enjoy it more.

I'm not saying I've reached the plateau. There's none of us have. We never will in this life.

So even though they went through the Red Sea didn't mean they had arrived, but it meant that God had brought them in. Well, for them, he said, it's a land flowing with milk and honey. I know there were enemies there because Satan doesn't want you to enjoy all the blessings that God has brought us into.

You know, I think, well, I think that that's why even in that lovely book of Ephesians, their brother was reading from, you know, it ends up with Satan, doesn't it? It's a book of our inheritance and it ends up with Satan raising up his head. And how's he doing it? You ever wonder why it brings in the family there? I think one reason is that that's where Satan is attacking today. The family, the home and marriages.

He's attacking them today, but we have the whole armor of God. There was something left in the Jordan. I'm not going to try and tell you all about the 12 stones and all that.

And 12 stones were brought out, but I tell you this, there was something left and there was something brought out. All that I was before is gone. There were 12.

Maybe the 12 tribes would apply to them, but now there's something new that has come out. So, I'll ask you what we've been asked already today. Are we making any progress in the things of God? We're making them in a spiritual way.

It's not what we do. What I do for God is absolutely nothing. What he would do through me would be something that would really count.

But may we learn the lessons and go back to Calvary, to the lamb. And if that gets a grip on your soul and mine, I tell you, that will change our lives. That's why it's so, I emphasize it's so important to have a clear gospel message.

Mr. Harry Ironsides, he told a young man in Ireland one time, he was a Baptist preacher, and he said, now you research your message. Get the first mention and the last mention and so on. And then he says, be clear with it.

He said, don't be clever with it. Just be clear with it. We need to be clear with the gospel message.

We don't need to be clever and try to bring in something nobody else ever heard about. The plain, simple preaching of the gospel that will touch our hearts, that think of the sufferings of Christ, and then willing to put away anything that caused him to suffer there on the cross, to be baptized. And even though there's difficulties and temptations, he can bring us safely through.

And then we'll come to the realization, I hope, in our lives that I have died with Christ. God couldn't mend me, so he ended me. And now I've been raised to walk newness of life.

And I want to say, that didn't take place at our baptism. That took place when God saved us. But we showed it at our baptism.

That's why we need to show some holy living in our lives for candidates for baptism and then later on to be brought into God's assembly. So may the Lord encourage our hearts for his name's sake.