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All right, so we will come back to this chapter toward the end of the sermon. So right now, I'll get you to just turn to Acts chapter seven for me. Please turn to Acts chapter seven. But as that was being read to you as the story of Rahab, right, the harlot. And the fact that when she came and she received those spies, you know, the Israeli spies into her house, she acknowledged the news that she heard about God, how he had delivered them out of Egypt, right, that he had brought them through the Red Sea. And so what this is about, what I'll be preaching about today is the fact, we're gonna be looking at Israel's exodus, right? From the time they left Egypt to the time they went to Mount Sinai, all the way to going into the Promised Land, and how that ties into our Christian life. You know, in our dates, a Christian life, the total for the sermon this afternoon is Israel's exodus and the Christian life. There are some amazing parallels, actually, between these two things. And I think, you know, understanding our Christian life, you're going to better appreciate your life, you know, your Christian life, the fact that you're trying to live for God, when we can look at Israel's story, how they came out of Egypt. Now, I believe that's Brother Caleb's water, so you take it, brother, before I drink it. If I see it there, I'm gonna drink it, all right. Just, if you look at Acts chapter seven, verse number six, okay, so I've got, I believe it's six points for the sermon this afternoon. But point number one, of course, before we got saved, before we believed on Jesus Christ and received his salvation, we were under bondage. Just like the Israelites in Egypt, right, they were under bondage. Now, it started well when Joseph and his family first went into Egypt. The Pharaoh respected Joseph, respected his father, respected the family. Hey, they were doing well in the land. But then we get into the period of Israel's exodus, they are no longer being treated. Some 400 years have passed. They are no longer being respected, and they are under bondage by Egyptian rule. Acts chapter seven, verse number six, it says, and of course, these are the words of Stephen. Before he was martyred, before he was killed, he gave a great sermon, a great summary of the events, the history of Israel. In verse number six, it says, and God spake on this wise, that his seed should sojourn in a strange land, and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil 400 years, and the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God, and after that they should come forth and serve me in this place. And so, as I said, we start with Israel under bondage in Egypt, okay? And many times, as I just read through the Bible, and it refers to Egypt, Egypt is just representative of the world, of the unsaved world. They worshiped false gods, right? They had ungodly practices in their land. They did not worship the one true God of Israel, and so Egypt represents this world, and it represents our life before salvation, before we were delivered, before we had Christ the Savior, Egypt represents the life that we had in the past. And of course, before we were saved, brethren, we were under bondage. The Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter two, verse 14, for as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, and through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. Then it says in verse 15, and deliver them, that's you, who through fear of death were all in their lifetime subject to bondage. All right? So the Bible says to us before we were saved, we were subject to bondage. We had a fear of death, you know? And many people today do not know what their life will be after death. They don't know what eternity means to them, and many of our Australians, many of our neighbors and community members don't even care. They say, well, it doesn't matter. I'll deal with that when I meet the Lord. I'll worry about that then when we go door to door preaching the gospel. They say, well, take care of it later. No, now's the time to take care of it. Today is a day of salvation. They need to understand what Jesus has done and the fact that they are under bondage. Now, brethren, thank God that we don't have to have a fear of death. We know when we die, we know where we're gonna be. You know, we've got eternal life. You know, we can never lose what Christ has done for us. He died for our sins, our past, present, even future sins to come. You know, that doesn't give us a license to sin, but it's to understand the fact that we will sin. We'll continue to sin, unfortunately, as we try to fight this battle that we have in our flesh. Hey, but we have eternal security in the sacrifice of Christ. You know, he's done everything needed to pay for the penalty of our sin. And so listen, before we were saved, yes, we were under bondage. We had the fear of death. What would happen? But now that Christ was made as flesh and blood like us, offered himself a sacrifice, he has delivered us from that bondage. The Bible also tells us in Galatians 5, verse one, stand fast, therefore, in the liberty, liberty, what's liberty? We've been made free, right? We were under bondage, but now we have liberty. Now we have freedom. Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty where with Christ have made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage, okay? So now that we are saved, now that we have been made free, the expectation is don't go back under bondage, right? And if you know the story of the Israelites, when they came out of Egypt, you know, the journey wasn't easy. You know, traveling through the wilderness, many times they got upset with Moses, and they desired to go back to bondage. They desired to go back to Egypt. They thought it'd be better in Egypt than it was out in the wilderness, following the Lord, okay? And that temptation may come your way, brethren, after you're saved. You know, you've lived a life in this world. You understand the sin of this world. It can cross your mind, you know, the desire of going back to live in a worldly, sinful life. You know, and that's one of the things you need to be aware of. You know, thank God for the children that grow up in a Christian home. Thank God for a generation that grows up in church, hearing the preaching of God's word, okay? Because you don't have to desire what this world offers. You know, it's difficult for others that have been saved later in their life. You know, people that have made plenty of mistakes, you know, people have spent many of their years in Egypt and understand the pleasures and the temptations that Egypt or the world offers. You know, if they get saved later in life, it's harder for them to overcome those things that they did in the past, okay? Because they know the pleasures that the flesh understands, those pleasures, those sins. And thank God, you know, for children that grow up in a Christian home, you know, you have an advantage over many of us, you know, that experience the world, which doesn't give you any joy, doesn't give you any lasting, you know, fulfillment. The only joy you can truly have, the only deliverance, the only freedom you can truly have is in Jesus Christ. And so point number one, brethren, was that we were under bondage. Before we were saved, we were like Israel that had to leave Egypt, right? Egypt was a place of bondage. Now you're in Acts 7, please drop down to verse number 35. Acts 7, verse number 35. Because while they were under bondage, obviously they cried out to the Lord and the Lord heard them, praise God. And the Lord sent Moses, right? Moses to be the channel by which God will use to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt. Look at verse number 35. It says, this Moses, whom they refused, saying, who made thee a ruler and a judge? The same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel, which appeared to him in the bush. He brought them out, so that's been brought out of Egypt. After that, he had showed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, okay? So that's point number two. But then we have this, and in the Red Sea and in the wilderness, 40 years, okay? So when Israel was delivered out of Egypt, it was due to the wonders and signs that God did in the land of Egypt. Now if you know your story, your stories, you know the plagues that God sent to Egypt, right? But the climax, the most important plague that eventually got Pharaoh to release the people of God out of his land was the death of the firstborn son, okay? Now let's go to that story. Let's go, let's keep you, actually yeah, I'll get you to go to Exodus chapter 12. Go to Exodus chapter 12. Let's have a look at the story, right? Obviously the very famous story with all the plagues, God using Moses and Aaron to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and God hardened in the heart of Pharaoh. Pharaoh, you know, obviously not wanting to let the people of God go to worship him. And so let's have a look at this. Go to Exodus chapter 12 in verse number five. Because as I said, the climax of all these plagues was the death of the firstborn son that fell upon all the Egyptians, all the Egyptians, okay? But in Exodus chapter 12 verse five, this is the event, it says here, your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year, you shall take it out from the sheep and from the goats. And so that should immediately, as soon as you see that, a lamb without blemish. You know, as people that love the New Testament, love the new covenant that God has brought us in, you know that no salvation in Jesus Christ, when you look at that passage, you don't need the Bible to tell you what that's referring to, what that's symbolic of. Of course, Jesus Christ, the lamb of God, without blemish, without any sin, without any iniquity. And so this Passover lamb was a representation or symbolic, a type of what Jesus Christ would do for us. Let's keep going, verse number six. And you shall keep it until the 14th day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. But look at verse number seven. 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. What an amazing thing. And so, you know, let's assume this is your doorway, right? They say, look, kill the lamb, take the blood of the lamb and apply that blood on the door posts. So on both sides of the door, but also above, right? The posts above, right? And so you have the blood above, you have the blood on the right and the blood appointed to the left. You know, this is picture that the fact that, you know, we have been delivered by the blood of Jesus Christ. Hey, it's the blood of Christ that gives us salvation. It's the blood of Christ that washes us from all our sins. And I think it's amazing to think about this idea because it pictures the cross so well. You know, if you were to draw a line just from both posts and then from the top post down, I mean, you literally have the cross right there. We have the blood of Jesus Christ. His hands were pierced, you know, His right hand and His left hand as they were crucified on the cross. And of course, on His head, He had the crown of thorns, you know, upon His head. And so, you know, you've got the bloodstain on the cross of Christ being represented by the blood that was being applied here in Egypt. It's an amazing thing. Look at verse number, if you drop down to verse number 11. Verse number 11. And thus shall ye eat it, that's the lamb, 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. The Passover, okay. And so we see here, this is the beginning of the feast of the Passover, right? What is the Passover about? Drop down to verse number 13. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are. And when I see the blood, that's when God sees the blood, I will pass over you. That's where the Passover comes from. He will pass over you. And the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. So as the Lord went throughout the whole land of Egypt, and he saw the blood on that house, he said to the people living in that house, that I'm going to pass over you. You're not gonna be affected by the plague. You're not going to face the destruction that the rest of the Egyptians are gonna face that do not have the blood. And of course, this is point number two. Just like the Israelites had to apply the blood of the lamb, the Passover lamb on their doorposts, so too do we have to apply the blood of the lamb, Jesus Christ. And so we are saved. Point number two is we are saved by the blood of the lamb. We are saved through his sacrifice. Jesus Christ gave his life for us. He gave himself a ransom for us. He gave himself so we can be free. He was a substitute. He was the one that took on the curse, the punishment, the sin, the wrath, the judgment, the anger of God that should have fallen upon us was put upon Jesus Christ. Praise God for the blood of the lamb. Now please turn to Hebrews chapter 11 for me. Turn to Hebrews chapter 11, and I'll read to you from Colossians chapter one verse 19, which says, speaking of Jesus, for it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell, and having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself, by him I say whether they be things in heaven or things on earth or things in heaven. And so it's by the blood of his cross, brethren. Jesus Christ became the Passover for us. You're in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 27. Speaking here of Moses, remember Moses was the leader that led the children of Israel out of Egypt, verse number 27. It says, by faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, but he endured as seeing him who is invisible. Look at verse 28. Through faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he be destroyed. The firstborn should touch them, lest he be destroyed. The firstborn should touch them. Lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. So you can see there that the Passover was kept by faith. They trusted, the Israelites trusted that if we put the blood on our doorposts, the Lord will pass over us. We will not be destroyed by the destroyer. Okay, it's by faith. How do we apply the blood in our lives? It's our faith in the blood. It's the faith in the sacrifice of Christ. It's our faith in the finished work of Christ. It's our faith in his blood that saves us, brethren. It's that sacrifice, okay? The death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's the sprinkling of the blood. And of course, the Bible, I won't go into that now, but the Lord Jesus Christ, his blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat in heaven as well, following his resurrection. You know, 1 Corinthians 5, 7 says, purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump as ye are unleavened. Then it says this, for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. So Jesus Christ is our Passover. If the blood of Christ has been put upon your life, if by faith you receive that blood, brethren, you know, when the Lord comes to judge this wicked world, he's going to see the blood of Christ and he's gonna pass over us. Praise God that we don't have to be destroyed with the wickedness that's in this world. Praise God for his deliverance. If I can get you to turn to Romans chapter six now. Romans chapter six. So if you know the story of the Exodus, right, they put the blood on the posts, Pharaoh gives up, he says, go. He realizes, you know, that the first born of many Egyptians have passed away, even his own son, and he's broken, he's been brought down low, and he allows the Israelites to go, okay? And if you know the story, it's a very famous story. There's a lot of, you know, shows depicting the Exodus, things like that. And of course, the Israelites are free to go, and actually, it's not just the Israelites that left. The Bible tells us a mixed multitude came with them. You know what, there were Egyptians that came with them. There were people, you know, Moses later married an Ethiopian woman, so there were other Africans in that place that left with them as well. You know, these people saw the power of God. They said, hey, this is the God we wanna worship. If the Israelites are going, we're going with them. We want their God, praise God for that. You know, and that's the ultimate goal, is to bring more people into the kingdom, not just be satisfied with ourselves going there, but bringing more people into the kingdom of God. But of course, they're eventually led to the Red Sea, very famous story once again, apparently looking like a dead end, okay? Which, you know, wouldn't be a big deal, but the big deal was that Pharaoh changed his mind, sent the armies of the Egyptians after the Israelites, you know, to be brought back into the land, and the Israelites found themselves in a dead end, you know? Did I get to turn to Romans chapter six? All right, I'll just read to you from 1 Corinthians 10. 1 Corinthians 10. And so brethren, once you were in bondage, you were unsaved, then the blood of Christ, your Passover lamb, has been applied to you. Now the Lord can pass his judgment over you. Well, what's the next step? Now that you are saved, now that you have the blood of Christ imputed upon your life and his righteousness upon you, what's the next step of obedience as a Christian? What should it be? Well, it's depicted by the Red Sea, okay? Depicted by the Red Sea. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10.1, moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant how that our fathers, that's speaking about the Israelites coming through the Exodus journey, were under the cloud and all passed through the sea. That's of course the Red Sea, how they passed through the dry land. Then it says in verse number two, and we're all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. Now look, we're a Baptist church. We believe in baptism, okay? Now does baptism save you? No, the blood of the lamb saves you. Your faith in the finished work of Christ is what saves you, amen? That's the gospel message. But now that you are saved, now that you have placed your faith on the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, what's the first step of obedience? What do we see the Israelites go through? The Red Sea. And this is symbolic, as we saw in 1 Corinthians 10, symbolic of water baptism. You say, what is water baptism? What's it for? Well again, it's symbolic. It represents what God has done for us. You're in Romans chapter six, verse number three. Romans chapter six, verse number three, which reads, know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death. So baptism represents his death, right? Verse number four, therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life. So what else does baptism represent? The resurrection, Christ being raised up from the dead. It says that is a picture that we should walk, we should walk in newness of life. Hey, our church is not just a Baptist Church, it's New Life Baptist Church. You know, when you come to New Life Baptist Church, your mind should be, this is a church that wants me to walk in the newness of life that God has given me. You know, the newness of life, the salvation that we have through him. Let's keep going, verse number five. For if we have been planted together, now notice this, in the likeness of his death. So what is baptism? It's supposed to be a likeness, okay? A picture, symbolic of the death of Christ. We shall be also in the likeness, there it is again, the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, and henceforth, we should not serve sin. What is baptism, brethren? Well, when you go into the water and you stand out of the water, that represents Christ's crucifixion. He died on the cross, and then when you're brought into the water, immersed into the water, that represents his burial. So his death was on the cross, then his burial in the water, and then when you come out of the water, it's the likeness of his resurrection, the likeness. And so what is this symbolic of? The fact that we have placed our faith on the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus Christ. And it's a public declaration, just like my wedding ring is a public declaration that I'm married, right? Now I don't have to have the ring, right now it's off. Does that mean I'm not married now? No, okay, the ring doesn't prove that I'm married, I mean, you know, prove that I'm married or not. It's just a symbol, it's symbolic of the fact that I have exchanged vows with my wife, okay? And your baptism is a public declaration that you have placed your faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, okay? And as you are resurrected symbolically, this ought to picture that you are now going to walk in newness of life. You're not going to, you know, want to desire to be back in bondage in Egypt, but rather you desire to walk after the commandments, the instructions, you know, live in accordance to the will of God, okay? And so look at verse, let's read verse number six again, because this is where people get confused, okay? This is why some people think baptism is a necessary part of salvation, because if you look at verse number six, it says, knowing this, that our old man, now the old man there is our flesh, okay, the sinful nature that we have in us, that our old man is crucified with him. So that's what we're picturing, we're saying, hey, when Christ was crucified, so was the old man, okay, it's dead, that the body of sin might be destroyed and henceforth we should not serve sin. And so some people take this verse and say, well, this means a truly saved person will never sin again, because the old man's been crucified in Christ. Now, should we sin again? No, we should not desire to sin, right? We've been given a great inheritance by God, salvation, eternal life. But listen, that old man continues to live. You know, Paul says, I die daily. Every day he had to remind himself to crucify that old man. The old man wakes up with you every morning. You know, that selfishness that you have, you know, to live for yourself, to enjoy sin, you know, to not serve God, that selfishness is the old man, it's always there. Some people say, well, hold on, it says here that you will not serve sin, and so you're only truly saved if you stop sinning. Is that realistic? Can anybody here today say, I no longer sin? No, the Bible tells us that if you say you have no sin, the truth is not in you, that you make God a liar. Say, what is this about? This is again, symbolic, symbolic, right? That you are saying, I am crucified with Christ, and I'm desiring now to walk in the newness of life. Because now go to the next chapter, Romans chapter seven, let's stay in the same book, the same author, okay? And let's make sense of this. Romans chapter seven, verse 22. Because even though baptism should be our first step of obedience, and now your desire is to be in the newness of life that God has given you, you're gonna find in the Christian life that you're gonna fail. You're gonna find that you still sin. You're gonna find some of the sins that you struggled with before you were saved. They're still there, why? Why are they still there? Am I saved, you might ask? We'll look at Romans chapter seven, verse number 22. So we're just going, right? We looked at Romans chapter six about not serving sin, okay? But look at verse number seven, Romans chapter seven, verse 22. Paul writes here, he says, for I delight in the law of God after the inward man. Okay, so in chapter six, we learnt about the old man, that's the flesh, that's the sinful nature. Here we're hearing about the inward man, there's a new man. Hey, John chapter three, that hey, being born again, when we're born again, we're given an inward man. You know, that which is born of the spirit is spirit. There's a spiritual man in you, you've been revived. That new man is sinless. That new man delights in the law of God. You know, when you come to church and you love hearing God's word, you know what part of you loves that? Not the old man, it's the inward man. It's the new man, okay? It's the spirit that loves God. This flesh loves man, this flesh is selfish, you know? It's the inward man by which we are to live by. It delights in God's law. Look at verse number 23. He says, but I see another law in my members. And members is talking about his body parts here, right? His arms, his legs. It says warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. He says, look, my members serve the law of sin, right? It wars against his mind, the inward man that loves God, that loves the law of God. There's a war in his body, he says. Verse number 24. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Okay, look at verse number 25. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. And brethren, this is the saddest part of the Christian life at this point in time anyway, that we still have this sinful body. We still have the old man, okay? And you know, the Lord is working through your mind. The Lord wants to work for that inner man of you. The Lord wants that body, that flesh to be subject to the spiritual man. But still, just like Paul, you're gonna find yourself messing up. You're still going to sin. You're gonna sin till the day you die, okay? But what you should be thinking about is when it happens, it's just like, O wretched man that I am, okay? There is a part of you that just wants to serve God, follow the laws of God, praise God for that new man. But then you'll find yourself messing up, okay? And the reason you do that is because the old man was in control at that point in time. You know, the lust of the flesh, you know, was taken, took you to that point of sin. You served the law of sin through the flesh, through the old man. And this is a battle. And sometimes I find Christians who are saved, they are saved, but they still find they're saying, they sin, say, am I truly saved if I sinned? Well, was Paul truly saved? Of course he was truly saved. Okay, in fact, the fact that you have this war in you, this fact that it bothers you, that you wanna serve God. Jesus says the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. The fact that you have that war in your body actually proves that you're saved, okay? Because if you didn't have the new man, you wouldn't have that battle, you wouldn't have that war. You would just be living for this world. You'd just be living for self and you wouldn't even care about it, okay? The fact that you have this war in your members proves that you are saved because your desire is to live for the law of God, to follow his commandments. The battle with sin. Can you please turn to Exodus 16? Exodus 16. I just wanna show you, so once the Israelites came out of Egypt, they passed through the Red Sea. They're obviously making their way to Mount Sinai where God will ultimately give them the commandments that the covenant, the old covenant they would enter in, the Ten Commandments, these kinds of things. But before they passed into Mount Sinai, they passed through another wilderness. I think it's quite interesting. Exodus 16, verse one. Exodus 16, verse one. It says, and they took their journey from Elam and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of sin, all right? So on their way to Mount Sinai, they go to this wilderness and the wilderness is called Sin, all right? Which is between Elam and Sinai on the 15th day on the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt. Now look, you know, literally this wilderness of sin is not sin like we think of it. It's not iniquity, okay? It's got the same root word as Sinai. So you know, Sinai is also the first three letters sin, right, Sinai, S-I-N-A-I. Sin, it's got the same root word. So literally it's not sin. But I can't help but look at the parallels here. I can't help but think about, you know, I don't believe in coincidences that this wilderness is called a wilderness of sin. You know, even after they've been baptized, they find themselves in a place in a wilderness of sin, right? Now let's keep going. Verse number two. So when they get to this wilderness of sin, it says, and the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. Hey, you know what's gonna be, you know, one of the sins they've struggled with here is not respecting the authority that God put over them. You know, Moses and Aaron were the spiritual leaders of this nation. You know, when you rebel against your pastor, you know, when you rebel, and you know, this is sinful. Okay, this is a wilderness of sin when you rebel against the authorities that God has put in your life. And once again, my authority as your pastor is only in the congregation, it's only in the church. It doesn't extend to your house. You know, when you leave church, I don't have authority over you. Just during the church service. So we can have a decent and orderly service, all right? So we can have the preaching of God's word and we don't allow, you know, false prophets and false doctrines to creep into our church. This is the role of the pastor, to make sure things are decently and in order, that we were giving God all worship, all service, right? Look at verse number three. And the children of Israel said unto them, would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat in the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full. So they're looking back to Egypt, say it would've been better there. Wish we'd died in Egypt. Hey listen, your desire to go back to your worldly life is sinful, okay? It's the wilderness of sin. You know, going back to this world, living worldly, it's sin. And then it says this, for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. And so they're complaining. You know, they've gotten hungry. If you were here for the service in the morning, you know, God will always provide our every need. And of course, this is where we see the Lord ultimately, you know, send the manna from heaven, okay? But listen, before God was able to give them the manna from heaven, which is an amazing miracle, I wish I could taste that manna a little bit. Okay, and now I get a little bit of it because Jesus Christ is our manna. You know, he is the bread of life, you know? And so, but before they did, they started to murmur, complain, and whine. You know, why are we hungry? You know, when our air conditioning system was broken during summer, why isn't the air conditioning system working? The murmuring and complaining that might go on, brethren, this is the wilderness of sin. We all can have, you know, it is in our nature to sin. It is in our nature to murmur and complain. You know, it's in our nature to do these things. These are things we must battle in our flesh. You know, live after the inner man, live after the new man that loves the Lord. It would have been much better than praising God and saying, well, even though we're hungry, we've been delivered out of Egypt. How much better, how much sweeter would the manna have been if they came in it with a right heart? But they came into it, murmuring, complaining. This is the battle of sin that we struggled with and we saw the Israelites as they came through, you know, on their way to Mount Sinai, they struggled with sin. And so, brethren, let me just remind you, you know, understand that we are all sinners. We still have this flesh. Don't forget that at the resurrection, God's gonna change this body in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. Praise God. We have a new resurrected body, one that is without corruption, incorruptible, all right, and we'll never have to sin ever again. We'll never have to worry about that ever again. That time is coming. But for now, this is the war that we have in the flesh. This is something you just have to realize. This is my situation. You're gonna make mistakes, okay, you're going to sin, but remind yourself, God can give me victory. As long as I'm seeking that inner man that loves the Lord of God, God can give you victory over sins. You know, there are some sins that are harder for others to overcome than others, but with the Spirit of God, he can help you. He can cause you to live a life that is pleasing for the Lord, all right? Now, if you can go to Exodus 19, Exodus 19. After they pass through the wilderness of sin, they go to a few other places, but they eventually get into a new wilderness, a new wilderness. And if you look at Exodus 19, verse one, it says, in the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. Okay, so they're not in the wilderness of sin anymore. They've gone to the wilderness of Sinai. And of course, this is where you find Mount Sinai, right? Verse number two, and they were departed from Rephidim and were come to the desert of Sinai and had pitched in the wilderness and their Israel camped before the mount, okay? And of course, this is the mount where God will give them the commandments. This is the mount by which God, God was on that mount, that mount was on fire. There's thunderings and there's lightnings. God's presence is there in the midst of these people, but they've been able to come through finally to this place. Now, keep your finger there. We're gonna come back to Exodus 19. Please flip over to Acts chapter seven, Acts chapter seven. So we're going back to Stephen, as Stephen is preaching the history of Israel. Sorry guys, I'm starting to lose my voice a little bit here. See if I can keep going. Acts chapter seven, verse 37. Acts seven, verse 37. Because I want you to see how the New Testament identifies or how they come into the wilderness of Sinai, what this is symbolic of in our Christian life. Of course, in Acts chapter seven, verse 37, it says, this is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me, him shall ye hear. This being a prophecy of Jesus Christ being that prophet. But look at verse number 38. This is he that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the Mount Sinai. Okay, so Sinai there is Mount Sinai, it's the same thing. So the church in the wilderness, what wilderness? It's not the wilderness of sin, okay? It's the wilderness of Sinai. All right, that's where we see it, right? Wilderness of Sinai, and then it says, and with our fathers who received the lively oracles to give unto us. It says, look, they went into the wilderness of Sinai, the New Testament refers to that as the church in the wilderness, and it's that church that they received the lively oracles of God, you know? And I know, I've already covered church attendance this morning service, but I've gotta cover it again, okay? Because this is an important part. What is then the symbolic representation of the Israelites going to Mount Sinai, being encamped there in the presence of the Lord, when the Lord would teach them the commandments of his? This is symbolic of them being at church, the church in the wilderness. Look, we are the church here on the Sunshine Coast. We are a church here in Little Mountain. Hey, we're in Little Mountain, right? Hey, this is where we come and receive the lively oracles of God. This is where we come to hear the preaching of his word so we know what God expects from us. And brethren, this should be part of our Christian life. I keep hearing about people who just hate church. It's like, I don't wanna be part of church. And I understand, because there are so many bad churches. I understand there are so many bad pastors. I understand so many churches don't even preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. They're made up of a false gospel, false Christs, false spirits, I get it, I get it, okay? And many of you have experienced bad churches. But just because you've experienced bad churches does not mean I should get out of church. You know, experiencing bad churches, all it should drive you to do is say, well, I need to find the best church that I can in my area. And understand that every church is made up of fallen human beings with a sin nature. All of us, even your pastor, struggles between the battle of the mind, serving the Lord and the flesh that wants to serve sin. Oh, I don't wanna go to church because it's full of hypocrites. Yeah, you're the hypocrite as well. We all are, we're all trying to serve God. Okay, and we all mess up, we all make mistakes. I understand, okay? But it's kind of like, your mentality has to change. You know the church is the body of Christ. You know that Christ died for his church, you know? It's the body of Christ. You know, the church is commanded to continue the works that Jesus Christ started. You know, when I go door-to-door soul-winning, and it's like, not interested, you're knocking someone, not interested, no one's home, not interested, not interested I used to get discouraged, I used to get discouraged. But then it just changed my mindset. It just means God's pushing us forward to find the person that wants to hear the gospel. And how many experiences have I had where I'm like out there for an hour or two hours just knocking doors? And I'm getting tired because we're doing that much walking. Because no one wants to stop and talk to us. And you kind of start to get a little discouraged. But then right at the end, literally the last house that you're going to knock, someone's there ready to hear the gospel, ready to put their faith on the finished work of Jesus Christ. How many times has that happened? I reckon a lot of us have experienced that, okay? It's all about our minds. Do we just say, okay, we've knocked on $90, no one's interested, we give up? Hey, I attended 90 churches and they've all been bad, do I give up? No, you can find yourself the best church you can find where you can be at Mount Sinai receiving the lively oracles of God, you know? Church attendance is point number five. Are you in Exodus 19? Let's keep going, verse number three. Verse number three, it says, And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say unto the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel, Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bear you on eagle's wings, and brought you unto myself. So the Lord wants to remind us, we were once in the world, we were once unsaved, we once did not know our eternal future, but I've brought you on eagle's wings. I've brought you into the new life. I've brought you unto myself. Verse number five, Now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenants, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure. Unto me above all people, and all the earth is mine, and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. And so we've already seen this when we went through 1 Peter, 1 Peter speaks about the believers of the New Testament being the holy nation, right? Being that kingdom of priests. But look at verse number seven. And Moses came and called for the elders of the people. Okay, so what are the elders in the New Testament in the local church? The pastor, the role of the pastor, right? The bishop, the office of the bishop. And this is this, and laid before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded him. And so it's the elders job to take all the words of God that have been commanded, and to teach them to the people of God, okay? It's the job of your pastor, of the preachers that come up here and fill this pulpit to preach the whole word of God, okay? We are not a church that's afraid of the Bible, okay? We need to preach all of the word of God, even if it's not popular in today's age. Can you turn to Hebrews chapter three now? Hebrews chapter three. I better hurry up. So let me just go through the five points so far. Point number one, we were under bondage. That's the state of unbelief and dead in sins. Number two, we're saved by the blood of the lamb. Number three is water baptism, the first step of obedience. Number four, the battle with sin that we all experience in our bodies. Number five, church attendance. And number six, it's spiritual victory, okay? Because after you're saved, brethren, after you're saved, you start as a babe in Christ, don't you? You start just learning. You probably don't even know half the sins you struggle with until you start to learn. I remember when I got my wife saved, I was able to share some of her sins, but until she started reading the Bible, she's like, man, that's a sin, that's a sin? She'd call me up, did you know that's a sin? I'm like, yeah, that's a sin. And so we keep learning, we keep learning just how bad we are, how much we struggle in this flesh. But you know what, as you grow and you mature in the Lord, there needs to come to a point where you are experiencing spiritual victory in life. You know, when you're winning those battles, when the temptations of sin comes that you actually have some success, you know, you're winning them for a change rather than just giving into the temptations that God has laid upon you. Hebrew chapter three, verse 16. Hebrew chapter three, verse 16, reads, for some, when they had heard, did provoke, howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses, but with whom was he grieved forty years, was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness, and to whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believe not, so we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Is this about salvation? Well, it can be, okay, because we know that salvation is by faith, but what is this about? When we look at this story here, this is speaking about the fact that the Israelites, now listen, after they received the commandments of God, they were meant to go into the promised land. They were, you know, God said, go over there, you're gonna have victory against the Canaanites, you know, you're gonna have the spiritual victory, you're gonna be able to take that land, which is flowing with milk and honey, and that'll be your inheritance, you know, and that pictures, the promised land pictures spiritual victory, you know, victory over the enemies, victory over, you know, the Canaanites were an ungodly lot, they were very wicked, their judgment time had fallen upon them, right? And it was time to have victory for the people of God, but they did not enter in because of unbelief, and so God's punishment upon them was to wander in the wilderness. Something that should have been a two-week walk, I think, took them 40 years eventually to get into the promised land, 40 years because of unbelief. What are you saying? I'm saying, yes, we are saved by faith, but the Bible talks about us going from faith to faith, okay, from faith to faith, not are we to just live in faith, but we are to walk in faith. You know, every day of our spiritual life ought to be a life of faith. You know what God promises me in the word? I'm going to believe that. You know what? I'm gonna bring this prayer request before God, and I'm gonna believe, I'm gonna have faith that is gonna answer that prayer. We ought to live by faith, and look, God wanted them to have spiritual victory, but they were lacking in faith, and now look, I don't know, maybe you've stunted in your spiritual growth. Maybe you're not getting the victory you once, or you were thinking you were gonna get in spiritual life, but I'll tell you why you're lacking. It's because of a lack of faith, because of unbelief. You might find yourself in the wilderness longer than you need to be, you know, delaying the victory that God wants you to have in your life because of unbelief. You know, we truly need Jesus to increase our faith. You know, even his disciples had to say that, and ask that request from Jesus Christ. Please go to chapter four, Hebrew chapter four, verse six. The thought continues here. Hebrews chapter four, verse number six. Seeing therefore, it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief. So we know that the next generation, those that were under 20 years old, they were the one that entered into the promised land. Again, he limited a certain day, saying in David, today, after so long a time as it is said, today you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, for if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. Now, that verse number eight that Jesus mentioned in verse number eight is not Jesus Christ, okay? Jesus in verse number eight is Joshua, okay? Because Joshua, the Greek transliteration of Joshua is Jesus, okay? So the Jesus there in verse number eight is speaking about, you know, the fact that Joshua was the one, not Moses, but Joshua would be the one that would bring the Israelites into the promised land, they would have great victory there, and they would also be able to rest in the land. Now look, I myself, I would not have become a pastor if I did not have the spiritual victory, okay? If I was still just constantly worldly, just constantly in this world, just constantly having no victory, you know, in sin, I would not elevate myself, I would not put myself in a position as a pastor. I would not, you know? You know, before you become a pastor, before you take on a position as an elder, as a teacher, you need to have some experience. You know, you can't be a novice, you know? You have to be someone that's experienced in Christian life, you've had some success, you've been able to get into the promised land, you're a man of faith, all right? This is a position, a place that we all need to get to, and I promise you, brethren, when you have the victory, when you start defeating the Canaanites that you have in your life, you're gonna find the peace, the peace of God, right, in that promised land, the spiritual victory. Can you please go to Joshua chapter two? We started with Joshua chapter two in the Bible reading, we're gonna end in Joshua chapter two. There is a great story here, Rahab the harlot, what a wicked life, a harlot, what a sinful woman, right? And yet, she's one of the ancestors of Jesus Christ, if you know the genealogy of Jesus, all right? Look, it doesn't matter how bad your past is, you can have spiritual victory, it doesn't matter, okay? Christ has died for all of your sins, his taste of death for every man. Now, before Joshua led the children of Israel into the land of Egypt, he did the same thing that Moses did, remember Moses sent some spies into the land, well, Joshua does the same thing, he sent spies, and those spies were to stay with Rahab the harlot, okay, stay in her house. And let's look at verse number one there, Joshua chapter two, verse number one. And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, go view the land, even Jericho, and they went and came into an harlot's house named Rahab and lodged there, okay? Now, I won't go through the whole story now, but drop down to verse number nine, because I want you to notice this, before they have victory in the land, before they have peace in the land, they sent two spies. And when I look at this story, I can't help but think of the parallel. When we go door to door soul winning, how many people do we send? Two, two at a time. It doesn't matter if you knock on a harlot's door. You know, your mission is to give them the gospel, is it not? It's your mission, doesn't matter who that person is behind the door, your goal is to see that person saved. They would place their faith on the God of Israel, amen? Well, I don't believe you can have true spiritual victory if you're not actively preaching the gospel to the lost. Okay? Before they get into the land, before they have victory, they go to the harlot's house. Let's have a look at it, verse number nine. And she said unto the men, I know that the Lord have given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did unto the two kings of the Amorites that were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts did melt. Neither did there remain any more courage in any man because of you. For the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above and in earth beneath. Now therefore I pray you, swear unto me by the Lord, since I have showed you kindness, that ye will also show kindness unto my father's house, and give me a true token, and that ye will save alive my father and my mother and my brethren, my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death. Has Rahab put her faith on the God of Israel? Absolutely. She's heard all about it. She's heard all about Jesus. She's heard all about the victories that God has given them. And brethren, when you go door to door, it's your job to cause the person behind the door to hear all about God, to hear about what he's done, so they too can be saved. Drop down to verse number 25, sorry, no, Joshua chapter six. Go to Joshua chapter six. So we fast forward a little bit, where Jericho is defeated, this whole city is defeated, many deaths, okay? Her desire was that she would remain saved and her family as well, and in Joshua chapter six, verse number 25, it says, and Joshua. Now remember, Joshua's name in the New Testament is Jesus. So again, let's think about what is symbolic, okay, of the New Testament, okay? And Joshua, or Jesus, we could say, saved Rahab the harlot alive. You know, so symbolically, and no, I know this is not saying that she got saved at this moment. I know I understand that. I'm saying symbolically, what does this represent of the Christian life? You know, the two spies went there, and she was able to place her faith in the God of Israel, you know? And she was saved. It says here, alive in her father's household, and all that she had, and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day, because she hid the messengers which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. And not only is she saved, not only does she save her life from the attack to Jericho, but she becomes a citizen of Israel, right? And she becomes part of those people. And of course, God told the Israelites that if any strangers come and want to be part of the land, they are to be treated as one born in that nation. You know, thank God for the souls that are getting saved. I know we had one salvation this afternoon, maybe more. You know, a couple of salvations yesterday. You know, I'm going out to Harvey Bay on Tuesday to meet the Sweetmans. Hopefully we'll get some salvations out there, preaching the gospel in that area. Keep that in prayer. But don't forget, brethren, that before, before they had victory in the land, before they were able to come into the promised land, they were able to see a soul saved. You know, brethren, you know, door-to-door gospel preaching, you know, actively winning people, telling people about the sacrifice of Jesus is what we've been left to do. That's part of your spiritual victory. You know, and I know, you know, my wife, we've got a number of kids. You know, she can't actively get out there as much as I can. You know, but she's playing her role. She's taking care of the children so I can get out there. You know, you might not be the spy that goes and knocks on the harlot's door. Hey, buddy, are you giving the resources, are you helping others to get out there to do the work? And if you are, you know, we're all involved in this fight. We're all involved in having spiritual victory together as a church. We're all involved in the work of the ministry of preaching the gospel to this area. Don't forget that. You know, you might not right now be someone that can go out door to door, but you can pray. You know, you can encourage those that do. You can rejoice when you hear of someone placing their faith on Jesus Christ. You can motivate the others to go out, you know, and preach the gospel. And so, brethren, spiritual victory, you know, as being symbolically represented by them coming into the land, seeing a soul saved, someone added to the family of God, all right? So let me go through those six points once again. The total of the sermon was Israel's exodus and the Christian life. Point number one was we were under bondage, unsaved, and we were saved by the blood of the lamb. Point number two. Point number three is we, next thing, next step, is water baptism, the first step of obedience. Number four is understand the battle of sin that you're gonna keep having for the rest of your life. Number five, church attendance. Get yourself into a good church. I personally did not grow much in the Lord till I got myself into a good church. I was under some good preaching. And number six, spiritual victory. But don't forget that includes you preaching the gospel to the lost. Okay, let's pray. Actually, brother.