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When I was a child, my widowed mother had to work to support her family of four children.

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Being the oldest, I was responsible while she was gone for my two brothers and sister.

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To this very moment, I can remember the sense of fear that came over me when my mother was

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late coming home from work.

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I knew her hours and I knew what time she should be home, being a ten minute drive from

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the little town where she worked in the grocery store and then later in the post office.

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It might be that she was picking up groceries after work or perhaps was detained at her

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place of employment, but if she was late, if she was overdue, there was fear that mounted

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in my heart.

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I can remember on one occasion calling the operator on the telephone to find out where

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my mother was, as if she knew.

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We had one of those old telephones that you crank.

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How many of you remember those?

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Yes, you know, little house in the prairie kind.

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Our number was 3021, which meant that we were on line 30 and to get our place, the operator

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would ring too long and one short, 3021.

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So when you would hear the telephone ring two long rings and one short ring, you would

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pick it up and answer it.

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When it rang anything, you just picked it up and listened.

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That's the way they worked.

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On this particular day, I rang the operator and asked her if she knew where my mother

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was.

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She talked to us for about five minutes, as they had time to do back in those days.

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Until my mother finally got home and was a little bit put out at me and a little bit

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embarrassed about it, I can remember climbing up into the tallest tree on our farm, looking

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toward the town where she worked, because there was a sloping valley down toward the

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Delaware River.

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And you could see cars coming for two and three miles away at various parts of the road.

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So I would look for that 51 Blue Plymouth that she was driving, or I would get up on

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top of the barn and would look out to see if I could see her coming, particularly if

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she was overdue.

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Nobody likes to be left alone.

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That's a fear I guess that all of us have.

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I think even mothers of preschoolers probably, if left alone long enough, would find it undesirable,

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even though being left alone sometimes for them seems very desirable.

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When Israel, God's redeemed people, left Egypt, you have to remember that they were

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going to a place that they had never been before.

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Four hundred and thirty years had come and gone since their ancestors had come down to

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Egypt.

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The stories of Canaan, where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived seemed remote and like fairy

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tales.

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It might have been a frightening thing for them, you know, to leave Egypt, because that

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was the only security they had known for generations.

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Even a prison cell or the chains on a slave provide some sense of identity and security.

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Now the nation was leaving behind everything they had known for centuries and was moving

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out into a wilderness.

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And though there were two million of them, how do they know as they step out that they're

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not going to be left alone?

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Well God, their Redeemer, was faithful to them.

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He knew that pilgrims need certain things.

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They need encouragement.

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And so God gave them His promises to encourage them.

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He said, I'm going to take you to a land that flows with milk and honey.

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And whatever is between here and there, remember you're not alone, that I'm with you and that

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I'm taking you to that place.

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So that when they faced discouragement, they had the promises of God to rely upon.

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And then pilgrims need protection.

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So God gave them His protection from their enemies.

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In fact, He led them the long way.

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He took them on what seemed like a detour that they might avoid the border guards and

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warfare which would have surely discouraged their hearts and caused them to turn around.

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God protected His people from being overwhelmed by trials by their enemies.

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Today as we come to Exodus chapter 13, we want to see some more that God has provided

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for His people as they begin their pilgrimage toward the promised land.

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I'm thinking particularly of verses 21 and 22 of Exodus 13 where we read,

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And the Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way,

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in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by

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night.

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He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night from before

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the people.

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Here I believe that we see God showing His presence to guide them.

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Pilgrims need to have some guidance.

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They've not been this way before.

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They're aliens where they are.

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That's why they're called pilgrims.

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And so God here showed them His presence in this miraculous way so that He might guide

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them through the wilderness.

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God's presence was represented by this pillar of cloud as it was at daytime and a pillar

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of fire as it became at night.

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This symbol of the presence of the Lord is symbolic to us, I believe, of the Holy Spirit

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of God.

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It seems to me that in this story of the redemption of Israel we see the triune God acting.

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We see God the Father as Jehovah hearing the cries of His desperate people, remembering

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them in their suffering, and then taking action to deliver them.

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Those are the actions of the Father on behalf of His own.

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Then we see the Son of God represented by the Lamb, the Passover Lamb, which paid the

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price of redemption for the people of Israel.

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Now we see in this symbol, I believe, the Holy Spirit, the guiding presence of God with

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His own as they walk in their pilgrimage.

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Beloved, we today have the guiding presence of the Lord in the person of the Holy Spirit.

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It is not in a cloudy pillar or a fiery pillar that we see with our physical eyes, but we

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have a very real guide, the very presence of Yahweh is with us in the Holy Spirit.

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Arthur Pink, who is rather famous for his gleaning of types in the Old Testament, sometimes

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going a little too far, I think, suggests the following parallels that I would agree

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with regarding this cloud and the Holy Spirit.

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In the first place, there was no cloud present at all until after the Passover.

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It was then, after the Passover, after the redemption, that the cloud appeared to guide

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them.

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And so, by parallel and by way of application, we learn from the New Testament that there

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is no indwelling of the Holy Spirit until after redemption.

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The Spirit of God works in the heart of the lost person, bringing conviction of sin upon

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that person.

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But He does not indwell an individual until after redemption.

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Remember that Romans 5.5, which speaks about the Holy Spirit being given to us, follows

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Romans 5.1, which says that we are justified by faith.

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And so, the Holy Spirit does not indwell us until after redemption.

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Then I notice here that the cloud was a gift from the Lord, graciously given, as is the

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Holy Spirit.

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A number of times in the New Testament epistles, we read about the Holy Spirit being given

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to us as a gracious gift from God.

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Then notice that the cloud was a guide to them by day and by night.

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And so, the Holy Spirit is our guide.

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Romans 8.14 says, For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of

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God.

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And so, just as the cloud guided those pilgrims through their wilderness to the promised land,

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so the Holy Spirit guides us today as pilgrims to the land, the city, indeed, that God has

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promised to us.

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And then the cloud provided light.

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At night, there was a supernatural street light that God provided for this camp of two

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million people.

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And that light was this cloud that turned to fire in the evening.

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And so, the Holy Spirit also provides illumination for the believer.

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As to the things of Christ, teaches us of the things of God.

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That's why we sing as we do in that hymn, Spirit of God, my Teacher be, showing the

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things of Christ to me.

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And then the cloud provided a covering for the people, as we will see, particularly as

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they were at the Red Sea.

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A covering to protect them from the Egyptians, but also during the daytime, a covering to

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protect them from the bright sunlight of the desert.

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And so, the Holy Spirit provides protection for the children of God in this age.

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The Holy Spirit is the seal of our salvation.

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Unto the day of redemption, says the Apostle Paul, Ephesians 4.30, until that day that

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we are fully body, soul, and spirit redeemed, the Holy Spirit is a seal protecting us in

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our salvation.

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And then God spoke from that cloud according to Psalm 99, 7, Numbers 12, 5, and other places

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in the Bible.

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God is said to have spoken to His people from that cloud.

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And so, the Holy Spirit is the one who oversaw God's voice to us in this revelation that

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we have in our hands this morning.

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Just as He spoke audibly to those people in that day, so He has spoken propositionally

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to us today in this age.

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We have a book that we study, which we call The Word of God.

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And it says about itself that it was written by men who were moved by the Holy Spirit.

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That is, they were born along or carried along by the Holy Spirit.

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So the Holy Spirit is the one who has inspired this word from God to us.

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And He is the one who then brings it by way of application into our lives as we learn

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to study it.

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The cloud that provided light for the Israelites was darkness to the Egyptians.

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Again, we will see this next week as we continue our study into Exodus chapter 14.

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But the Holy Spirit likewise reveals the things of God to those who are the Lord's.

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The natural man cannot receive those things.

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They are dark to him.

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First Corinthians 2, 14.

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A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness

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to him and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually appraised.

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Jesus said, the world cannot receive the Spirit of truth because it does not behold Him or

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know Him.

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John 14, 17.

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And so the same Spirit of God that illuminates and enlightens the heart of the believer is

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darkness to the world.

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The world is blinded.

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It cannot perceive the things of the God and of the Spirit of God.

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Then we read later that this same cloud came to rest upon the tabernacle.

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That whenever Moses would go into that holy place to speak with God, in the sight of all

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of the nation, the cloud would come down and cover the tabernacle.

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And the people would bow low at their tent doors and worship as Moses communed with God

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on behalf of them.

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The cloud rested upon the tabernacle.

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Just as the cloud rested upon that tabernacle.

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So the cloud of God today indwells the believer so that our bodies now have become the temple

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of God.

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1 Corinthians 6, 19.

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Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you

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have of God, that you are not your own?

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You are bought with a price.

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So just as the cloud in that day came upon the tabernacle, so today the Holy Spirit comes

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into the believer and makes the believer's body the tabernacle of the Lord.

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And finally, I note regarding this cloud in the Old Testament that it did not depart from

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the Israelites in the wilderness.

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It was with them throughout the forty years that they were there in that land until they

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came into the land that God had promised them, Canaan.

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And so the Holy Spirit today abides with the believer, not to leave us or to depart from

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us.

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Now he did depart from believers in the Old Testament because in that time, before Calvary,

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before Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon certain believers, not all, just certain ones,

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to empower them for the ministry, the service that they had.

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That is why David prayed as he did in Psalm 51, Take not thy Holy Spirit from me.

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He was not concerned about no longer being a child of God.

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His prayer there meant, Don't take your Spirit from me who is strengthening me for my service

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as king.

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In this age, however, the Holy Spirit comes upon every child of God and He comes to remain

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there throughout this life.

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In times of obedience and disobedience, the Spirit of God is there to perform His ministry

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in the child of God.

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And He does not leave us until that day that we arrive safely home to that place that God

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has promised to us at the end of our pilgrimage.

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Ephesians 1, 14 says, He is given as a pledge of our inheritance.

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It further says, He abides with you, Jesus says this, He abides with you and shall be

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in you the remaining presence of the Spirit of God.

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So you and I today, just as the Israelites of old, have the very presence of God to guide

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us and to encourage us in our pilgrimage.

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We do not have to fear being left alone.

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Even though there are times we may think we are alone and we wonder where God has gone,

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we must remind ourselves that God is here with us.

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And the more that we seem to feel His absence, the closer His presence actually is.

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God gave to the Israelites in their pilgrimage His presence to guide them, just as He gives

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the Holy Spirit today to guide us.

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And finally, as we look at this chapter, God gave to the Israelites practices to remind

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them of their redemption.

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You see, pilgrims are like everybody else.

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They have memories that are good.

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The only problem is they don't always function.

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Pilgrims forget things that they ought to remember, and they remember things they ought

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to forget.

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God gave to the Israelites two practices that are mentioned in chapter 13 to remind them

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of His great work of redemption in Egypt.

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He gave them these because God knows the human tendency to forget and to take for granted

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our blessings.

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And so, in verses 5 through 10, we see God establishing again the feast of unleavened

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bread.

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This is not the first time the feast has been mentioned.

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It is a repeat.

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But God says to them, and it shall be when the Lord brings you to the land of the Canaanite,

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the Hittite, the Amorite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, which He swore to your fathers

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to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall observe this right in

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this month.

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For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast

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to the Lord.

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Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days, and nothing leavened shall

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be seen among you, nor shall any leaven be seen among you in all your borders.

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And you shall tell your son on that day, saying, It is because of what the Lord did for me

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when I came out of Egypt.

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And it shall serve as a sign to you on your hand, and as a reminder on your forehead that

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the law of the Lord may be in your mouth.

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For with a powerful hand the Lord brought you out of Egypt.

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Therefore, you shall keep this ordinance at its appointed time from year to year.

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And so on this first month of every year from then on, generation after generation, they

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were to observe not only the Passover, but the feast of unleavened bread on the seven

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days following the Passover.

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And the purpose of that was to continually remind the people of Israel what God had done

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for them.

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To us today this feast of unleavened bread represents something significant.

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It is the fact that you and I are to live separated and holy lives, free from sin, which

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is what leaven represents.

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And as we do so, we are to feed upon Christ and gain spiritual nourishment and strength

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from Him.

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It is not merely a seven-day feast for us.

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It is a lifelong spiritual feast that God wants us to enjoy.

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So when you think about the unleavened bread, remember that it represents to us today, symbolically,

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our feeding on Christ and our living of separated and holy lives that are free from sin.

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Now we recognize that we will not be absolutely sinless in this world, but brothers and sisters,

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we ought to sin less.

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The older we get, the more mature we get.

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And that is God's plan.

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It is a continual process of separating us from our sinful desires, from the sinful conformity

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to the world.

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It is a process of separating us from all of that unto God Himself for His special purpose.

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That is the feast of unleavened bread.

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To the Jews, it was a rite lasting for seven days and it was a reminder to them.

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And then I notice in verses 11 through 16 another rite.

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It is called the redemption of the firstborn.

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Now it shall come about when the Lord brings you to the land of the Canaanite as He swore

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to you and to your fathers and gives it to you.

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You shall devote to the Lord the first offspring of every womb and the first offspring of every

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beast that you own.

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The males belong to the Lord.

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But every first offspring of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb.

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But if you do not redeem it, then you shall break its neck.

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And every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem.

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And it shall be when your son asks you in time to come saying, What is this?

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Then you shall say to him, With a powerful hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt from

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the house of slavery.

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And it came about when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go that the Lord killed every

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firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast.

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Therefore I sacrificed to the Lord the males the first offspring of every womb, but every

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firstborn of my sons I redeemed.

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So it shall serve as a sign on your hand and as phylacteries on your forehead.

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For with a powerful hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.

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And so the redemption of the firstborn was set in place in Israel.

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Whether of beast or of humans, there was some act to be carried out symbolizing, reminding

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them of the death of the firstborn in Egypt.

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You say, Well this became costly, did it not?

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When the firstborn of their beasts had to be redeemed or slain, and when they had to

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offer up sacrifices of various sorts for the firstborn of their children, wasn't that

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costly to them?

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Yes.

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It was costly financially, economically.

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But you see, God wanted them to be reminded that it cost something to redeem them.

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Therefore the first and the best went to the Lord.

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These practices, year after year after year, were intended to remind them and their children

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in future generations of their inheritance and their blessings.

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Why?

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Because they were forgetful.

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I want to say to you today that you and I need reminders too.

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Because so easily we forget the price that was paid for our redemption.

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So easily do we forget the blessings that God has given to us freely through Christ,

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which cost Him the death of His own Son.

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Say what kind of reminders do we have?

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Well we have the reminder of this book.

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The apostles wrote to their readers and they said, In writing this we are bringing to your

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remembrance.

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Or they would say, We are stirring up your minds by way of remembrance, though you knew

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this already.

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You see, even then as they were penning the Word of God, they were trying to remind their

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readers of the things they had already learned.

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Is it not a sad fact that most of us have forgotten more than we know today about the

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Bible?

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We have to constantly remind ourselves.

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Part of God's plan for reminding us is this book.

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That we might be reminded of what God has done for us and what our inheritance is.

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A second reminder that God gives to us today is this day, Sunday.

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To remind us of Christ's death and His resurrection on the first day of the week, God changed

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the whole day of worship from the Sabbath to the first day to Sunday, as we call it.

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Now the purpose of that is so that we might be reminded every Sunday that Jesus Christ

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rose from the dead.

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We remember that at Easter, don't we?

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But every Sunday is resurrection Sunday because it is a reminder right in our calendar, right

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in the weekly process of our lives and our worship that Christ has risen from the dead.

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Then God has given to us ordinances.

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To the church in this age, He has commanded two practices.

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One of them is the Lord's Supper.

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As I said a few weeks ago, the Lord's Supper is not an option for us to think about.

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It is a command for us to observe.

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When the Lord's Supper is offered, it is offered as a reminder of what Jesus Christ

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did for us in His broken body and His shed blood.

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And we need that reminder.

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We must be careful not to neglect the Lord's table when it's offered to us.

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Likewise, baptism is commanded in this age.

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It too represents the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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It is clear in the book of Acts that they carefully followed the practice of baptizing

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all of their converts.

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Baptism is not an option for us to consider.

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It is a command to obey.

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It is a reminder to us.

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I know there are people who have problems with it.

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Sometimes it's frankly because of ego.

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They don't want to get up in front of people and go through this for a variety of reasons

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related to ego.

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My friend, baptism is intended to humble us and to make us realize that we are the humble

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recipients of grace.

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That salvation is what God has done for us, not what we try to do to please God.

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Baptism is a reminder to us.

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Now I believe there's another reminder, and that is the offerings that we take.

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This is tied together in 2 Corinthians chapter 9, where the apostle Paul commands those believers

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in Corinth to bring together out of the freedom of their hearts, out of the joy of Christ

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within them, to bring together a gift to provide for the needs of the ministry to the saints.

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Then he closes that chapter where he commands that offerings be taken.

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He says, thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift.

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You see, every time that you and I put something in the offering plate, it is a costly reminder

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to us that our salvation was not free to God.

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It was free to us, but not free to Him.

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And just as the Israelites of old had to do something tangible to remind themselves, they

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had to pay a price to remind themselves, so part of the purpose of giving an offering

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to God is that you and I might pay a price, that we might be reminded of the cost that

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was involved to God in giving to us His Son for our redemption.

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We need reminders today, too.

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One of the most serious, dangerous spiritual conditions that we can encounter in our pilgrimage

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is that of being, coming accustomed to what God has provided, and then becoming ungrateful

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for it, and then beginning to assume that blessing and take it for granted.

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Take it for granted.

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When we do that, our hearts become hardened to the things of God.

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You say, how do you know that?

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Because I've experienced that.

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Just as most of you would confess that you've experienced that.

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And what happened to Israel in the Old Testament is written for our learning, our example,

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and it happened to them.

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How quickly their hearts became hardened toward the God who had so powerfully redeemed them.

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How we need to be aware of ourselves becoming accustomed to the blessings of God, taking

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them for granted, becoming ungrateful.

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Our need, as was the need of those Israelites, is for continual brokenness.

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It is for us to be reminded that we are the blessed recipients of so much so that we can

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appreciate and appropriate our blessings.

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I'd like to close this morning by turning to one more passage, and I'd like you to

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turn there with me to 2 Peter chapter 1.

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For Peter has some strong words to say here to pilgrims.

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He commands of us that we ought to grow up spiritually and mature, fully develop.

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He explains to us in verses 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 of chapter 1, 2 Peter, what that means.

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He says, add all of these qualities to your lives.

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And then he says, beginning in verse 8, for if these qualities are yours and are increasing,

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they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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Notice that he says, if these qualities are in us and are increasing, we are not useless

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or unfruitful.

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The implication being that if these qualities are not in us and are not increasing, we are

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useless and fruitless in the things of God.

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He goes on to say in verse 9, for he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted,

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having forgotten his purification from his former sins.

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What does that mean?

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From before his conversion.

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Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and choosing

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you.

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We're going to talk about that concept some more tonight in the message.

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He goes on to say, for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble.

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For in this way, the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

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will be abundantly supplied to you.

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Notice that he points to the end of the pilgrimage.

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That is the kingdom, the eternal kingdom of Christ.

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And he says, pilgrims, if you want to have an abundant entrance home, then see to it

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be diligent that these qualities are in your lives.

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Make sure that you are maturing, that you are filling out, so that you will not be useless

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or fruitless in the world.

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Rather he says, add these things.

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Be sure about your salvation by adding these things.

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What does that mean?

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Does that mean that by adding these things, I'm somehow adding to my salvation?

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Of course not.

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We can't add anything to the completed work of Jesus Christ.

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His work on the cross of Calvary is sufficient for our sins and nothing else needs to be

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done.

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But what it does add to us is a greater confidence and a greater assurance about our salvation

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when these qualities are present in our lives.

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There are some pilgrims today who are both useless and fruitless, and they've gotten

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to the point of doubting their salvation.

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And that's exactly what Peter is warning about.

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He says, that which gives us confidence and assurance that in fact we have been called

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of God and chosen by God is the fact that these qualities are present in our lives and

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not only so, they're increasing.

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Peter does not give much credence to the idea that one can have assurance about his salvation

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merely by looking back to a decision date sometime in the past.

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There isn't much assurance merely in that.

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The assurance of salvation comes when there is progress, when there is hope.

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There is growth, when there is development, when there is increasing holiness in the life.

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And that's what Peter is saying.

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And he is saying that you and I have a responsibility for that.

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He says, if you have been called of God and chosen of God, then give diligence to add

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these qualities to your life.

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He says, you have the beginning of it, now let it develop fully in your life so that

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you may have every confidence that you truly belong to Him.

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And, so that when you get to the end of your pilgrimage and you enter into that eternal

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kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, your entrance may be an abundant one.

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If your entrance into that eternal kingdom were today, what kind of an entrance would

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you have?

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I doubt that there are many of us here who would be able to say, well, I'm really satisfied

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with the entrance I would have.

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But hopefully, none of us would have to say, if I were called into the presence of the

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Lord today, I would be totally ashamed of my life.

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Because if that is our response, then we have to take a hard look at what Peter is saying

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here.

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And our need is to repent, and it is to turn around and begin following Jesus Christ.

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O Pilgrim, you do not know which day will bring that entrance, nor do I.

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And so I exhort you to live as one who will enter that kingdom perhaps today.

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But if it be tomorrow, rejoice that God has given you another day to be His pilgrim in

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this world.

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And while you're here, be useful and fruitful in the things of God.

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Let us bow together.

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Do those two words describe your spiritual life this week?

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Useful to Jesus Christ?

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Fruitful in the knowledge of Christ?

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Or as you look back through the week, do you have to honestly say, I've been blind and

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short-sighted and I've forgotten my purification, my salvation?

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Would you today say to the Lord Jesus, would that be the case?

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Jesus, make me diligent.

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I set my heart to be diligent, to make certain about my calling and choosing.

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Deliver me from my stumbling and cause me to walk firmly as a pilgrim and to enter your

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kingdom abundantly.

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O child of God, may that be your prayer today.

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For our Savior has saved us that we might be both useful and fruitful to Him in this

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world, that when we get to heaven He might have the joy of rewarding us.

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Lord Jesus, so easily we forget and take for granted the blessings, and then our hearts

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become accustomed and cold, and our lives become careless and we stray.

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I pray that we will each one who is a pilgrim today walk faithfully with you.

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And Father, if there be some friend here who has never trusted the Savior, oh, may that

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one today trust Him.

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Become a part of the family of God and begin moving toward the destiny of heaven and the

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kingdom rather than the present destiny of hell forever.

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In Jesus' name I pray, amen.