The journey of the people of Israel through the wilderness as a metaphor for the Christian life, highlighting lessons learned from their experiences with bitter waters at Marah and interpersonal conflicts. It emphasizes that God remembers and blesses His people at appointed times, even amidst disappointment, drawing parallels to the biblical figures of Zerubbabel and Moses. The message also addresses the importance of humility, using the example of Eudice and Syntyche, and the need to set aside weights that hinder spiritual progress, likening it to athletes preparing for a race. Ultimately, the sermon points to Christ's redemptive work on the cross as the solution to the curse of the law and the vain traditions of men, offering hope for the redemption of our bodies and the glorious return of Christ.
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I wish to say I'm excited and honored. I'm excited because of your coming trip to Egypt, Israel and Jordan. It is wonderful to see these places which make the Bible live to you. I know it's alive to you, but it certainly will be more alive to you as you see these places. And also, I want you to see what is happening today in the Middle East, especially in the land of Egypt, where a mighty spiritual revival has started some time ago. And there are today about four hundred assemblies in Egypt.
In Cairo alone there are about twenty-six or twenty-seven assemblies, chapels. And these are very aggressive evangelistic groups in Egypt. I have already written to one of the brethren there to notify him of our coming And I have received the answer. They are waiting for us. My hope, those of us who can possibly come on this trip will avail themselves of this opportunity. Then I'm privileged to be speaking to you at this joyful occasion, twenty-five years, a twenty-fifth anniversary of Mid-South Conference.
Few days ago, or day or two ago, I read to you some excerpts from one or two letters. May I take just two or three minutes to read one or two more excerpts from the thousands, literally thousands, of letters received from our listeners in answer to the broadcast, particularly from the island of Cyprus. That broadcast, which is on the medium wave, that's the Standard AIM band, were transmitted of six hundred thousand watts. That is twelve times more powerful than the most powerful station allowed by law on the Sandy Inn Band in the USA.
This is a letter from Abadan Iran. Have you heard of Iran? All right. This man says, in the name of the father, mind you, this was a Muslim. In the name of the father, the son and the Holy Ghost. I rise to you to express my deepest gratitude for your broadcast which led me to faith in Christ my Savior. I am now enjoying the joy which cannot be described, for I have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. Every day I read my Bible and in it I have found the true word of life. My life has been completely changed. I praise the Lord that my faith in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is growing day by day.
I have been a Muslim before I accept Christ as my Savior. Please send me any Christian literature that you may have that will be of spiritual health to me. This is a listener in Syria. I am a university student, twenty-one years old, and I live at home with my family. I have been searching for a spiritual truth for a long time through radio broadcasts, TV programs, newspapers, books and magazines, but my long search has not been rewarded. I must tell you that I am not of the Christian faith, but I admit that I do not know much about my own religion. One day I was turning the knob of my radio set, and suddenly I heard your Arabic broadcast.
It was speaking about science and scripture. Before God, I tell you that for the first time in my life, I found a measure of rest. For the first time in my life, I found the spiritual truth. after which I have been searching. To be frank with you, I must say that I know nothing about the Bible of which you spoke. Thus, I most solemnly ask you to show me the way of salvation. I do not wish to perish. Please answer my letters. Please, for God's sake, write and tell me what I must do. I do now open my heart to the Lord Jesus Christ. I wish to know more about him. Please send me a Bible. Please also send me any Christian literature and publication that you may have.
Help me. I need your spiritual help. I also know that there are many such people as I who need your spiritual help. This is a little older. This is from Egypt. In the name of the Lord Jesus of whom I hear, I write this letter after I have lost all who love me and have lost even my own soul. For I know that I have become a slave to Satan. I have really become a child of the devil and a friend of his children and agents in many places. But my reason for writing to you now is to tell you that on the night of January the eleventh, I heard your voice speaking about the signs of Christ's second coming and the end times.
My friends and I were drinking and sinking deep in sin, and I wanted to turn you off, but I couldn't. My hands would not obey me. I also felt a strong urge within me to listen to you till the very end. Although to be frank with you, I did not believe in what you were saying. All the men and women who were drinking with me once shouted to me to turn you off, but I did not. When your message was over, I wanted to drown your voice and my conscience, but a strong sensation got hold of me. For the first time, I asked myself, could the speaker on this broadcast be right? Could I be changed? What then? What will my acquaintances say about me?
Could you help me find the answers to this question? Please help a poor sinner by praying for me and write me a letter which will show me the way. I need your help. Praise God for thousands, literally thousands of these letters. And I please ask you to pray for us for this broadcast. Turn with me please to God's word now. We have been considering... incidents from the history of the people of Israel in their journeys in the wilderness and other times too. And yesterday we said that the journeys of the people of Israel from the land of Egypt to the land of Canaan could be divided into four sections.
First of all, from the banks of the Red Sea to Sinai. And this was a period of time when they were absolutely under sovereign grace. The law was not given yet. So the first section was from the banks of the Red Sea to Sinai. The second section was from, it was really short for eleven days only because this was all the time they needed to go from the Red Sea into the land of Canaan, eleven days. The fact that they remained years and years in the wilderness was due to the fact that they wanted, they needed to learn. And God wanted to teach them the lessons which they should have learned. So the second section was short only every day, but it was full of dreadful failures and of lessons they had to learn.
It ended at Kadesh Barnea, and after that they were told to go to another direction. The third section for thirty-eight years, of wandering and wandering until they came again to Qadish Barnea. And then the fourth section lasted only for one year, after which they crossed the river Jordan and went to the land of Canaan. Now, yesterday I picked up one or two instances, an incident which happened in their life, and we saw the application in our Christian life. When we were singing the last hymn, when peace like a river, attendance my way, when sorrows like sea, bill as road, It reminded me of an experience that you and I pass through every day probably.
There is not one single person here tonight in this place who has not had this experience once, twice, three times, four times, more times. I don't know how many times. But you remember the people of Israel came to a place called Mara, and the water was bitter. And we referred to this yesterday. The water was bitter. They could not drink. Mara is bitter and a bitter experience. Who here? Please put up your hand. Who among us has not come to a bitter experience in his life or her life? Is there anyone here? We have all come to bitter experiences in our life. What could we do? And we have all prayed that we may be delivered... from this situation and sometimes some of us have been disappointed because the answer has not come speedily or the answer has not come at all.
I have prayed, you say, you will say, tell me, I have prayed and prayed and prayed and the answer didn't come. Why? Why is it that I'm still suffering, I'm still passing through difficult times, why is it still I'm passing through Mara? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has God forgotten to answer prayer? Has God forgotten his promises? Please tread with me to the book of Zechariah. Chapter four. Last Sunday at Nashville, we had some meditations about this wonderful experience of a man by the name of Zerubel. Zerubel heard the call and the order given by Cyrus that those who wanted to go and build the temple of God and the city of Jerusalem might go.
And he did go. And they started to build there. They thought they built. And the building, the work was going on very well. Until the enemy of the Lord came in, and because the enemy came in, the work was stopped. The work was stopped. He prayed, he prayed, he prayed. And for fourteen years, had been praying fourteen years, and the answer did not come yet. Has God forgotten his promise? Why is it? This is God's work, and this was going very well. Why is it that now? The enemy of the Lord has prospered, and the work has stopped for fourteen years. God sent in the answer, and please remember, the Bible is an Eastern book written in an Eastern setting.
And with us in the Middle East, names are very important, and they have messages. As I told you before, when one name is given, there is an important message. When two names are given, there is a very important message. When four, three names are given, there is a very, very important message. Please turn with me to Zechariah chapter one, please. Chapter one. One day, Zechariah came to Zechariah. And in the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berakariah, The son of Eddu, the prophet saying, three names given.
Why? Now, Zechariah is an Arabic and the Hebrew word made up of two syllables. Zechariah is the word we use today for remember. Remember. And the suffix means God. Zechariah means God will remember. God will remember. Barakaya is made up of two syllables again. Barakaya is again the word which we use today for blessing or to bless. And the suffix means God. Zechariah, God will remember. Barakaya, God will bless. Iddu is the word we use again today to count or appointed time. Iddu in Arabic. In other words, God will remember and God will bless at the appointed time.
At the appointed time. Zoroar, you may be disappointed. You may be disheartened. But God has not forgotten you. God has not forgotten his promise. He will remember. He will bless at the appointed time. Child of God, you may be tempted today. You may have a false temptation. You may have a difficulty. And the difficulty sometimes comes from those who are nearest to you. And this is the worst kind of a difficulty that comes from those who are nearest to you. God has not forgotten you. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take. The clouds, ye so much dread, are rich in mercy, and will break in blessings all your head.
Yes, so they came tomorrow, and God gave them the way. That bitter water became sweet. Then the mother experienced that they passed through. In Numbers chapter twelve, we read of an incident in the life of Moses and Miriam. and Aaron. Miriam and Aaron complained against Moses because of the Ethiopian wife he had taken. When the children of Israel left Egypt, we read that a mixed multitude went out with them. A mixed multitude from the Egyptians went out with them. And they went in the wilderness with them.
One of the multitude that was with them was an Ethiopian. Please, when you read Ethiopian in the Old Testament, read it Cush. And Kush is Upper Egypt. Upper Egypt. Apparently, he loved one girl of the mixed multitude. She must have been beautiful. She was Egyptian, of course. And he married her. And now Miriam spoke against it. Why did Moses marry that girl? She spoke against her sister-in-law. And this is something which is not uncommon. Why did she speak against her sister? Have you ever come to a situation where people speak against each other in our assembly?
In our assembly? What do you call this? I call it G-O-S-S-I-P. Right. And it happened. It happened. And friend, this is an enemy. It has broken many friendships. It has broken many homes. It has broken many assemblies. It has marred many atmospheres. And remember it is a sin. It is a sin to speak against your brother. I know sometimes we are not kind to each other. But please remember when your brother is not kind, you go to him and not to another brother.
And tell him what you have against him. This is the Bible way. And when you do this, you avoid many unpleasant, unhappy situations. And after all, after all, he may be right. You may be wrong. He may be right. You may be wrong. I know I just cannot find the replacement for a beautiful, wonderful, invigorating cup of coffee in the morning. I just love it. My wife doesn't. I know for the life of me, I can't understand how she prefers that red water she called tea. But she drinks tea. And I drink coffee.
Bread may be the staff of life, but coffee is life itself. I like a cup of coffee. But you know, she may be right. I may be wrong. I may be right. I think so. And she may be wrong. In all problems, we are all wrong. Both are wrong. But we have our differences. We have our differences. The only thing on which we all agree is the fact that we differ. That's right. There are individual differences. What happens when we find, when we come across these individual differences? Third would be pleased to Philippians chapter four. The epistle to the Philippians chapter four.
There were two ladies in the assembly at Philippi. One was called Eodea and the other one was called Sintiki. And I believe one of the reasons that the apostle wrote this epistle was because of the split that was going to happen in the assembly if something was not done. And he says, I beseech Eodea and beseech Sintiki. That they be of the same mind in the Lord. Which mind? How could they be of the same mind? If there are individual differences, how could be of the same mind? How can I be of the same mind as you?
If I come, if we are not supposed to see eye to eye in everything, how could we be of the same mind? All right. This is explained in chapter three, in chapter two. Look, please, at chapter two. Verse five. Let This mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, fought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even at the death of the cross.
Let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus. the humble mind. The humble mind. Let this mind be in you, the humble mind. Sometimes when you think of yourself and your accomplishments, my head swells up. I remember very well when I, I'm not blowing my own trumpet here, when I succeeded in one examination, got a degree, I received the cable from Egypt saying, what side hat do you wear now? What side hat do you wear? I understood the meaning. Friend, Think of the Lord Jesus. He being in the form of God, sought his not robbery to be equal with God, yet he humbled himself and took upon himself the form of a servant and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Learn of me for I am me and lowly in heart. And one of the most difficult lessons to learn is humility. This is one of the most difficult lessons to learn, and we need to learn it. That sin of gossip happened between Mary, or Mary and Mother, and Mary on one side, and Moses on the other side, and the whole congregation of the children of Israel suffered for it. Right, we proceed on with our study of the history of the children of Israel. And I want to pick four types of the death of Christ in the life of the children of Israel.
and in the journeys in the wilderness. First of all, there is a slaying of the Lamb. Secondly, there is a passage through the Red Sea. Thirdly, there is a passage, the brazen serpent. And fourthly, the passage through Jordan. I don't think I can treat all these tonight. But let us start with the slaying of the Lamb. You know very well, I'm sure you have studied, you have heard in your assemblies, and you have read in books all the figures and the types about the slaying of the Lamb. But let me take one or two types that may not be understood without the context of the Middle East. They meat, the flesh of the land that was laying, was to be eaten in the ocean with fire, and they were to eat it with their loins girded.
What does it mean? What does it mean with their loins girded? I know the meaning that comes immediately to your mind in the West here is to have The belt around your waist. But we don't have belts in the Middle East. Oh, yes, we have belts in the cities. And the places have been civilized or modernized, whatever you call it, whatever you like. But way back in the countryside. Way back in the countryside when most people are farmers. We have no belts. And people are invariably dressed not in a suit with pants as I'm wearing now. But they are dressed in what we call a gallabilla. a Galavia, which is a flowing robe. And round the waist, there is some kind of material that does the work of a bill.
But he can't run like this. The robe reaches to the ground, covers even his feet. How could he run with an outfit like this? Whenever he works or walks, or rather runs rather, whenever he runs and works, he lifts up this skirt or this scallop here and tuck it up in the girdle that he has around his waist. This is to gird your loin. This is what we do. You tuck up the end of the flowing robe in your belt or in your girdle and this is what meant.
Actually, get ready. I shall never forget an experience and please pardon a personal experience. Way back when I did not know better. Two brothers from our assembly and I agreed to go to the Great Pyramid and climb the Great Pyramid. I worked. This is one hundred and forty-five meters high. That's about almost five hundred feet. And to give you an idea of what the pyramid is like, the pyramid is like, it has about four million stones of an average weight of two tons each stone. And to climb the pyramid you have to put your hands on the stone and stand on a narrow ledge and pray before you do it and make your calculations.
And I hope you haven't written your will before you do that. Because if you slip, all the king's horses, all the king's men will not be able to help you. Right. Well, we did it. We climbed to the top of the pyramid. It took us twenty minutes to get to the top of the pyramid. When we reached there, we found two German tourists and one guy, Egyptian guy. He was dressed in the flowing robe, and he looked at him and said, what would you give me? We were all breathing gas. It was a terrific undertaking. He said, what would you give me if I go down and come up again in seven minutes?
He said, it's impossible. He said, well, I'll do it. I'll do it. He should give me one dollar. One dollar at that time went a long way. A long, long way. He said, I would do it. So they agreed. He was dressed in his furlough robe, and on his head was a turban. I don't know whether you understand what I mean by a turban. It's a kind of a hat, a cap, and a long piece of material round and round and round and round. This is a turban. And he girded his loyance. the way I told you, but did nothing about the turban. And he started to run, actually run down. But his turban began to play tricks with him, unwind, unfurled, and then they lay in the wind.
So we shouted to him, throw away the turban, throw away the turban. He did. And he actually went down and came up in seven minutes only and won the wager, won one dollar. What did this man do? He actually threw away the weight. that was weighing upon him. He threw it away because it was going to make him lose the reward. And I and you and I, we are told in the word of God to let aside, set aside every week. Have you been to a field day? In the school I was in in Cairo, Egypt and Beirut, Lebanon. We used to have what we call the sports day every week, every year.
You have it here to the field day. We had a number of events. A hundred yards. The two-twenty, the four-forty, the eight-eighth, the one-mile, the putting the weight and so on and so forth. But what were the students dressed in? Heavy boots and overcoats from the mile? No. They had the slightest, the lightest kind of death in order to be able to run. And so it is. Set aside, let aside every weight. And the same, which does so easily be set up. And let us run with patience the rain that is the race that is said before us. So have your loyons girded. And secondly, it says that this month shall be the beginning of months to you.
It was according to calendar year. It was the tenth month. Christ our Lord. He is our life. In him was life. And the life was the light of men. If you have the sun, you have life. And you have not the son of God. You have not life. Ask yourself tonight while you sit. The paschal lamb was praying for you. The Passover lamb was claimed for you, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanses us from all unrighteousness. I think many of you must have read this bit I'm going to read to you, which was in one Christian magazine. I don't remember the name of the magazine, I'm sorry, but I had copied it from it, and let me read for you.
This was found beside the dead body of a young lady of twenty-two years old. King Harawain is my shepherd. I shall always want. He maketh me to lie down in the gutter. He leadeth me beside the troubled waters. He destroyeth my soul. He leadeth me in the past of evil for his sake. I walk in the valley of death, and I fear all evil. For thou art with me. Thy syringe and thy needle, they torture me. Thou emptiest my table from groceries in the presence of everybody. Thou anointest my head with trouble. And we say, my cut run is over with sorrow.
Surely one some trouble shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in hell forever. Heartbreaking, is it? Heartbreaking? Friend, friend, you are dead in sins and trespasses. And the only way to live is to accept him who is our life, Jesus Christ our Lord. cried the jailer at Philippi, What must I do to be saved? What must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. In the gospel hall in Cairo, Egypt where I served the Lord for many years.
The service started all at seven o'clock. I went one hour ahead about six o'clock. The place was open and I found a young lady sitting there. She was literally crying in tears. I came to her and said, Young lady, can I help you? He said, are you the priest? I said, no, I'm not a priest. I said, I'm the preacher. I said, I'm not a preacher. Who are you? You can't help me then. I said, well, I'm just one of the brethren here. I can help you, I think. But why are you crying? She said, three days ago, my cousin, about my age, died suddenly of a heart attack. She was only in her early twenties. We got the doctor, but he came too late and he said it was too late. She died from a heart attack. I knew, I know she was not surprised by, she said.
I know where she went to. And I'm afraid the same thing would happen to me. I don't know. I can't eat. I can't treat. I did to a priest. He told me to say a prayer a number of times I did, but I'm still in trouble. He told me to do another thing. I did. I'm still in trouble. I don't know. Have you heard him to tell me? How can I get peace? How can I get rest? That was a German case. I opened God's word and preached the gospel of Christ to her. And I looked to her and said, what's your name? She said, Mary. I said, Mary, when somebody gives you a gift, what do you say? She said, I say thank you. She said, will you receive a gift from God, eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord? She said, I will accept it. Would you like to say thank you to God? Well, I don't know how to pray, she says. Don't you pray? Just say thank you to the Lord. She and I knelt down, and she thanked the Lord for saving her and for dying for her sin.
And when she got up really literally, her faith was dealing with joy. She accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior. What must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Yes, this is the Passover land. This is the Passover land. And your loyals must be guarded now. You must be ready because we are pilgrims and sojourners. Let me say again to you, my friend, today you are one year younger than you were last year. You are one year near to eternity than you were last year. And someone has said, and I repeat this, I beg your pardon. Someone has said, eternity is so long you cannot measure it.
What is your life here? How long you're going to live here? Five years, ten years, twenty years, one hundred years, I say very, very generously, if the Lord Jesus tarry, and you live one hundred years, after one hundred years, not one single person here, young or not so young, will be on earth living, right? Right. But how long is eternity? One hundred, one thousand, one million, one billion years? Someone I said, if every grain of sand in the desert of the world, And the seashores, if every grain of sand represented one billion years, if every drop of water in the seas, and oceans, and rivers, and waterways, and lakes, if every drop of water represented one billion years, if every grain blade of grass in the whole wide world represented one billion years, if all these billions of years were taken away from eternity, eternity will not have lost anything.
How long will eternity? Where will you spend eternity, young man? Where will you spend eternity, my unsaved friend here tonight? Christ died for you, shed his blood for you, that you might have life and have life more abundantly. Is the blood shed on the doorpost of your heart and the two posts? Are you safe in the blood of Jesus Christ, my Lord? Right. Now, Jesus Christ, what is redemption for us on the cross? And I would like to ask you, from what did Christ redeem us? I want to put before you a few things. Turn with me please to Galatians three, thirteen.
Galatians three and verse thirteen. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. And what is the curse of the law? Everyone that does not abide in the word of the law and by the law was cursed. And Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. Please note the law was not a bridge at the cross of Christ. Christ did not abolish the law.
The law is good. And the commandment is just. But it could not save me. I could not keep it. Because what is the law? Thou shalt not kill. That's good everywhere. And at all times. Thou shalt not commit adultery. That's all good. And good at all times in every place. Don't take the name of the Lord and your God in vain. That's good. The law was not a bridge. But what did Christ free me by his death upon the cross? He freed me. He redeemed me. He saved me from the accusing finger of the law. The law looked at me and said, Curse. Curse. You deserve this. And Christ, by his death on the cross, took away this curse away from me.
He bore the curse for me. He who knew no sin was made sin for us. That we must be made righteousness of God in him. This is the verse the Lord used. Fifty-one years ago to bring me to him. I opened that Arabic Bible. Nobody had preached Christ to me before. I had not heard the way of salvation at any church or any way from anybody. And one day after about three or four months of unhappiness misery, I was miserable, but I didn't know why I was miserable. I was just out of high school before I went to college. And it was summer vacation. One day in my own room, in my home, there was an Arabic Bible brought to my hometown by an American missionary.
And I opened the Bible at random. It was Colossians chapter two. And I read until I came to verse fourteen. Raish took away the handwriting which was against us and nailed it to his cross. And I know many of you know the story. I don't want to go into detail. But I asked myself what was the handwriting which was against me. The handwriting in Arabic means height, S-A-K, which means promissory note. I took it literally. I was not in debt to anybody I know. What is the debt from which Christ freed me by his death upon the cross? At last when I thought of it and thought, I said to myself, could it be that the death from which Christ freed me, by his death upon the cross, was my sins which I sinned against God. And Christ died to take those sins away.
And literally, literally, I cried in tears when I thought of it this way. Christ died for me, take away my sins. And this poor man cried, and the Lord heard him. And no beyond the shadow of a doubt, I was more than made a new creation in Christ Jesus. My unsaved friend here tonight. The same thing can happen to you. In your seat now. Lift up your heart. And accept Jesus Christ as your Savior. And you will be made a new creation also. Right. So Christ freed us from the curse of the Lord. Turn with me please to First Peter. Chapter one. First Peter.
Chapter one. And verse eighteen. For as much as you know, that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation, received by tradition from your father, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without stop. Vain conversation. Christ redeemed us. from our vain conversation which we received by tradition from our father. What was this vain conversation? Vain in useless. This was the useless religious system that those people were following.
That was a dead religion. It was a dead religion. They could not save and could not save any man. I have no religion, my friend. But don't be scared. I have risen Christ. There's a great deal of difference. between religion and Christ. I had a religion before I was saved. But when I came to Christ, I lived. I accepted him who is our life. The cross of Jesus Christ. The cross of Jesus Christ. This is the way of salvation. I referred yesterday or the day before yesterday to Psalm twenty-two. And I told you what the words, my God, my God, Why hast thou forsaken me?
This psalm speaks of the death of Christ. His death upon the cross. It is full of descriptions of death and sorrow and night and agony and pain. But let us just for a moment consider one or two thoughts of the psalm. The psalm says, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why are thou so far from it? helping me and from the words of mine roaring. And then he gives the answer. The answer is given in verse three. But thou art holy. Thou art holy. Christ Jesus suffered on the cross. Suffered the forsaking of God.
God forsook him. Because God is holy. And cannot look at sin. You were there on the cross. Christ was crucified. He was said. How many crosses were there? You tell me three. I say no four. Four. Who is the fourth? Well, Paul said, I am crucified with Christ. Will you say fifth? Five. Because I'm also... Well, there was not a numberless number of crosses there at Calvary. Because we were crucified with Christ. Christ took our place at the cross of Calvary. And there he died for you and for me. But praise God. This is not the end. That... The psalm speaks of death. The psalm speaks of agony, of suffering. But look at the words on top of the psalm.
To the chief musician upon Agilis, shahar. I told you what these two words mean. Agilis is an Arabic word and a Hebrew word which is the singular for dear or gazelle. Dear or gazelle. And shahar means mourning. Another word he says to the chief musician. This is a message sent with the psalm to the chief musician. Remember, put this while you, to music, while you remember the sun of the morning. Up till today, in Arabic literature, we say, the gazelle rises in the east, and the gazelle sets in the west, meaning the sun. The gazelle, or the deer, rises in the east and sets in the west.
So, when you set this song to music, think of the rising sun, because there is victory there. Who was the chief musician? And let me give you an idea about who you are. First Chronicles chapter twenty-five. First Chronicles chapter twenty-five. Moreover, David and the captives of the host separated to the service of the sons of Asaph and he men and judasans, who should prophesy with heart, with paltries, and with symbols, And the number of workmen, according to their service was. And then we go on to verse five. All these were the sons of Haman, the king-seer, in the words of God, who ripped up holes. And God gave Haman fourteen sons and three daughters.
And this was a wonderful family. Fourteen sons and three daughters. All these were under the hands of the father for sons in the house of the Lord with symbols. tolerance and hearts for the service of the house of God. Can you imagine now when the messenger came to the house of Haman and delivered this song with this message? She said this to music and think of the sun of the morning. In other words, start with a minor key, but end it with a major key. End it with a note of hallelujah. End it with a note of praise. Because the end is not the grave.
The grave is not the end. We serve a risen Savior. My Savior is alive today. My Savior is not dead. A dead Christ cannot save me. I serve a risen Savior. Therefore, the dead, the vain religion, cannot help me. Could not help anybody. But Christ lives today. And he is the risen Savior. Well... Let us go to another reference. Romans eight, verse twenty-three. Romans chapter eight, verse twenty-three. This is another aspect of the redemption that we have in Jesus Christ our Lord, and that's a beautiful picture that you and I should have in front of our eyes all the time.
Verse twenty... Let me see. Twenty-three, that's right, I'm correct. And not only they, but ourselves also which have the first fruits of the Spirit, Even we ourselves grow within ourselves waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our bodies. What is the redemption of our bodies? What is the adoption? Are we not children of God?
Have we not been adopted in the family of God? Each one of us who has accepted Christ Jesus as a savior or her savior are his children, his child. As many as received him, to them gave him power. to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. We are his children. But look, the Apostle Paul is borrowing a scene of what used to happen at that time. In the forum of the city under the Roman Empire, when a child reached the age of maturity, his father used to take him to the forum of the city and would say, this is my legal son, this is my son.
And he is now of age. And I, in witness thereof, take off the toga of the infant and dress him in the toga of the adult. And he was accepted then as an adult. This is exactly what is going to happen. A picture of what is going to happen at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. We shall be changed. We shall be like him. This is the redemption of our bodies. This is the adoption that you and I wait. Of course we are passing through difficult situations. Of course we have trials. Of course we have temptations. But look ahead, my friend. It is not going to be long. We have seen the signs happening today.
And we know his coming again cannot be far away. Praise God for the glorious hope. We have an anchor ahead of us. We have an altar in Christ. We have an advocate in Christ. We have an anchor ahead of us. This hope makes us look ahead and anticipate and expect the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lift up your head, child of God. The day is coming soon. It's hazing soon. When you see him as he is, and when we see him as he is, we shall be like him. Shall we pray? Our loving Heavenly Father, we bow in thy presence. We friendly and glorify thy name for the hope we have in Christ, the hope that make us not ashamed.
We friendly for the day when the light of Jesus Christ our Lord shone upon our heart, and we saw him who was crucified for us. He who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Father, in the quietness of this hour, speak to anyone here tonight. who does not know thee as Savior, who does not know Jesus Christ as Savior. Father, we pray that thou speak not in one, that tonight there may be a lasting work for eternity, brought in such and heart. And Father, we pray for thy children tonight, that we may be encouraged day by day,