Kosin, Fred: Deut 26:5-9 ~ Bible Study

Thank you very much. That is a great, great hymn. Challenging to all of us, I trust. Delighted you've come this morning. Special to see you. And, uh, it's a joy to come back again to Faith Bible Fellowship, see your smiling faces and, uh, your hungry hearts. It helps me for you to come. We've gotten a number of letters this week from people who have read, um, our little book, Letters Missionaries Never Write. In fact, somebody called and said, why did you name it that? I said, because they wouldn't write these letters to you. If, um, if they did, we wouldn't need the book. Somebody else says, where did you get those letters from? Well, they came out of my head and out of my heart. It's not like somebody wrote these letters other than myself. Somebody asked, are these a collection of letters you got from missionaries? It's not. They're letters missionaries don't write, and the reason most missionaries do not write these letters is because of us. It's our fault. Because if you were to receive a letter from a missionary like this, you would say to them, why don't you come home if you got all those problems? Or why are you a missionary if, uh, you have that situation? And it's, uh, hopefully will help us understand that missionaries are just like us. They face the same problems, the same discouragement, the same disappointment, the same successes. They celebrate the same blessings we have, but their life is very much like yours, and we need to understand that. We put missionaries up on that pedestal and think they have no problems, and that's why they're missionaries. Uh, that's not the case. They have been called by the Lord, and they go, but they go with the same battles, the same struggles that, that you and I have, and that helps us pray for them because they do need our prayer. I want you to pray for Allison Barkley. Allison Barkley was a young lady who came to, uh, one of my meetings. I was speaking in a church of Filipinos, and she came. She was the only non-Filipino besides my wife and I, and she sat right over there, sat taking notes the whole time. I didn't know who she was or why she was there, but, um, and she left before I finished. At least I guess she left when, during my prayer. Um, but when I looked up, but she was gone. Didn't know who she was, why she came, or what she was getting out of the message. But she called where I was staying and asked to see my wife and I. She reported to us that she is a deputy ambassador from the United States to, um, United Arab Emirates, and she has been searching for an answer to life. For seventeen years, every day she spent twenty minutes in Transcendental Meditation, TM, every day for twenty minutes. She was more committed to Transcendental Meditation than most of us are to prayer. And she said that, um, as a result of what she heard and what she'd been reading, she came to a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. She's married to a man who is also a deputy ambassador, and because our government doesn't let family members in the same chain of command, he serves in Kuwait, and she serves in United Arab Emirates. It's only a fifteen-minute flight, but complicated for a marriage relationship, obviously. And she came and she listened, and she asked questions that were an- an amazing. Uh, she's an intellectual. What book would you give to a person who is searching for their answer to life? A friend of mine gave her the book by Sidlo Baxter called The Strategic Grasp of the Bible. I would never have given that to anybody who is searching for the truth, but she was thrilled at the analytical analysis, or the analysis of the Bible from an somewhat intellectual standpoint, and she said that answered so many questions in her search for truth and for light. Uh, what was amazing was that she said, I needed somebody in my life who would organize my life for me. I thought that was an amazing answer. I don't know of anybody who has shared their reasons for coming to Christ as being that reason. People want to be forgiven, and she did. She accepted God's forgiveness. She wanted, uh, people will want a companion in their life, and the Lord Jesus does that as well. The Lord is everything to us, what we need, but not every one of us need an organizer. And that was the word she used. I thought that was interesting. I said, what do you mean you needed the Lord to come in and organize your life? And then I got the answer. She said, I needed somebody to give me the proper priorities in life. And she called it organization. There are people that carry an organizer like this. Uh, that often can take the place of Christ, I suppose. Get all your appointments in order. But she wanted somebody who was going to prioritize her life, and she said she realized that she didn't have that. TM didn't provide that. Her responsibilities and duties in the embassy in the United Arab Emirates didn't do that. She was solely responsible for the visit of, uh, Vice President Cheney while we were there. And it was thrilling to hear her explain how the Lord had helped her in the administration of her responsibility in, um, in bringing Dick Cheney, as she called him, Vice President Cheney, to the United Arab Emirates. He was there less than two days, but she was solely responsible for sixty five people who were the advance party for the arrival of our vice president. She had an enjoyable visit with him, and as I understand it, she explained how her life had been reorganized. I think that's striking, isn't it? If you're in finance, you understand what reorganization means. And so the Lord Jesus came into her life and reorganized it, prioritized it, and I'm thrilled to let you know that she continues to grow in her faith. She sends me an email every week or so and explains some of the lessons she's learned, and we sat on several occasions during those two weeks with, uh, with Allison, uh, answering questions all the way back to Genesis and on through Revelation. It was a joy to find her hungry for the word of God. I don't suppose there's anybody in this country that I would have that kind of contact with. Pray for Allison. Her husband still is not a believer. And she told us, she said, well, she said, he is going to see the change in my life, and he'll never believe it. She said, no, maybe he will believe it. So pray for Allison Barkley and her husband. They are both deputy ambassadors, one in Kuwait, which is in the Persian Gulf, and the other in United Arab Emirates. We hope to be able to visit with her sometime when she comes back to the States and, um, have the opportunity of continuing fellowship with her and minister to her. Pray for Allison Barkley. She's still in the United Arab Emirates, growing as a Christian, hungry as a newborn babe, and certainly intellectually astute, and that gives challenges to each of us as we seek to minister to these people. I would like you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy. No, we haven't gotten that far yet, but Deuteronomy chapter twenty six. In the course of our study of the migration or the pilgrimage of the children of Israel from Egypt to Canaan, there are a number of summaries, little vigenettes, which help us understand what God is doing and what Israel was doing when they left the land of Egypt and arrived in the land of Canaan. So I'd like to read, first of all, from Deuteronomy chapter twenty six, reading from verse five. Deuteronomy chapter twenty six and verse five. Let's read verse one and then verse five. And it shall be, when thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and you possess it and dwelleth therein, verse five, thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God, a Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation great, mighty, and populous. And the Egyptians evil entreated us and afflicted us and laid upon us hard bondage. And when we cried unto the Lord God of our fathers, the Lord heard our voice and looked on our affliction and our labor and our oppression. And the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs and with wonders. And he brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey. Let's pray. Our loving God, we thank you for this brief summary of your plan and purpose for the children of Israel. We stand in awe and in amazement at what you did to bring these slaves out of slavery into the glorious liberty of your children. We thank you for awakening our mind, for giving us insights into your word, so that we see ourselves standing in Israel's shoes. We see ourselves walking where they walked. We find ourselves thinking what they thought. We are aware that we face the same temptation that they faced to go back into Egypt. We thank you for meeting with us this morning and for speaking to us as you said you would do, because you are our Father, we are your children, and we want to hear your voice. We give you thanks for these blessings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. The opening of the book of Exodus is the beginning of the fulfillment of God's promise made to Abraham way back in Genesis chapter fifteen. God said, you are my people, you are my chosen. Isaac is your son as well as mine, and I will bring you out of the land of Egypt. four hundred years, give or take, are between the promise to Abraham in Genesis chapter fifteen and the beginning of the book of Exodus. And it's striking for us to realize that God lets Israel go through what they went through in the land of Egypt. God said to Abraham, Isaac is the heir, and there will be an exodus of the children of Israel, the sons of Jacob, the sons of Isaac, and your sons. And so the fulfillment of that prophecy begins when we open the book of Exodus. Primarily God's concern in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy is to bring Israel out of Egypt and bring them to the edge of the land of Canaan. This four hundred years can be divided into two important segments. There is a long and prosperous and favorable sojourn in the land of Egypt. God says that in Deuteronomy chapter twenty six. We became a nation great, mighty, and populous. That was the first part of the sojourn of the children of Israel in the land of Egypt. The second part is a part of their persecution. It was short in terms of years. They experienced affliction. They were ill-treated, they were abused, they became slaves. And so these two parts of the two hundred and fifteen-year sojourn in the land of Egypt. And so it's striking for us to realize that there is a similarity between what Israel went through in the land of Egypt and what's, what people go through in this society. Sadly, there is a parallel also between what Israel went through in Egypt and what the church goes through in their relationship in our world. Two things characterize the first period. They died. We know that they lived and they died in the land of Egypt, but they also, we realize they grew. They became a prop- pro- prop- prop- prosperous. Thank you. Must have been an English teacher that gave me that word. Prosperous experience for them. And we have the same thing. It is possible for us in the church to find ourselves living in the world and experiencing a level of prosperity and affluence, and come to enjoy that. And we find no need to leave. The church is a prosperous church. I got a call this week from a church far from here, which is building a new building. And as I listen to the figures of that building, one hundred and sixty million dollars, and I come from India, where the annual per capita income is about three hundred dollars. I say, where are we in this country? We are living in the world in prosperity and affluence, and we like it. And we excuse our attitudes by investing in a building to a greater degree than the souls of men. I was challenged when I re-heard about this particular building. The long experience of the children of Israel in the land of Egypt was encouraging to them. They had settled down, they were quite comfortable, and in this foreign land they found themselves at ease. There were temptations to idolatry. There were temptations to intermarriage. There were other aspects that threatened the promises of God. And we in the church today face somewhat the same picture. We find ourselves tempted by idolatry. Oh, you don't have images in your home, nor do I. But we are threatened with the gods of this world, and that is prosperity and affluence and independence. And we have become settled in our circumstances, and the Christian church in our country is quite at ease. We are happy to give the Lord his little bit, give the Lord a couple of hours, maybe Sunday morning and Sunday evening, and get very upset if the preacher asks for a tax on that of ten minutes more. The affluent years for the children of Israel fostered spiritual drowsiness, and Israel then could have continued in Egypt quite comfortably without any desire for departure. And so, God brought into their lives the slave masters, the taskmasters, the indentured servants who were going to spend their time building their own prisons. And we find ourselves in exactly the same circumstance. When difficulties and trials and problems come to us, we say, what's happening? How come this is happening? Why are you letting this happen, God? And one of the reason God lets those problems come into my life and yours is in order that we might be uncomfortable in our world or in their world. And we become aware of our slavery. We become aware of our bondage. We become aware of the problems around us, and that slavery becomes something that controls us, and every aspect of our life is determined by that slavery. And we awaken to our circumstance. We awaken to a slavery to possessions and security. And I suppose that the stock markets adjustment crash has awakened many people. You can't talk to many without saying, without them saying, well, it's gonna change, it's changed my life. I was planning to retire, but um, we're gonna have to work a little bit longer. And many things that we as Christians have trusted have been pulled out from under us. And it seems like the world's slavery is beginning to have its effect on us. And hopefully there will be the response that Israel had, and that is they cried unto God, oh God! We know what they, we don't know what they said, but we know what we say. In our study of First Peter, you remember we often repeated the question, why me? Why now? Why this? And so we come again to the book of Exodus, and we realize that the picture of our world and the nation of Israel is so similar to what we are going through as well. And what is shocking is that the temptations that came to the nation of Israel are coming to us as well. Temptations of idolatry, and may I say temptations at intermarriage. I'm not talking racially, I'm talking religiously. Somebody called me just the other day, and their son or daughter is marrying someone who is not a believer at all. They thought they wanted my opinion, but they didn't, because the Bible is quite clear. But you can see how the world's music and the world's ideas and the world's principles and the world's guidelines and mores, all of these things influence us, and we say, well, this is great, and we become more like the world, even though we are God's people, just as the children of Israel were God's people living in a foreign land, and slavery overtook them. The children of Israel grew to two and a half million people, so much so that Pharaoh would say, you are more than we are. And if war should break out, as chapter one says, the children of Israel will join with our enemies, they will defeat us, and then they'll leave. Isn't that the enemy's, isn't that the enemy's thoughts as well? We become a part of this world. We enjoy this world. We appreciate and appropriate the philosophy and security of this country, of this world, and we become enslaved to it. And then we say, well, hey, we better get out of here. And we begin to make plans to depart. And it's then that the slavery is increased. You don't know the chains are there until you start going against them. We don't know how deep and how, how, how strong are the tentacles that are around us until we start to try and get out of it. Mm, people come along like me and try to awaken in our minds and our hearts the slavery that we in, we are experiencing. And so the children of Israel wanted to leave. They cried unto the Lord, and the Lord allowed them to suffer. And so God began his work of extricating the children of Israel, his sons, his daughters, out of the land of Egypt, and put them on their journey from the, uh, Red Sea to the Jordan River. I want to look at several things this morning in our text, not only from Deuteronomy chapter twenty six but also from Exodus chapter three. If you turn back to Exodus chapter three, I would like to read a few verses from there. Exodus chapter three begins to give us the background for the departure of the children of Israel. In chapter three and verse seven, the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people, which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of the land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey, unto the place of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusites. Now, therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me, and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. Come now, therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. Key to this extradition of the children of Israel from Egypt is the availability of the Lord. I think it's important for us to be, to begin our study, to realize that God's awareness of the situation in which the children of Israel found themselves is a key to our understanding God's work. God was not going to do the work without himself totally and fully involved. It was true of Israel, and it's true of us. The historical account of the children of Israel as they left the land of Egypt remind us of the personal work of God in our lives. And again, as is repeated over and over again in the word of God, God is aware of what's happening, the availability of God. How do we know God was available? First of all, his pity. In these verses, Exodus chapter two, verse twenty three, twenty four, and twenty five, God reminds us of his pity. And it came to pass in the process of time, the children of Israel, of the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried until their cry came up unto God by reason of their bondage. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, and God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them. Brothers and sisters, we are living in a world, we are living in a situation which gives us temptation for slavery, but God is there. He knows his pity. In Psalm one hundred and three and verse thirteen, we are reminded again of God's personal care in the lives of his people. You understand, and I realize, that we're just beginning our pilgrimage, but there still is the application of this lesson to us, living in the world, experiencing difficulties and trials because of the world, but God says, I care. I know the way that you walk, as he said to Job, and when you are, when I am finished, you will come out as gold. The deep care of the Lord for his people. One of our initial responses to the trials and problems that might come to us. Does God care? Does he know how much I'm going through? Does he understand my pain and my sorrow, my suffering, my loss? My brothers and sisters, he knows. You would like to reach out and touch him. He's closer than that, if you know him and if you love him. In two Chronicles chapter sixteen and verse nine, God says, the eyes of the Lord go to and fro throughout the whole earth. He sees the wicked, and he sees those who worship. He sees the rebellious, and he sees the redeemed. Nothing escapes his mind. The book of Hebrews says, all things are open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. He knows what's going on in your heart. He knows my rebellion, and he knows yours. He understands your tears. The psalmist says he carries, he puts hi- our tears in his bottle. Can you see that museum in glory with that bottle labeled with your name? And he knows every one of them. The pity of our God. These were people who were chosen by God. God says over and over again, Israel is my chosen. You belong to me. Though I have let you go into that situation, you still are mine. The Lord Jesus says in Luke chapter thirteen and verse thirty four, Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often I would have gathered you as a hen gathers his chicks, her chicks, and you would not. It's true today. The Lord is there, encouraging, comforting, challenging, drawing, but at the same time, he lets us go through deep trials. If we didn't have those trials, we probably wouldn't hear his voice. And those trials come to us in many, many different ways. It may be through your children, it may be through your spouse, it may be business or finances, it may be the loss or gain. God only knows, but he knows. And so the book of Exodus opens with the availability of the Lord, his pity on them. Today, the Lord must weep over his church when he sees the slavery of the church to the world in which they live as foreigners. His pity. Secondly, the availability of the Lord is taught to us by his presence. Again, in Exodus chapter two verses twenty four and twenty five, we are reminded, the Lord heard, the Lord remembered, the Lord looked, the Lord had respect, his presence with them. You know, it's one of my, I was going to say favorite themes, challenges maybe, rebukes for some, the presence of the Lord. Way back in Genesis chapter twenty eight, I think it's verse fifteen, when God came to Jacob, God said to Jacob, I will be with you. How is it possible for us to doubt the fact that God is with us? Here were the children of Israel living in the land of Canaan, land of Egypt. They were slaves. They were in bondage. They were working to build their own prisons, virtually. And God said, I'm with you. I'm with you. And it's difficult for us to believe and to accept that if we're going through these trials, how can God be with us? We expect some amazing way of escape, and we have all kinds of reminders to think that if we walk as we should walk, and we live as we should live, and we have faith as we should have faith, and then we won't have any problems. But that's not the case. One of the reasons God let Israel go through these trials, and the reason God lets me go through those trials, is that I might cry to him, because when I am doing well, I don't seem to need him. And Israel had lived in prosperity and affluence for almost two hundred and fifteen years, and they lived in the world, and it would seem they had no need of God. Temptations for idolatry and intermarriage were so real. But then, God allowed that slavery to become a part of their life, and they cried unto the Lord. When is your prayer life most effective? And so there is the presence of God. God said to Jacob, I will be with you. He said to Noah, I will be with you. He said to David over and over again, I will be with you. And he said to us, I will never leave you nor forsake you. He said to us in the Gospel of John, the Spirit of God will abide with you and be in you. And yet we still pray. You know what I'm going to say, and I'm going to say it anyway. We still pray, Lord, be with us. Israel could cry out, knowing that God was there. This personal care is seen by his ears open to their cry, his mind remembering his covenant in verse twenty four, his eyes looking upon his children in verse twenty five, and his heart sharing their condition. What more do we need from God? What a wonderful presence he is. And so we begin the day and thanking the Lord for being with us during that day, and we close the day by thanking the Lord that he's with us. His pity, his presence. Thirdly, his purpose. God's sovereign purpose was going to be carried out in regard to his people, Israel. And his purpose was, I will bring you out that I might bring you in. That was his purpose. The first generation refused to accept that design by God, and so the children of those who escaped Egypt entered into the land of Canaan. But over and over and over again, we are reminded of God's divine purpose for Israel and his divine purpose for the church. In Hosea chapter eleven and verse one, it says, out of Egypt have I called my son. It, of course, is a reference to the children of Israel, but it's also a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ, who was sent down into Egypt to escape the death threats of Herod and brought out of Egypt when Herod had died. What is God's purpose? He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, but those who are chosen must believe. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And the invitation is there, as it is this morning. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. I am reminded over and over again in the Old Testament that Israel was God's chosen people. In First Chronicles chapter sixteen and verse thirteen, ye seed of Israel, you children of Jacob, his chosen ones. Why? I don't know. I don't understand it, but I appreciate it. I don't argue. I bow in adoration and glorify the great God who developed his purposes in the land of Israel. Dozens of times we are reminded of God's intervention in the lives of his people, personally as well as collectively. Though Israel could say, or God could say of Israel, you are my chosen, still every family had to apply the blood to the doorpost and to the lintel in order to escape the death angel and experience God's salvation. His purpose to select. Secondly, his purpose to save. In chapter three and verse eight, we are reminded that God's purpose in salvation, he said, I want, I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, to bring them up out of that land unto a good land. I can only repeat for you again, as I will do hundreds of times, Lord willing. He brought them out that he might bring them in. And I will never tire of reminding ourselves that God's purpose and his design for us is exactly the same, to bring us out of slavery into the glorious liberty of the children of God, to bring us out of Egypt and bring us into the land of Canaan. It was never God's intention to bring them out without bringing them in. And as we reminded ourselves last week, out of those people who were mature of two and a half million people, two that came out are the, are the ones who came in. Only two, Joshua and Caleb, came out of Egypt, and in that generation they were the only two that came into the land of Canaan. Is it possible that that same percentage is true? And the largest percentage of believers came out of Egypt, but they're wandering in the wilderness. He came to select. He came to save. He came to sanctify. What does the word sanctify mean? Israel were God's people. He said, I want you set apart for me. You are mine. God chose Israel to demonstrate his glory and his power and his wisdom, and he selected them in order that he might save them and that he might sanctify them. Sanctification involves a change of life. It comes because my mind is changed, and if my mind is changed, my behavior is changed. God doesn't want to bring us out of Egypt without bringing us into the land of Canaan, and that is a sanctifying experience. We are gods, and God expects a change in my life. Out of Egypt, out of the world, into the land of Canaan, into all the blessings that God has provided for me in Christ. Today, God is waiting for some of you, perhaps, to come out of Egypt by faith, accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior. For others who are wandering in the wilderness, God is waiting for you to believe the same God who saved you is the God who can sanctify you and bring you into the land of Canaan. He also did it in order that we might serve over and over and over again. God chose, changed, challenged Israel to serve him. In Exodus chapter five and verse one, chapter four and verse twenty three, chapter seven and verse sixteen, chapter eight and verse one, chapter nine and verse one, chapter ten verse seven and eleven, One word stands out, serve. You want to volunteer for the nursery right now? God chose us, he saved us, he sanctified us in order that we might serve. God said to Moses, tell e- tell Pharaoh, let my people go that they may serve me. Over and over again, God said, I chose, I saved you in order that you might serve. And he wanted them to serve in the land of Canaan, and he wants us to serve. We can look back theologically and rejoice in what God has done, and that's thrilling, but we also must reach out with a hand of faith and receive the gift of salvation. And then we must let God do his work day by day, moment by moment, through the word of God and by the spirit of God, sanctifying us and making us like Christ, in order that we might serve. He saved us in order that we might serve. The goal of God for us, his people, is that we might serve him. And that service began with the Passover, a remembrance, a reminder, a calling to mind of what God had done, and our service should begin at the Lord's Supper, where we serve him through our worship, our thanksgiving, our praise, our awe, our reverence, the availability of our great God. Shall we pray together? Father, we thank you for saving those who come by faith. We thank you for offering to us the salvation universally available, and that we put our name in that whosoever, and we came. We thank you again this morning that you have awakened in our hearts and in our minds, that the difficulties and problems of our life are known by you. You hear our cry, you see our difficulties and trials, and you have come to save us. Father, we thank you for meeting with us, for bestowing your blessing upon your word, as you said you would do. We ask that as we walk out, we might with an awareness of your challenge and your concern for us. We pray that we might respond in obedience to what you have said to us this morning, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.