From Egypt to Canaan.

Exodus 1 - 12.

Part 1 of "Handfuls of Purpose"

Let fall for eager Gleaners.

Thirty Addresses on Various Scripture Truths and Incidents

by W. T. P. Wolston. M.D.

This file:

PART 1 — Chapters 1 - 8:

THE PURPOSE OF GOD; or, FROM EGYPT TO CANAAN.

Preface to Second Edition.

A large edition of this volume having become exhausted, another is called for. It differs in no respect from the first, and is issued because the writer has been cheered by many a letter, from different parts of the world, expressing thankfulness for the help received through these little "Handfuls." Hence they are again sent out, with praise and prayer to "the Lord of the harvest."

W. T. P. W.

Glenfall, South Road,

Weston-Super-Mare, 1st March 1914.

Preface.

The title of this little volume has been suggested by the command which Boaz gave to his reapers at Bethlehem, in regard to that earnest young gleaner Ruth, "Let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them that she may glean them, and rebuke her not" (Ruth 2: 16).

Of Ruth, it is then recorded, "So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned. and it was about an ephah of barley." She was a wise gleaner; she carried nothing away but the golden grain; the straw she left in the field. I would ask my readers to do the same.

These addresses, given to companies of Christians under very various conditions, some a quarter of a century ago, others more recently, were briefly taken down by some hearer, and the notes have been revised.

That there is much straw in each "handful" the Author is well aware, but if there be enough of the golden grain of God's precious truth to help a troubled inquirer, recover an unhappy backslider, cheer a feeble believer, or stimulate a fellow-servant, his object will be gained.

To the loving care of the "Lord of the harvest" the volume is prayerfully commended.

W. T. P. W.

46 Charlotte Square,

Edinburgh, 16th December 1898.

Contents.

PART 1 — THE PURPOSE OF GOD; or, FROM EGYPT TO CANAAN.

1 — SLAVERY AND SHELTER

2 — SEVEN DAYS OF UNLEAVENED BREAD

3 — SANCTIFICATION: ITS POSITIONAL ASPECT

4 — SANCTIFICATION: ITS PRACTICAL ASPECT

5 — SALVATION

6 — THE SONG: SATISFACTION

7 — SUSTENANCE: THE MANNA AND THE WATER

8 — THE SERPENT OF BRASS, AND THE JORDAN

PART 2 — BACKSLIDING AND RESTORATION.

 9 — BACKSLIDING IN HEART

10 — BACKSLIDING IN WAYS

11 — CONFESSION AND CLEANSING

12 — RESTORATIVE MINISTRY

13 — PREVENTATIVE MINISTRY

14 — THORNS AND BRIARS; OR, FALLING AWAY

PART 3 — MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS.

15 — DAVID; OR, FAITH'S EXPERIENCE

16 — THE KING IN HIS BEAUTY

17 — RECIPROCAL AFFECTION

18 — JEHOSHAPHAT'S VICTORY; OR, PRAYER, FASTING, AND PRAISE

19 — NEHEMIAH AND HIS WORKERS

20 — DANIEL; OR, DEVOTEDNESS IN DIFFICULT DAYS

21 — OVERCOMING: ITS SECRET

22 — THE BEATITUDES

23 — PERSONAL ATTACHMENT

24 — CONVERSATION

25 — THE GOSPEL, THE CHURCH, AND THE SERVANT

26 — "THAT THE CHURCH MAY RECEIVE EDIFYING"

27 — GIFT, AND LOCAL OFFICE

28 — A MAN IN CHRIST; AND, A MAN OF GOD

29 — FAITH'S ENCOURAGEMENT IN EVIL DAYS

30 — WAITING AND WATCHING

PART 1 — THE PURPOSE OF GOD; or, FROM EGYPT TO CANAAN.

CHAPTER 1 — SLAVERY AND SHELTER.

The book of Exodus is practically what you might call the book of redemption, the book of escape. In Genesis you have creation, but in Exodus you have redemption — redemption from slavery by purchase and by power. If you think that Exodus illustrates the whole truth of the gospel, it is an immense mistake. It only takes you out of Egypt and into the wilderness, whatever these types may mean. Leviticus shows you how the souls that are on the ground of redemption can happily approach God, whose purpose was to bring them first to Himself, and then to a land which flows with milk and honey. In the book of Numbers you see the way in which they are cared for as they pass through the wilderness on the way to the promised land. Thus in type and figure we see that which God would bring us into now.

Possibly you may have just waked up to discover the blessed truth of the gospel, and have learned that you are going to heaven. I should therefore like to tell you, before you take many steps of the heavenward journey, that you may know a good deal about heaven before you get there. All these incidents in Israel's history are but figures and types, or illustrative pictures that God has given us to show us the way in which He deals with our souls now, and thus though we are yet in the world, we may get an ever-deepening knowledge of God.

If you look at the commencement of the book of Exodus you will find that the Israelites were in the world, and living in the flesh. Egypt is a figure of this world where Satan rules, where the flesh is ministered to, and where it has plenty to feed upon, and where as sinners we are found to be the servants of Satan. It perhaps may be some time before we find out what our case really is. In the second chapter the King of Egypt began to oppress the children of Israel. In the third chapter God has prepared a deliverer in the person of Moses. He was in the backside of the desert when "the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt." He could not understand how there could be a bush all aflame, and yet not burnt. Then God spoke to him. He had His eye upon His people, hitherto unconsumed amidst affliction, and He was going to bring them out; and though as an unholy people they were amenable to the wrath of a holy God, yet would He find a way by which He might dwell among them and fulfil His purposes about them. It is a great thing to get in our hearts the thought of the purpose of God.

Chapter three explains a little what God's purpose is, viz., to bring us out of bondage and into that blessed holy scene of love and liberty where Christ now is, and to put our hearts into the enjoyment of all that is His there. Israel's groans had gone up to God, and so have yours and mine. What led God to me? How was it you were converted? What was at the back of all? God's purpose, and He had His eye upon us, and His ear was open to our cry of distress. "And 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; and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey" (Ex. 3: 7, 8). That was God's purpose, while at the same time Israel was learning that there was nothing to give their souls rest in Egypt. It is what we get in the fifteenth chapter of Luke, "and no man gave to him." What is that? You are in a scene that cannot give you one single thing that meets the soul. The will of the prodigal took him from his father. What brought him back? His misery.

Just so here, the Lord had seen all His people's misery, and to deliver them was His purpose. God had His eye upon the affliction, sorrow, and trial of His beloved people, and there were two things He proposed. To deliver them, and to bring them up out of that land (it was the land of the whip, as well as of the fleshpots and leeks, and rung with the lash of the taskmaster), and to bring them into a good land, and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. Yes, heaven is a land that flows with milk and honey. This is the figure that God uses to describe the blessedness of association with Christ in heaven, and the unspeakable joy, gladness, and peace with which the Holy Ghost fills the heart of a believer.

Well now, that was God's purpose, but how long did they take to reach Canaan? They took forty years, and learned a great many lessons in those years. What was the purpose of God? To bring them out, and bring them in. The wilderness was no part of God's purpose, but it was part of the ways of God. They had to learn themselves. And that is what you have not learned yet, my dear young convert. I want to encourage you. What will you have to learn? You must learn, perhaps in a very practical, bitter way, the absolute good-fornothingness of the flesh. You will then learn the goodness of the Lord, and the tenderness of the Lord, and the pity of the Lord, and the wonderful way the Lord will come in to meet and help your soul. That is what they learned (see Deut. 8:).

I want you to be quite clear as to the difference between the purpose of God and His ways. And what is the purpose of God? He is not going to judge me, you reply. But I would not call that the purpose of God. That is His mercy. His purpose is to have you and me in heavenly glory by-and-by in the absolute likeness of Christ. "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified" (Rom. 8: 29, 30). And why? Because it was His purpose to conform us to the image of His Son. Wonderful tidings, indeed, beloved friends, that you and me, once slaves of sin and Satan, God is going to have for ever in the joy of His own presence, and in the likeness of His blessed Son. If you have the purpose of God unfolded to your soul by the Spirit, and apprehend it by faith, you will make a good start, and a good journey too.

In the fourth chapter Moses gets his commission: "Thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my first-born: and I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me" (Ex. 4: 22, 23). Now mark, there is relationship. If a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are no longer looked at by God as a poor sinner. You are no longer a slave. What is the message that Moses has to carry? "Israel is my son." It is a wonderful thing to wake up, in the very day of your conversion, to the truth of sonship. "Let my son go, that he may serve me." That is the point. God comes in, and He says, I must have My people all to Myself. If you have just been brought to know the Lord, what a wonderful thing to find that God's heart beats toward you as a son, and He looks for you to enjoy sonship. Do you?

Chapter five gives us an added privilege, as we hear the Lord say, "Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness." What does the Lord want with you? A feast. You are called to a feast now, but you must get clean out of Egypt for that. And just as Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go" (Ex. 5: 2), so will Satan hinder the young convert from making a clean break with the world if he can do so. The first thing you find out is that you are a sinner, and the next that you are to be a worshipper. You can never worship in the world, nor can the song of deliverance ever be sung truly in Egypt. Sinners can go through a form of worship. But spiritual worship is a question of the truth and enjoyment of the Father, and there must be disassociation from what is of the world and of the flesh, for that to be known. Hence we can understand Moses and Aaron's words, "The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the Lord our God" (Ex. 5: 3). Three days' journey in the wilderness. That is a good long distance; it leaves the world fairly behind. You will find three days abundantly in Scripture. But Pharaoh will not have this, and immediately increases their burdens and their work. It is very instructive. As long as we were going on easily doing the devil's work he left us alone, but the moment the chains were felt as it were, oh, how he put the pressure on (Ex. 5: 4-19).

This action of Pharaoh is just a figure of the way in which the devil, when he sees a soul seeking to get free, immediately binds the chains more tightly round him lest he should escape to Christ. Oh, thank God, if you have passed through this misery, and are free. Perhaps you are saying, I thought I believed the gospel, and yet now I am no better than I was, and I am far from happy. Do not faint, nor let Satan drive you back. It is a good thing for us to learn, at the start, our utter good-for-nothingness, and powerlessness. That is what the soul must pass through. You have no power, and Satan has a great deal.

But God's purpose must be carried out, and "He that is for us is stronger than he that is against us," hence in the next chapter the Lord speaks again (Ex. 6: 1-8). Pharaoh still keeps them in bondage, but to the children of Israel God sends a lovely message. Mark the seven "I wills." Seven in Scripture is always the number of spiritual completeness. (1) "I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians." That is good. They were feeling those burdens. (2) "And I will rid you out of their bondage, and (3) I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments; and (4) I will take you to me for a people, and (5) I will be to you a God. . . . And (6) I will bring you in unto the land. . . and (7) I will give it you for an heritage: I am the Lord" (Ex. 6: 6-8). It begins with, "I am the Lord," and it closes with, "I am the Lord." His "I will" never fails, and faith always reposes on God's Word. I recommend you to take God's seven "I wills" to your heart. I think I hear you saying, "I have had a good many doubts." You will never have any more if you hug those "I wills." God will not fail of His word, and His purpose He always carries out. Your redemption and mine does not depend upon what we are, it depends upon God. We could not help ourselves. and we cannot do ought for ourselves. Leave all with God, and peace is the result.

How blessedly God spoke here to encourage His people. But did they hear Him? We read, "And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage" (Ex. 6: 9). The pressure of the enemy was so great that they became hopeless. If you have never yet learned what deliverance is, then let me encourage. you to wait on God, and listen to Him. Do not struggle. Satan is too great a foe. Let God deliver you. In these chapters you will get the way in which you are delivered, from the righteous judgment of God on the one hand, and the power of the enemy on the other hand. Are they to go or not is the question? Of course Pharaoh says he will not let them go, and then God brings in His power to effect His purpose. The various plagues I do not touch on, but in the eighth chapter I want to show you the wiles of the devil. Pharaoh, conscious of weakness, begins to make compromises, hoping still to keep his slaves. The first compromise he proposes is very interesting. "Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land" (Ex. 6: 25). Where? "In the land." Do it in the land, says Pharaoh. Could they sacrifice to God in Egypt? Impossible.

What is their answer? "And Moses said, It is not meet so to do . . . for we shall sacrifice the abomination (the idol) of the Egyptians to the Lord our God: lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us?" (Ex. 6: 26). No, we cannot worship, or be really for God in the' midst of Egypt, i.e., the world. "We will go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the Lord our God, as he shall command us" (ver. 27), is the answer of faith. Now that is a very fine statement on Moses' part. It is a principle of immense value for your soul and mine, that if I am going to have God, and be for Him, I must do without the world. You cannot have the enjoyment of His love, if you want to go on with the world.

This firm reply of Moses leads to compromise number two on Pharaoh's part, "I will let you go that ye may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only ye shall not go very far away" (Ex. 6: 28). Ah, how wily Satan is. Don't you be too out and out, he says to a young convert: "Ye shall not go very far away." Ah, how many a young saint has the devil tripped up with this kind of word. Do not go very far. Do not be an enthusiast. Listen. The further you go from the world the better, and Satan will never put his hand upon you again if you once get fairly out of Egypt. If you once get fairly into the wilderness, thank God, he will never place his foul hand upon you again. Never, no, never.

But Pharaoh does not yet let them go. God again steps in with deeper judgments, and at length Pharaoh says, "Go, serve the Lord your God; but who are they that shall go?" (Ex. 10: 8). Moses is very clear about who shall go. "We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go: for we must hold a feast to the Lord" (Ex. 10: 9). All they loved and all they possessed were to go. All for God — was Moses' motto. Christian mothers, converted fathers, do you see this? It is here as elsewhere in all Scripture, the divine principle of "thou and thy house." We are not going to be a divided family, says Moses, and, more than that, we shall take every sheep and every bullock we possess, for all belongs to God. Why? Because redemption puts you upon the ground of belonging to God altogether. I do not think anything could be more plain. This plain reply suggests a third compromise to Pharaoh. First he says, "Let the Lord be with you, as I will let you go, and your little ones: look to it; for evil is before you" (Ex. 10: 10). And then, as if he loved the children, and would save them from evil, he adds, "Not so: go now, ye that are men, and serve the Lord; for that ye did desire" (Ex. 10: 11). He says, Leave the children. The devil says, Parents, you can be devoted to Christ but let your children be in the world; and many a parent heeds that suggestion, and sows seed that bears fruit in the shape of worldly-minded and worldly-wayed sons and daughters, who break their parents' hearts in later days.

Irritated by the refusal to leave the children, Pharaoh refuses to liberate his slaves till further judgment wrings from him a fourth compromise, to wit, I will let you have the children, but you must leave the goods with me. "And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve the Lord; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed (i.e., let your business be in the world, conducted on worldly principles); let your little ones also go with you" (Ex. 10: 24). But faith never wavers, and Moses' reply is splendid: "Our cattle also shall go with us: there shall not a hoof be left behind; for thereof must we take to serve the Lord our God; and we know not with what we must serve the Lord until we come thither" (Ex. 10: 26). Ah, how firm is this man, that God's people belong to God, spirit, soul, and body. It is very refreshing. My heart is quite refreshed as I see the way this man says, We must be entirely for God. Not a hoof can be left behind. We could not leave an ox behind. Everything must be the Lord's. It is a principle of faith. What the Christian is, and what he has, is all the Lord's. "Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body" (1 Cor. 6: 19, 20).

When you come to the twelfth chapter you find Pharaoh admitting this principle, as he says, "Go, serve the Lord, as ye have said, also take your flocks' and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also" (Ex. 12: 31, 32). The very devil himself has the sense that the Christian should serve the Lord devotedly. The enemy of Christ has the sense that the Christian belongs to Christ, and that all he has, and is, should be devoted to the Lord absolutely.

The eleventh and twelfth chapters bring us to another point. What is it? The utter impossibility of any soul having to do with God, save on the ground of death, because death is upon every man, as the judgment of sin. There could be no relationship between our souls and God, save upon that ground. In the eleventh chapter you find God saying, "All the first-born in the land of Egypt shall die" (Ex. 11: 5); and then "that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel" (Ex. 11: 7). What was the difference? Were not all equally sinners? Surely. The difference was this, that the blood of the lamb sheltered Israel but not the Egyptians — the world. The Egyptians were in opposition to God's mind, and were His foes opposing His work, while Israel is looked at here as being the people of God, standing in the full value of the blood, as God knows its efficacy.

In the twelfth chapter we have the well-known story of the blood of the lamb, the lamb slain instead of the first-born, i.e., substitution (Ex. 12: 6). They were to kill the lamb, and to put the blood, not inside where they could see it, but outside where God could see it. It is a striking figure of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. You will find that there are four very striking types of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. There are many sacrifices pointing on to the work of Christ presented in various ways in the Old Testament, for it is the picture book of Christ. First of all there is this paschal lamb. That is the figure of the death of Christ in substitution and atonement, as bearing the wrath of God due to us. Then the next figure is the Red Sea. That is a type of the death and resurrection of Christ for us. The third is the brazen serpent, the judgment of sin in the flesh, attesting the necessity of new birth. You do not get this truth until the very end of the wilderness journey, when the utter badness, and incorrigible wickedness of the flesh had been proved, after full testing. The fourth is the passage through the Jordan. It is also a striking figure of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of our death and resurrection with Him. Each of the four teaches, therefore, a distinct and different aspect of the truth of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Perhaps you are not quite clear as to this paschal lamb being a type of the Lord Jesus. If so, reference to New Testament Scripture should assure you, as you listen to four distinct witnesses. When the Lord Jesus appeared on the earth, John the Baptist said, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1: 29). When He died on the cross, the apostle John wrote, "For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken" (John 19: 36). This is a direct quotation of Exodus 12: 46. Again the apostle Paul wrote, "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us" (1 Cor. 5: 7). And lastly, the apostle Peter says, "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you; who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God" (1 Peter 1: 18-21). Your sin and mine did not come in by accident, so that God had to meet an unforeseen difficulty. All was seen and provided for in the bygone ages of eternity. All God's purposes and ways circled round Christ, and the Old Testament is full of figurative truth which found its perfect answer in Him as a man here. When the blessed Lord died, the Roman soldiers "brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken" (John 19: 32-37). Scripture must be fulfilled, and the manner of the fulfilment shows us how completely our chapter is a type of the Lord Jesus.

They were to kill the lamb, and then they were to take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood (Ex. 12: 7, 22). Further, God said, "The blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you" (Ex. 12: 13). God was going to pass through the land as a judge, and the only thing that could save the soul from God's judgment was the sprinkled blood. There are a great many souls that miss this point. The hyssop must be used. It was to be dipped in the blood, and in this case the Israelite had to use it himself. If you are going to get any of the value of the blood of the lamb, you must use the hyssop as well. I have no doubt it means this, the soul in the sense of absolute good-for-nothingness availing itself of the death of Christ. People believe that Christ died, and rose, and that He finished the work of atonement, but they do not appropriate the value of His death to themselves. When one gets down in self-judgment, brokenness, and repentance before God, I believe then our souls use that bunch of hyssop. We flee, as sinners of the deepest dye, to Christ. The judgment due to us has fallen upon God's dear Son, and the Lord passes over us in righteousness. The blood upon the lintel keeps God as a judge out. He cannot twice judge — first the lamb, and then the first-born. Peace with Him is the result. Peace with God does not rest upon your feelings. It is the atoning blood of the Lamb, God's own Lamb, put down before God's eye, that is the basis of your peace. "When I see the blood, I will pass over you." It is not "when you see the blood." No. It is God who sees it.

Possibly you say, I do not think I appreciate the blood of Christ sufficiently. I am quite sure you do not, but God does. And He says, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you." Understand this, that the basis of the peace of your soul with God is that shed and sprinkled blood (Ex. 12: 8). But then all the way along you and I are to keep in our hearts the memory of what it cost our Saviour to redeem us. This "the lamb roast with fire" brings before us. That describes the agonies of the soul of Christ on the cross. The 22nd, the 69th, the 88th, and the 102nd Psalms describe the inward experiences of the blessed Lord when He was bearing our sins. Oh, what it cost Him. They were to eat the lamb "roast with fire." "Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof" (Ex. 12: 9). You are called to feed not only on the death, but on the moral ways and the beautiful intelligence of Jesus. Knowing what lay before Him, He went steadily on to death. "Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth" (John 18: 4). And then you feed upon the beautiful, and lovely walk of the Lord Jesus. You have thus material for your soul to feed on all your days. Feed on Christ. "Bitter herbs" carry the thought of self-judgment, because my sin cost Christ His life.

Redemption by blood is a wonderful truth, and the moment the people are under the shelter of the blood, and have fed on the roast lamb, they start on their journey, and we read: "It came to pass that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt" (Ex. 12: 41, 42).

The blood that shelters them from God as a judge, establishes their relationship with God on the ground of accomplished redemption, and from that moment they are regarded and called, for the first time, "the hosts of the Lord." How much better to be among His redeemed hosts than to be the slave of sin and Satan! How do you stand, and what is your relationship towards Him? Have you yet made a spiritual start similar to that made by Israel? If so, you will follow with interest the succeeding chapters in their history.

We're a pilgrim band in a stranger land,

Who are marching from Calvary;

Where the wondrous cross, with its gain and loss,

Is the sum of our history.

There we lost our stand in a death-doomed land

As children of wrath by the fall;

There we gained a place as heirs of grace

At the feast in the heavenly hall.

So we sing, while we haste o'er the wide world's waste,

Of our home by the crystal sea,

Where the waving palm and the swelling psalm

Fill the air of eternity.

We read our guilt in the blood that was spilt,

And we weep o'er the crimson flow;

But we joy in the grace of the unveiled face

Of a Father-God here below.

And as sons of God, redeemed by blood,

We hasten from Egypt away;

We cross the sand to the pleasant land

And the joys of an endless day.

We were children of night, kept far from the light,

Enslaved by a cruel foe;

But Jesus' pains broke the iron chains,

And redeemed our souls from woe.

Now, as children of light, we walk, and we fight

In a path of triumphant joy;

For our strength in the Lord, whose word is our sword,

While faith is the shield we employ.

Our home is with God, and our path has been trod

By the faithful of ages all,

And us He will bring, as on eagle's wing,

To our place in the marriage-hall.

Then, then we shall sing, as the bride of the King,

Of the blood that has brought us so nigh,

To bask in the blaze of the Ancient of days

At the throne far above the sky.

CHAPTER 2 — SEVEN DAYS OF UNLEAVENED BREAD.

(Ex. 12: 8-20, 34-39; Num. 28)

WE have seen already the truth connected with the deliverance of Israel from Egypt in the early part of Exodus 12, which relates to the taking of the life of the lamb, and the putting of the blood upon the lintel and the two side-posts of the door. The importance of all this, however, is so farreaching that I venture to travel over the ground again a little more in detail. It is of the deepest possible moment for every soul to see that this is the basis of all God's dealings with Israel. The blood upon the lintel is what you may call the groundwork of Israel's relationship with God. Although we may get a great deal else that is instructive here, still it is of the last importance to see that there was but one basis of relationship with God, and that is the blood of the lamb offered in Egypt. In the very spot where they had been slaves, there the work of another was accomplished by which God was able, in righteousness, to bring His people out of Egypt, and bring them into the land.

Get clearly in your minds that the passover and the feast of unleavened bread are two distinct things. The passover is Christ's work. The unleavened bread is connected with your walk. And the two things are as distinct as possible, though they are coupled and go together. "In the fourteenth day of the first month is the passover of Jehovah. And in the fifteenth day of this month is the feast: seven days shall unleavened bread he eaten" (Num. 28: 16, 17). And in the New Testament we have "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us; therefore let us keep the feast" (1 Cor. 5: 7, 8). In both these scriptures they are distinct. There is no doubt that the lamb is a figure of Christ, and I am equally certain that the unleavened bread is Christ. Israel was under the shelter of the blood of the lamb, and the angel of Jehovah passed over them. This is the Passover; but then they had a journey to go, and they were to eat of the lamb roast with fire, and unleavened bread, to strengthen them for it.

For us this sets forth that as a guilty sinner I take shelter under the Blood of Christ, our Passover. And then I feed upon the lamb roast with fire, and the unleavened bread, and this brings me into a suited condition for the journey by connecting the heart's affections with all that Christ passed through. Nothing could more strikingly prefigure the sufferings of Christ on the cross, under the judgment of God, than this expression, "the lamb roast with fire!" He passed through the fire of God's judgment. They were to eat it with unleavened bread — setting forth the unleavened perfection of Christ — and with bitter herbs.

You cannot eat "the Lamb roast with fire" without entering into the wonderful truth of the sufferings and sorrows of Christ. God would always have us remember these. If your heart is not in the power of the Spirit of God, practically feeding thus on Christ, you will get cold and formal. Many, many times over in this old Book God put Israel in remembrance of the passover. Year by year He brought it before them. They were to eat it on the fourteenth, day of the first month every year. I quite admit they did not do it. They did it in Egypt, and then once in the wilderness, and then in the land. They were careless.

We too have the opportunity, as the seven days roll by, of having our souls afresh reminded of the sufferings of Christ every recurring first day of the week. Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Then comes, "Therefore let us keep the feast." This is a week of holy blessed enjoyment of Christ, feeding on Christ. And what we are feeding on very soon tells upon us. If I am not feeding on Christ, it will be something else. It must be Christ. Unleavened bread, that is Christ. Bitter herbs speak of what we were, and had done. I do not doubt the Spirit of God brings to our souls the sense, it was our sins that brought Him down into death. People sometimes say, Oh, we are past all that. Past that? Ah, my dear friend, you can scarce mean what you say! It is not a question of a person always thinking of his sins. God forbid. What we have always brought before us is Christ as a sweet savour to God.

Numbers 28 shows us what filled up those seven days of unleavened bread. There was the presenting to God daily, every day in perfect number, that which was the sweet savour of Christ in the burnt offerings, although there was not lacking the sin offering on any one day. God never leaves that out. God would never let us forget it. He will always keep fresh in the soul what we were and where we were, and out of what we have been delivered. And although we. are brought into the fellowship of the Father and the Son — that is the delight that God has in His blessed Son — yet He will never let us forget where we were, and what it cost Him to deliver us out of it. It keeps the soul lowly and humble. Our hearts are naturally so full of levity and lightness that we are apt to forget what we were. Not that that is what is to occupy the soul. No. The Israelites were to eat the lamb roast with fire, with unleavened bread, and bitter herbs.

And then remark, "Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire." How careful God is to keep fresh in the soul the sense of the sufferings of Christ. The lamb roast with fire typifies these. If you read the New Testament carefully you will be struck by the frequency with which the Spirit of God speaks of the sufferings of Christ. He suffered. Christ must needs suffer. You search out how frequently, when speaking of the death of the Lord Jesus, the Holy Ghost brings in "the sufferings of Christ." That is the word the Spirit of God presses on our souls. The 22nd, the 69th, the 88th, and the 102nd Psalm are all full of the deep inward experiences of the Lord, when He suffered on the cross. You get the figures in the Pentateuch, the facts in the gospels, Christ's feelings in the Psalms, and the lovely fruits in the epistles.

Let the figure of all this in the types speak to us. You eat the lamb roast with fire. Do not tamper with His death, but have in your soul the sense of what it cost Christ as He went through the fire of God's wrath. God tested Him. We are to eat "his head, with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof" How beautiful. Eat the head. What does it mean? Oh, beloved friends, the head is all the intelligence of Christ. Look at the wonderful intelligence that marked the ways of Christ, It says in the gospels, and "Jesus therefore knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth." He knew all, and yet He went. Eat the head. And then the legs. Oh, feed upon His intelligent devotedness to God, as well as on the beautiful walk of the blessed Lord Jesus Christ, The varied presentation of these details in the four gospels makes their diligent study a necessity as well as a delight, and the results of this attention are unspeakably precious, beloved friends, for the soul: we get not merely that which meets our need, but the heart delights to trace the ways of the Lord Jesus.

"And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord's passover." That is a pilgrim character. "Shoes on your feet," ready to go. That is, there were certain moral features that were to mark them, and are to mark us. While thus eating the blood was outside, as a token that no judgment could ever touch them. And there they were inside the house feeding on "the lamb roast with fire." They recognised God's judgment was on the lamb.

But more. They must eat unleavened bread for seven days (Ex. 12: 15). Now you might ask me, What is the application of this. We must not allow any leaven in our hearts, our lives, our words, or our ways. Leaven is always the symbol of that which is evil. He who allows it, "That soul shall be cut off from Israel." Does that mean that he shall die? For an Israelite it did; for us it means that one is cut off from communion with God first, and next, if unrepentant, from the fellowship of the saints, and most surely from being in the enjoyment of that which God would give our souls. Now let every young Christian be quite clear about this. You know that Christ has formed a link between your soul and God, that nothing can ever touch it. You have been born of God, and washed in the blood of His dear Son, and you are a child of God, and nothing, by His infinite grace, can break that link. But a foolish thought allowed will hinder communion. The very smallest bit of leaven breaks the link of communion, and I am out of the current of the working of the Spirit of God.

Now we know very well that the blessed normal work of the Spirit of God is to bring Christ before our hearts. If something has come in that has broken this tender link of communion between the Lord and our souls, the Spirit of God makes the soul conscious thereof There comes in a cloud. I must get back and find what was the hindrance, judge it, and then all is right. Nothing can break the link that grace has formed, as a matter of eternal life. But a very small thing can snap the link of communion, and rob the soul of the jay and divine delight that God would give us by His Spirit. Therefore you see the immense importance of the unleavened bread — "the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." If I allow a little bit of bitterness about a saint to exist, or grant to my tongue the liberty of a little evil speaking, do not let me dream of communion. I am out of it.

Leaven during the seven days was intolerable to God, and therefore, there is no doubt, that when the passover came round, it was a most necessary and important thing that the master of every house should search it from top to bottom — from attic to cellar — to be quite sure that there was not a crumb of leavened bread in the house. A few crumbs were quite enough to bring in the judgment of the Lord. I think it is very important to ponder this, and to clearly understand why the house was to be swept.

We should not be the worse of what I shall call a new broom. They are reputed to sweep clean. I think, beloved friends, it is a good thing when I get a new broom in to sweep out everything that is not of Christ. Because if you allow leaven to remain in your life and ways you are necessarily cut off from communion. It does not mean that you are not going to heaven, but that you will be out of the liberty and power of the Spirit. And what will be the result? There will be individual deadness and lifelessness, and our assemblies will be dead and lifeless also. We are not keeping the feast. If we were there would be nothing but Christ. It is easy to tell when a brother has been keeping the feast of unleavened bread. He has nothing but Christ for me. If I meet a Christian and he has only some tittle-tattle, I shall get spoiled, and vice versa. You know, beloved friends, you cannot touch pitch without being defiled. Every time I meet you I shall either help you Christward, or I shall hinder you. On the other hand, you will either help or hinder me. The point is, what am I feeding on? God give us to keep this feast.

It is very interesting to see the way in which the Scripture presents it. I am just going to show you one or two verses. "And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this self-same day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever" (Ex. 12: 17). How emphatic God is! Again, "Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land" (Ex. 12: 19). There was to be no leaven in their houses at that time. For us, you know, it means the whole pathway. I find myself occupied with the death of Christ, as on Lord's Day morning, I am feeding on the passover. Very well, the Lord says, go and keep the feast of unleavened bread for seven days: and then I find myself there again on the next Lord's Day morning, and so on, and on. It really means this, that the whole of the pathway of the Church down here is a time when there is nothing but the unleavened bread to be fed upon by those who compose that Church.

Now then, see the way in which the Spirit of God brings this truth out, because if you are really want. ing to follow the Word of God, it is wonderful how God will help you. When we come down to the very fact of Israel's going out of Egypt that night, we see that they were hurried out with their bread unleavened. And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders" (Ex. 12: 34). I think there was no opportunity of its being leavened. "And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual" (Ex. 12: 39). There is a wonderful little side-light here. It was not leavened because they were thrust out of Egypt. . . "I think what God gives us here is this, that if they had not been in such a hurry the leaven might have got in. I will help them to start right, says God. And therefore they were hurried out in such rapidity that they did not get any time to fail in obedience. I will help them, at least, to keep My word for once in their history, says God.

Oh, it is beautiful to see the tenderness of conscience in a young soul when first converted. I quite admit it is not established in grace, but it feels it has such a treasure, such a prize, and it trembles lest it should lose it. I remember hearing a Christian say once, "When I was first converted, I declare I was afraid of my own shadow, for fear that something should come in between my soul and Christ." Tenderness of conscience and exercise of soul really come with the feeding on the unleavened bread. It is the heart delighting in Christ, and feeding on Christ. There is a response to the little light that it has. It desires to follow the mind of the Lord.

I think it is interesting to see how God thus helped Israel to keep His command as regards the unleavened bread, a command immediately repeated in the thirteenth chapter, which speaks of their separation, and their being set apart to God: "And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten" (Ex. 13: 3). In my relation to the Church, the family," or the world, is there anything that is not like Christ? It must go. It is very simple. I do not want to escape the edge of the truth. Do you? You see Christ is everything to God, and He should be everything to us. We are in this world to exhibit Christ. Remember this. "Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters. And thou shalt show thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt" (Ex. 13: 7, 8). Look at the reason given for eating unleavened bread; it is the response of affection, "This is done because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt." You are not keeping this feast of unleavened bread in order to get saved, no — that is all clear, and secured by the death of Christ — but you are keeping this feast that you might be in the enjoyment of that which is yours. Because, beloved friends, while grace gives me a good conscience by the blood of the Lamb, it is by a tender holy walk that I keep that good conscience.

Now pass on to Exodus 23. There we read: "Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt; and none shall appear before me empty)" (vers. 14, 15). "And none shall appear before me empty." Is not that striking? How am I to appear? With my hands full of Christ, the detail of which, I believe, we shall find given us in Numbers 28, 29. You will do well to ponder these chapters.

Now just look at the sixteenth chapter of Deuteronomy. "Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the Lord thy God: for in the month of Abib the Lord thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the Lord thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the Lord shall choose to place his name there. Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it: seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life. And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coasts seven days; neither shall there anything of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day at even, remain all night until the morning. Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee: but at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt. And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose: and thou shalt turn in the morning, and go unto thy tents. Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread: and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord thy God: thou shalt do no work therein" (Deut. 16: 1-8). Note particularly verse 2. Bear that in mind. It is not the place that I choose. There is only one spot, and God chooses it. Query, Am I worshipping in the spot of God's choice, or am I following my own will in this? Observe also verse 3. "The bread of affliction" is a new character given to the unleavened bread. It is a new point, not to be disregarded. It is affliction to nature, it is not a thing I like. It is not what pleases me. It is the bread of affliction, and I am to eat it all the days of my life. Let me never forget this.

Further, nothing of the passover was to remain till the morning. What is the meaning of that? Whatever they could not partake of must be burnt with fire. The death of Christ is infinitely precious to God, it all goes up as a sweet savour to Him. What I fail to apprehend God appreciates. The present moment of our soul's history with God is a most serious one, because our capacity becomes fixed here. Therefore we must go on, and grow by the truth. But mark, it must be Christ, in all His fulness, and all His grace, that our souls feed upon.

God is careful to say that Israel might sacrifice only "at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name in." This is a very great principle, beloved friends, as true now as in Israel's day. The Name of the Lord Jesus is the only gathering centre today, and the saint who gathers not simply in that Name, will lack the profound enjoyment of Christ that our God would have our souls taste.

Now let us turn to the twenty-eighth chapter of Numbers, and we shall see what occupies the seven days. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, My offering, and my bread for my sacrifices made by fire, for a sweet savour unto me, shall ye observe to offer unto me in their due season" (Num. 28: 1, 2). And you may say, What is the meaning of that? These two chapters (28 and 29) give us what God calls "My bread." They do not present what Christ is for us, or what Christ did for us, although it is quite true that in these two chapters the sin-offering comes in no less than thirteen times, but it only comes in by the way. The sin-offering is not the point here. It is what Christ is to God. It is Christ in all the sweet savour and fragrance of His life, and in the devotedness of His death, going up to God. It is all Godward, and is, so to speak, Christ presented to God as His bread in the official sacrifices. They were to be careful to offer unto Jehovah in their appointed seasons that which formed His bread of the sacrifices.

And now we will look at the seasons. First of all you have the general arrangement of what was to be daily (Num. 28: 3-8), weekly (Num. 28: 9, 10), and monthly (Num. 28: 11-15). And then come the seven annual feasts of which the passover was the first. It was on the fourteenth day of the first month; and on the fifteenth day we come to the feast of unleavened bread (Num. 28: 17-25). This is what the apostle refers to, when he says, "Let us keep the feast . . ." (1 Cor. 5: 8). What a wonderful thing to think that the Church is seen before God unleavened, as in Christ. Therefore evil was to be judged:. "Put away from among yourselves that wicked person," was the command (1 Cor. 5: 13). They could have no fellowship with one walking in sin. He was cut off from the privileges of the assembly. How long are we to keep the feast? Seven days. All those seven days you practically present Christ before God.

"In the first day shall be a holy convocation; ye shall do no manner of servile work" (Num. 28: 18). Your soul is in liberty before God. That is the first thing. Nothing legal. There is no "I must be so and so." It is quite true that you are not what you ought to be, but Christ is all in this feast. "I ought to be holy, and devoted, and earnest, and fervent, and worshipful, and rejoicing." Quite true, you ought to be, but I will tell you something else, while you are trying to be all these, you are not happy. Why? Because you are beginning your seven days with a bit of "servile work." No, no, that won't do. You must get first into the liberty of the grace of God. The apostle well says to the Galatians, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." The yoke of bondage is what "I ought to be," and many a dear young convert is under that yoke, and in great bondage. You bring God His bread, and you will be what you should be. It is God feeding on all that Christ was in His life, and in His death, and in the springs of His being here.

In the nineteenth verse, "the burnt offering," gives you His death. In the twentieth verse, "the meat offering," gives you His life. It is, so to speak, our presenting before God all the blessedness of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is delighting in Christ, keeping the company of Christ, waving Christ before God, every day of the seven. We must not come empty. What a difference between my coming up empty, to get something for myself, and my coming up full, to present Christ, and wave Christ before God. Anybody can see the difference.

In verse 22, "And one goat for a sin offering to make an atonement for you," God beautifully brings in that which connects itself with the death of Christ for us. He knows very well how our souls are prone to circle round ourselves, so He presents the one goat, but observe, one goat will do to meet the question of what we have been, while "two young bullocks, one ram, and seven lambs of the first year" present the fulness of Christ as the burnt offering.

The point here is not Christ meeting our case, but it is God glorified, and Christ filling the heart of God with joy, and He is saying to you and me, That is what you have to bring to Me. You begin next Lord's day morning with Christ for God; go to work on Monday, but don't take off your first-day suit on Monday morning. In the history of your soul, you have every day to go over the same ground. It is to be Christ on the first day, and Christ all the week, and Christ on the seventh; for of it we again read, "And on the seventh day ye shall have an holy convocation (the assembly): ye shall do no servile work" (Num. 28: 25). How much do we bring of Christ to God in our closets and our homes, as well as in the assembly? That is the question. The week begins with the liberty of Christ, and it closes with the liberty of Christ. Really my heart is charmed with this week of unleavened bread. It is feeding on Christ, and nothing but Christ. And I am sure, beloved friends, if we do this it will give tone to the assembly. Oh, you say, The brothers are very dry. Are the sisters full of Christ? Come now. Is there much sap about the sisters? You may say, The brothers are very dry. Yes. Be it so, but how much do we help each other? That is the point. Do not let us forget it.

When we come to the assembly of the saints we are each like a person coming into a dark room, and every person brings in a candle. If the wick is well trimmed, it will give a big light, but if not, or has "a waster" in it, the light is dim, and others will say, He has a candle, but there is not much light about it. Each saint not walking with God comes into the meeting like this, and hinders rather than helps it. God give us to be like well-trimmed lights by His grace. And I am sure if we feed upon Christ, and our hearts are occupied only with Christ, there will be for God that which the Spirit labours to produce, the fragrance, the perfumes, and the glories of the Lord Jesus Christ God has given us all His love, and now He gives us the opportunity of presenting to Him that which is His bread. May we know how to answer to such grace.

Jesus, of Thee we ne'er would tire

The new and living food

Can satisfy our heart's desire,

And life is in Thy blood.

If such the happy midnight song

Our prisoned spirits raise,

What are the joys that cause, ere long,

Eternal bursts of praise.

To look within and see no stain —

Abroad no curse to trace;

To shed no tears, to feel no pain,

But see Thee face to face.

To find each hope of glory gained,

Fulfilled each precious word

And fully all to have attained

The image of our Lord.

For this, we're pressing onward still,

And in this hope would be

More subject to the Father's will —

E'en now much more like Thee.

CHAPTER 3 — SANCTIFICATION: ITS POSITIONAL ASPECT.

(Ex. 13: 1-22.)

THE lessons from this chapter are exceedingly simple, but most important. They are these.

The moment God has a redeemed people, He would have that people understand that redemption puts them on a totally new footing before Himself; and secondly, that their walk and conversation is to be very different to what it was before they were His. The second verse gives you the keynote of the chapter, "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Sanctify unto me all the first-born, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine" (Ex. 13: 1, 2). The first point is that the believer is sanctified to God. Then you get, thereafter, practical instructions as to the walk. In plain language, if you are a young convert, there is a new walk, a new path altogether, opened up to you. God has saved you for heaven, but you are not there yet, although you can say, "I know perfectly well I am going there." You have a title to be there, it is the blood that secures and shelters you, only do not stop, but go steadily on the road. Because you know you are forgiven, you may think that means everything. It is not everything. It is only the beginning. You have to go on. And you have possibly to go a rough road before you get into that of which Canaan is a type. You have a journey before you, and you will very surely have difficulties in it.

But the point is this, What is the character of the pathway to be, and how am I to get on in it? You separate them to me, says God (Ex. 13: 2). I shall then expect them to eat unleavened bread, i.e., to keep "a feast to the Lord" (Ex. 13: 6). That is the walk of holiness. They will then judge what will not do for God (Ex. 13: 13). The next thing was this: "God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt. But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea" (Ex. 13: 17, 18). The Lord was their leader. And then the next thing, They took the bones of Joseph with them (Ex. 13: 19). They took the bones of their saviour with them (see Gen. 41 - 50). It has a meaning, and you and I, as we are passing on through this scene, are never to forget the fact that we are delivered by the death of the Saviour. That is where the Lord's Supper comes in. So they carried with them all through their wilderness journey the bones of Joseph, who had saved them in the day of famine.

At the close of the chapter we find, "The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way: and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light: to go by day and night" (Ex. 13: 21). They had always the blessed sense of the presence of God. It is a figure, I admit. The glory of the Lord, the pillar of fire gave them light by night, and then, when everybody else was in the heat, they had the pillar of a cloud like a huge umbrella over them. Light by night, shade by day, and God for their guide. They were very well off. It is a picture of the way God leads out His people.

But I am going now to speak a little more on the important subject of sanctification. What is sanctification? Holiness. The primary presentation of it is in the scripture before us. It has two sides — the absolute side, and the progressive side. There is the positional side, and the practical side. On the positional side you have the truth of the soul being set apart for God. And then there is the practical change, and holy progress in the walk of the saint. He first learns that he is set apart for God, and then learns to shape his ways accordingly. Where would you begin if you were thinking of the subject of sanctification? I know where I began. I began with myself. I thought, dear me, what an immense amount of change and progress ought to go on inside me. But if I am going to talk of sanctification according to Scripture, I must begin with the positional aspect first, and hence I must begin with Christ. Oh, you say, do you think that the Lord Jesus can ever he altered? No, God forbid. Turn to Scripture and let us hear what it says.

When here upon earth the Lord said to the Jews, "Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God" (John 10: 36). What a remarkable thing that the Father had sanctified Him, Could He ever be more holy than He was? God forbid the thought. It means simply this, the Father had set apart His blessed and only Son, and sent Him into this world in order to bring God to man, to reveal God, and to make God known here. It was a totally new position for the Son of God to occupy. As become a man He is seen in this world. You find another aspect of sanctification in relation to Christ in John 17.

There the Lord says: "As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth" (John 17: 18, 19). Where does He sanctify himself. Where He now is. He has set Himself apart in heavenly glory, and, as Man, taken an entirely new position, that He might unite us to Himself there. Where is Christ? In glory. He is out of the world. And what, beloved friends, will take the heart out of the world? Only the knowledge of a heavenly Christ. Oh, yes. That will take your heart out of this world. It will make you a pilgrim.

If you have seen Christ, a victorious, ascended Christ, outside this scene altogether, everything is spoiled for you in this world. He sets Himself apart in heavenly glory that His people might be sanctified through the truth. The Christian is a person who has his heart in another sphere altogether, while his feet are travelling through this world. He is clean outside this world, although, as a saint, he will fulfil the duties of life infinitely better than before. The primary thought of sanctification then is separation, and a new place occupied. In John 10 I see the Lord Jesus taking a new place, as Man here, and in the seventeenth chapter I see Him again taking a new place as Man at the right hand of God, for Manhood has been carried into the very glory of God in the person of Christ. The result is you have a new place, and a new life, because He is there. You belong to a new company.

Now let us come to the development of this subject in the New Testament. In Saul of Tarsus I find the Lord picking up a very wonderful vessel for the unfolding of His truth, and in the very hour of his conversion he gets his commission to the Gentiles — viz., "To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me" (Acts 26: 18). That is what the gospel does. You cannot convert people, but God can do it by the gospel. The apostle Paul got his commission, and the character of his service to the Lord here, and if you are just starting in the Christian life, I would like you, and urge you, to be out and out for Christ. Then He will use you in His service, and it is happy work indeed to be an instrument in His hands of turning sinners "from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God," and leading them to "receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified."

But who are the sanctified? All who have received light from God. It will come if you are set for it, and all who get a glimmer of the light never rest till they know they are among the sanctified. The moment Israel got under the shelter of the blood they belonged to God. They were not then quite clear of Pharaoh's land, and before God saved them they were sanctified. Every Christian is sanctified before he is saved. You have thought that sanctification came at the end of the road. Quite a mistake, it is at the commencement. The twelfth chapter of Exodus is shelter, the thirteenth sanctification, the fourteenth salvation, and the fifteenth satisfaction. Shelter comes the moment you trust Jesus. Sanctification is the next thing you learn, and the soul must learn the truth according to the steps in which God puts it That is a step, I am trying, if I can, to help you to take just now. When you believe in Jesus, and have faith in His blood, you receive forgiveness of sins. That act of God is good for ever. You never can lose it, and you never can forfeit it. It is the joy of God's heart to forgive you.

Long ago I thought that if my sins were forgiven I should be the happiest person under the sun, and that that was everything, but there is deeper blessing still in possessing "an inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." But you say, How can I be sanctified? That is the whole question, and the answer simple. The fact is that the two things go together, forgiveness and sanctification. The man that is forgiven is a sanctified man. He does not perhaps know it But when he knows it, it will give his soul the most wonderful joy and peace before God. Oh, you say, I find my heart so bad, I am sometimes afraid I am not forgiven. Well, my dear friend, when the Lord forgave you, He knew how bad you were, and He forgave you all when He knew all about you. The knowledge of this last truth will save you from a great deal of distress.

There is no such thought in Scripture as "sanctification by faith," as some speak of, i.e., an act of faith by which the saved soul suddenly becomes sanctified. The sanctification spoken of here the soul receives the moment it has faith in Jesus. Faith in Him places you among the saints. Are you a saint? Oh, I should not like to take that place. Why? Well, of course, saints are very holy persons. That is indeed what they should be, but they are saints first. Who are the saints? All those who are sanctified by the effectual work of the Spirit of God in them, and the work of Christ for them. "Them which are sanctified," include all the Lord's people. Do not let Satan trouble you about your experiences, and raise the question as to when you are sanctified. If you trust the Lord Jesus, and are under the shelter of His blood, you are separated to God, and that means a great deal, for He regards you as His from that moment.

It is a wonderful thing to be separated to God, because, do you not see, when Pharaoh a little later comes out saying, that he is going to overtake those people, God replies that the people are His, and means to deliver them. "Sanctify unto me all the first-born, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and beast: it is mine," are His words. So, by-and-by, when "the enemy" said, "I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them" (Ex. 15: 9), God replied, "They are my people," and smiting His enemy and theirs at once, "the sea covered them, they sank as lead in the mighty waters." Thank God, with all my feebleness and badness, I belong to Him.

If you learn. that you have been thus set apart for God, it will have a great effect upon your soul.

In thus speaking, I am thinking of the lambs of Christ's flock, — those who have just started. I wish the older ones would think a little about them. Suppose we were to try to help them — we old ones, I mean now. Go and give them what will help their souls. Not dry stuff, — advanced theological or ecclesiastical dogma — that they cannot swallow. Feed them on the milk of the Word. "Feed my lambs" is a sweet word of the Chief Shepherd, and to do so is lovely work. I want to get all you dear young people to see that you belong to the Lord, absolutely and irrevocably. You receive the forgiveness of your sins, and sanctification at the same time. In plain language, beloved young convert, you are among the saints — you are one of them. Do not go about talking of what you feel. Faith, not feelings, regulates your position. Having faith, you are in the family of God, and have not only your sins forgiven, but you have an "inheritance among them that are sanctified." Wonderful words. How are we sanctified? By faith that is in Jesus.

The first thing for you to learn is, that you are set apart to God in all the value of the work of Christ, and on this ground He addresses you in Paul's letter to the Corinthians. That letter is addressed to you as well as to the Corinthians. It is "Unto the Church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours" (1 Cor. 1: 2). You have been set apart for God in Christ Jesus. Mark, it is not called to be saints, but "called saints," i.e., saints by calling. Oh, you say, then I shall have to walk very carefully. Yes, that will come presently. You will observe that all believers are looked upon as a sanctified company. We belong to God in virtue of that which the Lord Jesus has done for us. "For of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" (1 Cor. 1: 30). He has set Himself apart before God now, and we are in Him. Who is my wisdom? Christ. Who my righteousness before God? Christ. Who is my sanctification? Christ, and He is my redemption also. If you have not a sanctification up to Christ's, you are not fit to belong to the family of God, but since He is your sanctification you possess what you need. You will have to learn this, that what you are is utterly valueless. You died with Christ, and all that you are, as a man in the flesh, disappears from God's eye. We are in Him. Will that do? I could not have anything better, and God will not let me have anything less, "That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord" (1 Cor. 1: 31). Now you can boast in the Lord.

In the sixth chapter of 1 Corinthians you get the kind of people God sanctifies: "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind. Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Cor. 6: 9-11). "And such were some of you." It does not say that they had all been this. But some of us are convicted. "And such were some of you: but ye are washed." Is not that nice, after getting all this terrible list of sins? "But ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." You see, beloved friends, there are two sides to this positional aspect of the truth of sanctification. There is the work of the Lord Jesus Christ for us in death, and there is likewise the work of the Holy Ghost in our souls, and the order is striking here, viz., that sanctification precedes justification in the soul's history.

Now if you come to the epistle to the Colossians, you will not exactly find the word "sanctification," but you will find the thing expounded in the way the Spirit of God presents the actual state of the believing soul. "Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins" (Col. 1: 12-14). So what is the truth? You and I can give thanks to God that we are fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. You will never be more fit for the inheritance of the saints in light than you are at this moment. Your fitness is what the Lord Jesus is. He is your sanctification, and "giving thanks to the Father" is the outcome. Are you doing it? Does your soul go out in thanks to the Father for making you fit to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light? Fit for God. God is light And you are fit for God. Not in yourself, of course, but through that which Christ is, and Christ has accomplished.

How is this brought about? We will look at the work of the Lord first of all. Turn to Hebrews 2. You get the truth presented in rather a different way there. Yet it is very important. "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren; in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee" (Heb. 2: 9-12). God is bringing many sons to glory, and in order to it makes the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. That is Christ. "He that sanctifieth" is Jesus, and "they who are sanctified," all that are Christ's, and they are "all of one." He does not say what. No one word could describe it. But they are all of the same order — of one Father, one character, one family. What a wonderful thing for the soul to get hold of. Of every believer in Jesus, is it true that they are "all of one."

Amazing grace! Get hold firmly of this, that you, as a believer in Jesus, form one of this sanctified company. Glorious truth, they "are all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren." I hope you would be ashamed to call him "Brother," even "Elder Brother." He is not ashamed to call us His brethren, but remember, He is our Lord. That is the point for us to take in. In chapter twentieth of John He said to Mary, "Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God" (John 20: 17). She went and told them, and they all came together. Then came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, "Peace be unto you." Thomas was not there on the first Lord's day, but when the brethren told him about the meeting afterwards, he took good care to be there the next time, and when the Lord came in Thomas knew that it was Jesus, and he said, not "My Brother," but "My Lord and my God." That is it. Young convert, never forget that He is your Lord. He calls us His brethren by infinite grace, saying, "I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the congregation will I sing praise unto thee" (Ps. 22: 22). He gives us His own place before God, and then leads the praises of the sanctified company.

You will find the basis and groundwork of all this in Hebrews 10, where the atoning work of Christ is unfolded: "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (ver. 10). What is it that sanctifies us? It is the death of the Lord. On the altar has been offered this blessed, holy, spotless Victim. All the credit, the value, and the blessedness of that which Christ was in His perfectly acceptable and infinite holiness Godward, that is all yours and mine. He took our place in death, and bore our judgment, thus we get His place in life and glory. Oh, what rest for the soul to see this. I have not to look at, or expect anything from myself any longer. "For by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." So here I find that I am not only a sanctified person, but I am perfected. It is perfection as to the conscience before God. The conscience of the worshipper is to be the reflection of the value of the offering. If the offering be not perfect, the conscience of the worshipper will not be easy, and vice versa. The offering was not perfect in the Old Testament, God was not pleased, and the worshipper's conscience was not purged. What is meant by "perfect as pertaining to the conscience," is that the full light of God is on me, and it cannot find a spot The offering has been so perfect that it has put every sin for ever away from God's sight. This could not be till Jesus came, "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins," but one great truth of the gospel now is, that the condition of the conscience of the worshipper is the reflection of the infinite value of the sacrifice.

The blood of Jesus has infinitely glorified God about sin, hence your conscience is to be absolutely purged by that blood. By His offering you are sanctified, and more than that, you are perfect as pertaining to the conscience. You will find three beautiful things in this tenth of Hebrews: The will of God, the work of Christ, and the witness of the Holy Ghost. You have the Trinity active in our blessing. The will of God was to have us fit for his presence; Christ wrought the work of atonement for us on the cross, by which we are made fit; and the Holy Ghost came down to give us the witness that we are fit, saying, "And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more" (ver. 17). It is not only, beloved friend, that your sins are forgiven, but God says, My memory has been so affected by the blood of atonement, shed on Calvary's cross, that I have not only forgiven your sins, but I have forgotten them. If I offended you, you might forgive me, but you will never forget it. That is what man is. He does not forget. But look at this, when God wants to give your soul deep solid eternal peace, He says, "Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." Ah, what solid rest does that give.

Then there is the other side of positional sanctification, which I shall just touch on for a moment. That is the work of the Spirit of God. Paul says, "But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation — through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: whereunto he called you by our gospel" (2 Thess. 2: 13). It is not sanctification by the blood, but sanctification of the Spirit. Now there we get the Spirit's work, the separation to God which the Spirit produces in the soul, and there is. no doubt that the sanctification of the Spirit is a most important truth. In 1 Peter 1: 2 you get a somewhat similar expression. There believers are declared to be "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." You have there the effective work of the Spirit of God, the deep, real, inward work of the Spirit. If it had not been for the touch of the Spirit of God, we could never have been blessed. What was the first effect when you were touched by the Spirit? Was it happiness? No, the very reverse. See that man, convicted by the Spirit of his sins, he is very miserable. Never you mind, that man is sanctified, and next he will believe the truth. He goes to some preaching place, where he hears of the love of Jesus, and the death of Jesus, and that the blood of Jesus was shed for him. He exclaims, "Christ died for a poor, wicked sinner like me." He believes the truth, and gets peace, and the knowledge of salvation. That is it, do you not see. He will very likely tell you that he was converted that night. But no, there had been a work of God going on in him for some time previously. That then is the work of the Spirit of God in us. We are brought to see ourselves. Then come the exercises and agonies of the new birth. And now that soul begins to learn. He finds himself accepted in the Beloved, and he gets peace.

This may suffice on what I call the positional side of sanctification. God be praised for the grace that gives us this side of the truth, because it puts the soul clear in its relationship to God. Another night we will look at the practical side of the subject.

Eternal ages shall declare

The riches of Thy grace

To those who with Thy Son shall share

A son's eternal place.