The Promise and the Promise Keeper

You our work there, we will be again. In the 23rd Chapter. In 1773 a young man fearing another bout of Darkness and depression was coming upon him raced home and pinned these words.

God Moves in a Mysterious Way

His.

Wonders to perform. Treasures up his bright designs and works his sovereign will. You fearful Saints fresh courage take the clouds you so much dread or big with mercy and shall break him blessings on your head.

Just not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust him for his grace. Behind a frowning Providence. He hides a smiling face. His purpose will ripen fast unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to air and scan his work in vain. God is his own interpreter and he will make it plain. William Cowper in writing these words gives encouragement to the believers regarding the experience and the certainty of the work of Christ in their lives and.

This.

Encouragement this certainty is a Certainty and encouragement that comes not from any worldly source but is only found in the true promises of God and The understanding that not only is he the promise maker He is also the promise keeper.

The Bread of Life and the Promise of Eternal Life

In John chapter 6 verses 26 through 40 Jesus speaking to his Disciples says the following words. Jesus answered them and said truly truly I say to you you seek me not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.

Do not work for the food which perishes but for the food which endures to eternal life Which the Son of Man will give to you for on him the Father God set his seal. Therefore they said to him what should we do so that we may work the works of God?

Jesus answered and said to him this is the work of God that you believe in him whom he has sent. So they said to him what then do you Do for a sign so that we may see and believe you. What work will you perform?

Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness as it is written. He gave them bread from heaven to eat and Jesus replied to them and said truly truly I say to you Moses has not given you the bread from heaven, but the Father gives you the true bread from heaven.

For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the word the world. And they said to him Lord always give us this bread and Jesus said to them I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never hunger and he who believes in me will never thirst, but I Said to you you have seen me and yet you do not believe.

All that the Father gives me Will come to me and the one who comes to me I will never Cast out. For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. Now this is the will of him who sent me.

That of all that he has given me I lose nothing. But raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my father that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life. And I myself will raise him up on the last day if you'll notice the authoritative statements made by Christ specifically in the final two Verses of this passage we we read all of it to gain the context and understanding of what Christ was leading up to.

But it the the picture at the end the promise that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life. What a beautiful promise a promise that millions of people Who profess to be Christians? would gladly proclaim but the reality is that a promise is only as good as the promise keeper and so for many.

Although they will gladly state that those who profess and believe will Have eternal life they lose and find a little comfort in the real truth. Because at the end of the day, but they are not relying on the promise keeper but on themselves to keep the promise.

The thrust of this passage.

The.

Point that Jesus is making. Is that in all of these things? It is not the work or the effort or the faith or the belief that you and I have but it is the work that the Father is doing and has done Through Christ note in verse 6 37 all that the Father gives me will come to me in 39.

That all that he has given me. I lose nothing. And finally in John 6 40 that he himself Christ will raise him being those who believe up on the last day. Note that it is God who gives us it is God who keeps us and it is God and God alone.

Who will raise us up? The only true the only thing that truly helps us find beauty in a promise is the certainty and reliability of the promise keeper. All of us sitting here this morning can think of times in our life where people have made promises to us that they didn't fulfill and so we begin to as people have a lack of Belief in promises.

Because we are expecting the promise keepers the people who have made the promise to actually hold up to their end but there's a difference between Worldly earthly people as promise keepers and God as a promise keeper.

The Book of the Covenant and the Meaning of Covenant Faithfulness

So in our text this morning in the 23rd chapter beginning in the 20th verse we are going to be looking at the conclusion. Or as some would list it the epilogue to the book of the Covenant. So if you remember as we entered into this the book of the Covenant is written immediately following the Ten Commandments.

It is the civil laws or it is some Explanatory laws that go along with the Ten Commandments to give a little bit more situations. But in understanding what exactly we're looking at we need to first understand exactly what a covenant is.

Now for many people they hear the word covenant, and they go okay. Well, it's an agreement. But the reality is is a covenant is more than just an agreement a covenant is a a legal Binding agreement that is under a seal or a an attestation of an assurance.

That it will be kept that it will be enacted that it will be taking care of. Now in the ancient world it was common common for covenants to end much like the text for this morning with promises and warnings that deal with the Responsibilities of the parties involved and the failings of the parties to uphold their end of the agreement.

Now in our wonderful legalese of today we would say something along the lines of the party of the first part fails to uphold the Promise to the party of the second part and this would be the repercussions that the party of the first part would receive basically.

What this means is that each party in that is entering into the Covenant has a responsibility. And as we find ourself here in the book of the Covenant under in the covenant of the law the covenant of works the responsibility is that the people of God would do something and God does his part and so if think about it if you are shopping in a store and.

You.

Go and pick out an item from the shelf. You in the store have now entered into a form of a loose covenant for example.

You.

Have loosely promised to pay the Asking price for the item and the store has promised that if you pay the asking price for the item the item becomes yours now if you walk out. And you don't know. Broken promise broken the covenant and ultimately can be prosecuted.

God and the Israelites have entered into a covenantal relationship now. Please understand this covenant really goes all the way back to creation. These these laws that God has given the moral law has been in existence before time began.

But God is giving his people clear directions clear promises that will be received that they will have entrance into the land of promise and.

That is conditioned upon of the Covenant.

So these words this promise warning passage to Israel is for us a shadow of the new covenant promises and the certainty of the promise keeper. So let us stand as we read the Word of God together beginning in the 23rd chapter the 20th verse of Exodus.

Hear the Word of the Lord. Behold I am going to send an angel before you to keep you along the way and To bring you into the place Which I have prepared. Keep watch of yourself before him and listen to his voice.

Do not be rebellious toward him for he will not pardon your transgression Since my name is in him. But if you truly listen to his voice and do all that I speak Then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.

For my angel will go before you and bring you into the land of the Amorites the Hittites the Perizzites the Canaanites the Hivites and the Jebusites and I will annihilate them. You shall not worship their gods you shall not serve them and you shall not do according to their deeds but you shall utterly pull down and Shatter their sacred pillars into pieces.

But you shall serve Yahweh your God and He will bless your bread and your water and I will remove sickness from your midst. There shall be no one miscarrying or barren in your land. I Will fulfill the number of your days.

I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion all the people among whom you come and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you and I will send hornets ahead of you so that they will drive out the Hivites the Canaanites and the Hittites before you.

I.

Will not drive them out before you in a single year lest the land become desolate and the beast of the field become too numerous for you. I Will drive them out before you little by little until you become fruitful and take the land as an inheritance.

And I will set your boundary from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines.

The Angel of Yahweh as the Pre-Incarnate Christ

When you're holy.

Regarding supernatural beings one of which Teaches that we are not.

Created.

Beings meant to worship and serve. The Creator. Angels mentioned in the scripture are always subservient to God. They are his messengers. They are sent to do his will and. So why do I even bring up angels?

I'm gonna bring up angels because right here in verse 20 we encounter what God tells the Israelites is.

His.

Angel in verse 20. He says that he is sending his angel says behold. I'm going to send an angel before you. Now this angel that he is sending to them has a very specific set of commands very specific set of Purposes.

First of all the angel will be there to keep the people along the way. The word that is translated Used in the sense of keeping watch over or guarding the people against danger or against outside influence the Angel of God would be to cover and protect Israel until they entered into and settled into the promised land.

With keeping the angel is also told here to bring them or they are told that the angel will bring them. He says behold. I am going to send you an angel before you to keep you Into the place which I have prepared.

Now what is interesting about this this action here regarding the angel is that this is an action that has Absolutely, no foundation in anything or anyone other than God and the angel itself. The angel will protect bring them safely in verse 21.

We also additional promises the first direction here the instruction Here is for Israel to keep watch. Now this verb this word here carries the same root as keep in verse 20. But there is an addition to it in other words it is being used here in the sense of making sure that someone makes a point to act in a very purposeful and Intentional way.

So what the command to the Israelites were Is going to guard you keep you and although the angel is going to bring you your Responsibility is to watch Yourselves to be very intentional. You are being obedient to the commands that I have given and.

Noticed it says.

To his. So the statement is made that they are supposed to listen and obey Intentionally and with purpose the words of the angel. Now a normal individual reading this particular thing and maybe They've been listening here and gotten to this point and go well.

If we're supposed to listen and obey the angel who who exactly is this angel? And so there are Some theologians that would say that this angel is Moses. The problem is Moses doesn't enter the promised land.

And specifically says here the angel will bring you into the promised land. And so those people who have said it's Moses then say well if it's not Moses, then obviously it's Joshua. Joshua is the one who leads ultimately the people of Israel across the Jordan River and into the promised land.

But even this carries with it some Problems. And especially as we look at how the angel itself is described in the text and so if you'll notice the next statement in the verse I believe clearly answers the question.

The next clause of the verse states that the messenger will not pardon the transgressions of the people. But it gives a purpose or a reason for not pardoning these transgressions. The angel will not pardon the transgressions the angel.

The sin of the people because the very name of God is in him. Now if you remember as we have studied through Exodus and as we have talked about the name the covenant name of Yahweh to the people of God one of the.

The.

Understandings of names as we look at them is that they carry with them the very Attributes and the very essence of who the being is. And so by making the statement that my name is in him God is equating the angel with himself.

Now this.

Verse.

Seems to give us this picture. They they're to obey him. They have. The angel has the same strength in other words. He has the ability to guard to keep them. He has the same power of deliverance. If you remember earlier in the book of Exodus in the third chapter as we journeyed with Moses he encounters something at the burning bush in Exodus.

Read the angel of Yahweh Appeared to him and a blazing fire from the midst of the bush. And he looked and behold the bush was burning with fire and yet the bush was not consumed. Now in our Understanding and in the way we have come to study and be awakened to scripture We know that this is a theophany in appearing or a manifestation of God in the burning bush.

Yet scripture again attributes the title angel of God to this occurrence. What's interesting though? Is it is it later on in? the book of Judges There's a story regarding a young man named Samson some of you may remember.

That that person Samson he did a couple things. But coming after or during his story we find in Judges 13 chapter 17 of verse 17. We find these words then Manoah Said to the angel of Yahweh. What is your name?

So that when your words come to pass we may honor you so notice the question directly Deals with the question. We're asking who is this angel? Who is this thing that is being described as the angel of the Lord.

Now look at the response? But the angel of Yahweh said to him. Why do you ask my name seeing it is wonderful? So Manoah took the young goat and the grain offering and offered it on the rock to Yahweh.

He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on. Indeed it happened when the flame went up from the altar. Angel of Yahweh went up in the flame of the altar and Manoah and his wife saw this so they fell on their faces to The ground.

Now the angel of Yahweh did not appear to his wife again, but Manoah knew that he was the angel of Yahweh. So Manoah said to his wife we will surely die. For we have seen.

God.

Now a couple of things that I want to point out in that passage. First of all the way in there. Obviously he's saying he's he is giving us the truth that this is also a theophany that has occurred to Manoah.

But there's even another occurrence in this passage that hopefully you caught as we were reading down through it. Let me remind you verse 18. Verse 18 says. But the angel of Yahweh said to him. Why do you ask my name?

Seeing it is wonderful.

Now.

Maybe.

Maybe when you hear that statement your mind goes to Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6 Where it says. For a child will be born to us a son Into us and the government will rest on his shoulders and his name will be called wonderful counselor mighty God eternal father prince of peace.

John Calvin asking that answering this question stated this. But let us inquire who this angel was. The ancient teachers of the church have rightly understood it to be the eternal Son of God in respect to his office as mediator.

So what we have what we see what we're looking at in verse 20 in chapter 23 verses 20 and Following. In the book of Exodus dealing with the angel of the Lord is none other than the pre-incarnate.

Christ.

Who truly feels and is the only one who can truly feel this role of keeper? Guide and deliverer in his role as mediator. He truly is the one Who goes? before the full weight of verses 22 Are felt as we reach?

23 Notice what he says here in 23. He says for my angel will go before you and bring you into the land of the Amorites the Hittites the Perizzites the Canaanites the Hibbites and the Jebusites. Now before we go any further what I want to make clear here is this is not an Exhaustive list of the people in the land of Canaan all of these people were Canaanites and all of these people were from different villages but listing the six here and the three further down is simply a way that is used in scripture to Encapsulate all of the land.

So they're saying everyone within the land all of the people within the promised land fit into these categories. Now look at what he promises the angel will go before them. He will empty the land he will bring you into the land and God is going to Annihilate the people of the land, but this is done in response to a command given to the people.

If you look back up in verses 23 and 20 21 and 22 the command we see Continually is to be obedient keep watch of yourself before him and listen to his voice do not be rebellious toward him. But if you truly listen to his voice and do all that I speak Then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.

I will bring about this thing. I will deliver the angel of God the pre-incarnate Christ will proceed the people of God into the land of promise. He will bring the people into the land and he will completely deliver the land to them.

The ultimate promise of God to the people of Israel was full and Final defeat of their enemies, but it was done and accomplished through the work of God alone. Now a little bit later on we're going to run into a passage that talks about the Israel getting rid of them and being the people that they are the ones.

But if you Recognize what happens up until that point you'll see that it is all the hand and the work of the Almighty Father. And the acquisition of the land which he is promised through his power. This should sound very Familiar to you and I to us as believers today.

The message is not to follow God to have your best life now. The message is surrender all to me place all your faith all your hope all your trust in me. And I will fully finally and wholly deliver you into the eternal presence of myself.

Now the beauty of this the beauty of this the promise that God has made to the believers is this full and final eternal deliverance. But it is built on That he gives strength that he gives. All of it is based off of him and him alone.

The promise is truly being kept by the promise keeper who is God. Now for Israel. The commands that are found in these Responsibility in keeping the covenant.

And.

The covenant language from God was if we were to sum it all up if you will obey all that I command and worship me Alone that I will be your God and you will be I have made to you. That was the covenant between God and the people of Israel.

Now that's obviously a very broad command and So God in his gracious love and mercy Teaches his people he gave his nation the covenant laws. Which were designed to teach them how to please the covenant sovereign.

The next few verses next two verses specifically God once again reminds his people of their responsibility of To him. If you look at verse 24 We were we see four specific commands for Specific clauses here that deal with the response of Israel towards all other gods.

Look at this. You shall not worship Their gods. You shall not serve their gods. You shall not do according to their deeds. But you shall utterly pull them down and shatter their sacred pillars. So they were not to worship not to serve not to obey them.

This word worship here. We tend to hear the word worship and our immediate thought goes to singing songs in church this this this word is actually this Humbling of yourself this Submitting of yourself this bowing down of yourself before these gods and so the the command here was that they not bow Themselves before and submit themselves to these gods to serve as the actual work for the gods of the people of the land and the obedience speaks here to Participating in the rituals that exist for the purpose of worshiping and serving their gods.

We talked about a couple of those Last week specifically as we were looking through the text. If you remember the one that was really the odd one was about boiling the baby Goat in the mother's milk, right?

That was all a part of a ritual of the people Surrounding the Israelites and so this is a command again not to participate in those kinds of.

Actions.

Now.

If you take this verse and you only focus on the first three statements You only look at God's command not to Not to serve or not to obey these gods. You you do not get the full picture of the command.

Unfortunately in today's world this is exactly where we sit in Today's world. This is exactly what has occurred. They have taken those three commands and they have said okay. Well, then if that's the case, we can go along to get along or we can tolerate.

That's our word of the century right tolerance. We can tolerate other beliefs. But if you'll notice in the last clause of this verse the totality of his expectation Goes way beyond just going along to get along.

Now when we read this in the English language We lose some stuff. But you shall utterly pull them down and shatter their sacred pillars to pieces. Now we get that that says that you should pull down the idols that you should break them apart but there are some emphasis here that is found in the original language that that we Lose trying to translate into the English language and the best that we have been able to do is the addition of the word Utterly in the beginning of this clause.

So if you look here, it says but you shall utterly pull them down now. This the the actual language. Behind this is that you shall pull them down pull them down or pull down pull down and shatter shatter the emphasis being that there is to be an intentional effort being made by the people to Go and remove these idolatrous.

Idolatrous and false religious practices in the land. In other words, they weren't to just come into the land. Allow God to remove the people of the land and just be okay with the rest staying. They were supposed to work to remove every single Influence in their life of this stuff happening in their life.

It was not to be a passive role in the belief system of others but to seek and destroy the Means of worship of the people and there are a couple of reasons here. The basic reason that we find in the last two verses that we're going to talk about more detail in a few minutes but the danger is that these people would tend to adopt the practices of the religions around them and so the reality Is that this is exactly what happens as we study further into the history of Israel as they move into the promised land.

This is the exact occurrence that we see they are disobedient to God. They did not seek and destroy these places and items of worship and later they adopt them rebel against God the very one who delivered them into the land and ultimately as we should know from our study of the Word of God are expelled from the land of promise.

Now.

With all of that being said it is very important for us today to recognize that these Commands are a to a specific group of people at a specific point in history for a specific purpose. This is not a command that we should walk away from here and go.

Okay. Well, we need to tear down all the mosque synagogues and Churches, right? That's not the command that God is giving us. The command that God is giving you the principle that we find here that the Biblical principle that stands behind this that that has to be understood and applied in the life of a believer.

Is that where the people were to be obedient in order to receive first of all you have already received. We're doing this in order to receive the link. And they were to go and remove all of these things so that God would deliver the land to them so that he would give them the land holy and that they could be God eternally.

You and I as believers have the exact reverse of that. He has already given himself to us. He has already promised us. He has already made us his people eternally. We will inherit the land. We will obtain this.

But as.

A response to that as a response to what we have already Received we are called and required to be obedient the principle question in the principle in question here is the reality of the utter and total destruction of sin in Our lives you want to talk about?

Seek and destroy mission. You should go on a seek and destroy mission of the things in your life that are the flesh That are still waging war Romans.

8.

Paul writes to the church at Rome. However, you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you,. I love that first statement. Paul's not making any assumptions here preachers in every church.

They stand up in pulpits and they make assumption that the people they're talking to are all saved. Paul does not make that assumption here. Paul says If you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.

In other words. You could not have the Spirit of God willing you you could be sitting here listening to my voice reading this letter as Paul was Writing it and be lost. But Paul says I'm talking to those who the Spirit is within now.

You could be hearing this and the Spirit is not within you. That's not mean you shut up and don't listen. It's just not gonna make nearly as much sense to you. I'm paraphrasing Paul didn't talk like that.

Okay. That's good old southern English. But the reality is he goes on to say but if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him. He is not one of Christ's people but if Christ is in you.

Though the body is dead because of sin yet. The Spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him who raised you just fucking well Raise Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.

So then brothers. This is the part. This is the part where we as churches fail repeatedly. Because what we have done is we have softened the impact of the statement that Paul is fixing to make because what we have said Is listen, we all know that we're sinners and it's okay if you sin, that's not what Paul teaches.

That's not what God teaches. Look at the words.

So.

Obligation not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. For if you were living according to the flesh you must die. But if by the spirit you are putting to death the practices of the body you will live.

In other words you are not obligation in obligation any longer as a believer. If you are a believer in Christ if you are one of his children if you are His and his spirit dwells in you then you are no longer obligate under the obligation of the flesh.

You are no longer under the obligation of sin. You are Obligation of the spirit and you would be seeking to put the practices of the body. For as many as are being led by the Spirit of God These are the sons of God.

Listen.

And I and every believer are called or commanded to have an active role Against sin not just sin and other people. Even though that's what we like to go first, right? The first responsibility we have is to be fighting and working out and Removing the sin in our life.

Listen, we have been empowered.

By the Spirit of the Living God.

To fight and.

Fight we must the King James Version translate the text here as Mortify the deeds of the body or be putting to death sin in our life. Effectively getting rid of it. We are not called to sit back and just okay.

Well, we're a believer now and you know, yeah, we're a believer. But we're still a sinner. So it's okay if we sin. We are a call to pursue righteousness pursue holiness. Only being done and accomplished through his power as we look at verse 25 back in Exodus.

It begins with a command here, but you shall serve.

Yahweh.

And so it command it's a conjunction. But it's a conjunction pointing out that the next command is in direct opposition To the preceding commands. In other words instead of worshiping serving and working for the gods of the land they are commanded to worship and serve and work for the one true God.

Now as we begin to look at the second half verses 25 down through 31 or the next section This is what God will do for the people in the land if they are obedient and.

If they.

Follow his commands. He gives us a promise and that promise is that he will accomplish it amongst them. And it will be for their good. But just as us it will ultimately be. We made a comment earlier that there was at the end of verse 23 the statement that God would Annihilate them and in the original language this this statement is delivered with a force that again, we lose in the English language because Contrary to our popular belief the English language is not a perfect language and it loses much in its translation.

But we we lose a beautiful picture here of a force behind this and and we get it a little bit in the English language. With I will annihilate them. But what is really being? Conveyed here is it is an utter and total destruction that is done by the power of God alone now.

The the truth is in many of our churches. We don't have that picture that it is God working any longer but beginning in the second half of Verse 25. So if you look at the second half He says you will serve you shall serve Yahweh your God and then we get these two clauses and he will bless your bread and water and I will remove the sickness from your midst now these two terms food and sickness or Antithetical in other words, they are opposites.

Okay in the in the original language now. They're not necessarily opposites in our world. We get I get that but in the original language these were opposite words and the idea here is that this covers the whole gambit it is it is a Promise that he will cover and take care of the health and prosperity of his people.

So it demonstrates a range in other words. If you think about this compare it to God's description of himself and revelations as the Alpha and the Omega. It doesn't mean he is just this point and that point it means he is everything in between again, the same thing carries here in Exodus when he says food and Sickness is that he is dealing with and cake taking care of.

Everything in between it is a full provision by God 26. God demonstrates that he to the watching world. That he is Lord over all now. We read this passage and this is dangers of reading the Old Testament and And not really understanding what you're reading.

Sometimes we read the Old Testament ago. Oh, well, that sounds great. Like Jeremiah 29 11, right, but I know that plans I have to prosper you keep you but but you're not Israel and you're not in bondage to another country and been kicked out of your homeland.

Okay, so the promise is different. It doesn't work the same so we can't read this and we go.

Oh.

Well, if we believe God if we trust God if we if we have faith in God if we are saved by God. Then this will apply to us. It doesn't work that way this is again a very specific set of commands to a very specific set of a people at a very specific point in time for A very specific purpose that does have limitations, but the implications are not directly Equal to what we read here.

And so what we see this picture here in verse 26 there shall be no miscarrying or barren in your land actually deals not so much with Not losing children as it does with fertility as a whole and that being fertility in the family.

That being fertility in the land that being fertility and prosperity from one end to the other and so. When we look at this. One of the things that would happen and one of the things that went on in the cultures that surrounded the Hebrew people.