From Egypt to Elim

… We come to Exodus again, the book of Exodus, in chapter 15, chapter 14, just a word, chapter 14, verse 13. We just read the 13th verse of the 14th chapter once again. We read it now, see nothing. And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you today. For the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever. Verse 15, And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forth. Verse 19, And the angel of God which went before the camp of Israel removed and went behind them, and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face and stood behind them. Verse 25, And took off their chariot wheels that they drove them heavily, so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the LORD fighteth for them against the Egyptians. Verse 27, And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared. Verse 29, But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea. Chapter 15, verse 1, Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this psalm unto the LORD, and spake, Saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously. The wholesome Israel hath he thrown into the sea. The LORD is my strength and song. He is become my salvation. He is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation, my Father's God, and I will exalt him. Verse 13, Thou, by mercy, hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed. Thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation. Verse 17, Then thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O LORD, which thou hast made for thee the dwelling, in the sanctuary, O LORD, which thy hands have established. The LORD shall reign forever and ever. Verse 20, And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dancers. And Miriam answered her, Sing ye to the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously. The wholesome Israel hath he thrown into the sea. So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Sheol. And they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. And when they came to Marva, they could not drink of the waters of Marva, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marva. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the LORD. And the LORD showed him a tree, which when he had passed into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There he made for them a statute and ordinance. And there he probed and said, If thou wilt diligently harken to the voice of the LORD thy God, I will do that which is right in his sight. I will give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes. I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians. For I am the LORD that healeth thee. And they came to Elim, and three score and ten palm trees. And they encamped there by the waters. It is not a pleasant place to be in, last evening, beloved saints of God, I mean in Egypt. We are glad enough to know that the death of Christ opens out a way for us out of Egypt. It brings us into the wilderness of Sheol, where we learn what the blessed God is, at the same time learning what we are. Tonight, God willing, I would like to take you for a very short journey, just from Egypt to Elim. Pausing at Marlow on the way, and looking at Elim as a place of refreshment and encouragement. The scripture, you may recall, is very full of journeys. We are looking at one this afternoon down at Whitley Bay, the journey of the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, you remember, how he got to the religious city and was able to purchase a copy of Isaiah, and then ask the rather important question, of whom is he speaking? Is it himself, or is it another man? Beloved, you know as well as I, it's another man. Wonderful end to a journey. You're making a journey, beloved, to come to this other man. That's what Marlow will teach us, I hope, when we get to it. It's a question of another man. And it's a journey here that perhaps some may be reluctant to take. I don't mean, beloved brethren gathered here tonight, but many dear saints of God seem to be reluctant to take, even a short journey. One has noticed it, I doubt not you have noticed it. I often have wondered how many yards, I haven't ever taken the trouble to find out, how many yards it is from the brazen altar, say, past the labour, to the door of the tavern. How far is it? It's only a short distance, obviously. And yet, you know, beloved saints of God, we're very reluctant to tread these few places for some reason. We would rather, like a goat, you know, on a string, go round and round the brazen altar, because it tells us of what God has done for us. It tells me that God has forgiven my sins. It shows me what God is for me. And all that sort of thing, so I love perhaps, we love to go round and round the brazen altar, where the blessed God after all has put a labour a little further along, and a little further along an entrance into his holy presence. And alas, alas, even that brief journey, we seem often enough reluctant to take. We would rather get up and thank God for what he's done for us, than see his intimate presence in the Holy of Holies. However, that's by the way, here's a journey, a very brief one tonight, then till evening. We've got to cross the Red Sea, it's true, these people crossed it actually, physically, you and I are called upon, of course, to cross it spiritually. We see there that God paved the way, all you and I have to do is to walk it. God has done it, you walk it. It's important, because if you hope to serve the blessed God, the Lord Jesus Christ, as we said last night, you'll have to walk it. You can't serve God except from Egypt, a strong base of military operations. Actually the first base of military operations you find in the book of Joshua, Gilgal, where the Spirit is prominent, but that's too far ahead at the moment. No, there's no base of operations in Egypt, we've got to be across Egypt. Once we've crossed Egypt, going across it at least, I trust we realize that this path, this way, has been marked out for us, worked out for us, if you will, and all we do is to walk through it. You see there, God has done it. This is a great thing that God and Christ have worked out between themselves. You and I have had no hand in it at all. True, we saw last night there was this objective side, where the Spirit would speak to our hearts when we're inside the house, while the avenging angel is going over the house, it's partly true there is this side. But again, we are brought to this objective side, and we see the death and resurrection of Jesus as the waters of the Red Sea open up before us. What an amazing sight it must have been. You remember we marked time last evening at Witsend Corner. There they were, puzzled, not knowing what to do, and all they had to do, God says, is you just stand still and I'll do the working. What a blessing God you and I have. What a marvellous thing it is, beloved saints of God, that you and I are not called upon to do anything to assure our presence there. It's all in Christ. God gives it. But you still have something to do down here. There is responsibility here, of course, to which we need to answer. Wherever in the New Testament, for instance, in Colossians and in the Hebrews and other places, you get the little word, if. You know immediately the responsibility is in you. But here's something, this is something God has done. He's opened the waters of the sea. The crystal walls, there they are. What are they? They're a protection, beloved. Nothing to fear. There they are, reared up by God, and we pass them. It's finished for you, I trust. We started with the exhortation in verse 13 of standing still, but probably upon my heart tonight was the time, today. I want you, says Jehovah, to stand still today and see. Not tomorrow. When you come to the priesthood, God said I'll show you tomorrow. But when there's a question here of the Red Sea, he said I want you to stand still today. You don't put this after tomorrow. You do it today. You cross the Red Sea today. Because God has opened the way, you've got nothing to do, only walk across it. This is what the story is about, surely. The work is done. The avenging angel has done its solid work, its terrible work in general. The firstborn of the Israelites were free, protected, but now there they go across in ranks, you remember, in fire. It just means, beloved, they weren't a ragged mob. On the contrary, they were a disciplined company, and they went across in ranks. So we get down then to verse, the next verse we read, 15. And the command again, the command this time really is go forth, advance. I remember reading that Wellington at Waterloo rode along the front of the ranks and said the whole line will advance. That meant the end of the enemy. But here it doesn't mean the end of the enemy because of their advance. The advance in this case, beloved, contrary to the human method, the advance in this case is because the work has been done. The obstacles have been removed. I wonder, beloved saints of God, whether you and I have really taken to heart that there's no obstacle at all in your way and mine. The blessed Christ of God, by his death and resurrection, has removed every obstacle. Why we hesitate on the brink, I don't know. But there it is, off and on the dear saints of God are reluctant to take this step through the Red Sea. Through the Red Sea, they're in good company. There they were, they sailed in ranks with the people of Israel. I don't know how many tens of thousands there were, but they went through. And this is the point, they went through insanely. They not only saw the salvation of the Lord, but they experimented, they experienced it. This was an experimental matter. Your soul, beloved, my soul, do we know experimentally what it means to leave Egypt behind us? Have our affection and soul been taken up there by the blessed Christ of God as he did Mary's, do you remember? Where is your heart, beloved? Is it up there in the keeping of Christ? If it is, you want to leave Egypt. Because there's nothing of Christ in Egypt. We saw it last evening. Egypt is the land where they disliked the shepherd. Fancy the good shepherd being disliked, beloved. You and I have seen the kind of folk who hate the good shepherd. The shepherd says, Joseph, we're an abomination in Egypt to the Egyptians. Would you like to remain in the company of people to whom the good shepherd is an abomination? Of course you would. And yet the last of us, what do we do? We know, we know so little, and our affections are so light, that we often mark time and stay the wrong side of the Red Sea. But that's not, perhaps, quite so evident as staying the wrong side of Jordan. But nevertheless, we must start here, because it's given to us here. The Red Sea is over now. Now, that's verse 15. The command is, God, go forth. Which way do we go? God has made the way. This is important. This has been worked out, I say it again, because of such vital importance. This way has been worked out between Christ and God. They have done the work between them. It is God's thoughts that have been, it's the work of the message of Christ to God. And He has effected this, and the way is open, and the invitation now to you and to me is, today mark you, go forth. Go forth, all beloved saints of God. You know, in the divine life, in the Christian pathway, there's no question of marking time. You have to keep going forth. The alternative is retrograde. Hold on a second. So, the command then, tonight, we will say, if you listen to the voice through Moses, the great reader of Jehovah himself, go forth. Here it is, beloved. Are we prepared? Take God at His word. Understand there's no obstacle whatsoever in the way, and go across with a glad and free heart the way that God has made. May I say it just once again, at the risk of boring you, beloved saints of God, God made the way, you and I, we walk it. Now, when we get to verse 19, the angel of God, I was very struck by this. Some person, you see, the angel of God, he's there, active on overcoming. God for them, you see. This is what verse 19 and verse 23 bring out very clearly. God is for them, Romans 8. If God is for us, who can be against us? Beloved, did you ever see it expressed so vividly and clearly and so beautifully as in the Red Sea? God is for His people. And you've dropped this, beloved saints of God, in your reflection, that the blessed God is on your side. He's for you, not against you. He's for you. Christ has cleared every obstacle away, I say it again, and God is for us. If God be for us, goes the divine argument. If God be for us, who can be against us? Can the Egyptians be against us? Egypt was very reluctant to let the people of God go. Of course, Egypt won't let you go, beloved people of heaven. It will put out all its tentacles and try to hold you back, all manner of means. A brother said to me, I think it was the day before yesterday, he said, every time you open the paper, what do you get? Every time you look at the TV, what do you see? And I said, the obvious answer is you don't mind opening the paper, you don't look at the other. Of course, you'll get horrible things. Of course, you'll get the world. That's what it's for. I know it's in the desert. When you get in the desert, beloved, if you want to be in the mind of Jehovah, you will feed early in the morning on the manna. That will be your first choice. Not the news, the manna. The news of a new country. The news of a heavenly state is here. The news of a fearless man who adorns the Father's throne. First thing in the morning, feeding upon the precious Jesus. Wonderful, isn't it? Wonderful opportunity opened up to you and to me. It opened me up. However, God for us then. The angel of God is there in person. He's taking the count and he's clearing the way, so to speak, and guarding the people. And then God acts in verse 25 and takes off the chariot wheels. Everything is going wrong now for the Egyptians because God is for his people. I'm sure there's a great deal of us, spiritually, if we could grasp that God is for us. And then we would argue, of course, with the great apostle, if God is for us, there's no question about it, who can be against us? See what a kind of people we are, beloved saints of God. What a boasting I mean. Think of yourselves. Think of yourself as belonging to the blessed God, to the work of the purest Jesus. There you are, acceptable in his sight. Approved of his, left down here to represent him. Where is Jesus seen today if he's not seen in the assemblies of the people of God? Or seen in the individual persons of the saints of God? Of course, it's the only place he can be seen. Where could God go tonight? Where could the Spirit of God go? Where could Jesus go? Well, he could only go to that place where the beloved saints of God are to be found. So he's for us, that's the point. God for us. Let's re-echo that. With jubilation, who can be against us? What a clearness. Have you enjoyed the beloved saints of God, this clearness? Have you stood on this side of the Red Sea? Have you joined the great leader of the singing? Because it's Jesus here. I know it says Moses, because he was the leader then, but it is Jesus singing. It is Jesus celebrating his great victory with God. It is the great leader here having something to say. This takes one's mind, of course, away from the subject, but one mustn't go down five paths, of course. Time is too short and precious. But, you know, beloved saints of God, it's very important that he is the leader of the singing of the saints of God. Beloved saints of God, do we give the leader a chance when we come together? Do we give him a chance? I don't know what we're talking about. It's very vitally, very important. You know, when he's delivered from the transpiring judgment of the horns of the unicorn, you'll remember Psalm 22, verse 21. What does he say in verse 22? I will sing. Make known thy name. He's going to make the Father's name known. And he's going to lead the singing. Lead the singing to whom? To the Father. Do you think, beloved saints of God, that you can lead singing to the Father? You'll lead this purest man in the glory to the sin. He's the grand leader of the singing of the saints of God. Let us make room for him in our meetings, I mean, in our worship meetings, if you will, in our Lord's Supper meetings. Let us make room for the great leader, the choir master of the saints of God. Well, there's a little bit by the way, but God is for us. And the song in verse, in chapter 15 now, verse 1, is as I said, the song of Christ, Moses, and the children of Israel, it says, they sang this song unto the Lord. And saying, I will sing unto the Lord. He's triumphed gloriously. I want you to notice this because it will occur again in a moment, in a different light. He has triumphed gloriously. The horse and the rider have been thrown into the sea. Now, beloved saints of God, you're over the Red Sea, spiritually I mean. You're now on the desert sands. No piles in front of you. No piles in the wilderness. There's no material there for you. There's no sustenance in the wilderness for you. There's neither food nor drink from this company over the Red Sea, but they're over the Red Sea. They've left Egypt behind. And they are shut out to God. Would you be shut out anywhere else, beloved saints of God? Do you think this God is sufficient? Do you believe the God who has sold his 3 million people perhaps, through the Red Sea, cared for them for 40 years, and put up with them their imperious spirit and no openness or anything? Would you trust yourself to this kind of God? Well, that's a Christian's God. This side of the Red Sea is shut out to God. Every bit of sustenance for the new man comes from above. No question about it. I don't know where you seek refreshment and sustenance. I doubt not you seek it where all good Christians seek it. Seek it from the man in the garden. That's it. There's plenty of artificial suggestions put out by Satan, who is the God, you remember, and prince of this world. Religiously he's in charge, and politically he's in charge of this world, and there's much comes from him, beloved, that will attract your attention unless your ears are closed to his wiles, and you are attracted to the man in the garden. Well then, what do we find first? Some essential things in verse 2 of the wilderness journey. I always like this, to be an encouragement to us all. He says, the Lord is my strength. Isn't that exactly what you want in the wilderness? You want somebody to be on your side. You want somebody to be able to meet every problem, every difficulty, and every enemy. Well, says the singer here, God is this. It's just what he is. He is my strength. And then, and so on. Are you satisfied? Beloved, what opens your mouth? What opens your mouth? Joy in your heart? Your song comes from the heart, through your lips, praise the blessed God, and why? Because of something he's done. That's it. You're satisfied with this God? Is that true? You're satisfied with this precious Jesus? Satisfied with the position he now holds in the glory? Satisfied with the work he did when he was down here? Satisfied and thankful, blessed God, that one day he's going to rule, even in Newcastle, he's going to rule upon his own throne. Are you satisfied with Jesus? Well then, let's lift the heart and song to him and praise. Isn't that what he says? Moses sang this song. This is Christ, I doubt not, celebrating his victory. Has he got a right to celebrate his victory? Of course he has. And he does celebrate his victory in song. Lord is my strength in song. This, of course, is in the hearts of the people too. And he has become my salvation. You're saved. God is your salvation. No matter what the evil that is around you, without all the evil of it, he's your salvation. You see this? Salvation really is a term which embraces a great deal more, I think, than we give it credit for. We often think of salvation as having just that being delivered. The blood of Jesus Christ, for instance, God's son, little delivered. But salvation is far, far wider and deeper than this. Salvation, beloved, takes you all the way home. There were years ago, we used to hear the expression, an all the way home saviour. That's what our God is, an all the way home saviour. And even on the road, he's able to save you from it. How often have I illustrated it in this way? If I've done it before here, you must have given me. You're just converted, a young brother, a young sister perhaps, you haven't been converted long. You haven't given up your worldly companions yet, perhaps. You're not truly out of Egypt, that is to say. And one of them comes knocking at your door, coming to the disco tonight. I think they call it that, I don't know. Or coming to something else tonight. No, I'm sorry, I've got to help my mother-in-law, not to do something. So he'll come back next Monday or next Tuesday night and you're not bothered all again. Ah, supposing the first time he'd come, you'd say, I belong to the Lord Jesus. He'd never come again. You'd never be troubled again, beloved young brother and sister. You'd be saved. You see the point? You'd be saved. And that's what salvation means. Saved from all the evil along the wilderness pathway. A wonderful position you and I hold, if we only accept God at his word. I look there to him. He is my God. Well, I must leave that for you to go into. My father's God, I'll exalt him. That's the psalm of Moses. He speaks you unnoticed of the future. Prepare him and have he teach you. My father's God, I'll exalt him. Now I'm going to draw a distinction between a psalm and its chorus. We often sing psalms with choruses and enjoy them. But here's a psalm with a chorus. And the chorus brings to light, beloved, that there is a lack of appreciating the mind of God. The psalm is alright. It talks of deliverance, talks of salvation, talks of God being my God, talks of God's habitation, talks of the future, the purpose, the mind of God. Of course, celebrated by the precious Jesus because of his death. Celebrated by Moses as he looked and saw all the enemies dead on the seashore. Purpose is there, beloved. And if you don't grasp purpose, you'll never get as far as the brazen serpent or down the slope over the rejoinder. You must grasp God's purpose concerning himself and his people and the exaltation of Jesus. And that's where the chorus failed. The chorus left an opening for rebellion. And rebellion came in, beloved. It's the thin edge of the weight. Paul recognized this in writing to Philippians. He said, you two sisters have disagreed. It's time you gave it up. You so and so, you give it up. You so and so, you give it up. There's only room for one mind in the assembly and that's the mind of Christ. It's the thin edge of the weight coming in at Philippi. It's the thin edge of the weight of rebellion coming in when Miriam, the subjective side, the response you see, fails, falls short and just celebrates the victory. Nothing of the purpose. The subjective side falls short of purpose, divine purpose. And beloved, she died, and I have to remind you, Miriam died in the wilderness. Two men didn't. They grasped God's purpose. They went so far as to say, if God delights in us, he'll bring us through. That's it. Well, that's the verse 20. Yes. Verse 20. Miriam the prophetess, she sang in verse 21. Very right in following what she said. Very good indeed. But it lacked something. It lacked an appreciation of the purpose of God. Now, can we, so to speak, just stand still for a moment and review what's happened up to now. We come out of the Wixanian corner. We stood still and seen God's salvation. We've seen before us the amazing sight of the path to the sea gradually opening up before us and we've gone over, we're there, we're there, over the sea. Now, professional. As a professional Christian, you were baptised. You professed when you were baptised you crossed the sea. You professed you'd gone away to Christ had gone. That's very good. I don't know of anybody who when he's baptised or she is baptised really understands baptism. It's the kind of thing that comes later in life. So the point that I'm making is just this. You can be over the Red Sea professionally. You see what I mean. But you could not, you could be over it. You needn't be over it I ought to say in the light of Romans 6 and 11 by reckoning. That's the two different. If you're over it professionally, I've been baptised, you professed Christian, right and proper. Right and proper. No Christian should be here tonight who is not baptised of course. But there's one thing you see to be baptised and being a professional Christian and another thing to enter into it and reckon yourself dead in deed, under sin and so on. That's a good way isn't it? That's the way. That's the way. They just spill it and place hold of these things. And so we have to leave diligently and we move on now if we may. We're three days by the time we get to verse 22. We're out of Egypt. In reality one assumes now, not merely professionally. In reality we're out of Egypt. We've left it behind. We're in the wilderness. We're no resources now, only God. This is a lesson beloved they had to learn. And this is a lesson we had to learn. If we haven't learned it yet may God help us to learn it more and more. We all need to go on learning it. There's no resources beloved saints of God in the wilderness for the new men. Will you take this to heart? You may spend a great deal of your time looking for refreshment here and looking for refreshment there. On the library shelves or whatever you like. You won't find it beloved because there's no refreshment and no sustenance here that doesn't come down from above. Until we learn this we shall never be what we ought to be. So three days in the wilderness. What do you find? There's no refreshment in the wilderness. Did you expect it beloved? He's expected it constantly. Didn't we expect it? Of course we expected it. We had to be taught differently. We had to be taught there's nothing in the wilderness for the new man at all. The man of God. All his resources. I know I said it before. I say it again to impress it upon your affections and conscience. All your resources beloved saints of God come from a glorified name up there in the presence of God. But you say we're in the wilderness. Of course you're in the wilderness. And these are the lessons that you have to learn. And this is the first lesson. The very first lesson beloved you learn when you cross into the Red Sea is that you're in a place where it's no good looking around because there's nothing there for you. You have to look up. That's Moses' mistake in Egypt you remember. He looked around everywhere but he forgot to look up. Never mind. God used him. Took him out of Egypt as I said last time. You can't serve God from Egypt. Moses had to get out of it. And he had to have a glimpse of the glory before he could be an effective servant. Well now three days there's no more. What's to happen? What's going to happen? You must have refreshment. I don't know if you ever heard of the desert rats? I was in the air force and those men came down in the desert out east and survived. There were not many. That means they walked the desert sands until they found a refuge. They formed a club called the desert rats to celebrate the fact that they had escaped all the terror of the wilderness. Now not likening ourselves to desert rats but beloved if we've gone home safely we need to understand there's nothing in the wilderness. If there's one thing these poor airmen who were ditched in the sands found out was there was nothing there for them. Nothing at all. They had to stick it up. And those who I said the few that succeeded they got home and formed this society. And the blessing of the wilderness of course in the wilderness there's nothing for us. And so there's no water there. And so you come to Marble. You come to Marble. And you find water. And to that consternation it was bitter. He didn't expect this. Neither did you. You didn't expect to find this sort of thing. You thought everything was going to be plain sailing. We all did. You see you can't dodge these stages on the journey through the wilderness. You must find yourself at Marble. Spiritually I mean. Before you can go on to Eden. It's imperative. There are two things in the Christian life perhaps above all others. The first is obedience and the second is praise to God. We've dealt with the praise side. The question of obedience comes out at Marble. I mean the obedience of another. I'm not talking so much about your obedience of mine for a moment but the obedience of another. I don't know where you take your theology from beloved saints of God but we are in the danger of taking it from him. And you'll never do. You must take your theology from the word of God. There's nothing new in saying this I'm sure. Thy cross has made them sweet we often say. We mean it. Blessed be God. Of course this cross has made everything sweet for the soul. But is it his cross? It doesn't even say a tree in the real version. A piece of wood. Wood of the dead. Thrown into the bitter waters. Made them sweet. Beloved saints of God. This holy precious obedience of the impeccable Jesus. A new kind of life beloved is brought before us. His life. Never been anything like it before. If you and I, so to speak, absorb something of the preciousness of the obedient Jesus, it will teach us something of what Marble means. If you've suffered in the flesh, that's meaning you've ceased from sin. That's what you do at Marble. You get hold of a drop of water and you find it isn't what you thought. Why? It cuts right across your fleshly taste. Of course it does. There's nothing there, beloved, unless you have the precious Jesus there. There's nothing there that will truly satisfy you. You find it bitter and you want to spit it out. Why? Because you've got a new existence. You've got a new life. You are, so to speak, a new person. You're linked to a new man. The old is gone. You're linked to a new. And the new man can't bear this old thing. Bitter waters. God makes it sweet. He would have your heart and mine, beloved saints of God, enjoy this holy obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ. This utter perfection that we see in His holy impeccable walk down here before the Father and the Son. So they throw in a piece of wood. There it is. Incredible wood of the desert, possibly. There it is thrown in. His holy, manual, His simple, delightful obedience to the will of Him who sent it. Your soul and mine. Thriving on this. Delighting in it. Finding food therein for its satisfaction and delight. Discovering there's nothing in the desert for the new man at all, we must be shut up to him. Glad and thankful to the blessed God that it is so. Looking round and saying, well, if others want to be and find refreshment or think they can find refreshment somewhere else, at least I've learned this, the waters of mine are bitter. And we need this precious Jesus and His utter dependence and obedience. The two come in the trade of a perfect man. We need them, beloved, treasured in our souls. Our affections feeding upon them in all that we too might experimentally be able to say that we, having suffered in the flesh, we have ceased from sin. There's one little negative, beloved, you'll learn and marvel, and that is to say no. That's what it's all about. You've vowed to say no to the flesh. Suffered in the flesh, you've ceased from sin. The temptation has been there, but you haven't given way. That's the point. You've suffered in sin, you've said no, and you've found liberty. You've found pleasure and joy. You're going the way of the Master with it. Wonderful, precious opportunities for the soul and marvel to learn to say no. We'll hang on tomorrow, and until we've been tomorrow, I ought to say, you will never, we shall never arrive at Eden. In verse 26, I'd like you to notice the last line. It's a name of Jehovah, as a matter of fact. Jehovah Rapha, however you like to pronounce it. Jehovah Rapha. The Jehovah who healeth, that's what it means. Jehovah healeth. That's what he said at the age of 26. I've brought certain diseases upon the Egyptians, but I am the Lord who healeth. This is the one with whom we are committed, to whom we but they are leaders. We've got one whose name is Jehovah Rapha. Marvelous, isn't it? When you set out on the Christian journey, that you're going to be accompanied by such a God as this, that he's going to put you to this test and that test, always to bring out the unperfections that he saw in the precious Christ of God. And so, you get to verse 26 and you learn something about Jehovah Rapha, or Rapha, Jehovah who healeth. And then you get to Eden, and you find something else. You find Jehovah Jireh. Jehovah Jireh. Remember, when Abraham and Isaac are climbing the mountain, Abraham says, the Lord will provide. Actually, the Hebrew, Jehovah Jireh. Marvelous, isn't it? Jehovah Rapha, or Rapha, the God, the Jehovah, that takes care of you and heals you. Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides everything for you. And that's what he's provided in Eden. You may not agree with this, I'm not taking it out of any book. It just appeals to me. Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides for the needs of his people. And how needy, after learning the path of obedience, beloved, having been taught the bitterness, and there's nothing in the wilderness for the human. There's only sustenance for the flesh to be found there. Having learned this, I say, having walked the path of obedience, you can now enjoy it. Jehovah Jireh, God's provisions for you. And what are they? They came to Eden, 12 wells of water. I don't know if you've ever been to the desert, if you have, you'll know what water means. But there's one thing, as long as you could wish for in the desert, to see a cold water tap turned on. They came to Eden where there were 12 wells of water. The word here is eyes, or springing wells, water. They're called eyes because from a distance it's what they look like. But they were springing wells, refreshment, beloved, spiritual refreshment, for the obedient soul. Of course, for the disobedient soul, not at all. Not at all. If you persist in eating leaven, God says, you will come to a bad end. You may not think it, you go on enjoying, we might go on enjoying leaven, thinking, oh, this is good, I like this. But God says otherwise. He says, spiritually, you'll die if you go on persisting, having leaven in your household, and eating leaven. It must be unpleasant, beloved. Well, you've walked a path of obedience. You've taken God at his word, and now this is one of the happy results, we might say. For the able and obedient path leads you into the place of refreshment and sustenance. You see how very rightly the Spirit of God adds one marking time, place, or week to another. And so moving out of Eden, you cross the Red Sea, you find a song in your heart, because you're following the singing of the great leader of the praises of his heavenly. And you go a little further, and you discover that there's nothing in the wilderness for you at all, there's no water there. You've got to look to somebody outside the wilderness. And so you look up, holy place, you look up. What does he do? Well, first of all, he tests you a little bit. He gives you to see that you must put your trust in him. You must walk an obedient path. And so he makes the water bitter, and you taste it, and you say, I don't like this. It cuts across everything you have wanted in your life, perhaps. You know, I was thinking this afternoon when the Lord healed several people who were lying on their beds. Do you notice what he said to them? He said, rise, take up your bed. Take it up, take up your bed and walk. Why? You'll never need it again. What's the bed? What's your bed? What's my bed? You know, I know. Those things, beloved, that you once found and said were absolutely necessary for your life. You must have this, and you must have that. That's your bed. The Lord said to them, you're going to have to give it up. Put it on your back and take it away. You won't want it anymore. The new man doesn't want a bed. He wants nothing to relax upon. And so here, there's a fresher here from the obedient soul, and there are three quarantined palm trees, and they encamp there by the waters. Romans 5. We shall go into it. You can if you will. Romans 5. You don't get to look at it the first few verses and find something of the precious fruits of this wonderful tree that God brings before you in Romans 5. But shall we leave ourselves there, so to speak, tonight? Marking time happily, encamped by the refreshing streams, feeding upon the fruit of the palm trees, our souls refreshed by the springy wells. What a wonderful place to be. Beloved saints of God. And how do we get there? Because we've come out of Egypt, and we've crossed the Red Sea, and we've learned the bitter lesson that there's nothing in the world for us. And we've decided that the only place to look is up there. And up there we've looked in obedience. We've been moved by considering the world of the precious Christ through this world. And we've decided to emulate Him, to be here for Him, like Him. And the result of all this is that we find a refreshment in the world of this palm tree. Wells, springy wells, and the fruit of the palms. And not only so, but encamped, it says there, by Him. A better place than this, isn't it, to leave ourselves tonight? We were compelled last night to leave ourselves at that other place, where we were surrounded by enemies, and looked as though everything was over for us. But tonight, thank God, having walked a path that He has set out for us, across the sea, by way of martyrdom healing, we find that we are in that happy position of feeding upon what He provides, and our souls refreshed by these springy wells. …