III.

Typical Teaching of Israel's Journeyings.

PART of the first chapter of the Book of Joshua :-" Now after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses: From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your coast. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee nor forsake thee."

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'HE journeyings of the Children of Israel, from their exodus out of Egypt to their entrance into the Land of Canaan, are full of typical teachings and striking analogies. They have a deep meaning underlying the narrative; and in fact we have here in picture the passage of the redeemed soul from bondage unto rest; from the kingdom of darkness unto the kingdom of God's dear Son, with the struggles, the difficulties, the trials, the temptations which are incidental to the way.

There was but one real hindrance to the people of Israel attaining anything, namely, their unbelief. It was

not that their enemies were too many for them, or the journey too difficult for them, or that the Great God was in any way straitened towards them. It was nothing but their own unbelief and distrust.

And as it was then, so it is now. I tell you it was a deep saying of the Lord, "If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye should say to this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the depths of the sea, and it should obey you." And how little our faith must be at the best, when our Lord tells us it is not even equal to a grain of mustard seed! Oh, brethren, let it be a whole-hearted, single-hearted prayer with each one of us, "Lord, increase our faith.” "All things are possible to him that believeth." Faith is the hand that lays hold on God; and "if God be for us, who can be against us?"

Faith is the eye that sees God; and the man that has looked upon God will fear no foe. Faith is the heart that rests on God; and no wind that ever blew from hell shall disturb the heart that rests on God!

Why are we not resting on the bosom of the Lord? Why have we not laid hold on God? Why are not our eyes so dazzled with looking upon God, and our ears so filled with the sound of God, that other sounds and other sights shall pall upon us? Just because we have not got faith! I tell you faith is the ear which hears the Word of God; and the man that can take the Word of God by simple faith into his heart and mind overcometh the world. But indeed, the best of us have not got faith even like a grain of mustard seed!

I have been prayerfully and carefully endeavouring to learn for myself, that I might, God helping me, be able

to instruct you with reference to the connection between the two stages of the children of Israel in their journey to rest, or what ought to have been their rest. First, we see them in Egypt grinding under the power and tyranny of Pharaoh, who hated them and enslaved them. I do not think there will be any great difficulty in any Christian who is listening to me recognising the condition in which grace first found us-slaves to the devil, the world, and the flesh.

I am afraid some of us have not yet discovered our slavery; and the consequence is we are still in the world, finding our pleasure in the world's pursuits, finding our pleasure in what the world can give us, and so intoxicated that we do not know we are in the world of darkness, and do not see that we are allowing all our care and attention to be engrossed by a world, all the works and all the things in which shall be burnt up!

But, thank God, some of us have learnt something of the world's slavery; and we have known the first great aspect of Christ presented to us in the history—that of the Lamb slain for us.

And we have gone behind the blood by faith, and the Destroying Angel has passed over us, and we have been forgiven.

Brethren, I trust I address many who understand and realise, and rejoice in this first stage of salvation; and remember, if you have not got so far, you have not got any way in the path of salvation !

I am sometimes twitted by dear friends in my congregation, who tell me I have never a word for anyone with weak faith. I want to know, brethren, how long is your faith going to be weak? Some of you have had weak

faith for twenty, thirty, forty-shall I say fifty years? When is it going to be strong? What do you think of a child that never grows beyond childhood? What do you think of a plant that never grows beyond an inch high?

If faith is given you, it ought to grow; and when a man has come to Christ twenty, thirty, or more years, and still has weak faith, all I can say is, more shame for him! Those that take knowledge of you ought to see that you have been with Jesus. Why, brethren, is your faith the only thing that is never to grow?

Now, bear with me, while I address you. Some of us, many of us (oh, would to God I could say all of us), have got behind the blood. Deal honestly with God's Word, which says, "When I see the blood I will pass

over."

Has He passed over? Take Him at His word—that is the first step. On the memorable Passover night, many had misgivings whether the blood would be sufficient. Oh, how they shivered with fear, and their cheeks blanched with terror, when the Angel passed by, expecting he might enter and touch them; but I say, brethren, when they went out through the blood-stained portals, led by the cloud of glory, there ought to have been no more fears, there ought to have been no more mistakes about the power of the blood.

Well, the second step was the passage of the Red Sea. That is another aspect of the blood.

The first is the substitution of the Lamb slain for you, and the blood presented to the Judge; and the Destroying Angel passed over wherever that blood was sprinkled

-the persons behind the blood were safe, irrespective of character!

Come now, reflect; do you understand that? Come now, you high-blown moralists, do you understand that? Do you take that in? Not your high notions of yourself, not your profession of morality, but the blood and the blood alone saves, irrespective of character. It is only when you have learnt that the blood has saved you that your character will begin to be formed.

When a man calls in question whether the blood is between him and judgment, he is an unbeliever. I don't care how long he may have been a believer, nor how weak his faith may have been; he is an unbeliever if he opens that question again. It is unbelief.

The next stage is the passage of the Red Sea. That delivers us, not from the judgment of God, but from the tyrant, Sin. The cloud is going before us; the Almighty arm is upon us; it is His power that delivers from slavery. The Red Sea put an end to Pharaoh; his chariots and horsemen are overwhelmed in the sea; and the same waters that drowned them all opened a pathway for Israel, who sang upon the other side-" Sing ye to the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath He cast into the sea."

Now, have you understood that? Have you got as far as that? If you have, for God's sake don't go back upon it again, and doubt what you profess to believe! What would you say-for we are speaking of growth in faith-what would you think if the Israelites, when they were passing through the heaped-up waters of the Red Sea, were affrighted lest the Destroying Angel should destroy them? It would be simply unbelief.

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