WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:07.780 Well, thank you so much for your very warm welcome. Can I bring to you the greetings of the church in Bedford where I serve? It's called Grace Community Church. 00:00:08.900 --> 00:00:18.640 And yeah, it's a privilege to come and bring God's word to you. We're going to look at a passage in the first part of the Bible called the Old Testament. 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:27.400 If you have one of these church Bibles, it's on page 70 and the passage is Exodus chapter 13. 00:00:27.399 --> 00:00:32.820 And we're going to read from verse 17 just to the end of the chapter. 00:00:37.379 --> 00:00:45.679 We're going back a long time ago, three and a half thousand years ago to another culture, but it had its own kings. 00:00:45.679 --> 00:00:52.700 They were called pharaohs. So you may have been and seen the great pyramids where those pharaohs wanted to be buried. 00:00:52.700 --> 00:01:03.580 Well, this is a particular pharaoh and God had sent a man called Moses to deliver his people from terrifying slavery and genocide. 00:01:04.659 --> 00:01:08.620 And eventually Pharaoh let the people go. And that's where we read Pharaoh let the people go. 00:01:09.620 --> 00:01:14.020 God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was the shorter. 00:01:14.019 --> 00:01:18.939 For God said if they face war, they might change their minds, return to Egypt. 00:01:19.340 --> 00:01:23.060 So God led the people around by the desert road towards the Red Sea. 00:01:23.799 --> 00:01:26.439 The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle. 00:01:27.879 --> 00:01:32.819 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath. 00:01:32.920 --> 00:01:39.560 He said, God will surely come to your aid and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place. 00:01:39.560 --> 00:01:44.600 After leaving Sukkoth, they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. 00:01:45.640 --> 00:01:53.719 By day, the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light so they could travel by day or night. 00:01:54.620 --> 00:02:01.320 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people. 00:02:02.420 --> 00:02:05.879 Seems so obscure, doesn't it? Seems like what's that got to do with me? 00:02:05.879 --> 00:02:12.560 But you see, once you recognize God is leading these people on a journey, they left Egypt. 00:02:12.719 --> 00:02:18.039 They're on a journey to Israel, to the land that God had promised them, the promised land. 00:02:18.419 --> 00:02:22.139 Once you realize that they were on a journey, how did God help them on their journey? 00:02:22.939 --> 00:02:28.840 This passage is taken up in the New Testament, in the second half of the Bible, written after the life of Jesus Christ. 00:02:29.460 --> 00:02:31.539 And the writer, the Apostle Paul, you can look it up. 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:32.219 We haven't got time now. 00:02:32.300 --> 00:02:34.900 1 Corinthians 10 says, these things were written for us. 00:02:34.900 --> 00:02:36.599 These things are written for us. 00:02:36.620 --> 00:02:39.099 It's not a kind of historical, like, oh, how interesting. 00:02:39.240 --> 00:02:41.480 But they were written for you to help you on your journey. 00:02:42.540 --> 00:02:44.219 So how did God help them on their journey? 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:45.640 Will help you on your journey. 00:02:47.080 --> 00:02:51.620 And as we've seen, as we see, we'll see how God helped the queen on her journey. 00:02:52.680 --> 00:02:55.400 For as a Christian believer, she made the same journey that we make. 00:02:56.200 --> 00:02:57.819 I come from a town called Bedford. 00:02:58.759 --> 00:03:01.360 Its most famous son was a man called John Bunyan. 00:03:01.360 --> 00:03:05.600 He wrote lots of books, but his most famous book was called Pilgrim's Progress. 00:03:06.260 --> 00:03:12.180 And it described a journey, a journey from what he called the city of destruction to the heavenly city. 00:03:13.260 --> 00:03:18.240 And he was a preacher, but he got put in prison. 00:03:18.360 --> 00:03:20.020 And that's when he was in prison, when he wrote the book. 00:03:20.020 --> 00:03:25.219 And it's the most widely, one of the most widely read books in the whole world after the Bible. 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:26.960 Describes a journey. 00:03:27.960 --> 00:03:31.660 I don't know where you are on your journey, how the journey is for you just right now. 00:03:32.580 --> 00:03:37.660 You may have come into church this morning and you're sad and you're thinking, 00:03:37.820 --> 00:03:39.160 life has really changed. 00:03:39.640 --> 00:03:41.879 I'm going to miss that rock called our queen. 00:03:41.879 --> 00:03:44.519 She was so consistent, wasn't she? 00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:46.500 So there for us. 00:03:46.740 --> 00:03:50.919 Most of us have never known any other queen than our queen. 00:03:52.280 --> 00:03:58.699 There was a sense, whatever else happened in Great Britain, UK, she was there. 00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:00.039 And now that's all gone. 00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:03.419 And there's been that amazing change to a new king. 00:04:03.479 --> 00:04:07.539 And we thank God that one queen has died, but long live the king. 00:04:07.620 --> 00:04:09.800 And there's a stability in our nation. 00:04:09.800 --> 00:04:11.920 But we know it's a massive change. 00:04:12.560 --> 00:04:15.660 But more than that is that personal sense of loss, isn't there? 00:04:15.780 --> 00:04:22.860 It reminds us all that however long we live, there is this part of the journey that none of us have ever been before. 00:04:23.720 --> 00:04:25.420 And it's a frightening part of the journey. 00:04:25.500 --> 00:04:28.080 And I don't know whether you're near to the end of that journey or not. 00:04:29.160 --> 00:04:32.600 You just heard of a lady who's been diagnosed with breast cancer. 00:04:32.960 --> 00:04:35.920 And that will be playing on her and her family's mind, won't it? 00:04:36.540 --> 00:04:39.580 What is in store in my part of the journey now? 00:04:39.800 --> 00:04:48.480 For you, it may be a fear of your past catching up with you, which was happening in this passage. 00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:52.240 Or it may be a fear of what lies ahead of you, the great unknowns. 00:04:53.520 --> 00:04:58.939 Maybe something you're going through right now that is really, you're really struggling. 00:04:59.060 --> 00:05:01.660 But then the question is, is God with me in all of this? 00:05:01.660 --> 00:05:07.800 So we're going to look at this thing, this section here, three little things really, very straightforwardly. 00:05:07.860 --> 00:05:08.980 And the first one is this. 00:05:10.280 --> 00:05:13.080 God understands your frailty. 00:05:13.940 --> 00:05:15.540 God understands your frailty. 00:05:15.540 --> 00:05:22.100 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was the shorter. 00:05:23.220 --> 00:05:28.160 To get from Egypt to the promised land, straight road up by the coast. 00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:32.439 Two weeks walking, maybe two weeks, maybe. 00:05:34.140 --> 00:05:35.700 Why didn't God do that? 00:05:35.820 --> 00:05:41.379 For he said, if they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt. 00:05:41.379 --> 00:05:43.300 God understood this. 00:05:44.680 --> 00:05:47.360 This is not a survival of the fittest moment. 00:05:48.159 --> 00:05:51.740 It's not when the tough, you know, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. 00:05:51.839 --> 00:05:53.019 It's not like man up. 00:05:53.360 --> 00:05:56.120 Those of you who are strong and tough, you'll make it. 00:05:56.259 --> 00:05:57.180 Sorry about the rest of you. 00:05:57.180 --> 00:06:11.639 It's not about the clever and the bright or the strong or the rich arriving safely and the poor and the feeble and the young and the old just fall by the wayside. 00:06:11.720 --> 00:06:15.360 This is not sort of God saying, well, here's a test. 00:06:15.480 --> 00:06:16.220 Who can pass? 00:06:16.660 --> 00:06:19.000 God wants his people to arrive, all of them. 00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:23.800 And he says this, if they face the Philistines. 00:06:24.680 --> 00:06:30.459 Now, even in our culture, the word, oh, you're a Philistine means, you know, you're rough and tough and mean and nasty. 00:06:31.180 --> 00:06:36.379 You know, uncultured, brutal, vicious, violent. 00:06:36.600 --> 00:06:37.420 That's what they were. 00:06:37.579 --> 00:06:39.319 They got a reputation for being that way. 00:06:39.319 --> 00:06:45.879 And in between Egypt and the promised land live these people and their fortified cities. 00:06:46.939 --> 00:06:49.459 It was a great big no entry sign. 00:06:49.540 --> 00:06:53.560 And although we're told the Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle. 00:06:55.300 --> 00:06:56.579 God knew this. 00:06:57.039 --> 00:07:08.480 If you put hardened, seasoned veterans against fresh, raw recruits who've never held a sword in their hand, who's going to win? 00:07:09.319 --> 00:07:15.500 What does it feel like when some of your best mates die very quickly in a fight? 00:07:15.620 --> 00:07:18.259 You feel like, oh, my goodness, I didn't know it was as awful as this. 00:07:19.300 --> 00:07:20.560 I've never been in combat. 00:07:21.420 --> 00:07:23.620 I went paintballing once and that was enough. 00:07:23.719 --> 00:07:24.519 It put me off for life. 00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:28.159 You know, I was splattered in the first 30 seconds. 00:07:28.279 --> 00:07:30.800 Well, if that was a real bullet and it was a real war, that was it. 00:07:32.740 --> 00:07:34.300 But God understands this. 00:07:35.100 --> 00:07:38.060 So he doesn't give them something that's beyond them. 00:07:39.319 --> 00:07:42.120 He sends them by another route. 00:07:42.219 --> 00:07:44.259 It may seem longer and it may seem, why? 00:07:44.379 --> 00:07:44.699 Why? 00:07:46.620 --> 00:07:48.139 But God says, but I know. 00:07:48.680 --> 00:07:56.459 Because I understand that, you know, all the best plans survive till the first contact with the main enemy force. 00:07:57.139 --> 00:07:58.399 You won't cope. 00:07:58.699 --> 00:08:01.219 Some of you may, but you won't all. 00:08:01.740 --> 00:08:03.659 And my plan is that you arrive safely. 00:08:03.660 --> 00:08:06.600 And that's what he did for them. 00:08:07.860 --> 00:08:09.460 And he's doing that for you. 00:08:10.160 --> 00:08:12.700 There's many times in life, why didn't I get that job? 00:08:12.980 --> 00:08:14.120 Why didn't I get that promotion? 00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:15.220 Why did I get fired? 00:08:15.520 --> 00:08:20.680 Why did my company get taken over by a multinational in another country and then we're told to move? 00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:22.560 Why? 00:08:23.260 --> 00:08:23.660 Why? 00:08:23.820 --> 00:08:24.100 Why? 00:08:25.100 --> 00:08:26.500 And at the time, they're all, why? 00:08:27.500 --> 00:08:28.900 And he's, well, you won't understand. 00:08:28.899 --> 00:08:31.739 You're going to have to trust me. 00:08:32.419 --> 00:08:37.379 Although it seems that's the shortest route, it's not the safest route. 00:08:38.279 --> 00:08:43.699 And there's many times in life where you think, well, I don't understand what God's doing. 00:08:44.079 --> 00:08:44.899 Now, here's the mystery. 00:08:46.399 --> 00:08:49.139 You say, well, why didn't God miraculously intervene? 00:08:49.419 --> 00:08:50.939 He has just done that. 00:08:50.940 --> 00:08:55.220 They've just seen the most incredible, amazing miracles. 00:08:55.620 --> 00:08:56.380 We read them. 00:08:56.440 --> 00:08:57.620 We can hardly believe they happened. 00:08:57.940 --> 00:09:00.400 They saw them and they knew that they had. 00:09:01.060 --> 00:09:03.800 They'd seen God miraculously intervene. 00:09:05.660 --> 00:09:08.260 And you say, well, why can't God get rid of the Philistines? 00:09:08.340 --> 00:09:10.600 He got rid of Pharaoh and all his army. 00:09:11.140 --> 00:09:11.960 What's the problem? 00:09:12.440 --> 00:09:15.060 And there's a lot of mystery in life like that, isn't there? 00:09:16.059 --> 00:09:19.619 Sometimes you pray and God seems to just open a way forward. 00:09:19.719 --> 00:09:23.559 And he's like, oh, simple little things. 00:09:23.599 --> 00:09:25.759 We've just come back from a family holiday in France. 00:09:25.839 --> 00:09:27.599 We got there, got back, no problems. 00:09:28.639 --> 00:09:29.899 Sometimes we've been on holiday. 00:09:31.339 --> 00:09:32.679 You know, the car gets a flat tire. 00:09:32.759 --> 00:09:33.779 You're a mile down the road. 00:09:34.679 --> 00:09:36.139 And then somebody needs to go to hospital. 00:09:36.299 --> 00:09:38.099 And then, you know, somebody raids your bank account. 00:09:38.179 --> 00:09:40.319 And when you get there, there's a building site. 00:09:40.459 --> 00:09:42.739 And you're thinking, I prayed about this holiday. 00:09:42.740 --> 00:09:48.779 So much of our lives, either tiny little things or even the very big things of life. 00:09:49.139 --> 00:09:51.039 There's that question, why can't God do this? 00:09:51.139 --> 00:09:52.379 Why doesn't God do that? 00:09:54.200 --> 00:09:58.180 Well, behind it all is a heavenly father who loves you to bits. 00:09:59.779 --> 00:10:03.440 Now, sometimes if you become a mom or a dad, it's a bit easier to understand. 00:10:03.980 --> 00:10:07.740 Because there's times when you have to do things with your children. 00:10:08.440 --> 00:10:09.379 And they don't understand. 00:10:09.379 --> 00:10:10.799 You remember that first jab? 00:10:10.799 --> 00:10:12.199 You take them in. 00:10:12.500 --> 00:10:13.379 They're looking at you. 00:10:13.659 --> 00:10:14.599 They're looking at the doctor. 00:10:15.079 --> 00:10:16.539 They don't know what a needle is. 00:10:17.240 --> 00:10:19.299 And they look at you. 00:10:20.939 --> 00:10:23.959 And ever since then, they're never going to trust you again, mom or dad. 00:10:26.579 --> 00:10:27.519 And they're only one. 00:10:29.019 --> 00:10:31.099 And you know many a time. 00:10:31.100 --> 00:10:36.060 Even as a human dad, knowing so little, you know a little bit more than your little ones, don't you? 00:10:36.100 --> 00:10:38.659 And there's times you say, dad, son, you want to understand. 00:10:41.040 --> 00:10:42.620 It's true of many things, isn't it? 00:10:44.460 --> 00:10:47.779 So many things in life where you say, trust me. 00:10:48.779 --> 00:10:52.659 Here, God is saying to his children, trust me. 00:10:53.159 --> 00:10:54.320 I'm not deceiving you. 00:10:54.320 --> 00:10:55.400 I'm not fooling you. 00:10:55.560 --> 00:10:57.900 I'm not lost control of it. 00:10:58.120 --> 00:11:01.000 There is a reason that I understand that you may not. 00:11:01.680 --> 00:11:09.000 And there's a direction in your life, a turning from the fast route to the better route. 00:11:09.700 --> 00:11:10.280 Trust me. 00:11:11.780 --> 00:11:12.580 And he did it for them. 00:11:12.600 --> 00:11:13.940 And he may be doing that for you. 00:11:14.700 --> 00:11:15.700 There's times in my life. 00:11:16.540 --> 00:11:17.920 I was an academic. 00:11:18.120 --> 00:11:19.299 I was involved in university. 00:11:20.599 --> 00:11:23.299 I did my two degrees at Cambridge. 00:11:23.979 --> 00:11:25.159 And I couldn't get a job. 00:11:26.319 --> 00:11:27.559 I became a window cleaner. 00:11:27.939 --> 00:11:31.039 I thought I'd clean windows just for a week or two until I got a good job. 00:11:31.779 --> 00:11:34.000 Two years later, still cleaning windows. 00:11:34.919 --> 00:11:35.620 People are like, what? 00:11:35.939 --> 00:11:38.699 You're the most overqualified window cleaner in the world. 00:11:38.759 --> 00:11:39.279 What are you doing? 00:11:39.419 --> 00:11:42.139 Well, if you thought that, you imagine what my family said. 00:11:42.439 --> 00:11:43.579 Lord, what are you doing? 00:11:43.659 --> 00:11:46.120 But God was moving things sideways. 00:11:46.120 --> 00:11:48.700 Anyways, he had to learn things. 00:11:48.759 --> 00:11:50.200 You're going to learn things as a window cleaner. 00:11:50.259 --> 00:11:51.919 You'll never learn any other way. 00:11:52.899 --> 00:11:54.120 You learn things about people. 00:11:54.560 --> 00:11:56.379 You learn things about doing the humdrum. 00:11:56.519 --> 00:11:58.740 You learn things about frustrations. 00:11:59.560 --> 00:12:00.720 Clean the windows in the morning. 00:12:00.960 --> 00:12:01.899 Rain all afternoon. 00:12:02.019 --> 00:12:03.480 And the customers say, you didn't clean my windows. 00:12:03.620 --> 00:12:04.460 It rained all afternoon. 00:12:05.539 --> 00:12:06.700 You learn things. 00:12:06.820 --> 00:12:09.860 And I had to learn things that I could never learn any other way. 00:12:11.580 --> 00:12:13.220 And it seemed to go on and on and on. 00:12:13.220 --> 00:12:20.600 And then in the kind of providence and mercy of God, he opened a way forward and led me into ministry in quite remarkable ways. 00:12:22.019 --> 00:12:23.540 But he may be doing that for you. 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:25.639 You've got to trust him. 00:12:27.379 --> 00:12:31.320 And if he's like that with you, you be like that with others. 00:12:31.320 --> 00:12:38.640 If he understands your frailty, we're told, husbands, be considerate towards your wives. 00:12:40.060 --> 00:12:43.540 Fathers, my children's favorite verse in the Bible almost. 00:12:43.800 --> 00:12:45.540 Fathers, don't exasperate your children. 00:12:46.720 --> 00:12:48.640 Like, understand they're still kids. 00:12:49.920 --> 00:12:51.160 You know, they're not adults yet. 00:12:51.159 --> 00:12:59.419 Masters, bosses, understand how it is hard to be under your leadership. 00:13:00.719 --> 00:13:01.959 Maybe even yourself. 00:13:02.079 --> 00:13:03.679 You need to talk to yourself sometimes. 00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:07.240 Your body is saying to your brain, you need a rest. 00:13:07.980 --> 00:13:09.199 You need some refreshment. 00:13:09.639 --> 00:13:10.860 You need some relaxation. 00:13:11.860 --> 00:13:13.039 You need some exercise. 00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:16.039 Be aware of your own frailty. 00:13:16.719 --> 00:13:18.059 Because God understands it. 00:13:19.480 --> 00:13:21.240 And he leads you accordingly. 00:13:22.819 --> 00:13:23.639 Second thing. 00:13:24.959 --> 00:13:26.399 God honors your faith. 00:13:27.000 --> 00:13:31.240 You get this bit about, okay, I understand why God didn't lead them into a fight. 00:13:32.240 --> 00:13:34.899 But what's this bit about bones of Joseph? 00:13:35.599 --> 00:13:40.039 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath. 00:13:40.120 --> 00:13:41.719 He said, God will surely come to your aid. 00:13:41.720 --> 00:13:44.279 Then you must carry my bones up with you from this place. 00:13:44.300 --> 00:13:45.399 What is that all about? 00:13:46.220 --> 00:13:47.639 Well, it's really fascinating. 00:13:48.100 --> 00:13:50.240 Even in our culture, we've known of Joseph, don't we? 00:13:50.300 --> 00:13:53.440 Joseph had the amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Andrew Lloyd Webber. 00:13:54.060 --> 00:13:56.180 Joseph is still alive in our vocabulary. 00:13:57.600 --> 00:13:58.600 Joseph was a savior. 00:13:59.940 --> 00:14:02.779 God's people had lived through a terrifying famine. 00:14:03.500 --> 00:14:10.399 But again, in a very mysterious way, God had sort of woven a path so that this man 00:14:10.399 --> 00:14:23.840 who'd been in prison became trusted by the Pharaoh to plan for the food to be stored 00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:26.199 during all those years of famine. 00:14:26.459 --> 00:14:27.360 Years of plenty. 00:14:27.500 --> 00:14:28.199 Some of you know the story. 00:14:28.279 --> 00:14:29.840 Years of plenty and then years of famine. 00:14:30.159 --> 00:14:32.539 And Joseph had saved the nation. 00:14:32.539 --> 00:14:35.079 And he'd saved his own family. 00:14:35.179 --> 00:14:38.120 They'd come down to Egypt and he'd saved them many, many years before. 00:14:38.219 --> 00:14:41.219 But God had told him he'd believed God's word. 00:14:41.459 --> 00:14:45.939 He said, look, yes, you have saved my people now, but it's not always going to be like this. 00:14:46.579 --> 00:14:48.039 There's going to come another leader. 00:14:48.559 --> 00:14:50.799 And he's going to enslave the people. 00:14:51.259 --> 00:14:52.620 And he's going to treat them badly. 00:14:52.620 --> 00:14:54.799 But it will come to an end. 00:14:54.799 --> 00:14:57.959 I promise to send a deliverer. 00:14:58.599 --> 00:15:01.879 And I'm going to lead you back to your homeland, the land of Canaan. 00:15:02.259 --> 00:15:03.419 I promise. 00:15:05.019 --> 00:15:08.120 And Joseph had believed God's promise. 00:15:09.379 --> 00:15:12.500 And before he died, he said to his compatriots, look, this is what's going to happen. 00:15:12.579 --> 00:15:16.179 God has said, we're going to be here in Egypt for a while, but this is not home. 00:15:17.319 --> 00:15:18.579 Home is the land of Canaan. 00:15:18.679 --> 00:15:19.759 He's going to bring us back. 00:15:19.819 --> 00:15:23.139 And when you go, take my bones with you. 00:15:23.139 --> 00:15:30.879 And that, what Joseph said, do this, it's now being fulfilled hundreds of years later. 00:15:32.019 --> 00:15:36.419 What Joseph believed God's promise and God's promise was being fulfilled. 00:15:39.199 --> 00:15:41.379 God was, in a sense, honoring that faith. 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:44.500 But it's bigger than that. 00:15:45.279 --> 00:15:47.059 Now, I don't know about you in Edinburgh. 00:15:47.179 --> 00:15:49.840 In Bedford, Bedford is a very diverse town. 00:15:50.679 --> 00:15:52.319 Lots and lots of people from all over the world. 00:15:53.139 --> 00:15:54.000 And that's lovely. 00:15:54.960 --> 00:16:00.679 But it's quite interesting that some people, when they die, they want to go and be buried back at home. 00:16:01.580 --> 00:16:04.659 They don't want to be buried or cremated here in Britain. 00:16:04.740 --> 00:16:08.259 Because though this is now their home, they've still got those memories of home. 00:16:09.899 --> 00:16:11.179 I don't know where home is for you. 00:16:11.419 --> 00:16:12.799 I've lived in Bedford a long, long time. 00:16:12.840 --> 00:16:14.720 But home, actually, is Devon, where I was born. 00:16:14.720 --> 00:16:19.080 My auntie, my last surviving auntie, died this last year. 00:16:19.200 --> 00:16:20.620 She's buried in home. 00:16:23.080 --> 00:16:24.040 It's not that. 00:16:24.200 --> 00:16:25.860 It's not just a nostalgia thing. 00:16:25.960 --> 00:16:28.540 You know, I'll be nice to be buried back at home when I was a boy. 00:16:28.539 --> 00:16:29.019 No. 00:16:29.019 --> 00:16:30.019 No. 00:16:30.519 --> 00:16:37.740 In the New Testament, Hebrews chapter 11 tells us all these people were looking forward to a heavenly city. 00:16:38.719 --> 00:16:40.639 There's a long line of these names. 00:16:41.139 --> 00:16:44.219 It starts with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. 00:16:44.220 --> 00:16:46.420 And it involves Joseph. 00:16:47.700 --> 00:16:58.660 And the writer, Hebrews 11, says Joseph was looking forward, not just to going and being buried back in his boyhood land, nostalgically, 00:16:58.940 --> 00:17:07.259 but because he believed that Canaan symbolized the heaven to come, a better resurrection. 00:17:07.259 --> 00:17:18.339 That his bones were being taken from Egypt to be buried in Canaan, because Canaan symbolized the promise that God made the whole world and all his people, 00:17:19.220 --> 00:17:20.980 that death would not be the end. 00:17:22.019 --> 00:17:24.759 There would be a new heavens and a new earth. 00:17:25.720 --> 00:17:26.859 This is momentous. 00:17:26.920 --> 00:17:27.920 This is for us, you see. 00:17:28.299 --> 00:17:30.160 It's not like, oh, dead men's bones. 00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:31.119 What's that got to do with us? 00:17:31.819 --> 00:17:36.220 It's a promise that God made this man, and he believed God's promise. 00:17:36.220 --> 00:17:37.519 God's promise is being fulfilled. 00:17:37.779 --> 00:17:42.640 But it's only part A of the promise being fulfilled, Egypt to Canaan. 00:17:43.120 --> 00:17:49.259 Part B is when Joseph will be raised from the dead on the last day. 00:17:49.319 --> 00:17:50.120 Really believe that. 00:17:50.319 --> 00:17:56.819 All those people in the Hebrews believe that God would not leave them dead in the grave, just bones buried in Canaan. 00:17:57.600 --> 00:18:02.380 Canaan stood for the promised land, the new heavens and the new earth. 00:18:03.019 --> 00:18:06.140 Now, do you realize how significant that is? 00:18:06.220 --> 00:18:11.559 The Queen's body, her bones, are being brought to Edinburgh today, aren't they? 00:18:13.059 --> 00:18:14.640 And then they're going to be taken to London. 00:18:16.039 --> 00:18:18.680 And then she's going to be put in a grave, in a vault. 00:18:19.940 --> 00:18:21.400 And you know what words are going to be said? 00:18:22.120 --> 00:18:25.759 Well, the words that are said at pretty much everybody's funeral here in Great Britain. 00:18:25.759 --> 00:18:29.519 We've given God thanks for the life of, and then put the name in. 00:18:30.379 --> 00:18:36.220 And then as a minister, a vicar, a pastor, I often say this was dust to dust, ashes to ashes. 00:18:37.720 --> 00:18:38.920 You know what comes next? 00:18:38.920 --> 00:18:47.880 These great Christian words ensure and certain expectation of the resurrection to eternal life. 00:18:48.300 --> 00:18:52.300 We bury the body in the ground, but God will give us new bodies. 00:18:52.299 --> 00:18:58.500 There was a very poignant moment on the telly last night. 00:18:58.599 --> 00:19:03.079 And they said, Queen Elizabeth is leaving the Balmoral estate forever. 00:19:03.079 --> 00:19:09.039 And I thought to myself, no, there's a better Balmoral in heaven itself. 00:19:09.740 --> 00:19:15.220 She will see the beauty of God's new creation because she's one of God's daughters. 00:19:16.139 --> 00:19:20.279 And she believes that promise as Joseph believed that promise. 00:19:20.379 --> 00:19:23.819 And do you see how stark that is to so many other things on offer? 00:19:23.919 --> 00:19:27.319 I came across this quote recently. 00:19:27.319 --> 00:19:28.980 A man called Alain de Botton. 00:19:29.099 --> 00:19:34.019 He's a very, he's very cultured, educated, lovely, kind guy. 00:19:34.619 --> 00:19:36.519 But he's a confirmed atheist. 00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:38.720 And he wrote this. 00:19:38.879 --> 00:19:40.099 Let me just quote it to you. 00:19:40.579 --> 00:19:42.179 I'll say it a couple of times because it's hard to take in. 00:19:42.480 --> 00:19:53.599 The pleasure we derive from the journey is perhaps dependent more on the mindset with which we travel than on the destination we travel to. 00:19:54.079 --> 00:19:55.019 Let me say that again slowly. 00:19:55.019 --> 00:20:03.619 The pleasure we derive from the journey is perhaps dependent more on the mindset with which we travel than on the destination we travel to. 00:20:03.859 --> 00:20:05.740 That is, you basically got to enjoy the journey. 00:20:06.539 --> 00:20:08.900 And if you enjoy the journey, well, that's great, isn't it? 00:20:09.799 --> 00:20:11.420 Now, do you see this? 00:20:12.500 --> 00:20:13.319 He's an atheist. 00:20:13.519 --> 00:20:15.180 He can't talk about the destination. 00:20:16.160 --> 00:20:20.019 He can only talk about the journey and say, try and enjoy it. 00:20:20.019 --> 00:20:25.119 If you actually step back for a while and think about the journey, you never know when the journey is going to end. 00:20:25.779 --> 00:20:27.579 You don't know how it's going to end. 00:20:28.259 --> 00:20:31.519 And you don't know what's coming next, except it looks pretty bleak. 00:20:32.220 --> 00:20:37.039 So you have to say, enjoy the journey because you can't talk about enjoy the destination. 00:20:37.039 --> 00:20:42.899 But for Joseph, his journey at times was really hard. 00:20:44.200 --> 00:20:46.200 But he knew what the destination was. 00:20:47.240 --> 00:20:55.319 A few years ago, I thought I ought to read some Jane Austen because I hadn't read any Jane Austen when I was a boy. 00:20:55.440 --> 00:20:57.960 And everybody was talking about, I better read a bit of Jane Austen. 00:20:57.960 --> 00:21:03.160 But I began to understand that these are quite painful things to read because you never know what's going to happen. 00:21:03.539 --> 00:21:08.059 But I've learned the lesson, read the last page and then you're safe. 00:21:08.259 --> 00:21:14.559 Because however many times Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy fall out, in the end, it's okay. 00:21:16.779 --> 00:21:17.779 Then you can read the novel. 00:21:18.420 --> 00:21:20.299 Well, you know, you sport it, but you haven't. 00:21:20.600 --> 00:21:21.819 But it's not like that with us. 00:21:21.819 --> 00:21:28.200 If you know in the end where you are going, if you know heaven is home and God will get you there, 00:21:28.720 --> 00:21:31.439 well, you can cope with the twists and turns on the journey, can't you? 00:21:32.039 --> 00:21:35.439 Joseph's journey had some very, very dark moments. 00:21:36.099 --> 00:21:37.619 But he knew where he was going. 00:21:38.359 --> 00:21:41.899 And where he was going was not Egypt and this life only. 00:21:43.200 --> 00:21:48.500 It was heaven and life eternal with a heavenly father and a wonderful savior Jesus, 00:21:48.700 --> 00:21:50.240 empowered by God the Holy Spirit. 00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:52.019 That's what he hoped for. 00:21:52.839 --> 00:21:56.059 And that's what God is giving you if you're a Christian believer. 00:21:57.079 --> 00:22:02.579 He's saying, look, you're on your way to heaven. 00:22:02.819 --> 00:22:08.980 And you say, well, and you've got something better than dead men's bones to carry with you. 00:22:09.680 --> 00:22:13.940 As Christian believers, you've not got this dead savior. 00:22:13.940 --> 00:22:21.539 You've got an empty tomb and a living Christ who is with you every step of the way, which is point three. 00:22:22.160 --> 00:22:23.000 Final point. 00:22:24.660 --> 00:22:25.279 God will. 00:22:25.279 --> 00:22:28.720 He will protect you in your fears. 00:22:29.599 --> 00:22:32.819 After leaving Sukkoth, they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. 00:22:34.039 --> 00:22:38.299 Now, we read that and go, OK, it's a bit like saying turn left down the road, isn't it? 00:22:38.379 --> 00:22:39.160 But it's not that. 00:22:39.359 --> 00:22:40.399 That's ominous. 00:22:41.519 --> 00:22:45.660 They left Sukkoth, place of safety, and they camped on the edge of the desert. 00:22:45.660 --> 00:22:48.640 And notice verse 4 of chapter 14. 00:22:52.380 --> 00:23:00.779 The Pharaoh, he thinks to himself, verse 5, when the king of Egypt was told the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds. 00:23:01.620 --> 00:23:02.460 What have we done? 00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:04.480 He realized that they're in the desert. 00:23:04.640 --> 00:23:09.140 Verse 3, the Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion hemmed in by the desert. 00:23:09.380 --> 00:23:10.720 I'm going to go back and get them. 00:23:11.700 --> 00:23:13.620 The desert is a dangerous place. 00:23:13.619 --> 00:23:17.459 I don't know what you're like with your navigation. 00:23:19.639 --> 00:23:24.619 But in the desert, you haven't got anything to navigate by, have you? 00:23:25.039 --> 00:23:28.199 There's no sat-nav back then. 00:23:29.119 --> 00:23:32.139 There's no streets turn left on the third street on the right. 00:23:33.479 --> 00:23:37.899 It's just desert for miles and miles and miles. 00:23:40.059 --> 00:23:41.879 It's a place in which to get lost. 00:23:41.880 --> 00:23:46.040 And then it's a place to find out that your enemy is out to come and get you again. 00:23:46.400 --> 00:23:47.260 Scary place. 00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:49.700 But God, what do we hear then? 00:23:50.220 --> 00:23:53.680 By day, the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them. 00:23:55.980 --> 00:23:58.360 By night in a pillar of fire to give them light. 00:23:58.880 --> 00:24:00.360 So they could travel by day or night. 00:24:00.460 --> 00:24:05.240 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people. 00:24:05.240 --> 00:24:10.559 It isn't just that God says, look, I've got your ticket. 00:24:11.079 --> 00:24:14.460 It says, heaven, see you later. 00:24:15.620 --> 00:24:15.900 No. 00:24:16.640 --> 00:24:19.359 God says, I'm with you on the journey. 00:24:19.500 --> 00:24:21.240 It's not just that I'm going to get you to heaven. 00:24:21.400 --> 00:24:23.220 I'm going to travel with you. 00:24:23.220 --> 00:24:29.500 And that great image of a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. 00:24:29.620 --> 00:24:35.539 It's very, very prominent in these next sections of the book of the Bible. 00:24:35.779 --> 00:24:44.279 In fact, the whole book of Exodus ends with a reminder to all the people of the immediate presence of God. 00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:46.839 Exodus chapter 40, page 101. 00:24:46.839 --> 00:24:50.359 The cloud covered the tent of meeting. 00:24:50.480 --> 00:24:52.899 The glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 00:24:53.419 --> 00:24:59.379 In all the travel of the Israelites, verse 36, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they'd set out. 00:24:59.659 --> 00:25:00.619 The cloud didn't lift. 00:25:00.720 --> 00:25:02.500 They would not set out until the day it lifted. 00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:10.679 So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day and fire was in the cloud by night in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels. 00:25:11.539 --> 00:25:14.359 Whenever they looked at themselves, they go, oh, no. 00:25:14.359 --> 00:25:15.919 Or they looked around. 00:25:16.019 --> 00:25:16.899 They go, oh, my goodness. 00:25:17.059 --> 00:25:17.899 Or they look back. 00:25:18.259 --> 00:25:19.319 We're going to get caught. 00:25:20.199 --> 00:25:22.000 But all they had to do was look up. 00:25:22.979 --> 00:25:24.539 And they knew that God was with them. 00:25:25.399 --> 00:25:27.459 They looked up by day or by night. 00:25:27.839 --> 00:25:28.799 You're a nightmare. 00:25:29.259 --> 00:25:30.039 And you think, oh, no. 00:25:30.419 --> 00:25:31.839 Am I going to ever make it? 00:25:31.899 --> 00:25:35.279 I look up and there's the pillar of cloud by day or by night. 00:25:35.699 --> 00:25:41.059 God is saying, I am with you every step of the way. 00:25:42.359 --> 00:25:43.519 I'm going to guide you. 00:25:43.519 --> 00:25:44.740 I'm going to protect you. 00:25:44.879 --> 00:25:46.900 I am with you in this journey. 00:25:48.379 --> 00:25:49.599 He said that to them. 00:25:49.660 --> 00:25:50.619 He's saying that to you. 00:25:51.019 --> 00:25:52.680 He is with you in the journey. 00:25:54.019 --> 00:25:55.859 His very last words. 00:25:57.420 --> 00:25:59.639 Sometimes we read it in the end of Matthew's gospel. 00:26:00.720 --> 00:26:05.339 Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, teaching them everything. 00:26:05.759 --> 00:26:07.599 Well, they are the last words of Jesus. 00:26:07.700 --> 00:26:08.200 But they're not. 00:26:08.200 --> 00:26:13.279 The last command of Jesus is not go and make disciples. 00:26:14.100 --> 00:26:16.340 The last command of Jesus is this word. 00:26:16.539 --> 00:26:21.140 And we lose it in our English where he says, behold, or surely. 00:26:21.140 --> 00:26:25.220 It's a word that says, look at me. 00:26:26.820 --> 00:26:28.740 I've just told you to go and make disciples. 00:26:28.800 --> 00:26:29.440 Now look at me. 00:26:30.480 --> 00:26:33.140 I am with you to the very end of the age. 00:26:33.360 --> 00:26:36.880 The last command of Jesus is not to look at what we have to do for him, 00:26:37.020 --> 00:26:38.700 but to look at him and his promise. 00:26:39.000 --> 00:26:41.759 I am with you to the very end of the age. 00:26:41.759 --> 00:26:45.660 And you say, well, Ray, they had a pillar of cloud. 00:26:46.140 --> 00:26:46.819 Where's ours? 00:26:48.180 --> 00:26:49.359 They had a pillar of fire. 00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:50.019 Where's ours? 00:26:51.619 --> 00:26:54.640 And the Lord Jesus says, I've got something better for you. 00:26:55.799 --> 00:26:59.059 I've given you my Holy Spirit in you. 00:27:00.500 --> 00:27:05.660 Is it where the glory of God, the fire of God has come and to dwell in the hearts of every Christian? 00:27:05.740 --> 00:27:06.859 And how do you know he's there? 00:27:07.180 --> 00:27:10.079 Because he's the one that keeps telling you, look to Jesus. 00:27:10.079 --> 00:27:13.220 When you feel, are my sins forgiven? 00:27:13.319 --> 00:27:16.079 The Holy Spirit in the heart says, look to the cross. 00:27:16.439 --> 00:27:17.679 Isn't the price been paid? 00:27:17.960 --> 00:27:18.960 Look to the empty tomb. 00:27:19.119 --> 00:27:21.579 Hasn't God raised his dear son? 00:27:22.119 --> 00:27:23.679 That's the Holy Spirit's work in you. 00:27:23.839 --> 00:27:26.799 Keep fixing your eyes on Jesus, your saviour. 00:27:26.879 --> 00:27:27.259 Look up. 00:27:27.319 --> 00:27:28.079 Where is he now? 00:27:28.519 --> 00:27:30.899 Well, he's at the very throne of God praying for you. 00:27:32.179 --> 00:27:36.759 The Holy Spirit's in you to make Christ real to you. 00:27:36.759 --> 00:27:46.940 And through Christ, you can come confidently and use those words that Jesus taught every single one of his followers, our father. 00:27:46.940 --> 00:27:51.799 God is with us, more with us than he was with them. 00:27:52.160 --> 00:27:53.440 To them, he was external. 00:27:53.580 --> 00:27:57.100 To us, he's now internally dwells in one's body spirit in our hearts. 00:27:57.099 --> 00:28:07.039 And his Holy Spirit keeps on shedding abroad the love of God in our hearts to assure us that though we are terrifyingly sinful, we are greatly loved. 00:28:08.859 --> 00:28:13.639 The great man who lived near me, who's buried just down the road, is a man called John Newton. 00:28:14.539 --> 00:28:21.699 He's buried in a churchyard just eight miles away in a town called, you would call it Oni, but the locals call it Oni. 00:28:21.700 --> 00:28:28.819 John Newton, at the end of his, the man who wrote Amazing Grace, that song, you know what he said? 00:28:29.000 --> 00:28:32.299 Somebody asked him, what have you learned, John Newton, at the end of your life? 00:28:32.340 --> 00:28:39.620 He said, I've learned two great things, that I am a great sinner, but that Jesus Christ is a very great saviour. 00:28:42.519 --> 00:28:46.559 The queen has now experienced that, hasn't she? 00:28:46.559 --> 00:28:52.240 She has experienced now that Jesus Christ is a very great saviour. 00:28:53.220 --> 00:28:54.240 She's in his presence. 00:28:55.839 --> 00:28:58.460 The queen who served the king. 00:28:59.099 --> 00:29:00.519 It's a lovely book, have you seen it? 00:29:00.740 --> 00:29:02.899 The servant queen and the king she served. 00:29:03.220 --> 00:29:04.539 She's now in the king's presence. 00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:08.119 Well, this is the great promise, you can be in the king's presence too. 00:29:08.119 --> 00:29:18.399 For all who call on the name of Jesus, God's dear son, who died for sinners and rebels like us, can enter into his presence. 00:29:19.299 --> 00:29:32.979 May God enable us to trust his word, turn to his son, rely on him, and find ourselves one day safe at home with the king.