WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:13.599 When Sam Gamgee was packing his bag to prepare to leave Rivendell, he wanted a piece of rope. 00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:20.879 ! He didn't have one, and he regretted it later. But as he was preparing for a journey, he did what we all do. 00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:29.039 He thinks, what do I need for this journey ahead? What is the most important thing for me to take? 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:39.039 It might be a packing list that we go through. It might be having a map and a plan. 00:00:39.039 --> 00:00:49.760 It might be stealing up our hearts for an adventuring spirit, determined optimism or perseverance. 00:00:49.760 --> 00:00:59.039 It might be developing skills like how to use crampons or how to row a canoe. 00:01:00.240 --> 00:01:07.040 Whatever it is, when we go on a journey, we are always thinking about what is it that we need to take with us? 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:09.040 What is most important? 00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:24.080 As today is send-off Sunday, and some of you are going off into new unknowns, new journeys ahead with challenges and possibilities before you, you are going on a journey. 00:01:24.079 --> 00:01:33.120 For those of us who are not graduating or moving, we are still on a journey, even when we are not in transition. 00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:39.120 This journey of life that we are on, whether we like it or not, requires continual preparation. 00:01:39.120 --> 00:01:46.160 What is the most important thing for us to take on this journey? 00:01:46.160 --> 00:01:52.160 Well, the Bible will say that it is not something but someone. 00:01:52.159 --> 00:01:57.439 In fact, it is God Himself that we most need to take on our journey. 00:01:58.239 --> 00:02:02.479 And this brings us, maybe surprisingly, to the book of Numbers. 00:02:02.480 --> 00:02:06.719 If you have come to Trinity, you know we tend to preach through books of the Bible. 00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:12.159 We just finished Galatians last week, and we are starting a series on the book of Numbers. 00:02:12.159 --> 00:02:21.360 And the reason why we are is because the book of Numbers is about God going with His people on a journey through the wilderness. 00:02:21.360 --> 00:02:34.480 Now, if you have forgotten your Old Testament history, you will remember that the people of God, the descendants of Abraham, were in Egypt, enslaved by the power of Egypt. 00:02:34.480 --> 00:02:44.360 But God came in and miraculously and powerfully rescued them, brought them out of Egypt through the Red Sea to the mountain of Sinai, 00:02:44.360 --> 00:02:55.640 where at that place then He revealed Himself to the people in a new way by giving the law to Moses to instruct them on how they could live as God's people. 00:02:56.280 --> 00:03:01.800 And that has all happened, and it brings us in the narrative to the beginning of the book of Numbers, 00:03:01.800 --> 00:03:13.240 where they're about to set out from Sinai through the wilderness of the Arabian Peninsula on their way to the brink of the promised land. 00:03:14.360 --> 00:03:19.160 God is going with them on a journey. 00:03:19.160 --> 00:03:23.800 Now, typically at Trinity, we will preach on one passage. 00:03:23.800 --> 00:03:26.760 Today we're going to preach on nine chapters. 00:03:26.760 --> 00:03:28.040 Are you ready? 00:03:28.040 --> 00:03:29.320 Buckle your seatbelts. 00:03:29.320 --> 00:03:31.480 We're not going to read at all, I promise you. 00:03:31.480 --> 00:03:37.560 What I want to say is take these thoughts home, go home and read Numbers yourself, 00:03:37.560 --> 00:03:43.240 and it will help you to think about how do you read these Old Testament narratives. 00:03:43.240 --> 00:03:51.320 Because what we're going to see today, most importantly, is four things about God, about the God who goes with us. 00:03:51.560 --> 00:04:01.719 We're going to see that our God is our faithful God, our God is our holy God, our God is our forgiving God, and our God is our ever-present God. 00:04:02.520 --> 00:04:08.360 So that's what we're going to look at briefly this morning to hopefully bless you. 00:04:08.360 --> 00:04:11.560 So first, we're going to look at our faithful God. 00:04:11.560 --> 00:04:14.520 The book of Numbers in chapter 1 begins with a census. 00:04:15.800 --> 00:04:17.800 They count people, right? 00:04:18.840 --> 00:04:20.040 And they count all the people. 00:04:20.040 --> 00:04:24.280 So in Numbers 1, verses 44 and 45, it says this, 00:04:24.840 --> 00:04:32.200 So all those listed of the people of Israel by their father's houses from 20 years old and upward, 00:04:32.200 --> 00:04:39.960 every man able to go to war in Israel, all those listed were 603,550. 00:04:39.959 --> 00:04:49.799 So they took this census to find out what does our army look like, and by extension, what does the people look like? 00:04:49.799 --> 00:04:56.839 It was probably upward of close to two million people who were traveling in the wilderness, including women and children. 00:04:58.519 --> 00:04:59.879 Why does God count them? 00:04:59.879 --> 00:05:15.480 Well, because in Genesis 12, back at the beginning, verses 1 through 3, God gave a promise to the original father of the Hebrew people, Abram. 00:05:16.600 --> 00:05:17.399 It says this, 00:05:17.399 --> 00:05:42.519 Did you hear in that promise? 00:05:42.519 --> 00:05:45.479 I will make from you a great nation. 00:05:45.480 --> 00:05:48.200 That requires a lot of people. 00:05:48.200 --> 00:05:54.840 As the story goes on, it's going to be as many people as the stars in the heaven, as the grains of sand on the seashore. 00:05:54.840 --> 00:05:58.920 Can you imagine Moses at Sinai looking out over the people in camp? 00:05:59.480 --> 00:06:00.840 God has done it. 00:06:00.840 --> 00:06:03.720 God has been faithful to His promise. 00:06:05.240 --> 00:06:08.360 And it didn't always look like it was going to happen that way. 00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:13.640 Abraham and Sarah were like a hundred years old before they had their first child. 00:06:14.120 --> 00:06:15.160 That's not normal. 00:06:15.160 --> 00:06:19.080 How was God going to make Abram the father of a great nation with no children? 00:06:19.880 --> 00:06:27.320 How was God going to make a great nation out of 70 refugees who had to flee to Egypt because of a famine? 00:06:28.200 --> 00:06:32.600 How was God going to make them a great nation when they were enslaved to Egypt? 00:06:32.600 --> 00:06:41.960 God, through all of these challenges and all of these difficulties, showed His faithfulness. 00:06:41.960 --> 00:06:55.480 As some of you transition and look ahead, facing uncertain things, certainly you will face obstacles and trials in times when you think, 00:06:55.480 --> 00:06:59.080 where is God, where is God, where is He faithful to me? 00:06:59.080 --> 00:07:01.160 Remember this. 00:07:01.160 --> 00:07:03.960 Remember the faithfulness of God. 00:07:03.960 --> 00:07:08.520 That's why God counted the people at the beginning of the book of Numbers. 00:07:08.519 --> 00:07:09.079 Numbers. 00:07:09.079 --> 00:07:15.479 And friends, for us as the church, we know that there's a greater fulfillment to this counting. 00:07:16.039 --> 00:07:22.680 Because we know that the church is actually the greatest fulfillment of the promise to Abraham. 00:07:22.680 --> 00:07:28.040 That the people of Israel were a point along the way in fulfilling this promise. 00:07:28.040 --> 00:07:37.400 And so we read, back to Galatians, for those of you who are here for the spring, Galatians 3, 26-29, 00:07:37.400 --> 00:07:40.760 For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. 00:07:40.760 --> 00:07:45.960 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, 00:07:45.960 --> 00:07:49.640 there is neither slave nor free, there is no male or female. 00:07:50.680 --> 00:07:53.320 For you are all one in Christ Jesus. 00:07:53.319 --> 00:07:59.639 And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offsprings according to the promise. 00:08:01.319 --> 00:08:02.599 Do you see that, friends? 00:08:04.279 --> 00:08:07.319 The book of Numbers reminds us of God's faithfulness. 00:08:07.319 --> 00:08:13.639 But the cross of Christ and the work of Christ and the people of Christ is the ultimate fulfillment. 00:08:14.680 --> 00:08:19.399 That what God has done through Christ has made a people from every tribe and tongue and nation 00:08:19.399 --> 00:08:23.239 that will number innumerably for all eternity. 00:08:26.039 --> 00:08:28.199 God is faithful to His promise. 00:08:29.799 --> 00:08:30.599 Cling to Him. 00:08:31.959 --> 00:08:35.079 Believe in Him and trust in Him as you do this. 00:08:35.799 --> 00:08:37.000 So that's the first point. 00:08:37.720 --> 00:08:42.120 Second point, God then goes on to teach us more about God. 00:08:42.120 --> 00:08:47.960 In chapters 2-8, God sets out the camp and gives some laws, right? 00:08:47.960 --> 00:08:57.320 And as He sets out the camp, what we see in this is that God is a holy God who calls us to center our lives on Him. 00:08:58.120 --> 00:08:58.759 Okay? 00:08:58.759 --> 00:09:01.720 So holiness is one of those words that we use a lot. 00:09:01.720 --> 00:09:03.240 It's a very churchy word. 00:09:03.240 --> 00:09:08.040 We usually think of holy in the phrase like holier than thou. 00:09:08.680 --> 00:09:14.600 Super special people who are more pure and excellent in their religiosity. 00:09:14.600 --> 00:09:18.440 And but that's not actually what the word means, right? 00:09:18.840 --> 00:09:25.480 Holiness actually means set apart, means distinct or otherwise, right? 00:09:25.480 --> 00:09:32.600 And so this clearly does include God's moral purity, that He is perfectly righteous and good, 00:09:33.720 --> 00:09:42.600 and in His character and in His works displays a perfection of goodness that we can only imagine, right? 00:09:42.600 --> 00:09:53.240 God does that, and so that is true of it, but it is also about His otherness, that He is distinct and different from this fallen world that we live in. 00:09:53.960 --> 00:09:55.960 And He is like no other. 00:09:58.120 --> 00:10:05.800 And as a holy God, He calls us to be other like He is, right? 00:10:05.799 --> 00:10:07.000 What does this look like? 00:10:07.000 --> 00:10:12.359 Well, one, in chapters two through four, Moses lays out a map of the camp. 00:10:12.359 --> 00:10:13.959 When they're traveling, it looks like this. 00:10:13.959 --> 00:10:15.799 And when they're settled, it looks like this. 00:10:15.799 --> 00:10:17.079 And do you know what's in the center? 00:10:17.639 --> 00:10:18.839 The tabernacle. 00:10:18.839 --> 00:10:19.639 Do you know why? 00:10:19.639 --> 00:10:24.279 Because the tabernacle is where the presence of God dwelt among His people. 00:10:25.799 --> 00:10:28.839 And so God wants to say, I am a holy God. 00:10:28.840 --> 00:10:33.240 I want you to arrange your life around me. 00:10:33.879 --> 00:10:42.519 I want you to make me the center of your worship, the center of your identity as God's people. 00:10:42.840 --> 00:10:48.200 We are to be the chip off the old block, like the old timer who looks at his grandson and says, 00:10:48.200 --> 00:10:52.840 yeah, he's a chip off the old block because he plays shortstop, just the way his dad did and just 00:10:52.840 --> 00:10:54.120 the way his grandfather did. 00:10:54.120 --> 00:10:58.679 Well, we're supposed to be that, but not with baseball, but with our spiritual lives and with 00:10:58.679 --> 00:11:04.600 our lives to display God and to make Him the center of all that we are and all that we do. 00:11:07.799 --> 00:11:13.879 The tabernacle is the place where God allowed Moses to meet with Him face to face. 00:11:13.879 --> 00:11:18.840 And then if you look carefully, what you see is around the tabernacle, before you get to the 00:11:18.840 --> 00:11:22.840 tribes of Israel, there are the Levites and the priests, right? 00:11:22.840 --> 00:11:23.879 And why was this? 00:11:24.519 --> 00:11:26.920 Because God is a holy God. 00:11:26.920 --> 00:11:31.639 Listen to Numbers 4 verse 19, chapter 4 verse 19. 00:11:31.639 --> 00:11:37.080 This is instructions to the Kohathites, one of the Levite tribes, and it says this, 00:11:37.080 --> 00:11:42.200 but deal thus with them, that is, He gave them instructions on how to conduct themselves, 00:11:42.200 --> 00:11:48.440 that they may live and not die when they come near to the most holy things. 00:11:48.440 --> 00:11:57.000 You see, here's the thing. God wants to dwell in the midst of His people, but God is like a white hot 00:11:57.000 --> 00:12:05.640 fire of perfect righteousness and purity. And that fire burns up any impurity that comes near it. 00:12:06.280 --> 00:12:13.240 No one can stand before a holy God and live without some kind of mediation because of our sinful hearts. 00:12:13.240 --> 00:12:20.279 And the sin of the people of Israel made them liable for destruction at any moment. And they were full of it. 00:12:20.279 --> 00:12:27.799 They grumbled. They complained. They disobeyed. They rebelled. They did all of it. And God is fearsome and awesome. 00:12:27.799 --> 00:12:37.559 And so, He put this cordon of people who were set apart to mediate between them by offering sacrifices, 00:12:37.559 --> 00:12:46.919 by doing special rituals of purity to display and to help mediate between this holy God and a people who were not holy, 00:12:47.559 --> 00:12:55.000 who were around them. And we see in verses 5 through 8 then a series of instructions, laws about purification, 00:12:55.000 --> 00:13:02.600 about vows, about being a Nazarite, all sorts of different things to help the people of God see that 00:13:02.600 --> 00:13:08.759 if you're going to be identified with a holy God, you're going to need to be different than the people 00:13:08.759 --> 00:13:17.000 around you. And you're going to have to listen to and let God instruct you on how to live so that you might be 00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:26.519 set apart in your character, set apart in your morality, set apart in your lifestyle, set apart in your worship, 00:13:27.799 --> 00:13:35.240 that God would be the center of your lives so that you might be His people in the world. 00:13:37.080 --> 00:13:44.519 And friends, again, we know from the New Testament how much more this is true of us, the church. 00:13:44.519 --> 00:13:50.919 So 1 Peter chapter 2 reminds us of what God says about His church. He says, 00:13:50.919 --> 00:14:01.079 for you, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, 00:14:01.799 --> 00:14:07.399 that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. 00:14:07.399 --> 00:14:11.960 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, 00:14:11.960 --> 00:14:22.200 but now you have received mercy. And so, because God is a holy God, as you go out into the world, 00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:32.440 remember whose you are, that you are God's people. Tell yourself, I am set apart for God alone. 00:14:32.440 --> 00:14:43.960 My life is a calling to display Him in everything I do in public and in private, in my relationships, in my work, in my investments, 00:14:44.520 --> 00:14:48.680 everywhere I go, that we might be a people set apart. 00:14:48.679 --> 00:15:00.599 Now, if God's holiness and trying to be holy like He is holy seems overwhelming, 00:15:01.879 --> 00:15:07.559 isn't it good news? Because Moses goes on and God instructs the people at the beginning of chapter 9 00:15:07.559 --> 00:15:18.599 that we are going to be a person who is a forgiving God who saves us from our sin. 00:15:18.599 --> 00:15:25.959 How do we know this? Well, in chapter 19, verse 1 through 14, as the people are ready to set out, 00:15:25.959 --> 00:15:30.519 they are kind of packing their bags and then God says, wait, wait, wait, we got to do one more thing. 00:15:30.519 --> 00:15:45.299 We have to observe the Passover. Why? Well, because the Passover was a picture of God's work to provide forgiveness for the sins of His people. 00:15:45.579 --> 00:15:52.559 Why is this? Well, you go back to Exodus. Do you remember? They're in slavery. God brings all these judgments, these plagues, right? 00:15:52.559 --> 00:15:59.620 The tenth plague, right, was a judgment that was going to come upon all households in Egypt. 00:16:00.519 --> 00:16:06.379 The death of the firstborn. But He provided a way where they would not have to face the judgment. 00:16:07.100 --> 00:16:13.360 He said, if you take a lamb and you sacrifice that lamb and you take some of the blood from that sacrifice 00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:18.899 and you put it on the doorframe of your household, your home is covered. 00:16:18.899 --> 00:16:26.379 And when the spirit of judgment sweeps through Egypt on that night, when it comes to the door, 00:16:26.379 --> 00:16:36.519 when it sees the blood that was shed for you, then it will pass over and not bring judgment to your household. 00:16:37.179 --> 00:16:43.320 This is the idea of the Passover. So, in Exodus 12 verses 23 and 24, we see, 00:16:43.320 --> 00:16:50.639 for the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, 00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:56.799 the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. 00:16:56.799 --> 00:17:04.680 You shall observe this right as a statute for you and for your sons forever. 00:17:04.680 --> 00:17:13.140 You see, God knew that in His judgment, we all sit before Him guilty, 00:17:13.640 --> 00:17:21.480 and we have no hope of being righteous in our own enough to be able to avoid His judgment on sin. 00:17:22.759 --> 00:17:24.259 But God has made a way. 00:17:24.259 --> 00:17:29.220 Just as God made a way in the Passover with the Lamb, 00:17:29.220 --> 00:17:35.839 just as God made a way through the temple where all of these pictures pointed to the ultimate, 00:17:36.759 --> 00:17:38.599 the ultimate work of redemption. 00:17:39.279 --> 00:17:44.700 How could a holy God forgive the sins of people like you and me? 00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:53.019 Well, God so loved the world that He sent His only Son that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life. 00:17:54.259 --> 00:18:02.559 Christ, our Passover Lamb, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, has been sacrificed for us. 00:18:03.720 --> 00:18:11.480 Because of His death, He has died for us and thus taken the judgment that our sins deserve. 00:18:12.119 --> 00:18:15.379 By His sacrifice, we are delivered from slavery. 00:18:16.019 --> 00:18:21.319 By His love, we are now brought into fellowship with Him as His people. 00:18:21.319 --> 00:18:29.059 And as we stand before God, the blood of Christ stands over us like it did the Passover doors. 00:18:30.039 --> 00:18:33.659 And God looks at us and sees the sacrifice. 00:18:34.619 --> 00:18:38.039 And He does not judge us, but He welcomes us instead. 00:18:39.700 --> 00:18:44.639 This, my friends, is the gospel that our God is a forgiving God. 00:18:45.279 --> 00:18:47.740 What a beautiful thing it is. 00:18:47.740 --> 00:18:51.140 What does this mean then? 00:18:51.799 --> 00:18:55.740 We are a people who are new in Christ, forgiven and free. 00:18:56.160 --> 00:19:02.259 The Apostle Paul paints this beautiful picture in the book of Titus, and I want to read it for you. 00:19:02.259 --> 00:19:15.339 For we ourselves once were foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 00:19:15.339 --> 00:19:23.859 But when the goodness and the love and kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us not because of our works done by us in righteousness, 00:19:24.339 --> 00:19:31.439 but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit, 00:19:31.740 --> 00:19:35.740 whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 00:19:36.179 --> 00:19:43.779 so that being justified by His grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 00:19:43.779 --> 00:19:55.220 Friends, as you go out into the world, you will face times when you will fail, and your sin will show itself. 00:19:55.220 --> 00:20:07.440 And it's at those times when, as claiming to be the people of God, we are tempted to hide and to run away from God in shame. 00:20:09.240 --> 00:20:18.559 But God is a forgiving God, and He calls us not to run from Him, but to run to Him when we see ourselves at our worst. 00:20:18.559 --> 00:20:33.159 He calls us to come to Him, and to know that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness because of what Christ has done. 00:20:34.059 --> 00:20:37.940 Friends, God has loved you so much that He sent His Son. 00:20:38.779 --> 00:20:44.159 And as you go out into the world, know that it is a forgiving God who goes with you. 00:20:44.160 --> 00:20:57.200 But not only has God saved us, but finally our fourth point is that it is an ever-present God who goes with us in every circumstance. 00:20:58.740 --> 00:21:04.100 And so, in Numbers 9, we're finally going to read a long passage from Numbers. 00:21:04.180 --> 00:21:04.740 Here we go. 00:21:05.580 --> 00:21:10.300 Numbers 9, starting in verse 15, it says this, 00:21:10.299 --> 00:21:40.279 And in the place where the cloud settled down, there the people of Israel camped. 00:21:40.299 --> 00:21:45.700 At the command of the Lord, the people of Israel set out, and at the command of the Lord, they camped. 00:21:46.139 --> 00:21:49.940 As long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle, they remained in camp. 00:21:50.440 --> 00:21:58.579 Even when the cloud continued over the tabernacle many days, the people of Israel kept the charge of the Lord and did not set out. 00:21:59.339 --> 00:22:06.759 Sometimes the cloud was a few days over the tabernacle, and according to the command of the Lord, they remained in camp. 00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:09.940 Then, according to the command of the Lord, they set out. 00:22:10.299 --> 00:22:15.819 And sometimes the cloud remained from evening until morning, and when the cloud lifted in the morning, they set out. 00:22:15.819 --> 00:22:22.559 And if it continued for a day and a night, when the cloud lifted, they set out. 00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:29.960 Whether it was two days or a month or a longer time that the cloud continued over the tabernacle, abiding there, 00:22:30.399 --> 00:22:33.759 the people of Israel remained in camp and did not set out. 00:22:33.759 --> 00:22:36.379 But when it lifted, they sent out. 00:22:37.220 --> 00:22:41.559 At the command of the Lord, they camped, and at the command of the Lord, they set out. 00:22:42.079 --> 00:22:46.299 They kept the charge of the Lord at the command of the Lord by Moses. 00:22:46.299 --> 00:22:51.559 So, this was not a new thing that happened. 00:22:51.659 --> 00:22:56.599 This is what happened, actually, as God was leading people out from Egypt, right? 00:22:56.759 --> 00:23:02.819 You remember the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night that led light and protection 00:23:02.819 --> 00:23:07.220 and led the people through out of Egypt to Mount Sinai? 00:23:07.220 --> 00:23:12.380 So, in Exodus 13, we see this, where it says, 00:23:12.539 --> 00:23:18.420 And the Lord went before them by day and a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, 00:23:18.600 --> 00:23:24.339 and by night a pillar of fire to give them light that they may travel by day and by night. 00:23:24.860 --> 00:23:29.819 The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people. 00:23:29.819 --> 00:23:37.059 So, this was not a new thing, but as they're setting out from Mount Sinai, 00:23:37.179 --> 00:23:40.159 as they're setting out into this wilderness again, 00:23:41.319 --> 00:23:44.819 God wants to remind His people, 00:23:45.339 --> 00:23:46.779 I will go with you. 00:23:47.359 --> 00:23:49.099 I will go before you. 00:23:50.200 --> 00:23:54.759 And that cloud was a picture of His presence, 00:23:55.399 --> 00:23:59.119 of His revelation and His command and His law, 00:23:59.119 --> 00:24:02.479 of His protection, of His provision. 00:24:03.379 --> 00:24:07.239 This is what it means when God goes with us. 00:24:08.779 --> 00:24:12.359 Sometimes we are tempted to say, 00:24:13.099 --> 00:24:14.939 I don't actually want God to go with me. 00:24:15.219 --> 00:24:18.679 I'm going to go my way and not follow Him. 00:24:20.779 --> 00:24:23.199 Sometimes we think, 00:24:23.719 --> 00:24:25.039 God, I'm following you, 00:24:25.179 --> 00:24:27.079 but it suddenly got really hard. 00:24:27.079 --> 00:24:29.339 Maybe you're not really here at all. 00:24:30.159 --> 00:24:31.779 Maybe you've forgotten about me. 00:24:32.099 --> 00:24:33.759 Maybe you've abandoned me. 00:24:33.759 --> 00:24:37.420 My friends, 00:24:37.980 --> 00:24:42.539 the book of Numbers wants to remind us that God goes with His people, 00:24:42.640 --> 00:24:45.119 that He is ever present with us. 00:24:46.519 --> 00:24:49.279 And again, just like all of these other promises, 00:24:49.819 --> 00:24:53.799 how much more do we as His church know this truth 00:24:53.799 --> 00:24:56.579 than what they did in the Old Testament? 00:24:57.420 --> 00:24:57.759 Right? 00:24:58.759 --> 00:25:05.859 Jesus, after His death and resurrection for our salvation, as He came in His last words recorded 00:25:05.859 --> 00:25:12.980 in the book of Matthew, He gave us a great promise, did He not? It came along with a call. He said, 00:25:12.980 --> 00:25:17.339 all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, make disciples of 00:25:17.339 --> 00:25:21.079 all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 00:25:21.480 --> 00:25:26.720 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. So that's our calling. That would be another 00:25:26.720 --> 00:25:32.480 sermon. We're not preaching that one today, but the promise that comes with it, 00:25:33.140 --> 00:25:38.420 and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. 00:25:40.559 --> 00:25:49.039 Friends, do you walk around in your everyday life thinking, Jesus is with me to the end of the age? 00:25:49.039 --> 00:25:57.920 In the darkest moments, when the pain is so intense, when the obstacle seems so insurmountable, 00:25:59.759 --> 00:26:07.079 Christ is with you. In the moments of greatest joy, of provision, of ease and comfort and beauty, 00:26:07.899 --> 00:26:14.579 Christ is with you. When you're faced with complete unknowns and you don't know where you're going to 00:26:14.579 --> 00:26:18.539 live or who you're going to be with or what you're going to do or how you're going to provide for 00:26:18.539 --> 00:26:29.460 yourself, Christ is with you. And friends, He will go with you to the end. He will take you through this 00:26:29.460 --> 00:26:36.939 life and into glory because this is the great promise for God's people, is that at the end of 00:26:36.940 --> 00:26:41.160 the journey, we have a certain destination for those who have put their faith in Christ. 00:26:42.700 --> 00:26:48.460 Because we know that one day, the dwelling place of God will be with man in Revelation, 00:26:49.019 --> 00:26:57.779 and He will be among us, and we will be His people, and He will be our God for all eternity 00:26:57.779 --> 00:27:05.599 as we enjoy the blessings and the richness and the fullness of all that God has for us. 00:27:07.740 --> 00:27:15.940 And so as you send out from here, those of you who are transitioning, remember He goes with you. 00:27:16.379 --> 00:27:21.440 Lord, I pray that you would be our hope and our comfort, that you would be our strength, 00:27:21.660 --> 00:27:27.680 that you would be our captain who leads us, that you would be our Savior who delivers us, 00:27:27.779 --> 00:27:38.980 Lord, we do confess how easily we live our lives without reference to you. And we ask, 00:27:39.119 --> 00:27:44.399 Lord, that by your Spirit, you would remind us daily of all these things that we have seen in 00:27:44.399 --> 00:27:52.740 you this morning, that we might be faithful in following you, in walking with you. 00:27:52.740 --> 00:27:58.440 We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.