seated, and I appreciate your participation in the song service, singing out this morning in the stands of dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Our text, again, is Exodus chapter 23. And if you're using the Church Bible, it's page 89, Exodus chapter 23. And verse 20 is where our text begins. The term angel in the Bible often means messenger of God. And we've just come to the Christian story. And obviously, God used the angels as messengers, the angelic beings as messengers to his people. Zacharias was told by the angel as he was serving God in the tabernacle that his wife would have a son. And that angel messenger came with that message. The coming Messiah was announced to Mary and Joseph by an angel. We saw as well as we focused on that story of the shepherds, that the shepherds in their field, the angel confronted them there with a message about, again, the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. So the term angel does mean messenger, but meaning messenger, it can also refer to somebody other than what we think of as an angelic being. You understand today that angels are created, that they're in heaven, that they are at the behest of God to do whatever God desires them to do, and they have wings, and all those things about angels. And yet, in the Bible, at times, when it says angel, it doesn't mean angel like that kind of angel. For instance, it's used just to refer to messenger in the New Testament revelation when it's speaking to the church of Thyatira, the church of Sardis, the church of Laodicea. It says, unto the angel of the church. Well, it's speaking about the messenger. It's speaking about the preacher, the pastor, the shepherd that is over that congregation saying, look, I have a message for you, and this is what it is. In the Old Testament, however, often when that word angel is used, it is actually referring to none other than Jehovah himself, and specifically a pre-incarnate appearance or reference to Jesus. We study Genesis. in our Thursday nights. And we got the story of Hagar and the child Ishmael that she had with Abraham, but not the legitimate child. This was a child of the flesh. And she is run away from her mistress, Sarah, who dealt harshly with her. But there in the desert, the angel of the Lord appeared unto her and said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. And so the angel said, I will. You know, it's not speaking about just an angelic being as we think about it. This angel came with authority and said, I will bless. Jacob, you know, in Genesis 31-11, the angel of God is speaking to him in a dream saying, Jacob, and he said, Here am I. He said, look now up thine eyes and see all the rams which leap upon the cattle are looming straight, speckled, and grizzled. For I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee. Who's speaking? God. He says, I am the God of Bethel. Next verse. Where thou anointest the pillar, where thou loust to bow unto me, now rise, get thee out of this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred. And so the angel of God spake, and then the next verse tells who the angel was. I am the God of Bethel. And Jacob said about that angel, who's God, Genesis 48, 16, the angel which redeemed me from all evil blessed the lads. He's blessing Joseph's two boys, but he says the angel that redeemed me. So we know that he's speaking about a pre-incarnate reference to Nihilistim, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so that's important because that's the case in our text this morning, speaking about the angel of the Lord. Well, who is it? Well, it's a theophany, it's a pre-incarnate appearance of reference to God himself in the person of that angel, that messenger of God. Now the context of the promise that we see given in much of this passage that we read, is a promise. The context is similar to last week. Last week we're looking at Kiel claiming the promise, but this is a promise that God would go before, that God would bless, and that God would deliver, and that God would meet every need. And so it's a promise to Israel given about that future place of blessing, the Promised Land. As we think about that this morning, that promised land does not represent heaven, because there are no giants in heaven, there is no battles in heaven, there is no warfare in heaven, but it is speaking about the place of the privileged promises received by God's people, not just in eternity, but now. And it is what God desires us to realize as our Christian experience, that we're living in a place of privilege, that we're living in a place of God's blessing in life, anticipating that future privilege that we have. And you know, the Bible does speak about God blessing us now and giving us a promise now. In 1 Timothy 4,8, bodily exercise profit little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promised of a life that now is and that which is to come. That idea of a godliness, that's obedience, being profitable to me now in my Christian experience is very similar to what we're going to consider as we look at this Old Testament story, God giving promises and future blessing, and considering in our own hearts this morning that I need to go with God's angel, Jesus, to the place of privilege on earth. I need to live within the privileges that I have as a believer and as a child of God, privileges that God's given. We can see it in this Old Testament story, but certainly there's a lot of application to us in the New Testament in the Church of God's blessing as well. and come to that understanding today. May the Spirit of God bless us now as we go to prayer and prepare to preach this message. Father, I pray that the Holy Spirit of God will give us grace as we look into the Word of God this morning. Lord, I pray for wisdom. Lord, we're going from an Old Testament story to speak about New Testament truths, but Father, I think there is a lot of similarity. These are the people of God. Jesus Christ is leading them. We are the people of God. Jesus Christ ought to be leading us. And Father, the way that He leads, the way that He protects, the way that He guides, just like so often, Lord, we gain comfort from the Old Testament, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, Psalm 23, given to Israel. But we're not shy to claim that in the New Testament. And Father, I pray the Spirit of God give me discernment and wisdom as we go through this text to illustrate truths that would help us in our walk with You to live in a place of privilege, blessing, and victory, that we can live in by grace. Pray, help me as I speak, I can't speak without your name. And I pray the Spirit of God guide me in everything I say, the way I say it. Lord, that I say it as you desire me to say it, with the spirit you desire me to have as I say it. And Father, you direct my mind and my heart as I lead us through this text this morning. And Father, pray that you give us ears to hear. And Father, that this truth will impact our feet. It's in Christ's name I pray. Amen. And so go with God's angel to the place of privilege on earth. Again, the angel is the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm just going to point out some truths as we go through. The first is this, the security of the angel. Notice the security of the angel. Verse 20 says, Behold, I send an angel before thee. Now again, we know this is not just an angel, but that this is the angel of God, this is God. And so Exodus 13, 21 speaks about that when it says, the Lord went before them by day and poured a cloud to lead them in the way and by night and poured fire to give them light to go by day and by night. Now put yourself in the shoes, or sandals I should say probably, of the children of Israel, and you're following after God. You're going out into this unknown area, to an unknown place, with all these enemies that are around about you. You've got an enemy behind you as you start out. There's a great security that you find in every time you look up, knowing that you're following the angel, that the angel is in front of you. So if you're following the angel, you are staying in the way. There's security in the way. So I send an angel before thee to keep thee in the way. I love to read scripture. How many times? And I think about two years ago now, I preached a message on the path or the way and it really was kind of eye-opening to me and my just the way I I look at this aspect of Scripture, in that how many times the Word of God speaks about the way, or the path, or what God, and we've talked about in Sunday School, that narrow way that God has made for us. And so the Bible says in Isaiah 30 verse 21, And thy ears shall hear a word before thee, saying, this is the way. Walking in it, when you turn to the right hand, when you turn to the left, whatever. A precious verse that is, that you're seeking God's direction. And God's gonna say, hey, turn right. Hey, turn left. That God is directing you in that way. Again, I referred to already the shepherd's psalm, Psalm 23, where David says, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down and bring pastors. He leadeth me. beside the still waters. He restored my soul. He leadeth me in the path of righteousness for his namesake." And again, it's that idea that God is leading, Jehovah is leading. Jehovah is directing as long as I'm following Him and following His lead. When I was in high school, probably a little older than this, maybe Kayla's age, 17 or so, 16, my parents agreed to allow me to take a trip with two other college students and one of their fathers up into the Boundary Waters that are between northern Minnesota and Canada. And it's a wilderness, one of the great places where you still go, there's no roads, it's all just islands and lakes. Minnesota's called the land of 10,000 lakes because they're just all over the landscape. That's the case up there. We're going in, we're portaging. The first portage was a mile and a tenth that we're carrying canoes and all our gear through this wilderness area to the next little pond or lake and getting on that, going across it and finding our path and these trails through the wilderness. I was very thankful as I went on that that I wasn't responsible for guiding us. I could just take some discovered that was his surname was George you know and he's gonna get us through and if he doesn't his son will because his son Josh was a good navigator too. But there's comfort in knowing that you know what somebody's guiding me. A lot of security in that. You know so much of our world doesn't have that security today because they don't have God as their guide. They don't know what life's all about. Their life is kind of just, you know, kind of whatever comes, comes. There's no sense of any idea that God is leading. And some of you could be out of the way today because Jesus is not their guide. Jesus isn't the one that's leading them. They haven't accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and gotten into the way of following Christ. John 14 says, Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. We know that the way of Christ is the way of the cross, the way of Christ is the way of the empty tomb, the way of Christ is the way of confessing our sin, admitting that we're a sinner, that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sin by faith, accepting Him as our personal Savior. Now listen, if that's me and I have the security of Christ as my Savior, do I have a privilege? John 10, verse 10, and come that they might have life, and they might have it more abundantly. I mean, that's where it begins, isn't it? As far as entering into the privileges that God desires for us is that I be in the way, and the way is the way of Christ. You may be out of the way today because you stopped following Christ. It says, I send Him before thee to keep thee in the way. That we can exit from the place of God's blessing just by departing from that place that we can't lose our salvation, we can't deviate from the fact that God's going to get us into glory, but by getting outside the path of righteousness that God intends us to walk on. And so Proverbs warns in Proverbs 4.14, it says, enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. So it's a warning saying don't deviate, don't go down that path. But it says in verse 18 that the path of the just is as a shining light that shineth more and more unto the birth of day. And as long as I'm following Christ, I'm in the way. And that's, again, that's going to be where the place of blessing is. It might be a tough path at times, but that's going to be where security is. So let me ask you, are you in that path today? I like to play, when I was a kid, I liked to play follow the leader. I still like to, occasionally, with the kids at Holly Bible Club, if I get to be the leader. Because I get to make them do all sorts of crazy things, you know, walk this way, you know, and you're doing all sorts of goofy things. And if you're the leader, everybody behind you has to follow you. And so if somebody's following them, you see them doing the same things that the leader is doing because they're behind them and they're following them and they're playing follow the leader. If somebody were to examine our life today, in light of who Jesus Christ is and how he leads, would they examine it and look at it and say, you know what, they're in the way. Because I see in them the things that Jesus Christ does. I see in them the way that God leads. And so they would recognize that. And so the Bible says we're going to be very careful that we follow our leader. Proverbs 4, 26. Hunter the path of thy feet and let all thy ways be established. So in other words, stay in the way because there's security there. If you're following the angel, you're staying in the way. If you're following the angel, you're headed towards a prepared place. It says, "...and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared." And so there's a prepared place that God had. It was a promised land. We understand that in the context of what we're thinking about. And it was a good place, wasn't it? It was a place of blessing. Jeremiah 29 verse 11 said to Israel, I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. That's post-Promised Land. They'd already received the Promised Land, which is a reminder to them of this truth, that God is a prepared place of blessing, that He desires to bring you to a secure end. That's God's desire. He wants to do that. And yet Israel would doubt this promise many times. Even as they're going towards the promised land, they would doubt it. For instance, at Meribah, Exodus 17 verse 3 says, and the people thirsted there for water, and the people murmured against Moses and said, wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our cattle in thirst? God had told them, I've got a prepared place for you, that my angel is going to lead you to, and they get in a crisis on their way there, and they panic, and they say, why have you done this to lead us out into this wilderness to kill us? At Mount Sinai, Exodus 32 verse 1, when people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mountain, people gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said unto him, Up, make us gods which shall go before us. For I ask you this, Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not what is become of him. And the leader of the children of Israel physically had been absent for them for so many days. And just that absence in that sense that God isn't leading caused them to doubt the goodness of God that was going to take them into that place of promised blessing. Dathan of Byrom, in Numbers 16, verse 13, as they rose up and rebelled, the scripture says, Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of the land that floweth with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, except thou make thyself altogether a prince over us? brought us into a land that floweth with milk and honey, or given us inheritance of fields and vineyards, wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up. Sadly, a whole generation, we talked about last week about Caleb, a whole generation of Israelites, because of unbelief in this promise that God would bring them into this place of desired blessing, never obtained it, because of their distrust in the security that was leading them. Now, praise God. God is guiding us to a place that's far better than Canaan. He's gone to prepare a place for us as well, and that place is heaven. But on the way there, He is leading us. And I'm not preaching this morning, as we come to this, these ideas, health and wealth, false gospel. idea that everything's just going to be great about our life as a believer. But I'll say this, everything is great in the sense of what the Bible says in Romans 8, 28, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. We'll come back to that verse, but the reality is that we can live and exist in a place of God's blessing. which is different from God's judgment, where God is for us, not against us, helping us. And there's security today in the angel of God. As long as we just keep ourselves there. If it gets tough, okay, it's tough, but I just stay behind the angel of God, Jesus Christ, I'm just gonna follow Him in the way, confident that what He said will take place. There's great security in that. And then secondly, We see the sovereignty of the angel, the sovereignty of the angel. Sovereign possesses supreme or ultimate power. So they have total authority. We've seen this recently in the fact that we have a Supreme Court in Britain, I guess, as of pretty recently. 70 years, I think, is all that we've had. But that Supreme Court is the highest court. A lower court, if you lose something in a lower court, you can appeal to a higher court, you can appeal to a higher court. But when it comes to the Supreme Court, there's no appeals process because they are ultimate authority. And so the government was a famous case that came up recently in the disbanding of proroguing of Parliament that took place. And Boris Johnson and his government lost at the Supreme Court. And the Supreme Court, exercising absolute authority, said the government was wrong to prorogue Parliament, so Parliament is dead. back in session as if it never even happened. How could that take place again because they are supreme? Somebody would be very foolish today to go against the Supreme Court forgetting the fact that they are the highest court, that there's no appeals process after them. There might be a soberness about that supreme authority. We know today, as we look at this angel in scripture, that this is a supreme angel. This is a sovereign angel. And we see it in our text, as it says in verse 21, it says, beware of him. Beware means to be wary. Be cautious, be on guard, be careful. Back when I was in Bible college, and I was trying to think, how did I get this job? I had a job in Bible college, but I think we just kind of, freshman orientation day, they put jobs out there and said, go here if you want this job. I heard co-generation, and I went there. And co-generation was the power plant at Bob Jones University that if we lost our power from Duke Power, that the co-generation plant would kick on and have train engines that turn these turbines that would generate enough electricity to keep the campus on grid. And one of my jobs there, not my favorite, was to put on CASMAT gear and breathing apparatus, and take a pumped-up canister of spray that was more flammable than petrol, and to get down into this confined space around these magnets that generate the power, and to spray them. I can tell you this about that job, as I did it, I was careful. I wasn't careless. Because, I mean, you're dealing with something that has incredible power, you're just very careful about doing that. How careful should man be in dealing with God and the Lord Jesus Christ? Matthew 10 verse 28 says, "...and fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in Him." God is ultimate power. God is supreme. There ought to be, in the heart of every man, this intense, real respect for the absolute authority and power that God has. My wife bought me, for Christmas, it's called the Reese Chronological Bible. And it puts Scripture in chronological order. You probably realize that Scripture is not a chronological book, okay? It's arranged as God intended it, gave it to us. So it's kind of neat. to see everything in what they suppose is the chronological order with approximate dates and things given. But as I started back in my Bible again, reading straight through it, I've just now come to the stories about the tabernacle, similar to what we're speaking about. And it's interesting, when he gives the instruction to the priest, the priest's instructions often end with these words, that thou die not. I mean, that's a sobering rule. You've got to go serve God. And you've got to do it just like this. God says, that thou die not. And you read in the scriptures that as soon as they began the worship with the tabernacle, that Nadab and Lydes decided to get involved. And they're going to light their center with fire that God did not command them to do. And those two sons of Aaron, the high priests, are killed by God because of that. You read about Korah and Korah's rebellion against Moses, the leader of the children of Israel, and the men that followed him, those 250 men that wanted to rise up and say, we can serve God in worship, lead in worship as well. And so he has them take 250 men, each man a censer, and offer it before God. And God, first of all, destroys Korah and all his followers through the ground opening up and swallowing them. And then fire comes down from heaven and consumes the men that sought to worship God in a way that God did not require. Praise God, as we read the Old Testament, there is an awareness to us in New Testament age that God is very serious God. And God is ultimate power. He is supreme power. And so fear Him. And then secondly, obey His voice. The angels, verse 21, obey him, obey his voice is what the scripture says in verse 21. Two things are necessary for the angel's words to be obeyed. The first is that his words must be heard. Verse point two, it says, but if thou shalt indeed obey his voice and do all that I speak. Again, notice that there is the angel, and there is communication that this is God, right? Obey His voice that I speak. I mean, it's kind of one idea that it's kind of like the trinity of God. The voice of God is speaking through the angel, because the angel again is God. To obey his voice, what do I need to do? I need to hear what he says. I mean, I know that's pretty simple, but you've got to get to that place where you can hear. I enjoyed watching the opening of parliament after the parliamentary elections that took place, and what they opened with, as you know, is a Queen's speech. And so we tuned in, and our family, I had it up on my Parliament TV in my office, and family came in, and we're watching it and listening to what the Queen said. Without being present to hear what the Queen said, I couldn't have heard the speech. And I know that's very obvious. But for us today, where do we go to hear God speak? It's every day, isn't it, that we open up the Bible of God, or the Word of God, and we look in the Bible, and we see what God says. Now, I know that's very basic, but for me to be in fear of God and to obey God, I've got to know what God says, so I've got to get to that place where I'm daily giving in the Word of God, saying, what does God say? What does the Word of God say? The second place that we think of as a common place to hear the word of God is here today. This is what we do in the local church. We express the teaching of the word of God. This is what God says and seek to give clarity to it. So those two things are very important, are they not? To my ability to obey God, I need to hear what God says through the preaching and teaching of the Word of God, as well as through my personal reading, right? But that's not obedience. I've got to hear His voice, but secondly, His Word must be acted upon. Verse 22 says, but if thou shalt indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak. Now, indeed is interesting. I actually noticed it in our hymn text about God, and it encouraged me because I thought about the word indeed this week for this message. Indeed means in-deed. Okay, that's the etymology of it. What's that mean? Indeed is an action. So in action, so when it talks about God in the text, the hymn text, that God, something we're blessed indeed, it means that God is going to act upon it, God is going to do something. You see, for us, if we're going to obey His voice, then it's indeed, it's in action, indeed obey His voice, and do all that I speak. Notice the completeness of that. As parents, sometimes we'll say something to a child and say, do this. And it's not done. And so we ask this question. What's the question? Did you hear me? Isn't that an economic question? Did you hear me? I'm not speaking to hear myself speak. Did you hear what I said? And why do we think they didn't hear us? Because they didn't do what we asked them to do. And so if we're going to actually, again, hear the voice of God, then it's us with the Word of God. It's not doing some of what God says. It's not partial obedience. It's that if you should indeed obey His voice in all that I say. Now notice the place of privilege is found in the place of obedience. Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy, privileged, in Jesus. but to trust and obey. I've got to be in that place of obedience. And so, the sovereignty of the angel is, I'm to fear him, and I'm to obey him, and then third, I'm to provoke him not. I'm to provoke him not. Go back to verse 21. It says, provoke him not, for he will not pardon your transgressions, for my name is in him. OK, notice again that this is a reference to deity when it comes to the angel. My name is in him. Don't provoke him. Don't go against him. And when it says that he will not pardon your transgressions, we understand at this point that God is a merciful God, God is a forgiving God, but God does not forgive transgressions that are not repented of. Does that make sense? He's not going to say, oh, it's OK that you're disobeying me. That's fine. He's going to deal with those transactions. And so it says, provoke him not. When I think about provoking, I picture a little boy with a stick and a bear in a cage. And just sticking it through there, right? That's the grieve, or the vex. It's to annoy, to bother. Let me ask you this morning, what is it that vexes the heart of God? Disobedience. Ungodliness. And God said, I'm going to put this angel in front of you. Don't grieve him. Don't vex him with disobedience. Follow him. Obey him. The Bible tells us, New Testament, Ephesians 4 verse 30, And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, for by it you are sealed unto the day of redemption. Don't provoke. Don't provoke God. I mean, it's a foolish thing to provoke authority, isn't it? Kids, let me just give you a quick instruction. Don't provoke your parents. Because if I were to ask you this question, kids, do your mom and dad, when you provoke them, take you to a place of blessing or a place of pain? All right? If they're good Godly parents, they take you to a place of pain. All right? Because that's what the Word of God teaches. Listen, if we want to get in a place of the privileged blessing of God, then it's easy for us to understand this morning, I don't want to provoke my sovereign. And so what? I need to fear him. What? I need to obey him. What? I don't want to provoke him. OK, now, let's expound on that a little bit as we look at, third, the subjects of the angel. OK? The subjects of the angel. So the angel is sovereign. So who then are his subjects that are going to enter into the promised land? Well, in the first, attempt to enter into the Promised Land, who are the ones that were his subjects? It's very easy, isn't it? We looked at it last Sunday. It's Caleb. It's Joshua. It's Moses. It's Aaron. The vast majority were not subject to the angel. They provoked him. They didn't get to enter into the blessing. They didn't obey him. They didn't get to enter into the blessing. They didn't fear him. They didn't get to enter into the blessing. And so, Caleb and Joshua would be like, in our day, those that are faithful and obey God. Some of that is going to be pleasing to God. So more specifically, what does that person look like according to the Word of God in our text? Well, this person that is subject to the angel is unlike the world. They are unlike the world. It says in verse 24, Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works, but thou shalt utterly overthrow them and quite break down their images. And so the Word of God says, they're not to be like the people of the land that you're going to come into and you're going to fight against those people that are under the judgment of God because of their disobedience against God, their idolaters, and they have their idols. And so do not be like them. I have set you apart as my people. My people are to be distinctly different from these people that are under my judgment. So they're unlike the world. So how is that? Well, they refuse to worship the idols of the world. It says in verse 24, thou shalt not bow down to their gods. Don't bow down to their gods. Now, put it in our context again, we don't have an idolatrous nation in the sense strictly of Buddhism or Hinduism or something like that, although that is present in Scotland. And so what would we say that our world bows down to? What do they worship? What are their gods? Well, Satan's rock and pop musicians. I mean, there's a show in the United States that came out a long time ago where it was called American Idol. How appropriate, you know? I mean, couldn't you name it better? I mean, that's exactly it, isn't it? I mean, our world bow-wows and worships this ungodly music and wicked lifestyle. They bow down at the god of sport? That's a little less... Obvious, I guess, or something that doesn't stand out as much, but they worship sport. They bow down to sport. It directs their life. Everything about their life could be about sport, or their entertainment, or their hobby. They bow down to the god of popularity, famous people. If they're famous, you know, movie star, something like that, what they say, what they do. The god of false science, evolution. They bow down. You know, God said we're meant to worship the gods of the world. And so if we think about, am I a subject of the angel? The angel is sovereign. Am I unlike the world, or am I just like the world? I mean, they listen to that music, I listen to that music. They know those movie stars, I know those movie stars. They bow down to that sport, I worship that sport. Or am I unlike the world? They said, no, that's not the lifestyle of a believer. So they refused to worship the idols of the world. They refused to serve their idols. Again, it says, thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works. Their lifestyle was a lifestyle of idolatry. It was a lifestyle that, you know, if we again look at our world, what is their lifestyle like? They drink, they smoke, they curse, they use God's name in vain. That's because they serve the false gods. And so if I'm a believer, and God is my God, then my language is different. then my associations are different. Because I'm not serving that. The things I used to do, I don't do them anymore. The place I used to go, I don't go there anymore. Because I stopped bowing down to that idol. And notice as well, they destroy the idols. Verse 24, it says, but thou shalt utterly overthrow them and quite break down their images. So as they went and they dealt with this idolatry that was in the land, they were to take those idols and smash them. And it's like what the Bible says, when it says, make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the luster, there's no chance that they're going to go back and worship that idol, because that idol's gone. And God says that is how the people of God are to deal with idolatry. Now, I'll say this about Israel, they didn't always take down the high places. The Bible says many times in 2 Kings 14, 4, 2 Chronicles 20 verse 33, And somebody could say, why am I going to enter into the privilege of God's blessing? God said, if I follow the Savior. Well, are you following the Savior if you've got idols in your life that you haven't dealt with and destroyed and it's gotten tense? It's a believer that has Wicked Music, that they haven't taken those CDs and DVDs and other things and burned them and destroyed them and they're still going back and worshiping where they used to worship before they got saved. or alcohol, or addictions, or pornography, or relationships, or anything like that. And so, if somebody is going to be subject to God, they've got to be unlike the world. And then, secondly, they're under God's command. It says in verse 25, "...and ye shall serve the Lord your God." You're not going to follow idols. You're going to be unlike the world, but you're going to serve God. You're going to serve Him. We've just again come through the parliamentary elections, and we're reminded by the politicians that they are servants of the people. And so they would say things like this, that our job is not to represent our views, but the views of the British people. And then people say that. They're in Parliament. They'll say, I'm here to represent my constituency. And that is my responsibility as a politician, because I'm a servant of the people. They'll say, I'm here to defend the interests of the British people, because I'm a servant of the people. And so, again, as we think about it, with our heart towards God, am I a defender of God's views and a representative of His interests? Because if I'm a servant of him, it doesn't matter what I think about homosexuality, it matters what God thinks about homosexuality. If I'm a servant, it doesn't matter what I think about religious people that are sincerely on their way to hell. What matters is what God thinks about them. I'm not here to represent my views or my concepts or the standard of what I feel or I think or anything like that. It's what does God see in this world because I'm a servant. And so we serve God, and certainly that applies to our getting involved and doing things for God as well in the New Testament as we invest our life for God. You know, I'm a servant of God. We talked about this recently, possibly Thursday night, I'm trying to remember, we were just talking about this idea that everything that we do, we do for God and for God's glory. They're under God's command. They're unlike the world. And they are uncompromised. Verse 32, it says, And God warns us, don't compromise. Don't talk to them and make a covenant with them in the league and say, OK, we're going to co-exist and it's going to be fine. No, because that would take the heart of God's servant away from God's blessing. They want to make a compromise. Satan always is seeking a compromise with God's people. How else could it get the Church of Scotland to, first of all, allow women ministers when the Word of God is very clear that it's something not a woman to teach nor to assert the authority of a man but to be in subjection? That's what the Word of God says. How could Satan be a compromise? The world is a modern day. That's misogynistic and so blended. How in the world could a church say not only is homosexuality OK, but that it's OK for a minister to be a homosexual? Because they agree with the world. Now let me ask you this. Is the world subject to the sovereign? They ought to be, but they're not. They're not subject because they haven't put their place. They are under him, but they are not under him by their will. They're rebelling against the sovereign. And I say that to say this. Should we compromise with somebody that's not submitted to the sovereign? No. And so, God says, don't compromise. Listen, you can compromise very easily. You're at work, somebody says, well, I think it's okay for people to be homosexual and that God accepts it. Well, there's a lot of pressure today to say it's hate speech if you say, you know what, I can love a homosexual, care about them as much as I care about an adulterer, a drug addict, an alcoholic, a liar. And by the way, when I say that, I'm speaking about all people that are mounted in the blood of Jesus Christ that are unsaved and lost. I love them, but their sin is not okay in the sight of a holy God. And see, if we're subject to the sovereign, again, we don't compromise. We don't say, well, modern day, you gotta have a little beat, you gotta have a little rhythm in your music, in your church. If you don't do that, they're just not gonna come, they're not gonna see anybody get saved. And so, let's just compromise a little bit and let's make a league, a covenant. No, let's not. Let's stick with what God says in his word. Be uncompromised, under God's command, unlike the world. Why? Because that brings us to the last point, the success of the angel. The success of the angels is all privileges that God desired to give to his people. If they were indeed subject to him as sovereign, these promises would be theirs. And Caleb was subject to God. And Joshua was subject to God. And they said, we will stand with God. God's going to bring us into that place of blessing. They believed God. They got it. And those other people never did. And so today, We're not in a physical war that we've got to go through, but we're in a spiritual war that's very active. And I can be somebody, and I can think this, you know what, I don't care to be unlike the world. I kind of want to be like the world. I don't care to serve God. I want to compromise with the world. I don't really want to listen to God, and I'm provoking God by that. But I don't care. I can be like that, and I can rep my life, it can wreck my family, it can wreck my, it certainly wrecks my witness, but I'll never experience the blessing that God desires me to have as somebody that is entered into the place of privileged blessing that God intends me to have, and the success of the angel. And so, notice that the promises that God gave are conditional promises, upon them being subject. And without being a subject, they're not going to have a blessing. It's not going to happen. But if they will submit themselves to the angel and obey the angel, serve the angel, and again, the angel is Jesus Christ and is God, then all these blessings would be theirs. And so what are the blessings that we see here in this text? Well, the angel of God is on the side of his subjects. It says in verse 22, But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak, Then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies and an adversary unto thine adversaries. Let me ask you, if they didn't do all that the angels said, would God be an adversary to the adversaries and an enemy to their enemies? No. They wouldn't have the privilege. And, you know, I just wonder, in the heat of battle, in that moment that they needed God to deliver them, how confident they could be, because they look at their hearts and say, you know what, I've been obedient to God, I've been yielded to God, I've been serving God, I'm rightly related to my angel, I'm following my angel, I'm confident that God's going to deliver me. Because they'd still be in battle. And I wonder today, how confident are we that God is going to bring us through that? We're going to get through this thing because we're sticking with God. We're following the angel. Even though it's tough, even though there's battles, that God is going to be the enemy of our enemies, the adversary of our adversaries. Secondly, the angel of God destroys the enemies of his subjects. He destroys them. Verse 23 says, For my angels shall go before thee. and bring it in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I will cut them off. Let me ask you a question. We'll see it even in this text. Did He cut them off right away? No. Would they have to fight on to get through there? I mean, they're fighting too, but God said, I'm going to cut them off. Would they have to fight on? Yes. But there could be some that get to that point where they just quit before they receive. That was going to happen in God's time. And there's plenty of Christians that God doesn't want them to get excited about it, get stuck and quit. Because they lose sight of the fact that God in His time is going to give victory. God's gonna win this battle. Because that's a privilege of being a child of God is that confidence in God and God's ability to bring us through. Then third, the angel of God nourishes and heals his subjects. It says in verse 25, and ye shall serve the Lord your God and he shall bless thy bread and thy water and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. Okay, God will provide their, first of all, food. Is that a New Testament truth? Well, let's talk about the Lord's Prayer. Pray, give us this day our daily bread. Why? Because that's what God supplies. You know, if you haven't stopped to thank God for your food, you really should because God is the one that's given even that nourishment to us or that provision to us as believers. So we need to be confident in God's provision if We're in a place of obedience to God. Because that's where the blessing ends. And that's in New Testament truth as well. Matthew 6, 33, Sermon on the Mount. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. What are those things? That is food, that's clothing, that's all these physical cares that we have. Who is it added to? It's added to the person that is following the angel. Seek ye first the kingdom of God. And there's a blessing of God's provision of food. Now, the second thing that he said is God would heal them. Is that a New Testament truth? Yes. James 5.14, and he said, And if ye have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that you may be healed. The effectual, fervent prayer of righteousness and the end of the earth. Notice that that scripture deals with being following the angel. It's talking about being right with God. If they've sinned, it is God's judgment. Deal with that sin, it will be forgiven them. And they will be healed, they will be restored. It's what God says in the book of James. That there is confidence, there is God always healed. No. I used the illustration of Paul recently where Paul prayed earnestly that three times that God would take away this affliction that he had. It was Thursday night that we're talking about. But God didn't take it away because his strength was made perfect in weakness. But in that trial, guess whose blessing Paul had? God's. And so he walked unto the person that faced his illness in a place of disobedience against God. Does that make sense? It could be 1 Corinthians 11, we talked about that last Sunday night. We have the word stable for this cause. Many are weak and sickly, among you many sleep. Why? Because who God loves, God chastens. It's a precious thing today to be able with a heart to see by the grace of God, I'm following the angel. That in that place of physical affliction, I can ground, I can say God, but I'm confident in you. God, I'm looking to you for healing. But I'm also desirous to see a grace at work in my life as I go through this trial of affliction, because God bless you. And God does watch over us in our affliction. That's why we're praying for this dear family that's had this tragic accident in Ireland. And then the angel of God blesses his subjects. Verse 26, it says, there shall nothing cast their young, nor be buried in the land the number of thy days I will fulfill. God says, I'll give you long life, as it were, long possession of this property, and you're not going to see your livestock losing all their offspring. Why? Because I'm going to watch over that, and I'm going to take care of that. You know, God can allow testing like Job, but even think about Job. First of all, was Job a righteous man? Was he following the angel? Yes. And what did God do at the end? God blessed the Labyrinth of Job twice as much as what he had before. Why? Because he was a righteous man. I find myself in Job now, which is right now, and you guys, the false counselors that came. And again, it's not that everything's going to be great in a believer's life, but notice, I mentioned Romans 8.28, we apply it again, here it is. And we know all things work together for good as blessing to them that love. We talked about it when we studied Romans chapter 8. Love is obedience. If you love me, keep my commandments. If I love God and I love man, I'm right with God and I'm right with man because love is the fulfilling of the law. And so if I'm following the angel, then I can be confident all things work together for good. God's going to bless me. God's going to take care of me. And if I'm honoring God with my finances even, then I can claim Philippians 4.19, but my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Because it's in the context of, hey, you gave to meet my need. Paul said, because he gave to God, God's gonna meet your need. My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. So if I am right with God and following the angel in my finance and giving to God, then I can expect that God's gonna meet my temporal needs and bless my temporal means. And then, last, the angel of God captains his subjects. If you've been on the news this past week, there's been a lot of talk of war. You've got Iran and the United States, and now Britain's pulled in a little bit today as our ambassador was arrested for an hour at a protest in Tehran, apparently. He was arrested for an hour, which breaks all sorts of protocol. And so there's posturing, and what's going to happen? How's this going to take place? But over each army is a captain that has the authority to say, this is the battle plan, this is what is going to take place. And when it comes to us following Jesus Christ as the angel of God, then it's His battle plan. That's a blessing. And so the Bible says, let's just read it, verse 27 down to verse 31, I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come. And I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee, and I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, the Hittite from before thee. I will not drive them out from before thee in one year. Now this is interesting. I'm not going to do it in one year. God could have done it in one day. Lest the land become desolate, and the beasts of the field multiply against thee. By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased in the hereafter land. God had it all figured out. If I'm following the angel, God is my captain and that means that he's got it all figured out. He's got a plan. He knows how it's going to take place. All I've got to do is stay behind the angel. And God's going to take care of it. It may not be in my timing, as quickly as I want. And I might be wondering, why is it going fast? But God there says, I'm not going to do it in a year, because otherwise the land would be overgrown and wasted. I want to preserve that land by having those people there caring for it until it's time to take it from them. And so today, we're looking at this idea in the Lord, taking God's people to the place of a privileged, promised blessing. I believe there's a very good application to us as a church. To say, first of all, am I in the security of the angel? Am I saved? Have I accepted Jesus Christ as my savior? Am I on that path that's leading towards that blessing in life where God's meeting my needs and caring for me? Do I have that? Secondly, understand He is sovereign. Today, we need to refocus our minds and say, you know what, God is lawgiver. And obeying his laws is not optional. I don't have to fear him. I don't obey him in everything. I certainly don't provoke him, but listen, I'm provoking him if I'm not obeying him. And so that brings us to the subjects that are following, and the subjects are dealing with idolatry. And saying, no, that's an idol. I worship that instead of God. I serve that instead of God. And so I'm going to destroy that. I'm going to destroy it completely because that's what God said to me. And I'm to serve God. And part of that service that I didn't mention is obeying Him. And so I've got to hear what He says. I need to be in church. I need to hear what He says. I need to be in my Bible every day. so that I can obey Him. Why? Because I want to get to the success of the angel, where He's taking care of it. And this isn't health and wealth gospel, this is the doctrine of obeying God and pleasing God and being His child and seeing God take care of you. And that's what the Word of God is teaching. Through Israel, Old Testament, tell us in the New Testament. What do we need to do? Follow the angel. Obey the angel. As long as it's right between us and Jesus, it's going to be alright. Because He's going to take care of it. God help us to follow the angel of God, Jesus Christ. Father, I pray that the Spirit of God would speak to hearts this morning. Father, we've looked at a lot of truth. But Father, I pray, first of all, that if there's somebody here, they've never entered into the security of Jesus Christ and been saved by faith in his death and his resurrection. Lord, that today would be the day that they obey the gospel and get saved and have that security. Lord, that security can be lost if we get out of the way. We don't follow Jesus in a way. We're outside of that. We're not going to have the security of that. So maybe somebody needs to get back into that. Then Father, I pray that we understand that you are sovereign, you are God, and Father, I pray exalt your name before us. May we understand that we serve holy God with holy gods. And Father, you don't accept sin, you don't smile at sin, you don't wink at sin, you don't look at something small in our life. It's big, it's a blot, and it's a reproach to the cause of Christ. And so I pray today, may the Spirit of God help us to examine our life in accordance with what the Word of God says. Father, what we hear through the preaching of the Word, what we hear in our personal Bible reading, Father, I pray that we would obey, that indeed we would obey all of it. And then, Father, that we be subject, Lord, that we look at, see if there's any idolatry in our lives, anything that is taking the place of God, deal with that harshly, because it's gonna steal our heart away from you. And then, Father, that we could enter into what we just considered at the end, success, the blessing of being a child of God. And so, God, bless your word to our hearts, even as we've heard it this morning, it's in Christ's name we pray, amen. Let's stand, people, sing a hymn of invitation. Trust in Jesus. That's what we need to do. 405. Trust in Jesus. That is all. And once you find it, let's stand please and we'll sing. 405.