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[3:57] God brought them out of Egypt and it was all because of this reception of the commandment to bless there are doubtless there would have been others that might have suggested that they came out of Egypt by another means I suppose there would be some that would attribute their escape to the vagaries of fortune and chance and opportunities that came their way but the word of the Lord is clear God brought them out of Egypt and if we look at this from the spiritual viewpoint in connection with our being brought out of Egypt that is being brought out of this present evil world in the spiritual view of it then what can we say in respect to our own experience God brought us out of Egypt if God didn't bring us out of Egypt then we've never effectively come out how good are these words that are so honouring and glorifying to the eternal God what is in your heart and what is in mine is it that we may constantly say

[5:19] God did this and God did that my God did this and my God did that the appointed time rolled on apace not to propose but call by grace and my God did that all because there had been a receiving of a commandment to bless and if God has blessed us with opened eyes if he has blessed us with opened ears there's one thing that we shall see and there's one thing that we shall hear and that is what God has performed he performeth the thing that is appointed for me says Job and many such things are with him he hath as it were the strength of a unicorn surely there is no enchantment against Jacob neither is there any divination against Israel according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel what hath God brought this will be the outcome of the commandment being given to bless because whatever blessing there is it will be the result of what God has brought that is what God has has worked we read in the 133rd Psalm that the Lord commanded the blessing even life forevermore and if we have the eternal life in our hearts what do we say about it must we not say this is God's work must we not say what hath God brought how is it that I came to know the Lord how is it that I came to fear before him how is it that I became a praying man or a praying woman how is it that I came to seek for mercy how is it that I came to rejoice that there is a throne of grace how is it that I came to have ears that would listen to the gospel and feed under the gospel and rejoice by reason of the sweetness of the gospel is this not the result of what God has wrought and all because there had a commandment gone forth that you should be blessed now we come to the next point and he hath blessed the word of God speaks to us of being witnesses we hear a great deal about witnessing today but sad to say so much of the observations in regard to witnessing are somewhat misplaced and are not always in accord with the scriptures of truth but you see

[8:53] God speaks of those that shall be his witnesses and this is the point that what is to be witnessed is he is God now if we are to be witnesses that he is God it will be the result of our knowing God but how shall we know God we shall know God by his works it is good for us to be able to say that we know that God has worked something in us sometimes we may come under the power of persecution but what has God wrought just comes to my mind a young man that was telling me fairly recently that when he was in the army he felt so much a need to read the scriptures and he was persecuted on this account and the his persecutors said well why do you read the scriptures

[10:16] I thought his answer was very telling he said because I need to read the scriptures he said if you needed had my need you would read the scriptures too what have gone wrought was there a time when we had no need to read the scriptures is there a time now when we have need to read the scriptures now this all emanates from this this opening word behold I have received commandment to bless and he hath blessed now here is a testimony he hath blessed now perhaps we may put this question to you has God blessed you surely if

[11:17] God has blessed you by working in your heart you will have some knowledge of it perhaps I can put it like this dare you say that he hasn't blessed you dare you say that he hasn't taught you dare you say that God has worked nothing in you that would certainly be a very solemn statement it may be true in some cases God knows but what has God brought in you that will enable you to say and bear witness put your amen to these words of this man and he hath blessed I know he is blessed now you see what terms may we consider the blessing to be contained in first of all there is a blessing of regeneration oh it is a great blessing to feel that you are born again born again of the spirit shall we know whether we are born again

[12:41] I know it is an expression which may well be abused in some quarters and the expression is used are you a born again Christian and many that use such an expression give no indication in their lives that they are but let doubt that detract you and me from examining the matter to see whether we are born again how shall we know it in the third chapter of John we are told very clearly what it is what is the experience of being born again Jesus answered verily verily I say unto thee accept a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of

[13:46] God then in the eighth verse he says the wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell when it cometh and whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the spirit he hath blessed has God blessed you with regeneration has God blessed you with a new birth has the wind of the spirit come upon your heart touched your heart moved away as it were but left an impression on your heart left an effect upon your heart done something to you you may remember that the prophet Elijah Elijah when he passed by Elijah and he spoke to him immediately there was an effect upon that man it was the wind blowing he gave up his yoke of oxen

[15:03] I remember rightly he offered a sacrifice and eventually he followed Elijah and he wouldn't leave him the wind had blown it wasn't just Elijah speaking it wasn't just a man speaking but it was the spirit of God speaking to Elijah compelling him where the spirit of God comes there is a compelling the wind will compel you sometimes won't it the natural wind will it will change your course at times well this is a description of the new birth what can we say about it no I have received commandment to bless and he hath blessed and in between the two we see what blessing is being born again of the spirit when the when

[16:18] Paul and the other apostles they went from place to place in one place they were referred to as the turners of the world upside down now you know the wind can turn the world upside down sometimes when it becomes when it becomes ferocious it can turn the world upside down and sometimes the wind of the spirit comes into a person's heart and turns the world upside down so that everything is out of place the things which they thought to be a little consequence now become a great consequence and the things that they thought so much of now become of little consequence all because of this evidence of the new birth that the wind is blown and when this happens to you you will surely have to concur with this man and say and he hath blessed he hath blessed me with a new birth but the effect of a new birth is not only outward but it is also inward because we have new desires the wind will turn our hearts another way to Jesus and his blood has the spirit of

[18:02] God given us that evidence of the new birth that the wind has come and turned our hearts another way so instead of looking at the things of time instead of looking for our salvation being the result of our self righteous life and action we now look unto the cross of Christ we now look to see there is my salvation there is my desire there is my hope there is my Christ who lived and died for me and who has risen again oh what hath God brought the Lord hath blessed if he has blessed us with a changed view of things but a changed view of things will also bring us into a change in our prayers now some of course may not have prayed before the spirit turned them by the power of his wind and so being compelled to pray like the

[19:16] Philippian jailer they may well emulate the words that he spoke what must I do to be saved but even those that have been accustomed to pray from their childhood will find that the wind will turn them about and cause them to pray differently dead prayers asking for just those things that they may consume upon their lusts and bring comfort into their hearts shall I say when I say that I mean worldly comforts into their hearts and into their lives so that in all foolishness they may be like the husband in the scriptures who folded his arms and he said soul take thy knees for there has much good laid up in store but God came to that man and it may be that the wind of the spirit came to you in the same way that it came to that man this night thy soul shall be required of thee then who shall those things be he hath blessed we may not think that to have our whole lives pitched into a turmoil is blessing but subsequently we live long enough to see that an earthquake coming into our lives was a great blessing because it shook us out of ourselves it shook us out of a dead profession if we were in it it shook us out of profanity if we were in it it shook us out of infidelity it shook us even out of unbelief and disbelief and we were in great distress such occasions are a blessing he hath blessed now I'm sure that some of you can look back over the years to that day when you were turned upside down not necessarily with the force of an earthquake but maybe with a lesser force but sufficient to stop you in your tracks and cause you to feel that all was not well earthquakes are of varying sizes some are but a few tremors and if you were in a house looking at it literally just a few pieces of furniture might move a little but some earthquakes are devastating indeed and God knows the force to bring into your life and into mine that will make us tremble before God he hath blessed but that is a beginning of the blessings an evidence that God has sent his wind and moved your spirit and passed by and said live he hath blessed blessed with

[23:00] God's preservation we sometimes sing the lines preserved in Jesus when my feet made haste to hell and there should I have gone but thou dost all things well that love was great that mercy free which from the pit delivered me and what can we say about that he hath and he hath blessed because I know that the Lord preserved me preserved me when I had no thought of preservation no desire after the things of God at all oh what a thing it is to believe that when we had no thought of God that God's preserving hand was over us why because there had been the receiving of a commandment to bless and that that was an eternal commandment as we mentioned this morning it was not a second thought on God's part the preserving angel of God is over his people from the very moment that they're born indeed we may go so far to say the very moment they're conceived

[24:28] God's eye is upon them and over them and God's eye continues to be on them they're not aware of it you're not aware of it perhaps and I'm not aware of it but if we are the subjects of God's love and mercy we shall certainly be watched over every moment of our life from earliest conception preserved in Jesus and that preservation will continue on as we go on in life when we're aware of it now whilst we're unaware of it we will never be able to speak of being blessed we are blessed but we're not aware of it but when God opens our heart and our understanding and we become aware of God's preserving mercy of his continual watchfulness of his continual care he hath blessed care now has he blessed you with his continual care those words in

[25:45] Peter's epistle are very beautiful and needy to be viewed from both ends as it were casting all your care upon him for he careth for you through life and he's caring for you in your old age now do we know this to be true can we not believe it in considering these words casting all your care now some of you

[26:45] I'm sure have had to cast your care upon the Lord cast he said on me thy care it is enough that I am nigh I will all thy burdens bear I will all thy needs supply now this will cover the part the burdens which may come upon us in respect to the various providences that come upon us the dark clouds that arise we've had some dark clouds that arise in our lives haven't we I remember one occasion when the clouds were very dark in my life and those words were brought so powerfully to my soul I was quite overcome ye fearful saints fresh courage take the cloud ye so much dread are big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head and I'm bound to bear witness that God is faithful and that those overwhelming lines of the poet that came with force into my soul were soon proved to be true casting all your care upon him he hath blessed if you're able to do it we cannot do it of ourselves whatever people may say and you see even in in the natures of some perhaps to some extent in the natures of us all we desire to pass pass over the responsibility to another and yet retain it we cannot leave it in another person's hands entirely we're still carrying it well what a mercy when we can leave things in

[28:58] God's hands he hath blessed and God blesses with ability to do that which we cannot do normally cast casting all your care upon him is there any significance in this does it mean anything how big is it to cast your care upon him the Lord eye is in every place you know when I've been away from home stayed at home away as I have had through sometimes in my preaching tours I've always felt thankful that in prayer at night I could always commit my family into the

[30:02] Lord's hands knowing that he could see them wherever they were as well as he could see me and that's been a great consolation to leave many a time casting all your care upon him for he careth for you the Lord sits up on high and thus he sees all and he knows all but just think of it through these means you you get to know this blessing the blessing that God has given commandment given others in order that they might receive a commandment of bless he will bless his people with peace peace in their hearts peace in their consciences peace in casting their cares upon the Lord now God knows what cares you have got

[31:14] I do not know I cannot read into your hearts perhaps I might assume you have some cares I might presume you have some cares but just what they mean only God knows how deep a feeling they have in your heart only God knows but in the preaching of the gospel it is my place to commend to you God who knows and understands what you feel and how wonderful that is he hath blessed blessed with his preservation and he hath blessed also the people of God with a knowledge of his faithfulness what a word is that in the Thessalonians faithful is he who call it you who also will do it and God does do what he has spoken of

[32:27] God is faithful to his word and we have this word in that connection God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with every temptation make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it now you may look forward with some humble confidence in God because God is faithful to his word faithful to his word faithful for Jehovah must remain nor shall thou seek his face in faith have we a past experience that we can read those lines into it so that we can say he hath blessed oh he hath blessed blessed with God's faithfulness to be blessed with the knowledge of God's faithfulness will surely outweigh all the blessings that we may enjoy in time if we have a comfortable situation if we have a comfortable home if we have the blessings of family life yet all these things will as it were diminish when we think about

[34:00] God's faithfulness oh to be blessed with the knowledge of God's faithfulness and the people of God are blessed with this knowledge how many of the saints of God have found such consolation in God's faithfulness we have those that precious account in the 89th psalm which speaks to us about the faithfulness of God even when we may be unfaithful my mercy will I keep for him forever more my covenant shall stand fast with him his seed also will I make to endure forever and his throne as the days of heaven if his children forsake my law and walk not in my judgments if they break my statutes and keep not my commandments then will I visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes nevertheless nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail my covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that has gone out of my mouth in the previous verse to our text we read this

[35:46] God is not a man that he should lie neither the son of man that he should repent hath he said and shall he not do it or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good how do we discover the faithfulness of God the faithfulness of God is manifested in all his works but perhaps the faithfulness of God can be said to be known in that he gives to his people a promise from the scriptures now sometimes he will give a promise to his children in the early days of their pilgrimage which is to last them the whole of their pilgrimage as an example we may cite the well known words

[36:51] I will never leave thee nor forsake thee the promise of God given to us perhaps in the early days of our pilgrimage proved again and again as we've gone on and every time it's been proved it's been an evidence that God has been faithful and whenever you think of that then must you not say he hath blessed he hath blessed me with a continual overriding of his faithfulness but then again the Lord sometimes may settle in our hearts a promise which we may prove perhaps more clearly day by day the word I'm thinking of is in the book of

[37:52] Deuteronomy where it is written thy shoes shall be iron brass and as thy days so shall thy strength be I remember an occasion when this was very precious to me let not thy heart despondent say how shall I stand this trying day he has engaged by firm decree that as thy days thy strength shall be now when we speak about days we all know that days can be very different there can be days of sunshine and there can also be days of fowl there can be days of calm there can also be days of tempest there can be days when we are oppressed and there are other days when we depressed so we might say this that it would not be sufficient for

[39:08] God to give us a certain amount of strength and say now that will do you for every day because the days being different will have different demands but God is faithful in this as thy day so shall thy strength be if the day therefore is is is hard it's cold we need more strength in the cold don't we than we do in the heat although some people need more strength in the heat than they do in the cold but God is able to accommodate the strength to suit the day and if we look at that from the physical point we also look at it from the spiritual point what changes take place in our lives fears can sometimes weaken us weaken us very much but

[40:21] God assures us that as thy day according to what may come in thy day what demands thy day may make upon my strength it shall be given you know one says my fears sometimes say I never shall find in death or whole day true peace to my mind but God is able to give sufficient strength of faith to deal with all the fears and to enable you to trust in God though he slay me yet will I trust in him now what can we say about this promise of God in regard to his faithfulness he hath blessed he hath blessed if we've had a trying day physically we may feel we've just enough strength to get into bed but

[41:25] God has fulfilled his promise and if we've had a day of trial spiritually where the devil has had us sweat according to our strength but we've just enough strength to get into bed enough strength to fall down before God God has proved his faithfulness he hath blessed blessed us with a knowledge that he is faithful to his word as thy day so shall thy strength be a fullness is in Jesus Christ and that is a fullness of strength and that is a fullness of strength for all the election of grace you see if we look at one person we should be very unwise to say now they're they're drawing on my strength they need so much strength there'll surely be nothing left for me now the glory of

[42:34] God's strength is this he can continually give out but it never diminishes it's a great mystery it's a great mystery but haven't we proved it to be true have we ever needed strength and it's not been forthcoming as thy days so shall thy strength be God gave Jacob a word and it was to this point that he would do him good in the chapter we read that Jacob he pleaded this with his God he said is thou not same I will surely do these good sometimes we may come into adverse circumstances as Jacob did and we may say well this cannot be good have we forgotten what the scripture says for we know that all things work together for good to them that love

[43:43] God to those who are the called according to his purpose and so we read through the account that we read tonight and it was through that day of adversity that God was going to make it a day of blessing let us not always think that the day of adversity will be our doom we have instances in the word of God where the day of adversity has only been that which has gone forerunner to a day of blessing surely Jacob would never forget that day when God wrestled with him and God gave him strength we might think of that as thy day is so shall thy strength be the days when

[44:48] God gives us strength to wrestle with him we are not given them the minute details of what was in Jacob's heart but we are assured of this that he was in great trouble in great trouble the psalmist says thou hast shown me great and sore troubles may we not conclude that the situation of Jacob in Genesis 32 was a great and sore trouble but there God came to him and God gave him strength to wrestle and God gave him strength to overcome in this day what a blessing this is he hath blessed you may have noticed in the chapter that we read and this was one of the reasons why

[45:48] I read it these words and he blessed him there and he blessed him there can we look at one or two parts in our lives where we can say he blessed me there Isaiah tells us about Abraham he called him alone and blessed him just the two of them Abraham and God God lifting up his hands so to speak and blessing him there having called him out of Arab Caldees he hath blessed just a word on the last point and I cannot reverse it what an unspeakable blessing it is that all the powers of hell and all the desires of men wicked men men with enmity in their heart women for that matter and even children they cannot reverse what

[47:11] God has done and if God has blessed you with the knowledge of his faithfulness of his loving kindness of his tender mercies of his quickening grace of his regenerating mercy you know it can never be reversed and this is something that may well be a strength to our faith I cannot reverse it and knowing what was in the heart of Balaam and you may remember that he died fighting against Israel he was determined to reverse it if he could but I cannot and if you should meet a person or if you should meet the devil in your experience and he said I will reverse it I will reverse it eventually

[48:14] God will make him say I cannot reverse it we have in the book of Job an account where the devil did all he could to reverse God's blessing upon Job but in the end by his very action if not by his speech he had to say I cannot reverse it because after Satan had done his utmost we find that Job was blessed more in his latter day than he was formerly and God is able to do this if you should have a spiritual blessing where your very faith and profession is put into the fire and to all intents and purposes you lose everything do remember that the purpose of God is that you should have more in the end than you ever had at the beginning and so it was with Job and so it is with the people of

[49:33] God and it all comes from these words behold I have received commandment to bless and he hath blessed and I cannot reverse it I cannot reverse it now I cannot reverse it tomorrow and I cannot reverse it whilst you're upon this earth and I certainly cannot reverse it when you pass out of time into eternity there to be with Christ which is far better oh what a blessing to know that what God has decreed can never be reversed the soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose I'll never no never desert to his foes that soul though all earth should endeavour to shake I'll never no never no never forsake and none can reverse it may the

[50:44] Lord bless you with the knowledge of this almighty God who controls men and devils who controls his blessings who gives his blessing and none can endure it and none can reverse it none can stop it for the Lord hath blessed you know we read in the Psalms the Lord hath been mindful of us he will bless us he will bless the house of Aaron he will bless the house of Israel he will bless them both small and great he will bless may the Lord command his blessing even life forever more amen let's conclude by singing hymn 681 hymn 681 tune

[51:56] Malcolm 369 blessed are they whose guilt is gone whose sins are washed away with blood whose hope is fixed on Christ alone whom Christ has reconciled to God though travelling through this veil of tears he may a sore temptation meet the holy ghost this witness bears he stands in Jesus still complete hymn 681 blessed the people killed he come to save the water with blood for who did die who is

[53:05] God who who knows they who zed doing Master except chapter What can please que these they were Thank you.

[53:55] Still come here. This heart of Christ the world can play.

[54:12] If our Christ is in living in the world can play.

[54:30] If our Christ is in living in the world can play. This heart of Christ is in living in the world can play.

[54:51] This heart of Christ is in the world can be good and yet yet of yet this which himself mayThat hub

[55:53] Excess What says himself That kitchens See And right Theiralta Stand On letzt Anyway And now, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Father's love and the fellowship of the eternal Spirit be with us all.

[56:40] Amen. Amen.