Looking Back

Well, let me begin with a question, and I want you all to follow and connect with the question.

! I'll tell you ahead of time, I won't call on you, but I do want you to be tracking what I ask.

And I really, if you're here this morning and you know Christ, what I'm going to ask is pertinent to you.

Here's the question.

Should every believer, right now, be filled with the Spirit?

Should every believer be filled with the Spirit?

And the obvious answer from the Scriptures is, I mean, it's a command. It's what He says, correct?

Well, how do you know if you're filled with the Spirit?

By what comes out? Thank you, Steve.

Can anybody text that for me?

I mean, you know, Galatians chapter 5 would be one passage that certainly has bearing on it.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

Let's back up a little bit because I really think this is fairly important to our time together.

Some of you came this morning because it's kind of habit.

Some of you came this morning because you are desperate for the Spirit of God to do a work in your life.

Some of you came this morning and you have no idea what God is going to do,

but I pray that the outcome of your time here is that you're affected by the truth of God and you're changed by it.

Do we all need to be changed? What's the answer?

Is there anybody here that doesn't need to be changed?

We all need to be changed.

Many of you, and I included, need to grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And in order for that to take place, I need the enabling of the Spirit of God.

We would all say yes to that, wouldn't we?

I can't pull it off by my own.

And the Word of God says that I ought to be a Spirit-filled individual.

I'm thinking in particular, having just finished preaching on it,

of what it says in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 18 where it says,

Ephesians 5:18

Be filled with the Spirit.

And then in the verses that follow, it says,

Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,

making melody in your heart and being thankful always for everything.

So, if you're here this morning as a believer,

is it proper?

Is it appropriate?

Is it what God expects and encourages from you

for you to choose volitionally to be a Spirit-filled person?

The answer is yes.

You've got a part to play in that.

You have a part to play in that.

And I would plead with you at the outset this morning

to be conscious and deliberate in humbly asking Him to work in your life

that you would be a Spirit-filled person

as we sing,

as we study the Scriptures together,

that the outcome of the work of the Spirit of God

would be that you grow to be more like Christ.

and that your profiting,

your benefit,

the outcome of that,

would be something that is evident to all and recognized.

How many of you remember an old song

in which the line went something like this,

Here I raise my ebenezer?

How many of you?

Raise your hands high.

This is kind of an identifier of our age bracketing.

Some of you are sitting here saying,

What is Ebenezer?

Does anybody know what Ebenezer is?

Does anybody know?

Can anybody tell me the Bible story in less than 10 seconds?

I can do that.

Okay, here's what happened.

Remember?

Israel was in a horrible mess,

and they thought that certain things would help them,

blah, blah, blah,

and it didn't.

And then, however, God stepped in,

and He blessed them and helped them,

and they won a great victory over their traditional enemies

who were the Philistines, right?

And after that,

Samuel the prophet says,

He sets up stones of memorial,

and he says,

Here I raise my ebenezer.

It means,

Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.

This is how far God's brought us.

And so when we sing that song,

Here I raise my ebenezer,

by the way, John,

could we sing that,

Your Love Never Quits again at the end?

It'll work perfectly.

I'm sitting here just loving it,

and I thought, change that for me, please.

Okay, we're going to sing that again,

and here's the deal.

I want all of you to be spirit-filled

when you sing that and blow the roof off, okay?

The only person,

only people who have exemptions

are those who have an attitude towards God

and those who don't know God.

Do you follow me?

The rest of us sing

because you're filled with the Spirit.

Okay, enough said.

Some of you are going to say,

I'm not going to do it anyway.

But I know the heart.

I know the heart.

But I want you to follow with me

as we come to the end of the year

and think carefully about the benefit

of looking back

and tracking what God has done for us.

Now, there are illustrations in the Bible

where looking back is not a good career path.

One in particular stands out.

Does anybody remember someone

who did look back

and never got to do it more than at that moment?

What was it?

Who was it?

Lot's wife looked back

and God had said,

don't be doing that

and she paid a price for that, right?

But we find in the Bible

many illustrations of looking back

and looking back

can have benefit and blessing.

When the nation of Israel celebrated,

every year they celebrated the Passover,

what in particular were they doing?

They were looking back.

They were remembering

when they had been slaves in Egypt

and they were remembering

when God had delivered them

from that affliction.

And as we think this morning

of the conclusion of the year,

I think it's appropriate for us

to take a moment

and do some looking back

to think about

what God has done in our lives personally

and what God has done in our lives

as a body of believers.

And every one of you here

have the substance with which to do that.

But we want to govern that in particular

by the scriptures themselves.

And so we want to look

at a couple different illustrations

in the Bible

where people looking back

received a certain blessing

and an outcome from it.

First of all,

I want us to look back

and mark the fact

that when we look back,

we track His care and His power.

When we look back,

we track His care and His power.

I want you to turn in your Bible,

if you will,

to Exodus chapter 14.

Exodus 14 · chapter mention

Exodus chapter 14

Exodus 14 · chapter mention

is one of the particular incidents

in the Exodus

in which God,

after He had taken the nation of Israel

out of the land of Egypt.

And incidentally,

how had the Egyptians

come to the point

of being willing

to let the nation of Israel go?

What had happened?

I mean,

every one of the firstborn

of the Egyptians had died.

Isn't that right?

And it was a terrifying event.

And it was something

that led Pharaoh

and all of the Egyptians

to say,

get out of here.

Go, go, go.

In fact,

here,

take some stuff with you.

And they paid them off.

Get out of here.

Now,

as they left,

there was a very interesting

little thing

that happened along with that

that was a pretty dramatic indication

of the fact

that God was leading them.

In the daytime,

what was with the nation of Israel

as they were on their way?

What was following them

or over them?

A cloud.

And at night,

what was with them?

A pillar of fire.

Do you think

they had any doubt

that God was the one

who was doing this?

No,

they were very certain of that.

But what we have

in Exodus chapter 14

Exodus 14 · chapter mention

is that we have the incident

where God says to Moses,

and let me read for you there,

then the Lord said to Moses,

tell the people of Israel

to turn back

and encamp in front

of Piharoth

between Migdal and the sea

in front of Baal Zephon,

and you shall encamp

facing it by the sea.

Now,

you understand

that the nation of Israel

had received this word.

You are going to the land

of milk and honey.

You're going to the land

of promise.

It's going to be

a wonderful place

that I'm taking you.

And here we find

that instead of going

on the direct journey,

God then turns around

and takes them back

into what looks like

a corner

and a difficulty.

And as you look at this,

you find that

what really takes place

is God intends

in this event

to bring glory

to Himself

and to show

His continuing power

over Egypt

and His love

for the nation of Israel.

But mark

what takes place.

As a result of hearing,

Pharaoh had his spies

tracking what was going on

with this large group

of a million plus people

and he knows that,

hey,

instead of making

that direct passage

out of Egypt

and towards the place

of freedom and deliverance,

they had now got themselves

in a corner

against the Red Sea

and he thought to themselves,

hey,

or he thought to himself,

hey,

let's take advantage of this

and let's go bring them back

to become slaves again.

Look at what we read

in verse 10.

When Pharaoh drew near,

Pharaoh took out

with his army

intending to get Israel

back into slavery.

When Pharaoh drew near,

the people of Israel

lifted up their eyes

and behold,

the Egyptians

were marching after them

and they feared greatly

and the people of Israel

cried out to the Lord.

Now,

it would have been nice

if their crying out

to the Lord

had been merely

a humble petition

that God would do

something for them.

But what did they

actually cry out?

As you read here,

what did they do?

Instead of saying,

hey,

we're in a real hurt here

and we're afraid

of what the outcome

is going to be

and since you have

helped us like you have

in delivering us

from the land of Egypt,

why don't you do

something else

and help us now?

What did they do?

They complained,

they grumbled,

they accused Moses

and actually,

in accusing Moses,

they were also accusing God

of really not taking care of them

and look at what it says

in verse 11.

They said to Moses,

is it because

there are no graves

in Egypt

that you've taken us away

to die in the wilderness?

In other words,

you have done this

to harm us

not for our good.

And what takes place

is that God speaks

to the nation of Israel

and he says to Moses,

you let them know

I'm going to take care of them

and he puts

a protection

between the army

of Egypt

and the nation of Israel

through that night

and then he parts

the Red Sea

and what happens?

What happens?

He takes the entire

nation of Israel

through on dry land.

And when the nation

of Egypt,

when the army of Egypt

sees what is happening,

guess what they decide?

Hey, there go our slaves.

There go the people

that are doing

all this hard work for us.

If they can do it,

we can too.

And they come right behind

the entire group

of the Israelites

who are going through

on dry ground

and they try to follow them

and as a result,

God then brings

the sea back upon them

and as the sea

comes over

the Egyptian army,

they are entirely destroyed.

They're wiped out.

And the Israelites

standing on the far shore

now look down

upon all the bodies

of these drowned

and destroyed soldiers

and they are just

beside themselves

in ebullition

in thanksgiving.

Oh, wow,

look what God has done.

So what happens then?

You look there

in verse 30.

We're in Exodus chapter 14.

Exodus 14 · chapter mention

But look in verse 30.

Thus the Lord

saved Israel that day

from the hand

of the Egyptians

and Israel saw

the Egyptians

dead on the seashore.

So they turned around,

they looked back,

they'd been scurrying

to get across

out of the Red Sea

on dry land

and they looked back

and said,

wow,

look what God has done.

He has saved us.

Israel saw,

verse 31,

the great power

that the Lord

used against the Egyptians

so the people

feared the Lord

and they believed

in the Lord

and his servant Moses.

Now what happens

in Exodus chapter 15

Exodus 15 · chapter mention

is that Moses

and all the people sang.

And I want you

just to listen

to some of the opening lines.

I don't happen to know

what the chorus was

but we can track

the words, right?

Then Moses

and the people of Israel

sang this song

to the Lord saying,

I will sing to the Lord

for he has triumphed gloriously.

The horse

and his rider

he has thrown into the sea.

The Lord is my strength

and my song.

He has become

my salvation.

I want to draw

several things out

as we look at this song

that they sang

on the other side

when they looked back

and saw what God had done.

First of all,

we recognize here

that the victory

that Israel enjoyed

was really something

that God had done.

And so we recognize

that just as with Israel

so it is with all of us

that the victories

in our life

are of his making.

The victories in our life

are of his making

and whether you are

a young person

or an old person

really if you look

objectively

and you think spiritually

you recognize

that God has given you victories.

He has done things

in your life

if you are here today

and you know Christ

as your Savior

that you can attribute

to nothing

other than his hand

and his grace.

He granted you salvation.

He's lifted you up.

He's put a new song

in your life.

He has changed things

beyond your imagination.

And as you look

at all the things

that he has done

you look back

and you'd have to admit

these things

are things that God

has done

not that you've done.

Now I have to think

when we recognize

what we find here

in this passage

that we also probably

do need to recognize

that we have a tendency

even on the day-to-day issues

of being more like Israel

in complaining

than like Israel

in rejoicing.

Am I right or wrong?

Most of the time

when you get trapped

in bad traffic

what's the first thing

that goes through your mind?

Huh?

How many of you

just hey Lord

I'm glad you're in charge

and I don't know

all the details

but I guess you've got me

up against the Red Sea

and good things are happening

I can trust you.

Is that what we do?

What do we do?

I see some of your faces

commiserate

because of the last experience

you had

when things didn't go your way.

We're like Israel.

And so it's good for us

to remind ourselves

on occasion

that really God

is the one

who's been doing

great things for us

and the blessings

that we've enjoyed

when we look in hindsight

we recognize

that every one

of his victories

that we've enjoyed

are of his making

not our own.

Furthermore

there's something else

that I want us to mark

here in this passage

that Moses reminds us of.

Look there in verse 13.

Begin there

it says

you have led

in your steadfast love

the people

whom you have redeemed.

you have led

in your steadfast love

the people

you have redeemed.

Now

who had led them out

of the land of Egypt?

Who was it?

It was God.

He had opened

the way for them

to allow

Pharaoh

who was their

oppressor

to deliver

he had delivered them

from the iron furnace

where another passage

speaks of

Egypt as being

the iron furnace

he delivered them

out of this.

And here is

Moses speaking

about that deliverance

he says listen

you have led

by your steadfast love.

The characteristic

of your leading

is your steadfast love.

How many of you

have ever

taken a dog

for a walk

that was not

overly cooperative

with you?

Have you ever done that?

How many of you

have relied

on the leash

to get the dog

to come with you?

How many of you

on occasion

have thought

to yourself

maybe I pulled

a little too hard?

Okay?

Or you've gone

along scolding

the come on

come on

you know

and the dog

your steadfast love

has been

grossly deficient.

Here is Moses

as he considers

the way in which

God had taken

care of the land

the nation of Israel

and he says listen

you have led

with your

steadfast love.

Do you recognize

that in your life?

His agenda

and every step

he takes us on

is governed

by his steadfast love.

Every step

he takes us on

is governed

by his steadfast love.

You know

at this point

in my life

I have to say

that when I look back

across so many

of the incidents

in my life

I recognize

that the things

that I at the moment

thought were so terrible

and so bad

he has intended

to be for my good

and as I look

in retrospect

you as well

join in recognizing

every step

has been marked

by his steadfast love

and his care.

So if you find yourself

this morning

in a valley

you find yourself

at a moment

where things look

a little difficult

I want to remind you

that what we find

here in this passage

in Exodus chapter 14

Exodus 14 · chapter mention

and 15

is a reminder

of the fact

that God who leads

he may put us

up against the Red Sea

but he is leading

in his steadfast love

and he will bring it through

he will bring us through

and it will be

an evidence

of his unfailing love.

I want you to turn

just for a moment

over to a passage

that reminds us

of one of the reasons

why God has written

the scriptures.

keep your finger there

in Exodus

but go if you would

to Romans chapter 15

Romans 15:4

verse 4

Romans chapter 15

Romans 15:4

verse 4

it says

but whatever was written

in former days

question

is Exodus chapter 14

Exodus 14 · chapter mention

and 15

something that was written

a long time ago

what's the answer?

Yes, yes

whatever was written

in former days

was written

for our instruction

that through endurance

and through the encouragement

of the scriptures

we might have hope.

Now listen

God has recorded

for our blessing

the illustration

of how he took care

of Israel

so that we ourselves

in the midst

of our adversity

and difficulties

and the challenges

that we are facing

may find comfort

and certainty

because we know this

the God who took care

of the nation

of Israel

is also taking care

of us personally

and he is at work

and he leads

with his steadfast love.

That's one of the reasons

why I asked John

to sing that song again.

His love never quits

never gives up

never runs out on me

but you know

I want to ask you a question

as you think about

those songs

the words of that song

here's a companion question

that goes with me

or with it

here's the question

how many of you

when you're singing

that song

think with me

are also tracking

passages of scripture

that the words reference?

Do you follow that?

Now listen

spirit filled people

are inclined

to think scripturally

be filled with the spirit

speaking to one another

in psalms and hymns

and spiritual songs

thinking scripturally

singing joyfully

being thankful

and so when we think

about the nation of Israel

we recognize

here is God

taking care

of an entire group

of people

and a group of people

that are a lot like us

frail

inclined to be

a little discouraged

on a moment

uncertain of how

things are going

to work out

and yet here is

Moses reminding them

as we see back

in Exodus chapter 15

Exodus 15:13

verse 13

you have led us

in your steadfast love

the people

whom you have redeemed

I want us to look

at another illustration

of someone

who is looking back

and I want you

to turn in your Bible

if you will

to Genesis chapter 47

Genesis 47:9

verse 9

we are going to look

eventually

at Genesis chapter 48

Genesis 48 · chapter mention

but for the sake

of our grasping

the overall picture

I want you to know

that actually

of Abraham

Isaac and Jacob

we are dealing here

in this passage

with Jacob

who is the third

of the patriarchs

and if you were

given the choice

of who you would

want to be like

I would venture

to say that none

of us here

would prefer

that we be like

Jacob

right

why would you

not want to be

like Jacob

why

you think with me

and you recognize

that Jacob's life

was one that was

marked by hardship

and difficulty

and most of it

was self-inflicted

what do I mean

by self-inflicted

it's a little bit

like if you hit

yourself with a hammer

and you then

begin to groan

and complain

about how bad

your thumb feels

incidentally

I'm not sure

you can see it

but I have a nice

little reminder

that thumbs

do not react

well when struck

okay

so when you hit

yourself with a hammer

and you begin

to complain

a little bit

you have to realize

that was self-inflicted

most of Jacob's life

was actually

pretty problematic

I want you to look

and said we were

going to look

at 48 first

but look at

look at 47

chapter 47

verse 9

here is

Jacob being brought

by his son

Joseph

into the presence

of Pharaoh

and so Jacob

is giving a summary

of his life

and Jacob said

to Pharaoh

the days of the

years of my

sojourning

are 130 years

now

mark the next

sentence

where Jacob

explains

what those

130 years

have been like

few

and evil

have been

the days

of the years

of my life

well that's a little

pessimistic

isn't it

but

it was also

pretty realistic

and we know

when you stop

and think about

Jacob's life

that Jacob's life

for the most part

is a chronicle

or a record

of a self

willed

manipulative

self focused

individual

over and over

again

Jacob thought

he could handle

things himself

and the outcome

of that

was that

in his own

flesh

he just kept

on getting

himself in

trouble

and here is

Jacob

130 years

old

in the presence

of the Pharaoh

and he says

let me tell you

something

I have had

a fairly

hard life

and he was

right

but now

let's look

forward

to another

view of his

life

and we find

it in

Genesis chapter

Genesis 48:15

48

verse 15

and 16

this is at

the very end

of his life

and one of

the things

that Jacob

did

was that

he gave

prophetic

blessing

to all

of his

children

and included

in the

children

that he gave

prophetic

blessing

to

were the

two

children

of Joseph

Ephraim

and Manasseh

and I want

you to mark

if you will

verse 15

and 16

he calls

in for

the two

children

of Joseph

to bless

them

and as

they are

placed

his eyesight

is very

very weak

and can't

see them

very well

and so

Joseph

with the

purpose

of helping

his father

he puts

the older

one

on the

side

where the

right hand

would naturally

set

and he puts

the younger

one

where the

left hand

would set

the right

hand

being

the hand

of power

and the

hand of

principal

blessing

and what

does

Jacob

do

does

anybody

know

he

crosses

his

hands

and

Joseph

thinking

that his

poor

father

you know

maybe having

a little

bit of a

problem

here

brain

fade

he says

dad

no

no

no

it's

going to

be that

way

incidentally

Jacob

and Esau

who was

born

first

and here

is Jacob

blessing

these two

little ones

and listen

to what

he says

and he

blessed

Joseph

and said

to the

God

before whom

my fathers

Abraham

and Isaac

walked

the

God

who has

been

and I

want you

to think

about this

the

God

who has

been

my

shepherd

all

my

life

long

to this

day

the

God

who's

been

my

shepherd

all

my

life

long

to this

day

I

have

never

cared

for

sheep

but my

grandfather

did

and when

I would

go visit

my

grandfather

I

had

brief

exposures

to the

fact

that

sheep

as

sweet

and as

innocent

as they

seem

are

very

very

poor

following

at

following

do you

follow

that

they're

just

they're

kind

of

they're

brain

dead

and

the

things

that

seem

so

intuitively

obvious

as being

for their

good

they

don't

do

and

there

is

no

such

thing

as

a

low

maintenance

flock

of

sheep

you know

what I

mean

by

low

maintenance

I

mean

the

little

dingbat

song

they'll

leave

them

alone

and

they

will

come

home

dragging

their

that

is

pure

fantasy

if

you're

going

to

lead

sheep

you

do

that

with

that

little

crook

and

staff

you know

what

they're

doing

all

the

time

they're

steering

sheep

you know

a little

peck

on this

side

and

have

you ever

not

sheep

dogs

you know

!

what

sheep

dogs

do

sheep

to

the

right

place

all

the

time

work

work

work

work

work

and

Jacob

says

listen

you have

been my

shepherd

all

my

life

I

want

you to

mark

what it

says

in

verse

16

remember

in

Genesis

Genesis 47 · chapter mention

chapter

47

where

Jacob

when he

spoke

about

his

life

he

said

let

me

tell

you

something

my

life

has

been

short

and

it's

been

hard

Genesis

Genesis 48:16

chapter

48

verse

16

the

angel

who

has

redeemed

me

from

all

evil

bless

the

lads

the

angel

who

has

redeemed

me

from

all

evil

bless

the

lands

I

have

to

tell

you

that

there

is

something

noteworthy

in the

fact that

Jacob

refers

to the

one

who

had

blessed

as

the

angel

of

the

Lord

because

that

phrase

the

angel

of the

Lord

is a

reference

to the

pre-incarnate

Christ

there are

plenty of

angels

in the

Old

Testament

but it

is only

the

angel

of the

Lord

that

justly

deserves

praise

and

adoration

and

worship

that

is

due

to

God

alone

and

here

in

verse

15

Jacob

says

I want

you to

understand

that

God

has

been

my

shepherd

and

then

in

verse

16

he

says

the

angel

it's

the

Lord

Jesus

Christ

who

has

redeemed

me

from

all

evil

is

that

the

view

you

have

of

your

life

as

you

look

back

over

it

I

thought

about

this

as

I

was

praying

earlier

in

the

week

and

I

recognized

that

our

congregation

is

made up

of a

wide

diversity

of

people

some

of

you

are

sitting

in

here

this

morning

that

are

in

your

80s

and

in

your

90s

and

your

life

is

way

behind

you

for

the

!

part

some

of

you

are

sitting

here

that

are

literally

not

even

in

your

teens

yet

can

a

person

who

is

in

his

teens

or

even

younger

still

have

a

view

backwards

and

see

that

Christ

has

been

at

work

in

his

life

yes

absolutely

and

this

passage

has

application

to

every

one

of

us

the

angel

of

the

Lord

who

has

redeemed

me

from

all

evil

bless

the

lads

and

so

as

you

look

back

over

the

life

that

God

has

given

you

to

this

point

and

if

you

look

objectively

I

think

what

you

would

have

to

say

is

that

that

he

has

been

your

loving

shepherd

and

he

has

kept

you

from

destruction

he's

the

one

that's

done

this

for

you

he's

the

one

that's

cared

for

you

he's

the

!

that

has

brought

you

through

and

the

one

who

redeems

you

I

love

the

fact

that

as

Jacob

blessed

those

two

little

boys

he

made

it

very

clear

that

his

love

has

never

quit

he's

never

left

you

and

he's

never

forsaken

you

there's

one

other

thing

that

I

want

us

to

do

as

we

think

about

this

business

of

looking

back

at

the

end

of

the

year

and

I

would

like

you

to

turn

to

a

passage

in

Philippians

if

you

would

as

we

close

because

looking

back

should

move

us

upward

Philippians

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

chapter

3

the

apostle

is

taking

a

large

view

over

the

broad

sweep

of

his

life

and

there

as

he

comes

towards

the

end

of

the

chapter

he

makes

a

comment

that

is

very

significant

to

all

of

us

Paul

in

writing

the

letter

to

the

church

at

Philippi

he

had

taken

the

time

to

speak

about

what

his

past

was

to

a

certain

degree

but

while

he

remembered

some

things

of

his

past

he

certainly

wasn't

governed

or

controlled

by

it

I

think

sometimes

as we

get a

little

older

it

is

a

tendency

we

have

of

thinking

about

the

past

more

than

we

should

and

not

allow

the

things

we

remember

about

our

past

only

to

govern

our

anticipation

and

ambition

for

the

future

let

me

read

the

passage

to

you

there

in

Ephesians

Ephesians 3:13

chapter

3

verse

13

and

14

brothers

I

do

not

consider

that

I

have

made

it

my

own

but

one

thing

I

do

forgetting

what

lies

behind

and

straining

forward

to

what

lies

ahead

I

press

on

toward

the

goal

for

the

prize

of

the

upward

call

of

in

Christ

Jesus

as

Paul

looked

back

over