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You Shall Not Go Very Far Away - Part Five

Feb 14, 2021 by: John Herbert | Series: You Shall Not Go Very Far Away

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Ex 8:28 So Pharaoh said, “I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away………

We will continue to look at the 3 days' journey from a Christian perspective.

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Sunday February 14th 2021
You Shall Not Go Very Far Away
Part 5

1). Ex 8:27 We will go three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the LORD our God as He will command us.” 28 So Pharaoh said, “I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away………

We have seen in our previous studies that the 3 days’ journey for us speaks of process. A process of separation that is to continue throughout the course of our Christian life as we seek to separate ourselves from all things connected to our first birth within the kingdom of Satan; a system of corrupted governance that Scripture describes as the world and the things in the world, exemplified by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life – Ro 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

And in conjunction with the process of separating ourselves from the world we are also in the process of separating the new man, born of the Spirit, from our old man, our flesh who has an inseparable connection to the world and the things in the world through our first birth – 
Eph 4:22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

And the connection between these 2 concurrent processes of separation can be seen through the Scriptures we have just looked at. To be separated from the world by choosing not to be conformed to it, as seen in Romans 12:2, is brought about by the renewing of our mind which brings transformation. And putting on our new man so as to separate from our old man, as seen in Ephesians 4:22-24, is seen to be brought about by the same process, being ‘renewed in the spirit of your mind’.
	a). Simply put then, to separate ourselves from the world and the things in the world, is to separate ourselves from our old man. We cannot do one and not the other as they are both brought about by the same single process of renewing our mind leading to transformation.
	b). We can add to the verses from Ephesians Chapter 4 some companion verses from Colossians Chapter 3 that will help expand our understanding – Col 3:1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. 5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, 7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.

To be raised with Christ is to walk in resurrection, something only possible for the new man, never the old man of the flesh. And through the new man who is able to understand spiritual truth, we are to ‘seek those things which are above’, which we would know, by comparing Scripture with Scripture, to be His Kingdom and His righteousness with a view to rulership as a joint heir with Christ in the Kingdom of the Heavens.
	c). And we are to set our mind on the things above, ‘not on things on the earth’. It is the new man, as a result of the renewing of our mind who is set on the things above, but our old man would want to draw us away to set our unrenewed mind ‘on things on the earth’ – Ro 8:5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
There is then the ever-present tension between being focused on the things above that remain in our future with our spiritual mind and being focused on the things on the earth that fill our present with our carnal mind. And as we contemplate this tension, let’s not forget this important Scriptural truth, ‘you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God’ – 
Ro 6:5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.

Our old man was crucified with Christ, he has died and therefore we are no longer slaves of sin, we have been set free from that bondage – 
Ro 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

The death of our old man has been pictured for us through the type of the death of the firstborn on the night of the first Passover, and our freedom from sin which accompanies this death is pictured in Israel’s deliverance from Egypt culminating in the Red Sea crossing. Once the waters of the Red Sea had opened for Israel to pass through, and then closed behind them again, the waters could never be re-opened to let Israel return to the bondage they had previously been delivered from.
	d). Being freed from sin however does not mean the absence of sin in our life, but rather makes possible the choice, that did not exist before, not to be sin’s slave.
	e). Now in conjunction with the death of the firstborn Israel was also told - Ex 12:15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.

This is the command given to an eternally redeemed people and symbolically pictures the necessity of the on-going process of removing sin from the lives of those who have been eternally saved, following their eternal salvation.
	f). According to the Scripture, if the Jewish people did not do this then they would experience death, they would be ‘cut off from Israel’. They would not be separated from God because of their eternal redemption, but they would be separated from their inheritance in the land of promise. Something they would never have access to again because of their failure to do that which God had commanded.
	g). If we go back to the verses from Colossians Chapter 3, the on-going process of the removal of sin from our lives is presented this way in verse 5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

Ga 5:24 And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

On the one hand then, we are to see our old man as having been crucified with Christ which has set us free from sin. And on the other hand, because we now have that freedom, we are to choose to crucify our flesh, remove the sin from our life, as an on-going process throughout the course of our Christian life – Mt 16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

This is the message of the cross that is foolishness to those who are perishing, who have chosen not to take up their cross and have not made the choice to crucify the flesh, to remove the sin from their life, but this same message, to those who are being saved, who have chosen to take up their cross, to remove the sin from their life, this process, is the power of God leading to salvation. These are the ones who will find their ‘life’ for the age to come - When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

In the Book of Ruth, as we have seen, this same process of removing the leaven for 7 days and crucifying the flesh is pictured through the process of beating out the grain – Ru 2:17 So she gleaned in the field until evening, and beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.

To beat out the grain is a picture of the separation of that which is worthless from that which is of value. To remove the chaff leaving the grain intact – Lk 3:17 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Although what we see in this verse was given by John the Baptist to the Jewish people it does serve as a graphic picture of what will happen at the Judgment Seat with respect to the separation of Christians – 
Ps 1:4 The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

And it is worth noting that the Lord uses ‘wheat’ to picture all the faithful eternally saved in the Luke verse, something He also does in the Matthew 13 parables in the parable of the wheat and tares, where we are again told that the wheat will be gathered into His barn, gathered into His Kingdom. And the reason why wheat is used as the grain of choice is given to us in – Jn 12:24 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. 25 He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal [age lasting] life.

In these verses from John wheat is used to picture all of the eternally saved, but a distinction is made among the wheat dependent upon the experience of death. It is those pictured in the grain of wheat, that falls in the ground and dies, who will have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires, who will have engaged in the process of removing sin from their lives, who will be His, His joint heirs. These will be the ones who will have taken up their cross and followed Him, who will have used their freedom from the bondage of sin to choose to become a slave of righteousness – Ro 6:16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

2). Col 3:8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

As we continue in Colossians Chapter 3, the companion verses to those we read in Ephesians Chapter 4, we can see that as slaves of righteousness we are to ‘put off the old man with his deeds’ who ‘grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts’.
	a). The deceitful lusts, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life are readily seen in anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language [not an exhaustive list], to which we can add fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry, from earlier in Chapter 3, all of which must be put off through the process of crucifying, putting to death, our old man.
	b). And the process of putting to death the old man is to be accomplished by putting on the new man thereby making a separation between the 2. And we can see from Colossians 3:10 that our new man is to be continually renewed day by day in ‘epignosis’ knowledge in order to make the separation possible. And this constant renewal is according to the image of Him who created him.
	c). In Romans and Ephesians, we have seen that our mind must be renewed and here in Colossians we see that the renewal of our mind is the same as the continual renewal of our new man, and all with a view to us being transformed into the image of the Lord – Ro 8:29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

1 Co15:49 And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. 50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;

To the extent that we choose to renew our mind will be the degree to which we are transformed into the image of the Lord. Not transformed in a physical way, but in the way we think and the way we will subsequently conduct our lives – Php 3:10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

And if we choose to renew our minds now, so that we ‘may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings’ choosing to be conformed to His death in order to attain the goal of the out-resurrection from among the dead, then in that Day, we will be transformed into His image and likeness in a tangible way – 
1 Jn 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

Although the renewing of our mind so as to put on the new man and be separate from the old man is a matter of individual choice, that choice has to be placed within the context of His Church - Eph 4:11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;

As the Lord is the Word made flesh, we will realize that it is only through receiving the Word that our mind can be renewed; only through receiving the Word that we can come to the unity of the faith and the ‘epignosis’ knowledge of the Son of God, only through receiving the Word that we will come to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we may know Him and only through receiving the Word that we can put off the old man and crucify the deeds of the flesh – Jas 1:21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

It is the Word of God alone then that is able to bring about the metamorphosis, changing us into the image of our Lord. And it is through the Word of God alone that we are able to keep our old man tied firmly to the horns of the altar. And it is the Word of God alone that can wash us with water that we may enter the holy place and be in the light as He is in the light and have fellowship with Him.
	e). And the reason that this process is so important for us is because of our ever-present sin nature. The darkness that exists side by side with the light that must remain in place this side of the Judgment Seat.
	f). And because of what we have been studying, we will hopefully be determined to keep putting to death our ‘old man’ so as to keep him as the living sacrifice, pictured for us through the bronze altar in the outer court of the Tabernacle where the sacrifice for sin was made – and then, as works from the darkness within us continue to manifest themselves in our present, so we will find cleansing from our High Priest through confession – pictured for us in the washing of our hands at the bronze laver –1 Jn 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

It is the blood of Jesus Christ His Son that cleanses us from all sin, and this is pictured in what we see in - Le 17:11 'For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.'

And no doubt as we consider this, we will see the inextricable connection between putting to death the deeds of the body and the confession of sin and the cleansing which follows.
	g). As we confess our sin, which is the manifestation of our old man, so our old man is united with the death he experienced through being crucified with Christ and the Lord’s blood takes that sin away and our old man is put off.
	h). To deal with our flesh in this way, which is our responsibility, can only be accomplished through receiving the Word of God, as we have seen, so that our mind will be renewed.
	i). And if we should choose not to do this, then we can return to the imagery of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness to view the consequences, something implicit from an earlier Chapter in Leviticus - Le 7:17 'the remainder of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day must be burned with fire.

1 Co 3:12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

One last Scripture to end today - 1Pe 4:1 ¶ Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.

More next time – If the Lord is willing.

You Shall Not Go Very Far Away - Part Five

Refresh A Recap from the Sermon

You Shall Not Go Very Far Away - Part Five

Feb 14, 2021

Speaker: John Herbert

Series: You Shall Not Go Very Far Away

Category: Sunday Morning

Refresh
A Recap from the Sermon