Those words should raise my song,
raise my voice, my heart. These words, Deuteronomy 6, are
our life, the life of our children, the Word of God. Deuteronomy
chapter 6 goes so well with Exodus 18. Deuteronomy 6. I hope you read that, Exodus
18. We'll read the whole chapter,
Deuteronomy 6. Now these are the commandments, the statutes,
the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you. This is Moses speaking on behalf
of God who sent him. That you might do them in the
land whither you go to possess it. That thou mightest fear the
Lord thy God to keep all his statutes and his commandments
which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, grandson,
all the days of thy life, and that thy days may be prolonged.
Hear, therefore, O Israel, and observe to do, that it may be
well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord
God of thy fathers hath promised thee. and the land that floweth
with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our
God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thine heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words which I command
thee this day shall be in thine heart. And thou shalt teach them
diligently unto thy children. Shalt talk of them when thou
sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and
when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. Thou shalt bind
them for a sign upon thine hand. They shall be at frontlets between
thine eyes. Thou shalt write them on the
posts of thy house and on thy gates. And it shall be, when
the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware
unto thy fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and to Jacob, to give
thee great and goodly cities which thou buildest not." None of us built the town of
Rocky Mountain. Houses full of all good things. You have lots
of food in your fridge and your cabinets and all that, do you?
Which thou fillest not. Wells digged, which thou diggest
not. Anybody on city water? Vineyards and olive trees. You
buy grapes and you grow them. They're right there at the store.
Which thou plantest not. When thou shalt have eaten and
be full, Beware lest thou forget the Lord which
brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the house
of bondage. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy
God and serve him. Thou shalt swear by his name. You shall not go after other
gods of the gods of the people, little Gs, which are round about
you everywhere. The Lord thy God is a jealous
God among you. Lest the anger of the Lord thy
God be kindled against thee and destroy thee from off the face
of the earth. You shall not tempt the Lord your God. As you tempted
him in Massa, you remember they had murmured and complained.
You shall diligently keep the commandments, word of the Lord
your God, his testimonies, his statutes, which he hath commanded
thee. Thou shalt do that which is right
and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with
thee, that thou mayst go in, possess the good land which the
Lord sware unto thy father, to cast out all thine enemies from
before thee, as the Lord hath spoken. And when thy son asketh
thee in time to come, tomorrow, saying, What mean the testimonies
and statutes judgments which the Lord our God has commanded
you then thou shalt say unto thy son we were Pharaoh's bondmen
in Egypt and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty
hand and the Lord showed signs and wonders great and sore upon
Egypt upon Pharaoh upon all his household before our eyes, and
he brought us out from thins, that he might bring us in to
give us the land which ye swear under our fathers. And the Lord
commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our
God for our good always, that he might preserve us alive as
it is at this day. and shall be our righteousness
if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord
our God as he hath commanded us. What a word is this. Pray with me. Our great God in
heaven, our holy, holy, holy, hallowed be thy name, our God,
in whose hands our breath is, our children's breath, our lives,
Everything we have, everything we are comes from above, from
thy hands. Oh, we know this because you've
told us, because you've revealed this to us. You've revealed to
your people Israel that thou art God, beside thee there's
none else. The Lord our God, we're your
people. How thankful we are. Oh Lord,
we have heard your word. We've heard, we've read it, all
eyes. We hope, we pray, looked, heard. Oh, may we hear with our hearts
that these sayings, oh Lord God, send your spirit to put these
sayings down deep, sink down deep in our ears and write them
on the tables of our heart according to the new covenant. You write
your law on the hearts of your people that we may fear our God,
us, and our children, and serve Him, and love Him with all our
heart, mind, soul, and strength, and worship Him forever. Oh,
Lord, Your Word is Your power. You uphold all things by Your
Word. You created all things by Your
Word. You give life by Your Word. So we ask You that You would
Send forth your word right now with power and open the ear gate,
open the eye gate, open the heart, set up your reign and rule in
the hearts of those who are held captive by the God of this world. Oh Lord, save us and our children
from this untold generation. May we hear thy voice this morning. May we all call upon Thee, save
us, O Lord, save us. We pray the same things for Your
church that meets everywhere, our dear brothers and sisters,
all of whom are going through this world, have children in
it, they're lost, loved ones, spouses. O Lord, Thou art our salvation. We call
upon Thee, save us in these last days. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, everything, most of
all, for that unspeakable gift of Christ who came down. Forgive
us. Forgive us. Forgive us, O Lord,
for our sin. Make us, cause us, lead us, teach
us, guide us, restrain us, save us. For Christ's sake, in His
name, amen. Right. So I'll stand again and turn to number seven. Praise our God. We're going to
sing this to the tune of Low He Comes. Low he comes with clouds
descending. Got it? Praise our God, all ye His servants,
ye that fear Him, small and great, with the sacrifice of worship
in His glorious presence wait. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia,
praise our God. Praise our God, O ye His servants,
for His condescending grace, for His love that brought salvation,
to us in full fallen praise. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia,
praise our God. Praise our God, all ye His servants,
Him who angel hosts acclaim. Let us join the seraph chorus
and his work to all proclaim. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. Praise our God. Thank you. Thank you. Robin, John, thank you. Exodus 18. I do hope you read
this. If you did, and the Lord blessed
it, I'm sure you were blessed. I was. May He bless us now. What we are doing here this morning,
what we do so often, what we do every time we come here, It's
the most important thing you ever do on the face of this earth.
It is. It's the most important thing
for you and your children. Worship. That's what we're doing. Worshipping the Lord. Come to
hear God's Word. We need to hear from the Lord. Words of life. Our children need
to hear Him. And they'll only hear Him through
the preaching of the Word. These are words of life. You
read with me Deuteronomy 6, Deuteronomy 32, which so many of you know
and love. He said this of His Word. He
said, Set your heart unto the words I testify unto you this
day. Command your children. It's not
a vain thing. This is not a vain thing. It's
your life. It's the life of your children. It really is. If we hear God's Word, and
God's Word is full of warnings and promises, We need both, don't
we? The first thing we need is warning. Right? And if we've been warned, if
you hear the Word of God and have been warned, you'll be like
Noah. He says being warned of God,
he moved with fear. And what did he do? He prepared
an ark. For what reason? Saved his house. This gospel is the salvation
of you and your children. And if you want them saved, you'll
have them in the house of God where the art Christ is preached,
hoping, praying, calling on God to save you and your children.
That's bad. Like Jethro. If you've heard, if you yourself
have heard, if you have been warned of God by His mercy and
His grace, He's caused you to hear His voice, hear His gospel
and be warned and fear the Lord, so begin the wisdom. He brought
you into His house to hear His word, to hear the good news of
what God hath done. You're the most blessed person
and if you have heard, you know what you'll do? You'll keep coming
back. It's not a one-time salvation.
It's a lifelong salvation. If you don't continue to hear
His Word, you won't be saved. Exodus 18. Here's our story. Exodus 18. This is a story of
a man who is a husband. He's a father. He has a daughter. He's a father-in-law. He has
a son, a son-in-law named Moses. He's a grandfather. He has two
boys. He loves like you love your grandchildren. And he hears God's word. And he believes. How do you know?
He moves. And he brought his house. He
brought his family. to hear God's word, to hear God's
man. He brought them to hear Moses
preach. Moses was God's man and had God's
word and Jethro knew it and he brought his whole house to hear
him. Look at verse 1. Jethro, the
priest, Moses' father-in-law. He heard. He heard of all that
God had done for Moses, for Israel, his people. The Lord had brought
Israel out of Egypt. Jethro heard priests. What kind
of priest? A Midian. Well, who is he? It's
kind of a mystery. We're going to see in a minute
he's a type. But he's just a man, and he's religious. Was he a
true priest? We don't know. Maybe not. If
he hadn't heard the gospel yet, he's not a true priest, is he? He's Moses' father-in-law. I
believe he heard from Moses. When Moses came down from the
mount, from that burning bush where God told him everything,
that's where he came down. And he came to his father-in-law,
Jethro. That's when he came to his father-in-law.
I believe that's when Jethro heard the truth from Moses about
the burning bush, about Christ crucified. That's when he heard.
That's what I believe. So he heard. You know, my grandfather, Robert
Lee, a priest, from Birmingham, Alabama. Good old Southern gentleman,
religious. He was a deacon in a Southern
Baptist, one of the largest Southern Baptist churches in Birmingham,
Alabama. That's how he talked, like Robert
E. Lee himself. Fine man, upstanding
deacon in the church, lost. Well, his daughter married a
man named Henry Mahan, whom God taught the gospel. And my grandfather,
Robert Lee Freese, heard the gospel from his son-in-law. And
God saved that man. And God raised up another preacher
there in that town. And that's where he began to
bring his two daughters and his wife and everybody here, that
gospel preacher. And he became a deacon of that
church. And he knew the Lord, and he
died in the Lord in Christ. Robert Lee Freese. I have fond
memories of that. We'd go there, he'd take me,
his grandson, to that church. And my cousins, all of them,
the whole family, hear the gospel. You know, he was a priest, wasn't
he? He was a priest. You know what
God has made us? Priests. Kings and priests, the
royal family. Male and female. You're a priest.
I'm a priest. Of your home. You're the priest
of your home. In your home, you're the one
that leads your family to worship. You're the one. He was the one.
He led his family to worship. You're the one. God's put you
there. No greater, higher calling to be a father or mother of children,
to tell them the truth, tell them the gospel, in hopes that
the Lord will save their souls. Nothing else matters. What they
become in this world does not matter. What matters is they
be with God, with Christ in world without end. I'm telling you
the truth. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness. Who said that? Jesus Christ. Old and young. Male and female. Fathers, grandfathers, mothers,
husbands, wives, you tell your children one thing matters, one
thing only. He that hath the Son hath life. It doesn't matter what you have
if you don't have the Son. It doesn't matter what you become
if you don't become a son of God. It doesn't matter. It's all for naught. It's vanity. Vanity. Vanity. It's all going
to fade. Jethro knew that. You're the
priest of your home, like Jethro. Men and women, priest of your
home. Well, he brought his wife. Did he have a wife? Did Jethro
have a wife? Doesn't mention her, does it? He had to have
a wife. He had a daughter. Did his wife know the Lord? Doesn't
mention her. Maybe she wouldn't come with
him. Huh? She wasn't here. Maybe she didn't
know the Lord. Maybe she didn't care. Maybe
she didn't want to go. Did Jethro ask her? Did Jethro
tell her? Did Jethro talk to her at home?
You know he did. Would she come? She didn't come.
But she did. Is he a widower? Maybe. The point is, she wouldn't come,
but he has to. He couldn't get her to come.
She's an adult. But he had these two grandsons and his daughter. He said, you're coming with me.
Didn't he? I'm not making this up. What did he come to hear? What
did he hear? And what did he bring his children
to hear? Look at verses 1 through 3. He said, He came to hear all
that God had done for Moses and Israel, his people, that the
Lord brought Israel out. So Jethro, Moses' father-in-law,
took Zipporah, that's his daughter, Moses' wife, after he'd sent
her back. Remember, she wasn't there to
take the Passover. Remember that? His grandsons
weren't there to take the Passover. They're going to now. There are two sons, verse 3, of which
the name of one was Gershom. He said, I've been an alien in
a strange land. The name of the other was Eleazar.
For the God of my father, said he, was mine help and delivered
me from the sword of Pharaoh. So Jethro, Moses' father-in-law,
came with his sons, his wife, Moses, wife, Jethro's daughter,
unto Moses into the wilderness and he camped right there, camped in a mount of God. What did he
come to hear? What did he hear and what did
he bring his family to hear? What God had done for his people. Isn't that the gospel? The gospel
in a nutshell is what God had done for his people, his people,
how God elected a people. The gospel began. And there you
go again preaching. That's right. You can't preach
the gospel without preaching that God, before the world began,
chose a people. Man doesn't choose God. He won't
choose God. He won't come to God. Man won't
come to worship God unless God causes him to approach unto Him.
Isn't God good? You know why you're here, don't
you? Because God has done wonderful things for you. Chose you, brought
you, taught you, bought you, keeps you coming. Or you wouldn't
come. It begins with God's, this is
not doctrine. Must someone believe in election
to be saved? Yes! You can believe an election not
be saved but you must know and believe and understand the fact
of the matter is God chose us. This is all what he heard and
what he wanted his family to hear was what God had done. And
that's all you're going to hear and that's all your children
are going to hear every time that they come into this place.
I'm going to stand and tell you what God hath done. He's going
to go on to say, this God is God. He's not like the rest of
these guys. That's what Jethro came to understand. That's what
he wanted his daughter to understand. That's what he wanted his sons
to understand, that this God is God, the only one that can
save. And you've got to hear his man
preaching. He came. and say he took his
daughters, he took his grandsons to hear Moses in the mouth of
God. The mouth of God. If you've heard
from the Lord, you've heard him in the mouth. Yes, you have. You've heard him from a man sent
by God. How shall they hear without a
preacher? How shall they preach except
to be sent? The power is not in the man. Power's not in his word. Power's
not in his eloquence. Power's not by might, not by
power, but by my spirit. But this is what God hath said.
This is what God hath chosen, the foolishness, what the world
calls foolishness, to save them that believe the gospel is the
power of God. What's the gospel? What God hath
done for his people in Christ. That's what the preacher, the
man sent by God, preaches. Wednesday night's message will
be that. Preachers sent the gift of God. Preachers. Preach Him.
So he took his daughter and his grandsons and himself to hear
Moses, though younger than he. Moses was at least 20 years,
30 years, maybe more younger than he. But he's going to sit
and listen to his son-in-law preach like he's a little child. Oh, I loved my father-in-law,
Edward Ballard. How I loved him. And he'd come
to hear me preach. I looked up to him. I esteemed
him highly. Not so much when I was younger,
but later on I came to understand what a great man he was. He'd come to hear me preach.
And he was one of my most encouraging preachers. I preached his mother's
funeral, Amanda's grandmother. I preached her funeral. And boy,
he came up after me and said, that's the gospel. My father-in-law. He received the word as a little
child. My father. You remember when he came here?
My father came here. He called me pastor. One time he said, I've never
preached that good. Dad. Your memory's gone. He sat and listened to me like
a little child. That's what poor and needy and
hungry, all the children of God received the word of little children
from whoever's preaching it. That's the grace of God. It takes
the power of God to do that. And he came and sat and listened
to his son-in-law preach the gospel. Oh, brothers and sisters,
if you've heard, you'll want your family to hear. If you've
heard, you'll want others to hear, and you'll bring them.
Yes, you will. If this is life to you, you'll
want your children to have life, and you'll bring them to sit
under the words of life. If this is where you got life,
you'll know this is where they'll get life, at the Mount, Mount
Zion, the Church of the Living God. So, the greatest evidence of
life is faith. Faith is life. The greatest evidence
of faith is love. Love. You love the truth. You
don't just believe it. You love it. You just don't believe
election. You love it. Like Jacob. Tell me again, Lord, that you
chose me and loved me and done for me and keep me and keep your
covenant for me. Tell me again, Lord, that you're
going to keep me. Isn't that what you need to hear,
brother? The greatest proof of life is
Faith is love for the truth. Love is need. Need! The greatest proof of this life
is you're hungry and thirsty. You never quit eating. You need
it. Bread. I love bread as much now as the
day I first had it. Milk. The day my mother first
gave it to me. I still desire it like a baby.
What about the milk of God's Word? What about the bread from
heaven? What's that? What's that? Who's
that? Christ! Do you need to? Do you
hunger and thirst? When I was real young and had
lots to do and things, places to go and people to see, which
was all worthless, my mother used to have to holler and holler
and holler, Paul, come to supper! Paul, come to supper! Where's
Paul? What's he doing? Playing basketball, playing baseball,
playing football, playing golf, everything had a ball in it.
Boy, you're talking about vanity. You'll get my age one day and
you can't... I used to be pretty good, starting
point guard for years. Now I can't even reach the rim. I played with my nephews. I was so embarrassed. Also good,
you know, I said I used to be good. Yeah old man's right What difference does it make
What does that matter I can ride a horse with a vista You get
to the point where you can't put a foot in the stirrup Right
Kelly What does it matter? And the thing you need to do
is sit in the pew. You can do that, can't you? Bring
yourself and sit in that pew. And hear what matters. Or who
matters. Oh my, love the truth. You need
it. You need the gospel. And you want others. If you need
it and love it, you want others to hear it. You know your children
need it. Words of life. Christ becomes your life. He
is your life. You walk, you talk, your conversations
in heaven. Your companions are those who
love to talk about Him. That's right. You don't want
to talk about anything or anyone else. You get tired of vain idle
talk and you want to talk with those who love your Lord like
you do. You do. Don't you get weary of
hearing all this talk? I'm not on social media. I'm
not going to do it. I don't want to hear one thing
anybody has to say about anything. Honestly. It's dangerous. Children, it's
dangerous. The whole world is following
that lies. Who's behind it all? Who's behind
it all? You know, so I say with tears,
Paul said, I cease not to warn you, the Ephesian church, night
and day with tears, that you bring yourself and your
children to hear this word every chance, every time this word
is prayed. You've got to. They've got to
hear this gospel. It's not cruel and unusual punishment
to make your children come to church. It's life. Their life depends on it. Your
grandchildren. You love your grandchildren?
I love my grandchildren every much as I love my daughter. I
never thought it was, didn't think it was possible to do whatever.
But it is so in, look yonder. Look in that pew with Nana. You must believe this, sister.
You must have heard from him, sister, by God's grace. What
do you want for those three girls? for. And you're set in law. What do you want more than anything
in this earth? For them to know Jesus Christ
like you know. If they do, you'll never lose
them. You'll never lose them. By God's grace, if they know
the Lord, you're going to be standing with glory with them
someday. Right beside you. I told you. He told us. Isn't He wonderful? Hasn't He done great things for
us? This is it. Hasn't He done great things for
us? Choosing us and calling us and
bringing us to hear the gospel and sending a man to preach that
gospel and there's so many fakes and phonies and the world's following
all these lies. He sends us a true preacher like
Moses to preach God's Word and truth as it is. Isn't He good
to us? Look what great things our God
has done for us. in Christ and sending him to
condescend to come down to this hell hole for worthless sinners
like us and die on that cross going through hell for us where
we belong our substitute, our redeemer. Isn't it wonderful
the things God has done for us? How can we preach anything else?
How can we be taken up with anything or anyone else? How? How? Who or what could take away our
attention from Him? Who? Can't. If you know Him. If you love
Him. Can't. Jethro heard and says, Honey,
come on. My daughter, come on. Sons, come
on. Their names mean something. Gershom. What's that mean? Stranger. Your
children are strangers to the covenant. Strangers to the promise.
Strangers to God. They don't know Him. How are
they going to know Him? They're going to hear a man preaching,
and God, if He's merciful, is going to reveal Himself. Eleazar. God, my help. God's their only
help. You can't help them. You can't
save them. You can't make them believe anything.
You try, don't you? Don't you? You talk to them.
You try, don't you? You can't do it. Nobody can. How's He do it? It still amazes me. The gospel is still the power
of God. It still amazes me. It's a miracle. Anybody hears
God's Word, it's a miracle. When there's so many voices and
so many lives, if anybody hears this old book that's written
3,500 years ago, if anybody believes this one
who lived 2,000 years ago, that he's God, that he right now lives
and we're in his hand. If anybody believes that, it's
a miracle. If God turns the heart and the
mind from a worldling who's steeped in it, who's tied to it, who
wants it more than anything, as life itself, if God turns
their heart and their mind and their soul from this world to
him, it's a miracle. If God reveals Himself to somebody,
God is not in all their thoughts, never gives God a thought. If
all of a sudden they start thinking on God, and calling on God, and
listening to God's Word, and reading God's Word, and seeking
it all, that's a miracle of God's grace. If a child, a young person, or
an old person is steeped on drugs and this and that and the other
in this world, and there are many, It gives them a euphoric feeling.
It gives them a wonderful feeling. There's pleasure in sin for a
season. I know! If God takes them out of that,
that captivity, out of them to sit, and they don't need that
anymore. They need one thing, Christ.
It's a miracle! Of God's grace and power. And
how's He do it? What I'm doing right now. Nothing from nowhere. I'm just
a sinner saved by the miracle of God's grace trying to tell
you what great things God has done for me. Hoping and praying
that He would use His Word like an arrow. Like He did me. You're talking to me. He's talking
to me. No, Samuel, it's not me. It's the Lord. So Jethro brought his family. This really needs two messages.
There's so many types here. Moses. And I say all that because I
say with tears, warning. I just wrote someone a letter
who doesn't attend much. It has children, and they don't
bring their children very much. I sure don't like to talk to
people and warn them like this. I don't do it. But I had to warn her. Your life's
in danger. You're in this world, and the
world's got a hold of you. You're taking your children out
from under the gospel. If I don't do that, Ezekiel,
the Lord said, Ezekiel, I will acquire their souls at your hand
if you don't warn them. And love warns those you love. I don't warn other people's children.
I don't warn everybody. But those I love are concerned
about it. If I don't, I don't believe this. If I don't, I don't
love you. If you take your children out
from under the gospel, you're telling them you don't need God.
You need the world. You need an education. You need
to earn money. You need a family. You need a
husband, a wife. You need all these things. That's more important
than Jesus Christ. That's what you say. That's foolishness. You're going
to lose everything. You're going to lose everything
but Jesus Christ. If you know Him. I say it with
tears. I say it with tears. God help us all. There are many
types and pictures here. Let me hurry. Moses represents
the law. Look at it with me. He came to
Moses, Jethro, in the mount of God. You know, there are three
mountains, three principal mountains in the Bible. Can you name them? Three principal mountains. Things
happened on these mounts that you need to know. Mount Sinai. What happened there? God sent
the law. You know that every one of us
are born under the law. We've got to hear the law. Law
is not made for a righteous man, but it is for sinners. And by
the law is what? Knowledge of sin. Fear of the
Lord. Every mouth may be stopped. The only thing that's going to
stop a loud-mouthed world is the law. Fear of God. Every mouth may be stopped. And
under the law, guilty as charged. You know what else the law is?
A schoolmaster. Show us we've sinned and come
far short of the glory of God. We've sinned, broken every law.
We've sinned against God our Creator, and He ought to just
snuff us out. But God, if He takes that law
and breaks your heart, if He takes that law and convicts you
of your sin against Him, He's going to point you to another
mountain. John, come on up here and finish
this. You want to, don't you? He points us to another mount.
What mount? What mount did God come down
on? The Word of God came down on Calvary, a hill called Golgotha. It says that Moses and Jethro
kissed each other. I read of another place where
two kissed each other, righteousness and peace, mercy and truth, met
together on Mount Calvary in Christ crucified. Mercy. God's purpose is to have mercy.
But the truth is they've sinned. But it all meets together in
Christ crucified. God can be merciful in the face
of sin. Righteousness and peace kissed
each other on Mount Calvary. Mount Calvary, the mount of God,
another mount. You know where you're going to hear this? You
know where you're going to hear of Mount Sinai, the Law, the
Word of God? You know where you're going to
hear of Christ and Him crucified? Mount Zion. Church of the Living
God. That's where you're going to
hear it. That's just where Jethro came
on the Mount to hear the Word of God from God's preacher. What
did he hear? Christ crucified. You know what
all this is leading up to? I thought you'd never ask. Look
at verse 12. Jethro, Moses' father-in-law
took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God. Aaron came, the elders
came, his daughter came, his grandsons came. They all came
to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God. They all came and
they all saw the burnt offering and the sacrifices the lamb shed,
the blood of the lamb sacrificed for their sin. That's what it
all leads up to. So Moses, so Jethro came. Look
at verse 7. I love this. Moses went out to
meet his father-in-law and did obeisance. Listen to me. Every
one of you, young people, listen. I've lost you. If I've lost you, I want you to listen to me, okay?
Moses went out and bowed down before his father-in-law. See
that? The next, well, chapter 20 says
this, the Ten Commandments. Honor thy father and thy mother.
What does it say? That thy days may be long upon
the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Paul, preaching
that, said this is the first commandment with promise. Honor
thy father and thy mother. Moses came and bowed down before
his father-in-law. He did him honor. He respected
his father-in-law. He was his elder. In 2 Timothy 3, it speaks of
the last day's perilous time, proud, disobedient to elder. Disobedient. No respect for authority
whatsoever. Zero. Boy, that describes this
generation more than anything. None whatsoever. No respect for
God because men aren't preaching God as He is. To be bowed to. No respect for authority. No
fear. No fear of God. No fear of sin and its consequences. The fact of the matter is every
knee shall bow. And what we're told, young people,
what you're told to do, what I'm told to do, in Leviticus
19 it says, rise up before the hoary head. It says, for a gray-headed
man or woman, you get up out of your chair and you show them
respect. That's what God tells you to
do. I still try to do that. You men noticed until I get crippled
where I can't get up. But you older men that come in
to study, I do it with every one of you. You come in to study,
I'm going to get out of my chair and honor you. I'm glad to see
you. If you're older than me, I honor
my elder. Yes, sir. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. That's what God said. And it
may be well with you. But Jethro is a type of Christ
here. Christ is everyone and everything. Jethro here is a type of Christ. He's the priest. He's our elder
brother before whom we bow. It says Moses came and kissed
him. Kiss the sign lest he be angry
and you perish from the way when his wrath is just kindled a little
bit. Bow before him. You know recently we talked about
prayer and I told you when you're in private if possible get on
your knees. I told you that. And I began
to think about that. And do you know nearly every
person, I can't find one person in the scripture who was desperate,
who needed saving, their children or whoever it was, that didn't
come and fall on their face at the feet of Jesus Christ. Not
one. Every one of them. When Thomas found out who he
was, that's what he did. When Simon Peter found out who
he was, that's what he did. When Daniel found out who he
was, that's what he did. When John found out, he did.
Do obeisance. Bow before the Lord Jesus Christ. Kiss Him. Kiss Him where? Not
like Judas. Good to see you, Jesus. Oh, no. Kiss His feet. Kiss His feet. Those that are low, you know
what? They look up. You know what they'll see? You
know what He'll do to those that are low? You know what He'll
do? you'll stoop down. May He raise you up. So he represents our Lord Jesus
Christ, old Jethro, that Moses went. They asked of each other's
welfare, like the father sent Joseph to acquire the welfare
of his son. And they came into the tent. What a gathering. What a place.
A tent. A tent. Did God dwell in tents?
He did here. He does here. Oh my, what a tent. What a tent we live in. Huh? What a place. Moses, read on,
told his father-in-law all that the Lord done. He had already
heard this. You going to tell it again? Yes. Now Moses, tell me again. What
you told me before. I want to hear it again. And
I want my daughter to hear it. And I want my grandsons to hear
it. Moses, tell us. What? What did he tell them?
Verse 8, What the Lord had done to Pharaoh, to Egypt for Israel's
sake, and all the travail they had come through by the way,
and how the Lord delivered them out of it all. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for His wonderful goodness to the sons of men. Four times
in Psalm 107. Did I say that? The Lord delivered
them out of that. Chall the travail. All the things
He brought us through in this wilderness. Saved us from Pharaoh. The God of this world. Saved
us from this world. And Jethro verse 9. Rejoice.
For what? What do you rejoice in? The Lord.
All the goodness which the Lord had done to Israel. What gives
you greatest joy people? Who and what do you joy in more
than anything else? Examine your heart. Really? Really? Do you joy in Christ
more than anything in the world? Do you? If he's your husband, you do.
So you rejoice for all the goodness the Lord had done to Israel,
whom he delivered out of the hands of the Egyptians. And then
he blessed them. Jethro prayed a prayer. Look
here. He prayed. All that hear, pray. He said,
blessed. What did he pray? Blessed be
the Lord. Blessed be the Lord. Blessed
be the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name. Blessed
be the name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Praise God from whom all blessings
come. Isn't that our soul's best song? Our song that he hath delivered
us out of the hand? And he said in verse 11, now
I know that the Lord is greater than all gods. Jethro had another
god. He wasn't God. And now he believes in God who
is God. He says, the thing that men are so proud of, oh, he's
going to bring them down. He now realizes it. In verse
12, Moses, Jethro, Moses, father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices
for God. This man who heard the gospel,
this man who heard it from God's man, he heard the Passover. You know what Moses told him.
God had done a great thing. How did he bring him out? How
did God bring Israel out? Moses out. The blood of a lamb. What made the difference between
them and Egypt? The blood of a lamb. That's what
Moses told Jethro when he came down here. That's what Jethro
heard. And so Jethro comes to God with that thing that God
demands. The blood. He knows now. You don't come unto God but one
way. Jesus Christ. So he came. Aaron came, the elders
of Israel came, and so was Zipporah, and Gershom, and Eleazar, and
Moses, and Aaron. Everybody was there to do one
thing. Worship God. Eat bread. And you reckon after
it was over, they had such a good time. They all hung around and
ate. And you reckon Jethro might have
said to Moses, can we do this again next week? I know we did. I know we did. Because that's
what you did. All right. Brother John, you
come lead us.
About Paul Mahan
Paul Mahan has been pastor of Central Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, Virginia since 1989; preaching the Gospel of God's Sovereign Grace.
Comments
Your comment has been submitted and is awaiting moderation. Once approved, it will appear on this page.
Be the first to comment!