Well, I'll read this last verse
of chapter 12 again. And it came to pass the self
same day that the Lord did bring that as he calls to go out the
children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.
Now here's my subject, effectual mercy. Effectual mercy. What does effectual mean? Well, I looked it up in the thesaurus
today, get some synonyms on this. Here's what effectual means.
It means capable, effective, successful, and powerful. And these are words that certainly
set forth the mercy of our God. It is capable mercy, capable
of doing whatever it is God has purposed to be done. It is effective
mercy, always accomplishing the purpose of God. It is successful
mercy that cannot possibly fail. And it is powerful mercy gets
the job done. Now, why must divine mercy be
called effectual mercy, capable mercy, effective mercy, successful
mercy, powerful mercy? Well, because of whose mercy
it is. We're not talking about the mercy of a man toward a man
or a woman. We're talking about the mercy
of God. We're not talking about somebody who's weak and unable
to accomplish their purpose. We're talking about the Lord
who does his will among the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say, what doest thou? It is effectual mercy, very powerful,
cannot be frustrated in any way because it's the mercy of God.
And effectual mercy does indeed belong to the Lord. And when
He gives effectual saving mercy, it has to be successful. You
see, God had purposed effectual mercy for the children of Israel.
He had purposed that they would be delivered from their Egyptian
captivity. And if God has purposed that,
and He did, then it is surely a fact that it is effectual mercy,
it must come to pass. He must be merciful to them.
You say, well, they didn't deserve any mercy. Well, it wouldn't
be mercy if they deserved it. Mercy is for the undeserving.
That's why there's hope for you and me. Mercy is for those that
have no worthiness of it. There's hope for you and me.
The mercy of God is effectual mercy. And the evidence of that is God
brought them out of Egyptian bondage. You see, it is absolutely
an impossibility for our God to fail to do that which is purposed
to do. He cannot fail. And let's put
it this way, don't ever use the word failure with relation or
have anything to do with our God. He can't fail. You fail,
I fail, we're miserable failures. That's a pretty good way to describe
our lives. We're failures. But don't use
that word with reference to God. He cannot fail. Everything he sets out to do,
he will do. He will accomplish and nobody
can stop him from accomplishing his purpose. Nancy was watching
some kind of movie the other night. I can watch a movie many
times because I got one eye on the movie and one eye on the
computer. So a lot of it I don't remember, but I did catch this
statement. Failure is not an option. And it's not an option with God.
There is no failure with God. Failure is not an option. Our
Lord is always successful in what He sets out to do. This
is effectual mercy, mercy that cannot fail. And I say of all
of those who do not believe in effectual mercy, In essence,
what you believe, and I'm speaking to Arminians, to those who believe
in free will, what you're essentially saying is that the mercy of God
is ineffectual. That it is not successful. And that God's mercy is incapable,
in some cases, of bringing sinners home to glory. There is no incapability
with God. There is no weakness with God. He cannot fail. Could I give
you a few references here? Would you look with me and I'll
wait till you get to them. Deuteronomy chapter 31. Look
at Deuteronomy chapter 31. And verse 6, and this is a charge
given by Moses to Joshua. Deuteronomy chapter 31 and verse
6, and the Lord says this to Joshua through Moses several
times, but I'll just take a couple of verses here. Deuteronomy 31
verse 6. He says, Be strong and of a good
courage, Fear not, nor be afraid of them. For the Lord thy God,
he it is that doth go with thee, he will not fail thee, nor forsake
thee. And then look at verse eight.
And the Lord, he it is that doth go before thee, he will be with
thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee, fear not,
neither be dismayed." And I say to all the people of God here
and those who are watching, the Lord will never fail you. Your
friends may fail you, your spouse may fail you, people in your
family may fail you, but God never will. His mercy is effectual. and He is the unfailing God. Let me give you another reference,
Isaiah. Look over at Isaiah 42. Speaking
of our Lord Jesus Christ, Isaiah 42. Let me begin at verse one. Isaiah 42, verse one. Behold my servant whom I uphold,
mine elect in whom my soul delighteth. Did not the father say regarding
the son, is well pleased with him? Always, always. I have put my spirit upon him,
he shall bring forth judgment. To the Gentiles he shall not
cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he
not quench. He shall bring forth judgment
unto truth. He shall not fail. He shall not fail nor be discouraged. till he have said, Judgment or
righteousness, justice in the earth and the isles shall wait
for his law." And there are many people who believe that the redemptive
work of our Lord Jesus Christ may be a failure unless the sinner
makes it effectual. That's not true either. That
which our Lord Jesus did upon the cross of Calvary shall never
be proved to be a failure. It shall never be a failure.
It wasn't wasted effort. Our Savior suffered, bled, and
died to satisfy God's justice, and all for whom He satisfied
justice will be, must be, shall be forever saved. They have to
be. He can't fail. That's the reason I say don't
use the word failure in the same sentence with God. He can't fail. And I'll give you one other reference.
Look at Lamentations chapter three. Lamentations three. Lamentations
comes between Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Lamentations chapter three. Verse 22. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed. And here's the reason. His compassions
fail not. And I'll tell you, when I get
discouraged, a little down in the dumps, I read portions of
Scripture like this. His compassion's to me. And He's always been compassionate
to me. He's always helped me with feeling. You know, in Hebrews chapter
2, He's able to succor those that
are His people. He's able to help us with feelings.
It isn't that the Lord doesn't have feelings for us. He has
strong feelings for us. He has everlasting love for us.
And He helps us with this love. And His help is always effectual. It always gets the job done.
This is effectual mercy. And it's ours through our Lord
Jesus Christ. And our Lord He cannot fail. Go back to the psalm. Turn backwards
to the psalms here. Psalm 135. Could I show you another
passage here? Psalm 135. The psalmist says,
Psalm 135. Verse one, praise ye the Lord, Praise ye the name of the Lord.
Praise him, O ye servants of the Lord. Ye that stand in the
house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God, praise
the Lord. For the Lord is good. Sing praises
unto his name, for it is pleasant. And here's the reason, because
the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar
treasure, for his purchased treasure, valued property. Do you know
you're valuable to the Lord? He paid a great price for you. You're his peculiar treasure.
Verse five, for I know that the Lord is great and that our Lord
is above all gods. Now watch this next verse. whatsoever
the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven and in earth, in the
seas, and in all deep places." His will is carried out through
all space. Heaven, earth, seas, all deep
places. That covers everything. Everything. Every portion of the universe
knows the absolute authority of our God. The heathen divided the great
domain of their gods this way. They said Jupiter rules the heavens,
Neptune rules the seas, and Pluto rules in the lower regions. Well, fools believe such nonsense. We know Jehovah rules over all,
and He does His will everywhere. His decree cannot be defeated.
His purpose cannot be frustrated. His good pleasure is always accomplished. And here in verse 6, that word
whatsoever is of the widest range and includes everything and leaves
nothing out whatsoever the Lord pleased that did He. This is a declaration of the
faithfulness of God to do His will throughout His great creation. How different from Jehovah are
the gods of the heathens. such as the gods of the Egyptians,
that all of the plagues were designed to defeat and expose
their utter weakness? And how contrary is this to the
so-called Christian conceptions of God that so many free willers
have? which make the accomplishment
of the purpose of God dependent upon the will and the cooperation
of the creature. They make the success of God's
purpose dependent upon the whims of men. Our Bible teaches no such degrading
notions of God. I hate to hear people talk about
what God can't do unless you let Him. I fed on that a long time and
I finally discovered that's hog's food. That's no good. The Lord does His will everywhere. His purpose shall stand and He
will do all of His pleasure. There's no mountain too high,
no valley too deep, no land too distant. But what God's will
is always carried out. His absolute pleasure rules over
all things. It travels through all the realms
of nature. And he can't fail. He can't fail. And as we go back to our text
here in Exodus chapter 12, I want to give you four words that set
before us the fact that God can't fail, that His mercy is effectual. It's effectual mercy. You see,
the exodus from Egyptian bondage fulfilled, number one, the purpose
of God. In the book of Genesis, we find
the Lord dealing with one man on behalf of a nation that was
not yet in existence. Abraham wasn't a Jew. He was chosen to be the head
and the representative of a nation that would exist in the future.
And He was the representative in the purpose of God and in
the covenant that God made with Him. And as God chose that man
as a representative of a people who would live in the future,
so that's a picture of our God choosing Christ Jesus, the representative
man, and entering into a covenant with Him concerning a people
who would live in the future. You see, the exodus of Israel
from Egyptian bondage was by effectual power and mercy, according
to the purpose of God. God had purposed this 400 years
before the exodus ever happened, before Israel had become a nation. before Jacob was born, before
Jacob's name was changed to Israel, before that little family of
70 settled in Egypt, long before that God had ordained, God had
purposed that that people would be taken into bondage and then
He would be glorified in delivering them from that bondage. And such
as it was with us. We had a representative, Christ
our Savior, and God entered into a covenant with Him on behalf
of a people who were not yet born, but nevertheless who existed
in the mind and the purpose of God. Before any of us ever had
a being, we already had a representative. And before we fell into sin,
we already had a savior. Before we became lost sheep,
we already had a shepherd who was looking out for our best
interests, for our eternal salvation. I say the exodus from Egyptian
bondage, number one, fulfilled the purpose of God. Secondly, The Exodus from Egyptian
bondage, number two, fulfilled the promise of God. God promised Abraham. He said this in Genesis 15, 14. They shall come out with great
substances. And we've already read, I read
last Wednesday night that as the children of Israel were leaving
Egypt, The people said, here take this, what do you need?
Take it, take it, just go. And they went out with great
wealth. Because the Lord had promised
Abraham that's the way it would be. You see, God did not merely
just know ahead of time. The foreknowledge of God is forever
tied to his foreordination. He ordained that Israel would
exit Egyptian bondage and that they would go out with their
hands full. They had plenty. And I say, who will be brought
to know Christ? Who will be delivered from spiritual
bondage and made free? The chosen of God. The promise of God is he shall
save his people from their sins. God's not pleased to teach everybody
the gospel of grace, but he does teach his people. And he's an
excellent teacher. For our Savior says in John chapter
6, they shall all be taught of God. And then he that heareth and
seeth the Son comes to him. And if you've been taught of
God, if you've been instructed by the Lord, if effectual mercy
has been shed abroad in your heart, the evidence of that is
this, you'll come to Jesus Christ the Lord. as the only savior. Yes, the exodus from Egyptian
bondage was fulfilled. It fulfilled the purpose of God. It fulfilled the promise of God.
And I'll tell you something else. The exodus from Egyptian bondage
was fulfilled by the price of redemption. Purpose, promise,
and price. Oh, what's the price? blood of
a God-appointed, God-approved substitute dying in the stead
of the firstborn. Say, as we have read through
this, have you ever seen the word lamb with an S on the end
of it? Well, I can tell you this, you
haven't. Because every word associated
with the Passover Everywhere you will read of a lamb. A lamb, the lamb, your lamb. It's never lambs. Now, I know that on that fateful
day and night, the day when they killed the lamb, there were hundreds
and hundreds of lambs that were slaughtered. And yet the Bible
never speaks of lambs. being killed, but lamb, one lamb. For instance, go back into chapter
12 and look at verse 6. Look earlier in chapter 12 in
verse 6, talking about the lamb. And ye shall keep it up unto
the fourteenth day of the same month, and the whole assembly
of the congregation shall kill it, not kill them, but kill it in the evening. You say, what's the reason for
the singularity of the Lamb? Because all of this is pointing
forward to one specific Lamb who is coming in the future.
That's the Lamb of God. And I'll tell you, as you studied
the history of the children of Israel, you studied the history
of the Old Testament. First of all, it's unlike history
books written by today's authors or authors several years ago
because they may or may not be accurate depending on the honesty
of the writer. Could be he was slanted a little
bit against some particular hero in history, so he kind of played
that down. Maybe somebody else he liked
better. I mean, you know how people can show favorites. So
I'm just saying history, world history, U.S. history as you
read it, you can believe most of it, but you can't believe
all of it. But there is one inerrant, accurate history book in the
world. Just one. That's the Word of
God. It is absolutely accurate. And when it comes to the history
that God has set forth, we are to learn more than merely the
letter and the word of history. We're to look past that. And remember, these are types
and pictures and illustrations of God's redemption and God's
salvation. And if you read the Old Testament,
specifically the history of Israel, just to learn of their history,
you've missed the boat. Really, you have. You've missed
the boat. Because all of the scripture
presents to us the Lord Jesus Christ and the grace of God to
us through Him and through His sacrifice. That's what it's all
about. And it's absolutely, perfectly
accurate. You can't say that about any
other book. You see, these books were written
by holy men of God that he inspired to write the scriptures. But it isn't just the letter
or the word of history that we want to grasp. It's the gospel
that is always presented through the word of God. And I don't
care where you go, in the Old Testament in the history of Israel
or beginning with the history of mankind. There is always a
road that leads directly to Christ Jesus. And that's the road you
need to look for right from the get-go. I'll tell you, the exodus from
Egyptian bondage was fulfilled by the price of redemption. One lamb, one lamb, not lambs. You know, it's not till the Lord
gave the laws pertaining to the sacrifice of two lambs every
day, a morning sacrifice and the evening sacrifice, sacrifice
the lambs. It's not to the end of the book
of Exodus that you get to lambs. Until then, it's always singular.
And you remember this, the Lamb of God, that's a singular subject. That's the greatest subject there
is, the Lamb of God. Because God sent his Son because
of effectual mercy, which brings me to the last point. The exodus
from Egyptian bondage was fulfilled by the power of God. promise, price, and power. The Lord said, had Moses tell
Pharaoh this back in chapter 9 verse 16, and in very deed
for this cause have I raised thee up for to show in thee my
power and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.
And now look over chapter 15 and verse 6. Chapter 15 and verse
6. Thy right hand, this is after
the Red Sea, the Lord has washed the Egyptian army away. Verse six, chapter 15. Thy right
hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power. Thy right hand, O Lord,
hath dashed in pieces the enemy. Our Lord is glorious in power. And that's the reason His mercy
is effectual. So we're right back, just kind
of did a full circle there. The reason His mercy is effectual
is because of the power of God. that cannot fail, can't be frustrated,
can't be slowed down, can't be hindered in any way. Because
we're talking about the effectual mercy and power of God. That's
what we're talking about. Well, hope that helps you some.
Let's sing a closing song, number 294, Savior Like a Shepherd Lead
Us. Number 294. to.