I have several words that I want
to kind of pull out of this passage of scripture I've read to you.
And without any introduction, I'll give you the first word,
which is belief. Belief, and that's the reason
I read that passage to begin the service tonight out of Hebrews
chapter 11. The blessedness, the blessedness
of believing our God. Belief is a wonderful thing because
it's a gift of God. On the other hand, unbelief is
an awful thing. It's a horrible thing. You remember
after our Lord's resurrection how he met with ten of his disciples. Of course, Judas has committed
suicide by then. He's gone. Ten brethren gathered
together to see the resurrected Savior, and that man we know
as Thomas, he was absent. The other disciples were so,
so elated to see the resurrected Christ. He had said that he must
suffer many things and lay down his life, but he also said he
must be risen again. And here he was in his resurrected
body, and he met with his disciples. Thomas wasn't there, but the
men told him, the other ten told Thomas, what a blessing you missed. Really, he must have said, oh
yes, you'll never guess who joined us today, the Savior. Oh, what a blessing it is when
our Lord, by His Spirit, visits with us. Well, Thomas, he felt bad about
that. I don't know why he neglected
the worship service that day, but he did. But the next time
they gathered together, you can be sure he was there. And he
rejoiced in the Savior. And the Savior said this to him,
he said, Thomas, he said, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. And then
he said this, blessed are they that have not seen, yet have
believed. It's a great blessing to believe
the gospel of the grace of God in Christ Jesus. That is no light
thing. In fact, it is an impossibility
for the natural man to believe if left to himself. Blessed, blessed, well off, to
be envied, highly favored is that person who believes the
Savior. though they have not laid their
eyes on me bodily. That's what the Savior said. And I thought about this this
morning as I was preparing this message. That unbelief, that
unbelief should prevail among those who are spiritually dead is no more than that which is
reasonably expected. You follow me? People who are
spiritually dead, it's only reasonable to conclude they're not going
to believe. They're unbelievers. And you
can set forth, the preacher can set forth the Lord Jesus Christ
from the Scriptures and identify Him and speak of His glory, speak
of His greatness, speak of His majesty, speak of His condescension
and come to this world. Speak of how He lived a life
of perfection, how He grew up under the law of God and obeyed
every facet of it, every jot, every tittle of it. How he began
his public ministry for three to four years and all along under
the very observant eye of divine justice. And how there was no
fault in him. He lived a perfect life before
God and before men. And then he died, he laid down
his life for the guilty. He died for people who deserve
nothing but hell. And He arose again and went back
to heaven, and He sent what He called the promise of the Father,
the Holy Spirit, who quickens us. And in the quickening of
the spiritual dead, God gives this life, He gives also faith
to believe Him. Why don't people believe Him,
though? That's the question. Why don't people believe the
Lord Jesus Christ? I mean, they acknowledge to some
degree His birth at Christmastime, and somewhat they acknowledge
His resurrection at Easter. And, of course, neither of those
times are set forth in the Word of God as days to be remembered. The day to remember is when he
suffered, bled, and died for us. He didn't put our sins away
when he was born. He put our sins away when he
died. But men still don't believe him. They still don't embrace him. They don't recognize their need. What is the reason for that?
Why do people persist in unbelief? There's one word that sums it
up. They're dead. Right? They're dead. Surely a great evidence of the
absence of the light of Christ Jesus and the life of Christ
Jesus in the soul is that people do not believe on the name of
the Son of God. May God grant spiritual life. The Savior said, For as the Father
raises up the dead, even so the Son quickeneth whom He will. All men are spiritually dead
like poor Lazarus in John 11 was dead physically. Dead. Lazarus was dead. Prayers couldn't raise him. Tears
couldn't raise him. Mary and Martha's yearnings and
longings couldn't raise him. And of course, Lazarus could
not raise himself. There is only one who could raise
him, the one who is the way, the truth, and the life. He had to breathe life into Lazarus
before he would live again to the glory of God. He said, Lazarus,
come forth. And when he did, when life spoke
to death, death had to give way. And he that was bound hand and
foot came forth and the Lord said, loose him and let him go. This is what is needed. The resurrection of a sinner
by the great sovereign Christ. There won't be any faith because
you see, this is an effect. This is an effect of our sinfulness,
of our depravity. We're dead. That's why the Savior
said you must be born again. Now, I offer no excuse. Please understand me. I offer
no excuse for the unbelief of anybody. But I can say it is
perfectly understandable why they don't believe, right? See, all men are responsible
to believe, but I understand why they can't believe and why
they won't believe, because there is no spiritual life. And there never will be unless
the Lord Jesus Christ raises them from the dead. But when we behold unbelief among
the people of God, people who profess to be believers, that
is inexcusable. And here is Moses. Here is Moses
who in the previous chapter, the Lord has said, I'm going
to be with you. I'll speak through you, the Israelites
will hear you, and they will believe Me." And Moses immediately begins
to offer up reasons for them not believing him. He even says
this in verse 1 of chapter 4, Moses answered and said, but
behold, they will not believe me, but God has just said they
will believe you. And Moses said they won't hearken
to my voice, but God said they will hearken to your voice. And when I read of Moses' unbelief, I'm led to cry out with Job,
Lord, what is man that thou shouldest magnify him, that thou shouldest
set thine heart upon him? Job 7, 17 says that. And I cry out with David over
the Psalm, Psalm 8, verse 4, Lord, what is man that thou art
mindful of him, or the son of man that thou shouldest visit
him? You know, the Bible is absolutely
honest when it comes to even what we would call the imminent
men of faith. It's absolutely honest about
it. Abraham, Abraham, he's a man of faith. Abraham believed God. He was counted to him for righteousness,
not his faith. But the object of his faith was
counted to him for righteousness. He's a believer. You want to
see his unbelief? He and his good-looking wife,
Sarah, getting ready to go into Egypt, and Abraham says, Now,
honey, I love you. But they found out you're my
wife. They're going to kill me to take
you. If it's okay with you, we'll just say you're my sister. Where'd
that come from? Unbelief. That's where that came
from. Unbelief. You know, the Bible
says of Job, Job was a patient man. That's what James says.
Job was a patient man. And you read the beginning of
the book of Job and you see Job's patience. But as you read deeper
into the book of Job, you know what you see? Impatience. That's how honest the Scriptures
are. And Moses. You know, in Numbers
chapter 12 and verse 3, Moses was the meekest, meekest man
in all the earth. That's what the Lord, that's
what the Holy Spirit said. He's the meekest man in all the
earth. But I'll tell you, he was driven
to his wits end by Israel. And God said, they're thirsty,
speak to the rock. You already hit that rock one
time. Christ is only be smitten once. So just speak to the rock. And that man who's the meekest
man on earth, he was mad as a hornet. Must we fetch water from this
rock for you rebels? And I just see him in a fit of
anger and he hits that rock. Is that Moses the meek man? And here, here's Moses. He begins by saying, they're
not gonna believe me. They're not gonna hear my voice.
And then in verse number 10, he says, now Lord, he begins
to give his excuses. I'm not eloquent. I'm not a speaker. Even though in Acts chapter 7,
Stephen in his message says he was full of wisdom and great
words. He's a great speaker. And now
here's Moses trying to dodge, trying to avoid the service of
God by putting his own self down. That's not true humility at all. That's unbelief. That's what
that is. He said, I'm slow of speech,
I got a slow tongue. He offers all of these excuses
why he's not the right man for the job. And yet you read in Hebrews chapter
11, He's listed in faith's great hall of fame several times. By faith Moses, by faith Moses,
by faith Moses. But he wasn't always a believing
man. And I'll tell you what, all of
the people of God, we all have the warts of unbelief. We all have the spots. If you're looking for the perfect
preacher, you're looking for the perfect example on this earth,
you will not find him, you will not find her. There's only one
who's perfect and he's the perfect example, that's our Lord Jesus
Christ. No wonder the word of God says
in Psalm 118 verse eight, it's better to trust in the Lord than
to put confidence in man. I do not set before you some
imminent follower of Christ Jesus as a perfect example of faith. I set before you the Savior.
You want to learn how to live, study His life. He's a perfect
example, perfect faithfulness, perfect attitude. always seeking
the glory of the Father. He's a perfect example of servitude. He's God's righteous servant.
He served God obeying His law, and He served God in laying down
His life for His sheep. He was serving God. And you know,
He served people too. He and His disciples were eating
supper one evening, And all of a sudden, He got a basin of water,
and He began to wash their feet. He's the perfect servant. And I would ask you, do you ever
remember those men washing His feet? Two women did, but I don't find
His disciples did. Our Lord was a perfect servant.
You want to learn to serve God and serve men? Study our Savior. He's the perfect servant of Jehovah.
Isaiah 53, He's the righteous servant of Jehovah. He said of
His obedience to God, I always do those things that please the
Father. You want to learn how to please
the Father? Do a study of Christ Jesus. So I'm studying this man
of the Bible or this man of the Bible. I tell you who you need
to study is the man Christ Jesus. Because you won't ever be disappointed
with him. Any other man, me, any preacher
of the gospel, name any preacher of the gospel, I don't care who
it is. You will ultimately be disappointed in something they
say, do, express, some action. You'll be disappointed because
we're just sinful men. That's all we are. Regenerated? Yes. Called? Yes. Love Christ? Yes. Believe the gospel of grace? Yes. But still we're tainted. We're tainted with that inward
sin. And we're not going to get rid
of it down here. And I tell you, that old Adamic nature, it's
not going to get any better. Don't you let anybody try to
tell you that we're getting better. We're getting better. No, you're
not getting better. And I tell you what, the more
light that God gives you to look into your own heart, the worse
you'll look. And the more thankful you'll
be for the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that washed all
that sin away. Belief. And you know, let me
show you something that's interesting here. Moses said in verse one,
he said, they will not believe me nor hearken to my voice. Go
to the very last verse of the chapter. And the people believed. That's
what it says. And the people believed. And
when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel
and that he had looked upon their afflictions, then they bowed
their heads in worship. And in this, they did better
than Moses did. Ain't that something? He said they're not gonna believe,
but you know something, Moses? They are gonna believe. Because God said they're gonna
believe. He gave them the hearing ear. He gave them the seeing
eye. He gave them a new heart to believe. And of course, Israel's a picture
of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Belief, it's a sweet
thing. You want some inward peace in
this world of sin and upheaval and wickedness and ungodliness
every which way you look. You want some peace within? May
God grant you faith to just believe Him in all things. Our sovereign
Christ sits on His throne of glory and He reigns over everything. If that ever really gets down
to our innermost being, that's when we'll know something about
some joy and some peace. I'm afraid several of the Lord's
people, many of the Lord's people, they're just in, their hearts
are topsy-turvy all the time. They're in turmoil. If God ever shows you who's running
everything, the sovereign Son of God is. If He ever shows you
that, you'll have some peace. Here's
the second word I want to give you, that is spokesman. Did you pick up on that in verse
16? Spokesman. The Lord said to Moses,
He said, Aaron shall be thy spokesman unto the people, and he shall
be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou
shalt be, and some translations word it this way, and thou shalt
be, yes, thou shalt be to him instead of God. The Lord says to Moses, I'm going
to speak to you, you speak to Aaron, Aaron speak
to the people. This is what I see. Christ himself
is the word of God and he gives his message to preachers. and we preach the gospel of God's
grace to people. It's an amazing thing how God
has set this up, that it pleased him by the preaching that men
call foolishness, by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. God gives his word, he gives
the bread of life to one beggar, one beggar, and I feast on the
bread of life, and then I just tell you where the bread is to
be found, Christ Jesus himself." That's the way it works. And
I'll tell you this, God has spoken through his spokesman, who is
Christ Jesus the Lord. He's God's spokesman. You read
Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 1. God in sundry times and in various
ways, he spoke to the prophets by dreams and visions, sometimes
by an angel. Sometimes they'd fall into a
trance, sometimes a messenger from heaven, sometimes the Lord
himself in pre-incarnate form would deliver a message to them.
But he says there in Hebrews 1, but in these last days, God
has spoken with finality. God's full revelation of himself. Who is he? The Word. Christ Jesus,
and the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God. In verse
14 of John, one says, and the Word was made flesh. That one
who came down here, he's God's spokesman. Oh God, give us ears
to hear him. Because he's got the words of
life. He's got the words of salvation. He's got the words of grace. He's the spokesman. For you see,
there's one God and one mediator, one spokesman between God and
men, the man Christ Jesus. You want to speak to God? Got
to go through the spokesman. Want God to speak to you? He
goes through the spokesman. We can't deal with him directly
and he's not gonna deal with us directly except through the
man Christ Jesus. God will never speak to nor be
spoken to by any son or daughter of Adam except through the mediator,
the spokesman, Christ Jesus the Lord. He's the only one. God has spoken with finality. This, this is my beloved son,
God said, in whom I'm well pleased. All right? Belief, spokesman,
here's the third word, hardened. Verse 21, hardened. The Lord said unto Moses, when
thou goest to return unto Egypt, See that thou do all those wonders
before Pharaoh which I put in thine hand, but I want you to
know this. I will harden his heart that he shall not let my people
go. I will harden his heart. And he did so repeatedly. And he hardened his heart in
judgment. As you read from here right through
into chapter 14, you'll find 19 times, 19 times it is written
that the heart of Pharaoh was hardened. One, two, three times do you
read that he hardened his own heart. The other 16 times, God hardened
his heart. That's the just judgment of God. God gave him up to the heartless
of his own heart. God gave him no grace. He left Pharaoh to the corruptions
of his own heart, to his own nature, to his own filthy imagination. He gave him over to a reprobate
mind to believe the power of the idols and the soothsayers and the magicians
of Egypt. God hardened his heart. I'll tell you something, if God
leaves you alone, if God leaves you alone, you who are watching,
if He wants to leave me alone, we're damned while we live. That's the truth. And furthermore,
He doesn't owe us any grace. Was Israel any better morally? or religiously than the Egyptians? Why, they fell into idol worship
themselves. Well, how come God spared them
and drowned the greatest army on the earth in the waters of
the Red Sea? Because it pleased Him to do
so. And I'll tell you this. a recipient of the grace of God. Wasn't anything you did to merit
that or earn that or draw forth God's love or His kindness. It's because God willed to be
gracious to you from old eternity. Why was I made to hear thy voice,
the hymn writer said, and enter while there's room, when thousands
made a wretched choice, and they'd rather starve than come? Why
me? Why me? Well, the answer comes
back t'was the same love that spread the gospel feast that
sweetly, I like the words of the hymn writer here, that sweetly
forced me in. I like force and grace, don't
you? Else, else I had still remained in my sin and I'd perished in
my sin too. Who made the difference? Here's
Moses, here's Pharaoh. Here are the Israelites, here
are the Egyptians. One man is spared, another man
is reprobated. One nation is spared. God was
merciful to them. God delivered them from their
bondage and captivity. Here's another nation. God just
left them to their idols, to their paganism, to their vain
imaginations. God left them to their own pitiful,
corrupt, free will. Oh God, don't leave me to myself. That's what I pray. That's what
you ought to pray. Lord, don't leave me to my ways.
Don't leave me to my thoughts. Show me Christ Jesus, the Lord. Why didn't God pass you by? See,
God just passed Pharaoh by. Got nothing for you. Didn't owe
him anything except death, judgment, and hell, and he paid him. That's
what he paid him. God passed him by. Why didn't
he pass you by? He could have, but he didn't. And I'd have to say it's like
Paul said, it's to the praise of the glory. of His grace. That's all. One more thing. Number four, we've looked at
belief, spokesman, and heart. One more thing I want to bring
out. It's really a little phrase, but I'm going to call it a foundation
because in chapter Exodus 4 verse 22, here's the first time in
the Bible this expression is used. Thus saith the Lord, look
it up. It's the first time. That phrase
is not even used in the book of Genesis. The first time is
right here in Exodus chapter 4 verse 22. And this is the very
foundation for all that Moses and Aaron would say, first of
all, to the Israelites and then to Pharaoh. Thus saith the Lord. It's the first usage of those
words. Moses and Aaron didn't go in before Pharaoh and said,
now we demand, we demand that you let our people go. No, no,
didn't say that. They had a message from God,
thus said the Lord. Moses went before Pharaoh, even
as he went before the Israelites, as God's ambassador. And I come before you as the
Lord's ambassador. God sent me and my message to
you is precisely that which God has told me to tell you. Christ
is all! Bow down, proud sinner! He's
the Sovereign! Worship Him! Adore Him! Believe Him! He's the only Savior there is. I tell you, nine times, nine
times. I looked them all up today. Nine
times between this verse and just before the death of the
firstborn. Nine times the message Moses
delivered was preceded by these words. Thus saith the Lord. The message I delivered to you
didn't originate with me. just like this didn't originate
with Moses. This is not a message that 13th
Street Baptist Church has authorized me to deliver. This is not a
message that I have been authorized to preach being a Baptist. Well, Jim, what authority do
you have? What foundation do you set before
us while we ought to believe this? Because thus saith the
Lord. That's all I got. Thus saith
the Lord. And if you like what the Lord
says, we'll say amen all together. If you don't like what he has
to say, Well, you'll reap the consequences. And let me just read two more
verses to you. Look at chapter five, verses one and two. And
afterward, okay, here we go. And afterward, Moses and Aaron
went in and told Pharaoh, thus saith the Lord God of Israel.
This is our authority. What did the Lord God of Israel
say? Let my people go that they may hold a feast, that they may
worship me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said pretty much
what every natural man says, if not outwardly, at least in
essence. Who is the Lord that I should
obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord. Neither will I let Israel go.
Well, all right then. You've taken on a great big opponent,
Mr. Pharaoh, and you've entered into
a war that you can't possibly win. And before long, before long,
you'll be fish food in the Red Sea. Oh God, give us hearts to bow
down before King Jesus. Otherwise, we won't be fish food,
but we will be dry wood cast into the fire. That'd be awful, wouldn't it?
Oh God, save your people. Thus saith the Lord. Salvations of God, salvation
by grace. It's all in Christ Jesus. Well,
let's sing a closing song, shall we? Let's sing Redeemed, number
475, Redeemed.