As I said, I'm gonna go back
to the book of Exodus chapter four in just a little bit, but
I wanna give you two passages of scripture to begin with, and
one of them is right here in Romans chapter three, and it's
verse number three, and here's the title of my message, Unbelief
Cannot Hinder God. That is, it can't hinder God's
purposes. What God is purposed to do, unbelief,
the unbelief of the wicked, and even the unbelief of believers. It can't hinder the purpose of
God. And so we look here in Romans chapter 3, and I will again read
verse 3, which has two questions. Here's what Paul says, for what
if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the
faith or the faithfulness of God? God's promise to do the things
that He has purposed to do, shall I make them without effect? That is, he's asking, can the
purpose of God be undermined, interfered with? Can the purpose
of God be frustrated? And I would ask you and I would
ask those who are watching tonight at home and those who are listening
a little later to this message, is our God ever disappointed
because He wants to do something that cannot be done or because
someone just refuses to believe Him? That is, can God be hindered
in the accomplishment of what He is sent out to do? Before
the world began, God chose the people unto salvation. That's
a fact. Now, if you deny that, you're
just denying the word of God. 2 Thessalonians 2.13, Paul writes
to the Thessalonian believers, and he says, God hath from the
beginning chosen you unto salvation. That's what it says. Now, you're
a fool to deny that God chose the people unto salvation in
light of the fact that the word of God clearly states that. And
there are an abundance of scriptures that teach this glorious truth
of salvation by God's election. But here's the question. Will
all of those chosen ones be brought to glory? Is there any possibility that
they will be uncooperative, and therefore that which God has
chosen to do for them will come to naught? Will they all be brought to believe
on the name of the Son of God? In Acts 13.48 it says, And as
many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Is that really
the truth? Everyone who is ordained to eternal
life, will they believe the gospel of grace? Will they believe the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work of redemption? And then when the Savior died
on the cross of Calvary to save sinners from their guilt and
iniquities, did He really put sin away? Or is the putting away
of sin dependent in any way, shape, or form upon the sinner's
cooperation in putting sin away? And then there's the work of
the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God, we know He
quickens. By His power, we're born again.
The new birth, He reveals the Lord Jesus. He reveals the Lord
Jesus Christ to those chosen unto salvation, to all those
for whom the Great Shepherd laid down His life. But can a person
be called effectually, powerfully by the Spirit of God, and yet
that call be unproductive to bring about life? In other words, is there a possibility
of God's purpose of salvation? He who chose a people unto salvation,
He who redeemed His people by the bloody sacrifice of the Son
of God, who put away sins, the Bible says, and brought in everlasting
righteousness, and the work of the Spirit of God, can the Father's
work and the Son's work and the Spirit's work be frustrated? Be hindered? be kept from coming
to pass? Most religious people would say
yes. The purpose of God can be frustrating. Because they'll say God wants
many things. They will never come to pass. Well, I'm not going to believe
what men say. I'm going to believe what God
says. and let this forever stand as the everlasting answer to
these questions that are raised. Now look again at verse 3. For
what if some did not believe? Here are some who are persistent
in belief. I'm not going to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. I refuse to believe this is the
way of salvation. I just cannot grab hold of the
fact that there's only one way to God, one way to heaven, one
way of forgiveness, one way of righteousness. I just refuse
to believe what the Bible says about these things. Well, does
their unbelief make Void? Does it frustrate what God has
purposed? Does it make the faith or the
faithfulness of God without effect? And look at the first two words
of verse 4. God forbid! God forbid! No way! There is
no way that man by his puny free will can interfere with or frustrate
or hinder in any way that which God is purposed to do. The elect
will be saved. The Son of God has wrought redemption. He has satisfied God. The Spirit
of God, when He deals in effectual grace, effectual means gets the
job done. When the Spirit of God works
in a person's heart in quickening grace, He gives faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. He gives a life that will never
die. God forbid. Perish the thought. That unbelief, that the unbelief
of some people can frustrate what God has purposed to do.
Who do men think they are that they can ruin what God has determined
to do? Here is the big problem of the
day. Absolute ignorance of God. They have no idea who God is. They have no idea of His power.
And they have no idea of His sovereign authority. And they
limit God. They say, God can only do what
we let Him do. That is just about as stupid
a statement as anybody's ever made. He didn't need you to create
the world. He doesn't need you to run the
world. And whatever you think about
his salvation does not change anything that God is set out
to do, not one iota. God says, I will work, who shall
hinder me? People are ignorant of who God
is, and they're ignorant because, number one, They don't read the
Word of God. And number two, they don't hear
from the pulpits about who God is. They don't know about His
attributes. They don't know the character
of God. That He's just and holy and righteous and almighty. They
really don't believe God's almighty because if my will can keep God
from doing what He wants to do, my will is, in that case, mightier
than God's will. Well, that's ridiculous. That's
ridiculous. And so the questions are answered
by the Apostle Paul with deliberate emphasis on this God forbid,
God forbid. Isn't it sad that people are
ignorant of God's eternal purpose of grace? Isn't it a shame that
people are lacking in knowledge of who the Lord Jesus Christ
is and that because he is the Son of God, whatever he came
to do, he had to be successful in doing it. He's God. Ask any little child whose mind
hasn't already been warped by freewill Armenian heresy. Ask them, what can God do? And they'll tell you, anything
He wants to do. Oh, God, make us to be like little
children. You can do whatever it is you
want to do. And we bow to Him. That's why in our prayer that
we pray per our Lord's instruction, we pray this way, not my will,
thy will be done. And I'll tell you, whatever God
has willed to do, that's what's going to happen. His will shall
be done. When I read the Word of God,
I read about the living God. I read about the fact that He's
almighty. David said this, Our God's in
the heavens. He hath done whatsoever He hath
pleased. And again, David said, whatsoever
the Lord please, that did he in heaven, and earth, and the
seas, and in all deep places. God always accomplishes his purpose,
he always performs his will, and he always has his way. And
if you don't believe the gospel, If you persist in rebellion against
what the Word of God says, if there's anybody like that here,
and I can't imagine that there would be, and if those of you
who are watching, if you refuse to bow to the authority of the
Word of God, you need not think that your unbelief will somehow
mess up what God has set out to do. You ain't that big. It's impossible. Here's the second
passage. I want you to look to this one
now, 2 Timothy 2. All right. There in that passage
I read in Romans 3, we're going to go to 2 Timothy 2. In that
passage in Romans 3, it's can the unbelief of people, that
is the unbelief of the Jews, people who refuse to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, can their unbelief defeat the purpose
of God? God forbid. So this raises another
question. What if the people of God have spells and fits of unbelief
concerning what God has set out to do? Perhaps God has promised
something and yet we do not believe Him. Does our unbelief Nullify,
make void, cancel out the purpose and the promise of God. 2 Timothy
2.13. If we believe not. 2 Timothy 2.13. If we believe
not. He's talking to Timothy, who's
a young preacher, a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. You
say preacher? Can believers have times of unbelief? Well, if you're honest, you know
yourself. There are times when we don't
believe. Not like we ought to. We're like that man who, he went
to the Lord. His son had a demon. He was dumb. And he brought him to the Savior
to cast the demon out of him. And the little boy was put there
in front of the Savior and he went into convulsions. And he
was foaming at the mouth. The evil spirit inside of him
was just wounding him inside, and he was just a miserable little
boy. The Savior said, how long's it
been like this? And the man said, my boy's been
like this since birth, since he was just a little fella. And the Savior said, looked at
him, and the man said, If you're willing, you can heal
my son. Will you heal my son? And the
Savior said, if thou canst believe, all things are possible. The man said to the Savior, I
believe. Help thou mine unbelief. Can you relate to His words?
I can. Every child of God can. I believe. I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe He's the Son of God.
I believe He's the only Savior. I believe salvation is altogether
by grace, not dependent upon me at all. I believe the faith
that I have been given is the faith of God's elect. It's faith
that God gave me. The Spirit of God has called
me to see the glories of Christ Jesus as He's portrayed in the
Word of God, and to hear His voice, which is to hear the Gospel
message, and I believe Him. And yet, regrettably, I find
myself sometimes in the throes of unbelief. And there's no excuse
for it. And I would say to all of us
who are the people of God, you say, yep, I have times of unbelief
too. Don't say it too haphazardly. Unbelief is an awful sin. It's
a serious thing. And we weep over our unbelief. I do believe, but help thou mind
unbelief. All of the promises of God, I
read there in 2 Peter 1, precious promises made by God who cannot lie. I hope to believe Him. Sometimes
people ask me, what can I do? What can I do? Some good work
I can do for the Lord. How can I honor the Lord with
my life? They want to do something outwardly. Can you believe Him? Not doubting His Word? Oh, how
honoring it is to God to just believe the bare, naked Word
of the Living God. Just believe Him. And you know,
believing Him is important. You go through the Hebrews chapter
11, it's the faith chapter. By faith they did this, by faith
did that. By faith. So, even the unbelief of believers,
that's not gonna frustrate the purpose of God either. You who are God's children, me
too, all of us, I'm so thankful we can't ruin what God has set
out to do. I think back upon my years in
free willism, giving altar calls, having people raise their hands
and walk down an aisle. I have to say, like Paul said
in 1 Timothy 1, I did it in ignorance. I didn't know what I was doing.
But I'm thankful for this. In my days of error, I couldn't
ruin what God had purposed to do. Aren't you thankful for that? And sometimes, as a believer,
you think, boy, I missed out on this opportunity to do this,
that, or something else. Well, if you had an opportunity
to speak up, you should have taken advantage of it. But know
this, nothing you do and nothing that you don't do is going to
frustrate the purpose of God. That gives me great joy. I can't frustrate the purpose
of God. Unbelief! Even the unbelief of
unbelievers and the unbelief of believers can't frustrate
the purpose of God. So, Jim, where are you going
with this? Well, I'm going back to Exodus 4. That's where I'm
going. And you'll see. You know, in Exodus chapter 3,
the Lord made all of these promises to Moses. He said, I'm going
to be with you. He said, and the people are going
to listen to you. They are going to receive you.
You are going to deliver my people. Pharaoh is not going to listen
to you, but still you will be the instrument that I use to
deliver my people out of Egyptian captivity. I will use you. I will deliver my people. And the Egyptians will be so
glad to see you go that they will enrich you with silver and
gold and other precious jewels. All the promises of God that
we've talked about in Exodus chapter 3. Then we get to chapter
4. Watch this. And Moses answered
and said, But behold, they will not believe me. nor hearken unto my voice, for
they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee." Wait
a minute, Moses. Didn't the Lord say, I'll be
with you? Didn't the Lord say, you're the
one who will deliver Israel out of Egyptian captivity? I will
be with you, I will send you, you'll go forth in my power?
And yet here is Moses, having a fit of unbelief. He had said this, look back up
in verse 18 of chapter three. And they shall hearken to thy
voice. Now listen to what Moses said
in 4 verse 1. And Moses answered and said,
but behold, they will not believe me nor hearken unto my voice.
And God just said, they're going to hearken to your voice. And
he says, but they're not going to hearken to my voice. Well now Moses, is the promise
of God sure? It's what God has said. Can you rely upon it? And he
says, they're not going to hearken to my voice. And the Lord has told him who
he is. I am that I am. That's who's
sending you. I'm the eternal God. And he said,
I'm the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. And furthermore, bear this in
mind. He's still talking to a burning
bush. Don't forget that. See, we tend
to think that chapter divisions begins a whole new scene. Oh,
no. No. He's still at the burning
bush that is not consumed. He's still speaking to the Son
of God and the Son of God is speaking to him. Here is the unbelief of Moses. He's heard the voice of the Son
of God. And he's seen the Son of God
in this fiery bush. And yet he doubts His Word. Aren't
you amazed that He'd do that? And maybe you're even tempted
to think in your mind, Moses, can't you believe the Word of
the Lord that comes to you out of a bush that's fully ablaze,
but it's not being consumed? You have been speaking with and
listening to the everlasting God. The Son of God's been talking
to you audibly. What's the matter with you, Moses?
Can't you believe God? Here's Moses, here's his problem. He's occupied with his difficulties,
with obstacles that he perceives he's going to encounter. He hasn't
even encountered them yet. He's worried about things. Let's
see if this fits anybody here tonight. He's worried about things
that haven't even happened yet. He's envisioning all of this
in his own mind. They're not going to receive
me. They're not going to believe my word. They're not going to
believe I've spoken to the Lord. Worried about things that hadn't
even happened yet. You don't ever do that, do you?
Surely you don't. Unbelief. Unbelief. I don't want to beat up on Moses
too much because I feel like I'd be blooding my own nose.
I'd be beating up on myself. I fear there's still much unbelief
within the hearts of the people of God. We have too many fears
for a people to whom the Lord has said, fear not. I'll never
leave you and I'll never forsake you. We have too many worries for
people to whom the Lord has said, don't be anxious, be anxious
for nothing. We have too many troubling thoughts
for people who say, I believe God's sovereign over all things.
Really? Really? I don't know. I think our faith's
kind of weak. I'm thankful it's not the amount
of faith that you have. It's the quality of the faith. And I'm thankful the Lord says,
concerning our fits of unbelief, your sins which are many are
all washed away. Well, what did the Lord say in
answering Moses? Well, begin at verse two. And the Lord said unto him, what's
in your hand? He said, a rod. And he said, cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground
and it became a serpent. And Moses was afraid and he ran
from it. And the Lord said unto Moses,
put forth thine hand and take it by the tail. And he put forth
his hand and caught it and it became a rod in his hand. Verse
five, that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers,
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob hath
appeared unto thee. What's in your hand? A rod. Now
there's a two-fold gospel picture here. Don't miss it. I think
that rod, in a sense, it pictures what we were in Adam before he
fell. A rod. Nothing wrong with it. It's cast down to the ground.
And all of a sudden that rod became a serpent, and we became sinners. But the Lord has done something
for His people. He's healed us of the bite of
the terrible serpent, and Moses Moses ran when he saw the serpent. I tell you, if you ever see the
seriousness of sin, you'll run too. You'll run to the Savior. That's who you'll run to. He picked it back up. It became
whole. In the Lord Jesus Christ, we're
made whole. But this serpent, Stay with me
here. I believe also it's a picture
of our Lord Jesus himself. He came to this earth to bear the curse. What's the
curse? The curse of sin. The curse that
affected us, being bitten by the serpent. Now, he wasn't literally. and he didn't become a sinner,
but he did bear our guilt in his own body on the tree. And
he went into the grave, having died for our sins according to
the scripture. But he came back, and just like
Moses took that tail of a serpent and picked it back up, our Lord
Jesus he ever lived. You know what he's called in
Psalm 110 verse 2? The rod of God's strength. That's
who he is. He's the rod of God's strength. What did Moses use the rod of
God's strength for? Well, for all the plagues that
he brought about. He touched the river, it became
blood. He used that rod, the dust became
lice. And finally, finally, when they
get to the Red Sea, He reaches out that rod of God's strength
and it parted the waters. That's Christ Jesus. Who can
do those things but the Savior? And the rod of God's strength,
Christ Jesus, is the salvation of His people. And there's a
path open up all the way to the other side of the Red Sea. He
is our salvation. But wait. When Moses gets to
the other side, the same rod of God's strength he uses, it
becomes a rod of judgment. and the Egyptians are swallowed
up by the waters of the Red Sea. You see, our Savior, our Savior,
He is the rod of God's strength. He saves, but He also damns. There are some who are objects
of His mercy, some who are objects of His wrath. And then the Lord
says to Moses, I got another sign for you. They don't believe
the first sign. Here's another sign for you.
Look at verse six. And the Lord said furthermore
unto him, put your hand into your bosom. He put his hand in
his bosom. His hand was, wasn't anything
wrong with his hand. Put it in his bosom when he took
it out, behold, be amazed, be shocked. He had leprosy. And he said, put your hand back
into your bosom again. And he put his hand into his
bosom again. He plucked it out of his bosom,
and behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. I'll tell you this. I think his
hand before putting it into his bosom, again, that's like Adam
before the fall. Just fine. But something happened
in the fall. This thing of sin infected all
of us. And you know where it's at? Oh,
it manifests itself in the hand, but it's in the bosom. It's in
the heart. Put his hand in his bosom and
said, now pull it out. Leprosy. That's where the leprosy's
at. See, we do the things that we
do, we think the things that we think, we go the places where
we ought not go by nature. All of these things are due to
the fact the leprosy is within. And it has an outward effect. That's why the Lord said to the
Pharisees and he told his disciples, it's not what you're eating that's
defiling you. You defiled already! But for sinners saved by the
grace of God, here's what happens. The Spirit of God comes into
us with an application of hardening blood. And we're washed. Washed in the blood of the Lamb.
Moses put his hand back in and pulled it out. White as snow. White or forgiven and no longer
leprous. You see, that's what happens
when the Spirit of God works within us. Well, it doesn't mean
we don't commit sin. Of course, we still commit sin. But within, We have been cleansed. God said a new heart I'll give
you. Something happens within. Election
took place outside of us. Redemption took place outside
of us. Revelation and regeneration,
that takes place in the heart. And that's the work the Spirit
of God has to do, because you can't do that. It's not what you do, it's what
the Spirit of God does. And I know the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ actually washed our sins away at Calvary. There's
no question about that. But we have no awareness of it. We have no sense of it or sensitivity
to it. Under the Spirit of God convinces
us Christ is the only Savior. and only in him are you made
pure. And Moses pulled his hand back out, as pure like the rest
of his body. What does that teach you also,
preacher? It teaches me this, that the state of our hearts
before God, being quickened, a new heart God said he would
give you, that has an effect upon us outwardly. But our outward actions are by
no means perfect. Remember what the Lord said to
his disciples there in John 12 when he came to Peter and said,
I'm gonna wash your feet. Peter said, you're not gonna
wash me. Well, if I don't wash you, you're not one of mine.
He said, well, wash me all over. And Christ said, he that is washed
need not be washed thoroughly again, just his feet. We come
to the Lord every day for pardoning grace. To be refreshed by his
spirit who works within us and continually teaching us in Christ
Jesus we stand. In Christ we're perfect. In Christ
we have no sin. No sin. So the Lord says to Moses,
here are two signs. I'll show you I'm with you and
I'll show the Israelites that I'm with you and I'll give these
two signs and if they still don't believe He says this look at
verse 8 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe
thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that
they will believe the voice of the latter sign. And it shall
come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs,
neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take up the water
of the river and pour it upon the dry land, and the water which
thou takest out of the river, it shall become blood upon the
dry land. I'm the God of judgment. the
God of judgment. I think about that serpent, and
I'll close with this. I think about that serpent. You
know, even to this day, the serpent wound around the pole is emblem
of healing, seen often at doctor's offices and hospitals. Where'd
that come from? Our Lord, said to Nicodemus in
John 3, as Moses lifted up the serpent, our Lord used that serpent
as a picture and type and symbol of himself. As Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up, lifted up to die. lifted up to be the sacrifice,
lifted up to satisfy God, and lifted up in preaching, that whosoever believeth on him
shall not perish but have eternal life. What was the message of
Moses to the people who had been bitten by the fiery serpents?
Look and live. Look and live. Pretty simple
message. Look and live. I'll tell you,
Christ the Savior has been lifted up according to the purpose of
God to be the sacrifice for sin for all of His people. Look and live. Look to that one
who is the fulfillment of the serpent. Isn't it amazing that
Christ the Lord would use the serpent as a picture of Himself? But you see, He bore the curse
of the law. And the serpent had curse put
upon him. Our Lord was cursed. God's law
cursed him. And because God's law cursed
him, God can freely and graciously and eternally bless us through
the Lord Jesus Christ. God help us to believe him, to
believe him more fully. and confess like that man did,
Lord, I believe. I do believe. You believe, don't
you? I know you believe. Help thou mine unbelief. Let's get songbook and close
with number 257. Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus. 257.