Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Acts chapter 7. We'll continue our study in the book of Acts. We're in chapter 7 last week
to start off and we're going to continue in Acts chapter 7.
The name of the message is ruler over all. That's what our King
is. Our Savior, our God is the ruler
over all. He is the absolute sovereign
over everything. As one old preacher said, there's
not a maverick molecule in the universe, not one. There's not
one going off going, I'm going to go where I want to go. Everything
is ordered by the Lord. Everything, every atom is ordered
by the Lord. The things that we don't even
see, I remember Brother Neil bringing this up, all the things that
are under the earth that we don't even see, microscopic things
that are all under the earth, they're all ordered by him. The
ant that you see cross across your path, that's ordained by
God. Somebody says, well, come on,
that's ridiculous. No, it's not. I love ants, man. I love watching
ants. They never stop. And the Bible
says, consider the ant. You sluggard, right? So if we're lazy, just consider
it an ant. Look at that ant. He's just going,
doing his stuff. He doesn't even know it's all
ordered by the Lord. Isn't that amazing? Oh my, it's incredible. And then to think that God's
love is set upon his people, the God who ordains all that. I'm just a little piece of animated
dust, that's all I am, dust that moves. And he had mercy on me. And if you're a believer, he's
had mercy on you. I'll tell you what, there's no greater love
than that, is there? He's the absolute ruler over all. Oh my. And last week we were introduced
to the first part of Stephen's message when he preached to the
high priest in the Sanhedrin. And how God had brought Abraham
out of the land of Ur. And we looked at how Abraham
was an idol worshiper. He bowed down to wood and stone
idols. And the only thing that made
him to differ was God. God called him, didn't he? And
he called him with his irresistible grace. He didn't say, well, just
wait. I've got to make a decision whether I want to follow you
or not. No, he was called by the grace of God in love. The
scripture says, oh, he just draws us with loving
cords. He draws us to himself. And we
marvel. God died for me. God in the flesh
died for me. Wow, isn't that amazing? He came
to this earth to bleed and die for me, a sinner, in desperate
need of Christ. And Stephen had been given much
spiritual wisdom. And he'd been given words that
he needed to preach. And last week we considered how
Stephen began his message by again drawing his ears to a brief
history of Abraham, how he was bought out of the land of Ur,
a pagan land. He was an idol worshiper, dead
in trespasses and sins, and that's where God finds every one of
us. If we're not worshiping idols in religion, we're worshiping
self. Right? Oh my. People say, well, how
did I worship self? You just wanted everything? As
much as you could get? Look out for number one, we talked
about. And I saw you sister nodding your head when I said that this
morning. But that was what we thought. Look out for number one. Look
out. I'm going to look out for myself. That's how I was. Was it so for you? Oh, my. But our great shepherd, the Lord
Jesus Christ, he finds all his sheep. And you know where he
finds them? Dead in trespasses and sins. Loving the sin that
we were in. Loving it. Drinking sin like
water. And he finds us there. And with his loving arms, he
draws us and picks us up and carries us home. You're mine. Tom, he looked at you and said,
you're mine, Tom. You were born again. Isn't that amazing? By
the Holy Spirit of God, by His almighty power. And now we just
marvel. We marvel. How could God love
me? I'm still a sinner. Well, the
fact that I'm a sinner doesn't change His love for me. Isn't
that amazing? As a matter of fact, He came
to seek and to save that which was what? Somebody tell me. Lost. Amen. That which was lost. Were we lost? Oh, we were dead
in trespasses and sins. And He came and got us, didn't
He, beloved? Saved us by His grace. We were dead in trespasses
and sins. You must be born again, the Lord
said, so the Holy Spirit regenerates us. We're born again by His power,
all according to the will of God the Father. And so Stephen
was well acquainted with the scriptures. Look at verses 7
and 10. We're going to look at a large
portion of scripture today, but we're going to look, instead
of reading the whole passage, we're going to read the verses
as we go. So last week, we left off in verse 8. Look at verses
9 and 10 here. And the patriarchs moved with
envy, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him and delivered
him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom
in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. and made him governor
over Egypt in all his house. Now, notice who's done all this?
God's done this. This is a work of God, who's
a ruler over all. If you're in a position, Brother
Tom, where you are, you're there by God's ordination. Isn't that
amazing? He puts you there. Isn't that
incredible? He puts us wherever we are. He
puts you in South Korea to meet your wife. Isn't that incredible? You didn't have it, you were
just going to serve. Look at that. Isn't that amazing? Oh my, it's wonderful. So here we see Joseph was moved
into Egypt by God. There's a purpose behind all
this, isn't there? There's a purpose. Oh my. The patriarchs in verse
nine there have resonance to Joseph's brothers who hated him
without a cause. But Joseph typified Christ who
was hated by his brethren without a cause. And it was God himself
who purposed and orchestrated all the events of Joseph's life.
So Stephen's given us a history of how God's worked in Israel.
First he calls Abraham out of the pagan idol worshiper, right? And then now we're seeing how
Joseph was taken to Egypt, but God delivered him out of all
his afflictions, didn't he? So it was God who purposed and
orchestrated all the events of Joseph's life. And it was his
plan from all eternity for Joseph to go down into Egypt. Why? Well, his people have to go into
bondage, don't they? Oh my, we're gonna see how that
works out here. Now Joseph suffered a lot of affliction, but God
was with him. God was with him. Remember that
we were studying the life of Joseph? We saw that and how,
oh my goodness, that was such a wonderful study. We saw God's
providence at work in the life of Joseph. God was with him and
God delivered him out of all his afflictions and our sovereign
Lord gave Joseph favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king
of Egypt. So much so that he made him prime
minister over all of Egypt. And it was God who used Pharaoh
as an instrument according to his will and purpose. See, our
leaders are just tools in the hands of the Lord. He does with
them whatever he wills. Pharaoh was just a tool in the
hands of the Lord. That's all he was. And that Pharaoh
exalted Joseph according to the will and purpose of God, exalted
Joseph to the prime minister, the position of governor, which
is one who has commands with official authority. The authority
he had was given to him by Pharaoh. He was the second in command
of all of Egypt. Could you imagine what all those
lower ranking officials felt like? Joseph just vaulted over
all of them. Oh my. Well, there's a reason. And praise God, our Lord Jesus
Christ. Marvel that Joseph was just a type of Christ. Our Lord
fulfilled all those types and shadows. He fulfilled all those
types and shadows of the Old Testament types. And he suffered,
Christ himself suffered many God-ordained afflictions, didn't
he? Yeah. My oh my. But what did our Father
do? He's highly exalted him, isn't
he? He made himself low, of no esteem, of no reputation. We
saw in Philippians today, no reputation. And God raised him,
giving him a name above every name. That's our king. He's ruler
over all, beloved. He has all power. If he has all
power, can he save whomever he wills? Yeah. Can he keep us,
beloved? Yeah. Will he take us home, beloved? Yeah. He's got all power. If he can rule the wind and the
waves and everything in this earth and all the molecules floating
around, it's nothing for him to keep us, is it? So rejoice,
beloved. If you're in Christ's hand, no
one can pluck you out of his hand. No one. No one at all. He's the supreme controller.
You talk about the top general. Oh my, he's the captain of the
Lord's host. They answer to him. That's all
the angels, all the creatures in this world, everything we
see and don't see, visible and invisible, they all answer to
Christ, Jesus our Lord. And that's our king, that's our
redeemer, that's our savior, beloved, who gave himself for
us and shed his precious blood to redeem our eternal souls.
We say hallelujah, right? What a Savior, what a Redeemer
is Jesus Christ our Lord. Now look at verse 11 of Acts
chapter 7. Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and
Canaan, or Shennan, and great affliction, and our fathers found
no sustenance. So Joseph and his boys, they
found no food. No food at all, it was a famine.
My, and God had revealed to Joseph that there'd be seven years of
plenty and seven years of famine. My oh my. And the word dearth
in verse seven is referring to those seven years of famine.
Seven years of famine. Our all wise sovereign God beloved,
he told Joseph, Joseph interpreted the dream that God would do this
and God did it, didn't he? He did it. He's all powerful. He's in sovereign
control over all things. including every drop of rain
that falls from the sky, every drop of snow that falls to the
ground, every bird that falls to the ground in death, all happened
according to his will and purpose. My, oh my. And during that time, when there
was a famine in the land, Joseph Jacob's family found no sustenance.
All this, again, is purposed by God. See, we're seeing how
he's the ruler over all right here. And what's going to happen? This is how he's going to use
these means, this famine, to get Joseph, his Jacob, and the
rest of Joseph's family to Egypt. And I'll tell you what, too.
We won't see it in this here, but they're going to be given
what's called the land of Goshen. The most fertile land in all
of Egypt. They don't get the leftovers.
They get the most fertile land. The best land. Man, we're clothed
in the best robe, aren't we? The robe of righteousness. And
we feast with the best food, don't we? The holy word of God. And could you imagine again,
could you imagine how the Egyptian officials felt about that? Why
are you giving them the best land we have? They'd be scratching
their heads, wouldn't they? What are you doing? Actually,
they'd be saying that in their head, but they wouldn't be saying
it out loud, because they'd probably lose their head, wouldn't they?
But I can imagine, because we would say the same thing. What's
going on over there? Oh, my. My oh my. So what's going to
happen here is they're going to be brought down into Egypt.
Eventually they're going to be going to Egyptian bondage, which
is also purposed by God for his glory. Because he's going to
deliver them then with a mighty hand. Look at verses 12 and 13. But when Jacob heard that there
was corn in Egypt, he sent our fathers first. So he sent some
of Joseph's brethren first. And at the second time, Joseph
was made known to his brethren. You see, Tom, you and I have
talked about this. Unless Christ reveals himself,
we won't know him. The first time the brothers went, they
didn't know they were talking to Joseph. They had no clue. But the second
time, Joseph revealed himself. That's what Christ does to us.
He reveals himself. Otherwise, and he's bone of our
bone and flesh of our flesh, isn't he? You see how Joseph's
a picture of Christ? My, oh my, ruler over all? Must
be revealed, he must reveal himself or we're never gonna know him.
My, oh my, look at that. Joseph's killing was made known
unto Pharaoh. And then Joseph said, these are
my brothers. Now, he didn't say, these are
my brothers who threw me in the pit, because Pharaoh probably said,
line them up. They're going to lose their heads.
But he didn't say that. He said, these are my brethren.
He's forgiven them. He knows that they meant it for
evil, but God used it for good. That's found in Genesis. Same
as the cross. Think of that. Man meant it for
evil. They crucified Christ, but God meant it for good. He redeemed us on that cross,
beloved. My oh my. Look at verses 12 and 13 now.
But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out
our fathers first, and at the second time made no one unto
his brethren, and Joseph's kindred, and made no one unto Pharaoh.
So Jacob's, the sons of Jacob stood before the governor of
Egypt. They had no idea that it was Joseph. No idea at all.
But on their second visit, he reveals himself to them. And
again, if he had not revealed himself to them, they'd never
know who he was. My, isn't that true of Christ
with us? If he hadn't revealed himself to us, we never would
have known who he was. Marvel at the fact that you know
Christ, if you know Christ. Marvel at that fact, because
he's revealed it to us. That's incredible. There's a
whole world of folks out there he hadn't revealed it to. Now,
we don't know who the lost sheep are, but they're out there, aren't
they? Scattered amongst. That's where we were. When God
found us, we were out in the world. Oh, my. My, oh, my. So marvel at what's set before
us in like manner. No one can know that Jesus Christ
is a risen, exalted God, man, who's on the throne right now,
and who is the absolute ruler over all, the absolute sovereign,
except by divine revelation. That's the only way. That's the
only way we can know him, beloved. And God's preachers, we have
the honor of declaring who Christ is. I'm setting forth before
you who Christ is. He's the God-man. He's God incarnate
in the flesh, and he came to save sinners. The question is,
are you a sinner? What think ye of Christ? One
of the most important questions you'll ever be asked. What do
you think about Christ? Well, he's my Lord and Savior.
Because I'm a sinner and I need to be saved and he saved my soul.
Has he saved yours? I'll flee to Christ if he hasn't.
Flee to him. He's the only hope for sinners,
I'll tell you why. And there ain't no sin great
enough that he can't forgive, is there? Can every one of us
testify of that? I remember the guy who knew John
Newton, who wrote Amazing Grace, he said, he said, I'm a great
sinner, but Christ is a great savior. Now, amen, right? Isn't he a great savior, beloved?
Oh my, he is. So finite sinful men and women
cannot come to saving knowledge except by an act of divine revelation. We cannot perform it. We can't
come to God with our own supposed free will, because our will is
bound to our nature. And if we have a dead nature,
all we're going to do is choose sin. But when we're born again,
now we have a new nature. Now we've been given faith to
believe. And who is the object of our faith? Christ. Amen, sister. Christ. And Christ
alone. That's it. No one else. Just
Christ. Christ Jesus our Lord. Oh my. Look at verse 14. Then sent Joseph
and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore
and fifteen souls. Could you imagine? Now Joseph
sent back a bunch of wagons. I preached a message one time
called Wagons of Revival. Joseph sent a bunch of wagons.
Could you imagine when Jacob saw those wagons? What are all
these wagons? And they say, your son's alive!
He's alive! Joseph's alive! And he's governor
of all of Egypt. And he wants to see you. Man,
I'll tell you what. You couldn't stop him. You couldn't
stop him from jumping on one of them wagons, could you? Going
to see his son. And he was older. He was older.
That'd be a long ride. Oh my. My, think of this too. Jacob would never have gone down
into Egypt if he hadn't heard that there was food there. If
he hadn't heard food there, he wouldn't have sent his family
ahead of him. But when he heard the good news that his son was
alive, the desire to see him before he died was what really
motivated him to go. My, oh my. So it's true with
the followers of Christ, right? We would never have come to Christ
if God had not made us hungry. made us hunger for his righteousness,
but our great God reveals our need. He reveals our need, doesn't
he? Our need for the Lord Jesus Christ,
and by God's grace and power, we come to him for mercy, with
a sincere desire for him to save us. And we cry out, I'm a sinner. We cry out in the public, can
God be merciful to me, the sinner? And the Lord said, that man went
home justified. My, oh, my. Let's look at verse
15 and 16 now. So Jacob went down into Egypt
and died, he and our fathers, and were carried over into Shechem
and laid in the sepulcher that Abraham bought for a sum of money
of the sons of Emor, the father of Shechem. So Jacob, by divine
arrangement, went down into Egypt, according to God's will and purpose,
and lived there for many years, and then he died. But he made
Joseph swear that he would not bury him in Egypt. So when Israel
died, Joseph kept his word and buried his father in Shechem,
in a sepulcher that Abraham bought for a sum of money. Look at verses
17 and 18 now, or 17 to 19. But when the time of the promise
drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, and the people grew
and multiplied in Egypt, look at this, till another king arose
which knew not Joseph. So now you've got a Pharaoh in
power who doesn't know Joseph. And notice that, but when the
time of the promise drew nigh, when God had promised he'd deliver
his people out of bondage, See, God knows the exact time
when he's going to deliver his people, doesn't he? He knows
the exact second. And he ordains us to be in the
place where we're going to hear the gospel. Isn't that amazing? To the exact second. Oh, my. The same throughout, subtly with
our kindred, and evil untreated our fathers, so that they cast
out their young children to the end, that they might not live. My oh my. Now God had told Abraham
that his descendants would go into Egyptian bondage, and they
did. But he also promised Abraham that he would deliver them in
the day of his power. Now we were in Egyptian bondage. You know, Egypt's a picture of
the world. We were in the darkness of Egyptian night, beloved. Love
and sin. And at the exact time when we
were to be delivered, we were born again. Just like that. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. God sent a preacher our way,
didn't he? Oh, my. Isn't it wonderful? Oh, it's
wonderful. My, oh, my. And when God's appointed
time of the fulfilling of that promise drew close, the children
of Israel had greatly multiplied. It's said they're well over a
million. Well over a million people. And
then God raised up another pharaoh, a cruel taskmaster. A cruel taskmaster. And he not only treated the Israelites
in a mean and hateful manner, but this pharaoh in his depravity
commanded that the male children of the Israelites be slaughtered
so that they wouldn't grow more. But not all the Israelites obeyed
that order, did they? No. My, oh, my. Over in Romans 9, 17, the scripture
declares this, that God raised up Pharaoh for this purpose,
to make his power known. To make his power known. That
his name, that's God's name, might be declared throughout
all the earth, the great I am. And it is, isn't it? We still
talk about the deliverance of Israel. from the hands of Pharaoh. We still talk about the destruction
of the whole Egyptian army when the Red Sea fell upon them. We
still talk about the blood on the lentils. When I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. My, oh my, we still talk about
that. And we still boast in Christ, don't we? Our boast is not in
ourselves, our boast is in Christ. And what he's done is great things.
So all of this was purposed by God. Why? To show His power. And that He would have mercy.
To show that He had mercy on whom He had mercy. And He had
compassion on whom He had compassion. Now there may be other slaves
there of other nations. He didn't deliver them, did He? But He delivered all the Israelites. Because those great powers, when
they went out and warred, they brought back slaves from the
armies. They brought back slaves from
the cities they overtook. So there's slaves of all different
people there probably. But he only delivered the Israelites.
My oh my. That's a picture of his church,
isn't it? That's a picture of his elect, beloved. God delivers his born-again,
blood-washed children from spiritual Egypt, which is the world. How?
By his sovereign, almighty power. That's how he delivers us. By
his sovereign, almighty power. How? Through the perfect, redeeming
work of the Lord Jesus Christ, who shed his blood to redeem
our eternal souls. Having obtained eternal redemption,
that's what he's done. And he can give it to whomever
he pleases. We're just marveled that he gave it to me. Do you
marvel about that? God gave me a term. That's the
marvel. And then I told someone, I have
the answer to why. Because it pleased him to do
so. According to his good pleasure,
Ephesians says. I know we still say why, but
it's according to his good pleasure. I don't think we can totally
fathom that, can we? Our little finite minds. But it's truth.
Scripture declares it. Oh my, it's wonderful. I'll tell
you why. It's wonderful. So how is he redeemed us? By
the shedding of Christ's blood for the remission of our sins.
That his name, the name of Jesus Christ, might be declared throughout
all the earth. And the message lays here, it
goes out in the internet. Do you know that in the last three
years, that the messages have went out to 178 known countries
from here? There's only 190-something known
countries in the world. And the gospel from here has
went to 178, I believe it is. Now, we all have a part of that.
That's God using this work for the furtherance of the gospel.
Now we could never, like Dave said, it's like the Roman roads
of old. The internet's like the Roman
roads of old. The gospel's just spreading like wildfire. And
that's just us here. Imagine all the other churches that the
gospel's going out into the world. Oh my, wherever anyone's preaching
the sovereign grace of God and the gospel's going out, that's
amazing. And God's using that to gather
his people, isn't he? It's absolutely incredible. So
his name is being declared throughout all the world, isn't it? Oh,
my. Because our Lord Jesus Christ
was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, God has
highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus, I'll tell you what, I'll tell
you what, believer and unbeliever, at the name of Jesus, are going
to bow their knee one day. People say, I don't believe in
Christ. Well, you're going to bow your knee one day to him. It's
a fact. Think of all the, now, we can
easily name Hitler and Mussolini, not Mussolini, but all these
other guys that were just villains. But what about everyday people
who are just as evil as they are? I was just as evil as them,
were you? Oh my, let's bring it home, beloved.
God saved us, didn't he? It's in every one of us to be
like them. We know it, don't we, brother?
People say, oh, that's, no, how can you say that? Because we
know what we are. We know what we're capable of.
But God saved us by his grace and his mercy. Isn't that wonderful?
Isn't that wonderful? Well, listen to this. The name
of Jesus, every knee shall bow, things in heaven and things on
earth and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Now, we who are the redeemed, we're going to be proclaiming
that name in love. And those folks, they're going
to have to say it. And they're going to gnash their teeth when
they're saying it. Oh, but they're going to have
to cry out, Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
We're going to willingly bow our knee, beloved. They're going
to be made to bow their knee. They're going to find out the
one they cursed, the one they said, oh, I don't believe that.
He's just a magic sky guy. I've read that people say that
stuff. People say the most horrendous things about our king. No, he's
real. And every knee is going to bow.
And every town's going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to
the glory of God the Father. And he'll either be your savior
on that day or he'll be your judge. One or the other. There's no in-between. There's
no purgatory. No in-between. It's heaven or
hell. That's it. That's it. It's not a scare tactic. It's
truth. It's truth. My, oh, my. So let we who are
the redeemed proclaim, there is none in the name of heaven
given among men, whereby we must be saved. Acts chapter 4, verse
12. Now let's read verses 20 and
22 of Acts chapter 7. In which time Moses was born.
So here Pharaoh commanded all the Hebrew boys be killed. Well,
Moses is born during this time. Look at this. and was exceedingly
fair. He was a beautiful little baby.
Every baby's beautiful, isn't it? Every baby's beautiful. And
nourished up in his father's house three months. And when
he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up and nourished him
for her own son. So they kept him for three months.
They hid him for three months. And then they put him in that
little ark thing, put him among the bulrushes, right? And we
see here, Pharaoh's daughter took him up and nourished him
for her own son. And Moses was learned in all
the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.
So the parents of Moses, led by God the Holy Spirit, refused
to put their son to death. Pharaoh commanded that, and they
said, we're not going to do that. So when he was three months old,
they couldn't hide him any longer. Moses' mother built a watertight
little ark out of bulrushes and put Moses in it, placed it in
the water by the bank of the Nile River amongst the flags
and plants. There wasn't any current. And
she committed her son unto the hands of God Almighty. And then
she sent Miriam, Moses' older sister, to keep an eye on her
brother. And by the perfect will of God, now think of this too,
by the perfect will of God, Pharaoh's daughter came to that exact spot.
Some people say, well, that's just lucky. There's no such thing
as luck. Luck should be banished from Christian vocabulary. There's
no such thing. Spurgeon said that. There's no
such thing as luck. It's God's providence, beloved.
So by the perfect will of God, Pharaoh's daughter came to the
exact spot where Moses was. sent, and she sent her maid to
fetch that little ark. And when she opened it up, she
saw the child. And behold, the babe wept, and she had compassion
on him. My, oh my. So Pharaoh's daughter
then takes Moses, nourished him as her own son. And do you know
that God ordained that Moses' own mother would give him milk? She was the nursemaid. Isn't
that amazing? Oh, my. She got to hold a baby. And Pharaoh's daughter didn't
have any clue. She looked, that's my baby. Isn't God so good? Isn't he so good? Oh, my. So God's sovereign will and all
things, it should absolutely amaze us, beloved. It should
absolutely amaze us. Moses was raised and taught in
the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and deeds.
Now let's read verses 23 to 25. And when he was a full 40 years
old, it came into his heart to visit his brother and the children
of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended
him and avenged him that was oppressed and smote the Egyptian.
For he supposed his brethren would have understood how God
by his hand would deliver them, but they understood not. Ah, so for 40 years Moses was
raised as the son of Pharaoh's daughter, as the grandson of
Pharaoh. And Moses, he looked like an
Egyptian, he talked like an Egyptian. Getting that song, he walked
like an Egyptian. Oh my. And he acted like an Egyptian,
but he's still in his right, isn't he? He's still in his right
in heart. But our sovereign God was not
about to let Moses forget it. So when Moses was 40 years old,
we see here, he desires to visit his brethren. So off he goes
and visits his brethren. He could go anywhere. He'd been
raised by Pharaoh's daughter. He can go anywhere. He's got
the freedom delivered to go anywhere in Egypt. But that desire to visit his
brethren was put there in his heart by God, beloved. So, when Moses saw one of his
kinsmen being afflicted by an Egyptian, Moses defended him
and smote the Egyptian. He killed the Egyptian. And Moses supposed his brethren
would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver
them, but they understood not. How did Moses know that he was
going to be used by God to deliver the Israelites? God revealed something to him,
didn't he? Oh my. We see in the latter part there,
verse 25, it's worded that Moses had some understanding from God
that he would be the instrument that the Lord would use to deliver
his people from Egyptian bondage. And we see it's obvious that
the Israelites did not have the understanding that he had, because
look at verses 26 and 28. And the next day he showed himself
unto them as they stove, and would have set them at one again,
says, ye are brethren, why do you wrong one to another? So
he comes upon two Israelites fighting amongst themselves.
And he's saying, why are you wronging one another? But he that did his neighbor
wrong thrust him away, pushed him away. saying, who made thee
a ruler and judge over us? Wilt thou kill me as thou didst
the Egyptian yesterday? Somebody saw what he did. Somebody saw him kill that Egyptian. Now again, this is all purposed
by God. Why? That he would go to the
land of Midian. Moses wouldn't have fled. If he thought no one knew about
that murder, he would never have fled. He'd have stayed in Egypt. So Moses again visits his brother
in the next day, which is another token of his love and his affection
for the Israelites. And he shows himself to these
two men. They were in some kind of heated debate. They were angry
with one another. Moses tried to reconcile them
by telling them that they were brothers and should not be conducting
themselves with such wrong actions, but the one who's guilty of wrongdoing
thrust Moses away and he said to him, who made thee a ruler
or judge over us? Will thou kill me as thou didst the Egyptian
yesterday? Well then we see Moses' reaction
in verse 29. Oh my. Look at this. Then fled Moses at the same and
was a stranger in the land of Midian where he begat two sons.
He took off. He left Egypt. And he went to the land of Midian.
Again, this is all ordained by God. Isn't it amazing? I'll tell you, this is incredible.
And he begat two sons when he was in Midian. And in Exodus
2, 14 and 15 it says this, Moses feared and said, surely this
thing is no one. Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, Moses killed
the Egyptian, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the
face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian. That's Exodus
2, 14 and 15. Oh my, turn if you would to Hebrews
chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. Moses did flee for his life.
He did go down to the land of Midian. He married one of the
daughters of Jethro, Zipporah by name, and begot two sons.
Look at this in Hebrews chapter 11, verses 23 to 27. It talks about Moses here in
the hall of faith. Look at this. By faith, Moses, when he was
born, was hid three months of his parents. Now, these folks
had faith in God, didn't they? My, oh, my. Because they saw
he was a proper child. And they were not afraid of the
king's commandment. Now, do they have the same faith we have?
Absolutely. There's only one faith, isn't
there? They trusted God. See, they were looking to the
Messiah. We look back to the Messiah, which is Christ. They
were looking forward to the Messiah. Oh, my. By faith, Moses, when
he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter. Look at that. Choosing rather
to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the
pleasures of sin for a season. See, sin is pleasurable for a
season. But the wages of sin is death.
But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord. Esteeming, look at this, look
at this. Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater than the riches,
than the treasures in Egypt. Now Egypt at this time was extremely
wealthy. They were one of the world's
powers. Wealthy with gold and silver
and look at that. He esteemed the reproach of Christ.
Now, look at that. Christ? Yeah, he was looking
to the Messiah. He had the same faith we have,
beloved. Esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches. So
who's our reward? We look to Christ, eh? He's our
reward, isn't he? There's no greater reward than Christ. Christ
is our reward. He tells you that in the book
of Genesis. He tells Abraham, I'm your exceeding reward. Esteeming the reproach of Christ,
greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect
under the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not
fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him
who is invisible. Look at that. By faith he left.
He left Egypt by faith, by God-given faith, knowing that God would
take care of him. He didn't know where he was going.
He went to the land of Midian. And it says there, he esteemed
the reproach of Christ greater than all the riches, all the
treasures in Egypt. And he's in heaven right now,
isn't he? He's in heaven. He's far richer now in Christ
than he's ever been when he was on this earth. I'm looking at a bunch of rich
people. Far richer than Bill Gates. And all them guys, I don't
even know the name of them guys, own all them big companies. We are richer than the richest
man in this world in Christ. Because we have all spiritual
blessings in Christ. They don't have none outside
of Christ. None. Oh my. Moses had respect unto the recompense
of the reward, which refers to our heavenly bliss, where he
and all of God's saints are in the presence of the glorified
God-man, Jesus Christ our Lord. Again, Christ is every believer's
reward. Now look at Acts chapter 7, verses
30 to 33. And when 40 years were expired, There appeared to him in the
wilderness of Mount Sinai an angel, the Lord, in a flame of
fire in a bush. When Moses saw it, he wondered
at the sight. And as he drew near to behold,
the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying, I am the God of
thy fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of
Jacob. Then Moses trembled and didst
not behold. Then said the Lord unto him.
Now this is none other than a Christophany. This is a pre-incarnate appearance
of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is Christ speaking to him.
All that God the Father says to us, he says through Christ.
All the God of the Father says to men, he says through Christ,
my, oh, my. Then said the Lord to him, put
off thy shoes from thy feet, for the place where thou standest
is holy ground. Now, the only reason now it's
called holy ground is because it's the presence of the Lord
who's there. That's the only reason. That's the only reason,
beloved. Moses was 40 years old when he
left Egypt and he dwelt in the land of Midian for another 40
years and then he sees this burning bush that's not consumed by fire. And by the time Moses was 80
years, with 40 years of experience in leading the flocks of sheep,
my oh my, which many people believe was a training period of God,
for Moses, used in preparing him to lead the flock of God.
Here he's in the wilderness. He's 80 years old. Near Mount
Sinai, he sees this flame of fire in a bush. And he's filled
with wonder, as all of us would be, right? He's filled with wonder.
The bush, though it appeared to be on fire, it's not consumed. You'd be checking the water,
saying, what's in this? But it's truth. It's truth. Now think of this, too. A dry
bramble bush of that nature, it wouldn't burn for a long time,
would it? You get a dry bush, a bramble bush, better try this
one out. It'd go right up in flames, wouldn't
it? And it would be consumed in seconds. And here, this bush is burning. It appears to be on fire, and
it's not consumed. It looks just as healthy as the
bushes on the side beside it. Except it's got flames. So Moses, out of curiosity, draws
near to the bush to get a better look at it. When he did, God
speaks to him. He says, I am. There's the I
am that I am. Tell him I am sent you. Remember
in the New Testament when the Lord said, I am? Before Abraham
was, I am. They took up stones. They knew
what he was saying. They wanted to kill him. They couldn't kill
him. It wasn't his time. It wasn't
his time to die. He says, I am the God of my fathers,
the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Oh my, just from those few inspired
words, the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead is clearly proven.
Because our Lord said this, in Matthew 22, 31 to 32, he said,
but as touching the resurrection of the dead, you have read that
which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. So God's not a
God of the dead. Christ said he's the God of the
living. So we get the resurrection's proof right there when he says,
I am the God of thy fathers. The God of Abraham, he's alive,
he's in heaven. The God of Isaac, he's alive,
he's in heaven. The God of Jacob, he's alive,
he's in heaven. He's the God of the living, not
the dead, right? They're alive. They're more alive now than they
ever were in this earth, beloved. One day we'll get to meet them,
Lord willing. Oh my, oh my. So when Moses heard the voice
of the Lord, he trembled, and did behold it as Moses hid his
face. He's afraid to look upon God. Not that Moses could have seen
God, because God is invisible, but John Gale states it this
way. Moses was afraid to look upon
God, even upon this outward appearance. and representation of him in
the flame of fire, otherwise the essence of God is not to
be looked upon and seen at all. God is invisible, but even this
eternal or external token and symbol of him was terrible to
behold. The thought that God was there filled Moses with fear
and considering the greatness and awfulness of his majesty,
what a poor, weak, and sinful creature Moses was. That's why
he had his face in the dirt. My oh my. And our Lord Jesus said to Moses,
pull off thy shoes from thy feet, for the place without sand is
his holy ground. He said the same thing to Joshua
in Joshua chapter 5. He said, I'm the captain of the
Lord's host. Take off your shoes. The ground you're standing on
is holy. And again, it's only holy because Christ is there.
That's all. That's the only reason it's holy,
right? Otherwise, it's just ground,
isn't it? Oh my. Only because the presence
of the Lord was there was it holy ground. And Moses was commanded
by our Lord to put off thy shoes from thy feet. And he obeyed
it. And obeying that command is a sign of humility and reverence. And we have reverence for our
God. And we come to him humbly, don't
we? We've been humbled by God. My oh my. And all of God's born-again
blood-washed preachers to have our feet shod with the preparation
of the gospel and all of God's people. And we should never allow
ourselves to walk in the filthy shoes of our own self-righteous
works. No, no, no. God's presence is always with
us. Remember that too. You ever think of that? God's
presence is always with us. We don't always think that way,
do we? He said, I'm never going to leave you nor forsake you.
So his presence is always with us. Oh my. And the removal of those ungodly
shoes of self-righteousness, which draws attention to us that
we might think gain us favor with God, to remove those things
and say, I can't be saved by anything I do, is a sign of genuine
humility. We're saying, I can't save myself,
but you can save me, God. See, when we cast away our self-righteousness,
that's what we're saying. I got no ability to save myself,
do you? My salvation is entirely 100% based upon what Christ has done.
And I confess that he keeps me, because if he didn't keep me,
I'd fall. I confess he saved me by his grace and his mercy
and redeemed me by his blood. We all say the same thing, don't
we? And he's going to keep us? And he's going to take us to
heaven and it's all because of him doing it. Oh my, it's wonderful. I'll tell
you what, it's wonderful. And he's the one who's obtained
eternal redemption for us by the shedding of his blood. The
God-man did that, beloved. Now let's work at verse 34 and
35. Here we go. I have seen the affliction of my people, God
said, which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning,
and come down to deliver them. And now, come, I will send thee
unto Egypt. This Moses, whom they refused,
saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? The same God did
send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which
appeared to him in the bush. Think of this, our great God
sees all things. We see here, he saw and heard what those Israelites
said to Moses. He says, well, I'm going to send
you. You're going to be the deliverer. In that way, Moses is a type
of Christ. God sent Christ into this world, right? And he's our deliverer, isn't
he? Sent, amen. My. And nothing, we see here that
nothing can be hid from God's eyes. Nothing. Not only has all the sins, now
think of this, think of this. This is marvelous. Nothing can
be removed from God's eyes, right? Except for the sins of his elect. God who never forgets anything
says, I won't remember your sins no more. That's marvelous. This is the
best news in the world, isn't it? Not only has all the sins of
the elect been removed from God's sight forever by the substitutionally
death of the Lord Jesus Christ, but he says, I won't remember
them anymore. What do we say, Dave? Amen. Oh, isn't that wonderful? It's wonderful, isn't it? God
remembers him no more. And our Lord Jesus told Moses,
he says, I've heard the groaning. He hears our cries. Everything
we go through, he hears our cries. Even when we don't speak in our
hearts, we're crying in our hearts, he hears it. He watches over
everything, all our prayers, everything. Oh, and he says,
here, I've heard the groaning. And not only does our majestic
God see all things, but he also hears all things. And with a sympathetic, compassionate
heart, he heard the groans of his chosen people and their burden
with afflictions. Almost seemed impossible for
them to bear. And does this not picture God's
regenerate people, God's people who born again by the power of
God, the Holy Spirit, when he enlightens our minds to the Lord
Jesus Christ, who bore all our sins. I mean, he bore them all,
beloved. So much so that God says, his redeeming blood is
so perfect and so precious that God says, I don't remember their
sins anymore. We've grown under the burden
of our sins, looking for a way to have that burden removed from
our shoulders. And God, by his sovereign power, reveals to us that Christ Jesus
died for our sins. He bore them all. He washed our
sins away in his precious blood. The ransom price for our eternal
souls has been paid in full. My, oh my. God says, I'm come down to deliver
them. Who came down and delivered us?
Who came down and delivered us, beloved? The Lord Jesus Christ. He came to save his people from
their sin. God himself came down. None of
us could save ourselves. None of us could save ourselves.
None of us could save anyone else. And God says, I'm come
down. What a picture we have here.
My, oh, my. And remember, when God came down
to earth, when I see the blood, tell me what? I'll pass over
you. Amen. I'll pass over you. It's
the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses us from all sin. Isn't
it wondrous? Isn't it amazing? Come, I will send thee into Egypt. I'm going to send you into Egypt.
Which picture is God sending Christ into the world, beloved? Christ was sent. We saw that
in our study in John 17. He was sent by God. Why? Sent
because of the eternal love that God has for his people. Sent
to redeem us from all our sins. And he shall not fail. And he cried those beautiful
words. It is finished. And he's raised from the dead
three days later for our justification. What a Savior. What a God is
Jesus Christ, our Lord. And Stephen, he's giving a brief
account of the conversation between our Lord and Moses. And notice,
nothing was said about Moses being reluctant to go. Nothing
said about him arguing with God. Nothing said about him saying,
well, you know, give me a few minutes. I've got to think about
this. No. God, the Holy Spirit, impressed
upon Stephen to have certain things concerning Moses bought
out of his message. Oh my. Stephen said this, then
Moses, whom they refused, saying, who made thee a ruler over? And
the judge, the same God, or the same did God send to be a ruler
in the deliverer by the hand of the angel which had appeared
to him in the bush. God sent him. God sent Christ
into this world. The Israelites were in bondage.
They were in Egyptian bondage. They could not free themselves.
Even though there was a million of them, they couldn't free themselves. And they didn't want a judge,
and they didn't want anyone to rule over them. But God sent
the same Moses, the one who they refused to be their judge, to
be their ruler. And there was not a single thing
that they could do. There was not a single thing that they
could do against what God had purposed for them. Saul, Saul, why kickest thou
against the pricks? See, when God sets out to save
one of his sheep, they're going to be saved. What did Scott say? God saves
us. God saves a sinner against his
will with his full consent. Is that not true? That's so true. God saves a sinner against his
will with his full consent. I love that. That's so true. My oh my. So Moses was a type
of Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the redemption of the people
of Israel of the Egyptian bondage by him was a picture of redemption
from the bondage of sin. When I see the blood, right,
remember the blood of the innocent lamb? Christ is the innocent
lamb of God, isn't he? When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. So God the Father sent his son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
to be the deliverer of his promised people. And that's exactly what
God did. He sent him. He didn't try to
deliver his people. God doesn't try to do anything.
Let's just say that. God doesn't try to do anything.
God does whatever he pleases. And it pleased God to save us.
Hallelujah. What a Savior. What a Redeemer
is Jesus Christ our Lord.