I invite your attention back
to Exodus chapter 5. We looked at it in our Bible study
this morning, which kind of was what got me thinking about this
message again. I preached this message some
years ago. I don't remember if it was in
our study in Exodus, but it's been a while, I think. I got
to thinking about religion People, by nature, are religious
about everything. Family. Personal experiences are biggie
in religion. People like to talk about the
things that have happened to them. Cultural morals and societal
morals are often the subject of religion. I saw a church down
in Nashville, Tennessee, when I was preaching several years
ago, Andy Griffith night on Wednesday night where they watched Andy
Griffith for Wednesday night service and discussed the moral
implications of Opie and Goober, I suppose. You can even be very religious
about not being religious. Everything, because of what we
are and who we are, is religion. designed ultimately to exalt
us and make us appear righteous in some way before men. Man was made to worship. That's
what Adam was made for. God didn't need anything. He
certainly didn't need somebody to worship Him. He had the never-ending
sound of 10,000 six-winged beasts crying, Holy,
Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts without ceasing. I hear men talk
about God needing something. God doesn't need anything. He's
God. Christ doesn't need anything.
He's God. He sits at the right hand of
God ever living to make intercession for His people. Man is made to worship. Anthropos has a root meaning of looking
up, which distinguishes us from the animals, because animals
are always looking down. That's their nature. They walk
with their face pointed toward the ground. Man was made to look
up. Now, he has looked at everything
but the right thing since the fall in the Garden of Eden. and
he's become a religious creature, or he is a religious creature,
and all the world is a very, very religious place. I always
get kind of tickled at this time of the every four years in our
nation when men don't talk about God a whole lot, but boy, everybody's
talking about God now as if to give some kind of credence to
who and what they are saying we ought to do or ought to be.
Last week, one of the brethren asked me about a message I had
preached from this passage many years ago, and I told him I'd
find it for him. I started looking for it the
other day, and I couldn't find my... I usually keep them in
notebooks or folders of the different studies we've had. I could not
find my study on Exodus, so if you have it, give it back, because
I can't remember where it is. I couldn't find it for him, and
I told him I'd get it for him. This week as I was studying to
prepare the morning Bible study on Moses by faith seeing Christ
and leaving Egypt and all its trappings behind, I began again
to think on this passage of Scripture and all that follows it because
as we know this speaks of Christ. This speaks of Christ. This speaks
of false religion. Egypt is representative of the
religion of the world in opposition to the truth of salvation by
grace. And when John was given the vision
of the mystery Babylon, the great horror religion in the world,
our Lord referred to that false religion in a specific way. Look
over at Revelation 11 just for a moment. Revelation 11. Speaking of those two witnesses
spiritually representing the church and the gospel. and their
dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which
spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, whereunto our Lord was
crucified." And he is talking about Jerusalem. which was the
seat of the old covenant religion which our Lord put away by His
sacrifice on the cross, Hebrews chapter 10 verse 9, Lo, I come,
and the volume of the book is written in me, to do thy will,
O God. He taketh away the first and establishes the second. Jerusalem
was called Sodom and Egypt. Sodom and Egypt. Why? Because
Egypt is representative of all that is false in religion. And this reference envelops any
and all religions that embraces the works of man, the will of
man, or the deeds of the law for righteousness. Such religion
lives and thrives on its ability to enslave and to control the
lives and minds of men by controlling their behavior. Whether by threat
of wrath or by promise of reward, the idea is to govern men rather
than to set them free and let them go. I still like what old
Augustine of Hippo said many, many years ago. And I've had
caught a lot of flack for saying it, but I must say it again.
Love Christ and do as you please. Oh, that's scary. Not if you
love Christ. Because I tell you what you do, you live for those
you love. You do. And if you live for yourself,
you do the math. You love yourself. You love yourself. Religion disdains freedom and
rather opts for that which enslaves and incites and engenders bondage. Look at what our Lord said to
His people in Isaiah chapter 58. I remember as a boy, I used to
hear preachers quote this first verse, boy, and then they'd let
in to the movie shows and going out and making out in a car and
parking, and I mean, they just kept our teenagers in a fit of
guilt, I'll tell you. It was really hard. Isaiah 58,
Cry aloud and spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet,
and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their
sins." And man, that was a good starter for most revival meetings.
People get, oh man, we're going to lay them out now. But what
does the Lord say is the sin of His people? That would be
interesting to note, you know, that text without context is
pretext, you see, and our Lord says, yet they seek Me daily. They're religious people. They'd
like to know my ways. They'd like to talk about the
Bible. And as a nation, they did righteousness. They were
very law-abiding citizens. In fact, they believed their
righteousness was because they had the law. They pursued not
the ordinances of their God. They did the rituals and the
ceremonies that God had ordained. They asked of me the ordinance
of justice. They were righteous people. They were so righteous
that they looked at everybody outside themselves and said,
God ought to judge that person. Well, God is judging that person.
People do that all the time, don't they? Sickness or trial
comes to somebody's life. Some so-called Christian is going
to stand back and say, Well, you know, if I was right with
God, that wouldn't be happening. You know what they're saying? I'm
right with God because it ain't happening about me. That's what
they're saying. Self-righteousness. They ask
for the ordinance of justice. They take delight in approaching
God. They're praying, folks. They got bumper stickers on their
cars that say, We Still Pray. I've always wanted to change
that A to an E. We Still Pray. And they do pray
on just about everybody they see. And here's why they do what they
do. You see, it's ultimately what
you think you ought to get out of it. And they think they're
getting something out of it or they ought to get something out
of it. They are just and righteous people as human righteousness
goes. They do pray. They do seek the
orders of the Lord. They keep the commandments of
the law. They do all these things. But you see, they don't do them
because they love God. They do them to get something
from God. Look at verse 3. Wherefore have
we fasted, they say, and thou seest not. We did all this and
we didn't get anything out of it. Where have we afflicted our
soul and thou takest no knowledge? God's not paying attention to
our poor soul. We're just working ourselves to death for Him. That's when people say, you know,
when something horrible comes their way. This is what they
say. I've been good all my life. Why did this happen to me? They're
saying what he said. We've done these things and God
isn't paying attention. God isn't paying attention. Behold, in the day of your fast,
God says, that when you ought to be seeking the Lord, and the
fast was ordained in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament,
fasting is described as seeking the Lord so much so that you
don't even regard eating. It's not, I'm going to fast,
it's that you just don't pay attention to food because you
want to see Christ. Behold, in the day you fast, you find pleasure. I've never found pleasure in
being hungry, I'll be honest with you. But they did, why?
Because they were getting something out of it. You find pleasure,
you exact all your labors. What you do, you do to be seen
of men so you can hold it over their heads. Behold, you fast
for strife and debate. You do it so you can cause an
argument and get people wound up. and to smite with the fist
of wickedness. Ye shall not fast as ye do this
day, to make your voice to be heard on high." Oh, not only
do they fast, they broadcast that they're fasting. I fasted
today. Well, listen to me, if you've
got a work that you do for God, if you tell somebody about it,
it's for you and not for God, you already have your reward
the moment you told somebody about it. God says, is this such a fast
as I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his
soul? Is it not to bow down his head as a bulrush? You know what
a bulrush is. It's on a really long, thin reed. It's got a great
big head and the head is empty. And it is bowed down by every
soft wind of doctrine that comes down the pipe. It moves whichever
way. and to spread sackcloth and ashes,
to pretend repentance? Will thou call this a fast, an
acceptable day of the Lord?" And remember, our Lord came to
preach the acceptable day of the Lord, which was His coming
to heal the brokenhearted and set at liberty them that are
captive, wasn't it? He said, and to preach the acceptable year
of the Lord. Look forward. Is not this the
fast that I have chosen, God said, to loose the bands of wickedness? to undo heavy burdens, and to
let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke. That's
what the gospel is. The gospel ain't designed to
burden men down, to break men down, to captivate them and to
enslave them. The gospel is to turn them loose,
to turn them loose to worship God, to seek Him, not to be bound
up. Religion binds. In Galatians
chapter 6, Paul said these fellows do it to honor their own flesh. They constrain you to be circumcised
for their honor. So they can brag about you. Look
how many converts I've got. Look how many people I've led
to Jesus. You ain't led nobody where but sin. I'll guarantee
you that. That's where you led people. Paul goes on to say, God forbid
that I should glory. save in the cross, or the crucifixion
of the one who was crucified, God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of Christ where unto the world, whereby the world
is crucified unto me, is dead to me, and I'm dead to the world.
This is what our text is talking about back here, back in Exodus
chapter 5. This fact is clearly seen in
Pharaoh's reaction to the word of God from Moses. Moses said
to Pharaoh that he must let the people of God go in the wilderness
and have a feast. Three days in the wilderness
and have a feast because God said come out three days into
the wilderness and have a feast unto me. Now the first reaction
of Pharaoh is always the first reaction to the knowledge that
the people of God will not worship God in a strange land or in this
case a strange religion. They won't do it. There cannot
be and never will be an amalgamation of the false and the true for
the people of God. God despises the mixture. Such
an idea is always translated to mean that the world of religion
is false. What Pharaoh heard was three
days out in the wilderness. I've got plenty of temples here.
There are plenty of gods here. So what Pharaoh heard was that
his religion was false. That's what he heard in his mind.
His religion was useless and his religion was of no value.
Now religion cannot tolerate this and will immediately respond
that such a God is not their God. That's what Pharaoh did.
Look back at our text. Pharaoh said in verse 2, Who
is the Lord? And notice it's in capital letters
all the way across. Who is Jehovah? Who is Jehovah
that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I don't know
Jehovah. Neither will I let Israel go.
I don't know Him. I can't count the times when
I've told people about the doctrines and teachings of Scripture. And
when they see God as He is, not as they would like Him to be
or as they've been heard all their life, they get all upset
and they say, that's not my God. That's not my God. And I usually
say, I know. I know. I know. Part and parcel with their reaction
is that they cannot understand the concept of thanksgiving and
praise for something that they have no part in. The word feast
literally means to dance and sing and reel to and fro. Kind
of an interesting little Hebrew word. God told us to go out into
the middle of the desert three days out and to dance and hold
our hands and get in a circle and dance and sing and reel to
and fro. That's what Pharaoh heard. That
was the word they used. That's what that word feast means.
And all these things suggest something. They suggest unbridled
joy in the Lord, in Jehovah, a concept that is foreign to
religion, free joy. Joy because you didn't do nothing
and God did everything. Religion can never get that.
Moses and Aaron said again that they must go into the wilderness
to worship, and they would use the word sacrifice, because God had commanded them.
They added that if Pharaoh forbade them, that the God who commanded
them would send pestilence and sword among them. and the notion
that joy and worship is without work and labor and guilt could
be called religion and is called religion and is anathema to that
which is called religion. That's clearly seen in the words
of Pharaoh. You mean to tell me that you worship God simply
because and only because He is God and what He's done for you. That's it. No work, no labor
involved. You don't worship God with the
things of your hands. No, Cain did that. It didn't
work out too good for him, did it? We worship God in a sacrifice. And all the sacrifices point
to the Lord Jesus Christ. We worship God by glorifying
Christ and saying to God and praising God that Christ has
done everything, and I mean everything, necessary for our salvation.
And in that great work, has indeed redeemed His people from their
sins, according to Scripture. False religion cannot Imagine
worship that does not involve work and burden. So Pharaoh says
this in verse 4. The king of Egypt said of them,
concerning them going out three days into the desert and having
a feast and a sacrifice, Wherefore do you, Moses and Aaron, let
the people from their works? That's religion. What are you
doing? Going out worshiping. We believe
in works. Why do you let them from their
works? Get you to your burdens. Get you to your burdens. The
gospel says, cease from labor, lay down your burdens upon the
Lord. False religion cannot imagine
the concept. It cannot imagine the concept. It cannot also imagine the concept
of resting in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. So
Pharaoh says in verse 5, Behold the people of the land, now there
are many, and you make them to rest. You are saying you are
representing God? You are preaching God as He is
in Scripture and you are telling people to rest? Our Lord said
to the sheep of Israel in Zephaniah 3, My sheep shall feed, and they
shall lay down, and none shall make them afraid. You make them
to rest from their burdens. Yes, that's what we do. We who
preach the gospel, we who desire to honor and glorify God as finishing
the work of salvation, we tell the people of God, rest in Jesus
Christ. Lay down in Jesus Christ. You say, what about my works? According to Ephesians chapter
2 and verse 10, they're ordained and they will be taken care of
and you have been prepared for them. And when you run into them,
you will have the equipment necessary to do them because God has ordained
them. and ordained you unto them. The Gospel declares that the
work is finished and that all that is left to do is rest. So our Lord said, Come unto Me,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden down with burden. I'll
give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for my rest is easy, my burden is light, and ye shall
find rest unto your soul. There is a rest that remaineth,
Paul said to the Hebrew children, for the people of God. And false
religion sees the rest that belongs to the people of God, the worship
of God, the God who has finished the work as idleness. as idleness. Look down at verse 8. And the
tail of the bricks which they did make here too, ye shall lay
upon them, ye shall not diminish all thereof, for they be idle.
We want to go out and worship God. Well, that's just idle.
You're just idle. Idle hands of the devil's workshop.
You ever heard that? Kind of like still water runs
deep and the devil lays at the bottom. Idle hands. That's the devil's workshop.
Not according to Scripture. We're idle. You know, those people,
when God gave them that cloud in the wilderness, they didn't
move. They didn't do anything unless that cloud moved. They
just sat there. Moses told them, well, if it's a year, if it's
ten years, if it's five years, we're not going anywhere until
the cloud moves. Well, they just sat there. What kind of religion
is this? They're just sitting there. They're resting under
that cloud, under the finished work. What was the finished work?
God had delivered them by blood, by the blood of the Lamb out
of Egypt. He had drowned their enemies. What's left to do? Just
rest. Be idle. And religion can't stand
that. You make them idle, He said.
You make them idle. Shame on you for doing such a
horrible thing. And not only that, He said these are empty
words. What you believe is about going out and worshipping God
that way. Worshipping God for who He is. Verse 9 says, Let
there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour
therein, and let them not regard Vain words are just empty words. Just empty words. There are answers
to such foolishness. Religion's answer to such foolishness
as resting in Christ and being idle and believing that you ought
to just worship God is only taken care of by more work and increased
labor. Without the help of religion,
as punishment for their persuasion that true worship is resting
without burdens, unbridled joy, without labor, and dancing and
rejoicing in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Religion
can't bear it. But the people of God, the true
church, true Israel, will not be dissuaded from the worship
of God. And they will not be persuaded
of the worship of God that must be done outside the purview and
restraints of false religion, without the trappings of religion.
They cannot abide or pretend fellowship with that which is
false. Salvation is not changing religions. Be very careful to
understand that. Salvation is not changing religions
or converting from one false faith system to another. Salvation
is changing gods. Moses was changing gods. He was
leaving the gods of Egypt and going out into the desert to
the God who runs the show and runs this world. Salvation is
changing gods and no longer having anything to do with your former
idols and your former idolatry. I've often been told by religion
that we all are in this thing together and that we worship
the same God. I wish I had a nickel for every
time I heard that. I wouldn't be rich, but I could
buy three or four cups of McDonald's Seniors Coffee, I guarantee you
that. We worship the same God. We're
going to the same place. We're all headed in the same
direction. And to this I generally reply very simply, describe your
Father to me. Describe your Father to me. If your Father's hands are tied,
if He wants to but can't save you unless you let Him, if He
is dependent on your will to save you, then we have different
fathers. It's that simple. I know who
my father is. My father is Bill James. Ex-cop. Big strapping man. Afraid of
him all my life. Loved him to death before if
he hit you, he was all over. Years ago in Jesse. Seen him
drop men real easy with his fist. I mean, put their lights. It's
hard to knock a man out. with one punch. I've seen my
daddy do it. He was a big, brawling man. I know who my daddy is. I know what he looks like. I
know what he did with his life. And for us to say that, for somebody
to say, well, I'm your brother, I'm, we got the same daddy. I
say, describe my daddy. And if he says, well, he's four
foot two, and his hands are tied, and he can't do nothing unless
you let him, he's just a wimp, and he just wants to save you,
but can't, you know, wants to help you out, but can't, I say,
that's not my daddy. I know my daddy! I know whom I believe
and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed
unto Him against that day. I am persuaded of that. The fact is, I do not want anything
to do with such a sad and puny, feckless fellow that you would
call your father if he is described as religion describes God today. The believer has got to go out
from that mess, clean out of Egypt, or there can be no true
worship, no rest, and no joy. And religion sees that. It has
begun to lose its influence, represented by the plagues of
frogs and flies and such, which, by the way, didn't touch God's
people. Now generally, when God sends judgment, everybody suffers
to a degree, but judgment is always for those who oppose God. It's never for the children of
God. The same judgment that is against those who oppose God
is for the people of God, and it's brought as chastisement,
loving rearrangement of their life for their good and for God's
glory. But God's people weren't touched
by any of these things. at Exodus chapter 8 just for
a moment. This is how God describes what He did for His people in
these plagues that come their way. In verse 22, our Lord says,
I will sever. You know what that means, don't
you? Cut right down the middle, cut out. I will sever in that
day the land of Goshen. in which my people dwell, so
no swarms of flies shall be there. To the end thou mayest know that
I am the Lord in the midst of the earth." I reckon that would
kind of make you know that he's the Lord, wouldn't it? If he
was living in the land of Goshen and this was your border and
flies were all over the place, but it was like they was beaten
against the glass. Couldn't come to your place.
God said, that's what I'm going to do. Them flies, flies, flies,
well they do what they want to. No, they do what God wants them
to. Watch them sometimes. flit here and there, fits and
starts, and say, well dang, don't know where he's going. He may
not, but God knows where he's going. He's God's flyer. He's God's flyer. Look at chapter, look at verse
23. I will put a division between
my people and thy people, tomorrow for this sign shall be. I'll put a division, and the
Lord did so. And there came a grievous swarm of flies to the house of
Pharaoh, and to his servants and house, and to all the land
of Egypt. The land was corrupted by reason
of the swarm of flies, but not one fly crossed the border of
Goshen. Not a fly. Not a fly. Look at chapter 9 just for a
moment, verses 4 through 6. And the Lord shall sever between
the cattle of Israel, the cattle of Egypt, And there shall none
die of all that is the children of Israel. And the Lord appointed
a set time, saying, Tomorrow the Lord shall do this thing
in the land. The Lord did that thing in the morrow, and all
the cattle of Egypt died, but the cattle of the children of
Israel died not one. You know what reflected those
cattle? It was a bacteria called muraine. You couldn't even see
it with the naked eye. It caused the cattle to be sick
and die. Bacteria, a thing you can't see with the naked eye.
You mean God controls bacteria? Whose bacteria are they? Who
made the bacteria? Think about that. All the cattle
in Egypt died and that bacteria, which we can't do nothing with,
by the way, was commanded, that brainless bacteria, an amoebic
organism with just one cell, which may have just been some
type of protein without a brain, without a nervous system, knew
it couldn't go to any of Israel's cattle. Why? Because God commanded
it so. Not one of Israel's cattle died.
Now God has taken care of His people in this situation. But
the flies and the murrain and the frogs and the blood in the
river all came to Pharaoh, and Pharaoh relented. He got scared. but not completely. He didn't
completely relent. He hardened his heart several
times. But think about it. To lose such a labor force couldn't
be abided, not by false religion. So religion seeks to compromise,
to diminish this radical idea of leaving altogether. Religion
wants you to stay and is willing to forgo certain things in order
for you to stick around. Many times I've been told by
people who love me, and probably for my protection, like my mama
and my daddy sometimes, Tim, you're just too narrow, just
too hard. Listen to me. I ain't never got
as narrow as Scripture yet. I really haven't. And I'll tell
you what, I'm afraid to. You wouldn't even come and hear
me if I got as narrow as Scripture. Neither would anybody else. People have told me, you're just
too Narrow. But that's what religion wants.
It wants you to be narrow. Many folks have told me, I don't
need to be so narrow. And the folks believed that they
were a Christian too and they wanted me to stay with them. But just don't bring up our differences.
Just don't tell what you really believe and we'll all get along. We'll all get along. And this
is the tactic of Pharaoh and the tactic of all free will,
works, legalistic religion in the day. Look at chapter 8 and
verse 25. Pharaoh called for Moses and
for Aaron and said, ìGo ye,î go ahead, ìyou want to sacrifice
to God, you want to worship God, go ye, sacrifice to your God
in the land.î do it here. That�s what he said. It�s alright.
Okay, we can get along on this. We can do the Rodney King defense. Let us all get along in this
situation. We�ll do that. We don�t mind.
It�s okay. Worship your God the way you
worship God, the way you want to worship God. It�s alright,
but just do it right here in Egypt. In Egypt. Pharaoh concedes that he�s fighting
a losing battle. These narrow-minded people are
going to leave if he doesn't act fast. So he comes up with
a compromise. He tells Moses that he can sacrifice
or worship God with the blessings of Egypt, just as long as you
don't go out into the wilderness to do it. Just stay here in the
land and worship to your heart's content. That's what Pharaoh
said. It seems so reasonable, this compromise. At least we
get to worship God. We can stay in this church that
denies the Gospel and denies God and makes God some kind of
pimp. That's alright. We can still worship God. No,
you can't. No, you can't. It just ain't
going to happen. Moses says, no way. No way. Look at verses 26 and 27. And
Moses said, it's not me to do so. For if we sacrifice the abomination
of the Egyptians to the Lord our God, lo shall we sacrifice
the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and they will
not stone us. We will go three days' journey into the wilderness
and sacrifice unto the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us. Moses is not calling the Egyptian
deities an abomination here. What he is saying is that most
people do not really understand. Now the Egyptian deities were
abominations to God. But He is not calling their gods
and their sacrifices abominations. He is calling His own sacrifice
an abomination to Egypt. And it is. It is. He declares that the sacrifice
that Israel would offer, if offered in the land, would be an abomination
to the Egyptians. And such an action would cost
the Israelites their lives. And this is true understanding.
The sacrifice of Christ. And when I talk about the sacrifice
of Christ, I'm talking about Him making His own soul an offering
for sin and seeing the travail of His soul, seeing of the travail
of His soul and being satisfied. For by His skill, God's righteous
servant has justified many, for He has borne their transgressions,
according to Isaiah chapter 53. I'm talking about a success.
I'm not talking about Christ making anything possible. I'm
not talking about Christ making anything available. I'm talking
about Christ doing something and accomplishing something on
Calvary Street. That's the language of Scripture.
For this one man by one sacrifice hath, past tense, perfected,
past tense, them that are sanctified. So much so that God will remember
their sins no more. This is true understanding. The
sacrifice of Christ, which fully and totally accomplished the
salvation of the elect, without any contribution of the elect,
is an abomination to religion. Several years ago, a man who
was with the Gideons, which is a fine organization, by the way.
They give Bibles out, and that's fine. That's good. I wish they
would not try to make one Bible verse more important than the
other. They've got 87 ways to translate it for John 3, 16,
That verse begins with the word for. The Gospel is back in 3,
14, 15, and then 16 is the reason for. But I was out working rock
work many years ago, and I had an old pair of cutoffs and an
old A-shirt, and I was nasty and dusty. I'd been mixing mud
and putting rock work in, you know. And I was hot. It was July
or August, and this fellow drove up in the driveway. And I was
sitting out on the porch just relaxing for a minute, maybe
drinking a Coke or something. He comes up to me and says, I'm
with the Gideon Society. I said, I've heard of you fellows. He
said, we like to give out Bibles. I said, that's a good thing.
It's a good thing to give Bibles out. He said, we'd like to come
to your church and present our program. I said, we don't even
need to do that. I said, I'll talk to the church. I'm sure
we'll just write you a check so you can buy some Bibles and
send them out. He said, no, we want to come to your church and
present our program. I said, well, I don't let anybody
in that pulpit unless I know what they preach. And he said
the magic words. He said, oh don't worry, we won't
preach doctrine. I said, well then you can't come.
You can't ever stand in that pulpit because you can't preach
Christ and not preach the doctrine of God. It's an impossibility. And I began to explain to him
why. And so I thought I'd just give him some things that would
run him off. You know how you just, I needed to get back to the rock work,
the mud was getting dry. And so I said, well, you know, we
here at Sequoia Baptist Church, we preach what the Bible says.
We do not run from things like predestination and election because
the Bible teaches that, so we preach it. He said, oh, I'm okay
with that. I said, oh, well, that's good.
So we began to talk about the work of Christ, and he said,
and then I said the secret words. I said, salvation is not my man's
free will. He said, what? And I said, Salvation
is not by man's free will, it's by the will of God according
to Scripture. Not of him that willeth, nor of him that wretheth,
but of God that showeth mercy. You know what? After I said that,
he just looked me in the eye, and turned around, went and got
in his car, and drove off. after I said man wasn't saved
by his prayer. He didn't mind me talking about election. He
didn't mind me talking about predestination. He didn't mind
me talking about the successful work of Jesus Christ on Calvary
Street. But when I said he wasn't saved by his will, his God was
cast down into the dirt and he wasn't going to have it. He couldn't
stand it. He got in his car and drove away and never heard from
him again. Never heard from him again. The believer worships
God in Jesus Christ, based upon the successful substitution of
Jesus Christ, by which He saved everyone for whom He died, or
the Bibles allow. Why shall they call His name
Jesus? For He shall save His people from their sin. Show me
one reference in Scripture, anywhere, in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ
that the word try, or possible, or probable, or might be, or
available, or provided is there. It's not there. Every reference
to the work of Christ is of His absolute glorious success on
Calvary Street, whereby he satisfied God's law and justice with his
sacrifice, his sacrificial death, and put away the sins of his
people by the sacrifice of himself. And if something is put away
so much so that God will forget it, and I have a feeling we should
not to try to remember it and bring it up. Moses would say, when I sacrifice
to God, if I did it here, God would want to kill me for what
I do. It's an abomination to you that Jesus, who died and
actually saved no one, is a false God. The true and living God,
Jesus Christ, is abomination to religion and will not be worshipped
by God's people or in the place where false religion worships. God's people will not worship
Jesus Christ in a false place. Moses said, no, we can't stay
here. But religion wants you to stay.
They wanted them to stay in Egypt. You see, this is a big labor
force, you know. We're going to lose all our witnesses. We're
going to lose all our soul winners. We're not going to have nobody
here. And when faced with this tenacious
attitude of the people of God, Pharaoh relents again and seeks
another compromise, which is typical of religion. Look at
verse 28 of chapter 8. Pharaoh says, ìI will let you
go, that you may sacrifice unto the Lord your God in the wilderness,
only ye shall not go very far away.î You can go. But don't go so far. Keep with
an ear shut. You can leave the land and sacrifice
to your God, but don't go too far. Let's keep the line of communications
open and see if in the end we can outreach some place or some
doctrine or practice that we can agree on. We're all religious
people and surely you don't have to be totally leaving us. And when the people of God leave
the house of Belial, the house of Belial sees that action as
a declaration that they are not saved, that the religion is false. If
it were true religion, there would be no reason to depart.
I've had people leave the gospel and tell me, well, you know,
I'm trying to teach the truth in this false church. And I just
say, you just left grace. Why don't you just admit it?
You didn't like the sacrifice. You like some other sacrifice.
You like to have some part in the deal. Light can have no fellowship
with darkness. None whatsoever. Lest darkness
be considered to contain some light. I've heard people say, oh, they
have some truth. They talk about Jesus. I say,
which one? They talk about God. I say, which
one? I've heard many say they have some truth, but listen to
me, some truth is not truth. If you put a drop of strychnine
in a cup of tea, it ain't tea no more. It's poison. Just a drop, but it's poison. Any partial truth is an entire
lie, in that its heart It's deceitful. Religion is very deceitful. Lord,
you can go out there, but don't go so far away. Listen to how
Moses categorizes what Pharaoh has said in verse 29. And Moses
said, Behold, I go out from thee and will entreat the Lord that
the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh and from his servants
and from his people tomorrow. And let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully
any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice unto the Lord. Don't deal deceitfully. And though
Pharaoh has hardened his heart, after more plagues came, he again
relented and came up with another compromise. Another compromise. Look at chapter
10, verse 8. Moses and Aaron were brought
again to Pharaoh. And he said, Go. Some things
have happened that are just too much for him to bear. He said,
ìGo, serve the Lord your God.î ìBut who are these that shall
go?î Whoís going to go when you go out? And Moses said, ìWe will
go with our young and our old, and with our sons and our daughters,
with our flocks and with our herds we will go, for we must
hold a feast unto the Lord.î Pharaoh said unto them, ìLet
the Lord be so with you as I will let you go, and your little ones
look to it, for evil is before you. Not so. Go now, ye that are men,
and serve the Lord. For that ye did desire, and Pharaoh
ran them out. What's he saying? This is the
subtlety of religion. You can go and worship your God,
but the wilderness, you know, is a dangerous place. Leave your
children to our care. We will give them a faith-based
religious education and prepare them for life. It disturbs me to no end that
some who declare that they believe the truth will give their children
over false religion to get them educated. That bothers me. And
that's not giving credence to public education. Though in reference
to what is so-called religious education in this day, These religious schools teach
God their spouse. Sometimes I believe public education
is far better. False religion can live with
you believing the truth if they can be the ones to train up your
children. There is a reason why many years ago the churches came
up with the concept of Sunday school. It wasn't always there. I remember
one time a lady said to Scott Richardson, you all have Sunday
school in your church? He said, no. She said, why not? He said, it's not in the Bible. She said, well it ought to be.
If it ain't it ought to be. Why did they come up with Sunday
school? came up with Sunday School originally
to train young children to read and write and do math and arithmetic
and learn language because they were 10 and 12 years old working
in the mines of West Virginia and places like that. And so
they invented Sunday School. But now, Sunday School is the
big deal. Why? Because it gets the kids. It gets the kids. Brings them
in. Brings them in. And the believers
said, I'm going to go worship God and my children are going
with me. No way. The kids are coming with
us and when we worship God, they're going to see how it's done. Finally,
the truth comes out. Though Pharaoh relents again,
his final compromise reveals the true nature of false religion.
Look at chapter 10 in verse 24. And Pharaoh called unto Moses
and said, Go ye, serve your Lord, only let your flocks and your
herds be stay. Let your little ones also go
with you. You can take your kids, but leave your flocks and your
herds. You can go, you can leave, and
you can take your little ones, but leave your cows and your
sheep. What's he saying? He's saying you can go, but leave
us your sacrifice. Because that's what they sacrificed
out of, your flocks and your herds. Leave us your sacrifice. Religion will go to any measure,
compromise any principle, if they can still retain the name
of Christian. Religion says, do what you must,
leave if you must, take your children if you must, but don't
say that we're not Christian. Leave your sacrifice with us.
But the fact is when the believer leaves false religion, the sacrifice
goes with him. Goes with him. And that which
is left is without Christ. Is without Christ. The believer
worships God as God has commanded by giving all glory to Christ
for his salvation. He renounces any work or labor
of his own and trusts Christ alone as all his righteousness.
And there is no place for compromise. Like Elijah, they stand on the
hill looking at the 480 prophets of false religions and how long,
oh gee, between two opinions. If God be God, serve Him. If
Baal be God, serve Him. You can't serve God and Baal.
You can't do it. Amos said, can two walk together
except they be agreed? In Joshua 24, that famous verse
is so often used by folks to represent what they do for Jesus.
When Joshua looked at those Israelites, he said this to them. He says,
You choose who you are going to serve this day. And he gave
them two options. The false gods of Egypt or the false gods of
the people in Canaan. That's the two options he gave
them. You can serve both. Choose that. As for me and my
house, We're going to serve the Lord. We're going to serve the
Lord. Moses stood at the bottom of
the mountain. And people had been worshipping
a golden calf that they had made with their own hands. Actually
called the calf Jehovah. Actually said they were worshipping
that calf. Actually said that calf had brought
them out of Egypt. Read the account in Exodus 34. And he looked at them and he
took a stick or a sword or something. and drew a line in the sand. He said, who's on the Lord's
side? The calf's on that side and the Lord's on this side.
Who's on the Lord's side? Let him come to me. And then
several came across, stepped across that line that stood most.
He says, now take your sword off your thigh and kill everybody
on that side of the line. Well, that wasn't nice. That
wasn't very You know, tolerant was it? No it wasn't. The gospel is completely narrow. Straight is the gate and narrow
is the way that leads to eternal life. And few there be that find
it. Is that God's Word? Well, we'll
stop right there. We'll stop right there. Father,
bless us through our understanding. Cause us in our hearts now to
look to Christ alone for all that is required to please and
honor and glorify You. We pray in His precious Name.
Amen. Good day. God bless you.