in the Spiral Gospel Hymns Hymnal,
number 13. Let's all stand together. We'll sing straight through,
no refrain. ? Our Christine that soiled man's
nature ? ? Long the distance that we passed ? ? Far removed
from hope and heaven ? ? Into deep despair and hell ? ? But there was a fountain open
? ? And the blood of God's own Son ? ? Purifies the soul and
meekness ? as deeper than the state has gone. Conscious of
the deep pollution, sinners wander in the night. Though they hear the shepherd
calling, they still fear to face the light. Is this the blessed
consolation That can melt the heart of stone? That sweet balm
of Gilead reaches Deeper than the stain has worn? All unworthy we who walk And our eyes are wet with tears
As we think of love that sought us Through the weary wasted years
Yet we walk the holy highway Walking by God's grace alone
knowing Calvary's mountain reaches deeper than the state before. When with holy choirs we're standing
in the presence of the King, and our souls are lost in the white-robed choir sing. Then we'll praise the name of
Jesus with the millions round the throne. Praise Him for the
power that reaches deeper than the state has known. For the call to worship, we'll
be reading from Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53, verses one through
10. Verse one. Who hath believed our report?
And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow
up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness,
and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire
him. He is despised and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it
were, our faces from him. He was despised, and we esteemed
him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes
we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray.
we have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord had laid
on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter and as a sheep before his shearers is done, so he opened,
openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? For he
was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression
of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked and with the rich in his death, because he had done no
violence. Neither was any deceit in his
mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin. he shall see his seed, he shall
prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hand. Let us pray. Oh, our Father in heaven, we
come to you again through our great God and Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. What a wonder that a Savior as ours would enter
into our experience, taking to himself all our griefs, all our
sorrows, as well as our iniquities in order to put away our sin
by his blood. We pray even this day that we
might see this one who was slaughtered on our behalf. We might have
eyes to see and ears to hear and a heart to receive so great
a salvation Lord, we pray, help our pastor
to that end. You might get much glory to yourself,
and then we'll worship you as we ought. Pray in Christ's name,
amen. The hymn on the back of your
bulletin. Let's stand once again. Jesus, thy heart and righteousness,
my beauty art, my glorious dress. This flaming world's in thee's
array, with joy shall I And from the dust of death I
rise To take my mansion in the sky Even shall this be all my
plea Jesus hath lived and died O shall I stand in that great
day, For who ought to my charge shall lay, While through thy
blood and soul I am From sin's tremendous curse and shame? This thoughtless folk, the same
appear While ruined nature sinks in years No age can change its
glorious hue The robe of Christ is heaven Please be seated. If you like following along,
this is number 53 in the hymnal. How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
in a believer's ear. It soothes his sorrows, heals
his wounds, and drives away his fear. Dear, name the rock on
which I build my shield and hiding place. My never failing treasury
filled with boundless stores of grace. Jesus, my shepherd,
brother, friend, my prophet, priest, and king. My Lord, my life, My way, my
end, accept the praise I bring. Weak is the effort of my heart,
and cold my warmest thought. But when I see thee as thou art
I'll praise thee as I ought Till then I would thy love proclaim
With every fleeting breath And make the mute The music of thy
name refresh my soul in death. Thank you, Adam. I love that line. When I see
thee as thou art, I'll praise thee as I ought. What a day that'll
be. Will you turn with me in your
Bibles to Acts chapter 7. Acts chapter 7. The title of this message can
be found in verse 36. He brought them out. You and I are in need of that
one whom God sent, who the scripture says in just a couple of verses
where from where we are was like unto Moses to deliver us from
the bondage of Egypt. We are all by nature born in
Egypt. And even after the new birth,
like the children of Israel, we are prone to look back over
our shoulder to Egypt. We live in Egypt. And we often
try to find our comfort and our hope and our sustenance in the
leeks and the garlics and the onions and melons of Egypt. And yet, the only hope that we
have is that the Lord feed our souls with that manna that comes
down from heaven. My hope this morning is that
the Lord will do just that, that he will bring us out again, bring
us out again and feed our souls with that bread of life. Notice in verse 35, this Moses
whom they refused saying, who made thee a ruler and a judge?
Now that's what men by nature do. They refuse the Lord Jesus
Christ. We'll not have this man reign
over us. The Lord has to change our nature.
He has to give us a new heart. in order for us to have a desire
and a need for the Lord Jesus Christ. Or we will say with these
Israelites, who made you judge? Who made you ruler? Why should
I submit to your authority? And the Lord said in John chapter
five and verse 40, you will not come unto me that you might have
life. The Lord has to give us life
and he does that through the preaching of the gospel. So that's
why we do what we do every time we come here. We lift up Christ
in hope that he will open the eyes of our understanding. And
as Caleb reminded us, that he will take out the heart of stone
and put in a heart of flesh and unstop our ears and make us willing
in the day of his power. What a willingness he gives to
his children. Our problem, the sin that doth
so easily beset us is unbelief. Not looking, trusting Christ
for everything. The real bondage of slavery that
the children of Israel were experiencing was that whip of the law. And that's the whip that we need
to be delivered from. A lot of preachers stand and
just crack the whip of the law. And we're here to, in hopes,
be delivered from the demands of the law. We turn, turn with me to, to Exodus
chapter 31, Exodus chapter 31. The Ten Commandments, or the
moral law, as is true with all the law of God, is precious to
us. We love God's law. We seek to
honor God's law. Yes, yes, we obey God's law. The Lord speaks and we follow.
When the scripture says that we're not under the law, but
we are under grace, it's not saying that we don't look to
God's law and love it and honor it and seek to obey it. We're not suggesting in any way
that murdering and stealing and lying and adultery, those are
all things in the law of God. We're not suggesting in any way
that those things are not things that we seek to obey. What we're
saying is that we're not under the condemnation of the law.
We're not obligated by God if we're found in Christ, found
in Christ. The Lord is not looking to us
to keep the law. Only the Lord Jesus Christ did
that. He is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believe it. We're not under the judgment
of the law. We're not under the condemnation of the law. We're
not lawless people as some would accuse us of. And here's one
law that we do keep. One law that we do keep as a
believer. You have your Bibles open at
Exodus chapter 31. Look at verse 12, and the Lord spake unto Moses
saying, speak thou also unto the children of Israel saying,
verily, verily, my Sabbaths you shall keep. For it is a sign
between me and you throughout your generation that you may
know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. I am the Lord
that has set you apart. I am the Lord that has made you
holy. How are we made holy? We're found
in Christ. You shall keep the Sabbath therefore,
verse 14, for it is holy unto you. Everyone that defile with
it shall surely be put to death. For whosoever doeth any work
therein that shall be cut off they shall be cut off from among
the people. Look down in verse 17. It is
a sign between me and the children of Israel forever. For in six
days, the Lord made the heaven and the earth. And on the seventh
day, he rested and was refreshed. Faith. is looking to the Lord
Jesus Christ, who himself, according to Hebrews chapter 14, is our
Sabbath, who rested from his work. And in, turn with me to
that passage in Hebrews chapter four. Look at verse three. For we which
have believed do enter into rest. As he said, as I have sworn in
my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest, although the works
were finished from the foundation of the world. Faith is believing
that the Lord Jesus Christ himself is the lamb that was slain before
the foundation of the world. that the work of redemption,
bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt was fully accomplished
by the Lord Jesus Christ. That God saw the travail of his
soul on Calvary's cross as he bore the sins of his people and
satisfied the justice of God, that he finished the work of
redemption. And the one law that the believer
does keep is he says amen to that. He agrees with God. He knows that there's nothing
that he can do to add to the finished work of Christ. He knows
that he dare not ever diminish the finished work of Christ.
So we enter into his rest. Look, look at, Look at verse nine in Hebrews
chapter four. There remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God. This rest is the word Sabbath.
This is the sign. No other commandment is called
a sign. Only the Sabbath is called a
sign. And when God by his grace enables us to rest in Christ,
we keep the whole law. The whole law has been kept. For he that is entered into his
rest, he also has ceased from his own works as God did from
his. That's what we do. We cease from
the, you see slavery, the children of Israel were in slavery. Slavery
is our attempt to produce a righteousness based on our works that's impossible
for us to produce. It's our attempt to satisfy the
demands of God's law, which we can never do. And that's slavery. And the Lord's likening the slavery
of the children of Israel in Egypt to the rest that Christ
has provided for his people by his finished work of redemption.
And so he says in verse 11, so why can't we just enter into
this rest one time and just stay there? Because we live in Egypt
and because we are Egyptians by nature, because that old man
keeps looking back to the leeks and the garlics and the onions
and the melons of Egypt. And we have a tendency in our
flesh to not feed daily on that living
bread of life that God gives us. And so the Lord says, let us
labor. Yes, there is a labor. In the believer's life, there
is a labor. What is the labor? Let us labor therefore to enter
into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of
unbelief. We are fighting the good fight. We are laboring right now. I'm laboring to preach to you
and you're laboring to hear. It's a labor for you to hear,
isn't it? How easily are you distracted? How easily is it
for your mind to bluff on something else? Sure it is. You see, this is the labor of
faith. Lord, I want to set my heart on Christ. I want to rest
all my hope in Him. Lord, I know that He came in
order to bring us out, and yet, I find myself... still dealing with this sin of
unbelief. Go back with me to our text. The scripture says that sin is
the transgression of the law. And where there is no law, there
is no transgression. So this matter of law and sin
are inseparably linked. And as I said, we, we, we love
God's law. We want to honor God's law. We
submit to God and seek to obey God's law, but we're not under
the judgment of the law. We're not under the condemnation
of the law. The law has been fully satisfied. And we know that in our heart
of hearts and our minds, we can never, we can never satisfy the
demands of God's law. We're not trying to answer its
requirements. We're not fearing its condemnation. But here's the glorious truth.
The scripture says, let not sin therefore reign in your mortal
body, for you are not under the law, but under grace. Where sin abounds, grace does
much more abound. The strongest inducement for
the believer to obey God is the fact that he has already been
graciously forgiven in Christ for not obeying God. Did you
hear that? You see, the taskmasters of the
law just cracked the whip of the law. and say, you need to
do this and you need to do that. And people make commitments to
do better. And what I'm saying to you this
morning is the only way, the only inducement that we have
in our hearts to obey God is the realization that we've already
been forgiven in Christ for not obeying Him. Can you identify with that? Is
that not the mercy of God? It is the love of Christ that
constraineth us. This is the gospel of God's free
grace. I fear that sometimes people
hear what we're preaching And they think, well, that's a license
for sin. No, it's not. No, it's not. It's just the opposite. It's
the only thing that restrains sinful behavior is the grace
of God. And yet, even as our sinful behavior
is being restrained, we know at the same time that everything
about us is sin. That's a truth that only those
with two natures can relate to. You see the law, the law manifests
what is in man and grace, which is sin and grace manifests what's
in God, which is love. The law demands righteousness
from man and grace brings righteousness to man. They don't want to be under the
law. The rigors of the law, the condemnation of the law, the
judgments of the law. Law sentences a living man to
death. And grace brings a dead man to
life. Law speaks of what men must do
for God and grace speaks of what God has done for men. Law gives the knowledge of sin
and grace puts away sin. Law brings God out to man and
grace brings men into God. Who is this judge and ruler? He brought them out He brought
them out. What do you bring them out? He
brought them out from under the taskmasters of the law. He showed them that the laws
been satisfied. Everything that God requires
in his holy law, the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled. Pharaoh in
this picture is a is a type of Satan. And he would be the one who would
have us to try to satisfy the demands of God by what we do. Why? In order to dishonor Christ. You see, what the Lord Jesus
Christ did in fulfilling the law is he made, the scripture
says in Isaiah, he made the law honorable. He fully fulfilled
the law of God. He would use fear and manipulation
to control men, laying burdens on them, the scripture says,
that they themselves cannot carry. That's the burden of the law.
And yet that's what man-made works religion does. It puts
men under the law. The Lord says, I brought them
out from that. I've given them a place of rest.
You see the contrast we have here is the cracking of the whip
of the law by the taskmasters or the rest and freedom that
we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Most people like the Israelites
enjoy the false security of works religion. They have but one nature. They're
not able to see Christ. They're not able to believe on
Christ. They're not able to rest in Christ
and trust in Christ. So the only hope of their salvation
that they have is what they see accomplished in their own flesh. And so they let the taskmasters
of the law with them, and they feel like, well, if I can just
get my toes stepped on hard enough, it'll make me feel better about
myself. Manna is not appealing to the
flesh. It's not. And what did the Israelites
say? You know, you think about this
for a moment. The food that you enjoy eating
the most, if you had to eat it for breakfast and lunch and dinner
for 40 years, would you not get tired of it? Sure you would. We have leftovers
the third day. I'm done with that. You know,
let's fix this, do something else. And these children of Israel
ate manna. Well, the belly's a picture of
the flesh. And the Lord said, I'm that bread that came down
from heaven. Manna wasn't appealing to the
flesh. It got old. But the Lord Jesus Christ, He's
the only one that can satisfy the soul. Oh, and how appealing
He is. how much he causes us to hunger
and thirst after righteousness that we might be filled. He brought them out. You see, the contrast is always
between law and grace. It's always between What you
do in order to try to earn favor with God, or what God has already
done in the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans chapter 10, Paul said,
they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For
being ignorant of the righteousness of God, that's the Lord Jesus
Christ, they go about trying to establish their own righteousness. What does the child of God say?
Oh no, I'm gonna keep God's Sabbath. I'm gonna keep God's Sabbath.
Listen, I have a little bit of problem with that first hymn
we sang this morning because it identifies today as a Sabbath
day. John Newton wrote it. Maybe we
can change the words of that song a little bit. The rest of
it's great. The rest of it's great. Sunday's
not the Sabbath. Sunday's not the Sabbath. Most
people violate the Sabbath in their attempt to keep the Sabbath. They think, well, if I do this
and I don't do that on Sunday, you know, then God, that'll be
my keeping the law. No, it won't. The child of God
keeps the fourth commandment by resting all his hope in Christ. Christ is our Sabbath. We saw
that in Hebrews chapter 4. He's our Sabbath. Men are, men are liars by nature, aren't
they? Scripture makes that true. Romans chapter three, verse four
says, let God be true, but every man a liar. Now that doesn't
mean that we don't seek to be honest and faithful and sincere
and trustworthy with one another, that's not what that means. It means that before God, standing
in his presence, the Lord Jesus Christ being the purity and the
perfection of truth, that we just have to bow and say, Lord,
I can't identify with that. But that's what I have to have
in order to stand in the presence of God. All human relationships, whether
it be a marriage or whether it be a business transaction, is
based on trust, isn't it? God says all men are liars. It
doesn't mean that we go around lying to one another. Yeah, before God, we must be
able to worship him in spirit and in truth. And so
in contrast to all men being liars, the scripture also says
in Colossians chapter three, verse nine, lie not to one another. In Isaiah chapter 63, here's
what the Lord says about his children. He says, surely they
are my people, children that will not lie. Children that will
not lie. You see, legalistic works, free
will religion is a lie. And you won't hear anything about
that in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Men lie to God, men lie to one
another. They pretend to be something
that they're not. They compete with one another. They try to
compare themselves to one another. They lie about what they're doing
for God. They try to intimidate one another with their feigned
humility and their self-righteousness. And that's what religion's all
about, isn't it? And in the church, where God's
people are resting their hope in Christ for all their righteousness,
you don't. These are my children. They will
not lie. They're not gonna lie about themselves. They know what
they are. They're sinners. And they know
who I am. I'm God. I'm the only one who
ever satisfied the demands of God's law. They lie about what
they did to get saved, don't they? They stand up and give
testimonies boldly. and unashamedly about how they
accepted Jesus and how they did this for God and how they came
to... When the scripture says, lie
not to one another and these are my children and they shall
not lie, that's what it's talking about. Worst of all, they lie about
God. They'll say the love of God is unconditional. Don't believe
that for a minute. The love of God is not unconditional. He loves righteousness and he
hates iniquity. His love is conditioned on the
perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And unless
we'd be found in Christ, we have no reason to believe that God
loves us. unless we're looking in faith
to Christ for all our righteousness. As our Sabbath, as the, you notice
the fourth commandment, keep holy the Sabbath. That's right
sandwiched in between those first three commandments, which speak
of our duty to God and the last commandments will speak of our
duty to man. And that's the sign commandment. That's the token commandment.
That's the commandment that fulfills all the commandments. God said,
you keep the fourth commandment, you've kept them all. And that's what faith does. Faith
keeps the fourth commandment. Faith rests in Christ. We don't lie about God's love
being unconditional. God can only love me in Christ. They lie about God when they
say that salvation is an indiscriminate free offer given to man to be
accepted or rejected by his will. That's a lie. These are my children and they
do not lie. And we don't lie to one another
about who we are. We don't lie about who God is
and we don't lie about what he's done. We speak the truth, don't
we? They'll lie in saying that Christ
died for everybody. They'll tell you that God is
powerless to save you unless you do something, unless you
approve, unless He can get your approval and your agreement. And they will say that the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished nothing. It accomplished nothing. It is an offer and the real,
You know, they'll say, well, Christ is necessary for salvation,
but he's not sufficient in and of himself. He did his part. Now you got to do your part to
make what he did work for you. Isn't that the message? My children
will not lie. I came and I brought them out. You know how reluctant Pharaoh
was to let the children of Israel out and yet when they left, The
scripture says that not a hoof was left behind. He brought them
out, every one of them. They've changed the truth of
God into a lie and they've worshiped and served the creature rather
than the creator. In Isaiah chapter 28, The scripture
says, we have made lies our refuge. We have made a covenant with
death and with hell we're in agreement. And when the overflowing
scourge comes, not going to bother us because we've done our part.
He brought them out. Those Israelites had no way of
coming out from under the law unless God had brought them out. And you and I can't come out
from under the law. We can't make a choice or a decision
or work. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only one that can bring us out. In that regard, we do not lie. We tell the truth. We tell the
truth about what we are. Lord, we cannot satisfy one jot
or two of your law. And the Lord said, I did not
come to destroy the law, came to fulfill it. And he made it
honorable and Lord, I need Christ. I need Christ. Otherwise the. The law is going to hold me in
bondage. My sins get you see the law and sin. I meant this
statement a few minutes ago. The law and sin are inseparably
linked together. This is the problem that we have.
We can't keep God's law. Notice with me in verse 35, who
made thee, we're back in Acts chapter seven, who made thee
ruler and judge? By what authority do you do these
things is what they asked the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord
Jesus said, all authority has been given unto me in heaven
and in earth. He said, Pilate, you have no
authority at all except that which is given to you from heaven.
The Lord Jesus possesses the authority of God. He brought
them out. He brought them out. John chapter five, the Lord said,
you will not come to me that you might have life. For you trust in Moses. He said, I'm not gonna judge
you. You already have one that will
judge you, Moses, in whom you trust. You are trusting in your
ability to satisfy the demands of God's holy law and to establish
a righteousness on your own. And then the Lord went on to
say, if you really believed Moses, you would believe in me for Moses
spoke of me. But you desire rather the honor
of man rather than the honor of God. When the Lord makes us willing in the day of
his power, We say with Saul of Tarsus, Lord, what would you
have him do? You remember in Mark chapter
10, when the Lord healed that blind man and the Lord told him,
he said, he said, go your way for your faith has healed you.
And the next part of that verse says, and he followed Jesus in
the way. The Lord told him after he healed
him, he said, go anyway, go anywhere you want. Do anything you want
to do. What'd he do? He followed Christ.
He followed Christ. Lord, I can't rule myself. Can't
judge myself. I've got to have. Who made you
to be ruler and judge over us? You need a ruler? You need a
judge? Look, look at verse 36, I'm sorry,
verse 35. The same did God send to be a
ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel, which appeared
to him in the bush. Now, who was that angel? That
angel was Christ. And so the Lord sent Moses to
bring the children of Israel out from under the law and to
give them rest and to make him ruler and judge
over them. And he brought them out, verse
36, and after that, he had showed wonders and signs in the land
of Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the wilderness 40 years. All those wonders and signs,
every single one of them that Moses that God performed by the
hand of Moses, everyone appointed to Christ. You know, the number 10 is a
number of complete judgment. We've got 10 commandments, we've
got 10 plagues in Egypt. You compare the 10 commandments
of God to the 10 plagues of Egypt, you'll see a correlation between
each one of them. Now I won't take the time to do that this
morning, except to say that the first plague was turning the
river into blood. What was the first miracle that
the Lord performed at the wedding feast of Canaan? He turned water
into wine. He took those six water pots
that the Jews ceremonially washed their hands in. What's that a
picture of? It's a picture of the law. You see, they were trying
to satisfy the demands of God's law in hopes that they could
save themselves. And the Lord said, go get that
water. put it in, and he turned the water into wine, showing
that through his shed blood, all the demands of God's holy
law were fulfilled. And then what are the last two
plagues? By the way, the second plague was the plague of frogs,
which was the most common icon used in Egyptian religion. And what is the second commandment?
I shall not make any image of God. And what was the ninth commandment? The ninth plague. The scripture says that God sent
a darkness that could be felt for three days. And what happened
on Calvary's cross? There were three hours of total
darkness. And what is the ninth commandment?
Thou shalt not bear false witness. What is these lies that men tell
about how you can get right with God by something you can do?
What does it do? It just sends men into darkness.
And the Lord suffered the darkness of separation from God. My God,
my God, whilst thou forsaken me. And then he bowed his mighty
head and shed his precious blood. as the Lamb slain before the
foundation of the world, the Lamb of God that was without
spot and without blemish. And what was the 10th plague?
The 10th plague. What was it? It was the death
angel that came through. We are all dying men. We are. As a family, we've been
confronted with that this week. I was telling the men this morning. I wish. That I could stand before
you because of the weakness of my flesh and because of my sins
of presumption and you send presumptuously to. You presume that you're going
to be drawing breath tomorrow. No, you don't think about it.
I mean, we do. Believers think about dying.
They do think about it all the time. But not like when you're
sitting at the bedside of a brother or sister who is drawing their
last breath and you're reading to them the scriptures. And every
word has a tremendous weight and urgency about it. Oh, that
we could have that urgency about the gospel all the time. All
the time. All these plagues, all these
signs and wonders that were performed, they all pointed to Christ and
our need for Christ. And then when Moses led the children
of Israel across the Red Sea, The picture of our baptism in
Christ. Paul makes that clear in 1 Corinthians.
Turn with me to that passage, 1 Corinthians 10. All these signs and wonders. It's God saying to the Israelites,
you need a savior. You need a Savior. And He's here
to bring you out. And this is who He is. This is
who He is. He's the one that fulfilled the
law. He's the one that shed His precious blood. He's the one
who delivers you from darkness and death. Look at 1 Corinthians 10, and
we'll begin reading it. At verse one, moreover, brethren,
I would not have you to be ignorant how that all our fathers were
under the cloud and all passed through the sea and were all
baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. And what is baptism? When Christ died, I died. When Christ raised from the dead,
I raised from the dead. When Christ ascended back into
glory, I ascended back into glory. Crucified with Christ, I am buried
with Christ in baptism. I've been raised to walk a new
life in Christ Jesus. Christ is my life before God. I have no hope of salvation outside
of Him. Nothing I can do to add to Him,
nothing I can do to take away from Him. And the Lord is telling
us right here, when these children, this is what Stephen's preaching
to these Pharisees. They knew the story, they knew
about how God, how Moses went to Egypt and brought the children
of Israel out. And Stephen is doing what I'm
trying to do right now, connect those Old Testament stories to
the gospel, because that's what they were for. When Moses brought you through
that Red Sea, he was showing you how you died in Christ. And the same water that parted
to deliver you is the water that God will send in judgment of
a deluge to destroy this whole world. And you did eat all eat the same.
Look at verse three. And they did all eat the same
spiritual meat. What was that meat? It was the
manna. It was the manna. God's people never get tired
of hearing about Christ. Tell me more. Tell me more about
the Lord Jesus Christ. Tell me who he is. Tell me what
he did. I'm a sinner in need of a savior. And they did all drink the same
spiritual drink. So they drank of that spiritual
rock, which followed them. And that rock was Christ. What
did Moses do? He took his rod and he smote
the rock and out of that rock of all places came water. That rock was Christ. That rod
was the law of God. It smote the Lord Jesus as he
bore our sins on Calvary's cross. And the water of life, if any
man thirst, let him come unto me, and out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water. And when John saw the throne
of God and the Lamb in glory, he said, there was a river flowing
clear as crystal from the Lamb of God and from the throne of
God. What are we going to do without water? just as necessary
as water is for our physical life. So the Lord Jesus Christ
says the water of life is necessary and sufficient and sufficient
for our souls. Look at verse five. But with
many of them, God was not well pleased for they were overthrown
in the wilderness. Hebrews chapter four makes that
clear. They did not mix faith. They heard the gospel. The gospel
has been preached to them in all these types and shadows.
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake to our
fathers in times past through the prophets and through the
types and through the shadows has now spoken unto us by his
son, who is the express image of his glory. The Lord Jesus
Christ has come in the flesh. And He's fulfilled all these
types. But they didn't believe. They
did not believe. They refused to believe. Now these things... Look at verse
6, brethren. Look at this. These things were
our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil
things as they also lusted, neither be idolaters as some of them
were. As it is written, the people
sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Neither let
us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in
one day three and 20,000. Neither let us tempt Christ,
as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were
destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened
unto them for examples, and they are written for our encouragement. Our admonition upon whom the
ends of the world are come. We're living in the end of the
world. What's the Lord saying here? Grace is not a license to sin.
I hate to even say that. I hate to even say that. He's
a child of God, knows better. His heart's been moved by grace
to want to follow the Lord and obey Him and honor Him with their
lives. But here's what we're falsely
accused of. Paul said, they falsely accused
me because I'm saying salvation is all of God and all of Christ
and all of grace, that therefore we are is turning ourselves loose. The man said, if I believed what
you believed, I'd live like I wanted to live. And I would respond
to that by saying, oh, I wish I could live like I want to live. The cloud, the pillar of fire,
the tabernacle, all these things, God gave, they all pointed to
Christ. And he, verse 36, back to our
text in Acts chapter seven, and he brought them out. He brought them out after he
had shown wonders. How can they believe on him whom
they've not heard? How can they call upon him when
they're not believing? How can they believe when they're
not heard? And how can they hear without a preacher? What are
we doing right now? We're preaching the wonders of the gospel. Knowing that God's word will
not return into him void. It will accomplish the purpose
for which he sends it. And God's elect We'll believe
on Christ and believe on Him. Look at verse 37 and I close.
And this is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel,
a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your
brethren like unto me, him, him, him, Shall you hear? Our Heavenly Father. Give us
ears to hear. The voice of God. Give us hearts
to believe all that you have said. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. We're going to celebrate
the Lord's table together. Tom, I think you're going to
come and lead us in a couple of hymns. We're going to wait
for some of the nursing workers to come from the other building.
So let's stand together and 186, 186. Church's one foundation is Jesus
Christ, her Lord. She is his true creation by water
and the Word. From heaven he came and sought
her to be his holy bride. with his own happy daughter and
for her life he died elect from every nation yet one for all
the earth of salvation. One Lord, one faith, one word. One holy name she blesses, partakes
one holy food. And to a Pope she presses, with
every praise and With toil and tribulation And
tumult of her war She waits the consummation Of peace forevermore
Till with a vision glorious Her longing eyes and the great church victorious
shall be the church at rest. Yet she of earth hath union with
God the free in heart, and mystic sweet communion with those whose
breast is warm. O happy ones and holy, the dearest
grace that we, like them the weak and lonely on high may dwell
with thee. Please be seated. We'll sing
number 17 now in your spiral hymn book, number 17. See the table spread before you,
see the feast of bread and wine. These are symbols of our Savior,
tokens of His love divine. Bread that's broken is his body
Crushed beneath the wrath of God Wine poured out is a reminder
Of our Savior's precious blood Children of our God remember
how he bought your soul and mine. In remembrance of our Savior,
eat the bread and drink the wine. Jesus came, the God incarnate,
to fulfill God's holy law. On the cross He made atonement
And retrieved us from the morgue. Let us never forget the promise
Jesus made to come again. Soon He comes, our King, to call
us home to glory, praise his name. With this hope and expectation,
we rejoice to keep this feast, celebrating our redemption, till
we meet our Jesus forever.