I want you to turn with me this
morning to the book of Exodus, chapter 5. Our Lord, our God, true and living God, He accepts the challenge of Pharaoh. Pharaoh said unto Moses, who
was God's spokesman, Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord that I should obey him, that I should obey his voice
and let Israel go? Who is it that I should obey
his voice? I know not the Lord, neither
will I let Israel go." Now, God accepted his challenge,
and he came out on the short end of the stick. But in light of that, let me
say this. national matters, the outlook of the world, the awful, awful
situations they are upon this world, at any given time, wars
and rumors of wars, ungodliness prevails. Men defy God and His Word and
have rejected God's only Son, a child born and a son given. And the present time has been
for some time, maybe always, I'm not sure. But at the present
time, the world gives a very gloomy
picture. There's no morality, no morality
whatsoever. only found for the most part
in the people of God, immoral people. God is not honored or recognized
by the general public, but as things
look in this world, And as things are in the spiritual
world, and when I consider myself an unworthy sinner, have no merit, no merit whatsoever to
gain the favor of God, In myself right now, I have no merit. I
never have had any merit. And you're no different than
I am. You never had any either. You don't have any right now
to gain God's favor, considering what we are right now and considering
what the world is. But what I am spiritual, I'm
before God as if I'd never seen it. I know what I am now. I'm a sinner without any righteousness
or any merit or anything in myself or about myself to gain the favor
of God. If you looked at me as I am,
sinner by nature, by choice, and by practice, no good. God
looked down upon the children of men and said, if there's any
that do it good, no, not one. That's the way we are. But if
we're in Christ, if God has made known unto us the gospel, the
good news, that he sent the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Lord Jesus
in incarnation has become a man, and as a man became responsible
for us, took upon himself to fulfill all the demands of the
law on our behalf, and keep all the precepts of that law, and
also bear the penalty of that law, and also fulfill that law,
and the fulfillment of that law establishes a righteousness which
is freely imputed to me, and therefore I am considered by
God, judicially and legally, as He is. So am I in this world. Now, that's the Spirit. This
world looks like it's in bad shape. Bad shape, isn't it? Immorality prevails in the kings
and the rulers, presidents and senators and congressmen, men
who should be leaders and examples and all that. We have prisons
full of people. So many people in West Virginia
in prison for their evil deeds that they have to build a new
prison. Practically every other day they're
starting on a new prison. Got them filled up before they
ever get the foundation built. And what's true with this particular
area in which we live is true all over the world. wicked and evil and there's no
restraint upon them whatsoever. That's the way it is right now
when you look at them. So I say that I am the most unworthy
and sinful creature of the whole lot. But if I'm considered in
the Lord Jesus Christ, I am without fault before God. Now, here's
the point I want to make. If you consider the state of
public affairs, the way this world is right now, as they are
in themselves, and hardly anything is more cloudy and gloomy as
the present situation on this planet Earth. But if you consider
them, consider the public affairs, the wickedness, the ungodliness,
and all that stuff, consider them in light of God's providence,
God's will, God's mind, and God's purpose, then whatsoever is,
whatsoever is, is right. That is, God's own throne. There's
nothing happening out there in all of this rebellion and ungodliness
and wickedness that's out and over and beyond the control and
the reach of Almighty God. It's going just exactly as His
will demands. It's according to His purpose. That's my comfort. Things is
going just exactly like God wants them to go. He's not trying to
make this world any better. If he wanted to make this world
better, if that was his mind, will, and purpose, he'd make
this world better. He's not trying to make this
world better, just as he's not trying to save everybody. If
he wanted to save everybody and that was his will and his purpose,
that's what he'd do. All right, now, afterwards Moses and Aaron went
in and they told Pharaoh and said, Thus saith the Lord God
of Israel, Let my people go. That was the message. That was
the subject of God. That's what he was concerned
about. These one, two, three, four words, let my people go. His people were the, nationally,
were the Israelites. That was his people. He had nothing
to do with the Egyptians, the Syrians, the Philistines,
None of the other nations was he endeared to. He had one people
among all the peoples on the face of the earth, and they were
the Jews. That was his people. And he told
Moses, them being over there slaves to that Egyptian monarch. He said, You go to Pharaoh. I've
heard the cries of my people. You go to Pharaoh and tell him,
Let my people go. Let them go. And Pharaoh said, Who is the
Lord that I should obey his voice? So God accepted his challenge
and God demonstrated his power over Pharaoh, displayed his awesome
power, what he can do to those that are in opposition to him,
his enemies. In these days in which we live,
men ridicule the idea of a personal god. Every man is a god unto himself. They ridicule the idea of a personal
god because There is no personal miracles in our day. There was
personal miracles that came from the finger of God up until the
days of the apostles. And when the apostles died, God
has been silent in the heavens. You don't see the finger of God
in public miracles today, like He did up until the time of the
apostles. Well, it's not because that God
is helpless. It's not because God is grown
old, that He is aged and grandfatherly like. That's not the case. That's not the reason why God
is silent. The heavens are silent as far
as God is concerned, not because He's helpless. He's never helpless
in the face of opposition. And I'll read and prove that
to you in just a minute. Pharaoh opposed him and said,
Who are you that I would obey you? God accepts the challenge
and shows him who he is. Well, God's never helpless in
the face of opposition. There is no crises with God. The Bible says what his soul
desires, even that he does. He is able to deliver his children
from every danger. He is as able to deliver his
children now as he delivered the three Hebrew children from
the fiery furnace. He is able to deliver his children
now as he delivered Daniel from the lion's den. He is silent, but it is not because
he is helpless. He still rules and he still reigns. It will always be that way. He's able to deliver his children
from every danger. We sometimes sing a hymn that
goes something like this, "'Tis the grandest theme through the
ages run. "'Tis the grandest theme," for
a mortal tongue, "'It's the grandest theme that the world has ever
sung, our God is able to deliver. He's still able. He's still on
the throne. And Pharaoh is going to have
to face up to it. Well, one reason why that heaven is silent and God
has not spoken, God has not broken that silence. It's because he
cares for us. And that's seen in that he does
not always give to us what we want. We cry unto him for this
and we cry unto him for that. And He so cares for us that He
knows what's best for us and He withholds that from us because
He cares for us. Cast all your care upon Him for
He careth for you. Well, He's wiser than we are. What if our loved ones get sick? And we beg God to undertake His
cause and to make Him better, to heal Him. Now, it seems like God's not
answering this because Our child is still sick, or our mother,
or our father, or our husband, and doesn't show any signs of
getting better. Well, sometimes we have hard
thoughts in our hearts towards God. But if they are not getting
any better or showing any signs of getting better, you can be
sure about this. that it's better for him and
it's better for you that he's sick. Now, you may not understand that,
but it's the truth nevertheless. He cares for us. We don't always know what's best
for us, Bob, but he always knows what's best for us. Sometimes
it's best for one of ours to be sick. Sometimes that's best. He understands and he knows all
about it. It's not because God does not
know. He knows. He knows our down settings
and He knows our uprisings. God knows our thoughts before
they are thoughts. He understands our thoughts afar
off, the Scriptures say. The Scriptures say he is acquainted
with all of our ways. So if God is silent, if the heavens
are silent, it's not because he does not care, and it's not
because he does not know. He cares and he knows. God's silence does not mean that
he has quit being God. That is, he's vacated the throne. No one's on the throne. He's still on the throne, and
he's still there working out all things according to his will. all things according to his will. This gloomy, dark picture of
this world where God has been set aside and ridiculed is all
the workings of God to do his will. It's not because God can't
do anything It's not because God doesn't
care. It's not because God does not
know. It's because God, in His plan
and His purpose, is working out all things according to His will. Well, granted, He's not ruling
openly and publicly here in this 20th century. His reign, God's reign. It's like you see a picture sometimes
of the globe, round, and you see Africa and South America
and the United States there on the map. And sometimes you see
a figure of one shoulder to the other on top of that globe. Well, it's not even a good illustration. But God's on top. God's on the
throne. He reigns on that throne and
controls all events and manages all of men's affairs. And he
has that right being God. over all and above all. And there's
no limit. He's not limited to his right. He just keeps on going. Well,
his reign is secret, not public like we would want
it to be. And he rules through his providence. And providence, as I understand
it, is always mysterious. The finger of God is at work
today. Every minute of every day, God's
finger is at work. Our problem is that we do not
see it, but it's at work. and shall be done." Whatever
is in the will, mind, and purpose of God for you, for me, for this
world, and worlds to come, will certainly be fulfilled. A silent
heaven, but if not the silence of a defeated and helpless God,
no siree. It's not the silence of a callous
and indifferent God in heaven. A silent heaven, but not the
silence of a father who has forgot his children. It's a silence which is the pledge
and the proof that the way unto heaven is still open. Because of the silence of God,
no public miracle is displayed. Men and believers sometimes are
cast down. that they've prayed and they've
prayed and nothing has happened. And they're cast down because
there's no display of the finger of God in their behalf. But this silence is a pledge
of God. It's a proof of God that the
way to God is still open, that a man now can draw nigh
unto God. It's the assurance that we're
living in the day when God saves sinners, the day of salvation. Today is the day. When men beg God to break His
silence and show His hand upon this earth, they little realize
what it would mean if God would break His silence. If He would break His silence,
there would be no day of grace. If he would break his silence,
the door of salvation would be shut. If he would break his silence,
it would be a pledge and proof that all of his people are in
the ark and the door is shut and there is no more day of grace. When Noah and his family went
in, it was God who was standing at the door. It was God who opened
the door. And those eight souls, out of
hundreds and hundreds of thousands of millions, stayed on the outside,
and God shut the door. The door was shut and so now
the doors are open. Now is the time of salvation. Now is the end. It would mean
that the end of the reign of grace is finished. The door of the ark is closed. that there is the dawning of
the eternal wrath which is about to fall. That's what it means
when God speaks. He hasn't spoken since the days
of the apostles. There have been no public miracles
since the days of the apostles. The heavens have been silent
for 2,000 years. God shall come. In his time God
shall come and he shall not keep silence. Silence now, but not when he comes. He'll
come with the voice of the archangel. He'll come and call his own unto
himself. and there they shall ever be
with God. Now, let me tell you this. Miracles
are not necessary to faith. Now, I know I watch these programs
every once in a while, turn the television on, and there's a
colored man preaching or a white man preaching, and they all They
all want to be seen. That's very evident from their
actions and from their dress. Did you ever see one of them
come on the television that he didn't have a $900 suit on? All
of them. They come to be seen. They come
in their name. And they say they limit their
miracles to healing and speaking in tongues. That's the two biggest
miracles that they deal with. And they go on and on and on
for 45 minutes or an hour. Some of them have 8,000 and 10,000
people in their audience. And they claim that they know
everything that they need, and they tell them that God wants
to give you this if you'll but do this or do that. It doesn't
make any difference what kind of disease you've got, they've
healed them. They've healed lepers, they've
raised the dead, there's not anything that you can mention
that these five-cent evangelists haven't done. Well, let me tell you, we have
no right to ask God to perform miracles for us, because when
we ask God to do that for us, we're just, in the back of our
minds and in the bottom of our hearts, we're asking Him to prove
His love to us. My son is sick. Deliver him from
this sickness. Prove to me that you love me." Instead of it being proof, it would be proof of our unbelief
to take that attitude towards God. We have His Word. And his words are not. God loves
sinners. That's what his words say. And when the sinner finds that
out by the working of God in his conscience and in his mind
and in his soul and his intelligence, when he finds that out, then
the love of God draws him to the Lord Jesus Christ. Over here
in the second chapter of the book of
John. Turn with me just a minute. John
chapter 2. John chapter 2. It says this, verse 23, 2nd chapter, Now when he was in Jerusalem
at the Passover, in the feast day, celebrating
Passover. Many believed in His name when
they saw the miracles which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself
unto them, because He knew all men, and needed not that any
should testify of man, for he knew what was in man. Well, no public miracles today. Public miracles didn't help these
people, any. They believed in those miracles. They believed in His name when
they saw the miracles, but He did not commit Himself unto them
because He knew them. The miracles of the Lord Jesus
Christ made him famous, but I'll tell you this, but they won him
very few converts, if any. They made him famous as to his
name. His name was known out all Israel.
Miracle worker. But he performed these great
miracles, but they didn't win him no converts. He wouldn't
commit himself unto them because he knew all men. Well, I'll say again, since the
days of the apostles, the finger of God has never been openly
at work on this earth. Not once has a public miracle
been witnessed or a single public event to compel the belief that
there's even a God at all. And we don't need a miracle or
a public event to give us proof that there is a God in heaven.
We have his Word. And his Word shall not return
unto him void, but will accomplish all for which he sent. We believe in him whom God has
sent. We trust in the unseen Christ. We haven't seen him only through
the eyes of faith. Yet we believe. And we must cry
out, Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. I'm going to
continue on. I haven't got long to go, I don't
think. Humanly speaking, a couple of years. Here I'll be almost
as old as Bob is now. So I haven't got that much time,
and some of you haven't either. And, brother, I ain't going to
turn back. I ain't going to turn back. I'm
not looking for the finger of God. I've already seen the finger
of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. He satisfied every claim. that
was against me. And he suffered for every sin
I ever committed, big and little, if there is such a thing. He
suffered for all of it. And he provided me with his acceptability
and accepted me in himself. That's what I'm hanging on to,
Pat. I ain't looking for no miracles. He ain't going to catch me in
a crowd. of 2,000 people looking for a miracle. There ain't no
such thing. God's been silent since the days
of the apostles, and he'll be silent until the day of vengeance.