Let's turn in our Bibles to Exodus
chapter 9. It's been a while since we've been
back in Exodus, but we're going to pick up right where we left
off. Exodus 9 verse 13. We're looking at the plagues.
I believe this is the fourth plague. And the Lord said unto
Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh and
say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews. Let
my people go that they may serve me. Verse 14, For I will at this
time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants,
and upon thy people, that thou mayest know that there is none
like me in all the earth. For now I will stretch out my
hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence, and
thou shalt be cut off from the earth. And in very deed for this
cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee my power,
and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. As
yet, exaltest thou thyself against my people, that thou will not
let them go? Behold, tomorrow about this time
I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not
been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now. Send
therefore now, and gather thy cattle and all that thou hast
in the field. For upon every man and beast
which shall be found in the field, and shall not be brought home,
the hell shall come down upon them, and they shall die. He
that feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh
made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses. And he
that regarded not the word of the Lord left his servants and
his cattle in the field. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Stretch forth thine hand toward heaven, that there may be hell
in all the land of Egypt, upon man, and upon beast, and upon
every herb of the field throughout the land of Egypt. And Moses
stretched forth his rod toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder
and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground. And the Lord
rained hail upon the land of Egypt. So there was hail, and
fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none
like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. and
the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt, all that was
in the field, both man and beast, and the hail smote every herb
of the field and break every tree of the field. Only in the
land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no
hail." Now my subject this morning is, do you believe the Word of
God? Do you believe the Word of God? The only way we can prove that
we believe the Word of God is by faith in Christ. That's how
we prove that we believe every word God speaks in this book,
is by believing on Christ. Now first, let's notice that
even in those who do not believe God's Word, even the rebel who
does not believe God's Word, they're being used by God for
the benefit of God's elect. He said in verse 14, I'm sending
these plagues upon all the people so that you will know that there's
none like me in all the earth. And then in verse 16 he says,
in very deed for this cause I've raised you up. I've raised you
up Pharaoh for this cause to make my power known in you. Now there is none like God. There
is none like God. God makes His elect to know that
He is the only true and living God, and there is salvation in
no other. Deuteronomy 4, verse 32, He says,
Ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee,
since the day that God created man upon the earth. Ask from
the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been
any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard
like it. Did ever a people hear the voice
of God speaking out of the midst of the fire? Remember God spoke
through that burning bush? Has ever anybody heard and lived? Or hath God assayed to go and
take him a nation from the midst of another nation? By temptations,
by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand, by a stretched
out arm, by great terrors according to all that the Lord your God
did for you in Egypt before your eyes. The things we're seeing
God do for Israel in Egypt, no other God ever did this for anybody.
You know that's why men who do not believe find this so incredibly
difficult to believe. Because their gods can't do this.
And nobody's ever done this before. God alone did this. And so He
says, "...on the day it was showed that thou mayest know that the
Lord, He is God, and there's none else beside Him." This is
God. Always remember when enemies
arise and they They don't believe our gospel and they turn against
you and all that. Remember, God's using the enemy,
those that don't believe, He's using them to show you His power
and His mercy towards you. Go over to Romans 9, we'll see
that. Romans 9, when we face enemies and we see
that they don't believe our gospel and they turn on us, and God's
using that to show you His power and His mercy towards you. Look
at Romans 9.15. He said to Moses, I will have
mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. So then, he's talking about salvation. So then, salvation is not of
him that willeth, it's not of man's free will, nor of him that
runneth, it's not of man's works, but of God that showeth mercy.
For the scripture said unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have
I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that
my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore, this
is what we learn from him doing that in Pharaoh. Hath He mercy
on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will, He hardens. That's
God's prerogative as God, to have mercy on whom He will and
to harden whom He will. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why
does He yet find fault, for who has resisted His will? Nay, but,
O man, who are you that replies against God? Shall the thing
formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
hath not a potter power over the clay of one lump to make
one vessel under honor and another under dishonor? Now watch this. What if God, willing to show
His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fit to be destroyed? And He does that that
He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of
mercy which He had aforeprepared under glory. He does it And He
passes by some, He hardens some, so that you who He calls will
see His glory in His mercy that He has given to you and in His
power to call you out and make you believe. That's why they
are enemies. So He is using even the enemy
to glorify Himself in the hearts of His people. That's why He
raised up Pharaoh. You just think, if Pharaoh hadn't
been rejecting God, and rejected Moses and rejected all these
mighty wonders, we wouldn't see all these things that God is.
Because Pharaoh was used to reject Moses and reject all God's Word,
we get to see a very beautiful picture of how God redeems His
people in Christ our Passover Lamb. We wouldn't see that otherwise. The devil is not God's rival.
You know, men present him as You know, God's fighting and
the devil's fighting and sometimes the devil wins, sometimes God
wins. The devil is not God's rival. The devil is God's devil. Just
like he raised up Pharaoh for the purpose of showing his power
and showing his people how he saved, he allowed the devil to
fall so that his people would have an adversary. and so that
He would come and crush the serpent's head by Christ the Lord and show
us how He saves. The devil is not a rival, it's
God's devil. Now secondly, we see here in
Exodus 9 that through the preaching of His Word, God gives fair warning
to everybody that judgment is coming. He gives fair warning
to everybody that judgment is coming. The Word goes forth to
everybody. His people and people that don't
believe. It goes forth to everybody. So,
if a man doesn't believe, it's nobody's fault but his own. He
doesn't have God to blame. God's given him ample warning. God's preached His Word just
like He preached His Word to everybody. Look here in Exodus
9.13, The Lord said to Moses, Rise up early in the morning,
and stand before Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the
Lord God of Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. For
I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart,
and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, that you may know
there is none like me in all the earth. Look at verse 15,
For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee,
and thy people with pestilence, and you will be cut off from
the earth. Verse 17, As yet, exaltest Thyself against My people,
that Thou wouldst not let them go? Behold, tomorrow, about this
time, I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail." He kept
warning him, and He even told him the time that it's coming. And just like He gave Pharaoh
warning, and gave the Egyptians warning, God's given us all warning. We're under the curse by nature. And judgment's coming. Judgment's
coming, and He's warned us all. God's not left Himself without
a witness in any generation. He's preached this word to every
creature under heaven. He's not left himself without
a witness. God even gave them direction on what to do to save
themselves. Look down at verse 19. Sin therefore
now, and gather thy cattle and all that thou hast in the field,
for upon every man and beast which shall be found in the field,
and shall not be brought home, the hells shall come down upon
them, and they shall die. He told them exactly what to
do to be saved. Get your cattle and your servants
and get in the house. Get in the covering. Get under
the roof. God has sent this word to everybody
in this place, declaring, there's coming the sure certain judgment
of God upon all men who are under the curse of the law. We broke
God's law and therefore Moses, The law, picture of the law.
He must lift up His rod to heaven and He must smite every man unto
death. God has to do so to be just. He has to do to be just. But
God sent direction. He's given us all direction.
He's teaching us all how it is and the only way we can be saved
and get in Christ. Get in Christ, because Christ
is the covering. Get in Christ, just like they
were told to get in the house. And those men that stayed out
in the field, those men that won't believe on Christ, they
won't have a covering. And they'll die. They will die. You see, here's the gospel. Christ
gave Himself to be made sin for His people. For every person
that shall be brought to believe on Christ, Christ gave Himself
for us to be made sin for us that He might bear the just judgment
of God. The hail of God's wrath, the
rod of God's justice came down on Christ instead of His people. And so now He sends this gospel
forth and He tells you and I, get in Christ. Just like He told
them, get in the house, get in Christ, and you'll have the covering
and there'll be no hell, no judgment, fall on you forever. The wages
of sin is death and Christ paid that ransom price. He paid it
in full. So God will never judge His people.
He said, Zion shall be redeemed with judgment and her converts
with righteousness. He redeemed us with judgment.
He did it in a just way. And He's going to convert us
through the preaching of the truth, the preaching of His righteousness. Christ paid the ransom in full
and redeemed us from the curse of the law. Galatians 3.13 says,
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made
a curse for us. That's what He accomplished.
He's redeemed us from our enemies for His mercy endureth forever.
So sinners go around, you hear them, and they boast about their
free will. And here's the truth of the matter.
God's given everybody fair warning. Christ said, you will, you're
willing not to believe on Me. You'll search the Scriptures,
for in them you think you have life. You search the Scriptures
looking for something to do to save yourself. And Christ said,
but you will not believe on Me that you might be saved. You
see, man's will is in bondage to his nature. Whatever your
nature is, if your nature is left like it is when you're born
the first time, it's sinful and your will is in bondage to your
sinful nature. All you're willing to do is what's
sinful. But when God gives you a new
heart, that new nature is in bondage to that new heart. Your new will is in bondage to
that new heart. In the new man where He has given
us this faith, you cannot not believe on Christ. You cannot
not love your brethren. It is the only thing you can
do because the will of the new man is in bondage to that new
nature He has put in you. You get what I'm saying? The
will's in bondage to the nature. That's what Romans 6 tells us.
You were the servants of sin. You were slaves of sin. You were
in bondage to sin. All you could do was sin. But
now, you're the servants of righteousness. You're the slaves of righteousness.
All you can do is that which is righteous. And that's in the
new man. Sin's mixed with all we do in
the outward man. But in the new man, there's a
righteous man. that loves righteousness. Now
lastly, I want to show you here, those who believe God's Word,
they prove it by entering into Christ our covering. Those who
truly believe God's Word prove it by entering into Christ our
covering through faith in Him. And those who do not believe
God's Word, those who disregard God's Word, prove it because
they will not enter Christ. Look here in verse 20. The Lord
says this, this is so plain. He that feared the word of the
Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle
flee into the houses. And he that regarded not the
word of the Lord left his servants and his cattle in the field.
You see it there? A man who guards the Word of
God is going to flee into Christ. A man who doesn't regard it,
he's going to stay out in the field. It's sad that sinners
make all these different excuses for not believing on Christ.
They make excuses for departing from where God's Word is preached
in spirit and in truth. But you know what I've noticed
when I've heard all these different excuses? There's not one of those
excuses. Not one of those excuses would
keep those people from going to the grocery store to get food.
Not one of those excuses would keep them from going to their
job to earn a paycheck. You know why? Those things are
their life. They got to have it. And you
see, we prove what our life is by what we're willing to put
up with to have it. we'll put up with a whole lot
to have Christ. And it's a rare thing to have
Christ in this world. The preaching of Christ is you
rarely find it, brethren. There's churches, a lot of churches,
and the further south you go, the more churches you see. I
can drive two blocks down south and point out six or seven churches.
But to find the gospel preached is such a rare thing. His sheep
are willing to travel long distances for green pasture. And we're
willing to put up with a whole lot to have the gospel. And there's
no excuse that we'll make to part from it. That's the difference
God makes in the heart. The fact that these regarded
not the Word of the Lord meant they had no fear of God before
their eyes. Listen to 1 John 2.19, They went
out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of
us, no doubt they would have continued with us. But they went
out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
That can't be said of men who are in Will Works religion and
they get mad at the preacher and they leave and they go to
another Will Works church. That can't be said of them because
all they did was switch from one church to another church.
That said of those who are under the sound of salvation by free
and sovereign grace in Christ alone who leave it and either
don't go anywhere else or go to a will works church. That's
the only ones this can be said about. They went out from us
because they're not of us. Those that God has redeemed,
those He's regenerated, they're going to stay where the gospel
is because it's God's power making them do it and God don't fail.
That's why. As many as of the works of the
law. Now that man who's saying, I'm
going to stay out in the field, I'm not going to believe on Christ,
he's saying, I can save myself by my own works. That's what
he's saying. Go to Galatians 3.10. I want
you to see this. This is what you're up against
if you're going to try to come to God in any goodness in you
or any work you've done. This is what you're up against.
Galatians 3.10. As many as are of the works of
the law are under the curse. That means whoever you are who
wants to be under the works of the law, you're under the curse.
Because here's what's written. This is what God says He demands
of anybody that wants to try to come to Him by their own goodness
and by their own law keeping. Here's what God demands. He said,
ìCursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them.î Is there anybody here? Anybody here? Let me just ask
this one question, especially you who want to come to God by
your works. Can you even quote all the Ten Commandments? Do
you know all the Ten Commandments? What about beyond the Ten Commandments?
Can you tell me what the laws are beyond the Ten Commandments?
Because there's a bunch more. There's 600 something laws. You
see, most men who want to come to God by the works of the law
don't even know the law. And they certainly don't know
the law was given to declare us guilty. Well, I wasn't given. If there had been a law, Paul
said, whereby they could have given life, life would have been
by the law. But the law can't give you life.
All the law can do is pronounce you guilty. Think about it. That's
all our civil laws do. Our civil laws can't make a man
obedient. They're doing no work in the
hearts of men to make them obedient. All the civil laws we have to
do is tell you, you've broken the speed limit. You didn't pay
your taxes. That's all they do. And that's
all the law of God does. It does not give anybody life.
If you started today and kept every law perfectly, which you
can't do, you still got sin that's got to be paid for. And you can't
pay for that by keeping the law. Christ is the only one who could.
And it will be just like God's Word said it will. Look here
in Exodus 9.24. So there was hell and fire mingled
with the hell, very grievous, such as was none like it in all
the land of Egypt since it became a nation. The hell smoked throughout
all the land of Egypt, all that was in the field, both man and
beast, the herbs of the field, all their fruit. He'd break every
tree of the field. Listen to this. 1 Thessalonians
1.8. It says, Christ shall come the second time. in flaming fire,
taking vengeance on them that know not God, and listen to this,
that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Those that
will not obey this word that's going forth right now and get
in Christ. He said they'll be punished with
everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and
from the glory of His power. But here's the good news. Go
to 2 Kings 22. If you humble yourself at Christ's
feet and cast all your care on Him, God will have mercy on you. God will save you. God will give
you eternal life. You will not be touched by the
judgment of God. Listen to this, 2 Kings 22, 19. This is when the king of Judah
heard that God was about to pour out judgment on Judah. And he
sent some men to inquire for him. That's a picture of you
coming to Christ, the mediator, to go to God for you. And this
was the word that came back to him. Watch this. Verse 19, Because
thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the
Lord, When thou heardest what I spake against this place and
against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation
and a curse, and you've rent your clothes and wept before
me, you repented. I also have heard thee, saith
the Lord. Behold, therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers,
and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace. And thine
eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this
place." And they brought the King Word again. You see, when
you believe on Christ, it's proof that God's given you a humbled
heart. He's given you a heart that's broken and contrite to
believe God's Word and come to Christ and bow to Christ. And
when you do that, God promises throughout His Word, He'll have
mercy on you. He'll have mercy on you. He's
had mercy on you to make you come. And He'll continue to have
mercy on you. He will receive you. And the
one way that we prove we're elect children. You know, men always
hear the doctrine of election and they hate it. Well, how do
you know who the elect are? There's just one way. Just one
way. Those that believe on Christ.
Listen to what Paul said. 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 4, Knowing,
brethren and beloved, your election of God. How come? For our gospel came not unto
you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost,
and in much assurance. They were turned to believe on
Christ. That's how you know who the elect
are. That's how you know. Those that believe the Word of
God and flee into Christ through faith shall be saved, brethren.
Look here, Exodus 9, 26. Only in the land of Goshen, where
the children of Israel were, was there no hell. We've seen
this before. Our land of Goshen, just like
our house, our covering, is Christ. When you're in Christ, You're
in the land where no judgment of God is ever going to fall.
It'll never fall because it's already fallen on Christ. Go
to Hebrews 9. I showed you this the other day,
but I'm still feeding on this even since the Florida Conference.
Hebrews 9, 27. All for whom Christ died at Calvary
have our judgment settled. Everybody's got a dying face
judgment. But everybody that was in Christ by God's grace,
we face judgment in Christ and we died in Christ, so our judgment
settled. Watch this, Hebrews 9.27, As
it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment,
so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. And unto
them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without
sin unto salvation. Our judgment settled. Those that
believe on Christ, our judgment is settled. And go to Romans
8 now. Since your judgment is settled, this is the good news.
Romans 8. God must and shall call everyone
for whom judgment is settled. He must do it because He won't
be guilty of double jeopardy. He will not pour out wrath on
one that's already been justified. And this is what the Word says,
Romans 8, 33. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It's God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died, yea rather that's risen again, who's even
at the right hand of God, who makes intercession for us. Nothing. He goes on to say, nothing shall
separate us from the love of God in Christ. Absolutely nothing. Now sinner, it's this simple.
In the Day of Judgment, if you're found outside of Christ, you're
going to be like those men who were out there in that open field
in Egypt. You're going to face the judgment
of God and He's going to slay you and you'll go away into separation
from God and that won't be the end. It's called everlasting
destruction. Never ending. And that will be
just for God to do that. That would be just for him to
do that. Only those that believe on Christ enter into their home,
enter into the land of Goshen and there be no judgment fall
on us because Christ already bore it. Isn't that good news? Those men that heard this and
stayed out in that field, you know when they started shaking
in their boots? When that first hailstone fell
about big as a softball or a basketball, that's when they said, we have
messed up. We should have believed God.
That's what you're going to say. I should have believed the Word.
Do you believe the Word of God? There's only one way to know
if you do. It's by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, our
Redeemer. That's the only way. And if you
believe on the Lord Jesus, You behold now in those that God
has passed by what great mercy and grace and power God's had
upon you. There's no difference in you
and those who don't believe. There's absolutely no difference
in us in our flesh. The difference is the grace of
God. The difference is the difference
God made. That's the difference. That's
why we say salvation is of the Lord. And for you who believe
Him, there will be no judgment. Amen. Alright, let's stand together. Father, thank You for giving
us clear warning through Your Word. Thank You for the grace
to flee into Christ and to believe on Him. And Lord, we pray for
those that are yet in the field. We pray for those that have not
cast their care on You. Pray, Lord, You draw them through
this message and through this fair warning. Bring them into
Christ and cause them to rest with us. Oh, we have nothing
but good things to look forward to. Things that have never even
entered into our minds. It will be so good. And those
that are outside of Christ, oh, there's judgment awaiting that
they can't imagine. Lord, we ask You to save them
for Your own glory and Your own namesake. It's in Christ's name
we pray. Amen.