May it please Almighty God to
bless us as we meditate in His holy word this evening. Let's
turn to the book of Exodus and the fourth chapter and we'll
read the last verse, verse 31. The fourth chapter in the book
of Exodus and reading verse 31. And the people believed. And
when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel,
and that He had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their
heads and worshipped. This was really a momentous occasion
in the history of Israel. because the children of Israel
have been in Egypt for some 400 years, having gone down there
when Pharaoh was on the throne and when Joseph was ruler of
the nation. And when his family came, his
father and his brethren came down and they would be there
for some 400 years. And this was not something which
should be surprising because God has spoken to Abraham a good
few years before then, that that would come to pass. And so it
did come to pass. And it's always good for us to
realise that God's words do come to pass. Not always, perhaps
when we expect them or not always in the way that we want them.
And no doubt the Israelites would not have realized what a difficult
time they were going to endure in that time of Egypt as it came
near the time of deliverance. But God had not forsaken them. And we have to realize that God
has a wonderful plan. And God has a wonderful time
scale. And often our plans and our timescales
don't coincide with that which God has ordained. But be sure
of this, God's time and his way will be the right way and his
way will be for his honour and for his glory. And that's always
necessary to remember, because if things worked out in the way
that we expected, perhaps, and the way that we wanted, Be assured
of this, we would claim some of the merit ourselves. And what
that would mean, it would detract from the glory of God. God is
a generous God. He will have the honour and glory
and he will use mere men and women to fulfil that purpose. And so we see in the account
in the Old Testament of how God wonderfully went before the Israelites
and appeared for them and yet in ways that they would never
really have anticipated. And so here we see that there
was Moses and again Moses I didn't really expect to walk the path
that he did, because as you well know, I hope anyway, that he
was 40 years of old and he'd lived for 40 years in comfort
in Pharaoh's palace. And then the time had come and
he thought Israel would realize that he was the one who was ordained
to deliver Israel. But quite clearly they did not
understand. They did not appreciate. And the result was that Moses
had to leave Egypt and go into the backside of the desert, a
very barren place, for 40 years. It's a long time, wasn't it? We know in Moses' life he was
40 years in Pharaoh's palace. 40 years in the back side of
the desert, and 40 years leading the Israelites. And so we see
how God's plans came to fruition. And Moses, no doubt, learnt a
lot in Egypt about all the traditions of the Egyptians, was well versed
in their customs, and it was all part of God's plan for him.
And then he had to learn, perhaps, a lot about himself. and perhaps the difficulties
of life and the hardships and perhaps made him far more dependent
upon Almighty God for yet another 40 years. We don't read very
much about him in that time but we do know that the Lord in his
time appeared for him in a very remarkable way in that burning
bush. And so sometimes God reserves
remarkable scenes for us so that we know assuredly that God has
spoken and God is with us and God is directing us. Well, then
the Lord came and directed Moses. And of course, as we know in
this account, he made a number of excuses why he wasn't the
right person. Previously, he thought he was
the right person. But now he thought he wasn't the right person.
But God put everything right. And how good it is to know that
the Lord is very gracious and very merciful and he knows exactly
what we need. And he prepared us to do his
work. Yes, he prepares us in a way
that we would never perhaps have anticipated. And yet God is gracious
and kind. And we should never forget he
deals with us as sons and daughters of the most high God. Well, he
came then with Aaron and addressed the elders and told them the
situation. And Moses and Aaron went and
gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel And
Aaron, who, as you know, was ordained as the spokesman, spake
all the words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses, and did
the signs in the sight of the people. And what was the result? And the people believed. And
when they heard, and the Lord had visited the children of Israel,
and that he had looked upon their affliction. Then they bowed their
heads and worshipped." Wonderful evidence of approving what God
had done. You might be reminded of that
case when Abraham's servant went to find a wife for Isaac. And that's a very remarkable
account you can read in Genesis. and how the Lord appeared on
that occasion. We read there when the answer
to Abraham's servant's prayer came to pass, we're told he bowed
his head and worshipped. It is a great blessing when we
observe God's goodness and mercy to us, perhaps in answering prayers,
in leading and directing us, that we bow our heads and worship
the ever-living and true God. It wasn't a great demonstration,
but there was that secret desire and that secret concern that
God should be honoured and glorified. Well, it's a good testimony for
us to remember in our little lives today that we are indeed
to bow down before God and to worship him when he appears and
when he answers our prayers and appears for us. Well, we might
think as we read such a verse like this that the Israelites
were very encouraged and blessed and that everything now would
go smoothly before them. and there wouldn't be this wonderful
deliverance without any difficulties. Well I'm sure you will realise
and know from that which you read previously that of course
it didn't work out like that. There was a wonderful deliverance,
but God showed forth his amazing power to the Egyptians. And not only so, but as we follow
that testimony, that record of what occurred, we come down,
as we mentioned briefly this morning, that wonderful institution
of the Passover and how that set before them so gloriously.
the office of the Lord Jesus Christ. There had of course been,
always really, since the beginning of creation, the offerings which
had been made to God, the burnt sacrifice, and how significant
that was and had been and would be. But there was then this wonderful
direction for the Israelites to observe that glorious deliverance
through the wonderful work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet, you see, so much had
to take place in a relatively short time. All those other plagues
that came across to the Egyptians had to come to pass, had to be
fulfilled, until that which had been prophesied, which we read
about already in that chapter, that the firstborn pharaoh and
of course all the Egyptians, including their cattle, would
indeed be taken. And that was a very remarkable
time. And it was a very blessed time,
because the Israelites were therefore given the go-aheads to come out
of Egypt. So it was a wonderful time. And
perhaps again they thought, well, the Lord had appeared for them
in that way, and they went out of Egypt. And as you know, they
traveled for not many days, and they came to the Red Sea, and
they were hemmed in. The sea on one side, the mountains
on the other. The enemy chasing them behind,
what were they to do? Well, what did they do? And what
should you and I do sometimes? If we find ourselves in a situation
like that, they cried unto the Lord, they cried unto the Lord,
and the Lord, gloriously faithful, appeared for them. And as I'm
sure we know, they were able to cross the Red Sea, which appeared
to be an impossible obstacle. The things which are impossible
with men are possible with God. And so as we see, there was this
promise that God had spoken to the people and they believed
it. And now they were being led and
directed in a path which they had not known heretofore it was
a new position, a new life and yet the wonderful thing was that
God was with them and God went before them and that is so true
today in our little lives sometimes we might think well we're nothing
like the Israelites we know we're not but nonetheless there are
those times when God in His wonderful love and mercy does go before
us and does indeed make crooked things straight, makes rough
places plain, and makes the mountains to flow down before us in His
presence. It may not be a physical mountain,
it may not be a crooked way physically, but it may be spiritually, and
it may appear to be An impossible way. Well, God
is able to bring to pass those things which seem impossible. We should never forget that we
have a great God with whom are all things are possible. You
only have to remind yourself as you read through the word
of God. There are many, many occasions when the Lord appeared
and brought glorious deliverance. What a mercy to realize that
we have a God who is able to do far more exceedingly abundantly
than we can ask or even think. We sang that beautiful hymn 993
which speaks about deliverance. But there is also a beautiful
account in the prophecy of Isaiah. And in Isaiah 54 we come down
to the 11th verse which tells us, O thou afflicted, tossed
with tempest, and not comforted, Behold, I will lay thy stones
with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of
agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant
stones. And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord,
and great shall be the peace of thy children. You see, the
Lord is able to deliver. The Lord does indeed deliver. And he brings about deliverances
when there appears to be no way, like it was with the Israelites
of old. You see, we have these very vivid
pictures for us to encourage us. So although no doubt we won't
walk in the same path yet, It's a picture for us in our little
lives as we come into situations to realize that we worship the
same God today. And let us remember that the
great blessing was this in Israel's case. They were brought out of
Egypt on that amazing day or night when the Passover was instituted. And that glorious Passover was
something which was kept ever after, every year. The Passover
was kept to direct the Israelites very clearly to the glory of
the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it will be a great blessing
in your life and my life if the Lord directs us and brings us into situations which we perhaps
didn't expect and perhaps at the time we may not really understand
the full implication of them. Vanessa, Lord, leads us and directs
us to see the great blessing is that they lead us to the glorious
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. we'll be able to come and say
by these things men live yes you see the Lord keeps alive
our soul not by walking in a casual and easy path but bringing us
safely through the Israelites had to pass through that wilderness
for 40 years. 40 years. And again, sometimes
we need to realise they had to pass that way because of their
disobedience. Because they did not believe
the Word of the Lord. The Lord told them to go and
possess the land. They'd been privileged to see
what was before them. The spies had brought back a
report. We know that Tenon had brought
a bad report, but two had brought an encouraging report, and Caleb
was able to tell them, we are well able. And so they were,
but they doubted the power of God. And you and I have to be
very careful in our lives that we don't doubt the power of God,
but we're blessed with believing. These people believed. when they
heard the Lord had visited the children of Israel. But sadly
we see so quickly they turned away from that simple faith or
belief. And as we know, there were most
of them, most of them, never reached the land of Canaan. Most
of them perished in the wilderness, all those who were over 20 years
of age. What a sad, sad outcome it was. And these positions and pictures
for us are there to teach us and to instruct us. And naturally,
that path set before the Israelites appeared to be difficult. But in reality, it was not because
God brought about, you only have to read the Old Testament, amazing
victories, amazing victories. And sometimes the Israelites
didn't even have to fight in the battle. The Lord appeared. What a blessing for us to have
that light faith to believe in our God, that He is able to do
far more exceedingly abundantly than we can ask or even think. And if the Lord does graciously
and gloriously appear in our little lives naturally and also
spiritually. Because really the great and
important blessing for you and me is to have Christ revealed
to us as our savior. We may perhaps sometimes think
that's impossible. I'm just too bad. I'm just too sinful. Well, don't forget the Apostle
Paul was able to rejoice in the mercy and goodness of God and
he confessed that he felt to be the very worst of sinners
the chief of sinners and it's a great blessing when God brings us to such a confession so that
we don't look around and say well I'm not as bad as that person
But we look around and say, well, I'm worse than that person. Well, the Israelites were brought
at last safely home to Canaan. It was a long journey. And when
you think of that which was spoken to them, we read here, and the
people believed when they heard the Lord had visited the children
of Israel. and that he had looked upon their affliction then they
bowed their heads and worshipped we would think from that that
the victory would be very short and very quick and soon but it
was a long time and therefore we should realise in our lives
sometimes we may expect a wonderful deliverance a wonderful appearance
of Almighty God but God has his plan which is the right plan
and a glorious plan. And in that plan, one thing is
very certain, you and I will come and give glory to God. And
we have to say, it's not in myself, it's what God has done. God who
is the great and glorious, one who has appeared for me and gone
before me. And blessed me, perhaps naturally,
and also blessed us spiritually. You see, that's the great and
wonderful blessing, isn't it? To think we have a God who doesn't
deal with us as our sins deserve. Well, the people believed. Again, how needful it is for
us today to believe God's truths. One of the greatest curses really
that we have today is the evil heart of unbelief. We look around. We look around. We see the enemy. We think it's impossible. Nothing
is impossible with God. But God has a divine way and
it's good to come and to submit ourselves under the mighty hand
of God, that he may exalt us in due time. The Lord has a way. And you and I are mere mortals
on this earth. and what a glorious favour it
is to be a saved sinner. And if you and I are a saved
sinner, we have a debt that you and I will never be able to repay,
because that debt to take away our sin was paid for by the Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ, when he suffered and gave his life upon
that cross at Calvary so many years ago so that we indeed might
enjoy the wonderful, wonderful blessing of eternal life. Our little life on this earth
is but a journey, a journey. We're passing through this world. This world is not our rest. I
hope it's not. I hope none of you are settling
down, building your home on this earth. We have a home on high,
an eternal home, a glorious home. And what a mercy it is if you
and I can declare plainly whose we are. and whom we serve, and to never
forget the enormous cost of our salvation. Well, the Israelites
never deserved to be brought safely into Canaan at last. But what do we see? God's mercy. What do we see? God's favour. And that's exactly the same in
our lives. What do we see? God's mercy. What do we see? God's favour. And what an inestimable blessing
it is to realise that Almighty God is dealing with you and me
as sons and daughters of the Most High God. And what he's
doing is he's fitting and preparing us for our eternal home. The Israelites had refitted and
prepared to enter into that land of Canaan. But God brought them
safely there. He didn't fail. And God doesn't
fail. And God's promises do not fail. What God says comes to pass. and therefore what God has said
to the Israelites came to pass. Although the Israelites turned
their back upon God, although they wouldn't follow the gracious
commands of God, God didn't forsake them. He dealt with them, but
he didn't forsake his people. my friends how encouraging that
should be for you and me today as we live on this earth and
of course it's not an easy earth is it to live in and it doesn't
get any easier in reality we're not promised it's going to get
any easier and yet the Word of God speaks to us if we are his
people true Israelites the Lord has placed us on this earth just
like he did Queen Esther. You remember in that book of
Esther, Esther was there and Mordecai, her uncle, was used
and he was the one who told her that she should be faithful and
perhaps she'd come to the kingdom for such a time as this. And you and I should realise
exactly the same in our lives. The place that we're in today
hasn't appeared, hasn't come by chance. It's ordained by Almighty
God. The Israelites that we read up
here were not in Egypt by chance. They'd come there. They lived
there. The old generations had passed away. The new generations
had been born. and they were here for such a
time as this, they would bear testimony of God's mercy and
God's goodness to them and that wonderful deliverance from that
condition of bondage. It was a very difficult time,
wasn't it? Yes, they were under the Egyptians,
they were slaves really to them, they had tasks to complete which
were virtually impossible. but God didn't forsake them.
And that's the great blessing for us today, to realise we have
a God who has said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Never leave thee nor forsake
thee. You may sometimes feel perhaps rather bereft. We might think
perhaps, well God has forgotten us. We should realise he never
forgets his people. He never forsakes his people. Although sometimes it may appear
to be like that, it's only because he hides his face from us for
a while. God is always there and he's
watching over us. And as we read with regards to
Israel of old, he led them forth by the right way that they might
go to a city of habitation. And that's the same for you and
me today. If we are his children, we're being led by the right
way to bring honour and glory to his name and to fit and prepare
us for our eternal home. And we should not therefore be
discouraged as we may be sometimes. If we are discouraged, we should
look into the word of God and read the word of God. You'll
find in the word of God similarities to your path. That's why we have
the Bible to encourage us. Don't just pass it by as a closed
book. If you have difficulties, open
the Bible and read it. You might read a chapter and
think there's nothing there. Carry on reading. Don't just
stop. You might have to read quite
a few chapters. But be sure of this, if you're
seeking the Lord's encouragement and blessing to strengthen you,
you read the Word of God, you'll find there encouragement. That's what the Word of God is
there for, to direct us, to correct us, and to encourage us. And it gives us such wonderful
directions in our little life, to point us again and again to
the things of God, to the kingdom of His grace, to His wonderful
love, to His glorious mercy. It's all there displayed in the
Word of God and spelt out very clearly to those who have gone
before. It's a record for us to encourage
ourselves, to encourage ourselves in the Word of God. So very sure
very safe and very good place. So then we don't become discouraged. We don't become disillusioned. We can understand that God is
dealing with us as sons and daughters of the most high God. And that
is an exceedingly precious and exceedingly humble, humbling
realization. And it's a place of comfort as
you and I may be able to trace our little lives to find out
that if God before us, who can be against us? Well, we should
be thankful that we have a statement like this. The people and the
people believe. And when they heard that the
Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that He had looked
upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped. I wonder how many times in our
little lives have we come to that position when God has appeared
for us and we've bowed our heads and worshipped. That means we've
acknowledged that God has been mindful of us, that God has appeared
for us and it may not always, as I've said, have been in the
way that you and I anticipated. What a blessing if through God's
amazing love and mercy He's brought us nearer to himself. These things don't just occur,
my friend, it's the glorious work of God. And to realize that
the Lord's hand is upon us in love and mercy, passing over all those things
which are against us, giving us grace to come to him giving
us grace to confess our sins. How often we need to do that
as we realize Israel often had to plead for mercy. The psalmist
often had to plead for mercy. The true Church of God often
had to plead for mercy. Plead that God will forgive our
ignorance, that He will forgive our wilfulness perhaps, forgive
our pride, forgive all those things which are contrary to
God. and to desire to walk humbly
before him, to acknowledge his power, his might, his grace,
his love. How often we fail to do these
things. How often we fail to honour our
God, to glorify his great and holy name. Remember those wonderful
words, those that honour me, I will honour. And those that
despise me shall be lightly esteemed. If God has appeared, if God has
spoken, let us not pass it by. Let us honour him, acknowledge
what he's done. He is worthy. Never forget that. He is worthy. You and I are not worthy. We're
not worthy of any notice, are we really? But what a wonderful
favour it is to come and realise that we have a God who is rich
in mercy. And it's so evident because we're
here this evening. If God wasn't rich in mercy,
we wouldn't be here. We'd be cut off, wouldn't we?
Cut off, as indeed the scriptural wording, a cumbra of the ground,
of no value. What a great favour it is to
be led by the Holy Spirit. Israel were led by the Holy Spirit. And you just ponder their life,
the children of Israel, all those many, many years. Yes, what opposition
they had to meet with. And yet there was an end. There
was safety at last. And so there is to the Church
of God, there is safety at last. May each one of us here be found
travelling home to God, in the way the Fathers trod, and to
believe they are happy now.