I please God to bless us this
morning as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the second
epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, chapter six, and we'll read verse
two. The epistle of Paul to the Corinthians,
the second epistle, and chapter six, verse two. For he saith,
I have heard thee in a time accepted. And in the day of salvation have
I succoured thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. We should be thankful that we
have in the Word of God so many encouraging statements, so many
words which apply to our spiritual walk and our spiritual life and
our spiritual understanding. And we have words like this,
as the Apostle wrote to the Corinthians, speaking principally in this
area to ministers as to how they should think and how they should
operate and what they should accept and of course there is
in this chapter we read that great long list that God's servants
and of course it doesn't just apply to God's servants it also
applies to the whole Church of God there should be that concern
to walk rightly and to listen and observe the many things which
we are called to face and called to endure. However, these words
seem to speak very directly to the true living Church of God
and they are words of encouragement, Because so often we may think
the Lord does not hear, the Lord does not answer our prayers. And we may pray and we seem to
make no progress, there seems to be no answer. And we think
well perhaps we are praying in a wrong way, well we may be.
But if we're not, we have to wait and be patient for the time
when the Lord will come and the Lord will hear. We have this
statement, I have heard thee in a time accepted. We are, of course, in time. We're not out of time. And we
should be thankful for that. So not only are we in a time
accepted, but also we are in the day of salvation. What a
mercy it is that there is a day of salvation. a day when the
Lord comes and speaks to his people, and makes them spiritually
alive, quickens them into life, and brings them into their understanding
that they are in the family of God. They are part of that elect
company that no man can number, those who are his love and everlasting
love. And to realise this great truth,
it is a time accepted and in the day of salvation. Well, I read that chapter in
Exodus this morning really because it is an encouraging word for
the Church of God to realize that as Israel were in that country
of Egypt for so many years, and yet you see the Lord was mindful
of them, And there came a day when there was a wonderful deliverance. It was indeed a day of salvation
for them in a physical sense. And what a wonderful occasion
it was. And surely that's why Moses,
in that song that we were able to read together, started with
those words. when he said, I will sing unto
the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously. The horse and his
rider hath he thrown into the sea. Now, we can bless God today
that the devil will never triumph gloriously in the life of his
people. We may find life to be difficult. Perhaps we might find many things
to cast us down. And especially as we might have
perhaps our hopes raised up and then they may be dashed. Well,
Moses tells us that he will sing unto the Lord for he hath triumphed
gloriously. And we can take courage today
to know the Lord does always triumph. The devil will never
triumph over the church of God. He may cause them to fall. He may cause them sometimes to
be discouraged. but he will never triumph over
them. And the blessing is, as you think
upon this life of Israel, how that they were watched over all
those many years in Egypt. They've been told they would
spend those 400 odd years in Egypt, and there would be a time
of deliverance. And there was a time of deliverance. It was a wonderful triumph. But perhaps we should just remember
how they were delivered. Moses was ordained by God with
Aaron to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. And they
came before Pharaoh on those number of occasions to bring
those plagues upon the Egyptians, and no doubt Israel thought perhaps
that on every occasion there would be that deliverance. But
they had to wait. They had to be patient, because
God's work had to be performed, and God's plan had to be brought
about. And they could not hasten it,
and it would not be put back. There was an appointed time to
bring salvation. And Moses says, the Lord is my
strength and song and has become my salvation. He is my God and
I will prepare him in habitation. My Father's God and I will exalt
him. And it was, therefore, a wonderful triumph for Almighty God, a wonderful
deliverance for Israel. And if we think of the great
act which occurred in the life of the children of Israel, it
was to direct them when that last plague was to be brought
about, how deliverance would be achieved. And also, how there
was to be deliverance for their souls, and how salvation was
to be brought to them. As we have here, in these words,
I have heard thee in a time accepted and in the day of salvation I
have succored thee, I have helped thee. Now Israel indeed were
helped and it was the Lord had to bring about that wonderful
occasion when he instituted the Passover because that was a very
clear and wonderful direction to the Lord Jesus Christ and
the deliverance that he brings to his people. It was a deliverance
that was brought about to the children of Israel in those days. And they weren't delivered until
there was set before them the glorious type of Christ. They weren't delivered until
they realized there was only safety under the shed blood of
that Lamb. And surely It is so in a spiritual
way. We may think perhaps, we may
anticipate that our prayers are being heard and that we're being
delivered, but we still don't seem to be delivered. We still
seem to be in perhaps a dark state. We can't really rest upon
those things which appear to have been right and then have
faded away. when the true deliverance came. It came about when Christ was
evidence to the people in that form of that lamb. That lamb
slain, and the blood shed, and the blood put upon the doorposts
of the lintels. And then, you see, they were
ready for the deliverance. And then were the firstborn of
all the families slain. and then Israel were brought
out of Egypt. And it was a great and a glorious
triumph. It was not something that they
would ever have been able to have planned in their own little
minds. But, you see, it was the ordained
and glorious plan of God to reveal to them this perfect way of salvation
and to set before the Church of God the Saviour in that form
of that slain lamb. Well, I wonder today if we are
able to enter in to the great truth of that occasion and the
great application that it has to us today, as we may be able
to realise that in our little lives there has been this day
of salvation, when our hearts have been directed to the blessed
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, and that we see that in Him is
our salvation. Nowhere else, nowhere else. We may have had disappointments,
like Israel did. We may have thought that deliverance
was coming, and it didn't come. But if the Lord comes, and hears
us in this time accepted and he helps us. This word sukkah
really means help. Have I helped thee? And has the
Lord not helped us? Has the Lord not helped us in
this way, to believe the great truth of God? We don't have any
ability ourselves, but to think that the Lord helps us And He's
heard us in an acceptable time, the day of salvation, the time
of salvation. We haven't been passed over. We haven't been passed by. We
haven't been forsaken. But the Lord has been mindful
of us. I have heard thee. Yes, think
of Israel all those many, many years. They must have prayed
many times for deliverance. But the time came, and the time
came in God's way, and in such a way that there was no doubt
that it was God who delivered them. It was God who had brought
them out. And I believe that's true in
the life of the Church of God. When the Lord works this great
work and reveals Christ to our souls, In the day of our salvation,
it gives us that wonderful evidence that the Lord has been mindful
of us. He's looked upon us in our time of captivity. He's been
mindful of us. He's seen perhaps our disappointments. He's seen our down sittings and
our uprisings, but to bless God for the day when Christ was revealed. when Christ was made precious,
when we realise that it was only through his death there was any
hope of salvation for us. It was only through the shed
blood of that Lamb, the shed blood of the Saviour on Calvary's
cross that brought about salvation. It was, it is, as though scales
fall from our eyes. It's then as by faith we are
brought to that position to behold the Lamb of God that taketh away
the sin of the world. And now we realise that this
has been God's appointed time to feed and to bless our souls. And we recognise these words,
behold now is the accepted time, behold now is the day of salvation. Now has come that time when the
Lord reveals himself to us as it is not unto the world. When
that time when we see things we never saw before, we read
about them, but it's a time when God comes and applies his word. You go back and you think of,
well there are many cases in the word of God, but you think
of the case of Jonah. Jonah, there he was, disobedient
to God, and perhaps you and I have been disobedient. And well, God
knew where Jonah was and He knows where you and I have been. He
knows perhaps where we are today. But God had a purpose of love
towards Jonah. And at the appointed time, when
Jonah had been thoroughly tested when all his rebellion had to
be cast out, and he was brought to that submission to look to
the Lord, to come and confess his sins,
and to be brought to that wonderful knowledge where he was able to
say From his heart, it wasn't a theory, it was from his heart,
salvation is of the Lord. He was still in the whale's belly. But you see, when God's work
had been done, and it had been done, because he was able to
testify, salvation is of the Lord, then you see the whale
vomited Jonah out onto dry land. deliverance. But of course he
wasn't allowed to settle down in an easy life. He had a work
to do. So it is, I believe, with the
Church of God, when the Lord reveals his great salvation to
them, when he comes and touches our hearts and speaks that this
is the way, the way of God, the way of salvation through the
shed blood, of the Saviour. We're able to come and say, well,
salvation is of the Lord. There is then that work to do.
As it was indeed here with these that the Apostle is speaking
to, we then as workers together with him beseech you also that
you receive not the grace of God in vain. Well, it doesn't
mean, of course, that we can lose the grace of God. That means
we are to use the grace of God rightly and properly. And so
it is with all the living Church of God. We are born again spiritually
to be useful in the service of Almighty God, to not be left
to just please ourselves and be concerned, to please our God.
to follow that wonderful and gracious example of our Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, this morning here we have
these words. Let us not forget to compare
it with those truths that we read of in this book of Exodus,
and those truths which Moses was able to rejoice in when he
tells us, the Lord is my strength. Again, there was an immediate
acknowledgement that it was the Lord that had done it. And I
believe in our spiritual life, when the Lord comes and reveals
Christ, there is that desire to testify of this wonderful
fact. It's the Lord that has done it. Nothing in me. I'm just a helpless
sinner. Moses realized his impotence
naturally. He realized his inability. It
took a long time to bring him there, didn't it? It took him
80 years. But you see, he was brought there.
And you see, when he was brought there, then he was a fit person
to then come and lead Israel and to deliver them. And therefore
he's able to come and say, without any hesitancy. The Lord is my
strength and song, and has become my salvation. He is my God, and
I will prepare him in habitation, my Father's God, and I will exalt
him." It's a number of good phrases there, aren't there, to encourage
us today. Because the Word of God is here
as a testimony to give us a very wonderful example as to how we
should react in our lives and our situation, and to realise
that we should desire and should continually have that urge in
our hearts to praise and bless our God if he's brought to us
this great salvation. And my friends, it is a great
salvation, isn't it? It's an amazing salvation to
think the Lord comes and saves our soul, comes to us, watches
over us, and at the appointed time reveals his great deliverance
to us. Israel were delivered and it
was a complete deliverance, wasn't it? Not a hope was left behind
in Egypt. Everyone came out. Everyone came
out. The Lord fulfilled his promises. God is faithful. God is faithful
today. God is the same today, yesterday
and forever. God is the Lord that changes
not. His plans don't change. His salvation doesn't change. His promises don't change. I
am the Lord that change not. Therefore you sons of Jacob are
not consumed. Well, can we acknowledge today
that the Lord is our salvation? Can we enter into the words that
we have here For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted." We do want
God to hear us, don't we? We don't want to pray and realise
that God hasn't heard us. We do want to know that God has
heard us. And how shall we know that God's
heard us? It's by the evidence of prayers being answered. And so how we need to watch and
wait for the Lord to grant us this great and blessed evidence
of his salvation to our souls. I have heard thee in a time accepted,
and in a day of salvation have I helped thee. It means that
you and I can't just go by ourselves, It means that we need God to
help us. And God does help us. And God
will help us. And He will encourage us. And
He will go with us. And He will bring to pass His
work. It's described as a strange work. And it's described like that
because natural men, natural minds, don't understand the amazing
and glorious work of salvation. It is indeed a strange work.
But it's a wonderful way that Almighty God has ordained to
save his people from their sins so that he becomes the altogether
lovely. He becomes that one who is so
precious, more precious far than earth and all its comforts are.
He becomes that one who is the cheapest among 10,000 and the
altogether lovely. It is because of his great work
and it is he who helps us then to understand the greatness of
this work left to ourselves. We would never have our eyes
opened to rejoice in what Christ has done. That is the whole purpose
and the whole object of our salvation, to rejoice in what Christ has
done in what he has done in redeeming ourselves and to be brought indeed
to this same place that Moses came in this song. And I hope
we can all in measure join together and sing this and be able to
say with Moses, the Lord is my strength. He it is that's helped
me. He's helped me. He's helped me
of the two. Friends can we say that and let's
quote perhaps the line of the hymn writer. He has helped me
hitherto will help me all my journey through and Give me daily
cause to raise new Ebenezer's to his praise and Ebenezer of
course means hitherto hath the Lord helped us and day by day,
to be able to come and acknowledge, yes, the Lord has helped me today. The Lord has strengthened me
today. The Lord has perhaps come alongside
me today. And it's a wonderful thing, isn't
it, if we could say that every day we rejoice in God's salvation. The Lord is my strength and song
and has become my salvation. He wasn't a one time in our lives,
was he? There were many years of darkness
for Israel in Egypt. There are many years of darkness
perhaps for the people of God as they find themselves in Egypt.
That means in the world. That means in darkness. They
don't see the light of the glorious gospel until the Lord comes. And when the Lord comes, The
deliverance comes, the light shines, the glory of the Lord
appears. And so to be able to join with
Moses, the Lord is my strength and song and has become my salvation. He is my God. We've often read
perhaps words like that, but you know it's a wonderful thing
to be able to say that this God is our God, this God is my God.
This God is my God. If this God is my God, what will
be the result? What if this God is my God? Surely
we're going to bow down, aren't we, before this God. Surely we're
going to worship this God for his great salvation. Surely we're
going to rejoice indeed with Moses. He is my God, and I will
repair him in habitation. My Father is God, and I will
exalt him." Well, it's a good thing, isn't it, to always ponder
the great truths of God's Word, and to realise how wonderful
it is, and how appropriate it is, and to realise that the Lord
delivered Israel. brought them out of Egypt and
then of course he brought them across the Red Sea in a most
remarkable way. Again, we need the Lord to be
with us continually. You see how Israel were tested,
weren't they? They were brought out of Egypt
and what was there in just a few days, that was an immense obstacle. They were hemmed in, the Red
Sea before them. The Egyptians behind them, how
were they to escape? The Lord knew. The Lord knew
what he would do. The Lord knows what he would
do today in your life and my life. He knows what he will do. Our way perhaps may appear to
be hedged up. We can't seem to escape. There
seems no way, just like Israel. But the Lord made the way. Where there was no way, the Lord
made the way. And what a wonderful thing it
is to realise that still today the Lord makes the way. He comes and delivers his people. He comes and brings them safely
through. And of course, not only was the
Red Sea open for them, the passage across on dry land, how could
that happen? The Lord appeared. It was the
Lord's deliverance. It was indeed His salvation for
Israel out of Egypt. across the Red Sea, dry land. And then the enemy, the enemy
who was fast pursuing, were destroyed. Every enemy, every one of those
Egyptians were destroyed. Israel wouldn't have been able
to destroy them themselves, but God in a moment destroyed the
enemy. Well, let's thank God today that
we have a great God who is the same, who can destroy the enemy. And of course we not only have
physical enemies, we have that great spiritual enemy, the devil. And of course one of his greatest
things that he brings before us is to disbelieve the Word
of God. Disbelieve the truth of God.
That's really why we have so many wonderful evidences in the
Word of God of God appearing and God keeping his promises
and God fulfilling his promises in his way and in his time. And it is so that you and I will
come to be brought to that position where we will agree with David
when he said, as for God, his way is perfect. When we're in
the situation, we don't always see it, we don't always understand
it. And no doubt Israel, when they were there, they didn't
understand how God's way was going to be perfect for them.
But it came to pass and it was so. And there was a wonderful
deliverance. and deliverance so great that
they had to acknowledge and they were pleased to acknowledge that
it was the Lord that had come and had brought them this great
salvation. Well, may it be so today in our
spiritual lives to realize yes, although the devil will continue
to try and tempt us in so many ways with this evil heart of
unbelief. You know the apostle Paul when
he wrote to the Hebrews He spoke about this, didn't he? About
this evil heart and he said, take heed brethren. It means
that we've got to be aware. Take heed brethren, lest there
be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from
the living God. But exhort one another daily. How often we forget to, don't
we? How often we forget to exhort each other every day of the Lord's
great salvation, of the great cost it was to redeem our souls. And here Paul tells us to exhort
one another daily, while it is cool today, lest any of you be
hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. It's good advice, isn't
it? It's good advice. It's very easy to become hard. to become hard-hearted, and yet
we have this great, wonderful salvation brought about through
the Saviour's death. A great truth, and how good it
is if we are able to encourage each other to think about these
things. I'm sure we remember that in
the early days of the Church, when the Church The people used
to meet one another, they used to greet each other with that
wonderful expression, the Lord is risen. Do you know if you
and I are directed to that truth, the Lord is risen, what does
it mean? It means he's died. It means
he shed his precious blood. It means he's atoned for our
sins. It means he has conquered death, hell and the grave because
he rose from the dead. We see the picture there, don't
we? He is risen. And so the Apostle
Paul speaks in these terms, exhort one another daily while it is
called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness
of sin. And the deceitfulness of sin,
of course, is a very apt description of what Satan would have us do,
because what is he? He is the great deceiver. Don't
be taken in by him. He is the great deceiver. Don't
listen to him. Don't listen to his insinuations.
Don't listen to what he says. Turn to the Lord. Turn to the
Saviour. And that's why the Apostle says,
he says, For we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning
of our confidence steadfast unto the end. And surely the beginning
of that confidence is when the Lord reveals to us that great
salvation. When he shows to us that we unworthy
as we are have an interest. and the blood of the Saviour.
We have an interest in His death. He died for me. He died upon
Calvary's cross to atone for my sins, however bad, however
vile, however great, however terrible. Yes, the Lord has died
to atone for our sins. And so, then He comes and says,
what is said today, if you will, hear His voice. And all that
we may hear His voice, day by day, Today, if you will hear
his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some,
when they had heard, did provoke. Howbeit not all that came out
of Egypt by Moses." Those warnings, the great warnings. You remember,
again, the deliverance that Israel had. They came out of Egypt with
that high hand. Came across the Red Sea. saw
the wonderful appearance of God, and then, when the Lord commanded
them to go and possess that promised land, the spies came out. The spies came back. They brought
an evil report, apart from Joshua and Caleb. And the people believed
the evil report. My friends, may we not be left
to believe an evil report. or let us believe the good report. What did Caleb say? We are well
able. We are well able, not of himself,
not of themselves. We're able because, as the Apostle
Paul said, I can do all things through Christ that strengthens
me. That's the secret. And that's
how we should desire to be found walking in this difficult world
with many obstacles, remembering that we can do all things through
Christ, who has brought about this great salvation and has
the Apostle, when he addresses the Corinthians, he says, behold,
now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Well, I wonder today if you and
I can thank God for the Day of Salvation. Thank Him indeed for
that great occasion when He brought about that salvation, when He
finished the work that His Father gave Him to do. You know, you
and I should never weary of coming to Calvary. We should always
rejoice to come and view the Saviour suffering upon that cross
in order to take away our sins and also then to rejoice greatly
if we have the wonderful evidence of God's salvation toward us. The personal evidence that the
Lord has looked upon us and brought his salvation to us so that we
know we are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. That
personal evidence, oh what a favour to think that God never, never
ceased to be amazed when we realise that Almighty God has looked
down upon us, has been gracious to us, has come to us. There are billions in the world
who've been passed by. To think, the Lord has not passed
us by, but he's come to us, and he's blessed us, and he's shown
us his great salvation, and he's given us the evidence that our
names are therefore written in the Lamb's Book of Life, and
therefore it is eternally well with our soul. Well, what a favour,
and what a privilege, and what a blessing, is it not? Great cause to exalt this great
and blessed God. and to thank Him for this great
salvation. To realize, yes, there has been
this accepted time. The Lord has helped us. The Lord
has brought us. And we have to say, it's all
of His grace, isn't it? We haven't merited it. It's all
of His grace to such unworthy sinners. And I believe it's true. Sinners can say, therefore, and
none but they. How precious is the Saviour,
and if the Holy Spirit, therefore, has truly convinced us of our
sin and our need of a Saviour, and directed us to the great
salvation of God. Oh, we can say then, how blessed
is the Lord. Well, for he saith, I have heard
thee. He's heard our cries. Merciful
God, He's heard our cries in a time accepted, in a day of
salvation. And in a day of salvation, have
I succored thee, I've helped thee. Behold, now is the accepted
time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Amen.