May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we consider his word. Let's turn to the book
of Exodus chapter 6 and we'll read verses 6, 7 and 8. The book
of Exodus chapter 6 and reading verses 6, 7 and 8. Wherefore say unto the children
of Israel, I am the Lord and I will bring you out from under
the burden of the Egyptians and I will rid you out of their bondage
and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm and with great judgments
and I will take you to me for a people and I will be to you
a God and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God which
bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and
I will bring you in unto the land concerning the which I did
swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and I
will give it you for an heritage. I am the Lord." There are a number of very significant
points in these verses. Firstly, it commences really
with, I am the Lord. And it concludes with, I am the
Lord. And between those two statements,
there are seven I wills. And as we hope to trace out these
I wills, you will observe that it really encompasses the whole
spiritual life of the believer, from the time when they are converted
until the time they receive into glory. And we also of course
have the account of the children of Israel as they came out of
Egypt and went through the wilderness and came into the Promised Land.
And again, that of course typifies the life of a believer. It was no chance that Israel
walked that way. It was clearly ordained by Almighty
God to give us here today a very clear picture of the believer's
life. And so we should be thankful
that we have such an evidence. And as we're here tonight, to
be able to find an echo, if you like, in our own hearts of the
experience that God has ordained for us. And to be able to find
out where we are in our spiritual life, on our spiritual journey. Now, we're all travelling, we
all have a spiritual life. Many people in the world today
care nothing for their spiritual life. They're only concerned
about their natural life. And so are we. And so we have
been until the Lord graciously comes and shows us where we are
and what we are and directs us to himself. Moses was ordained by God to
be the chosen leader, to bring the children of Israel out of
Egypt. And we observe how Moses was
prepared for this job. The Lord prepares His people
today for that which He'll have them to do. Moses was prepared
in this way. He had the first 40 years of
his life in affluence in the palace of Pharaoh. And there
he was taught many things, had the best education. He wasn't
left. Moses knew his God. And Moses
was convinced in his own heart that God had chosen him to deliver
his people And Moses would have been very aware of the history
of Israel, how they'd come into Egypt, how they were there, and
multiplying greatly, and the oppression they were under. And
he thought God had called him and now was the time. Well, the
first part of God's work had been completed. And now there
was a very different time. Another 40 years in Moses' life. And this time, in the wilderness. It's explained like this, the
back side of the desert. Well, I'm sure it was a very
opposite situation from the affluence of Pharaoh's palace. But Moses
had to learn a lot. Another 40 years. It may be so
in our lives. Sometimes we think, oh, this
is going to happen and this will occur. It may be for quite a
long time. The Lord may have to teach us.
What he taught Moses was this. Moses had to come down in the
estimation of who he was. When he was 40 he thought he
was a person. When he was 80 he thought he
wasn't a person. See how God works. He brings
us down so that we are low in our own estimation. And then
we're ready to do God's work. And Moses did God's work depending
upon God. He didn't depend on his own skills,
on his own ability. Indeed, although he was well-versed
in the languages and been able to speak, yet he said he wasn't
able to. God provided his brother Aaron,
who was four years older, to help him in this matter. And
then the time would come, and he came back then to Egypt to
bring his people, God's people, out of Egypt. And again, we see
here, the task wasn't an easy one. The task wasn't an easy
one. It was a difficult one. Why? My friends, the devil didn't
want Israel to go out of Egypt. We might think today, in our
lives, the Lord's bringing you and me out of Egypt might not
be an easy journey. Maybe a lot of opposition. Pharaoh
did all he could against all the odds to keep Israel there
in Egypt. But the Lord's plans were not
to be frustrated. And that is true today in our
lives. God's plan for you and me, blessed God, will not be
frustrated. It doesn't matter how hard the
devil tries and how hard he opposes. There was much opposition for
Israel to come out of Egypt. But God's word was to be fulfilled. God's word is still to be fulfilled
today in our lives. What a great and wonderful blessing
that is. And so as we come to these words
which the Lord spoke to Moses, how clear they were. He told
them, I am the Lord. I believe that's a very important
thought. Because we don't want to have man's word. Don't follow man's word. Follow
God's word. If God speaks, we know it will
come to pass. And so here, this word is so
clear. I am the Lord. Having established that, the
first statement was, and I will bring you out from under the
burdens of the Egyptians. I will do it. And naturally, you and I, by
nature, are under the burden of Satan. My friends, the devil
wants us to keep us as far off from God as he can. And he'll
bring many temptations into our lives. to tempt us to ignore
the Word of God. We can bless God that perhaps
we may try to ignore the Word of God. You may think, well, I don't
want to really be found following the ways of God. You may say,
well, I don't mind going to chapel, that's alright. But I don't want
to go any further. I don't want to join the church,
I don't want to be baptised. I don't want to give a testimony.
I don't want to have to follow the Lord. I'm happy just to carry
on, just in a very backwater as it were, just to carry on
in that position. If the Lord has spoken, you won't
be able to avoid following the Lord, doing His will. Here was the word of the Lord.
He said, I will. I will. When the Lord says, I
will, it comes to pass. You won't be able to withstand
it. Now, Israel had such an encouraging
word, didn't they? Here they were in this place.
Now, don't forget, it had got much worse. They were having
to make all these bricks. And that was hard enough. And
now Pharaoh said, well, now it's going to be worse. I'm going
to make you get all the straw to make the bricks. And you're
still going to have to make the same number. It was a very hard
time. A very testing time. And their
thought was, surely God cannot be with us. Surely God cannot
ordain this. But God was. And sometimes the reason may
be like this. God makes the things of the world
uncomfortable. The things that we were happy
perhaps to be involved with at one stage in our lives, we find
we become uncomfortable in them. And God stirs us up. In the Apostle
Paul's life, I believe he had that experience because the Lord
told him, he said, it's hard for thee to kick against the
pricks. And I believe it meant this, The Apostle was having
some pricks in his conscience that he wasn't actually doing
the right things. It may be so in your life. You
may be having some pricks in your conscience. You're not doing
the right things. And yet you're reluctant to actually
admit it. You don't want to give up certain
things. Well, when the Lord says, I will, my friends, God will win the
battle. That's a wonderful thing, isn't
it? You're our nature, the old devil, he won't win the battle. And it'd be a blessing if we
submit ourselves to him. And so we have this word here,
and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And sometimes it may be the burdens
of the devil, because the devil keeps us weighed down with the
vanities of this life. And I can bring the illustration
like this. We're told the Christian life is a race. The race that
is set before us. If you are running a race, you
don't want to be burdened with a lot of things, do you? You
won't make much progress if you've got a lot of weights on your
back. You'll be slowed down, right down. You'll want as little
on as possible. My friends, if we're running
the Christian race, we want to be rid of the burdens
of this world. the burdens of this life, the
things that perhaps at one time, or perhaps still today, you think
are perfectly legal, and you want to do them. Now, don't forget
what the Apostle Paul said. He said this, all things are
lawful for me, but all things are not expedient. And sometimes
we hide under what we think is lawful. And we think, well I
can get away with that and I can do that and that's not really
a problem. Well, is it advancing your spiritual
life? Or is it hindering your spiritual
life? Don't forget the devil is very
subtle and he knows what you like. And he'll try and put it
all right, so you can be involved in that and carry on in it. And
that's what he aims to do, so that Christianity gets pushed
into the background. The devil is very keen on that.
My friends, we have to be very watchful in our lives to see
that that's not happening. Well, the Lord says, I will bring
you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians and I will rid
you out of their bondage. Rid us of it. Now, I wonder if
you and I are willing to be rid of this bondage. I wonder if
we pray to be rid of this bondage. The bondage is the things of
the world. Now the devil wants you to be
shut up in prison. He locks the door, he throws
away the key. He wants you to be locked up
in the things of the world, so you can't get out. Now Israel
were locked up in Egypt and they couldn't get out. But the Lord
delivered them. and a blessing in your life and
my life. The Lord comes and delivers us. Yes, in a most remarkable
way, wasn't it? They could never have foreseen,
as they were labouring in Egypt, how the Lord would deliver them.
But when it came to pass, they went out with a high hand. Yes, they went out. They weren't
to stay in Egypt one day longer. Now, may it be our blessed position
to be brought out of Egypt. Perhaps we would ask the question,
do we know whether we are in Egypt? Do you know whether you
are in the control of Satan? Do you know whether you are locked
up? Do you know whether you cannot get out yourself? Now, these things are not trivial,
because our soul is the most valuable thing that you and I
possess. Our soul is worth more than all
the world, because it is eternal. And our soul must live forever,
in either heaven or in hell. That's where you and I will be.
And so may we be concerned to know the blessing of these words
which the Lord speaks may be spoken in our hearts I am the
Lord and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the
Egyptians and I will rid you out of their bondage and and
this is very blessed and I will redeem you with a stretched out
arm and with great judgments the Lord did redeem Israel He
freed them from their captivity. Now in a spiritual sense, how
are we freed from our captivity under Satan's influence and power? How are we redeemed? How can
we be redeemed? We're sinners. We're fallen. We've got a great stack of sin.
Needs to be pardoned. needs to be forgiven. We can't
get into heaven in an unholy condition. We need forgiveness. We need forgiveness. Do you know
that? Do you realize your condition
before a holy God? Yes, you've got this sin. Don't
think, well, I'm just a small sinner. No sin can enter heaven. Every sin has to be forgiven. Every sin has to be washed away. You can't enter heaven with sin. So, what's the outcome? How are you to be cleansed? How
are you to be made clean? How are you to be made forgiven? How are you to be redeemed? It's only one way. The Word of God sets it forth
very gloriously from Genesis to Revelation. Do you know what it is? It's through
the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, what does
that mean? It means this. It means that
the Lord Jesus Christ gave his life. He gave his life and the
evidence of giving his life was the shedding of blood. In Leviticus
we read these words, the life is in the blood. And as the Lord
Jesus Christ gave his life, he shed his blood. And he shed his
blood in order to redeem his people. Now my friends, this
word redemption is very precious and it's very important and it's
very necessary. And may we know the truth of
these words applied to our souls when we read and I will redeem
you. That means the price that was
required to atone for our sins, to take away our sins, was paid. Redemption means something being
paid. We don't read of it very much
or hear it very much today, but there are still places that are
called pawnbrokers. And years ago they were very
popular, because if people ran out of money and they needed
to buy something, And credit wasn't, there weren't credit
cards in those days. So they would have some ornament
or watch or perhaps or something, some ring. They would take to
the pawnbrokers and they would pawn it. That means they would
give their goods and in exchange they would receive some money.
Now it wasn't the pawnbrokers to keep. No, he had it until
they received enough money They could then go and redeem it.
They could then pay for it and get it back. It had to be redeemed. They couldn't get it back until
it was redeemed. My friends, we need to be redeemed
for all our sin. The problem is we haven't got
any payment. The problem is we can't redeem
ourselves. So we're in a really bad condition.
Because we're guilty before God. And we need redeeming. We need
redeeming. Otherwise, we should go to hell. We need to be redeemed. How is
it going to happen? Well, as the Lord says here,
I will redeem you. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ has
shed his precious blood to redeem his church. My friends, that's
the only way that you and I are going to be redeemed. It's through
what Christ has done. That great, glorious work that
he finished upon Calvary so many years ago, that work was done
in order to redeem his people. Redeem them. You know, we're
told that in heaven there will be a great company. And who will
that company be? Every nation, every language. Who will they be? They will be
those who are redeemed. Those of whom Christ has died.
They will be redeemed. And it is the redeemed who will
sing the song of praising glory. None else. You and I, my friends,
must be amongst those who are redeemed. Israel here in Egypt
needed to be redeemed to come out of Egypt. They couldn't free
themselves. They needed to be freed. It's
happened the same in our lives. We cannot save ourselves. We
need to be redeemed. We need Christ to redeem us. That means we need to know that
we are under the blood. Now, just pausing for a moment,
going back through the history of the Word of God, right from
Genesis, there was that shedding of blood. You remember, right
in the early days, those sacrifices Abel's sacrifice was an acceptable
sacrifice. Why was it? Because there was
shed blood. Go on to Abraham's day, Mount
Moriah, the ram taken, shed blood. come up to these days now in
this time of Exodus. Exodus of course means that the
children of Israel exited from Egypt. How did they exit? When did they exit? It wasn't
until that great and glorious occasion when the Passover was
instituted. Now, perhaps you remember what
it was. the Passover. It was the Lamb,
an unspotted Lamb, a perfect Lamb, had to be taken and slain
and burnt as an offering. And that portrayed the Lord Jesus
Christ as the Lamb of God, the taker of the way, the sinner
of the world. But it was not just that. The Lamb was slain, the blood
was taken, from that land. And it was placed upon the doorposts
and the lintels of their homes. And there was only safety inside
the house as they'd gone through that door and they'd passed under
the blood. Only safety was under the blood. Now today, for you and me, The
only place of safety is as we are under the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That means we've entered in through
that gate. We've entered in through that
door, the Lord Jesus Christ, into this newness of life, this
spiritual life. I will redeem you with a stretched
out arm, and with great judgment, to think the Lord stretches out
His arm to save us. How humbling, when we think of
the millions, the billions, rushing on in this world today, only
concerned about this life. Remember, Queen Elizabeth I,
when she was dying on her deathbed, she said this, half of my kingdom
for a moment of time. She couldn't put off the day
of her death. She had to leave everything here
below. It was of no value. When you
and I come to die, everything in our life will be of no value. But, if we are under the blood
My friends, that will be of great value, won't it? Wonderful value. How important it is then, today
that we have the evidence in our own lives that we are indeed
under the blood. You know the Apostle Peter, he
knew what it was and to be under the blood, And he tells us, and
he says that we're not redeemed by corruptible things as silver
and gold from our vain conversation received by tradition from our
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ. Now Peter knew
the value of being redeemed. He knew what was needed and it
was the shedding of blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to redeem
his soul. And so tonight, as we have this
picture here, and it's a lovely picture for us to remember, and
how important it is then that we might know that we are brought
out of Egypt, out of that place that we were born into, that
place of bondage, and that we are brought out because of what
Christ has done, redeemed, with the precious blood of Christ
and so we read and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm
and with great judgments and I will take you and I will take
you to me for a people and I will be to you a God and you shall
know that I am the Lord your God which bringeth you out from
under the burdens of the Egyptians that means that if the Lord does
this we are the children of God were the children of God. And
it reminds me of those words the Apostle wrote to the Corinthians
when he said, you are bought with a price. He said, you are not your own.
You are bought with a price. And that price was the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That means that from that day
when we were bought, when we were purchased, We have no right
to live our own life. We are to be found serving the
Lord, following him, doing his will. Oh, and as we read here,
and I will take you to me. Just think of that. You and me,
unworthy sinners. The Lord takes us to himself.
We are a people and he will be our God. He will be our God. He'll be our Father, that we
can come to at any time. He cares for us. He watches over us. Every trial,
every problem you have come into, what does the hymn writer say?
Take it to the Lord in prayer. We have a God who hears and answers. Whatever trouble, whatever trial
you come into, take it to the Lord in prayer. The promise is, and I will be
to you a God. Nobody can say that naturally,
can they? Have a good, our friends may be, our parents may be, whatever
it may be. It falls far short of this great
statement, and I will be to you a God. What a blessing to have
a God like this. And he said, and ye shall know
that I am the Lord your God. God's people know they're God. We have the evidence, the work
of God in our souls. It's between you and your God.
You have the evidence that God has come to you and called you,
brought you out of Egypt, and He's your God. What a comfort
it is, isn't it? In this vain world, we're rushing
along in. We're caught up with it, aren't
we? In this materialistic age in which we live to realise We
have a God, who is our God, who is watching over us, preserving
us, leading us and directing us. I will be to you a God, and you
shall know that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you
out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. The Church of
God has been burdened under this burden of sin to be brought out
into this spiritual life. What a wonderful relief, isn't
it? We're born again. We're a child of God. And we're
journeying home to God. We're on this journey. Ah, the
road leads to eternal life. So he says, And ye shall know
that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under
the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will bring you in unto
the land concerning the witch, I did swear to give it to Abraham,
to Isaac, and to Jacob, and I will give it to you. For in heritage
I am the Lord." That means the Lord will bring a safe home,
a last of glory. Everyone who he brings out of
spiritual Egypt, who are redeemed, he brings safe home to glory. None are left behind. In the
picture we have of the Israelites coming out of Egypt, We read
this with a very beautiful little phrase. Not a hoof was left behind. Everything came out of Egypt.
The Lord brought them out. And the Lord brings us out. And
he'll keep us. And he'll bring us at last safe
to the promised land. Israel got safe to the promised
land. They got safe across Jordan.
They entered into Canaan. There were difficulties. There
were trials. There were oppositions. But they got safely home. And
they got safely home, my friends, for one reason. Because they
were redeemed. Because they were under the blood.
That, my friends, is the essential thing for you and me tonight.
To be so concerned about that you are under the blood. That
Christ has died for you. And if Christ has died for you,
Christ will mean something to you. You will know something
of His love. You will stand amazed that the
Lord should have loved you. An unworthy person. Stand amazed that God should
have loved you. My friends, we need to know that
God has loved us. He has loved us with an everlasting
love. And therefore we love in kindness
as He has drawn us to Himself. so that now we rejoice in the
things of God. And oh, you see, as you and I
grow in grace, may it be like this. The things of this world,
which we were so fond of at one time, they grow dim. They grow strangely dim. And
the things of glory, the things of heaven, which we didn't think
much of, we didn't really want to know about, They become bright
and they become brighter. We see the comparison between
time things and eternal things. And have this promise then, made
over to us, and I will bring you, don't forget, it is one
of these I wills, the seven here, the last one, and I will, without
any doubt, bring you into the land. concerning which I did
swear to give." In this case, of course, physically it was
the land of Canaan, spiritually it's heaven at last. Well, are
we looking forward to our eternal home? You may say, well, I'm
only a young person. I've got my life before me. So
you may have. It would be a great blessing
if when you're young, The Lord sets your hearts and affections
upon things above and not on things of the earth. The things
of glory have a far greater attraction than the things of this life. Because one day you'll leave
everything here below. You can't take anything with
you. But what you can take with you is the promises of God, which
are yeah and amen, which are sure and certain the things that
you and I can rest upon and rejoice in. And so tonight, may we ponder,
may we consider these I wills that we've gone through here
tonight, and to trace out the blessing of the Lord in our own
souls. And should you not be able to, plead tonight, the Lord
will give you a real religion, a religion that is centred upon
Christ, and His precious blood, because that will take you to
glory. Amen.