I want you to turn with me to
Exodus 20. Tonight we'll conclude our study in the book of Exodus. And it's really hard for me to
believe that we started this study over two and a half years
ago. Now, as you know, Exodus means
going out. This book is called Exodus because
it's about God's work of grace and bringing His covenant people
out of Egyptian bondage. The book of Exodus covers a time
period from the death of Joseph to the building and the completion
of the tabernacle. And the book of Exodus covers
right at 140 year span. And this book portrays and it
pictures and typifies God's work of redeeming grace from the bondage
of sin and death. I think we've seen that very
clearly in the book of Exodus. God gave Israel his law, and
he did so to show mankind their inability to keep even one of
the 10 commands. And God gave his holy law for
one reason, and that, as you know, is to show sinners that
it's God alone, Christ alone, who saves and delivers sinners
from the bondage of sin and its wages, which is death. And that's
what God is saying here in verse two of Exodus 20. He says, I
am the Lord thy God, which hath brought thee out of the land
of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. We say this all the
time, but that's the same as saying what I just read is the
same as saying salvation is of the Lord. The salvation of the
righteous is of the Lord. Now, the very last words written
in the book of Genesis, matter of fact, we're close, we can
turn there. Look back to Genesis chapter
50, verse 26. These words show us something
of our great need. The last verse, 26 of Genesis
chapter 50 says this, so Joseph died being 110 years old and
they embalmed him and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. We know from the New Testament
scriptures that in Adam all die. It's appointed unto men and women
once to die, but after this, the judgment, the wages of sin
is dead. The soul that sins, it shall
die. So our greatest need is deliverance
from sin and death. And Exodus, I believe showed
us very well God's answer to our greatest need. It also shows
us God's remedy and reason for our deliverance. Joseph died,
he was embalmed and put in a coffin. And that's the end of every son
and daughter of Adam. And the reason is our sin. But
the redeemed of the Lord will rise again. That's the good news
of the gospel. Paul wrote in Romans 5, he said,
wherefore is by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin,
so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned. But
then Paul went on to say this, he said, that is sin hath reigned
unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto
eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. And that's what we're
interested in. We're interested in eternal life.
Our deliverance from sin has been beautifully pictured and
tempified in this book of Exodus. And salvation was not possible,
nor could it be by the keeping of the law, because we can't
keep the law. And even those that think they
can, can't keep it perfectly. But Christ came into the world
and he kept the law perfectly for his elect people. He died
in their room instead, satisfying the justice of God for them. And to him, the scripture says,
to Christ, give all the prophets witness. That's what Moses is
talking about in the first five books. He's talking about the
Lord Jesus Christ and what he's done for his people. To him,
Christ give all the prophets witness that through his name,
whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. Acts chapter 10, verse 43. Our
Lord said of Moses, Moses wrote of me. And Paul said, for whatsoever
things were written the four times, speaking of the Old Testament
were written for our learning that we through patience and
comfort of the scriptures might have hope. What hope there is
in this glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. In this study
of the book of Exodus, we saw basically six great and major
events. The birth of Moses, Then we saw
the plagues and the Passover. We saw the crossing of the Red
Sea, the giving of the law, the making of the tabernacle, and
then the end of Moses' work. And all six of these events have
involved Moses. And there's no doubt that Moses
is a very unique character in the Old Testament scriptures
and all the Bible for that matter. while he was born a slave in
Goshen, but became a prince of Egypt. He was born in a hut,
but he lived in a palace. He was born into poverty, yet
adopted into just unlimited wealth. He was a leader of armies, yet
the keeper of flocks of sheep. He was the mightiest of warriors,
and yet the meekest of men. He had the wisdom of Egypt and
yet he had the faith of a child and he was backward in speech,
but he talked face to face with God. He carried a staff of a
shepherd, but the power of God was upon that staff. He was a
fugitive from Pharaoh and yet became Pharaoh's judge. He was
a giver of the law and a forerunner of grace. He died alone on one
mountain and appeared with Christ on another. None attended his
funeral, but he was buried by God. He represents the law and
yet he is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. So the first event
that we saw was the birth of Moses. In the beginning of our
study in Exodus, we saw Israel, the people of God in bondage
to Egypt for over 400 years. God had foretold Abraham that
this would come about. But now in the beginning when
Moses was born, the time of deliverance had come and God raised up Moses
to be this deliverer. And what a pitcher Moses is of
Christ who God sent into the world to save sinners, to deliver
us from our sin. God told Moses, he said, I'll
raise them up a prophet from among their brethren like unto
thee. I'll raise up one of whom you
will typify, one you'll be a type of, one that you'll shadow and
one that you'll picture. And Moses certainly did that.
And the Lord told him, and I'll put my words in his mouth and
he shall speak unto Israel all that I shall command him. Deuteronomy
18, 18. And as with the incarnation of
the Lord Jesus and with his birth and life, Moses shows us and
Exodus many glimpses of the Lord Jesus, our great deliverer. Just
a few comparisons. Moses was an Israelite and so
was Christ after the flesh. He was of the house of Israel,
the house of David. In Exodus chapter one, if you
could remember back all that far, we saw that Moses' birth
occurred when the nation of Israel was under the dominion of a hostile
power. They were under the bondage of
Pharaoh in Egypt. And Moses' birth providentially
came when the people of Israel were groaning under the taskmasters
of Egypt under a Gentile king by the name of Pharaoh. But our
Lord Jesus was born when the Jews were in bondage. They were
under the Romans' rule and under the rule of a Gentile king named
Caesar. In Moses' infancy, If you remember,
Pharaoh had heard rumors of this deliverer, and he had given orders
to kill all the male children by drowning them in the river
Nile. In Exodus 1 verse 22, it says, every son that is born,
you shall cast into the river. Pharaoh ordered the midwives
to murder all the Hebrew male babies in Egypt. Moses was not
only saved, not only did God intervene in Moses' life, but
he was rescued by the daughter of Pharaoh. And in the sovereign
providence of God, she hired Moses' own mother to nurse him
and take care of him. Isn't that amazing? Only God
could do something like that. What a picture of our Lord Jesus
is found in this. In Matthew chapter two, verse
16, we're told about Herod who had also heard of a deliverer.
And he sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem
and in all the coasts thereabout. So many similarities between
the two. Moses was a child of Hebrew parents,
yet he was made the son of Pharaoh's daughter by adoption. And Exodus
chapter two, verse 10 tells us that Moses became her son. In
Egypt, Moses had a mother, but not a father. And Christ too
was the son of another, even God. But when the Lord Jesus
was born into this world, he had an earthly mother, but no
human father. And as it were, the Lord Jesus
was adopted by Joseph and became his son. And Moses is referred
in the scriptures to the son of Pharaoh's daughter and referring
to Christ, men said, is this not Joseph's son? And both were
neither. Moses grew up in Pharaoh's house
as Pharaoh's grandson. He was trained in all the worldly
wisdom of the Egyptians and given the best education that the world
had to offer at that time and raised as Pharaoh's daughter's
son. Moses had every privilege and
every advantage as a prince of Egypt. But when Moses became
of age, when he became a man at the age of 40, God revealed
himself to Moses and he showed him that he was chosen and he
was ordained to be the deliverer of Israel. And Moses had great
compassion and sympathy for Israel, his people. Matter of fact, Hebrews
11, 24 tells us, by faith, Moses, when he was come to years, he
refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing
rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy
the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ,
greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. That's amazing. Only the mercy and divine intervention
of God could cause such a thing to come to pass. In Acts chapter
seven, verse 23, we're told, and when he, Moses, was full
40 years old, it came into his heart. Well, we know how that
happened. The Lord put it into his heart
to visit his brethren and the children of Israel, and seeing
one of them suffer wrong, he defended him and avenged him
that was oppressed, and he smoked the Egyptian. You remember that?
When Pharaoh heard this thing, the scripture says that he sought
to slay Moses, but we know Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh
and he dwelt in the land of Midian. And the scripture says that he
sat down by a well and he showed mercy, if you remember after
that, to the daughters of Jethro, one whom he married. But so too
was our Lord filled with pity and compassion toward his people
who were enslaved under Roman bondage. And love brought him
to earth and he came to deliver them. And he too, if you remember,
sat down by a well to show a sinner mercy. I love this when I think
about this, God himself and the person of the Lord Jesus made
himself of no reputation and he took upon himself the form
of a servant. God did that. Isn't that amazing? God condescended not only to
be a man, but to be a servant unto man. and being found in
fashion as a man, he humbled himself and it was out of pity
and it was out of compassion for his people. He became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. From the time that
the Lord began his earthly ministry, his enemies sought to falsely
accuse him, to arrest him, to slay him as a common criminal
and eventually they did so. And as you remember from our
studies, Moses ended up a shepherd tending his father-in-law's sheep
for 40 years, for 40 years in the wilderness. And the Lord
Jesus, why he's the shepherd of his sheep. And remember he
said, other sheep I have, which are not of this fold and them
also I must bring. And that's why we meet together.
That's why we preach the gospel, because Christ has other sheep
that he must bring. And he does so through the preaching
of this gospel. And they'll hear my voice, he
said, and they shall be one flock and one shepherd. Aren't you
glad that the Lord is your shepherd? You know, I was thinking today,
again, going over Psalm 23 in my mind, the Lord is my shepherd. And because of that, I shall
not want. He makes us to lie down in green
pastures. He does. We're so full of unrest,
we wouldn't lie down and rest, would we? He makes us to lie
down in green pasture. He leads us beside the still
water. We wouldn't go there ourself.
He leads us there. He restores our souls. We don't
restore anything. He leads us in the paths of righteousness,
not because of anything in us. It says, for his name's sake,
for his own glory, for his own honor, and for our good, And
it's his rod and it's his staff that comfort us. We don't comfort
ourselves. He's the one that prepares a
table for us in the midst of our enemies. And he's the one
who anoints, he's the one that blesses his people. And it's
his goodness and it's his mercy that follows his sheep as they
follow him. Moses was called and sent and
equipped of God to deliver Israel. And the Lord appeared to Moses
in the burning book and he sent him back to deliver Israel. But
Moses was totally incapable and unfit really for the task before
him. He couldn't deliver Israel, but
God could. Moses was only a typical redeemer. He was a redeemer in type. But the Lord Jesus, oh, he's
a capable and a successful redeemer. Thou shall call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sin. And Moses went
back to Egypt with nothing but the rod of a shepherd in his
hand. And that rod, I think very well
pictures and represents the word of God. And all he needed to
deliver Israel from the powerful Pharaoh was that staff picturing
God's word. When he and Aaron went in before
Pharaoh, Moses said time and time again, thus saith the Lord.
The Lord said, let my people go, thus saith the Lord. And when the Lord Jesus did battle
with Satan in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights, he
used nothing but the word of God. He said, it is written,
it is written. He said that time and time again.
And as Pharaoh was no match for God, Satan was no match for the
Lord Jesus. And though the Lord himself sent
plague after plague, we're told time and time again that Pharaoh
hardened his heart and refused to let God's people go. Now there
were nine plagues in all, 10 if you count the death of the
firstborn, but each one of those plagues, if you remember, was
directed against one of the gods of Egypt. And by sending these
plagues, God not only judged Egypt, but he punished the Egyptians. And God in doing that showed
the impotence of Egypt's idols and he displayed himself as the
only sovereign and omnipotent and majestic and holy God. God the Son does the same thing. Whatever the men and women of
this world make their gods, in the end, every knee is gonna
bow, and every tongue is gonna confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord. Now, there are some that do that
now, and they're the sheep of God, but there are some that
will in the end, and it'll be too late. Oh, may God grant sinners
repentance and faith in Christ now before it's too late. Now,
the second event in the book of Exodus, in this review, was
the Passover. The Passover is found in chapters
11 and 12 of Exodus, and it was such a beautiful picture of our
redemption by Christ. It's such a beautiful picture,
the Passover is, of our redemption in and by and through the Lord
Jesus. And Paul said in 1 Corinthians
5, verse 7, Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. The Passover
was an act of God's free and sovereign grace alone. It was God who put a difference
between Israel and Egypt. It's still the same today. Who
maketh thee to differ from another? What dost thou have that you
didn't receive? And if you received it, why do
you glory in it as if you didn't receive it? It's the Lord that
puts a difference between us and another. There's no reason
for us to be proud over being a child of God. It was the Lord
that put a difference between us and another. It's the Lord
that made the difference. We ought to thank Him every minute
of every day for what He's done for us. But the Passover, like
our redemption in Christ, was a beautiful display of how God
saves sinners by blood atonement. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission. And when and where God sees the
blood, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, that lamb slain
before the foundation of the world, he'll pass over all who
he finds the blood upon. And that's what he said. He said,
when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. And beginning in chapter
13, the third glorious event in the book of Exodus was the
crossing of the Red Sea. Now, I hope I can make this clear. The Passover and the crossing
of the Red Sea are really two parts of the same thing, and
they really can't be separated. Now, Israel could have never
crossed the Red Sea had the Passover not been kept. and the keeping
of the Passover would have been meaningless and it would have
been useless had Israel not crossed the Red Sea. Now, what do I mean
by that? Well, the crossing of the Red
Sea is a picture of our conversion from death unto life. The crossing
of the Red Sea is a picture of our salvation and redemption
by the power and the grace of God. God's chosen people, they
crossed and they passed over that Red Sea and went from death
unto life. The scripture says on dry ground,
those without Christ drowned. and their sin. And it was the
death of Christ, our Passover lamb, that secured our salvation. And without God granting our
salvation in and by and through that substitutionary death that
our Lord died for us, we would have never passed from death
unto life. Now, look at Exodus chapter 13
with me, if you would. Chapter 13. Israel's salvation
was only because the Lord went before them and led them. Verse
18, we're told, but God led the people about through the way
of the wilderness of the Red Sea. Look down at verse 21. And the Lord went before them
by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way and by night
in a pillar of fire to give them light to go by day and night. Look at chapter 14, verse 13. Moses here said, fear ye not,
stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. This is the Lord's
salvation, which he will show you today for the Egyptians whom
you have seen today, you shall see them again no more forever. the Lord shall fight for you
and ye shall hold your peace." Full of salvations of the Lord.
There's no doubt about it. Scripture is so clear on that.
Look at verse 16 here in Exodus 14. We see that it was by the
rod of Moses that lifted up and stretched out over the sea that
the sea was divided. And again, we see that that rod
represents the Word of God. It's by the preaching of the
Word of God. It's by the message of Christ
and Him crucified that His people are redeemed and delivered. And
how did it please the Lord to save His people? By the lifting
up of Christ and preaching. Exodus 14, 31. And Israel saw
that great work, which the Lord did upon the Egyptians. And the
people feared the Lord and believed the Lord and His servant Moses.
Look at chapter 15, verse two. They sung a song unto the Lord. And in verse two, they said,
the Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will prepare
Him a habitation. My Father's God, and I'll exalt
Him. The Lord is a man of war. The
Lord is His name." Look at verse 11. They said, "'Who is like
unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious
in holiness and fearful in praises, doing wonder?' Verse 13, "'Thou
in thy mercy hast led forth the people, which thou hast redeemed.'"
Thou has guided them in thy strength and to thy holy habitation. And
again, I'm reminded that the salvation of the righteous is
of the Lord. And I'm so glad that it is. I'm
glad it's not dependent on me in any way, not on my faithfulness. Not by my faithfulness, but by
his alone. Then the fourth thing we saw
in the book of Exodus is the giving of the law in Mount Sinai. We spent a lot of weeks on that. It was in chapters 19 through
24 where the Lord gave Israel his law. He gave it to them in
the 10 commandments and he taught Israel how he was to be worshiped. And it's in the law of God that
we see God's perfect and strict holiness and justice. That's
why Israel was terrified when God gave them the law at Mount
Sinai. You know, there's nothing so
terrifying and fearful to sinful men and women as the revelation
of God's absolute and unchanging holiness. God's angry with the
wicked every day. It's a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of a living God. And that's something men and
women don't hear today. Men and women preach the love
of Jesus. Jesus loves everybody, but God's
too good to punish the wicked. No, he's not. You need to read
this book. It's very clear. It's a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God. The people
of Israel, they didn't want to deal with God. They said, Moses,
you go talk to God for us. And you bring God's message back
to him. And his law is like his character. It can't be compromised. It can't
be changed. God will never, ever lower his
standards. Holy and reverend is his name. And He's the same yesterday,
today, and forever. And this holy God demands perfection. We can't provide it, not in and
of ourselves. God can never accept anything
from us because we can't provide that He requires, but our substitute
can. Only through a mediator, that
perfect one that He's ordained and He's provided and He's accepted. And that's what the law does.
That's what the law was meant to do. It was meant to drive
us away from Mount Sinai and drive us to Mount Calvary, away
from Moses to Christ for refuge and salvation. We're accepted
only one way, dear friends, and that's in the beloved, and that's
the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the fifth event or division
in the book of Exodus was the building of the tabernacle. Now
the tabernacle, it's really important to understand this. And I think
in this study, it helped me to understand this truth so much
more than I did before. The tabernacle was the place
of reconciliation and peace. It was in the tabernacle that
the altar and the sacrifices and the priesthood and the mercy
seat were found. And we saw how the tabernacle
and all its furnishings pictured the Lord Jesus, our savior and
our substitute. And we saw from all the types
and pictures in the tabernacle, how the Lord God can be both
a just God and a savior. He can't compromise his justice. He can't just sweep our sin underneath
the rug or turn his head to it. It's got to be dealt with. The
soul that sins, it shall die. Sin has to be punished. And in
Christ alone, can a holy God in complete justice receive redeemed
sinners and declare that there's now no condemnation to them that
are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation, my, none whatsoever. Every believing sinner has eternal
access to the Father through Christ, our perfect mediator.
Come boldly into the throne of grace. In time of need, my, isn't
that an amazing thought? In Christ, God now tabernacles
with us and he'll never leave us nor forsake us. Then the sixth
and the last event we had in the book of Exodus is the end
of Moses' work. Once the tabernacle was finished
and God and his people were ceremonially reconciled, Moses finished his
work. If you'll look at the last chapter,
Exodus 40, verse 33, I want you to see this. Exodus 40, verse
33. It says, and he, being Moses,
reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar.
And he set up the hanging of the court gate. And then it says,
so Moses finished the work. That's such a wonderful thought.
Once the chosen, saved, and redeemed sinner has been brought to faith
in Christ, the law of God has finished its work. It was our
schoolmaster. The law was our schoolmaster.
For what purpose? For what reason? To bring us
to Christ. And once we come to Christ in
faith, the law of God has finished its work. Paul said in Romans
6, verse 14, for sin shall not have dominion over you, for you're
not under the law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin
because we're not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
And then that very familiar scripture in Romans 10 verse four, for
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believe. Once the elect of God, once the
child of God is brought into reconciliation with God in and
by and through Christ, the law has nothing more to do with us. It no longer terrifies, it no
longer condemns. Actually, it's the law of God
that Christ justified. And that's beautifully seen,
I think, in verse 36 here in Exodus 40. Look at it with me. And when the cloud was taken
up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward
in all their journeys. But if the cloud were not taken
up, then they journey not to the day that it was taken up.
For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and
fire was on it by night, and the sight of all the house of
Israel throughout all their journeys." As I read that today, I thought,
to myself, well, it's called the cloud of the Lord because
that cloud was the Lord. It's Christ that we follow. We've
talked about that so much lately in our study in John. When the
cloud was taken up and it moved, it was then that the children
of Israel went onward toward the land of promise, following
that same cloud and pillar of fire that they had followed since
the Lord had delivered them out of Egypt. And if the cloud was
not taken up, than the children of Israel journey not. If Christ
don't go before us, we best not go. The children of God won't
go, the children of Israel did. If you'll remember in Exodus
chapter 33, Moses said to the Lord, if thy presence go not
with me, carry us not up hence, for wherein shall it be known
here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight. Is
it not in that thou goest with us? The Lord told Peter, There
in John chapter 21, he said, follow thou me. Our Lord said
in John 10, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they
follow me. And that's what we do. We follow
the Lord. The book of Exodus is about deliverance. And the book of Exodus is about
redemption. And I believe the Lord has clearly
shown us that both deliverance and redemption are found only
in one place, and that's in Christ alone. And I do pray and hope
that the study of this book has been spiritually profitable to
you as it has been to me. I've learned a great deal, more
and more about my Savior who loved me and gave himself for
me. And I pray that it's the same with you.