You would go ahead and turn with
me to Exodus chapter 9. As we saw last time, God again
commanded Pharaoh to let his people go. He said, let my people
go that they may serve me. I was thinking as I read that
verse again today that God sets us free from the bondage of sin
for one reason, really. And that is that we may serve
and worship Him and that He gets all the glory in that. God's
people serve Him. The predominant message we hear
today makes God to serve or submit to men. But that's not so. God's repeated message to Pharaoh
should sound the alarm that God is not subservient to anyone. Let my people go that they may
serve me. And God through his servant,
his messenger, Moses, that's how God speaks today, speaks
through his messenger by the foolishness of preaching, foolishness
to the world, but not to the people of God. And he again warned
Pharaoh of a judgment, this being the seventh plague, the seventh
judgment that was to come. Verse 18, behold, tomorrow about
this time, I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such
as had not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof, even
until now. And then God does something that
he had not done in the previous plagues. He exercised an act
of mercy to those in Egypt. He gave them a 24 hour notice
and warned those in Egypt of the the judgment to come, verse
19. Send therefore now and gather
thy cattle and all that thou hast in the field for upon every
man and beast which shall be found in the field and shall
not be brought home, the hell shall come down upon them and
they shall die. Verse 20, he that feared the
word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants
and his cattle flee into the houses. And he that regarded
not the word of the Lord left his servants and his cattle in
the field. Here we see that there were some
that feared the word of the Lord. And because of that, it had an
effect upon their actions. They took their cattle and their
servants from the field, and they put their cattle in the
barns, and they took their servants home. Why? Because they believed. They believed what God said. They feared the word of the Lord. But then there were others who
did not regard the word of the Lord and left their servants
and their cattle in the field. And they heard what God said.
But they did not regard it, it says. They regarded not the word
of the Lord. It didn't mean anything to them.
And their cattle and their servants died. Now, let me just say this
in case some of you may be wondering as I did. Let me just quickly
address this. I thought, according to verse
six, and I think about things like this, that all the cattle
in Egypt had died. because of the murren, the disease
that God sent. And the reason that I even mentioned
it is there are many today who use what seemed to be discrepancies
in the Bible to disprove God and his word. Some of the old
writers say that this murren only killed the cattle that were
in the field, according to verse three. I suppose that's possible. Others say that the King James
translation interpreted it incorrectly, and that all here means that
the Murren killed all sorts of livestock, but not all the cattle. And then others say that all
means the greatest part or the majority of the cattle, but not
all of them. I really don't know. But I know
this, there's no discrepancy in the word of God. Personally,
I think verse seven gives us a hint as to what may have happened.
Look at it. And Pharaoh sent and behold,
there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. You know,
God protected them. Those in Goshen were safe. And
the heart of Pharaoh was hardened and he did not let the people
go. It's very possible that hardhearted Pharaoh took all Israel's cattle.
Knowing something about the hardened heart of men by nature, I can
see him doing that. And if that was the case, in
the end, Israel got them back because they went out with great
possessions. But that's not my message. Just
wanted to mention that. So back to verse 21. If you have
a marginal Bible next to that word regarded there, and he that
regarded not the word of the Lord, it says they set not their
heart to his word. I remember Brother Mahan used
to say that there's about 18 inches from head knowledge to
heart faith, about 18 inches. And that only the power and the
grace and the mercy of God can move the word of God that 18
inches, that is so true. Those who didn't regard in their
heart God's word, they left their servants and their cattle in
the field and the hail of God's judgment fell and killed them.
And again, we see, as I said last time, there's great consequence
in not regarding, not taking to heart the word of God. Men
and women's actions will be determined by what they really believe. And what a man or a woman really
believes will only be seen by what they actually do. I'm gonna
repeat that. Men and women's actions will
be determined by what they really believe. And what a man or a
woman really believes will only be seen by what they actually
do. It's amazing how some folks have
the idea that salvation is 50% faith and 50% works. Not so. True faith is not a mixture of
the two. Faith is not more important than
works, and works is not more important than faith. A man's
work is determined by his faith. and his faith is proved by his
works. And that's a very important truth.
People who profess to know God and have no regard to the word
of God do not know God. People who continue in sin thinking
that in doing so causes grace to abound knows nothing of sin,
nor of grace, nor of God. It's a sad fact, but it's so.
What we really believe is seen only by what we do, and everything
else is just talk. We talk a good talk. But what
we do will demonstrate what we really believe. Let me give you
a couple of examples. A man or a woman says they love
the message of the gospel, the gospel of Christ, Christ and
Him crucified. And that man or woman is always
in attendance to hear it. They look forward to hearing
it. They would joy receive the word of God. And then there's
another man or woman who says the same thing, but rarely comes
to hear the gospel preach. Which do you believe has true
faith? A man says that he believes and he loves the message of God's
sovereign grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. He loves serving a sovereign
God and a sovereign Christ. And he attends a church that
preaches those glorious things. And he rejoices in the message
of Christ and Him crucified. And another man says the same
thing. He professes that he loves to
hear the message of sovereignty and salvation, the teaching of
election, the glorious truth of God's destinating power to
save whom he wills, but he attends a church where grace is not preached
nor believed. Which one would you believe to
truly know God? A man says, I believe all things
work together for the good of them that love God. I believe
that God works all things after the counsel of his own will and
purpose and that he's always working all things together for
my good. A man that says that and then
complains and always worried, always fretting. Does his works,
his actions prove that he believes that? And I would say not, but
you know what else I would say? Lord, help thou mine unbelief,
because I am that man very often. I believe God. I really do. I
really believe God. I know this is God's Word. I
know that God is in the heavens and He's done whatsoever He's
pleased. I know that. I want to live as though I believe
God. Don't you? For to live as if
I believe is to act like one who believes. Turn with me to
the book of James chapter two, stick your marker here in Exodus
nine. Look at James chapter two with me. James chapter two. Look at verse 14. James asks a very pertinent question
here. Verse 14, what doth it profit
my brethren? Though a man say he hath faith,
says that he believe, and have not works. Can faith save him
or can that kind of faith save him? Verse 15, if a brother or
sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you
say unto them, depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled, notwithstanding
you give them not those things which are needful to the body,
what doth it profit? Somebody's hungry and in desperate
need, and you say, be filled, and you don't give them anything.
What does it profit? It doesn't profit a thing. Talk
is cheap, good intentions pave the road to hell. I've heard
that all my life. Verse 17, even so faith, if it hath not works
is dead, being alone by itself. Yea, a man may say thou hast
faith and I have works, show me thy faith without thy works
and I will show thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that
there is one God, thou doest well. The devils also believe
and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man,
that faith without works is dead? Now look at this, verse 21. Was not Abraham our father justified
by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought
with his works? And by works has faith made perfect,
or complete, entire. And the scripture was fulfilled,
would saith Abraham, believed God. He believed that God would
either spare his son or raise up his son, for he had promised
that the Savior would come through the seed of his son. Scripture
was fulfilled, Abraham believed God. And it was imputed. We talked about that word Sunday.
It was charged unto him for righteousness. And he was called the friend
of God. You see then how that by works,
a man is justified and not by faith only. Now this is not talking
about keeping the law of God as a way to be saved. None of us can do that. None
would be saved. This is talking about living
as you believe. Living as you believe. Verse
25, likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works
when she received the messengers and had them sent out another
way? You know, Rahab believed, you remember our study in Joshua,
it's been a long time ago. But Rahab believed what she heard
concerning God. When those spies or those messengers
came, she said, oh, we've heard about your God. We've heard about
what your God did in Egypt. And we heard you were coming
this way, our hearts did melt. Oh, she believed what she'd heard
concerning God. She knew that God was going to
destroy Jericho. and all those who lived there.
So she made a promise to the spies that she would hide them
and that she would help them to escape if they would show
her mercy when they returned." You remember the story. That's
exactly what they did. But her actions of helping them
was the proof that she believed. Do you see where I'm coming from
on this? Look at verse 26, for as the body without the spirit
is dead, so faith without works is dead also. And what a great
illustration we have of that in Exodus chapter 9. We see the
relationship between faith and works. Those who feared the word
of the Lord believed what God said and got their servants and
their cattle out of the field into shelter and safety. And
those who were guarded not, did not take to heart. The word of
the Lord had, and by the way, they had no reason not to regard
or to believe. They should have while they had
experienced all the previous plagues, God had done what he
had said he would do each time. But they didn't believe and they
left their servants and their cattle in the field and the hail
fell and they were destroyed. So we see how that what they
believed determined what they did. Now let me give you another
illustration. If you really believe, if I really
believe in my heart and if you really believe in your heart
that you're a sinner, you will trust Christ for the putting
away of your sins. Because there's no one else to
trust. If you really believe that you have no righteousness,
nothing to offer God, who requires perfection, you will trust in
Christ as your only righteousness before God. If you don't believe
that you're really a sinner, you will not trust Christ as
your substitute for sin. That's just so. Why? Because
faith without works is dead. It's alone. Now back in Exodus
chapter 9, look again at verse 16. God says, in very deed, or
truly, truly, for this cause have I raised thee up. That term,
raised thee up, means made thee to stand. For to show in thee
my power. Now this is God talk. He's speaking
to Pharaoh. He said, I raised thee up. I
put you on the throne of Egypt. I made you king over all this
for one reason. I raise thee up to show in thee
my power and that my name may be declared throughout all the
earth. And that is pretty much word for word to what Paul said
in Romans chapter nine, verse 17. Even for this same purpose,
have I raised thee up that I might show my power in thee and that
my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Now it's here
that we see the sovereign God. The word sovereign in the dictionary
is defined as supreme, self-governing, self-existent, one who is omnipotent,
all-powerful. But there's one word that I think
defines sovereign better than any other. You know what it is?
God. That's who God is. He's sovereign. And he can't be God and not be
sovereign. He said, for this same purpose,
I raised thee up. God raised Pharaoh up that God
might what? Show his power. God's gonna show
that he's in control. He's gonna show his power in
the bringing down of Pharaoh so that the whole world might
know. Rahab did. that the whole world might know
that God is in control over everyone and everything as the sovereign
ruler. The Lord killeth, and the Lord
maketh alive. He bringeth down to the grave.
He bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor and maketh
rich. He bringeth low and lifteth up.
Who does? God does. The Lord does. Look
at verse 17. God says, as yet exaltest thou
thyself against my people, that thou will not let them go. You know, that's exactly what
sin is. It's exalting yourself. You ever
think about that? When you exalt yourself, you're
attempting to bring God down. Sin is the exaltation of self
in the attempt to dethrone God. That's what men do today in their
preaching. They try to bring God down on
their level so that they themselves can be their own God. All who
exalt themselves against God will find judgment, and yet some
will be humbled and find mercy. It's at the discretion of God. He will have mercy on whom He
will have mercy. It doesn't have anything to do
with your will, and everything to do with God's will. God is
sovereign. It's God's purpose to raise some
up, to bring them down, and it's God's purpose to bring some down
in order to raise them up. But there's no excuse for unbelief. Did they have any reason, those
that regarded not the word of the Lord, did they have any reason
to not believe the word of the Lord? None, none. I think back on how many times
my parents told me to do something, and that one word just always
just came out, why? Why? And the same answer came
out of their mouth, because I said so. You see, I wasn't the boss,
they were. A lot of times I thought I was,
but I wasn't. And we're not boss, a lot of
times we think we are. but God's the boss and we better
do what he says. Now notice these two statements
closely. I mean to be repetitive. Verse 20, he that feared the
word of the Lord. And then verse 20, one, excuse
me, he that regarded not. the word of the Lord. Now it's
okay if you don't believe a politician, or as I said earlier, a salesman. A lot of times they'll tell you
anything to get you to believe them. But we had better believe
God. Look back at chapter 7, verse
13. And he, being God, hardened Pharaoh's
heart that he hearkened not unto them as the Lord had said. Look at verse 22. And the magicians of Egypt did
so with their enchantments and Pharaoh's heart was hardened.
Neither did he hearken unto them as the Lord had said. Chapter
eight, verse 15. But when Pharaoh saw that there
was respite, he hardened his heart and hearkened not unto
them as the Lord had said. Verse 19. Then the magicians
said unto Pharaoh, this is the finger of God. And Pharaoh's
heart was hardened and he hearkened not unto them as the Lord had
said. Chapter nine, verse 12. And the
Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them
as the Lord had spoken unto Moses." God always does what he says,
always, always. When God gave this warning and
they failed to get their servants and their animals out of the
field, it proved one of two things. First, they didn't believe what
God said. That's the same as calling God
a liar. And secondly, they were responsible
for what happened. Men and women are responsible
for their sin. If they didn't get out of the
field, whose fault was it? God told them. Your fault. God had told them. There was
great mercy in God's warning here, but whose fault was it
for not believing Him? It was their fault. Now, if you're
dying, and you go to the doctor, and the doctor says, he knows
what's wrong with you, and he says, now if you take this particular
medicine that I'm going to prescribe to you, you'll be fine. You'll be healed. And if you
refuse to take it, whose fault is it if you die? You're in Exodus
9, again, verse 20. He that feared the word of the
Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle
flee into the houses. And he that regarded not the
word of the Lord left his servants and his cattle in the field.
And in these two verses, we have one of the most important phrases
in all the Bible, the word of the Lord. The word of the Lord. What is the word of the Lord?
We don't need to hear the word of a man. We don't need to hear
the opinion of a man. We don't need to hear the word
or opinion of the world. A lot of folks listening to the
opinions of this world. We must hear the word of the
Lord in order to be saved from the wrath and judgment of God
to come. That's what we see here. Noah
preached for 120 years. Some days all they heard was
that hammer. That was preaching. Judgment's
coming. Judgment's coming. But they would
not hear. They did not regard the word
of the Lord. And those in Egypt who heard
the word of the Lord were spared from the fiery hell. And those
today who hear the word of the Lord are spared from the fire
of hell. Now in our text, there are two
kinds of people. They still exist today. They've
always been around. Those who feared the word of
the Lord and those who regarded not the word of the Lord. In
Genesis chapter 15, verse one, you don't have to turn there.
It says this, first time that phrase is mentioned. After these
things, the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision,
saying, fear not, Abram, I am thy shield and thy exceeding
great reward. Now, is this speaking only of
an audible voice that came to Abraham? No, we know better than
that. It's speaking of much, much more than that. The word
of the Lord came unto Abram, and what did it say? I am. He
tells right up front who it is. I am thy shield and thy exceeding
great reward. That was the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is the Lord. The word of the Lord first is
Jesus Christ. We better regard him. In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. Jesus Christ is the Word of the
Lord. The Word of the Lord is the Holy
Scriptures, the written Word of God. All inspiration is by,
or all Scripture, excuse me, is by the inspiration or the
breath of God. It came not by the will of man
or by the word of man. Holy men of God spake as they
were moved by the Holy Ghost. And the word of the Lord is the
gospel message. How men and women respond to
the word of the Lord is demonstrated in what they do. You can write
it down. We see from our text in verses
20 and 21 that some feared and believed the word of the Lord
and some feared not and regarded not the word of the Lord. And
again, verse 21, and he that regarded not, set not in his
or her heart the word of the Lord, left his servants and his
cattle in the field. Now, let me just make this as
simple as I can for you and me both. Faith. saving faith, believing
God, is simply believing the Word of the Lord. And your actions
simply prove that you believe it. What does it mean to not
regard the Word of the Lord? Well, as I said, the margin says
it means to set not our hearts on the Word of the Lord. The
folks who did not regard the Word of the Lord simply had no
heart for the Word of the Lord." Do you have a heart for God's
Word? Do you have a heart for Christ?
Our Lord said, where your treasure is, there will be your heart
also. For with the heart, man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made
unto salvation. And only God can give men and
women a heart for the Word. Now I found it very interesting
that The other words used for this word regard are
regarded, how many other ways it's translated in the scriptures.
And I, again, mentioned the word regarded in our text. Very often
in the scriptures, in the Hebrew, the Hebrew word is translated
heart. However, there are several other
English words that the same Hebrew word is translated as. And maybe
it'll give us a good idea of what it means to regard or not
to regard the word of the Lord. I want to regard God's word. Don't you? Sure we do. Those
who do live and those who don't die. Now in closing, let me just
quickly give you some ways the word regard, the Hebrew word
for regard is used in the scripture. In 2 Samuel chapter 18 verse
3, the word is translated care. Some have no care for the word
of the Lord, but where there is true faith, there is care
for God's word. In Isaiah chapter 40 verse 1,
it's interpreted comfort. God says, comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, sayeth your God, speak ye comfortably. In other
words, speak to and from your heart to their hearts, comfortably. Where there's no faith, there
is no true comfort. But where there's faith, there
is great comfort. Have you experienced that? In
Psalm 83 verse five, it's translated consent. In unbelief, there's
no consent to the word of God, but with faith, there's great
agreement, great consent with God's word. Proverbs 24, 32,
it's translated, considered well. God's people, like the noble
Bereans, consider well the word of God. We'd better, we'd better
consider the word of God. They saw and we should see that
there's consequences of not doing so. All that men would consider
well, the consequences of not regarding the word of the Lord.
In Amos chapter two, verse 16, it's translated courageous. Unbelief
has no courage to take God at his word, but faith has courage
even if it seems that everything's in opposition against you. I
don't care, that's what God says. Moving forward, moving forward. Gonna believe God. That's courage. Ruth chapter two, verse 13, it's
translated friendly. Unbelief is not friendly to the
word of God, but faith is. How do I know? Because Abraham
believed, had faith in God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness,
and he was called the friend of God. In Genesis chapter 50,
verse 21, it's translated kindly. It says, Joseph spoke kindly
to his brothers. Unbelief looks at God's word
with hostility. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. That word means hostile. But
a new heart reacts with kindness toward the word of God. In Nehemiah
chapter four, verse six, it's translated mind. Faith has the
mind to obey God. to listen, to trust Him, to do
what's best, even if it's hard and it hurts. Our mind's made up. We're going
to trust God regardless. In Lamentations chapter 3, verse
33, it's interpreted willingly. True faith willingly wants to
believe the Word of the Lord. Thank God that He makes us willing
in the day of His power, or we'd never will to come to Him. Several
times in the book of Proverbs, the word regard is translated
understanding. Friends, it's Christ who has
given us an understanding. And we know that the Son of God
has come and has given us an understanding that we may know
Him that is true. And we are in Him that is true,
even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God in eternal
life, 1 John 5.20. You know, we have an understanding
of how God saved sinners. God gave us that understanding.
We have an understanding of how His righteousness is our right
standing before God. God revealed that to us. We didn't
just come up with that on our own. We have an understanding
that in Christ, God can remain just and still justify the ungodly. We understand that God is not
only a just God, but He's also a Savior. Flesh and blood didn't
reveal that to you. I understand, you understand,
that he that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the
Son hath not life. And those who feared the word
of the Lord obeyed. That's what I want you to see.
Their actions proved that they believed. And those who were
guarded not left their servants and their cattle in the field
and they died. Friends, we have to believe God
and we got to get in the house. And we got, just like Noah got
in the ark. We have to believe God and like
Rahab, stay in the house. The little spy said, get in the
house and stay in the house. We have to stay in Christ. Thank
God He keeps us kept by the power of God. May God enable us to
continue to the end trusting, resting, leaning, and fearing
the word of the Lord. If we do, We'll get in Christ
and we'll stay in Christ. Our faith will prove that to
be so. And yet, our faith is a gift
of God. We're not saved by our works
and actions. No, sir. But they certainly prove
that our faith is alive and not dead. May God enable us to grow
in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord. Okay. Amen.