Well, it's been a couple weeks
since we've looked here in the book of Exodus. I would like
for you to turn to chapter 6. I want to look at a verse or
two in chapter 5. In verse 22 of chapter 5, Moses stands on
dangerous ground We always stand on dangerous
ground when we accuse God of wrongdoing. Moses here questions
the purpose, power, and providence of God. And in verse 22, and
Moses returned unto the Lord and said, Lord, wherefore hast
thou so evil and treated this people? Why is it that thou hast
sent me? In other words, you've done evil
to these your people. The child of God knows that's
never the case. Why God causes all things to
work together for good to them that love him, to them who are
the called according to his purpose. I never grow tired of thinking
of that verse there in Romans, that God is out to do me good.
I find great comfort in that. God made it clear to Moses from
the beginning that he was out to do Israel good. Back in chapter
three, verse seven, you don't have to turn there, but it says,
and the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people. I love the thought of being his.
Love the thought of you and I being his people. He said, I've seen
the, of my people which are in Egypt, and I've heard their cry
by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows." Don't
ever think that God don't know your sorrows, that God doesn't
know what you're going through. He knows everything. And I'm
comforting in that fact. He said, I've come down to deliver
them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of the
land into a good land large into a land flowing with milk and
honey. God is out to do you good. To you who love God, to you who
are the called according to his purpose, do you believe that
God is out to do you good? You know, God has promised so
many things to us in his word, too many to mention in the time
we have allotted. Some that come immediately to
mind is that God has promised to supply his people their every
need. Need. All that I need God provides,
and he does so by his riches and glory in Christ Jesus, Philippians
419. He shall supply all my needs. He didn't say all our greeds,
all our needs. God has promised that his grace
will always be sufficient for his elect, no matter what we
go through. God says my grace is sufficient, and it certainly
is, always sufficient for our every need. Paul went on to say
there in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 that he took pleasure in infirmities. I don't know that I've reached
that point yet, to be honest with you. He said, I take pleasure
in reproaches and distress. Do you know why? He said, for
Christ's sake. And Paul knew that when he was
weak, it was then that he was strong. That's when we are at
our strongest, when we see our weakness. And that Christ has
promised that his grace will always be sufficient. God has
promised that His children will not be overtaken with temptation. No matter what temptation comes
my way, comes your way, He assures us that a way of escape will
always be provided. There hath no temptation taken
you, but such is common to man But God is faithful, who will
not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will
with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may
be able to bear it. How comforting that is. God is
able to keep his people from falling and to present them faultless
before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. What a wonderful
promise that is. He's able to keep me from falling.
One who is prone to wonder, one who's prone to fall. He's able
to keep me from doing so, and he's able to present you and
I, his people, those that love him, those that are called according
to his purpose. He's able to present us faultless
before the presence of God's glory with exceeding joy. He
delights to do so. And God has promised his people
victory over death. It's coming for each of us sooner
than we think, I'm afraid. And he says in his word, O death,
where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
O thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. If you're in Christ, death has
no claim upon you. It's just passing on unto real
life, and that's eternal life. And as we've already mentioned,
God has promised to work all things together for the good
of them that love Him. And God has promised that those
who believe and trust in Christ will receive the forgiveness
of sins. That means a great deal to one
who's a sinner. That God would put away my sin.
Sin, with sin comes such burden, doesn't it? God has promised
to forgive our sin in the Lord Jesus Christ. And God has promised
his people eternal life in Christ. Isn't that what our Lord said
in John chapter 10? He said, my sheep hear my voice
and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal
life and they shall never perish. You ever think about that? We'll
never perish. He said, neither shall any man
pluck them out of my hand. As God's people, may God enable
us to never fall into such unbelief that we charge God with evil,
as Moses did here. As believers, may we never, by
God's grace, question the goodness, the mercy, and his intentions
to us in our lives. God is not a man that he should
lie. God cannot lie. God is not a man that he should
repent or change his mind. Surely as he thinks, it comes
to pass. And surely as he purposes, it
shall stand. He asks this question, who shall
disannul it? None can make his promises invalid. When God stretches forth his
hand, none can turn it back. He intends to do you good and
none can stop him from doing so. God always does his will
in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth
and none can stay his hand. You can't grab God's hand and
keep him from doing what he purposes to do. And you can't question
him by asking him what he does. How comforting to know that this
same God is the one who is at work in his people's life to
will and to do his good pleasure. Aren't you comforted by that?
Yet Moses here questioned God as to his promised intention,
and he questioned God's purpose, promise, and providence. He asked,
why did you send me? He knew why God had sent him.
God had told him why, to deliver his people from Egyptian bondage. And then in verse 23 of chapter
five, for since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath
done evil to this people, neither hast thou delivered thy people
at all. What a thing to say to God. Moses
blames God for Pharaoh's treatment of Israel. And he's saying that
God had only made things worse. We need to be careful, very careful
what we blame on God. Just because God is sovereign
and in control, Of everything, we need to realize that we're
still responsible. Even though God was and is sovereign,
Adam and Eve were responsible for their great sin, and so are
we. And I hope, and I mean this sincerely. I hope that the next
time that I begin to question God's good providence, whatever
it may be, when things don't go the way that I hoped or things
don't go the way I desired them to, that I'll remember that God
knows what's best for me, and He always does what's best for
me. Do you remember that old TV program,
Father Knows Best? Well, we tell our age a little
if we say yes, but our heavenly father truly knows what is best
for us. Who and what are we that we should
ever question God's intentions toward us as his people? And
then again, we see the divine mercy of God. He ignores Moses'
sin here and unbelief, and he begins again to strengthen his
faith. Do you know why? No doubt in
my mind, by faith, Moses had seen Christ. In Christ, Moses
had no sin. And that's the same reason that
God puts up with us, his people and our unbelief. And then verse
one of chapter six, we read again, then after all these things,
the Lord said unto Moses, now shalt thou see what I will do
to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand shall
he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out
of his land. God does what he does only when
he's ready to do it. Moses and Aaron and the people
of Israel were discouraged. They thought surely that they'd
be walking out of Egypt by now. But the hardening of Pharaoh's
heart in Moses' first request for freedom for Israel was of
the Lord. All things are of the Lord. It
was the Lord that hardened Pharaoh's heart. It was the Lord who caused
Pharaoh to make things harder on the children of Israel. God
was the first cause of Israel having now to make bricks without
straw. And they were discouraged. They
were disheartened. And now God would show his people
that he was behind it all. Has God shown you that he's behind
everything? Do we act like God has shown
us that? Well, that's another subject.
God often, now listen to me, God often makes things difficult
for his people. Do you know why? He's gonna see
to it and he's gonna make his people to depend on him and him
alone. Now I want you to look down at
verse nine here in Exodus chapter six, and this is where we'll
spend the majority of our time. And Moses spake so unto the children
of Israel, but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of
spirit and for cruel bondage. You know, little words in the
scripture often have great meaning. That's the case with this little
two-letter word, soul, in verse nine. Moses spake soul, or in
other words, Moses spoke what God told him to. God gave Moses
a message, and Moses took that message to the people of Israel. That's what preaching is. I hope,
I hope that I've learned that, I want to speak and declare what
God says. I want to deliver to you the
word of God. Moses didn't come up with his
own message here. There are a lot of so-called
preachers doing that today. Moses didn't come up with some
new doctrine. Some of the things I hear men
preach today, I'm gonna be honest with you, I can't find them anywhere
in the Bible. Some of the things that so-called
believers do, I can't find it in the scriptures. Whether it's
an altar call or holding hands in a circle and praying together,
just not in the scriptures. They're nothing more than the
doctrines of devil and most of them do nothing but promote the
work, the worth, the way and the will of man. And here in
verse nine, we see that Moses preached the gospel again to
the children of Israel. Moses told them what God had
told him and what a full, free gospel message it was. Notice
first in verse two that Moses spoke to them about their God.
Moses said, you have a God. Now I'm paraphrasing, but he
said, you've got a God and his name is the Lord. He is the God
of your fathers. He's the God of Abraham. He's
the God of Isaac. And He's the God of Jacob. And
His name is Jehovah. He is God our Savior. He's the God who saves. I'm so
glad to know that. I need a God who has provided
a way of salvation for this sinner. He's Jehovah, He's the God who
says, and I can just see Him and I can just hear Him, why?
Because I know my own heart. And I picture them as they look
up from their brick making and say, God, God? Oh, you mean the same God that
caused Pharaoh to have us make bricks without straw? That God
that has us up to our necks in this filthy Nile mud, is that
the God that you're referring to, Moses? You see in verse nine,
it says, and Moses spake unto the children of Israel, but they
hearkened not unto Moses. You tell unbelieving sinners,
and you know this is so, you tell them the truth about the
true God of the Bible, and they'll find plenty of fault with him,
they will. Secondly, Moses went on to tell
them about the covenant that God had made with them. Moses
said, you have a God and your God has said, verse four, and
I have also established my covenant with them to give them the land
of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were
strangers. And again, I can just see the
looks on their face. I can just hear the words of
contempt that come out of their mouths. Covenant? Covenant? This God of which you speak made
a covenant with us? A covenant that causes us to
slave from morning to night without wages? A covenant that makes
us make bricks without straw? Oh, these are strange words in
our ears. The ears that normally hear nothing
but the cursing of the Taskmaster. These are strange words in our
ears, Moses, the ears of those who only hear the cracking of
the taskmaster's whip. Who needs a covenant such as
that? Does an unbelief make us so stupid? And then thirdly,
Moses went on to speak to them about the pity that God had on
them. He told them here in verse five
that God had heard their groaning. God's heard the groaning of the
children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage. And he said,
and I have remembered my covenant. He remembered that he had promised
to do good to them. And they'd look up from their
groaning And they say, is there indeed a God who has heard our
groaning and had pity on us? Where has this God been for 400
years? Where has God been these past
40 years since you first saw our burdens, Moses? But Moses
kept preaching. That's what the true servant
of God does. Just preaches. He keeps on telling
sinners what God says. He keeps on telling sinners what
Christ does for them. That's what we do in preaching.
Moses tells Israel about the Lord's resolve to rescue them
with a great redemption. And the Lord had said in verse
six, I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
You know why that means something? Because of who said it. God said
it. He said, I'll rid you out of
their bondage. He said, I will redeem you with
a stretched out arm and with great judgment. God means to
save you. And did you notice that all along
here the Lord speaks like a great king? Why? Because He is. He's
the King of kings. He said, I am Jehovah. I will,
I will, I will. And when God says, I will, He
means it. He means it. You can depend on
it. One old writer said, I will is
omnipotence putting itself in speech. It's God declaring what
he'll do. And if he says he'll do it, he'll
accomplish what he promises. He told them he was going to
come and rescue them. Verse seven, he said, 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. Verse eight, and I'll bring you
in. into the land concerning the which I did swear to give
it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And I will," notice
these I wills over and over again, I'll give it to you for a heritage,
for an heritage, I am the Lord. And surely Israel believed the
Lord, but no. Verse nine again, and Moses spake
so as God told him and to the children of Israel, but they
hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit and for cruel
bondage. Now we've established here, know
that it's so, Moses' message was from the Lord. Moses' message
was full of hope. God promised over and over, I
will, I will, I will, but the scriptures say they hearkened
not. And we can't be too hard on them. Can't be too hard on
them because they picture us so well. Why didn't they believe? It says because of their anguish,
because of their cruel bondage. And we know when Moses first
came with the glorious news of deliverance, Israel believed.
In Exodus 4, it says that they bowed their heads and they worshiped.
Oh, they were so excited. After 400 years of bondage, those
that were making these bricks now, well, that's all they'd
done since they were young. I mean, they were born into this
bondage, born into this slavery. And they were so hopeful that
they would be delivered. And then when Moses and Aaron,
you know the story, we looked at it in detail and they went
before Pharaoh and said, God said, let my people go. He said,
who is the Lord that I should obey his voice? But now his message
was received with unbelief and this caused great anguish of
heart. This is the reason that many
today do not believe. If you have a reference Bible
here, you may notice that the word anguish here means shortness. They could not believe because
of the shortness of their judgment of God. You cannot measure God,
friends, in inches. They limited God, who is a God
with no limits. They had put restrictions upon
a God who cannot be restricted. They had put a time frame on
the eternal God who is not bound by time. God does things in his
own timing. God is never early. God is never
late. He's always right on time. And they said God didn't deliver
us like he said he would. They became impatient. They said,
he's only increased our miseries. He's only brought upon us cruel
bondage. Our bondage becomes even more
cruel. Now we're expected to do the
impossible. And you know, there are hundreds
of reasons. And this is what I want you to think about. There
are hundreds of reasons why sinners reject Christ. We won't get into
them all, but Spurgeon once said that one who wants to beat a
dog can always find a stick to beat them, and it's no different
for one who wishes to reject Christ. They can always come
up with a reason to do so, regardless of how unreasonable their reason
may be. You've heard a lot of excuses,
so have I. No matter how sad an excuse they
make, I can't help but to think about how sad is the excuse of
not coming to Christ because one is full of anguish. Now you
think about that. That is when a sinner needs Christ
the most. When they're in anguish, when
they're in cruel bondage, that's when a sinner needs to come to
Christ. And I've heard people say things
like, well, I didn't come to church because I was depressed.
I didn't come to church because I was discouraged. That's when
you need to come the most. Where do you go when you're sick?
You go to the doctor. And where do you go when you're
down and depressed? You go to the one who comforts
and lifts up. In Matthew 11, 28, You know the
passage? Well, our Lord said, come unto
me. Who was he talking to? He said, all ye that labor and
are heavy laden. Those that labor over their sin,
heavy laden because of their sin. He said, come unto me and
I'll give you rest. That's where we find it, coming
to him. And here's another one of God's
I wills. I will give you what you need. I'll give you rest. Folks are
looking for rest, but they're not looking in the right places.
May God truly enable us to see our need and know that Christ
is the only remedy for the anguish of spirit and grief of the soul. There are many whose eyes fail.
Now I'm telling you it's so. There are many whose eyes fail
to look to Christ because they can't see beyond their despair. Some will always claim that they
have no need and others will claim that they're too filthy
and undeserving to come. They've got too much anguish
to believe and too much bondage to trust Christ. And that's the
very ones who Christ bids to come. I have no doubt that that
poor woman in the city that was called the sinner never told
her name. I'm sure she felt that way. I
am unworthy to even stand in the presence of the Lord Jesus
Christ. But that didn't stop her. She
came to Simeon's house and she washed the Lord's feet with her
tears and she wiped them with the hairs of her head. And there
will always be some who claim that they do not have the ability
to come. And we don't, apart from the
power of God, but you can't blame your not coming on your inability.
I think about the thief on the cross. He had no ability to come.
His feet were nailed to the cross, but he came in his heart. And
Christ said to him today, thou shalt be with me in paradise. We used to sing that little chorus
I hope that we begin to sing some of those courses again that
reach out and touch the Lord as he passes by. Oh, I love the
thought of that. To reach out and touch the Lord,
but some acclaim that they cannot reach out and touch the Lord.
They say my hands withered. Stretch forth thy hand, anguished
one, with the command comes the power to do what you cannot do. And others say, I'm bowled over.
I can in no wise lift myself up. I can't straighten up. I
can't do what's right. Well, neither could that poor
woman who was for 18 years in that condition. Yet she was loose
from her infirmity and the scripture says she was immediately made
straight. You see, our straightness is
imputed. It's attributed to Christ being
made righteous for us. And I think of that question,
that simple question that we should ask ourselves often, is
anything too hard for the Lord? This was a lesson that Israel
would learn. There's nothing too hard for
the Lord. He can do anything and he can do everything. So
don't let anguish, that word means pain, torment, suffering,
distress. Don't let these things keep you
from believing. That's what we see here. Israel
didn't believe because of their anguish. All the promises of
God, all of them, are yay and amen in the Lord Jesus Christ. If thou canst believe the Lord
Jesus said, all things are possible to him that believes. Now Israel
did not believe or hearken unto the gospel Moses preached because
of their anguish of soul and for cruel bondage. So what did
the Lord do? Well, let me first tell you what
he didn't do. He didn't give up on them. He
didn't give up on them because of their wretched condition.
Look at verse 10. And the Lord spake unto Moses
saying, go in, Speaking to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, that he let the
children of Israel go out of his land. And Moses spake before
the Lord, saying, behold, the children of Israel hath not hearkened
unto me. And how shall Pharaoh hear me,
who am of uncircumcised lips? You know, men by nature, I'm
telling you, men and women by nature were such unbelieving
wretches. But thank God that he doesn't
give up on us. That's my message to you tonight.
God doesn't give up on us. Aren't you glad he didn't give
up on you? Verse 13, and the Lord spake unto Moses and unto
Aaron and gave them a charge unto the children of Israel.
and unto Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel
out of the land of Egypt." Beloved, in the matter of deliverance
and in the matter of salvation, God has issued His royal decree,
and you can be sure that it'll stand. His Word doesn't return
unto Him void. It accomplishes that which He
sends it to accomplish. God charged Moses and Aaron to
bring his people out of Egypt. They couldn't do it, but they
did. God charges the people of Israel
to come out of Egypt. He told Moses and Aaron, he said,
tell the children of Israel to come out of Egypt. You know,
we're not invited to come and invited to believe, we're charged. That word means commanded, we're
commanded to do so. God also, if you notice there,
charged Pharaoh to let God's people go. I was thinking about
the law of God and how Pharaoh very well pictures the law of
God. Christ kept the law of God for
his people and the law is charged to let his people go. Moses and
Aaron had tried and failed and we're charged of God to do the
impossible. You just ask Ezekiel. There he
stood in a valley of dry bones. Scripture said very dry bones.
They'd been there a long time. Ezekiel was gonna go and preach
to those very dry bones. God asked him, he said, can these
bones live? And Ezekiel said, oh Lord God,
thou knowest. Thou knowest. You see, deliverance,
And life is at the discretion of the Lord. Ezekiel said, you
know, Lord, if they can live or not. Whether or not these
dry bones live, that's the Lord's business. Ezekiel's business
was to preach to them. Nothing more. If Israel is gonna
be delivered out of Egypt, that too is the Lord's business. Moses
and Aaron were only to relay God's message to Pharaoh, and
it was God who would do the delivering. And I'm so glad that it's God
that does the delivering and not us. It's the same for us. We plant. Paul said we water,
but God has to give the increase. So I leave you with this thought. May the Lord be pleased to deliver
sinners from their anguish. from their cruel bondage, which
are both caused by sin, the success of salvation is God's business.
And I'm so glad that was the case with me, and I'm so glad
that's the case with my children, and I'm so glad that that's the
case with all of God's elect. God does the saving. We did the
sin and God does the saving. The business at hand for us is
to simply deliver the message. Deliver the message. May we continue
to sound that B flat on the ram's horn. It's only when we do that
the walls of anguish and bondage of sin come tumbling down. There's
no other way to penetrate the high walls that keep us out of
the blessings of God. We just keep preaching, keep
believing God for salvation. And he's faithfully promised.
God is faithfully promised all that we might truly trust in
him.