Start with me tonight in Exodus
chapter four, if you would please. Verse 27. Exodus 4, 27. And the Lord said to Aaron, go
into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went and he met him in
the Mount of God and kissed him. And Moses told Aaron all the
words of the Lord who had sent him and all the signs which he
had commanded him. And Moses and Aaron went and
gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. And
Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses
and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people
believed. And when they heard that the
Lord had visited the children of Israel and that he had looked
upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped."
Then chapter five, verse one, and afterward, Moses and Aaron
went in and told Pharaoh, thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
let my people go. that they may hold a feast unto
me in the wilderness." Moses and Aaron are now required to
confront Pharaoh in person. I don't know about you, but I
would have been scared. They know his contention toward
their race and people. They know his heartless cruelty
that was frequently displayed to them. They knew that their
message for him would not please him for God had already told
him that he would harden his heart and he wouldn't let Israel
go. And what a picture and what an
example of God's power here to impart grace and give courage
to a trembling heart. God gives us what we need when
we need it. God gives us strength when we
need it. God gives us grace when we need it. God's strength is
made perfect in our weakness, the scriptures say. Most gladly,
therefore, would I rather glory in my infirmities that the power
of Christ may rest upon me. The Lord told Paul that his grace
was sufficient in every circumstance, trial, Affliction, doesn't matter. His grace is sufficient. Why?
Because God's strength is made perfect. That word means complete,
entire. Made known and revealed to believers
in their weakness. You know, I am never more aware
of the power of God and the power of Christ than when I am aware
of my own weakness, my own inability, and my own unwillingness So with
God-given boldness, here we have God's servants make their demand
upon Pharaoh. And they said, thus saith the
Lord God of Israel, let my people go. May we never endeavor to
preach outside of thus saith the Lord. The gospel is not my
opinion. The gospel is not what I think.
The gospel is thus saith the Lord. The gospel is what God
declares it to be. The message of God has to do
with liberty. It has to do with freedom from
bondage. And we must remember again that
that's what Egypt pictures and represents. It represents the
bondage of sin's nature. It represents the bondage in
keeping the law of God. We've talked about it several
times. Basically, there's a two-fold bondage that the scriptures teach.
The bondage of keeping God's law. It's bondage because we
can't do it. And the bondage of our own sinful
nature. And that's the two-fold bondage
that every natural man and woman is under. We can't get out from
underneath the bondage of the law. We may not agree with it. We may think it's too harsh and
too strict, but you can't get out from under. There's some
bondage there. Cursed is everyone that continueth
not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them. You see, that's the problem,
to do. The law is weak in the flesh
and that's our flesh because we can't do what the law requires. God requires perfect obedience
to his law. I can't get out from underneath
that. God discontinues to be just and holy. if he allows me to be saved apart
from perfect obedience to his law. There's only one way that
any of us can be set free, and that's by Christ perfectly keeping
the law's demands for us. And he answered all the law's
demands. He took every sin of every child
of God, and he put them away, how? By the sacrifice of himself,
and that's the gospel. And now before the law of God,
there is no guilt. There's no wages of sins debt
that you and I must pay. They've been paid. I don't owe a thing. The demands
of the law against me have been met. The wages of sin have been
paid. The holy justice of God has been satisfied. And then
secondly, we are also under the bondage of a sinful nature. And oh, what bondage that is.
I'm in bondage to a nature that cannot not sin. We say that, but it's so true.
I cannot not sin. Do you know anything about that?
I'm in bondage to that old nature. That's what Paul's talking about
in Romans 7. What I wanna do and what I should
do, I don't. And what I shouldn't do, that
I do. Oh, wretched man that I am. But
the Lord Jesus Christ sets his people free from the bondage
of that nature by giving them a new nature. A nature that was
not there before. The message of the gospel is
it's a liberating message. It's a message of liberty. It's a message of freedom. God
gives us a new nature in Christ, not an improved nature, not a
reformed nature, not a religious nature. Some folks, I think,
miss that. They think being religious is
being spiritual. It's not. He gives us a new nature. For the law, the spirit of life
in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death,
Romans 8. Christ has made, has delivered
us from the curse of the law and we're free from the curse
of that old nature. Do you know what the true message
of the gospel is? Let my people go. Let my people
go. God demands it. Do you know why?
First, because the law has been kept and satisfied on the believer's
behalf. The child of God, Christ has
for the child of God paid the debt of sin and put it away by
the sacrifice of himself. The bondage of the believer's
will and nature has been crucified in Christ. We're made a new creature, and
we've received a new nature. And that's why God demands that
his people be let go. It's a picture of God's elect
being freed from bondage. And that's why let my people
go is the gospel message. Christ has done for them what
they couldn't do for themselves. And my, we certainly say that
a lot, don't we? But it's the only hope that I
have. Moses and Aaron said in verse
one, they said, thus saith the Lord. You see, our gospel comes
from him. The gospel which we preach comes
from God. The Lord God of Israel is the
one who said this, said these things. He's the one that wrote
this book. This is his word. It's not my opinion, it's not
my take on things, it's God's. Thus saith the Lord God. This is the sovereign will, purpose,
and power of God. He said, thus saith the Lord
God of Israel. He's the God of a particular
distinguished people. He is the God of Israel, not
the God of everyone. The message of good news for
Israel is this, let my people go. God said, Pharaoh, let my
people go. And it's Israel's freedom from
bondage that must be granted because it's what God demands
for those that are his. That they may hold a feast unto
me in the wilderness, God says. You see, the gospel message is
all about the Lord. It's all about the glory that
God is to receive, that they may hold a feast unto me in the
wilderness. And the salvation and redemption
of God's people, His gospel is a message of liberty and freedom. That's what I want you to see.
That's what I want you to rejoice in. Free. from the law, oh happy condition. Jesus has bled and there's remission. Payment for sin and fool has
been made. It's a message of God's distinguishing
grace. Let my people go, not everybody,
my people. Did you know that liberty and
freedom, well I know you know it, but have you thought about
it? Liberty and freedom are meaningless without some understanding of
bondage. Until we've experienced the bondage
of sin with the promise of death, and that's what sin's wages is,
death, we'll never ever fully appreciate the liberty and freedom
that we have in Christ. We just won't. And it is God
who demands that Pharaoh let his people go. God says, set
them free. And we ought to be happy about
that because whatever God says comes to pass. Look at verse
two. And Pharaoh said, who is the
Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not
the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. And we read that verse
and we think to ourselves, what arrogance? We also think to ourselves,
what ignorance? But Pharaoh's gonna soon discover
that he's nothing more than a puppet and a pawn in God's hands. The
Lord knows how to humble the pride of man. How do I know that? For the scripture saith to Pharaoh,
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. It wasn't many years later that
when those two spies came to Rahab's house, she said, oh,
I've heard, I've heard what your God did in the land of Egypt. Oh, that God's name might be
declared throughout all the earth. Pharaoh said, I don't know the
Lord. I don't recognize, that's what the word means. I don't
acknowledge the Lord. As far as I'm concerned, your
Lord is nothing to me. And I certainly won't let Israel
go. Not gonna do it. Verse three,
and they said, the God of the Hebrews hath met with us, let
us go, we pray thee, three days journey into the desert and sacrifice
unto the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence
or with the sword. And the King of Egypt said unto
them, wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from
their works get you unto your burdens? I think we all have
a pretty good understanding of what's going on here. Pharaoh
didn't want to let Israel go because it greatly benefited
him. They were his slaves. And this
is typical of Egypt. This is typical of bondage. This is typical of salvation
by works. That's what Egypt represents.
Typical of this, Pharaoh doesn't like this talk about liberty. Pharaoh doesn't like this talk
about freedom. And in verse four, what Pharaoh
is saying, he says, you free the people from their works and
their responsibility, and they'll never be good for anything. What
a picture here of works religion. Isn't that what works religion
says? You give folks this liberty,
You give folks this freedom. You give folks this grace and
mercy in Christ, and they'll never read their Bible. They'll never pray. They'll never
attend church. Get you unto your burdens. Get
on back to work, Pharaoh says. Do something for Pharaoh, your
king. And verse five, and Pharaoh said, behold, the people of the
land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens.
Now, this isn't talking just about just taking a break. They would get work breaks. They
didn't work and go 24-7. At the end of the day, they got
to go home, they got to eat, they got to rest. This is talking
about permanent rest. This is talking about a complete
rest, a finished work. That's what it's referring to.
There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he
that is entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own
works as God did from his. Let us labor therefore to enter
into that rest. Hebrews chapter four, verses
nine through 11. This liberty and Freedom refers
to a complete salvation. Pharaoh says, you want them to
rest from their burdens? That doesn't work for me. For
the people are now many. You know, my kingdom's about
to really take off, Pharaoh's saying. He said, we're building
bigger and we're building better. Are you trying to ruin this for
me? If all you talk about is rest,
how is any work gonna be done? You're trying to cause the people
of the land to work no more. So here's what I'm gonna do.
I'm going to make them work more and I'm gonna make them work
harder. Look at verse six. And Pharaoh commanded the same
day, the taskmasters of the people and their officers saying, you
shall no more give the people straw to make brick as heretofore. Let them go and gather straw
for themselves. and the tail or the number of
the bricks which they did make heretofore, you shall lay upon
them, you shall not diminish off thereof. For they be idle,
therefore they cry saying, let us go and sacrifice to our God. Verse nine, let there more work
be laid upon the men that they may labor therein. and let them
not regard vain words. Now this is a great dilemma for
Israel because you can't make this kind of brick without straw. Now stay with me on this. I think
it'll be a blessing to you. You see, it's impossible to make
this kind of brick without straw. Just the same as it's impossible
to be saved by works. It's impossible to do. It's like
making bricks without straw. There is no straw, there is no
grace in Christ to hold the bricks together. There is no straw,
no power in Christ to start the flame, to fire the bricks, to
make them solid and strong. If salvation is in any way conditioned
on something that you and I must do, then none of us will ever
be saved. It's impossible to make bricks
without straw, and friends, it's impossible to be saved by works.
In salvation by works, you have to make bricks without straw,
and that's impossible to do. They certainly couldn't come
up with the same number of bricks if there was no straw. And isn't
that exactly what salvation by works is? I'm given something
to do that I cannot possibly do. Look again at verse seven,
Pharaoh says, let them go and gather straw for themselves. Can you and I provide or gather
a perfect righteousness for ourselves? No, absolutely not. And that's
why the works religionist claims that liberty and freedom lead
to idleness. They say that kind of thinking
will lead to sin and lawlessness. You tell people they have freedom
and grace and mercy in Christ, and they'll live like they want
to. But they forget that God changes the sinners want to.
God changes those whom He loves that they want to. He makes them
willing to do God's will in the day of His power. Besides that,
sin and lawlessness is already found in me by nature. And the
reason those who believe in salvation by works don't love freedom from
bondage is because they really don't know what sin is. Now you
think about this with me. That's a great burden, that's
a great burden when you, When you don't know what sin is, or
if you do know what it is, it's a great burden when you know
you can't provide what God requires. It's like trying to make bricks
without straw. It just can't be done. But the
child of God to whom God has revealed something of their sin, you can't preach salvation free
enough. You just can't. When God has revealed to me my
sin, my desperate condition before Him, you can't preach freedom
to me enough, freedom in Christ. That's all a true sinner wants
to hear. To those who have been made to
feel the guilt of their sin, you cannot preach salvation by
grace enough. That's all they want to hear.
Tell me again that wondrous story of Christ and what He's done
for sinners. Religion says of those who believe
in grace, well, you're just idle. You're just looking for an excuse
to sin. You're looking for an excuse
to do nothing. That's why you want this liberty
and rest. And to say such things proves
that men and women have no true understanding of sin and the
bondage that it brings. Like Pharaoh, with religion,
it's work, work, work. Liberty, freedom, and rest will
only cause idleness. You know, my mother used to say
to me, idle hands are the devil's workshop. I know you've heard
that saying. And that's just another unscriptural
saying. When I was an adult, I used to
ask her, how did she know? I said, are you the devil's sister
or something? And she'd say, no, I'm the devil's
mother. But the only way you can get
rest from the burden of the law, the only way you can get rest
from the burden of sin's nature is by the perfect work of Christ. That's what this picture is.
I hear people say that they believe in salvation by grace when I
know that they really don't. They say that because they really
don't know what salvation by works is. For works is exactly
how they endeavor to accomplish their salvation. So what is meant
by salvation by works? Well, I know this much, if any
part of salvation is not all of grace, then it's by works. If any of salvation is dependent
on us, dependent on you and I, we make it all by works. And that's exactly what Romans
chapter 11, verse six tells us. And if by grace, then it's no
more works. Otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it's
no more grace. Otherwise work is no more work. That simply means that salvation
cannot be by works and grace both. It's either one or the
other. Now, in the beginning of salvation,
if I have to exercise my will, if I have to make a decision,
if I have to give my heart to Jesus, as many folks say, then
salvation's my works. In the middle of salvation, if
it's me that has to persevere, if it's up to me to endure till
the end, If it's up to me in any way to keep myself, then
salvation is by works. And in the end of salvation,
if I feel as though I've earned a reward, if I feel that I deserve
the love and mercy and grace of God, if I feel that I've earned
or in some way have merited salvation, then I make salvation all by
works. Look at verse 10, and the taskmasters
of the people went out and their officers, and they spake to the
people saying, thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw. Go
ye, get you straw where you can find it. Yet not all of your
work shall be diminished. You still got to produce the
same amount of bricks without straw. Now look at verse 12. So the people were scattered
abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead
of straw. The good news message of the
gospel is, come unto me all ye that labor and heavy laden with
sin and I'll give you rest. That's the good news of the gospel.
The good news of the gospel is if any man thirst, let him come
unto me and drink. The good news of the gospel is
whosoever will, let him come and take the water of life freely.
But the message of works is I will not give you straw. I will not
give you anything. Go, get your own straw where
you can find it, verse 11. Yet your work shall not be diminished. Your responsibility to provide
is not diminished at all. Need the same amount of bricks.
You're still responsible to come with the goods. And I think we see two things
here very clearly. First, inability. And secondly,
responsibility. You see, inability, if they were
not supplied with the straw, No way could they come up with
the required number of bricks, just impossible, inability, can't
do it. They were given something that
they were unable to do. That's what salvation by works
is. It's given me something that I cannot do. The law of God gives
you and I something that we are unable to do. And then responsibility,
the same number of bricks, It's required. Inability does not
negate responsibility. You still got to provide the
same amount of bricks day in and day out. We don't have straw,
sorry. Does it negate the responsibility? Now the first thing usually somebody
will say is how can it be fair for me to be required to do something
that I cannot do? But the child of God has learned
that salvation has nothing to do with God being fair, and it
has everything to do with perfect obedience to God. If I can't pay my taxes, if I
don't have the ability to pay them, I'm still held responsible
to pay them, right? If a murderer kills someone in
our family and his defense is, well, I just have a murderous
nature. That person in a court of justice won't be released
from their responsibility not to kill. If that's so in the physical
realm, if that's so and true in this world, then it's even
more so in the spiritual realm because God's requirements are
according to his holy justice. It's only when God shows us that
we're truly responsible for all our sin. It's all our fault. We have no one to blame but ourselves. It's then when we are brought
to the place where we can cry, Lord, have mercy on me. What else am I gonna do? The
law of God requires what I can't do. My only hope is mercy. My only hope is that God might
give me liberty and give me freedom in Christ. And that has to be
revealed to us. God, the Holy Spirit has to show
us. That's what John 16, eight says. And when he, the Holy Spirit
has come, he will reprove that word means convince, convict. the world of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment. The Holy Spirit convicts us of
our sin. And did you pay any attention
there to verse 12? So the people were scattered
abroad throughout all the land of Egypt together stubble instead
of straw. Now that word stubble here means
sapless. It means lifeless. That's a picture
of the dead works that men try to do. It's just lifeless, dead
works, don't amount to anything. Pharaoh gave them something impossible
to do, but they're still responsible. They're still responsible to
provide what they had always been responsible to provide.
And if you're going to endeavor to be saved by works, the same
thing applies. You're still responsible to provide
what God requires. What is that? Perfection. It's like making bricks without
straw. Which would you prefer to be under, works or grace?
I'll take grace. Give me grace. Verse 13, and
the taskmasters hasted them saying, fulfill your works, your daily
task. as when there was straw, and
the officers of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh's taskmasters
had set over them, were beaten and demanded. Wherefore, have
ye not fulfilled your task in making brick, both yesterday
and today, as heretofore?" Then the officers of the children
of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, wherefore dealest
thou thus with thy servants? There is no straw given unto
thy servants, and they say to us, make brick, and behold, thy
servants are beaten, but the fault is in thine own people. But he said, ye are idle, ye
are idle, therefore ye say, let us go and do sacrifice to the
Lord. Go therefore now and work, for
there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the
tail of bricks." The number of bricks. Verse 19, and the officers
of the children of Israel did see that they were in an evil
case. After it was said, you shall
not minish out from your bricks of your daily task. And I was
thinking as I read these verses, how true to human nature this
is. Instead of crying into the Lord, instead of crying into
the Lord, these leaders of Israel turned to Pharaoh for relief.
Men continue to turn to the holy law of God for relief, but there's
no relief there. No relief there. I'm sure that
they hoped to appeal here to Pharaoh's pity or to some sense
of his justice. The justice of God's law though
is unbending and it's inflexible. Surely they could show Pharaoh
that his demands were unreasonable and impossible to fulfill. Yet
if you offend God's law in one point, you're guilty of it all. James 2.10, and unless God intervenes,
the natural man will always prefer to lean upon the arm of flesh
than be supported by him who is invisible. Verse 20, and they met Moses
and Aaron who stood in the way, and they came forth from Pharaoh,
and they said unto them, The Lord look upon you and judge
because you have made our savor, our odor, our smell to be abhorred
in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants to put
a sword in their hand to slaves. And this shouldn't be a surprise
to us. The Lord himself were hated by his own brethren according
to the flesh and the very ones to whom he had ministered in
grace unanimously cried crucifying. Verse 22, excuse me. 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? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath
done evil to this people, and neither hast thou delivered thy
people at all. Now look at chapter six, verse
one. Then the Lord said unto Moses,
now, 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." You know, we cannot see what
God can or will do until we see that we can't do anything. Until you and I are brought to
the place that we can do nothing. till we see that we are in an
evil case. It is then that you and I will
see our need of Christ. I remember so vividly when I
heard the gospel, how the God was holy, holy, a God of justice
who would by no means clear the guilty. And when God revealed
to me that I was guilty, Oh, I saw that I was in an evil case. And it was then that I knew that
I must have Christ in order to be saved. You see, salvation
is what God does for sinners, not what we do for God. Salvation
is by and according to the righteous work that Christ did. I've got
to have him. That's my only hope. Have you
reached the end of yourself? Have you seen that you can do
nothing? It's then and only then that we can see what God can
do. Have you seen what God can do?
Have you experienced what God can do? Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is in what God does. And it's there that salvation
begins in election. That's where salvation stays. We're kept by the power of God.
God chose us. God set his affection on us.
In time, he called us, he justified us and will glorify us. And we're
kept by the power of God as we walk through our daily lives.
And that's where salvation ends. Having loved his own, which were
in the world, he loved them until the end. And God with a strong
hand. Boy, I love the sound of that,
don't you? A strong hand. With a strong hand shall God
accomplish redemption for His elect, and with a strong hand
He'll drive them out of this land, this land in which we live. And that's just the only way
you and I will ever be saved. May God enable us to trust in
Him. I think that's a beautiful picture
of God's work, grace and mercy in our lives. It's a beautiful
illustration of how we cannot be saved by works. We've got
to rely upon He who was made to be sin for us in order to
be made the perfect righteousness of God in Him. May the Lord be pleased to make
this effectual to our hearts.