and turn with me again to Exodus
chapter four. God had a people in Egypt. They were his own. He said, my
people. They were the people of his choice. He said, I didn't choose you
because you were more in number, but you were more in anything.
I chose you for my own names sake. The 400 years of their slavery
was almost over, and God will now deliver them from their taskmasters. They're going to be fetched out. Fetching grace there to be made
a separated people God gonna separate them and set them apart
God has such a people today And there to be fetched out by grace
and God Is pleased we see this very early on even here in Exodus
that God is pleased to use a man as the messenger to be the means
of how deliverance is accomplished And in verse 14 here in chapter
four, just a sentence or so down, the Lord asked Moses, is not
Aaron the Levite thy brother? You remember well, Moses said,
I'm not eloquent, I can't speak well. And here God says, I know
he can speak well, Aaron, your brother, which really doesn't
have anything to do with it because the messenger is just that, he's
just a voice. God can use a stuttering fool
like me. He can use anybody. Divine deliverance
can only be accomplished by the divine one. We say salvation's
of the Lord. I hope it doesn't just become
cliche with us because that's the truth of the scripture. Salvation
is of God. God does a saving. Man doesn't
save himself. Man can't do anything to save
himself. And that's what the Lord is telling
Moses in verse 15. He said, I will put the words
into Aaron's mouth and I'll be with your mouth and I'll be with
Aaron's mouth and I'll teach you what you shall do. You see,
we've got to be taught of God to know anything concerning him. Salvation's of the Lord. And
in verse 16, he shall be thy spokesman unto the people, and
he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and
thou shall be to him instead of God. Now Aaron was to stand
between Moses and the people and speak for him. And Moses
was to stand between God and Aaron in God's stead. and tell
him what orders he had received from God. In verse 17, and thou
shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do
signs. That shepherd's staff, in and
of itself, just a piece of wood. But Moses would do wondrous things
with that staff. In verse 18, Moses went and returned
to Jethro, his father-in-law, and he said unto him, let me
go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren, which are in Egypt,
and see whether they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, go
in peace. Now Jethro, Moses' father-in-law,
had been kind to Moses from the beginning, even when he was a
stranger. Being employed in the service
of God, this is the point I want to make on this verse, does not
exempt us from the duties of our callings and relationships
in this world. We have to properly take care
of business in this world to and for the glory of God. So
Moses goes to Jethro, his father-in-law, and it may seem that Moses was
being a little deceptive to Jethro by telling him that he was going
back to Egypt to see if any of his family was still alive, or
possibly this was a secret desire that Moses had. I don't know,
we're not told, but we know why God sent Moses back to Egypt. It wasn't to see if any of his
family was alive. It was to deliver God's people
from the bondage of Egypt. But Moses said nothing to his
father-in-law of the glorious manifestation of God to him. Why? Because such things aren't
to be boasted about before men. And can you also imagine the
concern that Jethro would have had for his daughter and for
his grandchildren if he knew the real reason for Moses returning
to Egypt. Jethro gives Moses his blessing
and he says, go in peace. And in verse 19, and the Lord
said unto Moses in Midian, go return into Egypt, for all the
men are dead which sought thy life. Now here Moses receives
further encouragement and direction from God in this work. How gracious
is God to us. God has a way of comforting his
people. in their work for him. He assures
Moses that, in so many words, that the coast is clear. All
those that sought you when you left Egypt for the murder of
an Egyptian are now dead. Perhaps Moses had some secret
fear of his past enemies, but how wonderful, again, to consider
that God knows all the temptations that his people have, even if
they don't know them. And you know, I was thinking
oftentimes God deals with things for us that we don't even know
about. That's the kind of God he is. He takes care of things
that we're not even aware of. How wonderful to know that God
has a way of comforting us against our secret fears and concerns. So anyway, verse 20, Moses took
his wife and his sons and set them up on an ass and he returned
to the land of Egypt And Moses took the rod of God in his hand.
He doesn't return with the scepter of Egypt in his hand. That could
have been his, but he forfeited that long ago. But he returns
with a shepherd's staff, and that scepter of Egypt couldn't
accomplish near what this rod was about to. Why? Because of
the authority and the power behind that shepherd's staff, which
is God Almighty. Salvation is of the Lord. Then in verse 21 we read, and
the Lord said unto Moses, when thou goest to return into Egypt,
see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh. Now not the three
signs that we looked at a couple weeks ago. This is talking about
those plagues that God would send upon Pharaoh in Egypt. He said, see that thou do all
those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in thine hand,
but I will harden his heart, speaking of Pharaoh, that he
shall not let the people go. God speaks here, as I said, of
the ten plagues that would befall Pharaoh and the land of Egypt.
But the thing that I want you to see above everything else
in this verse is the glorious fact that wonders, works, miracles,
all these things were put into Moses' hand by God. In other words, salvation is
of the Lord. Any and every wondrous act of
mercy is the Lord's doing. Did you know that? Any influence,
now listen, any influence that we would have with an unbeliever,
God put it in your hand. Any breakthrough in our preaching
to one who's lost, any breakthrough in our praying to and for the
lost, it was God that put it in our hand. Any revelation of
Scripture, Well, sometimes I read the scripture, I know you do
too, and something just pops out and you say, I see that,
for the first time I see that. Maybe you're hearing the gospel
and that happens. But any revelation of scripture,
any growth in faith, I think I'm beginning to believe sometimes. Any increase in knowledge of
Christ, all to see Christ high and lifted up in His Word, and
hear Him high and lifted up in His preaching. Any increased
revelation, knowledge of Christ, divine illumination that we receive,
God put it in your hands. God put it in your minds, and
God put it in your hearts. Why? Because salvation's of the
Lord. This is God's doing. God's done. Where does every
good and perfect gift come from? It cometh down from the Father
of lights, with whom is no variableness. And that word means fickleness.
God's not fickle. We're fickle, but God's not.
And in God, there's neither shadow of turning. God doesn't change. God's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. Another thing that we must and
should consider in verse 21 is the fact that it's God who hardens
men and women's heart. God said plainly, God said simply
here, I will harden his heart. Pharaohs, I'll harden his heart. And he shall not let the people
go. And we cannot rightly consider
this verse without looking at Romans chapter nine. Would you
stick your marker here? We'll come back to it and look
to Romans chapter nine with me. Now I know we all read these
verses often and we rejoice in these verses because they declare
that God is God. But let's look at it in light
of God hardening Pharaoh's heart here. Look at verse 17. For the Scriptures say it. That's
the same as saying God says. For the scripture sayeth, verse
17, unto 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. Now, obviously two things
stick out there. First, God's purpose. It's according
to God's purpose. Salvation is according to God's
purpose. And the second thing is God's
power. God has the power to carry out
his purpose. We don't have a God that's trying
and wanting and wishing he could do things. God does what he wills
in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth,
and he does it on purpose and by his power. God hardened Pharaoh's
heart according to his purpose. God hardened Pharaoh's heart
on purpose. Why? Paul tells us right here. That he might show his power. Whose power? God's power. God's
gonna show his power in this matter. Why? That his name might be declared
throughout all the earth. Isn't that what your Bible says?
God's gonna get all the glory in the matter of salvation. Moses, Pharaoh, Aaron, Israel,
and Egypt, all of you are gonna know when God is done that, verse
18, God has mercy on whom he'll have mercy, and on whom he will,
he hardeneth. Folks don't like to hear that.
Why? Because they've been told all
their life that God is love. God loves everybody. Jesus loves
everybody. God wants to save everybody.
Well, God wouldn't harden anyone's heart. He stands on the portals
of heaven, softly and tenderly, patiently waiting for all sinners
to come home. Not the God of this Bible. Not
the God spoken of in Romans chapter nine. Not the true God. It's a lie on God. You think about that. Pharaoh
was ordained and he was appointed from eternity to be king of Egypt. Now, I don't know who this Pharaoh
was, but you think about it. He, just like you and I, he was
born into this world. God brought him into being. God
preserved and kept him through the years of adolescence, childhood,
adolescence, manhood. God providentially worked all
things that this man Pharaoh would be on the throne during
this time of God's deliverance. God raised him up. God promoted
him to the highest position in the land of Egypt. And God hardened
his heart. God ordained that he'd be irritated,
that he'd be provoked, that he'd be filled with indignation, stirred
against the people of Israel. And he was. And he was. God did all this for one reason. Do you know what it is? To show
his power in him. That was the reason, to show
that God was in control. To reveal His glory in Pharaoh's
fall. That all the world might see
that God is sovereign, God's on the throne. That God might
be glorified as God. that everybody might know that
God saves whom He wills. He has mercy on whom He wills,
and whom He wills, He hardens. This is the God with whom we
have to do. And if you're going to be saved,
and if I'm going to be saved, it's going to be God's doing.
And if you're going to be lost, it's your fault and your responsibility. It's going to be that God chose
and ordained you unto eternal life, and you contributed nothing
in the matter? You're going to see that. And
I tell you, it will make you so thankful to know that you
could have never done anything to earn, deserve, or merit God's
love and redemption that God just out of the Goodness of His
heart chose you until you turn alive. And that's what Paul's
talking about here in Romans chapter 9. Look at verse 11. I know we know these verses,
but you can't get enough of this. For the children being not yet
born, talking about Jacob and Esau. Let's don't read over this
too quickly. It says, for the children being
not yet born, neither having done any good or evil. They haven't been born yet. That
the purpose of God, there's that word again. This is all about
God's purpose. that the purpose of God according
to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth."
Is that plain and simple? That's not hard, is it? The purpose
of God according to His choosing is going to stand not of man's
works, but of God that calls. And it was said unto her, the
elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now, I don't know if you've ever
thought about this. But God did not say, I love Jacob. And he didn't say, I hate Esau. He said, I have loved Jacob. Jacob have I loved, past tense. I have hated Esau. Esau have
I hated. Past tense. He loved Jacob and
he hated Esau before they were born. That's what we just read.
Assuring that his love and his hate are not tied to time nor
based on anything within these two children. God loved Jacob
and hated Esau before They had done any good or evil, assuring
us that His love and His hate had and had nothing to do with
the works of the sinner's hand. He chose, He loved one and hated
the other before, before the foundation of the world. Then
why does God love some and not others? Only one reason given
here. Just one reason, that the purpose
of God, God's purpose, according to election might stand not of
works, but of him that calleth. That all might see and know that
God does the choosing, and it's God that passes by. It's God
who predetermined Who would be saved? And that He predestinated
to save, those He predestinated to save, He calls. Oh, and how
affectionately He calls. Do you remember when God called
you? Wouldn't let you go, would He? And those whom He calls,
He justified, He saves. And those whom He justified,
He glorified. And Paul said, what shall we
say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? Nothing or no one can change
God's will and purpose. It's simply please the Lord to
make you his people. And that takes all the pressure
off me as far as trying to do something to earn and merit God's
salvation. And that takes all the pressure
of me trying to continue to do and earn and merit God's redemption
because it was God's choice and it was on purpose. Isn't that
wonderful? Now, did you notice in verse
12 here that it says that it was said to her, speaking of
Rebecca, their mother, that the elder shall serve the younger.
I don't know that I really ever thought about this. Why would
the elder son serve the younger? Because God said so. That's the
short but correct answer. Because God said so. That's the
reason that Esau would serve Jacob, and that's what God said
to their mother, and that's the way that it was. It was the way
it was because God said that's the way it'd be. We are His creation,
are we not? We're God's property. The Lord
Jesus said, is it not lawful, is it not right for me to do
what I will with mine own? I think I used the illustration
once if I was painting my house and I decided to paint it purple.
And somebody drove by and said, why are you painting your house
purple? I said, because I wanted to. It's my house. And I'll paint
it whatever color I want to. Does God not have that same right?
Is it not lawful for God to do what he will with his own? Men
may think that they're something, but they're nothing but clay.
What's clay? It's just wet mud. My mom used to tell me, she said,
you're just wet behind the ears. I think I know what she means
now. Just wet mud, that's all I am, in the sovereign potter's
hands. That's all any of us are. And
he has the right to fashion one lump into a vessel of honor,
and he has the right to fashion another lump into a vessel of
dishonor. God has a right to love one and
not another. And what do people say? The same
thing that Paul said they'd say. Look at verse 14. What shall
we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? God forbid, for he said unto Moses, and here we are right
back to the same thing. I will have mercy on whom I'll
have mercy, and I'll have compassion on whom I'll have compassion.
So then, here's what we deduct from that. It's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. And again, verse 17, for the
scripture saith unto 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. Therefore, Hath
he mercy on whom he'll have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth."
Now, I'm not going to argue election and predestination with folks.
I'm just going to preach the truth of how God saves sinners.
God saves sinners by His own sovereign grace and mercy. It simply pleased Him to do so.
He doesn't have to give an account to anyone about anything People
say, I don't understand predestination and election. Well, honestly,
neither do I. I don't understand how or why
God won't save any of us. I really don't. It'd have to
be by choice. It certainly couldn't be by merit. Because God chose a people before
they were born. God chose a people before they
had done any good or evil to prove that he's the one who saves. But that's a hard doctrine. No,
it's not. It's actually very simple. It's
simply God being God. People understand it or I tell
you, they understand it or they wouldn't hate it. If you find
someone that hates the doctrine of election and predestination,
they understand it. They understand what it's saying.
God said, Jacob have I loved. No other reason than he just
wanted to. God said, Esau have I hated. God's gonna leave Esau to himself. You see, that's all it takes.
Men are born condemned. All God's gotta do is just leave
them alone. Pharaoh have I hardened. God's
people are gonna be made to know by God's hardening or by his
saving that he's behind the deliverance of his people. Now, do you really
believe that God hardened Pharaoh's heart? You better believe I do
because God said so. God says it so simply and plainly
back in Exodus chapter four. Let's go back there. Verse 21 again. And the Lord
said unto Moses, when thou goest to return into Egypt, see that
thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in
thine hand, God put it in his hand, but I will harden his heart
that he shall not let the people go. Now let me give you four
or five quick things here. The first one I just gave you,
and that's God is sovereign in salvation. God has mercy on whom he will,
compassion on whom he will, And that's his glory. That's what
he told Moses. Moses said, let me, Lord, would
you let me see your glory? And he said, oh my, you can't
see my glory and live. I'm too holy, too just, too righteous. This is my glory. I'll be gracious
to whom I'll be gracious. God's sovereign in salvation.
Secondly, God's people are delivered upon the authority of His word.
Look at verse 22. God says, And thou shalt say
unto Pharaoh, He said, Thus saith the Lord.
Israel is my son, even my firstborn. Thus saith the Lord. That's another phrase in the
scriptures that we often quickly read over without giving it much
thought. Thus saith the Lord. We better
listen. Because the one who's talking
is the very one that we just talked about in Romans 9. Thus saith the Lord." This is
the first time that that phrase is used in the scriptures, but
it's used over 400 times afterwards. And I find that very interesting. Could it be that here in our
text that God makes it obvious that He does what He says He'll
do? If he does, we better listen
to him. Thus saith the Lord. This is the authority behind
what we preach. The message that Moses had for
Pharaoh had its authority in these words. Thus saith the Lord. This is what God said. This is
what The One who rules in the army of heaven and among the
inhabitants of the earth. This is what He says. This is
the God who lives in heaven and does whatsoever He pleases. This
is what He says. Thus saith the Lord. We better
listen. It's the authority behind the
Gospel that we preach. And the child of God does not
believe the Scriptures because they're logical. We believe what
we believe because thus saith the Lord. This is God's word. This is what God says. God says,
so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall
not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please. And it shall
prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Isaiah 55 11. The
Lord of hosts has sworn. Saying, surely as I have thought,
so shall it come to pass. And as I have purposed, so shall
it stand. Isaiah 14, 24. Thus saith the
Lord. It's the authority behind the
Gospel message. Pharaoh learned the hard way. But it was too late. Friends, the whole Word of God
is thus saith the Lord. This is God's Word. We better
believe it. We're responsible to believe. What did God tell Moses and Aaron
to say to Pharaoh? Look at the last part of verse
22. Thus saith the Lord, Israel is
my son, even my firstborn. And that brings me to the third
thing. Every believer is a son, a daughter, a child. And you know, that's my comfort.
That's my assurance. That's how my love is made perfect,
Peter said. That's why I'll have boldness
in the day of judgment. Why? Because as He is, so are
we in this world. Now, do you really believe that?
I do, Lord help thou my unbelief. Look at verse 22 again, God said,
Israel is my son, even my first born. God only has one son, Israel
is God's son, and Israel is God's son by way of a perfect union
with Christ. Is Christ God's son? Singular? Is Christ the firstborn? Oh,
how I love to think about my union with Christ. You know why
I like to think about it? Here's why. And if we ever get
a hold of it, you'll love to think about it too. I love to think about my union
with Christ because I really am one with Him. I really am. Really one with Him. You know, God doesn't just tolerate
you for Christ's sake. You know, I think that's how
for a long time, God just tolerates me because of Christ. That's
not so. Because of our union with Him,
we are Him. Doesn't even sound right to say,
does it? But it's so. God loves His elect just the
same as He loves Christ. But what do we do? We look on
the inside and we think about our unfaithfulness and our unbelief
and we say, how can that be so? I'll tell you how. Salvation's
of the Lord. It's only by His mercy and grace As He is, so are we. When? In heaven? No. In this
world. Right now. Right now. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. Do you mean no condemnation in
heaven? No. I mean no condemnation right
now. Why? Because I'm one with Christ. Remember, for whom He did foreknow,
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His
Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. That brings me to the fourth
thing. Man is responsible. It's just as true as God is sovereign. Man is responsible. Look at verse
23. And I say unto thee, let my son
go that he may serve me. And if thou refuse to let him
go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn. Now God hardened
Pharaoh's heart. And yet at the same time, Pharaoh
did exactly what he wanted to. And you could say that God just
left Pharaoh to himself, let him have his own way. You wouldn't
be incorrect in saying that. And again, this goes back to
what we were talking about in Romans chapter 9. Paul said,
you're going to ask that if God saves whom He wills, and if God
hardens whom He wills, how can He be responsible? How can man
be responsible? Why does God yet find fault? And I love how Paul deals with
that. He says, do we really dare judge
what God does? You know, all of us would be
in hell apart from God's grace. Yet at the same time, if you
don't come to Christ, The responsibility's on you. God told Moses to tell
Pharaoh that if he didn't let God's son Israel go, that he
would slay Pharaoh's firstborn. And again we see that there's
a consequence to disobedience to God. There's consequence. Oh, you might not see it now,
you might not see it next week, but I'm telling you there's consequences. Don't play games with God. If
you don't bow to God, you're responsible, and there's great
consequences for ignoring God. Well, like Paul Harvey, we know
the rest of the story. Pharaoh would not let God's people
go. And in the end, every firstborn
in Egypt without the blood, those that weren't covered by the blood,
including Pharaoh's firstborn, were slain. And you know that was in the
end what it took to break Pharaoh to let God's people go. Now I
want to bring this to one consideration, one thought to leave here tonight
with, one question to ponder. You like to ponder, I like to
ponder. And that is this, are we going
to believe God? I mean, are we really going to
believe God? It's easy to believe God when everything's going good. I've been up to see Larry a few
times, and I'm telling you, I wouldn't trade places with him for anything.
I know he's miserable sitting there in that hospital. You know
he's hurting. You know he's in pain. But in all of it, he's believing
God. He'll tell you, God put him there.
He'll say, this is of the Lord. That's what it is to believe
God. Are you going to trust God or in your own devices? Are you
going to do what God says or are we going to do what we want
to do? Are we going to rest in our perfectly
conformed union with Christ? Are we going to quit looking
at ourselves and keep looking to Him, knowing that our salvation
doesn't have anything to do with what we do, but everything to
do what Christ has done for us? You'll have to, to ever have
any peace. You just have to. Are we going to trust in His
perfect work of righteousness, or are we going to try to trust
in the work of righteousness that we do? Are we going to like
Cain, are we going to bring the best fruit that we have, knowing
all along that God's going to reject it? No. Without the shedding
of blood, there's no remission. The only sacrifice and offering
that God will accept is that of His own dear Son, whose blood
was shed for us. If you could ask Pharaoh right
now what he thought, what do you think he'd say? Look at chapter
five, verse two. Do you think that he would again
say, who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel
go? Do you think that if Pharaoh could turn back time, Knowing
what he knows now, do you think that he would say, who's the
Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? Do you think
he'd say, I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go?
Or do you think he would obey the
command of God? Well, like Pharaoh in the end,
we really only get one shot at this. God's been dealing with some
folks here for a while now. God gave Pharaoh 10 chances to
repent and to obey, didn't he? I mean, really? God's given some more than that. And yes, I know God hardened
Pharaoh's heart, but the scriptures also say that Pharaoh hardened
his own heart. So let me just end by saying
this, just as sincerely as I know how. Lord, don't let me have
my way. Don't let me have my way. Precious potter, mold me, make
me after thy will. Don't give me my way, have thine
own way. That's one of mine and Teresa's
favorite songs. Lord, have thine own way. Not
my will, not my way, but Thine way. And you know what? He will. He always has His way. I just want Him to conform my
ways to His ways, don't you? Well, I hope that that helped
you to see again who God is and how God saves sinners. May he
be pleased to save more sinners for his own namesake. Let's pray together. Father, we are thankful for all
the bountiful mercies that you've given us in Christ. Lord, we
acknowledge that salvation is from Thee and Thee only, and
that all our sin is against Thee and Thee only. Lord, we have nothing to plead
on the merit of our righteousness. We simply plead and beg for mercy
and grace. Oh, that you might have mercy,
that you might have compassion. Without it, Lord, we know our
end. Please don't harden our hearts. Lord, we thank you for this place
that you've given us to worship freely. Lord, we thank you that
we live in a country where we can do that. Lord, we again ask
you to be with Chris during his surgery tomorrow and that you
might be pleased. You hold the world in your hand. Lord, we beg that you might show
mercy and compassion on Chris and give him a good report, if
it be your will. Lord, we ask you to continue
to be with Larry that he might continue to improve so that he
can go back home and recover there. Come back to join us in
worship of your dear son. We're undeserving of all. Your
grace Lord, but that's what makes it grace and for that we're thankful.
Be with us as we leave this place. Keep us ever mindful of Christ.
Keep our hearts and our minds on him. For his sake and for
our good and for your glory. Amen. You're dismissed.