Obviously, you know we're going
to Exodus 2, but turn to John chapter 5 with me for just a
moment. John chapter 5. The scriptures tell us that Moses
lived for a hundred and twenty years. And the life of Moses
is divided into three 40-year periods. He was raised in Egypt
the first 40 years of his life. He grew up as a prince. He was educated in the best of
schools. In Acts chapter 7, it says he
was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty
in words and in deeds. He was somebody. Then the next
40 years of his life, he was a shepherd in the Midian Desert. Do you remember our study in
Genesis, what the Egyptians thought of shepherds? Why, they were
an abomination to the Egyptians, a shepherd was. And Moses went
from a prince to a shepherd. What a picture that is of the
Lord Jesus Christ. So did the Lord Jesus. Then the
last 40 years of Moses' life, he led the people in the wilderness
to the land of promise, though he entered not in himself. And
in the New Testament, the Jews, they put a great deal of trust
in Moses. We saw that recently in our study
of the Gospel of John. And here in John 5 in verse 45,
the Lord told the unbelieving Jews, he said, do not think that
I will accuse you to the Father. There's none that accuseth you,
even Moses, in whom you trust. They put a great deal of trust
in Moses and the law. And he said, for had you believed
Moses, you would have believed me, for he wrote of me. but ye
believe not his writings, how shall you believe my words? And
as you know, Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible
and Exodus in many ways is Moses' autobiography of himself, but
it's much, much more than that. Exodus is nothing less than the
gospel of divine salvation, divine redemption, and divine deliverance. Turn over a few pages to Luke,
or back a few pages, excuse me, to Luke chapter 24. You know
this story. Those two men that the Lord joined
Himself to on the road to Emmaus, they were troubled. They should
have been happy at the news that the Lord was not in the borrowed
tomb, but risen. But like many others at this
time, they thought the Lord to be a mighty prophet, but they
missed the real reason of Christ's coming. They thought that Christ
was the one who would redeem Israel in a temporary way from
the Roman yoke of bondage, according to verse 21 here. And then in
verse 25, The Lord Jesus said this unto them. He said, O fools
and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken,
all that Moses spoke in the first five books and all the prophets,
Jeremiah, Isaiah, all of them. You're slow to believe all that
the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses,
beginning at Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,
and all the prophets, he expanded unto them in all the scriptures
the things concerning himself. Now I know that we're familiar
with these verses and we say this, that this is a book about
Christ, but we can't reiterate it enough. It's concerning the
Lord Jesus Christ. All the scriptures are concerning
Jesus Christ. The Redeemer, the Lamb slain
before the foundation of the world. And that's what Paul said
in Romans chapter 1. Look there with me also. Look
at Romans chapter 1, verse 1. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated. unto the gospel of God, which
he had promised aforehow, by his prophets in the holy scriptures. And I remind you at this time,
the Old Testament was the only scriptures, the only holy scriptures
that they had when Paul wrote this. The Old Testament scriptures
were concerning, look at verse three, concerning his son, Jesus
Christ, our Lord. Now from what we've read so far,
is there any doubt in your mind that the Bible is concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ? Shouldn't be. Shouldn't be. If
there's any doubt in your mind that the book of Genesis that
we just finished, is there any doubt in your mind, let me pose
it to you as a question, that the book of Genesis was about
the Lord Jesus Christ? And we're gonna find out that
the book of Exodus that we just started is also about Christ
and how he saves and delivers chosen sinners out of the bondage
of sin. That's what this book's about,
from beginning to end. And I'm telling you, that's why
I take preaching the gospel seriously. Some need to hear it a bit more
seriously. Gospel preaching is the means by which God is pleased
to call sinners to trust in Christ to save them. You're gonna have
to believe and trust in Christ in order to be saved, because
there is no other way to be saved. There's only one mediator between
God and man. There's only one gospel. There's
only one savior. There's only one substitute for
sin. Not room for error here. I remember
one time a man bragging to me about his faith over and over
again. If he said it once, he said it
20 times. He said, I have faith that I'm saved. I have faith
that I'm saved. Well, faith is not believing
that you're saved. It's not. That's not what faith
is. Faith is not believing that you're saved. There are many
who think that they're saved who are lost. There are going
to be many in that day say to the Lord, Lord, Lord, haven't
we done many wonderful works in thy name? And he's going to
say, depart from me, ye that work iniquity, I never knew you.
Faith is believing that Christ alone can save. Faith is trusting
Christ's righteous work of perfection as your only hope of redemption
before God. Faith is looking unto Jesus,
who is the author and the finisher of our faith. We're saved by
grace through faith, and even our faith is God's gift to us.
None of us would have any faith if God had not freely given it
to us. I think about the Lord. He saved
that harlot that washed his feet with her tears and dried them
with her hair. And he said, thy faith hath saved
thee. What does that mean? What did
her faith expose about her? You ever thought about that?
The Lord told us in that narrative. He said, to whom much is forgiven,
there's much love. And to whom little is forgiven,
the same loves a little. Isn't that what he told Simon
the Pharisee? This woman knew what she was. This woman knew what she had
been forgiven. And she didn't cease from kissing
the Lord's feet from the time she got there until he left.
Why? Because she was forgiven much
and loved much in return. Friends, faith is knowing Christ. Faith is believing what God says
about us. Faith is believing that Christ
is God's sacrifice for sin, only sacrifice for sin. Faith is trusting
in Him to put away all your sin. Faith is coming to Him and resting
in Him. And we have to have some understanding
why we must trust Christ before we'll ever truly trust Him. You
think about that statement. We can never do, we can never
be what God requires in order to save ourselves. Some of you
have sat under the Gospel for 40, 50 years now. You know that's
so. You've proven it so by your own
lives. No matter what we try to do,
it's never good enough. We can't do good enough in order
to be saved. We can't do enough, and we can't
do good enough in order to be saved. And you know, when Paul
said, all have come short of the glory of God, he didn't mean
that we just missed it by a little. Matter of fact, the Greek word
for short, all have come short of the glory of God, means destitute. Destitute means void, without,
totally deficient, completely wanting. All have sinned and
are destitute of the glory of God. And that's not a popular
message among the religionists, but God's people know it so.
And the thing about it is, is they're not trusting in their
sufficiency, they're trusting in Christ's sufficiency. He's
the all-sufficient one. to tell sinners to trust Christ
without them knowing why they should does not make for effectual
preaching. I can tell you that. You'll never
trust a great physician if you have no need of a doctor. Isn't that what the Lord said?
Those that are well, righteous in their own sight, have no need
of a physician. But those that are sick do. And
He said, I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. Christ came into the world to
save sinners. That's the truth. He came into
the world to save sinners and I'm so glad He did because that's
what I am. God uses preaching to reveal
His Son and we need to pay close attention to these verses that
we read and we quote all the time. What about Galatians 1,
15 and 16? But when it pleased God, who
separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace
to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the
heathen. And immediately Paul said, I confer not with flesh
and blood. Now Paul said some things in
that verse, or those verses that we need to learn. We need to
think about what we read. God called His elect by His grace
and He did so when it pleased Him, when it pleased God. It
was God that separated His people from their mother's womb to call
them by His grace and reveal His Son in them. We did the sin
and God did the saving. We're blind, God gives us eyes
to see and to reveal Christ to us and in us. And when God does
this divine work, we immediately realize that we're not conferring
or consulting with flesh and blood, but with the supernatural
things of the Spirit of God. I'm telling you, we're shut up
to God's mercy and grace. There'll be no sinner saved apart
from it. Okay, now you can turn to Exodus
chapter two. Look at verse 11, Exodus 2 verse
11. And it came to pass in those
days when Moses was grown, he's 40 years old now. He's fixing
to begin the second 40 year period of his life. And he went out
into his brethren and he looked on their burdens. And he spied
an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked
this way and that, and when he saw that there was no man, he
slew the Egyptian and hit him in the sand. And when he went
out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strode together,
two men of the same nation, two that were in the same condition,
two that were in bondage to the yoke of the Egyptians. He saw them, He saw them striving together. And he said to them, or he said
to him that did the wrong, wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? It sounds to me like this fellow
was maybe whooping up on him a little bit. They'd come to
blows maybe. In verse 14, and he said, the
one that was doing the smiting, he said, who made thee a prince
and a judge over us? Now I'm going to turn you to
one more place. Keep your place here in Exodus
chapter 2. And turn with me again to Acts
chapter 7. Acts chapter 7. We looked at this passage. This
is Stephen's account of where we're reading here in Exodus
2. Excuse me, Acts chapter 7. Look
at verse 22. And Moses was learned in all
the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and in deeds. And when he was full 40 years
old, he came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children
of Israel. And I can't help but to think
of the passage in the fullness of time, Christ in his heart
determined to come into his brethren, the chosen of God. And seeing
one of them suffer wrong, verse 24, he defended him and avenged
him that was oppressed and smote the Egyptian. For he supposed
his brethren would have understood how the God by his hand would
deliver them, but they understood not. The Lord Jesus Christ came
into his own and his own received him not. And the next day, verse
26, he showed himself unto them as they strove. and would have
set them at one again, saying, sirs, you're brethren. Why do
you wrong? Why do you wrong to one another?
But he that did his neighbor wrong thrust him away." Thrust
Moses away. Said, who made thee a ruler and
a judge over us? Look down at verse 35. This Moses whom they refused,
whom they rejected, saying, who made thee a ruler and a judge? The same did God send to be a
ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared
to him in the bush. And again, what a picture of
Christ who's rejected of man. They would not have him to rule
over them. Now let me show you for a few
minutes, if I'm able, how Moses is a beautiful picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ. One of Moses' own people said,
who made thee a prince and a judge over us? Well, I can answer that
question. God did. God made him a prince
and a judge over Israel. And the Holy Spirit here gives
us three distinct ways that Moses pictured Christ. Moses was a
prince. He was a ruler. He was a judge,
just what they accused him of not being. And then here in Acts
chapter seven, we see that he was a deliverer, a prince, a
judge, and a deliverer. As a prince and a ruler and as
a judge for God, Moses was a deliverer to the people of Israel. But
doesn't that picture Christ? The New Testament Jews asked
the Lord pretty much the same question. Who made thee a prince
and a judge over us? We looked at it, I believe, last
Sunday morning. The Lord Jesus said, I am the
bread that came down from heaven. And when Christ said, I am the
bread, He was saying, I'm God. He said, I'm from heaven. I've
always resided in heaven. I've always been with the Father,
because I'm God the Son, God in three persons. God the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And you remember what the Jews
said? Is not this Jesus? The son of Joseph, whose father
and mother we know, how is it then that he saith, I came down
from heaven? Who does he think he is? You
know, in another place, the Jews, the Scripture says they were
astonished at the Lord's wisdom and mighty works, but they said
this, is not this the carpenter's son? Is not this his mother called
Mary and his brethren James and Joseph and Simon and Judas and
his sisters? Are they not all with us? How
did he these things? Remember what Pilate said? He
said, who are you? Now, I'm paraphrasing. Who are
you? And the Lord didn't answer. Paul
said, are you the king of the Jews? And the Lord said, thou
sayest. He said, my kingdom. The Lord
said, my kingdom's not of this world. Not of this world. Pilate said,
don't you know that I've got power to crucify you? I've got
power to let you go. If I want to, and the Lord Jesus
said, you don't have any power at all against me. The only power
that you have is the power that it's given you from above. Friends, Jesus Christ is a ruler. He's a judge and a deliverer. And Moses so beautifully pictures
him in Exodus chapter two. So let's just take a few minutes
to look at these three titles. A ruler. A ruler is one who has
power and authority. A ruler is one who is in charge. Don't you think for a minute
that the Lord Jesus Christ is not in charge. He rules and he
reigns and all things happen according to His will and purpose. He works all things together
for the good of them that love the Lord. He's a ruler. He rules and He reigns. Now you can't trust someone just
because they have power. We know that from the world in
which we live. Power corrupts. We could name
a list of evil dictators that had power but could not be trusted. And that's why, secondly, our
Savior must also be a judge. And that word judge means just. It's where we get our word justice. When Abraham was pleading for
the life of Lot, in Sodom. He said, per adventure there
be fifty righteous. Fifty righteous within the city. Wilt thou destroy and not spare
the place for the fifty righteous that are there? And before the
Lord could answer, Abraham said, that would be far from you. That'd
be far from thee to do that, to destroy a place where there
were fifty righteous. To slay the righteous with the
wicked, Lord, that would be far from you. Why? Because you're
a just God. You'll by no means, not only
clear the guilty, but punish the innocent. It'd be far from
you, God, to do such a thing. Shall not the judge of all the
earth do right? You better believe he will. Abraham
dealt with God according to his holy justice. The Lord didn't
spare Lot because it was right. It was right because the Lord
spared him. Lot was in Christ. And God would
not destroy him. God is too just to condemn one
who is innocent. And of course we shake our heads
on that one because Lot was a scoundrel. We've talked about that so many
times. But he was in Christ. He was in Christ. He certainly wasn't innocent,
but in Christ he was. And that's the hardest thing
for us to get a hold of. Why? Because we keep looking
within. We keep looking within. looking to ourselves instead
of looking to Him who is our perfect righteousness. I'm sinful,
I'm guilty, all my sins against God, against Thee and Thee only
have I sinned and done this evil in Thy sight. But in Christ,
I'm perfectly holy and righteous. You see, in order for Christ
to save a sinner like me and you, He must have the power and
the authority to save us. And He does. It's His right as
God. And He has the ability because
He became what we were, a man in the likeness of sinful flesh,
without sin. He knew no sin. He was made to
be sin. I think about when our Lord cast
that devil out of a man in the synagogue in Luke chapter 4.
It says, everyone was amazed and spake among themselves, saying,
what a word is this? For with authority and power
he commandeth even the unclean spirits, and they obey him. They
come out. He's got power and authority. He's God. He's the God-man. In Luke chapter 5, you remember
when they dropped that man through the roof and laid him before
the Lord Jesus? And when the Lord saw their faith,
speaking of the man that brought him there, he said unto him,
that being the man with the palsy, he said, man, thy sins are forgiven. Your sins are forgiven you. And
no sooner than the words came out of his mouth, the scribes
and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh
blasphemies? Who does this guy think he is?
Who can forgive sins but God alone? They finally got something right. Exactly, this was God, and he
can forgive sins. And the Lord said, what's easier,
to say thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say rise up and walk? but
that you may know that the Son of Man hath power upon earth
to forgive sins. He said, unto the sick of the
palsy, I say unto thee, arise, and take up your couch, take
up your bed, and go unto thine house. And immediately he rose
up before them, and took up that wherein he lay on, and departed
to his own house, glorifying God." I just picture that fella
dancing out of that place. I don't imagine he was carrying
that bed with him anymore either. Do you? And they were all amazed
and they glorified God and they were filled with fear saying,
we've seen strange things this day. They saw God in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ with all power and all authority. That's the God with whom you
have to do. What would authority and power
be without justice? If you have a guilty convicted
and sentenced serial killer on death row, and the governor decides
to pardon that man, that wouldn't be justice, not if he was guilty. That would not be just. With
a holy God acting with holy justice, wrong can never go unpunished.
It's got to be punished. Sin has to be dealt with. Has to be. God will by no means clear the
guilty. No way. No how, no shape or form
will God clear the guilty. The soul that sins, it shall
die. Again, shall not the judge of
all the earth do right? Yes, he will, because he's just. He's a God of justice, and his
justice is holy justice. Only a just judge with power
and authority can justify. To be justified means to be found
not guilty. How can you and I be found innocent? Only one way. And I'm just ringing
that bell, same note again and again. In the substitution of
the Lord Jesus Christ, God made a way for Himself to remain just
and justify the ungodly. And His justice is not compromised. And God remains just and He justifies
you and I who deserve nothing but condemnation. God in Christ
is both just and justifier. God is a just God and a Savior. If God saves a sinner in order
for Him to remain just, His righteous justice was executed on the sinner's
substitute. instead of the sinner and God's
justice was satisfied. And the result is you and I are
now given the perfect righteousness of God in him. That's the gospel. God made Moses a prince and a
judge and God has made Jesus Christ the prince of peace and
a righteous judge and God's justice is satisfied and the offender
is justified. And if that don't tickle your
innards, I don't know what would. Mountain dew surely won't. And then lastly, Moses pictures
Christ as our great deliverer. You're still in Acts chapter
7. Look at verse 36. He, speaking of Moses, brought
them out. He's a deliverer. After that
he had showed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt. Didn't
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ show signs and wonders in this
world of Egypt in which we live? He showed signs and wonders in
the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the wilderness
40 years. Now listen, Moses didn't try
to bring them out. He didn't just make a way out
possible for them. He didn't just make a way available. That's what men preach today. You and I are guilty. Guilty. Plumb guilty. Totally guilty. There's absolutely nothing we
can do to change that. We need a deliverer. We need one who has the power
and authority to make us perfectly holy and righteous. Do you agree? I need a deliverer who is willing
to pay, but even more than that, I need a deliverer who has the
price that must be paid. Big difference. Let me try to
explain what I mean by that. Now, I would like to think that
I would gladly die for my wife, my children, and grandchildren
if they committed a crime where the sentence was death. I would
like to think that I would. But if I died for them, there'd
be no justice served. They're the one that committed
the crime. And if I died for them, I'd just
be dying one guilty sinner for another. In other words, I cannot
provide the price that justice demands. But Christ could. And Christ
did, for He knew no sin. He was perfect. The law had no
claims upon Him. None. He was made to be sin in
the room instead of His chosen people for whom He came to die. And Christ made Himself one with
His people, so much so that because of their union with Him, God
cannot, will not, and does not distinguish between the sinner
and the Savior. When He sees me, He sees His
Son. And do I understand that? No. But
I believe it with all my heart, because that's what this book
teaches. When Christ died in our place, being perfect and
without sin, He put away the sin of His people forever, and
they had no sin. And it doesn't even sound right
to say it, but it's so. And it's so because of their
union with Christ. Believer, your warfare is accomplished. Your iniquity is pardoned. You're not only forgiven of your
sin, you have no sin. And you who trust in Christ have
received of the Lord's hand double for all your sin. You had no
sin, plus you had the perfect righteousness of God in Christ. Christ, well, how do I know Christ
is willing to save me? Well, he proved his willingness
to be his people's deliverer when he went to the cross for
us. No man took his life. Do we understand that? All men
by wicked hands have taken and crucified the Lord of glory,
but it was by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of
God. He had the power to lay down his life. He had the authority
to lay down his life, and he had the power and authority to
take it up again. So what do we do? Well, we look
unto Jesus. who's the author and finisher
of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, isn't
that amazing? That joy, that was his motivation,
the joy that was set before him. He endured the cross, despising
the shame, and he sat down now at the right hand of the throne
of God. Oh, consider him, Paul said,
in the greatness of his person. He's got the power and authority
to save sinners. He's a just God and a Savior.
He's a prince and a judge. That's what gives him the right
to deliver his elect. He endured the contradiction,
the disputing of sinners against himself. They disputed Christ
as they did Moses. They said, to the Lord Jesus,
you being a man, make yourself out to be God. And they said
to Moses, who made you a prince and a judge over us? God did. God did. And contradicting and
disputing the scriptures will do nothing but make believers
weary and faint in their minds. When you consider Christ, Who
He is and what He's done. I'm telling you, it'll give you
liberty. It'll set you free and it'll make you free. Christ has
made us free from the law. Christ has made us free from
doing. Christ has made us free from
not doing. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
God forbid. Don't be so foolish. A child
of God doesn't want to be displeasing to their God. We fail Him enough
without trying, don't we? God, in Christ, has done everything
for us. He provided all for us, everything
that God required. And I know that there's something
in every sinner, every saved sinner, that makes it hard to
bow to the love and the mercy and salvation they enjoy in Christ. By nature, we want to do something,
but we can't. Can't. I hope we see that. We're
dead in trespasses and sin. But Christ is our Prince, full
of power and authority. He's our Judge. The Father hath
committed all judgment unto Him. He's the Judge. Who is He that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. Brethren that is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. He's not just sitting on the
throne with his foot propped up. He's interceding for his
people. Every time we think, say, do
anything that's displeasing to our Father. Father, I died for
Him. I died for Him. He's our divine deliverer. Only
one who has the power and authority, only one who is just and right, only one who has the price to
pay can be our deliverer. God made him to be all these
things for us. Jesus Christ has made into us
wisdom. Let me leave you with this. You know this well. Jesus
Christ has made into us wisdom. Child of God, you have the very
wisdom of God. Now most of the time I act as
dumber than a box of rocks. But in Christ, I have the very
wisdom of God. Jesus Christ has made unto us
righteousness. I have the very righteousness
of God Himself in the Lord Jesus Christ. And you can't improve
upon perfection. So don't try. You're perfect
in the end. Jesus Christ has made unto us
sanctification. In Christ I'm as holy as God
is. And that's the requirement. God
said be ye holy as I'm holy. In Christ I am. Christ has made unto us redemption.
You know that word means ransomed. That word means delivered. Christ
has made unto us redemption. In Christ I've been ransomed
and I've been delivered because He's my Deliverer. And that's where I'm going to
stretch out and rest. That's what I'm going to cover
myself up with. That's where I'm going to live
if God grant me the grace, and that's in Christ.