Exodus chapter 5. And we'll be looking through
mostly, most of this chapter here and into chapter 6. Beginning
verses there in chapter 6. And I've entitled this message,
The Trouble and the Comfort of Israel. The Trouble and the Comfort
of Israel. The scripture here in verse 1
says, "...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. Now, it says afterward.
Now, we want to get a little background of this. At this time,
the nation of Israel was in bondage to Egypt. They were under the
dominion of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. They were slaves. They were slaves. And their taskmasters
were hard and cruel. Remember, this was a Pharaoh
that knew not Joseph. This was a Pharaoh. They had
first come into Egypt with blessings. But now there arose a Pharaoh
that did not know Joseph. But God told them this would
happen. Remember, He had said this to
Abraham, that they should come and serve Egypt. They would come into that land
of Egypt and serve them for 400 years. Well, surprise, it's 400
years later, and God is now sending a deliverer. He sends Moses to
tell them the message, let my people go. But because of the
will of God, because of God's desire to show His power in Egypt,
because of God's will to harden Pharaoh's heart, and because
Pharaoh hardened his own heart, This is what he said in verse
2, "...and Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey
his voice, and let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither
will I let Israel go." So instead of letting God's people go as
God commanded, what he does next is that he puts them under a
harder bondage. He puts them under a harder bondage. He tells them. He says, so far I've provided
all the straw, but now I'm going to take away the straw for making
brick, and you are not going to diminish your work. Pharaoh
said, if you've got time to worship God, then you've got time to
get your own straw to make this brick. And in verse 10, that's
what he did in these taskmasters. Verse 10, he says, 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
diminish. Now what is this but trouble?
Is this not trouble? God is fulfilling His promise.
Good news. God has sent His messenger with
good news for Israel. Let my people go. I have determined
to deliver them. I will deliver them. This was
a good message for Israel to hear. But you've got to understand,
what comes with the good message also comes trouble. trouble. These people were under a great
trouble. And we know this, that eventually
God did exactly what He promised to do. God eventually delivered
them, and this is what His promise to those who were in trouble.
Go to chapter 6 and verse 1. He gives the promise to these
who are in trouble. To these who are now under great
burden by their taskmasters, he promises this. Then the Lord
said to 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 he will drive them out of this land. And the Lord spake
unto Moses and said, I am the Lord. appeared unto Abraham,
and to Isaac, and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty,
but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them. And I have also
established my covenant with them, to give them the land of
Canaan, and the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were
strangers." So God promises to those who are in trouble, what?
Deliverance. Deliverance. And you know He
did. He came in, and they had that
Passover. He did those ten plagues, and
that last one was the Passover. when He came through and killed
all the firstborn of Egypt, and He delivered them by blood, by
blood, by the blood of the Lamb. And He brought them out, and
He brought them to the Red Sea, and He delivered them by water.
He went through the Red Sea to the other side, and He crushed
Pharaoh just like He said He would do. So we have the trouble of Israel and we have the deliverance.
Now, this was written not as a history lesson, but rather
for our learning, for our learning, for our admonition. These scriptures
were written in their history to show us the gospel of God's
grace in Christ. Now, this is a picture. That's
all this is. It's every one of the Old Testament
store histories is a picture of God's salvation of His elect
people. Now, once a man hears the gospel,
And I just told you the gospel was, let my people go. Freedom.
Freedom from bondage. Freedom from sin. Freedom from
the justice and wrath of God. Pardon, mercy, grace, redemption. This is the gospel. Let my people
go. That's good news. Once a man hears of the gospel
of freedom, His world then begins to fall
down around him. Trouble comes. I remember Brother
J.D. came in, and Brother J.D., the
Lord saved him, and he said, you know, what I need to do?
I told him, just sit down, listen, hear the gospel. But trouble's
coming. Why? Because we all know this
to be true with us. We know that this is the way
it is. Trouble must come first. And
the first thing that a man sees when he hears the gospel is this.
He knows he is in bondage. We knew when we heard the gospel,
let my people go. From what? From sin. We were in bondage to sin. This bondage of Israel is a picture
of the bondage of all lost sinners, all men by nature in bondage
and enslaved to sin. And we know this from our childhood
experiences. No one taught us to sin. No one
needed to teach us to sin. They may have taught us how to
sin better, but they didn't teach us how. We knew how. We knew
how to lie and steal. Why? Because that's our nature. That's who we are. Jesus said,
from the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication. Where? From the heart. Because
we're born with an evil heart, an evil nature. You that know the Lord Jesus
Christ as your Savior, you know this bondage. You understand this nature. You
feel it. You know it within yourself what
you are. And if you don't know that, then
just try this. Here you go. Here's a test for
you. Love the Lord your God with all
your heart, your soul, and your mind. How often? Every second, of every day, all
of your life. Love your neighbor as yourself. We cannot do this no matter how
hard we try. What is this a proof of? It's
a proof that we are in bondage to sin. The Apostle said of himself that
he was in bondage. He said, O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Cursed
is everyone that continueth not in all things that are written
in the book of the law to do them. James said, Whosoever shall
keep the whole law, yet offend in one point, he is guilty of
all the law. All. So then, this is the plight,
this is the trouble of man, is that he is in bondage to sin.
He's in bondage to sin. And so then, let all those who
are trusting in themselves to meet God. If you're trusting
in your will, your works, your family, your friends, whatever
you are trusting in that is carnal in nature. You do this because you are enslaved
to sin. You're enslaved to sin. You're
under the justice and wrath and condemnation of God. Second of all, we can see this,
the inability to free ourselves from this bondage. Israel was
incapable of freeing themselves. Even so, are we incapable of
freeing ourselves from sin. When Pharaoh took away the straw,
he took away the straw. What did he do when he took away
the straw? He took away their ability to
make brick. That you can't make the brick
without the straw. I had to go and get a brick lesson. I wanted to know how this was
made. So I looked it up. Without straw in these type of
brick, without straw the brick would crumble. The straw is what
held everything together. It's what held the mud together.
And without the straw, the brick would crumble. It would be useless.
It's worthless. They could not make brick without
straw. When He took the straw, He took
their ability to make brick. This shows us the inability of
our nature to keep the Law. This shows us our inability to
keep the law. When our father Adam fell and
died spiritually, what did he lose? He lost the ability to
obey God. He lost the ability to know God,
to come to God, to even sue God for mercy. He lost it all. He
lost all ability. So we can say at one time he
had straw, didn't he? He had the straw to hold himself
near to God. He had the ability. But once
sin came, it robbed him of his ability. And that did that for
us as well. Whatever happened in Adam happens
in us. It's the same. This is what lost
men by nature do because they are enslaved to sin. He once honored and loved God,
but now in shame he tried to cover himself. Isn't that what
Adam did when he lost the ability to please God? He tried with
his own hands to cover that. To cover that. This is what men
do by their own will and works. They say, man says who is in
bondage, he says, well I'm just in bondage because I want to
be. And I can get out anytime I want to. Preacher, I can stop
sinning, I just don't want to. No, you can't. It's your nature. It's your nature. The truth is that we can't do
anything but sin. The way Todd put it, he said,
you cannot not sin. Everything you do is full and
mixed with sin. You see, God's standard, God's
standard is perfection. God is not asking you to do your
best. God demands you to be perfect,
even as He is perfect. Now when the Israelites lost
their ability, what did they do? Look at verse 12. So the
people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt
to gather what? Stubble instead of straw. Stubble. instead of straw. This is what men do by nature.
Instead of the straw of righteous obedience and holiness, they
grab the stubble of religion and works. As I told you, without
the straw, the brick begins to crumble. And what does it do
when a man mixes the stubble of his works into his acceptance
with God? What happens when the pressure
of God's law is applied to the brick of his works? It crumbles. It crushes it. It cannot support
the weight of God's holiness. This is what men do when they
hear about the holiness. They start making bricks of stubble.
They start measuring themselves against others. Well, surely, if that person
is going to glory, then I'm going to glory. I am better than that
person. Well, you may be. Remember, God's
standard isn't that person. God's standard is Himself. You
must be as holy as God is. You must be as holy as God is. I'd used this illustration before,
but say that the whole United States fell off into the ocean,
and the only coast that we could swim to was Hawaii. Say, that
was the standard. You could only make it there.
If you could swim there, you'd be safe. Now, bad swimmers, we
might not make it a mile or two mile. But listen, neither will
the good swimmers. They ain't gonna make it. I don't
care how hard they try. Just not gonna make it. They
all drown. And so it is with the standard
of God. We all, no matter how moral or
righteous you may be, we all drown. We all will likewise perish. Now is
this your case? Are you in bondage? Are you lost
and without hope of eternal life? And friend, you're in trouble.
You're in trouble. That's the greatest trouble a
man can be in. In bondage to sin and under the
wrath of God. And I do pray that God would
open your eyes to see the truth that there is hope. that there
is hope. Otherwise, God would have not
said, let my people go. If there were not going to be
any hope of them being let go, He wouldn't have said it. But
there is hope. Now I'm going to talk to you
believers for a minute. You who are troubled believers.
Many times believers, we are free from the bondage of sin.
We see our acceptance only in the Lord Jesus Christ, yet still
at times we are discouraged and doubt. our standing before God. Because of this old man, because
we still have this abiding nature of sin in us, we are full of
doubts and fears as to our freedom. In this passage, it's a word
for troubled believers. Moses, the man of God, who was
sent to God, who was sent to Pharaoh, said, let my people
go, is also an example here of us, when we do the work of God,
it doesn't always turn out like we thought it would. Now believer,
whoever thought your life would turn out the way it was, the
way it's been. When you were saved, you thought it would surely
be different. It must be better. Less trouble,
that's what I thought. Surely it'd be less trouble than
I had before." No. Moses, I'm sure, when he thought
that Pharaoh would hear the Word of God and immediately let them
go. Is that what happened? No. How many times did he go
to Pharaoh and Pharaoh said no? How many times? Even after those
plagues and things that happened to Pharaoh, he said, surely this
should be the one. Surely this has got to be the
one. And he went with confidence, let my people go, expecting them
to be let go. And every time he came back disappointed,
didn't he? This was no different. Look at
verse 22. Look at Moses. You see, these people, they got
mad, and they sought help from Pharaoh, and Pharaoh turned away,
and they sought Moses, and they started cursing Moses. They said,
Moses, your fault! Your fault we couldn't do this.
And now we're in greater trouble. Now look what Moses said in verse
22. Moses returned to the Lord and
said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated 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. Neither
hast thou delivered thy people at all." He said, God, ever since
you called me here, it's gotten worse. It hadn't gotten better.
Why didn't you call me at all? I did what you told me to, and
yet he did not listen. Many times God sends us to do
His will, proclaim His Word, but when things don't turn out
like we hope, we begin to be discouraged and
even question God. I remember this story of a faithful
pastor. Twenty years he preached the
Gospel. One convert. Congregation was very discouraged. Pastor, 20 years, and there's
only been one. But the preacher was encouraged.
He said, peradventure the Lord give me 20 more years, there
might be two. I know many times we're laboring
in the things of God, we feel alone. We feel discouraged. We feel as though God has misrepresented
Himself, as though God has not done what He said He would do.
If we feel that way, know this, we're mistaken and not God. Moses
was mistaken, not God. And so God here in this text
gives the comfort then, and I want you to see that this is the comfort
for God's elect who are saved. And this should be a comfort
to any sinner in need of being freed from sin. Two people, same
people, the Israel of God, Moses was one of the Israelites of
God. So this represents all of Israel, those who are now lost. This is a comforting word to
you, and those of you who are now saved, this is the same word
of comfort. Is there any different word of
comfort for the lost or the saved? There's no different message
for you and for them. It's the same message. And so
here's the word of comfort. Let's go over this with me in
this text. The comfort of God in verse 1,
it says, Then the Lord said to 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 he's going
to drive them out of the land. Not only is he going to let them
go, he's going to force them to get out. Now we have this promise of God
here to deliver his people from Pharaoh. God says now. You see, then Moses
was not the appointed time. That's why they didn't let him
go then. But listen, now is the appointed
time, Moses. The appointed time of God, the
appointed time of grace. Thou shalt see what I will do.
And when is a lost sinner, when is it that a lost sinner might
see what God will do to deliver him? only when he comes to the end
of himself. Isn't that when a sinner sees what God will do? He must
first come to the end of himself. When a man is brought to the
end of his rope, to the end of his ability to please God or
obey God's law, when a man is reduced to a worm, that's when
God will deliver him. That's when God will show him
what he's going to do. Now, when will God encourage
his children from their troubles and their griefs? When will God install fresh courage
for the labors of his people who are tired and weak? He will
show us his deliverance, listen, when we seek his face. That's
when. When we seek his face. The first thing God reveals to
encourage and comfort us is this, His name. Look at this in verse
2. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
and said unto him, I am Jehovah. And I appeared unto Abraham,
and Isaac, and Jacob by the name of God Almighty. But by my name
Jehovah was I not known to them. And I also establish my covenant
with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their
pilgrimage wherein they were strangers. The name Jehovah comes
from the root word to be. It's a name that God gave Himself
at the burning bush. He said, I am that I am. God reminds us that He alone
is God and there is none else. He is the being of all beings. He is the being of all beings. He created all things that exist,
excluding Himself that was not made. Now, this name of God is
to bring us comfort because it is a name used in relation to
God's covenant with His people. Now, do you suppose that the
Holy Spirit places the word God and the word Lord and Jehovah
just randomly? Or do you suppose He's very specific
as to why He uses the name Elohim God, and the name Yahweh, or
Jehovah, which is in our translation, Lord. I tell you, it's very specific. I'm going to give you some illustrations
of this. You can look it up later. In Genesis 1, what do we read?
In the beginning, Elohim created the heavens and the earth. You
see, when God uses the term Elohim, He is talking about Himself in
the character of Creator, Sustainer. of this universe, the powerful
God. But in chapter 2 of Genesis,
he is called the Lord God, Jehovah Elohim, Yahweh. Why? Because in that chapter
he deals specifically with his relationship to Adam. creating
Adam. He's very specific in that chapter
as to how he formed man, created him, and his wife. Another illustration of this
is in Genesis 7, when God commanded the animals in the ark. Elohim
commanded the animals. But it was Jehovah that shut
the door after Noah and his family entered in. You see the covenant
relationship when he's using the word Yahweh, his name, he's
dealing in covenant relationship with his people. Covenant relationship
with his people. Now then, this name it says this
with this is where some people run into a very difficult uh... saying here in verse uh... three he said i appeared and
abraham and isaac in jacob by the name God Almighty. But by my name Jehovah was I
not known to them. Now this is not saying specifically
they didn't know that name Yahweh or Jehovah because we know this
especially with Abraham. Remember when he brought Isaac
from the mountain. Remember, his name was Jehovah
Jireh. So he did know his name Jehovah. But what he means here is in
an experimental way. He did not fully experience the
covenant that he promised Abraham. So by this, we know that he did
not reveal himself as Jehovah in the experience of this covenant. Now, all that God promised Moses
and Israel, is promised by Jehovah, the covenant God of his people. And God is working it out right
before their eyes. Pharaoh was a man outside, was
this man outside of the will of God? Was he doing anything
outside of the covenant relationship that God had determined for His
people? No. He was doing exactly the will
of God. He was doing exactly what God
before determined this man to do. God raised him up specifically
to show His power in this man. There's only one reason that
Satan was allowed to tempt our parents, isn't it? One reason
that Adam was allowed to sin. One reason that Jesus Christ
was crucified, so that God might show the exceeding riches of
His grace toward us. You see, everything Jehovah does
is for His people, in a covenant relationship with us. Sinner in need of salvation,
hear the word then of Jehovah. And know that all He says is
true, and nobody can alter His covenant. Believer, hear the
name of God our Father, Jehovah. And know that all things are
working together for your good in His glory. And this should
take comfort to know this, that our God is Jehovah. Our God is
a covenant God. Now look at this in verse 5. And he says, I also have heard
the groanings of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians
kept in bondage, and I have remembered my covenant. Now, sinners in
need of salvation, you should bow the knee to Jesus Christ
and you should cry to Him. Why? Because God hears the groaning
of His people. God hears the groaning of His
people. He hears sinners when they cry. You should cry for what? What
did His people groan under? They groan under bondage. Do
you groan under the bondage of your sin? Then groan unto God. We like to groan to other people.
Why? They can't help. Don't groan
to me. I can't help. Don't cry to the
preacher. Cry to God. Why? Because that's
what His people do. His people cries. And God heard
the nation of Israel, so will He hear the cries of all those
who seek mercy. Now let me tell you who God won't
hear. God will not hear someone who
wants help in salvation. And what I mean by help is cooperation. There's a lot of people crying
unto God for cooperation. God, if you'll just do your part,
I'll do my part. God don't hear that. Why? That's not what God's people
cry. God's people don't cry that. You see, I know this. If God's
going to deliver me, He's got to do everything. He's got to do it all. Is this your case? Do you need
salvation from God alone? If so, then cry. How? Like the
publican. You remember that publican? He
cried, Lord, be propitiatous unto me. That man understood
something. He knew he had nothing. And he
needed God to do everything. He needed God to provide a sacrifice
for him. He needed righteousness from
God that he could not provide for himself. Why? He was the
sinner. The sinner. And friends, that only sacrifices
Jesus Christ. That's it. There's no other sacrifice.
No other way that God is going to save sinners but by His Son.
Faith in His Son. Trusting in His Son. Crying to
God and He will hear you only through faith in His Son. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. And that is the Lord Jesus Christ,
the only, the only one. who can make men acceptable and
free to approach unto God. Now the second thing here about
this covenant, he said the believer, you, believers should cry unto
God, not only the lost, but do I, did I stop crying after I
cried the first time? Have I stopped groaning? Anybody
here stop groaning? Are you, are you done with that?
Because I'm not. Any believer understands groaning. trouble. David said, In my distress
I called upon Jehovah, and cried unto my God. And he heard my
voice where? Out of his temple. What's his
temple? Christ. That's where the sacrifice
was made, is in the temple. Speaking of Christ, and my cry
came before him, even unto his ears. Many times our prayer is
our last resort. It should be our first line of
defense. Are you in a state of pain or
trouble that no man could help? Then lean on the arm of Jehovah. And listen, he said, I have remembered
my covenant. This is why you should lean on
Him, because He remembers His covenant. Sometimes in our hearts
we say, God won't hear me. I'm not worthy to be heard. It's
not a matter of worthiness, is it? Why? Because Jehovah is not
a God looking for your merit. He is a covenant God. If it was a matter of worthiness,
He wouldn't hear anybody. But because He is Jehovah, a
covenant God, He remembers His covenant. Now, the covenant of
grace is an eternal covenant. Remember, Jehovah declared, I
will make with thee an everlasting covenant. I will not turn away from them
to do them good. When does an everlasting covenant
begin? If it's everlasting, it never
had a beginning. It's an eternal covenant. For
all those that the Father chose, for all those for whom Christ
died in time, all those that are in this covenant of grace,
they all will cry for mercy and see that this covenant was always
one-sided. This covenant was made by God,
with God, for God, and you're included in it. It's God's covenant. It's God's covenant. God made this covenant with Himself. The Father chose a people of
His own sovereign mercy in a covenant of grace. And in a covenant with
His Son, He gave those people to His Son, by which He should
procure, obtain all their salvation for them. And He made a covenant
with the Spirit of God that He should call every one of them,
by grace, to life and faith. In other words, He decreed, let
My people go. long before we were ever let
go. This was a covenant that God
made. Here in this text, God tells
us the work that He will accomplish in this covenant, so it would
give comfort to those who have come to God by Christ. Look at
verse 6, "...Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, those
of the elect, I am Jehovah, and I will Notice these definite
statements here. I will bring you out from under
the burdens of the Egyptians. I will rid you out of their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched
arm with great judgments. And I will take you to me for
a people and I will be to you a God and you shall know that
I am Jehovah your God which bringeth you out from under the burdens
of the Egyptians and I will bring you into the land concerning
the which I did swear to give it to Abraham Isaac and Jacob
and I will give it you for an heritage now what's our hope
this is it I am Jehovah So He says, I'll bring you out from
your burdens. Your burdens. Those of us who have cried for
mercy, looking alone to the merits of Jesus Christ, He has promised
that He Himself will bring us out from the burdens of the law. The law demanded our obedience.
It demanded our perfection, our eternal death. It's a thing that
we could not pay. We could not bear. And how would
He do this? How would He bring us out from
the law? By the obedience of Jesus Christ. This is His covenant,
I swear. I'm going to bring you out from
that bondage by the obedience of another. There is therefore
now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death. For what the law could not do, and that it was weak
through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh, and for sin did what? Condemn sin in the flesh. For what purpose? That the law
of God, the law of God might be fulfilled in us. free from the law, O happy condition. Jesus has bled and there is remission. Cursed by the law and bruised
by the fall, Christ hath redeemed us, how, of once for all. So did God fulfill His covenant?
I will bring you out from under bondage. Bondage of what? The
law and the justice of God. Secondly, He said, I'll rid you
of your bondage. What does this mean? The bondage
of sin. When Jesus Christ died on the
cross, it was God who took all of our sins and imputed them
to His Son, charged them to His Son, and He bore our sins away. Paid the debt in full. I will rid you of your bondage. What was our bondage? It was
sin. And where's your sin now? I know you see it. I know you
feel it. But where is it really? In the eyes of God, where is
it? It's gone. Did He fulfill His covenant? Wasn't it true what John says? Behold the Lamb of God that beareth
away the sin of the world. Did He accomplish it? Jesus said
He did. when he said, It is finished. And we know this, that even as
God delivered those by blood, so will God deliver His people. He will come to them, and by
faith they will believe Him to be the Lamb of God, the one God-man
Redeemer who offered Himself once and sat down, having accomplished
the work. And so, then, what remains for
us to do? The Scripture said, "...there
remaineth no more sacrifice for sin." No more. No more sacrifice
for sin. It's finished. The work of redemption's
accomplished. He did it at the cross. Is there
any, then, reason to fear? Is there anything, then, to stand
between you and God? What stands between us right
now? Was the veil not rent in Twain? It was. Why? He says this, I will redeem you.
This is the covenant of redemption. He has by the blood of Christ
brought us He has paid the debt for our
sins, and the justice of God is satisfied. Therefore, we sing
a new song, thou art worthy to take the book, and open the seals
thereof. Why? For thou hast slain, and
hast, hast redeemed us to God." He's already done it. You remember
the picture of Gomer, that slave, that prostitute? once prime and
beautiful, probably the price that men would have paid for
her. But remember, when she was old and useless, sold for a penny,
how did her husband look at her? He bought her with an eye of
love and paid the ransom price. That's what Christ did for us.
We were gomer, we were wasted, useless. And yet he paid our
redemption price. And fourthly, this covenant,
he says, I will make you my people. We who are not a people, rebels,
haters of God, are now sons of God. Sons of God. Go over to
Galatians real quickly. Galatians chapter 3. Read this
with me. I thought this very important. Galatians chapter 3. I'm sorry,
chapter 4. It says, verse 2, "...but we
were under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the
Father, even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under
the elements of the world." Isn't that the picture we just saw?
We were enslaved to the law. But when the fullness of time
was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under
the law. Here it is, His covenant to redeem
them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption
of sons. And because you are the sons
of God, God sent forth His Spirit into your hearts, crying, Abba,
Father. God says, I'm going to make you
my people, but not just my people, my sons. My sons. Do you not see this? The reason
you believe is because you were sons? Because you were sons,
you were redeemed. Because you were sons, the Spirit
of God came into your heart, crying, Abba, Father. God says,
I will make you My people. I will make you My sons. My adopted
sons. Therefore, in Hebrews 2, Christ
said, I am not ashamed to call them my brother. And listen to this, God says
in this covenant of grace, I will be your God. I want you to notice
that that's the willingness of God to be your God. God does not cringe to be your
God. Do you feel that at times as
though God is cringing to be your God? Your son or your daughter
makes you embarrassed and you have to come up to the school
and get them and you want to hide your head in shame. And
then you got to say, yeah, that's mine. God never does that with
us. He's proud. He says, that's my
son. I will be your God. I will be
your God. Not because you are good, but
because of His grace. And lastly, He said, I will bring
you into this land. What is this but heaven? What
is this covenant that He promises us? Heaven? And so then, you that are troubled,
I want you to be comforted. For your God is Jehovah, covenant
God. His covenant that He made with
you is eternal. His covenant that He made with
you is a promise, a covenant of redemption, a covenant of
love, a covenant of affection, a covenant of adoption, a covenant
of regeneration, a covenant of eternal life and peace. What more do we need if the Lord
is our shepherd? And now what this says, I shall
not want. Is there anything in this life
then more important than the cross of Christ? The covenant
of God's grace. Not to trouble Israel. Not to those who are burdened
with sin. The only good thing is the cross
of Christ, because it's by that we're set free. By that, God is able to say,
I am your God, and you are my sons. And because of that, he is able
then to receive us into glory, and willing to do so. Remember,
oh, the love that drew salvation's plan. Oh, the grace that brought
it down to man. Oh, the mighty gulf that God
did span at Calvary. I'm so thankful for His covenant
of grace. God give us comfort. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer.