Alright, let's turn back to Exodus
chapter 5. Exodus chapter 5 and we'll begin
with verse 10. It 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 be diminished. So the people were scattered
abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead
of straw. 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 you not fulfilled your task in
making brick, both yesterday and today is heretofore." When
I read that, do you know what that reminded me of? False religion. False religion. Dead, cold, hard
religion. Aren't you glad you're not in
religion? The world will hear that statement. They don't have
any idea what that means. Verse 10 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. That poem says, I love it so
much, it says, Run, run, the law demands. But it gives me neither feet
nor hands. The gospel bids me sweeter things, bids me fly,
and gives me wings. Wings of an eagle. Verse 10 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
be diminished. Is that not work's religion? You go get it where you can find
it, and none of your work is going to be diminished. You gotta
work. You gotta keep working. You don't
wanna lose your salvation, do you? In the highways, in the hedges,
I'm somewhere working for my Lord, right? That song says working
on a building. Just working. I love the gospel. Our blessed Lord said, Come unto
me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you
rest. Stop working. Religion is such
a tiring thing to be in. Do, do, do. The gospel says it's
finished. Done. It's already finished. Verse 10 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 your straw where you can find it, yet not all of your
work shall be diminished. So the people were scattered
abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead
of straw. Now turn with me over to 1 Corinthians
chapter 3. When we leave the peace and the
rest of God that's only found in Christ, everything outside
of Christ is hard, and it's labor, and it's work. And when we leave
the peace and rest of God that's only found in Christ, it's only
found in His Kingdom and in His Word, I actually, if the Lord
will let us, let our minds enter into the worship service, We
physically forget every single problem in the world, don't we?
We really do. If we can enter into the worship
service, you leave every deadline, you leave every bill, you leave
every responsibility, and you rest. There is rest here in His
kingdom and in His Word. But if we go searching for something
else, If we go searching on our own, what we're going to find
is every single thing outside of Christ is wood, hay, and stubble. 1 Corinthians 3 verse 11 says,
For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid. I have absolutely nothing new
to say. Every single outline looks exactly
the same. We're sinners. It's His choice. He chose. He didn't die for everybody. You have no choice in the matter.
And if we get to glory, it's only because of Christ. No other
foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus
Christ. Now if any man build upon this
foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every
man's work shall be made manifest. For the day shall declare it,
because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try
every man's work of what sort it is." Every work is going to
be tried by the fire of God's wrath. Matthew 7, we quote it
all the time. They said, haven't we done all
these wonderful things? That's going to be tried by fire.
The only work that will stand is the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's it. That's it. Turn over to Luke
15. Here's somebody who went to gather
for himself. He wanted something more. Luke
15, look at verse 11. And he said, A certain man had
two sons. And the younger of them said
to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth
to me. And he divided unto them his
living. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all
together and took his journey into a far country, and there
wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent
all, there arose a mighty famine in the land, and he began to
be in want, and he went and joined himself to a citizen of that
country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And
he would fain have filled his belly with the husk that the
swine did eat. And no man gave unto him. And
when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my
father's have bread enough and to spare? And I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my father. and will say unto him, Father,
I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more
worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose and came to his
father. But when he was yet a great way
off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and
fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him,
Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and
am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said
to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on
him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, and bring
hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and be merry,
for this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and
is found. And they began to be merry." That's the difference in false
religion and the true gospel of God. Everything outside of
Christ is husks. It's just stubble and husk. That's all it is. Now turn over
to Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55 verse 1 says, Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he
that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine
and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do you spend
money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which
satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto Me, and
eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself
in fatness. Incline your ear and come unto
Me. Here and your soul shall live. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I have
given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander
to the people. Behold, thou shalt call a nation
that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run
unto thee, because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One
of Israel, for He hath glorified thee. Seek ye the Lord, while
He may be found. Call ye upon Him, while He is
near. Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts. and let him return unto the Lord,
and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon." Abundantly pardon. You don't have to seek straw
and stubble. I wish I had one of those big
DJ Ward handkerchiefs right now. You don't have to seek straw
and stubble. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found, because he will abundantly pardon."
Abundantly. That's good news. It's good news.
Burden, bondage, works of the law are free and sovereign grace. Rest. Seek the Lord. He'll pardon. He'll abundantly
pardon. Alright, go back to our text.
Exodus chapter 5. Verse 10 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 your straw where you can find it, yet not all of your
work shall be diminished. So the people were scattered
abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead
of straw. And the taskmasters hasted them,
saying, Fulfill your works, your daily task is 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 you not fulfilled your task in
making brick? Both yesterday and today is heretofore."
When liberty in Christ is not preached, All we have is the law. And the law will beat us down. When liberty in Christ is not
preached, the law, it just beats us down. Sometimes we enter into
our sin. We are in bondage to our sin. We're burdened by our sin. Every now and then, we enter
into that. Not much. Not much. But every now and then we do.
Paul said, the things that I wish I did, I don't do them. And I feel like more importantly
than that, the things that I wish I didn't do, that's what I do. That's exactly what I do. The
bondage and the guilt of our sin, it beats us down. And I
can say that, and a person can hear that, and it really means
nothing until you feel beaten down by your sin. Once you experience
that, It's cruel, hard bondage. You don't have to turn. Just
listen to what Jeremiah said. This is Jeremiah 8 verses 18
and 19. He said, When I would comfort
myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me. Behold, the voice
of the cry of the daughter of my people, because of them that
dwell in a far country, is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her
king in her? He said, Is there no balm in
Gilead? Is there no physician there?
Why then is not the health of thy daughter of My people recovered?
Why? They're in bondage. They've been
in bondage since Exodus chapter 1. They're still in bondage. But
listen to what the Lord said. Turn over here with me to Ezekiel
16. I love this and pray the Lord
will let me enter into this. Ezekiel 16. Verse 8 says, Now when I passed
by thee, this is the Lord speaking. When I passed by thee and looked
upon thee, behold, thy time was a time of love. And I spread
my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto
thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God,
and thou becamest mine. Then washed I thee with water,
yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed
thee with oil. I clothed thee also with broidered
work, and shod thee with badger skin. I girded thee about with
fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. I decked thee also
with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on
thy neck, and I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in
thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thy head. Thus wast thou
decked with gold and silver, and thy raiment was of fine linen
and silk, embroidered work. Thou didst eat fine flour and
honey and oil, and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou
didst prosper into a kingdom. And thy renown went forth both
among the heathen for thy beauty, for it was perfect through my
comeliness which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God. We'll never enter into how thankful
we should be for where the Lord brought us from and what He's
done for us now. We'll never enter into that.
Never. Thanks be to God, He didn't leave
us where we were. Burdened, afflicted, eating husk,
gathering stubble. The Lord is good. He's good. Now I want us to see something
here. There's a few things we need to learn from this chapter.
Back to Exodus chapter 5. Based on the fact that the Lord
has brought us out of our bondage, we need to learn a couple of
things through the end of the chapter here. It says, now they're
still in bondage. They want out. Okay? They've been told about their
deliverance, but it hasn't happened yet. They're waiting. They're
looking. They're hoping. It hasn't happened
yet. Their burdens are becoming heavier. They're taking away the straw. Their bondage is getting harder.
They're becoming beaten. It's more cruel. Verse 15 says
this, 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." The children of Israel are God's people. And they're in a trial, and this
is a learning lesson for us when we're in a trial. They have a
great need, but they don't go to God about it. They went to
Pharaoh. That is human nature. That's human nature. That's me
by nature. We have so little faith. So little faith. We're so weak
and we look for help in things that we can see. That's what
we do. We look for help in things that we can see and not in our
invisible God. Our God who cannot lie said,
we just quoted, come unto me. I get myself in trouble and the
first thing I think is, how can I fix it? How can I fix it? I'm gonna call
somebody. He said, come unto me, all ye
that labor, all ye that are burdened about something. all ye that
labor and are heavy laden." And He said, if you come to Me, I
will give you rest. I will give you rest. I want to believe the more that
I preach, I'm starting to realize our God tells the truth. These
are not maybes. It's a fact. He cannot lie. Come
unto Me, and I will give you rest." As soon as we take matters
into our own hands, that's when we mess up. That's where we went
wrong. What a lesson it is for me. All things are in His hands. All things. The King's heart,
Pharaoh's heart, my heart, your heart, their heart, they're all
in His hands. We have the hardest time believing
and trusting what we cannot see. Isn't that the honest truth? There is only One who can help
us. There's only one place to go. I want you to listen to this,
okay? I'm going to title this, Take Your Burden to the Lord.
Alright, now just listen to this. If the world from you withhold
of its silver and its gold. Now how often does that happen?
Anybody a little shy on money? If the world from you withhold
of its silver and its gold and you have to get along with meager
fare, maybe you have to sell a car. Just remember in His Word how
He feeds the little bird. Take your burden to the Lord
and then you just leave it there. If your body suffers pain, And
your health you cannot regain. And your soul is almost sinking
in despair. Jesus knows the pain you feel. He can save and He can heal. You take your burden to the Lord
and you leave it there. Isn't that restful? When your
enemies assail and your heart begins to fail, Don't forget
that God in heaven answers prayer. He will make a way for you and
will lead you safely through. You take that burden to the Lord
and leave it there. When your youthful days are gone
and old age is stealing on and your body bends beneath the weight
of care, He will never leave you then He'll go with you to
the end. You take your burden to the Lord
and just leave it there. Leave it there. I hope I can
learn to do that. I hope I can enter into that.
There's only one person who can help us. My help cometh from the Lord. It's the same Lord that made
heaven and earth. Well, the children of Israel
here, they don't go to the Lord. They went to Pharaoh. Alright, verse 17 says, he said,
you are idle. You are idle, therefore you 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 you deliver
the tale of bricks. And the officers of the children
of Israel did see that they were in evil case after it was said,
you shall not minish ought from your bricks of your daily task. The Lord will teach us that every
avenue aside from the way will come to nothing. They went
to Pharaoh thinking, we're going to get some relief here, we're
going to try to talk some sense into him. Maybe he doesn't know
that the men he set over us are beating us. And he said, I'm
about to make it harder on you. Every avenue Aside from The Way,
it's going to come to nothing. It's going to bring us no rest,
no peace. We're going to exhaust every
avenue. It's our nature. We can't help
it. Well, I tell you, I'm going to call Him. That didn't work.
I'm going to call Him. I'm going to go by and see Him myself. And then we'll realize everything
did no good. No good. Every bit of it. Go
over to Mark 5. Mark 5, look at verse 25. It says, And a certain woman,
which had an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered many
things of many physicians, she had been to everybody in town,
and everybody out of town, and had spent all that she had, and
was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse. A person comes to
a place where they realize, I'm just a sinner. I'm just a sinner. The more I learn about me, the
more I realize I'm just a sinner. That's all I am. I have a problem. I have an issue of blood. What must I do to be saved? And then they go searching, okay? A person does some bad things
in their life. They go through the teenage years, they go through
college, they did a bunch of bad things. They start to regret
it. And it's time to straighten up
and fly right. I'm going to go to church. I'm going to find
somebody I know and I'm going to go to church and that's going
to fix it. And it doesn't. They go searching. They suffer
many things of many religious physicians. And you know they haven't found
the answer. They haven't found the cure because they're still
searching physicians. They have found no rest. But,
verse 27 says, When she had heard of Jesus, When God gave her ears
to hear, and she heard about a true God. I love whenever people
hear about the true God for the first time, and you see it on
their face. I love it. Because it's just shocking, shocking. They never heard anything like
it. She heard about a true God. She heard about a true Savior.
The Great Physician, Jesus Christ. Verse 27 says, She came in the
press behind, and touched His garment. For she said, If I may
touch but His clothes, I shall be whole. Do you think she believed
that He was able? And straightway the fountain
of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she
was healed of that plague. And Jesus immediately, knowing
in Himself that virtue had gone out of Him, turned Him about
in the press and said, Who touched My clothes? And His disciples
said unto Him, Thou seest the multitude thronging Thee, and
sayest Thou, Who touched Me? And he looked round about to
see her that had done this thing. But the woman, fearing and trembling,
she knew who this was. Knowing what was done in her,
came and fell down before him. She'd been to every physician,
every doctor in town. It was getting worse. And then
finally she came to the one person who could do anything for her.
She fell down before Him and told Him all the truth. And this
is what He said unto her, Daughter, I love that. You're my child. I knew you were
my child before the foundation of the world. I walked this way
just so you could come and touch me here. Thy faith has made thee whole.
Go in peace and be whole of thy plague." Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. I hope I learn to do that. I
really do. Well, unfortunately, the children
of Israel, they didn't take their burden to the Lord and look at
what it caused them to do. Verse 20, back in our text, it says, They met Moses and Aaron who
stood in the way, as they came forth from Pharaoh, and they
said unto them, The Lord look upon you and judge. God judge
you, because you have made our savor to be abhorred in the eyes
of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants to put a sword in
their hand to slay us. They got mad at Moses and Aaron. Isn't that awful? And they judged
them once again as though God was not in control. This is something that just grieves
me. But this will happen to each
one of us. It's going to happen. We are actively praying for unity
here in this ministry. Love for each other. But this
is going to happen to each of us. Usually, believers are prepared
for opposition from unbelievers. You know, you go start telling
people the truth, and they're going to hate it. They really
are. The Lord said you're going to have opposition. But we are
never prepared for opposition from our brethren. Never. Here's our comfort in this though.
The disciple is not above his master. That's what the Lord
said. Our Lord came unto His own and His own received Him
not. The actual very 5,000 people
that He saved at Pentecost, they were the very same people just
before that who were crying, crucify Him. That throng of people
that took Him to Pilate and they said, we hate Him, we will not
have Him set free. You put Him on the cross. That's
the exact same people that He saved in Acts chapter 4. His
brethren. These things are going to happen
to each of us. I'm going to offend you. I'm
sorry. I'm sorry. May the Lord God give us a heart
and give us the grace to say constantly, is it I? Is it I? Let it not be me, Lord. Let's
guard and protect our love for each other. I love you all. I just do. I just do. May the Lord protect that. Let's
pray, Lord, let me not offend. Let me not offend. Well, they came to Moses and
they said these things to him. Look at verse 22. It says, And
Moses returned unto 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. Did you enter into what
Moses said to God? He said, Wherefore hast thou
so evil entreated this people? Why is it that thou hast sent
me? Why did you call me to come preach? 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. He went to the Lord. He went to the right place. He was in His own trial and He
took His burden to the Lord. But He came irreverently. He didn't come in faith. And
I'm going to tell you, I'm guilty of the same thing. I really am. It's shameful. It's absolutely
shameful. But whether we say that out loud
or not, we foolishly think, I don't know why the Lord's not helping
me. I want the Lord's help. I want
to know His will. But I'd like to know it right
now. I'm willing to wait on the Lord's
will as long as He sends it right now. These things are written to remind
us. We go through these chapters,
we go through these verses, and we look at each one. They're
written here to remind us that the servant doesn't tell the
master what to do. I didn't even remember that.
The worm doesn't talk back to the Almighty. If I really believe, if I really
honestly believe that all things work together for good. Now I might just say that and
really not believe it. But if I really believe that
all things work together for good, then who am I to question Him? Who am I to question Him? Our
Lord has no need to hurry. We all would love to have the
answers we need right now. His will right now. But our Lord, He doesn't need
to hurry. He's not bound to time. All of His works were finished
before the foundation of the world. And we may not understand
it, but there is a reason for it. And in His time, He will
reveal it. Just look at chapter 6 verse
1. It says, Then the Lord said unto Moses, after all that, Then
the Lord said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do
to Pharaoh. He waited all that time. For
with a strong hand shall He let them go. And with a strong hand
shall He drive them out of His land. My people are not just
going to be delivered. There's going to be a great deliverance. Everything that happens is for
His glory. Yes, it's for our good. But more
importantly, it's for His glory. And if I have to wait and suffer
a little while for Him to get more glory, so be it. So be it. In the meantime, I
pray that the Lord would feed us, sustain us, keep us, teach
us, and forgive us. Forgive us. This was a convicting
chapter to me. I pray that the Lord will forgive
us. Alright, let's stand together.