I titled this GOD ALL-SUFFICIENT. As I read these verses throughout
the week, when I read from the Scripture I'm going to preach
from, I read it several times. I try to just get it into my
mind and see what it's saying before I even open the commentaries.
I like for the Word of God to speak to me first. and the first
thought was GOD ALL-SUFFICIENT. Is God able to deliver His people? Is God able to do that? Is God
able to send one man with a staff to deliver one to two million
people from the strongest king, Pharaoh, the greatest nation
on earth? Is God able to do that? Yes,
He is. He is. Our God is sufficient
in every way, in every situation to deliver us. Remember this,
whatever situation you and I find ourselves in, it is never, never,
never a matter of the power of God, it's a matter of the will
of God. It's a matter of God's will, never His power. He can speak a word and calm
the wind and the waves. Just a word, that's all He needs.
PEACE! Be still, and my troubled soul would be still. Now, what
does SUFFICIENT mean? It's good when you study to do
a word study, to find out what words mean. and the word SUFFICIENT
means ENOUGH TO MEET THE NEEDS OF A SITUATION OR A PROPOSED
END. The situation Israel is captive
in Egypt, the proposed end to set the captive free, to set
them free. Is our God able to rescue us
from the power of darkness? IS OUR GOD ABLE TO RESCUE US
FROM THE POWER OF A SINFUL NATURE THAT REIGNS OVER US LIKE A KING,
THAT DOMINATES US FROM BIRTH? CAN HE BREAK THE POWER OF CANCELLED
SIN? CAN HE DO THAT? HE CAN! CAN HE BREAK THE POWER OF SATAN?
SATAN IS POWERFUL! POWERFUL! WE ARE NO MATCH FOR
HIM! THE ANGEL, THE ARCHANGEL WOULDN'T
EVEN ARGUE WITH HIM. HE SAID, THE LORD REBUKE YOU.
HE WOULDN'T EVEN TAKE HIM ON. AND THESE TELEVANGELISTS JUST
TELL THE DEVIL TO RUN. THAT'S SO FOOLISH. THAT'S SO
FOOLISH. DON'T EVEN DEAL WITH IT. IS GOD
ABLE TO DELIVER US FROM THE MOST POWERFUL, POWERFUL CURSE? ever to fall on man, curse of
the law. Can God deliver me from that
curse? Cursed is everyone who continues not as written in the
book of the law to do them. The soul that sinneth shall surely
die. Can God deliver me? Remember
the king when Daniel was cast into the den of lions? Always
remind my granddaughter, she's down at UK, I always said, don't
forget you're in a den of lions down there. That's where you
are, you're in a den of lions. And the king came up and he cried
out, Daniel, is thy God able to deliver thee? And he heard
Daniel's voice, yes he is. He sure is. God's able to deliver. Is He sufficient? Yes, He is.
God is all-sufficient. He's sufficient in POWER because
all POWER is His. You see, God, listen, God IS
POWER. I'm not power. I have some power. You have some power. God's given
us some power, but we are not power. God IS POWER, just as
God IS TRUTH. HE TELLS US THE TRUTH, BUT HE
IS THE TRUTH. HIS KNOWLEDGE IS SUFFICIENT.
HE KNOWS ALL THINGS. NOTHING IS HIDDEN FROM GOD. NOTHING
IS HIDDEN FROM GOD. MY KNOWLEDGE IS VERY, VERY, VERY
LIMITED. When I look out and I see the
vastness of God's creation, I realize how little I know. I don't know
much. I really don't. The ones they
call geniuses in this world, they don't know much. If you
compared the most brilliant mind of our day, or of any day, to
the mind of Adam before he fell, that person would look like an
idiot. THAT'S HOW MUCH DIFFERENCE THERE IS BETWEEN THE BRILLIANCE
OF ADAM AND THE MOST BRILLIANT MIND WE HAVE NOW THAT'S FALLEN.
THE MOST BRILLIANT MINDS WE HAVE NOW ARE USUALLY GENIUSES IN ONE
AREA, AREN'T THEY? THEY'RE USUALLY GENIUSES IN ONE
AREA. ADAM WAS A GENIUS IN EVERY AREA UNTIL HE FELL. until it fell. But God is KNOWLEDGE
and His WISDOM is SUFFICIENT. He knows how to make all things
work together for our good. God knows how to do that. And
His GRACE is SUFFICIENT. Have you found God's grace to
be sufficient throughout your life? Listen to 2 Corinthians
12 This Paul prayed three times that God would remove the thorn
in his flesh, and God said to him, My grace is sufficient for
thee, my strength is made perfect in weakness. This is a lesson
that Moses has to learn. Moses has to learn that God's
strength is made perfect in his weakness. I can't speak, he says,
we'll pick up next week. In verse 10, and Moses said unto
the Lord, O my Lord, I'm not eloquent. No, he's not sending
an eloquent man. I'm not eloquent. And yet God
uses me. God uses me. But here's what
we have to learn, especially we who preach. And I think all
God's children have to learn this. My strength is made perfect
in your weakness. THAT'S WHEN MY STRENGTH SHOWS
UP IN YOUR WEAKNESS. I MEAN, PEOPLE WILL SAY, HOW
CAN YOU GO THROUGH, HOW CAN YOU DEAL WITH THAT? GOD'S GRACE,
GOD'S GRACE, THAT'S HOW. SO PAUL SAID, MOST GLADLY THEREFORE
WILL I RATHER GLORY IN MY INFIRMITIES. MOSES SAID, I'M NOT ELOQUENT. BUT THERE'S GONNA COME A TIME
I THINK MOSES WILL GLORY IN HIS INFIRMITIES JUST LIKE PAUL. HE
KNOWS THAT THE LORD IS HIS STRENGTH. I'M NOT SUFFICIENT TO STAND HERE
THIS MORNING AND PREACH TO YOU ETERNAL MATTERS. I'M NOT SUFFICIENT
TO STAND HERE AND HANDLE THE GLORY OF GOD, BUT GOD'S MY SUFFICIENCY. How many times have you said
to me, I've never saw that before? I didn't either until I was preaching.
You'd be surprised how many times I see someone standing here preaching.
I thought, well, that's what that means. That's what that
means. Now back in chapter 318, God
told Moses that the children of Israel would hearken to His
voice. He said, They will hearken to
your voice. And here in chapter 4, Moses expresses doubt. God said, They'll hearken to
your voice. And he's saying here, I don't think they will. Who am I to argue with God? Who's really doubting here? Who
is Moses really doubting? God or the people? I know the
people won't if God's not in it. There's not a person here
that'll believe the gospel unless God Almighty takes a hold of
you, gives you eyes to see, ears to hear. You won't believe it.
But God said they're going to hear. They're hearing ear and
seeing eyes of Me. I tell you, when God sends the gospel to
a people, there's a people there He's going to save. They're going
to hear, they're going to see, they're going to believe. But
Moses is doubting God is what he's doubting. He's doubting
God. But I also wonder this, because
I know this from experience, okay? When Moses said, they won't
believe me, they're not going to listen to me. Moses, it says,
said earlier, he was content keeping his father-in-law's sheep.
When you all called me here, I was content doing what I was
doing. I mean, it was fine with me.
I was content. And I had, I sat down before
I even really talked to Vicki about it, I sat down and I looked
at our home, our house. I looked at My life, my job,
I looked at everything. My grandkids, I looked at it
all. And then you have to come to
the conclusion, all of this is gone. It's all got to go. Here Moses is content. Now his
life is about to be upended. It's going to be upended. Everything
is going to change from here on. Forty years he's had it made. Forty years it's been quiet.
It's not going to be quiet for him no more. You take the young man out there
that maybe the Lord has called him to preach. He's making a
six-figure salary. He's got to take all that in.
He's got a wife. He's got children. He's got to
look at all that and then take it and give it over to the Lord.
Abandon it. you know the ball it's written
in the scriptures it says there'll come a time when those who are
married will be as though they're not married i never really understood that
until i actually called here to preach because when it comes
down to it it's what the lord's will is and nobody else's my
wife it's what the lord's will is Although that's the only time,
and I've been asked many times to pastor a church before this
one, that's the only time she said, if you think it's the Lord's
will, let's go. Always before it was hesitant. I've learned that the Lord calls
the wife as well as he does the preacher. He didn't call her
to preach here, but she's got to give up. She's going to give
everything up too. With Sarah, when Abraham left
The heir of the Chaldeans, he left the home, the family, he
left it all. Sarah did too. Job lost 10 children. So did
his wife. And so Moses, I think, you know,
you know the Lord, you remember Abraham. I'm getting off the
subject here, but Abraham. When he went to offer up Isaac,
you know how many days God gave him to think about it? Three
days. He went three days journey. God
gave Abraham three days to think about what he's about to do.
He's going to offer up his son. He's going to sacrifice his son.
He had three days to think of that. And at the third day, you
know what he did? He offered him up. He didn't
back out. God will give you time to think
about it. That's why the Lord said count the cost. Before you
join up and follow me, you need to count the cost. So Moses here, let me get back
to this. Moses, he knows this, he's going
to go back to Egypt looking like a shepherd, not a mighty deliverer,
but a shepherd. NOT DRESSED UP LIKE AN EGYPTIAN
WARRIOR, BUT A SHEPHERD! You know, it's said of our Lord
Jesus Christ, there's no beauty that we should desire Him. He
did not go back looking like a... He went back 80 years old!
You think, you're going to deliver US? 80 years of age! And here He goes back with the
staff. He's walking into town with a staff. He's not walking
into town with an army. He's got a rod in his hand. That's
all I've got in my hand this morning. I like what he said. He said, Moses, what's that in
your hand? What's in your hand this morning? That's all I need, the Word of
God. That's all I need. And Moses answered in verse 1,
and Moses answered and said, Behold, they will not believe
me, nor hearken to my voice, for they will say, The LORD hath
not appeared to thee. Well, Moses, are you God? How
did you know all that? You see how our imaginations
get carried away? Our imaginations always get carried in the wrong
direction when it comes to God. The imagination of man, he said,
is evil and that continually. This is what imagination does
for you. HOW WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO PREACH
TO YOU EACH WEEK WITH THIS ATTITUDE? THEY'RE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE
ME! THE PEOPLE ARE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE ME! I EXPECT EVERY
PERSON HERE TO BELIEVE ME THIS MORNING! YOU'VE GOT GOD'S WORD,
I EXPECT YOU TO BELIEVE IT! GOD'S NOT A LIAR! GOD'S NOT A
LIAR! WE SHOULD NEVER STAND IN A PULPIT
AND SAY, THEY'RE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE! YOU BETTER BELIEVE! I EXPECT YOU TO BELIEVE! THAT
OR CALL GOD A LIAR! Why can we not just believe God?
Why is His Word not enough? Why is His Word not enough? Moses
is standing there talking to a burning bush that's not being
consumed, and he's saying, They won't believe me. I'm like, YOU'RE
STANDING THERE TALKING TO A BURNING BUSH! And you've got the nerve
to say that? God said they'll follow you,
they'll hearken to you out of a burning bush! DID HE ALREADY FORGET THE MIRACLE
THAT IS STANDING IN FRONT OF HIM? BUT THE LORD IS MERCIFUL, HE
ANSWERED MOSES' QUESTION, HE ANSWERED HIM, HE DIDN'T BURN
HIM UP, HE HAD EVERY RIGHT TO BURN HIM UP, BUT HE DIDN'T. GOD
COULD BURN US UP MANY TIMES BEFORE THE DAY ENDS, BUT HE DOESN'T.
HE GIVES MOSES THREE SIGNS TO GIVE THEM THAT THEY MIGHT BELIEVE. It's interesting how centuries
went by and the Jews still seek after a sign. How many times
I say to the Lord, show us a sign. Show us a sign. I want the Word
of God. I don't need a sign. I don't
need a sign. I need His Word. I stand on His Word. I take Him
at His Word. And the LORD said to him, What
is in thy hand? And he said, A rod. Now here's
going to be three signs, and all these represent the Lord
Jesus Christ. A rod, leprosy, which represents sin, and water
turned into blood. All these represent the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now he said, What's in your hand?
A shepherd's staff. That's what's in my hand. The
same one he used to shepherd Jethro's sheep. The Lord took Moses as he was
using what he had in his hand is what he did. God takes the
weakest instruments to accomplish his purpose. A shepherd boy's sling, he kills
a giant. They march around Jericho, what
do they do? They blow the trumpet and the walls fall down. God
uses the weakest of things to accomplish the greatest of things.
Our problem is our God is too little. We think of God too little. God could take even this group
here and turn the world upside down. He took twelve apostles
and did it, and there s more than twelve here if we d only
believe God. It d be astounding what we could
do if we just believed God. It was the rod that was used
to part the Red Sea. It was the rod that was used
to smite the rock and bring out the water, the water gushed out.
That same rod, that same rod. And this rod is the Lord Jesus
Christ. If God saves someone this morning,
it'll be the rod that He'll take and crush your heart, break it. He'll break it. Listen, Isaiah 11-1, And there
shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch
shall grow out of his roots. Psalm 2-9, Thou shalt break them
with a rod of iron. Psalm 110-2, The LORD shall send
the rod of thy strength out of Zion. The LORD is the rod. He's
the rod of our strength. He's the rod of my preaching
this morning. Your heart's broken, He'll do
it. I can make you feel bad, I can work on you enough, I can
make you feel bad, but I can't break your heart. God can. Christ is represented as a rod
for His POWER. He's the POWER of God unto salvation.
He's represented as a rod for His RULE. He rules over all. He rules over all. and He is
represented as a rod for His strength and His comfort. Thy
rod and thy staff comfort me." The rod of chastening, His staff
to lead me, they comfort me. And He said to him, CAST THAT
ROD ON THE GROUND. He cast it on the ground and
it became a serpent and Moses fled from it. I am assuming it was a poisonous
serpent. He is not going to flee from
a garter snake. or a green snake, this was a serpent. This is something
that scared him, he was afraid of it. Egypt worshiped the serpent.
A serpent was a part of the crown of the pharaohs, and God demonstrates
His power here over Satan. LORD SAID TO MOSES, PUT FORTH
THY HAND, AND TAKE IT BY THE TAIL, AND HE PUT FORTH HIS HAND,
AND HE CAUGHT IT, AND IT BECAME A ROD IN HIS HAND. HE SAID THAT THEY MAY BELIEVE
THAT THE LORD GOD OF THEIR FATHERS, ABRAHAM, THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND
THE GOD OF JACOB, HATH APPEARED TO THEE. SO YOU TAKE THIS ROD,
AND YOU CAST IT ON THE GROUND, AND IT BECAME A SERPENT. WHAT
WAS IT THAT MOSES PUT ON A POLE? CARRIED IT THROUGH THE CAMP AND
SAID LOOK, LOOK, IT WAS A BRAZEN SERPENT. OUR LORD, LISTEN, OUR
LORD SAID THIS IN JOHN 3 14 AS MOSES LIFTED UP THE SERPENT IN
THE WILDERNESS EVEN SO MUCH THE SON OF MAN BE LIFTED UP. THE
LORD JESUS CHRIST CAME IN THE LIKENESS OF SINFUL FLESH He was without sin, but He came
in the likeness of sinful flesh. And so it says over in Romans
8, verse 3, God sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful
flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh. Christ was made to be what He
was not. That rod became a serpent. Christ
was made to be sin. He knew no sin, He never committed
sin, but He was made to be sin. What am I? SIN! SIN! Let me tell you something,
the law of God is not satisfied for an innocent man dying in
the place of a guilty man. The scripture says that is an
abomination to God. Now listen, the only way the
law is satisfied is for the guilty man to die. The guilty man has
to die. THAT'S WHY CHRIST WAS MADE TO
BE SIN. THAT'S WHAT I AM. WAS HE MADE
TO BE SIN? ABSOLUTELY. DO I UNDERSTAND THAT? NO. CAN I EXPLAIN IT? WELL, IF I DON'T UNDERSTAND IT,
I CAN'T. THAT'S OBVIOUS. HE WAS MADE TO BE WHAT HE WAS
NOT THAT I MIGHT BE MADE TO BE WHAT I'M NOT. RIGHTEOUS. I'M NOT RIGHTEOUS. HE WAS MADE
TO BE SIN. He was made to be, listen, let
me find this scripture I want to read. He was made to be, what that word means, guiltiness.
He was made to be guiltiness. I'm guilty. Only God can do what
I'm talking about. Only God can do this. We can't
do this. We can't take I can't take my sins and make them somebody
else's, and then they die. An innocent person becomes guilty
and dies in my place. But God can, God did. That's
exactly what He did. And if you'll notice, the serpent
became a rod again. Sin, having been put away once
by the death of Christ, now becomes what He was before, without sin. Without sin. Hebrews 9, 28, So
Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, none to them
that looked for Him shall He appear the second time without
sin, because that sin issue is gone unto salvation. Unto salvation. Now the second
sign, verses 6 and 7, And the LORD said furthermore to him,
Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his
bosom. And when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous
as snow. HE SAID, PUT THINE HAND INTO THY BOSOM AGAIN, AND HE
PUT HIS HAND INTO HIS BOSOM AGAIN, AND HE PLUCKED IT OUT OF HIS
BOSOM, AND BEHOLD, IT WAS TURNED AGAIN AS HIS OTHER FLESH. WE
HAVE THE ROD, WE HAVE THE LORD JESUS CHRIST WHO CAME IN THE
LIKENESS OF SINFUL FLESH, AND NOW WE HAVE HERE WE HAVE SIN. LEPROSY ALWAYS REPRESENTED SIN
IN THE BIBLE. IT REPRESENTS SIN BECAUSE IT
PERMEATES THE WHOLE MAN AND FINALLY DESTROYS HIM. WE HAVE ANOTHER
PICTURE HERE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST BEFORE MOSES PUT HIS HAND
INTO HIS BOSOM. It was whole, it was healthy,
it was a healthy hand. He put it into his bosom, brought
it out, it was completely leprous. Then he put it back in again.
Then he took it back out of his hole. Our Lord, holy, harmless,
undefiled, came into this world. Here's another picture of Him
being made sin. Came into this world, took upon
Him our sins. and put them away. Put them away. And now in Christ, we are made
whole. Aren't we? We are made whole. The leprosy's gone. It's gone. My sin, your sin, who believe,
they're gone. I know I have sin in this life.
I sin every day. But the Lord has put my sins
away. He's put your sins away. He brought
that Where did Christ come from? The bosom of the Father. He came
from the bosom of the Father. Listen to this, Psalm 74. Oh
God, how long shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme
thy name forever? Why withdraw thou thy hand, even
thy right hand? Pluck it out of thy bosom. Pluck
it out of thy bosom and send it. Hebrews 9a so Christ was once
offered the bear the sins of many And to them that looked
for him shall he appear the second time without sin and to salvation
as I read that to you earlier Thank God. There's a cure for
sin Thank God. There's a cure for sin God told
Moses to put his hand back in his bosom and when he took it
out it was whole as the other hand and What did Job ask this
morning? Who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean? And he said, Not one. Not one
human being can do it, but God can. God can. In Christ our sins are gone. And now the third sign, we have
the rod. We have the rod of OF GOD'S STRENGTH, WE HAVE ROD WHO
IS CHRIST, WE HAVE LEPROSY, WE HAVE SIN, AND NOW WE HAVE WATER
AND BLOOD. YOU SEE, YOU DON'T HAVE THE GOSPEL
WITHOUT THESE. YOU DON'T HAVE THE GOSPEL WITHOUT CHRIST. YOU
DON'T HAVE GOSPEL WITHOUT SUBSTITUTION, HOW HE PUT AWAY OUR SINS. And
now listen, verse 8, And it shall come to pass, if they will not
believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign,
that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. And it shall
come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs,
neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take the water
of the river, pour it upon dry land, and the water which thou
takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land. Water turning into blood. HERE WE HAVE CLEANSING. HERE
WE HAVE CLEANSING. THE LORD HAS PUT AWAY OUR SINS.
NOW YOU AND I NEED TO BE CLEANSED DON'T WE? DON'T WE NEED TO BE
WASHED FROM OUR SINS? THE SCRIPTURE SAYS WE DO. FIRST
WE HAD THE ROD TURNING INTO A SERPENT AND THEN BACK INTO A ROD. THEN
WE HAD THE HAND OF MOSES BECOMING A LEPROSY AND THEN TURNING BACK
WHOLE AGAIN. NOW WE HAVE WATER TURNING INTO BLOOD. ANY PREACHING THAT DOES NOT HAVE
IN IT THE BLOOD OF CHRIST IS NO PREACHING AT ALL. We have
to have Christ, we have to have His substitutionary work, putting
away sin, we have to have the blood, water and the blood, the
Word, the Word and the blood. Listen here, John 19, verse 34,
But one of the soldiers with a spear
pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water."
Blood and water. All these represent the Lord.
These three signs, they all represent the Lord Jesus Christ. Aren't
you glad you can see that? When they saw it, they didn't
put that together. They just believed that God sent
Him, but we can see the one they represent, the Lord Jesus Christ,
WATER AND BLOOD! This is why He was made flesh,
that He might cleanse us from all unrighteousness and take
us out of captivity. Take us out of captivity. I tell you, the Lord has blessed
us, hasn't He? Given us His Word, and we can see Him, and we can
see these things. We can see the rod. We can see
leprosy put away by the sacrifice of Christ, the leprosy of sin.
We can see the water and blood for our cleansing. And these
were given before they were delivered. Without these, they're not going
to be delivered. YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE, UNLESS THESE THREE
ARE PREACHED, CHRIST AND HIS SUBSTITUTIONARY CHARACTER, HIS
BLOOD, CLEANSING US FROM ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS. OUR GOD IS SUFFICIENT.