we'll be looking just at two
verses here in chapter three, but to see, hear, know, and deliver. That's four words we're going
to experience. Hopefully we'll be looking at
these a lot, turning quite a bit, but we remember that these first
two chapters, it's such a quick story of the first 40 years of
Moses's life. He was born, his mother put him
in a river. Pharaoh's daughter come down
to wash. had compassion on him, hired
the first nanny, hired his own mother to be wet nurse. And then
he was raised in Pharaoh's house, 40 years took place. This year's
the culmination, as we go through this book, of 430 years that
took place in Egypt. And so, from when we ended Genesis
till right now, there's 360 some years or whatever the math is
on it, until right now. And not a word. It's just a vapor,
isn't it? This life's a vapor. We'll be
looking at next hour, being made faithful to the end. That's my
prayer for me and every one of you. But we ought to lay these
things to heart and to us, not to hear through somebody else's
ears. We need to hear. So-and-so don't need saved, I
need saved. That's primary. We need to hear. And I really, truly believe this
will be a comfort for you. It's a miracle that I don't understand,
but I've seen that the preaching of the gospel comforts the disturbed. and it disturbs the comfortable.
Isn't that amazing? Like, I got some hate mail, and
then I'll have one of you all come up, so that people say,
you're mean. And then somebody here will say, that was the sweetest
thing I ever heard. Y'all listen to the same message?
Lord, give them ears to hear it wherever they are out in the
internet world. Here in Exodus 2, verse 23, Lord
will focus on this burning bush next week. But here in verse
23 of chapter 2, it says, And it came to pass in the process
of time that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel
sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried. They were in
bondage because of that bondage. By the reason of that, they cried.
And their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. He
repeats that. I'm in bondage. Well, there's
a reason. I have a trial. There's a reason. Lord, show me that reason. What'd they do? Cried unto God.
Good thing. And God heard their groanings.
It wasn't just that they cried and they felt better because
they released some energy. He heard them. Don't that give you goosebumps
over your whole body? Don't that make me more careful
at what I've grown about? I've told these folks a lot,
y'all listen, you ever been halfway through praying and you just
stop and you go, ah, thank you, Lord. Your will be done. He heard
them, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac,
and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children
of Israel, and God had respect done to them. That doesn't mean
He said, well, they're so good, and I think highly of them. That means He knew them. He was
conscious of them. He remembered them. Chapter 3. Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro
his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock
to the backside of the desert and came into the mountain of
God to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared
unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush, and he
looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush
was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn
aside and see this great sight, for the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he
turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of
the bush and said, Moses, Moses. He called him by name. He didn't
say whoever just happens to be there listening. He called him
by name. He said, here am I. And he said, draw not nigh hither. Put off thy shoes from off thy
feet for the place wherein whereon thou standest is holy ground.
Moreover, he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face,
for he was afraid to look upon God. That's who was speaking
to him. And the Lord said, I have surely
seen the affliction of my people, which are in Egypt, and have
heard their cry by reason of the taskmasters, for I know their
sorrows. and I am come down to deliver
them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that
land unto a good land, and a large, unto a land flowing with milk
and honey, unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites,
and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
Lord told Moses some things. He spoke to him out of that burning
bush. And Moses has a wonderful quote. Like I said, we'll look
at it next week. How was this bush not consumed? And then when the Lord knew that
he looked upon that, he had a word for him. He had a word for him.
And I thought that two-edged sword, that same word that comforts
one and disturbs another. There's three words here for
the reprobate. And there's four words, three of the same, for
the children. Four words for the child of God.
When the Lord said, I've seen you, he looks on the heart. It's
not just the outside. Like, well, I show up on time
at church and I don't miss a day and I wear a tie and I do these
things and I pray and I read my Bible 15 minutes every day. Wouldn't God so lucky to have
you? He looks on the heart. That ought to make every man,
woman and child walking this earth tremble. And he hears. He hears, he's recorded that
of his enemies. He said, I heard you. I heard you. So says you. What did Judah say? All of them
said, Lord, is it I? Lord, is it I? And Judah said,
Master, is it I? And he said, you just said it.
He hears, not just the hearts, but the Lord actually comes out
of her mouth. And he knows. He knows, there ain't nothing
that escapes him. For those outside of Christ,
these are facts. Behold your God. Bow to Him. Now from that, those are words
of comfort to his children. That's what we'll look at. Comfort
for his children. You know, everybody wants to be seen. These words
are flowing from every decade. It seems to kind of change, don't
it? I hear you. That's what we said when I was
growing up. I hear you. People want to be heard. And now it's,
I see you. I don't know what they're talking
about. Do I still see you? Cover your eyes. People wanna
be seen though, don't they? And they wanna be heard, and
they want someone to know what they're going through. Language changes, but it's been
the same throughout time, isn't it? But you know, we really don't
see things as they are. We're trapped in this body of
flesh. We really don't hear things as they ought to be heard. Even
if it's a rotten flesh. I think I offended somebody yesterday
and I was just being kind. I was thankful the guy was there.
And I said, I think we need some more adults here and we could
figure this problem out. Saying collectively, we should
already had this solved. And I think he took offense to
that. He didn't hear it the way I meant it. We don't see things as they
truly are. We don't hear things and we just
don't know. You could go through the exact
same experience I've been through. You can have children learning
to drive, or I don't know, pick something, the flu. And my instinct
is to say, I know what you're going through. I don't. I mean,
I kind of understand a little bit, but I don't have the experiences
you've had. I don't have the life leading
up to that to have that outlook on that cold or flu or whatever
it is. But there's one that does. There's one that does. He says
in verse seven, the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction
of my people, which are in Egypt. I've seen it. I'm not absent
from this. I know what's going on. I've
looked upon you, my children in Egypt, my people which are
down there, and I've looked on your affliction. There's so many
times we think we're just suffering alone, where people just don't
know. I know I just said that. We don't, do we? God does. He
said, Lo, I'm with you always. He's with us. He knows. And he's
seen these things, hasn't he? Now, did he look down from heaven
upon the children of men to see if there's any that understand,
any that sought God? He did. And all of them must come back.
That's us. They're all together become filthy.
There's none that do good. No, not one. But God, he chose
a people and he sees them and he sees their afflictions. Turn
over to Psalm 103. There's a lot of references we could use to
look at this, but some of these are real comforting. I want us
to look at them. Psalm 103 verse 13. Psalm 103, verse 13. Like a father
pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him,
for he knoweth our frame. He knoweth our frame, and he
remembereth that we are dust. He knoweth, he always knows,
and he remembers, remembereth continually. He sees us as we
are. He sees it, and he regards our
afflictions. It's not just knowing some facts
about us. Turn over to Psalm 106, just
a couple of pages. Verse 43. Psalm 106, 43. Here it's speaking
of David's writing about the children of Israel being brought
out of Egypt and being brought through the desert. It says in
verse 43, many times did he deliver them, but they provoked him with
their counsel and were brought low for their iniquity. Isn't
that so? The Lord sees everything and
looks upon us and looks upon our afflictions and you think
we'd do better. I want to. We'll look at that
next hour. I desire to. I don't want to sin. I don't
want to have unbelief. But that's what I'm made of.
He sees that too. He knows. And regardless of that,
without that being any cause, for his graciousness, he's gracious. Look at verse 44. Nevertheless,
ain't that good news? He regarded their affliction. He saw their affliction when
he heard their cry and he remembered for them his covenant. What if I get knocked
in the head and I don't know my name anymore? One fellow started
to sing a song in Pentecostal Church, West Virginia. It's a
wonderful song. They're really good at singing it, but I don't
think he knows who he's singing about. So he reached down and
says, I remember, never will forget the day God saved me.
You just might. The Lord may take your mind from
you. It matters if he's faithful.
He says, I'm going to remember for them because I've seen them
and they can't remember. I'll remember for them. His covenant
and repented according to the multitude of his mercies. That's
the magnitude of that. That's all because he saw our
afflictions. He sees our afflictions. Paul wrote about that a lot,
didn't he? Turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians 4. And those afflictions that we
have in this body or mind or in providence, they're hard.
They're hard. especially if it affects us.
I can see it hard in our brethren, you can too, but it's really
hard if it affects us. 2 Corinthians 4 verse 16. For which cause we faint not,
but though our outward man perish. That's what's happening. We're
dying. Yet the inward man is renewed day by day. There's an
old man that we're housed in that's dying, and perishing,
and getting wrinkles, and gray hair, and slowing down, and joints
are hurting, and everything else. But there's a new man, an inward
man that's renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which
is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things
which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things
which are seen are temporal, But the things which are not
seen are eternal. Paul's giving us some insight here. Speaking
of those afflictions and speaking of looking at something, he says,
on the outward side, this looks bad. We can paint this picture.
It's like statistics. You can make a number say about
anything you want. It's so bad. But the Lord looks
on the heart and we see things that are unseen. the spiritual
things. Why? Because the Lord looked
on us and he saw something that wasn't just as it was. A bunch
of rebellious people there in the desert in Egypt that he was
about to deliver. He saw his son. That's why. And if we see him, the Lord sees
our afflictions. He sent them. He sent those afflictions,
but we call them light afflictions. Why? Because Christ truly bore
our afflictions. Things are so heavy and so hard,
we don't have a clue about God forsaking God, about that cup
of wrath of judgment that he sent for him to drink. We'll
look next hour, and the Lord said, can you drink the cup I'm
about to drink? And I said, oh, we can't. He said, well, you're
going to. Can you die the death? Can you
go where I'm gonna go? And I said, we'll go. And I said,
no, you can't. He said, but you will. You will. And these things
were light just in the body, isn't it? And in those true afflictions,
the father only saw Christ our King as us. And he dealt with
him accordingly. And now that we're made his righteousness,
he deals with us accordingly. Isn't that something? Judgment's
gone. Condemnation's gone. And he sees
us. We don't, go look in the mirror.
It ain't what he's saying. He sees us as we truly are. He
said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. You know, that's
a token. That's just a token. It says in Exodus 12, the blood
shall be for you a token. This is just to describe what
I see. Cause you can't see it through
my eyes yet. When I see that token upon the houses where you
are, and when I see the blood, I'll pass it, pass over you.
And the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you. You ain't
going to die when I smite the land of Egypt. He's going to see that blood
on us. Our text says, the Lord said, I have surely seen the
affliction of my people, which are in Egypt. And I've heard
their cry. They're afflicted. They're in
Egypt. Hundreds of years, they've had it rough, and it keeps getting
worse. Real bad. And they don't have a prophet
there to preach to them, and it's just miserable. Taskmasters
over them. And because of that, the Lord
said, I've heard them. I've seen them, I've looked on
their afflictions, and I've heard their cry. They're back in Psalm
22. David talks about this a lot, I just picked a couple. Psalm
22 was sweet to me. I think it will be for you. Verse 22, Psalm 22, 22. I will declare thy name unto
my brethren. In the midst of the congregation
will I praise thee. Ye that fear the Lord, praise
him. All ye the seed of Jacob, glorify
him. and fear him, all ye the seed
of Israel. For he hath not despised nor
abhorred the affliction of the afflicted. Neither hath he hid
his face from him. But when he cried unto him, he
heard. He heard. The Lord didn't say,
this is terrible. He said it. And whenever he heard them, they
cried out, he heard them. He heard them. What's our response
to something like that? Verse 25, my praise shall be
of thee in the great congregation. I will pay my vows before them
that fear him. We're going to thank him. We're
going to cry out in desperation like Peter, save Lord, save me. Don't let me drown in this water.
David cried out, save Lord. Nothing's changed in a couple
thousand years, has it? Lord, save. Save. And he heard. And then we thank him. He heard
us. Praise him. Tell somebody what
great things the Lord's done for you. What'd he do? Well,
he saw me and heard me. It's not complicated. Why are
we heard? David said in Psalm 34, this
poor man cried. And the Lord heard him and saved
him out of all his troubles. A double L. You're still living
in a cave, David. Yeah, I'm safe from all my troubles.
That's a lot of afflictions. I ain't worried about that cave.
I ain't worried about Saul. That's the least of my problems.
Lord saved me. He sent his son to die for me.
That's fine. You'll be all right. That's what
he's saying, isn't it? How could that be? How could
we be heard from a holy God we've offended? Turn over to Hebrews
5. We are heard because our Redeemer
was heard and that he feared. Hebrews 5 verse 7. Speaking of our great high priest
who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers
and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that
was able to save." Unto him that was able to save
him from death and was heard. Christ was heard. He said, Father,
I'm saying this out loud because I know you hear me always, but
I'm saying it out loud so they'll know I've talked to you and what
your answer was. But he was heard. Why was he
heard? In that he feared. He feared. In that he honored
God. We have to be perfectly upright
and honoring to the holy God we offended at all times to be
heard. Ah, that ain't me. That takes
all that faith and the things that we, we'll take pride in
anything, won't we? Pride in grace, pride in faith, pride
in face and whatever. Well, the Lord hears me. He hears
me because of Christ, because of his faithfulness, because
of his honoring the Father. Now we can come boldly. It don't make sense. It don't
make sense to me. Why would he do such a thing? He wanted to.
It was his goodwill and pleasure. Who's going to stay there? Who's
going to ask him what he's doing? He sees us and our affliction,
and he hears us for Christ's sake. And all that's because
we cried out because of our taskmasters. Why did the Lord see and hear
Israel? He said, I've surely seen the affliction of my people
which are in Egypt, and I've heard their cry by reason of
their taskmasters. If the Lord didn't send the trial,
if he didn't send 430 years of bondage, if he didn't send a
cold or whatever, a rebellious neighbor or a something, a thorn
in the flesh of some kind, if he didn't do those things, I
wouldn't cry out to him. I wouldn't. And we'd be so entitled
and we'd think everything's okay. That's mankind's problem. They
think everything's all right. Oh, I'm good. No, you ain't. If we're in him, we are. But we need to be reminded of that.
And we ain't going to do that winning the lottery on the trip
up to Sacramento to cast a check. Lord has sent these hard times.
And it's good. It's for our good. It's for his
glory. And it ain't just because we're
in a cave hiding somewhere. That's so you can go comfort
your brethren with the comfort that you've been comforted with.
I've been through a trial, it ain't like your trial, but at
the end of it, guess what I was taught? I'm nothing, behold your
God, and Christ is all, and he's faithful. We're gonna learn something
on that, some spoke in that wheel. Of him, his person, and his work.
We're gonna learn something of him. And like I say, I wanna
get the cliff notes up front. Can we cut to it? That ain't
needed, is it? We gotta go through it. It lasts
just as long as the Lord's pleased for it to last, to accomplish
that end. That's the end state. And whenever I'm breathing okay,
and I'm not squeezed, I can look at my brethren that's going into
something and say, Lord's with you. He hears you. He sees you.
He knows you. And then I'll forget whenever
a trial comes on to me and someone of you all remind me, won't you? by reason of the taskmasters.
Whether that's in body, or that's in mind, or that's in providence.
Situations we're going through, or work, or whatever. It doesn't
matter what it's in. Paul said in Romans 5, he said,
not only so, but we glory in tribulation also, knowing that
tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and
experience hope, and hope maketh not a shame. That's an expected
end, but to be conformed to the image of Christ, you'll be made
just like him. And this is his doing. Oh, keep me, we'll learn next
hour or two. Shut my mouth. Keep me from belly aching and
whining and moaning and complaining about everything going on. You're
doing it. I get more mail from elections this last couple weeks. Every day I'm out there, and
they're huge. Them letters, they got that big, and I gotta fold
them in half, squish them, get them in there. And I thought,
oh, I wish they'd quit doing this. And I thought, I don't
have a thing to worry about. I only need to read it. Lord's handling
that, isn't he? Hope maketh not ashamed, because
the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost,
which is given unto us. For when we are yet without strength
in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. That's what we keep
being reminded of. He's seen us, he's heard us. Exodus 3 again,
it says in verse 7, And the Lord said, I have surely seen the
affliction of my people which are in Egypt. I've seen it. And
I've heard their cry by the reason of their taskmasters, for I know
their sorrows. I know their sorrows. It's so
easy for me to say that when somebody's going through something
that I've been similar to say, I know what you're going through,
but I don't. I don't. I may have been through
something that's so, so similar, but I don't know their experience.
And this word here, to know, the Hebrew meaning, it means
to know, like we use to understand and to enter into, right? But
there's an added notation to that. It says self, to know self. That means to be personally acquainted
with, not generally, like I read a book about that one time. uh
no don't describe the ocean if you ain't never seen it that
means that self personally i know that there's linked they're linked
together there's a oneness there of understanding i can't explain
that but the lord is immediately and intimately understanding
of the affliction to his people fully personally and i thought
Well, as he walked this earth, he didn't raise teenagers. Oh,
buddy, did he? As he dealt with little kids,
ornery children. I thought, well, he hasn't been
through that. Well, he hasn't been through this. Being one with his people, personally,
he knows. I mean, knows. He knows. There's some people meeting together
this summer that was in the same unit I was the first deployment
I went on, 20 years ago. And I can talk about some things
to folks here, there, and wherever, but those men, they went through
the same thing I went through. They was on the same vehicle
as I was. They know what I'm talking. There's things I don't
have to explain. They just understand how much more so the Lord, the
oneness with his people. He was a healed leper to fulfill
the law. Do you know that? He's got to
fulfill every jot and tittle, doesn't he? When did he have
leprosy? He healed one with, he touched him. Remember when
he touched that one? You don't want to touch them, that's how you
get it. He touched him. And he said, now you take him
two turtle doves, the offering to Moses, and you go to the temple.
Being one with him, Christ in him went and did it, and he fulfilled
the law in him. He knows, he knows. Him saying
that, that he knows us, that extinguishes all of our self-righteousness. You know, that's self-righteous.
That's not humility. And that's not, no one understands
what I'm going through. Oh, ain't you special. Saul said
that, didn't he? And they come to him, he said,
oh, no, no, y'all don't even care. You don't even know what
I'm at. I'm the only one that's king here. You don't know how
tough it is being king. Lord knows, don't he? You read
this with me over Hebrew. I know he's there in Hebrews
5 a second ago, Hebrews 4. So many of these things that we
just have, I have memorized and sometimes I'll turn and read
it. I said, what? That is what it says. Hebrews four verse 14. This one that sees us and hears
us and knows us. Hebrews 4.14, Seeing then that
we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus,
the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not
a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities, but in all points tempted, like as we are, yet
without sin. Talk about an elder brother.
Talk about a high priest. Two little boys. I can't do it,
but my brother can. My brothers were 16 whenever
I was born. They were supermen. Both of them. They were strong.
They knew everything. Nothing compared to this one.
And all points tempted like we are, yet without sin. What do
we do with that? Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace that we might obtain mercy, because
that's what we need, isn't it? And find grace to help in time
of need. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that enough? I wrote that. There's something else. Isn't
that enough? He sees us. He hears us. He knows
us. He knows our frame. And that
also means he loves us. If he loves us, everything's
fine. Everything is going to be all right. Come Monday, everything
is going to be all right. Do you know how it gets better? Back in Exodus 3, verse 7. Exodus 3, 7. The Lord said, I
have surely seen the affliction of my people, which are in Egypt.
I have heard their cry. by reason of their taskmasters,
for I know their sorrows. That's a semicolon. And I am
come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians
and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large,
unto a land flowing with milk and honey. This good news does
something. Love does something. I say that
all the time. Well, those are nice things,
and I see ya, and I hear ya, and I know what you're going
through. And he's gonna come do it too. He didn't just talk
about getting it done, he got it done. And he come down. Why? To deliver us out of the thing
that we were trapped in and we couldn't get out of. And to bring
us up. out of the land into a good land
well if ain't enough room and a large that's big until a land
full of milk and honey isn't that a good thing and that's
daily Right? As his mercies renew every morning.
And that's throughout this life that we go through. And we get
down and we look away from the shepherd and he has to say, follow
me. And then we follow a little bit and then we look away and
he says, follow me. I'm getting in the next hour. That has to
keep happening. But then when that last day comes
to be absent from his body is to be with the Lord. And he's
the one that's faithful that's going to bring us out to him.
Isn't that good? That's just a few words. He's
got a whole lot of more words in there. It's a good thing. Let's pray together. We'll be
dismissed. Father, thank you for this hour. Oh, thank you
for the words that you've given us and of comfort. Thank you for knowing our frame
and hearing anyway because of your son. Thank you for loving
us in Christ and Him being our great deliverer, the captain
of our salvation that will not fail. He shall save his people,
Lord. Thank you for that. Thank you
for the grace and mercy towards undeserving people. Lord, forgive
us for our sin. Forgive us for what we are. Forgive
us our unbelief and turn us, Lord. Send the afflictions as
you see fit to keep us. and to preserve us because we
won't preserve ourselves and make us like Christ or let us
see him as he is and make us like him and keep us as you promised
you will. Thank you for our brethren Lord
here and throughout this world that we know and give us a word
of comfort for them and the afflictions that you've seen and the sorrow
and as they comfort us. Be with us this coming hour or
two, Lord. Thank you for this gospel. Because of Christ we ask it.
Amen. All right, we'll meet back up
at 1030. We'll take about a 10 minute
break.