Exodus chapter 4. I've been looking
forward to this. Exodus chapter 4. Read the last
part of verse 14. Exodus 4, the last part of verse
14. The Lord said, Behold Aaron. He's speaking to Moses. Aaron,
he cometh forth to meet thee. And when he seeth thee, he will
be glad in his heart. And then down in verse 27 and
28, the Lord said to Aaron, he told Aaron, go into the wilderness
to meet Moses. And he went, and he met Moses
in the mount of God and kissed him. And Moses told Aaron all
the words of the Lord who had sent him, and all the signs which
he had commanded him. I've entitled this, A Glad Gathering
in the Wilderness, or Two Men Meeting on the Mount. Two sinners,
say Moses, Aaron, two men who grew up in Egypt. They're not
of Egypt anymore. They were. Not now. They want
out. They're going out. Two men loved
by God. How do you know? God revealed
Himself to them. Two men chosen by God. Two men
called by God. Same with all of God's people.
Two men who were brethren. Yes, blood brothers, but more
importantly, brothers in prayer. Men that were loved of God and
men who loved God. They loved each other. Christ
said, that's how you know. By this shall all men know you
are my disciples. You have loved one another. These
men loved each other. They were lifelong companions. They were together for over 40
some years until Aaron died first. That's the way it is with brethren,
true brethren. Two sinners, it says, loved by God, chosen, called,
gathered together. Whoever the Lord loves, come
on in, come on in. Whoever the Lord loves and has
chosen, He calls by the Gospel. They are gathered together around
the Word. These men met together to talk
about the Good News. Wonderful good news. So this
was a glad gathering. Everyone was so glad to see Moses
and vice versa. A glad gathering of God. God did this in the wilderness. I love Psalm 122 verse 1, don't
you? I was glad. I was glad when they
said unto me, let's go to the house of the Lord. Who's they?
Well, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit,
they gather all of God's people together. Revelation says, the
Spirit and the Bride say come. The church, we encourage one
another, don't we? Don't forsake the assembly of
yourselves together, Paul wrote. But exhort one another so much
as you see, more as you see the day approach. Come, brothers
and sisters, let's gather together. Let's come to the Mount, Mount
Zion. Let's come to Mount Calvary.
Let's meet together and encourage one another. And hear the good
news, okay? I was glad when they said unto
me, Who is glad to be here today? Who's glad to hear the Word?
Who's glad to see your brethren? I'll tell you, one more time,
those God has chosen. Every single person God chooses,
He gathers them into the fold, sheepfold. Or they wouldn't come.
If God didn't do it, they wouldn't come. I wouldn't come. I wouldn't
be here today if it was left up to me. It's those who God
loves. And how you know is they love
Him. They love His Son. They love the truth. They love
the Gospel. They love each other. They love to gather. They love
to gather. Are you glad to be here? It's those whom God has made
miserable in the world. made miserable. These people,
we're going to see in a little bit, all of Israel was gathered. All of them gathered here to
hear the same thing. They were people who were, day
in and day out, in the slime pits. In the slime pits, filthy,
dirty, tired, in Egypt, working for other people and hearing
and seeing all that was around them. They were in the slime
pits of Egypt. And bless God, He gathered them
together. And oh, were they ever glad to
get out of those slime pits just for a little while. How about
you? Are you glad to be here? Having
been in the world, they came to hear some good news because
you won't hear any out there. You won't hear one thing that
will give you any hope, or any peace, or any encouragement about
anything. But you come in here, I'm going
to give you, God's going to give you all hope. Good hope. Sure hope. Grace. That's who's
glad. That's who's glad to be here.
Who was glad to hear that Jesus Christ was passing by one day?
A blind beggar. Jesus Christ have mercy on me. Anybody need mercy? I'll tell
you who was glad. A blind beggar. Who was glad
to hear that the Lord was in her town one day? There's a woman
with an issue of blood for 38 years and tried everything and
everyone and nobody could help her. She was worse. She thought,
if I could just touch the hem of his garment. Anybody come
in here today and say, if I could just touch and be touched a little
bit, he'll survive. So she said, I'll tell you what
I'm going to do. I'm going to crawl to get there. That's who's glad to be here.
Who was glad to hear that the great Lord and Savior and Redeemer
and Healer and Friend of sinners was nearby? I'll tell you. All
the wretched, miserable, poor, needy, blind, haught, lame, naked,
hungry and thirsty, lepers, thieves, publicans and harlots were sure
glad that Jesus cried, pass by their way. How about you? And
so, I was glad. I am glad. Are you glad? Oh, he said he's going to be
glad to see you. All right, let's look at this glad gathering a
little bit, okay? There were only, at first there
were only two men. Just two men gathered, okay?
Is that enough for God to be there? Oh yeah, our Lord said
that, didn't He? Where two or three are gathered
together in My Name. Who gathered them? I already
told you, but who gathered them? Why were they together? Why were
they brothers? God made them so. God made them
brothers, born of the same parents, in the same place. God gathered
them together. Why are we here again? Why are
we not separated and don't know each other? And why are we not
out there in false religion? There's lots of false religion
out there. Why are we not there? Why are we here under the sound
of the truth? These men knew the living and true God. They knew the truth of God. They're
going to hear about the Passover. They're going to hear only the
truth. And for 40 years, they're going to talk about Wandering
through the wilderness, talking about truth, true God. Passover. Praising God for bringing Him
in. Oh, that's who gathers, those whom the Lord has gathered. And
let me say this. They say this at marriages. Well,
this is a marriage. It's a brotherhood. What God
hath joined together. Let no man put asunder. And that's generally what it
is. Somebody. People of the world. Things of
the world. Oh my. I am so glad to see you
today. I love you. And so the Lord told
Moses in verse 27, or told Aaron in verse 27, go into the wilderness
to meet Moses, to meet Moses. Now Moses, as you know, the guardian
saint, he represents at times, at times he represents the Lord
Jesus Christ. Moses was the deliverer. Moses was the man whom God had
chosen. We saw that didn't we? Chapter
3. You're the one, the Lord said,
that I have chosen to bring my people out. He said, you're going
to bring them all out. That's a picture of Christ in
it. Moses is the delivered, the prophet. He's kind of a king
in it. Reigned and ruled. Priest? Yeah, he's a Levite. There's
not many men in scripture that fit all those terms. He wasn't
given the title of king, but he sure reigned as one then.
He ruled over God's people. He represents the Lord Jesus
Christ, doesn't he? You know, salvation and the Lord,
so the Lord told Aaron. Aaron, I don't think Aaron knew
the Lord yet. Because how shall they hear without
a preacher? Right? Moses just met the Lord. So how's
Aaron going to hear it? A man's going to tell him. A
man's going to preach to him. But Moses represents our Lord
Jesus Christ. Salvation is to meet Jesus Christ,
to hear His voice. Like Aaron heard his brother's
voice. Salvation is to see His glory.
And when he heard Moses' voice, and when he saw Moses, he said
he was glad in his heart. Salvation is a hard work. If
you ever meet the true and living Christ, it'll make your heart
glad. He'll make your heart glad. The gospel will make you glad. Make you glad. The oil of gladness. He was glad in his heart. Salvation
is to meet Christ, to hear his voice, to see his glory. Have
you heard the gospel? The truth? Have you seen Christ's
glory? Nobody in here has seen Jesus
Christ with our eyes, and nobody has seen Him since He left the
earth 2,000 years ago. But there have been many who
have seen His glory by faith. And how do we see? Faith is sight. Our Lord said, didn't I say unto
you, if you would believe, you would see the glory of God? Don't you see God in everything
out there? Don't you see His hand in everything?
You see clearly, don't you? There was a time He didn't. Before
He revealed Himself to you, He didn't. He didn't see God in
anything. Never gave Him a thought. Don't you see Christ throughout
this book? Don't you see Him on every page,
everywhere? Don't you see Him? Seeing is
understanding. Do you not see, do you not understand
that everything and everyone is for His glory? Salvation is about His glory. So, salvation is to meet the
Lord Jesus Christ and believe on Him. Aaron was glad in his
heart. Did he run? When he saw Moses,
did he run to see Him? Did it? There's a scripture that
says, draw us and we'll run to them. There was a time I ran
from it. There was a time you couldn't,
you couldn't, I don't want to get near that place. And now
I run from the world into this oasis in the wilderness. Don't
you? I'm in a hurry to get here. Did he run? Did he kiss Him?
Yes. Look at verse 27. He kissed him. Who kissed who? Most kissed. Do you reckon? Sure they did. Glad to see each
other. He kissed him. Kiss the son. Scripture said. Kiss the son. Rejoice with fear. Kiss the son. There's a song
in the Song of Solomon, chapter 1. It says, let him kiss me with
the kisses of his mouth. Embrace me. Oh, may he tell unto
me that I'm his and make him mine. Everyone will meet the
Lord Jesus Christ someday. Everyone will bow. Everyone will
believe. Everyone will confess with their
lips, bend the knee, and confess with their lips that Jesus Christ
is God, is Lord. But it will be too late for many.
Everyone will call, but Sonny will not hear. Today is the day
of salvation, right? By the gospel. This is the gospel
calling. Today is the day of salvation. Aaron was so glad, so glad to
see Moses, though he was a man just like him. Moses represented
Christ, but Moses was just a man. Aaron heard from God through
a man. He now knows that God sent this man to deliver me.
Aaron was older than Moses by several years. So was Miriam.
And yet Moses was the man. The elder shall serve the younger. That's always been the principle,
hasn't it? Aaron had to submit to his younger
brother. I was the youngest of four, and
my middle brother, you know. You know, it's sad. Now I'm a preacher of the
gospel, and I wish the Lord wouldn't make him. Listen to me. I've got something
he needs. Well, the Lord did it for Aaron.
He did it for Aaron. Moses was a man. Moses was Aaron's
equal. Moses was a sinner. Just a sinner,
wasn't he? But God sent him. God sent him. He was sent by God with the Word
of God to Aaron. Look at verse 28. Moses told
Aaron all the words of the Lord and showed him all the signs.
Moses told Aaron, as I said, I don't believe Aaron, he didn't
know God until now. He heard through a man. He heard the word through his
brother. He was so glad, he was so grateful, and he kissed him. He kissed Moses and thanked God
for sending Moses to tell him the truth. And he loved Moses
for the rest of his life. That's how you know. How shall they hear without a
preacher? Does anybody deny that? Then you won't hear from God.
How beautiful on the mountain are the feet, on the mountain,
are the feet of them that bring good tidings, glad tidings. The older I got, the more I appreciated
the man that God sent me. A man to preach the truth to
me. One time, when I was very young, I got angry at him. I didn't turn against him, but
I did something I regretted all
my life. That's the man God sent. He's
a sinner like me. He's fallible like me. But God sent him with the blessed
message. And I've loved him forever for
that. Not because he's my father. And there are many other men
just like him. Old Brother Scott. The longer I live, the more I
wish I was just back there sitting and I'd let him do all the preaching.
I'd make a real good church member now. Real good. Aaron was real
glad to see Moses. Real glad. He'd tell him the
truth. He was going to reveal God to him and show him the glory
of God. These were two men that were
gathered. Where were they gathered? It says in verse 27, Go meet
Moses in the wilderness. They were gathered in the wilderness.
Not Egypt. They had to go outside of Egypt
to make it. Not in Cairo. Cairo existed. Not in the capital. Our Lord's
not in the camp. He's outside the camp. This is
what Hebrews 13, 13 says. Let's go therefore unto Him without
the camp. Outside of, out of the world. Out of modern mainstream religion,
you know. Downtown First Baptist Church. He's not there. He's outside
the camp. He's in the wilderness with a
few people. He's outside the camp with a
bunch of outcasts. All of Israel was cast out of
Egypt. Get out of here. Egypt was glad
to see them go. Egypt was glad to see all of them go. Get out
of here. Retire you people. Out in the wilderness. Out back. Not the in crowd, this is the
out crowd. Isn't that what it says about
Moses in Hebrews 11? He chose rather to suffer affliction
with the people of God than being to be Pharaoh's grandson. He'd rather be a nobody with
God's people, a bunch of nobodies, than be somebody in the world
and lost. Would you rather be poor and
needy with God's people, wandering through the wilderness to be
rich and increased with good, and not know Jesus Christ? Which
would you rather? Which would you rather win, the
lottery or Jesus Christ? Huh? The lottery ruins about
everybody that wins it. He doesn't ruin us. It saves
us from ruin. Christ saves us from ruin. Deuteronomy 32. Let me read this
to you. Deuteronomy 32 verse 10. 10 says this, that the Lord found
Jacob, that's Israel, his people. You know where he found him?
In a desert land. That's this world. Deserted. There's nothing in
it. It's vain. It's empty of any real good. Found him in a waste, howling
wilderness. And he led him about. Kept him
as an apple of his eye. Kept him from going back to what
he did. Listen to Acts chapter 7. This is Stephen's great message. One of the greatest in all the
Bible. Stephen's great message to the
people that didn't know his Pharisee. He said, this Moses is the prophet. It said unto the children of
Israel, that a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto
you of your brethren like me. Him shall you hear. This is He,
He said, that was in the church in the wilderness. That's where
the church is. In the wilderness. In the wilderness. That's where you'll meet Christ.
That's where you'll hear His Word. That's where His people
are. They are gathered together, brought
out of the world into a little foal, a little flock, for a little
while to hear the good news. And we'll tell you in just a
minute. I've already been telling you. Alright, so these were two
men gathered. Two men gathered in the wilderness.
Two men who loved each other as brethren. Is that important? You don't know God if you don't.
You know what, John wrote a book, a whole book that's basically
about how can you love God and not love your brethren. So, these
were two men who loved each other as brethren, because it says
Moses kissed him, Aaron kissed him, and I'm certain Moses kissed
him back. Now, this was a holy kiss. It
wasn't like people, there's a group, bless their hearts, and I mean
that. But these men, you know, go up
and kiss each other right on the mouth, and I've seen it,
and you can tell that they don't want to do it. I wouldn't either. It's not meant to want man to
woman, yes. This is a holy kiss, as distinguished
from a passionate kiss between a man and a woman. It's a kiss
on the cheek, or an embrace, or a hug, an embrace. It's a holy kiss. Song of Solomon,
let him kiss me with the kisses of his man. So, this was an embrace. And when Joseph's worthless sorry
brethren came to him, it says he fell on their necks and kissed
them all. Come here, Benjamin. Come here,
Levi. Sam, come here. That's how they go, man, I'm
glad to see you. I feel that way. From the bottom of my heart,
I greet every one of you every service. Why? It's not a book
on being a pastor. Our Lord said five times, greet
one another with a holy kiss, five times. It's a command, but
you don't have to command me. We've got a lady in here, a young
lady, you've got to tell her to let go, Kara. Somebody said this is a good
saying, I don't know who said it, but it's good. If somebody
hugged you, you'd be the last to let go. On the contrary, I believe some
people would never speak to me if I didn't speak to them. Isn't
that sad? What does that make you think? They must not love me. Sad, that
great one. You know why? It might be the
last time you see them on planet Earth. Boy, you know, when I'm leaving
my granddaughters, I'm not even out the door. I say, I miss you
already. Might not see them for three months. How long could
you go without seeing your children? How long could you go without
seeing your children? How long can you go without seeing your
brother, huh? John and Irene are not here.
You miss John and Irene? I call them, where are you? When
are you coming back? And there's those that really
love and want to be here, call and say, I'm not going to be
there because of this. I'm glad. That means they love
me and want me to know where they are and that they'd be there
if they could. That's love. That's love. There are no exceptions. That's what you do with your
loved ones. Moses and Aaron saw each other and they embraced.
Oh brother, I'm so happy to see you. So happy. When that prodigal son came home,
that worthless, no good, who cheated his dad, who did nothing
but evil to his dad, who never did one good thing for his dad,
his dad ran and fell on his neck and kissed him and kissed him.
Oh, what manner of love that the Father should love us. So he says, love one another
like I loved you. But you don't know what they
did to me. God knows what you did to him. And he came and he
ran and fell on your neck. Glad to see you. You see, this is what God does
in the heart. You can't fake love. It comes
from the heart, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaking,
I love you. You don't have to wonder about
it. Do you? You don't have to wonder, do
you love me or not. Tell me, please. These two men loved each other.
They loved as brethren. And so our Lord says that very
thing. Peter said that very thing. Love as brethren. Love one another. Greet one another with a holy
kiss. And they became lifelong companions until Aaron died. How sad was Moses when his brother
died. He was there, up on Mount Hoar. What a picture of Christ that
is. He took the high priest and stripped all his clothes off
of him and killed him. And put all his clothes on his
son's back. I've always wanted to preach
on just that. The horror on Mount Hoar. The great priest was killed,
stripped by God. Moses was there. Moses took his
clothes. Was there weeping? I was sorry
to see him yell. That's love, isn't it? They were
companions. David, I love Psalm 119. David said, I'm a companion of
them that fear thee. Those are my companions. That's
who I want to be with. And he went on down to say, they'll
be glad when they see me. David knew, he's just a sinner. David didn't think too highly
of himself. David thought he was unworthy
of the friendship of Jonathan. He thought that, but he loved
Jonathan. Jonathan loved him. And he said, he'll be glad to
see me. Because I'm sure glad to see him. David Edmondson,
I told him, I said, David, I want to be your Jonathan. He said,
well, I want to be your David. So, may the Lord put this love
in our hearts. These two men were gathered to
hear the good news. Verse 28, Aaron, Moses told Aaron
all the words, all the words that the Lord told him. He said,
listen brother, listen, I got some good news for you. Here's
what he said. He said, God has heard the sighing, the bond,
seen the bondage, the cry of His people. He heard their groanings.
He's remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
God has looked upon us. God has respect on us. The Lord
said, I've surely seen the affliction of my people. I've heard their
cry. I know their sorrow. I've come down to deliver them
out. I'm bringing them out to bring
them up. into a good land. Out of a bad
place into a really good place. A land that floweth with milk
and honey. Who is He? Who is He? Moses. Aaron said, Who is He? He said,
His name was I Am. I Am that I Am. He said, I'll surely bring you out
of the affliction of Egypt into a land flowing of milk and honey
and there will be joy and gladness. You're going to wander through
the wilderness a while, but then you're going into the promised
land. Isn't that good news? Isn't that good news? So this was a gathering of two
men. It started with two men. There's two sinners, saved by
grace. I don't know how long they were together, but what
were they talking about? After Moses told Aaron the good
news, I'll tell you, their conversation was in heaven. It wasn't on Egypt. Well, who do you think is going
to be the next Pharaoh? Who are you voting for, Aaron?
I ain't going to vote. I ain't
going to be here. I'm leaving. Huh? Ah, they were talking, their
conversation changed. Their heart was set, their desire,
their affection was now set on things above, things that are
higher, things that are noble. These have allured my sight.
This is what happens when you hear the gospel. When you hear
the gospel, you say, I haven't heard any bad news since I heard
the good news. When you see His glory, you won't see any glory
anywhere else. And your desire set on things above, it won't
be much on anything on this earth anymore. When you see something
of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, everything in this world
will fade. Fade. Fade, fade, each earthly
joy. The Lord Jesus is mine. This
gathering of two grew. It started out with two. Look
at verse 29. Moses and Aaron went and gathered
together all the elders of the children of Israel. Some say
there were about two million Jews went out of Egypt. From two to two million. Oh, my. The church had a small
beginning, didn't it? Twelve men. And it grew. And it grew. In the gospel. The Gospel went out. The Lord
had persecution and affliction come to Jerusalem, didn't it? Killing all these Christians.
Well, what happened? They fled Jerusalem. And they
went here and went there until it scattered everywhere. You
ever got one of those milkweed pods out of a field, huh? And break it up? What do you
got to do to get that seed out? What do you got to do? Bust it
open. Wound it, break it, pour it.
Have you ever done that? If you've got a farm, you don't
want to do that. But if you're visiting... It goes everywhere. The wind picks it up. The Holy
Spirit took the seed of the gospel. That's the next message, the
seed. The Gospels took the seed of the Gospels through persecution,
affliction in Jerusalem and sent it out all over the world. How
many people are there now? Nobody can number them. Is there
going to be a gathering some day? Nobody can number it. What are they all talking about?
Jesus Christ. Look at it. Verse 30, Aaron spake
all the words which the Lord hath spoken unto Moses. What
Aaron preached, same thing. The Gospel. And did the signs
and the sight of the people. And what happened? The people
believed. Oh, great is the mystery of God
in this. God was manifest in the flesh.
Justified of angels. Seen of angels. Justified in
the Spirit. Believed on in the world. I believe Him. Do you? Don't ever get over that. Please. I'm asking the wrong person.
Lord, don't let us ever get over this miracle of faith. Those
who have obtained like, precious faith, saved by faith. Hmm. My, my. They believed, it says
in verse 31, they believed when they heard the Lord had visited
the children of Israel. Faith cometh by hearing. And
he looked upon their affliction. Would thou, O Lord, look upon
such a one as me? This is what David said, didn't
he? What is man that thou art mindful of him? And look at it. It says, The Lord looked upon
or visited their affliction. What is man that thou art mindful
of him? And me, that he would come and
speak to me. Don't ever get over that. That's
when the gospel becomes, well, I've heard it before. Mercy,
yeah, I've heard it. Oh, man. Grace, yeah, I believe
in grace. Oh, man. It's amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved
a wretch like me. Did you read the poem in the
book? Free grace, free grace. And what did they all do after
they heard and they believed? Bow their heads and worship God. Why are we here? Are you glad
to be here? Why are we here? Because God
loved us, and chose us, and called us, and revealed the truth to
us, and so we bow our heads, and we're here to worship the
Lord for so great a salvation. Thank you, Lord, for sending
Christ, and thank you for bringing me to see Him, hear Him. Amen.