Alright, go with me to the book
of Exodus, chapter 5. Didn't intend, a few weeks ago,
didn't intend to go through Exodus, but we've been looking at it
and I hope you've been blessed, I have. As I told you and as
you know, Exodus means going out. The whole book is about
God bringing his people out of Egypt. represents this world,
Pharaoh, the god of this world. God's bringing his people out.
They're not of it. He's bringing them out of it.
And how he brings them out, and this is the whole story, he sends
them all kinds of trouble. They won't want out. until he
sends them trouble. They won't even call on him.
They won't even think about him until he sends them trouble.
What I hope for us to see today is what great mercy and grace
it is for our God to send us trouble, because we wouldn't
want to have His people are in Egypt. They're
not of it. They're in the world, the Lord
said about His people. They're in the world, but not
of it. Boy, they sure do act like it sometimes, don't they? So what God do? You know, they're in the world,
and He's bringing them out of it, but the world's in them.
You've got to get that out of them. They've got to see that. They've got to see. We're in
a pit. It's not a pleasant place, it's
a pit. The God of this world, verse
1 of chapter 5, Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, thus
saith the Lord God of Israel, let my people go, that they may
hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. Pharaoh represents the God of
this world. Satan. Satan's not a myth, Satan's
not some imaginary figure that ignorant religious people made
up. Jesus Christ talked about it more than anybody else. He'd
been around a long time. He's the father of the lies and
so forth. It all happened in the garden
according to God's will and through Satan, okay. He lied to the first
man and woman. And he separated them from God
and each other. And he's still doing the same
thing. God of this world held Israel captive. He held them
captive. Listen to 2 Timothy chapter 2. It says this about all human
beings by nature. This is what it says, 2 Timothy
2. The servant of the Lord, preacher,
must not strive, but be gentle unto all, apt, ready to teach,
patient in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves. If God perventure, my mercy will
give them repentance to the knowledge of the truth that they may recover
themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive
by him at his will. Taken captive. That's all of
us. That was me. And I didn't know. Us and our
children, they don't know it. We don't have a problem with
the world until God makes it a problem. We love the world.
No, we don't want to leave here. Here's a story. People in captivity.
They're going out. He says they're going out to
hold a feast. Starts in the wilderness. What's that feast? Sacrifice
unto the Lord. Before they go out, the Lord
in chapter 12 tells them about a lamb and a burnt offering. and the blood on the doorposts.
And God says, I'm going to destroy all Egypt. I'm going to destroy
it. God didn't love Egypt, and he doesn't love this world in
that sense. Everybody is going to destroy
it. It's not a myth. It's not a fable. This whole
book speaks to that. But God's people, in mercy and
grace, he put them in a house and revealed to them, you've
got to substitute. You've got someone that's going
to die in your place, the lamb. And I'm going to shed his blood
is going to be your going out. His burnt offering is going to
be your going out. And I'm going to do this to him.
You're not. You're going to just observe
it and behold it, and you're going to see what I've done to
this innocent sacrifice to substitute on your behalf, and you're going
to be so thankful. And I'm going to put the blood
over your doorpost and your lintel, and I'm going to smite all of
Egypt, but I'm bringing you out. Were they better than Egypt?
Just like it. but God. And that Lamb is Jesus
Christ. He came into this world holy,
innocent, Lamb of God. John said, Behold the Lamb of
God. They take it away the sin of the world. That is a people
out of every tribe, nation, kindred, and tongue under heaven. God
is so merciful and gracious, He calls people out of every
family on earth. That's what it says. Amazing,
isn't it? He shouldn't call anybody, but He calls many people. And
what we need to be amazed by is He called me. Egypt had no interest in that
lamb. Egypt didn't care about that lamb. God kept sending trial,
plague after plague after plague. Romans 1.18 says the wrath of
God is revealed from heaven. Egypt didn't see it as that.
God's people did. They were right in the middle
of it. And they knew. But the grace of God, the mercy
of God to keep these things from falling on our heads. And one
thing that's going to bring us out, one thing that's going to
keep us from the wrath of God is that blood on that doorpost. You know why we preach Christ
every time? Because he's worthy, number one.
And because that's our hope and our salvation. And this is the
glory of God. Because we're no better than
the Egyptians. No better. But God, have mercy. A feast. Is this a feast to you? When the Lord first showed them
that lamb and the roasted, that was the best thing. That lamb,
they knew this is our redemption, this is our salvation, that lamb.
Oh, thank God for the burnt lamb. Thank God for the wine. Thank
God even for the bitter herbs. Thank you, Lord. And they all
went out rejoicing and praising. And then God sent manna. Oh,
blessed manna, bread from heaven. They lived on it for 40 years.
Blessed. This is the sweetest bread we've ever had in our lives. Oh, we shouldn't. We don't deserve
this. It should have destroyed us like
Egypt. But God sent manna and just fed them and fed them and
led them and fed them and some of it. Got tired of that. We
want something else. They said we want some leeks
and some onions. Matter of fact, we want to go back to Egypt.
That's where we want to go. We don't go back to that pit. Is that you? That's me. And God was angry with His people.
He was angry with His people. And He sent trial and trouble
and trouble after trouble to His people, not the world. His people. Read it. If you read
the scripture, you see Isaiah. The book of Isaiah is written
to Israel, Judah, Jerusalem, a hundred years before the Lord
destroyed it all. A hundred years. Okay. And Isaiah,
God in mercy, sent this prophet named Isaiah. And he began by
saying, my children, my children don't acknowledge me. The ox
knows he's on it. Ask his master. But my people
don't know. They don't consider. And he went
on and on. And he talked. And Isaiah had
a burden, a burden. Burden of the word of the Lord.
And he had a burden, and that word was to Babylon, to Moab,
to Egypt. They all heard it. It was a special
burden for Israel, for God's people. And he told them. This
is your God, you're not of this world, this is not your place.
And then he went to Isaiah 6, and
Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up his train. And Isaiah
said, woe is me, I'm a man of unclean lip, dwell in the midst
of a people of unclean lip. And God said, go Isaiah, preach
the word. But the Lord said, they won't
hear you. I'm going to shut their ears and shut their eyes. But
there's going to be some that are going to hear me. There's
going to be some that are going to hear me. A remnant. And all through Isaiah, he, whoa,
whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, warning, blessed warnings and promises. Then you get to
Isaiah 53. What's that? That's the Redeemer. That's the substitute. That's
Christ crucified. Oh, we like sheep have gone astray.
He was despised and rejected. By who? Us. Oh, we like sheep
have gone astray. But the Lord laid on Him the
iniquity of us all. That ought to break our heart,
shouldn't it? That ought to convict us. That ought to bring us to
repent. That ought to make us thankful for this gospel, this
sacrifice, and never be unthankful again or take it for granted.
What happened? You read with me. You read with
me Isaiah 63? We forgot. How? What made them forget? The Word. The Word. What I want us to see in this
message. Originally, I went through nearly
every verse. We're not going to do that. I
woke up this morning and revised it all, hopeless of the Lord.
But what I want us to see is God's great mercy and love to
us in making us miserable. And bring us out. This is the
first thing He does to someone that doesn't know Him. One of
His elect, one of His chosen, this is the first thing He does
to every one of them. Every single one of them. Look
at verse 2 of chapter 5. Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord
that I should obey Him? his voice and let Israel go.
I don't know the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. You know, we're not going to
get out of this. We're not going to come out of this world by
our decision. We're going to come out of this
world by command. God gave the command. John, you and I love
that. Psalm 71, verse three, God gave
commandment to save men. If he didn't, I'm not coming
out. Pharaoh doesn't know God. He didn't know God. He didn't
care. I'm not listening. I'm not letting go. I'm not letting
go of them. And as I said, they didn't want
out until God made them miserable. You see the goodness of God?
And our Lord said it in John 14,
the world doesn't know me. They don't know The Spirit of
God, but the Spirit of God, He said, I send to you, you know,
you see, you're led by Him. What does He do? He'll convict
you of sin, righteous judgment. It's the first thing. He'll make
you mourn. But our Lord, the last word in
the Old Testament is curse. You know that? It began in the
beginning. God created the heavens and the earth. And God said,
it's good. After he created man, he says,
it's very good. Very good. And then sin entered. Satan. The world captured to
it. And the world just got covered with people. And the last word
in the Old Testament is, I'm going to smite the earth with
a curse. It began with, this is very good,
and it ended with, it's a curse. It's under a curse. I'm done
with it. I'm done with it. But God. But God sent Christ. And in Matthew, the first book
of the New Testament, it begins the generation of Jesus Christ.
The life given by Jesus Christ. And it mentioned all these sinners
in his bloodline. All right? And then the first
words out of his mouth, blessed. Blessed. What? Of the poor. We talked about that yesterday.
That the world would take you to the rich and the famous and
the healthy and wealthy and say, look at this, no troubles, no
trial, peace, peace, it's all good. These are the blessings
of the Lord. No, it's a curse. It's a curse. I always say the
Lord has blessed me and everything we have is given to us from above,
but if it takes us away from, if we don't think about God,
it's a curse and God's going to hold us accountable for it. And see, with man it's impossible
not to love this world and the things of this world more than
God. It's impossible. It's impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. And how he does it, and the only
way he can do that to us is make us miserable and send us trouble
in this world. Well, where am I? Okay, they're
going to hold a feast in the wilderness. And they kept holding
that feast. That's what we're doing. He's
prepared us a table in the wilderness. The gospel is a feast, and Christ
said, except you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have
no part in it. Has the gospel become any less
wonderful to you after all these years in this wilderness? I hope
not. It's a bad sign if it has. He rebuked the church at Ephesus
because they left their first love. He rebuked the church at
Laodicea, rich and increased with good. We don't need anything.
He said, you don't know, you're still poor, blind, naked, wretched,
isn't it? I'm talking to myself. Well, look down at verses 4 and 5.
The king of Egypt said, why do you and Moses and Aaron, Let
the people from their work. Get to the burdens. Pharaoh said,
behold, the people of the land are many. You make them rest
from their burdens. And he went on to say, they need
to work. They need to work, work, work,
work, work. They're idle. They need to work, work, work,
work. That's what he said. Put them to work. You tell them
to rest. Isn't that what I'm saying? Our Lord said in Isaiah 55, why
do you spend money for that which is not brave? Why do you spend
your time, your labor for that which satisfies? And I said,
look, hearken unto me. Here, I'll give you rest. What's the world working for?
Everybody's working. Work, work, work, work, work,
work. There's never been a more busy generation in the history
of the world. Work, work, work, work. What for? What for? I was out in my yard this morning
walking around. I had to spend, I'm embarrassed
to say, about $800 or more on the front yard to get the grass
to grow. I had poor soil and I had to
bring in truckloads of topsoil and had to bring in a man with
a bobcat to spread it and all that. And then about, you know
how expensive grass seed is? Grass seed and fertilizer and
lime and all that. And I spent, I spent a long time. You know what? I was out there,
it's beautiful. It's gorgeous. Green grass. It's just beautiful. And I thought, look at this.
Isn't this beautiful? You know what it is? Grass. You know what the scripture says? Withereth. There's not a weed
in my garden, in my grass right now. Not one weed. I've spent
thousands to get them out. You know what's going to happen? It's going to be full of them. Why? I think, look at my lovely
lawn. Oh, I finally got a lovely lawn.
What you got? Grass. Are you getting the picture here?
What are you working for? The children of Israel in Egypt
were building Ramses and all those big cities. Build, build,
build, build, build. We can't build enough buildings
and stuff. Why? You know, the cities are
full of people. What are we doing? Supporting
this big city, this wonderful city. You know what? There won't be one stone left
standing on that. There are a bunch of ignorant
fools, aren't there? God keeps sending things to try
to show up, show up, show up. Like dumb cattle, you know. They
don't even look up. Burdens, burdens, burdens. And
that's a picture of work, work, work, work. That's a picture
of religion. People get religion, you know. and get religion, and that's
what religion will have you do. Work, work, work, work, work,
work, work. Don't let the tally diminish. You've got to come
up to the standard. Seventh-day Adventist. We get
real serious about religion. Well, I'll work, work, work,
work, work. No rest, no rest. Work. Seventh-day Adventist,
the Jehovah Witnesses, the Mormons, and so on and so forth. It's not your works. It's Christ's
works. You know what it's going to take
to get us out of this place and bring us into glory? The blood
of Jesus Christ. Nothing more, nothing less. Well, look at verse 9. Verse 9 of chapter
5. Pharaoh said, let more work be
laid upon the men that they may labor therein. Let them not regard
vain work. Vain word. Don't listen to Moses
and Aaron. Don't listen. Don't listen. It's vain. Didn't Moses say in
Deuteronomy, these are not vain words, this is your life. I'm
trying to tell you, I'm telling you death and life. This is a
death and life message. Preacher, don't get so serious. It's a whole lot more serious
than I can make it. Do you understand that? Yesterday I saw a stark
contrast in the faces of people. This building was full of people
from all over this city. Some people I know, professional
people, blue collar, white collar, all walks of life. People that
are out in the world, people I know have no interest in God
whatsoever. And, you know, the humorous stories and the good
times, I enjoy thinking about that. We all enjoy thinking about
that. We love to think about the precious memories and the
good times and all of this and that, and everybody really enjoying
that. But when I stood there, I said, now let's talk about
what's really happening here. We're going to talk about that.
I saw a marked, stark contrast in the faces of people. Get this
over with. We want to avoid this. As I said, Mac didn't avoid it.
He sat right here and heard all this. Tears in his eyes. What did the Lord do? He sent
him cancer. What did the Lord do? Took him out. Took him out. This is the worst
thing that ever happened, not to him. It's the best thing. This is the way it happens with
all whom God has purposed to set His love on, elected, God's
elect people, brothers and sisters. You're looking at a man that
would never have given God a thought if He hadn't chosen me. Election,
a doctrine. It's salvation. He's the God
who elects people. If He doesn't, ain't nobody going
in. Ain't nobody cares. Israel didn't
care. Egypt didn't care. Bless God,
He cared. And how He cared was He chose
them and He called them and He sent trials and troubles and
make a miserable show. I'm in a pit. They wouldn't have
called if you hadn't put them in a pit. And they all to a man
said, help us out of this pit. It's a pit they got themselves
into. A person in the world. Here it
is. This was me. Particle sun. In the world. Of it. Completely
consumed with it. Not bad. I love this place. Don't need God. And God literally
threw me off of a building. Broke my back. Seriously. Work in construction. You've heard that message. There's
that story. 18, 19 years old, praying about
God. My dad's just an old fool. That
gospel, whatever that is, that's just nonsense. I don't believe
that. I'm enlightened. I'm of the 70s
generation. We're smart. We sit cross-legged
and gaze at our navels. And we're really smart. We're
enlightened. And right now, oh, what a smart
generation. We don't need that old gospel. And God literally, I was out
to make money, I was out to make my place in this world, I was
out to get this and get that, and he literally threw me off
a building 60 feet, broke my back. Did that do it? Well, I
almost bragged about it. But he brought me home, brought
me back to Kentucky, Ashland, where my faithful father and
pastor, the mercy of God, the gospel was, brought me there
to hear the gospel and showed me. One day he finally showed
me. I threw you off a building, I should
have thrown you in hell. And there's some in here that
might not want to hear this right now, but I'm sure glad I heard
it. I'm sure glad. The illustration I meant to use
about the cowboy. I didn't tell you that. Sanctification. Like a cowboy. Mac had cattle. He had a horse. He rode horses
and cattle. He knew this. Like a cowboy sets
his sight on one calf. There's a herd. This is sanctification. He sets his sight on that one
calf. He said, that's mine. I'm going after it. And what
does he do with that calf? He ropes it. Scripture says we're
drawn with cords of a man, the gospel. He ropes it and ties
it. What does he do? Kelly, what
does he do? Throws it on the ground. Like he did Jacob. Now, what's
your name? Jacob. Why are you after me? Because I'm good. Because I'm
God. Because I love you. Then I'm
going to make you love me. You wouldn't love me if I didn't
make you. Okay, Jacob, what's your name? It wasn't in meanness
like I'm sounding right now. It was in love. I said, Jacob,
what's your name? Jacob, that's my name. That's
all I've ever been. And Mac said the same thing. That's all I've ever been. No,
you're mine. I've come to rope and tie you
and cast you down on the ground at my feet. And I'm going to
brand you. I'm going to put my mark on you. And you're mine. And no matter
what you do from day to day, this is my salvation. This was
Mike's salvation. He'd tell you, no matter what
you do, no matter where you go, no matter you sin against me,
I will not sin against you. I'm going to make you suffer.
You're going to sin against me. I'm going to make you suffer for
it. Because you're mine. And I'm never going to let you
go, Jacob. And he put Jacob through all
sorts of trouble. Why? Because he forgot God. Israel is Jacob. They forgot
God. He got out in the world. He said,
begin with, beware now. Beware when you get into the
land that floweth with milk and honey. Beware. You're going to
build houses and this and that and the other. And you're going
to forget God. Don't do it now. I'm going to have to send troubles
to you. And they did, and he did. They
sent all kind of trouble. Was it punishment? It was mercy. Let me give you an illustration.
Lot. Most people know the story of
Lot. He was with Abraham. Go ahead. He was with Abraham. He said he loved the Lord. He
was fine with Abraham. And he left Abraham over what?
Stuff. Too much stuff. He said, I want
Sodom. And he went into Sodom. And he
almost perished. But you know what? The Lord says,
he's mine. He's righteous. He's just. What
did the Lord do? Oh, my. Oh, he sent trouble after trouble.
He was in trouble. He was miserable. He almost perished.
God killed his wife. Brought him in. Well, you'd think he'd really
served the Lord now. You'd think he'd never sin again,
oh. It wasn't long after that. You see who our salvationist
is? Lot. Naomi, I brought her up
recently. Naomi, she was fine in Bethlehem. She was fine in Bethlehem. That's
God's people. That's God's land. That's where
Boaz was there all along. You know that? Boaz was there
all along. Well, there was a famine. We're in a famine. We're in a
famine. Not of bread, but of the hearing
of God's Word. We've got food. Naomi had food.
God's not going to let them build that food. She would have never. What she did, her husband said,
there's a better opportunity. There's a better job in Moab.
Let's go to Moab. There's a better job there. There's
opportunity. There's more stuff. We'll leave
here where God's people are. We'll leave here for that land
of opportunity. She shouldn't have gone. She
shouldn't have gone with him. No gospel there. No people of
God there. Don't leave. Don't care how hard
it gets. Don't leave there. What happened?
What happened? What did God do to bring Naomi
back to Bethlehem? He killed her husband. He killed
both of her sons. What's that punishment? It's
mercy. And she came back poor and broken
hearted with nothing and nobody. And then she heard, there's a
cannabis redeemer. And she thought, now I don't
need anything but him. See the mercy of God. The mercy of God. Oh, my, my. I want to close with Lamentations,
chapter 3. Some of you know this. Oh, my. Jeremiah is called the
weeping prophet. You know that? He wept over all
the false prophets all over the world. Jeremiah, you know, the
verses, chapters 23 and so forth. False prophets promise health
and wealth and prosperity and peace, peace, when there is no
peace. Peace that God gives, not the peace the world gives.
It's the peace that Christ gives by the blood of His cross. We're
not going to have peace in this world. Our Lord said, I send
a sword, not peace with the world. If you've got peace with the
world, it means you're of it. Right? Lamentations 3, let's close with
it. Lamentations 3, verse 22. It's of the Lord's mercies that
were not consumed. Consumed by Him? Our God's a
consuming fire. His compassion's at bail now.
What's His compassion? To show us that we're not consumed.
To show us who He is. There's new every morning. Great
is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith
my soul. Therefore will I hope in him.
The Lord is good unto them that wait for him. The soul that seeketh
what? Him. It's good that a man should
both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. Oh,
it's good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth. Why? So the
world won't get a hold of him. Verse 28. He sits alone. Now,
here's what happens. He'll sit alone and God will
do something to him. Like Jacob, the Lord put something
on him. Verse 29, puts his mouth into
dust. Verse 30, gives his cheek to him that smites him. He's
filled with full of reproach. This is Christ and his people.
Oh, but the Lord's not going to cast off, though he caused
grief. You see that? Verse 32, he causes
grief, yet he'll have compassion according to the multitude of
his mercy. He does not afflict willingly. That means it doesn't
give him pleasure to cause this pain and this grief and all that,
but he has to. I grieve the children of men. He's
not out to crush us. He's out to break us. He's out
to break us, but not crush us. Verse 35, Turn aside the right
of a man for the face of the Most High, the things of this
world. God gives us all things richly
to enjoy, but we were meant to enjoy Him. And if that doesn't
happen, He's got to do something. Now, He says in verse 37, Well,
who is He that saith? And it cometh to pass when the
Lord commanded it not. It means nobody does anything. The Lord does it up. He commands
it up. Everything. Out of the mouth of the Most
High, verse 38, proceedeth not evil and good. Doesn't the Lord
do it all? Is there anything whereof it
may be said the Lord had nothing to do with it? Nothing. What should that create? Fear
and trust. Beer and Thanksgiving. Moses said, make us glad in the
days wherein thou hast afflicted us. Make us glad. Show us how we ought to be so
glad that you sent us these troubles to bring us out. If you didn't,
we wouldn't want out. And we wouldn't be brought out.
We'd perish with Egypt. Are you with me? Read on. Why
does a living man, verse 39, complain, a man for the punishment
of his sins? Let us search and try our hearts,
our ways, and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our heart
with our hands unto God in the heavens. We have transgressed. Who? Israel, God's people. This world's in a mess. This
nation's in a mess. Why? God's angry. But he said
the judgment must begin at the house of God. That's what Peter
said. Didn't he say it? That the righteous scarcely be
saved. Isn't that what he said? I'm preaching this to believers.
Let us lift up our hearts, our hands unto God. We have transgressed.
We've rebelled. Thou hast not pardoned. You've
covered us with anger and persecuted us. Covered with a cloud, verse
44. Made us the off-scriber. And
then he goes on down. And he says, I'm weeping. Verse 50,
till the Lord looked down and behold from heaven. And we read
that in Isaiah then. Oh Lord, oh that thou wouldest
rend the heavens and come down. Save us, you're our father. They're
not your father. You're not their father. You're
our father. Doubtless, you've showed us that. Please, please,
help us and our children. Save us. And he ends by saying this, verse
55, I call on the name of the Lord out of the low dungeon,
you heard my voice. Verse 57, he drew near and the
day that I called upon him, he said, fear not. Most of you know
Psalm 107. God's people love Psalm 107,
don't they? You do, don't you? And the Lord
would bless them. And they'd get in trouble. Troubles
of their own making because they forgot Him. They got out in the
world and just forgot God and things and this and that. And
God sent trouble. And then they cried unto the
Lord in their trouble. And He heard them and delivered them out of
all their troubles. And they praised Him and all
that. And then what happened? It happened again. Something
happened again. And four times, four times it
says, they cried in their trouble. He delivered them all out of
it. And four times it says, Oh that men would praise the Lord
for His goodness. What goodness? He sent troubles. Trials, afflictions. Has anybody
heard this? This world is in trouble. Our
nation is in trouble. A lot of people are in trouble
with God. And we ought to be. God's people ought to be. But
how he proves himself to us is send us trouble and trial. Thank God for the trouble. Thank
God for the trouble and trial. May we learn from him. May he
take it out of us and bring us out of this world. Because he's
coming real soon. Real soon. Real soon. All right. So let's sing a closing hymn.