That was most surely taken from
Deuteronomy 8, verse 2. It says, Thou shalt remember.
The Lord reminded the people of God, Thou shalt remember all
the way which the Lord thy God led thee these 40 years in the
wilderness. Deuteronomy 8, verse 2. Fanny
crossed him blind, A believer wrote that. Alright, Exodus 19. The title, as said, is Words
to Help Us Out. This is the Lord's Word through
Moses, and by helping us out, I mean, He means not only just
to help us, but help us out. Bring us out. Out of this world
of sin into His kingdom. Kingdom of His dear Son. If there's
a key verse in the book of Exodus, it might be this. Exodus chapter
3. Go back there quickly. Exodus
3. You know, Exodus 12 is the Passover,
and that's certainly when the Lord brought them out, that's
Christ crucified. But here in Exodus 3, it says
in verse 7 through 10, these verses, the
Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which
are in Egypt. and have heard their cry by reason
of their 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 into a good land, 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. Now therefore, behold, the cry
of the children of Israel is, Come unto me. And I have also
seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppressed them.
Come now therefore." He's speaking to Moses. as a picture of Christ. And I will send thee unto Pharaoh,
that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel,
out of Egypt." Out of Egypt. And down here in Exodus 19 is
where he gives Moses words from the mountain to help us in our
pilgrimage, to help us out. The whole story of Exodus, as
I said, is the Lord bringing them out of this wilderness. It's called the wilderness of
sin, into the promised land. Now, first of all, I do not want
to discourage young people. People starting out who want
to get married, want to have a home, want to have children,
want to enjoy the things of this life. God has given us all things
richly to enjoy. There's nothing wrong with it.
There's everything right with enjoying the things that God
has given us to enjoy. Like a kind Father, He gives
us all things richly to enjoy. The book of Ecclesiastes tells
us that. Enjoy. There's nothing better
in this life, he said, than to enjoy these things. But, but, don't love them. Don't love the world. Don't love
your life here because God is bringing us out. We have here
no continuing city, all right? And the way God, one way in which
God brings us out is he begins to make us want out. out of the pit, out of the hog
pen. You remember the prodigal son. This was when salvation
came to that prodigal son who went out into the world, left
the Father, and went his way, and was making his way, and wasted
his substance, mind, his body, his soul, his strength, everything
on what? Vanity. The world. But God, rich in mercy, brought
him to himself, the Scripture said. He brought him to see himself
where he really was. When the Lord was going to bring
him out, He made him see, look at me, I'm in a hog pen. I guess he was alright with that.
For a while, until the Lord made him truly see he's eating husks
in the mire. And the Lord brought him out
and made him want out and made him want to go back to the Father.
Oh, may the Lord do that for someone here tonight or all of
us. Make us realize that. So He brings
us out by beginning, by making us want out. And also He brings us out of
this world by taking the love of the world out of us. It takes
the love of the world out of us. You and I have talked about
this so many times, haven't we, Nancy, how that the world, the
older you get, there's just no luster anymore. There's no shine. There's no real beauty about
it anymore. Once you've seen Christ, it all
starts fading then. That's a good song to sing, isn't
it? Fade, fade, each earthly joy, the Lord Jesus is mine. Fade, Lord, make them fade. Bring
the world out of us and bring us out of this world. Alright,
look at verses 1 and 2. In the third month, when the
children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt. He's talking about God's chosen
people. Out of the land of Egypt, the
same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai, for they departed from
Rephidim, and everything's significant. And they would come to the desert
of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness. And there Israel
camped before the mount." I heard a brother preach today on all
of this and it was good. He preached it from the standpoint
of the people brought to the foot of Mount Sinai. Well, I'm
going to look at it exactly as it is written, as a type of Christ
bringing us out and all that this means to us, okay, and him
bringing us out. All right? It says they camped
in the wilderness. They pitched in the wilderness. They were in the wilderness. The world is called a wilderness
throughout the Scriptures. All through the Scriptures, it's
called a wilderness. It's called a wilderness of sin.
It's called a wilderness of troubles. It's full of trials. When you
think of a wilderness, what do you think of? The word wild is
in there. A wild and dangerous place, full
of beasts, full of dangers, full of darkness, no food or water,
a desert. That's what the word means. It's
a desert place. It's void. There's nothing there. Well, that's this world. That's
this world. And so very often in scriptures
it speaks of God's people being in the wilderness. Jacob, we
read there in Deuteronomy 32, it says, he found him in a waste,
howling wilderness. And such is this world, a place
of no real food, no real water, water that doesn't satisfy, a
place of danger. darkness, a wilderness, a desert. There's nothing here to satisfy,
but so many scriptures says that the Lord provides for His people
while they're in the wilderness. Listen to this in Isaiah 43. The Lord says in Isaiah 43, I'll
do a new thing. I'll bring this forth. I'll make
a way in the wilderness. Rivers in the desert. I'll give
waters in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, give drink to
my people, my chosen." Did you hear that? God's people. You
know, the children of Israel, the Lord smote a rock, didn't
He? That's how they got water in the wilderness. We get it
the same way. Christ, the smitten rock, no.
He is the water of life. And then over in Revelation,
not turned there, but chapter 12 says the woman was given two
wings of a great eagle to fly into the wilderness, into her
place. And the Lord's put us in this
wilderness, going through it. But she's nourished there for
a time. She's nourished. She has food.
She has water. She's taken care of. Remember
the Lord's, the Psalm 23? He's prepared us a table in the
midst of our enemy. So we're in the wilderness, we're
camping. We're camping. Not as some of us know it. Not
camping, luxurious camping. They didn't do this for fun.
It says they camped, meaning that it was a temporary
dwelling that they were in, a tent, a tabernacle. Paul calls it that,
doesn't he, throughout the Scripture. He says this tabernacle. We know
that if this tabernacle be dissolved, we have a dwelling, a house,
a permanent house. But here we have this temporary
dwelling. Temporary body and a temporary
site, place that we dwell. It's temporary. Some of us go
camping all the time and you can't keep that place. You can't
keep it. You may like it, but you can't
keep it. They'll run you off. You got
to go. The Lord is bringing us out of
this place. This is a temporary dwelling
place. And there's hardships. There
are hardships. The children of Israel suffered
many hardships, didn't they? Many trials, many difficulty. That's what you can expect going
through the wilderness. That's what you can expect. And
so we should not murmur in our tents when they come, should
we? We should not murmur when these
troubles come. We should expect them. We should
expect them. And we should thank God for them.
Because this is how He was bringing them out. And the Lord is bringing
us out like He did them. He brought them out by a man.
The Lord sent a man named Moses. Look at verse 3. And Moses, he's
the man. Moses was their leader. Moses
was their captain. Moses was their mediator, wasn't
he? Moses went to God for them and came back from God to them.
That's Christ, isn't it? Moses here represents the Lord
Jesus Christ. For those of you who may not
know, Moses is the law. Moses, throughout the Scriptures,
represents the law. And you know Moses didn't go
into promised land. The Lord wouldn't let him go into promised
land, did He? Moses couldn't take the people into the promised
land. That's the true type. Moses represents the law. The
law can't take you into the promised land. Joshua took them in, didn't
He? Joshua means the Savior. Joshua's
the one that took them in. Moses, the law, can't do it.
Joshua, that's Christ, that's His name. But here in our story,
Moses, and in other places, Moses represents the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll show you that, Hebrews 3,
over there. Moses represents the Lord Jesus
Christ, as does every single prominent man in Scripture. Every single one, and even women.
Abigail represents the Lord Jesus Christ. And on and on they go.
But in Hebrews chapter 3 speaks of Moses as a picture, a type
of Christ. Moses says, verse 1, Holy brethren,
partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high
priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him
that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.
This man, Christ, was counted worthy of more glory than Moses,
inasmuch as he who had builted the house hath more honor than
him. Every house is built by some man, but he that built all
things is God, Christ. And Moses verily was faithful
in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things
which were to be spoken of. But Christ as a son over his
own house, whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence
and rejoicing of the whole firm under the hand." So Moses here
represents our Lord Jesus Christ. Go back to our text. Moses, it
says in verse 3, went up unto God. The Lord called unto him
out of the mountains, spoke to him. Do you remember when our
Lord took three of His chosen disciples up onto a mountain?
Do you remember that? Peter, James, and John. Simon, Peter, James, and John. He took them up onto the Mount
of Transfiguration. And that's when God spoke to
His Son out loud, and they heard it. When Moses went up unto God,
the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus
shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children
of Israel. Christ said, The words that I
speak, I speak not of myself, but the Father which hath sent
me. Didn't He? He is the Word of God. The Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. Christ came to reveal the
Father. Christ came to bear witness of
the Father. Christ came with words given
Him, like Moses, to give to His people to help us out. Listen
to Ephesians 4. You know these verses. Listen
to what it says about Christ ascending and then descending. Ephesians 4, it says that when
He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, like the children
of Israel. They were captive. Moses led
them out. And He gave gifts unto men. Moses
is one of them. Joshua. Now, that He ascended,
That is, Christ who came down, what is it but that first He
also descended first into the lower parts of the earth. Christ
came down, and then He went to the cross, and He descended into
the lower parts. He was made sin for His people. He went through, as it were,
hell for His people. Crucified, buried, but he didn't
stay buried. He ascended. He that descended
is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that
he might fill all things. Then he gave apostles, prophets,
evangelists, pastors, and teachers for the perfecting of the world.
So Christ like Moses here. Moses is a type of him. He came
down from the Father. He went up and he came down.
He kept going up and down. Moses did. Alright, now look
at it. Here's the words he said to tell
us. Verse 3, Thus shalt thou say
to the house of Jacob. Now who's he talking to? Who
is God's Word written to? God's people. Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. Jacob was his elect. That's who
God chose to reveal His Word to. These words are not spoken
to the world. These words are spoken to the
house of Jacob. Is that not clear? And in the
New Testament it says, Hear, he that hath ears to hear, let
him hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches to the churches is elect,
is chosen. Read on. He said, thus shalt
thou say to the house of Jacob and tell the children of Israel,
this is what you'll say to sinners, the sons of Jacob. That's who
God chooses. He chooses sinners. He chooses
sinners to make them Israel, to make them His children. And
this is what you say to the children of Israel. Verse 4, here are
these words, words to help us out. He says, you have seen what
I did unto the Egyptians. You have seen what I did to the
Egyptians. Now, they had already seen the
hand of the Lord against their foes, against their enemies.
Go back to chapter 14. This is what he's speaking of.
And so much more. But Exodus chapter 14. See, the
Egyptians, like the Amalekites, like the Philistines, like the
Syrians, were the enemies of God's people. You'll find the
Lord saying that I'm against the Amalekites forever. The Amalekites,
the Egyptians, the Philistines, the Assyrians were a godless
people. They were enemies of God and
His people. And they always, all through
the Scripture, whenever you look at the Egyptians or the Amalekites
or the Assyrians or the Philistines, they always represent three things. Always. The Scriptures are spiritual. They have a spiritual meaning.
They talk about a spiritual kingdom and a spiritual people. Israel
over there is not God's people. They are not of Israel, they
are of Israel. They are not a Jew which is one
outwardly. Circumcision is not outward with
hands, but of the heart and of God. He's chosen people. All
right? So these enemies always represent
three things, three or four things. Sin. Sin. Satan. Satan's seed to people
of this world. Satan's seed. He said that in
the Garden, didn't He? To Eve, He said, I'll put in
between thy seed, the seed of woman, Christ's seed, and His
seed, the serpent's seed. Those are of their father, the
devil. Our Lord said that, Marvel not,
my brethren, if the world hate you. They hated me. He's the seed.
He said, they'll hate you if you're the seed. They'll hate
you. And self, let's not leave out that fellow inside of us.
All right? Look at chapter 14. Please stand. Chapter 14, verse 10. When Pharaoh
drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold,
the Egyptians marched after them." Sin. Satan. Self. It's always after us, isn't it? Always harassing us, isn't it?
Constantly pursuing us. Constantly troubling us, isn't
it? Constantly threatening us. Will we ever get rid of these
enemies? Not until we leave this place. There's always a fight
going on, isn't there? I remember when I was about 24
or 25 years old, a new believer, and I asked Cecil Roach, Brother
Cecil Roach. Oh, bless Brother Cecil Roach.
Oh, Brother Cecil. At the time, I guess he was about
my age. I thought he was old, Brother Cecil. He's old, he had
gray hair, you know. But I said, Brother Cecil, And
I said, do these things, these problems with the flesh and all
this struggle with sin, all these troubles, does it ease up any
at your age? He said, no son, it seems harder
than ever. Well, I didn't want to hear that,
but now I know. These things, these enemies,
are always going to be with us, always harassing us, until the
day the Lord lays this body in the ground. And then, like David,
He will give us rest around the bathroom, all right? But wait a minute. Let's see what's really been
done about that. Look at verse 13. Moses said
unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation
of the Lord. which He will show to you today.
The Egyptians, who you see today, you'll see them again no more
forever. Christ came to put away sin by
the sacrifice of Himself. Did He do it? Yes, He did. Christ
paid for the sins of God's people. He did, He put them away. He
vanquished our foe. He led captivity captive. He
took Satan, the God of this world, and bound him so that he cannot
do but only what Christ allows him to do to us for His glory
and our good. That's it. Satan's not for real,
like that Hal Lindsey fellow wrote one time. Satan's alive
and well on planet Earth. No, he's not. He's in chains,
Scripture says. He only does what the Lord allows
him to do. He's not a free agent. No, no. Men aren't either. Men are held captive by Him at
His will, but God's people, who are made free by Christ, are
held captive by Him. Thank God. And Satan can't do
anything but what God allows him to do. Because God's God
and Satan's not. That's what Christ said to him
as he was going to the cross. He said, Satan has come, the God
of this world has come, and I'm about to crush his head. Did
he do it? Yes, he did. And he said, Satan,
God will bruise Satan under your feet, children. The salvation
of the Lord is the salvation Christ accomplished on Calvary's
tree, didn't it? It's not a future thing, it's
a present thing. It's a present thing. Christ put away our sin
by the sacrifice of Himself. I don't understand preaching,
but my sin is ever before me. But it's not before the Lord. But God. But Christ. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies it. Who
is He that condemns it? Christ, now. There is therefore
now, right now, no condemnation to them that are in Christ who
walk according to the Spirit." He put it away. I don't understand. Well, I don't completely understand
it either, but I just know it's so. And you need to rejoice. This will give you help. It will
help you out. Okay? Verse 14 says, the Lord shall
fight for you and you will hold your peace. That's what that
fellow told Jehoshaphat and all the people standing before him.
He said, you don't need to fight this fight, the Lord is going
to fight this for you. He's fought that battle and he
won, didn't he? How'd he win? Look at verse 19.
Moses, the angel of God, went before the camp, or moved, went
behind them. He went before them, behind them.
Pillar of cloud went before their face and stood behind them. Came
between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. They
couldn't touch the people of God. Now they're after him. They
want him dead. They can't touch him. Didn't
our Lord say to His disciples, He was sending down into a hostile
world, I'm sending you forth as sheep among wolves? He said,
but not a hair of your head will fall to the ground. Everybody
wanted Him dead. Read the trials and troubles
of Paul the Apostle. Nobody went through more perils
than he did. They couldn't touch Him. Why? Because everything's for Him. God's for Him. Sent Him. A purpose. When His purpose is
over, then it's time. And in verse 21, Moses stretched
out his hand over the sea. The Lord caused the sea to go
back by a strong wind. All that night made the sea dry
land. The waters were divided. The
children of Israel went in the midst of the sea on dry ground.
Hebrews 11 says, they all passed through the Red Sea. You and
I think, I don't know if I'm going to make it. I don't know
if I'm going to make it to the promised land. I just don't know
if I'm going to make it. I'm so this, I'm so that. Well,
people, it's not dependent on you being anything. It's completely
dependent on the Lord. All these people were sorry sons
of Jacob, and they all passed through on dry land. Why? Well,
they didn't have anything to do with it. The Lord's the one
that parted the sea. The Lord is one who separated
our sins from us as far as the east is from the west, and they're
a wall under us. And we're going to pass through.
Yes, we are, by looking to Christ. Looking to Christ. That angel
went before him, and that's Christ too. Look at verse 23. The Egyptians pursued and went
in after them, all of Pharaoh's horses, his chariots and his
horsemen. The most powerful man on earth,
with the most powerful forces on earth, with all the modern
technology at his disposal, was after some unarmed slaves, walking,
many of them old, some of them young, some of them on stretchers,
dragging them. No horses, no chariots, walking. And they couldn't catch them. Oh boy, look at verse 26. The
Lord said unto Moses, stretch out thine hand. You see how the
Lord kept having Moses stretch out his hand? People, when Christ
went up on Calvary's tree and stretched out his hand, if Christ
hadn't willingly stretched out his hand and hadn't willingly
laid down his life, he said, no man taketh my life from me.
And you know what he's doing by stretching out his hands on
Calvary's tree, by being nailed to the cross? He's the salvation
of God. He's our Moses. You remember
when Moses, before Rephidim, back in chapter 17, believe it,
in Rephidim, as long as Moses held up his hands, the children
of Israel prevailed. But when his hands fell, the
Amalekites prevailed. Aaron and Hur, Aaron and Hur
got under him and held up his hand. And this is the job of
the church, the pillar and the ground of the truth. And we hold
up Christ, you see, Christ and Him crucified. As long as we
look to Christ and Him crucified, the Malachites cannot prevail. That's not up to us to hold Him
up, you know that. That type is not perfect. But that's the type, that's the
picture. See, our enemies are defeated because Christ was crucified,
because Christ stretched forth His hand. And God with a mighty
hand, a stretched forth hand, defeated our enemies for it.
You've seen what I did to the Egyptians. Have you seen what I did to the
Egyptians? Look one more here in chapter
14. Look at verse 30. The Lord saved
Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians. Out of the
hand of the Egyptians. And Israel saw the Egyptians
dead upon the seashore. And Israel saw that great work
which the Lord did upon the Egyptians. And the people feared the Lord
and believed the Lord and His servant Moses. You've seen. what I did to the
Egyptians. Have you seen what I did to the
Egyptians? Do we clearly see the Lord's hand stretched out?
Do we clearly see the Lord's hand for us and against this
world? Do you not see it? Do you not
see it clearly? Now first, God reveals Himself
to us, His hand, His mighty hand. Some of you are in false religion,
and I guarantee you this is what your preacher said. You've heard
this a thousand times. God has no hands but your hand.
Didn't He, John? That's what your preacher said.
Didn't He, Nancy? That's what He said, didn't He?
Didn't He, Robin, in Methodist? That's what He said. That's what
they all say. Not God's preacher. Not Moses. He brought them out,
Scripture says, over and over again with a mighty hand. You
know whose hand that is. Jesus Christ. Your hands are
not God's hands. Christ's hands are God's hands.
In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead in a body. Christ
came and with His mighty hands put away the sin of God's people. Provides for His people. The first thing God did to these
sons of Jacob was reveal Himself to them. I'm not an idol. Nebo, who you carry around, I'm
the God that's going to carry you. I'm not the God who you
must let be God. That's no God at all. He couldn't have brought them
out of Egypt. I'm the God who put you in Egypt, and I'm the
God who will bring you out of Egypt. God who is God. The first thing He did was reveal
His mighty hand and right arm to them. The second thing He
did, do you see what God does? The second thing God revealed
to them was the blood of a lamb. You know how He brought them
out? The blood of a lamb. Exodus 12. There's a key chapter
in all this bringing out. How were they brought out? How
were they spared? They were sinners like the Egyptians.
They'd sinned against God like the Egyptians. They didn't know
God until God revealed, until God chose them, until God revealed
Himself to them. Then why did He bring them out?
Were they better than the Egyptians? No. Then what made them to differ? What made them to differ? Blood. God said, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you. God said, let everybody take
a lamb, a lamb for a house. An innocent lamb, that's Christ.
Everybody in this room, I hope, knows this, that that lamb is
Christ. They came out and were not destroyed
by the death angel because Christ died. Because the blood was applied. Do you see what the Lord's hand
did to the Egyptians? You know what God's going to
do to all those who are not in Christ? And all those not under
the blood? He's going to destroy them. And you don't put yourself under
the blood. The people didn't do that. God did. The blood of the Lamb. Do you
see what I did to the Egyptians, he said? I destroyed them. Why? Because they're worse than
you? No. Because my son didn't die for
them. Thirdly, you see what the Lord
has done to the Egyptians? You know all the plagues that
happened to Egypt? All the plagues. God told Moses
before they happened. He told Moses. I'm sure Moses
told the people, this is what's coming. Expect it. None of the
Egyptians saw it as the hand of God. None of them. Flies,
lice, frogs. Name it. Hail, fire, mingled
with fire, and on and on it goes, thick darkness. You don't hear
any of the Egyptians saying, this is the wrath of God. You
don't hear one Egyptian crying out for mercy. This is the wrath
of God against our sin. We've sinned against God. Let's
repent and call on the Lord for mercy. We've sinned against Him.
You don't hear one of them saying that. And all the Israelites
knew, they saw clearly the wrath of God revealed from heaven.
Our Lord said, you've seen what I did to the Egyptians. People, this brings us out. This
creates the fear of the Lord in us. The fear of the Lord. We see clearly, don't we? Like
Paul wrote in Romans 1, 14, is it? Number 18, he says, the wrath
of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who hold the truth, hold it down, suppress it in unrighteousness. We clearly see that now. Romans
1 is such a clear picture of this world, isn't it? Romans
2 is such a clear picture of religion, isn't it? And the rest
of Romans. Anybody want to go through Romans?
I'm kind of leaning toward that. It's been a long time. I've been
through it twice, but it's the key book in the Bible. You've
seen what I did to the Egyptians. Do you not see it today? People,
the chariot wheels are coming off. Do you not see the chariot wheels
coming off this mighty nation? Do you not see them dragging
heavily? Do you not see the darkness and dimness and anguish of spirit
that fills this land? Do you not see? They look to
the earth and all they see is darkness and dimness and anguish
of spirit. But the people that walked in
darkness have seen a great light. In our dwellings there's light.
In theirs is darkness. Do you not see that? Do you not
see what the Lord is doing to Egypt? The Red Sea? Oh my, do you not
see? Look at the next thing in our
text. It says, You've seen what I did to the Egyptians, and we
see it now. And you've seen how I bear you
on eagles' wings and brought you under my seat. Oh my, go to... Where should
we go? There's so many. Deuteronomy
32 that I read to you. Deuteronomy 32. I should have
had you mark it, but I forgot. Deuteronomy 32. Here's the first
thing the Lord does before He bears us on His wings. He stirs
up the nest. He stirs up the nest. Look at
verse 11. As an eagle stirreth up her nest,
and fluttereth over her young, Spreadeth abroad her wings, as
an eagle stirreth up her nest." You know, when it's time for
those little fledglings to get out of the nest, you know, the
mother eagle has been providing, providing, providing, providing,
but now it comes a time that you got to get out. You've got
to get out. So what does she do? Someone
said that she stirs that nest up, those twigs. It was real
comfortable. It was real warm and soft, full
of her downy feathers and all that. And then she makes it,
stirs it up, sticks it. And those little eagles say,
I want to stay here. I've got to get out. Brother Crabtree, you remember
Brother Crabtree bringing this to our attention, how that God
sent Pharaoh. They were in the land of Goshen.
The sons of Jacob were in the land of Goshen, the best in the
land. They had it just so good. Then God sent Pharaoh, who didn't
know Joseph, and put them under hard bondage. What did that do? Made them cry out, let me out. Take us out. Come get us out
of here. Makes it uncomfortable. You have here no continuing sin.
But that mother eagle doesn't just kick them out. No, no, no. No, no. It says in verse 11, "...she
spreadeth abroad her wings, and taketh them on her wings, and
beareth them on their wings." Beareth them on their wings.
She carries them. Isaiah 46. Some of you know this
well. Isaiah 46. The Spirit of God,
Spirit of Christ, He carries us, as it were, on
eagles' wings. We're soaring. I don't feel like
I often do it. We are, people. We're going up.
We're going out. Remember what the Lord said,
I'm bringing them out to take them up. Rise above this world
of sin. Well, in Isaiah 46, It says in
verse 3, "...hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the
remnant of the house of Israel, which are born, carried by me
from the belly." Which are carried from the womb. How long will He carry them?
When did He start carrying them? And how long does He carry them?
And how far? To your old age, I may. to hoary
hairs, will I carry you? I made you, and I will bear. Even I will carry, and I will
deliver you." How far does He bear them? All the way. My Savior leads me. What have
I to fear besides? What have I to dread? He carries
them all the way. Where is he taking them? Look
at our text. It says, these words to help
us out. He's going to carry it. You know
that old silly, did any of you ever have that sign on your wall,
footprints in the sand? Anybody? Anybody ever have that?
Oh my. If you still have it, throw it
away. You know, you remember how it
goes? There was two footprints in the sand, two footprints in
the sand, and all of a sudden one set of footprints. Remember
that? And the person says, Lord, you
were walking along me all this way, and then all of a sudden
I see one footprint. Did you leave me? Did you forsake
me? He said, no, that's when I carried
you. That's not what this scripture says. There's always only been
one set of prints. He said, from your belly, from
the womb, to your old age, I've carried you all the way. He never
for one moment set you down and said, I hope you make it. No,
no. Put it on his shoulder. And then
what Christ said? That the good shepherd goes and
finds his lost sheep, and what does he do? Puts it on his shoulders. How far does he take it? All
the way home. And he says, look what I've done.
I carry Him all the way. And you know it's so, don't you? If you're a true sheep of God,
you know it's so. You know if He lets you down
for one minute, you know what you'll do? You'll run over a
cliff. Sometimes He might let you loose
and make you feel like you're lost and gone again, but He did
that for your own good to show you, you can't take one step I've got to carry all of that.
You know what? We're kept by the power of God. We're carried
by Christ Himself. I like that. Sinners like that.
Do you like that? The poor and the needy, the weak
and the wounded, the sick and the sore, they like that. They
like that. And look at this, it says in
verse 4, "...how I bear you on eagles' wings and brought you
unto myself." This is where He's bringing him, to Himself. Like
Rebekah was brought to Isaac. Remember the story of Rebekah?
The Lord sent...anybody like to hear that again? I'd like
to tell it. Abraham sent his servant to find
the bride for Isaac, to go and find the bride who's already
predestined. She's going to come by the angel of the Lord, sent
a servant, represents a preacher of God, to tell her about the
son Isaac. Well, buddy, is she coming? Yes,
she is. Brought her all the way to who?
Isaac. Don't you love that story when
she saw him? Got down off her camel. Said, who's that? That's your Isaac. Oh boy. Like Ruth brought to Boaz. Anybody
like to hear that? That's what the Lord is doing
to His people, bringing us to our Boaz, bringing us to our
kinsmen redeemed, bringing us to Christ. We're going to see
you. Like Mephibosheth brought to
David. Anybody want to hear that? That's what David, the great
king, you can't. And David says it, it's going
to happen. And David sent two strong men to bring a man who's
lame on both feet. Is he coming? And here's what David said, you
go fetch him. Pick him up. Carry him. He's lying. He can't come. Carry
him all the way here and set him right before me. Bring him
to me. I'm going to show kindness to
him for John's sake. Bringing us to his head. Now
look at this, verse 5, Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed,
and keep my covenant, then shall ye be a peculiar treasure unto
me above all people. All the earth is mine, and ye
shall be unto me a kingdom of praise, and a holy nation. These
are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
Moses came, called for the elders of the people, laid these words
before their faces, all these words, see, through the preacher,
all the words the Lord commanded And all the people answered together
and said, All that the Lord has spoken, we will do. And the Lord
Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord. And you
know what the Lord said over in Deuteronomy? He said, The
people said well when they said that. He didn't rebuke them for
saying that. They said well. However, they didn't do what he said.
Go with me to 1 Peter chapter 1. Peter spoke about this. Peter quoted these verses. 1 Peter chapter 1, and we'll
close with this, alright? This is important. And here's
where the law, and Moses, and that whole picture. Here's what
the law could not do. The law cannot do what grace
does. The law can't make people obedient. The law won't make us accepted.
The law won't make us His peculiar people. The law won't make us
holy. But grace does. The Spirit of
God does. Actually does make His people
to be what He tells them to be. They said, we will. But they
didn't, did they? Because they can't. They're under
the law then, aren't they? Aren't they? They can. But God's
people, through Christ, are made willing. When? In the day of His power. What
is His power? The law? Grace. The gospel of grace. This makes
them willing. This makes them obedient. This
makes them peculiar people. This makes them holy. Grace. Great. Look at 1 Peter. The whole
book of Peter is about this. He said, as obedient children. Be ye holy, for I am holy. And
look down at verse 9, he says, you're a chosen generation, like
the sons of Jacob. A chosen generation. A royal
priesthood. That means the sons of the king.
And holy nation. Holy. Holy means consecrated,
devoted. Devoted to the glory of God,
the cause of Christ. It means separated. It means
sanctified. It means set apart. We don't do that to ourselves.
I Peter 2, verse 9. You're a chosen generation, a
royal priesthood, a holy nation. We don't make ourselves holy.
God said to those people, if you will be this way, if you
will do this, if you will do that. I said, we will. Well,
they couldn't, they didn't. But grace can and grace does
make his people holy. Obedient. Yes, he does. He consecrates
us. We're sanctified by the body
of Christ once for all. We're sanctified. We're set apart.
We're made holy by Christ. We're not of this world. That's
what holy means. They're not of this world. Didn't
Christ say that? They're not of this world. As I'm not of
this world. Different. God's people are different. Aren't they? He said, I don't
feel any different. Now, hold on. You're here worshiping
God, aren't you? What's everybody else doing?
You believe the true and living God, don't you? What kind of
God does everybody else believe? You're looking to Christ alone,
aren't you? What's everybody else looking to? You're singing
His praises, aren't you? You hate sin, don't you? Don't
you? That's different. Well, who maketh
us to differ? You don't make yourself different.
You don't sanctify yourself. You don't make yourself different.
But He has made His people to differ. And don't let anybody fool you
with vain words. God's people are different. God
said the world's not worthy of them. God said they're the salt
of the earth, the light of the world. That's what he said. They're
better in Christ. Because Christ is better. And
Christ is in them. Don't tell me, Paul, the Apostle,
is not a better man than Judas Iscariot. Why? He wasn't a better man,
was he? When he was solitarian. But grace
made him to differ. Who gets the glory of this, Paul?
No. But God does. And this is how
He's glorified. Here is the Father glorified
that you bear much fruit. How do you bear fruit? Of yourself?
Joined to the tree, to the vine. But it's subtle. They're peculiar
people. They're different. They're strangers.
They got a strange God. They've got strange beliefs,
and the longer and longer this world goes on, the stranger will
this gospel become. The stranger will the truth be
to people. And people won't believe their ears, what they're hearing
about this old-fashioned gospel. But it's the old way. It's the
true way. God's people are strangers. It
says they're a peculiar people, a purchased people. It means
both. They're a peculiar purchase.
They're a strange purchase. Romans talks about this. He made
of the same lump. He came down, Christ came down
and purchased a lump of coal. An old black lump of coal. Now
what in the world did He buy something like that for? And nothing beautiful about it,
ugly. He's going to make a diamond
out of it. To the praise of the glory of
His grace. He's going to make a diamond and put it in His crown.
He said, look what I made out of a lump of coal. And out of
the same lump, make one a spittoon. What do you say to those things?
That's what Paul asked it, what do you say? I tell you what the
people of God say, the peculiar purchased people of God say,
praise be to God for sovereign electing grace for choosing me. I had nothing to do with it.
They're a strange purchase. They're peculiar people in their
beliefs, their ways, their dress. I tell you, the longer it goes,
the more God's people are going to be so out of They're staffed
with the world, aren't they? Their dress, their actions, their
works. We're saved unto good works, which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them. Our society is so sick and it's
so sad that people talk about coming out. You know what they
mean, don't you? It means they're declaring their
sin like Sodom. But God's people are coming out.
They're coming out on the Lord's side.
Who's on the Lord's side? They're coming out of this world.
He's bringing them out. He said, Come ye out from among
them, be ye separate. Saith the Lord, I'll be your
God, you'll be my people. I'm coming, Lord. Jesus, I come. Jesus, I come. By His grace.
By His grace. And here in 1 Peter 2 it says,
"...dearly beloved..." Well, verse 9 says, "...he's
called you forth..." that you should show forth the praises
of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous
time. If you were not a people, or
now the people of God have not obtained mercy, but now have
obtained mercy, dearly beloved, I beseech you as stranger and
pilgrim, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul."
We're still in a war and we're never going to be done with it.
Egyptians. I love Martin Luther, I always
quote it. Though this world with devil's
feet should threaten to undo us, we will not fear for God
hath willed his truth to triumph through us. Coming out. Coming out. Stand with me. Our Lord, We thank you for that
art, God. Beside me, there's none else.
We thank you that you've made yourself known to us. We thank
you. You've showed us the blood of the lamb. We thank you that
we see clearly your hand in all things. We thank you, Lord, that
you put the fear of the Lord in us. Oh, Lord, we thank you
for giving us our sins for Christ's sake. We thank you that you've
sent an angel to lead us, to guide us, to bear us up all the
days of our life. We thank you, Lord, that we're
kept by your power. We thank you that you've sent
prophets and apostles and evangelists and pastors and teachers for
the perfecting of the saint. We thank you, Lord, for your
gospel, for your word. We thank you. This is our salvation. The words that you've sent Through
Christ our Lord to help us have, how we thank you. Let us not
be forgetful here. Let us not be like the children
of Israel, the sons of Jacob, who forget past mercies and provoke
them constantly. And some of them didn't go into
the promised land. Oh Lord, let us not be overcome
in the wilderness, but by faith overcome, by looking to Christ,
overcome. It's in his name we pray and
ask these things. Amen. You're dismissed.