Moses and Aaron had faithfully
declared the word of the Lord to Pharaoh. They said, thus saith
the Lord, let my people go, that they may go and serve me and
worship me out in the desert. And of course, Pharaoh said,
I don't know your Lord. Who is this Lord? I don't know
him, and I'm not going to let you go. You see, those who do
not know the Lord, those who do not fear the Lord, those who
do not believe the Lord, they're not going to obey Him. Why, the
words of the Lord communicated to Pharaoh through the lips of
Moses and Aaron. Those words had no effect upon
Pharaoh, and the reason that they had no effect upon Pharaoh
in his own reaction was because he didn't know who God was. He
was altogether ignorant of the Lord, as are most people. Most people you come in contact
with, most people you know, most churches, most preachers, are
absolutely ignorant of who the Lord is. They don't know that
he's the sovereign king who does his will in the armies of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth. They don't know that
he is all powerful. They don't know that he is all
wise. They don't know, they don't recognize
the fact, the infinite goodness of the Lord in providing for
them, though they're His enemies, yet He provides for them every
day. They don't know. Pharaoh didn't
know that the Lord sends His rain upon the righteous and the
wicked. Pharaoh didn't know that the
Lord blessed the crops of Egypt just like He blessed the crops
of Israel. For in Him we live and move and
have our being. People have no idea of who God
is. Pharaoh didn't know who the Lord
was. And furthermore, he did not know himself. He's ignorant,
not only of God, but Pharaoh is ignorant of himself. He's
a poor wiggling worm of the dust. He didn't know that. He is a
needy creature, fully dependent upon the charity of God to him. And by charity, I mean God providing
for him everyday things that were necessary for his life to
continue. He didn't know that. So he says, who is the Lord that
I should obey his voice? And he wouldn't listen. And so, Moses and Aaron, having
spoken the truth to this evil tyrant, this wicked monarch,
they were disappointed that he didn't let them go. but the Lord
had already told him, he's not going to let you go because I'm
going to harden his heart. And then the Israelites being
very much deprived of the straw and the stubble necessary to
make bricks, then they're complaining against what the Lord has done. And they blame it, they blame
this thing all on Moses and Aaron. If you hadn't have gone to Pharaoh
and said, the Lord said, let my people go, we'd still be on
a fast track perhaps to easier times. Preachers, it's your fault. Moses and Aaron, it's your fault.
You brought this upon ourselves. And so Moses, he goes before
the Lord, as I read to you. And Moses, he thought, just like
the Israelites thought, that when the Lord said, that He was
going to bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey. They thought that promise would
be immediately fulfilled. But as I said when I read the
passage of Scripture, though the promises of God are yea and
they're amen in Christ Jesus, they come to pass when God is
pleased to bring those promises to pass. And a really good illustration
of that is in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15 where the Son
of God announced that He was coming. The seed of the woman
was coming who would bruise the head of the serpent and in the
process His own heel would be bruised. And immediately, immediately
Eve and no doubt Adam They assumed that the fulfillment of the promise
would be immediate. That's why in the fourth chapter,
when Eve conceived, she said, and here's an accurate translation,
she said, I have gotten a man. He's the Lord. He's the Lord. Boy, was she wrong. Because Cain
was a murderer. And all through the Old Testament,
all of the saints of God lived in dependence upon that at first
promise of the Lord in Genesis 3.15. They were looking for the
seed of the woman. They were looking for Messiah.
They were looking for the Redeemer. They were looking for the Savior. But he didn't come in their lifetime.
One generation passed and another generation came and on and on. Hundreds and hundreds of years.
But still they looked for him. And I'll tell you this, the Lord
has said to us that he's coming again. Do not doubt his word. Do not grow impatient. And do
not think, as many in the days of Simon Peter in chapter 3,
do not conclude as they did, well, the Lord hadn't come back
and there's been no judgment on the earth and in a fiery way
of destroying everything. Do not conclude that the That
which seems to be a delay in the coming of the Lord is really
no delay at all. All things are moving according
to His will. And the Lord, to take it back
to this context, He is going to liberate Israel from Egyptian
bondage. But He will do it in His time
and in His way. And he did not, and he does not
today, when he doesn't immediately fulfill his promise, he does
not give an account of his matters to anybody. That's what in Job
33, that's what Elihu said. He was a younger friend of Job's
and he said, I've got to say something or I'm going to bust
wide open. He said, don't you call God to give an account to
you. He don't give an account to you. God doesn't owe you or
me or anybody else any kind of explanation for the reason that
He does what He does aside from this. Number one, He does all
things for His glory. And number two, He does all things
for the good of His children. Now you can take those things
I started saying take him to the bank, but some of the banks
are failing. I tell you, the bank of God's
promises will never fail. Never fail. He will, he will make good on
his promises. And the thing of it is, the ways
of God are past finding out. And whatever work of God you
might want to consider and think about, you can't comprehend. You can't and I cannot comprehend
in our very narrow minds the workings of an infinite God.
Well, you can't explain creation. He spake and it was done. Well,
try explaining that one. He said, light be, and lights
came on. Figure that one out. His ways
are past finding out. We receive these things concerning
God and the things that God does by faith. By faith. And the matter of salvation.
What infinite wisdom was necessary to formulate This eternal purpose
of God choosing a people unto salvation and then sending a
Savior for those people, a Savior who was infinite in and of Himself. A Savior who is equal with God
in every way. But how is an infinite God who
inhabits eternity, who is spirit, how is he going to come into
this world? Well, behold the wisdom of God. God prepared a body for him and
he's gonna be born of a virgin. Well, that's beyond our comprehension. He studied biology. He said,
that's an impossibility. Nothing's impossible with God.
Oh, there are a lot of impossibilities to you and me, but don't use
the word impossible with God. He comes down here to this earth
and he lives a life of perfection to show he is the qualified Savior. He is that lamb, that lamb who
is spotless and without blemish. He is that lamb who must be smitten
of God and afflicted, who must lay down his life for the sheep. I'll probably preach on that
Sunday night. He is salvation. He is our righteousness. You see, God made every provision
necessary for us. All things that would be necessary
to take us from, as it were, the very edge of hell into the
glories of heaven, God arranged all of it. And there's no way
that any of his children could ever perish. Now, you can't explain
salvation. A fella told me one time, I was
riding in a car with him, he said, you know, Jim, Salvation's
as easy as falling off a log. I said, could I say something
to you? He said, what? I said, you're altogether ignorant. You don't know anything. It took
the infinite wisdom of the eternal God to come up with this scheme,
to come up with this purpose, to save sinners without compromising
His own law and justice that demanded death for sin. Ain't
nothing easy about that. You see the Lord of glory, as
angels beheld Him come down here to this earth, humble Himself,
put up with people mocking Him and ridiculing Him. You see all
of that? You think there's nothing to
it? See Him going to the cross and they spit on Him and slap
Him and crown Him with thorns? Nail Him to a cross? See God
blot out the light and God torment and torture and pour His wrath
out into His holy soul? Ain't nothing easy about that. He said, well, now that you look
at it that way, it's different. Don't say stupid stuff like that. And then there's the mystery
of providence. Oh, the providence of God. How
mysterious that is. Ezekiel likened the providence
of God to a wheel within a wheel. And I tell you what, the wheels
of God's providence can turn mighty slow. Especially when you're in the
depths and in the anguish of a troubling
situation. Go make bricks and find your
own stubble. Oh Lord, when will this end?
When will these trials be over? When will we get to the land
of promise? In due time. in due time. For you see, not only must this
monarch see the amazing power of God, not only must the Egyptian
nation witness that awesomeness of God in sending forth all of
these plagues, all 10 of them, with the 10th one being the death
of the firstborn, but Israel needs to see these things. Israel
needs to be brought to realize the glory of the God of Israel,
the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And they need to learn a lesson,
a lesson that we all must learn too. Without the shedding of
blood is no remission of sin. That Passover lamb tells us that,
doesn't it? and that blood put outside the
door, over the top and on the side posts outside, we'll learn
a lesson from that too. The death of the Son of God was
for God first. Because God said, when I see
the blood, not when you see it, when I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. And the eye of God is on the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. His eye has always been on the
blood. His eye was on the blood from
old eternity. God brought all that to pass. And we say Moses, Aaron, children
of Israel, it's all going to work out. That's because we're
like armchair quarterbacks. We can see. We read it in the
Bible. And yet, isn't it true with regard
to us? We're just like them. When will
these calamities be passed? Oh, child of God. Oh, children
of the Lord. You and me, may God teach us
patience. Our redemption draweth nigh when
we shall be taken home to glory. The providence of God turns slowly,
so slowly. And then we get here to chapter
6. And in the first three verses
we see the glorious name of the Lord. He reminded Moses, and Moses
will pass these words to the children of Israel. Look at verse
two. God spake unto Moses and said unto him, I am the Lord. And these words that the Lord
spoke to Moses, he uses those same words in verse eight, the
last words of this section. I am the Lord. Don't forget who
your Lord is. He's not little like you are.
He's not pitiful like you are. He's not powerless like you are. He's not weak like you are. Who
is He? He's the Lord. He's Jehovah Jesus. He's our Savior. Don't measure
God by your own weakness. God's not like us. In fact, the
Lord said that to Israel. Thou thoughtest that I was altogether
such a one as yourself. You thought I was just like you.
You measure me and my power by you and your power. God said,
that's a foolish thing to do. There is no comparison. He is the great I am. I'll tell
you something real quick here. In these first eight verses,
the Lord uses these words, I, me, and my 19 times in eight
verses. I, me and my. You listen to modern
religion today and listen to people who want to brag on what
they've done for the Lord. They always begin this way. I
was a real rebel rouser. But I decided, I gave my heart
to Jesus. I raised my head. I walked down
the aisle. I prayed the center prayer. It
always starts with I. I tell you, what encourages the
people of God when the Lord says, I. When he says, I. Like in Isaiah
43, one, fear not, I have redeemed thee. Again in 43, one of Isaiah, I
have called thee. Acts 18, 10, God told Paul, I
am with thee. Isaiah 41.10, I will help thee. Jeremiah 31.3, I have loved thee. The Lord says, I will never leave
thee nor forsake thee. He says, I have blotted out thy
transgressions like a cloud. I love to hear the Lord say,
I. Don't you? When speaking of salvation, let's
always begin with the Lord. Paul said, by the grace of God,
I am what I am. Don't misquote that. A lot of
people misquote 1 Corinthians 15, 10. And they'll say, I am
what I am by the grace of God. Hold on. Let's start with the
grace of God. The glorious name of the Lord,
he says, I am. Tell me about the Lord you believe,
and I'll tell you if you know anything about the gospel of
grace. If your Lord is limited, if he can only do what people
let him do, If his purpose can be frustrated and checkmated
by your will, he's not the Lord of glory. And then he gives some glorious
reminders. Let me just give them to you.
Look at verse three, it says, I appeared unto Abraham. In other
words, I manifested myself to Abraham. What the Lord is doing, He's
reassuring Moses and Aaron who will reassure Israel of who their
God is. I manifested myself to Abraham. I sought Abraham. Abraham wasn't
seeking me. Look at verse 4. I established my covenant with
them. They didn't make a covenant with
me. I made a covenant with Abraham and his seed. He says in verse 5, the last
statement, I have remembered my covenant. The covenant of grace, that's
God's covenant. It begins with God, it ends with
God. Now the covenant of works that
God made with Adam, and was enlarged upon with Israel at Mount Sinai,
those were temporal mercies dependent upon man's obedience. God entered into that covenant
with Israel, and Israel said, all that the Lord has said we
will do. And it's like they shook hands
with God and entered into a covenant. Well, what do you think happened
to that covenant? God was true, he was faithful,
but Israel failed. But the everlasting covenant
of grace was made with the Holy Trinity. God can't fail. He can't fail. My salvation,
your salvation, has never, ever been dependent upon us. It's
always been dependent upon our God, who covenanted Father, Son,
and Spirit covenant together for the salvation of a multitude
which no man can number. And every single thing about
that glorious salvation was ordained in old eternity. No wonder David
said this covenant, it's all my salvation, and it's sure. That's God's covenant. And look
what he says in verse five. I've heard the groaning of the
children of Israel. He put the groan in their heart.
That's kind of comfortable in Egypt. Sunk their roots down. You know, it's not too bad to
live here. Climate's good. Things going well. Well, the
Lord's gonna stir things up for you. Lord made him uncomfortable. It's a blessed day when the Lord
made us uncomfortable about the matter of sin. It's a wonderful
day. And he says here in verse six,
I'll bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians,
I will. The burdens of Satan. Oh, what
heavy burdens he lays upon us. The burdens of the world. The
burden of our own sin. Oh, God makes sin a burden to
us. The burden of God's law. that demands perfection and will
accept nothing less than perfection. He says there in verse six, I
will rid you out of their bondage, oh blessed day. When liberation
comes, freedom, free from the law, oh happy condition. Jesus has bled and there's remission. Cursed by the law and bruised
by the fall. Grace has redeemed us once for
all. And that's what he says there
in the verse six. I will redeem you with a stretched
out arm and with great judgment. Judgment's upon your enemies. And I'll buy you. I'm gonna buy
you. What's the price? Blood. Blood. That's why Peter said
you're bought with a precious price. The blood of Christ. And he says in verse seven, and
the Lord just keeps on, keeps on with these wonderful, wonderful
promises. I will take you to me for a people. I will take you, this rebellious
people, This grumbling, murmuring bunch of people who are rebels
and complainers, chronic complainers. That's what they are, or were,
and I tend to think that's kind of what we are. That's kind of a chronic condition. Doctor told me, he said, you
got, he took a seat, CAT scan said you got chronic sinus condition. Means you ain't gonna get rid
of it. We got a chronic condition, I'll tell ya. It's due to sin within us. But one of these days, the Lord
who redeemed us from the curse of the law, He's gonna redeem
us from all the troubles of this old world, and the troubles of
this flesh. And the flesh will be buried,
and then in the final resurrection, the body's gonna be raised, and
fashioned like in His glorious body. You know why? Because He
not only redeemed our souls, He redeemed our bodies, didn't
He, Ron? He redeemed this body. He bought it. He bought it. He's gonna make something of
you, say, Jimmy, it ain't much to you, I know. But one of these
days, one of these days, I'm gonna have a glorious body, free
of sin. And he says, I will be to you
a God. I'm gonna be your God. And watch this, and ye shall
know, What are we going to know? We're going to know that the
Lord is the Lord. He's not your servant. He's not
your valet. We went to some kind of a program,
a show down in North Myrtle Beach, and they sang some kind of silly
song about Jesus is on the line, tell him what you want. Other than that one and another
one, the rest of it was pretty good. When they tried to get
religious, that's when they really messed up. He's not your valet. You don't pick up the telephone
and call Jesus and say, now this is what I want. had some fellows in Bible college. They'd go to a car lot because
they'd been taught this. They'd say, lay your hands on
that car and say, I claim this in Jesus' name. And some of them
tried that. They didn't get too far. That
didn't impress the dealership. Said, it'll be yours if you buy
it. He's the Lord. Bow down, proud
sinner. Make the dust your headquarters. You want to deal with God? You
just remember you're nothing. And the only way to come into
the presence of a holy God is through Christ Jesus the Lord. He said, I am the Lord your God,
which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
God is giving his word. I'm going to bring you out. And
I'm saying to all the people of God here, to all the people
of God who are watching out there, the Lord's going to bring you
out. He's going to take you into his
presence. It's a land much better than the land of Canaan to which
the Israelites were going. It's the everlasting home of
the Father. And that's where he's gonna take
us to. And he says in verse eight, and I will bring you in unto
the land concerning which I did swear it, to Abraham, to Isaac,
and to Jacob. I'm gonna give it to you for
heritage. Well, who said that? I am the
Lord. I say it, that's what the Lord,
I've said it. You reckon he's as good as his
word? Oh, he's faithful, he's faithful. And we're thankful to him for
all of the wonderful salvation blessings that we have in Christ
Jesus. And so we're going to sing the
closing song, 449, to God be the glory. To God be the glory,
number 449.