In many ways, Moses was a picture
or a type of our Lord Jesus Christ. There's just no question about
that. In many ways. This evening, I
just want to deal with two of them. Number one, Moses was himself
the appointed deliverer of a people held in captivity. Now, since we know God doesn't
make any new decrees, he doesn't make any new determinations,
since all things were ordered and ordained before the world
began, that means that in old eternity, God purposed everything
that would ever happen. And He did it eternally. And by that I mean, for our sakes,
the Scripture speaks of a covenant of grace, and maybe in our own
minds, we kind of understand it this way, okay? He chose a
Savior, and then He chose to save, He chose a Savior, He chose
the people He was going to save. He ordained all things. And in
our own minds, we have to break that down into things that happen
separately. And at some point in God's eternity. But really, the covenant of grace
and all the decrees that God made have always been and always
shall be in Christ Jesus, and they are like God forever. They're eternal. There wasn't
any time where God said, I'm going to love these people. As
long as God has been God, that's how long He's loved us. There
wasn't a time when God said, I'm going to choose this vast
number of people to be the recipients of my grace. As long as God has
been God, we've always been the chosen of God. Now, we can't
grasp that. I know we can't. It's an impossibility.
Because we're people who are bound by time. But God is not. And all of his decrees what we
might call all of his decisions, all of his purposes, they are
as old and as ancient as God is. And I know when we begin
to talk about God's predestination and God's election, people say,
oh, that's that primitive doctrine. Indeed it is. It is very primitive. It's as primitive as God Himself,
the Great Eternal One. Before the Lord made the world,
He ordained that He would choose, and He did choose, one nation
out of all the nations of the earth through whom He would manifest
Himself, to whom He would give His Word, His law, His gospel,
and through whom He would send His only begotten Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ, into this world. He chose that nation. Now people
can argue with that, they can fuss about that, but the Lord
said, you only, you only have I chosen the nation of Israel. Well, so that's not, somebody
says, that's not fair to all the rest of the nations of the
earth. Well, it's fair because God did it. God's the sovereign
ruler of all things. All nations belong to Him and
if He chooses to deal with one nation above other nations, that's
His business. He said, I'm the potter and you're
the clay. In like manner. God chose another
nation, but this is a spiritual nation. This is a spiritual people,
but they're nevertheless real. He chose them, not out of one
nation, but He chose them out of every nation, some out of
every nation and kindred and tribe and tongue, across the
face of the earth, of those who would live in this world, before
the world began. He did this. And He ordained
that those people, that massive group of people, a multitude,
John said, which no man can number, God ordained and He purposed
and indeed He said it this way, they will be mine. They are mine. I've loved them with an everlasting
love and I'm going to send my son to pay their sin debt. To redeem them from the curse
of the law. And I will send my spirit to
teach them the gospel. I will send somebody who will
be my mouthpiece to declare unto them my righteousness, my justice,
my holiness, my grace, and my salvation. God ordained all that. And again, people can charge
God foolishly and say that's not fair, and many people do. But again, God says, shall not I do what I will with
my own? All of mankind belongs to God. It's His business if He wants
to save some and leave others to their just condemnation. And I say to you and me who believe
in love, the gospel of God's grace, who believe in love and
worship the Lord Jesus, our Savior, our King, our Substitute, God's
sacrifice, I say to you and I say to me, oh, let us be thankful
that God set His love on us. We're no different by nature
from anybody else, from any other son and daughter of Adam. But
God made a distinction. And He made it before the foundation
of the world. So as Moses was chosen by God
to be the deliverer, the one to lead Israel, that nation held
in Egyptian captivity for over 400 years, as God ordained Moses
to be raised up, preserved, kept, instructed, and then God sent
him forth with power to lead the children of Israel right
up to the promised land out of Egyptian bondage. So our God
ordained his son to be our Savior and to lead us out of our captivity. You know, I know the Egyptians
were cruel taskmasters. We know that, because we've read
that. But I'll tell you, the cruelest taskmaster of all is
God's law. The thing of it is, though, it's
fair. See, the Egyptian taskmasters,
they weren't fair. They weren't just. But God's
holy law is. Be ye perfect, for I am perfect,
God's law says. But our Lord sent somebody to
redeem us from the curse of that cruel taskmaster. And how did he do that? By bearing
the curse himself. He redeemed us from the curse
of the law. You remember in Stephen's message
in Acts 7, and I have brought this out to you before, when
Moses went out and we just read, I just read to you how he went
out thinking that when he killed
this Egyptian, he thought the Israelites would say, boy, good
job. We're thankful for you. And as
we read Stephen's message over in Acts chapter 7, he thought,
Moses thought, that they would receive him. Because he was sent to be the
deliverer. Moses knew his mission. He knew his mission before the
Israelites knew. Right? Before they knew, all
they were aware of was that this man made an appearance. He's been in the house of Pharaoh's
daughter, hobnobbing with the rich and the famous for all these
years, and now all of a sudden he makes an appearance. They didn't know what he was
all about. They didn't know his mission.
And I'm going to show you next Wednesday night how Moses, when
he went to them, he thought they would readily receive him. And
he was anxious. He was anxious. He was very much
determined, let's get on with this. But it wasn't time for
their deliverance. He was like chomping at the bit. But see, all things happen according
to God's purpose and in God's time. Was it time then, right
here in chapter 2, is this the time for their freedom, for their
exodus, for God to demonstrate His awesome power over Pharaoh
and the Egyptians? Is it the right time now for
Moses to lead them out of captivity? And the answer is, not yet. Not yet, Moses. You're the deliverer,
there's no question about that. But the deliverance is not going
to come now. You're 40 years too early. You got some things you gotta
learn. It's like a young preacher. Fills a call to the ministry,
just, I gotta get out there, I gotta get out there. No, not
yet. Got a lot of things to learn
yet. That's Moses. But he knew his mission. He knew
he was the deliverer. And I'll tell you what, when
our Lord Jesus Christ came to this world, he knew what his
mission was. I don't know whether you remember
it or not, whether you paid any attention to it or not. If you
didn't pay any attention, you're at no great loss for not having
paid any attention. Back in, I think it was 2016,
oh, Hollywood decided to make a movie, The Young Messiah. And
I think they portray Jesus as being seven or eight, nine years
old, something like that. I mean, I just read about it.
I don't watch that trash. But they presented him as one
who didn't know who he was and didn't know what he was here
for. And I was reading today, just kind of refreshed my mind.
Internet's a vast source of information, isn't it? And I was reading about
that movie, and in the movie, Joseph and Mary are in a quandary
in that movie as to whether to tell him who he really is, to
tell him about his virgin birth, and to tell him the reason why
he was in the world, whether to tell him or not. Listen to
me. That's heresy. Our Lord Jesus
has always known who He is and what He came to do. He knew what
His mission was. He knew his own identity. He
said, I am. Several times he said, I am.
He told the Jews before Abraham was, I am. He knew he's the Word of God.
He's God fully told out. And he knew he was flesh and
blood. He knew he was born of a virgin. why He ordained all
of that. He knew the Scriptures. Why was
He so well versed in the Scriptures, the Old Testament? This is His
Old Testament. His Spirit inspired holy men
of God to write all of the Word of God. Forty men were used of
God to write the Scriptures over a period of 1,500 years. And every word that they wrote,
they wrote because the Godhead ordained it to be written that
way. He knew exactly who He was. He
knew who the Scriptures were all about. He knew his purpose
for being here. He said, the Son of Man is come. How did he come? God sent him.
He has come to seek. To seek who? The lost. And to
save. To save who? His people. To save
them from what? Their sins. How would He do that? The Son of Man must lay down
His life in the stead of His people. He knew all about that. He wrote the Articles of Redemption
and Salvation. He wrote the Lamb's Book of Life
back in eternity. He's well aware of everything
that's going on. He knew he was the deliverer. But just like in the same sense
now, I mean, obviously no type or picture is perfect. After
all, how can finite things truly typify the infinite God? So in the Word of God, there
are multiple things and places and people who picture and typify
the Lord Jesus Christ, and to get a picture of Him, you have
to consider all of them, because no one finite being can even
begin to truly set forth the glories of our Savior. Our Lord Jesus knew who he was.
He said, I'm the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. He knew very well who he was
and he knew he's the deliverer. He said, all that the Father
giveth me, they shall come to me. And him that cometh to me,
I will in no wise cast out. I came down here to this earth
to do my Father's will. And it said, this is the will
of him that sent me, that of all that he hath given me, I
should lose nothing, but raise him all up at the last day. That
doesn't sound like somebody who doesn't know his purpose in coming
to this world. Why am I here? Well, that's heresy. He knew perfectly well while
he was here. Turn to Matthew 26. Let me just
give you a couple of verses here, a couple of passages. Look at
Matthew chapter 26 and verse 47. Matthew 26, 47. Let me read
a little bit to you here. You remember our Lord had taken
Peter, James, and John, taken them aside. He said, you stay
here and pray. I'm going to go a little bit
further. And they kept falling asleep. Well, He says in verse 46, Rise. It's time to get up, brethren.
Behold, He is at hand that doth betray me. And while he yet spake,
lo, Judas, one of the 12, came, and with him a great multitude
with swords and staves, and from the chief priests and elders
of the people. Now he that betrayed him gave
them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he. Hold him fast. They thought they were gonna
taken unwilling, captive. Our Lord is willing and desirous
to go die the death appointed for Him in order to save us from
our sins. They didn't have to hold Him
fast. Actually, He held them fast. He held them to the very
purpose that he ordained from the foundation of the world.
Look at verse 49. And forthwith he came to Jesus
and said, hail, master, and kissed him. Somebody said he kissed the door
to heaven and went to hell. Verse 50, and Jesus said unto
him, Watch this, he called him friend. Wherefore art thou come? And they came and laid hands
on Jesus and took him. And behold, one of them, which
were with Jesus, stretched out his hand, drew his sword, struck
a servant of the high priest, and smote off his ear. Simon
Peter's one who did that cut off the ear of Malchus, the high
priest's servant. and said, Jesus unto him, put
up again thy sword into his place, for all they that take the sword
shall perish with the sword. And another passage tells he
bent over and picked up that man's ear and just reattached
it to his head. You'd think that'd be enough
for the soldiers and all of them to say, I don't want to mess
with this man. I saw that ear laying on the
ground. I saw the blood coming out. And he just reattached it. I don't want anything to do with
this man. But you cannot measure the vileness of the human heart and how set people are in their
ways against the sovereign Christ. He continued, he said, thinkest
thou that I cannot now pray to my father and he shall presently
give me more than 12 legions of angels? Sometimes the song is sung, he
could have called 10,000 angels. Beautiful song. He could have
called 10,000 angels. But he didn't. He suffered by
himself. Watch this, verse 54, but how
then shall the scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be? Does that sound like somebody
who doesn't know what his purpose is in being here? And in that same hour, continue
reading, 55, said Jesus to the multitudes, are you come out
as against the thief? with swords and staves for to
take me. I sat daily with you teaching
in the temple. You laid no hold on me. But all
this was done that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook
him and fled. Our Savior knew all of these
things that were happening was the unfolding of the eternal
purpose of God predicted and prophesied in the Old Testament.
His Old Testament. He knew He was the Deliverer.
He knew the Scriptures. And He knew the Scriptures testified
of Him. And then, let me just kind of
jump to the second point. Not only was our Lord pictured
by Moses being the promised deliverer, but Moses, secondly, is in a
land where he was a stranger and he married a heathen bride.
Go back over there. Exodus 2. Let me show you a little
something here. He married Zipporah. Now just
a few questions. Number one, where was Moses when
he married Zipporah? Well, he was in Midian. That's
where Zipporah was. You see, God had ordained that
Moses marry Zipporah. But Moses lived in Egypt. Well, how in the world is Moses
going to wind up in a stretch of the Arabian Peninsula, a desert,
a deserted part of it, a virtual wilderness part of it? How is
he going to wind up there so that the purpose of God in him
marrying Zipporah will be fulfilled? Well, God worked things out to
where Moses leaves the palace and goes out in the Midian, a
wilderness area. How did God work it out for Christ
to come and save us? He had to leave His palace. Do you know that song, Out of
the Ivory Palaces? That's a pretty song too. That's
in our psalm book. Into a world of woe. Moses turned
his back on Egypt. He left the palace. He goes out
into the wilderness. Our Lord Jesus left his eternal
palace and glory to come down here to this spiritual desert
and wilderness to save us. Midian was mostly desert and
it means a place of contention and strife. And when our Lord came to this
world, He certainly met up with a lot of contention. and strife. He was opposed, he was rejected,
he was unwelcomed. He came to a spiritual desert and he wasn't understood and
he wasn't appreciated. Oh, when our Lord Jesus began
his public ministry, well, they thought, Israel thought, this
is the Messiah who's come to set up a new kingdom in Jerusalem. He's going to establish Israel
as the dominant world power again. Oh, the glory days are back.
That wasn't why he came. And when they found out that
wasn't why he came, Everybody who is anybody in religion turned
thumbs down on him. Our Lord came to this desert. Secondly, when was it that Moses
found his bride? It was during his time of rejection. Israel had rejected Moses, so he leaves. He goes out in the desert. His time of rejection. When did
our Lord come to seek and save his people? During the time of
rejection. Nobody wanted him, save or except
for just a few folks in Israel who looked for the Messiah. But they all hated him. As soon
as he was born, right from the beginning of his earthly existence,
Herod tried to kill him. When the wise men came and And
he said, where is he that's born King of the Jews? And Herod said,
what? I'm the only king around here.
And he was absolutely determined to kill him. Even if it meant
killing every baby in Israel. He'd kill all the male babies
to get one to kill the Savior. To kill that one whom he considered
a rival king. Thirdly, where did Moses find
his bride? Look here in chapter 2, verse
22. Moses, he's married Zipporah,
and she bear him a son. He called his name Gershom, for
he said, I've been a stranger in a strange land. I'm in a strange
land. That's where Christ found us.
In a strange land. That's where he found his bride,
his church, his chosen people. In this world, in this world
of trouble. Not trouble among ourselves,
but we were in trouble with God. With God's authority. Who did
Moses have trouble with? He had trouble with Pharaoh.
Pharaoh hated him. He had trouble with the authority.
And when our Lord Jesus Christ came, it was the authorities,
especially who despised him. They gonna put him out of business. Moses was sent to deliver Israel
out of cruel, Christ came to deliver his spiritual Israel
out of the bondage of the law. But we were found in this strange
land. And then, let me say this. Zipporah
had two sons by Moses. Turn over to chapter 18. I'll
give you this and I'll quit. Exodus chapter 18. So Moses found his bride in a
desert place. Christ found us in a land wherein
there was no water. But He made us thirsty to drink
the water of life. And then He showed us that He's
the water of life. And with joy, we came to the
wells of salvation, and we drank of that living water over and
over and over again. Well, we're coming back for a
cool drink tonight, aren't we? Back years ago, I was growing
up in Rocky Mount, Virginia. We had a couple in the church
there, and they had a spring I tell you, we'd go over there
and get water. Running out of a mountain, they'd tap back in
there and kind of put a pipe in. You could just stop by and
fill up a bucket or whatever. I started to say a jug. Well, we did have jugs. We didn't
have plastic jugs like they had today. And drink that cool mountain
water. Man, that's good. Christ is the cool, refreshing
water of life. Drink and drink again and be
refreshed. Isn't the gospel refreshing?
Does you good. Well, Zephrah had two sons. Let me read this. Chapter 18,
verses 2 through 4. Now Jethro, same as Reuel, Also
he's known as Hobab. Now Jethro, Moses' father-in-law,
took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her back, and her
two sons, of which the name of the one was Gershom. Stranger. Foreigner. That's what we are. We're still foreigners in the
world, aren't we? We're still strangers in the
world. What did 1 John say? The world knows us not because
it knew Him not. They didn't know who Christ was.
They don't know who we are. They don't understand what we're
all about. I preached that bunch, crowd of people there Saturday.
Most of them, they don't get it. They didn't know. And obviously not interested
in knowing. We're strangers in this world.
People don't understand us. They don't know the language
of grace. We speak a different language, don't we? Christ only,
grace only, faith only. They don't understand it. Scriptures
only. It's a foreign language. So we're
like Gershon, we're strangers. That's what his name means. And
Moses said, I've been an alien in a strange land. You want to
talk about aliens? That's us. We're aliens in this
world. But look at this, and the name
of the other one was Eleazar. You know what that means? God
is our helper. God is our helper. Oh, we're
strangers, all right. But we have an all-sufficient
and all-powerful helper. And that's our Lord. Where'd our Lord find His bride?
Right here in this sin-cursed world. He came down here and
redeemed us. He sends His gospel forth. And
that gospel has a way of finding every lost sheep. That's why
he said, my sheep hear my voice. They hear the gospel of redeeming
grace and then their ears perk up and say, what was that? What
was that? Never heard that before. And
then they find themselves believing this gospel. Yeah, Moses was
a deliverer. The people didn't know who he
was, what he was all about. But he was, and our Savior came
as the deliverer. He came as the Savior. They didn't
know what he was all about. But we do. He saved us. And he found himself a bride
in this world. And we're wedded to him. And
what God has joined together, nobody's going to put it asunder.
Let's get our psalm books. Let's sing one last song here.