Good morning and back to chapter
12. Let's ask God to bless again. Lord, prepare us to worship and
to receive what thus said the Lord. Speak in encouraging grace, Lord,
to your people. We ask that you would revive
us, refresh us, teach us, Admonish us, and Lord, enable us to exalt
you today. We ask for those, Lord, who know
you not. Lord, that which is absolutely
necessary is for there to be a work of grace within the hearts
of those who are unbelievers. Lord, do that special work that
you must do, a work that is omnipotent, a
work that is irresistible, a work that is always effectual. That is, it always gets the job
done. Lord, use these few words that
I shall speak in an unusual way. There's certainly no power in
my words, but Lord, there is omnipotent power in your words. We ask that you would speak to
each of us today. Lord, that work for me and every
minister of the gospel is one of great difficulty unless you
are pleased to use us. There's no way for me to know
the needs of all of these people and all of those who are watching.
And yet, Lord, you know. You know exactly the words that
need to be spoken, words that will be effective to each individual. And so, Lord, as your servant,
I ask you most humbly, would you use this earthen vessel once
more to be honoring to your name, to exalt your dear beloved son, to be able to minister, Lord,
to these, your saints, and to have a word of warning
and instruction to those who know you not. So Spirit of God, Spirit of grace, meet with us. We ask these things for the sake
of our Savior. Amen. If you would, I want to read
with you. I want you to read silently. And I'll read here in Exodus
chapter 12 and verse 29. And actually, the first five
words of this verse gives you my title. And it came to pass. And it came to pass. You will
find that in chapter 12, and also in chapter 13, these words
are put together five different, on five different occasions.
One of them, there's also added, it came to pass, and the word
and is dropped. But I'll read the rest of the
verse. And it came to pass that at midnight, the Lord smote all
the firstborn of the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of
Pharaoh that sat on his throne, unto the firstborn of the captive
that was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the cattle. And it came to pass." Now, those
of you who read the scriptures quite often, and I'm sure many
of you are following the read through the Bible in a year,
this is a phrase you'll come across lots of times, I'm sure
hundreds of times in the Word of God. I think we kind of tend
to, or at least I tend to just sort of read over these. And we forget that everything
in the book of God's important, and everything in the book of
God is instructive. And what I want us to understand
right from the outset of this message is this. everything God
has purposed, it will come to pass. It must come to pass. God has never purposed anything
that hasn't come to pass or will yet come to pass. And it came
to pass. Now, understand then what this
means. It means that everything that
God Almighty has purposed, everything that God has ordained, everything
that God has decreed, will and must, absolutely it shall come to pass. Well, you say, Jim, well, what
has God purposed? Well, let's look and see what
the scripture says. Go over with me to the book of
Ephesians, to the book of Ephesians, and we'll go to the first, very
first chapter of the book of Ephesians. What is it that God
has purposed? What has God ordained? What has
God decreed? Well, we're very, This is said
before us very clearly, right here in Ephesians chapter one,
everything that God has purposed. Are you there? Ephesians chapter
one, verse 11. And I know with most of you,
the book of Ephesians, especially the first chapter, you probably
have gone to this portion of scripture so many times that
it's very well worn. But though in our Bibles the
pages may be very well worn, the doctrine is never worn. The doctrine is ever new and
fresh and delightful to the children of God. Okay, verse 11, in whom,
that is in Christ Jesus, and you know, of course, that throughout
the first chapter of the book of Ephesians, that this is one
of the apostles' favorite expressions, in whom, in Christ, in him. Everything that God has for us
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Outside of Him, there's no grace,
there's no love, there's no mercy, there is no salvation for anybody
outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. So all things are in Him, all
blessings are in Him. And so He says, in whom? In the
Savior, in the Lord Jesus. Also, we have obtained an inheritance. Well, how is it that we have
obtained an inheritance? Well, because we're His children.
being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things. There's no limit to this. There's
no cutoff of this. Who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. What is going to come to pass? Well, the purpose of God. Everything
that God has ever purposed is going to come to pass. Well,
how extensive is this purpose? How broad is this purpose? Well, it encompasses everything. That's what we need to understand.
Our God is the God of all things. He has determined everything
that shall ever be, and everything that God has determined, it will
come to pass just exactly as He ordained it to be. This verse, you see, it sets
forth both predestination and providence. What is predestination? Well, quite simply, it's the
sovereign, unchanging purpose of God. It's what God is determined
to do. It's what God has purpose to
do. He has laid out His purpose, and that which providence then,
you say, well that's predestination, what is providence? Providence
is the bringing to pass that which God predestinated to be
done. It's very simple. All things
are of God. All things are according to his
purpose. All things have been predestinated.
And by his divine providence, God brings everything that he
has ordained to pass exactly as he purposed. He brings these things to pass
in time. Well, Jim, I don't understand
why this has happened in my life. I don't understand why this other
thing has happened in my life. God predestinated it. Of that
we have no doubt. Now, you will never find any
peace. You will never find any rest
in this world. unless God the Spirit impresses
upon you that everything in your life, every single thing, God has ordained and He is bringing
those things to pass throughout your lifetime. Now understand,
this doesn't relieve you of any responsibility. You're responsible
to always do right. You're always responsible to
be honest. You're always responsible to
live according to the Word of God. But know this, when you're obedient
and even when you're disobedient, all of these things will fulfill
God's purpose for you. Isn't that good to know? And know this also, nothing you
can do, I repeat, nothing you can do can undo what God has
predestinated for you. And nothing that you do can in
any way frustrate God from bringing to pass that which he has ordained
for you. There is no evil in this world
that can frustrate God's purpose pertaining to you. There is no
enemy that can interrupt, that can interfere, that can ruin
that which God has predestinated for you. You are His child. He
adopted you into His family. You go back in Ephesians chapter
1 and he talks about, He predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ unto Himself. You're His blood-bought child. You're in the family of God.
Your Father has marked out your path. He has ordained your life. I don't know how many years He
has predestinated for you, nor do I know that for myself. It
is enough to know that God has already marked things out He
has already predestinated everything that shall ever befall me and
he who will bring all of these things to pass will do so for
his glory and it will all work together for my good. Isn't that delightful to know? All that God has predestinated
is for his glory and for the good of his chosen people. What God has purposed, God will
bring to pass. And I'll give you another verse
on this, two verses, couple of verses on this, Ezekiel chapter
33, and then we'll go back to my text. I don't want to veer
away too far from Exodus chapter 12, but go to Ezekiel chapter
33. You know, as preachers, we have
to be careful that we don't kind of lose people. We want to continue
a kind of a trained thought And so I want you to understand God's
got a purpose. He's predestinated all things
by his providence. He is bringing his predestination
to pass. Nothing can interfere with that.
And as we look here in Ezekiel chapter 33, the Lord is speaking
to his servant. Ezekiel chapter 33. And look
at verse 31. Ezekiel 33. The Lord says to his servant
to encourage him, they shall come unto thee as the people
cometh. They shall sit before thee as
my people. They will hear thy words. In
other words, they will listen to everything you have to say.
And they'll sit there as though they were my people, as though
they love me and love my word. But, he says, they will not do
them. For with their mouth, they show
much love. but their heart goeth after their
covetousness. And lo, Ezekiel, and lo, thou
art unto them as a very lovely, a very lovely song of one that
hath a very pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument. For they hear thy words, and
they say, he is a really good preacher. Oh, I'd love to hear him preach,
but they do them not. Now here's what I'm after, this
last verse. And when this cometh to pass,
lo, it will come. It will come. What I have said,
it will come. God has ordained it, nothing
can interfere with it. This will come. Now my friends,
this is more than God's foreknowledge. This is God's eternal purpose
for Israel and for Ezekiel being carried out. When this cometh to pass, lo
it will, Then shall they know, oh, God sent a prophet among them,
but they will know too late. Well, let's go back to a familiar
story back here in Exodus chapter 12. As we arrive back in Exodus chapter
12, we find this expression, and it came to pass, it's found
five times in chapters 12 and 13. And actually, if you wanna
drop the word and, it's found six times in chapters 12 and
13. Don't read over these words as
if they're relatively unimportant. Remember, everything comes to
pass, because God predestinated it to come to pass. God has thus far sent nine plagues
upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians, but the proud monarch would not
let Israel go. Well, that was certainly no surprise
to the Lord. because we read, first of all,
that God hardened his heart. On some occasions, we read that
Pharaoh hardened his heart, but the very first time Pharaoh's
heart was hardened, God hardened his heart, and then God hardened
his heart on other occasions, because God is going to bring
to pass that which he has purposed, that which he ordained. that
which everything from Genesis chapter three and verse 15 has
been pointing. That is the death of a substitute
in the stead of the firstborn. And of course, this continues
all the way through the Old Testament until we get to the New Testament
when God sends his lamb into the world. who will be sacrificed
according to God's decree. God predestinated the death of
the Lord Jesus Christ in order to save all of His firstborn,
in order to save all of His loved ones, in order to save all of
His children. And so here we find that God
has sent all of these nine plagues to Pharaoh fully knowing these
things will not get the job done in the heart of Pharaoh. And
it wasn't that Pharaoh was ruining that which God ordained to be
done, but rather God has given opportunity to manifest his greatness
to the children of Israel by the works that he does until
finally he gets to the death of the firstborn by means of
the Passover lamb. This is what everything has been
pointing to, the death of the Passover lamb. as we get to chapter 12, that
comes to pass. That comes to pass. Now here
are five things I want you to see. I'll give you a very simple
outline of some things that are necessary for us to know from
Exodus chapters 12 and 13. The first word I'm going to give
you is right here from verse 29 in Exodus chapter 12. It is
the word, the idea of judgment. And it came to pass. What came
to pass? Judgment came to pass. Judgment
came to pass. And it came to pass that at midnight
the Lord, the Lord smoked. all the firstborn in the land
of Egypt from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne
and the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon and all
the firstborn of the cattle. It came to pass. This has to
do with judgment. That which God had predestinated
to do with the Egyptians, that which God had ordained to
do with Pharaoh, now it comes to pass. His decrees are everlasting
decrees. We know that. His purpose is
without beginning. But he brings his purpose to
pass only at that time that he sees fit. And here he brings to pass his
decree of judgment upon Pharaoh. several chapters here in the
book of Exodus, God has continually announced that judgment was going
to be poured out upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians. He has been
warned The Lord will later express His will and His word through
Isaiah, and He will say to the Israelites, I gave Egypt for
your ransom. That's Isaiah chapter 43 and
verse 3. I gave Egypt for your ransom.
You see, God raised up this powerhouse of a nation, Egypt, and He raised
up their monarch, who thought himself to be a god, to be worshipped
by the people, God raised up Pharaoh and He raised up the
Egyptians in order to manifest the greatness of God Himself
and His power in overthrowing the Egyptians. And Pharaoh thinks
he's in charge of the day. Well, he's the great one. He wears His impressive headgear
honoring His God and the people of the nation of Egypt, they
worship Him as such. He's bold in His defiance of
God. I'm going to preach to you tonight
on the subject, Who is the Lord? That's what Pharaoh said. Who
is the Lord that I should fear Him? Who is the Lord that I should
let His people go? Well, he's going to find out. He's going to find out who God
is and he will find out to a degree through judgment, through judgment. Here's a man who hardened himself
against God. Of course, he didn't want judgment.
Nobody wants judgment. Have you ever noticed how many
times in the book of Exodus that Pharaoh said to Moses something
like this, would you pray for me? Would you entreat the Lord for
me? Well, if you hadn't noticed, I'm gonna show them to you. Go
back to chapter eight. Look at chapter eight. And in
this, he reminds me of the natural man who when anything negative
happens in their life, he calls up a church, he calls up a preacher,
he may call up several churches. And he says something like this,
would you pray for me? Would you pray for me? And I
have asked before, what do you want me to, how do you want me
to pray for you? Pray that God would heal me.
pray that God will take the cancer away or whatever the difficulty
is. Well, listen to the words of
Pharaoh. Look at chapter eight and verse 28. Pharaoh said, I'll let you go. You with me? Chapter eight, verse
28. Pharaoh said, I will let you go that you may sacrifice
to the Lord your God in the wilderness, only you shall not go very far
away in treat for me, pray for me. I don't like these judgments
that are being poured out upon me. I don't like the frogs. I don't like the lice. I don't
like the flies. Pray for me that God would take
these things away. And there are people today, the
natural man still says that to people that he think knows God. And the natural man will say,
pray for me that the Lord take these flies away, the flies in
my life, the lice in my life, the trouble in my life, pray
for me. But one thing Pharaoh never asked
Moses to seek God's face about was his salvation, which asks
God to be gracious to me. Would you entreat God? Would
He forgive me of my sins through the blood of the Lamb of God
who is going to come? I've perceived you people, I've
listened to you, and I know that you have an interest in the God
of your forefathers, and I hear you talking about the Messiah
who's going to come, the seed of the woman. Would you ask God
if He would intervene for me and that He would save my soul? No, He doesn't pray like that.
He just says, Would you ask God to take judgment away? Look at
chapter 9 and verse 27. Chapter 9 and verse 27, here's
the plague of hail. Verse 27, and Pharaoh sent, he
called for Moses and Aaron and he said to them, this time, I
have sinned this time. He said, well, there's hope for
this fellow. I have sinned. The Lord is righteous. You're absolutely correct about
that. The Lord is righteous. And I
and my people are wicked. You're correct about that. You
see, an unbeliever, he can express many truthful things. But he doesn't have a heart to
know God. Look at verse 28. Entreat the Lord. Pray for me. For it is enough. I've had enough.
I give up. That there be no mighty thunderings
and hail, and I will let you go and you'll stay no longer.
Pharaoh is interested in one thing only, and that's the thing
the natural man is concerned about. I want physical comfort,
take away all physical things that are offensive to me, and
I'll let you go. Oh, intrigue for me, chapter
10. Look at chapter 10 in verse 15.
And now the issue is locusts. Chapter 10 and verse 15. For
they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land
was darkened. And they did eat every herb of
the land and the fruit of the trees which the hail had left. And there remained not any green
thing in the trees or in the herbs of the field through all
the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh called for Moses
and Aaron in haste, and he said, I have sinned against the Lord
your God and against you. Now therefore forgive, I pray
thee, my sin this once, and entreat the Lord your God that he may
take away from me this death only. I don't wanna die. Pray for me. That's the natural man, isn't
it? That's the way the natural man is. He has no interest in
the welfare of his soul. Listen, you are a soul and you
have a body. It may be to fulfill God's purpose,
it may be that He will indeed heal you of your cancer, your
heart disease, or whatever ailment that you might happen to have,
but that which is your real difficulty and problem, your real trouble,
is soul trouble. You're in debt to God. You're
a sinner before God. Your soul is alienated from God,
even if he does heal your body and he takes away every physical
discomfort from you, still you don't have a mediator and you don't have a savior.
And you're heading out into an endless eternity without God
and without hope. Again, go back to the 12th chapter in verse 32. And this is after God has poured
out his wrath and killed the firstborn of the Egyptians. In verse 31, he called for Moses
and Aaron by night and said, rise up and get you forth from
among my people, both ye and the children of Israel and go
serve the Lord as ye have said. Also take your flocks and your
herds as you have said and be gone and bless me also. And the word means pray for me,
seek God's face for me. Now, my friends, and I want to
speak very honestly to those of you who know not the Savior,
I have prayed for you, and I have entreated the Lord for you. I
don't know you individually, but I have already asked God
in my pastoral prayer that He would deal with you in mercy. But you see, that's all I can
do. This is between you and God. Pharaoh, why don't you ask God
to show mercy to you? Why don't you intrigue God's
face? Why don't you seek the Lord while he may be found and
call upon him while he's near? This is between you and a holy
God. And I'm telling you, the only
way God will be entreated for you is through the Lord Jesus
and His substitutionary sacrifice upon the cross of Calvary. Judgment,
and it came to pass. What came to pass? Judgment came
to pass. And I'll tell you this, I'm gonna
give you three things here. Number one, judgment came to
pass with good reason." With good reason? This man deserved it. The Egyptians
deserved it. Do you know how they treated
God's people? Do you know how bitter the sufferings
were of the Israelites? And they stand as a representative
nation of all the elect of God. And the Lord says, he that toucheth
you toucheth me. He that toucheth you touches
the apple of my eye. The Lord said to a man by the
name of Saul, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Well, Saul
never persecuted the Lord Jesus Christ. Ah, he persecuted the
Lord's people. Therefore he persecuted the Lord. Judgment came to Pharaoh and
the Egyptians with good reason. One day, God's coming back in
judgment. And if you're an unbeliever,
that ought to frighten you. It ought to scare you to death,
because our God's a consuming fire. Judgment will come upon
you, and it will come with good reason. You see, those who perish
in their sins deserve to perish. That's what we need to understand.
They deserve what they get. And the only difference between
those of us who are saved by grace and those who perish is
not that we made the difference, but God made the difference through
the blood. You see the difference here between
the Egyptians and the Israelites, between the death of the firstborn
of the Egyptians and the life of the firstborn Israelites was
one thing, the blood. The blood makes the difference.
And I hope you see that. I hope God shows you that. Judgment
came with good reason. And secondly, judgment came with
warning. It wasn't like the Lord just
all of a sudden said, well, I'm going to pour this judgment out. No, this was warned. God gave
him warning. And the Lord warns you, except
you repent, you shall all likewise perish. He that believeth not
is condemned already. You have been warned. Consider
yourself warned. There is a judgment to come.
The only place of safety is Christ Jesus the Lord. The only refuge. Flee to Him. You say, well, I'm just too busy.
You've been warned. You've been warned. Judgment
never comes without good reason. And judgment never comes in this
Bible. It never comes without warning. Noah preached 120 years, and
he was a preacher of righteousness. Judgment's coming. Judgment's
coming. I'm building an ark. It's the
only place of safety, I warn you. He's fanatic over religion, that's
what the people said, something like that. And Noah bringing all those animals
in the ark, curiosity stirred many of the people, no doubt,
to behold what was going on. And I suspect Noah, having the
heart of a man of God, of a servant of the Lord, beseeched them and
said, please come in! God's gonna send judgment on
this world. Had never rained ever. Not in
this lifetime, not in my daddy's lifetime. I asked him, he said,
it ain't never rained. Asked my granddaddy, he said,
it's never rained. And you talking about God's gonna
send a flood? Noah said, please come in. No,
no, and God shut the door. And I tell you, there's salvation
inside and there's judgment outside. That's what I'm telling you.
There's salvation in Christ. There's judgment outside of Him.
Here's the second thing. Covenant. Here's the second thing
I wanna show you. Look at chapter 12. Here's the
second, and it came to pass. Chapter 12 in verse 40. Now the
sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was
430 years, and it came to pass at the end of the 430 years,
even the self same day, it came to pass and all the hosts of
the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. What is a covenant?
Well, it's a legal binding agreement entered into by two or more people. Go back with me to Exodus chapter
six. Why is God doing all of this
for Israel? Now, listen, they're really as
rotten as the Egyptians. Let's just be honest about it.
They are, they're as wicked as the Egyptians. And they're gonna
give evidence of that as they begin their wilderness journey.
Because they're not gonna get very far out there in the wilderness
before they're gonna start murmuring. Why'd you bring us out here to
die? We loved it back in the land
of Eden. Oh, we have short memories, don't
we? Well, why did God spare them? Why is God doing all of this
for Israel? After all, they're rebellious
people. They're a sinful people. They're no better in their actions,
really, than the Egyptians. The Israelites aren't. In fact,
you remember in Romans, the third chapter, that's where the apostle
writes, What then? Are we or the Jews better than
they, the Gentiles? No and no wise. For we have before
proved, both Jew and Gentile and Egyptians, that they're all
under sin. Look at chapter six and verse
two. God spake unto Moses and said
unto him, I am the Lord. And I appeared unto Abraham,
unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty. But
by my name Jehovah was I not known to them. And I have also
established my covenant. That's our second point. And
the first point's judgment. And it came to pass judgment.
Second point is, and it came to pass a covenant. I've established
my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the
land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers. I've also
heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians
keep in bondage, and I have remembered my covenant, my covenant. This is a covenant that God made
with Abraham. And at your leisure, go back
and read Genesis chapter 15 verses 13 through 18. And God told the
old patriarch, your children, your children, they will dwell
in a very, very unhospitable country for 400 years. Now, of course, things went well
to a new Pharaoh was raised up who didn't love God or didn't
love the Israelites, had no respect for them. And God told Abraham,
I'm making a covenant with you. I'm entering into a covenant
with you. You represent the whole nation of Israel. Hang on to
that thought. God made a covenant with one
man on behalf of a whole nation. By the way, by the time when
the Israelites, when they went into Egypt, there were 66 who
went in from outside, from the land of Canaan. And of course,
Joseph was there and his wife and two sons. That made 70. By the time they go out, there
is, conservatively speaking, two and a half million people.
And the Lord says to Abraham, and I'm gonna enter into a covenant
with you. Now, your people, they're gonna be in Egypt for 400 years. You say, oh, there's an error
in the word of God, because we read over here 430 years. No, there's no error in the word
of God. There's just an error in your
math. You say, how's that? When God
appeared to Abraham in Genesis chapter 15, he had been removed
by the sovereign effectual hand of God out of the land of Ur
of the Chaldees for guess what? 30 years. And there in Genesis chapter
15, it says 400 years, 400 plus 30. We've got a bunch of school
teachers here this morning. 430, I don't know what it is
on the new math, but in the regular math, 400 plus 30 makes 430 years. And that's what God said. And you see, it was all because
of a covenant. It wasn't because Israel was
better than the Egyptians. It was just as bad. All of this
mercy to them was on account of a covenant
God made with one man. See, that's the way it is with
us. those of us who are the people of God. The reason we know Him,
the reason the blessings of God fall upon us, the reason God
sent His Son, the Lamb of God, to redeem us, to save us, to
rescue us, is because of a covenant that God made with one on behalf
of the whole nation of His elect, a covenant which was made before
the world began called the covenant of grace. And God gave us to
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, for safekeeping. The Bible says
He's the surety of the new covenant. He's the mediator of that covenant. He's the go-between. He's the
one God dealt with on behalf of all the rest of His people. And the reason you're saved this
morning The reason you know God is because of that covenant.
And you see, the Israelites, I'm going to show you in just
a minute, they're going to go out of the land of Egypt with a great attitude, released,
redeemed, Well, why did that happen to them? Look at them.
They're going to get out there and bicker and murmur. I know. But it's all because of a covenant
God made with another man. And the reason God shows us saving
grace, and hey, we're a bickering people too. God help us. God forgive. We
murmur. But the reason God shows us saving
grace, is because of a covenant. That's the reason David says
in 2 Samuel 23, he spoke of that covenant. He said, it's all my
desire. You see, the salvation of God's
elect is totally dependent upon God doing what he said he would
do. And whatever he has purposed,
it shall always come to pass. Covenant. Covenant. Well, here's the third word,
is redemption. And I'll have to hurry here,
but look with me in chapter 13 and verse 11. Chapter 13 and
verse 11. The word is redemption. So we
have judgment and it came to pass. Judgment, got that one? And it came to pass covenant.
You got that one? Very easy outline. And number
three, and it came to pass, redemption. Chapter 13, verse 11. And it shall be when the Lord
shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, as he sware
unto thee, unto thy fathers and shall give it thee, that thou
shalt set up her Unto the Lord all that openeth the matrix,
and every firstling that cometh of a beast which thou hast, and
the males shall be the Lord's, and every firstling of an ass
thou shalt redeem with a lamb. If thou wilt not redeem it, then
thou shalt break his neck, and all the firstborn of man among
the house of Israel shalt thou redeem. And it shall be when
thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this that
thou shalt say unto him? But by strength of hand, the
Lord brought us out of Egypt from the house of bondage, and
it came to pass when Pharaoh would hardly let us go that the
Lord slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn
of man and the firstborn of beast. Therefore, I sacrifice to the
Lord all that openeth the matrix being males, but all the firstborn
of the children I redeem." Redemption. Redemption. that which God predestinated
came to pass. The liberation of Israel. Well,
how was the nation of Israel liberated? God redeemed them,
redeemed by the blood of the lamb. God promised to do that.
He said he would do it. You can look at passages such
as Exodus chapter six, verses five through eight. He promised
redemption by power and by price. These people were in bondage.
They couldn't get themselves out of bondage. The Lord is gonna
have to do it. And that, you see, that's a typical
people, that's us. We're so mired in sin, we're
mired in slavery, slavery to Satan, slavery to the world,
slavery to the law of God. Nobody can free us but the Lord
himself. This is our dilemma. God had said, Israel is my son,
my firstborn. And I say unto thee, let my son
go, that he may serve me. And if you refuse to let him
go, behold, I'll kill your son, even your firstborn." That's
what God did. And then God, in time, he killed
his firstborn son, his beloved son. That one who is the firstborn
among many brethren. Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed
for us. He died and all true Israel was
redeemed. And we love to sing about that,
don't we? Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. And then let me
get to this one, the effectual call of God to come out of Egyptian
bondage, chapter 12 and verse 51. Chapter 12 and verse 51,
and it came to pass The selfsame day that the Lord
did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by armies, it came to pass. He brought them
out. And you know, the Lord even used
Pharaoh. Pharaoh thrust them out. Pharaoh
said, leave, leave. That which Pharaoh at first refused
to do, He came to be convinced that that's what he ought to
do, is release the Lord's people. And God's purpose was fulfilled. It came to pass. He effectually
brought them out of Egyptian bondage. The blood has been shed.
What is the result of redemption? Deliverance. Deliverance. Safety. Salvation. God brought them out. Yes, this is a picture of the
effectual call of grace. If the Son, therefore, shall
make you free, you shall be free indeed. And then, here's the
last one. Chapter 13, and go over to verse
17. Here's the last, and it came
to pass. Judgment came to pass. The covenant
came to pass. Redemption came to pass. The
effectual calling came to pass. Over and over again, God told
Pharaoh, I will free my people, I will. And the Lord will send
the gospel to His elect at some point during our lives. And He will demand that we at
that moment be released. And we're brought to Him by effectual
grace. And here's the fifth thing, the
fifth, and it came to pass, guidance throughout the journey. Chapter
13, look at verse 17, and it came to pass. When Pharaoh had let the people
go, that God led them, he led them not through the way of the
land of the Philistines, although that was near. Took them three
days to get to Mount Sinai. And really to get to the land
of Canaan was only three more days. But God doesn't always
take his people the nearest way, nor the most comfortable way. It may be not to us the most
enjoyable way, but it is enough to know he has ordained the way,
even though it is through the wilderness. Though it came to pass when Pharaoh
had let the people go that God led them not through the way
of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God
said, lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and
they return to Egypt. But God led the people about
through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children
of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt." If you
look up the word harnessed, it means in groups of five, or in
rows of five. language experts on Hebrew say
it's in groups of 50. So it's a very orderly deliverance
and marching out of the land of Egypt. And I got to read this
verse 19, and Moses took the bones of Joseph with him. That's what Joseph asked for
at the end of the book of Genesis. For he had straightly sworn the
children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you and you
shall carry up my bones away hence with you. And they took
their journey from Succoth and encamped in Etham in the edge
of the wilderness. And the Lord went before them
by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them the way. Children of
God, the Lord is leading the way. It shall come to pass for you. It is even coming to pass in
your very life. The Lord is leading you through
the wilderness. And sometimes it's a difficult
journey. Why not just take us directly
to heaven now? You who are the people of God,
have you ever thought, Lord, I wish I could just be with you
right now? And you usually say that in light
of something that's going on in the wilderness. I've said it hundreds of times,
if there was a better way for you to be on, a better path for
you to be on, your wise heavenly Father would have you on that.
But it is enough, it should be enough for us to know that the
Lord is leading his people. He's guiding us in all things. And I'll give you this, the children
of Israel as they were guided by the Lord, he had already well
provided for them. He moved upon the hearts of the
Egyptians as he said he would. To give to the Israelites, you'll
read the word lend that the women of Egypt lent to the Israelite
women, the silver and gold. They gave them to, here, take
it. Take, what do you need? Need silver? You like these earrings? Here, take them. You like this
necklace? Here, you can have this too.
Anything else in my house you want? Take it. And they did. They did, and they went out of
the land of Egypt, rich beyond any nation in the world, whereas
430 years before this, they were poor. And when Joseph
was there, and then he died and things got bad, they were really
poor. Oh, but they go out rich. They
go out rich. And you know, the scripture even
says, well, let me give you this reference. I want you to look
with me. Look at Psalm 105. Look at Psalm 105. I'll give
you this and I'll quit. But I read this this morning
and this is so precious. You ever, You watch the Ten Commandments,
you know, Hollywood movies about, and there's some good in that.
I enjoyed watching that myself. But you watch some of these Hollywood
movies. I'm talking about the one with Charlton Heston. Some
of you young people don't even know who he was. But anyway,
he was Moses. But you know, you watch those
and in that they had, there's all the Israelites going out
and you got all these old people, they're on canes, you know, and
they're limping their way and you say, oh yeah, they're all
going out. Now wait a minute. That's Hollywood. I guarantee
you they ain't gonna get it right. Here's the way it was. Psalm
105, verse 36. Psalm 105 verse 36. He smote all the firstborn in
their land, the chief of all their strength. He brought them
forth. He brought forth his people also
with silver and gold, rich. And there was not one feeble
person, not one feeble person among their
tribes. And I tell you what, the Lord
brings us out of our bondage. We have the riches of His grace.
We have the riches of His mercy. Why, God is our Father. He owns
all things. And the Son of God, He's our
Redeemer. The Spirit of God, He's our Comforter. And we're being led pillar of
fire by night, pillar of cloud by day. And I know physically
we can get feeble, but we're not feeble spiritually. We're
like young men and women, strong in the Lord Jesus Christ, because
He upholds us. And you see, everything came
to pass. just as God said. And everything
will come to pass for you and me, just as our God has predestinated. His providence will fulfill. That's closing prayer. It is with gratitude, our Father,
that we bow before you. recognizing the hand of God in
all things. Oh, how we rejoice to know that
all that ever comes to pass does so because you bring them to
pass. And now this should bring joy
and great consolation to the hearts of your dear people. And this idea that it came to
pass, that his judgment came to pass, should stir the hearts
of those who know you not. O Spirit of God, do that necessary
work, that vital work of bringing lost sinners to the dear Savior,
who died that God might be just and justify the ungodly. Bless these words, Lord, for
your glory and for our good. For Jesus' sake, amen.