doing our second of our Bible
survey, dealing with Exodus tonight. And the word Exodus, it means
going out. Taking an Exodus. We're going
on an Exodus. We're going out. And this book has taken place
over a period of 140 years. And it reveals God's great work of grace
in bringing out his covenant people after the death of Joseph. And I'll tell you, what happened
here was God made a promise to Abraham. And if you'll turn back
with me to Genesis 15, let me show you what I'm talking about.
And I read it tonight where God told Moses, He says, I'm the
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And I made a promise to them.
And this is what happened. In Genesis 15 and verse 13 it
says this, and he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed
shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall
serve them, and they shall afflict them four hundred years. And
also that that nation whom they shall serve will I judge, and
afterward they shall come out Now, this has been 400 years
since that happened, and that shows us two things, that God's
Word is true, and that God knows what's going to happen before
it ever happens. Four hundred years they was down there in
Egypt. Four hundred years they stayed
in the bombing. And at the end of that 400 years,
because God made a promise to Abraham, He said, I'm going to
bring them out. They're going to be under great affliction,
but I'm going to bring them up out of there. And this whole
message has to do with God bringing out His elect people, His chosen
people. Now, God chose Israel. God chose
them out of all the nations on the earth, just like He chose
His people, His spiritual Israel. And God saved them by bringing
them up out of Egypt. And not only did he save them,
but he sustained them all the way through Egypt, after he brought
them out of Egypt, all the way until they went into the promised
land and sustained them there. And he done it in a wondrous
and miraculous way. So there were 70 souls went down
into Egypt. Joseph was already there. So
69 people went down there related to Jacob. 70 souls. And when
they come out of there, when they numbered them, there were
600,000 men of war, men who were able to go to war. So that gives
you an idea of how many people came out of Egypt when God brought
them out of Egypt. And, O beloved, and you know
the Genesis, I showed you how that shows us our great fall
there in Genesis, but also I'll tell you this much about Exodus,
that when you see the giving of the law, when Moses comes
down off of the mountain, These folks were down there dancing
around the golden calf, showing you that no matter what happens,
we still got this flake to deal with. So the message of Exodus
was found in six principal events. First, we have the birth of Moses,
and God calling Moses, not only his birth, but God calling him.
Then the great next thing that happened was, it was the Passover.
And then after the Passover, the crossing of the Red Sea when
they crossed on dry land. And then the fourth great thing
that took place was the giving of the law. And that had three
aspects to it, and we'll deal with that when we get to it.
And the fifth aspect of it was the building of the tabernacle,
and God gave Moses the pattern that says, See that you make
everything after the pattern that I showed you in the mountain.
And then Moses and the end of his work. Now, Genesis opens
up with Moses first. It opens up with Moses being
born, and you all know the story very well. Because the Hebrews
were growing and becoming so multiplied so that Pharaoh, we
got to think, if we don't do something about some of these
Jews or some of these Hebrews, if we don't start killing them,
they're going to outnumber us one of these days, and they'll
take over. And so he told all men, wives killed all the boy
child, don't, don't, whenever a woman's been having a boy child,
killing the men. Well, next thing you know, Moses'
mother's having a boy child. Called him Moses, remember that?
She kept him for three months. and prayed that Pharaoh would
find out about it, and she put him in a bulrug, you know, a
little ark, put him out there, and Pharaoh's daughter came and
found him. Remember, she took him up, and they raised him.
And Pharaoh, he was raised in Pharaoh's house. He was educated,
had the greatest education and wealth that a man could have
at that particular time. He was treated as if he was one
of Pharaoh's own children. But the Scripture says that he
received the reproaches of Christ greater than all the riches in
Egypt, and being called Pharaoh's son. And so now the hand down,
and why he was born at this time was the same way like our Lord
was. In the fullness of time, it was time for God to have his
deliverer to come, and that deliverer was going to be Moses. And his
birth, when he came, was a time of great darkness and great need.
These people were in bondage. These people were crying. These
people were afflicted. These people were slaves. And,
oh, beloved, when he was born, Pharaoh tried to kill him. And
I tell you what, and he'll even use lots of things. God uses
lots of things. He'll use man's praise to praise,
man's wrath to praise him. And when he became a man, and
I read it to you there in Genesis 3, God showed him that he was
going to be the deliverer. But you remember the story when
he saw two brethren arguing, fussing and fighting. He broke
them up and said, you're brethren, what are you doing fighting among
yourselves? And then they got into it later, and an Egyptian
and a Hebrew, and Moses flew that Egyptian and buried him
in the sand. Pharaoh found out about it, he said, and away old
Moses went. And so he went and stayed in
the backside of the desert for 40 years. You think you go through
something. How would you like to be trying
to live on the backside of the desert for 40 years? How would
you like to live in the desert for 40 years? How would you like,
after God told you what you're going to do, that you're over
here in the middle of the desert doing nothing but tending a bunch
of sheep? Well, that's the way God does things. He's in no hurry.
But when God came to Moses in the burning bush, and the bush
was not conserved, and that bush, that burning bush, tells us about
our Lord Jesus Christ, who bore the wrath of God, and He wasn't
consumed. And Moses went back down to Egypt,
and when he went down there, he went down there with the message
from the great I Am, the self-existent, the eternal, omnipotent, sovereign,
eternal God that had no beginning and no ending. And when he went
down there, he went down with a rod. And that rod showed that
he had a staff. And that rod showed his power,
his authority, and it was in the hand of God. God used Moses'
rod just as if it was the hand of God himself to show him what
could be done with that rod if God uses it. And so he went down
there. to deliver Israel. And when he
got down there, you remember, because all the people had gathered,
and they began to talk, and they told him sin, and he told them
who sinned down there, and then he went into Pharaoh. He said,
Pharaoh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob sent me here
to tell you to let my people go. He said, Well, who is the
Lord that I should obey Him? Who is He? And that's the way
of life. Who is the Lord that I should
obey Him? And then so God sent ten flags. Ten flags. And I could go through them and
tell you how that they were worshipped. Every one of those flags was
different ways of... They worshipped frogs, and they made idols out
of them. They worshipped beef cattle,
made worship idols out of them. The Nile River was considered
to be a holy river, and so God just took everything that they
trusted in and looked at and destroyed it right in front of
them. and sent all these flags, but still Pharaoh wouldn't let
Israel go until one night. God said, I'm going to send one
last thing. He said, when this takes place,
when this takes place, He'll let my people go. And you know
what it was? It was the Passover. He sent the angel of the Lord.
This is what, folks, you know they talk about a God of love,
but what about the God that goes through and judges people? And
he says, Moses went back and Pharaoh says, no, no, no. He just kept hardening his heart
against God. Hardening against God. Hardening
against God. I'm not going to let you go.
I don't care if you are the Lord's people. I'm not going to let
you go. I don't care how much you cry. I ain't going to let
you go. God said, I'll go through each of tonight. And he says,
you get inside the door, and you, every one of you, get your
lamb, and you roast that lamb, and you take that blood, and
you put it on the lintels of those doors, and when I see that
blood, I'll pass over you. But he says, when I go through,
the avenging angel goes through, tonight the firstborn in Egypt's
going to die tonight. And Pharaoh, the crowned prince,
died that night. Every firstborn died that night. And beloved, this shows us that,
you know, there's two things that has to take place for a
sinner to be saved. For Israel to be saved. There's
got to be the bloodshed. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sins. And Christ is our Passover sacrifice
for us. He's the Lamb of God who's taken
away the sin of the world. And this shows us God's distinguishing
grace. Look over here. What happens
in Genesis 11? Look over here in Genesis 11,
verse 7. And here's the thing about it.
He took and destroyed everything in Egypt to show that he was
God alone, and he made all those gods to show them that they were
infinite, powerless against him and his holy power. And let me
tell you something. Satan is God's servant. He's
not God's equal, and he's not God's rival. He's not God's equal
and he's not God's rival. He's just God's servant. God'll
do with him what he wants to. And he said to Moses, he said,
Moses, you know what? I'll have mercy on him. I'll
have mercy and I'll have compassion on him. I'll have compassion.
So it's not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. Even for this same purpose have
I raised up Pharaoh that I might show my power in you. My name
be declared through all the earth. And so he'll have mercy on whom
he'll have mercy. He put a difference between Egypt
and Israel. He put a difference between those
that he chose and the rest of the world. Look what he says
here in verse 6 of Exodus 11. In verse 5, excuse me. And all the firstborn of the
land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that
sits upon his throne, even the firstborn of the maidservants
behind the mill, and all the firstborn of the beast. And there
shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as
there none like it, nor shall be like it any more. But against
any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue,
against man or beast, that you may know that the Lord doth put
a difference between the Egyptians and Israel." He said not a dog got in the
way of his tongue answer. God puts a difference between
His people and the rest of them. And this Passover shows us how
that God saves sinners by blood atonement, and blood atonement
only. And everybody who was under the
blood of that Lamb, God passed over. And you know the only way
in the world God can pass over a man is for the blood of Christ
to be. And if the blood of Christ does
not apply, the blood of Christ is not on the heart. If the blood
of Christ does not cleanse you from your sin, then God cannot
pass over you. He must in justice, must in justice
punish you for sin. And then they come not only to
have the Passover, but then they have the Passover. The next morning,
they got their clothes. They were standing there that
night with their clothes on, their shoes on their feet, clothes
on their back, their meat and straws and their food. And he
says, now, daylight, you're coming out of here. Daylight rolled
around the way they went. They come up to the Red Sea. And they look back, and here
come Pharaoh's army. Pharaoh decided, I ain't going to let these folks
go after all. I'm not going to let them go.
They're not going to treat me this way. And so here comes Pharaoh with
this great army behind him. And boy, oh boy, they said, what
are we going to do now? What are we going to do? The Passover and the parting
of the Red Sea are two parts of the same thing. And here's
what happened was, they come up there. And no more than they
could save themselves without the shedding of blood, and God
provided the lamb, God provided everything they needed, and they
come up to that Red Sea. Here they was, the enemy behind
them, the wilderness before them, the Red Sea in front of them.
Now, how are they going to be saved this time? They've got
a whole army. Hundreds and hundreds of chariots coming across there. And Moses said, stand still. and see the salvation of the
Lord. And that's what you've got to do. Stand still. And he held up that rod and he
went like that right there. And the Red Sea parted. And it
raised up. That's one of the most... You
know, you watch that Ten Commandments. You watch that Red Sea start
piling up. Start watching Israel go through
on that dry land. I ain't going to tell you how
long it took them folks to go through that. You're talking
about two million people start in and got to go out and the
last one crosses. You're talking about a multitude
of people. And what it announced to you
was these folks were afraid, fretful, scared. And how are we going to be saved?
You're going to be saved by the power and blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's no other way. It takes
the blood, and then it takes the power. You come up against
this business of the enemy behind you and this great obstacle in
front of you, you see it? And you cannot! Save yourself. God's got to make you cease from
your own efforts and look to the Lord Jesus Christ and Him
alone. Now, you know, over in 1 Corinthians,
it tells us about being baptized into Moses. And when these people
went through the Red Sea, just as they followed Moses into that
Red Sea and were baptized into Moses, and just as they'd done
that, And it shows the same thing as a believer's baptism today.
God put a distinction, a difference between Israel and Egypt, and
baptism is an obedience to God's command. And as Israel followed
Moses through the Red Sea, believers follow Christ in the waters of
baptism, declaring salvation to be the work of God. When they
start into that Red Sea, And I'll tell you something,
you need to look at this, and I'm pretty sure this is rocked,
I'll look at it myself, but I, you know, they stood there. And
when Moses stuck out his hand, that water never started going
back until the person set his foot. I think you'll find that
in Genesis 14, if I'm not, I'm almost sure of it. I think I
preached on that several years ago. But they stood there, and
God says, move! Don't stand there, move! And
when that first person took the step, that's when things start
happening. And their salvation ain't gonna
come until you and your heart come to Christ. And then look
what happened. After they got out across the
Red Sea, they came to some water. Been three days in the wilderness.
And they didn't have any water. And they come to some water,
and they start drinking the water, and the water was so bitter,
they couldn't drink it. And the first thing after they
cross the Red Sea, they're, what am I going to drink? What are
we going to eat? We're out here in the wilderness.
And this water is so rank, it's so bitter that we can't drink
it. Moses began to cry unto the Lord, and He showed him a tree.
He showed him a tree, and he throwed that tree in that water. And that water became so sweet.
And out of trials of faith, and when bitterness comes our way,
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ sweetens our bitter things. Is that not right? It sweetens
everything. And then they had manna. Oh,
when they was in the wilderness, God, I told you, sustained them.
He gave them water, and then they gave them this manna. They
said, what are we going to eat? And the scripture said God gave
them angel's food from heaven. Manna fell down from heaven.
Remember our Lord Jesus Christ, I just read it Sunday morning.
He says, you know, our fathers did abandon the wilderness and
they're dead. He said, God, he said Moses didn't
give you that, but my father gave you that bread from heaven.
God's the one that gave that bread. Moses couldn't cause bread
to rain from heaven. No more than he could part the
Red Sea. And God said, make them through that journey. He graciously
fed them with heavenly manna every day. And everything we
need for the day, He'll see that we have it. And every time they,
you know, they had just enough for the day. If they kept any
of it overnight, it would rot and stink with worms, it would
breed worms. Except on the Sabbath day, they
would get a double portion, because they wouldn't even have to, God
would make it, preserve it for a second day. And our Lord Jesus
Christ shows us that He's the bread of life, He's the water of life, and He
said, He that cometh to me shall never hunger, he that leaveth
on me shall never thirst. He told that woman at the well,
if thou hadst asked of him, thou he'd have gave you a drink of
living water, and you wouldn't have had to thirst again. And
then I want you to see this over here in Genesis, excuse me, Exodus
17. I want you to see this a minute. Exodus 17. Down in verse 8. Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.
And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose out from him to go out and fight
with Amalek. Tomorrow I'll stand on the top
of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. So Joshua did as
Moses said unto him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses and Aaron
and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass,
when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed. And when
he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed." Now, beloved, this
shows us this battle with Amalek. This is the battle between the
flesh and the spirit. This is the battle that all of
God's people got to go through. We've got to fight. We've got
to fight Amalek. Amalek is representative of our
flesh. And here there was, they see
this Amalek, and he fights with Israel all the time. Israel fights
with him. And his flesh fights with us all the time. And our
spirit fights against it, and sometimes, as long as we look
unto Christ, we win. But when our eyes get off of
Christ and we start looking to ourselves and our circumstances,
Amalek wins. And oh, but beloved, I'll tell
you what, As long as we're in this world, we're going to find
out and cry all the time, oh wretched man that I am. And this
warfare will continue in this world until we leave it and be
with peace. We'll never be at peace with
Amalek, never be at peace with our own flesh. And look what
he says down here in verse 13, Exodus 17. And Joshua discomfited Amalek
and his people with the edge of the sword. And the Lord said
unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in
the ears of Joshua. For I will utterly put out the
remembrance of Amalek from under heaven, and Moses built an altar,
and called the name of it Jehovah-Nissi, that is, the Lord is my banner,
because the Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek
from generation to generation." don't pipe Amalek through us
and with us and give us grace to do it, Amalek will whip us.
But one of these days that I'll utter and remove his memory,
and one of these days we'll go to glory, Amalek's memory will
be gone. Is that not right? And then there's
the giving of the law. The giving of the law. That's
the fourth great event that took place. And I'll tell you, when
he gave the law, that starts in Exodus 19, goes all the way
through chapter 24. But there are three laws here.
Of course, the first one is the giving of the Ten Commandments.
And you remember, he went up there and stayed 40 days on the
mountain. He'd come back down off of that mountain. And those
commandments were broken because there was the children of Israel
naked and dancing around a fire with a golden calf, worshiping
an idol, and saying, these are the gods that brought us up out
of Egypt. Moses got down there, got angry, and threw the Ten
Commandments down and broke them. And he turned around and went
right straight back up the mountain. And oh, when he gave the law,
the first thing that they understood was, when he went up there the
second time, when he told them, he says, now you block this off. God is holding, He's fixing to
come down. I mean, He's in I mean, He is
holy, immutably, perfectly, gloriously so. And He said, He's coming
down to give a law, and you better stand back. Thunders and lightnings
and quakings went on. And, beloved, God came down,
and He gave those Ten Commandments, and He showed us His character
there, not all of it, but His character in such a way that
He demands perfection and a mediator between the people And God and
Moses stood as that mediator between the giving of the law
and God. And, beloved, those folks stood
far off. You can't call not a God to the
law. The law was given to make us
know our sin, and these people knew their sin. They stood far
off. God said, I'll have perfection. And, beloved, and He's going
to have perfection. Because he has to have perfection.
There's only one way you're going to get this perfection. That's
through the Lord Jesus Christ. That lamb slain. That bloodshed. That one who satisfied God. And he shows us Christ. The Lord
shows us Christ is our only refuge to hide from God. I want you
to see this. I know it's hot in here. I should
have turned... I'll turn the air conditioner on if you want
me to. But over here in Galatians, Look over here in Galatians chapter
3 with me just a moment. Galatians chapter 3. I want you
to see this. Look what it says in verse 21.
Again, it's Galatians 3.21. Talking about the law now, the
giving of the law. Is the law then against the promises
of God? No. God made a promise to Abraham,
and He kept it. God made a promise to Isaac,
and He kept it. God made a promise to Jacob,
and He kept it. God made a promise to Israel, and He kept it. Brought
them up out of Egypt. Took them into the promised land.
Kept every promise that He gave them. Gave them a mediator, gave
them a prophet, gave them the law. God forbid Has the law been
against the promises of God? God forbid. For if there had
been a law given, which could have given righteousness, righteousness
would have been by the law. Watch it. But the scripture hath
concluded all under sin. Now here's God keeping His promise. That man cannot in his impotence
ever save himself. The law come to make us know
that we're sinners. that the promise by faith of
Jesus Christ might be given to them that what? Believe. Not obey the law, believe. And oh, beloved, and that's what
the law shows us. It shows us our need of Christ.
But he gave the mortal law, and then he gave the ceremonial law
to show Israel how the God is to be worshipped. And then he
gave the civil law as to how they were to govern themselves
as a nation. And then the last, fifth thing
that they had was the building of the tabernacle. I remember
years ago going through Exodus and dealing with the tabernacle.
Oh, it was wonderful. The tabernacle and everything
about it. God gave Moses on the mountain
the pattern for the tabernacle. And he said, See thou that thou
makest it according to the pattern which I gave you on the mountain.
I mean, there was nothing, nothing that God didn't leave undone.
And beloved, the tabernacle was the place where peace and reconciliation
was made. The tabernacle was the place
where the mercy seat was. The tabernacle was the place
where the priest was washed. The tabernacle was the place
where the glory of God came down. The tabernacle was the place
where God met with men. And, beloved, that nothing was
left to the imagination of man. And Christ our Lord was the tabernacle
of God that came among men. And just as that tabernacle was
a tent out there with baggage skin over it, and you didn't
know what it was like until you went in and saw all that beautiful
embroidered work, and you saw that line over there which was
Christ, saw that table of brochure bread with the gold on it, which
the bread is Christ, and you look at that brazen altar where
He was offered as a sacrifice for our sin, and then you look
at Him, as he goes and takes the blood into the holiest of
holies once a year and puts that blood on the mercy seat. But
no, beloved, that atoning sacrifice, Christ is our mercy seat and
our propitiation. And everything about that tabernacle
spoke of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, with all its altars and sacrifices
and priesthoods, and oh, beloved, and we're taught If there's one
thing that we understand in the book of Exodus is that God is
a just God and a Savior, and you only see that through that
sacrificial lamb and everything that took place in that tabernacle
every day. A morning lamb and an evening
lamb. Substitution, O beloved, will never, He'll never leave
us, and it's through our Lord Jesus Christ, our mediator now. And our high priest, that every
believing sinner has perfect access to the Father through
the Son, and God Himself by His Holy Spirit now, now lives in
our heart and in our lives. You know where God's tabernacle
is at now? We're the building of God. We're the house of God. We're the one. And then look
over here with me and answer this chapter 40. I want you to
see this. the end of Moses' work. I told you he was just going
to have these broad outlines, and you could take these things
home with you and look at them yourself and study them yourself. And I wanted to use some more
stuff, but just didn't feel like I had enough time. Now, Moses,
his work was to go down, be God's spokesman, bring Egypt, Israel
up out of Egypt, Guide them, see that the tabernacle
is built, give them the law, and to judge them. He was to
be their mediator. How many times did he intercede
for Israel in their sinful ways? But Moses had an end to the work.
Had an end to the work. And once the tabernacle was finished
and God and His people were reconciled, Moses finished his work. Look
down here in verse 34 with me. Excuse me, verse 33. And he reared up the court, round
about the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the hanging
of the court gate, so Moses finished the work." And you know what
that tells us? Just as Moses done the work that
God gave him to do. Christ finished the work that
God gave him to do. Oh, he finished it all. I mean,
when he reared it up, it was done. When Christ cried out,
it is finished, it is done. And he says, so Moses finished
the work. And that's what he talks. Christ
our Lord has finished the work. The law of God against us has
finished its work. Christ has fulfilled it. Justice
can't come after us anymore. Christ has done died unsatisfied
it. And the law has nothing more
to do if we don't fear it, it doesn't condemn us, but declares
us justified. Look what they said here in verse
34. Here's what happens now. And this is the way we are in
Christ. Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation,
and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. The glory of
God is seen in Christ. We beheld the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ. And Moses was not able to enter
into the tent of the congregation because the cloud of both them,
the glory of the Lord, filled the tabernacle. And you know,
when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, the children
of Israel went over it in their journeys. Every day, God's glory
filled over that place. And but the cloud were not taken
away, they journeyed till the day that it was taken up. For
the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire
was on it by night inside of the house of Israel through all
their journeys." And, beloved, we've got the cloud, the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ, Christ in you, the hope of glory.
And, beloved, He goes before us, and He's done satisfied God's
justice, and the fire ain't going to bother us. One of these days,
He's going to holler and give a loud shout, and away we're
going to go. Away we're going to go. Our Father, in the blessed name
of Christ our Lord, we thank You for the privilege of looking
into Your Word again. so much to deal with in such
a little time. And yet, Lord Jesus, we want
to be directed and guided by You. We don't want to be left
to our own understanding, our own reasoning, our own imaginations. We want to be true to Your Word.
We want folks to be able to see what Your blessed book says.
And Father can't do it, and as Moses was, cannot speak. You said you'd be's mouth. So
Lord, use me to your glory and to the good of your dear saints.
Please forgive me of everything that's unlike you. And bless
these dear saints as they go on their way, on their home,
to their jobs. We ask in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? They're all taken away.