If you would, turn to Exodus
chapter 2. Exodus chapter 2. I'm just going
to read like three verses, but I'm going to talk about, comment
about several more. In Exodus chapter 2, I want to
begin reading in verse 23, the last three verses of that chapter. And it came to pass, in the process
of time, that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel
sighed by reason of the bondage. And they cried, and their cry
came up unto God by reason of the bondage. And God heard their
groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with
Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children
of Israel and God had respect unto them. I got nothing new today. Matter
of fact, I got something old. Yeah, but I got something true,
I believe. What I want to show here is the
way in which God deals with his people. because God has not changed. That's clear. God never changes. Paul, you read it this morning. What has been is now. And what
shall be is now. And what is now shall be. God
never changes. There's not even a shadow of
turning with him. And he will be gracious to whom
he will be gracious. He will show mercy. Whom he will
show mercy in his goodness. He will show love grace and mercy
to his people In the process of time that was another good
thing Verse 20 verse 23 says and it
came to pass in the process of time Didn't talk to Paul or we haven't
said anything to each other about what was written there But it's
like I got my note here says never forget the concept of time
in the scriptures never Never forget the concept of time You
will see this constantly in the scriptures See time there's a
set time. There's a time appointed, and
then there's the appointed time that time Jeremiah he's got the
time of healing the time of evil and the time of affliction and
the time of Jacob's trouble And then there's places where
it says this is the time the other places where it says the
time has not yet come And then my personal favorite
is the fullness of time Because in the fullness of time a lot
of good things happen a lot of good things happen Our Lord came
in the fullness of time. He told him while he was here,
a lot of time, his hour had not yet come. It wasn't time. But then he said, the hour has
come. The hour has come. There is a
time for every purpose under the heaven. Thank you, Paul,
for reading that. It's the truth of God. Never forget that. And
in the process of time, the king of Egypt died. Now, the reference there is for
that the king of Egypt wanted Moses dead. Moses had been gone 40 years.
One time we meet him at chapter three and verse one. Moses had
been in Midian for those 40 years. But in the process of time, the
king of Egypt died. And guess what? The king of Egypt's
dying made no change in the bondage of Israel. It made no change as far as they knew. They sighed
by the reason of the bondage. They cried, and their cry came
up to God. But verse 24 says this. And God heard their groanings. And God heard. I looked at that
word, and it means literally to hear intelligently, to hear
with attention. Now God hears everything. I want
to be clear about that. God hears everything. But here
it specifically states that God heard their groaning, groaning,
excuse me. He was specifically paying attention
to their groaning at this time. And then it says God remembered.
And I looked at that because I can't imagine God forgetting
anything. Well that's what Deb and I were
talking about and she said you remind me we got to go to the
store. And I thought, yeah, I remembered that this morning, but I'd already
forgotten. But when she told it to me, I did remember. That's
the way it works for us. What this means is God called
it to mind. God called to mind his covenant. And pay very close attention
to this. It's his covenant. He made it. It is with Abraham,
with Isaac, and with Jacob. But it's still His covenant.
It's not our covenant. It's not their covenant. It's
His covenant. And God called that covenant
to mind when He heard the groanings, when He was paying attention
to the groanings. He never forgot. He had promised
the seed and He had promised the land. The seed's gonna be
like the stars in the sky and the sands of the beach. the sands
of the sea. He promised that. He'd made an
everlasting covenant. And that covenant hadn't gone
anywhere. No matter where there in Egypt the children of Israel
were, that covenant was still everlasting and it's still His
covenant. He had promised it. And then
verse 25 says, and God looked. upon the children of Israel. They didn't know it, but this
is a good day for them. When God looks upon the children
of Israel, it's in a good way. Here. Because it said, you know,
it's not that God saw them. He looked upon them. God sees
everything. Just like God never forgot and
God hears everything. God sees everything. He is omniscient. He is omnipresent. He is everywhere. It makes it easier to see everything.
But this says He looked upon the children of Israel. God saw
them. Specifically, with purpose, He
looked upon the children of Israel. And I'll tell you something,
that's the definition of a good day. Because when God looks upon
you, that's a good day. There are things God doesn't
look at. There are people God doesn't look at. Thou art of
pure eyes and that behold sin. But God looked upon the children
of Israel. This day at this time in the
process of time This is the day and it says in God had respect
unto them And I looked at that word because
you know God doesn't respect any man's person Yeah, well not the way they mean
it when they use that actually put it that way God had regard
unto them And actually, literal translation of this word, respect,
is God knew them. That's the word. God looked upon
the children of Israel and he knew them. He had regard unto
them. That is so much more than what
the world thinks. If God has regard for you, a
man, That's a glory. It's because of his glory. It's
because of his work. It's because of his choice. It's
because of his purpose. But an intimate personal knowledge
of the children of Israel is shown here. A complete and total
knowing of his people. Why now? Why after all this time? They'd been there for a while.
Paul, because now is God's time. That's what's going on here.
Now it happens in time. He's already made his covenant.
He's already made the promises. He's already given them the promises.
But there's coming a time that they're going to come out of
Egypt. And this is that time. It's God's time. In the process
of time, in verse 23, was not only about the death of the king.
In the process of time, God had promised he was going to bring
his people into a land. And I can tell you this right
now, reading these three verses, with a surety, this isn't the
first time that the people of Israel cried out. This isn't
the first time they sighed under the bondage. They had been sighing
and crying for years. God knew who they were, God knew
where they were, and what their exact situation and circumstances
were the whole time. There are no surprises. However, now, Now it's different,
because now it's God's time to bring them out. Like I said,
they didn't know it at the time, but this was a good day for them. Right now, God looked. Right
now, God heard. Right now, God regarded them. And right now, God knew them. However then, this is actually
the story of Moses. And if you look at verse three
and verse one, it answers the question, when this was happening,
where was Moses? Moses was on the backside of
the desert. He kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law,
the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the backside
of the desert and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. Literally, the backside of the
desert means behind the wilderness. And according to Stephen and
his sermon before he got stoned, Moses had been there 40 years.
He was 40 years old when he left, and he'd been there 40 years.
And guess what? In the process of time, it's
now time for Moses to come back. It's been 40 years since Moses
took things into his own hands and killed an Egyptian. It looks like we've switched
accounts here, but we haven't, because what happens here with
Moses is because God heard, remembered, looked upon, and regarded the
children of Israel. All of these are going to meet
together. And the angel of the Lord appeared
unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush, and
he looked around. And behold, the bush burned with
fire, and the bush was not consumed. The messenger of the Lord appeared.
That's what the messenger of the Lord does. He appears. And I like how the detail here,
it says in a flame of fire. Not just in a fire, in a flame
of fire. It reminds me of Daniel's den of lions. He wasn't just
thrown in a den. No, he was thrown in a den with
lions in it. And the burning, fiery furnace of Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego. It was burning. It was fiery.
It was a furnace. Well, this was a flame of fire. There are
people who say, oh, you know, never mind. We're not going to
go into that. The whole of the German higher
criticism was this. If we can't do it now, it never
happened. There's no such thing as miracles,
is what they taught. There's nothing miraculous. So
anything in the scripture that was miraculous must be made up.
That's not German higher criticism. That's called blatant denial
of the scripture, is what that is. Believe Moses saw a bush that
burned that was not consumed But not only did Moses see that
bush he turned That's verse 3 Moses Said I will now turn aside and
see this great sight why the bush is not burnt He saw and
he wanted to see more So what happened Moses turned he turned
and he saw more and he also heard because the Lord saw Moses turn
verse 4 and Then the says God called These are one of the strange
things about you'll notice about the Old Testament scriptures
Because the word Lord capital L or D all four capital letters
and is the word Yahweh, Jehovah, as some people call it. The word
God is Elohim, which is the plural. And it says, the Lord saw, Yahweh
saw, but Elohim called. And he called him by name. He said, out of the midst of
the bush and said, Moses, Moses. Moses was called by name by God
Here Yahweh saw him and Elohim called him by name and when God
calls you by name You will answer And Moses answered here am I
here am I He said draw not nigh hither
put off thy shoes from off thy feet for the place where the
on the standeth is holy ground According to Stephen again Where we're at here Horam is
what it says here But it says came to the mountain
of God according to Stephen we're on Sinai which is the same place that
Moses will be later to get some other stuff. The same mountain. This is holy ground. The mountain
of the burning bush that was not consumed is the mountain
of the tablets of stone containing the law. The mountain of the burning bush
that was not consumed is where Moses gets the instructions later
for the tabernacle. There's some big stuff happening
up on this mountain. Take off your shoes. This place
is holy ground. Now, after God calls you by name and you
answer, here's what we see here with Moses. He reveals himself
to him. verse 6 says moreover he said
I am the God of thy father the God of Abraham the God of Isaac
and the God of Jacob and Moses hid his face where he was afraid
to look upon God What happens after God calls
a man by name he reveals himself Saul Saul why persecutest thou
me And Saul answered, who are you? Who are you? I am Jesus, whom thou persecutes.
After God calls you by name, he'll show you who he is. But
he's got to call you by name first, otherwise you're not going
to get it. Though a man tell you. There were those that were
spoken of by Christ in the account of the rich man and Lazarus,
he said, They won't believe the one rose from the dead and told
it. If they hear not Moses in the scriptures, they won't believe
the Christ of God. If they don't believe this, they
won't believe him. And if they don't know him, they
won't believe this. What happens after a man, God
calls a man by name? He reveals himself to that person. Moses said, how wonderful, how
miraculous, how great. No, Moses hid his face. Isaiah, when he saw the Lord,
said, woe is me. I am undone. Moses hid his face because he
said he was afraid to look upon God. The big accusation at the end
of Romans chapter three, at the end of Paul's litany there, this
is the accusation, there is no fear of God before their eyes. If there's no fear of God, there's
no knowledge of God. It's that simple. If you come to know God, you
will come to know fear of God. That's the beginning of knowledge
and the beginning of wisdom. Both is the fear of the Lord. And he can teach. He can teach. We have problems
learning, but he can teach. If God ever reveals himself to
you, there is awe. I mean, there is awe, there is
respect, but there is also fear. Christ himself said fear him
Who that after he kills the body can cast the soul into hell?
this is the kind of God that we deal with that we are taught
that is written of in this book and Moses hid his face because
he feared to look upon God Now here comes part of the point
Verse seven, and the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction
of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason
of their taskmasters. For I know their sorrows. See the end of chapter two, where it says, God heard, God
remembered, God looked and God had respect. That's what he's
telling Moses right here. I've heard, I've seen, and I
know. Verse 8 tells us this wonderful
statement, and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand
of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto
a good land and a large unto a land flowing with milk and
honey unto the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, and the Amorites,
and the Perizzites, and the Hibites, and the Jebusites." I've seen the affliction. I have
heard their cry, and I know their sorrows. And, and, and, I am come down."
Wow. This is one that Moses is hiding
his face from. This is one that Moses was afraid
of, that Isaiah said, woe is me. I am come down to deliver
them. And not only that, I am come
down to deliver them out. And not only that, I am come
down to bring them up. The Lord is come down to deliver,
now pay very close attention here, them. Them, who's the them? Well, the
ones I've seen, the ones I've heard, and the ones I know. See, y'all are always getting into
that election stuff and trying to put a division and trying
to say that God's particular about who he loves and who he
does things for. No, I'm not. The scripture is. You understand? There were a
lot of people who were slaves in other countries. And I'll
tell you this, there were other people who were slaves in Egypt
at this time that weren't the children of Israel. And God didn't
come to deliver a single one of them. I am come down to deliver
them. Marvin did real well on that
this morning. on the radio. God has always said a difference
between his people and the world. And he's telling that to Moses
right here. He's just laying it flat out. I'm come to deliver
them. I'm not freeing all the slaves. I come to save the children
of Israel, the ones I've heard, the ones I've seen, the ones
I know. Them and them alone am I come
down to deliver. Now the Lord alone can deliver.
He's the only one who can deliver. But here we're seeing that I
am the Lord who does deliver. And the Lord delivers exactly
whom He will. That's what he tells Moses later.
I'll be gracious to whom I'll be gracious. I will have mercy
on whom I'll have mercy. I'll have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. And that's what he's telling
Moses here. He's going to tell him that later. Again, election is everywhere in the
Bible. It's not named that way everywhere in the Bible. But
God has, has always had, does have, and shall have, he always
has had a chosen people for his name. And I have come down, I
am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians
and to bring them up. They're going to be delivered,
but that ain't all. Because deliverance is not complete until you're
brought up. I'm going to bring them up. I'm
going to bring them up and put them in the land I promised.
I'm going to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians.
I'm going to deliver them out of that country, but I'm going
to bring them up into the country I gave them, the country I gave
their father Abraham. The Lord remembered His covenant. Because there is no deliverance
total unless there is a bringing up. And they will be completely delivered. Because He has come down to deliver
them. Exodus 3 10 says I will send
thee unto Pharaoh God speaking to Moses again that thou mayest
bring forth my people out Moses was to go back into Egypt
under Pharaoh with a purpose Why because in the process of
time it's now time Moses answered said to God he
said who am I? Who am I? One man, a nobody. I've been on the backside of
the desert, at the back of the wilderness for 40 years. I'm
a man. God knew that. Now Moses had once been somebody.
He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. It says
that later on, by faith. But he had been the son of Pharaoh's
daughter. He'd been educated. He'd been in the court. He'd
been in the palaces. He'd been around But he left
all that behind by faith it says in Hebrews 11 But he says I'm nobody who am
I there's only one answer to that and that's in verse 12 And this is the Word of God to
Moses and he said certainly certainly I will be with thee and This
shall be a token unto thee that I have sent thee when thou has
brought forth the people out of Egypt you shall serve God
but upon this mountain Holy ground Certainly I will be with thee God is not with everybody. I'm sorry. That's the way it is. I ain't apologizing for God,
I just don't want to hurt nobody's feelings. Unless it's necessary. Alright,
sometimes I take great delight in hurting people's feelings,
or at least their thoughts about God. God is not with everybody. God has not come to deliver everybody. God does not see everybody, hear
everybody, and know everybody. God told Moses, I certainly will
be with thee when you go to do this. Why? Because I'm come down
to deliver. Moses ain't delivering. Moses
did not deliver the children of Israel out of Egypt the Lord
did Because all of this that God promised all of this that
God said It came to pass. I don't have time to go into
all that and right now right here actually This is the end
of the discussion Now, it's not for Moses, because he's going
to fuss, and he's going to say, I can't do this, and let my brother
talk for me, or whatever. But no, this is the end of the
discussion right here. Moses just didn't know it. Certainly
I'll be with thee. And that's exactly what we find
out when you read the rest of this account, that certainly
the Lord was with Moses. It was settled when God said
it. And guess what? It's exactly
what happened. Moses went and the Lord delivered
the children of Israel out of Egypt and he brought them up
into a land of milk and honey. Now there's a big gap in between
there with a lot of stuff that happens in between, which is
in here. But this is where God has declared that he is going
to do it right now at this time. And it was going to happen, and
it did happen. Because Moses went from the backside
of the desert to the backside of the desert again. He went from Sinai to Sinai. The burning bush was there, I
said it earlier. and the tablets of stone, the
law was there. But also from there came the
instructions for the tabernacle. Sinai is to lead us to Christ.
The law is our schoolmaster to lead us to Christ, to bring us
to Christ. The law hasn't gone anywhere. Between those two times the Lord
came down to deliver up the children of Israel and he did now I do
know That Moses is a type of Christ in the deliverance of
Israel. I do know that he is a type of
the law given and Aaron the high priest But what I wanted to talk
about here this morning and why I wanted to bring this up is
because of one of the things Walter's been saying. Where God will take one sinner
and send that one sinner to another sinner to reveal his word. And that's what he did with Moses
here. Moses took the word of God to the children of Israel. Egypt and The Lord delivered
them out God heard God remembered God looked and God had regard
unto these children and God called prepared and sent a man to them
to tell them these things and God said of that man to that
man I certainly Will be with thee And he was The Lord delivered
and the Lord brought them out in the process of time and the
Lord's deliverance was delivered in time There is a purpose a time excuse
me there is a time for every purpose under the heaven election
is unto salvation, it is not salvation. There's a time of
deliverance. There's a time of being delivered
out and brought in. It's everywhere in the scriptures. The Lord said, I am come down
to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring
them up out of that land and unto a good land. And he has
promised every child that he has that he will give them life
and light and bring them into his kingdom. In time, in the process of time,
In His time, He saves every son that He has. Our Heavenly Father, we are thankful
again for this time and this place. But most of all, for Your
Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to grasp ever so slightly better what
he has done for us, and to us, and in us. Because everything we have comes
down from you, through him, our Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name
we pray, amen.