I want you to turn back to that
13th chapter of Exodus, the book of Exodus. I think most everyone here that knows me that knows anything about my
ministry, you know that I do not like and
I do not use sensationalism. I don't like to make any appeal
to the flesh or use anything that attracts the flesh. And so my title this morning is Born Out of Studying the Word
of God. And the more I studied it this
week, the more that this title is just the way it is. I've called it dumb asses and
divine redemption. The all-knowing God does not
paint a pretty picture of you or me. And what he has to say about
us in ourselves is a lot different from what preachers today say
about us. He knows what we are. And he's not afraid to offend
us. As a matter of fact, that's his
intention. His very gospel has to do with
the offense of the cross. It comes to every one of us in
our natural state as an offensive message. You see, the gospel
is offensive to the natural man because it addresses him as he
is and exposes what he thinks is
his best as totally unacceptable to God. The Scriptures say in Isaiah
23, the Lord of hosts hath purposed, he hath purposed it, to stain
the pride of all glory. He's going to stain the pride
of all the glory of man and to bring into contempt all the honorable
of the earth. Now, He's going to do that to
some in wrath and judgment, but He is going to do it to some
in grace and in mercy. And this holy God of heaven,
the one we have just sung about, holy, holy, holy, He describes
us in unmistakable terms. He calls us worms, or as it is
literally, maggots. He describes us as filthy, as
unclean. He uses such as leprosy and every
disease to speak of us spiritually. He calls us blind and and lame. He likens us in our sin to a
minstrel's cloth. He refers to all our best as
dung. And He uses one after the other
such description as that, and yet in our blindness and ignorance
we only imagine ourselves as totally opposite from that. Another of those descriptions
that he uses is that of a wild ass's colt. What is that? That is nothing
more than a wild donkey, a wild burro. A wild, unharnessed, unruly
jackass. That is exactly what he said. As a matter of fact, he likens
us to that creature through which he spoke to a man who was a false
prophet and showed through that very ignorant beast speaking
to that man more truth than the man himself had. The man's name
was Balaam. And it says that he was rebuked,
Peter saying this in II Peter chapter 2 and verse 16, he was
rebuked for his iniquity. The dumb ass speaking with man's
voice forbade the madness of this prophet. He used the very
dumbest basis of beasts to speak to this man Balaam and turn him
from the way that he would go. Used this base creature that
he uses so many times in the Bible and likens us to him. If you remember what the angel
of the Lord told Hagar about her son that was to be born, the angel of the Lord took that
woman out from the wilderness where she was thinking she would
die and perish, and she said to this woman and described all
people by nature in the description that she gave of the one who'd
be born of her, Ishmael. He's a picture of every one of
us by birth and by nature. And the angel of the Lord said
unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son,
and shalt call his name Ishmael, because the Lord hath heard thy
affliction, and he'll be a wild man." He'll be a wild man. And that was true of the firstborn
child of Adam and Eve, and the secondborn, and the thirdborn,
and every single one born of man and woman. Every one comes
forth as a wild person. A wild man. The wild ass is cold. And what is actually said by
that is something like this, he'll be a man like this wild
ass in the wilderness, a man like a wild ass, fierce and untamed,
as one said, and unsettled in his habitation. Or as that creature
is, living in deserts or mountainous places, warlike and violent,
exercising himself continually, hunting beasts, oppressing men,
and he'll provoke and injure all that converse with him, and
thereby will multiply his enemies, which is to be understood not
only of him, but all his posterity. He'll be a wild man. He'll be
just like this wild donkey out there in the wilderness. And
oftentimes, in Scripture, the Lord, by His Spirit, He describes
the children of Adam in this way. He always refers to them
as this wild asses cold. Why? Because like always begets
like. He says in Job chapter 11, he says, for vain man. That's without understanding. Vain man would be wise, though
man be born like a wild ass's Oh, he thinks he's wise. But
he is not wise with any wisdom except what is called the wisdom
of this world that God has said it not. He thinks he's wise,
but he's just like this wild-ass is cold. Man at his best state
is altogether vanity. What does that mean? without
understanding. Without understanding. And not
only that, he says this in Jeremiah. He says, a wild ass used to the
wilderness that snuffs up the wind at her pleasure in her occasion,
who can turn her away All they that seek her will not weary
themselves. In her month they shall find
her." You can't do anything with her. All she's going to do is
just snuff up and snort to the wind. That's the picture of us. Then he says in Jeremiah 14,
likening Israel, likening us, everyone. And the wild asses
did stand in the high places. They snuffed up the wind like
dragons. Their eyes did fail because there
was no grass. We don't have anything. A bunch of murmurers, complainers,
criticizers, self-righteous, and most especially, unable to
receive the things of God, rebelling against the commands of God,
and not able to be used in any way just like that colt would
be unless we're broken. You ask the man who deals with
such critters as thee. When they're born, when they
come into this world, are they ready to be ridden or used or
harnessed or to pull a cart or a wagon or do anything such as
that? Absolutely not. They have to be broken. And the Bible says that we are
estranged from the womb. estranged from whom? From God. We are estranged from the womb
and go astray as soon as we are born and we come forth speaking
lies. Like that dumb donkey, we don't
know anything. We don't understand anything. We don't know anything about
God. We don't know anything about
who we really are in our desperate state as sinners. We don't have
a clue as to how God saves a sinner or if He will. You just look at that old donkey. He's not raised up in one of
those nice long buildings that they have in Lexington, Kentucky,
where they have all those fine thoroughbred racehorses and such.
He's nothing but a scruffy, dirty, obnoxious-looking, filthy beast
running around in the desert, dirty, having to eat little bits
of cactus or whatever it is he can find to eat, and he wouldn't
have a harness or a yoke put on him for anything. You just try to get near him,
and he snuffs, and he snorts, and he's stubborn, and he's untamed,
and he's stinking. And his hair is long and dirty
and full of matted things. That's us. That's us. And you see, as we
read there in Exodus chapter 13 earlier, under the Mosaic
law, the ass was considered an unclean animal. He didn't chew
the cud. He didn't have the divided hoof.
And he was under that law considered in every way unclean. And that's the way the natural
man is. What was the leper supposed to
do? He was in the face of any person in the camp or coming
out of the camp to put his hand over his mouth and cry out in
warning to them, unclean. Unclean. The Lord gives Isaiah these words
to record for us and so that we'll know. He says, but we are
all as an unclean thing. Is that most of us? That's every one of us. That's
not the serial killers or the drug addicts or the mass murderers
or all that. He says, we are all as an unclean
thing. And here is where it really gets
tough. He says, and all our righteousnesses, we all think we have them. All
our righteousnesses, these notions that we have, that we've not
been as bad as somebody else, or that we've done this good
deed, or that good deed, or something like that. He says, not just
all of what we think are sins, but that which we think are righteousness. All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. filthy racks. And we do fade. We all do fade
as a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. That's where we are. Apart from
the grace of God, we're away. We're away from God. We're away
from all hope. We're away from heaven and every
good thing. We're just away from it all.
Cast out. And then he says this in Ecclesiastes,
I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men. That God might manifest them. That God might help them know
what they really are. And that they might see that
they themselves are beasts. Beasts. When they have the Kentucky
Derby, and they have those horses, they're being led out on the
paddock there, and they're all prancing around, and here all
of a sudden maybe comes a fellow, and he's leading around this
old wild-ass's coat. Well, maybe out in the desert
somewhere he might have looked pretty good, but up there around
all those fine horses, it manifests what he is. And God has a standard. He has
an objective standard. And that is not just other wild
donkeys. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the perfect Son of God. That's God manifest in the flesh. Sinless man. How do you look compared to him? Not how do you look compared
to the person you work with, or that person you read about
in the news, or that person that is a family member or something.
How do you look compared to the Lord Jesus Christ? He's a dumb beast. Paul says
in 1 Corinthians, he says, the natural man receives not the
things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto
him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. Suppose you have worked for months
and months to fix the most beautiful flower garden. And you're so
proud of it, you've spent a lot of money on it, and all of a
sudden one day you look out there and here's this wild donkey,
this wild beast, this naughty, ugly, scroungy creature, and
he's standing right in the middle of your flower bed eating your
flowers. Why'd he do that? Because he
hasn't got sense enough to know the value of them. He hasn't
got brains enough, he hasn't got understanding enough to see
the worth of them or the beauty of them. And we by nature cannot
see the king in his beauty. We, by nature, cannot in any
way comprehend the worth and the value of that salvation that's
in Christ. We're piddling around here looking
for a few dollars or a better set of clothes or something like
that. We're no better than that wild
donkey is. He's living for the moment. And
that's what we do apart from Christ. We don't have a view
for eternity. He describes us, the Apostle
Paul does in Ephesians 4. He says, having the understanding
darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that is in them because of the blindness of their heart. Who's he talking about there,
the Communists? The cannibals somewhere down
in darkest such-and-such a place? No, he's talking about us. Every one of us by nature. Every
one of us in our ignorance, in our blindness. He says by the
psalmist, surely men of low degree are vanity. And men of high degree are a
lie. To be laid in the balance, they
are altogether lighter than vanity, less than nothing. And here are a bunch of preachers
and politicians and everybody else running around here trying
to tell every person right down to the youngest one that they
are somebody. He said the men of low degree,
they're vanity. Nothing without understanding.
The men of high degree, they're a lie. And they are to be laid
in the balance, in the scales of divine judgment and justice
all together. And they are, all of them, put
together lighter than vanity. Old Arthur Pink said this. He
said, instead of making Satan the author of all our iniquities,
The Holy Bible teaches something else. The Lord Jesus Christ said
something else. He said from within. Out of the heart of men proceed
evil thoughts, adulteries, fornication, murders, thefts, covetousness,
wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride,
foolishness, All these evil things come from within and defile the
man. That's what Christ says in Matthew
7. And Pete went on, he said, external
temptations. Now, you think about this. Outside
temptations. External temptations. would have
no power unless there were something within us to which they could
appeal. A lighted match is a menace to
a barrel of gunpowder, but not so to one filled with water. That's the way we are. We're
a barrel of gunpowder, and every external temptation is like a
match. We're just waiting to go off.
Everything. Every point. And he says, that's
what explains why all the efforts of statesmen and educators and
social reformers are unavailing to affect any improvement of
man. They are incapable of reaching
the seat of his moral disease, and at the most, they can but
place outward restraints on him. That's about what religion tries
to do. That's about what all that goes
on in the name of of politics and government and education
is try to harness up and tie down and secure all these wild
asses, Colts. That's what it is. We love these little children. And we start the very day that
they're born, almost, trying to restrain what we know, if
we know anything, is in them by nature. We just start doing
our best to try to harness them and hold them and keep them from
being what we know they'll be because we know they came from
us. You see, He includes the source. It's the wild ass, but this is
the wild ass's coat. He's going to be just like us.
She's going to be just like us. But, but, God shows us that we're such
in order to show the glory of His grace to us. You say, Preacher, that's a pretty
tough description of nice folks like us. I haven't even begun
to begin to come close. This book is full, not only of
descriptions of us, but also it's full of how God will deal
with us if He doesn't deal with us in grace. Absolutely. How could there ever be hope
for such rebels? for such wild beasts, for such
stubborn and self-willed and stupid and scattered sinners
like this description pictures. They are way out there in a desert
place. The ones that are described here
in this text They really were in a desert place. They really
were in a wilderness. And pity the man who tries to
go out there and get them and harness them. and rescue
them. They'll just stay out there in
that desert most likely until they starve to death. But look back here in Exodus
chapter 13. You see, God in great mercy,
in great wisdom, made as a part of that law that he gave to Moses
and the people of Israel, as a part of that law away. Look back here in Exodus 13 at verse 13. He says, "...and every firstling,
of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb." Thou shalt redeem with a lamb. In other words, there was but
one way, just one way that the ass's coat could be saved and
kept for service in the camp of Israel." He said, you can redeem it with
a lamb. Now what did that mean? That meant that a lamb had to
be sacrificed, had to die, and its blood shed in order for this
rebellious, dumb, unclean beast to live. Just one way. You've got to go and take that
best lamb you've got and shut that lamb up in a stall to make
sure that that lamb is perfect in every way. And you have to then take that
lamb that has been found to be without blemish and without spot,
and you have to take that lamb and slay that lamb and shed its
blood and offer it as a sacrifice to God in order to redeem this ugly, forlorn beast. Now, I just imagine that those
beasts, that these donkeys that were kept, raised
by these Israelites, they probably looked a lot better than the
one described by God describing us. Not a lot better. Like somebody said, you can't
take a silver saddle and put it on
a jackass and make a racehorse out of it. That's what men think
we can do. Nope. Redemption is the only way. Divine redemption is the only
way that such as we are can be saved. What is said of this beast is but a picture of what has
to be said of us, and that's redemption is the only way. And you know that's a humbling
comparison. That's an awesome picture. Here
is a wild beast like a donkey. And you're going to sacrifice
a perfect, valuable lamb for Him? That's nothing. Here you and
I, who are sinners and rebels and God-haters by nature and
ignorant and dumb and vile and filthy and every other thing
that could be said in description of us, And God is going to give
His perfect Son to redeem us? You see, both that old beast
and us are unclean and as such doomed to destruction unless
we be redeemed by land." Here we are, boasting of all
that we are. We're just willing to talk about
what we've done, where we go to church, and how we don't smoke,
drink, or chew, or do anything with the folks that do. We're
just so glad to just do all these things. and offer them up to a God who's
holy, infinitely righteous, and imagine that He's going to accept
that. We've got to have a Lamb. And
there's only one Lamb. And Christ Jesus was the Lamb. He's the clean, the spotless
Lamb. And we were unclean, but He willingly
and according to the purpose and will of the Almighty God
took our position and on the cross was made sin and treated
as such. On that cross, that's what's
happening. God is treating that spotless Lamb of God the way we ought to be treated.
He's burying our sins in His own body on the tree. Sin that
requires death. What was the alternative? if
they did not redeem this ass with a lamb?" He said, break his neck. What? Is that offensive to our newfound
interest in the animal kingdom in our day? He said, break his
neck. God said that. God who created
the creature and God who owns the creature said, you don't
redeem him with a lamb, break his neck. That's mercy. That's mercy to
you and me. that God would in that picture
show what must be done in order to save us and what the consequence
will be to everyone outside of the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ. All which we should have endured
throughout the countless ages of eternity He endured and suffered
for us on that cross, and He bore all that was due to us there
and then in order that we might enjoy every blessing that He's
worthy of forever. Paul says, writing to the Corinthians,
He says, but of Him, but of God. Are you in Christ Jesus, who
of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption? God gave Christ on the behalf
of His people for redemption. And the way of redemption is
the way of death. The way of redemption is the
way of blood being shed in the satisfaction of offended justice. He said, if you don't redeem
him, break his neck. Paul writing to the Ephesians,
speaking of Christ, he says, in whom? In whom we have redemption. What is redemption? What is it
to redeem? It means to buy back. to purchase
back by the paying of a price, in whom we have redemption, unless
anybody would imagine that it's just simply by the life of Jesus
or by the teaching of Jesus. He says, in whom we have redemption
through His blood. the forgiveness of sins according
to the riches of his grace. The Apostle in Hebrews chapter
9, he said, neither by the blood of goats and calves, such as
were pictured here in Exodus 13, neither by the blood of goats
and calves or lambs or anything like that, but by his own blood
he entered in once into the holy place having obtained redemption
for us." Did he make it available? No.
He obtained it, or as that word is often times, he manifested
the divine, eternal redemption of his people. You see, God knows and has always
known what we are by nature and what is required to save us and
take us to His Holy Self. And He appointed and He ordained
and He provided a Lamb to redeem His people before the world began. As a matter of fact, in Revelation
13, Christ is referred to as the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. He said, by the prophet Zechariah,
that there would be a day, and in that day there shall be a
fountain opened to the house of David, to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness. to redeem. And that fountain is none other
than the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a fountain filled
with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunged beneath
that blood lose all their guilty stains. And he sent his lamb into this
world to redeem his people. They're just like a bunch of
wild asses, Colts, but they belong to him. He loves them. He's purposed to save them, make
them like his son. And one day John the Baptist
stands up on the side of a riverbank And he gets that first glimpse
of the One that the Spirit of God has told him is the Messiah,
the One that's to come and be the Savior. And when he sees
Him, he says, Behold, the Lamb of God. He was looking at a man when
he said that. He was looking at the God-man.
Behold, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Paul says, Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law. How? Being made a curse for us,
for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree.
And then Peter again reminding us, For as much as you know,
that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot. That's what we are. That's what Christ did. He redeemed His people. John shows them in the Revelation.
He sees them standing in glory. And he says they sung a new song,
say. They're saying to this one who's
described as a lamb sitting on a throne, And they say in their
song, thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals
thereof, for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by
thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. If you're not redeemed, that would break his neck. But if we're not redeemed in
this eternal and spiritual sense before divine justice, that means
eternal death. You say, how do I know if He
redeemed me? He brings you to an end of that
snuffing, snorting, self-will rebellion to be broken and bowed
and believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, I believe in free will.
Go ahead, wild ass. I believe in my works. Well,
just look at you. This is what God says of him.
And he says, he that being often reproved hardeneth his neck. Have you ever had any experience with
horses or such? You just start to try to put
the bridle on an unbroken horse and see what he does with his
neck. Or even supposedly a broken one, you try to put a saddle
on him, he bows up and swells up That's us. But he that being often reproved,
hardeneth his neck, shall be suddenly destroyed, and that
without remedy. And I'm going to tell you what
Christ said to you. He said, take my yoke upon you. and learn of me, for I am meek
and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest for your
souls." Cast off all those old filthy
rags of self-righteousness and look to Christ who is the righteousness
of God. Be washed in His cleansing blood. Repent of all these things you
think about God and think you've done right in the sight of God, and just plead His precious death. How do you redeem an ass? With
a lamb. I know this. The Lamb of God,
He redeems somebody. His blood is a ransom price.
A redemption. He redeems somebody. Who do you
redeem? These wild asses of Colts. Is that you? I can tell you this, isn't it? Redemption by the shedding of
the Son of God's blood is the only way that God could ever
be just, and count me righteous in His sight. The only way. And redemption is the only way for real sinners. And he gave this as an illustration. He said, when your children say
to you, what's all this about? Why did you, in order to redeem
that dumb beast over there, why did you just kill that perfectly
wonderful, beautiful lamb? He said to show and remind us
that God did by his hand of power redeem us from the bondage of
Egypt. That's it. Father in heaven, we ask this
morning that you might, by your mighty Spirit, invade our Bring us, Lord, to the knowledge
of what we are, to confess in truth not only our sinfulness
but our great need. Enable us to look outside of
ourselves and to plead the Lord Jesus Christ. to truly believe
on Him, rely on Him, and to renounce every other hope, and to see our glorious Redeemer, and to say with Job of old, I
know that my Redeemer lives. Subdue our rebellion by Your
grace. Make us willing in the day of
Your power. And give us hope and faith in
Your Son. For we ask all things in Him.
Amen.