Well, I have been looking forward
to being here ever since John asked me to come up. It's been
a while since I've seen most of you. The Lord has graciously
brought us through some difficulties, you individually, you collectively,
and myself as well. Some of our friends are going
through difficulties now, and I have them on my heart constantly. Woke up early this morning with
a message on my heart for you and began working on it. I believe
God's given me something for you. Turn with me to Exodus Chapter
3 and just hold your Bibles open there. Exodus Chapter 3. Most of us have been friends
for 35 years or more. That's a long time. God has welded
our lives together. and the sweet fellowship of our
Redeemer, and I'm thankful for it. Here in the third chapter
of Exodus, our Savior speaks directly to his people and gives
us ten words of comfort. The Holy Bible is open here in
Exodus chapter three. Ten words of comfort from our
Savior. That's my subject. Here are ten declarations of
mercy that fell from the lips of the Son of God to His people
as He was about to bring them out of Egyptian bondage for 400
years. By divine purpose, for 400 years,
God's covenant people, the people of His choice, had been in bondage
in Egypt. And their bondage had gotten
more and more severe with the passing years. And then the Lord
appeared to Moses and declared that he would bring his people
out of Egypt. And he made these statements.
And before we look at the statements themselves, let me make a few
statements of my own. Understand this. God the Holy
Spirit is our comforter. That's his distinct office. That's
what he is distinctly sent to do for us. He is our comforter. The comforter sent by our Redeemer
to minister to us while we make our pilgrimage through this world. When you need comfort, you don't
need a counselor on this earth. You don't need to come see your
pastor and get comfort from him. Most preachers, most religion
is designed to keep people dependent on them so that you treat them
like priests. We're not your priest. We're
God's messengers to your souls. When you need comfort, you find
it from God himself, through his spirit, by his word, and
in our Savior. God the Holy Spirit is our comforter. His word, this book, this book. This book, this is God's Word. This is God's Word. This is the
means of consolation. This is the means of consolation.
What God has written in the Word is written for our consolation. We're told of the consolation
of the scriptures. I recall many years ago, 35,
36 years ago, The difficulties arose in my
life, and Brother Mahan said to me, the best counsel I can
give you, Brother Fortner, is bury yourself in the scriptures. Bury yourself in the scriptures. Ask God to speak to you. This
is the means of our consolation. The gospel of Christ is that
by which our souls are comforted. We're comforted not by our knowledge
of facts and things of history revealed in Scripture about the
various events recorded in Scripture alone, but as those things point
us to our Redeemer and teach us of the person and work of
our Lord Jesus, God's darling Son, who became one of us, the
Word made flesh dwelling among us, that one who having suffered
all that he suffered, not just upon the cross, but all the days
of his sojourn on this earth, he was the man of sorrows acquainted
with grief. And then bearing our sins in
his body upon the cursed tree, suffering all the horrid wrath
of God, now risen again, seated on the majesty, the right hand
of God in heaven, he who is God in the flesh is touched with
the feeling of our infirmities. That's just almost beyond understanding. He who is God in the flesh, sitting
on the throne of the universe, holding the reins of the universe,
is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He's a man just
like you and just like me, a real man. Faith in Christ, this faith
that God gives us, and understand this, if you don't understand
it now, you will soon if you're one of God's. Faith is not just
something that God gave us in the beginning of life. Pastor, if we're able to believe
God right now, he has to work faith in us. He has to work faith in us. How
many times have you found yourself in great difficulty and you want
so much to believe God and you just can't trust Him? You just
can't trust Him except He works faith in you. This faith that
He works in us, faith in Christ Jesus, embraces God's revelation
of Himself in His Word and finds rest and comfort leaning upon
the Savior's breast. casting all our care upon Him
who cares for us. Now, here in Exodus 3, we're
given a brief account of some of the circumstances that preceded
God's deliverance of Israel from their captivity and bondage in
Egypt. But let us not forget, these
things are written for our learning, that we, through patience and
comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. Everything written
in the book, everything written in the book is written for us.
It's not just for the Jews in a certain period of time or just
for God's people in certain circumstances. Everything in the book is written
specifically from God to you for your benefit if you're his.
So as we read these things, understand that these things are written
for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come.
If you can hear these ten declarations, these ten sweet words of comfort,
these are written in the book of God for you. Let's begin in
verse seven. Our Savior says, I have surely
seen the affliction of my people. Deprived of liberty, the children
of Israel were slaves to the king of Egypt. slaves in common
with all their fellow subjects, and they were slaves to their
fellow slaves. These men were compelled to work
in the open air beneath the burning sun in the hottest climate in
the world. They were compelled to go out
and gather stubble for their bricks, walk for miles and miles
every day, gathering stubble, making bricks for the king of
Egypt. The work was performed under the eye of vigilant taskmasters. cruel taskmasters who beat them
severely and constantly. Now, understand this, these are
God's covenant people, like you. God's covenant people, like you.
People to whom God had promised redemption, like you. They were
in constant pain and trouble in their circumstances. These
children of Israel had very meager food that contained little nourishment,
the leeks garlics and onions that grew like wild weeds with
little nourishment and the few sheep they had in Egypt, and
painful and distressing as those things were, that's the smallest
part of Israel's misery. While the fields surrounded them
and heard their cries by day when they would come to their
huts in the evening, their cries were echoed still with greater
lamentation. Their sons were dragged from
the arms of their parents and put to death by drowning to prevent
them from multiplying. Degraded, oppressed, they'd been
in bondage for 400 years. Who can imagine such a thing?
Father to son to grandson to great-grandson. For 400 years
they'd been in bondage. Degradation just got worse with
each generation. The suffering just got worse
with each generation. We can't begin to understand
their solace. To them, the morning sun arose
without hope and set in despair. The beauties of the new budding
life in the spring had no hope for them, no charm to their eyes. The bounties of the harvest in
the fall gave them no joy at all, for they still had poverty
and emptiness. Even the ordinary charms of domestic
life made them bitter. Imagine a woman swollen with
child, hoping that it wouldn't be a son, fearing that she'd
have a son dragged from her breast in the middle of the night and
drowned in the nearby river. To them, everything was misery
and despair. Everything. Hell, we can't grasp
that. We just can't grasp that. For
us, most of the time, for most of us, life is joy and pleasantness
with a few bumps along the way. But for these folks, everything
was misery and despair day in and day out. Though they knew
it not and would not have believed it had they heard it, the Lord
God said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people.
In their great sorrow, they forgot God. But God didn't forget them. They forgot his covenant, but
he remembered his covenant. They forgot his mercy. He had
sworn to them, but he remembered their mercy. He was not indifferent
to them. He was not indifferent to their
sufferings, though it appeared that he was. He saw their affliction
and heard their cries. His eye was upon them, his ear
continually open to their cries, to their sobbing hearts. The
tears they shed was observed by him, and the groans they uttered
he recorded. These words of our Savior, I
have surely seen the affliction of my people, might be read like
this, in seeing, I have seen the affliction of my people,
indicating much more than God's omniscience, much more than his
omniscience. These words express the clear,
distinct, full sight he had of their adversities, his sympathy
toward them in their trouble, an affectionate concern for them,
a fixed, settled determination in his heart to deliver them.
He thoroughly observed their affliction, thoroughly observed
it. In all their afflictions, He
was afflicted. In all their afflictions, He
was afflicted. Did He not say, He that toucheth
you, toucheth the apple of My eye? In all their afflictions,
He was afflicted, and He was bent upon delivering them. Child
of God, remember this. Our God sees us. His eye is always
upon us. He watches over us with the affection
of a tender father and in all the goodness of His holy being.
Thou, God, seest me. Oh, what a consolation for my
soul. Thou, God, seest me. Though troubles assail me, though
sorrows overwhelm me, though my heart breaks within me, God
sees you. He sees you perfectly where you
are. He sees you in all your ways. He sees you completely. He sees you watching over you
with perfect love. Within thy circling power I stand. On every side I find thy hand.
Awake, asleep, at home, abroad, I'm surrounded still with God. All right, look at verse 7 again.
I have heard their cry. Not I've heard their prayer,
I've heard their cry. Look back at chapter 2, verse
23. And it came to pass in the process
of time that the kings of Egypt died, and of the children of
Israel sighed by reason of bondage. The bondage, and they cried,
and their cry came up unto God by reason of their bondage, and
God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with
Abraham, and with Isaac, and with Jacob. Oh, what a blessing. Turn over to Psalm 18 for a minute. Psalm 18. When we can't put our cries into
words, And I dare say, your experience
is similar to mine, most of the things that really lay heavy
on my heart, I can't put into words before God or men. When we can't put the cries of
our hearts into words so that we can order our calls and order
our prayers before God, he hears The groans of our hearts. Hears them and understands them. When we don't, he hears the groans
of our hearts. Romans 8, 26. The time of affliction. The time of supplication. And
our extremity is God's opportunity. Here's what he says. Psalm 18,
6. In my distress I called upon the Lord. and cried unto my God,
and he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before
him, even into his ears." The doors of mercy, children of God,
are always open. God said, I saw a door open in
heaven. The Lord God says, let me hear thy voice. One of the
few times I had a good assignment when I was in Bible college,
I was in a class on prayer, and the professor was actually a
pretty good professor. He gave an assignment. He said, I want
you to go home, and the class just met once a week. He said,
I want you to go home, and for the next week, keep a piece of
paper handy, and write down everything you can think of related to or
hinted at in any way by Hebrews 460. And from that time to this,
than one of my favorite portions of scripture. Let us therefore
come boldly. Boldly. That doesn't mean with
arrogance and cockiness as this modern charismatic delusion would
have you think. It means to come with complete
freedom. With complete freedom. You can tell God anything. You can tell God anything. I
don't have to believe what I'm telling you. I know that. But
you can tell God anything. When you visit with an old believer
and he's been carrying the same Bible or she's been carrying
the same Bible for a while, you pick it up sometime and you'll
find the thickest pages in the book are the Psalms. I'll tell
you why. In the Psalms, we're allowed
to go with that man after God's own heart. into his closet and
hear him say like what we want to say and won't dare say. Oh my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? Is thy mercy clean gone forever? Has the Lord forgotten to be
gracious? You can tell God anything. Whatever's on your heart, whatever's
on your heart, come boldly to the throne of grace that we maintain
mercy and find grace to help in time of need. All right, look
back at the last line of verse 7, Exodus 3. I know their sorrow. I know their sorrow. I just told your pastor and the
men back in the office just a few minutes ago, our dear friend,
Brother Bruce Crabtree, his oldest son, Chris, is in the hospital
in very serious condition. And I weep for him. I've known
that boy since he was a baby. His dad and mom, he's a dear
friend. I love him. I weep for him. My heart breaks for them. But
I don't know what he's going through. I've never had a son or daughter
in that position. I don't know what he's going through. I feel
for them, but I don't know their sorrow. Here, God our Savior
says, I know their sorrows. No man can truthfully make that
statement about another except the God man. He knows your sorrows. The tender feelings of a mother's
heart no human sympathy can touch. But our blessed Savior, the Prince
of Sufferers, He who led the way in the path of sorrow, knoweth
our frame and remembers that we're just dust. When crushing
sorrow lies like ice heavy on your heart, when the dearest
earthly friend can't enter into your grief. Christ can, and He
does. I know their sorrows. Sometimes He hides His face and makes it appear that He's
forsaken us. Sometimes He makes it appear that He has forgotten
us, causing us to cry with David, Is his mercy clean gone forever?
But even then, he's bending over. He's bending over with tender
love to care for our souls. The scriptures describe three
things to give us comfort in this regard. Maybe more than
these three, but these three things. Our blessed Savior takes
great care to comfort us in heavy trials and sorrows in this world. He says to his servants, comfort
ye, comfort ye my people. And here are three things the
word of God describes by which he comforts us. First, Job tells
us my transgression is sealed up in a bag. Thou sewest up mine
iniquity. You've seen the old movie, how
ancient times men died sealing. put them in a bag, sew it at
both ends, seal it up, and drop them into the sea. Job says, that's what God's done
with my sins. That's what God's done with my sins. I read years
ago about a believer reading a geological magazine when he
was riding a train in England, and he was just reading something
like National Geographic, and he'd read a little bit, and hists
just lapped with joy. He'd look at the same page again.
He'd just laugh out loud. Finally, he said, thank God. And the fellow sitting aside,
he said, what are you reading? And he told him what he was reading.
He said, I just read here that the depths of the deepest sea
is seven miles deep. And the scripture tells me God's
cast my sins into the depths of the sea. Oh, bless his name. What does that mean? What does
that mean? God's forgiven you, my brother. God's forgiven you,
my sister. He will never charge sin to you. He will never impute sin to you. And he will never deal with you
any the less graciously because of your sin. I had a call Saturday
from a young believer, a friend of mine, going through a little
difficulty. He said, He said, but God, could
God be punishing me for my sins? And I responded, absolutely not. No, God chastens his own in love
like any good father does. But punish, he punished our sins
in his son 2,000 years ago. And his son fully satisfied the
wrath and justice of God. So no matter what your lowest
state is, understand child of God, you're God. made a bag for
your sins and cast them into the sea. And he's forgotten it. He's forgotten it. He will never
deal with you on the basis of your transgressions. And then
our Lord tells us, Rejoice, for your names are written in heaven.
God has written a book from eternity called the Book of Life of the
Lamb. And in that registry of the Lamb, he's recorded the names
of his elect. But it's not just a role book. It's not just the recording of
the names of God's elect. That Lamb's Book of Life is the
book of God's eternal purpose, of God's sovereign decrees. It's
described in Revelation 5 as that book sealed with seven seals,
written within and without it on the backside, that only the
Lamb is worthy to take and open. It's the book of God's sovereign
purpose in predestination, by which God has recorded Now I
understand, please, I understand God didn't really write down
a book. He didn't need to. He's condescending for our puny
brains so we can handle on it. He's recording from eternity
everything that comes to pass in time. Exactly, he brings it
to pass according to his purpose for the people whose names he's
written in the book so that when he's finished, he will make every
one of us exactly like his son. God sent Israel into Egypt to
preserve His seed in the midst of darkness, and to preserve
a seed through whom would come the woman's seed, through whom
He would say, Christ's seed, His church. Everything God does
in time, God ordained in eternity and brings to pass in time for
the good of His chosen. He's made a bag for our sins,
written a book for our everlasting good, and the Lord God Almighty
has a bottle for our tears. A bottle for our tears. So that
the Lord God takes his people and sympathizes in all things. We don't have them today, but
in ancient times they used to, especially in Egyptian funerals,
they'd catch tears in a little vial. and they would put them
in the tomb with the one who was buried, the one who had died,
to give an indication of their sympathy and tenderness for that
one who had died. Thou tellest all my wonderings. Put thou my fears into thy bottle. Are they not in thy book? When I cry unto thee, thou, then
shall mine enemies turn back. This I know, for God is for me."
The Lord God, like a tender-hearted man, a tender-hearted woman,
portrays himself as catching our fears in his bottle, showing
his tenderness and his sympathy for his own. What could be more
comforting? has tender care for his own. John Pratt said this, that is
a sweet support to a seeking soul. God knows all and bears
a part. God knows all and bears a part. There's not one of you fathers
or mothers who hasn't had a child in great distress, physical or
otherwise, that your hearts didn't break
with that child. And your tenderness for your
child is nothing compared to your father's tenderness toward
you. is not a rock that you see out
in the field. He's the rock on which we stand. And their rock is not as our
rock. Our rock is touched with the
feeling of our impermanence. All right, now look at verse
8. And I am come down to deliver
them. He who sees our affliction, hears
our cries, and knows our sorrows, arises from his lofty throne,
not to command armies of angels to come to our aid, but rather
to come down himself to deliver us. So he did in his incarnation,
so he does when he comes in saving mercy, and so he does in all
his wondrous works of his good providence. Clouds and darkness
around about him, but righteousness and judgment are the habitation
of his throne. I'm come down to deliver them. Now, look at verse 12. Our blessed
Savior declares, certainly, certainly I will be with thee. Turn over
to Isaiah chapter 40. Hold your hands here in Exodus
and turn to Isaiah 43 for a minute. Isaiah 43. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again
I say rejoice. Let your moderation, your ease
of heart, your gentleness of spirit, your peaceable disposition,
let your moderation be known to all men. The Lord's at hand. The Lord's at hand. I remember
Long time ago now, when our daughter was just a little type, back
in the mountains of West Virginia, we'd go for walks in the woods.
And if you've never been scared by the sound of a big bird taking
off in the woods when everything's quiet, you don't have any idea
what startled can be. We were walking along one day,
and a whole flock of turkeys just suddenly took off. And she
got jumped out of her skin. And you know what she did? She
grabbed my leg and squeezed just as close and tight to me as she
could get. And for some reason, that gave
her some comfort. She seemed to think that I could actually
do something, that I could actually protect her from some wild beast.
Of course, I was glad for her to think so, but she was convinced
everything's all right as long as dad's there and I know he's
there. Well, that might not be so. But everything's alright
if God's there. And Bill, he's near. The Lord's
at hand. He's God by your side to encourage
and protect you, to strengthen you and help you. Listen to this.
Fear not, thou, for I am with thee. Be not discouraged, for
I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea,
I will help thee. I will uphold thee with the right
hand of my righteousness. Now look at Isaiah 43. But now,
thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, he that formed
thee, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have
called thee by thy name, thou art mine. When thou passest through
the waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel,
thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
Ethiopia and Sheba for thee. If you want to give some Arminian
something to chew on for a while, just quote that passage to him. I gave Ethiopia for you and Sheba
for you. Since thou wast precious in my
sight, obviously they weren't, thou hast been honorable. and
I have loved thee. Now watch this. Therefore will
I give men for thee and people for thy life. Let your conversation be without
covetousness, and be content with such things as you have.
For he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. He hath said, I will never, no
never, no never leave thee, and I will never forsake thee, never,
under no circumstances, at no time, not for a moment. So it's the next line here, verse
12. Ye shall serve God upon this
mountain. Ye shall serve God Let me see
if I can get this crystal clear. Moses was on Mount Horeb, Mount
Sinai. And God said, you're going to
serve me right here. You, my people, you're going
to serve me right here. And when God gave them all, they built
an altar and worshiped and served God right there on that very
spot. Now hear me, my brother. Hear
me, my sister. Whatever the high mountain is
that blocks heaven from your sight, whatever the burden is
that crushes your soul, whatever the heartache is that causes
you restlessness every night, and pain every day, you shall
serve God right here on this day. This very time shall be to you
a cause of praise to God in heaven. Do you really believe that, Brother
Don? I know it's so. I know it's so. I don't know much about heartache
or pain, but I've been through a few things that have taken a bad. And then I would
never have chosen one of them. I'd have never chosen one of
them. But I'm 60 years old now. I'll be 61 in June. And there's not one thing in these
60 years I would change if I could. Not one thing. Not one thing. God's done right by me. And he's
done good by me. And he will cause you, my brother,
he will cause you, my sister, on the mountain of your adversity
now to worship and serve him. Look at verse 14. Here we have the most powerful
incentive possible to believe that it shall be so. He who made
these promises declares, I am That I am. That's his name. That's who he is. The eternal,
self-existent, self-sufficient God. The being of beings. He comprehends the past, the
present, and the future. I don't merely mean he knows
the past, the present, and the future. I don't merely mean he
ordained the past, the present, and the future. I mean he comprehends
the past. the present and the future. Our
God is eternal. He is forever the same. He says, I am that I am. I am
now what I always was and what I shall be tomorrow. I am now
and always have been. I'm the eternal, immutable God. All His works were finished from
the foundation of the world. The eternal, immutable God. Nothing alters Him. and nothing
changes his purpose, and we're in his hands. In a word, he declares
to us that he is our faithful God. And then he says in verse 17,
I will bring you up out of the affliction. I'm not looking for something
to say, I want you to hear me. When you're in the deep, dark
pit, you're just not likely to believe
that. Your inclination Your nature,
your unbelief, your hardness, your flesh, just won't let you
believe that. Try as you may, this is it. And things won't get better.
He will bring you up out of the pit. He will bring you out of
the affliction. He purposed it, he promised it,
and he'll do it. And when he does, he'll bring
you into a land flowing with milk and honey. He'll squeeze
milk and honey out of the hard rock of adversity and cause the
milk and honey to flow in such abundance to your soul that you'll
look back on the pit as a blessed thing. Number 21, or verse 21. Here's the ninth thing. God promises here to give His
people favor among the Egyptians. He says, you shall not go out
empty. You shall not go out empty. Do you remember what the Egyptians
did on the night of the Passover when they shoved Israel out of
Egypt? They said, don't get out of here.
Get out of here. What will it take to get you
out? You need some gold? You need some silver? You need
some pots and pans? And they gave them everything
they needed for 40 years' journey in the wilderness. Everything
they needed. So they who came down to Egypt
with nothing went out of Egypt with everything that was worth
anything in all of Egypt. You shall not go out empty. So
it shall be, children of God, with you. When the Lord God delivers
you from any trial by which he may momentarily crush your heart,
you shall not go out of it dead, but enriched by it. Look at two
portions of Scripture, 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 17. Our light affliction. Our featherweight affliction. Well, Paul's never been through
what I'm going through. Read the first 17 verses of this chapter
and find out. Our light affliction worketh
for us. Notice the ETH ending? That's
a linear tense verb, and that means that This is a constant
motion. This is a constant working. Our light of fiction is now and
shall tomorrow, as it has been yesterday, works for us a far
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. I heard an old preacher from
Liverpool, England, Forty years ago, commenting on this passage
of Scripture, he said, his name was Brother Charles, I think
the last name was a little bit Charles, but he said, Heaven could not be so glorious for
you as it shall be. Were it not for these afflictions
here, from which God delivers you, worketh for us a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Look at 1 Peter 1,
1 Peter 1, verse 6, talking about salvation,
ready to be revealed, wherein he greatly rejoiced, though now
for a season. Now watch this, it need be, it
need be. There's always a needs be for
your heaviness. If need be, you're in heaviness
through manifold temptations, manifold trials. That the trial
of your faith, being much more precious than a gold that perishes,
though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and
honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. This shall be found in the praise,
honor, and glory of our Redeemer. All things are for your sakes,
that the abundant grace might, through the thanksgiving of many,
redound to the glory of God. Now, one more thing. Look at
the last line of verse 22. And ye shall spoil the Egyptians. Read Revelation 21, Zechariah
14 when you get home. Ye shall spoil the Egyptians.
The nations of the earth shall bring their treasures into the kingdom of God in the
New Jerusalem. Everything that's worth anything
on this earth will be down to God's glory. in our eternal salvation. And in that day when our God
makes all things new, even on the horse's bridles, there shall
be bells that ring out holiness to the Lord, so that every part
in Israel has holiness to the Lord upon it. The totality of
our lives will bring to pass that which our Lord first taught
us to pray. Our Father which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. We pray. I believe we pray very
honestly as he taught us to pray. Incessantly. God, glorify yourself. Give glory to your name. Lord
God, honor yourself. Honor Yourself and You shall in everything,
everything. And when He's made all things
new and our salvation is finished and we're seated with Christ
in glory, I think we surely shall forever
look back across the alps of time, discovering the wonders
our God has wrought for us in all his good providence. Everything he does is wonders. But God, all he performs is wonders.
That's all He performs. And we shall at last look over
everything and give Him praise. We will say like those at the
end of Mark chapter 7 after a day watching the Savior. They looked
back over the day and said, He hath done all things well. So it is, and so it shall be. Amen.