Exodus chapter 8, the Lord said,
let my people go. Not let a people go, but my,
a particular people. He's speaking of a particular
people, and they are His. He said, they are mine, and you're
mine. Imagine that, that you are a
son of God, a son or daughter of the King. It does not yet
appear what we shall be. We don't know what we shall be,
but we know this right now. We are the sons of God. Sons
of God. You're mine. And he says, let
them go. And he says that every time he
saves a sinner. Every time God calls one of his
sheep out of darkness into his marvelous light, he says, he
commands, let them go. Let my son go, let my daughter
go, let my people go, that they may serve me. That they may not
just say to serve, I originally titled this message, Liberty
to Serve. We have the freedom and the liberty
to serve. We've come here tonight, willingly. We've come here to worship freely,
wanting to do it, desiring to do it. I prayed today, Give me
the ability to preach tonight and enable us to worship you.
Give us a spirit of worship. Give us a spirit of worship when
we gather here tonight. Give us the liberty to do it. I pray that he would command
right now that the things that weighs on our minds, that he
would just say, let them go. Let them go. At least let these
things go for a little while and give us this time to freely
worship the Lord. And this is a command. He's not
bargaining. You notice Pharaoh, you can always tell false religion.
One of the very marks of false religion, it always tries to
bargain with God. True religion submits. Speak,
Lord, thy servant heareth. But Pharaoh said here, I noticed
this when Frank was reading. Pharaoh said here in chapter
8, let me find the verse. Pharaoh said, I will let you
go that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness.
Only you shall not go very far away. Don't go too far. Keep within sight. Don't go too
far. Now, entreat for me. Pray and
see if this is all right. See if the Lord will do this.
You see, that's the way false religion, you know, it batters
back and forth with its false gods. That's the way they do
it. Now, look in verse 1 of chapter 9. Then the Lord said unto Moses,
Go in unto Pharaoh and tell him, Thus saith the Lord God of the
Hebrews, Let my people go that they may serve me." It didn't
change, did it? He didn't say, well, no. He said, you go back and you
tell him exactly what you told him yesterday. You let my people
go. So let's look at this in chapter
8. We know that all things belong
to our God. We are confident of this. All
things belong to our God. He made heaven and earth, the
sea, and all that is in them. You know, that's how, if you
go back to the Old Testament, that's how the prophets of old
would identify God as the Creator. Heaven, earth, the sea, and all
that's in them. Everything belongs to Him. Almighty
God can marshal up an army of angels The Lord said, I can call
twelve legions of angels. He can marshal up an army of
men. Or he can marshal up frogs, flies,
and lice and get the same job done. He can get the same job
done with frogs and lice that he can get done with an angel. He can. God does not need our military. I'm glad that we have the military
we have, but God does not need our military. He doesn't need
it at all in order to rule the world. He can call for the locust. He can call for the hornet. He
can call for the bees and get just as much done. Really. God can bring down the most powerful
nation with a germ. I was watching a documentary,
a program, not too long ago about the bubonic, I don't know if
I can even say it, the bubonic plague, whatever it is. It is,
the black plague. And it took out about, boy, it was
about a quarter of the European world at that time. It took about
a quarter of it out. And then you had scarlet fever.
And you had measles. Just a germ. A germ, a microscopic
germ, not an army that's armed to the teeth with F-16s and all
the technology we've got, these smart bombs. No, he just took
a germ and wiped out a quarter of the population of the earth.
That's all he did. All is his. We have our sophisticated
weaponry, and God has his sophisticated weaponry. frogs, flies, and lice, and took down this
man. Egypt was the greatest nation
on earth at this time. It was the greatest nation on
the face of this earth. And God did not raise up an army
of men. He took nature. He took the things that he created
and just brought that king down. Brought him down. We'll see this
as we go through this. All these things serve him for
the good of his elect. Egypt suffered at the hand of
these plagues. God used these things to to come
against Egypt, brought them against Egypt, but he did it for the
good of his elect. And you know that these things
did not touch his people. God's people. He said, my people. He said, I put a division over
here in chapter 8. Look here. And I will put a division
between my people and thy people. Tomorrow shall this sign be.
Look over in the, if you have the same kind of Bible I'm reading
from, over in the margin, I will put a redemption. I'll put a
redemption between my people and Eccles Pharaoh, thy people.
Because there are two people that live in this world. Two
types of people. Those that are his and those that are Satan's.
Spirit of darkness. Those who are under his power
and control. But all are his and they serve
him. And they serve him for our good. Turn over to Psalm 91. Look at verse 5, "...thou shalt not be afraid
for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flyeth by
day, nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for
the destruction that wasteth at noonday." A thousand shall
fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall
not come nigh thee." It won't take thy life. Our life is hid with Christ and
God. It will not destroy us. And he
says, don't you be afraid of the pestilence, because the pestilence
is from me. He sends it. And he accomplishes
his will in what he sends. I tell you, he'll kill as many
as he purposes to kill in. If a sparrow does not fall to
the ground without your heavenly father, how much more human life? So don't be afraid of the pestilence.
Don't be afraid of it. The swine flu. Now, if they can
give shots, I can take a shot, but I'm not afraid of it. He says, don't be afraid of those
things. These things, these are at his command. They are at his
command. Thus saith the Lord, here in
verse one, let my people go that they may serve me. Now, this
is not a request. It is a command. God never asks
his creation, especially rebels, to do something for him. Never. He commands his creation to do
this or do that, whichever he purposes it to accomplish, whatever
he purposes to accomplish. He commands it. He commands the
stormy wind. That's what it says. And look
over in Psalm 107. In Psalm 107, look in verse 25. For he commandeth and raiseth
that he makes to stand the stormy wind. which lifteth up the waves
thereof. They mount up to the heaven,
they go down again to the depths. Their soul is melted because
of trouble." Those who are caught in it. But he raises it. But
the same one who raises the stormy wind is the same one who stood
in that boat and said, Peace be still. And it quieted right
down. Same one. Look over at Psalm 148. This is our God. It says in verse
7, praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons at all deeps, fire
and hail, snow and vapor, stormy wind fulfilling his word. All these things fulfill his
word. He says, you command the frogs
to come up. And here's something. You know
what they worship? You know what one of the gods
they worship? A frog. Frog. Okay, you want to worship
frog? I'll give you plenty of them
to worship. He made him sick of frogs. They worshiped the
fly. Wasn't Beelzebub the god of the
fly? They called him the god of the fly? They worshiped these
things. And these things that they worshiped,
God used to bring them down, to break them. You notice those
magicians, God allowed them, God allowed Satan to have certain
powers to do things. He'll send them strong delusions
that they'll believe a lie and be damned. And he allowed these
magicians to do this. But they couldn't take them away.
They couldn't put one frog away. Aaron lifted up rods, the frogs
come up, and they said, well, we can do that too. So they just
added to the problem. But they couldn't take one away. Couldn't put one of them away.
Couldn't do it. So God commands here, God commands
Pharaoh to let his people go. He said, let my people go. This
shows here, as I was reading this today, this shows that God's
people are an enslaved people. Are we not by birth? Do we not
come into this world? Really, do we not come into this
world as slaves? We come into this world as slaves.
No one in this life is born free in the true sense of that word. You're not. Just don't pay your
taxes this year. Try it one time. You're not free. Yeah, we're
free as far as free can be in this world, but we're not free
in the full sense of that word. Whom the Son sets free, that
person is truly free indeed. That's a free person whom the
Son sets free. And we'll really enjoy the fullness
of that when we stand in His presence. We are enslaved people. We're slaves to our appetites,
aren't we? Always going on a diet. Slaves. Slaves to our appetite. Slaves
to sin. Sin does have dominion over us
until the Lord breaks it. Until the Lord sets us free from
that bondage of indwelling sin, from that nature of sin until
he cuts us free, and he says sin shall not have dominion over
you. You're not under the law now, you're under grace. And
it's not going to rule and reign over you. Not at all. But until
then it has dominion over us before conversion. We drink iniquity
like water. Like water. Solomon said, that the mischief
to the wicked is as sport. It's like playing a ball game. They enjoy it that much. They
enjoy it that much. Then we're slaves to Satan. Look
over in Ephesians chapter 2. Slaves to sin. Slaves to the spirit of darkness. It says in chapter 2, verse 1,
And you, hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins?
Wherein in time past you walked, this was your life, here is your
life, according to the course of this world. According to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience, that same spirit of disobedience
at one time worked in us. It worked in us. It controlled
us. We were slaves to it. And I know, I know every child
of God Knows that. You know it. You know that your worst enemy
is yourself. It's yourself. And we're slaves
to this world. The world is set in the heart
of men and women by nature. It's set in the heart. The glory
of it, the popularity of it, It starts in school. It starts
with these young kids in school. This thing of peer pressure and
being popular. It's just they're consumed with
it. They get consumed with it. That's
the world. That's the world set in the heart.
The material gain of it. The love of it. Until God commands these things
that enslave us to let us go. Until then, we are enslaved to
it. But when he commands, let my people go. Just like when Lazarus came out
of that grave, he said, loosing, take those grave clothes off,
loosing, letting go. Slaves to sin, slaves to Satan,
slaves to the world, slaves to the flesh. We're slaves to it. That's why there's just no way
possible that we can have a so-called free will. Because it's enslaved
to our nature. Every one of us have done things
and do things. And we say, I wish I had done
that. I wish I had said that. Well, what's wrong with your
will? Can't you get your will not to do it? Don't you have the
will not to do it? The willpower? That will is enslaved to our
nature. It's enslaved to it. He said here, now, after commanding
this, He says, let my people, my people. What does this show?
Ownership. Ownership. That's what it shows. Look over in chapter 11. I showed
you there in chapter 8, verse 23. Now look over in chapter
11. Chapter 11, let me see here. And there shall be a great cry
throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was 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 how that the Lord doth put a difference between
the Egyptians and Israel." distinguishing grace. Who maketh thee to differ,
Paul said? The Lord, by His grace, makes
us to differ. Makes us to differ. For a while, God's people are
under bondage to sin. They're under bondage to Satan.
They're under bondage to the law. They're under bondage to
their old nature. They're still God's people. A
sheep is always a sheep. He's not turning goats into sheep.
A sheep is a sheep. Israel never quit. Never quit being God's people,
even when they were in Egypt. They were still His people. And
you know, 400 years has gone by. Jacob and the patriarchs, all
of them had died and gone on to be with the Lord. And a few
hundred years went on by. They did not hear from God. They
had gotten caught up in the same worship that the Egyptians were
doing. They liked what the Egyptians
were doing. They liked the cucumbers. They
ate the cucumbers and there was another garlic. They liked it. They liked it. They were put into bondage to
these things. Egypt put them in bondage. But
now listen. They were still God's people. We were born into this world.
We were born into this world by nature lost. Lost. with the same nature as the children
of wrath, but I was still His. I was His
in the covenant of grace. I was His before the world began.
I was His when I was born, and I was His when I was born again.
I'm His now, and I'll be His when it's all over with. Israel
was His even when they were in Egypt. He says this in the Scriptures, I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore, this is the reason
you sons of Jacob, you sons of election, are not consumed. I am the Lord, I change not,
therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Not because you're
a better people. It's because God has not changed. I loved them with an everlasting
love. I chose them. They're mine. And in time, we're born of God
and we come to know our Father. We come to know Him. God has
never forsaken His people. Never! I can look back on my life, and
there's times I can tell you that I could have been easily
killed. Things that I did, places I was
at, things that went on, my life could have been snuffed out two
or three times easily. A good friend of mine, 19 years
old, he and I ran around together, did a lot of things together,
19 years old, slammed into the back of a tanker and killed him.
But just before that, he and I went this way. We parted company. I found an
interest in the gospel. He had no interest in it. Who
maketh thee a dither? Who maketh thee a dither? I can
promise you, six months before that happened, I would have been
in that car with him. I would have been right there with him.
We both would have slammed into that thing. But God made the
difference. He made the difference. I am the Lord. I change not. That's why you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. You're mine. You're mine. There are some out there right
now who are the Lord's and they don't know it. But they will. I promise you, they will. We've
got some young children here who don't know it. I pray God
they will. I pray they will. He's never forsaken his people.
God has a people, listen, he has a people by creation. Look
over in Isaiah 43. Isaiah 43. Look in verse 21. This people
have I formed, made, created for myself. They shall show forth
my praise. And look back in verse 7. Everyone, even everyone that
is called by my name, For I have created him for my glory. I have formed him, yea, I have
made him. He's mine. He's mine. And in time, God says, let him go
that he may serve me. Worship. That's what serving
God has to do. Worship. Worship. God has a people. This people have I formed for
myself. I've created him for my glory. God has a people by
election. He said to the disciples, you
did not choose me. I chose you. I chose you. It tells us over in Ephesians
chapter 1 verse 4, they were chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world. God did not send the gospel out
and then see who would accept it. You know, the Scripture says, He
hath made us accepted in the Beloved. He made us accepted. He received us in the Beloved.
We are His. And we are His also by redemption.
You've been bought with the price. You're not your own, the Scripture
says. Look over in 1 Peter. over in 1 Peter. 1 Peter, look in verse 18, 19. For as much as you know that
ye 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." Redeemed. You are a purchased people. You
are a created people. You have been created new in
Christ Jesus. In Christ, we are a new creation. In Christ, we've been purchased
by His blood, redeemed by His blood. And where He is also,
listen, by love. I have loved you with an everlasting
love. Now what does that mean? That means there was never a
time that He did not love me. Explain it. No way I can explain
that. Believe it? Absolutely. I've loved you with an everlasting
love. Having loved his own, he loved them to the end. He said over in Hosea, I will
love them freely. No charge. Then he says, let my people go
that they may do what? Serve me. Serve me. Worship me. Follow me. free to serve. They could not
serve God in Egypt. Let me turn back over here and
see if I can find this verse. Pharaoh said, well, you can go
ahead and do your sacrifices here if you want to. And Moses said, no, no. He said
the Egyptians will stone us if we do that here. We can't worship
God here in Egypt. We cannot worship God here in
bondage. There's not a soul that can or will worship God in bondage. That soul has to be set free.
The soul has to be set free. My body might be in bondage,
but I tell you what, if Christ has set me free, if He has given
me a new birth, a new nature, a new heart, I can worship God
in prison. That's freedom. Well, I don't know exactly where
it's at now. And Pharaoh called for Moses
and for Aaron and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the
land. Moses said, It's not me, it's
not fit so to do. For we shall sacrifice the abomination
of the Egyptians to the Lord our God. Lo, shall we sacrifice
the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes? They're stoners.
Can't do it. There's not going to be a worship
of God in Egypt. Now, we're in this world. I know
that. I'm telling you. A believer has
a new heart, a new nature, and I'm telling you, it's free. And
it's free to worship. It's free to worship God. Free to worship. And it has to
be set free before there will be worship. Has to. God does not save sinners just
to keep them from going to hell. That's what I thought years ago. That's what I thought this whole
thing was about. God trying to save men and women
to keep them from going to hell. That's not it. God is saving the people. He's
going to make them like His Son. And they are going to have an
eternity with the liberty and the freedom to worship and serve
Him in that new heaven and new earth. That's what's going to
happen. That's what's going to happen. He saves sinners, first
of all, because he loves them. He loves them. That's the root
of it. He loves them. And then he saves them that they
may truly, truly worship him freely. Paul says, stand fast,
there in Galatians, stand fast in the liberty with which Christ
has made you free. Don't you come back under bondage.
Don't you come back under keeping days and months and years and
ceremonies. No! He said you stand fast in
the liberty in which Christ has set you free. He sets you free
from all these ceremonies and all these earthly elements and
things. We worship God in spirit and
in truth. That's what true worship is. And you can't do that until
He sets you free. God cannot be served in an acceptable
manner as we are by nature. We cannot serve God in sin, in
bondage to sin, in bondage to Satan, in bondage to darkness.
We can't do it. He's got to set us free from
it. The dead, it says in the Scriptures,
the dead praise not the Lord. The dead don't. The living. The living, he says over in Isaiah,
the living praise thee. The living praise thee. The dead
doesn't. They don't praise the Lord. The living. We cannot serve God with that
old nature. It won't do it. Those who serve,
those who worship Him, must worship Him in spirit and in truth. And
that happens in the new birth. That happens when He sets us
free. Translates us out of the kingdom of darkness into the
kingdom of light. And true service, true service
starts in the heart. It starts in the heart. It's
a willing heart. It's a willing heart. It is a
service of love. Paul called it a labor of love.
It is a service of gratitude. If we do not love being here,
if we do not love giving, if we do not love sending out the
gospel, we're not serving God at all. We are not serving Him at all.
Because it starts in the heart. It's giving willingly. It's coming
here willingly. It's willingly worshiping the
Lord. It's willingly sitting here and hearing the gospel.
It's willing. It's a willingness. And he says
in Psalm 110, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy
power. And the day He sets you free
from bondage to these things, to the elements of this world,
to sin, Satan, the law, all these things, when He sets you free,
when you really understand the gospel, when you see Christ,
that's when you're set free. And that's when you and I will
truly worship the Lord. That's when we'll do it. Not
until we are born of God, not until we are regenerated, not
until we are made a new creation in Christ can we worship or serve
God. Until then, we just serve ourselves.
Selfish. Selfish. Israel, listen, Israel
must be delivered out of Egypt in order to serve God freely. In order to serve God freely,
they must be delivered. And God must deliver us out of
all these bondages that we are born into in order to serve Him
freely. Freely. All right. I'll leave it at that.