Turn back to Exodus chapter 6. I titled this message, A Charge
to Keep. I got the title from verse 13. And the Lord spake unto Moses
and unto Aaron and gave them a charge. That's serious business. I looked at that today and I
thought about myself standing here in this pulpit. God has
given me a charge to keep. When I stand here every Sunday
and Wednesday, I have one message. I have one message for God's
sheep, and we'll see it here in a little bit. But there's
also a message for the unconverted judgment. judgments coming. And he said here, And the Lord
spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, and he gave them a charge unto
the children of Israel, a message to give to the children of Israel,
and unto Pharaoh king of Egypt. He gave him a message for Pharaoh
to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. Now Moses and Aaron, back in
chapter 5, had told Pharaoh to let Israel go, to let them go
into the wilderness, a three-day journey, and hold a feast, a
worship service, unto the Lord. Now you can imagine These two
Hebrews standing for the most powerful monarch on the earth
at that time. I'm sure in his presence they
looked like a couple of hobos. You just know they did. They
were not dressed in the garb of Egypt. They were dressed like
shepherds. And you know the Egyptians, as
we looked at some time ago, hated shepherds. They hated shepherds. And here are two shepherds standing
before the greatest monarch and saying, commanding, not asking,
not debating, but commanding, you let my people go. God said, you let my people go.
And of course, Pharaoh didn't like that. It didn't sit well
with Pharaoh. He hadn't been commanded to do anything since
he was a boy growing up, I'm sure. He's the one doing all
the commanding for years. And he did not. This was an embarrassment
to him in front of his court for these two shepherds to walk
in there and say, you let Israel go. And it didn't go well with
him. So he made their lives even more
difficult. They were to make bricks without
straw. Now I don't think they made these four by six inch bricks. The pyramids were being built
at this time. And you look at those stones
that they used. This is what they're making.
And they've got to do this now without straw. And they became
very, that is the Hebrews, the Israelites, became very upset
with Moses because of this. Because of what Moses said to
Pharaoh, Their lives became so hard. So hard. It said, anguish of
spirit. Anguish of spirit. The good news
only brought bad results on them. They were experiencing nothing
but bad results out of the good news they heard. And I thought about this today
as I was sitting over here. People who make a profession
of Christ an empty profession, but they confess Christ for a
while, are sadly mistaken to think that their troubles will
be less. That it's just going to be less.
Things are going to be great now. When in fact, there are
more. There are more. Now listen, all
men and women bear the same troubles that come from sin. We all bear
the same troubles because of that. But the believer must bear
the reproach that comes from following Christ. So he's got more troubles. He's
got more troubles now. The professor only becomes, he
only becomes offended when he starts to bear these
troubles, these reproaches over Christ. It's like, why is this
happening to me? Why is this happening to me? I believe God.
Where's God? Look over in Matthew chapter
13. Matthew chapter 13. Here in verse 20. But he that received
the seed into stony places The same is he that heareth the word,
he heareth the gospel, and a noun with joy he receiveth it. He makes a profession of it.
He makes an outward profession of it, a confession of it. He
receives it. Yet hath he not root in himself? The root of the matter is not
in him. It didn't take root in him, for sure. But he doreth
for a while. for a long while, a year maybe. But when tribulation or persecution
arises because of the Word, by and by, he is offended. He's offended. Look over in Matthew
chapter 11 here, just back a couple of chapters here. Matthew chapter 11. Let's see
if I can find this. And it came to pass, look at
the first verse, and it came to pass when Jesus had made an
end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence
to teach and to preach in their cities. Now when John had heard
in the prison, he was in prison, the works of Christ, he sent
two of his disciples and said unto him, Art thou he that should
come, or do we look for another? John was having a dark day. He
was having a dark day in that dark dungeon. Jesus answered
and He said unto them, Go and show John again, again. Preach to him again. This is
why we need the gospel again and again and again. Because by the time we get back
here next week, we're going to be down. Somebody's going to
really be down. Somebody might get knocked down.
And He says, You go and show John again. Those things which
you do, which ye do hear and see. The blind receive their
sight, and the lame walk, and the lepers are cleansed. And
the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel
preached to them. And blessed is he whosoever shall
not be offended." John, you're in prison. I mean, this is God's... He said there's none greater
than John the Baptist. Those born of women. He's in
a dungeon. He's been treated like a criminal.
I mean, and it's not like what we have nowadays. I mean, we're
talking about a bad, bad place. And John's having a bad day,
and the Lord says, you tell him, blessed are those. Blessed is
he whosoever shall not be offended in me when troubles come. When troubles come. Well, the
Israelites were offended. They were upset. They were upset
because Moses came into town and Aaron I told the Israelites,
God's going to deliver you. If you'll look back over in chapter
5, in verse 5, Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land
now are many, and you, that is Moses and Aaron, you make them
rest. They're not doing anything. They
quit. And actually, I told you last
week, that had reference back to God resting on the seventh
day from all His works. He said, you've made them to
rest from their works. You've given them rest from their
works and from their burdens. You see, that's what the gospel
does. It gives you spiritual rest. But boy, I tell you what,
when that happens, you're going to find out there's going to
be unrest in other areas that you've got to deal with. The
gospel brings a new set of troubles that the world knows nothing
of. And here it is, bearing reproach for Christ's sake. Remember,
Moses was raised up in Egypt for 40 years. The man had it
made, he had it like a silver spoon in his mouth. But now listen
to Hebrews chapter 11, verses 24 and 26. By faith, Moses, when
he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction. You going
to join up with God's people? I'm serious, if you truly believe
the gospel, you're going to suffer for it. Because you're going
to have to make it known. It's going to leak out on you.
And it says here, he's choosing rather to suffer affliction with
the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Esteeming, get this, esteeming
Moses, esteeming the reproach of Christ. That's what he's doing back there.
He's esteeming the reproach of Christ. Greater riches than the
treasures in Egypt. For he had respect unto the recompense
of the reward, bearing his reproach. Now, Moses receives his message
from God. He did not make up any part of
the message that he delivers here to the Israelites. I'm not
at liberty to add and subtract, and I'm not at liberty to think,
well, you know, I think this would sound good tonight. I'm
not at liberty to do anything in that fashion. Moses did not
compromise the message to make it sound less commanding or demanding
or less offensive to that monarch. I mean a monarch. He knew the
power of Pharaoh, but he didn't back down. He didn't change the
message. He did not make it less offensive. The message to Pharaoh
throughout this whole thing, listen, never changed. Let my
people go. That's God's command. Moses didn't
come back the next day and say, now, how can we deal with this?
He came back the next day and he said, let my people go. The message to Pharaoh was the
same. And the message to God's people
to Israel never changed. It was still a message of grace,
of mercy, of redemption, of deliverance. It never changed. Never changed. And Moses dared not. He dared not change it. You know,
Paul said this in Galatians, But God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the
world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. Paul gloried
in the cross personally. He gloried in the cross publicly.
And he gloried in the cross in his preaching. He never changed
it. He never changed that message.
He gloried in it. He reveled in it. He reveled
in it. In another place he said this
in 1 Corinthians 9.16, For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing
to glory of, of myself. For necessity is laid upon me.
Woe is me if I preach not the gospel. Moses would have been
in real trouble had he changed the message. Real trouble. Now
in verse 1, the Lord speaks to Moses and he encourages him. You see, look back in chapter
5 in verse 21. And they said unto them, The
Lord look upon you, this is Israel speaking to Aaron and Moses,
and judge, because you have made our Savior to be abhorred in
the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants to put a
sword in their hands to slay us. And Moses returned unto the
Lord and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil and treated
this people? Why is it that thou hast sent
me? We're impatient, aren't we? If
it doesn't work out just like we think it ought to work out, we get impatient with the Lord. With the Lord. For since I came
to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he has done nothing but evil
to this people, neither hast thou delivered thy people at
all. So the Lord now replies to Moses. He didn't scold him. He replies
to him. See, he lets his servant speak
to him. You know, this is Moses going
to the Lord in prayer. And the Lord lets Moses speak
to him like this. And then he replies. Here's his
reply. Then the Lord said to Moses,
Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh. Moses, now you're
going to see my power. And you're going to see my purpose.
You're going to see it. For with a strong hand shall
he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out
of his land. God does not barely save sinners. He's not going to barely save
Israel. It's not going to be a real battle going on here,
and He barely saves them. He's going to part the Red Sea,
and they're going to go out rich, and they're going to drown the
Pharaoh and his army. God does not barely save sinners.
We are not barely saved in Christ. Christ is my security and there's
no danger. There's no danger of losing it.
No danger. And then God spake unto Moses
and he said unto him, now listen. This is the first thing he does.
I am the Lord. He's real. The gods of Egypt. They had like 80 some gods. Not
one of them was real. Wouldn't that be disappointing
when you die? Eighty of them. Not one of them was real. But
he says here, I am the Lord. Before this, Moses said, whom
shall I say sent me? He said, here, this is who you
say sent you. I am that I am. I am. God is who He is. That's
who you say sent you. He said, I am the Lord. God identifies
Himself as, listen, Jehovah. Jehovah, the self-existing One. Not the One whittled out, but
the One who is eternal. Has no beginning of days or end
of life. I'm Jehovah, the One that can
be dependent on at all times. God. Our Savior. Moses, I am the Lord. I am God,
your Savior. I am God, the Savior of Israel. I am Jehovah. Now he gets that,
you know, you've got to get that straight if you're going to speak
on behalf of God. Who he is. And he says, I am the Lord. And I appeared unto Abraham,
unto Isaac, And under Jacob, the same God that appeared to
his father now appears to him. And notice how he appears. He said, I appeared unto Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob by the name of God Almighty, that by my name, Jehovah, was
I not known to them. God appeared to Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob by the name of God Almighty, God who is able to
do just as He promised, God who has the power to do all things,
God who is able to take care of them, able to fulfill His
promises and keep His covenant, El Shaddai, God All-Sufficient. But by my name, Jehovah, and
this is the name He said that I will be known by my people
forever. God our Savior, the self-existing
One. Listen, but by my name, Jehovah,
was I not known to them? What we see here is this. Salvation
comes by revelation. It comes by revelation. But not
everything concerning God is revealed at once. You couldn't take it. You couldn't
take it. We learn as we grow in grace
and in knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you not know? You believe the gospel? Do you not know more of God now?
Do you not have more confidence and hope in Him now than you
did 20 years ago? God doesn't reveal everything
at once. It's a process. It's a process. And then he says
here, and I have also established my covenant with them, Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. I've established it. It's sure.
This covenant that he made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob concerning
the land of Canaan. And we know that that was a typical
of the land of promise, of glory. And he said, I've established
my covenant with them. This is going to happen. This
is going to happen. It's going to take place. To
give them the land of Canaan. the land of their pilgrimage,
wherein they were strangers. You notice God's covenant is
with a particular people. It's with a particular people.
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the Israelites, who represent the church. They
are a type of the church. Now, listen. Did Israel inherit
the land of promise? Did they? They sure did. Shall the true Israel of God,
the spiritual Israel of God, shall it not inherit glory? Shall it not inherit glory? They
sure will. These examples show us that God
will do just as He promised. He will do as He promised. And
then we see God's, you know, we see him as God, God, a covenant
God. God Almighty said I was known
to them by God Almighty, but now we see here also a God of
mercy. In verse five, and I have also
heard the groaning. I've heard. Can you imagine what
condescension that is for God? to hear the groaning of a worm?
Have you ever listened to one? We don't want to hear nobody's
groaning. Don't come in here complaining. That's our attitude.
Most times it is, isn't it? To be honest, it's like, oh man,
don't ruin my day. But God heard the groaning of
the children of Israel. The children of Jacob. Jacob, whom the Egyptians kept for keeping
bondage, and I have remembered my covenant." He keeps saying
this, I've remembered my covenant. I'm sure they forgot if 400 years
went by. They had forgotten all about
that. And those Israelites, I'm sure they did. They'd gotten
caught up in idolatry and all that with Egypt. But God says,
I remember My covenant. God's true to Himself. He's not
going to break His covenant. He's true to His Word. But He
said, I've heard they're groaning. Groaning is an audible sound
without words because the pain is so great. And He says, I hear
that. I hear that. It has words with
Him, even though we can't put it into words. And He knows the reason for the
groaning, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage. He knows the
reason for the groaning, not just that we've groaned, but
why we've groaned. What's causing the pain? He said,
I hear it. This is how in tune He is with
His children. You and I have to ask our children
What's wrong? What's bothering you? Now I can
tell when the boys come in the house. I can tell immediately
when they come in the house something's wrong. But I don't know what
it is unless they tell me. He knows what it is before we
tell him. Before we fall down on our face
and pray about it, he already knows it. And the end has already
been determined and taken care of. He remembers His covenant. He's ever mindful, the Scripture
says, of His covenant. And this is good news. Because,
listen, He's ever mindful of His covenant with His Son concerning
His people, the church. Ever mindful. Ever mindful. And here's the message to the
Israelites. Here's the charge that God gave
to Moses and Aaron to give to the children of Israel. Wherefore,
say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring
you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will rid
you out of their bondage. I will redeem you with a stretched
out arm and with great judgments. Now, apply this to the church,
the true Israel of God. Just apply this. This applies
to the true Israel of God, even though he did it here. And I
will take you to me for a people. Oh, that's grace, isn't it? God,
take me and make me one of His. And I will be to you a God. And you shall know that I am
the Lord, your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens
of the Egyptians. And I will bring you in unto
the land concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham,
to Isaac, and to Jacob. And I will give it you for an
heritage. Listen, I am the Lord. Count on it. It's going to happen.
My, my, my. Come unto me, all you that labor
and heavy laden. I'll give you rest. You come, I guarantee you,
you'll get it. I am the Lord. He's given His
Word. But this message, now listen,
this message is to God's people. It is a message of good news.
Because it has to do with what, listen, it has to do with what
God shall do for us. God will do, and then I will
do, and that's what God will do. You see, the covenant that's
made between God the Father and the Son has everything to do
with them. And we just get to be the recipients
of it. I mean, because listen here. He says in verse 8, I will give
it to you for what? Look in verse 8, the latter part
of that verse. I will give it to you for what? Inheritance. You didn't earn it. You don't
deserve it. You know, you give your children
an inheritance. They didn't earn it or deserve
it. You gave it to them because you loved them. That's why He's
given us all that He's got, all that He is, all that we have
in Christ is given to us as an inheritance because He loved
us. That's just beyond explaining. But it's a message of good news.
Salvation is what the Lord hath done for us. He says again, I am the Lord.
Make it clear. Make it clear who he is, the
Lord. I am the Lord. Listen, who is the Lord? Jesus
Christ. Who is this capital L-O-R-D here
speaking? Who is the one speaking to Moses?
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity,
the Word of God. This is the one speaking. This
is who it is. And then he says here, now let's
look at these promises. We'll just kind of take them
apart here little by little. Then I'll move along. First of
all, I will. It's not going to be an attempt
here. I brought this on a radio message. It's coming up here
in a week or two. God never attempts to do anything.
He does not attempt. I will bring you out from under
the burdens of the Egyptians. God has promised to bring all
His children out of bondage. The Egyptians represent the world. He has promised to bring all
His children out of bondage, the bondage of sin, Satan, the
law, through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Through the Lord
Jesus Christ, God has set the captive free. I am the Lord. This is the Lord
Jesus Christ speaking. And He says, I will, I will bring
you out. I will bring you out from bondage. Bondage to sin, bondage to Satan,
bondage to the law. Whom the Son sets free, He's
free of thee. Then He says, I will rid you
out of your bondage. Oh, that word, rid. I looked
that up. It means to snatch away. It means
to put away. To take away. I will rid you of sin. One day,
I'm telling you, one day we'll be in a place where there is
no sin. No more temptation. No more heartaches. No more pain. No more crying. I'll rid you of those things.
I'll rid you of them. I'll rid you of Satan. These
shall not have dominion over you. All thy sins are taken away. All those things that kept you
in bondage, He said, I'll rid you of them. That's good news to a sinner
who knows what it is to be in bondage. And then He says, and
I will redeem you with a stretched out arm. Not a withered arm, not just
a human arm, but Christ is who he's talking about. He's talking
about the Lord Jesus Christ. I will redeem you with a stretched
out arm and with great judgment. God's redemption of His people
in the Lord Jesus Christ is a mighty redemption. My soul, it's a mighty
redemption. Redeemed by power as well as
by blood. Redeemed. He said, I'll redeem
you. And with great judgments. He
said, you're going to see. You are going to see my judgment
on Egypt. You're going to see it. And you
know, the saints are going to see. It's not that we don't revel
in this, but the saints are going to see the judgments of God on
this world and on Satan and all those fallen angels. We're going
to see it. But now listen, I thought about
this as I sat going over this today. Every sinner whom God
saves will see the great judgments of God on Christ in his stead. When I look at Christ hanging
on Calvary's tree, we've been going through that the last couple
of weeks. I see that I've been redeemed with great judgment.
Judgment that fell on my substitute. My, what great judgments were
wrought on Christ at Calvary. And he says, you're going to
see it. My people are going to see it. My people will see it. You know,
a lot of people look at Calvary and they don't think anything
of it. Actually, they think it's foolishness. They think it's foolishness. But you don't think it's foolishness.
No, no, no. No, but redeemed with a stretched
out arm and with great judgments. And I will take you to me for
a people. Oh, the grace of God that He
would take a wretch like me, that He would take an enemy and
make him a son. I've never known anybody do that.
Take an outright enemy and make him a son or a daughter. God says, you're mine. They didn't
look like it, did they? This is why Pharaoh had such
contempt. You know, they are his slaves. And boy, did they look like slaves.
I mean, they looked like slaves, dressed like slaves, smelled
like slaves. And I'm supposed to be afraid
of their God? I'm supposed to be afraid of
a God that has a people like this? Yes. Yes. He says, you're mine, I will
take you. It almost sounds like wedding
vows here. These two sentences here sound like wedding vows.
Listen, and I will take you before a people and I will be to you
a God. Does that sound like wedding
vows to you? It does to me. I will. I will take you and I will be
to you A God. I will be to you all that you
need. I'll be to you protection. I'll
be to you life. I'll be to you everything that
God is. I have. Belongs to me. I will be
to you a God. What comfort this should give
us to know that God is our God. And the only thing I could think
of when I wrote this down is this means everything. It just
means everything. to believe it. And you shall know, listen, I'll
take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God, and
you shall know. It's not guesswork here. You shall know that I am the
Lord. I am God, your Savior. I am Jehovah. I am the Eternal
One. You're going to know me. God
said you'll know me. You shall know that I am the
Lord. Pharaoh will never know that. The world will never know
that, but every one of his sheep will. Every last one of his sheep
will know that I am Jehovah. Our Lord said this in John 17
3, And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the
only true God, and Jesus Christ. whom thou hast sent. Thou shalt
know me. Thou shalt know me. And one day,
about two thousand years ago, he came in the flesh. He came
in the flesh, worked out a righteousness for his people, went to the cross
and died under the judgment of God for their sins, ascended
on high, seated at God's right hand, making intercession for
the transgressor. Do you know him? Do you? Do you
know Him? If you're His, you do. You know
Him. And why? Because He said, He
said, you shall know Me. I'm going to see to it. I'm going
to see to it that my people know Me. My bride, it'd be bad to
have a bride or a wife that didn't know you. He said, no, you're
going to know Me. You're going to know Me. My people
are going to know Me. Listen, and you shall know that
I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under the
burdens of the Egyptians. You're going to know exactly
who I am and what I've done for you. You're going to know it.
There's not going to be any doubt about it. No sinner has ever
been saved and not know what he or she has been saved from.
It's just not possible. You know, he says, you're going
to know me and you're going to know what I saved you from. Sin. Curse of the law. You're going
to know it. He's going to receive all the glory and salvation.
And I'll bring you into the land concerning which I did swear
to give it to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. And I will give
it to you, as I said a while ago, for a heritage. You didn't
earn this. You didn't earn this. You've been a slave. to a pagan
nation. You've been a slave to a pagan
nation. They had forgotten about the land of Canaan. They had
settled in and they figured this was it for, you know, the time
shall be no more. He said, I'm going to give it
to you for a heritage. You didn't earn it. I'm giving it to you.
Because of this, I made a covenant. I made a covenant with your fathers,
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And you're going to have what
I promised them. And the church is going to have
what He promised to the Lord Jesus Christ. You're going to
have it. You're going to have it. Everyone
for whom Christ died shall enter the promised land. God has staked
His name on it. He said, I am the Lord. I stake
my name on it. And Moses spoke so unto the children
of Israel. And they hearkened not unto Moses
for anguish of spirit and for cruel bondage. The good news
did not bring immediate relief, so they complained. But you know
what? God still delivered them, didn't He? Oh, haven't we complained? I
mean, since we believed, we've complained. Why? Lord, why? Why
this? Why that? It's a complaint, but
I tell you what, you're still going to wind up in glory because
it doesn't depend on you, it depends on Christ. It was made
with Him. They still entered the promised
land, even though they complained. And then let me show you here
in closing, God's purpose never changes. And the Lord spake unto
Moses saying, Go in, speaking to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, that
he let the children of Israel go out of his land. He didn't
change the message. He said, you go back in there,
Moses. You know how difficult this had
to be. You go right back in there tomorrow
and you tell him, let my people go. Look at all the opportunities
that were given to Pharaoh to let Israel go. You know, the
scripture says that Pharaoh hardened his heart, and
it says God hardened his heart. But I thought today in reading
these things, that's what trials do to an unbeliever. The trials, the plagues that
God sent on Egypt hardened Pharaoh's heart because he did not believe
God. But the trials that God sends on his children do not
harden their heart. They run you to Christ. They
run you to Him. And Moses spake before the Lord,
saying, Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened
to me. They haven't listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh
hear me? If the children of Israel won't
listen, Pharaoh's not going to listen to me, who am of uncircumcised
lips. He said, I have a speech impediment. He said, I can't even speak properly.
He'll just make fun of me. You know, he's just babbling
idiot again. You know, Moses here. Moses,
this is amazing. I'm telling you, this is amazing
to me that Moses is talking to God like this. And allowed to. And allowed to. And God speaks
with him. And the Lord spake unto
Moses and unto Aaron and gave them a charge. There's no ifs, ands, or buts.
It's just like Moses, this is how it is. I've given you a charge. It says, He gave them a charge
unto the children of Israel and unto Pharaoh, king of Egypt,
to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. That's
a serious charge. It's not going to change. Let
me close with this. Turn over to 2 Timothy. And I
close with this. 2 Timothy chapter 4, the Apostle Paul writing to Timothy, I charge thee, therefore, before
God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and
the dead at his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word,
deliver the message. deliver the gospel message to
God's people, and warn the wicked of judgment. Preach the word,
be instant, in season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort
with all longsuffering and doctrine. And I pray God Almighty that
we keep this charge.