So, as we've been thinking...
Actually, I'll just pause just for a moment, just to close that
blind. Hold on a second, this won't take long. Sorry about
this, folks. There's a blind shining in my eyes. Okay, I think we're ready. I'm sorry for that pause, I had
the sun just finding a gap through some blinds right in my eye just
then. So we've been thinking for some
time now about the world heading for an end, and so it is. The
world is heading for an end, and God's kingdom will certainly
triumph. This is the message of scripture.
But here's the question, here's the thing that really ought to
address you, really ought to challenge you, where will you
be? You know that the Lord Jesus,
and I'm not making this up, this is what the Lord Jesus Christ
taught, He that came down from heaven, He said, come that last
day, It's going to be like this, he will be on his throne and
he will divide everybody, everybody that's ever lived will be before
him. And he will divide them as the shepherd divides the sheep
from the goats, and the sheep he will put on the right hand.
And he will say to them, come ye blessed of my father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
And to the goats on the left, I mean, this isn't any kind of,
you know, horrible feeling towards goats as opposed to sheep, but
it's the scriptural picture of the people God has loved with
an everlasting love. And to the goats on the left
hand, he will say, depart from me, I never knew you. Where will
you be? Amongst the sheep? or amongst
the goats. What determines it? Sovereign
grace. The sovereign grace of God. And
you can't change the sovereign purposes of God by anything you
do. The scripture is absolutely clear
on that. But you know if you listen to the apostles, the apostle
Peter says, make your calling and election sure. Make that
which you cannot change, because it's the sovereign grace of God,
make it sure. Well, is that not a conundrum?
Yes? Is that not a mystery? Yes? Well, what does he mean?
He means this. Believe the true gospel, and
rest your life and everything about it on the gospel and truth
of Christ. and on knowing Him, and being
in Him. This is the work of God, you
know, that you believe the Gospel. What is the work that we should
do, ask the Jews, that we should do the work of God? This is the
work of God, that you believe on Him whom He has sent. Whom
has He sent? The Christ of God. And this Gospel
is seen throughout the Scripture, and it speaks of Christ, who
is the Gospel. The Gospel isn't about Christ,
the Gospel is Christ. He is the Gospel. He is the good
news. It's because of Him that there
is good news, that a man can be, a sinner can be just with
God. Because in Him alone, and nowhere
else, the righteousness and the justice of God is satisfied. For whom? for the multitude that
no man can number, that were united with Him in the sovereign
grace of God before the beginning of time, so that in the judgment
of God, and the justice of God, and the righteousness of God,
the people He united with His Son before the beginning of time
in a way that I can never understand, and neither can you, but the
Scripture says it, that everything that related to him from God
relates to them. We're in exactly that same position.
We're joint heirs with Christ if you're in him. Everything
that Christ has accomplished, everything that Christ came for
is yours in him if you're in him. By what? Simply believing. Not a work that you do, but you're
just heeding the call. Come. Come. Come without money,
without price. Ho, everyone that thirsts. Are
you thirsty for this eternal life? Is it something that you
want? Well, what's stopping you? Come. Hear the word of God. Come. Come to the waters. Look,
Revelation 22, 17. Look at it. See what it says
to you. Come to the waters. Come. Buy freely. So let's look
at the Gospel as it occurs throughout the Old Testament for a few messages,
perhaps, we'll see where we're led. Henry Mahan said, if a man
can't preach the Gospel from the Old Testament, he doesn't
know the Gospel, and I think that is absolutely true. He doesn't
know how God can be just and justify sinners, because that's
what the Gospel is about. The Gospel, good news, is good
news as to how God can be absolutely, unchangeably just and strict
regarding sin and His holiness and righteousness, and yet perfectly,
justly justify sinners in His Son. That is the Gospel of His
grace. That Gospel qualifies that multitude
which you're part of if you believe the gospel, that gospel qualifies
that multitude for the heaven of God, for the kingdom of God,
for that state of bliss. Today I want us to look for a
few moments at Exodus chapter 3 and the first six verses as
we read them earlier on. because here is the Gospel. Here
is the Gospel. It's the account of Moses as
a shepherd coming across the burning bush that wasn't consumed,
and what it says to him, and what he learned there at the
bush. Let's just think about the background for a few moments.
You know, as I said earlier on, Abraham was the one that God
said, through whom the seed, the promised seed of the woman
would come. In Genesis 3.15, immediately
after the fall, God promises that the seed of the woman, a
man, would come. and would crush the serpent,
the devil's head. He would save his people from
that curse of sin which is upon all. As in Adam all die, even
so in Christ the seed shall his people, all people, be made alive. And that promise, after the flood,
it was given to Abraham. Noah found grace in the sight
of the Lord, but then Abraham was called out of Ur of the Chaldees. And Abraham was the one to whom
the promise was made that of his descendants would come this
promised seed, the seed of the woman, the Messiah of God, the
Christ of God. It would come from Abraham and
Isaac, and I'm convinced that Abraham thought for a while that
he's only Isaac. He had another son, he had Ishmael,
but he had an only Isaac. And it was in Isaac that your
seed shall be called, said God to him. And then Jacob, the son
of Isaac, and from him and his twelve sons. And you know, Joseph,
there was a time of famine, and God, in His mercy and grace,
because He always paints, this creation is the canvas on which
God paints. the message of sovereign grace
and particular redemption. And he caused there to be a famine
so that Jacob and his descendants would go down into Egypt. But
he did it in such a glorious way. And we're not, I haven't
got time to look at the story of Joseph, but Joseph had become
the ruler in Egypt because in him was salvation from the famine,
but 400 years had gone by. And they'd forgotten the blessings
that Joseph had brought to their society and the people, the children
of Israel, the Israelites. were a large people, but they
were slaves, they were in bondage, they were the ones that the Egyptians
used to build the pyramids and their other things. And one was
born of a Levite family whose name was Moses. And it was in
a time when the Pharaoh had said that all of the baby boys of
the Hebrews, the children of Israel, should be killed to prevent
them from becoming any more powerful. The parents had hidden him and
put him in a basket of a little boat of bulrushes and put him
in the river because they knew that Pharaoh's daughter and her
maids came down there to bathe. And she found the basket and
the sister of Moses went and said, do you want a nursemaid?
And she got Moses' mother to be his nursemaid. And he grew
up in the palace, adopted as the daughter of Pharaoh. And
he learned the royal ways and the language and the culture
of the Egyptians. for 40 years until one day he
saw an Egyptian, when he was out walking, he saw an Egyptian
cruelly treating an Israelite and he killed him. He killed
the Egyptian and buried his body in the sand. It was about when
he was about 40 years old and somebody saw it and word got
to him that that had happened and so he fled and he fled to
Midian and he stayed there for another 40 years. So by now,
when we pick it up, he's 80 years old is this man Moses. He fled
to Midian, which is on the east side of the Sinai Peninsula,
maybe over into the other side of the Gulf of Aqaba. I'm not
sure, but the thing that makes me think it is in Sinai is because
he came to Horeb, the Mount of God, which is Mount Sinai. And
in verse 21, where we picked it up in the reading earlier
on, Exodus 2, 21, Moses was content to dwell with the man that he
went to, and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. He was content
to dwell there. Having been the prince in the
palace, he was content to live as a lowly shepherd. And there
he is, shepherding some sheep, there, on the backside of the
desert, it says, near Mount Sinai. In Egypt, there's oppression,
and they're crying to God to free them. And why should God
free them from their oppression in Egypt? Why should God treat
this people any different to anybody else? Surely that's not
fair, is it, that he treats some people different to others? But
it's the message of Scripture. And you either fight with the
God of Scripture, and you can't win, or you bow to the God of
Scripture. Why should God favour these people? Look at verse 24. He remembered
his covenant with Abraham and Isaac and with Jacob. It doesn't
mean that he'd forgotten about it and all of a sudden he went,
oh, hold on a minute, I've got a covenant with them. No, it was constantly
in his mind, the covenant that he'd made with them. which was
a covenant of salvation, that from them the Messiah would come. And it says in verse 25, He looked
upon them, these people, as opposed to the others, as opposed to
the Egyptians. He had respect unto them. God Oh, to be amongst the people
to whom God has respect. Is that not the greatest of blessings? I don't care how famous you are. I don't care what riches you
accumulate in your life. Surely the most important thing
is that you're one of those people in the grace of God to whom he
has respect. Not for what you are, but because
simply of his love. simply because of his undeserved
grace, simply because he is a God of mercy and grace. You see,
these people, these Israelites, were symbolical of God's elect,
and they actually contained the bulk, if not all, of the elect
of God at that time. They're not all Israel which
are of Israel, says Paul in Romans 9, but they certainly symbolized
the elect of God, and that's why God favored them down history.
They symbolized the elect of God, and they contained the true
elect of God. In this world they were in bondage
in Egypt, they were slaves in Egypt, and is that not a symbol,
is that not a picture of what the people of God are like in
this world in the flesh, as natural men and women, men and women
who are sinners, men and women who Try as they might, they cannot
do the things that please God. Try as they might, they're always
bound by sin in the flesh. We're under what Luther called
the bondage of the will. And they are in that bondage
of the will. And Egypt is like a picture. Egypt in those days,
that great empire. the first of the great empires
of the world. That great empire is a symbol of this world, the
kingdom of this world and the kingdom of Satan. And amongst
it are the people of God who are in bondage. They cannot do
what they would want to do. As Paul says in Romans 7, when
I want to do right, I can't. Sin is always with me. I find
this law, he says. The curse of the law is there.
We're under just condemnation. We're bound and we're constrained. but respected by God, favoured
by God. What a blessing to be favoured
by God, to be predestinated, to have it ordered before the
beginning of time by the God who works all things according
to the counsel of His will. They're predestined to be freed
from the bondage of Egypt, as the elect are predestined to
be freed from the curse of the law, the bondage of the law,
into the glorious liberty of the children of God, the glory
of eternity, that glorious liberty. How is it to happen? You see,
the chasm is too wide. The gap is too wide between what
man needs to be, what you need to be, what I need to be. The
gap is too wide for any of us to accomplish it on our own.
We need one to accomplish it for us. We need one to accomplish
the liberation for us. And God pictures this one again
and again and again in Scripture, as the Lord Jesus Christ himself
said, these Scriptures are they which speak of me. What are the
Scriptures? They're the words of God that
speak of what? Of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well,
surely it teaches us more than that, say religious folk. No,
everything comes down to Him. This is what God has to say.
And this man Moses is a picture, is a figure of the Savior. This
man Moses, with all of his faults, nevertheless, is a man that God
raised up to picture the Savior. He was a man who was What do
we read in verse 21 of chapter 2? He is content to dwell there. He was content to dwell as a
shepherd. And you know he'd been raised
in the Egyptian palace, in the palace of Pharaoh, as the adopted
son of Pharaoh's daughter. He'd been raised in all of the
culture of the Egyptians, and you can see it, go to the British
Museum, you can see the mummified Pharaohs, and some of the riches
that were there. There it is, preserved for all
to see. He was content to dwell as a
shepherd, having been raised in a culture which regarded shepherds
as an abomination. You know when Joseph was ruler
in Egypt, second only to Pharaoh, and his family came down, he
said to Pharaoh, these are shepherds, but he warned his people, be
prepared to be despised, because shepherds are an abomination
to the Egyptians. I don't know why, but there it
is. And just as Christ and the Gospel is hated by this world,
the Gospel is an abomination to this world, just as shepherds
were an abomination to the Egyptians. But Moses was content to dwell
as a shepherd in a humble occupation. Having been so royally privileged,
he fled and became a shepherd, and he was content to dwell there. Let this mind be in you. which
was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought
it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself this glorious
person of no reputation, and became obedient, came down in
the likeness of sinful flesh, obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross, wherefore God has also highly exalted him. He was of no reputation. He was
a servant. Romans 8 verse 3 tells us that
he came in the likeness of sinful flesh. He came in the likeness
of the flesh, the people whose flesh he was going to save from
sin. and yet not ashamed to call them
brethren. Hebrews 2 verse 11 says, despite what we are as
sinners in the flesh, he's not ashamed to call us brethren.
And he became like us, yet without sin, that he might be the one
who redeems us from the curse of the law. He came proclaiming
himself to be what? The good shepherd. He said, I
am the good shepherd of the sheep. Look in John's gospel and chapter
10. John's gospel chapter 10 and
Verse 14, Jesus says there, to the Jews listening to him, I
am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine,
as the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father, and I lay
down my life for the sheep. Not for anybody else, he lays
down his life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which
are not of this fold, them also must I bring, and they shall
hear my voice, and they shall be one fold and one shepherd. He's the good shepherd of his
sheep. The Lord Jesus Christ is pleased to be called the shepherd
of his sheep, even though the world finds, the world symbolized
by Egypt, finds shepherds to be an abomination. And God even
told Moses that the one who would come would bear a resemblance
to him. This is in Deuteronomy chapter
18. This is what it says there in
verse 15. This is God speaking to Moses.
The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet, capital
P. from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me, and
unto him shall ye hearken. Who's he talking about? He's
talking about Christ. Look in verse 18. I will raise
them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee,
and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto
them all that I shall command him, and it shall come to pass
that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall
speak in my name, I will require it of him. Clearly, that is Christ,
and Moses was a figure of Christ. Moses was a figure of the Christ
who would come to accomplish the purposes of God. Moses spoke
God's word to the people that symbolized the people of God.
So did Christ. Christ is the word of God. In
the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was
God. He's the one who declares God. No man has seen God at any
time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father,
He has declared Him. As Moses spoke the Word of God
to the symbolical people of God, Christ speaks the Word of God,
the Gospel of Grace, to his people. He is the Word. He is the bread
that came down from heaven. He is the manna on which we feed. Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. In the
beginning was the Word. and He is that Word. And Moses
typified Him. And Moses led God's people out
of bondage. He didn't lead them into the
Promised Land, he led them to the border of the Promised Land.
But nevertheless, he led God's people out of bondage, the bondage
of slavery in that which symbolised the world. And Christ leads His
people out of the bondage of sin, into the glorious liberty
of the children of God in the Gospel of His grace. So Moses
is a figure of the Saviour, because everywhere in God's book, the
purpose is to declare God's saving grace, the way he saves sinners
from their sins and qualifies them for eternal glory. Now look
in verse 2. The angel of the Lord appeared
to him in a flame of fire. Who is this angel of the Lord?
Here is Moses shepherding his sheep in a deserted place on
Mount Sinai. Can you imagine it? And he saw
the Lord. I remember, you know, it's hard
to get away from people in this country, isn't it? But I once,
I remember a few years back, I climbed Skiddaw in the Lake
District on my own. And for those who live in countries
with massive mountains, it's not very big, but nevertheless,
it makes you puff and pant a little bit to get to the top of it,
more than a little bit. And when you're there, I was
on the back side of Skiddaw, and I can honestly say, I looked
to the horizon, I could not see one other person. It was absolutely
deserted. Imagine, that's the sort of thing.
Moses was on his own with just a few sheep, and he saw the Lord. He saw the Lord. He didn't just
see the effects of what the Lord has done. He saw the Lord. You
say, but wasn't this just an angel of the Lord? The angel
of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire. Well, you
have to look at the whole context. Look in verse four. And when
the Lord saw, who was it that saw? The Lord saw that he turned
aside. God called unto him out of the
midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, here I am.
Verse six, moreover he said, this one who is the angel of
the Lord in the bush said, I am the God of thy father, the God
of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. And Moses
hid his face and was afraid to look upon God. Who is this? This is Christ. This is a pre-incarnate
manifestation of Christ to his people, to the one that he had
purposed would lead his people out of bondage. And Moses was
afraid to look. Why was he afraid to look? Exodus
33 20, show me your glory. And God says to him, there shall
no man see me and live. So how then does anybody look
on God? How does anybody, you see, Moses was afraid, for he
was afraid to look upon God. And various others had seen God
and were afraid, because they thought they would die, for no
man shall see me and live. But this is Christ. In Christ,
his people see the Father. Philip said to him, Show us the
Father, and that will be enough for us. Philip, have I been so
long with you, and you have not known me? He who has seen me
has seen the Father. In the Lord Jesus Christ, we
who cannot see the Father and live, see the Father and live. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 6, God,
who commanded light to shine out of darkness, when? At creation,
when he said, let there be light, and there was light, and God
saw the light, that it was good, has shined in our hearts now
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. This is what the Spirit of God
alone can do in revealing the truth of gospel grace and the
Christ of God to you in your innermost soul. the light of
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
that which the natural man, by reason and by the wisdom of this
world, cannot possibly know, by the revelation of God, the
truth of God in the Christ of God is revealed. Here is God
in the second person of the Trinity, the Son, manifesting God's glory
and presence to Moses in a sight that is great. Look in verse
3, I will now turn aside and see this great, what a great
sight that must have been. Why is this bush not burnt? Here
it is burning, a flaming fire, but here it is, it's not burnt,
it's not being consumed. Every other bush that you would
find in that desert place, no doubt I would think that Moses
had often seen bushes burning in that place, in that dry place.
How? I'm not sure, you know, maybe
there was a piece of crystal or something like that that had
focused the sun and set a little spark going, and anything in
that area would burn. But here was something that was
completely out of the ordinary, because although there was a
fire that looked like a genuine fire, the bush in which the fire
was, was not burning up. It wasn't being consumed. It
was something miraculous, something Very out of the ordinary drew
Moses' attention. It stimulated his curiosity. Does something about the gospel
attract your attention? Does it trigger your curiosity? Does it draw you aside from your
worldly pursuits? Do you know, there's something
here. I must have a look at this. I must see what this is about.
You know, I'm just going along like everybody else. in this
spiritual Egypt, but I must, I must, look, I'm hearing something. Something's calling me. I'm hearing
something here. I must turn aside and have a
look at this. If God is speaking to you, turn
aside and have a look. As Moses turned aside to see,
God spoke to him. Who knows? If you turn aside
to see, you unbelieving, doubting, thinking that there's nothing
in it, but curious as to what it is that these people have
seen, then perhaps you will see something. Is he calling to you?
Is he calling? Look at verses five and six. God says to Moses, come not hither,
take your shoes off your feet, where you're standing is holy
ground. And he said, I'm the God of your father, the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. And Moses knew
where he was. If he'd not known the presence
of God before, he knows the presence of God clearly now. He knows
that he's in the presence, the direct presence of God, and God
is speaking to him. He can't hide from this. He was
afraid to look upon God, but he can't hide from God. God called
him, God spoke to him. God confirmed beyond doubt to
Moses that he is in the immediate presence of God who is speaking
to him. And this brings about a reverent
and submissive attitude. Lord, you know with Samuel, Samuel,
Samuel, you calling me Eli? No, I didn't call you my son.
Samuel, Samuel, you did call me. No, I didn't. It is the Lord.
Listen, Samuel, Samuel, here I am, Lord. Your servant's listening. Speak to me. What he sees is
Christ manifesting, making known God's presence and speaking his
word. This is how God speaks to man
through his son. In these last days, he has spoken
to us by his son in the form of a fire engulfing the bush.
It's just like, you know, there were other appearances like this.
Isaiah saw Christ in the temple, in Isaiah chapter six, in the
year that King Uzziah died. And he saw the Lord high and
lifted up and his train filled the temple. And Isaiah came to
know what he was as a sinner. And we know from John's gospel,
chapter 12 and verse 41, that that chapter six account of Isaiah,
of seeing the Lord in the temple, he said, these things says Isaiah,
when he saw the glory of Christ, the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the glory of the man that was walking the streets of Jerusalem.
He saw his glory and spake of him. Also Abraham saw Christ,
for he appeared to him. When he came with two angels
to go and pour out judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah, he came,
and Abraham saw him. He came to Gideon, and Gideon
saw him. He came to Samson's parents,
and Samson's parents were sure they were going to die, for they
had seen the Lord. They saw him, but what they saw
was the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the manifestation of God.
And what did Moses see? He saw a miraculous fire. In Hebrews 12, 29, we read that
our God is a consuming fire, a consuming fire. Get that, a
consuming fire, a fire of burning justice and of wrath against
sin. It's a fire that you cannot stand.
You will be consumed by it in the wrath of God if you stand
there bearing your own sins before his throne of judgment. And what
he saw was a fire in a thorn bush, a common bush, a lowly
bush. No, it was a thorn bush. You
know when thorns and thistles came? Read the creation account
after the fall. After the fall, in Genesis 3,
the ground will bear thorns and thistles to you. This is something
that symbolizes fallen man. Christ came in fashion as a man,
in the likeness of sinful flesh, in the likeness of that which
was cursed at creation. And the fire of God symbolizes
that which is the just judgment on fallen man and on his sin. But God, says Romans 8 verse
3, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, not
with sin, but in the likeness of sinful flesh, this thorn bush
symbolized him, so that for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh. In other words, he paid the just
penalty for sin in the flesh that he took upon him. He appears
as a bush, a plant, a tender plant, a plant that's prone to
burning, Isaiah 53 and verse 2. As a tender plant, the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is described. As a tender plant
and as a root out of a dry ground. Yet in Him, in Him, Colossians
2 verse 9, in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. You know in Deuteronomy chapter
33 and verse 16, there's a reference back to this account of the burning
bush, and it talks about the goodwill of him that dwelt in
the bush. The goodwill, the saving grace
of him that dwelt in the bush. And the word dwelt is the same
word from which we derive Shekinah. You've heard of the Shekinah
glory of God. That holy, holy presence of God. that holy presence of God, the
goodwill of Him that she kind in the bush. That was where the
glory of God appeared, the fullness of the Godhead bodily, the fire
of God burning in the bush, but it didn't consume Him. It didn't
consume him. Here is the gospel. The all-glorious
God became man to bear God's just wrath for sin against his
people so that they are made, what does it say? You know this
verse. He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him. 2 Corinthians
5 and 21. The bush was not consumed. The
bush was not consumed. He redeemed, but He was not consumed. He bore every burning dart, but
He was not consumed. He bore the wrath versus sin. He paid the price of redemption,
and He was not consumed because He rose from the dead, and He
ever lives to make intercession. in him, in him, as sin reigned
unto death, Romans 5.21, even so might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Christ Jesus our Lord. This
is what Moses saw when he turned aside to see this great sight.
He saw the gospel. He saw the gospel, the holy God
who cannot tolerate sin, remaining just in exacting exactly the
penalty that the law requires, His justice requires, and yet
justifying His covenant people by Christ bearing that curse
in His place. Again, a verse you know so well,
Galatians 3 and verse 13. Well, it says in verse 10, As
many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for
it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things
which are written in the book of the law to do them. Do you
do everything that's written in the book of the law perfectly,
without ever faltering, without ever slipping up? If you don't,
look what it says, the law says, you're cursed. The justice of
God cannot forgive you. The justice of God must exact
its penalty. But, verse 13, Christ has redeemed
us, has paid the liberty price, has paid the freedom price, He's
redeemed us from the curse of the law. How? Being made a curse
for us. He bore the curse. It's written,
cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. He bore that curse
and paid its price that his people might not need to pay that price
because he's already done it. The justice of God, it cannot
fall twice on the same place. Where the fire has burned the
ground is the safest place in a fire. If you were in Australia,
it was about this time last year, wasn't it? And then on to just
over the Christmas period, where those intense fires were burning,
the safest place was a day or so after the fire had been through.
There was nothing there to burn again. And if you're standing
in Christ, you're in that place where the wrath of God, the fire
of God, the consuming fire of God has already fallen and has
taken the payment required from the justice of God for the sin
of his people. As the bush was not consumed
by the fire of God's holiness, neither shall his people who
are in union with him be consumed. Malachi 3 verse 6, Last book
of the Old Testament, I am the Lord, this is God speaking by
his prophet. I am the Lord, I change not.
Doesn't change his mind, hasn't made things different, exactly
the same. I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore, ye sons of Jacob,
are you amongst the sons of Jacob by faith? Those who are of the
faith of Abraham are the children of Abraham. Ye sons of Jacob
are not consumed in the fire of God's wrath against sin. Ye
sons of Jacob are not consumed. As that bush was not consumed,
if you're in Christ, you are not consumed by the fire of God's
wrath. Just as it's pictured by Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego in the furnace in the book of Daniel.
They went in there and they were not consumed. There wasn't even
the smell of burning on them. There wasn't a hair singed. And
when Nebuchadnezzar looked, he saw not three, but four, and
one like to the Son of Man. This is what God promises. Isaiah
43. I'm nearly done. Isaiah 43 and
verse Verses one and two, thus saith the Lord that created thee,
O Jacob, he's speaking to those who believe the gospel of his
son. And that formed thee, O Israel, he's speaking to those who believe
the gospel of his son. Fear not, he says to you, for
I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name.
You are mine. When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you. And through the rivers, they
shall not overflow you. When you walk 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 Saviour."
Wow. Wow. What words. So Moses was
shown the gospel in the burning bush. He was shown the gospel
of Christ redeeming sinners from their sins. Isn't God's Word
remarkable? Isn't it absolutely amazing?
You know, you think about the planning committee that would
have needed to get together down the centuries, spanning centuries,
thousands of years, and determine, this is what the plot's going
to look like, and, right, you, the writer of Exodus, you need
to write it like this, and then the writer of the New Testament
needs to write it like this. Isn't God's Word remarkable?
Isn't it that it's consistent with one message of Christ qualifying
his elect multitude for God's kingdom? Not making salvation
possible for everybody, this is the truth, he qualifies his
elect multitude for God's kingdom. And aren't the pictures beautifully
drawn? You have to say, this is absolutely
stunning. Aren't the pictures beautifully
drawn and rich with meaning and symbolism? Wow, this is something
else, isn't it? This is quite remarkable. Is
that where it stops for you? This is a smart book, is this. This really is. Is that where
it stops? Just that far? Or is it all your hope? Is it
your rock, your anchor on which your soul is built? Your house,
as Jesus said, the wise man builds his house upon the rock. Is it
that rock? Is it your treasure, the pearl of greatest price,
the treasure in heaven? Is it your confidence for eternity? I will both lay me down and sleep
in peace, for thou, Lord, only make me to dwell in safety. I
know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. Is
he your only plea before God's judgment? Yes, we must all stand
before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account, but I know
what my account is. The Son of God loved me and gave
himself for me. You say, well, yes, I know, and
I want to, but what next? What is it? What must I do? Answer,
what must we do to be saved? You've heard that before, haven't
you? Acts chapter 16. What must we do to be saved? Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. Simple as that. Lord, save me.
Lord, assure me that when you died in my place on the cross,
it was for my sins and that I bear them no more. Heavenly Father,
come and show me the glorious message of gospel saving grace. Amen.