So I was reading this week and
last week, coming off of the funeral services
for a dear friend of ours, Don Cross, and knowing his widow, Johnny,
as we do, knowing the sorrows that she has at the loss of her
husband, and yet she said she would not call him back because
she knows He's seated with Christ and has a full view of Him face-to-face. But as I was reading some different
things this week, I took note of the care and concern or the
pity and regard our Lord has for His select Bride. It's amazing. And it's wonderful. An example
of this we find all over the Scriptures, but I'll just pull
one that I love. For thus saith the Lord of hosts,
after the glory hath He sent me unto the nations which spoiled
you, for He that touches you touches the apple of His eye. He that touches the believer
touches the apple of God's eye. You don't have to turn there,
but another example would be God's particular care and watchfulness
over us despite what we are. And even
before we knew Him, in Hosea, in the second chapter, you know
the story of Gomer. She was a harlot, played the
harlot. But it says in there that the
Lord, even though she went after her lovers, the Lord sent her
corn by the hand of Hosea. He took care of her and sent
her jewelry. But she didn't know that it was
Him. And oh, how that depicts us. Before salvation, how we
played the fool. We did the things that we thought
were right in our own eyes. There's a way that seems right
to us, but the end are the ways of death. And we could go on
and on and see the watchful care that our Lord had for us. Turn
to Exodus chapter 3 for our text. Exodus chapter 3. I'm going to read the first 10
verses and look at one specific phrase that caught my attention. Exodus chapter 3. And Moses kept the flock of Jethro
his father-in-law and the priest of Midian. And he led the flock
to the backside of the desert and came to the mount of God,
even Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared
unto him, Moses, in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush.
And he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire. And the
bush was not consumed. We'll stop right there. That's
a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. How God could be incarnate in
the flesh and the flesh not be consumed. That's a picture of
the Lord Jesus Christ right there. But that's not what we're going
to look at. And Moses said, I will now turn
aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And
when the Lord saw that, he turned aside to see God called out unto
him in the midst of the bush and said, Moses. And Moses said,
here am I. And he said, draw not nigh hither,
but put off your shoes from your feet, for the place of whereon
thou standest is holy ground. Moreover, he said, I am the God
of thy father, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. And Moses hid his
face, for he was afraid to look upon God. And the Lord said,
I have surely seen the affliction of My people which are in Egypt,
and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know
their sorrows. And I have come down to deliver
them out of the hand of the Egyptians, to bring them out of the land
unto a good land, a large, unto a land that flows with milk and
honey, unto the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the
Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Now
therefore behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come
unto me, and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the
Egyptians oppressed them. Come now therefore, and I will
send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people,
the children of Israel, out of Egypt. We're all familiar with
this story. Whether it's through Hollywood
or through the Bible, we're all familiar with this story. But
what I want to look at is that last phrase in verse 7. I, God, know their, my people's,
sorrows. I know their sorrows. How can
it be said that our Lord knows our sorrows? as I thought about
the things last week and this week, I've got several points. And then we'll conclude by looking
at something a little different. The first thought I had is the
Lord knows our sorrows as the Redeemer and our Savior. He is fully acquainted with our
sorrows as our Savior and Redeemer. Sin has overtaken us. Transgressions
abound within us. Iniquities swamp over us daily. Oh, such heavy sorrow for our
pollutions, sins, and corruptions. Yet, as our great Savior and
as our Redeemer, He hath cleansed us and removed our sins. The Scripture says as far as
the east is from the west. He washed us in His own redemptive
blood and we are clean. Every whip. You remember Boaz
in the book of Ruth. He was the near kinsman. Therefore,
he had the right, the authority, the power, and in the story,
the money, to redeem Ruth. Our Lord Jesus Christ, as our
Savior and as our Redeemer, is fully acquainted with our sorrows
of sin. He is the man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief. Not his own sins, not his own
sorrows, so to speak. He is acquainted with us as our
Savior and as our Redeemer. So He knows our sorrows. Secondly,
He is acquainted with our sorrows as our true and only Physician,
healing all our diseases, Cleansing from all our death-inducing ailments
as His elect patients, we do not prescribe to Him our remedy
because He alone is the remedy." He's not a remedy. He's the remedy. Scripture styles Him in the Old
Testament as the balm of Gilead. Is there balm in Gilead? You
better believe there is. He is the true physician. Shall
we who are sick and hurting from the pains of sin ever question
our physician's methods? I get this example because I
haven't, I've had several doctors in my life and I've had an opportunity
at several occasions, you don't so much now anymore, but if you're
at the right place at the right time, when they write your prescription,
you can't read it. I've never been able to read
one physician's prescription. So am I to say, what does this
mean? Am I to challenge him and say,
I don't understand, I can't read this cursive or whatever this
is, shorthand, whatever, I can't read it. No, I don't even see
it. They call it in. I swing by and
pick up the prescription. Having trust that he who wrote
it, knows what is best. And our God is greater than that
illustration. Our God is the great physician,
and He is fully acquainted with our sorrows. Thirdly, He knows
our sorrows as the tender chief shepherd. We spoke a little bit
about this this morning in Bible class. He leads us as weak sheep,
wandering sheep, and as lost sheep. He will find us. And sheep
follow. They never lead. And He leads,
and His direction is always right and most needful. He protects
His sheep from harm, danger, enemies, and gently leads them
to His own pastures. Fourthly, our Lord is very familiar
with our sorrows. I know their sorrows as the loving
Master. The servant doesn't know what
his Master is doing. Not all the time. You know, Tim James
said, if you want to know what God's doing, read yesterday's
news. That's what he's done. That's
exactly right. He does not give account of his
matters, and we ought not to ever cross-examine his providential
dealings with us. I know we do. We sorrow, and
we blame, and we point things out, why this happened and this
and that. But as our loving master, He knows our sorrows. We know upon the faultless and
firm testimony of Holy Scriptures, for example, Isaiah 3 says, it
shall be well with the righteous. That's what the Word declares.
If we have a righteousness, righteousness that God must accept, we heard
this morning, it's been given to us through the vicarious death
and substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, we
see in Mark 7, verse 37, He hath done all things well. This is
speaking of our Master, our loving Master. And again, the passage
I love in Genesis 50, verse 20, men may mean it for our harm
or evil, but God meant it unto our good. That's what Joseph
said. You meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good. And I can say that about several
of my past bosses. I tried to do things that were
going to hurt me or harm me, and the Lord just delivered me
out of it. Out of it all. We could go on
and on, chapter and verse, chapter and verse. The fifth thing is,
He knows our sorrows as our tender Heavenly Father. Turn to Matthew
chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7. And verse 11, if this isn't us,
if ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your
children, how much more shall your Father, which is in heaven,
give good things to them that ask Him? We're in sorrow. We're in pain. Self-afflicted. Could be sin. We could be in
sorrow. We could be in pain. discomfort
because of others, our neighbors, our family, our friends, our
children, go to the One who knows our sorrows, who is acquainted
with our sorrows, our griefs. He is our tender Heavenly Father.
He keeps His dear sons and daughters Brethren, let us reason together. Our Father knows us better than
we know ourselves. Trust His guiding hand. Believe
upon His unerring wisdom. Cling to His wide and sovereign
embrace, or the promises that He gives us in His Word. We may
not always understand the whys and wherefores, but if He has
sent His only begotten Son, Allowed Him and caused Him and made Him
to suffer, bleed and die. He's certainly going to take
care of each and every one of us. And He did it on our behalf. Is it not reasonable then to
serve Him? Like Job said, though He slay
me, yet will I trust Him. Lastly, regarding the fact that
our Sovereign knows our sorrows, the sixth thing is, as our Head
and as our Sovereign. Romans 8. As our Head and as
our Sovereign. Romans 8. 28 to the end. This
is just... This is just so lovely. The Lord
has used this in my life numerous times, and I'm sure in your life
numerous times. We know, we know, He knows. We know He knows our sorrows.
We know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. For
whom He did foreknow, He did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of His Son that He might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate,
them He called, and whom He called, He justified, and whom He justified,
He glorified. What shall we say then to these
things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared
not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall
He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justified. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea rather has risen again. Who is even
at the right hand of God who also makes intercession for us? Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? So tribulation, distress, persecution,
famine, nakedness, peril, or sword. For it is written, for
thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are counted as sheep
for the slaughter. Nay, no, never in all these things
we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded. And that's one reason why I get
up here and preach time and time again, and I must preach Christ
Uncrucified, is I am persuaded of these truths. I desire for
you to be persuaded. And I can't persuade you oratorical
ability, because somebody who's smarter than me can come in and
they'll have a better oratorical ability. But I know God's Word
is powerful and it's powerful and quicker than any two-edged
sword. I'm persuaded, you are persuaded, that neither death,
life, angels, principalities, powers, things present or things
to come, height, depth, or any other creature shall be able
to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord." Nothing. Not a molecule. Not a virus. Not riots. Not government flipped
upside down. Nothing. Let us Be fully persuaded. And turn with me to Isaiah 44.
Isaiah 44. This is beautiful as well. I think Bruce made a comment about
this is guaranteed. To the believer, these words
are guaranteed. This book to us is guaranteed. Isaiah 44. Look at this. Verse 21 through
the end of the chapter. Remember these. Isaiah 44, verse
20, Remember these, O Jacob and Israel, for thou art my servant. I have formed thee. Thou art
my servant, O Israel. Thou shalt not be forgotten of
me. I have blotted out as a thick
cloud thy transgressions, as a cloud thy sins. Return unto
me, for I have redeemed thee. Sing, O ye heavens, for the Lord
has done it. ye lower parts of the earth,
break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every
tree therein, for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob and glorified
himself in Israel. Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer. He that formed thee from the
womb, I am the Lord that makes all things, that stretches forth
the heavens alone, that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself, that
frustrates the tokens of the liars, and makes the diviners
mad, and turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolish,
that confirms the word of His servant, and performs the counsel
of His messengers, that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited,
and to the cities of Judah, ye shall be built. And I will raise
up the decayed places thereof, that saith to the deep, Be dry,
I will dry up thy rivers, that saith to Cyrus, He is my shepherd,
and shall perform all my pleasure. Even saying to Jerusalem, Thou
shalt be built, and to the temple thy foundation shall be laid." Sounds like an absolute God to
me. And I know we don't like absolutes,
but the believer loves absolutes. loves absolutes. One day soon,
all of our tears will be wiped away, all cheeks will dry and
happy, all living unto our King, our Shepherd, our Physician,
our Father, our Head, because He knows our sorrows. So cast your care, lay your burden
upon Him, for He careth for His people. That was supposed to
be the end of the message. And as I was writing this up,
I got a second charge, and I've got to share this. A P.S. Let's go back to Exodus. A P.S. The whole Scriptures, we know
that the whole Scriptures is about Christ. Everything in there
is about substitution, satisfaction, or as one of the older writers,
Redemption and regeneration. It's all about substitution.
It's all about Christ. Well, let's look at Exodus chapter
3 again. All the Bible is a story of substitution. It's a gospel
narrative. And so, we see the gospel in
here. Do you see it with me? Let's
look together. Starting in verse 7. The Lord
said, I have surely seen the affliction of My people which
are in Egypt, dead in trespasses and sins. We're in affliction.
Isn't sin an affliction? You bet it is. That's the first
thing. Afflicted with sin. Our own sin. We're guilty before God. Verse
7, My people, which are in Egypt, have heard their cry by reason
of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. My people. Christ
came to save a particular people. That's the gospel. That is part
of the gospel. He didn't come to save everybody.
He never intended to save everybody. He came to save His people from
their sins. That's what Matthew 1.21 says.
My people, they are elect from every nation, tribe, and tongue,
but only His people by the election of grace. Thirdly, verse 8, how
is this going to happen? I am That's not talking about
Moses. That's not talking about me or
you. That's talking about Jehovah God. I am come down to deliver
them basically by myself. I'm going to do the whole work.
Isn't that the gospel? Christ has done everything. God must come down from glory
to save his people from their afflictions, to deliver them,
to rescue them, to redeem them. The I am, the great I am, came
down in the form of a servant to deliver, to do for us what
we could not do for ourselves. That is substitution. As one
author said in a book years ago, that's redemption accomplished
and applied. Pure, free, sovereign deliverance. I am come down to deliver them. Now, the fourth thing I see is
found in verse 8. The natural, sure, steadfast
outcome will be, look at verse 8, I have come down to deliver
them out of Egypt to bring them up out of that land unto a good
and large land flowing with milk and honey. He has delivered us
from this world and brought us to a land flowing with milk and
honey. He will do it. We will be redeemed from this
world, the corruptions that are in this world, and be with Him
in glory. Fifthly, now some people don't
agree with this, but you've got to show me where it's otherwise
in the Scripture. Verse 10, "'Come now, therefore,
I will send thee.'" Who is he talking to? Moses. "'I will send
thee,' and the Pharaoh, "'you may bring forth my people, the
children of Israel of Egypt.'" God will send someone to tell
you of the marvelous and good news that's the best news you've
ever heard. By the preaching of the Gospel,
He saves them that believe. By the foolishness of preaching.
After you heard the Word of Truth, you believed. And I could go
on, that's Ephesians, I could go on different passages, and
we could say this is a type of Christ, yes, but this is also
anybody, not somebody ordained behind a pulpit. He will use
you to tell somebody about the most wonderful thing they ever
heard. Oh, you want to stay in Egypt? You want to stay in this
world? Or do you want to... Oh, I've heard it. I've heard
about it. I haven't seen it with my eyes.
By faith, I've heard about it. The most wonderful place ever
been. In many mansions. He's preparing us for the place
and He prepares the place for us. Sixthly, lastly, And this is
another area that I think we can be keen on preaching the
Gospel, teach on teaching the Gospel, but there's things that
happen after the Gospel. After we believe and confess
Christ, there's things that the new heart, through the love of
Christ, that His love constrains us, this is what we will do.
Very simply put, lastly, verse 12. And He said, Lord, certainly
I will be with thee, Moses, and shall be a token unto thee that
have sent thee. When thou hast brought forth a people out of
Egypt, you shall serve God upon this mountain." You're going
to serve God where you are at. And I'm not one for big fancy
definitions, but as far as I'm concerned, this is Christianity
simply and fundamentally defined to serve the Lord. Not self. Not for more money. Not for any
of these things. Christianity is simply serving,
worshiping, trusting, believing the Lord. And He says, oh, after
you do this, you're going to serve Me. And we do. The callings. We've talked about those four
brothers. They were called. and they follow Christ. They
call, and they follow Christ. The Gospel goes out, it's a call. We have a general call, it gets
specific. It's an effectual call, what He does. He gets the ear,
He bores that ear of that slave, and that slave says, I'm yours
forever, willingly, freely, because of everything you've done for
me. But we serve. Now a lot of times we've got
the world on our mind, we've taken care of our family, all
these things, yes, but we can't help. But preach the gospel,
we can't help but live the gospel. So that's the PS to what I saw. May the Lord bless the reading
and preaching of His Word. Brandon, would you close us please?