God's ways are not our ways. Never. In anything that he does,
never in anything we experience, God's ways are not our ways. God made a covenant with Abraham.
That covenant in which Abraham was promised by God I will bless
you, and I will make you a blessing. And in you and in your seed,
all the nations of the earth will be blessed." And Abraham
was given a son, a son by miraculous work of God, by miraculous intervention
of God's hand. And he was required to sacrifice
his son. But Abraham understood that in
his son Isaac, God had placed that one who would come, the
Lord Jesus Christ, who would be the woman's seed, who would
come into this world, the God-man in our flesh, God in our flesh,
to redeem us and save us from our sins. But in the midst of
God's covenant promise to Abraham, he said, I'm going to send your
seed into Egypt, and you will come out with great substance. And the Lord Jesus spoke plainly
concerning what God had accomplished in that time when he appeared
to Moses in Exodus chapter 3. God sent Jacob down to Egypt
where he told, where Abraham was told he was going to be there
for 400 years. And at the end of 400 years,
I'll bring him out with great substance. But Jacob was brought
to Egypt by severe trial. He would never have gone there
had God not compelled him to go there. And while they were
in Egypt, things were going wonderful for a long time, as long as Joseph
was around. And then Joseph died, and there
rose up a Pharaoh who didn't know Joseph. And the scriptures
tell us that God turned the heart of Pharaoh to hate the children
of Israel. It didn't just happen. God turned
the heart of Pharaoh to hate his children. And God caused
Pharaoh and the Egyptians to deal with them subtly. That is,
deceitfully and cruelly. God did that. That doesn't excuse
anything on the part of the Egyptians or on Pharaoh's part. They did
exactly what they wanted to do. But they did what they did according
to God's purpose, God's purpose of grace for his people. And
the Lord God said, I will harden Pharaoh's heart. And he won't
let you go, not by a mighty hand. And we're told again in scripture,
God did this so that he might perform his wonders in Egypt. Now, my subject tonight is lessons
from God's wonders, those wonders portraying all the works of God's
providence and his works of grace in saving our souls. Truly, it
is, as Cowper wrote, God moves in a mysterious way his wonders
to perform. He plants his footsteps in the
sea and rides upon the storm. Deep, deep in unfathomable minds
of never failing skill, He treasures up his bright designs and works
his sovereign will. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage
take. The clouds you so much dread
are big with mercy and shall break in blessing on your head. His purposes will ripen fast,
unfolding every hour The bud may have a bitter taste, but
sweet will be the flower. Blind unbelief is sure to err
and scan his work in vain. God is his own interpreter, and
he will make it plain. He will make it plain to us.
when at last we're seated with him in glory, and he causes us
to know the wonders he has performed. But he makes it plain to us in
his word, so that we can, by faith in our Redeemer, understand
what God is doing in this world. My text again this evening is
Exodus chapter 3, verses 19 and 20. My subject, Lessons from God's
Wonders. I want to show you just a few
lessons to be learned from God's wonders. Exodus 3.19. The Lord
Jesus appears to Moses. He says, I am sure that the king
of Israel, or the king of Egypt, will not let you go, no, not
by a mighty hand. And I will stretch out my hand
and smite Egypt with all my wonders, which I will do in the midst
thereof. And after that, he will let you go." Now later in the
book of Deuteronomy, just before he is leaving this world, Moses
was inspired by God, the Holy Ghost, to describe for us the
goodwill of him that dwelt in the bush. The goodwill of him
that dwelt. What is God's goodwill? The goodwill of him that dwelt
in the bush. God's goodwill. In all things
is the salvation of his people to the praise of his glory. That's what God is doing in this
world. when He deals with men in judgment,
and when He deals with men in mercy, when He brings times of
chaos and calamity, and He brings times of peace and prosperity.
The Lord God is bringing judgment upon the ungodly and working
the salvation of His people. He only performs wonders. All He does is wonder. Just a wonder. Everything he
does. The wonders the Lord Jesus determined
to perform in the land of Egypt were ten plagues. Ten plagues
with which he afflicted the Egyptians and by which he separated the
precious from the vile. by which he distinguished Israel
as his people and made the children of Israel to understand, you're
my people, the objects of my covenant, the objects of my love,
the objects of my mercy. And he showed the Egyptians,
you are the objects of my wrath and you will serve my people.
And all that portraying the salvation of God's church, the Israel of
God. Water was turned into blood.
Frogs covered all the land. Lice plagued the people and the
beast of the lands. Swarms of flies covered everything. Pestilence smoked the livestock.
Boils broke out on the people and beast. Hail and fire struck
the people and livestock and destroyed vegetation. Hordes
of locusts devoured everything that was left from the hail and
fire. And then darkness covered the
land. In all those things, the land
of Goshen was spared. There were no frogs in Goshen,
no flies in Goshen, no lice in Goshen, no hail and lightning
in Goshen, no darkness in Goshen. God said, I'm putting a difference
between Israel and Egypt. And he does that throughout the
ages of time. And then came the judgment of
God on the Passover night, when the Lord God commanded Moses
to tell the children of Israel, each man in his house, to take
a lamb. spotless lamb, kill the lamb
and roast it with fire, and put the blood on the doorpost and
the lentil, and to eat the lamb roasted with fire with their
staff in their hand and their coats on their backs. Tonight
you're going out of this land for when I see the blood I will
pass over you." And this time death came to the firstborn of
all in the land of Egypt including the land of Goshen. Those in
Israel who dwelt in Goshen were hidden behind the door, and they
there were eating the lamb roasted with fire, a picture of Christ,
our Redeemer, and all his sufferings and death, the blood on the door,
that covering our sins in blood atonement. But that firstborn
lamb, the firstling of the flock, was slain in every house in Goshen
as well. And so it is, you must perish. under the wrath of God and I
must perish under the wrath of God either personally or in a
substitute. Blessed be God, He saves His
people by the doing and dying of Christ our Passover who has
sacrificed for us. In Him we suffered the wrath
of God. In Him we satisfied divine justice. In Him God Almighty is propitiated. In Him Our sins are put away,
our transgressions are gone, our iniquities are purged, and
we have perfect everlasting righteousness. These ten plagues teach us much
about our Lord Jesus Christ and his sovereign providence, typifying
his work throughout the ages of time. They are compared to
seven vials and seals and trumpets in the book of Revelation. The
trumpets and vials, these things revealed in Revelation, were
typified in these ten judgments. Let me remind you. The earth
was stricken with fire, which destroyed vegetation in this
time of God's judgment upon men, and with sores which afflict
that part of mankind found worshiping the beast, just as it was in
Exodus 9. The sea is stricken with death,
turning it to blood in Revelation 8, just as the Nile was turned
to blood and death in Exodus 7. The heavens are stricken with
darkness. God turning light to darkness. Just darkness covered the land
of Egypt for three days while light shined in Goshen. Light turned to darkness. Light turned to darkness. If
that light that's in you is darkness, how great is that darkness? Light turned to darkness so that
the very word of God men read and hear becomes darkness to
them because they will not believe. And they worship the beast and
the false prophet, go a whoring after Antichrist and rebel against
God. But for the children of God,
light comes and God shines forth His glory and His grace in the
face of Christ Jesus. In Revelation 9, the wicked are
afflicted with locusts and with darkness and pain described in
Revelation 16. Just as it was in Egypt, the
locusts, I've often wondered, what's that talking about locusts
coming in the judgments of God in this day? We see locusts,
see what they do. But he's talking about locusts
devouring everything. The picture is not a carnal one, but a spiritual
one. The whole thing is allegorical.
It's not talking about some future time. He's talking about what
God's doing now in his providence. He turns everything that is pleasure
to the ungodly into bitterness and a curse. Everything. Everything. When
God's finished with men in judgment, and men and women are cast into
hell, every pleasure enjoyed on the earth, everything you
sought after, everything you enjoyed, everything you thought
delightful, will torment your soul forever. Just imagine. when a lost daughter meets her
lost mother in hell and they hate each other like they couldn't
possibly imagine on this earth. Because you didn't tell me the
truth. Because you would not speak to my soul. Because you
took me by the hand and led me to this dark place. Imagine when
the lost preacher and the lost folks to whom he preached meet
up in hell. What horror, what terror. When
men and women are made with keen sensibility to see all the advantages
they had in time, at last, in hell, just brought them wrath. Everything that was pleasure
is turned to pain and a curse. But not so in the land of Goshen. Everything that was pain shall
be pleasure. For God's elect, when salvation's
finished, everything that we've looked upon in this world with
heartache, with bitter eyes, with horrible pain in our souls,
we will look upon with pleasure and praise God for his wonders
in the land of Ham. We read in Exodus 12 that the
firstborn in every house of the Egyptian was slain. So we're
told that the Lord God, our Savior, commands his angels to kill the
third part of men dwelling upon the earth in Revelation 9. And
yet, turn over to Revelation 9 if you will, I want you to
see this. Even after the slaughter of their firstborn, neither Pharaoh
nor the Egyptians repented. but only hardened their hearts
the more. So it is through the ages of
time and so it is today. Wrath and judgment never produce
repentance. Wrath, judgment never produces
repentance. Revelation 9 verse 20. And the
rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues, they
survived the plagues. Just imagine. Just imagine. You
live in a town, live in a city, in an area where suddenly plague
breaks out. And your neighbors are dying,
dropping like flies, one after the other. Maybe you get the
fever. And this one dies, and that one
dies, and the next one dies. But you survive this thing. And in the midst of this thing,
you got real fearful and real sober. And you start thinking
about time and eternity and death and life after death. And you
cry out to God to spare you. Oh, look what that did for him.
It don't last. It don't last. We don't try to
trick folks into religious profession, and we don't try to talk people
into a religious profession when they're going through some difficulty.
It won't do any good. Anything built in the storm will
die in the calm, I promise you. They repented not, look at it,
Revelation 9, verse 20, yet they repented not of their works,
the works of their hands. The works of their hands. What's
that talking about? Read this book and see what God
calls every idol in this book. It's the work of your hands.
You see, men love their works. and their goodness, and their
righteousness, and that by which they think they make themselves
exceptions to other men, make themselves exceptional above
other men, make themselves at least not as bad as some men.
Men love their works. They worship their works. And
they will not repent of the works of their hands, their idolatrous
worship of self. that they should not worship
devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone,
and of wood, neither can they see, nor hear, nor walk. Neither
repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of
their fornication, nor of their thefts. In the end, the announcement
is made in Revelation chapter 11, the kingdoms of this world
are become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ." And at
last we read, it is done. It is done. And the saints of
God, the redeemed and saved out of all the earth, come forth
singing. Do you remember what they're
singing? Turn over to Revelation 15. They're redeemed out of their
God's elect, God's ransomed ones. They come forth singing, Brother
Bobby, they come forth singing your favorite text of scripture,
Exodus chapter 15. They come forth singing the song
of Moses. Because all that took place in bringing Israel out
of Egypt has now been accomplished in reality, in time, by God's
good providence and his people are saved. Look at Revelation
15 verse 1. I saw another sign in heaven,
great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last legs, for
in them is filled up the wrath of God. filled up the wrath of
God, filled up the wrath of God. And I saw, as it were, a sea
of glass mingled with fire. And them that had gotten the
victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark,
and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass having
hearts of God. And they sing the song of Moses,
the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, great and
marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are
thy ways, thou King of saints. Turn over a few pages to chapter
19, Revelation 19. And after these things I heard
a great voice of much people in heaven saying, hallelujah,
salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God. After what things? After Babylon
is fallen. After all the wicked are cast
into hell, after the beast and the false prophet are cast into
hell, after Satan is cast into hell, looking over the smoldering
heaps of lost humanity, of devils and of the world in hell, they
sing, Hallelujah! Salvation to our God. Verse 2,
for true and righteous are His judgments. For he hath judged
the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication,
and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And
again they said, Alleluia, and her smoke rose up forever and
ever. And the four and twenty elders
and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on
the throne, saying, Amen, Alleluia, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen. You look back over all that God
has done. All that God has done by which
He shows Himself the God of Israel. By which He separates the precious
from the vile. By which He distinguishes Israel
from Egypt. And you say, Amen. Hallelujah. And a voice came out of the throne,
saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear
him, both small and great. And I heard, as it were, the
voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters,
and as the voice of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth. Oh, thank God he reigns. everywhere, all the time, and
forever. And when the end comes, God shall
be all in all. Now let me give you five lessons,
very briefly, to be learned from these wonders of our God. These things are written in the
book of God for our learning and our admonition, for our consolation
in the scriptures, What do they teach us? Number one, understand
this. The Lord Jesus Christ, our God
and Savior, is the God of gods. Men make to themselves gods. All men always have, all men
always do of one kind or another. In our enlightened, civilized,
highly educated society, nobody much but papists bow down and
worship images. I can't explain that to you,
but the papists still like to bow down and worship their images
and kiss a man's ring. The only way you understand that
is God sends blindness. That's the only way on this earth
you understand that. But other folks wouldn't. They wouldn't
worship images and statues and things like that. Why, we're
too smart for that. They make them a god of their
imagination. A god like they want them to
be. A god like themselves. A little bit strong, but not
too strong. A little bit good, but not too good. A little bit
just, but not too just. A god like themselves, they can
use. Much like the Egyptians, the
plagues performed in Egypt, our Savior said, were executed against
all the gods of Egypt. Also on their gods, the Lord
God executed judgment. Egypt, that enlightened society,
I mean, Egypt, those were smart folks. They were smart folks.
That enlightened society was a land of such great idolatry
that throughout their dark land, being ignorant, as ignorant as
the most base barbarians spiritually, they worshipped all kinds of
gods. I looked them up. They worshipped the sun. They
worship the Nile River. They worship cows. They worship
sheep. They worship goats. They worship
cats, dogs, jackals, and lions. They worship hippopotami, apes,
birds, and frogs. That takes in a good bit. They
worship all of them. All of them. All of them for
one reason or the other. But as Elijah mocked the dung
gods of Baal on Mount Carmel. So the Lord God mocked and humiliated
the gods of the Egyptians by these plagues. And so he humiliates
the gods of the nations in the salvation of his people. Jesus
Christ, our God, is the God of gods. Our God, unlike all the
gods that men dream up, our God is in the heaven. He hath done
whatsoever He hath pleased. Second lesson. Our great God
and Savior afflicts and even sacrifices men and nations upon
the altar of His love for His elect. I'm not looking for something
to say I want that sinking good. I've chosen my words deliberately.
Our great God and Savior afflicts and sacrifices men and nations
upon the altar of his love for his elect. Proverbs 21 verse
18, the wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous. What a statement. What statement
well brother done that can't possibly mean what you're saying
turn back to the book of Isaiah and let's see Isaiah chapter
43 Isaiah chapter 43 Now thus saith the Lord that
created the old Jacob I And He that formed thee, O Israel, fear
not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name,
thou art mine. When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel,
thy Savior. Now read the scriptures, read
the scriptures. I gave Egypt for thy ransom. Why on earth did God destroy
Egypt? To ransom Jacob. Is that what it says? Is that
what it says? I gave Egypt for thy ransom. Ethiopia and Saba for thee. Since
thou was precious in my sight, thou has been honorable, and
I have loved thee. Therefore will I give men for
thee and people for thy life. Fear
not, for I am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the
east and gather thee from the west. What's he saying? He's
saying, I'll sacrifice men and nations to gather my elect out
of the four corners of the earth. I will say to the north, give
up, and to the south, keep not back. Bring my sons from far
and my daughters from the ends of the earth. Even every one
that is called by my name, for I have created him for my glory.
I have formed him, yea, I have made him. Number three. Antichrists and false prophets,
like Pharaoh's sorcerers, whom the Holy Spirit names for us
in 2 Timothy, Janes and Jambres, will never thwart nor even slightly
impede but shall only serve to accomplish the purpose of our
great God. You know what those magicians
said? As long as they could, they imitated
the wonders God performed by Moses. And when they couldn't,
they said, well, all I can say is this is the finger of God.
God did this. They were stood Moses to the
face, but all they could do is withstand him. They couldn't
stop him. They couldn't impede him. Israel
went out exactly according to schedule. They shall proceed
no further. So it is today. Well, Brother
John, how do you explain all the heresies, all the things
going on in this world? Surely you don't mean to tell
us God uses those things. There must also be, 1 Corinthians
11, 19, heresies among you. There must be heresies among
you that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. Heresies come. And it looks like
everything's out of control. No, no, no, no, no, no. By these
things too, God distinguishes Israel from Egypt and separates
the precious from the vile. And those who are approved of
God, accepted in the beloved from eternity are made manifest. Number four, learn this. Salvation
is of the Lord. Our great God and Savior, by
every act of providential judgment, warns sinners of judgment to
come. And he gives you space to repent.
But the heart of man is only hardened until it is regenerated
by God the Holy Ghost and granted repentance by the goodness and
grace of God Almighty. Turn back to Zechariah. Look
at Zechariah. The ten plagues inflicted upon
Egypt teach us that Christ uses those plagues to convince men
of their sin and to warn them of judgment and of his righteousness. Many in such times will acknowledge
sin and acknowledge God, but instead of repenting to salvation,
they only harden their hearts to greater condemnation like
Pharaoh did. Does that describe you? It takes more than judgment.
It takes more than difficulties in life. It takes something more
than me preaching to you. It takes more than this congregation
or hundreds like it praying for you. What it takes to save a
man's soul. is the revelation of Christ in
you. Zechariah chapter 12, verse 10. This is what God says He does
in the saving of His people. All these wonders He performs. All these wonders. And by these
things opens the way for the gospel of His grace. But still,
something supernatural got to take place on the inside. I will pour upon the house of
David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Now that's not
talking about David's physical house, nor the physical inhabitants
of Jerusalem, not a chance. That's talking about God's elect
in this world. I'll pour on them the spirit
of grace and of supplication. And when I pour out my spirit
upon them, they shall look upon me whom they have pierced. And
they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his own son, and
shall be in bitterness for him as one is in bitterness for his
firstborn. Our God, who commands the light
to shine out of darkness, shines in the hearts of men to give
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. Oh, Spirit of God, come, blow
upon the dead and reveal Christ in them that they might live.
One more lesson to be learned from these wonders. God's wonders
in the land of Ham, the 10 plagues performed in Egypt, declare in
bold capital letters, all Israel shall be saved. All Israel shall be saved. He'll save all who's chosen.
He will do it with the means he has ordained by the preaching
of the gospel. That means there's no need and
no excuse for compromise of any kind. There's no reason and no excuse
for compromise of any kind anywhere with anybody. We live in this political environment now, and
the excuse for not doing what you say you're going to do when
you run for office, well, you have to compromise. Well, politicians
might. Politicians might. Not preachers.
Not God's church. Compromise never accomplishes
anything except compromise. Pharaoh, on numerous occasions,
said to Moses, let's make a deal. Let's make a compromise. You
can do this, but you're not all leaving here. You can do that,
but you've got to leave something behind. You can go out, but you've
got to come back. And he offered all kinds of compromises.
And Moses said to Pharaoh, when we leave here, When we go out
of this place, there shall not a hoof be left behind. We're not leaving one foot off
of one lamb, or one foot off of one calf, or one foot off
of one man. We're leaving here with everything. All Israel and all that Israel
possesses is going out of this land. And you know what went
out of the land? All the host of the Lord went
out of the land of Egypt by God's mighty hand and God's outstretched
arm. And so it shall be. I am the Lord. He said, I will
bring you out from under the burden of the Egyptians, and
I will rid you of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a
stretched out arm and with great judgments. He promised, behold,
I will save my people, and save them he shall by a stretched
out arm, and by great terrors according to all that the Lord
our God did for you in Egypt before your eyes. God has sent us on an errand. He sent us on an errand. And
that errand is the preaching of the gospel of His grace to
the saving of His elect. And save them He shall. Oh, God, do what You promised. Do as You said. Use us for Your
glory. Call out Your own. Give life
to the dead as only You can. Amen.