Salvation, as it is spoken of
in this book, throughout this book, is nothing akin to what
most people think salvation is. It is nothing akin to what most
people think salvation is. Salvation is not being manipulated
into making a profession of faith. Salvation is not being talked
into religion. Salvation is not just saying,
I believe in Jesus. Salvation is not found at the
front of a church building or a football stadium. Salvation,
as it is taught in this book, is nothing akin to what this
religious world thinks salvation is. Now let me tell you just
how important that statement is and how heavily it weighs
on my soul for you who hear my voice. My sister Juanita, who
is nearest to me in age, and we were nearest growing up. We
were close to the same age and same time in school and same
friends and thought more than other sisters. We did our share
of that too. She has no idea, I'm sure, how
dearly I love her. And she's dying with cancer,
probably not too long. And when I was a boy and she
was a little girl, we both got excited during a religious meeting
and the preacher scared the hell out of us. That's just all there
was to it. He just scared the hell out of
us. And we went forward and knelt down at an altar in a Baptist
church and went down to Romans Road and said, I know I've sinned,
I cheated, I did this, I did that, I stole something, cheated
on a test, I did something. And so I know I'm a sinner, and
I know Christ came to die for sinners, and I believe in Jesus. Thankfully, 10 years later, God
was pleased to save me, reveal Christ in me by His grace. For her, so far as I know, she
still lives in the delusion of that religious profession that
had no effect whatsoever upon her life and still doesn't, so
far as I know. I don't mean by that she's mean
and vile, all those things in an outward sense that men would
think. I mean it just doesn't matter. I pray that God will
be pleased to open the door of opportunity and allow me to minister
to her soul effectually when I see her in just a couple of
weeks. But today I'm here to preach the gospel to you who
soon will die and meet God in judgment. My subject is Israel's
misery, God's mercy. Israel's misery, God's mercy. You'll find my text in Exodus
chapter 3. God's ways are never our ways. And our ways are never his ways. If we had our way, We would never
do things the way God does them. Not one of us here. But God's
ways is always best. And when it's understood by experience,
it is sweet beyond description. Here in Exodus 3, we have a picture
of God's method of grace. The Lord God chose the nation
of Israel as a typical picture of his people in this world.
And all that that nation experienced in the Old Testament, in their
history in the Old Testament, everything they experienced exemplifies
what chosen sinners experience in grace. God chose Abraham's
seed and determined to make of them a great nation and a peculiar
people. a people to whom he would communicate
his law and testimony, a people by whom he would keep the heavenly
lamp burning until Christ came into the world. In time, Jacob
and his family went down to Egypt. For a long, long time, they and
their descendants were perfectly happy in Egypt. The land of Goshen
was fruitful, bountiful, and the Israelites were greatly favored
by the Egyptian king. No one living as Israel lived
in Egypt would ever dream of leaving. They were the rank society
in Egypt. No one living like they lived
in Egypt would ever dream of leaving that place. And I'm sure
they never thought of leaving that country. They had settled
there permanently. They became as much like the
Egyptians as they could. They were a part of the nation.
In time, the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob forgot their
origin. They forgot God's word, God's
covenant and God's promise to Abraham. They melted into Egyptian
culture. They lost all identity as God's
chosen covenant people. They adopted all the superstitions,
idolatries and iniquities of Egypt. Israel loved the land
of Pharaoh and all its ease and pleasure and wealth they delighted
in Though they had forgotten it the Lord God had declared
that their sojourn in Egypt would be for a set time and That he
would at the appointed time come and bring them out of that land. We read that back in Genesis
chapter 15 and All the time that Israel was in Egypt, though they
forgot him, the Lord God was determined to bring them out
by his almighty stretched out arm. He was determined to separate
the precious from the vile. the chosen from the reprobate,
to separate Israel from Egypt. He had made a difference between
Israel and Egypt. And in time, he would make that
difference manifest to both Israel and to Egypt. Now I'm sure you
see where I'm going. The parallel is obvious to all
who know the scriptures. Scattered among the ruins of
Adam's fallen race, God has a people in this world. A people he's
chosen, a people he's determined to save, a people for whom he
has made a covenant with a representative man, Christ Jesus the Lord, the
seed of Abraham. This people is called in the
book of God, the Israel of God. God's special people, God's choice
people, God's covenant people. As God in the Old Testament did
everything for Israel, so God in all history does everything
for the Israel of God. The Israel of God, these are
the objects of God's care, the objects of God's delight, the
objects of God's purpose. At present, they're all mixed
up with the world. They're in the world and appear
to be of the world. Like all others, they are children
of wrath, walking in their own way, loving the world, loving
darkness, loving sin. They are happy just like they
are. They have no desire to be separated
from their lust, separated from their companions, or separated
to the Lord. They love life in Egypt. Some of you who hear me now are
just that way. You love this world, oh, how
you love it. The more you can get, the better.
The more you can enjoy, the better. Life is just one big gusto for
you. So it is with God's elect who
live in this world until he intervenes. Bless me, God, there is a time,
a set time appointed, a time which God calls the time of love.
When he will bring his redeemed out from among the rest of mankind,
he will gather them from the north and from the south, from
the east and from the west, and bring them to the throne of his
grace in mercy. He who bought them with blood
will deliver them by the power of his omnipotent, irresistible
grace. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
make atonement for nothing. He did not die in vain. It is
written, he shall see of the travail of his soul and shall
be satisfied, and he shall. That means that every sinner,
every one of this covenant people, everyone chosen of God in eternity,
everyone redeemed by Christ's precious blood at God's appointed
time shall be called by almighty irresistible grace to life and
faith in Christ, saved by God's almighty omnipotent stretched
out arm of mercy, every one of them. As the appointed day approached
when Jesus, our Savior, the Lord, our God, would redeem Israel
out of Egypt, the Lord graciously prepared them for deliverance.
He always does. He always does, secretly, with
nobody knowing. He prepares his own for the appointed
time of love. You see, God doesn't save sinners
against their will. He makes them willing in the
day of his power. He didn't drag Israel out of
Egypt. Oh, no. He didn't just say, I'm
going to take you out of Egypt. No, no, no, no. He made them
so miserable in Egypt that they wanted to leave. So miserable
that when they left, they left singing his praise. He made them
so sick of Egypt that they had to leave and rejoiced to leave
once his hand was upon them. How was that accomplished? God
sent the Egyptians a king, a king who knew not Joseph. This new
Pharaoh was a petty little man. He feared that someday these
Israelites would become so mighty that they would turn against
the Egyptians and join their enemies in fighting against them.
He looked upon the Jews as a great danger and he determined to destroy
them. Sound like an Egyptian you know?
He looked upon those Jews as a dangerous enemy and was determined
to destroy them. Though Israel had never done
anything against him. Egypt was only blessed and made
prosperous by Israel's presence with them. But the king, the
pharaoh said, these folks are dangerous. We've got to do something
to suppress them and destroy them if we can. And so he, by
a cruel order, ordered the slaughter of all the male babies born to
the Israelite women. And then he oppressed them. giving
them tasks to make bricks without straw, and putting hard, cruel
taskmasters over them who didn't care at all how much they suffered,
but only delighted to make them suffer more. And calls his slaves
in Egypt, the Israelites, to build great, great buildings
in their rich treasure cities. The Israelites became abject
slaves under brutal taskmasters. The whip was often heavily upon
their backs and the children of Israel sighed by reason of
the bondage. Look at chapter two, verse 23,
Exodus two, verse 23. It came to pass in the process
of time that the king of Egypt died and the children of Israel
sighed by reason of the bondage and they cried Their cry came
up unto God by reason of the bondage Notice the scripture
doesn't say they cried to God. They just cried They cried and
their cry came up to God by reason of their bondage and God heard
their groaning and God remembered his covenant with Abraham with
Isaac and with Jacob and God looked upon the children of Israel
and God had respect unto them look at chapter 3 now verse 7 And the Lord said, I've 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 am come down to deliver them out of the hand
of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land unto
a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and
honey. unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites,
and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and 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. Hold your place there and turn
to Psalm 107. I read that passage of scripture countless times
this week, and every time I read it, I couldn't help but think
of David's words in this 107th Psalm. Look at verse 11. Because they rebelled against
the words of God, and contemned, despised the counsel of the Most
High. Therefore he brought down their
heart with labor, and there fell down and there was none to help.
Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saved
them out of their distresses, and he brought them out of darkness
and the shadow of death, and he break their bands in sunder. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children
of men. For he has broken the gates of
brass and cut the bars of iron in sunder. Perhaps, perhaps the
Lord has brought you here with a heavy heart, full of soul trouble,
sorrow and distress. Maybe, maybe, just maybe he's
graciously making you sick of the world, sick of sin, sick
of yourself. If the Lord God has brought you
into such soul bondage, perhaps it's because the appointed time
of love has come for you. And he may intend this very hour
to bring you out of bondage into the glorious liberty of the children
of God. Oh, what a prospect. First, let
me talk to you about Israel's misery and then about God's mercy. What mercy it was for the children
of Israel that God brought them into such misery. Their misery
squeezed from their hearts a cry, a cry heard by God, a cry they
would not otherwise have made. The children of Israel sighed
by reason of the bondage and they cried and a cry came up
to God by reason of the bondage and God heard their groaning.
They began to sigh and cry because their time of prosperity was
over. The land of Goshen was still
just a very fruitful land. Israel, however, was no longer
enriched by it. The country of Egypt was fair
to look upon, but Israel could no longer enjoy it. All their
prosperity, all their happiness was suddenly taken away. Does
that describe you? Once very happy in this world,
completely satisfied with life in this world. Everything, everything
you could desire, you either had or it was within reach and
you could get it. But now everything's changed. There's no joy now found in what
once elated you. No peace found, no matter where
you look. No prosperity found no matter
where you go. No ease of soul found no matter
what you try. Only difficulty and heartache
and pain and trouble. I'm not talking just about outward
physical trouble. You may be in such trouble that
nobody knows anything about it except you and God. Trouble you,
you don't dare share with anybody else because you don't think
you can. You think you're absolutely losing
your mind with trouble. My dear friend, brother Harry
Graham often said to me, Don, if you could see what's going
on in a center, when God's working in grace for that center, You'd
think to yourself, I wouldn't treat a mad dog like that. I wouldn't treat a mad dog like
that. If that's the shape you're in,
I can't tell you how thankful I am for it. Do you know how
few people I meet who are in trouble? How few people I meet who need
mercy? who need grace, who need forgiveness,
or if God has brought you into soul trouble, made you heavy,
caused your soul to be oppressed, I can't tell you how thankful
I am. I don't know what God's purpose is in your particular
case, but I do know this, when God is about to give a man a
drink from the cup of salvation, he makes him thirst first. He often does that by making
every sweet thing bitter to his taste. When God is about to cause
a sinner to feast at his banqueting house of grace, he makes him
hungry first. When he's about to give rest,
he fixes it so he can find none. And when he's about to set the
captive free, he makes the chains tight and galling and hard. Israel lost their former prosperity.
And now they began something they had never known before.
They had been in Egypt in bondage for 400 years. But Don, all those
years they lived as noblemen. They were blood kin to Joseph,
the prime minister of Egypt. They walked around that land
as aristocrats, but they were in bondage. They didn't have
a clue, but they were in bondage. They were slaves in Egypt, but
they had no idea about it. Now Joseph is dead. A king is
now sitting on the throne who didn't know Joseph. And now they
live in galling bondage. Hard laws were made against them.
Cruel taskmasters were given authority over them. They woke
up when they were told to wake up. They worked when they were
told to work. They slept when they were told
to sleep. They ate when they were told to eat. They were totally
under the yoke of cruel oppressors. I know what that's like. I've
been there. Have you? A slave to men, a slave
to the world. I hope none of you are so foolish
as to visit the tattoo parlors, but everywhere you go these days,
you see ignorant, silly men and women, boys and girls, got ink
all over them. Ask one why you do that. I want
to show folks that I'm free. I do what I want to. Oh, do you
now? Looks to me like you're following
a bunch of fools. That's the way it is with men
who pretend they're free. They're slaves to men. Slaves to the world. Slaves to
custom. Slaves to fashion. Doing what
other people do. Everybody does it, you know.
Slaves to every lust obscene. And taken captive by Satan at
his will. And suddenly, suddenly, the heavy
yoke of God's law lays upon you. Every command, every command
written just against you, every command, every word of the law
comes to your hearing and it sticks in your heart. God said
that just to me because God Almighty brings oppression. The children
of Israel, began to feel the heavy weight, and their burdens
were just too heavy to be borne. They worked and toiled hard,
but now they're made to serve with rigor. The pain of their
bondage was unbearable, the burden crushing. They were now in a
position where they just had to have some help. They were miserable, and they
had to have some help. Help. that only God could give. Oh, blessed, blessed misery. Now listen to this preacher.
You listen to me. As long as you can get along
without Christ, God will leave you without Christ. As long as
you can get along without God, God will leave you to yourself.
As long as you can shift for yourself, God will leave you
to shift for yourself until you shift yourself into hell. But
oh, what mercy it is when it fixes it so that you've got to
have it. When God fixes it so that you've
got to have him, have him you will. Listen to David. When I kept silence, when I refused
to acknowledge and confess my sin, when I kept silence, My
bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and
night, thy hand was heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into
the drought of summer. I acknowledge my sin unto thee,
and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said I will confess my
transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity
of my sin. I remember all that painful time
so vividly that I can speak to you like an experienced friend,
one well acquainted with the dark road you walk. God has graciously giving me
some difficulties at times in life. Folks go through sickness,
long protracted sickness, cobalt, radiation, chemotherapy, spend weeks and months, a year just
sick. I sympathize with that. I know
exactly what you're going through. I've been there. But here's an
experience for which I wouldn't trade the
world, the misery which forces the sinner to the throne of grace. I know what you're going through.
I know exactly what it is. I know exactly what it is. I
know it so well, I will not attempt to get you out of the mess. I know it so well, I will not
attempt to ease your pain. I know it so well, I will not
attempt to comfort you. I know it so well, I will not
attempt to make things better. I'll just tell you the truth
and wait for God to work. For it's a misery only God can
relieve. A misery only God can correct. A misery, a bondage from which
only God can deliver you. Once the children of Israel were
utterly helpless, completely without strength. When there
was no help to be had from any other source, then and only then
did the children of Israel cry and the Lord God heard their
cry. So it is with every sinner. No sinner will ever seek the
Lord until he's altogether shut up to free grace. You will not
come to the throne of grace until you have to have grace. You'll
never sue for mercy until there's no other suit to be made in the
court of heaven. What comfort can a savior bring
to those who never felt their woe? A sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost hath made him
so. Look back at Exodus 2.23 again.
Notice the order in which things are stated. They're written here
by divine inspiration, exactly in the order by which God would
teach us. First, the children of Israel
sighed by reason of the bondage. Then they cried and their cry
came up unto God by reason of the bondage. And then third,
God heard their groaning. Could I persuade you to write
something down that you won't forget? Blessed is that misery that brings
me to God. Blessed is that misery that brings
me to God. Blessed is that misery that forces
me to the throne of grace. Blessed is that misery that makes
me willing to look to Christ. Now, read on. They cried and
their cry came up to God by reason of the bondage. And God heard
their groaning and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with
Isaac and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children
of Israel and God had respect unto them. Their misery was the
forerunner of God's mercy. First, their cry came up to God. I repeat, the scriptures do not
tell us here they cried to God. David just says they cried, they
sighed. Can you imagine the shrieks,
the shrills, the loud groaning of mothers
and fathers in Israel as they saw their baby boy snatched from
their arms and thrown into the river? the river which would
be the river by which God would bring them deliverance. Their
cries came up to the ears of God in heaven. It burst through
the gates of heaven and came up to God. Let us therefore come boldly
to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace
to help in time of need. Children of God, for you who are gods, please,
please, please don't misunderstand this. I'm here for you. I want you to use me. When your
heart's heavy, I want to carry the burden. I want to. But what
you need, is not the comfort that your pastor can give. What
you need is the grace that God can give. Take your burden to
the Lord. Come boldly to the throne of
grace, that you may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time
of need. Seek his counsel. Seek his direction. Seek his peace. And sinners,
yet without Christ, sinners Come boldly to the throne of grace.
What a word What a word dares a sinner come freely to God. Ah No dare to it No, dare to
it come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need Listen to this word from
God. You don't need to turn there.
You find it Jeremiah 29 verse The Lord says, I know the thoughts
that I think toward you, saith the Lord. Thoughts of peace and
not of evil. To give you an unexpected end.
Then shall they call upon me. And you shall go and pray unto
me and I will hearken unto you. And you shall seek me and find
me when you shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith
the Lord. Seek and you shall find That's
what God said, isn't it? Seek and you shall find if you
don't find this cause you're not seeking If the door doesn't
open it's cause you're not knocking if you don't have it's because
you're not asking So but brother Don I am seeking I am knocking
I am asking. Oh, no, the Lord said when you
Seek me with all your heart you shall find me I told you sometime
back a story I read about a man who was a well-off farmer many
years ago when they'd take crops and sell them and get everything
they had for the year one time. And his wife was a believer,
but he wouldn't go to church with her. He wouldn't go to church
with her. And she kept trying to witness to him, didn't nag
him, but just kept trying to witness to him. But he wasn't interested.
And finally, he started going to church with some, and he went
in at the in the fall and took all his crops to town and sold
everything. And he came back home and sat down to supper and
he realized he had lost his wallet. His whole livelihood was gone.
So he went back out to the barn and turned things upside down. Was out there for hours. And
finally he found that wallet. Came back in and said, I found
my wallet. Sometime later his wife witnessed
to him and and she said if you'd seek the Lord you'd find him
He said I've been seeking him. I've been going church with you.
She said no you haven't She said if you were to seek him Like
you sought for your wallet a few weeks ago when you thought everything
would go you'd find him When you seek me with all your heart,
you shall find me. At midnight, come knocking on
his door and the door will open. Come begging at his door and
he'll give. Come asking and he won't give
you a stone or a scorpion. He'll give bread. He'll give
his Holy Ghost to them who seek him. Next, we read that God heard
their groaning. The God of all grace hears the
hearts of needy sinners. Brother Don, I don't know how
to pray. You don't need to. Any prayer I can teach you to
say, roll and say. How do you pray? You bow before
God and open your heart. You bow before God and hide nothing.
Tell God your misery, even now, and he'll hear your story. Tell
him all, for he'll hear you. Tell him what it is you want.
Oh God, I need great mercy. Oh God, I need great grace. I
need great forgiveness. Pardon my iniquity, oh Lord,
for it's great. It's great. He looked on the
children of Israel and remembered his covenant. He didn't remember
their declensions. He didn't remember their idols.
He didn't remember their transgressions. He remembered his covenant. Mark Henson, if God were to look
on you for all eternity to find something pleasant, he'd never
find it. To find something pleasing, he'd
never find it. But when he remembers his covenant,
he looks on his dear son, whom he loves, the Lamb of God, and
he remembers mercy for Christ's sake. But there's more. And he looked upon the children
of Israel. He looked upon the children of
Israel. He had given them his ear. He'd
given them his memory. Now he gives them his eyes. He
stood still and looked. He looked upon them. And God
had respect unto them. If you have a marginal translation,
it reads like this. God knew them. God knew them. There came a day when God looked
on you and he said, he's mine. God looked on you and he said,
she's mine. Now, when the Lord looked upon
them in mercy, he sent the man he had appointed to deliver them.
That's what we see in chapter three. That man Moses was Israel's
savior. As such, he's held before us
as a delightful type of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. Exodus
3 verse 7, And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction
of my people, which are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry by
reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows, and
am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians.
and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large,
unto a land flowing with milk and honey, unto the place of
the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites,
and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Now therefore behold, the cry
of the children of Israel is coming to me. And I have also
seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppressed them.
Come now therefore, and I will send thee to Pharaoh, that thou
mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of
Egypt. One who is infinitely greater
than Moses has come to deliver us. The Son of God, the Lord
Jesus Christ. First, remember that Christ the
Savior is a man like ourselves. full of sympathy for needy sinners. I have for years declared Christ's
sympathy with his people. Tempted in all points like as
we are, yet without sin. He knows all the trials and difficulties
we endure except sin. But that's just not right. That's
just not right. When the Son of God hung upon
Calvary's cursed tree, He was made sin for us. Merle, do you have some sense
of how painful, how dark, how grievous sin is to your soul? You who are without Christ, if
God is pleased to have mercy upon you, he's going to make
sin bitter to you. But never was there a man who
felt the bitterness of sin like God our Savior, the God-man,
when he was made sin for us. This Moses being a man is yet
clothed with divine authority. He gave himself up to the people
entirely. He was such a lover of Israel
that he lived entirely for those people. And once in chapter 32,
he made a strange prayer. Listen to what he said. Oh, this
people have sinned a great sin and have made them gods of gold.
Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin. And I don't know of any other
place in our English Bible where this is done. There's a long
dash. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive
their sin. And the translators understood
that as something that Moses spoke with seriousness. And if not, Blot me, I pray thee,
out of thy book which thou hast written. That's Christ our Redeemer. Our Lord Jesus, whom it is our
joy to preach, really was made a curse for us. He actually stood
in the sinner's stead. He bore the penalty of our guilt.
Therefore, oh, do trust him. Now, one last thing. We're told
that Moses brought all the people out of Egypt, every one of them. He left not one little baby in
Egypt, not so much as a sheep or a goat. He had said to Pharaoh,
not a hoof shall be left behind. And not a hoof was left behind.
All that belonged to Israel went marching out of Egypt on the
night that God sent them free. and God's elect, the Israel of
God. Christ redeemed shall all come
out of Egypt. Pharaoh's power, Satan's power
cannot hold the very least of them captive. Every bone of God's
children shall be set free from the empty grasp of death, hell,
and the grave. They shall come again from the
hand of the enemy. They shall come out completely
and come out with great substance. Because he who is our Savior
is that one of whom the psalmist speaks when he says, the Lord
hath laid help upon one that is mighty. He has exalted one
chosen out of the people. Jesus Christ, God's Son is able. He is as willing as he is able,
and he is as able as he is willing. He is able to save to the uttermost
all them that come to God by him. Oh, come to God by Christ
and go home free from sin and death and hell,
free from guilt and condemnation and judgment, free in life by
him whose name is life, Jesus Christ the Lord, amen.