Back to Exodus 3. Now we read
from verse 1 to verse 12, but really our text this week begins
in verse 7. And I want you to notice the
language from Exodus 3, 7. The Lord said to Moses, 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." Now we see from this text that there are two
kinds of people in the world. Two. Only two. But wait, Chris,
in verse 8 there are several different kinds of people mentioned.
Yes, but these are earthly distinctions that don't matter. Men and women
distinguish themselves in different ways in this world. And none
of it makes any difference. People make distinctions about
themselves all the time. And they don't matter. It's not
a distinction that God has made. Somebody says, well, I'm going
to join the nation of Islam. I'm going to change my name to
Abdul or Mohammed or something. Go right ahead. It won't mean
anything. It won't change anything. I'm
going to become Jewish. Maybe you married somebody that
was Jewish. I'm going to become a Jew. It's not going to mean
anything. It won't make any difference.
It's not a distinction that counts. It wasn't important. in an eternal sense to be a Jew
then, much less now. It didn't make any difference,
really, being a Jew then, except that they had the outward advantages
of the Word of God. They had some things revealed
to them that the rest of the world did not. Obviously, that's
a wonderful privilege that Paul talks about in the Book of Romans,
not to be denied or taken for granted. But as far as their
earthly, their eternal destiny is concerned. It didn't make
any difference. Well, what do you mean, Chris? It was the earthly
Jews that were crying here and that God heard and to whom the
Passover ultimately pertained. Yeah. And that would have gotten
you out of earthly Egypt. But true deliverance, true deliverance
from true bondage came then and comes now by faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ and no other way. Was Esau a Jew? What did that
do for him? Think about it. He had the same
earthly parents that Jacob did. But being a Jew was not a distinction
that mattered to him. Earthly distinctions are not
important. None of them are. Galatians 3.26,
listen to it. For ye are all the children of
God by faith in Christ Jesus. By faith, you're the children
of God. For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ, have put on Christ, there is neither Jew
nor Greek. There is neither bond nor free.
There is neither male nor female, for you're all one in Christ
Jesus. And if you be Christ's, not if
you be a Jew or a Gentile or anything, if you be Christ's,
Then are you Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."
God's promises, all of them, are yea and amen in Christ. Not in any nation, not in any
family, not in any heritage, not in any earthly distinction
whatsoever. In Christ. Turn to Colossians
3. I want you to look at this one
with me. Colossians chapter 3 and verse 10. Colossians 3.10. Talking to the church there,
in Colossae, and he says, And you have put on the new man,
which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created
him. Now listen, read it with me and
think about this. You've put on the new man, which
is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created
him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, Circumcision nor uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in
all. Put on therefore, I don't miss
these next five words, as the elect of God. Not as a Jew, not as a Christian woman, not as a Gentile, not as anything.
But as the elect of God, that's who you are. You're not any of
these other things. None of that matters, spiritually
speaking, eternally speaking. None of that makes any difference.
As the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on vows of mercies
and kindness and humbleness of mind and meekness and longsuffering,
that's who you are. You're God's elect. You're God's
elect. So you see, The Lord Jesus Christ,
speaking to Moses from the burning bush that was not consumed, distinguishes
all people into two groups when he says in verse seven, surely
I have seen the affliction of my people. And in verse 10, he
said, come now therefore I will send you unto Pharaoh that thou
mayest bring forth my people. There are in this world God's
people and there's everybody else. Turn to Romans 11, let's
look at it. Romans chapter 11, verse 1. I say then, hath God cast away
his people? He's talking about the Jews.
Has God cast away, he had been talking about the Jews. He's
fixed to be talking about spiritual Jews. And he's talking about
in verse 18 there of chapter 10, Haven't they not heard? Has not Israel, the nation of
Israel? Yes, verily, their sound went into all the earth, and
his prophets, he's spoken in times past unto the fathers by
the prophets, and in these last days he's spoken by his son,
always has spoken to the ends of the earth. But I say, did
not Israel know? Didn't the nation of Israel know
the things of God? First Moses saith, I will provoke
you to jealousy by them that are no people. By a foolish nation
I will anger you. But Isaiah is very bold and saith,
I was found of them that sought me not. I was made manifest unto
them that asked not after me. But to Israel, and this is the
earthly nation of Israel, all day long I've stretched forth
my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people. I say then,
hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an
Israel out of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. God
hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. That's not
talking about earthly Israel anymore. That's talking about
spiritual Israel. His people to whom pertain all
of the promises, those who are Christ's, who are truly, in the
spiritual sense, the real sense, Abraham's seed. God hadn't cast
them away. What ye not what the scripture
saith of the lies, how he maketh intercession to God against Israel,
saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets and dig down thine
altars and I am left alone and they seek my life. They're all
worshiping a false god, and I'm worshiping you, and they're trying
to kill me for it. They're reprobates. But what saith the answer of
God unto him? I have reserved to myself 7,000 men. They're
not all trying to kill you. Just seems like it. They're not
all idolaters. Just seems like it. This whole
world is just a bunch of idolaters. Almost. Almost. But not quite. By God's grace,
not quite. There's 7,000 who have not bowed
the knee to the image of Baal. Even so, right now, Paul said,
right now, as we sit here, I say to you, there is a remnant according
to the election of grace. God still has a people. He had
never cast away his people. And if by grace, then it is no
more of works, Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be
of works, then it is no more grace. Otherwise, work is no
more work. They are mutually exclusive of
one another. What then? What are we gonna
conclude? What are we gonna say about all
this? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for. The
earthly nation of Israel, generally speaking, they're goners. They're
reprobate, idolatrous, hell-bound, but. The election hath obtained
it. That remnant obtained it. That
remnant is saved. That remnant is safe. That remnant
is God's people. They will not bow to Baal because
God won't permit it. He said, I've reserved them from
doing it. That's what, they had enough
sense not to bow. No, I've reserved them. The election hath obtained
it and the rest, everybody else besides the elect were blinded. There's the elect and there's
the rest. There's my people and there's those who are not my
people, God said. And those who are saved, those
who are delivered, those who obtain mercy are God's remnant, God's elect,
God's chosen, the ones he calls my people. Even among the nation
of Israel, there is the elect and there's the rest. Everywhere
around this world, it's the same way, every nation. Does it not
say I have chosen out of? I will call my people out of
every people and tribe and nation and tongue under heaven, out
of. Yes, all of the earthly nation
of Israel were delivered from earthly Egypt, but who was delivered
from the bondage of sin and Satan and translated into the kingdom
of God's dear son? the remnant, the elect, the chosen
of God, the spiritual people of God, pictured here by the
earthly nation of Israel. They're a type of God's elect,
to whom God said in Deuteronomy 7, I have not chosen you because
you were a great nation, but because I loved you. That's his
elect. And Israel, earthly Israel, pictures
them. But he has elect even among them
a remnant that shall be saved, shall be saved, because God has
reserved them. He said to Moses, surely I have
heard the cry of my people. Weren't there Egyptians crying,
do you imagine? Do you think that none of the
Egyptians had any troubles at all? Any sorrows? Any fears? Any needs? Among that
vast nation, were there any who cried for any reason? But God
heard the cry of his own, and he always does. But you know,
there's nothing any more annoying than the sound of a baby crying,
unless it's yours. And even that might get annoying
eventually, doesn't it? But it's different, isn't it?
It's different. The difference between, I wish somebody would
shut that baby up, and what's the matter? What's wrong is one
word, mine. Mine. My people. When we bought
our little husky puppy about 10 months ago or so, we were
at this farm where they bred them and they had a large pen
there in their garage. It was cold. They were full of
puppies. There must have been a dozen,
15 puppies in this little pen. in their garage. And then out
across the yard there was a kennel where the adult dogs were. There
were maybe six or seven adult dogs. I don't remember exactly
how many. Probably three or four females. And one of the little
puppies in that pen in the garage got its leg caught in the chain
link of that pen and began to yelp like it was the end of the
world. And we immediately looked over at it. And when it did,
When it began to yelp, one of the female adult dogs across
the way, and it's a good way over there, maybe 50 yards or
so, across the yard, one of the adult dogs began to bark frantically
and claw at the fence like it wanted to get to that puppy,
just one of them. The other adult dogs were just
kind of looking. But one was making such a fuss
that even though that puppy was yelping, our attention was drawn
to that that female adult dog that was barking so loud and
so frantic over there. And as that lady that was breeding
the puppy, she went to get that one out, and she did, and she
carried it over to where we were. And by the time she got to where
we were, she saw us looking over there at that adult dog, and
we were all probably thinking about the same thing by then.
And we looked at her, and she said, yep, that's its mama. That's
his mama. David said in Psalm 18, 6, in
my distress, I called upon the Lord, and I
cried unto my God. And He heard my voice out of
His temple, out of His holy temple. He heard my voice. And listen
to the way David words this. He said, and my cry came before
Him, even into His ears. It's as though it was astonishing
to David that God would hear his little cry. If that doesn't
astonish you, then maybe he's not your God. Then he would hear me cry. He said, I've heard the cry of
my people. And now we know that this is
unpopular truth, that God has a people eternally, that he's
chosen them from the foundation of the world. Religion talks
about God being the father of all men, even though the Lord
Jesus clearly told the Pharisees that that wasn't so. He said,
if I were your father, you'd believe me. If God were your
father, you'd believe me. But you're of your father, the
devil, and the lusts of your father, you'll do. They say what
Satan and his children have been saying ever since God first spoke
to man. They've been saying the same
thing. We, by nature, we've all been saying the same thing ever
since the first time God spoke to man. That's not fair. That's
our response. That's not fair. What's the first
thing God said? You may eat of all the trees
of the garden, but this one tree thou shalt not eat. That's not
fair. Satan came saying that's not fair. God said you can't
eat of that tree, why not? You're not gonna die. It's going
to be good for you. That's not fair. And we bought
it. And we've been saying it ever since. That's not fair. And they're still saying it.
But let's remember two things about this. God having a people,
a particular, peculiar people that he loves, that are his children,
his sheep, his chosen, the objects of his eternal love. Let's remember
two things about this. What's fair, what's right, is
hell for all of mankind. Don't ever forget that. Don't
say that's not fair. Who art thou that replies against
God? What's fair and right is hell
for us. What he said to that Canaanite
woman is right. It wouldn't be right for me to
take the children's bread and give it to a dog. We're all dogs
by nature. And she knew that. And she said,
Lord, yeah, but I'm your dog. And even the dogs get the crumbs
that fall from the master's table. You're my master. Dog though
I am, and I need a crumb. I got to have a crumb from you.
And so what's right? If there's not a distinction
made by God, if there's not distinguishing grace, if God doesn't make a
difference between his people and the rest of the people in
this world, then we all without exception will perish forever. Your only hope and mine is distinguishing
love and grace. Second thing we need to remember
is this, if you truly want to be one of God's people, if you
desire honestly in your heart before God to be His, then you
are. You just are. And I tell you
that unreservedly on the authority of this book. Everybody who goes
to hell are those who reject God's grace and reject His Son. All of them. Are you thirsty?
Are you thirsty? He said, blessed are they that
hunger and thirst after God's righteousness, after God's Son,
after God's salvation. They'll be filled. Every one
of them. Are you thirsty? Revelation 22,
7, the Spirit and the bride say, and come. Can you hear them?
Can you hear them say come and let him that heareth say come
and let him that's thirsty come and whosoever will let him take
the water of life freely. Are you thirsty? No. Then why
are you complaining that the water is only for the thirsty
ones? There's plenty of water. That's
not the problem. Problem is not that God doesn't
have enough mercy to go around. David said, he's plenteous in
mercy. There was plenty of room in the
ark for everybody that wanted in. Plenty of room. The problem is
not the size of the ark. The problem is you laughed at
Noah and mocked him while he was building it. That's the problem.
And his God for telling him to build it. John 6, 37, all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. That's election. Everybody
that God gave to the Son in the eternal covenant of grace, every
one of them. He said, of those that you've given me, I'll lose
nothing. I've lost none of them. I've finished the work you gave
me to do. And him that cometh to me, him that cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast out. I will in no wise cast out. Have you ever known the Lord
to send somebody away to run them off? Come. He told the rich
young ruler, go sell everything you have. That's just a distraction
anyway. It's not worth anything. Go sell it and come follow me.
Didn't he? You want to have eternal life? Do you really? Well, what if someone that the
father gave to Christ refuses to come? Sooner or later, he's
coming. Saul, isn't it hard for you to
kick against the goats? Oh yeah, it's hard. And you're
going down sooner or later. You're gonna be in the dust sooner
or later. When he gets good and ready, he may wrestle all night
with you like he did Jacob, but when he gets ready to put you
down, all he gotta do is touch you. And you're going down. What if someone who wasn't given
to Christ by the Father decides to come? No man can. I can. The Lord Jesus said, you will
not come to me that you might have life. You're not gonna prove
him wrong. No man can come except the Father which hath sent me
draw him. You know who he draws? Those
that he gave to his son before there ever was a sinner. And
then when there is sinners, he draws them to his son that he
gave them to before the foundation of the world. That's how that
works. Look at Exodus three, seven again,
and notice these, these three words, affliction. And he said, I've heard their
cry, affliction and cry and notice this word, sorrow, sorrow. affliction, they're crying, they're
afflicted, and they're sorrowful. Why did the Lord say in Matthew
5, 4, blessed are they that mourn? Because God's people are those
who are afflicted in Egypt. God brings his people to the
place where Egypt is unbearable. And Egypt's not just this world,
it's the sinful fashion of this world. It's the way we walked. In time, Pat, we all had our
conversation in this world, but we're going to come to the place
where we can't stand it anymore. We got to get out. We got to
have deliverance. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Who will deliver me from this bondage? I thank God through
Jesus Christ, our Lord. And the minute you see that and
need that, you go into Him. And I am too. Blessed are they
that mourn. If you'd gone to one of the Egyptians
who had a nice house in Egypt and a big yard and the latest
model chariot, you know, in the driveway, and said, I'm going
to deliver you out of Egypt. They'd have said, what are you
talking about? Get out of here. You're crazy. But the Hebrews were crying.
And this is a picture now, this is a picture. They're crying
for relief from the bondage, the sorrow, the affliction. All
ye that labor and are heavy laden come to me and I'll give you
rest. Rest is his to give. Crying under the weight, God's
people, he always causes them to feel the weight of the bondage
of their sin and they cry. What does that sound like? I'll
tell you exactly what it sounds like. God be merciful to me,
the sinner. That's what it sounds like. What does God do about our sorrow?
Look at verse eight. The end of verse seven, the very
next words after he said, I know their sorrows, he said in verse
eight, I'm come down. Is that what he did? I'm come down. And he came with
a specific purpose. To deliver them. You know what
that word means? Save. I came to save them. I'm coming down to save them.
And to bring them up. I'm coming down to bring them
up. Out of that land. Unto a place flowing with milk
and honey. I am come down. Why'd he come
down? Cause he knows our sorrows. So
what did he do? He became the man of sorrows. He came where we were all the
way where we were. I love that song. When Christ
Jesus came down for me, when he reached way down for me, let
this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being
in the form of God now, and thought it not robbery to be equal with
God. You talk about being God, and Satan said, I'll be his God.
No, you can't. No, you're not. You're going
to hell is where you're going. I will ascend into the throne. No, you're
going to go down to the pit. And he said to us, you'll be
his God. We like the sound of that. That's
robbing God of his glory to even think about it. But not him. He's the express image of the
father. He said, you've seen me, you've seen the father. He
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself
of no reputation and took upon him the form of
a servant. That's that word slave. And it was made in the likeness
of men. You'd think that would be coming
down far enough right there. But even being found in fashion
as a man, even being that low, he humbled himself. and became obedient unto death.
The Prince of Life became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. How far did He come down? He came way down to die for our
sins and to redeem us unto God by His precious blood. Why did
He come down? To bring them up, He said. came down to deliver them, to
save them. I like what Paul said to Timothy
in 115. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.
Don't you even argue about it. Don't you even try to dispute
this. Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners, of
whom I'm chief. He came down here to save his
people. Thou shalt call his name Jesus.
Why? For that very reason. because
he's going to save his people from their sins. That's why.
1 Thessalonians 4, 17, Paul is encouraging the church at Thessalonica
in their afflictions, in their sorrows. And he said, I wouldn't
have you to be sorrowful. I wouldn't have you to doubt
and to be ignorant of these things. Let me tell you something. When
our Lord comes, we which are alive and remain shall be caught
up together with them in the clouds. Those dead in Christ
that will rise for, he's going to come down and he's going to
bring us up. We're going to be caught up together
with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, not to meet
mama. If mama's there, me and mama
will stand there rejoicing in him to meet the Lord in the air. Isn't that right? And so shall
we ever be with the Lord. Be still, my soul, the hour is
hastening on, when we shall be forever with the Lord. When disappointment, fear, and
pain are gone, sorrow forgot. He heard their sorrows and he
came down. And he brings us up and all of
our sorrows forgotten. love's purest joys restored be
still my soul when change and tears are past then shall we
meet him and forever be with him at last so shall we ever
be with the lord now look at verse 10 in our text he said
come you now therefore moses you come and i'll send you unto
pharaoh that you may bring forth my people, the children of Israel,
out of Egypt." Now God sends the Lord Jesus Christ to this
world to deliver his people. The battle's not ours, it's his,
but he sends us to fight anyway. Moses clearly pictures the Lord
Jesus Christ, the champion, the deliverer, who came to deliver
his people out of bondage. But also, Moses is just Moses. And God sends ordinary men to
be the means by which he, the Lord, does the extraordinary
work of saving his people. And didn't Paul say, who is sufficient
for these things? This is God's work. This is God's
business. Why would he send me? Who in
the world am I that he would send me? God said, I am come
down and I am going to deliver my people and bring them up.
Isn't that what he said? I'm come down to deliver. I'm
come down to bring them up. Now you go. Isn't that what he
said to his disciples in Matthew 28, 18, all power is given unto
me in heaven and earth. Now you go. Go ye therefore into all the
world and preach the gospel. Say, let my people go. Let him
go. The power is his, the commission
is ours. Entrusted with the gospel, stewards
of his grace. We are his ambassadors. Who in
the world is sufficient for these things? He said, it pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching. To do what? To save, to deliver
them that believe. He said in 2 Corinthians 4, 7,
but we have this treasure in earthen vessels. Moses said,
who in the world am I? Pharaoh's not gonna pay any attention
to me. I can't even talk right. That the excellency of the power
may be of God and not of us. Pharaoh may not have been impressed
with Moses, but God got his attention. And this is the same thing Moses
said, same thing Paul was saying. Who's sufficient for these things?
Paul said, who is Paul then, or Apollos? We're just ministers,
we're just servants. This is God's business, you're
God's husbandry, this is God's work. He just let us in on it. And Moses said unto God, who
am I that I should go unto Pharaoh and that I should bring forth
the children of Israel out of Egypt? I love this answer, don't
you? Who am I, Lord? Who am I? And he said, certainly
I'll be with you. He didn't ignore his question.
He answered it. That's who Moses is. He's the one the Lord's with.
Who are you? Who am I? Who in the world am
I? That's who we are too. That's
all we are. This defines us. It's our identification. God is with us. This is my one
qualification as a preacher. The only one I need. This is
our credential as a true church of Christ, of the Lord Jesus
Christ in this world. God's with us. God sent us. And
the one token that he gives, that we're sent of God, is the
same thing he said to Moses. Isn't this interesting? Look
back at verse 12 again. He said, here's your token. You want to
know whether I sent you or not? When you've accomplished what
I sent you to do, you'll know I sent you. Isn't that just the
truth? You wanna know what God's will
is? Read the papers. Well, the part that's true, if
you can ferret it out somehow or other. That's what God's will
was. What happened, that's what it
is. And the way we'll know that he's with us is because we'll
be successful. He said of his gospel in Isaiah 55 10, it cannot
fail for as the rain cometh down in the snow from heaven and returneth
not thither, but watereth the earth. It doesn't go back up
until it's done what he sent it to do. It maketh the earth
to bring forth and bud that it may give seed to the sower and
bread to the eater. It does a pretty good job of
it, doesn't it? We've been eating it for 6,000 some odd years and
there's still plenty to eat as long as he keeps sending the
rain. So shall my word be that goeth
forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void.
It won't come back until it's done what I sent it to do. It
shall accomplish that which I please. Not what I please, what he pleases. That's what it'll accomplish.
And it shall prosper. Not sometimes it'll prosper and
sometimes it won't. It shall prosper in the thing
whereto I sent it. That's God. That's his word. That's his gospel. Paul said,
now thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in
Christ. Well, did you have anybody get
saved this week? Did you have any decisions? Did
you have any of that? He always causes us to triumph
in Christ and maketh manifest the savor of his knowledge by
us in every place. That's a win right there. That's
a win. Those who are ordained to eternal
life shall believe he'll add to his church daily such as should
be saved. He always has and he always will.
And that's our token. That's what encourages us, that
we know we cannot fail. We can't fail because the one
who sent us cannot fail. And so we are encouraged in the
work. When the Lord sent David into
battle, David went to the Lord and said, Lord, are you going
to go up with us? He said, I don't want to go up
unless you're going up with us. I wouldn't have either, would
you? The enemy outnumbered them. They didn't have any chance in
this world if it was left a chance of winning. The Lord said, surely I will
go up with you, and I will deliver the Philistines into your hand.
Now, does that make you want to stay home, or does that make
you want to go fight? Oh, my, what a token. Our Lord has never failed, and
he never will. And he's the one that said go.
Let's bow in prayer.