Exodus chapter 5 records the
beginning of God's ministry of deliverance in Israel. That's
what it's about. That's what it's talking about.
This is the beginning. This is when Moses, sent of God,
goes down into Egypt and begins to take this message of God to
the people. And Moses and Aaron went as they
were told to go, preached to the elders of the children of
Israel who received the word that they preached gladly and
rejoiced in it and worshiped God. What they heard was good
news. And what they learned gave them
fresh hope. And they went with Moses. They
went with Moses and Aaron when he went to the palace. And they
followed him down there before Pharaoh. And I get the idea as
I read through this chapter that it's perhaps even some of them
answering and speaking to Pharaoh and so on. But Aaron and Moses went before
Pharaoh, and they were all hopeful. They thought, well, we're going
down here now. We can see this. This is good
news. When Pharaoh hears this, he's
going to give us our lead and probably be glad to see us go.
But that ain't what happened. That ain't what happened. That
encounter didn't go anything like what they thought it would.
My wife and I were talking today. She said, can you remember when
we first learned some of these things and we ran down there
expecting folks was just going to, this is like a light came
on in a dark room and you want to run and tell somebody, look
at this. This is good news. I've been
in church all my life. I've never heard anything that
was good news to me. This was good news. We ran down
there and told those folks why they didn't want anything, any
part of it. Half of them got mad. The rest of them thought
we was nuts. These people were just sure that
when Pharaoh heard that God had sent these men and that God was
with them that he'd give them leave to go. But nothing like
that happened. Pharaoh laughed at God's pitiful
ambassadors. Laughed at them. They were convinced they were
of God. I guarantee you standing before that burning bush and
hearing the voice of God and all the different things that
had happened to Moses In this experience between him and God,
I guarantee you, he was convinced that he was sin of God. And the
elders in that were convinced that he was sin of God. But he
got down before Pharaoh, and in the glory of that palace,
with all that army standing around and in all his prestige, Pharaoh
laughed at God's pitiful ambassador. He denied and rejected the God
they preached. He said, I don't know Jehovah,
and neither am I going to obey his voice. Who's he? Who's he? And he misrepresented their intentions. He said, you're just here to
take the people away from their burdens. That's the only reason
you're here. Not only that, but he charged
that the people should not only continue to make bricks for his
memorial, but that they'd also supply their own straw and not
diminish the tale of bricks at all. Everything that's going
on here in Egypt is a picture of how sinners are reconciled
to God. In the book of Acts, Stephen
brought a message to the Jews. And the Jews knew this history
well. This was their family. This was
their heritage. This was their religion. They
knew this account well. Any one of them. They were raised
with it. And Stephen went through and
began to recall all these things. And he talked about Abraham,
talked about God's calling with him, and Isaac, and Jacob, and
the children of Israel, and Moses. And he talked about all these
things. And all these different events and many others. And here's
what he said about them. That they showed before the coming
of the just one. Now that's what he told them.
All of these things showed before the coming of the just one. And not just his coming into
the world as a man. That was shown to him too. But
here he's talking about his coming also in the power of God's Spirit
through the preaching of the gospel to deliver us from this
present evil world. Now, I titled the message tonight,
Making Bricks Out of Stubble. And I don't know anything that
describes religion better than that. They're making bricks out
of stubble. And that's what God's children
must learn about this world, about its God, and about its
religion. We've got to be brought in the
experience of grace to see the utter impossibility of what this
evil king commands you to do. Salvation is by grace. Don't
ever forget that. Don't ever forget that. Salvation
is by grace. By grace. Pure, free, undeserved
grace. And every part of the experience
of salvation is shut up to the grace of God. And we're talking
about some of those old writers and talking about some of the
things they sing. Can't you see where they wander off of this
thing of grace a little bit? Sure you can. Sure you can. And I see it. I see it all over. I see it especially in the ministry
and when I travel and go places. I see this all the time. But
every part of the experience of salvation is shut up to the
grace of God. And if you go through this thing,
there's, I think, 12 confrontations, if I counted them right, where
Moses comes up before Pharaoh. And then Pharaoh says, all right,
go ahead. Get the people and get them out
of here. And then he hardens his heart. And he said, no, I
ain't going to let you. And just keeps going, keeps going.
But I think we've all got a problem with that. I think we've been
told that salvation is some kind of an isolated act. It's wrapped
up in a decision. It's wrapped up in an experience.
It's wrapped up in some kind of a determination or commitment. It's wrapped up in some kind
of a creed. Learn this, you'll be saved. Not necessarily. Not necessarily. Demas learned all those things.
He wasn't saved. All of these things, all of these
commitments and all of these creeds and decisions and all
of these things, all of these things are included in this thing
of salvation. There's a decision to be made.
There is. But you have to be shut up to
it. You make the wrong woman. Yes, shut you up to it. He said,
you would not have chosen me if I hadn't chosen you. You wouldn't
have done it. But while all these things are
included in it, none of them completely define it. Brother
Mahan said to me one time, he said, faith is not a thing settled. It's a relationship sought. That's
what it is. And it has a beginning. But it's
not all wrapped up right there. It has a beginning. And then
it begins to move and live and breathe. And it's a living principle,
this thing of faith. These Hebrew men and women had
never known anything but bondage and slavery. They'd never known
anything about deliverance. They didn't know any of these
things, and neither did we. Talked about them all of our
life. Heard them preached all of our life. Didn't know anything
about it. Got in this book. I tell you, if you want to understand
how stupid you really are, just how dumb and ignorant you really
are, open up this book. If you don't come away from this
book ashamed of your ignorance, there's something wrong with
you. I don't care how much you know or how much you read or
how old you are. Open up this book and begin to
delve into the wisdom of God and you'll find out just how
ignorant you really are. You don't know nothing. Don't
know nothing. And neither did they. And they
didn't know anything about this. They'd never experienced any
of this stuff. They didn't know anything about what was going
on. And what do you do when you don't know what's going on? Wait,
I think. Huh? That's a natural reaction. They thought as Moses demonstrated
to them the signs and told them the gracious news that as soon
as Pharaoh saw that, as soon as he saw what they saw,
he turned them away. He turned them away. Now what
I want us to look at tonight is that there's a lot more to
this thing of deliverance than just learning a few facts. They're
a lot more involved in it. There are facts to be learned,
but they must be learned in the heart. And that's what all these
confrontations are about. Israel's being taught something
in the heart. You have to learn these things in the heart. And
the way God teaches us lessons in the heart is through the experience
of grace. The Hebrews knew they were in
trouble. They knew they had opposition. But they had no idea of the extent
of the trouble and no idea, no concept whatsoever of the power
of that man who ruled over them. They didn't realize that everything
about them had spiritual implications and applications. They didn't
know that. They were down there making bricks. They were slaves.
He said, make bricks. They made bricks. They didn't
understand that those bricks were going in a memorial a religious
memorial to honor this man who claimed himself to be God. They
were idolaters. And they were practicing idolatry
under the slavery of this evil gang. And they didn't know that.
Neither did we. We thought we were doing a good
thing. Went down and got of age and got married and got some
children, got some responsibility. Well, it's time to It's time
to quit playing now. It's time to go down and join
the church. And so that's what we did. We went down and joined
the church. Time to do this. Time to do that. We didn't realize
we were practicing idolatry. Had no idea I was doing that. When the gospel comes as its
purpose to come, that's what this is all about down here in
Egypt. When it comes as its purpose to come in the power and demonstration
of the spirit, it comes effectually. Write that down. It comes effectually. It reveals. It doesn't leave
you in confusion. It reveals the truth. It lights
up the darkness. It teaches. It convicts and it
converts. The Holy Spirit is omnipotent
God, and he cannot be resisted unless he decides to be resisted. If he has a purpose in it, he'll
be resisted. If he don't, he can't be. He's
God. He's God. He cannot be ignored
unless he chooses to be ignored. And everything is at His disposal. He's God. I don't know if we
really understand these things. Jesus Christ is God. The Holy
Spirit is God. Omnipotent God. And they all
share in the creation of the universe. They all share in the
rule of the universe. They're God. We have one God.
Three persons. Everything's at His disposal.
Providence is arranged. The Word of God. He inspired
the Word of God. It's here at His benefit. He
can open it or leave it sealed. Up to Him. He has the servants
of God. And He even uses Satan and his
angels. They're all used to affect His
cause. It's all demonstrated right here.
Right here, indeed. Paul said the weapons of our
warfare are not carnal, but they're spiritual. Spiritual. And this is what He's going to
teach Israel down here in Egypt. This whole thing not accomplished
in the flesh, this whole thing not luck or chance, this whole
thing is done by the power and presence of the Spirit of God.
Everything there had to be accomplished by Him. Absolute. Here's Moses
with nothing in the world but a rod in his hand. He didn't
have a weapon worn. Oh, yes, he did. He had the Spirit
of the living God. And that's what Paul tells us.
Our weapons are spiritual. They're mighty, he said in 2
Corinthians 10. They're mighty through God. That's the Holy Spirit. He's
God. I just shiver all over when I listen to these Pentecostal
preachers and things and trying to demonstrate the power of God
through a bunch of gibberish standing in the floor or smacking
somebody on the forehead or claiming to heal somebody. This is God. This is God. That's what Paul
said. These weapons are spiritual.
They're totally, 100% dependent on Him. And they're used to pull down
strongholds. That's what Paul said. That's
what this thing is all about, pulling. Here's a stronghold
down here in Egypt. Who's going to pull it down?
Moses? No. David? All the children of Israel
put together? God's going to pull it down.
He's going to pull it down. Pull down strongholds and cash
down imaginations and destroy every high thing that exalts
itself against the knowledge of God. And not only that, but
it's used to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience
of Christ. How are you going to do that?
I'm not going to stand up here and point my finger every week
Stand up here and crack the whip of the law and keep you in line?
No. No. I'll tell you what keeps a believer
in line. The Holy Spirit of God. That's
right. That's right. Brings into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ. What I believe we're
seeing here in Egypt is that these things don't happen in
an isolated experience. but to happen over a process
of time. They have a beginning. But these
things begin, and they continue. And they're working to a point.
They're coming to a point over here. And the point of this,
when this whole thing is over, is the Passover lamb. That's where it's all headed.
That's where all these confrontations are headed, to the blood of the
lamb. And as I said before, I believe.
You can count these things and correct me if I'm wrong. I'm
not saying I got them all, but I very quickly counted through
them today. And I think there's 12 confrontations. And they all ended with the death
of the firstborn of Pharaoh and the death of the Passover lamb.
And this is where all preaching is headed. All preaching in the
power of the Spirit. This is where it's headed. To
destroy the hope born of the God of this world. He's going
to destroy them. And he's going to leave us, who
were his captives, resting in the blood of the Lamb. The gospel
we preach promises hope and peace and rest, but it does not avoid
the difficulty. And there are difficulties here.
They just thought they were going to walk out of Egypt. They thought,
well, God come down. He spoke to us. He sent his ambassador
here. We might as well pack up. I bet
you some of them already had the furniture on the wagon. They
thought they was leaving. They thought they was leaving.
They thought they was just going to walk out free and clear, walk right
out of Egypt. The gospel don't work that way. It deals with
the difficulties, sometimes one at a time, one at a time. It's according to how much baggage
you got. I don't know what you were raised
in and where you come from. Folks coming in, I have no idea
what their past is. And so I just have to preach
what God lays on my heart. And over time, if you'll give
them an appetite and they come back over time, I've seen it
time and again. Here they sit. Here they come.
Ready to hit. Want to hear some more? Want
to hear some more? And the difficulties of men are
many, but they fall under two heads, Adam and Satan. Now, we're talking about heads
of difficulty here. That's why I didn't mention Christ.
Adam and Satan. And the first difficulty comes
from Adam, from whom we all receive our nature. Paul said in Ephesians
2, 3, we all had our behavior in times past in the lust of
our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath. That's it. We've inherited
from my father Adam a sinful nature. And all those with a
sinful nature can do is sin. That's all they can do. They
can attempt to do good, but they sin. You start talking religion
and you sin. And your sins get worse. And
the more you try to do good, the worse you do. It's like being
in quicksand. The more you move around And
reach around the faster you go down. That's sin. That's that
nature of sin. David said, we come forth from
the womb speaking lies. And Job said, the root of the
matter is found in me. That's what he said over in Job
chapter 19. The second difficulty is the
power of Satan. He's the head of all those who
live in his kingdom, as Pharaoh was in Egypt. Ephesians 2, 2,
he's talking about those dead in trespasses and sin. He deals
with these two difficulties. I just read you the one where
we are by nature. That's where we were at when
God come in and delivered us. In Ephesians 2, 2, he declares
that walking after the course of this world is synonymous in
walking according to the prince of the power of the air. The first lesson of grace in
Egypt is to expose the evil idolatry of Pharaoh by showing to them
their utter impossibility to do what he commands them to do. And you have to remember now,
I told you this a few weeks ago, we're just talking about one
person, but he's showing us these things in these two people because
in these two people is represented the sinner. This sinner now is
born of God and he can He can receive these messages of God
and he's got God's protection on him and he sets him apart
over here in Goshen and the curse is not falling on him, it's falling
on this over here. But this represents one person,
one person who's being delivered. And so when he's talking about
Satan and talking about his religion, he's talking about us and what
we used to do and what we used to believe. That's the first lesson of grace
in Egypt is to oppose this idolatry of Pharaoh by showing to them
the utter impossibility. That's what he's going to do.
Isn't that what he done to you when you come out of religion?
He showed you the absolute impossibility of what you've been hoping in
all them years to accomplish is absolutely impossible. You
couldn't do it. First thing God will demonstrate
to his children who are still under the power of Pharaoh is
their inability to do what he commands them to do. And their
first reaction is this, we're just going to go back to making
bricks. Huh? Man, they come out there jumping
up and down with their bags packed. And now they're going back with
tails tucked between their legs, and they're just going to go
back and start making bricks again. God said, oh, uh-uh. Jehovah ain't going to have that.
No, he ain't going to have that. what God does. He brings Pharaoh
and his kingdom into a new light. Pharaoh now commands them not
just to make bricks for his memorial, but he commands them to supply
their own material. It's exactly how Satan works
in the religion of this world. Pretending to be God, he demands
not only your obedience, but requires you to produce all the
means, all the means. I want to give you five things
tonight about these religious slaves of this world as they're
pictured here in Egypt. These are God's children. These
are God's children in figure I'm talking about. I'm not talking
about the natural nation of Israel. But as they're represented, these
are God's children. And they're religious slaves.
And that's what's being represented here. So let me give you five
things about this religious slaves of this world as God comes to
them in power, in the power of His Spirit and through the preaching
of the Gospel to enlighten them and call them out to Himself.
And first of all, here's the thing, the religion of Satan,
and that's exactly how it's defined in the Scripture. Now, if you
think I'm wrong, let me read this to you out of Revelation.
He said, I know those who say they are Jews, but are not, but
are of the synagogue of Satan. The Jews are a wonderful picture
in the Scripture of natural religion. I mean, you can just go on and
on and on with it. And over and over in the book
of Revelations, he uses that same thing. But this religion
of Satan, and that's exactly how it's defined in the Scripture,
as the synagogue of Satan, requires its slaves to produce a righteousness
by their own works. Isn't that what they teach? They
require that you produce a righteousness by your own works to please God
and to bring favor to yourself. Over in Romans chapter 10, Paul
prayed for the conversion of his kinsmen that were kinsmen
according to his flesh. He was a Jew. He was of the tribe
of Benjamin. But he was converted and called
out of that company. And these men and women, they
were lost. And he praised for their conversion
over here. They were lost and he knew it
because God had saved him out of it. How did he know how to
deal with them? Because that's where God got
him from. That's what he was. He was a
Jew. He was a Pharisee. He was up to his eyeballs in
there. And they were lost, and he knew
it. And they were blind, and he knew it. And they were ignorant,
and he knew it. And he knew where they were by
experience. And he knew all too well the
problem. Listen to what he says here in Romans 10, 3. He said,
for they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about
to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. Now, that's this religious slavery
of this world. That's what it does. That's why
I'm so opposed to it. And it's dangerous. It's dangerous. He said, Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. We can't
produce a righteousness by our works and obedience to the law
of God because there's none righteous. Well, God said, It takes a righteous man to do
righteousness, don't it? A sinner can't do righteousness.
How in the world can he do that? He wouldn't be a sinner if he
was a righteous man. Actually, the scripture said
the law is not made for a righteous man. Ain't that what it says?
It's made for sinners. The law got nothing to say to
a righteous man. He obeys it. He's honored it.
That law ain't got nothing to say to him. It says it to sinners. We can't produce a righteousness
by our own work. A fella told me one time, he
said, now, do you really believe God would send a good little
Jewish boy to hell just because he's a Jew? And I said, I don't
believe God will send a good little anybody to hell. You don't? I said, no. But I said, here's
the problem. There's none good but God. Where'd that leave us? Ain't
none righteous. Paul said, no, not one. Ain't
none good, he said. No, not one. What the law does by the spirit
of God is to shut our mouths and leave us guilty before God.
You cannot produce bricks of righteousness by your own stubble.
You can't do it. You're just out here gathering
up stubble, making bricks. And you know, there's a whole.
whole message here just in these bricks. When you go back and
through these studies that we've done here earlier, you find out
that God commanded his servants when they make an altar not to
make it out of hewn stone. You don't mold up and make bricks
and make this altars and memorials to God. You just gather up the
stones as they are. He said in the day you lift your
tool up on it, you polluted it. So this whole thing of making
bricks is outlawed in this thing to God because it's all works.
We can't produce a righteousness by our own works. And then secondly,
Satan's religious slavery demands a redemption without a Redeemer.
There wasn't a Redeemer in the religion of Egypt, did you know
that? Had no Redeemer in it. No Redeemer in it at all. And
I tell you, as I studied this and thought about this, I thought
about my own experience in religion. There was no Redeemer in it either.
There was no Redeemer in it. He didn't redeem anything. He
didn't buy anything. He made down payments. Ain't
that what they say? He took a few steps, but he didn't
take all of them. He didn't do anything. What did
he redeem? He didn't pay for anything. While some people going
to hell and some people ain't. Some people going to be saved
and some people ain't. And it's all dependent on them.
Ain't none of it had anything to do with them. Where's the
redemption in that? That's why I told my brother-in-law
when he asked me about election and things. And I know that's
so contrary to the thinking of men. But it ain't about election.
It's about what he bought. Did he actually buy something
or didn't he? And if he did, they bought. They belong to Him. They're redeemed. If they're
not redeemed, they're not redeemed. But you can't be redeemed and
not redeemed at the same time. There's no redeemer in this religion
of Satan. Sin occurs, it incurs a debt
that we cannot pay. How will you satisfy God? Huh? How will you satisfy God? Religion
talks about that. I'm going to make my peace with
God. That's what they say. What pitiful little son will
you promise to give him for the wounds in his hands and his feet? What kind of a promise are you
going to make to God for the spittle that ran down his face,
the Son of God, for the blood that trickled down his forehead,
for the heartache What were you given for that condescension?
He who thought it not robbery to be equal with God made himself
of no reputation. What condescension is that? What
in the world? How are you going to? Oh, I'll
tell you this. I think about these things and
think about all these promises and things that I've made God
in the past. They're so full of sin and so full of corruption.
And that's what Isaiah is telling us over there. Where is it? Isaiah
61, where he says, and we are all together as an unclean thing,
and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. That's all they
are. Oh, I tell you, when you talk
about satisfying God, over in Hebrews 10, verse 28, it says,
He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three
witnesses. They took them out and stoned
them to death. Stoned them to death. Verse 29,
of how much sore punishment shall he be thought worthy who has
trodden underfoot the Son of God, disregarded the blood of
His covenant, and done to spite unto the Spirit of grace. I tell
you, nothing can put away the sin of our own belief and idolatrous
hearts but the blood of Christ. And that's what he's going to
show Israel down in Egypt. You're just making bricks out
of stubble. You think you can win the favor
of God by your works. It requires the death of his
son. He said, being justified freely
by his grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, whom
God set forth as a mercy seat, a way to show mercy. through
faith in his blood, declaring him to be just in the justification
of all them that believe. Sin requires blood. It demands
death. By one man's sin entered into
the world, and death by sin. Spiritual death, physical death,
eternal death. But there's only one death that
satisfies God, and that's the death of Christ. You can die. Those people in hell, if you
turn over and read in the last few chapters of Revelation, you'll
find out they was cast into the lake of fire forever and ever.
They're never going to satisfy God. God's not satisfied with
that dying and with that mourning and all that stuff that they're
doing over there. Only one thing satisfies God, the death of His
Son. By His own blood, He entered
in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us. Thirdly, that satanic slavery
of worldly religion serves a king who has no affection for them
and them none for him. They don't like him and he don't
like them. Religious slaves serve out of
fear and promise of reward. And something I caught here as
I thought on this verb, taskmasters are necessary in Egypt. Moses
didn't have any taskmaster. He took three million people
through the wilderness and never had the first taskmaster. He
went out there and built a tabernacle, built all the things of worship,
gathered all the people together and sacrifices were made and
they went in and conquered the promised land and he never had
the first taskmaster. Taskmasters are required in that
religion of slavery. Has to have them. And they have
to have people under them. And they have to have people
under them. I tell you, if you've had any experience in religion
at all, you're not in there. Just as soon as you put your
name on the roll, they're going to give you a job. You got an
appointment right there. And here's the chain of command.
You come to these, these come to him, and everybody. Anybody
gets out of line, look out. Pow. Crack the whip. Laws and disciplinary rule must
be enforced. And the children of Israel, they'll
make his bricks, but they didn't love him. There wasn't any love
in it. Throw that old clay in there
and stomp in some stubble and go on. That's all he get. God's
people love their Redeemer. They love the Father who sent
Him, and they love the Spirit that reveals Him, and they love
the people who assemble to worship Him. And they love the preachers
of preaching. Love is the rule of the kingdom
of God, and he that loveth not knoweth not God. But how does a man know when
he loves God? We don't know anything about
love. How do we know if we love God? Well, the Scripture said we love
Him if we keep His commandments. In other words, you love Him
if you obey Him. You obey Him. He said, do this,
do that. He said, do this, do that. We love Him if we obey Him. And
we love Him if we love His people. He said, as often as you've done
it unto the least of these thy brethren, you've done it unto
Me. You've done it unto Me. And we love Him if we love His
Son. And people talk about loving God and can't stand the Lord
Jesus Christ. You start telling them about
His office and His sovereignty and His election Whoa, I don't
want no part of that. They don't love him. We'd love it if we prefer him
over our own house. It said Moses forsook Egypt. He forsook it. When he would
come to years, he wouldn't even be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter. He took whatever patch, or badge, or whatever it is,
or necklace, or whatever they put on you, he took that up.
He didn't want no part of that. And it said he reasoned out and
preferred to suffer the affliction of the people of God rather to
enjoy the pleasures of sin in Egypt for a season. Not one thing, I want you to
think about this, not one thing the believer does earns him anything
in the kingdom of God and yet he gives himself to the Lord. Nobody gave themselves to Pharaoh. Pharaoh took what he wanted.
The child of God, he doesn't earn one thing, one iota by anything
he does in the kingdom of God, and yet he gives him, he makes
the ultimate sacrifice. He gives himself to the Lord.
Gives himself. Why? He loves him. He loves him. The religious slaves of the God
of this world hope for a future no better than the one they now
despise. People talking about going to
heaven. They can't stand being in church for an hour a week.
Huh? We want to go to heaven. Listen
to them talk about their heaven. It ain't got anything to do with
worship. It ain't got anything to do about praising God. It's
got to do with streets of gold and mansions. They used to sing
a song in that little church I used to go to, give me a cabin
in the corner of glory land. They sang that song. He ain't
got no cabins. All he got is mansions. I'm telling you, the religious
slaves of the God of this world hope for a future no better than
the one they now despise. This was the fourth generation
in Egypt. And everything's the same as
it was. Ain't getting no better. Same as it was. Apart from the
good news God sent through Moses, there was no reason to believe
that life was ever going to change. It's going to be the same. I
can remember thinking to myself, if this is what heaven's all
about, I'm not sure I want to go there. I'm just not sure I
want to go there. I can remember thinking that.
And most men and women who profess to be Christians They can't take
a steady diet of worship. It's about all they can do to
get through an hour or two a week. And brethren, if that's the case,
what are you going to do when you get up there where worship
is 24-7? You're going to be the most miserable person there. If we choke on grace here, and
folks do, don't they? I'll stand up here and preach
it. They choke to death on it. What
are you going to do? That's the air they breathe up there. Grace,
grace, grace unto it. That's what Zechariah cried. The difference between the religious
slaves of Satan and those who are truly heirs of God is the
work of grace in the heart. Paul wrote to the Colossian church
and he thanked God, the Father, for making them meet meet to
be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in life. He gave
them a heart to love the gospel. He gave them an appetite to hear,
to thirst. Blessed is he that hungers and
thirsts after righteousness. He's going to be fed. Who gave
him that hunger? Who gave him that thirst? You
see what I'm saying? He makes us meet. And then fifthly,
the religious slaves of Satan serve a king who promises life,
but all he can give is death. Religious slavery is death unto
death. That's all it is. Death unto
death. This was the fourth generation
in Egypt. The first three were dead and
this one was dying. That's all it is. That's all
this thing is in Egypt. It's just servitude and death. I'm amazed at how many times
in the epistles that it says this, and if it doesn't, it implies
this and teaches this, that in Adam all die. They all die. That's all there is. That's all
there is. For Adam's whole generation is
dead. Every generation hears the lies
of Satan and follows his evil rule and dies without life or
hope. He said in Ephesians chapter
2, and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and
sins. You're just another generation,
just another generation. Dead in nature and dead in judgment
and dead in captivity and dead to everything connected to life.
The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.
I believe these are the reasons why men and women are in and
out and up and down and start and stop and all these things.
It's the reason why they run well for a time. That's what
Paul said to the Galatians. You did run well, what did hinder
you? What happened? Salvation is a new creation.
It's being shut up to Christ and shut up to grace and shut
up to the power and presence of the Holy Spirit of God. It's
a call from death unto life. Listen to these scriptures. In
John 5, 24, the Lord said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that
heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting
life. God's already given it to you.
Because you can't believe apart from being made alive. Hath everlasting life, and shall
not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. In John 3, 36, it says, he that
believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. The right to it, the experience
of it, the power of it, the benefits of it. And he that believeth
not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth
on him. He ain't even going to see life.
He's not going to be able to perceive it. That's the judgment
of God on him. And religious slavery is no more
than death under death. They keep making those bricks,
keep making those bricks, keep making those bricks until God
comes in. When God comes in, then he says,
yeah, God's going to expose him for what he is. And now he shows
us that we can't make bricks out of stone. And even if we
do, they're used down there. in that big memorial to his name
and his glory. He exposes that idolatry and
he exposes our inability to do what Satan says for us to do. Satan says worship God, but do
it apart from Christ. Do it apart from him. Satan don't
care what you do. You can go down here and open
food centers and all kinds of good things. Churches are involved
in all kinds of good things. Sure they are. Sure they are. And they're as satanic as they
can be. Because they lead you to believe that you can worship
God by something you do. You can't do it. Christ is the
way. He's the way.