When I began seeking the Lord's
messages for you for today, I had on my mind, of course, the death of Bob Mary Lou's granddaughter
on Tuesday. And many in our assembly who
are enduring sickness, and I'm privy to things about the personal
lives and pains and heartaches of some of God's saints here
and in other places that you're not aware of, I realized that a lot of God's
people, our friends, many of you, are hurting, in pain, and
confused. And I wanted to specifically
minister to those needs. And I have no idea what God may
bring upon you tomorrow, but I have a message for you. I ran
across an outline of a message I preached to you about five
or six years ago in Exodus chapter three. And I want to give you
the same outline, message I hope comes fresh from my heart, from
God's heart, and will be to yours. Exodus chapter 3. The title of
my message tonight is 10 Words of Comfort from Our Savior. I want you to just hold your
Bibles open at Exodus 3 on your laps and I'm going to simply
read in your hearing with little comment what the Lord Jesus has
to say to you who are his people. Ten declarations
of mercy. If God will let you hear them,
that will help you, I promise. God, the Holy Spirit, is distinctly
called our comforter. Our comforter. He comforts our
hearts by taking the things of Christ and showing them to us. by teaching us the things of
Christ. And when he undertakes to teach,
you will get the lesson. He comforts us by teaching us
the things of Christ. The word of inspiration, the
Bible you hold on your lap, is the means of consolation. Paul
speaks of the patience and comfort of the scriptures. the comfort
of the scriptures. I can't tell you how many times
over the last 43 years I've had folks come to me with difficulties
and I can't help. I can't help. I can't explain
the trouble. I can't take away the pain, but
I can point them in the direction of help. I can point you to where
the help is. Go, bury yourself in the Word
of God. Go, bury yourself in the Word
of God. I would never suggest... Now, I've considered this statement
with great care. I would never suggest that you
go see a shrink. you've got a high priest to go
to. Now, if you don't believe God, the shrink in his pills
are the best you can do. Go ahead. But for you who believe
God, I would never suggest it. I have two very dear friends.
They won't mind me calling their names, Jerry and Mary Ann Salzberg,
who often come here to conference. They live now down in Florida.
When I was on radio up in the Northeast several years ago,
It's been now 15 years ago. God saved Jerry and Mary Ann.
And I went up to preach. They picked me up at the airport.
And they were both trained and practicing psychiatrists. Both of them were psychologists,
excuse me. Both of them were. And they quit their jobs. I'm talking about just a few
weeks after God saved them. They both quit their jobs. And
I had a hunch I knew why, but I had to ask. I said, why? And
they looked at me like, don't you know why? Everything we were doing was
contrary to what you're preaching. Everything we were doing, contrary
to faith in Christ, everything, everything. But what do you do
in trouble? Children of God, you fall on
your face. before the throne of grace and
bury yourself in the word of God. This is our comfort. The source of comfort is the
word of God. The gospel of Christ particularly
is that by which we are comforted. Our savior has redeemed us. We're
forgiven. Now, tell me what it was supposed
to be bothering me? We're redeemed with the blood
of Christ, loved of God, heirs of God, joint heirs with Jesus
Christ, forgiven of all sin, and God's great providence. Oh, how sweet to rest with the
Darren Red Romans chapter 8. Back in the back a little bit
ago, how sweet, how sweet, how sweet. to fall in the arms of
our Heavenly Father, our blessed Savior, who holds in his hands
the reins of the universe and governs everything. Faith in
Christ, faith in Christ embraces God's revelation and finds rest
and comfort leaning on the Savior's breast, casting our care on him
who cares for us. Exodus 3 gives us a brief account
of some circumstances that preceded God's deliverance of the children
of Israel out of Egyptian bondage after the children of Israel
had sojourned in Egypt, that is, had been slaves in Egypt
for 400 years. But we must not forget These
things were written for our learning that we through patience and
comfort of the scriptures might have hope. They are written for
our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. We'll
begin right here in verse seven. Hear what the Savior says. Hear
what he says. If you can hear it. If you can
hear it. Oh, if you can hear it. My brother,
my sister, this is God's word to you. I have surely seen the
affliction of my people. I have surely seen the affliction
of my people. Deprived of liberty, the children
of Israel were slaves to the king of Egypt. in common with
their other subjects and captives. They were slaves, but worse than
that, they were slaves to the slaves. They were compelled to
work in the open air, in the desert sun of the hottest climate
in the world. They were forced to make bricks
without straw, having to walk great distances every day to
gather a little stubble that was needed to make their bricks.
Their work was performed under the eye of vigilant taskmasters
who beat them severely. These were not occasional things.
These were not exceptional things. These were their day-by-day experiences. Their food was the meager leeks
and garlics and onions that were gathered as wild things from
the fields in Egypt and the few sheep that they raised, painful
and disgusting as those things were. That was the smallest of their
trouble. By the time we get here to Exodus
chapter 3, command had been given that every male child be snatched
from his mother's arms and drowned in the waters of Egypt, lest
the children of Israel continue to multiply, so that the prospect
of giving birth rather than being a matter of joy, was a matter
of torment. If this is a boy, he's dead. If this is a boy, someone will
be here before the sun rises to take him and murder him. And
that's the lot of God's people Israel in the land of Egypt. No sun as it rose in the morning,
gave them any hope. The setting of the sun gave them
no comfort. Every day was filled with pain. We can't begin to understand
their sorrows. To them, everything was misery
and grief and despair. You read through their history
here and you can't find one solitary thing to give them any peace,
any satisfaction, any comfort. Nothing. Nothing. You and I generally,
not always, but generally, for the most part, if we have some
trouble, If we have some heartache, if we have a son or a daughter
who breaks our heart, or if we bury a wife or bury a husband
or bury a child, if we have difficulties with business difficulties in
our own relationships with one another, we've got something
to give us some peace, something else to many, many more things
to sustain us with comfort and joy. But as you read their history,
as it's given here in the book of Exodus, I can't find any reason
why any Jew had any reason to rejoice or to be hopeful except
those who believed God and they rejoiced in that which they knew
of God's revelation. Though they knew it not and though
they would not believe it if they had heard it, the Lord God
said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people. and their great sorrow, they
had long ago forgotten God. Just like we do. They'd forgotten him. But they
weren't forgotten of God. For wise and gracious reasons,
the Lord sent darkness upon their lives, and pain and sorrow, one
on the heels of another. For good and gracious and wise
reasons, God brought them into great difficulty and he hid his
face from them, delayed to appear on their behalf. He did so for
400 years. But he saw their affliction and
heard their cries. His eye was upon them. His ear
was constantly open to their sobbing hearts. His every tear
that they shared was observed by their heavenly father. Every
groan they uttered, he recorded. These words, our savior speaks
in verse seven, I have seen, I have surely seen the affliction
of my people might be read more fully this way. In seeing, I
have seen the affliction of my people. indicating much more
than just God's omniscience. He says, in seeing I have looked
upon, in seeing I have watched over the affliction of my people. The words express the clear,
distinct, full sight he had of their trouble, an expression
of an affection and concern that he has for them. affixed and
settled determination in his heart to deliver them. He thoroughly
observed their afflictions. And he moved by what he saw. The prophet put it this way.
In all their afflictions, he was afflicted. In all their afflictions, he
was afflicted. What a word! In all their afflictions,
he was afflicted, and he was bent upon delivering them. Now
remember this, children of God, our God sees us, his eye is upon
us, He watches over us with all the attention of a tender father
and all the goodness of his holy being. Thou, God, seest me. Oh, what a word. Thou, God, seest
me. Those are the words of Hagar.
as she's watching her boy die from thirst. Thou, God, seest
me. Though men oppress, though Satan
assail, though sorrows crush, though my own heart condemn me,
thou, God, seest me. He sees you. He sees you perfectly. He sees you always. He sees your
present need and your present trouble. He sees you where you
are. He sees you with the eye of his
perfect love. In fact, he declares that you
are the apple of his eye. Thou God seest me. Within thy
circling power I stand. On every side I find thy hand. Awake, asleep, at home, abroad,
I am surrounded still with God. All right, look at verse 7 again. The Lord God, our Savior, says,
I have heard their cry. Go back just a chapter to verse
23 of chapter 2. He came to pass in the process
of time that the king of Egypt died. And the children of Israel
sighed by reason of their bondage. And 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. How often would you really have
trouble? And you turn your back to your
wife or your husband and you lay on your bed and you sob and
hope they can't detect the pain. And you grow in your soul because
you can't express in words what you want from God because you
don't know what you want from God. You don't know what you
want God to do. You can't put into expression
the thing that crushes your heart. The Lord God says, I've heard
their cry. What an indescribable blessing. When we can't put our sighs and
groans into expressions of words, The Lord God hears us. The Spirit
of God makes intercession for the saints with groanings which
cannot be uttered, with sighs that baffle sound. He hears the groans and the cries
of his people. In my distress, David said, I
called upon the Lord and cried unto my God. He heard my voice
out of his temple. And my cry came before him, even
into his ears. The doors of mercy are always
open wide for needy souls. And the King of heaven says to
you, let me hear thy voice. Let me hear thy voice. Let me hear thy voice. Let us
therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain
mercy and find grace to help in time of need. I've said this
to you frequently. I'm confident that it's so. Every
thought we have naturally about anything spiritual. Every thought,
every expression, every explanation given in the religious world
around us about anything spiritual is altogether wrong. We talk
about prayer. And the more I think about it,
the more I'm convinced, Merle, I don't know much about prayer.
But prayer is not eloquence. Prayer is not just saying words
to God. Prayer is not just repeating
things day after day. God forgive me of my guilt in
such a thing. Prayer is the cry of the heart
to God in faith. It is casting your care on Him
who cares for you. Prayer is faith speaking to the
ear of mercy, and God Almighty hears the cries of His own. By the merit and efficacy of
Christ's precious blood, our sighs and our groans and our
cries are heard. Look at the last line of verse
seven. I know their sorrow. I know their sorrow. Sometimes before I can catch
myself, I'll come to you or you to me when you're undergoing
some great difficulty and I'll say I understand. I try not to
say, I try to catch myself. We just, we have a way of saying
things and we've learned to say all our lives, I understand,
I know what you're going through. The fact is, I don't know what
you're going through. I don't know. None of you. You see, I haven't walked in
your shoes. I haven't lived your life. I haven't experienced all
that you've experienced. Even though I may have experienced
similar things and have some idea of the pain and the confusion
and the heartache, I don't know what you're going through. I
don't. But that shouldn't matter too
much. God does. I know their sorrows. Remember now the one speaking
here, speaking to Moses out of the bush, is the angel of the
Lord. The one speaking here is Jehovah,
our Savior, by whom God alone speaks to men. It's Jesus Christ
the Lord. God help you to understand this.
Though no one else knows, He knows your sorrow. He may at times hide his face
from you and causing it to appear that he's forgotten you, causing
you to cry out in your soul, though you'd never express it
in words. What David expressed in words is his mercy clean gone
forever. Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath he in anger shut up his
tender mercies? Even then, he's bending over
us in mercy. And touched with the feeling
of our infirmities. And he knows our sorrows. He knows. He who suffered all
the hell of God's wrath in our room instead to redeem us, knows
our sorrows. His name is man of sorrows. Our Savior takes great care to
comfort his people in their many trials and sorrows in this world.
He says to his preachers, comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Let
me remind you of three things described in the word of God.
that ought to comfort every believer. We're told in Job 14, verse 17,
my transgression is sealed up in a bag. Thou sewest up mine
iniquity. In ancient times, when a man
would die at sea, they'd put him in a bag, sew it up, weight
it, and drop him into the sea. And the Lord God has made a bag
for our sins. He made our sins to be our saviors. And he slaughtered our savior
in our stead and cast him into the earth. And the scripture
says he's cast our sins into the depths of the sea. He put them away. They're gone. The Lord God has written a book,
a book for our names. Child of God, take heart, rejoice. Your names are written in heaven,
our Savior said. Before the world began, God wrote
a book called the Lamb's Book of Life. And he inscribed in
that book the names of his people. It is that same book The spoken
of in Revelation chapter five, where the Savior takes the book
written within and without it on the backside and sealed with
seven seals. It is the book of God's decree,
God's purpose, God's predestination. All is well. God's written the
book. Your names are in the book and
all that God predestined from eternity. He's predestined for
you. for you. Rejoice, all is well,
everything's secure. Your names are written in heaven.
Your names are written in heaven. And then we're told that God
keeps a bottle, a bottle for our tears. Listen to this. Now turn over there. Turn and
look at it. Hold your hands here at Exodus 3. Look at Psalm 56.
Psalm 56, verse 8. Are you there? Psalm 56 verse
8. Thou tellest my wonderings. Put thou my tears into thy bottle. Are they not in thy book? Were
these not also written in the book? When I cry unto thee, then
shall mine enemies turn back. This I know, for God is for me. God is for me. Ancient times, particularly so
in Egypt, they used to have little vials. This is called tear bottles. And mourners would catch tears. And these would be placed in
the tombs of those that were being buried as a memorial, an
expression of love and care and concern. God Almighty puts our
tears in a bottle by which he remembers them. These tears that also were written
in his book. What could be more comforting
in this world of sorrow and sin and death. God's put our sins
in a bag and buried them. Our names in a book to remember
them and our tears in a bottle to show his tender care for us.
John Trapp said that is a sweet support to a sinking soul. God knows all and bears apart. I don't know who wrote this.
Listen carefully. I am a pilgrim and a stranger. Rough and stormy is my road,
often in the midst of danger, but it leads me to my God. Clouds
and darkness oft distress me. Great and many are my foes. Anxious
cares and thoughts oppress me, but my heavenly Father knows.
Oh, how sweet is this assurance midst the conflict and the strife.
All those sorrows past endurance follow me throughout my life.
Home in prospect still can cheer me. Yes, and give me sweet repose
while I feel his presence near me for my heavenly father knows. Yes, he sees and knows me daily. watches over me in love, sends
me help when foes assail me, bids me look to Him above. Soon
my journey will be ended. Life is drawing to its close.
I shall then be well attended. This my Heavenly Father knows.
I shall then with joy behold Him. Face to face my Savior see. fall with rapture and adore him
for his boundless love for me. Nothing more shall then distress
me in the land of sweet repose. Jesus stands engaged to bless
me. This my heavenly father knows. All right, here's the fourth
thing. Look at verse 8. Exodus 3 verse 8. and I am come down to deliver
them. He sees our afflictions, hears
our cries, knows our sorrows, and rises up from his lofty throne,
not to command the holy angels to come down and minister to
us, though he does that, but he says, I am come down to help
them, the Lord Jesus. came down here in human flesh
to help us, to bring in for us everlasting righteousness, to
obey God's law in our stead, to satisfy God's justice as our
substitute. He comes down in his saving grace
to meet his people at the time of love and call them by his
grace. And he comes down in his providence to help. He comes
down to help. How often we hear him send his
messenger, the master is come and calleth for thee. He comes
down, clouds and darkness around about him, but righteousness
and judgment are the habitation of his throne, who comes down
to help us. Oh, sing unto the Lord a new
song. For he hath done marvelous things.
His right hand and his holy arm hath gotten him the victory.
The Lord hath made known his salvation. His righteousness
hath he openly showed in the sight of the heathen. He has
remembered mercy. All right, look at verse 12.
Our Savior makes another declaration. Certainly, I will be with thee
to encourage you, to protect you, to pick you up, to support
you, to sustain you, to pick you up, to comfort you, to cleanse
you, to pick you up. Graciously, he comes to help
and he says, I will be with thee. This is his word to you. I will
never leave thee nor forsake thee. I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee. That word from God is given to
us repeatedly in scripture and it is repeatedly given in double
negatives. So that the Lord is saying, I
will never, no, never leave thee, no, never, no, never forsake
thee, is I'll never leave thee, not for a moment, not under any
circumstances. I will never, not for a moment,
not under any circumstances, forsake thee. I am with thee. This is given that we may, as
Isaiah puts it, suck and be satisfied with the
breast of her consolations. That ye may milk out and be delighted
with the abundance of her glory. Look at the last line of verse
twelve. Our Savior declares ye shall serve God upon this mountain. Ye shall serve God upon this
mountain. Get to Exodus chapter 20, 21,
22, 23, 24. Here are the children of Israel. Do you know where they are? They're
standing right where Moses was, right now, on this mountain,
on Mount Horeb, on Mount Sinai. This mountain where God declares,
I know their sorrow. I have seen their affliction. I have heard their cries on this
mountain of sorrow and crying and sighing. God says you will
serve God right here. And in God's appointed time,
the children of Israel came out of Egypt with a high hand and
by stretched out arm of God, and they came again to Horeb.
and they offered sacrifices and sang God's praise. So it shall
be for you, my brother, for you, my sister. In the very mountain
of affliction, in the very mountain of sorrow,
in the very mountain of sighing, God will cause you so to triumph
that in that very thing that breaks your heart for a while,
you shall worship and serve and give praise to God. Look at verse
14. Here we have the most powerful
incentive possible to believe that it shall be so. How can
this be? Brother Don, do you mean to tell
me that this sickness, this distress, this bereavement, this horrible
pain I can't express, this trouble I can't talk to anybody about.
Do you mean to tell me I am to expect that this very thing shall
be the thing for which I shall worship and praise God when the
trial and trouble is over? How can I believe such a thing
as that? How can you say such a thing? The Lord God who made these promises
declares, I am that I am. Now listen, listen to me. This
is not the promise of Don Fortner. This is not the wise counsel
of a trained psychiatrist. This is not the wise counsel
of an experienced father. This is not the tender counsel
of a loving mother. This is the word of I am. This is God's word. God's promise. God has spoken these words to
you. I am that I am. Look at verse
70. He says, I will bring you up
out of the affliction. He purposed it. He promised it. He'll do it. He will bring you
into a land flowing with milk and honey. Yes, he squeezes milk
and honey out of every hard rock of adversity and causes the milk
and honey to flow in such abundance to our souls that the rock of
adversity for which it comes is soon forgotten. Skip down
to verse 21. God promises to give his people
favor even among the Egyptians. He says, you shall not go out
empty. Do you remember what the Egyptians
did when it came time for the children of Israel to leave when
Pharaoh was urging them, please get out of this place? The children
of Egypt, they gathered up gold. and silver, necklaces, and jewels,
gathered up everything they had, and loaded the Israelites down
with it, and said, please take it and go. Take it and go. They spoiled the Egyptians. And so it is that you who are
gods shall be enriched by the experience of your trouble. Shall
not go out empty. Let's look at two passages 2nd
Corinthians chapter 4 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 Verse 17 Our light affliction Our light affliction Brother
Don, he wasn't talking about me, this is not a light thing.
Oh, you see it in the right light it is, compared to what you deserve,
compared to what others have suffered, compared to what our
Redeemer has suffered, our light affliction, which is but for
a moment. A moment is a short, specific
period of time. Our light affliction, which is
but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory. Heaven will be brighter, more
blessed, more delightful, as a result of God bringing us through
the troubles and tribulations by which we must enter into the
kingdom of God than it ever could otherwise have been. Look at
1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 3. Blessed be the God and father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Which according to his abundant
mercy hath begotten us again to a lively hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. To an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you
who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation
ready to be revealed in the last time. wherein ye greatly rejoice,
though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through
manifold temptations, manifold trials, many, many troubles,
that the trial of your faith, not your faith, the trial of
your faith, being more precious than a gold that perisheth, though
it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor
and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. God will meet Shelby on the streets
of gold and Shelby will say, do you remember
the trial? Do you remember how the Lord
sustained and strengthened and delivered? Heaven shall be sweeter,
more glorious, more delightful than it could otherwise be at
the remembrance of the displays of God's mercy in bringing us
out of trouble than had we had no trouble. All things All things, all things are for your sake. Oh God, teach me to believe what
you've stated. All things are for your sake. He performeth all things for
me. Now look at verse 22. Here's
one more word from the Savior. And ye shall spoil the Egyptians. Zechariah says every pot in the
Lord's house is going to be full. Ye shall spoil the Egyptians.
There are going to be bells on the horses' bridles singing holiness
to the Lord. Everything give honor to God. Everything shall. Revelation
22, we're told that the nations of the saved, the nations of them that are
saved, the nations of them that are saved, that is God's elect
through all the earth shall at last bring into glory all the
good of God's creation. through all history and everything shall redound
to the praise of our God and the everlasting happiness of
his elect. Amen. All right.