Isaiah chapter 43. I believe every preacher that
God has sent, there are many that He doesn't
send, there are many preachers that He doesn't send, but all
those whom He has sent should take every opportunity to encourage
the Lord's people I know I need encouragement from Him, and He
encourages us by His Word. Some folks are encouraged, some
are not. And I pray this morning that we'll be encouraged together
in the Lord Jesus Christ, and look at what great things He
has done for us. In Isaiah chapter 43, I'll read
verses 1 through 7. But now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear
not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name,
thou art mine. When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall
not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
and Ethiopia and Sheba for thee. since thou wast precious in my
sight." He's not saying that there was a time that they were
not precious in his sight, but he's saying it is of truth that
you're precious in my sight. Thou hast been honorable and
I have loved thee. In our estimation we weren't
honorable and we're not honorable now, but in his estimation we
are honorable because he's viewed us in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are honorable in Him. And I have loved thee, therefore
will I give men for thee and people for thy life. Fear not,
for I am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the
east and gather thee from the west. I will say to the north,
Give up, to the south, keep not back. Bring my sons from far
and my daughters from the ends of the earth. Even everyone that
is called by my name, for I have created him for my glory, I have
formed him, yea, I have made him." He's speaking here of Israel,
the nation of Israel. What he is literally saying and
who he is speaking of is spiritual Israel, not the nation Israel. In Romans 11, 26, he said, not
all Israel shall be saved, national Israel. But then he turns around and
he says, all Israel shall be saved. And this is not a contradiction. It's not everyone that is an
Israelite nationally that is Israel, but it are those who
are Israel spiritually. And Israel, the Israel that's
mentioned here, as he's speaking of here in Isaiah 43, is not
the nation of Israel, but the spiritual Israel, the Israel
of God, God's children, God's church. That's who he's speaking
of. The Bible is a spiritual book. To be spiritually read is to
be spiritually understood. God used the nation of Israel,
the national, physical nation of Israel. He birthed it, He
used it, and then He's done with it. And now He deals, and He
did then, and even when Israel was a nation, of course it is
now, but through the Old Testament, He used Israel for a purpose.
And that purpose is manifold. It's many, many different purposes. But one is that the Lord Jesus
Christ would come from the nation of Israel. And secondly, it is
that He used Israel as a picture, as a type and a shadow in many
ways to illustrate His church and what He would do with His
church. And all that befell Israel befalls His church. It's a picture
of the visible church and of the invisible church. Unlike
today's profusion of spiritual counterfeits, God's will and
power can't be manipulated. God cannot be changed. His plan,
written in eternity past and accomplished in His intended
time, was designed by His art of wisdom, love, and justice. Even our foolish attempts to
sidestep His order become a part of His blueprint for ultimate
victory for Him and His church. For nothing happens apart from
His perfect or permissive will, which is one and the same. I
used to think that His perfect will was one thing and His permissive
will is another. But if you look at it scripturally
credible, There's only one will of God, and that's perfect. Everything
that He does is perfect. And God that will save His people,
that's what He's telling us here in Isaiah chapter 43. He created
them for His glory, and He will save them to His ultimate glory. There can nothing hinder Him.
There can nothing stop Him. There can nothing discourage
Him. He will save His people. He is
God. And I want to take us back this
morning in the Scriptures to the latter part of the book of
Genesis and the early to middle part of Exodus. We will not read
all those Scriptures. We will make reference to them
time and time again in the message, but this is the sum of what God
was doing in those passages of Scripture. Here in Isaiah 43,
he said, I've created Israel for my glory and I'll save Israel. That's essentially what he's
saying. And he's powerful to do it. He's the Lord. And I want to give you some names
of the Lord that's mentioned here in Exodus and Genesis in
relation to God delivering Israel. He's called El Shaddai. which
is Lord God Almighty. The Lord shall deliver. He's God Almighty. He has all
might and all power. He's Elyon, the Most High God. Now you can remember these names.
You can write them down. They're easy. The sources are
easy to find. But these names are very important and descriptive. He's the Most High God, the Lord
God Almighty. He's Adonai, Lord and Master. We can see His name in force
in the deliverance of the children of Israel. He's Yahweh, Lord
Jehovah. He's God and Savior. He was God
that ruled over Israel and ruled over the Egyptians, yet He saved
Israel and destroyed the Egyptians. He is the Lord Jehovah, the Almighty
God, the Most High. He is Jehovah Ray, the Lord my
Shepherd. He led the children of Israel.
He led them and delivered them with a mighty arm with strength
and power and might. He is Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord
our righteousness. He is His people's righteousness.
He is Israel's righteousness, spiritual Israel's righteousness.
I have no righteousness of my own. Israel had none. God showed
His mighty power in making them righteous and bringing them to
Himself, bringing them to the land of Canaan, which He had
promised from all eternity, but made that promise known to Abraham. and to Isaac, and to Jacob, and
to the children of Israel, as He delivered them. He's the Lord
of our righteousness. He's El Olam, the everlasting
God. To Him there is no end. There
is no beginning. He's the everlasting God. He's
Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide. He provides everything
spiritually, everything physically for the deliverance of His people,
for His glory. He provides because He's the
Lord, the Lord El Shaddai, Lord God Almighty, the Most High God. He's the Lord Jehovah Jireh. And this is who
we see in these passages. The Word of God from the beginning
reveals God's eternal purpose of grace in the everlasting salvation
of His people. You see, God don't intend to
do anything. We intend to do things. But God
don't intend, He purposes. And His purpose will be accomplished.
And He purposed to save His people. That's God's eternal purpose
of grace, to save His people. And we see this picture in the
deliverance of Israel. He purposed to save Israel, to
bring them from Egyptian bondage to Canaan. And we see His purpose
unfolding many years. I believe, I might stand corrected
here, but I believe that Israel was in Egypt for around 430 years
and maybe a week. And there was peace and things
were pretty good for the first 30 years when Joseph went into
Egypt. And then they began to multiply
and The Egyptians said, well, they're going to be more than
we are, going to be stronger than we are. So they brought them
into hard bondage and labor. And 400 years later, God said
what He'd already promised. He said, I'm going to deliver
the children of Israel. I'm going to deliver them. And
He set up, He instituted the Passover. I'm making a long story
short. He instituted the Passover. And
about a week after the first Passover, when the children of
Israel, by the instruction of God, killed the lamb and put
it over the doorpost and the lentil, and all the firstborn
in Egypt died. This is a picture of the shed
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and God's preservation of His
people. You see, God had His hand on His people and on a remnant,
according to the election of grace, all this time. And about
a week after that, well, six days, the children of Israel
stood on the bank of the Red Sea. Pharaoh's army was behind
them, but Pharaoh's army couldn't see them because there was this
pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night. God stood between
the enemy and the children of Israel. And before the children
of Israel, there was a sea. There was certain death behind
them, certain death in front of them. They had nowhere to
go. They were trapped. They had nowhere
to go. Moses had led them, and Moses
is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, but he's also a type of the law.
Moses took them as far as he could. Moses could only take them to
the edge of the river. He brought them to sure death.
And that's what the law does, isn't it? He brings us to death.
The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. He brought them to
the edge of the river. The law is our schoolmaster who
brings us to Christ. And when he brought them there,
they had nowhere to go. And God said, stand still. Stand still and see the salvation
of God Almighty. See the salvation of El Shaddai. See the salvation of Jehovah
Jireh. See the salvation of Jehovah
God, the Lord God Almighty and the Savior of His people. The Word of God from the beginning
reveals God's purpose of grace and the salvation of His people.
This promise was a covenant promise. And what we see is a picture
of greater things. In Genesis 50 and verse 24, we
read that Joseph said unto his brethren, I die. Joseph died
in Egypt. And they carried his bones. When
it come time, they carried his bones and buried him with his
father. But he said, God will surely
visit you. How did he know this? He knew this because God promised
this to him. He'll visit you and bring you
out of this land unto the land which he swore unto Abraham,
to Isaac, and to Jacob. Joseph said, I'm going to die
here in this land. And you're still here. But don't
despair. because God has promised to deliver
you, and you'll be delivered. And this land of Canaan is typical
of our rest in Christ. He brings us from the bondage
of Egypt to rest in Christ. And he that's entered into this
rest has ceased from his labor. When we're brought to Christ,
we don't work anymore. Not for salvation. We're not
under a hard taskmaster. We're not laying bricks. Somebody's
not standing over us with a whip. We're at rest in Christ, in free
grace. We're in Canaan. We're in the
land of plenty. We're in the land that God has
promised. We're in the land that He's provided for us. He's driven
out all of our enemies and made a haven of rest and peace and
tranquility for His people. In Leviticus 20, verse 24, He
said, I said unto you, ye shall inherit their land, and I will
give it unto you to possess it, a land that flows with milk and
honey. I am the Lord. I am God Almighty. I am your God, which has separated
you from other people. He said, you're a separate people.
You're a sanctified people. What that word sanctified in
this case is, references to us being set apart in Christ and
for Christ and for His glory. In Hebrews 2.14, for as much
as the children, then as the children are partakers of flesh
and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through
death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that
is the devil. Two things happened when God
delivered the children of Israel, two great things, two outstanding
things. One was that the children of
Israel were delivered, and secondly, the Egyptians all died. We can't
help but see that. When the Lord parted the waters
and the sea became as dry land, the children of Israel walked
safely across. There wasn't any mud. There wasn't
any muck. There wasn't any mire. There
was no danger of sinking. There was no danger of the water
overflowing them. I read that to you in Isaiah
43. There was not any danger at all.
The Egyptians were at bay. They had to stand back. They
could not pursue. They were paralyzed by God. They could not, they could not
frustrate the purpose of God. And let me tell you this, it
makes no difference who you are, who I am, where we are, what
we're doing, what our plans are. If God means to save you, if
God means to deliver you, if He's purposed to save you, He's
going to have you. There ain't nothing you can do
about it. There's nothing Satan can do about it. There's nothing
can frustrate his purpose of grace. He said, you're mine. I made you, I formed you, and
I'm going to call you because you're mine. And that's a great
comfort to me. That's a great comfort. Sometimes
we say they're a bad case. Oh, the nation of Israel, do
you know what they were known for? First thing we think of,
well, they were known as being the people of God, the Israel
of God. But he said, you're a stiff-necked,
you're a rebellious people, idolatrous people. That's what they were
known for. But he said, I'm going to save you for my great name's
sake. I'm going to save you for my
glory. I'm going to save the worst. Oh, you think the Egyptians
are bad? You have the oracles of God.
God has spoken to you. God has led you. Jehovah, the
Almighty God, El Shaddai, He's led you. And you've been spoken to by
Him. Not so with the Egyptians. Not
in the manner that God spoke to Ezra. But He said, I don't
make any difference with Me. I'm going to save you for My
great namesake and for My glory. I always say they're a bad case.
I think they're goners. I don't know if God can save
them or not. Sure He can. Saved you, didn't
He, if you're saved? He saved me. And I wouldn't dare
do it, but I could sit down and tell you things and make the
hair stand up on your head that I've been involved in and done
and thought about doing and still wouldn't do it if it wasn't for
the grace of God. He had mercy on me. He saved
me. There ain't no such a bad case
that God can't handle. That's right. The children of
Israel, He brought them to the end of themselves. The law, the letter kills. That's all
it can do. But the Spirit gives life. God
gives life. He delivered them who through
fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
All their lifetime subject to bondage. That's the way we are,
isn't it? Really, that's speaking of us.
All our lifetime subject to bondage. Bondage to sin and self. Can't
do like I said in the Bible class this morning, we do what we do
because we are what we are. I've heard parents say it, and
I've probably said it. I don't know why in the world
my children do the way they do and act like they do. I do because
they're your children. They're sinners just like you
are, like I am. That's what they do. We don't
inherit salvation naturally. God gives it on purpose. He saves
us on purpose. In the New Testament, His promise
is confirmed in Christ. This is a picture of the Old
Testament. It's the salvation of Israel,
the deliverance of Israel. Romans 11, 26, and so all Israel shall
be saved, every one of them. Every last one of them will be
saved, all of Israel. And that's not talking about
that country Israel, that nation Israel. That's talking about
all of God's people. That's who He's talking about
when He said, Jacob have I created. of a form for my name, your mine. All is or shall be saved, as
it is written. When it says that in Scripture,
that means God's promised it. It's written not only in this
Bible, but it's written in the purpose of God. As it is written,
there shall come out of Zion the Deliverer. Who is the Deliverer? Moses? No. We call Him the Deliverer, but
He's not. Moses is not the Deliverer. The
Lord Jesus Christ is the Deliverer. The Law is not the Deliverer.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the Deliverer. Deliverer shall come
out of sin, shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob, evil, condemnation,
death from Jacob. Who's Jacob? God's people, His
church. The seed of Abraham, Abraham,
the father of the faithful, speaks of Abraham and his faith as we
have faith in Christ, God-given faith. In Romans 11, 1, I say
then, has God cast away his people? Has God cast away his people?
God forbid. No, he's not cast away his people.
Paul said, look at me. If he's going to cast away anybody,
cast away me. He said, I'm the chief of sinners.
I'm the least of the apostles. He said, I'm an Israelite of
the seed of Abraham, the tribe of Benjamin, and he saved me.
If God casts away, no, he's going to save all Israel. In Romans
11, 5, even so then at this present time also, there's a remnant
according to the election of grace. Do you believe in election? God's election? Well, I about
have to if I believe the scriptures on it. He says here there's election,
election of grace, God's election. God chose Israel, spiritual Israel. In Deuteronomy
26 says, And the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a
mighty hand. He's the almighty God. and with
an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with
signs, and with wonders. You see, God goes to all lengths
to save His people. That's right. I'm going to say
something here that might sound, but you think about it a while
before you jump on me. He may have to kill somebody
to save you. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw the Lord. I didn't see him until Uzziah
died. We pray, Lord, whatever it takes,
save my children. Are you sure? Are you certain you want to do
whatever it takes? Now, I know He's saved by grace,
and I know He don't need us, but He does use whatever means
He's so disposed to use. And look what He's done in Egypt. with the children of Israel,
with the Egyptians and to the children of Israel. And can you say with me, pray
with me to God, Lord save my children, my grandchildren, my
dad, my mom, whatever it takes. Whatever it takes. Use whatever
means you're so pleased. He will, whether we pray that
way or not. But see, when He brings us into
agreement with Him, that's when we're ready to pray, isn't it?
Lord, not my will, but Yours be done. Not Yours, but mine be done.
You see, God went to the extreme to deliver the children of Israel. Do you know what God did? Now
you think about it. You say, well, God wouldn't do
that. He killed... That night, The Lord come through
and He called the angel of death, my son. That night of the Passover,
He come through and killed all those people in Israel. You say, God done that? God done
it. He said, you're going to let my people go. I'm going to
send my son to die to redeem you. And right here it is. And the gospel was preached that
night with great power. The blood was shed. And he said,
when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. You'll be safe. Not
when you see it, but when I see it. When I see it. And oh, there was great weeping
and mourning and crying that night in Egypt when the firstborn
of every family died. God killed him. He means to deliver
his people. But in every word that the blood
was applied, death passed over. And they were saved. They were
saved. Isn't that a great picture? You
remember when God confirmed this promise that He'd save His people
to Abraham and Isaac? God told Abraham, He said, take
your only son, take Isaac. to Moriah. Take him and sacrifice him. So
Abraham got up, got his son up early in the morning, loaded
up that donkey with the wood and axe, some instrument to build
a fire with, and his men. And they got to the foot of that
mountain. And he told his men, he said, wait here. My son's
going to go, and I'm going to go there and worship. And they
went up that Mount Moriah, and Isaac said, Daddy, I see the
wood, I see all of these things, but where's the sacrifice? Abraham
said, Son, the Lord will provide Himself a sacrifice. I don't
know exactly what's going on here. I just know what God told
me to do. And they got up there on that
mountain. Abraham began to unload that He'd get all the wood off
of it and everything in place. And he laid his son down on that
altar. And he raised up that axe. By
intent, he'd done it. He raised up that axe and God
caught his hand. He said, I've provided a sacrifice. Oh, I tell you, God is going
to save His people. God's going to save His people.
And He's going to bring us to the place that we're willing.
We're willing for God to save us. In the day of His power,
Almighty God's power, He makes His people willing. Willing. Willing to give it all up. Oh,
Israel, they murmured, they complained some. There they stood. They said,
oh, we just stayed back there. But he said, all their murmuring
and complaining didn't have no effect on God. He said, I'm going
to save you anyhow. I'm going to save you anyhow. He saved them for His great namesake. So all Israel shall be saved.
And Moses in Exodus 14, And Moses said unto the people, fear ye
not. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. And He will show to you this
day. For the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall not
see them again no more forever. Wasn't that good? You'll not
see them no more forever. I'm going to destroy them. They'll see them no more alive,
but they'll see them dead. They'll see them floating on
the sea and washed up on the shore. And that's how a believer
sees his sin, isn't it? Dead. When we look at ourselves
and say corrupt and evil, we see our sin put away by the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We see them floating dead in
that blood. have no more dominion over us,
no more power to condemn us, no more power to have dominion
over us, no more power to destroy us and to kill us, because the
Lord Jesus Christ has saved us alive. The Lord told Job to stand
still. What did He tell Job to stand
still for? He said, Consider His wondrous
works. Stand still. Can you do that this morning
by God's grace? Can you stand still and see His wondrous works?
Here we see the children of Israel, here in the latter part of Genesis
and Exodus and this referred to all through the Scriptures.
We see God delivering them. They didn't do anything. As a
matter of fact, everything they'd done would have caused God not
to deliver them. I mean, that didn't do anything
to deliver the disciples. God did it in spite of them. He's the Lord. He's Jehovah. He's the unchanging, eternal,
self-existing God. He's the covenant-keeping God.
He keeps the covenant. And as Lord, He's called Lord
throughout the Scriptures. In Genesis 1, in the beginning,
God created the heaven and earth. If you look it up in the Greek,
you'll see that this is the same as it is here in Genesis and
Exodus in Isaiah. He's the Lord God Almighty. In
the beginning, God created. In Isaiah 43, the Lord created
Jacob for His glory. Next is 6, 3, and I appeared
unto Abraham. God said, I appeared unto him.
Abraham never would have known God had God not appeared to him.
But God is going to do something. That's the reason he appeared
to him. God is going to promise Abraham something. He'd already
promised it, but he's going to make it known to Abraham. Abraham
is an idolater. And he had no reason to leave
Mesopotamia. He had no reason to leave the
area where the child lives and his family. He had no reason
whatsoever. You have no reason rationally, logically, physically. Don't try to humanly reason out
these things. This is spiritual. Abraham was at home. He was among
family. He was at ease in his idolatry.
He worshipped a false god and had no problem with it until
God came to him. And God spoke to Abraham, appeared
to Abraham by the name of God Almighty, the Lord God. He said, I appeared to Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. And he said, get up and get out. He didn't ask Abraham if he wanted
to. He told him to. And you know what Abraham did?
He got up and he got out. He left. And this started this
story that I'm telling you this morning, God delivering Israel. He said, By my name Jehovah was
I not known unto them, but now I am. Now I'm known unto them
as the Lord. You see, We don't just bow to
Him as Savior, we bow to Him as Lord, Lord and Savior. He's God Almighty, the Almighty
God, the Most High God. In Psalms 83, 18, that men may
know that thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art God, the Most
High over all the earth. That means, you know, everyone's
going to know that He's God. in two ways. You don't know He's God like
Pharaoh. The Pharaohs in Egypt knew He
was God. He said, I mean for them to know that I'm God. He
told Pharaoh, He said, for this cause and this purpose I raise
you up, that I might make my mighty power to be known. I'll
raise you up to destroy you, that I might make my power to
be known. He meant for Pharaoh and the Egyptians to know that
He is God. and He destroyed them. Who was
it? Somebody said this was God's
tsunami. The waters piled up and dry land appeared. And the
children of Israel marched across on dry land. And then when the
Egyptians came in to pursue them, the waters come back over them
and they were destroyed. Now as this was happening, who
do you suppose considering all that had happened before, all
the plagues that God had sent on the Egyptians, and all the
times He told Pharaoh, let my children go. And Pharaoh had
lied. He said, I'll let them go. Then
he wouldn't let them go. He hardened his heart, and God hardened his
heart. And as this began to transpire and to take place in their destruction,
who do you think they attributed this devastation to, this destruction
to. They knew that it was God. And all the souls, the marriage
of souls in hell can but attribute their predicament to their own
sin and to the power of God. A man couldn't even go to hell.
He don't know where it's at. He couldn't get there unless
God put him there. No more than he could go to heaven. We don't
know where heaven is. We don't know where hell is.
We can do neither place. God must put us there. And everyone
in heaven is going to know that He's God. Everyone in heaven is going to
know that He's sovereign. Everyone in heaven is going to know that
He has all power, and He does as He pleases. And so is everyone
in hell. He meant for the Egyptians to
know who was delivering the children of Israel. And He meant for the
Israelites to know who their Deliverer was. Do you know who
they attributed their deliverance to? Not to Moses, but to the
Lord. The Lord is our Deliverer. A
Deliverer shall come out with a sign. He shall deliver us. He has delivered
us. He is delivering us. Who delivered
you? Who saved you? If you are saved
this morning, if the Lord has brought you out of the bondage
of Egypt, out of the bondage of sin and unbelief, and you
believe, you know Christ, you bow to Him and worship Him today,
who delivered you from that darkness, from that bondage of sin and
self? You know, I can sympathize with
those that don't believe. I'm not saying that I'm not putting
any crown on their head. I'm not saying it's a good thing
not to believe, but I've been there. If you don't believe this
morning, you can't do anything else but not believe. Because we're born unbelievers.
That's the way we are. But if we believe, if God has
given us a love for Him, a love for His Gospel, and we know Him
and can worship Him, who brought us? Who delivered us? The Lord
God Almighty, didn't He? Jehovah. He saved us. He brought us. We weren't known of Him, or we
didn't know Him, but now we are. They didn't know me by my name
Jehovah, but now they do, our great God and Savior. That men
may know whose name alone is Jehovah art the most high over
all the earth. Isaiah 12 to behold God is my
salvation. Who did Israel say is my salvation? I said God is. Who does a believer
say is my salvation? God is. God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid."
And Isaiah 43 said, don't be afraid. The waters won't overflow
you. The waters will be there. The
fire will be there. But they'll not burn you and
you'll not be overflowed. I'll not be afraid. For the Lord
Jehovah is my strength and my song. He also has become my salvation. I see Him as my salvation. Did Israel deliver themselves? Did some way they deliver themselves
from the Egyptians, from the bondage? And did they get across
the sea by themselves? Was it by their own doing, by
their own hand? You see, this totally destroys
this man-made religion. There's no way that they could
do it. There's no way that we can save ourselves. Jehovah's
our strength. He's my salvation. In Isaiah
26, 4, trust in the Lord forever. For in the Lord, Jehovah is everlasting
strength. In Him alone. The Lord is our
God. He's our Savior. It is the Lord
that will deliver you. Moses of the Law brought them
to certain death. That's what the preaching of
the Law does. Preaching of the Law apart from Christ is certain
death. Pharaoh's army is behind the sea before him. This is all
the law could do. But what Christ did, what Christ
did was fulfill the law for righteousness. He gives life, not death. The law kills. Christ gives life. Look to Christ. In simple terms,
all of us can understand here this morning. I can even understand
this. It's not that it's logical, it's
not so much it's logical to the human sense, but it's logical
in the Scriptures. I can understand this, that there's
only salvation in Christ. I must look to Christ. If I'm
to be saved, He must save me. If I'm to be delivered, He must
deliver me. I am no match for myself, my
sin, for Satan, For the bondage that I'm under, I cannot change
anything. I can't change who I am. Can
the Ethiopian change the color of his skin? Can the black man
change his skin and be not black? Can the Ethiopian change the
color of his skin? Can the leopard change his spots?
It cannot be none. He is our only hope. He is our
only salvation. Yet the grace of God protected
them and would deliver them with a strong arm. Now let me say this. We're here
this morning. Physically we're here. I don't
know where you are in your mind. I don't know what you're thinking
about. But I know we're here. We're
alive. We're all together in this little group here together
this morning. Now God has brought us here physically. If it wasn't
for God, you'd be dead. That's right. He has preserved us physically.
And we're here. We're here for a purpose. Is that not so? We're here for
a purpose. Now, I'm thinking this. Can I inject my thoughts? here for a moment. I'm thinking
this, since we're gathered here together this morning, and we
have the Scriptures open, and I'm, by God's grace, trying to
preach Christ to you and tell you that He's your only hope,
you're going to die. I'm going to die. We're leaving
this world. We're going to face God. We're
doomed in this flesh. That's all there is to it. We're
doomed to death. It's more than a man wants to die. We may be
in good health, may not be a thing wrong with us, our thing may
be just fine, but you may not even get home. Now, I'm not trying
to scare anybody. I'm just telling you reality. And we've all come
close to it, we thought. But there's no such thing as
untimely death. Everyone dies on time. And God's got our days
numbered, and that's when we're leaving, whether it's with whatever
it is, a car wreck, cancer, kidneys, whatever, that's when we're leaving,
when God gets, when His time comes up, we're gone. But I'm
thinking this morning, we met here together, and we say we
met in His name. I've come this morning, I believe
I came to worship. Worship Christ in the Gospel,
in the Word, in joy, talking of Him, worshiping Him. Now I'm thinking this, that since the Gospel is being
preached, the Word of God is being read, the truth, and I'm convinced
I'm telling you the truth, the truth is being declared. Consider
this. Maybe the Lord brought you here
and me here to see Him, to bow to Him, to believe on Him. Just
maybe. I mean, I'm nothing. I'm insignificant. You didn't come to see me, I
hope. You didn't really come to hear me. I've heard preachers
say, oh, you ought to come and hear me preach. No, come and hear God, what God
says. Just maybe, maybe the Lord will
deliver somebody. That's the way He does it. Faith
comes by hearing, hearing to the Word of God. God delivered
the children of Israel from an awful, horrible, horrible situation. And oh, whether you see it or
not, We're in a horrible situation, this flesh. We're doomed to death. If God don't come in almighty
God, El Shaddai, God all glory is the most high. If He don't
come in power and in great grace, quicken us and give us life,
we're going to spend myriads of eternities separated from
anything that's good. and with an awesome, perfect
memory of all those things that are good that we can't get to. Now, what will it be this morning?
I'm not giving an altar call. I'm not trying to make somebody
make a decision. I'm just telling you the truth. We're all in Egypt
by nature. May God in grace and mercy deliver
our poor souls to Canaan, to a land of rest. Wouldn't that be good? Wouldn't
that be sweet? And do you know what the children
of Israel did when they got on the other side of the sea? They
sang. They sang praises unto God. Oh,
I understand now. I understand all those things
that He brought us through. was to bring us here. And that's
what we say now as believers, to bring us here. I can actually,
Terry, I can actually enjoy Christ. I can enjoy the gospel. I can. That's not a natural thing. I listened to Don Fortner this
morning at 2 o'clock. I enjoyed it. I could enjoy the gospel. But
boy, when I get in His presence, we're going to say, now I understand.
I understand all those things, how He brought me here. And we're
going to bow and worship the Lamb in the midst of the throne. Just maybe. And I know there's
no maybes with God, but with me. Just maybe. the Lord will
reveal Himself and cause somebody to fall in love with Him because
He's altogether lovely. He delivers in love and grace
and mercy and forgiveness. He does it so the goodness of
God leads men to repentance. The goodness of God. The Egyptians
saw the wrath, condemnation, The Israelites saw the goodness
of God. All of God's people sees His
goodness. Oh yeah, He's good. Let's bow
our heads.