We should always read the historic
books of Holy Scripture as God intended they be read, as types
and pictures of the wondrous works of God's grace for us,
upon us, and in us by Christ Jesus. Without question, without
question, every portion of history in the inspired volume is an
accurate, faithful account of that which actually took place.
When we talk about interpreting the scripture spiritually, we
are not suggesting by any means that we deny the historic validity
of any passage. If the book speaks about anything
historical, it's accurate. no matter what other histories
may say. If this book speaks about anything
scientific, it's accurate, no matter what any other scientific
work of man may say in contradiction to it. But the book of God is
not given just to give us facts of science or facts of history
or even facts of theology, for that matter. This book is given
in all its details to show us what God, by His grace, has done,
is doing, and shall do for His people. And if we don't read
the Bible that way, we read the Bible with no profit to our souls. It is as useless to us as it
is to the rest of the religious world, nothing but a book of
moralisms to be used to make us feel good about ourselves.
The book of Exodus is no exception. This record given of God bringing
Israel out of Egypt, smiting the firstborn in all the land
of Egypt. bringing Israel through the Red
Sea and destroying the Egyptians, Pharaoh and his armies in the
Red Sea, bringing Israel through the 40 years wandering in the
wilderness. These things are prophecy pictures
of redemption and grace by Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Redeemer. Back in Exodus chapter 12 and
verse 40, we read about what God says concerning this mighty
Exodus. And now the sojourning of the
children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was 430 years. And it came to pass at the end
of 430 years, the self same day, it came to pass that all the
host of the Lord, that is all God's elect went out from the
land of Egypt. It is a night to be much observed
unto the Lord, not observed unto men, observed unto the Lord,
not observed unto Israel, observed unto the Lord for bringing them
out from the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord
to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations. Now, this is what took place.
All of Israel came out of Egypt that night because of a covenant
that God had made with one man who represented the whole nation
years, 400 years before any of these folks were ever born. There's
a covenant made with God's servant, Abraham. And that pictures God's
elect being delivered because of a covenant made with our head
and representative, the Lord Jesus Christ, before any of us
were ever born, made with Christ before the world began. These
people all came out of Egypt at one time by one sacrifice
on one night. They all came out at once. And God's elect were delivered
from the curse of the law, delivered from all punishment, all condemnation,
delivered from all sin at one time by the sacrifice of God's
son when he died at Calvary. Not only that, but each of these
folks came out personally and every one of God's elect In time
because they're redeemed by the blood of Christ are delivered
in the experience of God's grace Personally by the power of his
spirit and they came out Gorgeously arrayed. I don't think I had
ever stopped to think about this until today the children of Israel
Somehow we get locked in the back of our mind pictures, especially
when we've seen them on television I remember watching one of the
movies about the exodus. I've forgotten which one it was
now. And he had pictures of these folks being carried out on litters
and going out, kindly ragtag mob of folks. These folks came
out gorgeously arrayed. They were wearing all the gold
and all the silver that the Egyptians had possessed. I mean, they came
out decked out well, gorgeously arrayed in the finest of jewels.
And so it is with God's elect, delivered by Christ. both in
redemption by his blood and in redemption by his grace, both
in redemption at Calvary and redemption by the spirit of God,
that is deliverance wrought in us by his grace. When we are
born of God, when we're brought out of Egypt, when we're brought
out of bondage, brought into the glorious liberty of the sons
of God, we are brought into the kingdom of God, gloriously arrayed,
arrayed in the finest of heaven. Arrayed in that which God alone
can give, and that which alone pleases and honors Him, and that
is in the perfect righteousness of His own Son. Arrayed with
all that which we need, to supply us with all that we need, all
the days of our journeying in this wilderness and unto eternity. Everything given at once. I know
folks talk about us. You know, we're saved by grace
and then we start either losing or gaining things according to
our deeds. No, no. We come out exactly like
we shall enter into glory in the perfection of Jesus Christ,
the Lord. These all came out a great multitude. A great multitude. Millions of
them. Millions of them marching out
of Egypt all at once. And they came out completely
whole. We're told in Psalm 105, there
was not one feeble person in all their tribes. Not one feeble
person. We had been made completely whole
by Christ. Would to God you could get hold
of this now. Brother Don, I don't feel so
whole. I have this flesh I contend with.
And I not only have the weaknesses and infirmities of my heart and
the corruption of my nature. I have the weaknesses and infirmities
of physical life in this world and struggles with physical things
in this world. That's so but in Christ we are
made completely whole God's grace is not something given to us
in pieces God's grace is given to us as a whole and we are right
now made fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints
in light and This was done for all of Israel Every child of
Israel in Egypt came out of Egypt that night and they came out
by the mighty hand of God Now tonight I want us to look at
chapter 13 and I'm going to give you just some highlights I want
to read these 22 verses with you and just give you some highlights
from each of them and My subject is Harnessed by Grace. You'll see the reason I've given
that title to the message before I get done. Israel came out of
Egypt as a people harnessed by God, harnessed by God for a long
journey, and harnessed by God, making it certain that they would
make the journey. I've often told you, and I'm
going to repeat it again tonight, that everything recorded in the
book of God about the Exodus was intended by our God to be
a prophecy picture of redemption by Christ. I tell you that, and
I know you trust me to tell you the truth, but I want you to
see it for yourselves. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
1, or chapter 10 and verse 1. Hold your hands here in Exodus.
We'll come right back. But I want you to see the summary that God
the Holy Spirit gives us of what we have before us in Exodus 13.
First Corinthians chapter 10, verse 1. Moreover, brethren,
I would not that you should be ignorant, how that all our fathers
were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. He's
talking about the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt. They
were all under the cloud over them by day, and they all passed
through the sea, and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud
and in the sea. they were wrapped up in water,
buried in water, and all did eat the same spiritual meat,
and did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that
spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. But with many of them God was
not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
Now these things were written, now these things were our examples,
To the intent, we should not lust after the evil things as
they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters as some
of them, as were some of them. As it is written, the people
sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Neither let
us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in
one day, three and 20,000. Neither let us tempt Christ as
some of them also tempted and were destroyed as serpents. Neither
murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of
the destroyer. Now, all these things happened. Their deliverance,
their baptism unto Moses, their feeding upon the manna, their
drinking from the rock. They're being preserved in the
wilderness, their temptations and their failures and their
successes. All these things were written
and happened unto them for ensamples. They are written for our admonition
upon whom the ends of the world are come. All right, let's go
back to Exodus 13. Hold your Bibles open on your
lap and we'll look at these verses one at a time. Oh, how I pray
that the Lord God might harness you by his grace, bring you out
of your bondage, and bring you into his liberty. This chapter
begins with a divine command. God gives an order to Moses,
an order to sanctify all the firstborn of Israel, both man
and beast. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth
the womb among the children of Israel, both man and beast. Sanctify everything, both of
man and beast. It is mine. He didn't say sanctify
everything in Egypt. He said sanctify everything Connected
with the children of Israel Everything the firstborn of man and beast
it is mine now remember these instructions are given in anticipation
of the children of Israel keeping the Passover keeping the observance
of this night in the Passover feast continually throughout
their generations. Every year, they were required
of God to go up to Jerusalem and keep the Passover feast with
the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and they did it continually throughout
their generations in anticipation of the coming of Jesus Christ,
our Redeemer, our Passover, who now is sacrificed for us. And
the sanctification, the setting apart of the firstborn, is intended
to set our minds and our hearts upon these gospel things. Christ
is the firstborn, sanctified under God. And we are called
the church of the firstborn, sanctified under God. But not
only is Christ the Redeemer set apart for God, Not only did God
set us apart for himself in election, redemption, and in effectual
calling. This business of our being set
apart to him involves the setting apart of everything God puts
in our hands. We belong to him, Larry Brown,
lock, stock, and barrel. Not anything in this world you
possess that's yours. Not anything I possess that's
mine. Not that lady. Not my daughter. Not my son-in-law. Not my grandchildren. Not anything. It's His. And those who are Christ
are a people who willingly, being compelled by His grace, devote
everything to Him. And sooner or later, Continually,
he will compel his own to devote everything to him. Next, our
Lord gives by Moses specific instructions about the Feast
of Unleavened Bread. Now, we read about this feast
many times in the New Testament narratives in the gospel during
our Lord's earthly ministry. The Old Testament Passover was
the first day of the week which began with this week-long celebration
called the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It commemorated God passing
over in judgment against Israel because he saw the blood. And
he said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. That's
how we get the term Passover. He passed over Israel that night
because Israel had the blood upon the doorpost and the lintel
of every house. He passed over in mercy and in
grace, and he continually does so with us. It was a feast, however,
of unleavened bread, because when they came out of Egypt,
they came out in haste, being thrust out before they could
do anything to make provisions for themselves. We're told back
in verse 39 of chapter 12, they were thrust out of Egypt and
could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves
Look at verse 3 of Exodus 13. And Moses said unto the people,
Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the
house of bondage, for by strength of hand the Lord brought you
out from this place. There shall no leavened bread
be eaten. God commanded Israel to remember
the day. He said, Now remember I brought
you out. I brought you out and I gave
you by my hand everything you needed when you came out. I gave
you the gold in Egypt. I gave you the silver in Egypt.
I gave you power over Pharaoh and his armies. I gave you power
over the people of Egypt. I gave you needing troughs and
I gave you bread and you came out not preparing anything for
yourselves. Now remember this. Isn't that
strange? Isn't that strange? How could
they forget? How could they forget the screaming? The screaming that went through
the land of Egypt that dark night. And the tearful joy with which
they gave praise to God because they had been spared. How could
they forget God loaded them down with all the riches of Egypt
and sent them out. How could they forget? God gave
them everything in the beginning that they would be needing throughout
their 40 years. How could they forget? God forgive me for ever asking
such a question. How is it that I so soon forget? The fact is, we have a terrible,
sinful, carnal tendency, an innate proneness to forget every mercy
and every blessing. Shelby and I don't get to sit
and visit a great deal. But most every morning we sit
down, have a cup of coffee, and then a few more cups of coffee,
drink at least a pot of coffee before we do anything else and
visit, just talk a little bit. And often we're at the age we
try to remember. We've got a lot to reflect on.
And this morning talking about how good, how gracious God has
been to us. And even as we spoke, I was thinking
to myself, God forgive me for forgetting. I'm redeemed. The God of glory has chosen me. I chose hell for my portion.
He chose me for His grace. I chose death. He chose me for
life. I chose to rebel. He chose to
conquer and delivered me by His grace. And how quickly I forget
him. Prone to wonder. Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart. Oh, take and
seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. The Lord gave Israel this ordinance. The Passover. Throughout their
generations, so that they might remember this day. He gave us
the Lord's Supper for the same reason. We take the bread and
wine every Sunday evening. The purpose is remember me, the Savior said. Pray for grace when you take
the bread and take the wine ever to remember him. Eating the bread
and eating the wine To be inspired by his spirit that we may continually
day by day Remember him look at verse 4 This day came ye out in the month
a bib and it shall be when the Lord shall bring thee into the
land of Canaan and and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Hivites
and the Jebusites which he swear unto thy fathers to give thee
a land flowing with milk and honey that thou shalt keep this
service in this month. Keep this service in remembrance
of my mercy. Israel's whole deliverance was
his work and he alone was to be praised. And so it is with
us by grace Are you saying or six? seven days Thou shalt eat
unleavened bread and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the Lord
Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days and there shall no
leavened bread be seen with thee Neither shall there be leaven
seen with thee in all thy quarters these seven days 7 Throughout the scriptures used
to speak of that which is whole Complete and finished that which
is perfect that which is done God rested on the seventh day
These seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread were intended
by God to represent symbolically the whole scope of the believer's
life in the grace of God. We, being born of God's Spirit,
called by his grace, robed in Christ's righteousness, washed
in his blood, we walk before him. As this apostle said, let
us keep the feast, not with the old leaven. of malice. That old leaven of our carnal
hearts in enmity against God, but with unleavened bread in
righteousness and in peace, feasting on Christ. The Israelites were
not allowed to mix any leaven with their sacrifices. No leaven
could be mixed. They could not bring to God anything
that had leaven in it. That wasn't all. They were not
allowed to have any leaven anywhere under the roofs of their houses.
I mean they were required to go through and clean the house
out from top to bottom and make sure there was no leaven there.
Beware of the leaven of the scribes and Pharisees. What's he talking
about? Mixing your works with the finished
work of the redeemed. Mixing your works with the sacrifice
of Christ. Mixing your works, your goodness,
your righteousness, your filth with that which you offer to
God. We come to God initially trusting Christ alone. See that
you do. And see that you come to him
every day trusting Christ alone. Every day count your righteousness
but done. Oh, but I've read so much. I've
given so much. I've done so much. Just dumb. Just dumb. Well, surely it all count for
something. It does dumb. And if you if you want to go
grab you up a pile of that and carry it around town and show
it to everybody, go ahead. It's still just dumb. That's
all. That's exactly what all the goodness
of the best of men is. And I'm talking to the best of
men. I'm talking to God's saints. Our righteousnesses are filthy
rags in his sight. Let them be in our sight. No
leaven in your houses. Verse eight. And thou shalt show
thy son in that day saying, this is done because of that which
the Lord did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt. I sat for a while and looked
at that today. God forgive me for having so
greatly failed in my own household in this regard. The Lord says, now, when I put
you in the land of Canaan and I give you all this that I've
told you, I'd give you and you keep this feast, you come up
to Jerusalem and worship me. And as you're leaving your family
behind, and leaving your house behind, and leaving your farm
behind, and leaving your cattle behind, and your son, he says,
Daddy, what if somebody steals all this? Oh, son, God promised
he'd fix it so nobody'd want it while I go and worship him. How can you leave all this and
go up to Jerusalem for a week? How can you leave Mama here and
go up for a week? How can you leave me here? I do this because this is what
God did for me. And you can't be compared to
my Redeemer. And your mom can't be compared
to my Redeemer. And I can't be compared to my
Redeemer. We go up to worship Him because this is what the
Lord's done for us. Now, in verses 11 through 16,
Well, let me not miss verses 9 to 10. It's important He said
he said this shall be for a sign unto thee This continual worship
and devotion shall be assigned upon your hand for a memorial
between your eyes that the Lord's law May be in your mouth that
God's testimony his word Remember the law hadn't been given yet
as far as the ten commandments are concerned that his testimony
be in your mouth for with a strong hand Hath the Lord brought thee
out of Egypt Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season
from year to year I've given it to you in your hand I've given
it to you right between your eyes before your face. I've given
it to you so that it is constantly with you. A word in your mouth. The word is near you, even in
your heart and in your mouth. If you shall confess with your
mouth, the Lord Jesus, this is what he's talking about. I've
given you the testimony so plainly that you can't possibly fail
to see it unless you shut your eyes and stop your ears and spit
it out of your mouth. Now look at verse 11. God enlarges his instructions
about the firstborn. But I cherish, I cherish these
things. Firstborn, a man and beast. It shall be when the Lord shall
bring you into the land of Canaanites as he swear unto thee and to
thy fathers and shall give it thee that thou shalt set apart
unto the Lord, sanctify unto the Lord. all that openeth the
matrix, and every firstling that cometh of a beast which thou
hast. The males shall be the lords,
and every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb.
And if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck.
And all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou
redeem. Every unclean thing, either redeem it or destroy it. With the birth of every firstborn,
there's a choice to make. Redeem it or kill it. Devoted to God, or send it to
death. This was a reminder that Pharaoh
chose death for himself, his son, and the Egyptians. But the Lord God chose to redeem
Israel. Verse 14, It shall be when thy
son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? Thou shalt
say unto him by strength of hand the Lord brought us out from
Egypt From the house of bondage and it came to pass when Pharaoh
would hardly let us go That the Lord slew all the firstborn in
the land of Egypt both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast
Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all that openeth the matrix
being males But all the firstborn of my children I redeemed And
this shall be for a token upon thine hand, and for frontlets
between thine eyes. For by strength of hand, the
Lord brought us forth out of Egypt." Every jackass, he said,
had to be redeemed. Now, I apologize to the jackass,
but that represents you and me. The jackass was unclean. The jackass was stubborn and
the jackass was stupid, absolutely senseless. That's a pretty good
picture of you and me. It must either be destroyed or
it must be redeemed. God says either break his neck
or redeem him and redeem him with the lamb. Redeem him with
the blood of one who is clean. And that's what God will do with
every ass of Adam's fallen race. Must either be redeemed or destroyed. And the only thing that keeps
us from being destroyed under the wrath of God Almighty in
the fury of his judgment is the fact that Christ the Lamb has
redeemed us. Verse 17. And it came to pass
when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through
the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. If you
want to look at your Atlas in the back of your Bible, the shortest
route for Israel to get to Canaan was to go from the northern part
of Egypt to the southern part of Canaan. It couldn't have possibly
taken them more than one at the outside two weeks to walk there. Couldn't possibly take it longer
than that. But in order to get there, they had to go directly
through the land of the Philistines, a warring barbaric people. And
they weren't prepared for such a battle at the time. Read on. Although that was near, for God
said, Lest peradventure, the people repent when they see war
and they return to Egypt. How gracious. How gracious. God said, if I
send them that way, the shortest, easiest route, what looks like
the shortest and easiest route, the quickest way to get there.
This is what they'll do. Soon as they see the roaring
Philistines, they'll turn and run back to Egypt. And I'm not
going to have my people go back to Egypt. I'll send them a better
route. He sends them a long, long way,
roundabout to get to Canaan in 40 years. Why? You can read it at your
leisure. This is what God the Holy Spirit
says. He led them forth by the right way. Mary Lou Duff, God has led you
and continues to lead you by the right way. Whatever right
way that is, whatever way that is, it's the right way. Whatever
stands in the way, it's the right way. Whatever obstacle, it's
the right way. Let me give you some examples
here. Had they gone that direct route into Canaan, do you know
what they'd have missed? They'd have missed crossing the
Red Sea. They'd have missed seeing God
overthrow Pharaoh and his armies in the wonder of his grace. They
would have missed escaping across the Red Sea and their escape
being made the means by which Pharaoh and the Egyptians would
be destroyed. No other way, no other way would
have proved the people again and again and again. And God's
determined to prove his people. Now, look at verse 18. Israel was brought out of Egypt
as a people harnessed God led the people about through the
way of the wilderness of the Red Sea and The children of Israel
went up out of the land of Egypt Went up harnessed out of the
land of Egypt Look at your marginal reference if you have one They
went up Five in a rain They went up harnessed like a
team of oxen or horses in one harness, or harnessed like a
military detachment, five abreast, going up against a mighty enemy. But the word harnessed here is
a passive participle. And fellows who are harnessed
As a military rank going up five in a rank usually put forth some
effort. This is a passive participle.
They went up harnessed five in a rank. Soldiers, yes, but soldiers
in a battle in which they simply stand still and watch God work. They went up harnessed and came
to the Red Sea. What are we going to do Moses?
Just stand still. Just stand still and see the
salvation of the Lord. Harnessed. Five in a rank. And so it is with every ransom
sinner saved by God's free grace. As you well know, the word five
is used repeatedly through the scripture, signifying something
to do with God's grace. In the opening chapter of Leviticus,
five sacrifices were required to be offered to the Lord. Children
of Israel went up five times a year to keep a feast unto the
Lord. And God's grace has harnessed
us. and will at last bring us triumphantly
into the heavenly glory that awaits us. Let me hurry. Verse 19, Joseph's bones. We're told Moses took the bones
of Joseph with him. Because back 400 years earlier,
400 years earlier, Joseph said, God's going to visit you, and
God's going to bless you, and God's going to bring you up out
of this place. Don't you leave my bones in here. So Joseph,
when he died, was embalmed after the fashion of the Egyptians,
and they carried his bones up out of Egypt. Joseph believed
God and gave such a convincing testimony that throughout their
generations Israel continued to carry Joseph's word generation
after generation. You remember what Joseph said?
He said, God's going to visit us. Doesn't look much like it,
but he said, God's going to visit us. He said, God's going to bless
us. He said, God's going to bring us up. And he made our father
swear they wouldn't leave his bones here. And so Joseph was
carried up with them out of Egypt. Now, verse 20. And they took
their journey from sucketh and encamped and
eat them in the age of the wilderness. And the Lord went before them
by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them the way. And by night
in a pillar of fire to give them light to go by day and by night. The children of Israel had a
perpetual standing miracle abiding with them every day and every
night for 40 years for 40 years and wake up every morning and
look out toward the tabernacle and there's a ball of fire in
the sky going down turning as the sun rises into a cloud covering
the camp. A cloud to guide them wherever
God would have them to go. A cloud to protect them from
the burning sun. A pillar of fire again at night
to guide them if they walked at night or if they set in their
camp. A fire round about them to protect them all through the
night. A perpetual standing miracle. and that perpetual pillar of
fire and pillar of cloud to lead them the way was Jesus Christ
our Redeemer, the Shekinah, the manifest presence of God with
his people to lead them and he is the way. Now, Larry, we have
that perpetual standing mirror. We have that perpetual standing
miracle. In the daytime, he led them with
a cloud and all the night with a light of fire. Behold, he that
keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is
thy keeper. The Lord is thy shade upon thy
right hand. The sun shall not smite thee
by day. nor the moon by night. The Lord
shall preserve thee from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going
out and thy coming in from this time forth even forevermore.
And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of Mount
Zion and upon her assemblies a cloud and smoke by day. and the shining of a flaming
fire by night for upon all the glory shall be a defense oh God teach me to trust you
teach me to rest in my redeemer teach me to remember you and
remembering to believe ever bring to my heart's memory that which
you have done. That I may every day bring the
firstborn of my own heart and sacrifice it to my God. And that
I may every day walk before you with faith and confidence and
peace. Amen. Thank you.