Which turned to Exodus chapter
five. Verse one. And afterward, Moses and Aaron
went in. This is the first time they've
appeared before Pharaoh. And they told Pharaoh, Thus saith
the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold
a feast unto me in the wilderness. Now, here's the message they
bring to Pharaoh, and this is what all true preaching is. Thus
saith the Lord." If I can't speak with the, thus saith the Lord,
I don't have any business speaking. Thus saith the Lord. We preach
the Word of God. It's not my opinion. It's thus
saith the Lord. He says, Thus saith the Lord
God of Israel, Jehovah Elohim. Jehovah, God is my Savior. Elohim, that is God in the plural,
it's the message of the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
let my people go. Now you'll notice he speaks right
off the bat of discriminating grace. Let my people go. Not everybody's his people. I
shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from
their sin. I want to be in that number,
don't you? I want to be one of his people. I don't want to be
somebody who falls away. I want to be one of his people. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
let my people go. Set them free. The gospel is a message of liberty. The gospel is a message of freedom. And you know, liberty and freedom
is meaningless if I don't have some understanding of bondage
and being captive. Did you read with me in Luke
chapter 4 where he preaches deliverance to the captives? He says that
liberty, them that are bruised, liberty is meaningless without
some understanding of bondage, being a slave. Now, I know something
about this. Not simply because I know the
Scripture teaches it, although I do, but I believe I know something
in the depth of my own experience. and heart. Now, that's not why
I preach it. It's what the Word of God teaches. But I understand
something about bondage. Now, we're under a two-fold bondage. The bondage of God's holy law
and the bondage of my own sinful nature. Now, that's the bondage
every natural man is under. First, the bondage of the law.
You can't get out from under the law. You may not agree with
it. You may think it's too strict, but you can't get out from under
it. Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. Now, God has a requirement
of me and you. And that's perfect obedience
to His law, and I can't get out from under it. Now, how can I
be set free from that? There's only one way, by what
Christ did for me. He kept the law for me. He answered
all of His demands. He bore all of His curse, all
of His punishment. My sins have been washed away.
And this is true for every believer. Here's where freedom from the
law comes from. Stand fast in the liberty, in
the freedom wherewith Christ has made us free. He set me free
when He died on the cross. And now when God's holy law looks
at me, no guilt. That's liberating, isn't it?
That's true liberty. No guilt. I don't owe a thing. But there's another bondage I'm
under. I'm under the bondage of a sinful nature. What that
means, when I talk about the bondage of a sinful nature, I'm
talking about a nature that cannot not sin. You know anything about
that? A nature that cannot not sin. I can't change that, and I'm
in bondage to that nature. That's the way I was born into
this world, with this sinful nature. But the Lord Jesus Christ
sets His people free from the bondage of that nature by giving
them a new nature. A nature that was not there before. So this is a liberating message.
And the message of the gospel is, let my people go. God demands it. God's law demands
it. His grace demands it. Let my
people go. Set them free. That they may hold a feast to
me. You see, this is all about the Lord. all about the Lord. Let's go on reading verse 2.
And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice
to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither
will I let Israel go. Now what arrogance! What ignorance! Pharaoh doesn't
know that he's nothing more than a pawn in God's hand. God said, regarding this worm
of the dust who thought himself to be somebody, even for this
same purpose have I raised you up, that I might show my power
in you and that my name might be declared throughout all the
earth. Pharaoh was so arrogant. Who is the Lord that I should
obey his voice? He's going to be changing his
stance here for long, isn't he? You see, the Lord knows how to
humble the pride of man. And that's exactly what he's
going to do to this arrogant man. But he says, who is the
Lord that I should obey his voice? I don't know the Lord. I don't
recognize the Lord. And I certainly will not let
Israel go. It's almost humorous to see his
arrogance in it and his insolence speaking to the God of glory
like that. They replied to him in verse
3, and they said, Aaron and Moses, the God of the Hebrews hath met
with us. Let us go, we pray thee, three
days journey into the desert and sacrifice unto the Lord our
God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.
Let us go, or there's going to be real trouble for us if we
don't. Let us go. Verse 4, And the king of Egypt
said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the
people from their works get you unto your burdens? Now, all of
this literally took place. This is not just figurative.
This is literally what took place. Pharaoh didn't want to let them
go because they were his slaves. They had work to do. They were
building the pyramids. But this is typical. You see,
Egypt represents surrounding. Egypt represents salvation by
works. And he didn't like this talk
about liberty. He felt he would be the loser
by it. Religion, man's religion, is terrified of liberty. It's terrified of freedom. It has no understanding of the
concept of grace. He says, get you to your burdens.
Get you to your burdens. He couldn't handle this talk
of liberty. Verse 5, And Pharaoh said, Behold,
the people of the land now are many, and you make them rest
from their burdens. Now, he didn't want this, rest
from their burdens. Now, when he's talking about
rest, understand this, that word rest, it's not talking about
taking a break. He let them take breaks. Don't
you reckon during the day they took breaks, maybe for five,
ten minutes, trying to get their breath back? And then there was
a time when it was quitting time and they went to bed and rested.
That's not the rest he's talking about when he talks about rest
from their burdens. He's not talking about taking
a break and then going back to work. He's talking about permanent
rest. You're trying to make them permanently
rest from their burdens. Let me show you the way this
word is used the first time in the Scriptures. Turn to Genesis
chapter 2. Let's look in verse 31 of chapter
one. And God saw everything that he
had made, and behold, it was very good. And the evening and
the morning were the sixth day, thus the heavens and the earth
were. What's that next word? Finished. Was anything left incomplete?
This was a complete creation, wasn't it? Nothing left undone.
And all the host of them, and on the seventh day God ended
his work which he had made, and he rested on the seventh day
from all his works which he had made. Now this rest that he's
speaking of is response to a finished work. Nothing more to do. And that's why he was so upset
about this. He thought they've got plenty to do. And he couldn't
handle this thing of a complete rest from their labors. It scared
him to death. Doesn't Scripture say, there
remaineth therefore a Rest. For the people of God. Turn with
me there to Hebrews four, I want you to look at this. And he refers to creation and
God finishing his work in this passage of scripture, Hebrews
chapter four. Verse nine. There remaineth therefore
a rest, a Sabbath of rest. This is not talking about taking
a break. This is talking about permanent rest, complete salvation,
nothing to do. There remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God, for he that's entered into his rest,
he also has ceased from his own works as God did from his. Now, there was a time when God
finished his work. There was nothing left to do.
It was all very good. And that one who rests in Christ
is that one who has ceased from his own works. He's not looking
to what he's doing in any way, shape, form, or fashion. He's
resting in the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is what Pharaoh had
such a hard time with. He said, you're letting the people
off from their burdens. You want them to rest. We don't
want this thing of rest. Can't get anybody to do anything.
If you tell them all they've got to do is rest, how are they
going to perform good works? How are they going to do what
they're supposed to? Why, they won't read the Bible, they won't go to church,
they won't... If you just talk about rest... You see, an unbeliever
can't understand, he can't conceive of this concept of grace and
rest. He doesn't see this as a good
thing. Why, this will lead to sin. So what does Pharaoh do? Verse 6, And Pharaoh commanded
the same day the taskmasters of the people, and their officers,
saying, Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick,
as heretofore. Let them go and gather straw
for themselves. And the tale of the bricks which
they did make heretofore, you shall lay upon them, you shall
not diminish aught thereof, for they be idle. Therefore they
cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God. Let there be more
work laid upon the men that they may labor therein, and let them
not regard vain words." So what does Pharaoh do in response to
this message of grace and rest? He says, Give them more work.
Give them more work. You see, you cannot make these
kinds of bricks without straw, but that's what he gave them
to do. He says, take away the straw that holds it together
and make them make bricks without straw. Now in salvation by works,
you have to make bricks without straw. And that's something that's
impossible to do. You can't come up with the goods. You can't
make the bricks. You can't. They certainly couldn't
come up with the same tale of bricks. He gave them something
that was impossible for them to do. You make the bricks without
straw. And isn't that exactly what salvation
by works is? I'm given something to do which
I cannot possibly do. Now, if salvation is ultimately
conditioned upon something I have to do, I won't be saved. Notice
what it says in verse 7. You shall no more give the people
straw to make brick as heretofore. Let them go and gather straw
for themselves. They've got to come up with the
goods for themselves. And the message of salvation
by works, there's some aspect of salvation you must gather
for yourself. That's the message. It puts salvation
somehow, in some way, dependent on something I need to do. You
need to go out and gather for yourself. No rest in that. No rest. Now, Salvation by Works
says, as he said to these people, you're idle. You're idle. You're
just looking for an excuse for sin. You're idle. You're looking
for an excuse to do nothing. That's why you want rest. You
see, if you believe in Salvation by Works at all, it's because
you really don't have any understanding of this thing of sin. It doesn't
really mean anything to you. You don't understand what sin
means. And all you can think of is what you need to do, what
you need to do. And that's how Pharaoh responded to this. He
said you're idle. You're idle. You're just looking for an excuse
to do nothing. And that's the way folks respond to the gospel
of God's grace. They say, well, that's going
to lead people to idleness and indifference and apathy. That's
not going to cause people to be zealous for the glory of God.
That's going to just create idleness and a lackadaisical, apathetic
attitude. And the reason somebody feels
that way is they don't have any understanding of what sin is.
You see, if you know anything about the burden the burden of
trying to earn your way to salvation and knowing you can't do it,
the message of rest is good news to you. It's grace. It's something you love to hear.
You can't preach salvation free enough or by grace enough, can
you? Can't overstate the fact that Pharaoh says, give them
more work to do, that they regard not vain words. Verse nine. Let there be more work laid upon
the men that they may labor therein and let them not regard vain
words. And that simply means untrue
words, these words of grace and liberty and redemption. That's just not true. Don't regard
these words. Let more work be laid upon them.
So they were given something that was impossible to do. And
not one bit of the work, the tale of bricks, was diminished.
They were still called upon to make bricks without straw. Now,
before I go on, what is meant? I keep talking about salvation
by works, and we all have some vague idea of what the concept
means, but what really does it mean? When I talk about salvation
by works, because if you ask your average religious person,
do you believe in salvation by works? They say, of course not.
I believe in salvation by grace. I believe in salvation by Christ.
I don't believe in salvation by works. Well, let's see what
you do or not. What does salvation by works
mean? May God give me the grace to say this as clear as it needs
to be said. What is meant by salvation by
works? If any part of salvation If any aspect of salvation is
not all of grace, then it's works. If any part of my salvation is
in any way dependent upon me, then I make it all of works. Turn to Romans 11. Hold your
finger there in Exodus and turn to Romans 11. Paul says in verse 6, and if
by grace, then it's no more of works. If salvation is really
by grace, it has absolutely nothing to do with some contribution
I make. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. If you put works
in it, it's not grace anymore. But if it's of works, then it's
no more of grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. Now, I don't care if you put
works in the beginning, in the middle, or the end of salvation.
If you put any works, and by that I mean something that's
dependent upon me to perform, I make the whole thing salvation
by works. Now let me give you some examples
of what I'm talking about. If I put works in the beginning,
if I say it's true salvation by grace, God love you, Christ
died for you, God the Holy Spirit is calling you, He's knocking
on your heart's door, it's up to you to open it up and let
Him in or you won't be saved. If I preach something like that,
I'm making salvation by works. That's salvation dependent upon
what I do. If in the middle of salvation, if I say I'm the one
that has to persevere and hold out to the end, if I put works
in the middle of salvation, I need to do this, I need to do that,
or I won't be saved. If I put works in the middle
of salvation, I make the whole thing about works. If I put works
at the end of salvation, if I say you're going to earn some kind
of reward, your place in heaven is going to be dependent upon
your works here on earth. Where you wind up in heaven is
going to be dependent upon how good you do, and you might get
a bad place in heaven if you don't do good in that whole idea
of heavenly rewards and so on. If I put works anywhere in salvation,
as far as something that's dependent upon me, I make the whole thing
of works. It's a message of salvation by
works. Now, verse 10. And the taskmasters of the people
went out. And their officers and they spake
to the people saying thus saith Pharaoh. I'll not give you straw. Go ye. Get the straw where you
can find it. Yet not all of your work shall
be diminished. Now here's the message of the
law. The message of the gospel has come. Come to Christ. Right now as you are, come to
the Lord Jesus Christ and He'll receive you. You don't have to
do anything to prepare. You don't have to meet any kind
of criteria. You're called upon to come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Isn't that the message of the Gospel? Come unto Me, all ye
that weary and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Those
are the words of the Master. If any man thirsts, let him come
to Me. and drink. Whosoever will, let
him take the water of life freely. The message of the gospel is
a message of come. But what's the message of the
law? Go. Go find the straw. Go come up
with the goods. You're going to have to do something.
Go out and get it. But understand this. Everything that's required
of you, it won't be diminished a bit. You've still got to come
up with the goods, but you're going to still have to come up
with that same tail of bricks. Now, there are two important
principles taught in these two verses, verses 10 and 11. And there's something that you
and I are going to have to deal with. In these two verses, the
message that we find here, I find inability and I find responsibility. Now, I want you to listen to
me real carefully. We find inability and we find responsibility. Now, what is meant by inability?
Well, they were not able to do what was required of them. If
they weren't supplied with this straw, there's no way they could
come up with the tail of bricks that they were doing before this.
They were given something they were completely unable to do. And you and I are unable. Unable. to meet any condition
of salvation. If even the simplest act is ultimately
dependent upon me, I will not be saved. That's what inability
means. If it's dependent upon me, I
will not be saved. But also we find in this passage
of scripture responsibility. Inability does not negate responsibility. The law standards are not lowered.
The same tale of bricks is still required. And I am responsible. Now, somebody may ask the question,
how can I be held responsible for something I can't do? I've
thought that before, haven't you? How can it be fair for God
to hold me responsible to do something that I'm completely
unable to do? That doesn't seem fair. You know,
it's only in spiritual things we'll ask stupid questions like
that. I've asked that question. You've
asked that question, but it's only in spiritual things we'll
come up with stupid. What was last Sunday, April 15th? What's
April 15th? It's tax day, isn't it? Tax day. Now, suppose I don't
pay my taxes. I hope nobody here is like that.
I hope you at least got an extension. But suppose I didn't pay my taxes.
Suppose I didn't have the money to pay my taxes and I could not
pay my taxes. I completely lack the ability
to pay my taxes. What if I say to the government,
to the representatives of the IRS, I couldn't pay my taxes. I didn't have the money. I mean,
I flat couldn't pay them. Therefore, I should not be held
responsible to pay them. What did I say? Oh, oh, okay. Well, go on, breathe it. You
know better than that. You know, there's a lot of people in jail
right now who thought they could get by with that. A lot of people
in our jails right now. I can give so many different
examples of this, this thing of you are held responsible for
what you can't do. What about a drunk driver running
over a child? He could come before the judge
and say, I was unable to drive straight. There's no way I could
drive right. I couldn't help it. I was drunk.
Therefore, I shouldn't be held responsible for what I did. That
won't fly, will it? He's going to be held completely
responsible. Let's say somebody murders one of your children.
And they come before the judge and they say, I couldn't help
it. I can't change myself. I've got a murderer's nature.
Would they be let off? You see how in worldly things,
we'd never think stuff like that, would we? It just wouldn't even
occur to us. Yet in spiritual things, we'll
say, well, how could it be fair? How could it be right for God
to hold me responsible for something I can't do well? I'll tell you
this. He does. He does. You are responsible. And it's only when I see my personal
responsibility for my sin that it's all my fault. I can't blame God. It's all my
fault. When I'm brought there, you know
what I have to do? I have to say, Lord, have mercy on me. Only when I see my responsibility
do I cry out, Lord, have mercy on me, because I'm in trouble.
If you don't, if you don't have mercy on me, I'll go to hell.
I need your mercy. So we see those two great principles
clearly taught in verses 10 and 11. The taskmasters of the people
went out, their officers, and they spake to the people saying,
Thus say Pharaoh, I'll not give you straw. Go ye, get your straw
where you can, and yet ought not of your work should be diminished.
He gave them something impossible to do, but yet he didn't lower
the standards whatsoever. They're still held responsible.
Verse 12. So the people were scattered
abroad throughout all the land of Egypt, together stubble instead
of straw. That word stubble means sapless,
lifeless. It represents the dead works
men try to do in order to make those bricks. They tried anyway,
but stubble will not do. Verse 13, And the taskmasters
hasted them, saying, Fulfill your works, your daily tasks,
as when there were straw. And the officers of the children
of Israel, which Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten.
Now, they thought, how can we be held responsible? They were
still beaten, weren't they? They were still beaten. They
were beaten and demanded, wherefore have you not fulfilled your task
in making brick both yesterday and today as heretofore? Then
the officers of the children of Israel came and cried unto
Pharaoh, saying, wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants?
There is no straw given unto thy servants. And they say to
us, make brick, and behold, thy servants are beaten. But the
fault is in thine own people. There is nothing we can do about
this. But how did Pharaoh respond? You are idle, you are idle, therefore
you say, let us go and do sacrifice to the Lord. Go therefore now
and work, for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall
you deliver the tail of bricks. And the officers of the children
of Israel did see that they were in evil case. After it was said, you shall
not many ought from the bricks of your daily task. They saw they were in trouble. They saw the requirements of
them and that they couldn't come up with those requirements. And
they saw yet those requirements were required of them. And they
were in an evil situation they were in a helpless situation
they were brought to the end of themselves. So look what they
said to Moses and I can I can see this first 20. They met Moses
and Aaron who stood in the way. And as they came forth from Pharaoh,
and they said unto them, The Lord look upon you and judge,
because you have made our savor to be abhorred in the eyes of
Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their
hand to slay us." They were mad at Moses. Moses promises them
deliverance. He says, The Lord is going to
deliver you. And it's worse. As far as the way their experience
went, things had never been worse. You know, there's always a night
before the day. There's always a night before
the day. And look what Moses says in verse
22. And Moses returned unto the Lord and said, Lord, wherefore
hast thou so evil and treated this people? Why is it that thou
hast sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to
speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this people, neither
hast thou delivered thy people at all. Now, ever since I came,
things have only become worse. You say you're going to deliver
them. Things are worse. You told me to come and speak
in your name. Not one thing has been answered. Have you ever
been there? Nothing's happening. The Lord
makes His promises. I think I'm claiming them or
I think I'm pleading them. Nothing's happening. Things are
worse, if anything. That's where they were at. They
were in such a dark, dark place. They were so discouraged. Moses
was so discouraged. He was just a mess. And here's
the last verse we're going to look at. Then the Lord said unto
Moses, chapter 6, verse 1, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong
hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall thee
drive them out of this land. Now it is only when I can do
nothing and I'm brought to the end of
myself that I'm ready for this now. I will do. You see, you can't
see what He will do if you can do anything. It's only when you
are brought to where you can do nothing, and you're the pickle. I'm not talking about a, well,
nothing I can do, therefore I'm not going to worry about it.
You're held responsible for it, and you know you're going to
go to hell if God doesn't do something for you. And there's not one
thing you can do to save yourself. There's not one contribution
you can make. You're in trouble. These people
saw they were in an evil case and they couldn't change this
case. They were desperate. And then the Lord says, now you'll
see what I will do. Now, if you haven't seen this,
it's because you really don't believe that you can do nothing.
But when you can do nothing, then you can see salvation. is of the Lord. And isn't it
wonderful when God gives you grace to see that? When you can
do nothing and you see that salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is
what He does. It's not what you do. It's what He does. Every aspect of salvation is
what He does. And I'll tell you what, when
you can't do anything, that's good news. It's not just a point
of view or some kind of doctrine of the church. No, it's the best
news you've ever heard. Salvation is what He does. It's not what you do for Him.
It's what He does for you. I think of where salvation begins.
God's choice. That's what He does. I love the very thought of unconditional
election. How that God doesn't look for
anything good in me, nothing good I do recommends me, nothing
bad I do keeps me from being saved. His choice is simply because
He will do it. His electing love is what He
does. Redemption is what He does. I don't make any payment. He
by Himself, the Scripture says, purged us of our sins. Redemption
is what He does. Regeneration. Being born again. That's what He does. I sure can't
give myself life. But thank God He gives life. Salvation is what He does. Preservation. Being preserved. We just heard
that song, I don't want to fall away from you. I've always loved
that song. I don't want to fall away from
Him. Well, don't you understand that you can't fall away if you're
a believer? Yeah, I understand that. I sure
understand that, but I still don't want to fall away from
Him. And it scares me. It scares me. I don't want to
fall away from Him. Being preserved, though. It's what He does. Being glorified. Being brought
into Heaven. That's what He does. When I see
salvation, it's what He does. He says, now you're going to
see what I will do. And that is the sight that I
need to see. Salvation is what He does. That's the song of glory. Salvation
to our God that sits upon the throne and to the Lamb. Salvation is what He does. Now, if you can't do anything,
that's good news. If you can do something, it's
not good news. But if you can't do anything
and you see your case is an evil case, this is the only hope you
have. But not only is it the only hope,
it's a good hope. It's a good hope. Salvation is
what He does. Let's pray.