Moses had the experience of Christ
actually speaking audibly to him. Can you imagine that? Seeing Christ appear in that
burning bush that was not consumed and hearing the voice of the
Lord Jesus Christ from that bush. He had Christ speak audibly to
him, and the Lord told Moses what to tell the children of
Israel and how they would respond. Look at Exodus chapter 3, verse
18. The Lord tells Moses, And they
shall hearken to thy voice. And thou shalt come, thou and
the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt. And ye shall say
unto him, The Lord God of the Hebrews hath met with us, and
now let us go. We beseech thee, three days'
journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the
Lord our God. Now the Lord tells him in no
uncertain terms that the children of Israel will hearken to his
voice. Now look at Moses' response.
And Moses answered and said, and this is after God spoke to
him, and God said, they will hearken to your voice. Look at
Moses' response. Moses said that, behold, they'll
not believe me. nor hearken unto my voice, for
they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee." Now
Moses knew these people. He knew what they were like,
how cynical and unbelieving they would be. He knew how they would
respond, but Moses also demonstrates his own unbelief here. If God
said that they would hearken to his voice, Was there any room
for this response from Moses? Now, God said, they'll hearken
to your voice. And Moses said, no, they won't. No, they won't. Now, this serves as a reminder
to us that Moses was just a man. As naturally unbelieving as you
and I are, and it also reminds us that faith's a gift. It's
a gift. And you know, faith really is
not easy, is it? It's not easy. What do I mean
by that? Well, John Newton said this in a poem. He said, If I
could but believe, then all would easy be. I would but cannot, Lord, relieve. My help must come from Thee. And I understand that. You know,
it's not an easy thing To believe, as a matter of fact, it is impossible
to the flesh. It is impossible to the flesh
to really believe that I'm perfect in Christ when all my senses
say the contrary. To really believe that I stand
before God without sin, wholly unblameable and unapprovable,
to really believe that when God looks at me, he sees somebody
he's pleased with. That he sees someone that's altogether
lovely to him. That's hard to get hold of, isn't
it? That's hard to believe. As a matter of fact, it's impossible
to believe unless God gives me the grace to believe. Simply believe that I'm complete
in the Lord Jesus Christ. To love one I've never seen more
than anybody that I have seen. That's astounding, isn't it?
I love, if I'm not deceived, there's one whom I've never seen,
I've never heard his voice audibly, and I love him more than anybody
that I have seen. And that's true of every believer,
whom having not seen you love, whom though now you seem not
yet believing. You rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory, but it's a difficult thing to believe. It's impossible
to the flesh. Moses says, they won't believe
me nor hearken unto my voice, for they'll say the Lord hath
not appeared to them. You see, he knew these people. He knew
what they were like. He knew the way they would respond.
And I'll be honest with you, when I read this passage of scripture,
in some respects, I find this kind of refreshing. There isn't anybody more cynical
than I am. And I see when Moses said this, I got some good company.
Moses was like that, too. And I'm not comparing myself
to Moses, but I obviously, obviously, but I do find this interesting. He knew these people. And look
what the Lord said to him at that time. Verse 2. The Lord doesn't rebuke him at
this time. And the Lord said unto him, after
this response of unbelief to what God had said, the Lord said
unto him, what is in thy hand? And he said, a rod. A rod. And he said, cast it on
the ground, and he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent.
And Moses fled before it. Now, can you imagine how terrifying
that would be? He cast that rod on the ground and it became a
snake crawling around. Did that literally happen? Absolutely.
Absolutely. That's the sign that he was going
to give to the children of Israel. Now, these signs that he's giving,
they were not going to convince the Egyptians of anything. As
a matter of fact, you're going to find that the Egyptian magicians
could duplicate some of these signs. And they're not meant
to give any assurance to the people of Egypt, but they are
meant to give assurance to the people of God. These signs will
actually give assurance to the people of God. And you know what the signs were.
We just read about it. One sign was he throws that rod
on the ground. It turns into a snake. He runs
away from it. He's scared to death. The Lord
tells him to pick it back up by the tail. I'm sure very cautiously
he comes and grabs the snake by the tail. It turns back into
a rod. Now that's a miracle, isn't it? Is anything too hard
for the Lord? And the next miracle that took
place. He said, now if they won't believe
that one, they'll believe this one. He said, stick your hand in your
bosom. He stuck his hand in his bosom. He pulled it back out.
It was completely covered with leprosy, totally covered with
leprosy. And then he said, put it back
in your bosom. He puts it back in his bosom, pulls it back out,
and it's healthy just like the other flesh. That's another miracle. And he said, if they won't believe
those two miracles, then go into the river. and get a jar of river
water and pour it onto the ground. And when it's poured onto the
ground, it will become blood. And then they will believe. Now, what I've called this message
is help for faith. Help for faith. I need some help,
don't you? Help for faith. And these signs
will help. Every believer. Now, it won't
help an unbeliever, but it will help a believer. Now, remember,
this is not just believing. Yes, the miraculous is involved
here. These are miracles. But they're
given to teach us something, as all miracles are in the Scriptures. Now, let's consider these miracles
one at a time. First, the rod that was thrown
onto the ground and it turned into a snake. Perhaps it was
Moses' shepherd staff. But it was the rod that belonged
to Moses, and when he cast it on the ground, it actually became
a serpent, and when he picked it up, it returned to being a
rod. Now, I want you to think about
seeing something like that. It would be impressive, wouldn't
it? It would be impressive. Now,
all of the Lord's miracles are impressive, but they're given
to teach us something. Now, the rod. What does the rod
represent? Isaiah chapter 11 verse 1, the
Lord Jesus Christ is called the rod. The rod out of the stem
of Jesse. Now, this same rod is the rod
that budded in Numbers chapter 17. You remember that story?
Now, there was a rod that actually was just a piece of wood, didn't
have any roots in the ground, and buds came out of it. And
it demonstrated life, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. Living
God, he is the living one. He is called in the Psalms, Psalm
2, the rod of iron that will destroy all of the Lord's enemies. He's called in Psalm 110, the
rod of strength that will make God's people willing in the day
of his power. What about this, Psalm 23? You're
all familiar with this. Thy rod and thy staff. They comfort me. Now, he's not
talking about getting comfort out of just a wooden pole. He's
talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. Thy rod and thy staff,
they comfort me. Now, without doubt, this rod
represents the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Moses was to cast that rod
down to the earth. And when it was cast upon the
earth, it became a serpent. Now, when I think of If I would
have been doing this miracle, I would have picked out an animal
that would have been more impressive. What if it would have turned
into an elephant? I mean, that would have blown everybody away,
wouldn't it? I mean, a big, that would have, wow. Or even a tiger,
or a lion, that would have scared everybody to death. I mean, if
everybody saw all of a sudden a big tiger, prancer. Why a snake? Why a serpent? Well, what's a
serpent represent? Sin? and Satan. Remember how Satan first appeared
in the garden as a serpent? Subtle, deceitful. Do you remember
how our Lord said, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Christ is likened
to a serpent in this great picture of the gospel of Christ crucified.
Anybody that looked at that serpent that looked just like the serpents
that bit the children of Israel, they would live. So when this
rod is cast to the ground, it has something to do with Christ
being made sin. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter five, I want you to look at this with me, it's a very
familiar scripture, but I think sometimes it's more powerful
to just look at it. Verse 21. For he, speaking of God the Father,
hath made him the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, look at that to
be. You'll notice it is in italics. That means it's not there in
the original. This reads literally, for he
hath made him sin. For us, who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Now, before anybody thinks, well,
I've heard all this before. Wait. Wait. Remember, this is
what the Lord used to enable them to believe. And if God gives
you the grace to believe what's being said right now, this is
going to enable you to believe. And you're going to walk out
of this room a believer. Isn't that what you want I want
to walk out of this room a real believer, and this is what the
Lord used to enable these people to believe. This rod being made
a serpent, Christ being made sin. Now, I want you to turn
to Isaiah 53 for a moment. Verse 10. Isaiah 53, verse 10, Yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. It pleased the Lord. The Lord
got pleasure, got satisfaction out of bruising, crushing Christ.
Now, how could that be? How could that be? Because he
was made sin. That's the only way that can
be understood. It's not that he got some kind of sadistic
pleasure out of inflicting pain on his only begotten son. He
saw his son as sin, and that's why it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He was the sinner's substitute.
Let's go on reading. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief, when thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin. He shall see his seed, he shall
prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hand. Thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. Word,
an offering for sin. I want you to turn with me for
a moment to Genesis 26. Genesis 26, verse 10. And to Bimelech said, What is
this that thou hast done unto us? One of the people might likely
have lied with thy wife, and thou shouldest brought guiltiness. upon us. Now see that word guiltiness?
That is the exact same word that is translated an offering for
sin. Thou has made his soul guiltiness. Now understand this. On the cross,
Christ did more than suffer the punishment that was due to sin
if he were punished. Now listen real carefully. This
is so important. If he were punished for crimes that he did not personally
commit, would justice be done? Would it be right? If God punished
him for something that he didn't do, would God be just? Would God be right? Now, somebody's
saying, well, he didn't do anything, did he? He didn't sin. I just read that passage of Scripture
where it says, for he hath made him to be sin who knew no sin.
He knew no sin. He did no sin. So how can you
say he's guilty of sin. My sin became His. Literally? Literally. And He became guilty before God. And He deserved to be punished
by the wrath of God. That's how truly my sin became
His. It's a real substitution. God
did not look at His Son and say, well, I realize He's innocent,
but I'm going to punish Him for Todd's sin. It doesn't work that
way at all. No. My sin became His so that He
said, my iniquity has gone over my head as a heavy burden. It's too heavy for me. My wounds
stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. That's what
He said regarding Himself. My sin truly became His. And just as truly as my sin became
his, his perfect righteousness truly becomes mine. Now, Moses throws that rod on
the ground. It becomes a snake, and Moses
is scared to death. He runs away. And I understand
that. I would, too. You know, even
what I'm talking about right now, I don't understand it. I believe it.
But how could Jesus Christ be made sin? I don't know, but he
was. He was. He was made sin. And then Moses picked up that
serpent by the tail, and what happened? It came back to being
a rod. It returned to what it was, the
rod. Yes, Christ was literally made sin, but he didn't stay
that way, did he? For a time he was made sin, but
he did not stay that way. Look for a moment to Hebrews
chapter 9. Verse 28. So Christ was once offered To
bear the sins of many. That's exactly what I've been
saying. He bore the sins of many. They became His. And unto them
that look for Him shall He appear the second time. How? Without sin. Without sin. unto salvation. Now, if he was bearing the sins
of many, how can he appear without sin? Well, look back up in verse
24 of this same chapter. Hebrews 9, For Christ is not
entered into the holy place made with hands, which are the figures
of the true, but into heaven itself. Now to appear in the
presence of God for us, nor yet that he should offer himself
often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year
with the blood of others. For then must he have often suffered
since the foundation of the world. But now, once in the end of the
world, hath he appeared to put away sin. by the sacrifice of
himself to put it away, and by his death he put sin away. He made it not to be. Now, if
I tell you that God sees you just as if you didn't
have any sin, you really couldn't rejoice and believe because you'd
know your sin's still there. That's what I said. You couldn't
really believe. But if I tell you your sin is
put away, that it is not. That there is no sin. If you're
a believer, if you're somebody that Jesus Christ the Lord died
for, you have no sin. 1 John 3, verses 4 and 5 says, He was manifested to take away
our sin. Did He do it? You know what it says next? In Him
is no sin. In Christ Jesus, I have no sin. Now, like the rod becoming a
serpent, Christ was made to be what He was not. And like the
serpent coming back to the rod, Christ came back the perfect
one having put away sin. And I believe that. I believe that. OK, the second
side, look in verse seven of our text in Exodus chapter four. And he said, put thine hand into
thy bosom again, and he put his hand into his bosom again and
plucked it out and Well, I'm sorry for six and the Lord said
furthermore into him putting out on hand in the bosom and
he put his hand into his bosom and when he took it out behold
his hand was leprous as snow. And he said put thy hand into
thy bosom again and he put his hand into his bosom again and
plucked it out of his bosom and behold it was turned again as
the other flesh. Now the second sign first is
leprosy. Leprosy. Now throughout Why does
the Bible make such a big issue of leprosy? They had heart disease
back then. They had all kinds of other diseases
back then, but there's chapters on it, particularly in the book
of Leviticus, dealing with the disease of leprosy, because leprosy
in the Scripture is a great type of sin. Now you think of what
happened. Moses had a clean hand, no leprosy. He sticks it into his bosom and
he pulls it back out. And it's completely covered by
leprosy. That's what leprosy, that's what
like snow means. It becomes totally white and
there wasn't one bit of healthy flesh in his hand. Now his hand
began clean. That is us before the fall of
our first father Adam. And when he placed it in his
bosom by his heart and pulled it back out, he was completely
leprous like snow. Now you and I, As a result of Adam's fall. And as a result of our own sin.
Are in and of ourselves nothing but sin. I wonder how many people in here
really believe that. Wonder if you and I really believe
that about ourselves. The Bible says it so. The Bible says it's so. Dead
in trespasses and sins. If we say we've not sinned, that's
a verb. 1 John 1, 10, we deceive ourselves. The truth is not in us. That
means every action, nothing but sin. That's it. Do you know it took a miracle
for Moses' hand to be completely leprous, didn't it? And it will
take a miracle for you or I to really believe that we're completely
filled with sin. That takes a miracle of God's grace. You won't believe
it. It'll seem morbid to you. It'll seem negative to you. It'll
seem just, ah, you know, that's just a terrible way of looking
at things. But if God teaches you who you are, you'll see. And you'll believe that in and
of yourself you're nothing but sin. It took a miracle for Moses'
hand to turn leprous, and it'll take a miracle of God's grace
to make you see that you're nothing but sin. You know, if you believe that
you're nothing but sin in and of yourself, do you know God's
already done a miracle of grace in your heart? He surely has. He taught you that. That's just
as much a miracle as his hand turning leprous. That's the work
of God and the work of God alone. Now, his hand is completely leprous. He puts it back into his bosom
and it comes back out and it's totally clean. The leprosy is
gone. There is no leprosy there. Now, what this miracle represents
is the new birth. The first represents the work
of Christ. Him becoming the rod, becoming
the snake, becoming sin, and then coming back the rod and
then putting away sin. That represents the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ and Him crucified. This
miracle represents what happens in a sinner's heart when God
saves him. He's giving. He's all leprosy. That was a
miracle. But then it comes back again.
It comes out clean. healthy flesh. What this is talking
about is the new birth, the new nature that God gives a man when
He saves him. You know, the Scripture says
regarding the new birth, that which is born of the Spirit is
spirit. Now, can God the Holy Spirit
beget something that has any sin in it? Of course not. In and of myself, I'm nothing
but sin. That's the way I was born into this world. But when
God saved me, He gave me a new nature. He gave me a holy nature. A nature that was not there before. And that's the nature that loves
God. That's the nature that pants
after God. As the heart panteth after the
waterbrook, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God. That's the
nature that loves holiness. That's the nature that wants
to be exactly like Jesus Christ. That's the nature that hates
anything that's contrary to Christ. That's the nature that hates
sin. It's a new nature. It's a holy nature. Now, I know
that the Bible teaches that a believer has two natures. I know the flesh
lusts against the Spirit, the Spirit lusts against the flesh.
You know that. Scripture teaches that. Not only do I see it in
the Scriptures, I know it by my own experience. I know I've
got an evil nature that's nothing but sin, and I've got a nature
that was not there before that actually loves God and believes
His gospel. Well, where do you see the difference
between the two? I don't know. I don't know. You know, I can't
see some clear line, well, this part's good, this part's not.
No. I believe I've got the holy nature because the Bible says
I do, and I know that's why I believe. I know that's why I love God,
because of the work of Christ in me. When God saves somebody,
he gives them a new heart that was not there before. Now, if they don't believe that
miracle, here's the clincher. Look in verse 8. And it shall come to pass, if
they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first
sign, that they'll believe the voice of the latter sign, And
it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two
signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of
the water of the river and pour it upon the dry land, and the
water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood
upon the dry land. Now, this is the clincher. This
is the sign that satisfies every believer. Now, it might not satisfy
an unbeliever. It may not, but you know, I'll
be honest with you, I'm not worried about that. I want the believer
to be satisfied, that one who wants to believe. The unbeliever,
nothing will satisfy him. Moses understood these, he said,
they won't believe me. Well, if the Lord gives you grace
to believe, you will. But here's what satisfies a believer. This is what clinches it all
for him. This is what makes him, yeah,
I believe. Blood poured forth. Without the
shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. What is it
that verifies all this? The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, when I talk about... I want
to go back over these two things that took place. Why was blood
shed? Because Christ was made sin.
That's why His blood was shed. The soul that sinneth shall surely
die. When sin was found on Christ,
the wrath of God came down on Him. And that's why that blood
was shed. His blood rendered satisfaction
to this extent. The sins of those He died for
are actually put away. That serpent, I mean, that rod
was made a snake, but that snake came back to a rod. Christ came
back. Christ is back to what He always
was. And it's because He actually
put away the sins of everybody He died for. Does that become sweeter to you? It does to me. I love this. This is my home. My sin's gone
by what Christ did. And His blood's the reason for
that. Now, the reason His people are given this holy nature is
because of the blood. Why am I born again? Is it because
I asked God to give me new birth? No. I'm dead. I wouldn't do that. Why am I born from above? Why
do I have this holy nature? Is it God's response to something
I've done? Does He say, well, I'm going
to give Him His holy nature because He asked me or because He asked
for forgiveness or because He was sorry for His sins or because
He's concerned? No, not at all. I'm given this holy nature for
one reason. Because of the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Christ Jesus purchased for me
this holy nature that I have. And the reason I have it is because
of the blood of Christ. And I find such satisfaction
in that. I believe. Now, remember that hand of leprosy
was put back in and it comes out white as snow? This new nature that loves God,
that believes, that walks with Christ, that pants after God,
that pants after holiness, It's a new nature. And it's going
to change somebody's old life. It's going to change somebody's
old life. What is the evidence that you have a new nature? Well,
you're not going to be what you were. Yes, you still have the old flesh.
I realize that. But it's going to change your
life. Absolutely it will. Every single time, without exception,
it will. But what is it that motivates
a believer in this sense? And this is what I find so so
wonderful about this. It's not. Now, I'm walking with
Christ. I'm seeking to serve the Lord,
whatever that means. I'm not doing it because I'm
afraid not to, although I'm afraid not to. I'm not doing it out of hope
for reward. I'm doing it because the blood
of Christ motivates me to do it. I don't have to have any
other reason. The blood of Christ, what he
did for me actually motivates me to do it. Seeing the blood
of Christ is all that's needed to motivate anybody that God
has saved. So those three signs are what
are needed to make somebody believe. Now, look down to verse 29 of
chapter 4. And Moses and Aaron went and
gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel, just
like God told him to do it. And Aaron spake all the words
which the Lord had spoken unto Moses. That's the kind of sermon
I want to hear. All the words of the Lord, whatever
they are, I want to hear His word. And he did the signs in
the sight of the people. And what happened? Verse 31. And the people believed. And I'm doing that right now.
I'm one of them. The people believed. And when they heard that the
Lord had visited the children of Israel, They heard about something
the Lord had already done. Notice it doesn't say they heard
the Lord will visit the children of Israel. They heard that he
had already visited Israel. This is what the preaching of
the gospel is. The preaching of the gospel is telling about
what Christ has already done. He's already visited. He has already accomplished salvation
for everybody that he died. What did they do? When they heard
this, when they heard that the Lord had visited the children
of Israel and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they
bowed their heads and worshiped. Now, there can be no worship
without faith. But where there is faith, There
will always be worship. You only worship a sovereign. One that you can't manipulate. One that you can't control. You're
utterly in His hands. And you worship Him, don't you?
You'll only worship the sovereign God. It's impossible to worship
anything else. Not true worship. They heard
the gospel, what Christ had already done, and they bowed their heads
and they worshiped. Amen. Let's pray together.