I can't begin to tell you how
many times over the years I've had men and women, young people,
concerned for their souls to sit down in front of me, tears
in their eyes, and say, Brother Don, I want to trust Christ. Can you tell me how I can trust
Christ? I want to believe, but I just
can't. And I know they're telling the
truth. I know they're telling the truth. I've been there. I
know all men are responsible to believe God. And I know that
no man can believe God. No man can believe God unless
God gives you faith to believe. All the enticement, all the alluring,
all the stories, everything we can say, All our prayers and
all our preaching will never persuade one sinner to believe
God, except God give you faith to believe. And I know he does
that by the preaching of the gospel. Faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. Most people these days presume
that if you get a little dose of religion, make a profession
of faith, and say, I believe in Jesus, that settles everything,
and I'll just Now I'm a believer. I have found in my life's experience,
as a believer, the same thing is true of me. How often in my
soul I am forced to cry to my God, I want to believe, I want
to trust you. And I keep trying, and I can't,
except he gives me faith to believe. Day after day, Trial after trial,
heartache after heartache. Solomon said, as in water face
answers to faiths, so the heart of man to man. And so it is with
us. If we are honest, we must acknowledge
that what we see in other men is but a reflection of what we
know ourselves to be. The evil others do is but a reflection
of the corruption in our hearts. The wickedness spewed from the
mouths of other men is but a reflection of the wickedness constantly
spewing from our own hearts. The title of my message tonight
is Believers in Their Lowest Condition. Our text will be found
in Exodus chapter 6. The historical context is not
difficult to understand. But understanding that this is
a passage talking about God bringing Israel out of Egypt and all the
miracles associated with that will do you absolutely no good. The scriptures must be read personally,
personally. Always read this book as God's
word to you. Alvin, what I've got to say tonight,
I've got to say just to you and just to Gina, just to you and
just to me. The children of Israel in Egypt
were not at all unlike us. We tend to look at them and others
in their circumstances in weakness, in unbelief, in rebellion, when
they err greatly and misjudge them. with condemning attitude
because we think more highly of ourselves than we ought to
think. We tend to look at these people
in Israel as though we are better than they were, stronger than
they were, less carnal than they were. But that just isn't so.
They were no more depraved than we are. They were no weaker than
we are. They are no more inclined to
unbelief than we are inclined to unbelief. And it is only our
shameful pride, our horrible, horrible continued self-righteousness
that makes us think we are better than they, or for that matter,
than anyone else. Nowhere is this more obvious
than in their unbelief and in ours. Let's read verse 9 together. And then I'll give you the message
of the chapter as it is built around this verse. And I believe
it is intentionally, or it is the intent of God's Spirit that
we understand the message of the chapter around this verse. And Moses spake unto the children
of Israel, but they hearkened not unto Moses. Now watch this. For anguish of spirit, for anguish
of heart, and for cruel bondage. Moses spoke all the great words
of God's grace to them, and they didn't believe him. But in the
last verse of chapter 4, when Moses came and told them the
Lord had visited his people, he had come down to redeem his
people, we're told when they heard that, they believed God
and worshipped him. They believed God, but here,
these same people did not believe him. Never was Israel in lower
condition than this. And you and I, as believers,
as men and women who believe God, who have been born of God's
Spirit, who have been called by His grace, who have believed
Him and worshiped Him, we are in our lowest condition when
we refuse to believe our God. And our unbelief is our refusal
to believe Him. Yet, it is a refusal that arises
for anguish of spirit, and cruel bondage making us incapable of
believing him. Moses spake unto the children
of Israel. Let's look at his message. These
men and women of Israel had been groaning under the yoke of cruel
bondage and oppression, and the Lord God heard their groans and
their cries and sent Moses, his servant, to deliver them. But
from the time that Moses came and announced to them that the
Lord had visited them to redeem them and bring them out of Egypt.
And they believed God and worshiped Him. From that moment, nothing
had happened except a continually increasing bondage, a continually
increasing affliction, a continually increasing cruelty in their experience. They complained to Pharaoh, and
they blamed Moses and Aaron. Though they blamed Moses and
Aaron, really they blamed God. for their hardship, for their
trials, for their afflictions. And Moses took the matter to
the Lord. And the Lord sent him to his people with a message
of grace. I hope we never fail to recognize
the consistency and the faithfulness and the immutability of God's
grace. He's come to redeem His people
out of Egypt, to bring them up out of the land of bondage, to
set them free. He's come in nothing but grace.
He proclaims His grace and they murmur and complain against Him.
And what does He do? He sends them another word of
grace. We have it in the first eight verses of this chapter.
It was a consoling, heart-cheering assurance, a message of redemption
and complete deliverance by God's own hand. God gave Moses his
message, and Moses delivered it faithfully, exactly as he
received it. What a message it was. It was
the gospel of God's free salvation, in and by Jesus Christ our Redeemer,
exactly the same message I preach to you three times a week. First,
Moses spoke to the children of Israel about their God. Look
at verse 2. And God spake unto Moses and
said unto him, I am the Lord, I am Jehovah, and I appeared
unto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by my name, by the name God Almighty,
but by my name Jehovah I was not known to them. Moses came
to them and he said, hear me, Hear me, children of Israel,
you who have murmured against God and murmured against His
servants, hear me. He who is your God is God indeed. He is El Shaddai. who came to Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, and made Himself known repeatedly as the mighty God. He is God all-sufficient, God
Almighty. And now He's appeared to me in
the bush and commands me to tell you His name is Jehovah, the
Lord who delivers, the Lord who saves, the Lord who redeems His
own. Your God, He is God indeed. But when He came to them, All
they could hear was the crack of the taskmaster's whip. I can
almost hear their response. I'm sure it was a silent response,
but I can almost hear it. God? You speak to us about God? Where is it? What we need is
strong for our bricks. We're standing knee deep in this
filthy mire in the Nile River, and we're beaten, and we're in
oppression, and we're in bondage, and you tell us about God? Where
is it? Where is it? The fact is, the
same is often the case with us. Why would they speak so? Why
would we? For anguish of spirit and cruel
bondage. That's not an excuse for my unbelief
or yours. It's just a statement of fact. I hear people, religious folks,
talk about the power of their faith and how strong they are
in faith. The fact is our lives are often
made bitter by trouble and bitter with toil and heartache, so bitter
that we are in anguish of spirit and cannot believe what we know
to be so. You see, knowing and believing
are two different things. Knowing and believing are two
different things. Faith is acting on what we know. Faith is acting on what we know. Moses tells the children of Israel
who God is and what he's promised. And they got it fixed firm. They know what he said. They're
in their minds confident of what he said. But they hearkened not
to his word. Did not believe. The fact is
my brother, my sister, There is an inheritance for us above
the grinding toil of this life. There is a portion infinitely
better than the killing care that seems to make our lives
a lives of wool. Let us not ever, because of the
heaviness of our lot at any time, refuse to hear God, our Maker,
our Benefactor, our Redeemer, our Savior. Turn to Psalm 106.
Let the history of Israel encourage us to believe, to hope against
hope. Here in Psalm 106, this psalm
is all about the history of Israel. The history of Israel which was
written of God for our instruction. The history of Israel that came
to pass, being a type and picture of our history, the history of
God's Israel. Psalm 106. Praise ye the Lord. O give thanks unto the Lord,
for he is good. For his mercy endureth forever.
Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? Who can show forth
all his praise? Blessed are they that keep judgment,
and he that doeth righteousness at all times. Remember me, O
Lord, with the favor that Thou bearest unto Thy people. Now,
remember those words as you read the rest of this. Oh, visit me
with thy salvation, that I may see the good of thy chosen, that
I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory
with thine inheritance. We have sinned with our fathers.
We have committed iniquity. We have done wickedly. That's
a pretty accurate summary. of my life and yours. Are you
talking about before we were believers? No. Now I'm talking
about since the day God saved us by his grace. We have sinned
with our fathers. We have committed iniquity. We
have done wickedly. Our fathers understood not thy
wonders in Egypt. They remembered not the multitude
of thy mercies, but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red
Sea. Even as they stood on the brink
of the Red Sea, Pharaoh having driven them out of Egypt, they
still provoked God by unbelief. Nevertheless, what a word, he
saved them. And this is the reason why his
name was at stake in it. He saved them for his name's
sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known. He
rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was dried up, so he led them
through the depths as through the wilderness. And he saved
them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them
from the hand of the enemy, and the waters covered their enemies.
There was not one of them left. Then believed they his words,
they sang his praise. But what's the next word? They
soon forgot his works. My God, forgive me. They waited
not for his counsel, but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness
and tempted God in the desert. What did they lust for in the
wilderness? Meat? You're not talking about carnal
lust of a sensual nature. They lusted for meat. That which
gave them pleasure and satisfaction on this earth. Garlics, onions. They lusted seedingly in the
wilderness and tempted God in the desert. And he gave them
what they asked for. He'll do that. He'll do that. But you can mark this down. This
is what he'll send with it. But sent leanness into their
soul. Look at verse 42. Their enemies
also oppressed them, and they were brought in subjection under
their hand. Many times did he deliver them, but they provoked
him with their counsel and were brought low for their iniquity.
There's that word again, nevertheless. He regarded their affliction
when he heard their cry, and he remembered for them his covenant. He says to us, remember my covenant. But here he remembered for them
his covenant and repented according to the multitude of his mercies.
He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them
captive, save us. O Lord our God, and gather us
from among the heathen to give thanks unto thy holy name, and
to triumph in thy praise. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel
from everlasting to everlasting, and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the Lord. Turn back
a couple of pages to Psalm 103. Bless the Lord, O my soul. and
all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord,
O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth all
thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth
thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with lovingkindness
and tender mercies." Now, notice the present tense of all these
things. Not just He has forgiven, He forgiveth. Not just He has
healed, He healeth. Not just He has redeemed, He
redeemeth. He forgives, He heals, He delivers,
and He crowns, crowns us day by day with lovingkindnesses
and tender mercies, who satisfieth thy mouth with good things. You
crave other things, He'll send you what you want. and send leanness
of soul, but oh, when he sends the good things of his grace,
he satisfies your mouth. Satisfy thy mouth with good things,
so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles. The Lord executeth
righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. He made
known his ways to Moses, his acts to the children of Israel.
The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous
in mercy. He will not always chide, neither
will he keep his anger forever. He hath not dealt with us after
our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the
heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward
them that fear him. As far as the east is from the
west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like
as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that
fear him. For he knoweth our frame, he
remembereth that we are dust." Back in Exodus chapter 6, the
first word of gospel grace is always this, Behold your God. He who is our God is God indeed,
El Shaddai, the great Jehovah who saves his own. After reminding
Israel of their God and Savior, Moses went on to tell them about
his covenant. And I have also established my
covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land
of their pilgrimage wherein they were strangers. Now I suspect,
I acknowledge I'm just guessing that this is true, for many,
if not most of those in the nation of Israel, they didn't have any
more idea of anything about God's covenant with Abraham than the
people of this generation do about God's covenant with Christ.
They were utterly ignorant of it. They may have had some notion
of the fact of it, but having any understanding of what was
entailed in that covenant, they knew nothing. And yet Moses spoke
to them about this covenant and reminds them of it again and
again and again, just as though they perfectly and clearly understood
that which he spoke. Why? Because when they ever believed
God, They would understand his works of grace. He didn't expect
them to understand, apart from believing. But believing God
knew that they would understand. I'm sure that to these people,
making bricks in Egypt without straw, being under the cruel
rod of that tyrant Pharaoh, being beaten day after day, made to
continually labor in vanity for nothing. I'm sure that to them,
the very thought that God had made with them, not just for
them, but with them. Yes, the triune God made with
us in His Son from old eternity of covenant order in all things
and sure. But I'm sure that when Moses
said, the Lord has made with you a covenant, they looked on
it as a laughable thing. Because everything they experienced
at the time defied that declaration. Everything they experienced,
as far as their eyes could see, defied that declaration. So it
is with you and me. Often our experience puts us
in such anguish of spirit, such heaviness of heart, such cruel
bondage that the very thought of God Almighty doing all things
exactly according to the orderly arrangement of an eternal covenant
of grace in which He blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ and by which He continually does
us good To hear it, we'd never say it. Oh no, we'd never say
it and we shouldn't. We ought to guard our lips. But
in our hearts, we think to ourselves, that just can't be. Don't be
so foolish. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God to them who are thee
called according to his purpose. And his purpose is the everlasting
salvation of his chosen. Do you mean, Brother Don, that
everything God's elect experience in this world is that which is
absolutely necessary for their everlasting good and God's glory? Why would I ever think otherwise?
And yet, how often I do. I used to take my daughter, bend
her over my knee, and administer severe pain. And I highly recommend
that you fathers do the same with your children. If you don't,
you're a fool. You're an absolute fool. I administered
horrible pain. Folks would look at me and they'd
say, oh, what a terrible thing. But I wasn't concerned about
what other folks thought. And I would say to her every
time I paddled, and never one time, not one time, that I ever
paddled a child or hit her when I was angry with her. I waited
until that was over because I wanted her to know I wasn't angry with
her. And I'd set her down and hold her on my lap and tell her
my reasons for paddling her every time. From the time she was just
a little tight, every time. And she'd look up at me and she'd
say, I know. And you know what I knew? She
didn't know. She didn't have a clue. She really
thought I was mad at her. She really thought my daddy who
loves me is angry with me. Now she understands. God teach me to understand now. All that he does, even in the
most severe pain, in the greatest heartache, in the most confusing
circumstances, in the heaviest trials, he does only because
of his covenant, only because of his goodness. Goodness and
mercy, my brother, goodness and mercy, my sister, have followed
you all the days of your life. And they chased you right into
the arms of the Savior. And I'm here to tell you once
more, goodness and mercy, those twin hounds of heaven will chase
you forevermore until they chase you at last into heavenly glory. Look at Exodus 6.5. Moses went
on to tell them something else. He reminded them of God's great
goodness in his pity toward them. And I have also heard the groaning
of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage,
and I have remembered my covenant. The prophet Isaiah said, in all
their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence
saved them. In his love and in his pity he redeemed them, and
he bared them and carried them all the days of old. Yet when
the hand of God lays heavy on our hearts, we find it hard,
if not impossible, to believe he pities us. Oh, we've got the
idea firmly fixed in our heads. I've had the doctrine right for
a long time. But I'm going to tell you what, being able to
recite the doctrine is of no consolation to my soul if I can't
believe my God. They had it firmly fixed in their
heads, but still, anguish of spirit shuts out the word from
their hearts. Was it his pity? and not his
anger, his mercy and not his wrath? Was it the remembrance
of his covenant and not the remembrance of our transgressions that moved
Joseph's brethren to sell him into bondage? Well, that doesn't
look much like mercy. It does now, doesn't it? Was it his pity that made David's
bones wax old through his roaring all the day long, day and night
for a year? Was it his pity that made his
hand heavy, O David, and turned his moisture into the drought
of summer? Read Psalm 32 and hear David
say, yes, it was his pity. Was it his pity? that said to
Peter, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you
as wheat. And I'm going to let him do it.
Was it his pity that put Peter in Satan's hand to sift him,
to run him through the sieve? Was it his pity that sent Peter
into such great heaviness and sorrow? Listen to Peter's words. And hear him declare, yes, it
was his pity. Was it his pity when Paul cried
to him three times that he would remove this thorn in the flesh,
Satan, who was sent to beat him in the face lest he be lifted
up above measure? Was it his pity that said, no? Read Paul's testimony and hear
him say, yes, for he has declared, my grace is sufficient for thee.
Is it his pity that leaves us in this body of flesh to mourn
and struggle with our corruptions of heart and our sins as long
as we live in this world? Yes, it is. You recall in Genesis
25, when Rebekah found two nations struggling in her womb, she asked
the Lord, why am I thus? And I often ask the same thing.
My God, why is this heart so hard? Why is my faith so filled
with unbelief? Why am I so cold, so dead, so
indifferent to everything that ought to inspire my soul with
life and so alive to everything I ought to be dead to? Why? Why
am I thus? And the answer is given clearly
in God's Word. He will have us ever to know
that the only thing that makes us any different from anybody
else at any time in any circumstances is his distinguishing grace. That's all. That's all. He would
have us to understand and never forget that the only ground of
our acceptance with him The only acceptance we have with him,
the only salvation we have is the righteousness and blood of
his darling son. Nothing else except Christ. And he would have us never to
be content with ourselves. Never, never. Just as soon as
you begin to think you have arrived at anything, spiritual, you're
headed for trouble. No, you're already in trouble.
Just as soon as you begin to think that you have arrived at
any measure of strength, at any measure of superiority, at any
measure with which you can look now and say, now, now, look at
me, look at me, oh God, look in the mirror, now you've got
something you can trust in. I've got someone to trust in.
But it's all together outside my flesh. My hope is Jesus Christ
the Lord, Him and Him alone. And then in verses 6 through
8, Moses told Israel the very same thing that the Lord Jesus
told Paul in 1 Corinthians 12. He said, My grace is sufficient
for thee. Look at what he said. I'll just give you the highlights.
You can read it later. He said, I'll bring you out from under
the burdens of the Egyptians. Whatever your present trouble
is, hear me, ransomed sinners, blood-bought souls, hear me.
God Almighty will bring you out of this burden, whatever it is. I will rid you out of their bondage. I won't just bring you out of
it, I will rid you from any sense of bondage. I will redeem you,
and I'll do it all myself with a stretched out arm and with
great judgments. I will take you to be for a people,
and I will be to you a God. And when I get done, you shall
know that I am the Lord your God. You will know that I am
Jehovah your God. I am Jehovah, your God, who brought
you out of the mess you're in. In all these things, Moses was
commanded to remind God's chosen of His determination and His
resolve to do them good, to redeem them, to deliver them. When God
says, I will, He means it. We ought to depend on Him. He
doesn't ask for our permission. He doesn't wait for our help.
His, I will, is putting omnipotence in words. God said, I will. It shall be done. That's all. When God says, I will, that's
it. Still, after all this, in verse
9, hearing all these things, the children of Israel hearken
not to Moses for anguish of spirit. and cruel bondage. They could
not believe Moses because their faith had been disappointed in
the immediate experience of things. They believed God. Exodus 4.31. When they heard the message of
grace, they bowed their heads, they worshiped God, they believed.
How far are we going out of this place? We're going home! But
they didn't. They didn't. They stayed in Egypt
for a good while yet. They stayed there for a good
while yet. And they didn't enter into the land of promise for
a good while after that. They believed. And they were
excited on the very tiptoe of things, expecting to walk out
of Egypt that day. And they only found their misery
and their bondage increased. I think you can enter into this.
I know exactly what they felt. Like Job of old, I will not refrain
my mouth. I will speak in the anguish of
my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness
of my soul. Trouble and anguish have taken
hold on me, the psalmist said. I find life in this body of flesh.
to be the land of trouble and anguish from whence come the
young and the old line, the viper and the fiery flying serpent.
Solomon said, hope deferred maketh the heart sick. Moses came and told Israel all
these things and still they believed not. Because their hearts were
consumed with their present circumstances in this world. Consumed with
their own sales, and their own bitterness, and their own pain,
and their own trouble. They just couldn't believe. They
just couldn't believe. Well, how did God respond to
that? How did he deal with them? Like I said the other night,
Back in the office he was speaking in jest, but speaking truth. Referring to me, he said, I'm
sure glad he's not God. You have good reason to be. I
wouldn't respond like God did. As a matter of fact, reading
this passage, I expect God to say things he didn't say. I expect
him to do things he didn't do. What does he do? Does he scold
them? Does he abrade them? Does he
say to Moses and Aaron, wash your hands of this people and
go your way to another people? No, no. What he did was to give
them more good news. The chapter began with God's
declaration to these people of his salvation. And then verse
9, we're told that they hearkened not to Moses' words because of
the anguish of their spirits and the cruelty of their bondage.
Israel's inability to believe Moses' message arose from the
fact that they were bound by oppression to their oppressions. And yet, blessed be our God,
His promise of grace and His performance of it did not in
any way wait on them, and did not in any way depend on them. As a matter of fact, it looks
as though the Lord just ignored their inability and their refusal,
remembering they were but dust like us. In fact, if you were
to read these 30 verses here in Exodus chapter 6, I would
suggest you do it. Go home and read these 30 verses,
leaving verse 9 out. Just leave it out. Leave it out.
And then read it again as it stands in the book of inspiration,
because God intends for you to see it. But if you read these
30 verses, leaving out verse 9, you won't miss it at all.
You won't miss it at all. The story is unchanged. The message
is unchanged. The passage began with God's
declaration of grace. And from verse 10 to verse 30,
it continues with God's declaration of grace. You see, the grace
of God, blessed be His name, is in no way dependent on us,
altered by us, helped by us, or hindered by us. I cannot imagine
how to tell you how very thankful I am to declare that. The Lord told Moses to go to
Pharaoh and tell him, let my people go, in chapter 6 verse
1. Chapter 7 verse 2, he reissued
the same commission and gave Moses and Aaron exactly the same
marching orders. He said, nothing's changed. You
go tell Pharaoh, let my people go. And Pharaoh said, I won't
do that. I won't do that. No, sir. And
God's response to that, beginning in verse 14, He made a list of
names. I read this and scratched my
chin. He said, Don, how are you going to deal with this? How
on earth are you going to preach anything from this list of names?
He talked about the children of Levi and Simeon and others. He made a whole list of names.
And he said to Moses, carry this roster into Pharaoh. Take it
in there. There's the names. Lindsay Campbell,
Rex Bartley, Don Fortner, Bob Duff. Take that list of names
into Pharaoh, shove it in his face, and tell him I said there's
a book written before the world began with their names right
there. And every one of them are coming
out of Egypt. Every one of them are coming
out of Egypt. And Moses carried the list of
Pharaoh, and every one of them came out of Egypt, exactly as
God has said. Now, let me send you home with
one word. God, forgive my unbelief, yet
rejoice, O my soul, for if we believe not... Can you finish? If we believe
not, he abideth faithful. He cannot deny himself. The foundation of God stands
sure. Having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. He's
written the names in a book. And they shall enter into life
everlasting. in the Songs of Grace book number
124.