The scriptures instruct us in
the gospel in so many, many ways. In the Old Testament, we're given
instruction by type, by prophecy, by illustration, one after the
other. In the New Testament gospel narratives,
our Lord Jesus declared the gospel to us and illustrated it with
numerous parables. In the book of Acts and in the
New Testament epistles, God the Holy Spirit, through the writings
of inspired men, explains to us in detail that which our Lord
Jesus taught while he walked on this earth. He takes the things
of Christ and shows them to us. Tonight I want us to go back
to the basics, the very ABCs of the gospel. Turn with me,
if you will, to Exodus chapter 4. Using the typical deliverance
of Israel out of Egyptian bondage, I want to show you God's method
of grace as it is presented to us throughout the scriptures.
The title of my message is, How is Deliverance Accomplished?
And deliverance is always accomplished basically the same way. It always
involves these seven things that I'll show you this evening. On
his way to Egypt, God met Moses in an inn and sought to kill
him because he had not circumcised one of his sons. Let's pick it
up in verse 24. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone
and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at his feet and
said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. So he let him
go. Then she said, A bloody husband
thou art. because of the circumcision.
And the Lord said to Aaron, go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went and met him in the
mount of God and kissed him. And Moses told Aaron all the
words of the Lord who had sent him and all the signs which he
had commanded him. And Moses and Aaron went and
gathered together all the elders of Israel, of the children of
Israel. And Aaron spake all the words
which the Lord had spoken unto Moses. And he did the signs in
the sight of the people. And the people believed when
they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel,
and that he had looked upon their affliction, and they bowed their
heads and worshipped." Now, here we're given a clear, instructive
picture of the deliverance of our souls by the hand of God's
almighty grace. And there are seven things here
I want to show you very simply. You'll see them clearly as we
move along. Salvation begins with a gracious God. That's where
it begins. Salvation starts with the will
of God. Indeed, everything starts with
the will of God who declares, I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. Turn to Romans the ninth chapter.
Israel went into Egypt according to the will of God. God told
Abraham long before ever they set foot in the land that he
would send his children down to Egypt for 400 years. They stayed in Egypt for 400
years according to the will of God. And they came out of Egypt
on the selfsame day that God had ordained according to the
will of God. Now this all applies to the salvation
of our souls. Indeed, it happened according
to God's purpose to be a picture of the salvation of our souls
by the hand of His grace. And that's exactly how God the
Holy Spirit explains what happened here in Romans chapter 9. Let's
begin in verse 8 of Romans 9. I'll just read the passage to
you. They which are the children of the flesh These are not the
children of God. Now, it could not be stated more
plainly than that. Those who are Israelites after
the flesh, these are not the children of God. Just because
folks are born of Abraham, stop, doesn't make them God's children.
We don't. But the children of the promise
are counted for the seed. Brother Darwin just asked me
about passage in Psalm 22, and back we were discussing a little
bit the very last two verses of the psalm. The prophet says
a seed shall serve the Lord Jesus Christ. This is that seed. The
children of promise, these are counted for the seed. Verse 9.
For this is the word of promise, at this time will I come and
Sarah shall have a son. And not only this, but when Rebecca
also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, for the
children being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand, not of works, but of him that calleth." Now notice that
all of verse 11 is a parenthetical statement. A parenthetical statement
is an explanatory note right in the middle of a sentence or
paragraph. Paul tells us that this is the word of promise.
Now, let me explain the promise, he says. The children being not
yet born, neither having done any good or evil, this is why
this happened with Sarah and with Rebecca, that the purpose
of God, according to election, might stand not of works, but
of him that calleth. It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? How many
times do you have folks when you try to talk to them about
God's sovereignty, well, that's not right. What shall we say
then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
And he moves right on to the drowning of Pharaoh. For the
scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have
I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that
my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath
he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why
doth he yet find fault? Well, if that's the way that
is, how can God find fault with us? How many times do you hear
folks say that? That's just exactly the opinion
of all natural men who are rebels against God. Shall the thing
formed say that he, or nay, old man, I'm sorry, back up. Thou
wilt say then to me, why did he yet find fault? For who hath
resisted his will? Nay, but old man, who art thou
that replies against God? Who are you? Who am I to call
into question the character, the being, the will, or the work
of God? If he's God, and he is, all things
are subject to his will, and he is answerable to none. Read
on. Shall the thing form, say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the
potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel
unto honour, and another to dishonour? What is God willing to show his
wrath, and to make his power known, and deal with much long-suffering,
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction? That's exactly what
he does. He endures with much long-suffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, not long-suffering
toward them, for the long-suffering of our God is salvation. But
he endures them with much long-suffering toward his elect, not willing
that any should perish, any of his elect, but that all should
come to repentance and knowledge of the truth. Verse 23, And that
he might make known the riches of his glory, on the vessels
of mercy which he had aforeprepared unto glory, even us whom he hath
called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles." Salvation
begins with the will of God. The deliverance of our souls
is according to the purpose of God Almighty in eternal predestination
in sovereign election. Were it not for God's election,
no one would ever be saved. Were it not for divine predestination,
there would be no such thing as God's saving grace. We begin
where the scriptures begin, in the beginning, God. That's where
salvation begins. But God's purpose alone, is not
the full salvation of our souls. Yes, we are saved according to
the purpose of God. Yes, we were saved by the decree
of God. Yes, we were saved from eternity. But God's purpose is not the
whole revelation of his grace. There is something else required.
It is necessary that we have a blood sacrifice. This is what
is portrayed for us in the letting of blood here in the circumcision
of Moses' son. Without shedding of blood is
no remission. Without shedding of blood is
no remission. Sometimes people trying to maintain
God's sovereignty make some ridiculous statements. Arthur Pinck in his
outstanding book on the atonement, outstanding except for one thing,
he declared that God could have saved sinners without the sacrifice
of His Son. trying to defend God's sovereignty.
Now listen to me. We don't have to defend anything
about God. God Almighty did not sacrifice
his son at Calvary for nothing. Christ did not die in vain. Had there been some other way
by which sinners could be saved, Jesus Christ would not have died. But God slew his son under his
holy wrath because justice must be satisfied. He cannot be our
Savior except he be our Savior in justice, that he be a just
God and a Savior. Last week when Brother Mahan
preached to you on Sunday morning, he made reference to Romans chapter
3. Turn there again and look at it if you will. The only way
justice could ever be satisfied for sin and for is by the sacrifice
of Jesus Christ in our room instead. Romans 3.25, Paul is beginning
to explain to us the very basic principles of justification.
We are justified freely by his grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. To us it is free, but it cost
our Savior dear, whom God, verse 25, had sent forth to be a propitiation
The word is an atonement, a reconciliation, a perpetuatory sacrifice. It's
the word commonly translated mercy seat in the New Testament.
God sent him forth to be a justice satisfying sacrifice and place
of mercy through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness. Do you see that? God sacrificed
his son to reveal his righteousness for the remission of sins that
have passed through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at
this time, his righteousness for this purpose, that he might
be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."
You recall back in Daniel chapter 6, Daniel was greatly loved there
as the king. And Darius was hoodwinked by
some folks who pretended to love him. They wanted to find an occasion
against Daniel. And so they had Darius make a
decree sealed with the seal of the Medes and the Persians, a
decree that could not be altered. And they said, now king, you
built a great statue. and require that everybody worship
at this statue. And you make this decree that
anyone who refuses to bow down and worship at this statue shall
be thrown into the den of lions." And of course, Darryl said, well,
that's good. That's good. And he signed the decree. And
those fellows went out and found Daniel. Daniel was not like the
preachers of our day. He would have been all right
if he had just kept the blinds closed. Just keep things in secret. But
he opened his window toward Jerusalem and began to pray, knowing full
well what he was doing. And the word came to Darius the
king. And now Darius is in a dilemma. The scripture tells us he paced
the floor all night long. He wanted to find a way to deliver
Daniel because he loved Daniel. But he found no way. He found
no way. Daniel must go to the den of
lions. He must be cast into that furious
den, cast away into death. And so he was. And that's exactly
what happened with us. The Lord God in old eternity
found a way to ransom our souls and said when he looked upon
his son, deliver him from going down to the pit. Talking about
you. For I have found a ransom, and that ransom is Jesus Christ.
The only way God in justice can forgive a sinner is to punish
the sinner. The only way God in justice can
save a sinner is to damn the sinner. The only way God in justice
can purge iniquity is to punish iniquity. Well, he can't do both. Oh, yes he can, in an all-sufficient
justice satisfying, infinite substitute, Jesus Christ our
Redeemer. And that's exactly what happened
at Calvary. We were cast into the den of
lions, and we suffered the wrath of God in our substitute to the
full satisfaction of divine justice. Now this is what's portrayed
back here in Exodus chapter 4, in the circumcision of Moses'
son. Verses 24, 25, and 26. Moses
would not deliver Israel out of Egypt until the sentence of
death had been passed upon him experimentally. He must have
the sentence of death inscribed on his heart by the hand of God. He had to learn this thing as
well. Here he's called to learn this
deep, deep thing with regard to circumcision, before the law
of circumcision was ever given. God gave it to Abraham in covenant,
but the law had not yet been given. There's no light matter
to God's servant here. No ordinary thing is about to
take place. Moses is here confronted by God
himself in the end because of something with regard to nature
and flesh and the affections of the flesh. Moses knew the
command of God. He knew that which God had revealed
to Abraham, and yet because of his love for Zipporah, because
of his affection for Zipporah, because of his love of his flesh,
he refused to obey. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 1,
we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should
not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead. And
every servant of God must learn something about this, as Moses
did in the end. Moses was sent by God to declare
a solemn message to Pharaoh. He said, The Lord God of Israel
declares, Israel is my son, even my firstborn. And I say unto
thee, let my son go, that he may serve me. And if thou refuse
to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn. His message was a message of
judgment and death to Pharaoh. And yet that same message was
a message of life and salvation to Israel. But the man who speaks
on God's behalf must himself experience both by the hand of
God. This is what Moses experienced.
It came to pass, by the way, in the end, that the Lord met
him and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp knife,
a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast
it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to
me." That is, a bloody husband thou to me. And so he let him
go, and she said, A bloody husband because of the circumcision. It's evident that Sephora, up
to this point, shrunk from the application of the knife to that
around which nature entwined its affection. She had avoided
that mark of distinction that had to be sent in the flesh of
every Israelite. She wasn't aware that her relationship
to Moses was a relationship involving more than an oath. She wasn't
aware that her relationship to Moses was a relationship involving
more than just saying, I'll marry this man. Her relationship to
Moses was a relationship that involved death, death to nature. death to the flesh, and she recoiled
from it, just as we all do. But Moses yielded to Zipporah,
and now the Lord met him in the end, and Zipporah discovers that
if she doesn't circumcise this boy, If she doesn't do that which
the flesh abhors, that which the flesh hates, if she doesn't
make this sacrifice, God's going to kill her husband. And Moses
is informed that if he doesn't compel her to do so, the Lord's
going to kill him. And so he has the sentence of
death written upon his whole household. Here they are. Either
hate your father and your mother and your son and your daughter,
or I will slay. That's exactly what our Lord
requires of all who trust Him. Exactly what it requires. If
any man come to me and hate not his mother, and his father, and
his brother, and his sister, yea, and his own life also, he
cannot be my disciple. What does that mean? Hate them. Hate them. What did God do when
He declares, Esau have I hated? Read the book. What did God do?
What did He do? He gave no consideration to Esau. That's what the word means. Here
I am confronted with the claims of Christ my Lord, and I am compelled,
if I would follow him, if I would believe him, if I would be his
disciple, to give no consideration to that lady there with regard
to obedience to him. That's exactly what he's talking
about. And no consideration to me. Yea, in his own life also. Zipporah is an instructive picture
of God's church. She was married to Moses and
united to Moses, but their union could not be complete until she
was reconciled to Moses by blood. He must be made a bloody husband
to her, and so it is with us. Though espoused to Christ, married
to Christ, united to Christ, one with Christ from eternity,
we must be conformed to his death and conformed to him in his death.
Turn, if you will, to Colossians Chapter 2. Paul counted all things
but loss. For this reason, he said, that
I might know him in the power of his resurrection and in the
fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his
death. We must mortify our members which
are on the earth. Take up the cross daily and follow
Christ. Our relationship with him is
a relationship founded on blood. And the manifestation of the
power of that relationship necessarily involves death to nature. A lot
of folks talk about mortifying the flesh. And they talk about,
you know, you do without this and you do without that. Do everything
contrary to your natural, physical appetites. That's got nothing
to do with it. That's got nothing to do with
it. Let's talk about mortify the flesh. Put off the flesh.
Look here in Colossians 2 verse 10. And you are complete in him. which is the head of all principality
and power, in whom also you are circumcised," not you have been
circumcised, you are circumcised, "...with the circumcision made
without hands, in putting off the body of sins of the flesh,"
now watch this, "...by the circumcision of Christ." What was circumcision? It was the cutting away of the
filth of the flesh. And when Jesus Christ died in
our room instead at Calvary, he fulfilled what was symbolized
by circumcision, cutting off the body of sins of the flesh. And having been circumcised by
him, now we're buried with him in baptism, wherein also you're
risen with him through faith of the operation of God, who
hath raised him from the dead. The sin-atoning sacrifice, the
blood sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ is that circumcision made
without hands which is the putting off of the body of the sins of
the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. That by which the
filth of the flesh has been forever put away so that now in him,
Paul says, you are complete. We have full remission. We have
full, perfect acceptance. We have full standing with God
just as He does in the same favor He has because we have been circumcised
with Him. So that now we stand with Him
in all the fullness of His glory. And the Spirit of God says you
are complete in Him. Now listen to me. That's the
starting point of faith. That's the starting point of
faith. He doesn't say you shall be complete, you must strive
to be complete, you must beat yourselves to be complete, you
must do this to be complete. Believe Him and every believer
is complete in Him. That's the starting point of
faith and that's the finishing point of faith. The completeness
of our bloody sacrifice, our bloody husband is ours. It's
not something that we seek after, but rather it is that which we
possess, so that we are one with Christ, exactly as Christ, in
a changeless condition of completeness. The body of sins of our flesh
has been put off forever. The believer is not in the flesh. Read Romans 8. He said you're
not in the flesh. But I live in this body of flesh.
The flesh is in us. We're not in the flesh. Sin is
in us, but it's not on us. Our Redeemer has put off the
body of sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ and
brings us near to God. So that we can say with the hymn
writer, near, so very near to God, nearer, I cannot be, for
in the person of his Son I am as near as he. We are made nigh
by the blood of Christ. Paul wrote in Hebrews 2, both
he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of
one. You're complete in him. That
fact settles every question, answers every objection, silences
every doubt. I am one with Christ, accepted
in the Beloved, complete in Him. And now, in this blessed experience
of grace, I have the love of God, the grace of God, the mercy
of God, the salvation of God revealed in me. Now, I'm back
to our text again. This sweet experience of grace
comes to us by a revealing prophet. I won't ask you to turn there,
but in Deuteronomy 18, Moses spoke to the children of Israel
and described himself as that prophet who typified the Lord
Jesus Christ, that prophet God would send, whom God's Israel
would hear. He said, God's going to raise
up to you a prophet like me, and him you shall hear. He didn't
say him you ought to hear, he said him you shall hear. And
obviously, Governor, he wasn't talking to those folks who Abraham's
physical seed. He was talking about the seed
who shall serve him. They shall hear this prophet,
because this is God's prophet raised up for them, who is Jesus
Christ the Lord, by whom and in whom alone God is revealed. The will of God is revealed.
The purpose of God is revealed. The salvation of God is revealed.
He is the Word. The Word made flesh who dwelt
among us, whose glory we beheld as of the glory of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. And in Him God is
unveiled. God is made known. So that as
Moses comes to Israel in the land of Egypt and declares to
them the will of God, While they're still in this land of bondage,
he declares to them that which God purposed and promised and
performed before ever they were born. So Jesus Christ comes by
the revelation of his grace and makes known to chosen sinners
the will of God, his promise, his purpose, his performance.
But there's something else required. The fourth thing is that we cannot
be saved. We can't be saved without a gracious
God. And we can't be saved without a bloody sacrifice. And we can't
be saved without a revealing prophet. And we can't be saved
without a mediating priest. Look at verse 27. We must have
a priest, a priest who is both God and man. And that priest
is our Lord Jesus Christ, the only mediator between God and
men. You'll notice in verse 27 that
Aaron The mediating priest, whom God raised up to be a type of
Christ our priest, met Moses, who symbolizes the law, and I
love the way he met him. He came to the mount of God and
kissed him. Look at it, verse 27. The Lord
said to Aaron, go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went and
met him in the Mount of God, met him at Mount Horeb, the very
place to which God would bring Moses again in just a little
while and reveal his law, and kissed him. That's what the Lord
Jesus Christ did for us. He met the law. He met the justice
of God. He met the wrath of God. He met
the holiness of God. He met the purity of God. He
met God in all the glory of his being at Mount Sinai and kissed
the very soul of justice as he took it into his heart and magnified
the law and made it honorable by the sacrifice of himself.
And now he bleeds the honored law by his sacrifice before God
in heaven. And he pleads the honored law
by his sacrifice in our own hearts, giving us peace. But still there's
something more. Deliverance must be proclaimed. Israel did not come out of Egypt
until Moses and Aaron, the law of God and the priest of God,
were sent to proclaim deliverance by the power of God. Look at
verse 29. Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the
elders of the children of Israel, and Aaron spake all the words
which the Lord had spoken unto Moses. Aaron, the mediating priest,
declares all the righteous will of God given to Moses, and did
the signs in the sight of the people. Now, hear this and hear
it well. There is no salvation bestowed
upon any apart from the preaching of the gospel. It pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Folks
say, well, you're putting yourself in the place of God's sovereignty
to interfere with God's sovereignty. No, I'm declaring what God revealed
in His Word. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the Word of God. We are born again by the Word
of God. The Word of God. And this is
the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. God the
Holy Spirit takes the preached word and pierces the hearts of
chosen sinners, giving them life and faith in Christ. I just told
the men about an article I read just this week. A fellow I've
known for a long time, Bob Dickey, up in Grand Block, Michigan. About an hour and a half from
where Brother Jim Byrd pastors. Bob's been pastoring up there
for Twenty-three or twenty-four years, I can't remember which.
Asheville congregation, just about the size of ours, maybe
a little smaller. And like us, over the years, saw a few folks
converted and baptized, just continually preached the gospel
of God's grace. Brother Bill Clark used to go
up there every year. When he would come down to visit us, he'd leave
here and go up to visit with Brother Dickey. 1997, God was pleased to save
an engineer at General Motors who Soon gave up his career at
General Motors and started a marketing business of some kind. I don't
know what it was. But anyway, he'd get together these seminars
and invite folks in. They paid fees, I presume. And
there'd be a bunch of them. Well, after the second or third
year, he decided to do something a little unusual. Decided to
do something a little unusual. He invited everybody who came
to stay over Saturday night to hear his pastor preach on Sunday
morning. Thousand people who came to that marketing, and much
to his surprise, 500 of them took him up on his offer, stayed
for services. Heard the man preach the gospel
of God's grace, and God saved a good many of them. Went out
to different places, came back, brought others with him. Now
there are quite a few churches scattered around that are congregations
without pastors that Bob is ministering to in what ways he can until
God's pleased to raise up pastors. That congregation, Now he preaches
normally to 400 folks on Sunday morning, and those folks leave
and he preaches 400 more who come in after them. How come?
Because one man dared to invite men to hear the gospel of God's
grace. Oh, my brothers and sisters,
do what God gives you opportunity to do to cause folks to come
under the sound of the gospel. This gospel, Paul said, I'm not
ashamed of it. It is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believes. It is the dynamite, the explosive
power of God giving life to sinners. But still there's something else
required. We're told in verse 31 that when the people heard
the message of deliverance from the mouths of God's servants,
the people believed. Do you mean sinners must believe
in order to be saved? Absolutely. Absolutely. Well,
that makes salvation a work of man. Not hardly. Faith is the
gift of God. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath everlasting life. That's the scripture. The Philippian
jailer cried, sir, what must I do to be saved? And Paul and
Silas said, you've asked the wrong question, you legalist.
No, they didn't. They said, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. No sinner, redemption,
election, and predestination notwithstanding, no sinner is
saved without faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. Is that clear
enough? Faith is that by which we lay hold of him. Faith is
that woman with an issue of blood who comes and says, if I could
just touch the hem of his garment, I'll be made whole. And she didn't
just say it, she touched him. And when she touched him, virtue
went out of him. And the Lord Jesus said, who
touched me? I could see virtue is going out of me. How do you
explain that? I really don't know how to explain that, but
I know certain it's so. Every sinner who touches him.
receives from him all the virtue that he is as our mediator. Now, look at the text one more
time. There's one more thing required.
This faith, as I said a moment ago, is the gift of God. The gospel is the power of God,
but only when this preaching of the gospel is accompanied
by a divine visitation. Moses and Aaron came in verses
30 and 31 and spoke the words that God had spoken to Moses,
now watch this, and did the signs in the sight of the people. Moses,
take your rod and throw it on the ground. became a serpent.
He could pick it up again. That's the power by which the
Son of God delivers his people. The power that executes all things
according to his will. Even Satan's movement upon the
earth. He's in my power. Moses, stick
your hand in here at your heart. Take it out. See how leprous
it is. Stick it in again. That's the
power of my grace that makes me in white as snow. Moses poured
some water on the ground. It becomes blood. That's judgment
by my hand. My blood poured out upon the
earth for the sacrifice of sin and the blood of sinners poured
out in judgment who refused to hear my voice. And God performed
the signs. When Christ comes with his word
in the power of his Spirit, It's called the Day of Divine Visitation. And the Lord says when that day
comes, men and women will say, behold, God is my salvation. It shall be said in that day,
Lord, this is our God. We have waited for Him. He will
save us. This is the Lord. We have waited
for Him. We will be glad and rejoice in
His salvation. I ask you, as we gather together,
Pray, oh, pray that God may be pleased to meet with us by His
Spirit and make His Word effectual to your heart and the hearts
of others who hear it. Pray that God will be pleased
to give me His message of deliverance to your soul for the comfort
of His people and the glory of His name. These things was required. if ever deliverance is bestowed
upon man, a gracious God, a blood sacrifice, a revealing prophet,
a mediating priest, a preached gospel, a believing people, and
a divine visitation. Our God, O our God, will you
be pleased to make your word effectual to the hearts of these
whom you've gathered to hear it? Will you be pleased to use
us together for the glory of our Redeemer and the increase
of your kingdom. For Christ's sake I pray, amen.