Would you turn with me to Exodus
chapter 2. Verse 13. And he, Moses, went out the second
day. Behold, two men of the Hebrews
strove together, and he said unto them that did the wrong,
wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? And he said, Who made thee a
prince and a judge over us? Intendest thou to kill me as
thou killed the Egyptian? And Moses feared and said, Surely
this thing is known. I've entitled this message Why
I trust the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, somebody may be thinking,
where in the world are you getting that subject out of that book
of Scripture? Well, I hope that you'll see by the end of this
message, but my goal in this message is for you to leave this
place actually trusting the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, wouldn't that
be a blessing if you leave this place trusting the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ? Faith is trusting Jesus Christ,
the Lord, to save me. It really is that simple. It's
not believing that I'm saved. A lot of folks when they think
of faith, they think, well, you've got to believe you're saved.
Never doubt your salvation. You've got to think you're saved.
You've got to believe you're saved. Now, you can believe you're saved
and not be. Faith is not believing that you personally are saved. Faith is believing that He is
the Savior. And you trust Him as your salvation. You trust the person of Christ
to save you. Faith is described as looking
to Him. It's described as coming to Him.
It's described as believing on Him. There is no salvation without
faith. You know, the Lord made this
statement, Thy faith hath saved thee. Go in peace. You and I will not trust him,
actually trust him and rely on him. And that's what faith is.
It's actually relying on him. You and I will not trust and
rely upon him unless we have a good reason to. I must have
some understanding of why I should trust him before I will trust
him. To say, trust Christ without
telling who he is and why I should trust him is meaningless at best,
isn't it? Trust Christ, trust Christ. Well,
I can say that until I'm blue in the face and that won't do
anybody any good. I must know why I am to trust
him and rely upon him. Now, if a man came up to you
off the street that you did not know and said, I want you to
trust me. with your life savings. Would
you do it? Of course not. You wouldn't even
dream of doing it. You'd have to know somebody.
And you'd have to know something of their trustworthiness, why
you could trust them before you would do something like that. You must believe them to be trustworthy. Now, the Lord uses this book
we call the Bible. To teach us who he is so that
we will trust him. You know, if you know Christ,
you will trust him. You will trust him if you don't. Turn
with me for a moment to John chapter 20. How am I going to get to know
the Lord Jesus Christ? I mean, he's he's in heaven. He's not here on earth. How can
I know him? He's a he's. Live 2000 years
ago was written. How can I know him? Well, you
can know him. You can actually know him through his word. He
makes himself known. He speaks through his word and
through his word. You and I can actually come to
know him and have a relationship with him and trust him. I look here in John, Chapter
20. He tells us why we have the Bible in this passage of scripture
in verse 30. John, Chapter 20, verse 30. And many other signs truly did
Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written
in this book, but these are written recorded in the scriptures that
you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that believing you might have life through his name. Exodus chapter two. And he went
out the second day, and when he went out the second day, behold,
two men of the Hebrews strove together and said to him that
did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? And he, the
one who did the wrong, said, Who made thee a prince and a
judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you
killed the Egyptian? And Moses feared and said, Surely
this thing is known. Now let's go over to Acts chapter
7. And look at the New Testament account of what took place. Acts
chapter 7. This is Stephen preaching. Acts
chapter 7, beginning in verse 26. Here's Stephen's record. Verse 26, And the next day he
showed himself unto them, Moses, as they strove, and would have
set them at once again, saying, Sirs, your brethren, Why do you
wrong one another? But he that did his neighbor
wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge
over us? Who gave you this authority to
where you would be a ruler and you would be a judge? Will you
kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday? Then fled Moses at
this saying, and he was a stranger in the land of Midian, where
he beget two sons. Now look in verse 35. This Moses,
whom they refused saying, Who may be a ruler and a judge? The same did God send to be a
ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared
to him in the bush. He brought them out. Look in verse 37. This is that
Moses which said unto the children of Israel, a prophet shall the
Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me.
Him shall you hear. Now, obviously, Moses is a type
of Christ. He says a prophet shall the Lord
God raise up just like me. He is the one you're going to
hear. So we see from that passage of scripture that Moses is a
type of picture, an illustration of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
if you and I can learn Christ as He is revealed in this type,
we will leave this place trusting Him. Wouldn't that be a blessing?
To actually trust God the Son. To actually know Him and believe
on Him and to actually trust Him. You know what it is to trust
somebody? When you trust somebody to do something for you and you
have confidence in them, won't it be a blessing? when we leave
this place actually trusting the Son of God. I'm glad you
picked out that song, simply trusting every day. I pray that
God will enable us to do just that. Now, I want us to focus
on these three words found in verse 35 of Acts chapter 7 when
they give you account of what took place in Exodus chapter
2. This Moses whom they refused
saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? The same did God
send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which
appeared to him in the bush." Now here's the three words I
want us to focus on. A ruler, a judge, and a deliverer. If I'm going to know the Lord
Jesus Christ, if I'm really going to know Him, this is how I'm
going to know Him. I'm going to know Him as a ruler, I'm going
to know him as a judge. And I'm going to know him as
a deliverer, and that's how I am going to know him. If I ever
actually have faith in Christ, I'll know him as a ruler, a judge,
and a deliverer. But first, notice in verse 35,
this Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler
and a judge? This Christ that I'm preaching,
this one who is a ruler and a judge and a deliverer, is first of
all, the one rejected by men. Refused by men. We'll not have this man to reign
over us is the cry of humanity. But you know what? I don't want
to have anything to do with the popular Jesus. I know that's not the Christ
of the Bible. The Christ of the Bible is the one by men rejected. Now think about that. That's
very important. He's the one refused by men,
but he's also the one God sent. They said, who made thee a ruler
and a judge? Well, I can answer that question.
God did. He's the one God sent for this
specific purpose, to be a ruler and a deliverer. I trust that
one that God sent. Look in verse 36, it says, He
brought them out. He didn't simply make coming
out possible to them if they did their part. He actually brought
them out. a Savior who merely makes salvation
possible or available. I can only be saved, though,
if I do my part. He just makes it possible to
me. That kind of Savior won't do me any good. I need a Savior
who actually brings me out all the way, and He does it all. Now, this one we're to trust
is described by these three words, a ruler, a judge, and deliverer. Now we all know what a ruler
is. He's the one who has authority. He's the one who is in charge. He has the power to do whatever
it is he wants to do. Now can you trust one who has
power? Not necessarily. Have you ever known someone with
power that you couldn't trust? Sure you have. You know, we've
all heard that saying power corrupts. And it does. The more power you
give any man, the more it will end up corrupting him. You can't
necessarily trust someone just because they have power and authority,
but if they are just. And that's the root meaning of
the word judge. He has authority. He is the ruler,
but He's also the judge. He is just. If they are right,
if they are righteous and they always do what is right, power
cannot corrupt them because they're altogether righteous and just. Now, an evil man in power is
trouble for everybody. He certainly can't be trusted,
but an absolutely just man in power, someone who's inflexibly
just, who's positively and completely righteous, who goes by strict
justice, you can trust him to do what's right, can't you? Shall
not the judge of the earth do right? But, but, can you trust
this man to save you? Can you trust this man to have
mercy on you? Can you trust this man to forgive
you? It could be that if he always
does what is right, he must condemn you. Because you are a sinful
person and a sinful person cannot trust this one to save them.
Oh, he can trust him to do what's right. He can trust him in that
capacity. But to save him, to have mercy
on him, he can't necessarily trust this person who is only
powerful. He's a ruler. And he's just,
but here, this passage of scripture tells us that he is also a deliverer. That word can just as easily
be translated a redeemer. It's taken from the word redemption. Now, what is a redeemer? Well,
let's say you've incurred a debt that you are unable to pay back. You know, it used to be that
they threw people in prison, debtor's prison, who couldn't
pay their debt. You should not be able to pay your debt to crime.
And you were thrown into prison until you paid the debt back. Now, let's say you were thrown
into prison and you had no way to pay that debt. If I came and
paid your debt for you and you were released from prison, I
would be your redeemer. The word means literally to release
upon the payment of a ransom. To release upon the payment of
a ransom. Now, for Christ to be my Savior
and to bring me out of bondage as Moses brought the children
of Israel out of bondage, for Him to be my Savior, He's going
to have to be first a ruler and then a judge. And then a Redeemer
or a Deliverer. He's going to have to be all
three of those things. Now first, Christ is the Ruler. Now remember, if you're ever
going to know Him, you're going to know Him in this capacity.
You're going to know Him like this. You're going to know Him,
first of all, to be the Ruler. Not some weak Jesus who can't
do what He wants unless I give Him permission. No, you know
Him as the mighty Ruler. If you don't know Him in that
capacity, you don't know Him at all. He is the Ruler. Now there are two things involved
in being a ruler. Authority and power. Now I personally, this is my
confession about myself and same thing is true of you, I'm sinful
and that's really all that can be said of me and of myself.
I'm guilty and I can't change that state. For him to save me,
he's going to have to have the authority to do it. You see, I'm guilty before the
law. And you can't just say that law doesn't make any difference.
If you're guilty before the law, that law is going to be honored.
Now for Him to save me as ruler, He's going to have to have the
authority and the right to do that. And He's also going to
have to have the power to do it. Now Jesus Christ is God the
Son, and because of who He is, He has the authority to save
me. If he says, let him go free,
you know what has to happen? I go free. If he says, his sins
are forgiven, you know what? My sins are forgiven because
he has authority. Turn with me for a moment to
Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter 4, beginning in
verse 33. And in the synagogue, Luke 433,
and in the synagogue there was a man which had a spirit of an
unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, saying, Let
us alone. What have we to do with thee,
thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us?
I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked
him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when
the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him and
heard him not. And they were all amazed and
spake among themselves, saying, What word is this? For with authority
and power." Now there he is. There's the ruler. With authority
and power, he commandeth the unclean spirits and they come
out. Look over in Luke chapter 5,
beginning in verse 18. And behold, men brought in a
bed a man which was taken with a palsy. He was paralyzed. And they sought means to bring
him in and to lay him before him. And when they could not
find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude,
they went up to the housetop and let him down through the
tiling with his couch in the midst there before Jesus. Now
you think about this. What if I sit here preaching and all
of a sudden a hole comes in the ceiling and they just let down
this bed of this man paralyzed in the midst of everybody? Boy,
that'd be something to see, wouldn't it? I mean, what's going to happen
next? And when he saw their faith,
he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. Wouldn't you like to hear the
Lord say that to you? Boy, that would give me some assurance
if he said that. Now, you can say your sins are forgiven. You
know, it doesn't mean much. I mean, I'm glad you said it,
but that doesn't mean they are. The only way they are is if he says
your sins are forgiven. And the scribes and the Pharisees
began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies?
Who can forgive sins but God alone? They were right, weren't
they? Who is this that forgives sins?
This is God alone. Jesus Christ is God. There isn't
anything that I enjoy saying more than that. You know, it
excites me. Jesus Christ is God Almighty. They were right when they said,
what's he said? Well, only God can forgive sins. Now look what
our Lord says. Verse 22. But when Jesus perceived
their thoughts, he answered and said unto them, what reason ye
in your hearts? What's easier to say thy sins be forgiven thee
or rise up and walk? Now, what is easier? What is
it? If a man was brought to me and
he was paralyzed, that he couldn't get up, what would be easier
for me to say to that man? Your sins are forgiven or rise,
take up your bed and walk. Well, it'd be a whole lot easier
to say your sins are forgiven you because nobody can verify
whether or not that was the case. It'd be a lot easier to say your
sins are forgiven rather than rise, take up your bed and walk. But let's go on reading. But,
verse 24, that you may know that the Son of Man hath power, hath
authority upon the earth to forgive sins. He saith unto the sick
of palsy, I say unto you, arise, take up your couch, and go to
your house. And immediately he rose up before
them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own
house, glorifying God. Now I said that which is hardest.
Rise, take up your bed, and walk. What authority he demonstrated
there. So I can also say, by sins be forgiven thee. You see
he's got the authority to do this and he's got the power to
do it. He proved it when he said rise take up your bed and walk.
He has the power to forgive you. He has the authority and he has
the power to forgive you of all your sins. Now that means something
to you if you're a sinner. If you got A lot of sin. I mean,
if you're a sinful person, this is good news. Now, if you're
not all that sinful, well, you know, that's good. I mean, what
next? But, oh, if you're a sinner,
this is good news. He's got the power. He's got
the authority to forgive you of your sins. He's able. But what would authority and
power be without justice? What would authority and power
be without justice? I read in the paper yesterday
of a man they caught, I believe it was in Canada, who was guilty
of 49 murders. Did anybody read that? A serial
killer? And I believe it was in Canada. Now, the Prime Minister
of Canada, I suppose, has the authority to pardon him. You
know, the President of the United States owns the authority to
pardon criminals, doesn't he? I mean, they may be guilty, caught
red-handed, but if the President Pardon them, they're pardoned.
Well, what if, let's say the Prime Minister of Canada, who
has the authority to pardon, pardon that man who was guilty
of those 49 serial killings and let him go free? Would that be a good thing? No,
not at all. That would not be just. He would
be putting this murderer out on the streets. You see, that
is not a good thing. The one we trust can't only have
authority and power, he must also be just. That's what the word judge is.
It's the root meaning of justice and righteousness. absolute justice. Sin, wrongdoing, never goes unpunished. He never, ever simply sweeps
sin under the rug. He is absolutely, inflexibly
just. He said, these are the words
of God Himself, I will by no means clear the guilty. Now do you hear that? I will
by no means, under no circumstances whatsoever, Will I ever clear
a guilty man? If he sends a man to hell, it
is not cruel and unusual punishment. The punishment fits the crime.
He is just. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? And he doesn't do it because
it's right. It's right because he does it. Such is the justice
of his person. And when he saves a man, He does
it in a way that justice is satisfied. The sinner that he saves are
said to be justified. You know, justified means not
guilty. It doesn't simply mean forgiven. It means not guilty. You remember that publican in
Luke chapter 18 in the temple? He stood back in the back, beating
on his breast, crying, God, be merciful to me, thee sinner. That was his own confession of
himself. And you know what our Lord said about that man? He
said, I say unto you, that man went down to his house. Anybody
know the next word? Justified. Not guilty. Not guilty. If you're justified, you're not
guilty. The glory of our Savior is that through Him, God has
found a way to be just. and still justify somebody who's
unjust. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth thee ungodly. I find that so
attractive. In trusting him, I trust him
in his justice, not his leniency. Now, in trusting Him, I'm not
just trusting in His leniency or His love. I'm trusting His
absolute justice. If He saves me, He saves me in
a way where His law is honored, all sin is punished, nothing
is swept under the carpet, nothing's going to come back up and haunt
me. No justice. You understand this? Just and
justifier. But not only Does he have the
authority and the power to save me? Not only is he absolutely
just, and he's no respecter of persons, I'm thankful he's like
that, aren't you? But he's also a redeemer. He's also a deliverer. You see, I'm a sinner. I am a sinner, a debtor to God's law without
a penny of merit to pay. I'm guilty and there's not a
thing in the world I can do to change that state. Not only do
I need one who has the power to save me, and one who will
make sure that his law is honored, I need a redeemer. I need a deliverer. Now, in order for him to be a
redeemer, two things are required for him to be a redeemer. First,
he has to be willing to redeem. And second, he has to have something
to pay. for Him to be my Redeemer. He's
first got to be willing to redeem me. And He's got to have something
to pay. Now He is willing to redeem. When He was nailed to that cross,
He was willing. He wasn't a victim. He said,
no man takes my life from me. I have power to lay it down and
I have power to take it up. This commandment have I received
of my Father. When Pilate said, Speakest thou not to me? Don't
you know that I have power to crucify you and I have power
to release you? He said, You don't have any power
at all over me, except it were given thee from above. When those
people came to arrest him, He said, whom seek ye? And they
said, Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I am. Remember what
happened? They went falling backwards, scared. He was letting them know
the only reason you're taking me is I'm allowing it to happen.
Now, he proved his willingness to save when he willingly went
to the cross. And let me tell you something,
I'm telling you the honest truth. Do you know he's more willing
to save you than you are to be saved? He surely is. He's more willing. Oh, the willingness of the Son
of God to save. He went to the cross and he demonstrated
his willingness. He was willing. Hebrews 12, 2
says, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before him. joy, that suffering,
that joy, who for the joy that was set before Him, He endured
the cross, despising, counting as nothing, the shame. Now what
was that joy? Well, first of all, it was the joy of doing
His Father's will. Oh, the rejoicing He received, the joy He received
in simply doing what His Father told Him to do. He said, My meat
is to do the will of Him that sent Oh, what joy he received
in that, and what joy he received in saving sinners. This is a faithful saving, 1
Timothy 1.15, and it's worthy of all acceptation. Everybody
ought to receive this. It's the best thing they've ever
heard, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,
of whom I am the chief. Now, remember his promise. Him
that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. He's willing
to save. He's willing to redeem. Let not
conscience make you linger, nor a fitness fondly dream. The only
fitness He requires is to have a need of Him. I've got that. I can put myself in that group.
But if He is merely willing to redeem, but doesn't have a price
to pay for that redemption, it would do me no good. I may be
willing to die for you. I tell you what, and I know this
is so, if Aubrey was guilty of a crime and had to die for that crime, I don't have any doubt that I
would be willing to die in her place. I know I would. I'd do it gladly. I'd do it willingly. But would justice be satisfied? She committed the crime, not
me. There's nothing in me that would
merit justice being satisfied. The only thing that will satisfy
justice is her death, if she committed that crime. Now, I'd
be willing to die for her, but there's no merit in my blood
that would put away her sin. But Christ Jesus the Lord, when
He died, something totally different about His death over my death
or your death. You see, there's such infinite
merit in His blood. Now, let me remind you of this
word, substitution. Substitution. Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, the altogether righteous One, the One who never sinned,
He took my place as my substitute. He was made sin. My sin was placed upon Him and
it became His. He became guilty before the law
of God. My sin became His. He was guilty. Now God's got the authority to
do that. He can take my sin and place it on Christ and if He
does it, it's on Christ. He took my sin. He became guilty. He died. And there's such merit
in His perfect blood, His righteous blood, that it washes away my
sin. He's my substitute. What I am,
He became. And what He is, I become. I made
the very righteousness of God in Him. That perfect obedience
of Jesus Christ on the cross is mine. He's got something to pay. Oh,
the redeeming power of His blood. Ephesians 1, 7 says, in whom
we have redemption. Remember, He's the Redeemer.
In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness
of sins. Now, He has something to pay
His own blood. Now, here's why I trust the Lord
Jesus Christ. This fellow talking to you right
now, I trust the person of the Lord Jesus Christ to save me.
I'm trusting him. It's not that I'm believing.
It doesn't have anything to do with me believing I'm saved.
It's me believing that he is salvation and I'm trusting him. I trust him as the ruler. He
has the authority. If he says I'm saved, I'm saved.
You believe that? If he says you're saved, what
are you? If he says you're forgiven, what are you? Forgiven, because
he has all authority. He said all power is given to
me in heaven and earth. Thou has given him power over
all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
has given him. He has all authority, all power,
but he also is just. I don't have to worry about the
sentence being overturned because it's all done in strict justice. He is the judge. Don't you believe
He's absolutely just? This one you trust. Don't you
believe He's absolutely and perfectly just? And I trust Him as the
Redeemer. He's willing to redeem me. Now, how can I know that He's
willing to redeem me? I know you've wondered that.
Is He willing to redeem me? I believe He's the Redeemer,
but me? Is he willing to redeem me? How
can I know he's willing to redeem me? He is willing to redeem all
who need him to redeem them. And where do you fall in that
group? He is willing to redeem all who
need him to redeem them. I need him. And there has never been a sinner
willing to be saved by him that he was unwilling to save. Whosoever
will. Whosoever will. Let him take
the water of life freely. Yeah, he's willing to save. But
not only is he willing to save, he's got the price to save. His
precious blood he redeems. Why do I trust the Lord Jesus
Christ? I trust him because he is the
ruler. He has all power and authority. I trust him because he's just.
This is a just salvation. I trust him because he's the
redeemer. He's willing to redeem. And he has the payment, his own
precious blood. And that's why I trust him. I
trust the person of Jesus Christ the Lord. And it is my prayer
that everybody in this room will leave here actually relying upon
him. Let's pray. Lord.