If you will, turn to Exodus chapter
3 and just hold your place there for a few minutes while I talk
to you. God's ways are never our ways. And our ways are never His ways. If we had our way, we would never
do things the way God does them. Never. The fact is, this is never
more evident than in God's wondrous method of grace. But God's way
is always best. His way is always best. And when you know the wondrous
experience of His grace, you will find it sweet. The Lord
God chose the nation of Israel as a typical picture of his church,
his elect, the Israel of God in this world. When you read
the Old Testament prophets and the historic books and the Psalms,
you read those things that transpired with the nation of Israel from
their very beginning when God first told Abraham he would give
him a son, and that that son would be the means by which he
would cause his people to prosper and fill the earth, and that
through that son Christ would come in whom and by whom all
the nations of the earth would be blessed. From that time when
God first spoke to Abraham until the day that he sent the Roman
armies to destroy Israel for their unbelief, in 70 A.D. The history of Israel written
in the Old Testament is designed and intended by God the Holy
Spirit for one purpose. Now please hear me, for just
one purpose, to teach us God's ways of grace with us. God Almighty is no more interested
in that little patch of ground over in Palestine than he is
in that patch of ground in Saudi Arabia. He's no more interested
in the physical nation of Israel than he is in the physical nation
of Russia or the physical nation of the United States. God's interest,
God's purpose, God's grace is for his church, that holy nation
which he has chosen for himself. God chose Abraham C. and determined
to make of them a great nation. a peculiar people to himself,
a people to whom he would reveal and communicate his law, a people
by whom he would preserve a witness for himself throughout the Old
Testament age until Christ should come, the Son of Righteousness,
rising with the full light of the glory of God in his person
and work. Jacob, in time with his family,
went down into Egypt. and sojourned there for a long,
long time. So long were they in Egypt that
they became completely happy there, perfectly content. They had no desire to leave there. Who would? Who would? The land
of Goshen was a fruitful land, and the Israelites lived in Egypt
under the constant favor of Egypt's king, the Pharaoh who sat on
the throne. And I'm sure they never thought about leaving that
country. They had settled in permanently.
They became just like the Egyptians. The Egyptians' gods became their
gods. The Egyptians' religion became
their religion. They were part of the nation
of Egypt. They embraced Egypt's culture
and melted into it almost perfectly. Yet, God never forgot his people
whom he had chosen. They had long since forgotten
God. But God had spoken a word to Abraham, and God Almighty
had determined with Abraham and spoke in covenant promise to
Abraham that he would bring his people out of Egypt. Though they
adopted all the superstitions and idolatries and iniquities
of Egypt, though Israel loved the land of the pharaohs, its
ease, its wealth, and its pleasure, God was determined to bring them
out. He declared that their sojourn
in Egypt would be for a precisely set number of days and years. He said you're going to go down
there for 400 years. You can read it in Genesis 15.
And then I will bring you out with a mighty hand. And now the
time has come that they should be brought out. The Lord God
was determined to separate Israel from Egypt. to separate them
thoroughly, to separate them completely, to separate them
in a manifest way that would display both to Israel and to
the Egyptians His glory as God, and to demonstrate His purpose
and His grace in Israel. Now I'm sure that you know where
I'm going. The parallel is so obviously
set before us in scripture that no one can miss it who is even
familiar with the word of God. Scattered among the ruins of
fallen humanity, there is a people loved of God with an everlasting
love. A people he has chosen. He says,
I've chosen you, my holy nation, to be a peculiar people unto
me. A people to whom and in whom
he is determined to reveal his glory and his grace in Jesus
Christ the Lord. A people by whom he will make
manifest all the greatness of his being as God, all the greatness
of his grace, all the greatness of his mercy. Not only will he
make it known to those people and in those people, he will
make it known to all the world by those people. whom he saved
by his mighty grace. They were in Adam when he fell.
Like Adam, we sinned. For in Adam, we sinned. And yet,
God didn't destroy them. Do you ever wonder why it is
that when God spoke to Adam, he said, In the day thou eatest
thereof, thou shalt surely die. And then Adam didn't die. Oh,
but he died spiritually. Yes, he did, but he didn't die.
But he died representative. Yes, he did, but he didn't die.
Well, he began to die. Yes, he did, but he didn't die.
How come? Why? Because in that man's loins,
not only was the serpent's seed, but in that man's loins was the
woman's seed, which could never die. to whom God had promised
grace. And Adam must be preserved, that
the seed of woman should come to crush the serpent's head,
and that all the chosen seed by Jesus Christ our Lord should
be saved by his matchless grace. And in the fallen ruins of Adam
now, scattered through all the earth, in every nation, kindred,
tribe, and tongue, God has a people, a people loved from eternity. chosen, redeemed, blessed, and
accepted of God in Christ before the world began. A people who
must sojourn in this land of darkness and bondage for an appointed
number of days and years. A precisely appointed number
of days and years. And at the appointed time, called
in the prophet Ezekiel, the time of love. Oh, what a good time. The time of love. God Almighty,
before the world was, marked out the time and the place where
he would save me by his matchless free grace. And then arranged
all the affairs of the universe to bring me to that time and
that place. And the same is true of every
chosen sinner. There is a time appointed of
God when the sinner must be called by his marvelous free grace.
The Lord Jesus Christ did not make atonement for nothing. He
did not die in vain. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
agree as our covenant surety to save us only to have his purpose
fall to the ground. He did not give himself as pledge
undertaking for us from eternity only to have his desire frustrated. Not at all. He shall see of the
travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. And by his knowledge,
by his knowledge of his people, by his knowledge of his worth,
by his knowledge of his accomplishments, by his knowledge of his self,
he shall justify many, for he has borne their iniquities. As the appointed day approached
when Israel must come out of Egypt, the Lord God graciously
prepared them for deliverance. He prepared them for deliverance
by making them want it more than life itself. He prepared them for deliverance
not by forcing them against their will. He didn't drag them out
of Egypt then fighting all the way. Well, sort of he did. But
all along the way He did something for them and in them that none
could do except Him. He made them happy to leave Egypt. He made them go out willingly,
triumphantly, singing and rejoicing as they went, carrying all the
riches and spoils of the Egyptians with them across the Red Sea.
Now how did he do that? How was that accomplished? God
sent the Egyptians a king who knew not Joseph, we're told in
chapter 1. This new Pharaoh must have been
a petty little man. He looked at the children of
Israel and saw how they multiplied and increased while they were
in Egypt, and he feared the nation of Israel, this nation of shepherds. He was afraid of them. He was
afraid that at some point in time the Egyptians might go to
war and the Israelites would side with their enemy and thus
the Israelites would conquer Egypt. And so he passed a law
ordering that every male child born in Egypt should be killed
and began to afflict the children of Israel. He determined to thin
the ranks of the Israelites by killing the firstborn in every
household. And he also made them labor,
labor and labor, under hard, cruel taskmasters, whipping them,
beating them relentlessly, without mercy, requiring them to make
bricks, and then requiring them to make bricks without straw,
by their hands, building the treasured cities of Egypt, probably
many of the pyramids we see today, built by the labor of these Israelite
slaves. And the Israelites became abject
slaves to the Egyptians. Under their brutal taskmasters,
they were beaten and beaten and beaten and beaten down until
their circumstance was absolutely intolerable. All that because
God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform. Oh, the Lord has wrought wondrous
things for us. Let's read about them. Let's
begin in Exodus chapter 2 tonight. I want to read three verses there
and then we'll move to chapter 3. Exodus chapter 2 verse 23. and it came to pass." Don't you
love those words? Whenever you read in this book,
it came to pass, that means God brought it to pass. It came to
pass. It didn't just happen, it came
to pass. It came to pass in the process
of time that the king of Egypt died and the children of Israel
sighed by reason of the bondage And they cried, and their cry
came up unto God by reason of the bondage. And God heard their
groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with
Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children
of Israel, and God had respect unto them. And then we read about
God meeting Moses in the burning bush. Let's get down to verse
7 of chapter 3. And the Lord said, the Lord said
to Moses, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which
are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their
taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. And I am come down to
deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring
them up out of that land unto a good land and a large. unto
a land flowing with milk and honey, unto the place of the
Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites,
and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. I'm going to give them everything
that belonged at one time to their enemies. I'm going to give
them the whole land, freedom. Now, therefore, behold, the cry
of the children of Israel is coming to me. I have also seen
the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppressed them. Come
now, therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou
mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of
Egypt." Now, hold your hands there and turn to Psalm 107.
Every time I've read this in the last several months, Psalm
107 has come to my mind. When you get home, take the time. Try to take the time before you
go to bed and read this Psalm one more time. It's all about the
wondrous ways God works His providence with His grace to bring His own
to Himself. Because they rebelled, we read
in verse 11, because they rebelled against the words of God and
contend, held in contempt, despised the counsel of the Most High.
Therefore, he brought down their heart with labor. They fell down,
and there was none to help them. When he brought down their heart
with labor, when he caused them to fall under the load, and there
was none to help them. Then, and not until then, Then
they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them out
of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness
in the shadow of death, and broke their bands in sunder. Oh, that
men would praise the Lord for his goodness. Do you see that?
As much his goodness to bring them into labor and bring them
down and oppress them as bringing them out. It's all part of the
same work. Read on. Oh, that men would praise
the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the
children of men, for he hath heartbroken the gates of brass
and cut the bars of iron in sunder. Now, first let me talk to you
for just a little bit about Israel's misery. What mercy it was for
God to bring these people into such misery. Their misery squeezed
from their hearts a cry to God, a cry that would never otherwise
have been found in their hearts. The children of Israel sighed
by reason of the bondage. They sighed. What a word. They sighed. Sometimes I'll let out a sigh
when I'm tired or just exhausted and Shelby thinks something's
wrong. Well that's just, that's not what this is talking about.
This is talking about the unceasing sigh of a heavy heart and a heavy
soul. They sighed and cried. And their cry came up unto God
by reason of the bondage. And God heard their groaning. The Spirit itself maketh intercession
for the saints with groanings which cannot be uttered. Groanings,
sighs that baffle words. Groanings that only He puts in
the heart. They began to sigh and began
to cry because the time of their prosperity was over. The land
of Goshen was still fruitful, no question about that. But Israel
was no longer enriched by it. The land was just as beautiful
as it was when they first came there, probably more beautiful.
But Israel couldn't enjoy it. The land provided just as much
lush pasture as it provided for them 400 years earlier, but now
there's nothing in the land for them. All the prosperity they
had enjoyed for so long was now gone. Everything taken from them.
I wonder if I'm describing you. Once had they. rich, increased
in goods, having need of nothing. Everything going your way, happy
as you could be, in bondage to Satan and sin and death and hell
and the world. But now, those things that once
gave you so much pleasure. Those things that were your satisfaction,
those things that gratified and pleased you well, give you nothing. If that's your case, I can't
tell you how thankful I am for it. I don't know what God will
do for you, but I do know this, when God Almighty is about to
cause a sinner to drink from the cup of salvation, the waters
of salvation in life, he first usually makes the sinner thirst. And one way he makes you thirst
is by making all those things that once were so sweet to you
to become bitter. When God Almighty comes in mercy
and grace to set the captive free, to deliver men and women
from the house of bondage, to cause the prisoners to go forth
in liberty, usually He first makes their bondage so horrible
that they feel it and taste it and know it. The chains are heavy,
the manacles hold them with such power that they can't move on
their own. I said, Pastor, how can you speak
like that? I know. I've been there. I've been there. When God in His grace is determined
to bring a sinner into the banqueting house of His grace, He usually
first causes the sinner in the depths of his soul to be hungry.
These Jews now began to feel that they were in bondage. They
had been in bondage for 400 years. They lived in bondage for 400
years, but now the time of deliverance has come,
and God calls them to sigh and cry and groan by reason of their
afflictions. Hard laws were made against them. Cruel taskmasters were given
authority to enforce those cruel laws. Now these men who had enjoyed
Such great privileges, though in a house of bondage. They now
woke up when they were told to wake up. They worked when they
were told to work. They worked at what they were
told to work at, shepherds making bricks, gathering straw to make
bricks. And they went to bed when they
were told to go to bed. They were totally under the yoke
of their cruel oppressors. I know what it is to be a slave. You ever read that passage over
in Timothy where Paul speaks about those men who are taken
captive by Satan at his will? Taken captive by Satan at his
will? Slaves to self. to the lust of your flesh. Slaves
to the world. See these young people? I know
all young people go through it. Well, they don't all go through
it. My daughter didn't. She may have gone through it, but she didn't show
it to me anyway. The Internet. And you see these boys walking
around with their britches hanging down below their butt? Well, I don't
want to be like other folks. Really? Looks just like everybody
else to me. Slaves to the world. Look and act like a madman just
so somebody who's mad as you will smile at you. Slaves to
Satan. Slaves to hell. And God sends
a messenger to enforce the cruelty of His laws. Justice on your
conscience. And you begin to feel the burden
you're under. The yoke chafes your neck. And
you can't endure it anymore. These Israelites felt that burden. And now, they're brought to utter,
abject misery. And forced to cry out to God
for help. Help that no one but God could
give. Turn to Psalm 32. And I want to tell you something.
I know about everybody here who has made a profession of faith,
and I hope you know the grace of
God in reality. But I'm convinced, Brother Ralph
Barney used to say we ought to preach like everybody we're talking
to is going to hell right now. I want you to know God. Oh, I
want you to know God. And I'm convinced, I know, I
know by the testimony of this book, And I know from the observation
of the experience of God's grace for 39 years, I know you will
never call on God for help as long as you get help somewhere
else. You will never come to Christ as long as you got somewhere
else to go. It won't happen. It won't happen. You may say a little prayer,
you may go to church, you may talk about Jesus, you may join
the church, but you will never come to Christ. Trust in Jesus
Christ alone for your salvation as your Savior, your only Lord,
your only Redeemer, your only righteousness. If you've got
anywhere else, you can go. You'll never lean on Him as long
as you've got something else to lean on. You will never fall
down on this foundation as long as you've got somewhere else
to stand. Here in Psalm 32 verse 3, David's talking about forgiveness.
He said, when I kept silence, My bones waxed old through my
roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was
heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into the
drought of summer. The word Selah, it's like putting
a half a dozen periods at the end of a sentence. It's really
a punctuation mark that's spelled out. It means, now don't move
on too quick. Stop and think about what you
just read. Roll that over a little bit. When I kept silence, when
I refused to acknowledge and confess my sin, my bones waxed
old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy
hand was heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into the
drought of summer. That looks to me like just what
we saw back here in Texas, doesn't it? Misery. Misery that is the forerunner
of mercy. I acknowledged my sin unto thee,
and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said I will confess my
transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity
of my sin. I remember all that painful time
so vividly that I can speak to some who
experience it now as an experienced friend who knows what you experience. I know all about the pain. and
the grief, and the misery, and the emptiness, and the bondage,
and the isolation, and the utter terror that fills your soul. I know. I know. And I know this, that's part of God's way of fetching
His own out of each Once they were utterly helpless,
completely without strength, when there was no help to be
had from any corner except from God himself, then and only then
did the children of Israel cry out to God for help. And so it
is with every guilty sinner. Joseph Hart expressed it well.
To understand these things are right, this grand distinction
must be known. Though all are sinners in God's
sight, there are but few so in their own. To such as these our
Lord was sent, there are only sinners who repent. What comfort
can it save your brain to those who never felt their woe? A sinner
is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made him so. Look at Exodus 2 verse 23 again. Notice the order of these things. I marvel at the inspiration of
Scripture, the way God has written the book, and I marvel at the
order in which God reveals things. Every word written here is written
here and placed here in the order it is by divine intent. Watch this. First, the children
of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage. Then they cried
and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. And
then God heard their groaning. Oh, blessed, blessed misery that
brings me to God. And that which is true in the
initial conversion of God's elect, is true in the day-by-day conversion
of our hearts to our God. And we must be converted to Him
continually. We must be turned to Him continually. And whatever the misery is that
fetches us to the throne of grace, bringing God's mercy is blessed
misery. Now, read on. They cried, and
their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. And God
heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with
Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the
children of Israel, and God had respect unto them. Now, do you
remember the covenant spoken up here? It was made back there
in Genesis 15, made with Abraham, long before Isaac or Jacob were
ever on the scene. But he remembers his covenant,
the covenant that he made with Abraham, with Isaac, and with
Jacob. Because the covenant made with
the one representative man is the covenant made with all those
in that man. And it's a covenant speaking
about the covenant of his free grace in Jesus Christ our Lord.
The covenant he made with me, and with all the Israel of God,
by which he determined and pronounced us blessed in Jesus Christ. He remembered the covenant, and
God had respect unto them. Their misery was the forerunner
of God's mercy. Their cry came up to God. Sharp, bitter, painful lamentations. Oh, but they pierced through
the skies and pierce into the very heart of God himself. Let us, therefore, come boldly
to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace
to help in time of need. Turn over to Jeremiah 29. Hold
your hands here in Exodus. Turn to Jeremiah 29. Brother Dodd, will God hear my
cry? Let me tell you something. Let
me tell you something. There's never been a sinner,
not in this book, not in history, who sought God, truly sought
God. Never been one who sought his
mercy in Christ, who truly sought his mercy in Christ. Never been
a sinner who came to him who was turned away. If you can do
it, you'll be the first. This is what God says. Look here.
Jeremiah 29, verse 10. For thus saith the Lord, that
after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you
and perform my good word toward you in causing you to return
to this place. The Babylonian captivity much
like the Egyptian captivity. Both pictures of bondage and
both pictures of what God does for us in His grace. He says
in verse 11, For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith
the Lord. Darwin, I thought dead sure He
was going to kill me. I thought hell must be my portion
forever. I thought God's anger toward
me could never be turned away. I thought surely there is but
a breath between my soul and eternal damnation. But God says,
I know my thoughts that I think toward you. Thoughts of peace, not of evil,
to give you an expected end. Then, then, When I come to deliver,
shall you call upon me, and you shall go and pray unto me, and
I will hearken unto you, and you shall seek me, and maybe
find me. Know what it says? And find me, when you shall search
for me with all your heart, and I will be found of you, saith
the Lord. We call that grace. Free, free
grace. You remember our Lord's parable
about the impotent man? He has some friends who call
at midnight and ask for bread, and the man He said, I'm in bed
with my family, don't bother me now. And they kept on knocking,
kept on knocking. And finally he gets up and says,
what is it you want? And he said, I've got some folks
who have come to visit me and I have nothing to give. Nothing to give. Nothing to give. What a picture. See that man
standing on the front porch at midnight, beating on the door,
waking everybody in town up? Shamelessly desperate! Why? Because God Almighty has
come demanding bread, and I've got nothing to give. Demanding
righteousness, and I've got nothing to give. Demanding satisfaction,
and I've got nothing to give. And when God Almighty comes demanding,
and I'm found with nothing! I must have mercy, I must have
His grace and I'll seek Him with all my heart. To such the Lord
Jesus says, ask and it shall be given you. Knock and it shall
be opened unto you. Seek and you shall find. Next,
we read back here in Exodus, and God heard their groanings. He heard their cry Heard their
groanings. You ever talk to someone and
recognize that they are not paying any attention to you? You shake
hands with somebody and start to talk to them and they're looking
at somebody across the room. And you really want to squeeze
their hand until it falls off. Because you've got something
to say. And they're ignoring you. They're ignoring you. God Almighty. will never ignore
the groan of a needy soul. Never. Never. His ear is attentive
to your cries. And God remembered His covenant. I wish I could preach on that
a little bit, but let me just say this. He remembered His covenant. He looked on the children of
Israel. But he didn't remember their transgressions and their
iniquities and their sins. He looked on them and beheld
their sorrows. He looked on them and beheld
their pain. He looked on them and beheld
their desperate need. But he remembered his covenant. That's how God always looks on
the sinner seeking mercy. Looks on him on the basis of
a covenant. by which He arranged to bring
the sinner to His throne of grace. He looks on the Lamb in the covenant,
and looks on all His people in the Lamb. He looked upon the
children of Israel. He gave them His ear, and He
gave them His memory, and now He gives them His eyes to behold
Him. The word might be translated
where it says here, and God had respect unto them, God knew them. God knew them. They were a people who represented
a people whom He foreknew. He knew us long before we knew
Him. He knew us long before we came
to Him. He knew us long before we saw
Him. And the reason we know Him and
have come to Him, and seek Him, is because He knew us with an
everlasting love before ever the world was. Now, very quickly
look at chapter 3, verse 7. When God looked upon them in
their misery, and looked upon them in mercy, He sent them a
man, a man He had appointed to deliver them, A man who was one
of them. And that's what's described in
verses 7-10. The Lord said to Moses, I have
surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt,
and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know
their sorrow. And I am come down to deliver
them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of the
land into a good land and a large. Verse 10. Come now therefore. And I will send thee to Pharaoh,
that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel,
out of Egypt." Moses had been chosen of God,
appointed of God, and prepared of God to be the Savior, the
Redeemer, and the Deliverer of Israel. He came to them with
the Word of God, He came to them, declaring to them the blood by
which God Almighty would deliver them, and He brought them by
power, the very power of God, out of Egypt and across the Red
Sea, and drowned Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea behind
them. And in all that, what a blessed,
delightful picture He is of our Lord Jesus Christ. The man God
sent to deliver His people was one of them. One who was bone of their bone
and flesh of their flesh. Touched with their affliction
and their bondage. Touched by that which touched
them. And that's what the God-man is. One of us. The Lord hath laid
help upon one that is mighty. He has exalted one chosen out
of the people. Not only that, this man Moses
was clothed with divine authority. When he spoke, God spoke. When he commended, God commended. What he required was performed
because he had divine authority. Authority over Israel and authority
over Egypt. and authority over Pharaoh, and
authority over the waters of the Red Sea, and authority over
the waters of Mara, and authority over the rocks that followed
them. He had authority, absolute authority, given him by none
but God Almighty. And so it is with the God-man,
our Redeemer, the Lord God has given him By virtue of his obedience
as our mediator, absolute authority, so that everybody and everything
obeys his word. He who speaks on our behalf in
heaven today as our advocate speaks with the authority of
God himself, for he is God. One more thing. When the works
go, When the appointed hour came,
do you know what Moses did? Do you know what he did? He brought
Israel out. All of them. All of them. He didn't leave behind one sick
old man or one weak little baby. He didn't even leave behind one
of their calves. In fact, when Pharaoh said, you
go yonder and worship the Lord, and we'll keep your cattle here,
Moses said, oh no. He said, when we leave this place, there shall
not an hoof be left behind. And when the time came, he brought
them out. And so it is with Jesus Christ,
our Redeemer. All Israel shall be saved, every
one of them. At the appointed time of love,
every chosen redeemed sinner shall be called." And when they're
called, they're coming out. They're coming out. And what do we do? What do we
do? We would be wise to do what Moses
commanded Israel to do when they stood at the Red Sea. Stand still
and see the salvation of the Lord. God make it yours for Christ's
sake. Amen. Our Father, O God our Father,
we thank you for this blessed picture of your grace. and for
the sweet reminder of the wonders you have performed and are performing
for us. Will you stretch forth your mighty
arm yet again in this day and recover your ransomed ones for
Christ's sake. Amen.