I seem like I have that scripture
on my mind a lot right now. His name should be called Wonderful
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. And I heard a preacher trying
to explain that passage of scripture and saying, well, that doesn't
mean that he's the Father. Well, I know that, but why would
you even try to deal with something like that? I love the way It's
stated, and I love what the Lord said, he that has seen me, hath
seen the father. And I love to think of this,
all we're ever going to see of the father is Jesus Christ, his
son. What a glorious person. I didn't preach on it. So turn
back to Acts chapter seven, please. Verse 17, but when the time of the promise
drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, and hold on just
a second, let me read you a passage of scripture from Genesis 15.
This is what he's talking about. Genesis 15, beginning in verse
13, he said unto Abraham, this is God speaking to Abraham, know
of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a strange land
that is not theirs and shall serve it. and they shall afflict
them four hundred years. And also that nation whom they
shall serve will I judge, and afterward they shall come out
with great substance." Now that is what he's referring to here
in Acts chapter 7. The time drew nigh that God had
sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt
till another king arose which knew not Joseph. The same dealt
subtly, deceitfully with our kindred. And evil impregnated
our fathers so that they cast out their young children to the
end that they might not live. You remember they wanted the
children of Israel were growing too much and getting too big
and they were afraid of them. And they thought we need to kill
them to kill the males so they won't take over. Verse 20, in
which time Moses was born. and was exceeding fair and nourished
up in his father's house. Three months. Now turn to Exodus
chapter two. Let's read the Old Testament
account of this. Exodus chapter two. And there went a man of the house
of Levi and took the wife, a daughter of Levi, the woman conceived
and bear a son. And when she saw him, that he
was a goodly child, she hid him three months. And when she could
not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of the bulrushes."
Now, remember that Pharaoh had commanded that all male children
be put to death, thrown into the river. And when she could
no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes and
daubed it with slime and with pitch and put the child there
in. And she laid it in the flags by the river's brink. And his
sister, Moses' sister, stood afar off to wit what would be
done to him. And the daughter of Pharaoh came
down to wash herself at the river, and her maidens walked along
by the riverside. When she saw the ark among the
flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. And when she opened it, she
saw the child, and behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion
on him and said, this is one of the Hebrews' children. Then
said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, shall I call thee a
nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may bring a nurse, the child
for thee? And Pharaoh's daughter said to
her, go. And the maid went and called the child's mother. And
Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, take this child away and
nurse it for me, and I'll give thee wages. And the woman took
the child and nursed it. And the child grew, and she brought
him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses. She said, because I drew him
out of the water. 40 years later. And it came to pass
in those days when Moses was grown, that he went out unto
his brethren and looked on their burdens. And he spied an Egyptian
smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked this
way and that way. And when he saw that there was
no man, he slew the Egyptian and he hit him in the sand. And
then he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews
strove together. They were fighting, they were
arguing. And he said to him 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 killest the Egyptian? And Moses feared and said, surely
the thing is known. Now, when Pharaoh heard this
thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face
of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian. And he sat down by
a well and you can read the rest, but he spent 40 years on the
backside of a desert. Now turn back to Acts chapter
seven. Now, God ordained that Moses
was going to deliver Israel. It was his purpose. he ordained
it. And Moses knew that. Look in
verse 25 of Acts chapter seven, for he supposed his brethren
would have understood that how that God would by his hand would
deliver them. He had it revealed to him that
the Lord was going to use him for this mighty deliverance.
Now the first 40 years of his life, he was raised in the house
of Pharaoh. Wealth, privilege, Highly educated,
the scripture says mighty in words and deeds. He was Pharaoh's
son. Some have even suggested that
he might've been next in line to the throne. I don't know.
I don't know how a Hebrew could have been that way, but that
has been the thought of many people. He was mighty in words
and deeds, very esteemed highly in the land of Egypt. Now verse 22, and Moses was learned. in all the wisdom of the Egyptians
and was mighty in words and in deeds. And when he was a full
40 years old, I love the way it says this, it came into his
heart. Who put it in his heart? The Lord God did. He put this
in his heart. When he was a full 40 years old,
it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of
Israel. And I have no doubt his mother had not hid from him his
Hebrew heritage and let him know that this is who he really was. And I'm sure he always desired
to know more about the Hebrews. He was raised in Egyptian, but
like me and you, he would have liked to have understood what
it was the Hebrews were all about. And it came into his heart to
visit his brethren, the children of Israel. And like I said, the
Lord had already revealed to him that he was going to deliver
them through him. And seeing one of them suffer
wrong, he defended him and avenged him that was oppressed. And he
smote the Egyptian. For he supposed his brethren
would have understood how the God by his hand would deliver
him, but they understood not. He thought they'll know what
I'm doing. They didn't. They were upset with him. You
see, they actually refused and rejected him. Verse 26, And the
next day he showed himself unto them as they strove and would
have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, your brethren, why do you
wrong, do wrong one to another? But he that did his neighbor
wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge
over us? Are you going to kill me the
way you killed the Egyptian yesterday? Then Moses fled at this saying,
he was afraid he would be in trouble. As a matter of fact,
we know from the Exodus account that Pharaoh was after him because
of this murder. And that's what it was. It was
a murder. He didn't have a right to slay the man the way he did,
but he did. Then fled Moses at this saying
and was a stranger in the land of Midian where he began two
sons and he spent an entire 40 years there. Now, 40 years later, he's now
80 years old. Verse 35, 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. I've entitled this message, Ruler,
Judge, and Deliverer. As Moses was a ruler, a judge,
and a deliverer, he's a type of him who is the ruler, the
judge, and the deliverer. Now Moses, we can see, is a great
type of Christ in all of this. First of all, he was fair to
God, beautiful to God. And you think of how beautiful
the Lord Jesus Christ is to his father. You know, people get
so taken up when they see newborn babies, and I understand that,
but can you imagine the way the father felt when he saw his son
come into the earth? beautiful child, perfectly holy. Pharaoh ordered the execution
of all the male children. Herod ordered the execution of
all children under two years old where Christ was born in
order to make sure that the Christ would not come. Moses left the
life of privilege to deliver his brethren. Christ left heaven
to come down here to deliver his brethren. Moses was rejected
by his brethren. They thrust him from them. They
didn't want to have anything to do with them. Who makes you
a ruler and a judge over us? The Lord Jesus came into his
own and his own received him not. But God made Moses a ruler,
a judge, and a deliverer. And God made the Lord Jesus Christ
the ruler, the judge, and the deliverer. Now, there are two
responses in your heart, one response different kind of response
from two different kinds of people to hearing that Christ Jesus
is the ruler, the judge, and the deliverer. Now, how you're
going to respond to that is completely dependent upon what you think
of yourself. Now, what do I mean by that?
If you believe yourself to be a sinner before God, And all
that means, and I'm not talking about what you used to be like,
I'm talking about what you are right now. Paul said, oh wretched
man that I am. He said, I am the chief of sinners. If you believe that about yourself
right now, you're gonna find this message as glorious. It's gonna be just what you need. And if you do not see yourself
in that light, You're going to look upon this as an infringement
upon your rights. You're not going to like it.
Now, I pray that everybody in here will love the Lord being
ruler, judge, and deliverer. But let's see exactly what that
means. First, God made the Lord Jesus
Christ ruler. You know what that means? That means
He rules. That means His will is always
done. That means He has complete control
right now. Always has, always will. He doeth according to His will. in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay his hand. None
can stop him from doing his will. And none can say unto him, what
doest thou? Give him account. He doesn't
have to answer to you. He's the Lord and he is the absolute
ruler. I love thinking about that time
when he was on a boat asleep and there was a great storm and
he was asleep in the ship. He wasn't worried. He sent the
storm. He was in control of the storm.
But the disciples come up to him and they said, Master, carest
thou not that we perish? And he rose up during that mighty
storm and the scripture says he rebuked the wind and said
to the sea, be still. Peace, be still. Can you imagine
witnessing that? All of a sudden there was a great
calm. And the disciples For lack of
a better word, they were freaking out at this time. They didn't
know how to respond. They said, what manner of man
is this that even the winds and the sea obey him? I can answer that question. The
God-man, the one who rules. Turn with me to Mark chapter
one for just a moment. Verse 23, and there was in their
synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, 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
unclean spirit had torn him and cried with a loud voice, he came
out of him. And they were all amazed in so much that they questioned
among themselves, saying, what thing is this? What new doctrine
is this? For with authority commanded
he even the unclean spirits and they do obey him. Now understand
this. Not only does he rule in the
physical creation, he rules in the demon world. Satan is his servant doing his
will. Every demon is under his complete
control and authority. He said, I am the Lord. There's
nothing like me. I create light. I make darkness. I make peace. I create evil.
I the Lord do all these things. He's Lord of evil. That doesn't sound right, does
it? Yes, it does. He's Lord of evil. All it does is cause his
will to be done. You meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good. He's in control of the salvation
of men. Thou, I love what David said,
thou has given commandment to save me. Thou has given him,
listen to the words of our Lord. Thou has given him power over
all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
has given him. Now, think of him ruling. Here's a glorious story in the
Bible to think about. Saul of Tarsus hated Jesus Christ. He was breathing out, the scripture
says, threatenings and slaughter, and he was on his way to kill
some Christians. But you know what? The ruler
stopped him on the road, knocked him off his horse as a great
shining light, brighter than the sun, the scripture says.
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And Saul was trembling and
astonished. He was scared to death. He said,
who art thou, Lord? He said, I'm Jesus, who thou persecutest. It's hard for thee to kick against
the pricks. All you're doing is hurting yourself.
And then he said, Lord. What wilt thou have me to do? You see, he rules in the salvation
of men. Matthew, sitting at the receipt
of customs, doing his job, didn't have any desire from God, didn't
have any desire to know Christ. All of a sudden, the Lord says,
Matthew, follow me. Now that is the sound, the voice
of irresistible grace. And the scripture says, he rose
up and forsook all, and he followed him. Zacchaeus, for some reason
he wanted to see who Jesus was. Who put that desire in his heart?
I mean, he was a wicked man, he was the chief of the publicans,
he was a rich man, he didn't need God, he didn't need Christ,
but somehow he heard of the Lord Jesus Christ and he sought to
see Jesus, who he was. What a blessing when that is
the desire of a man or woman. They want to know who he is. That's really salvation begins
in our experience. And he went ahead of the crowd.
He heard that Jesus Christ was going to pass by. So he got up
and climbed up in a sycamore tree. The Lord is passing by
and he looks up. Zacchaeus. You reckon Zacchaeus
was shocked? He knows my name. Zacchaeus,
make haste, come down. You know, the Lord doesn't ever
ask him how to do anything. He tells him what to do. Make
haste, come down. Today I must abide at thy house. And the scripture says he made
haste and he came down and he received him joyfully. You see, this is what happens
when the ruler speaks. Lazarus is dead. He'd been in
the grave four days. The process of decay had already
reached to where he stunk. Lazarus, come forth. He that
was dead came forth. You see, he is the ruler. God has made him ruler and his
will is always done. Now, they said to Moses, who
made you a ruler and a judge over us? Who made you a ruler
and a judge? Now, this word judge is not the
word that's generally translated judge. This is the only time
it's found in the New Testament, this particular word. And it
means the decision maker, the umpire, the arbitrator, the one
who makes the decision. Anybody that's in sales, who
do you want to get to? The one who makes the decision.
It won't do you any good to get to somebody that doesn't have
any authority to make any decisions. He is the decision maker, the
arbitrator. And every decision he makes,
well, that's the way it is because he made it. I love what Abraham
said to him, shall not the judge of the earth do right? He was
asking the Lord, will you spare Sodom for 50 people? I'll spare
it for 50. What about 40? I'll spare it for 40. What about
30? I'll spare it for 30. What about
20? I'll spare it for 20. What if there's 10 righteous
men in this city? Will you spare it for that? I'll spare it for
10. You see, it was up to him. And Abraham said, Shall not the
judge of the earth do right? He knew, yes. Whatever his decision
is, is right. And he doesn't do anything because
it's right. It's right because he does it.
He's the decision maker. Very similar to the ruler, but
think of this. The father judges no man, but
hath committed all judgment to the son. that all men should
honor the Son even as they honor the Father. Now here's one of
his judgments. There's a proud Pharisee and he goes into the
temple and he prays, God I thank Thee that I'm not as other men
are. I'm giving God the credit. I'm
not giving myself the credit. I'm giving God the credit. God
I thank Thee that I'm not as other men are. I'm not unjust. I'm not an extortioner. I'm not
an adulterer. I'm certainly not like that Pharisee
over there. I pay tithes of all I possess. I fast twice a week. And then you have that self-condemned
publican. God, be merciful. And that word merciful, this
is very important. It's be propitious. Do something
about my sin. I cannot do anything about my
sin. I can't. I'm sold under sin. I can't do anything about it.
Be propitious. Do something about my sin. Put
it away. Make it to where you're satisfied
with me. God be merciful to me, the sinner,
the worst man to ever live. That's how he felt about himself.
I'm the most sinful man alive. Nobody knows, nobody's like me.
Nobody can see in my heart. I'm the worst man alive. And
then the Lord rendered this judgment, this verdict. I'm saying to you,
that this man went down to his house justified. Not merely forgiven, not merely
pardoned, but justified. You know what that means? He never sinned. He has no guilt. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who is he that condemns? It's
Christ the God, yea, rather that's risen again, who's even at the
right hand of God. That is the judgment of the Lord
Jesus Christ. There was a woman taking an adultery
in the very act. There was no doubt whatsoever
about the guilt of this woman. She was taken in the very act. Now, the Pharisees were looking. How did they catch her in the
act? I have no doubt that's what they intended to do. They set
this up. I always think it's amusing,
it's not the right word, but where's the man in this? He was
just as guilty as she was, and both of them were supposed to
be stoned, not just the woman, but somehow the man got off.
The Pharisees bring in this woman, perhaps naked, and throw her
at the Lord's feet after she committed that sin and said,
Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act.
There's no doubt about her guiltiness in this thing. Now Moses, in
the law, said that such should be stoned. But what sayest thou? Now they thought they had the
Lord in an impossible, unwinnable situation. If you say stoner, where's your mercy? You claim
to be the friend of sinners. If you say let her go free, you
don't have any respect for the law. God says stoner and you
say no, let's don't do that. They thought they had him in
a position where he had to be condemned. I find it so amusing
that sinful men could think that they could entrap the Lord Jesus
Christ, the one who's omniscient. But at any rate, they kept asking
and the scripture says he stooped down and started writing in the
sand. And they kept asking him, kept asking him. And he raised
himself up and he looked at that bunch and he said, the one that's
without sin, let him throw the first stone. And I don't have any doubt that
he was talking about that sin. He that's without this sin among
you, And we know from the scriptures that to look upon a woman, to
lust after her in your heart is to commit adultery. There's
nobody in this room free from this sin. Let he that is without
sin among you cast the first stone. And then the scripture
says, he stooped down once again. writing in the sand. I know I've
told you this before, but the only two times the finger of
God is said to write something is the Ten Commandments were
written by the finger of God. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
And you remember the other time the finger of God wrote, thou
art weighed in the balances and found wanting. Now, that's as
good a speculation as anything you can get as to what he was
writing. I don't know exactly what he was writing. I remember
hearing Brother Mahan say he was writing names and dates as
to what took place with all of these fellows. Everybody there was ashamed of
themselves. They were convicted in their
own conscience. They weren't convicted by the Holy Spirit,
because if they were convicted by the Holy Spirit, they would
have come to the feet of Christ. But they were convicted in their
own conscience, and one by one, they left. And she was left alone
with the master. And he said unto her, Woman,
where are those nine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She
said, No man, Lord. And then he makes this judgment,
neither do I. But she's guilty. No, she's not.
No, she's not. Those two stoops represent Christ. Two stoops. The stoop of becoming
a man. The stoop of the cross where
He put away sin. And He's speaking to this woman
on resurrection ground. You don't have anything to be
guilty about. I'm not condemning you because there's nothing to
condemn you for. That sin has been blotted out. He's sitting in Simon the Pharisee's
house. And a woman that was a sinner,
while he was sitting in Simon Pharisee's house, a woman that
was a sinner, came in while they were eating. And from what I
understood, the way they would eat, they would be laying on
the floor with their feet behind them. And she came in with an
alabaster box of ointment and broke that box and poured the
ointment on the Lord's feet and she was weeping. And she was
crying and her tears were hitting the Lord's feet. And she took
her hair, I'm sure she had long, beautiful hair, and she wiped
the feet of the Lord. And that Pharisee named Simon
said, this man, if he were a prophet, he wouldn't let her touch him
because he'd know really what manner of woman this woman is.
She's a sinner. She's a sinner. And the Lord
said, Simon, I have something to say to you. He said, Master,
say on. A certain creditor had two debtors.
One owed him 50 pence, the other 500, and he frankly forgave them
both. When they had nothing to pay.
Both of them were in that condition. They had nothing to pay. And
when they had nothing to pay, anybody who has nothing to pay,
let me tell you what, you're going to be forgiven. If you've got
something to pay, you're going to be passed by. If you've got
nothing to pay, you're going to be forgiven. When they both
had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Now, which
one will love him the most? Simon said, I suppose he that
has been forgiven the most. Lord said, you've rightly said.
You've rightly said. When I came in here, you didn't
anoint my head with oil. This woman anointed my feet with
oil. You gave me no kiss. This woman
has not ceased to kiss my feet. Now, her sins, which are many,
are forgiven, for she loved much. The one who loves little, the
same has been forgiven little. You've got a lot of sins. I've
got a lot of sins. As a matter of fact, it'd be
impossible to compute them. It'd be impossible to give a number. It'd be impossible. Millions, billions, I don't know,
and a sinful nature. If you're forgiven, you've been
forgiven much, haven't you? every second of your life has
been. As a matter of fact, you know,
the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart
and all your soul, and the second's like to it, to love your neighbor
as yourself. That means you and I have been
in a continual state of committing the worst sin, failing to love
God with all our heart and all our soul and all our strength,
and our neighbor as ourself. This woman, somebody thinks,
well, I wish I had, matter of fact, somebody once said this
to me and said, I wish I had greater sin so I could see my
sinfulness. You don't need to see anything like that. Just
take it for what God says with regard to who you are and much
you are. And then the Lord, after he said
that to Simon, he looked at that woman and he rendered this decision.
My sins are forgiven. They said, who is this that forgives
sin? judge, the one who has the right to do it. God has made him ruler. God has
made him judge. And look in verse 35, this Moses,
and they refused saying, who made thee a ruler and a judge?
The same did God seem to be a ruler. And A judge, the same did God
said to be a ruler and another word is used here though, a deliverer,
a deliverer. He's ruler, he's judge, and he
is deliverer. Now that comes out of the word,
this particular word comes out of the word, which means redeemed. He is a Redeemer. He is the Redeemer. He's the ruler. He's the one
whose will is always done. He controls everything. He's
the decision maker. What He says goes. If He says
you're justified, you're justified. If He says you're condemned,
you're condemned. He is the umpire. His judgment is what takes place.
But thank God, glory to God, He is the Redeemer. He is the Redeemer. You know what that means? He redeems. That hymn we were singing, 103,
the chorus. No, it wasn't that. What are the hymns we sung? I think it's the one, 122. Yeah,
we were singing, all my iniquities on him were laid. He nailed them
all to the tree. Jesus, the debt of my sin fully
paid. He paid the ransom for me. Now that's what the Redeemer
does. He pays the ransom. By one offering, he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Now, as a Redeemer, as the Redeemer,
not a Redeemer, the Redeemer, as the Redeemer, he can look
at that thief nailed to the tree who had lived a life of uncommon
ungodliness and immorality and murder. And he can say, today,
you're going to be with me in paradise. It can be said to Peter after
his fall, where he denied that he even knew the Lord, was ashamed
to be identified with the Lord. Oh, he went out and wept bitterly,
and I guarantee you at that time, Peter didn't believe he was saved. He thought, I proved myself.
I'm a reprobate. He thought when the Lord said,
whosoever denies me before men, him will I deny before my father,
which is in heaven. And he thought, I've done that.
I've denied him before men. In reality, Peter didn't deny
him, he denied who? I have no connection. But he
thought, it's over for me. And when the Lord was risen from
the dead, he said, you go tell my disciples, I'm risen from
the dead, go meet me. And tell Peter. Tell Peter. Peter would think, I'm not included
in this bunch. You go tell Peter that I'm risen
from the dead. Why? Because he's the Redeemer. David said, I've sinned against
the Lord. You read about that and you know
what he did? He committed adultery. He murdered somebody to cover
up himself. He implicated others in his crime. He was guilty of a great abuse
of power. I've sinned against the Lord.
You know what Nathan said to him? Because the Lord Jesus is
the Redeemer. He said, the Lord hath put away thy sin. That's
what redemption is. The Lord hath put away thy sin. Thou shalt not surely die. Now,
at the first of this message, I said some will love Him being
ruler, judge, and deliverer. Some will love this. Some will not. Who loves this? Those who have no ability to be saved unless
Christ wills their salvation. Would that be you? Those who have no ability to
make themselves just and can only do so if the judge declares
them to be just because of his redeeming work. Would that be
you? Those who have nothing to pay
and can only be redeemed if Christ pays it all. Would that be you? If so, You love his rule. You love him being the judge,
and you love him being the redeemer. I'm so thankful he's ruler, judge,
and redeemer. Let's pray. Lord, we confess that we cannot
be saved except you as the mighty ruler will it. We cannot be saved, we confess,
except you as the great judge, as a sovereign act of your authority
through the blood of your cross, declare us to be just and declare
our sins are forgiven. And Lord, we can't be saved unless
you make the full payment for us. And Lord, you've promised
in your word that you came to save sinners. And Lord, we have
confidence that you came to save every sinner. And Lord, we confess
we're sinners. how we thank you for the Lord
Jesus Christ and the salvation that's in Him. In His blessed
name we pray. Amen.