Two things I was thinking about
while we were listening to that song. First, is Jesus Christ
the Lord worthy of your complete trust? Yes, he is. And this is something
that I found very sweet while thinking about that. I do trust
him. I mean, I trust him as my salvation. What a wonderful blessing
to be enabled by God's grace to trust Him. I also thought
of that hymn, "'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus," just to take
Him at His word, just to lean upon the promise, just to know,
thus saith the Lord. Would you turn to Exodus chapter
3? We'll begin reading in verse
7 and read down to verse 12. And the Lord said, 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 the
land unto a good land, and a large, unto a land flowing with milk
and honey, and the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites,
and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Gentilites.
Now therefore behold, the cry of the children of Israel is
come unto And I have also seen the oppression wherewith the
Egyptians oppressed them. Come now, therefore, and I'll
send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people,
the children of Israel, out of Egypt." And Moses said unto God, Who am I that I should go unto
Pharaoh and that I should bring forth the children of Israel
out of Egypt? And he said, I will be with thee. And this shall
be a token unto thee that I have sent thee when thou hast brought
forth the people out of Egypt. You shall serve God upon this
mountain." Now, I want to call your attention to verses 7 and
10 particularly. And the Lord said, I have surely
seen the affliction of my people, which are in Egypt. Come now, therefore, and I will
send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people,
the children of Israel, out of Egypt." I've entitled this message,
My People. The Lord makes a distinction
between His people and everybody else. Were the Egyptians His
people? You know the answer to that question.
What about the six nations mentioned in verse 9? Now, there is a people
that God calls my people. And I sure am interested in being
one of those people, aren't you? I want to be somebody that He
calls my people. Now, He puts a difference between
His people and everybody else. Hold your fingers there and turn
over to Exodus 11. But against any of the children
of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast,
that ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between
the Egyptians and Israel." I've already quoted that passage of
scripture for 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 7 where Paul asked this
question, who makes you to differ from somebody else? Now, if you're a believer, you
know the answer to that question. You know it's the Lord alone
who has made you to differ. You know that, don't you? You
can't give yourself the credit. Who distinguishes you? Who makes
you different? What do you have that you did
not receive? Now, in this passage of Scripture
I just read, we have God's distinguishing, and I'm using these words purposely,
we have God's distinguishing, discriminating grace. Now, that's a word that's almost
taboo in our day, discrimination, but yet this is God's discriminating
grace. Now, Let me say two things about
discriminating grace, my people, as God speaks, my people, and
he makes a difference between his people and everybody else.
First, this is good news. This is not bad news, it is good
news if the Lord did not discriminate. If the Lord did not distinguish
If the Lord did not have a special people, he calls his people who
he makes to differ, if that were not the case, how many people
would be saved? You know, the answer to that
question, not one single individual would be saved if God did not
discriminate, but God is gracious and God is merciful, so he does
give his grace and mercy. to the people he sovereignly
chooses to give it to. Now, the only kind of grace there
is a sovereign grace. If it's not sovereign, it's not
grace. And he distinguishes among his
people. Let me show you a passage of
scripture in Hebrews chapter 8. Hold your finger there in
Exodus 3 and turn to Hebrews 8. I love this passage of scripture. Beginning in verse 10. And this is the Lord speaking,
for this is the covenant that I'll make with the house of Israel
after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
mind and write them in their hearts. And I will be to them
a God, and they shall be to me a people. There's God's people. And they shall not teach every
man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the
Lord. For all shall know me from the least to the greatest. For
I will be merciful. And that word merciful, you can
write this down, is propitious. I will be appeased. I will take
away their sins. It's not just talking about general
mercy. He's talking about the fact that he will be propitious.
He'll put away their sins. I'll be propitious to their unrighteousness
and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. Now, is there anything unfair
about that? About God saying concerning these
people, they're going to be to me a people, and I'm going to
be to them a God, and I'm going to be propitious to them, and
I'm going to take away their sins? Is there anything harsh
and ungracious about this? Now, you know as well as I do,
it's amazing how men find fault with God about being gracious. It's not fair for Him to say
some and pass others by. It's not fair for Him to discriminate.
And for him to distinguish between men, it's not fair for him to
say some and pass by others. Listen to me. The only hope that
you and I have is for him to discriminate with us and give
us his grace instead of sending us to hell. That's the only hope
that we have is that he does, in fact, discriminate. If that's
unfair, then mercy must be a payment, and it's a payment rather than
a free gift. Now, that's the first thing I
want to say about this, discriminating grace. We talked about my people.
It's good news, isn't it? It's good news. You wouldn't
be saved if it wasn't for this. I wouldn't be saved if it wasn't
for this. Now, here's the second thing I want to say about it.
I want to be one of his people. Whoever they are, I want to be
one of them and everybody who wants to be one of his people
is and will be one of his people. Now do you want to be one of
his people? Do you want him to discriminate with you and give
you his grace and do something for you? Do you want him to invade
you? and intercept you and do something
for you? Do you want to be saved by His
free grace? By His sovereign grace? Do you
find that feeling? Is that something you want? Well, listen to this.
If you want to be saved by His grace, you are saved by His grace. And you will be saved by His
grace. There's not anybody who wants to be saved by His grace
that's not saved by His grace. Not one. I want to be His people. I want to be saved by His grace.
I want to be a recipient of His free and sovereign grace. Now,
let's look what He does for these people He calls My people. And
He makes this big distinction. He calls them My people, and
then there's the Egyptians, and then there's the Jebusites and
the Hittites and all the otherites. He makes a distinction between
them and His people. Now, let's look and see what
He says about His people. Look in verse 7. And the Lord
said, 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." Now, we read of affliction,
that's depression, depression and misery. We read of sorrow,
anguish, grief and pain. We read of oppression, cross,
distress. You know, when they first came
to Egypt, if you remember the history of this, they had it
made. They came down with Joseph. Joseph was the top man in all
of Egypt. And because of their connection with him, they were
put in the best land, the land of Goshen. And they had it made.
Life was good. And it went that way for many
years. They were happy in Egypt. But
we read in Exodus 1, 8, there rose up a new king in Egypt,
which knew not Joseph. So now, instead of being in favor,
their lives were miserable. Look at Exodus chapter 1, beginning
in verse 11. Therefore, they did set over
them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they
built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Python and Ramses. But the more
they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And
they were grieved because of the children of Israel. And the
Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor. And
they made their lives bitter with hard bondage and mortar
and brick in all manner of service in the field. All of their service
wherein they made them serve was with rigor, with great difficulty. These people had rotten lives. It's described as miserable,
as as oppressed, as afflicted, as sorrow. The Lord was going to make them
sick of Egypt. Now, there was a time when they
liked being there. They enjoyed the leeks and the onions. They
enjoyed the food of Egypt, they enjoyed all the different things
about Egypt, but the Lord was going to make it to where they
wanted to be delivered. They were going to become so
sick of Egypt, they were going to be so thankful to be delivered.
And you know, when the Lord does something for somebody, here's
what He does. He makes them sick of Egypt.
He makes them sick of sin. He makes them sick of bondage. It's a miserably oppressive thing
to do. The bondage of salvation by works,
the bondage of their own sinful nature. He makes them sick of
it and he makes them want to be delivered. And that's what
God does when he's going to do a work of grace in somebody's
heart. He makes them want to be delivered. Now, the children
of Israel, we read of their sighing and their crying and their groaning.
And I don't believe they knew who they were sighing and crying
and groaning to at this time. They didn't yet know the Lord.
I think that they had been immersed in the Egyptian culture. They
pretty much lost their identity. And they just knew they were
miserable. That's all they knew. They were just in such a bad
shape. But what's the Lord say? He says, I have seen Their affliction,
you see, the affliction was the affliction of his people. He
said, I've heard their cry. If their cry caught his attention,
he says, I know their sorrows. That's an amazing statement.
The Lord says concerning these people, he says, I know their
sorrows. He doesn't say I know about their
sorrows, he says, I know I'm intimately acquainted with their
sorrows. I see them and hear them with
sympathy and empathy. I am moved by their sorrows. And like I said, I don't believe
they knew the Lord when they were groaning and moaning like
this. But yet the Lord says, I know
their sorrows. I've experienced what they experienced. Now that word, no, it doesn't
simply mean I know about them, but I know them intimately. I
know them, I've experienced them. Now, how can that be? How can
the Lord know our sorrows? How can the Lord know our experience
in this sense? Well, turn to Hebrews chapter
4. This will answer that question. Hebrews chapter 4. Verse 14. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest that's passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of
God, let us hold fast our confession. Hold fast your confession of
him being all. For, here's why, here's why we're
to hold fast this confession. We have not an high priest which
cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, our weaknesses. You know what it is to feel weak,
to feel far away, to feel sinful, to feel guilty, to feel driven
away. You know what it is to feel way
off. Now the scripture says he's touched. He's moved to sympathy. He says, I know your sorrows. Now, how can that be? He's God. He's God. And there's not anything that
you felt or experienced that he has not felt and experienced
more acutely than you have. Do you believe that? The scripture
says he was in all points. tempted, tested, tried, just
like us, yet without sin. He never sinned. Now, you know
He never sinned, yet the sin of His people so completely became
His that He felt the filthiness of it and the guilt of it and
the horror of it. He was made sin. Now, do I understand
this? Of course not. He never sinned
in His person, yet He cried out, My iniquity! have gone over my
head as a heavy burden. They're too heavy for me. My
wounds stink and are corrupt. I'm bowed down because of my
foolishness. I go mourning all the day long."
Those are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how truly
the sins of His people became His. So He knows intimately. He knows your sorrows. Sorrows
that you wouldn't tell anybody about, that you're ashamed of,
that you might think are trite and stupid, and you wouldn't
even want anybody to know about it. But he knows them. And the scripture says he is
touched by the feeling of our infirmities. You know how you
love your children. What hurts them hurts you. What
affects them affects you. For the Lord Jesus is much more
that way than we are with our children. He says, I know their
sorrows. Remember, these are his people.
So what does the Lord do for these people who are his people,
these people that he's distinguished and discriminated and done a
work of grace for? Look back at our text. He says in verse seven of Exodus
three, and the Lord said, I've surely seen the affliction of
my people, which are in Egypt, and I've heard their cry by reason
of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So what does he
do? He says, I am come down to deliver
them out of the hand of the Egyptians. Now, is this not precisely what
the Lord Jesus Christ did? He came down to deliver us and
to save us. Truly, His coming was a coming
down from heaven to earth from a spirit to a body. You know, there was
a time when the Lord Jesus was not confined to a body. I don't
understand that, but it's so. There was a time when he didn't
have the limitations of the flesh. He's the eternal God, the creator
of the universe. Yet he confined himself. He came down to a body. He went
from holiness absolute perfect purity to being made sin. He went from perfect communion
with his Father to complete separation from his Father. All that hell
is, whatever hell is, all that hell is, he experienced. He came down. And you know what
he did in coming down? He delivered us. He delivered
us when He said it is finished. We were delivered. Sin was paid for. All that God
requires of me, everything that He requires of me, He has from
the Lord Jesus Christ coming down. I want you to think for
just a moment about how complete your salvation is in Christ.
When He came down, Everything you need. Was given to the father
was given to you and there's not one thing that you like.
You were delivered. He came down and delivered us
when he said it is finished. We were. Delivered and what happened
next verse 8. He said, I'm 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 with honey, he brought us up. Not only did he come down
and deliver us, he brought us up. Now he brought me up, first
of all, when he was raised from the dead. Now he came down and
he was made sin and he put away sin. He suffered for sin, but
he was raised up. He didn't stay dead. He was raised
up. I love thinking about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus
Christ. You know, it's something very glorious to think about Him laying
in that tomb, a dead body, all of a sudden His eyes open. Isn't
that glorious? His eyes opened. He gives up. You know who else got up? Every
one of His people. I was raised up then. When He
ascended back to the Father, Oh, can you imagine the disciples
watching him as he goes back up with the plows? He ascended
back to the Father. You know who else went up with
the Father? To the Father? I did. Every single one of his
people. He's called the Lord of hosts.
He brought a whole bunch of people with him when he ascended back
up to the Father. He brought us up. When he raised us from spiritual
death, we were dead, laying down dead in sins. And He brought
us up. And He brought us unto a good
land and a large. I love this description. A good
land and a large. Very roomy. Very spacious. A lot of liberty. Not confining.
A good land and a large. Unto a land flowing with milk
and with honey. Now this land that He brought
us up into. What is this land? Where is it
we abide? We abide in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him. And what a place to be.
What a wonderful place to be. He's so roomy. He's so spacious. There's such liberty simply walking
in Him, abiding in Him, being found in Him. He's the place
I abide. It's a good land. I mean, who
can describe the goodness of this land? In Him, I'm good. I'm in a good land. I'm good.
I'm in a land of liberty. A good land flowing, the scripture
says, flowing with milk and with honey. Now, what is the one thing
that you can live off of? What's the one necessity? What
is it that a baby feeds off of and doesn't have to have anything
else? Milk. Milk is the one necessity. And
this is a land flowing with what I need, milk. But not only is
a land flowing with milk, it's a land flowing with honey, with sweetness. There is more, there is more pleasure him trusting
the Lord Jesus Christ than anything this world has to afford. There's
more pleasure in seeing his beauty. There's more pleasure in reading
his word. When God gives you the grace to open it, it opens
up to you. There's more pleasure in hearing
the gospel when God gives you hearing ears. There's more pleasure
in hearing the gospel than any pleasure of this world. It's
sweeter. The words are like honeycombs,
sweeter than honey to me, is what David said. It's a land
flowing, always flowing with milk, what we need and with honey. I'm so thankful for the honey,
the pleasures of knowing the Lord. I love what David said
when he said, I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord than
to dwell in the temps of wickedness. And I really would. I wouldn't
trade places with anybody. Would you? What I have in Christ
Jesus, my acceptance in Him, the joy of knowing that God's
not mad at me. The joy of knowing that when
God looks at me, He looks at somebody without sin. Perfect in Christ Jesus. And
it's real. This is real what I'm talking
about. It's not theory. It's real. Perfect in Christ
Jesus. What pleasure there is in that.
What pleasure there is in knowing that Christ is on the throne
and that everything is working together. for my good and for
His glory. What pleasure there is to me
to know that I'm in His hand. I don't have a thing to worry
about. When I feel good, I don't have
a thing to worry about. When I'm sick and feel like I'm
dying, I don't have a thing to worry about. When I'm stressed
out, I shouldn't be. I don't have anything to worry
about. What pleasure there is in knowing Him. It's a good land,
a land flowing with milk and with honey. It never stops. Now, the Lord says to Moses in
verse 10. Come now, therefore. And I'll send thee unto Pharaoh
that thou mayest bring forth my children, my people, the children
of Israel out of Egypt. There's that distinction he makes.
Now look at Moses's response. And Moses said unto God. Who am I? that I should go into Pharaoh
and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of
Egypt. Who am I? Now, he's commissioning Moses,
human instrumentality, but Moses' response is who am I? Now, there
was a time 40 years earlier when he felt adequate for the task.
He thought the children of Israel would have understood that God
by his hand would have delivered them. He felt adequate for it.
But now, when God has made him ready, He doesn't want the job. Who am I? Why would you even
look my way? Why would you think about me? Look in Exodus chapter four,
verse one. The Lord has commissioned Moses
to look at Moses response, and Moses answered and said, but
behold, they'll not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice, for
they'll say the Lord hath not appeared unto thee. relate with
Moses, him saying something like that. I'd be thinking the same
thing. Look in verse 7, 10 of Exodus
chapter 4. And Moses said unto the Lord,
O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since
thou hast spoken unto thy servant, but I am slow of speech and of
a slow tongue. And the Lord said unto him, Who
hath made man's mouth? Or who maketh the dumb, or the
deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? And he said, I, the Lord. Now
therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what
thou shalt say. And he said, O my Lord, send
I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. Send somebody
else. Send somebody else. I do not want to go. I am unfit
for it. And the anger of the Lord was
cancelled against Moses. And he said, well, you can go on
reading about what happened. Now he commissioned Aaron to speak
for him. Moses felt completely unqualified. I never will forget
one time hearing Brother Mahan preaching, and he said to the
congregation, this tickled me so much, he said, you know, I
realize that there are some of you out there that are thinking
I could do a better job than him. I could say it better. He said, I'm sure you could.
He said, but that's why I'm here and you're there. I thought that
was good. We ought to feel unqualified. Who am I? I'm utterly unfit.
Yes, Moses, that's true. But look at verse 12 of Exodus,
Chapter three, you are unfit. Who are you? You're nobody. You're
nothing in and of yourself. You don't even count. Moses knew
that the Lord knew that. But, you know, even when I say
that, Yeah, you do count in Christ. You know, our identity, our self-esteem,
I don't know what you want to call it, our sense of well-being,
it's who we are in Christ. Who I am in Christ is who I am. Now, do you hear that? Who you
are in Christ is who you really are. The stuff that you're dealing
with now, the flesh and so on, that's not even you anymore.
And it's going to be put in a grave. And one of these days, you won't
even have to deal with it. You won't even remember it. Who you really
are is who you are in Christ. Now, he says to Moses in verse
12, and he said, certainly I will be with thee. Certainly, doubtless, with absolute
sureness and certainty. I'll be with you. Look back in
verse seven of the same text. And the Lord said, I have surely
seen the affliction of my people. He doesn't just say I've seen
the affliction of my people, but I've surely seen the affliction
of my people. And I will certainly be with
you. I will sure be with you. Why is that? Well, it's because
of the covenant. Look back at Exodus chapter two,
verse 24. And God heard their groaning and God remembered his
covenant. with Abraham, with Isaac, and
with Jacob. Now you remember, the Lord always
remembers this covenant. And that's how he remembers you.
He remembers this covenant that he made that doesn't have anything
to do with you. It's the covenant he made with the Lord Jesus Christ.
And this is how God remembers his people. Hold your finger
there and turn over to Hebrews chapter 13. This was a blessing
to me to look at this verse of scripture. Verse 20, Now the God of peace that brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of
the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make
you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you
that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ
to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Now, that's why it's
certainly going to be with Moses. That's why it's going to be certainly
be with me and with you because of the covenant he made with
his dear son and the love of that everlasting covenant. Is
it any wonder David, when he was speaking of that covenant,
he said, this is all my salvation. And it's all my desire. And I
love Satan. I can say with just as much conviction
as David, this is all my salvation. And this is all my desire. Oh,
what a glorious covenant. But let's go back to our text
in Exodus 3. And he said, certainly I'll be with thee. And I'm going
to give you a sign that I'm with you. This shall be a token unto
thee that I have said thee. This is how you're going to know
that I'm with you. This is how you're going to know That my
blessing is on you. This is how you're going to know
that I've sent you. When you brought forth the people out
of Egypt, you shall serve God upon this mountain. Now, here's
how you're going to know that I've sent you. What you're going
to do is going to be successful. You're going to go and bring
the people of Israel, the children of Israel, my people out of Egypt,
and you're going to come back and serve the Lord on this mountain.
Something that you think is impossible to get done is going to get done.
And that's going to prove to you that I sent you. What's that got to do with me? Now, here's a token for you that
the Lord is with you. Don't you want a token, a sign
that the Lord's with you, that you want something you can sink
your teeth into and lay hold on and think, this is mine. I'm
going to give you a token that the Lord's with you if you're
one of his people, if you're somebody that trusts Christ. Did Christ succeed? Did he succeed in what he intended
to do? Now, he said in Matthew 121,
where he said of him, Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. And here's a question I want
to ask you. Did he do it? Did he succeed? Well, if he did,
And you know what I'm saying, if he did, I'm not giving him
the possibility that maybe he didn't. He did. He did. And if he did, that means he's
with you. That is proof positive that he's
with you. His success. That's why he's
with you. That's why. Because he succeeded.
He doesn't have a reason to not be with you. Because he succeeded. He did what the Father gave him
to do. You are delivered. Believe it. He's with you. Isn't that wonderful
to think the Lord's with you? He's with me. He's with me. And he said, I will never leave
thee, nor forsake thee. What a blessing to be one of
his people. And let me emphasize this as
much as I can. There's nothing you can do, or
there's nothing I can do to make myself one of his people. I realize
that. That's the work of God's grace
and the work of God's grace alone. There's nothing I can do to make
myself one of his people. But I also know this. If I want
to be one of his people. And I'm not just saying I want
to be saved from hell. Everybody wants to be saved from
hell. Nobody wants to go to hell. Everybody wants to go to heaven
and not go to hell. That's not what I'm talking about. If I
want to be one of His people, somebody saved by His grace in
such a way where Christ gets all the honor and all the glory,
if I want to be one of His people, I am one of His people. He put
that want to in me. And I'll be one of His people.
There's nobody who wants to be one of His people that He says,
no, I'm not going to let you be. Everybody who wants to be
one of His people, they're one of His people. And I know this,
this is what I want more than anything else. I want to be one
of His people, saved by His grace. Let's pray.