So full of baloney, it ain't
funny. Well, that's good to see you all out this evening. Remember
those who requested prayer. Fred's going for his PICC line,
what, Friday? Tomorrow, going for his PICC line tomorrow. That's
the thing they put in your chest to put the chemo in. And then
he's, let's see, Monday goes to the bone marrow. Friday's gonna get a punch on
the bone marrow and then the next week's the PET scan, so. Bless his heart, he's in for
a fun week. I hate it for him, but I remember him to the Lord.
I also continue to remember Dee Parks. I just got a notification
on my email today that I've got to call my heart doctor. Evidently,
it's been three years since I had my heart attack, so I've got
to go back for my yearly this. But I've been doing a lot of
exercise. I've been doing leg lifts, which is you pull that
handle on the side of that recliner and lift your legs up. That's my exercises. Oh, and Kathy Robbins has cancer,
but she just tested with the blood test that there's cancer
somewhere in her body. You know, she had colon cancer. She couldn't take chemotherapy,
and they think they got that. But she has cancer somewhere,
but the doctor doesn't seem to be worried. She'll check her
in three months because it just was a reading that Somewhere in her
system, there's a cancer. So remember her in your prayers
also. Let's begin our worship service
with hymn number 475, Redeemed, How I Love to Proclaim It. ? Redeemed now I love to proclaim
it ? Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb ? Redeemed through His
infinite mercy ? His child and forever I am ? Redeemed, redeemed
? Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb Redeemed! This shall end forever
I am Redeemed and so happy in Jesus No language my rapture
can tell I know that the light of his presence With me doth
continually dwell Redeemed! ? Redeemed by the blood of the
Lamb ? Redeemed ? Redeemed ? His child and forever I am ? I think
of my blessed Redeemer ? I think of Him all the day long ? I sing
for I cannot be silent His love is the theme of my song Redeemed,
redeemed Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb Redeemed, redeemed
His child and forever I am I know I shall see in His beauty ? Lovingly guardeth my footsteps
? ? And giveth me salt in the night ? ? Redeemed, redeemed
? ? Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb ? ? Redeemed, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb ? ? His child and forever I am ? Hymn
number 236, Amazing Grace. ? Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved
a wretch like me ? That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see. T'was grace that taught my heart
to fear. and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear
the hour I first believed. Through many I have already come. His grace hath brought me safe
thus far, and grace will lead me home. When we've been there, You have your Bibles turned to
Exodus chapter 7. I'm going to read verses 8 through
13. The title of my message tonight
is Duplicating the Visible. Exodus chapter 7 and verse 8. And the LORD said unto Moses
and to Aaron, saying, When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying,
Show a miracle for you, then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take
thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent.
Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, and they did so as the Lord had
commanded. And Aaron cast down his rod before
Pharaoh and before his servants, and they became a serpent. Then
Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers, and now
the magicians of Egypt. They also did in like manner
with their enchantments. For they cast down every man
his rod, and they became serpents. But Aaron's rod swallowed up
all the rods. and he hardened, that is, God
hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he hearkened not unto them, as
the Lord had said." Let us pray. Our Father, we come in the blessed
name and perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, the Lord, thanking
You that we are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. We are saved
by Your amazing grace. You've been merciful and kind
and tender-hearted most wretched of creatures. You've shown them grace and everybody in the world knows
they can't deserve it. We thank you that you favored
us and loved us with an everlasting love. Because you've loved us,
you've drawn us to Christ. You've accepted his sacrifice
on our behalf so that the law and justice has nothing to do
with us, that there is no grounds upon
which the law or conscience can accuse because of the perfect
satisfaction rendered by Jesus Christ in his death on Calvary
Street. We pray for those of our company
who are sick, remember especially Fred as he's getting ready for
this cancer treatment. Ask the Lord to be with him and
watch over him, be with those doctors that minister to him,
Father, we pray for his healing, that he be brought back to a
good measure of health. Pray also for those heart doctors
that's next in line as they minister to him. Father, we pray you'd
be with them. Continue to pray for Dee Parks, that you'd watch
over him and pray that you would heal him. We desire his healing. He's such a precious young man
to us. We bow to your will in these things, knowing that What
you do, the judge of all the earth shall always do what's
right. Help us to bow to your wisdom and give us understanding
and grace for every situation. Help us tonight as we've gathered
here that we may see what you've got for us in the word of God.
Enable me to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ with
clarity. Let me say right things concerning
thee. Help us to look to Christ in all things and trust him implicitly.
He is our hope and our strength, the object of our faith. Help
us now we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Now what I just read to you is
the record of Moses and Aaron again being commanded to go before
Pharaoh to demand that he let the people go. Now it's important
to remember that this demand was not about a wholesale and
complete exodus from Egypt or vacating Egypt. It was about
a three-day journey. It's still about that three-day
journey into the wilderness to worship God which Pharaoh refused
because God had hardened his heart. Now this is everything
up to this point has been ordained and it's ordained that Pharaoh
would not relent until the Lord had so bruised Egypt that Pharaoh
was determined to send them out rather than let them go. And
that's what will happen at the end of this book. But until that
day, the Lord would repeatedly harden the king's heart. That
phrase is used time and time again. It's used twice here in
this passage of Scripture. And he will prevent the people's
exodus from this land to go and worship God. Now this visit to
the palace was likewise ordained. Every facet of it was. even to
the fact that Pharaoh would ask to see a miracle. The Lord said,
when he asks to see a miracle, that means he's going to ask
to see a miracle. Now, why would he ask to see
a miracle? He was probably asked to see a miracle so he could
say, well, maybe God is in this thing. I don't know. But when
asked, Pharaoh would cast down his rod and it would become a
serpent, as the Lord spoke in Chapter 4 of Exodus of the miracles
that he gave him. And this he did, and Pharaoh
had a response to it. He called his magicians and his
sorcerers, and they tossed down their rods, and their rods became
serpents also, duplicating the miracle. Now the miracle to the human
mind was to portray the power of God. And the duplication of
it was not only diminishing the notion of God's power, but to
declare that the magicians had the same power. Had the very
same power as God. And to attribute it, deity, to
them. If God can make a rod into a
snake, and we can make a rod into a snake, we must be alike.
We must be the same. This point is moot, however,
if the intent was to convince Pharaoh of the power of God because
God had already hardened his heart. That was not the intent.
That could not be the intent of this miracle because God had
already hardened his heart. So his intent was not to change
Pharaoh or to convert Pharaoh. God never does anything without
intent that does not involve intent and purpose. That being
the case, the question may be asked, What was the intent of
this miracle? We see that the rod of Aaron
devoured the magician's rods, and I think it's interesting
there that it didn't say that Aaron's serpent devoured the magician's
serpent. It says his rod did. I don't
know whether there's a grammatical error there or what, or whether
it would really be a stranger miracle if his rod had turned
back, his snake had turned back into a rod, and now the rod devoured
the snake. But at any rate, the magician's
rods were consumed by Aaron's rod. showing that God's ways
are more powerful than man's ways, and that is certainly a
lesson displayed, though completely resisted by Pharaoh and his magicians,
according to the determinate counsel of God. They're all hardened
against God, according to His Word. Now, this miracle did not
and could not soften the hearts of the Egyptians, and no miracle
can. People talk about miracles all
the time. I think there's a network on the Christian radio that's
called the Miracle Network. The Miracle Network. People talk
about miracles all the time, but let me tell you something
about miracles. Miracles never soften the hearts of anyone.
They never do. This is repeated in Spain in
the life of our Lord as He lived for 33 and a half years on this
planet. The same crowd who lauded and applauded Christ for the
miracles that He did. and the stomachs that he filled,
even to the point of wanting to make him their king in John
chapter six, stood in the courtyard and cried in their bloodlust,
Crucify him, crucify him, let his blood be on our head. The
same group that lauded him, applauded him for miracles. Miracles were
used of God to do two things. They were used in the life of
Christ and in the life of his apostles for two reasons. First
of all, they show forth In some aspect, the miracles that Christ
did, everyone He healed, shows forth the salvation of the Lord
Jesus Christ in type and picture. The people He healed later on
died, so it was not an eternal healing that He gave them, but
a temporal healing that He gave them. But also miracles were
given so that men would stop and pause for a moment when this
thing happened that they can't explain. And imagine that they
would stop and pause and be able to hear something. So it was
attendant to the message of the gospel. And so the miracles went
on to the apostolic age so the apostles could perform miracles.
And when they performed miracles, people stopped and said, man,
that guy has a miracle. But it gave an opportunity for
him to preach the gospel to them. It was attendant to the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The miracles were never intended
to convert men, but to have them pause, have them pause that they
may hear the message of faith. The just live by faith. That's
said four times in Scripture. The just shall live by faith. Scripture says that the believer
walks by faith and not by sight. Peter, having seen the miracle
on the Mount of Transfiguration and heard the very voice of God
saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, said
that we have a more sure word of prophecy than what he saw
and the word he had is the word of God received by God given
faith. The immediate lesson learned
from this miracle is that it can be duplicated by man. That
is what is necessary to understand for us. This is a miracle. but it is duplicated by men.
Right before our eyes, Aaron cast down his rod and it became
a serpent. The magician cast down their rods and they became
serpents. So the miracle was duplicated by man. And this is the core of religion.
This is the core of religion regardless of what form or denomination
it takes. The things described as the life
of the Christian or the life of the Jew or the life of the
Muslim or the life of the Hindu or the life of the Buddhist or
the life of the Shinto can be duplicated without faith and
without any interest in the Lord Jesus Christ. If it can be seen,
if it can be seen, it can be reproduced and these reproductions
sadly form the basis for the false and damning hope of multitudes. What can be seen? Praying can
be seen. The Hindus, the Buddhists, the
Muslims, the Christians, they all pray. That can be seen. People can see people praying.
Giving, that can be seen. Many religions still practice
almsgivings, and that is actually visibly putting your money in
a receptacle in front of everybody so they can see that you've given
money. Remember many years ago, we were
down at Little Snowbird, and after the preaching went on,
they was having some kind of thing. A fellow walked from outside the parking
lot. Remember that, Crow? A fellow walking from outside
the parking lot, weighing a $20 bill, and put it in the... We
could see his giving. And you can see giving. You can
see giving. Witnessing. You can see witnessing. You can see folks attending church. You can see feast days and holy
days. You can see men's efforts at
humility. You can see missionary endeavors.
You can see rites and rituals. And even showing love can be
duplicated without any interest in God. People can joke. People
can do that. And all these are the things
religion looks at and says, this proves, this proves that this
is a child of God. This proves that this is a spiritual
person. Every religion does these things.
Every religion does these things. One man was asked why he prayed
in public over his meals, and his reply was not, I'm so thankful
that God fed me. His reply was, he said, people
will know I'm a Christian. I did that so people will know.
Well, who does that? According to Matthew 23, the
Lord said the Pharisees do that. They do what they do to be seen
of men. So men will look at their works
and say, There's a holy man. There's a righteous man. There's
a religious man. I remember my granddaddy was
a very philanthropic fellow, gave money to charity, but he
always let you know that he gave money to charity, and people
always said of him, he's got a heart of gold. No, he had a
heart blacker than a thousand midnights down in the Sniper
Swamp, but he was a giver, and that could be seen. And just
as Aaron's rod was laid down and turned to a serpent, and
then the magicians did the same thing, this is what religion does. It
duplicates those things that are true in true religion. and says that's the core of it,
and it's not. In truth, these things become
a form of godliness and are counted as proof that one is indeed a
Christian or as evidence of spirituality. But there is but one thing that
cannot be duplicated, just one thing. I touched on this Sunday
morning. That which cannot be duplicated
is faith, true faith. First of all, it's a gift bestowed
by sovereign grace. By grace ye are saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. That faith is not of yourselves.
It's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For
we are His workmanship. We're made by Him, and used by
Him, and employed by Him, and worked out by Him. We are His
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto His works, which God
has before ordained that we should walk in them. Faith cannot be
seen. It cannot be seen, therefore
it cannot be duplicated. You cannot duplicate something
you cannot see. In fact, faith itself, though
utterly invisible and unprovable and impossible to be duplicated,
is actually the only thing that is said to be evidence and substance. In all of Scripture, the only
thing that is said to be evidence is faith. That is what it says
in Hebrews chapter 11. The great chapter about men of
faith. By faith we understand the world
was made. I know people talk about creationism
and teaching it in schools and all those sorts of things. a movie out or a series out now
about creation and it's got theologians and they all set out to scientifically
prove that the earth was created and it didn't evolve over billions
of years. It was actually created by God
and they set out to do that. I've got books in my library
about creationism and you know I find them very interesting
to read or interesting but that's not how we understand the world
was formed. Not by science. Not because we
see a man's footprint and a dinosaur's footprint in the same place.
That's not why we believe it. How do we understand that the
world was created? By faith. By faith we understand
the world was created by God. That's what it says in this very
chapter. It says in verse 3 of chapter 11 of Hebrews, through
faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word
of God so that the things which are seen were not made of things
that do appear. God made things from nothing. How do we know that? We understand
it by faith. Not any other way. Not any other
way. But here's what it says in verse
one. It says, Now faith is the substance or ground or confidence. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for. Now Paul says in Romans 8 24
that if you see it you can't hope for it. Because if you can
see it there's no need to hope for it because you already see
it. He said so that which is seen you can't hope for. He said
Christ is our hope but you can't see Christ. You can't see Christ. Now faith is a substance of things
hoped for. It's the evidence of things not seen. That would
be an oxymoron if it weren't for the fact that God himself
said it. the evidence of things not seen what a wonder what a
wonder but it cannot be duplicated scripture says in first and second
Thessalonians chapter three and verse eight all men have not
faith what does that mean? some people have faith and some
people don't the one whom God gives faith those are the ones
who have faith it cannot be duplicated what you have by God's grace
cannot be duplicated in religion. Now all those other things I
talked about, love, attendance, giving, kindness, mercy, all
those things are attributes of God-given faith. Faith worketh
by love. These things are there and they
are in every believer, but they can be duplicated without believing. But you can't have faith and
not do those things. Faith is the evidence of things hoped
for. mean practice some sort of religion even make art to
be spiritual these days make everything spiritual you know
if you know if a person is kinda out there and thinks differently
or is artistic or something they say he's very spiritual they're
not but they say that they say that what we need to understand
is that these magicians back here back here who resisted Moses
in duplicating the miracle they by displaying their own form
of godliness were actually resisting the doctrine of God because this
story is not left just in the Old Testament Paul wrote to Timothy
in his pastoral epistles as he helped these young preachers
on their way he wrote about these magicians and he named them He
named these magicians. In 2nd Timothy 3, in verse 1,
he talked about things happening in perilous times when false
teachers would come along. Chapter 3 of 2nd Timothy says,
This know also that in the last days, when are the last days?
John said in 1st John, we're in the last days. Now he said
that about a hundred A.D. We've been in the last days actually
since the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the end
of things. Christ's introduction and incarnation into the world
was the beginning of the end. The beginning of the end. And
know this, that in the last days perilous times shall come, for
men shall be lovers of their own selves. You ever notice how
many people just can't do anything but take selfies all day long?
I've got some friends who I look and I see the selfie over and
over the same thing. I think, why do they keep doing
that? I was at the beach, me and Deb a couple years ago. It
was a couple years ago, it wasn't long ago. It was too cold to
go to the beach. I'm about froze to death down
there. But I took my first selfie down there. It was my last one
too. Lovers of their own selves. And
that's what people say, that they love yourself. You don't
have to say that to anybody. You have to tell them to stop.
You love yourself naturally. In fact, God knew that. He said,
love your neighbor as you love yourself. He didn't tell you
to love yourself. That's a given. He said, if you're
going to love, love your neighbor like you love you. Peggy Kerbo
said, I guess that means whatever I want for myself, I should want
for them also. Covetous. Always wanting somebody
else's stuff. Boasters. My goodness, proud,
blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural
affection, truth breakers, false accusers, incontinent, and that
don't mean you couldn't control your bladder, but it simply means
you can't control yourself, fierce, despisers of that which is good,
traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than
lovers of God. Look at verse 5, having a form
of godliness. That's what was displayed before
Moses and Aaron by these magicians, a form of godliness, denying
the power thereof. From search, from such, turn
away. Don't have anything to do with these He said, for this
sort are they which creep in houses and leave captive silly
women. That don't mean all women are silly. It means that some
women are silly and they're easily led away. Laden with sins, led
away with divers lusts, ever learning and never able to come
to the knowledge of the truth. Now these magicians are named.
Now as Janice and Jambres withstood Moses. That's who he's talking
about. so do they, these resist the truth, they are men of corrupt
minds, reprobate concerning the faith." Janice and Jambres what
does their name mean? well Janice means he vexed he
vexed and Jambres means foamy healer I don't know what the
heck that means a foamy healer they duplicated the miracle and
it was equated with here resisting the truth of God that's what
they were doing So that's what God was teaching us all along
back yonder in the 7th of Exodus. They duplicated a miracle and
it was equated with resisting the truth and being reprobate
concerning the faith. He said something like this to
Titus over in chapter 1 in verse 16 of Titus. He said, They professed
that they know God, but in works they deny Him. being abominable
and disobedient and to every good work reprobate. Now how
do they deny God? They don't deny God by not doing
works. They deny God in the works they do. And that's what these
did back there. When they tossed down their rods
and they became snakes, they were denying God in the works
that they were doing. They were resisting the truth.
The faith spoken of here is the faith. It's preceded by the definite
article, The, and it means the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
and the gospel is where all faith rests. All faith rests there.
I need to learn that before I die. I really do. I really do. It doesn't rest in what can be
seen or what can be felt, because those things can be readily duplicated.
Verse 13, back in our text, says, And God hardened Pharaoh's
heart, and he hearkened not unto them. God hearkened, or God hardened
Pharaoh's heart that he hearkened not to Moses and Aaron. This
is the Lord's business, you see. This is how he operates. Speaking
along of the same incidents of Pharaoh's heart being hearted,
our Lord's heart being hardened, our Lord wrote in Romans chapter
9, in verse 15, he says, For he saith to Moses, and this is
from Exodus 33, For he saith to my mother, I will have mercy
on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion, for I will show grace unto whom I will show
grace. So then, it is not of him that willeth, nor of him
that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For the Scripture
saith, because the Scripture saith, how do we know that it
is of God that show mercy? It is not of him that wills,
or him that runs, but how do we know it is of God? Because
the Scripture saith to Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have
I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that
my name might be declared throughout the earth. Therefore hath he
mercy on whom he hath mercy, and whom he willed, he hardeneth. Whom he willed, he hardeneth.
This is the work of the sovereign God. Do you have faith? If you
have it, it's because God freely, without anything in you or about
you, gave it to you. for one reason, to believe Jesus
Christ and his gospel. That's why you have it. It's
not so you can do mighty miracles and move mountains because it's
bigger than a mustard seed. What it is is about believing
the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said after preaching 30
some years, he said this is the extent of my ministry. Some believed
and some believed not. Those who believe are those who
are given faith to do so. And in our text, the last five
words of verse 13, Settle it all for him to whom God has given
this faith. It says in verse 13, As the Lord
had said. There you go. This is where faith
rests precisely and only there. Whatever the Lord has said is
what we hold to, believe, and rest in. Father, bless us to
understand and pray in Christ's name, amen.