It's good to see you all out
this evening. Just got word that Wanda's got the COVID now. Sam's
about over it. The doctor gave him some pavlovics,
which is what they use now to help with it. But he said it
was so mild, he didn't feel like it was even sick, except for
a little tired. That's all it was. But he's doing well. Remember Wanda in your prayers.
Also remember Julie. She fell again, and she's We'll
be recuperating from that and I hope she don't have to go back
to rehab, but she may have to. Dee Parks is going to have a
CT scan on Friday to see if the chemotherapy he's been taking
these last weeks has changed anything in his intestinal cancer. So remember him. I got a call
from Sandy Parks last night, Moose's wife. and she was requesting
prayer. Remember him in prayer, remember
the family in prayer. So try to do that if you can.
We're going to sing Christ to the Cross for our first hand.
Is that the right tune? Yeah, try that again. I've just
got my whole new hearing aid in. I don't think it's working. On a hill far away died the Christ
of the cross. He yielded to suffering and shame. And there in His grace He died
in my place The purpose of God to fulfill So I'll cherish the
Christ of the cross And before His throne I'll bow down ? Christ of the cross ? For he
is the king I must crown ? For the Christ of the cross ? So
despised by the world ? Has a wondrous attraction to me ? To bear all my sin on the tree
? So I'll cherish the Christ of the cross ? And before His
throne I'll bow down ? I will cling to the Christ of the cross For He is the King I must crown
In the Christ of the Cross And His blood so divine A marvelous
beauty I see that long had been alive to behold
Him now on His throne. So I'll cherish the Christ of
the cross, and before His throne I'll bow down. I will cling to the Christ of For He is the King I must crown. To the Christ of the Cross I
must ever be true. His shame and reproach Till all shall be gained His
glory forever I'll share So I'll cherish the Christ of the cross
And before His throne I'll bow down the Christ of the Cross, for
He is the King I must crown. Our next hymn will be hymn number
17, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. Come thou fount of every blessing. Streams of mercy never ceasing
call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet
sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mountain fixed upon
it, mount of the Here I raise mine Ebenezer, hither
by thy help I'm come, and I hope by thy good pleasure safely to
arrive at home. Jesus saw me when a stranger
wandering from He to rescue me from danger interposed His precious
blood. Oh, to grace how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be. Like a fetter, bind my wandering
heart to thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, oh, take and
seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. If you have your Bibles, turn
with me, please, to Exodus, the fifth chapter. I'm going to read
verses 10 through 23. The title of my message tonight
is, Blaming God. Verse 10, And the taskmasters
of the people went out, and their officers, and they spake to the
people, saying, Thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw, Go
ye, get your straw where you can find it, yet not all of your
work shall be diminished. So the people were scattered
abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead
of straw. And the taskmasters hasted them,
saying, fulfill your works, your daily tasks, as when there was
straw. And the officers of the children
of Israel, which Pharaoh's taskmaster had set over them, were beaten
and demanded. Wherefore have you not fulfilled
your task in making brick, both yesterday and today, as heretofore? And the officers of the children
of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, Wherefore dealest
thou thus with thy servants? There is no straw given unto
thy servants, and they say to us, Make the brick, and behold,
thy servants are beaten, and the fault is thine own people.
But he said, You are idle, You are idle, therefore you say,
Let us go and do sacrifice unto the Lord. Go therefore now and
work, for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall you deliver
the tale of bricks. And the officers of the children
of Israel did see that they were in evil case, after it was said,
Ye shall not minish aught from the bricks of your daily tasks.
They met Moses and Aaron who stood in the way, and they came
forth from Pharaoh. And they said unto them, The
Lord look upon you and judge, because ye have made our savor
to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh and the eyes of his servants,
to put a sword in their hand to slay us. And Moses returned
to the Lord and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this
people? Why is it that thou hast sent
me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath
done evil to this people, neither hast thou delivered thy people
at all. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven,
we thank you that our sins are forgiven, for they are many. And as we read these words of
the people of God and Moses concerning you, we know that these things
have been true in our own minds. We are thankful for your grace,
your sovereign sweet grace, that blessed mercy that is ours every
day. For we would be without hope
altogether were it not for your goodness and kindness and long-suffering
with us poor vessels. We thank you for the shed blood
of Jesus Christ, that perfect sacrifice that honored your law
and justice, that fulfilled your law and justice, that put away
our sins, that imputed a perfect righteousness to us, that caused
us to stand accepted in your presence and be called members
of your family, being given an inheritance by him who predestinates
all things after the counsel of his own will. Father, we love
you, and we know our love is so sad and so weak, but we are
thankful that the only reason we love you is because you first
loved us, and your love knows no bounds, not weak on any point,
never unrequited, but always fulfilled. Father, we thank you
that we can speak to you concerning our needs and our wants. We pray
for those who are sick, pray for Sam and Wanda, their quick
recovery. Pray for Stan, it's what he's
going through. Pray for Rain French and for Sharon. Pray for
Dee Parks as he's about to get the results on this, whether
or not his chemotherapy is working. We pray for his family, for Sandy
and Moose. For Christy, for Jackson, for
Kate, ask Lord you be with them. Watch over them, comfort them
as only you can. Be with us tonight as we look
at your word. Give us an honest perusal of it. Cause us in our
hearts to see ourselves. And then lift our eyes to see
our savior. Because once we see ourselves,
we'll know without a shadow of a doubt, we need him every hour. We pray these things in his precious
name and for his glory. Amen. Now if you are reading along
with me, you saw that the situation with Israel has gotten worse
since they went and asked to go out into the wilderness three
days and sacrifice unto the Lord to worship. Pharaoh has been
hard on them, refused to let them go. We saw last week as
we look further on into this chapter, he tries many things
to get them to stay, but they never relent. But right after
this first episode in Chapter 5, things get really bad. He
takes the straw from them that they make the bricks. Now looking
up, I didn't quite understand how that process works, but that
can also be translated as to limbs or sticks. which would
not be in the matter of making bricks as far as stomping the
straw into the brick. It could have to do with burning
the bricks in a kiln and making them hard. But at any rate, what
they were able to do using the straw or the wood chips or whatever
beforehand, which made the bricks faster and they could make a
lot of bricks, they have to still make the same amount of bricks
without using the straw, so their labor is greater. And not only
that, The people that he has assigned over there, the taskmasters,
are now beating them and abusing them. And when they go to Pharaoh
and ask him about it, his response is the same. You're idle. You're
idle. All you want to do is go out
and worship the Lord. You're idle, so get back to work
and don't diminish the tail of bricks. Well, they're all tore
up and they go and speak to Moses about it. Now being bound to
time and informed most often by our circumstance, it is the
plague of us human beings to forget that all things come into
this world by the sovereign hand of God and are performed to his
predestinated purpose. Sometimes we look at a man like
Moses, and because he is the subject of a great deal of scripture,
the first five books of the Bible especially, He's also referred
to by the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord said, Moses wrote of
me. Sometimes we look at these characters
in the Bible as somehow different from us. We give them kind of
a heroic aspect. That's our, you know, they're
in the Bible. And so they must be really special
people. But they're not. They're just
like you and I. Peter said of Elisha that he
was a man of like passions. A man of like passions. If you
look in the Scriptures, you'll find that the people of God are
the weakest on the earth. When our Lord was crucified,
the disciples scattered. When Simon Peter said, I'm going
fishing, he wasn't talking about a fishing trip out on Montana.
He was saying, I'm quitting the preaching business and I'm going
back into the fishing business. That's what he was saying. I
quit this thing. Jeremiah also said in chapter
20 of Jeremiah, I will never speak the Lord's name again.
He was a preacher who was ordained as a prophet before he was born. While he was still in his mother's
womb, he was called to be a prophet according to the first chapter
of Jeremiah. And here he stands in the 20th chapter because things
aren't working out like he thought they would. You know, the Lord's
called me and He's told me I'm going to be a prophet to the
nations. I'm going out here and I'm going to get something done
and nothing happens. Things fall apart. And this is
what happened here with Moses when he talks to the Lord. Elijah,
after he built that altar and poured water on it when water
was scarce because it hadn't rained in three and a half years
and poured gallons and gallons of water on that trough and poured
it all over the sacrifice and then called on the name of the
Lord. Lord, show this day that you're God in Israel. And God
sent fire down from heaven and consumed it. The Baal's prophets
had cried all day long. They had cut themselves and begged
and called to Baal and nothing had happened. Now God consumes
that with a sacrifice and tells Moses, Get your sword and go
out and kill all them prophets. And 800 prophets died that day.
A few days later, Elijah is hiding up on a mountain because that
crazy Jezebel said, I'm going to get you. You say, well that's
just, what's he scared of? Well if you've ever had a woman
really mad at you, you know it's a scary proposition. And she
was really mad at him. She wanted to kill him. That's
Elijah. The same guy who had just days
before took a sword and slew 800 men. Why? Because Elijah's just a
man. And Peter's just a man. They're just men, just human
beings. They're no different than you
and I. We must remember when we read this book to account
that the men we hold in high esteem and often to a higher
standard are but men. They are sinners saved by grace,
are just like us except for different appointments in the plan and
the purpose and the predestination of God. They have different appointments.
But they are no different, they are no better, they are no worse.
In fact, they are exactly equal in Jesus Christ. There is no
difference between you and Moses in Christ. Christ is neither
male nor female. We are all children of God. All
children of God. Now God's word to Abraham concerning
what is taking place right now. Now this is a fulfillment of
prophecy. It is spoken back in Genesis 15 to Abraham when God
put him in a trance and showed him what he was going to do.
So God's word to Abraham concerning what is taking place at this
time, at the time of this writing, is very clear. The people, the
twelve tribes of Israel, did not exist at the time the Lord
prophesied to Abraham. They did not exist. They were
in Abraham's loins, but they did not yet exist. But they would
exist because God had said they would, and they would go into
slavery, as God said they would, and they would be roughly treated,
as God said they would, in a strange land in Egypt, And that land
was Egypt, and their sojourn would be there for four centuries.
God said all of that, and all of this has come to pass. The
providence that would land them in Egypt was a famine in their
own land, for which God had sent a Savior named Joseph to save
much people alive. They resided in the land of Goshen
in peace for quite a while, and in good favor until Joseph died,
and then the slavery began. Moses was born under a death
sentence because the Pharaoh declared that every child under
two years of age would be slain if he was a Jewish or Hebrew
child. But he was rescued by the daughter
of Pharaoh and grew up in status in the house of the king and
stayed there for 40 years. Forty years he learned the ways
of the Egyptians. Then Moses committed murder.
He killed an Egyptian. It wasn't self-defense. He wasn't
attacked. He killed an Egyptian because the Egyptian was beating
a Hebrew. He killed an Egyptian and he
fled to Midian. And there he became Jethro's
chief shepherd guy for 40 more years. And at 80 years old, he's
out on Mount Sinai and there is that burning bush. He's 80
years old now. This is all according to plan.
The Lord called Moses to deliver the people, and after some back-and-forth
about Moses' lack of ability and God's absolute ability, Moses
and Aaron and the elders of Israel approached Pharaoh with God's
command to let the people go. But you see, God had ALSO fixed
Pharaoh's heart to REFUSE them. He had hardened Pharaoh's heart, and He had also predestinated
and ordained that Pharaoh would make them slaves. This is all
part of the plan, and their slavery would be even more intense as
time went on. Now, I ask you, as old B.B. Caldwell used to say, if you
can't find yourself in this book, it ain't your book. I ask you
to put yourself in Moses' place. Put yourself in the place of
the children of Israel. This is the best way to read
the Scriptures and to learn the Scriptures. Put yourself there.
Because what they felt and what they experienced and what they
went through is exactly what you would do. It's what we would
do. There's nothing new under the sun. We're human beings and
we always react. If what was happening there was
happening to us, What would be our response? If we were in slavery
and the slavery got worse and they mocked us for wanting to
worship God and they beat us and they made our life utter
misery, what would our response be? You think we'd be shouting
and jumping it out and be thanking God and praising God? Come on. I'm pretty sure that our response
would not be that. But like Israel, we'd find someone
to blame because the promise was a bit slow in fulfillment.
And that's what happens here. So the elders go to Moses. First
they go to Pharaoh and complain about their plight, and once
again, false religion has an estimation of true religion,
and that estimation is this, that this matter of resting in
Christ, this matter of going out and worshiping God and leaving
off work altogether and trusting wholly in the merits of the sacrifice
is utter anathema to religion. He says you are idle! Verses
15 through 17. Pharaoh says you are idle! You
are idle! He says it twice! He doubles
down! You are doubly idle! This matter of RESTING! This
matter of WORSHIP! We don't want to hear nothing
about that! Get back to work! This is always religion's response. Religion says, Get to work and
we ain't going to help you. You are on your own in this,
but you better get the job done. Luke, talking about the Pharisees
in Luke chapter 11 and verse 46. And he said, Woe unto your
lawyers. Now he's talking to the Pharisees
in Matthew 23. He calls them here lawyers. Why?
Because the Pharisees operated in the realm of the law. everything
was the law to them. Woe unto you, lauders, for you
laid men with burdens grievous to be born, and ye yourselves
touch not the burdens with one of your fingers. You won't lift one finger to
help me. This is religion. You're on your own, but you better
make the tail of bricks. Don't talk about going out and
worshiping, that makes you, you ain't nothing but idle. Get busy. Get busy. get working till Jesus
comes, you better have. That's what they say. Now having
no joy with Pharaoh, they go to Moses and they get religious
with him. In verse 20, they met Moses and Aaron who stood in
the way and they came from Pharaoh and they said that the LORD,
Jehovah, capital L-O-R-D all the way across, the LORD look
upon you. Is Moses causing this? Is Moses
beating them? Has Moses required them to make
more bricks or make the same amount of bricks without any
straw? Well, Moses said he was going to deliver us and he ain't
delivered us. His promise ain't been fulfilled.
The Lord look upon you and judge. The Lord judge you for what you're
doing because you have made our savor, that is our aroma, to
be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh. Things ain't going well for us
and it's your fault. Why? Because you come to this
with this thing and said God's going to deliver you. God's heard
your cry. God's heard your affliction.
He's visited you. He's going to deliver you. And we ain't
being delivered. We're still in a fix. We're abhorred
in the eyes of Pharaoh and the eyes of his servants to put a
sword in her hand. You've just given them a sword so they'll
cut our heads off. That's all you've done. That's how they
talked to Moses. They said that the Lord should
judge Moses because he made their slavery worse. He made us to
stink in Pharaoh's eyes and put the sword in his hand to kill
us. And the fact is that to some degree of slavery seems to be
more acceptable than other degrees of slavery. I guess it's a matter
of degrees. They preferred the old slavery to the new, but it's
still slavery. It's still slavery. It's preferable to believing
the promise because of the pain that they were in. And if the
pain gets great enough, it might be our case too. The believer
will eventually come to his senses, but some time will pass before
God delivers, because overriding it all is this thing called provenance,
the provenance of God, and the trial can make us for a time
forget that God is in control. But our
Lord said in the book of James, Patience. How does that come? Tribulation.
Tribulation worketh patience. Patience must have her perfect
work. Must have her perfect work. And
before the Red Sea is riven, the trial must continue. Because
that's what God promised Abraham when he prophesied what would
happen. You see, Pharaoh's got to reach a height of rebellion
so that he can be cast down to the depths of despair and ruin.
That's what our Lord said in Romans chapter 9. when he talked about the fact
that he's the one who shows mercy and he's the one who withholds
mercy. He's the one who loves one and hates another. In Romans
chapter 9, in verse 15 it says this, For he
saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and
I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then,
it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. For the scripture saith unto
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 all the earth. I raised you up to this position
of a throne in Egypt because I intend and will put you down. I raised you up to bring you
down. That's why He did it. This is
all happening right on time. Until then, predestination, purpose,
and providence will move men to prove what they are. Sinner
saved or sinner damned, they will prove what they are. When
Moses is confronted with a complaint and accusation from the people,
it will prove him also. He cannot blame the people or
Pharaoh, so he blames God. Is that unusual? No, it is not
unusual. Do you remember in the Garden
of Eden? But Adam first tried to cover
his sin with fig leaf aprons, and then he heard the voice of
Christ in Eden, and he ran and hid in the bushes. And the Lord
said, where are you, boy? He said, here I am. He said, why
are you hiding? He said, well, I'm naked. He said, who told
you he was naked? How'd you find that out? He said, that woman you gave
me. It's her fault. but you give
her to me, so it's really your fault. That woman you gave me,
she taught me into eating that fruit. She taught me into it. And he looks at the woman and
says, Woman, what have you done? She said, Lord, is that serpent
that you put in the garden? He's the one that made me do
it. The blame game is human nature. We don't want to accept the guilt
that is ours. and we don't want to accept the
fact that we can't or that we find it hard to wait on the promise
to be fulfilled. It's difficult for us. So he
blames God in verse 22, and Moses returned to the Lord and said,
Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil and treated this people?
He knows why because of the promise of Abraham. Why is it that thou
hast sent me? How come you sent me? You told
me things for since I came to Pharaoh to
speak in thy name, I come in your name, you told me to come.
He done evil to this people, neither hast thou delivered thy
people at all." They're not delivered at all. You told me they were
going to deliver them. You're the one that sent me.
Why'd you send me? Why'd you send me? His complaint toward
God is important in asking God why he was being so evil to the
people. He was unknowingly speaking the truth that this was all according
to the prophecy of Abraham I am the Lord he says in Isaiah 45
I create evil I create good I create light I create darkness I do
all these things because I am the Lord I am the Lord Amos chapter
3 shall there be trouble in the city and the Lord not do it the
Lord not do it Didn't the Lord say, I've created evil men for
the day of my judgment? I created them to destroy them.
This trial was on purpose and ultimately will prove a beautiful
picture of how God saves sinners not by their repentance, not
by their faith, but by the blood of the Lamb. That's how He's
going to save them. go inside your house after you
put the blood on the doorpost and the lentils they didn't see
the blood they weren't looking at the blood it's sitting in
the house trembling the Lord said I'll come through when I
see the blood I'll pass over you when I see the blood of the
lamb but for now this is our life circumstances informing
Moses mind here Secondly, Moses addresses the promise of God,
though asking the Lord why he had sent him, may speak to Moses,
considering that the success of the mission was somehow up
to him, that he was not up to the task. His words are more
pointed to the fact that he had been sent, and deliverance had
not taken place. That's what the problem was.
Since I came to Pharaoh, because you sent me, he made the people's
lives worse, and the whole thing must be a mistake. Neither hast
thou delivered thy people at all. and what we find and it's
strangely comforting. Maybe it's comforting because
I see myself in these people. One fellow said, I'm sure glad
Simon Peter's in the Bible. I'm sure glad because I'm so
much like him. I'm so glad. May the Lord grant
us faith to trust when circumstance breaks us down. because circumstance will, because
we can't do it. We never could. May he give us
trust to trust him alone and know in these times of trials that everything is right on schedule and the time of deliverance will
come. And when it does, it will be great. Father, bless us to
understand. We pray in Christ's name, amen.