In this sermon, the speaker discusses how Israel's time of prosperity has come to an end. They were comfortable and secure in the land of Goshen, but now they are faced with the reality of their needs. The speaker encourages the audience to embrace their needs and not run from them, as it is in the midst of needs that the revelation of God's sovereignty can be found. The speaker also highlights the love of God for the broken and hopeless, using the example of how God used Pharaoh to bring about deliverance for the Israelites. The sermon emphasizes the concept that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose.

...then considering Christ in types and types, tonight we see, poetically, a type of Christ. And I'm reading, beginning with the first verse of the book of Exodus, and through the 14th verse. Now these are the names of the children of Israel which came into Egypt. Every man and his household came with Zedekiah, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls. For Joseph was in Egypt already, and Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceedingly mighty. And the land was filled with them. Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come on, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass that when they fall without any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Python and Ramesses. 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, in mortar and in brick. And in all manner of service in the field, all their service wherein they made them serve was with rigor. Well, we are here reminded of the fact that Jacob's family was happy in Egypt for a long time, 400 years. In fact, they were content to remain in Egypt. But you see, God had a purpose. And God's purpose was not Egypt. Oh, it was for a time. Egypt was to be the schoolroom, and Pharaoh was the schoolmaster. And God's purpose in Egypt was to prepare a nation, a people, for a witness. And the time came when God saw that it was necessary for his people to be prepared to leave this land they loved so well. They were happy there, and there had to be a preparation. There had to be a ministry from the Lord to cause this people to want to go where God purposed for them to go. And we know that the hearts of kings are in the hands of the Lord, and he turneth them withersoever he will. This king, this Pharaoh that rose up and knew not Joseph, was not there by accident. Believe me, not by accident. I am confident, however, that the dear people were quite concerned. I am sure that they thought that life had turned exceedingly bitter and sour, and they were quite desirous of escaping from the rigor with which they were made to serve. What they wanted, you see, was to have the discipline removed. What they wanted was to have the taskmasters lay down their whips and their clubs and let them go back to the comfortable kind of life that they had before this Pharaoh that knew not Joseph began his work. But remember this, that all things work together for good, not only to them that love God, but to them that are called according to his purpose. And here are a people that are called according to his purpose. And Pharaoh is the instrument of the Lord in service to the people of God. You say, how can this be? Well, it is, regardless of whether I can explain in a moment how it can be. It still is true that God used Pharaoh. You're going to hear me, you that were in the Bible class and dwelt with me so long in the book of Romans, know that I'm just about ready to start to give a summary of that book and assure you again that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to his purpose, for whom he did foreknow he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son. And that's what you find happening here. Pharaoh holds the file, but God's hand guides it. Pharaoh holds the whip, but God's hand tells him where to let it fall and how hard it should fall. For God has a purpose that he is working out through all of this. You see, he has a nation in his heart. He has a people in his love. He has a glorious new thing that he's going to do when he will get a witness, not an individual such as Noah or Abraham, but when he will have a nation to be there as a witness and a testimony for him. But he must discipline and form that nation. Now, before God can do anything else, he has to prepare his people for deliverance. You've heard me say in the past that God's great difficulty is not to save the lost, but to get nice people to see how lost they are, so lost, in fact, that they need a Savior and the kind of a salvation that God is willing to provide. In other words, he has to create a market for the product that he's provided. And that's what we find happening here. These verses, 7 to 11, in this first chapter are exceedingly interesting. I want you to see how skillfully the hand of the Lord works. The first thing is that Israel discovers that the time of their prosperity has passed. They've had it good. Goshen was a lovely land, a land that was rich in every way, just suited to this people. But, you see, they were in love with the land. They enjoyed it. The comforts that it provided, the ease that it offered, the security that it afforded, was of such a nature that they enjoyed it. They could sit back in it and relax in it. Whoever wants to go to a barren, arid land like Palestine, when he can live down where the grass is so green as it is in Egypt, why would anyone want to leave? But, you see, God had a tool. He had an instrument. All he needed to do was just to touch the pocketbook, touch the security, touch the savings, change the value, devalue the frank, if you please, and let a little inflation come, a little difficulty come, and Egypt doesn't look nearly as attractive as it had before. Their prosperity had diminished. And then they discovered that they were in bondage. Now they'd been in bondage, but they weren't aware of it. In verses 12 and 13, you find that they afflicted them and caused them to serve with rigor. Now, this is an understatement. If I understand the temperament and the attitude of the Egyptian, and I think I do a little bit, having lived there for several years in that general area, I rather think that this hardly covers it. They caused them to serve with rigor. I think two or three chapters might be written describing just what this rigor was. I'll leave it to someone else to write them. We'll let it suffice now that whatever it was, the Israelites began to feel the clank of chains that war engulfed, and they began to sense that they were no longer the favored people they'd been up until that time. And finally, life became intolerable. The burdens were too heavy to carry any longer. They were prepared now to recognize that there was nothing more than just agony and death, as later on we hear the very same people, because of their sin, that crying out in the morning, would God if were night, and in the evening would God if were morning, wishing their life away, trying somehow to survive the next period. Life has lost all of its pleasure, all of its reason for enjoyment. It's interesting, when Mrs. Redhead and I were in Egypt, we went to visit the various things that were shown at Luxor, which was right in the general area of these activities. It was an exciting thing to me because of that which our guide would let us see. I remember one day we'd been looking at things from way back in the earliest dynasties of Egypt, and I saw something that looked quite intriguing, and I asked him if I could go over there. He said, let's go over there. Oh, he said, no, we can't go over there. That's not old. Oh, I said, is that right? No, he said, that's Roman. That's only about 2,200 years old. We're not going to go there. Incidentally, when we got to Boston, a friend met us and took us down the street, and we came by an old south church. And he said, now, he stopped, you know, sort of with a hallowed pause, and sort of held up his hands, and he says, now, there are graves in there 300 years old. And I'd just come for the, where the guide wouldn't let you stop it and see anything that was 2,200 years old. Well, it makes a difference, you know. And I said, but what's there of interest if we could stop? Well, he said, that's the place we found the bricks that were made of mud that didn't have any straw in them, and he wouldn't let me stop. Well, we did go over and take a quick look at it, but this gave us a little bit of the understanding of what these people had done, making bricks according to the quota, or it was far below that. There'd been the early, from this time, there'd been several different groups building on the same foundation, and the arches that we saw were actually Roman, but beneath that in the foundations were the bricks made without straw. I want to give that, lest someone check me up afterwards and say there was a good deal of time lapse there that you didn't account for. And the first, the worst thing about the plight of the Egyptians was this, that they didn't think there was anyone that could help them. Well, now you see, this is what God must do with a sinner. He has to make us uncomfortable in our prosperity. He has to make us dissatisfied with our bondage. He has to bring us to the place where we sense that it's intolerable and we cannot any longer continue in it. And usually he brings us to that place of despair where who can save such a wretch as I? What hope is there for someone as wicked as I am? Well, this was what he was doing with this people Israel, preparing them for the deliverer. But in the second chapter, in verses 23 to 25, you find that God is prepared for their deliverance. He is prepared. What a lovely thing it is to find that after his purpose is accomplished, after his work is done, that the Lord is quite ready to withdraw the means that he's used to produce it. You know, sometimes when you feel the pressure on you and you would scream out in agony, Oh God, take it away. Wait just a minute. If you do somehow manage to get out from under the whip and the lash before God's work is done, all he has to do is just make a little tighter corral for you next time and get you in there, put the pressure on a little harder. You know, many times people just are like a round ball under a thumb on a shiny table. Put a little pressure on and it jumps. But finally, you know, the Lord gets you and he corners you and the pressure comes and you just can't get away. So may I suggest that the next time pressure comes, instead of running from it, submit to it and say, Now Lord, I know you have a purpose and I know that you're going to ultimately accomplish your purpose. And so really, Heavenly Father, I'd much rather you do it now because I know that whereas this stone on the wheel cuts, you've got a coarser stone than this if I don't submit to it. Well, Israel had submitted. There was nothing they could do in their situation. And as soon as the purpose of God in this persecution and suffering had done its work, look what happened. Verses 23 to 25 in the second chapter. And it came to pass in the process of time that the king of Egypt died and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage. And they cried and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bonding. Now, and God heard their groaning. You see, God was prepared. This was what he was listening for. This was what he was looking for. This was what he had to hear. God heard their groaning. There was no possibility of a deliverer doing his work until this had transpired. And we are often saying, Oh God, save my loved ones. Do you really want them saved? Do you realize what's going to be involved in their salvation if it's from the Lord? Why, it's going to mean a taskmaster. It's going to mean pressure. It's going to mean difficulty. And finally, in the midst of their groanings, they're going to cry out. Are you prepared for that, for your dear ones, your children? Oh, wouldn't it be nice if we could have some clever, easy, simple little way that people could truly be born of God without actually having God work on them? When you read those words, We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus under good works. You'd rather think that, oh, that's just such a simple thing, you know, signing a card or shaking hands with a preacher or saying uh-huh to a half a dozen Christians. Oh, no. When God creates, he molds, he shapes, he makes. And when God would make someone in his image and likeness, he has to knead it like dough and break it and crumble it. You want to be saved? You want your loved ones to be saved. Here it is. It strikes at the root of their prosperity, at their comfort, at their joy. And they're brought into bondage, and then out of the midst of this is their groaning. God hears their groaning. And then it says, And God remembered his covenant with Abraham and with Isaac and with Jacob. God remembered his covenant. You see, he'd made a covenant. And the reason that he loved this people that were so comfortable in their prosperity in Egypt was because he'd made a covenant. They were a people under the covenant. They didn't know the covenant, and they didn't know him. But he knew them. And therefore, he remembered the covenant. And how wonderful it is to realize that with the unsaved, there's a covenant. Not between Abraham and, no, no, we're talking now about another covenant. Between the Lord Jesus Christ, the covenant that was sealed in the councils of eternity before the foundation of the world. And it's this people whose groaning God looks for now, in this day and hour of grace. Oh, what a joy it is. I have a standing offer to friends around the country that whenever they find a lost man to call me, as I have, I have friends that I have said, Look, if it's humanly possible, and you discover a lost man or a lost woman, I want you to call me, collect, and I'll fly to be there to see it. It's been so long since I've seen anyone lost. So long. You see, there are a lot of people that are lost. New York is filled with lost people, hanging over the mouth of the devil's hell. And the moment that God relaxes the sustaining love with which he supports them, even in their iniquity, they'll plunge forever into the abyss. But the lostness of which I speak is not that judicial lostness in which they are, of which they have no cognizance. I am talking about that inner experiential lostness in which they have no cognizance. We're awakening in New England. And oh, how my heart melts within me as I find him telling the people that were awakened in the middle of the night and were brought to see the enormity of the horrendous crimes against the Holy God. Lost. That's why it's called the Great Awakening, because they were awakened to the sense of their jeopardy and danger and estrangement from God. They were lost. They were groaning. And I long to see it here. I long to see someone that's lost. I know a lot of people that want to be saved, but they're not lost enough to be saved yet. They haven't discovered themselves. They haven't seen God. They haven't seen their own hearts. They're a far cry, a thousand miles, because they've never gotten a glimpse of the holiness of God. They've never sensed what it is to be alienated from God because of the ignorance that is in them through the blindness of their heart and the rebellion of their spirit. Haven't seen it. Here were people that were lost. They were hopeless. They were helpless. There wasn't anyone to turn to. No place to go. And the only thing that God remembered is covenant. This is the only hope for any sinful man. The only hope for any wicked man. The only hope for any lost man is that God made a covenant with his Son. And his Son came to seek and to save that which was lost. And if you ever want to know who the elect are, you look for the lost man. You want to know those that are in the covenant, you see the lost man. You see the man that's gotten a glimpse of himself and despairs of life and has nothing to present and is bankrupt, morally bankrupt. There. There you have one. It's an heir to the covenant. Or it says he came to seek and to save that which was lost. That which was lost. Oh, you have loved ones. You want to see them saved. Pray they'll be lost. Pray they'll discover it. That they'll be aware of it. That they'll come become cognizant of it. And that the enormity of their crimes, so mountainous that no tongue can describe them, will appear to them. They'll see themselves as they are. That's what happened here. And then it says, And God looked upon the children of Israel. My friend, the only one that the God of heaven and earth will look upon is this one. The broken and the contrite spirit he'll not despise. But that man that waltzes and trips lightly up to the altar and says, well, I'll accept Jesus, as though he were getting a package of gum given out on the street corner. God doesn't look upon that person. God doesn't see that one. But it's this one, the end of himself. These people that are broken. That have nothing. Nothing but groaning. Nothing but emptiness. Nothing but rag. Nothing but filth. Nothing but shame. No beauty that anyone should desire. And God looked upon the children of Israel. They're the ones that he looks upon. Blessed are the poor. The bankrupt. The broken. The crushed. The hopeless. The beggarly. In respect to the spirit. For theirs is the kingdom of God. God had to prepare a people for deliverance. And this is God's great work today. To prepare a people. But then God had to prepare a deliverer for his people. God had to prepare a deliverer. If you'd like to see this, you see it there in the third chapter. All through, in fact, you have the record of it. Now just a few analogies that I'll hastily draw. God's methods of deliverance was a baby. Isn't this wonderful? Carries you right back, doesn't it? Takes you right back to that day when he said to Eve, The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head. And always it's a baby. She looked into the face of Cain and says, I have acquired, I have gotten thee man from the Lord. But it wasn't. It wasn't the man. It was the man of sin. The man where the nature lack unto hers and his. But then we come down and we find that Lamech looks down into the face of Noah and he finds there comfort and rest. For it's going to be Noah that brings rest and the place of rest from the fierce wrath and anger and judgment of God. And it was that little babe Noah that was the deliverer as that was to come. And we, for that day and that hour of judgment. But now again, just as Abraham looked down into the face of Isaac saying, And Isaac shall thy seed be blessed. And he waited and waited for a babe. So now Israel has to wait until there's a babe born. For in the fullness of time God sent a deliverer. And the deliverer was born of Israel just as was our Lord Jesus Christ. The deliverer Moses was hated at his birth. They tried to destroy him just the way Herod slaughtered the innocent. In Bethlehem, the soul Pharaoh slaughtered the innocent in Egypt seeking to destroy the one in the hopes that the deliverer might be destroyed. And just as Moses was cared for by the Gentiles, taken out, drawn out, and called Moses because the name Moses means drawn out. And he was reared, trained. Oh, I love this, you know. I do think the Lord does have a sense of humor. Really, I do. I wouldn't accuse him for any moment of the jocularness that we see today. But isn't it thrilling to think that he made Pharaoh educate the deliverer? Isn't that wonderful? Made him pay the expenses, give him the finest education in Egypt. Oh, how wonderful of God just to cause this daughter of Pharaoh to take this little life and nurture it and then the most delightful part of it all to call the baby's mother to be the nurse. Oh, there, that's lovely. That is lovely. Just so delightful to see God making the wrath of men to praise him and turning the foolishness of men to the great wisdom of his eternal purpose. Well, you remember our Lord Jesus was supported by the Gentiles. Have you ever wondered why they brought him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh? May I suggest that the reason was that they were going to be political refugees in a foreign country for about eight years and they needed something to live on. And the gold and frankincense and myrrh were of great price and value and very light and easy to carry. And when they got down to Egypt, perhaps Joseph couldn't get a union card in the carpenter's union. Difficult, you know, to break in and earn a living. But he didn't need to because the Gentiles, the Magi, had provided all that was necessary to sustain the little family in the years of their exile. How wonderful it is to see God so marvelously working. But, just as in the case of our Lord Jesus, so with Moses. They had to wait in their chains. They had to wait in their bondage. They had to wait in their grief until the deliverer was grown. Couldn't hurry that. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. It had to come to the age of 30 and in Moses' case it had to come to the age of 40 and they had to wait until he was ready. And Israel went on making bricks. A lot of bricks were made in 40 years while God was preparing a deliverer. But nevertheless they had to do it. And so with our Lord Jesus it went on until he had come to full age, the hour when he was set forth. And then before Moses was ready for his ministry he had to spend 40 years in postgraduate work unlearning everything he'd learned in the University of Egypt. Getting ready to serve. Coming to the end of himself. You see, when he started, Moses was certain that he was able to do this and he knew he was to be the deliverer. And he wondered that the Israelites didn't understand that. They turned on him, reported him to Pharaoh and he had to flee. And he ran, he got way out there in Midian and I can see him as they said he went to apply for a job. And they said, what are you good at? Well, he said, I'm an excellent prince. You got any princing you need done? And they said, well, sorry, there aren't any vacancies at the moment. Well, I'm in the habit of eating. I'd hate to break the habit for long. What can I do? And they said, well, there's a fellow over here that needs to have some sheep herded and if you'd like to go maybe he can take you on. Of course, you won't get any money. You get your board and room for a while. You sleep outside and eat what you can find. But if you'd like it, we'll call it a job. And so for 40 years, Moses is out there preparing to be a shepherd because you see he's to be the shepherd of Israel. And our Lord Jesus Christ said, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd that would give his life for the sheep. 40 years, our Lord Jesus began his ministry by 40 days. 40 is the number of judgment. And he had to be tested. Moses had to be tested. And so our Lord Jesus was tested, tempted in all points like as we are, and yet without sin. Moses was rejected by his brethren and so was our Lord Jesus. Moses took a Gentile bride, a daughter of the Midianites. And so did our Lord Jesus take a Gentile bride, gathering to him from Gentile and Jew alike that he might make of claim one new creature. That is the church. Moses had to come to the place where he had absolutely no confidence in the flesh. Where what was done was done wholly of God because it was to be a supernatural work. Our Lord Jesus taking upon himself the form and likeness of a servant also came to the place where he had absolutely no confidence in himself. All you'll see, he could have done everything that he did in his own essential deity as son, but it pleased the Father that our Lord Jesus should be like unto his brethren. Therefore, everything done by Christ in three years of ministry was done in the power of the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, and not in his own essential deity as son. It could have been, but it wasn't. It didn't please the Father. So there might have been something Moses could have done in his own natural strength, but he had to come to the place where he had no strength even in his ability to speak. When he stood before God, utterly bereft of any confidence in the flesh. You see, God's deliverance was to be supernatural. This ties in with what we had this morning, doesn't it? It was to be in the demonstration of the Spirit and in power. And since this was to be the case, God didn't want Moses' flesh intruding in the way. He might have short-circuited the plan of God and kept God from accomplishing all that he intended. But he succeeded with Moses. He came to that place where Moses said, I can't even talk. Moses was going to deliver Israel 40 years earlier in his own energy and genius and ability. And now he said, Lord, I can't even talk. Moses had to begin his ministry with a revelation of himself. He had to see himself inadequately. He had to see himself utterly unable to accomplish that which he did. He had to come to that place where he said, I don't speak of myself. I don't do what I do. I don't do it myself. I'm just a kid. I'm just a child. So why, Lord Jesus? I received commandment of the Father. The works that I do, the Father that dwells in me, he does the works. For everything to be done by Christ was done by the power of the Holy Spirit. Moses began his ministry with a revelation of himself and a revelation of God. So with Christ. Well, you remember, his ministry commenced when the Father broke the silence of 30 years and said, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Moses stood there in the field one day with the sheep around him and looked over and saw a bush that burned and was not consumed. And then this was a revelation of God, the revelation that Moses had to have before he could possibly fulfill the purpose as a deliverer. First, God in this burning bush revealed his presence with his people in Egypt. Egypt was as it were a flaming furnace. But just as the bush in the midst of the fire was not consumed, so God's people had not been consumed by the intolerable persecutions, for God had a purpose. And his purpose sustained Israel in Egypt the same way as it sustained the bush surrounded with the fire. And then Moses had to have a revelation, and he had it in this burning bush, of God's purpose to supernaturally deliver his people. Seeing the bush burn and yet not be consumed, Moses knew that God was going to do wonderful things in order to accomplish his great purpose for Israel. He had to realize this. He had used his strong right arm and drawn sword and nothing but disappointment and failure. Now he sees that God is going to do it with supernatural means. And this Moses had to know before he could return to Egypt. Then, of course, the most glorious thing about this visitation of the burning bush was God revealed his name. I am. I am. Oh, not I was, not I will be, but I am. That's the difficulty today with so much of our church life. We find Christians that know all there is to be known or all that can be known about the great I was, the God of history. And we find a few here and there that know about all there is to be known and probably more than they ought to know about what's going to happen tomorrow, the God of prophecy, the great I will be. But oh, how few there are and how far between that know much about the great I am. We all, we seem to be living in this veil that Dr. Tozer talks about in the book, The Pursuit of God. This great cosmic void between yesterday and tomorrow, wandering here in this desert wasteland. As F.B. Meyer said, we're listening to some of the prophetic teachers talk about how wonderful it was in the early church and how great it would be in the tribulation. He said, isn't it a pity? When the cloud began, it touched the earth. It was wonderful. When it comes down again, it's wonderful. But in between, it's nothing but a great Sahara. I don't believe that a moment, not a moment. I believe, my dear, that God wants you to know him and to make himself known to you. And he wants to be to you the great I am. Isn't it wonderful to think that his name is completed in your need? What do you mean? When he gave this name to Moses, he gave Moses a blank check for everything that God's people would need. I am, I am ascending you. Well, Moses said, what's that mean? Well, if you need deliverance, I am your deliverer. If you need provision, I am your provider. If you need righteousness, I am your righteousness. If you need health, I am your healer. If you need comfort, I am your shepherd. If you need my presence, I am with you. Whatever your need is, is I am the answer to it. And you will understand me in your need. Oh, dear child of God, welcome your need. Embrace them. Don't run from them. Don't flee from them. Don't hide from your needs. Welcome them, bid them come when you see them headed your way. For in the midst of your need is the revelation of the great I am. Oh, that you can see it, that you can see it. Now, he begins his ministry with a revelation of God's sovereign grace. Can you tell me any reason why anybody should love these beaten, whipped, bruised people that had lost all hope of deliverance and all concept of liberty and simply sat there in their chains and vileness? Is there anything in them to call forth the love of God? Nothing? Nothing? There isn't any more in Israel and Egypt to make God love them than there was in you to make God love you more than me. Have you ever gotten a glimpse of yourself? You know, the best thing that could happen to most of us would be to have God turn his mirror inside out and let us see what we are and see as he sees us. Bobby Byrne said it, you know, with some gift to give to see ourselves as others see us. But I'd like to change that to see ourselves as God sees us. There certainly wasn't anything enough to call forth his love. You see this fellow out here on the street in his pride and arrogance and haughtiness. I'm not talking about the drunkard and the gutter. I'm talking about the successful businessman. I'm talking about the educated, the established, the accepted. You see him and say, why, isn't he a gentleman? Ah, but wait, beneath that heart, beneath that vest is a heart filled with lecherousness and licentiousness and pride and haughtiness and arrogance and brutality and rebellion and sensualness. If you could see it, you'd see him every whit, as despicable, as vile, as loathsome as the vilest leper that ever has been. And so we find that God is revealing his grace, not on the basis of what's in this people in Israel, but on the basis of what's in God's own heart from eternity past. God knew this people in Israel. God knew you. God knew there wasn't anything in them and he knew there wasn't anything in you. He acted on the grounds of what he is and not on the grounds of what we are. All that we can understand is, he called this people long before, long before they ever knew him. He knew them. Then we find that he begins his ministry with a revelation of Christ's victory over Satan. Oh yeah. For God says to him, Moses, what have you got in your hand? Moses says, I've got a stick. And it's a trusty stick. It's a crook. I've carried it for 40 years. I've tromped over all these hills of Midian. It's a good stick. But what about delivering Israel? It's not good enough. Are you sure, Moses? You're sure you don't have any tricks you can play with it? You're sure you can't turn it into something? No, sir, it's just nothing. And that's what I am. And here you're sending me to deliver Israel and I haven't a thing. I have nothing. What's in your hand? A dead piece of wood, Lord. That's all. He said, throw it down. And then he throws it down and that dead stick becomes a slithering, moving, living serpent. Now he says, take it up. And he doesn't do as the snake charmers in the Orient do. When they pick up a serpent, believe me, they're very careful to get him right behind the head so he can't bite them. He reached down and took him by the tail. And that meant that the thing could have swirled around and caught him, but he took him by the tail. In other words, the fear and the power and the strength of the serpent had gone out. And that's exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ did. There on a dead stick, a cross, the Lord Jesus Christ encountered all the venomous power of hell. He opened his breast to everything that Satan could do. And the result of that was it seemed that he was made to be sinned, that he was turned into it for us. But the result of it was that he defeated Satan in open conflict. And oh, the wonderful truth tonight is that sent as we are with a testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ, we have this confidence that he has defeated Satan in open battle. And we follow in the train of that victory. And we need not for one moment so much as think that the enemy of our souls has power to stand against those that come in the name of Jesus Christ. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. But then there's something that happened that's a great grief. God wanted him to fulfill three types, prophet, priest, and king. To speak for God, to intercede for the people, and to rule over them in order that he might fulfill the type of the Lord Jesus Christ. But Moses was moved with an almost an unforgivable self-consciousness that robbed him of the possibility of perfectly fulfilling the type of the Lord Jesus Christ. But sufficient was this that when Deuteronomy 18 and verse 15 we read, The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee of thy brethren like unto me. Unto him shalt thou hearken. And thus Moses was to speak for God, intercede for the people, and rule. But he demurred before God. He withdrew from this responsibility, refused to accept the provisions that God had made, and the consequence of it was that God said, All right, I'll take Aaron. That was the first time. The second time that Moses refused to obey was when he struck the rock instead of speaking to it. And then God said, Thus far, no further. And Moses had to go up into Mount Nebo and couldn't go into the land because of his disobedience because he broke the type. And here he breaks the type and grieves the heart of God because God would have been with his stammering tongue. And God is speaking to some of you saying, I want you to speak for me. You've been born again. You've been washed in his blood. You've had a revelation of his holiness. You've had a revelation of his greatness. His son has been revealed in you. And God has been saying, I want you to witness for me. I want you to teach for me. I want you to speak for me. And you've been saying, Lord, I can't speak. I can't speak. Ah, beware, my dear friend. God won't make you, but he'll make you wish you had, just as he did with Moses. For God provides everything for those whom he calls. Now, just a little in closing, God's deliverance was to be in power in behalf of his own people. I'd like to have you turn to Exodus chapter 4 in verses 22 and 23. And I say unto thee, let, and thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, verse 22, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn. And I say unto thee, let my son go, that he may serve me. And if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn. God had a people in Egypt. They didn't know anything about him, but he knew them. Moses was sent of God to bring out God's people. Our Lord Jesus was sent of the Father to bring out his people. For God had a people. He'd known them from eternity past. He'd loved them with a ceaseless, changeless love. And the Lord Jesus Christ was sent of the Father to bring out his people. In John the sixth chapter, you have this lovely testimony of our Lord Jesus. He came knowing he had a people. John chapter six and verse 37. In verse 35, I'll begin reading. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you that he also hath seen me and believed not. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. For I am come down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which has sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise him up at the last day. And the Lord Jesus came knowing that he had a people. Knowing that he had a people. He came to accomplish their redemption. He came to provide everything that was necessary to secure that redemption. God's voice was the means of power that was to be used in the deliverance of Israel. You find here in this 23rd verse that God says, I say unto you, let my son go. In other words, in sovereign power he claims this people for his own. He says they're mine. They're mine. Oh yes, they were in bondage. They were in vile slavery. They were completely demoralized. But so were you. So was I. And so were these to whom the Lord sends us. You don't know who they are. I do not know who they are. But God has sent you, my dear Christian friend, just as much as he sent Moses, just as much as the Lord Jesus came. After that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. Ye shall be witnesses unto me. And everyone that is in Jesus Christ has been sovereignly commissioned of God as being put into the body of which Christ is the head to have a witness for Jesus Christ. Now you do not know who they are. I don't know who they are. But God does. And we go in the way we discover who this people are that are given to the Son of this. That when the word comes that reveals the holiness of God they're willing to see it. And when they discover the enormity of their sin they're prepared to repent of it. And when they see the claims of Jesus Christ to be sovereign in their life they're willing to submit to him. We don't know who they are. But this is how they're discovered. This is how they're uncovered. His people hear his voice. And so God claimed this people and he said that he was sending Moses down to them to bring them out. And isn't it wonderful? Oh, this next, this is such a thrilling thing. In sovereign authority he demanded their release. Unconditional, unqualified release. Let my Son go. Just think what a glorious privilege Moses had of going down and standing in front of Pharaoh and saying to this prince and king of Egypt God has told me to come to you and say let my Son go. You say isn't that a wonderful privilege with all the pomp and glory of Egypt and here this one that had been in exile for all these years now is there boldly defying the king. Listen, something even more wonderful. You that once were a slave of the prince of this world once were in his chains once were bound by him now because you've been sent back into that world you can stand as it were in the presence of the prince of darkness and the king of hell and say to him let this people go. Oh, that's the marvelous privilege of intercession. To stand against the forces of darkness. To stand against the prince of night. To stand against the one who holds the hell in his power and say let this people go. This is your responsibility. This is mine. This is what he's called us to do to speak for him. It's his voice but he uses a man to say the words. He used Moses. He used the Lord Jesus Christ and now he uses you the Lord Jesus himself wants to speak through you. Then notice in sovereign authority he ordains their destiny. This people that are let go this people that are redeemed he says let my son go that he may serve me. I love Ephesians 2.10 2 verses 8 and 9 are so well known for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourself it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast and so many stop there. Why? That's let my son go but the rest of it is that he may serve me for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. What is his purpose for the one that's let go? To go back and sit there and dangle his feet in the slime pit where the clay was mixed for bricks? Never. To play back there where the rest of the slaves are? Never. What was it? Ah, it was glorious. This he said I saved you that I might make my power to be known that you might know me and that you might be my witnesses. And so the good works that he's ordained for us is first worship worshiping him living in fellowship with him then it is to exhibit his grace through our lives his transforming power and then it is to witness for him and to speak for him. God spoke through Moses and he'll speak through you just as he spoke through the Lord Jesus Christ to his day so the Lord Jesus wants to speak through us in our day. God knew that Moses would be rejected and I want you to remember this that God knows that not everyone that you talk to is going to submit either surely not all to whom our Lord Jesus spoke and any wise bowed their knee to him not so, think not for a minute uh-uh and not everyone you speak to will either just as they did to Moses and to Christ so they'll do to you but God, Moses knew that God would surely triumph so did our Lord Jesus when he saw that great crowd go away as is recorded in John 6 his heart never failed for a minute he turned to the disciples and said will you go away? what do you mean? he knew that the Father had a people they were a people that were given to him and the way that this people would be discovered and unveiled was that they would hear his word and if they went away all that meant was they weren't his people and he couldn't use them he had no place for them and let them go, let them go we can't do anything about it let them go my sheep hear my voice they hear the word that's why my friend in our witness in our testimony, in our preaching we dare not change the word because if we change the word we get an entirely different people I was talking with a pastor recently and he was telling me about the unmitigated hell into which he came when he came into that church he found immorality and uncleanness and dishonesty among the members and the officers of the church he found brutality and cruelty and iniquity and sin he found that there was hatred everything that you'd expect to find in hell was in this church and he looked at me with tears in his eyes and he said, there's only one answer through the years past the preachers have preached this shoddy, cheap shallow evangelism and have filled this church with the devil's children doubly damned, lost and with a profession that's as empty as can be that's the result that's the result and that's why the Lord Jesus would let the crowd go rather than change the message because if he changed the message he'd change the witness he'd change the testimony and he couldn't do that he couldn't do that the only possible way that God can have his witness is that his message be given for by this message this truth this witness are his people drawn to him well, let's see what happens let's take these plagues for a minute, shall we? someone that you're witnessing to comes into under the truth and the first thing you know he comes and sees you I'm not going to hear that preacher anymore I won't go near that church anymore why, I went home and went to bed and you know I couldn't sleep why, all I could think about was some of those statements that preacher made oh, I know what it is frogs in the bedroom that's what it is that's what God said he'd do he'd send the frogs even into the bedchamber oh, wonderful, wonderful when somebody gets frogs gnawing at them and chirping at them and they just can't get away then the next thing they had was flies biting them biting them and just staring at them what a marvelous thing it is when God's flies of truth begin to just just torment and buzz and whisper and they can't and they get mad oh, it's lovely I think Wesley was right when he said to the young preachers when you preach, brethren something's got to happen people have either got to be glad, sad, or mad but don't ever let them get away the way they were when they came and I think it ought to always be that way the flies begin to bite and nick and tear at them then we discover there was darkness oh, what great joy there should be in your heart when someone you're concerned about gets into darkness and all the pleasantness of their toys and their sins is gone and all the things they rested in are gone you know, we're so afraid of letting God do His work, aren't we? so afraid with our unsafe friends we don't want a frog to bother them or a fly to bother them or darkness to come but how else can God get them ready? how else can He deal with them? oh, it's a delightful thing when someone that you long to see come to Christ gets in darkness oh, the darkness shrouds them and at noonday it is as midnight and all the delightful things in which He's rested are gone and then the hailstorm this is wonderful when you see desolation and grief begun you say, wonderful? what kind of a person are you that are willing to talk about hailstones desolation and grief and say it's a wonderful thing? why my dear it's the boon and the blessing of the Lord for everyone is enraptured with these little toys that damn and destroy and somehow God's hailstones have to come until it knocks them out of their hands and they're in desolation and then of course there's moraine among the cattle and their possessions go and often their business goes and their families touched and this happens and they stand there stripped well rejoice and be exceeding glad God is working and then the next thing you see is the firstborn oh, what a sad thing it is but Luke Rader the brother of Paul Rader told how when he looked down into that little cradle and saw that little life he realized the testimony that he'd had from a godly father Luke Rader said as he looked down at that little baby he had to throw himself down on his knees beside the crib and for he knew that God even in his sovereign love would be prepared to touch that little life if need be to get it his and that's what happened that let my son go or I'll take yours this is my son what a wonderful thing it is when God is willing to bring the frogs and the flies and the darkness and the hailstorm and the disease and even the firstborn that he can touch that life and prepare them for grace but ah, my dear sinful friend my dear friend without God or joy or peace I assure you God can do it but why press him to it why press him to it this is the wholesome salutary work of the law preparing the heart for grace but must it be that way must it be that your heart must become hardened by the oft repeated overtures of God's love must it be if need be God is prepared to work even as he did with Pharaoh and in Egypt but why press him to why not see it why not bow why not stand and come to the feet of the Lord Jesus slave though you are in chains though you are with all your filth just as you are come and let this one the Lord Jesus Christ who is made to be sin for you gave himself for you that he might redeem you out of Egypt and translate you into his own kingdom the kingdom of his dear son let him become Lord and Savior of your life he died for you you know he died in love for you you come as he bid you come and you will receive that forgiveness that innocent pardon of life that he died to make yours this is our invitation we're going to give you no further if you're here and you want help do speak to me after the service I'll be so glad to stay and talk and pray with any of you may God seal the word to your heart let us stand for the benediction Father of our Lord Jesus look deeply to us tonight we go out into Egypt again we've been here in this little bit of Canaan, this little place where we gather together now we go out into the world and on every side we'll see men that are wholly given up to sin and uncleanness and idolatry we are in thy stead tonight Lord Jesus as though thou were by us beseeching men to be reconciled to thee give us Moses' faithfulness he was faithful in his house oh God give us his faithfulness help us to see thee as he saw thee and to speak for thee as thou would speak to us grant Lord Jesus that because we're here tonight something will happen in our hearts in respect to thy word and thy will for our lives it will not be the same but that we will realize that just as thou didst send Moses and just as the Lord Jesus came so he said even so send I you into the world seal now thy word to our hearts and may it do its gracious work in the hours that lie ahead in Jesus' name Amen