Wild beloved, we've come to the last service in this series of
gospel meetings. And it certainly has been my
pleasure to be with you. These few days and to speak
concerning the word of God. Well, lady asked me one time.
She said, well, when the preachers come and preach for
us, that it is so encouraging. But she said, I often wondered
who encourages the preachers? Well, I don't know about others,
but I can say from my own experience that when I see
people consistently attending the services and doing the
things that we believe the new, It teaches them to do.
That's the thing that encourages me and encourages me to go on.
I want to read from the passages that we have on the board here.
I'd like to read first, Exodus, 9 and verse 16.
And in this place we hear the Lord saying to Moses And in very
deed for this cause have I raised the up for to show Envy
my power and that my name may be declared throughout all the
Earth? And then the passage in the 14th
chapter of Exodus and verse 30 which says thus the Lord saved
Israel that day out of the hand of Egypt of the Egyptians and
Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore.
That will be the introduction for our reading tonight for our
study. We've had a marvelous day today
and it's just been also thrilling and so wonderful.
I don't know how the meeting today could have turned out any
better unless we had seen numerous people obeying, the
gospel that would probably been the only thing that could have
made it better, but it's wonderful to see the house
almost feel this afternoon and people waiting expectantly to
hear the word. God.
So many times, I could only wish that I were capable of supplying
that need better. But nonetheless, we are met this
evening to worship, God to study his word and to call upon his
name. So, at this time, let us go to
God In Prayer. In Exodus 14 and 19.
We read these words and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the
seashore. I believe that probably is verse
30. This is a rather ghastly and
gruesome sight. And the soldiers of the once
proud, Army of Egypt are lying dead upon the seashore.
There are all sorts of positions these dead men, some have their
heads pillared peacefully upon their arms.
As if asleep others have their faces half buried in the sand.
Others still lie, prone upon their backs with bits of seaweed
in their hair and their sightless errors, staring and
Terror at nothing. They're very much alike, these
corpses but there's one corpse that is different.
And when we look at his Rich costume in which he is dressed,
were able to discern the difference.
Look at the jewel fingers. There's no Crown now upon its
brow, there's no scepter in that nerveless hand.
Yes, it's easy to Guess that this corpse, this pocket that
death has turned outside and emptied was once a king.
Yes, this is the body of pharaoh, the one-time ruler.
Of all the land of Egypt. But here he lies today among the
meanest of his soldiers, he spoiled and on kingly fashion
upon his face, as if the Sea of just spit him out and sure knows
you and discuss. And now comes the big question
that we want to answer this afternoon.
How came this famous Egyptian here he was once the king, you
know, he was ruler over the proudest and the greatest nation
in the world at that time. And here, we find him dead.
He died away from whom he died, a violent death.
So I proposed this afternoon to hold an inquest and concern
ourselves with how he came to die.
He didn't leave Egypt and Mark in a March into the Red Sea for
no purpose at all. He never intended that life
should end thus nor is he here because his enemy Israel?
Oil has proven stronger than himself.
What's the cause? The question is answered by the
voice of God and we read it from Exodus 9 and 16 for this.
Cause have I raised the up that I might Shew forth my power in
thee? Have you noticed, what?
This strange text says and implies without the least
equivocation it says that God raised this man Pharaoh up that
he might show his power. In him and that purpose, he
accomplished. This piece of rottenness has not
been thrown upon the seashore by the hand of man as we look at
him, we see in him a monument of the power of God and strange to
say, he's not the power, the Monument of God's power to save.
But rather the power of God to utterly wreck and Destroy and in
his destruction, God tells us that he has sir Served his
purpose. Now, believe that you will agree
with me that this is an amazing statement.
The teaching seems to be that God raised this man up that he
might glorify himself by making a complete and utter wreck of
him. And I wonder if that could be
the truth, we agree. I suppose, all of us who believe
in the Bible that God has a plan for every life.
In fact, all nature tells Silver planning.
God all Revelation teaches that God is the kind of a God, who
plans and we have the message direct from the lips of the Lord
as well, when he said as my father, hath sent me even so I
send you. But in admitting that, God, has
plans for every life, can we believe that he plans for some
to go wrong and some to go, right?
Can we believe that he plans for one to become a Judas and the
other to become a John, is it the purpose of God, that one
shall develop into a Moses while another develops into that
miserable distorted. Wreck that we call pharaoh.
Well in other words is Judas as much a part of the plan as John
if so let me tell you folks we are of all men most miserable
because we have a wicked God who consigns one man to one end and
another man to a different end at his choosing and Disposal,
but we know that's not the case. Listen, God never planned that.
Any man should go wrong. The About tells us over in the
letter of the Apostle Peter that God is not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance God's.
The eternal lover he loved Moses, but he loved Pharaoh, no
less. And Judas was his dear to God's
heart, I believe as was the Apostle John and whatever
failure they made of their lives, whatever failure you and
I make of Our Lives. We do not make because God
forces us Us to do. So we do it because of our own
willfulness because of our Wicked Rebellion against God.
In other words though, God plans, your life and mine God,
of course, cannot in the very nature of things, Force us to
enter into his plan. You who are fathers and mothers
this afternoon, realized that many parents have beautiful
plans for their children. Only to realize that those
children are going to despise those plans because our children
are not ourselves, they have independent Wheels.
God has given them free moral agency and so they have the
capacity for entering into our purposes for them and thus,
bringing us joy unspeakable, and they also have the Today for
despising those purposes and breaking our hearts.
But then how do we explain this strange passage of scripture for
this cause have I raised the up that I might Shew forth my power
in thee, because it is a fact that this death in the Red Sea
was not an accidental death. In fact, this corpse Europe on
the beach is not here by Lucky chance.
The King was flung here by the power of a disappointed and
grieved and rejected God. And he lies here dead upon the
shore according to the deliberate plan and purpose of
God. But while this is true, we need
to keep this big fact in mind, even though Pharaoh lies here,
according to the purpose and the plan of God, this was not God's
highest purpose for him, but Pharaoh resisted and rejected
every noble and worthy purpose that God had in his life and by
his own Rebellion, he made it impossible.
But for God to realize any purpose in him, save the last
and the worst. Do you remember that story over
in the book of Jeremiah? Who one day went down to The
Potter's House and the Prophet Jeremiah said to him, arise and
go down to The Potter's House. And there I will cause thee to
hear my word. So Jeremiah went down and he
heard the Message, he arrived within The Potter's House and
there were three objects that immediately drew his attention.
There was a man working, there was the Potter, and there was
the instrument with which he worked, which was the potter's
wheel. And there was a substance upon
which he worked, which was the clay.
And in The Potters hand, we're told the clay was misshapen and
unsightly. The cup was not yet finished in
The Potters hand but there was a place where it was finished.
And that was in the mind of the Potter.
The Potter could already see the finished product in his mind,
and he was trying to make the cup according to the plan that
he had in his mind. But we read that the cup was
marred in the making. That is there was something in
the clay that resisted the hand of the Potter now.
What did he do with that marred cup?
That was made, we would have expected him to throw it away.
But he did not, he made it again.
What a gospel that is for failing in sinful men like
ourselves, how glorious it is that when we resist God's
purpose and we all but wreck ourselves, God doesn't throw us
away, he will make us again. And truly, we would be a
hopeless race, but for the fact that we have a mighty God, who
is able to remake us, even when we have rebelled against him,
Yes. And have thwarted his blessed
plans for us. He made it again, but notice
this, he made it again. Another vessel a different
vessel. He changed his plan for this
latter vessel, and he realized that he couldn't make it
according, to that fine ideal that he originally had in his
mind that one refuse to realize the best, therefore, he made it
into another vessel, he sought to make it real.
How's the second-best? And there's a truth of
tremendous importance here, friends that we're prone to
forget. And the truth is that after we
have rejected and resisted God for days, for months or years,
listen, God cannot make of us what he could have made.
If we had entered into his plans from the beginning, and if you
reject God's best for you, then he tries to get you to realize
Why's the second best and of course if you reject that, then
he tries to bring you to the next best.
But remember this, God cannot in the very nature of things.
Make as much out of a fraction of a life as he can out of a
hole of a life. Now suppose the clay upon which
the Potter had been working was marred again.
Well again he would have undertaken to have made it into
another vessel but all While he's working with that clay,
don't you see? It becomes less and less
plastic, less and less of Verve subservient to his purposes and
all the while it's going to be more and more difficult for the
Potter to shape it, according to his purpose and then the time
would inevitably come when it would no longer being shaped at
all. And then what would be the
result all you have to do to determine that is to step out in
The Potters backyard. Hard and they're in Potter's
field around you lies broken, pottery and shattered
earthenware. Why is it there?
Not, because the Potter made Vessels for the stupid purpose
of just breaking them to pieces. They're there because there was
something in the clay that so resisted the hand of the Potter
that he was able to make nothing of them, but be shattered and
misshapen and broken pieces of pottery.
Now, that's the story of Roll the king of Egypt, God had a
noble purpose in this man's life to begin with and he gave him
every opportunity. He brought the bear upon Pharaoh
all that infinite love and mercy could bring to bear to get
pharaoh to be a good man. The reason Farrell Ended as he
did is not because God didn't love him not because God didn't
do his infinite best to save him.
It was because cuz Pharaoh resisted and resisted and
rebelled and rebel till at last he threw himself, a corpse upon
a sea shore in a distant land and the message we hear from his
clammy lips, is this look at me and see what a terrible thing.
It is to rebel against God, behold me and see the tragic
failure of the man that persistently throws himself in
Wicked Madness against the plans and the purpose.
Is of the Lord God Almighty. Look now, how hard God tried to
make something of pharaoh in the first place?
He gave him a great and a faithful Minister Pharaoh had
the privilege of knowing Moses, one of the greatest men and one
of the greatest leaders that is ever grace, the face of the
Earth, he had an opportunity of hearing about the greatest
individual. The world has ever seen Seen he
threw himself away, did Pharaoh? He chose God's worst instead of
God's best, but he didn't do it because he didn't know better.
No, he chose God's worst instead of God's best.
Neither are you wasting your life?
Because you don't know better if you are.
If you've not had a teacher as great, as Moses still, you've
been warned, haven't you? And in your sin, you are without
excuse. Well, God gave Pharaoh a chance
to cooperate with him to help him in Saving Israel, in making
Israel of a great nation. Moses first word to Pharaoh, was
this the god of Israel? Saith.
Let my people go. Now, pharaohs answer to this.
Demand was Hardy enough. He answers.
Who is the god of Israel? I do not know him.
And he didn't know God even though he might have known him
but you don't God didn't throw him away.
After this one chance on the contrary, he cave payroll and
ample opportunity to know him and when they sinned and view
God brought his infinite energies into play Wonder after
wonder, he worked in the presence of pharaoh.
By the hand of Moses that first, these wonders were imitated by
The Magician's. These fakes with their cunning
ways, made it easy for pharaoh to resist God for a while.
You see, they help the king to close.
His Royal eyes to the truth. They helped him start on his
decision of rebellion, but the magician's were soon outdone
because Moses began to perform Wonders that they couldn't
imitate. And they themselves were forced
to believe in the presence and the might and the Do you have
god Jehovah and they who had helped their King to go wrong?
Tried to turn him to the right way by their acknowledgement of
the truth. They said it's the Finger of God
you know it's easier to lead a man to stray though than it is
to lead him back and it's easier for you by your Godless and
worldly life to lead your children to despise Christ in
the church than it is to lead them back after they've gone
astray. Ray.
Hey we'll listen to The Magician's when they counseled
him to do wrong but he turned a deaf ear to them.
When they counseled him to do right then followed that series
of plagues upon Egypt that were always preceded by the demand of
God, through the lips of Moses. Let my people go.
That they may serve me. You see what God was demanding
of pharaoh. Listen, it's the same demand
that he makes of you and me, and that is complete.
And utter obedience to his will, that's all he's commanding us to
surrender ourselves to him, to enter into his plan and purpose,
for our lives. And the one thing that God
wanted was, the one thing that Pharaoh did not want, but he was
becoming afraid. And so he proposed to
compromise, finally, Pharaoh, in his fright tells Moses that he
will obey. He will let the people go.
That is, he said, I will that part of them go.
I'll let the men go. But you leave the children here?
Pharaoh new so long as he kept the children in Egypt.
That's how long he would keep Israel in Egypt.
And the devil knows today, that just as long as our homes remain
unchristian, just that long, will the world remain
unchristian. Now, what to tell you something?
Folks will never evangelize the World by simply seeking to save
And adults generation. We must give a god, a chance
that our children are the cause of righteousness, is going to be
defeated. We know that.
So, if we'd kept all of our children, the church would be
three or four times as large as it is today.
But you know, if we will save the child will save the world
then Pharaoh offered a second compromise after that was
rejected. He said I'll let you and the
children go. But you must leave your cattle
and your sheep. Eep.
You must leave all your flocks and your herds all yes, you can
go into Canaan if you will, but leave your business in Egypt and
you know the devil today is like that he's perfectly willing that
you and I be just as Pious as we want to be on Sunday provided,
we get a forget all about it on Monday.
You see. He's willing for you to be
religious. If you can find your religion to
the church, Don't tell you something, a religion that
doesn't permeate and purify and uplift, and sanctify business.
And business relations Is Not the religion of Jesus Christ.
Now, I'll tell you something else.
If I had a kind of a business that I couldn't mix the teaching
of the Lord, Jesus Christ with it.
I've changed my business. If I had the kind of pleasure
that I couldn't mix the religion of the Lord, Jesus Christ with
it. I'd change my Recreation habits.
Yes, sir. Then Pharaoh said, well, I'll
let the people go but they must not go far.
Why was that for the very human reason that he wanted the
opportunity of getting them back?
He said I'll obey God but I don't want to make too.
I don't want to promise to make that obedience permanent.
You see, I want to be where I can be within easy reach of
them. And you've seen plenty of
instances of that. Here's a man who decides that he
wants to be a Christian. But he doesn't want to be a
member of the church. He wants to see how he gets
along. First, you know, that kind of a
man is already making provision for going back.
Take up thy bed, Jesus said to that paralyzed man over there
that the for brought to him take up thy bed and walk, he wants us
to make a complete break with the past and the last we do,
we're not going to make a success of living the Christian
life. But then the plagues grow worse,
Pharaoh is becoming more and more frightened.
And while the scare is on, he promises to be good.
And the obey the Lord unconditionally.
There was a terrible storm. You remember, the hailstones
fail like shrapnel the lightning dropped from the clouds and
played along the Earth and Terror ripped Pharaoh's, heart.
He sent for Moses and when Moses comes, he tells him, I've seen
this time, I will let the people go but all, when the, when the
storm ceases and the sun shines through, then he's quite a show.
Ashamed of his weakness and he's so ashamed that he forgets all
together, the promise that he's made, when the fear of death was
upon him, this is a side of human nature.
That's a little bit disgusting to any gospel preacher and to
any right-thinking person yet we dare not shut our eyes to it.
There are many people who have acted for all the world as
Pharaoh acted. And they've done it with all of
the light that he had an even more.
You know, I don't know of a man Who is more in danger of being
ultimately lost than that man who never cares for religion,
except when he's badly scared. Because the truth of the matter,
is that a man of that kind doesn't care anything about the
goodness of God at all, not even in his moments of most abject
Terror. Does he truly want to be saved?
He just simply wants to escape the results of sin.
That's all he doesn't want to pay the penalty for doing wrong.
He wants to defeat the Ends of Justice why he's not interested
in being good and pure and true. He's just interested in keeping
out of hell. That's all how patient God was
with. Pharaoh, we're amazed at it
until we think how infinitely patient he's been with us by
storm by Black Knight by adversity.
After adversity, God is doing his best to bring Pharaoh back
from the Red Sea. He's doing all he can to turn
him away from committing suicide.
Aside and Body and Soul but pharaohs like some of us.
Hey Rose seemed absolutely greedy for damnation.
He seemed completely banned on working out his own destruction
and after the king had broken one vow after another and it
lied and lied and lied again, God brought the last dark
Providence into each life. He made one final effort to save
him from his ruin. Robots called to kneel by the
coffin of his firstborn son and his hard heart seemed soften At
Last by the grave of the Crown Prince.
He made a solemn vow that he would obey God and he said about
putting the vowel into execution at once.
The children of Israel were not only allowed to go, but they
were hurried out of the land of Egypt At Last At Last.
We say with what Infinite Experience, the man is brought
to obey, God. God.
But would you believe it? The grass hasn't even grown
green on the grave of his boy until he forgets his vow and
turns back to the old life again.
Oh what a grip sin gets on us, how blind we become if we
persistently and and continually refused to follow the light.
So if a little brush, the tears out of his eyes gathered his
army and set out after the Already host of Israel and I see
the hustle and the hurry of setting out.
I see the look of hate on the Kings face as he comes with
inside of his one-time slaves. Probably he laughs a mirthless
laugh as he sees their predicament.
Oh, I have them now they're shot in on either side.
On either side, there's a trackless Wilderness before the
is the Red Sea and behind them is me and my Army, what?
Sweet Revenge. He's going to have, but look,
something has happened. There's a path through the Red
Sea. These hundred slaves are
Marching In all, but it doesn't matter because wherever Israel
can go, the Egyptians can go. So he and his army and March in
behind, they keep the Israelites inside and now the distance,
they see that the last Israelite has reached dry land, but look,
There's a great shriek and the Seas collapse.
The Waters of come together again.
The waves or about these struggling soldiers, like liquid
hate, the King has forgotten, his men are madly trying to save
themselves, a jeweled hand flashes in the light for a
moment. There's an oath cry, go and then
silence, and the hungry sea has its its prey Payroll, why are
you here? And if those dead lips could
speak, he would say this. I'm here because I persistently
refused to obey, God, he offered me the best and I spurned it and
spurned it again. Until last, he had no option,
but to throw me here, he did it because I made it impossible for
him to do anything else. And as I look at this, wreak
upon the Sands of the seashore. I think how different the story
might have ended all listen, this man could have had a part
in the making of Israel of A great nation, he might have been
associated with Moses in giving this new nation to the world, he
might even now be in the in the fellowship of Moses among the
tall sons of the morning, or the difference between this man.
And the great man, Moses is the fact that God purposed is not in
the fact that God purposed evil for one and good for the other.
But it's rather in this that one was obedient to the heavenly
vision. Vision as the Apostle Paul would
say and the other was not obedient.
The Apostle Paul, could say the grace that was bestowed upon me
was not in vain, but this man resisted, and resisted and kept
resisting till he ran by every blockade that God had put in his
path and he plunged headlong into destruction.
Now this afternoon, let me tell you this.
That God. Has put some blockades in your
path to keep you from the pit of Hell to keep you from making a
terrible mistake with your lives, God's given us the Bible,
he's given us the church. He's given us gospel preaching,
he's given us sweet. Encouraging songs that encourage
us to obey the Lord, and to do his will, he's given us Brethren
and Sisters in Christ who pray for us.
In many cases he's given us a devout mother and father who
encouraged us to live the Christian Life.
And at last when the Christians reward, This afternoon, I may
speak to someone who's never yet obeyed.
The gospel who has resisted God's purpose and God's plan for
you. Wouldn't you resist, no longer,
wouldn't you yield yourself to the tender pleadings of the Son
of God who stood over there? And even though he was rejected
and rebuffed still with outstretched arms and tender
voice and beckoning hand. He said come unto me all ye that
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke. Upon you and learn of me for.
I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest for your
souls. For my yoke is easy.
My burden is light. That's what Jesus wants for you
this afternoon, he wants you to be a part of that great company
of the redeemed who have washed their robes and made them white
in the blood of the Lamb. He wants you to have a part in
that in that City. That hath foundations, that old
Abraham was looking for a back Yonder.
When he said he searched for a city, which hath foundations,
whose Builder and maker is God. I don't know how you stand with
God this afternoon. The Apostle Paul said no man
knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in
him. So I don't know what's in your
mind. I don't know what your spiritual
stance with God is But there are two people that do know that's
God. And you, you know, whether or
not believing on the Lord you have ever repented of your sins.
That means you changed your mind and set your face toward heaven
and home. You know, whether or not you've
ever stood before me and confess that Jesus is the Christ, the
son of God. And you know, whether you've
ever been baptized for the remission or the Forgiveness of
sins. If you haven't done those
things, then when you stand at a guilty distance from God and you
need to obey him while time and opportunity affords.
Maybe I speak to those who have heard in some respect, who need
very much to make wrongs, right? There's a guilty distance
between you and God, and that won't be resolved.
Until that matter is cleared up, repent of those wrong, confess
them and seek God's forgiveness. We thank you for listening to
our podcast, put on by the Church of Christ at 22:15 plans.
Road in Bakersfield, if you would like any additional
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