“Take Away the Frogs”

"Take Away the Frogs"

(No. 3340)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1913.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Entreat the Lord,
that He may take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will
let the people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the Lord." Exodus
8:8.

When it pleases God by His judgments to humble men, He is never at a
loss for means–He can use lions or lice, famines or flies. In the
armory of God there are weapons of every kind, from the stars in their
courses down to caterpillars in their hosts. The dust of the earth, out
of which man is formed, will at God's command forget its kinship and
overwhelm a caravan, while the waters will forsake their channels,
invade the tops of the mountains and drown a rebellious race. When the
Lord contends against proud men, He has but to lift His finger and
countless legions throng around Him, all loyal to their Lord and
valiant for His name! Know you not that the beasts of the field are His
servants and the stones of the street obey His bidding? Every wave
worships Him and every wind knows its Lord. If you would war against
Him, it would be well for you to know what His forces are–consider the
battle–do no more.

In the case before us Jehovah has to deal with Pharaoh and He humbles
him by frogs. Strange! Amazing! One would have thought that such
despicable means would never have been used. The Lord began with the
proud monarch by turning the waters into blood, but it may be that
Pharaoh said in his heart, "What a great man I am! If Jehovah comes
forth against me, He must needs work a terrible miracle in order to
conquer." He goes his way to his house unhumbled. This time the Lord
will deal with him in another style. I grant you that the conflict was
still sublime in the truest sense, but in Pharaoh's estimation the
croaking frogs which came up from all the banks of the Nile were a mean
sort of adversary! From every reservoir and marsh they marched up in
countless hordes, entering into his chamber and coming upon his bed and
his kneading trough. He could neither sleep nor eat, nor walk abroad
without encountering the loathsome reptiles. The Lord seemed by this to
say, "Who are you that I should do great things to conquer you? I will
even vanquish you by frogs."

There was a suitableness in God's choosing the frogs to humble Egypt's
king, because frogs were worshipped by that nation as emblems of the
Deity. Images of a certain frog-headed goddess were placed in the
catacombs and frogs, themselves, were preserved with sacred honors.
These are your gods, O Egypt! You shall have enough of them! Pharaoh
himself shall pay a new reverence to these reptiles. As the true God is
everywhere present around us–in our bedchambers and in our streets, so
shall Pharaoh find every place filled with what he chooses to call
Divine! Is it not a just way of dealing with Him?

The Lord has sure ways of reaching the hearts of proud men and if He
does not use frogs, today, He can use other means, for He has servants
everywhere prepared for each emergency. He knows how to reach the rich
and make them sit by the wayside, like Belisarius, begging for food.
The strong and healthy man, He can soon place among the invalids and
make him cry like a sick girl, "Give me a drink, Titinius." Your
children are about you today–your pride and joy–but He can make you
childless in an hour. His arrows can pierce through a sevenfold harness
of steel–no man is so encompassed as to be beyond the reach of the
Almighty! Let me speak of Pharaoh by way of observation and I will
begin by remarking that–

I. IN SORE TROUBLE, THE SERVANTS OF THE LORD ARE GREATLY VALUED.

"Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron." The frogs had taught him
good manners and he longs to see the ministers of the Lord. How is
this? The man was somewhat brought to his senses–and when this
happens, men begin to value those whom they aforetime despised. Listen
to this story. There came a man of God to Bethel where king Jeroboam
was

setting up the golden calves and he began to cry against the altar.
Then Jeroboam stretched forth his hand and cried, "Lay hold upon him."
In a moment the rebel's right arm withered, and hung by his side,
useless! Then he turned to the man of God, whom he was about to arrest,
and said, "Entreat the Lord for me." Thus have persecutors been forced
to crouch at the feet of those whom they would have destroyed! Another
story will set forth the same truth. King Saul had been forsaken of God
and the Philistines pressed hard upon him. In his extremity he resorted
to a woman who professed to deal with the spirits of the dead. With
whom would he speak? He cries, "Bring me up Samuel." Samuel was the man
who had most sternly rebuked him! One would have thought that Samuel
was the last person he would wish to see, but in his need, he asks for
no one else but Samuel. When ungodly men get into straits, how they
wish they could consult with one who has gone home, against whom they
pointed many a jest. They never say, "Bring me up the jolly fellow who
filled and quaffed the bowl with me." In their tribulation they think
not of such. They never cry, "Bring me up the wanton with whom I
sported in sin, that I may again enjoy her company." No, in their
distress they desire other advisers–they would rather cry, "Bring me
up my holy mother! Oh, for a sight of her dear, loving face as I saw it
on her dying bed, when she urged me to follow her to Heaven! Bring me
up that old friend whom I ridiculed when I turned aside from the ways
of God! Oh, for an hour with the man of God whom once I scorned!" Do
you not see that it is the old tale repeated–Pharaoh, when his
troubles are multiplied, calls for Moses and Aaron!

This is also to be accounted for by the fact that God puts a mysterious
honor upon His faithful servants. The painters place halos about the
heads of the Bible saints–there were no such crowns of light upon
them, literally, and yet within the legend there slumbers a great
truth. He who leads an upright, holy, gracious life has a power about
him which impresses the beholder–his presence in an ungodly company
has an influence on wicked men like that of Zephon, of whom Milton
sings in Paradise Lost To the great fallen angel his presence was a
rebuke. God hedges the good with a dignity which men feel even when
they are not conscious of it. It was so in the case before us. Moses
was made to be as a god unto Pharaoh. Pharaoh had said, "Get you unto
your burdens," addressing Moses and Aaron as if they were slaves! But
now he sends for them and entreats their prayers on his behalf! This
was like the case of Joseph. His brothers hated him and sold him for a
slave–but how different the scene when they bowed before him and
trembled as he said, "I am Joseph!" The archers had shot at him and
wounded him, but still his bow abode in strength!

Remember, too, Jeremiah, whom Zedekiah, the king, treated with great
indignity till the Babylonians had surrounded the city–and then he
sent to him and said, "Enquire, I pray you, of the Lord for us." Our
Lord describes an instance still more remarkable. It belongs to the
next world, but the same principles rule in all worlds. A poor saint
was laid at a rich man's door, full of sores. He begged for the crumbs
that fell from the rich man's table, "moreover, the dogs came and
licked his sores." The rich man, clothed with purple and fine linen,
took small note of this saint of God. But what a change happened on a
day when the beggar died and was carried by angels into Abraham's
bosom–and the rich man also died and was buried! In Hell the rich man
lifted up his eyes, and Lazarus had honor before him, for he begged
that Lazarus might be sent to cool his burning tongue with the tip of
his finger dipped in water. They had changed places, for God had
crowned His poor servant with glory and honor! The halo was around the
head of Lazarus most assuredly.

A light shone upon the face of Moses and a glory settled upon the brow
of Jesus. "Such honor have all the saints" in a spiritual sense–and
the proudest of men shall be made to know it!

Once more, let me note that this honor is doubtless set on saints that
they may be of service to ungodly men. God intends, by their means, to
bless the penitent. When it was wheat harvest and a thunderstorm came
because Israel desired a king, you remember that while peal on peal the
dread artillery of God was heard, the people trembled and besought
Samuel the Prophet to pray for them. And he said, "God forbid that I
should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you." Holy Samuel's
prayer was heard for them!

Much later an earthquake shook the foundations of a prison and loosed
the bands of the prisoners. Then the jailer woke up in his fright and
feared that his prisoners had escaped–and that he should have to die
for it–but there stood Paul, the man whom he had thrust into the inner
prison, and whose feet he had made fast in the stocks! And the jailer,
trembling before him, cried out, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
The answer was given. He was directed to believe and to be
baptized–and the jailer and his house were saved! If God's servants
are treated with scorn and harshness they need not fear, for they are
put just where they are, that unconverted men may be blessed by their
agency. Like Moses to

Pharaoh, saints will yet have to say, "Glory over me. I will pray for
you, or teach you, so that I may but lead you to the

Savior."

It is clear that in times of trouble godly men and women are at a
premium! Secondly, with ungodly men–

II. IN TIMES OF SORE TRIAL PRAYER ALSO BEGINS TO BE VALUABLE.

Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, "Entreat the Lord."
Pharaoh begs an interest in the prayers of good men–this is a fine
change since the day wherein he said, "Who is Jehovah that I should
obey His voice?"

When men are sick and near to die, they send for us to pray with them.
That old philosopher, Bion, showed much wisdom in his biting sarcasm.
He was on shipboard and found that among the passengers there were
certain foul-mouthed desperadoes. While they were venting all manner of
abominations, a storm came on, and they began to pray! Then Bion cried
out to them, "Hold your tongues, for if the gods only know that you are
here, they will sink the vessel! Be quiet, lest your prayers should be
our ruin." One's thoughts have taken somewhat of that form when we have
seen men fulfilling the old adage–

"When the devil was sick, the devil a saint would be."

Such prayers are too often an insult to the holiness of God!

Why is it that reprobates take to praying when they are in deep
trouble? Frequently superstition moves them. They regard a prayer as a
spell or magical charm. So in their folly they send for a minister and
cry, "Entreat the Lord for me!" Among many Londoners, so dense is this
superstition that after a poor soul is dead, I have heard relatives
say, "We sent for the minister and he came and prayed to him." Mark
that word, "prayed to him"! Does not this discover the ignorance and
superstition of the people? They do not know the design and object of
prayer. This superstition needs to be spoken of with great truthfulness
and fidelity.

In certain instances the man's hope in prayer is the result of a
condemning faith. There is a justifying faith and a condemning faith.
"What?" you say, "does faith ever condemn men?" Yes, when men have
faith enough to know that there is a God who sends judgments upon them,
that nothing can remove those judgments but the hand that sent them and
that prayer moves that hand–there are persons who yet never pray,
themselves, but eagerly cry to friends, "Entreat the Lord for me." That
is a measure of faith which goes to increase a man's condemnation,
since he ought to know that if what he believes is true, then the
proper thing is to pray himself! It would have been a wonderfully good
sign if Pharaoh had said, "Join with me, O Moses and Aaron, while I
pray unto Jehovah that He may take the frogs from me." But, no, he had
only a condemning faith which contented itself with other men's
prayers!

In many instances this desire for prayer is one of the movements of the
Spirit upon the heart of man. When a poor, afflicted man, in the depth
of poverty, struck with consumption or laid aside by some other deadly
disease, desires that a minister would come and pray with him, we will
never treat such a wish with neglect. While it is our duty to expose
the superstition which often lurks beneath the wish, we also hope that
some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel may dwell in it. It is,
perhaps, the prodigal saying, "I will arise and go unto my Father, and
I will inquire the way home." I hope it is so.

Take warning, you that do not pray–you will yet need to pray! There
will come a time to the most of you when you will not be able to bear
yourselves without crying unto God. May God, in His Infinite Mercy lead
you to begin at once! For when it can be said of you, "Behold, he
prays," it will be the best of news! Beginning to pray is the turning
point of life! Why not at once set a high price upon that which in
times of trouble you will seek for with tears? Our third observation is
this–

III. IN SORE TROUBLE THE PRAYER IS OFTEN A WRONG ONE.

The petitions which men offer when they are in distress are often wrong
prayers. Pharaoh said, "Entreat the Lord, that He may take away the
frogs from me."

A fatal flaw is manifest in that prayer. It contains no confession of
sin. He says not, "I have rebelled against the Lord. Entreat that I may
find forgiveness!" Nothing of the kind–he loves sin as much as ever. A
prayer without penitence is a prayer without acceptance. If no tear has
fallen upon it, it is withered. You must come to God as a sinner
through a Savior, but by no other way. He that comes to God like the
Pharisee, with, "God, I thank You that I am not as other men

are," never draws near to God at all! But he that cries, "God be
merciful to me, a sinner," has come to God by the way which God has,
Himself, appointed! There must be a confession of sin before God or our
prayer is faulty.

Pharaoh's prayer dealt only with the punishment''Take away the frogs!
Take away the frogs! Take away the frogs!" That is his one cry. So we
hear the sick exclaim, "Oh, Sir, pray that I may get well." The
drunkard begs that he may be helped out of his poverty. The impenitent
sinner cries, "Pray that my child may not be taken from me." It is not
wrong to pray, "Take away the frogs." We should all have prayed so if
we had been surrounded by such pests. The evil is that this was the
whole of his prayer. He said not, "Take away my sins," but, "Take away
the frogs." He did not cry, "Lord, take away my heart of stone," but
only, "Take away the frogs." Perhaps I am addressing those who are in
poverty, sickness, or distress and all they are crying about is, "Lord,
take away the frogs! Deliver me from my poverty, my trouble, my hunger,
my disgrace, my punishment!" Now, if you have brought yourself into
evil by a vicious life, your prayer must not be, "Take away the disease
and the poverty," but "Take away the sin." The drunkard's prayer must
not be, "Lord, take away the result of my intoxication," but, "Remove
from me the poisoned cup." Lay the axe at the root and cry, "Lord, take
the sin away." Alas, most of the prayers of men in trouble are only
like Pharaoh's selfish prayer, "Take away the frogs." The Lord did hear
his petition, but nothing came of it. The frogs were gone, but flies
came immediately after and all sorts of plagues followed in rapid
succession–and his heart was still hardened.

When ungodly men are under a sense of Divine Wrath they turn not to God
aright–their prayer is devoid of spiritual requests. When Cain had
murdered his brother, did he express a regret? No. He only murmured,
"My punishment is greater than I can bear." Esau sold his birthright.
Did he repent of the sin of having been a profane person, and seek
pardon carefully? Not he! He sought carefully with tears to get back
his birthright, but he found no place for repentance in his father
Isaac! The blessing had gone to Jacob and on Jacob it must remain.
Another telling case is that of Simon Magus. When Peter told him that
he was in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity, he
replied, "Pray you to the Lord for me that none of these things which
you have spoken come upon me"–that was all he cared about. He
expressed no desire to be delivered from his evil way, but only to be
screened from the consequences of it! Every knave cries out against
punishment–but he is attaining to honesty who entreats to be freed
from his pilfering habits! Our last remark is that–

IV. THE SINNER IN HIS SORE TROUBLES IS VERY APT TO MAKE GREAT PROMISES.

Pharaoh cried, "Take away the frogs and I will let the people go, that
they may do sacrifice unto the Lord." In this way one of you talked
when you were down with fever, or when you were likely to lose your
employment through your folly. You said, "Please God, if You let me
escape this once, I will be a very different man." Such promises are
generally boastful. Notice here the proud language of Pharaoh. "I will
let the people go." He does not long talk in this fashion, but now he
is a great king and he gives his royal word, "I will let the people
go." Some folks are very big when they promise God, "Iwill do this and
I will do that." But you cannot, my Friend! You reply that you are
going to have a new heart and a right spirit. Are you looking to create
them yourself? You talk as if you were! I think you said that you were
going to "turn over a new leaf," but a new leaf in a bad book may be
worse than the old leaf! But you are going to be entirely new, are you?
Are you to do all this yourself? You are greatly mistaken–true
conversion does not begin by talking of what "I' will do! It begins in
casting ourselves upon the Lord and begging Him to work all our works
in us!

But this man's promises were all a lie. I daresay that for the moment
he meant them–but he did not keep his word, for he did not let the
people go. "When Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his
heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said." Has not that
been the case with many others? You promised "faithfully," as you said.
You pledged yourself that it would be so, but it is not so. Stand still
awhile and hear a message from the Lord–"You have not lied unto men,
but you have lied unto God." Let that sentence pierce the innermost
heart of your conscience! "You have lied unto God." Remember Ananias
and Sapphira and what followed upon their falsehood? Be astonished that
it has not followed upon yours, for you made the promise before
witnesses in the Presence of the Lord Himself!

Mark well that in all this, Pharaoh increased his guilt His vows heaped
up his transgressions. He forgot his promises, but God did not. They
were laid by in store against him–and the blows of God upon him fell
heavier and heavier until, at last, Jehovah drowned him and his chosen
captains in the Red Sea! Oh, Sirs, if God comes to deal with you in
this fashion, what will become of you? Your promises are filed in
Heaven to be witnesses against you! God reaches out these promises of
yours at this hour and holds them up before your eyes. And what does
your conscience say? If you had

promised a kind friend and broken your word, it would have been base
enough, but you have been ungrateful to your God in whose hands your
breath is, and whose are all your ways! Let a sense of guilt overwhelm
you and, in the name of Jesus Christ, ask mercy of your God!

I will tell you how God deals with His own children and then leave you
to infer how He will deal with you if you are not His children. A
certain man, to all appearances, feared God. Yes, and did so with a
sincere heart. He was once an earnest Christian, a member of the Church
and a worker in the service–faithful to his light and fervent in
spirit–but he grew cold. He had a farm and it occupied nearly all his
time. He was filled with an intense desire to grow rich and, therefore,
he devoted his attention to his business till he grew colder and colder
in Divine things–and the means of Grace on the weekdays were forsaken.
Work for God was dropped, communion with God ceased and the religious
professor became to all appearance an utter worldling. But yet he was a
child of God and this is how his Father restored him. He took from him
the wife of his youth, to whom his heart was knit. But this made him
more worldly than before because his wife had been a great help to him
in the farm–but now she was gone–so he must stick to it more than
ever! Nothing came of the first chastisement except increased sin. He
had only one son, for whom he was saving up his money and working his
business–and he saw that son cut down with consumption, like his
mother. This also made him still more worldly. It ought to have brought
him to his knees, but it did not. He carried on the practice of prayer,
but with little heart. He said, "Now, my dear son, who was such a
comfort to me, has gone, I can hardly get out on Sundays at all. I must
look after the cows and attend to the stock." So he sank deeper in the
mire.

Then the Lord began to deal with him in another way. He had a bad
season and lost money farming, careful as he was. Next year was worse,
and the cattle plague emptied his stalls. He was brought down to
poverty. He could scarcely keep the farm, for he could not pay the
rent. Still he did not yield. He had tender moments now and then, but
he was usually hard, for he felt that God was dealing severely with
him. He felt angry against God and stuck to his business more than
ever, while the things of God were forgotten. Then the Lord took His
erring child more closely in hand than before, and sent him an
incurable disease in his body. The worldly farmer lay upon a sick bed
fretting about his business–he did not turn to the Lord even then!
Last of all, his house took fire and as the barn and the ricks and the
house were all ablaze and all that he had was going, they carried him
out into the open air upon the bed from which he could not stir, and he
was heard to say, "Blessed be the Lord! Blessed be the Lord! I am cured
at last." But, dear Friends, nothing would cure him till everything was
gone from him! Was not that a pity? He was saved so as by fire. He
would be "as the horse and the mule, which have no understanding, whose
mouth must be held in with bit and bridle" and, therefore, he had to
suffer for it. I pray you do not copy him. People of God, do not make
rods for your own backs in that way! Do not drive your heavenly Father
to hard measures.

But oh, you ungodly, if He will deal thus with His children, how will
He deal with you who are not His children? If He means to bless you, He
will not let you go unpunished, but He will smite you with heavy
strokes. I remember one who used to bless God for a broken leg–he said
that he never ran in the ways of God until he was lame. I believe that
some parents never loved the heavenly Father till their dear infant
child was taken away. The shepherd tried to get the mother sheep into
the fold, but she would not come, so he took up her lamb and carried it
away in his arms–and then the mother followed him! He has done that to
some of you. You would never have come to Christ if dear little Johnny
had not gone Home to Jesus. You lost one and another for that same
purpose–have you not had enough strokes? You have been smitten till
your "whole head is sick and your whole heart faint." Will you not turn
unto your God without more ado? His blows are sent in mercy! It is far
better that you should have a Hell here than Hell hereafter! It were
better for you to live a lifelong agony than to be cast into Hell
forever! Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved! He
died for sinners–died for aggravating, guilty, willful sinners! And if
they look to Him, they shall at once be forgiven! I cannot give the
look of faith for you, or I would gladly do so, but I beseech you to
look and live! May God the Holy Spirit lead you to do so, for Jesus'
sake! Amen.

EXPOSITIONS BY C. H. SPURGEON: EXODUS3:1-14; ROMANS 9:1-25.

This Chapter in Exodus tells of the appearance of God to Moses in the
Wilderness. Has He departed from us, Brothers and Sisters? He used to
be seen by godly souls by mount and stream and sea–and even bushes
were alive and blazing with the indwelt Godhead! Oh, that He would
reveal Himself to us tonight! I am going to read this Chapter with this
longing in my heart. I pray that the same longing may be in the heart
of every child of God–"Show me Your face: show me Your face, my God,
tonight!"

Verse 1. Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the
priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the back side of the desert,
and came to the Mountain of God, even to Horeb. There is nothing
dishonorable about common trade and matters of business at all. Here is
a shepherd who keeps his flock–and God keeps him and reveals Himself
to him. When God wants a man to lead His people, He seeks for him not
among idlers, but busy, active men. And God was pleased to show Himself
more to Moses, as a shepherd, than He had ever shown Himself to him as
a prince in Egypt. I find no glowing Deity in the halls of Pharaoh, but
I find the Consuming Fire manifested in the lone wastes of the Sinai
Desert!

2. And the Angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out
of the midst of a bush: and he looked and, behold, the bush burned with
fire, and the bush was not consumed. Well might it say, "Behold." I
have seen a bush set alight by a match. It blazed in a moment, but it
was gone in another moment! It burned up fiercely and hastily. But God
was pleased to make a poor consumable bush to be the unharmed place of
His abiding. He dwells today in the Human Person of the Savior. The
Godhead is in Christ. He dwells today in the Church which might well
enough be consumed by His Presence–but it is not. He can come and
dwell in my heart and in yours, tonight, and yet we shall bear the
Presence of Deity to the hour of our death! He has a way of so throwing
Himself into our feebleness that it becomes strong–and that which
might otherwise have been destroyed, is even preserved by His Presence!
The bush burned with fire and was not consumed.

3, 4. AndMoses said, I will now turn aside, andsee this great sight,
why the bush is not burnt. And when the LORD saw that he turned aside
to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said,
Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. Oh, that personal call–that
voice from God to the heart! How much we need it. Do you not remember
when first the Lord called some of you? Then He says to you tonight, "I
have called you by My name. You are Mine." Acknowledge that sweet
impeachment, confess that you are His and say to Him, "For suffering or
for service, here am I ready, yes ready, even as Moses was. Here am I."

5. And He said, Draw not near here: take your shoes from off your feet,
for the place where you stand is holy ground. Stand as a servant stands
in the presence of his master in the East. He is not expected to wear,
in the court of his master, the shoes which have trodden in the mire of
the world. Now, put away your cares, put away your carnal thoughts, put
away yourself, put away your sins. When God is near, solemnity and deep
reverence become us. "The place where you stand is holy ground."

6. Moreover He said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he
was afraid to look upon God. You need not hide your face if God shall
appear to you, though I am sure you will do it. You may come boldly. It
is your Father's face! It is the face of One who is reconciled to you
in Christ. Therefore open your eyes and look–and may the Lord show
Himself to you!

7. And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of My people
which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their
taskmasters; for I know their sorrows. Now, you troubled ones, are not
these verses real music to you? God has seen your afflictions–there
are God's eyes! God has heard your cry–there are God's ears. "I know
their sorrows." There is God's mighty understanding. He is thinking
about you. He knows all that which tries you tonight.

10. "Comenow therefore"–This was a very extraordinary thing to follow
after all that. God has seen the affliction of His people. What then?
Does He say, "I am come down to deliver them"? What then? Why, the next
thing is that He is going to use this trembling man who stands
awe-struck with his shoes off in the presence of the still burning
bush! "Come now, therefore"–

10. And I will send you unto Pharaoh, that you may bring forth My
people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. You have been praying for
a blessing. God is going to give it through you. You have been looking
east and west and north and south for some deliverer that shall win
souls and stir up the Church. God calls you to do it! He invites you to
under-

take this gigantic service and I think that I see the color come into
your face and then fly away again! You are ready to faint at the
thought of such a charge laid upon you!

11. And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh,
and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? Now,
catch this–

12. And He said, Certainly I will be with you. What more does Moses
need? He said, "Who am I?" This showed his weakness. God said, "Never
mind who you are. Certainly I will be with you." Here was strength
enough for him!

12. And this shall be a token unto you, that Ihave sentyou: When you
have brought forth thepeople out ofEgypt, you shall serve God upon this
mountain. And he did! You know how Sinai trembled while God made it His
Throne and how Moses must have been strengthened when he did
exceedingly fear and quake before God when he remembered that this same
God had appeared to him when he was alone in the desert–and had
promised that they should worship Him there.

13. Then Moses said to God, Indeed, when Icome to the children of
Israel and say to them, The God ofyour fathers has sent me to you, and
they say to me, What is His name? what shall I say to them?

14. God said unto Moses, I AM WHO I AM. That is His name–The Infinite,
Eternal and Unchangeable God!

14. And He said, Thus shall you say unto the children of Israel, I AM
has sent me unto you. Oh, what a glorious commission–to receive it
direct from the self-existent God, who is the same forever and ever,
and only has immortality! Speak to us tonight, you great I AM, JAH,
Jehovah, God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob. Speak to this company
in this House of Prayer tonight, because of Jesus, Joshua, Jehoshua,
Jehovah, Jesus. I have tried to show you how that name of Jesus has the
name "Jehovah" hidden away in it. Because of Him, draw near to us, O
Lord!

ROMANS9:1-25. The Jews thought that God must certainly save them. They
thought they had a birth claim. Were they not the children of Abraham?
Surely they had some right to it. This Chapter battles the question of
right. No man has any right to the Grace of God. The terms are
inconsistent. There can be no right to that which is free favor. We are
all condemned criminals, and if pardoned, it must be as the result of
pure mercy, absolute mercy, for there is no good in any one of us!

Verses 1, 2. I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also
bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit that Ihave great heaviness and
continual sorrow in my heart. He never thought about his unbelief,
Brothers and Sisters, without the deepest imaginable regret. How far is
this from the spirit of those who look upon the ungodly without
tears–settle it down as a matter that cannot be altered and take it as
a question of hard fate–but are never troubled about it! Not so the
Apostle. He had great heaviness and continual sorrow in his heart.

3. For I could wish that I, myself, were accursed from Christ for my
brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh. He had just that
self-sacrificing spirit of Moses, that he would lose anything and
everything if they might but be saved. And this is the spirit which
ought to actuate every Church of Christ. The church that is always
caring for her own maintenance is no church. The Church that would be
willing to be destroyed if it could save the sons of men–which feels
as if, whatever her shame or sorrow, it would be nothing if she could
but save sinners–that Church is like the Lord, of whom we read, "He
saved others: Himself he could not save." Oh, blessed heartbreak over
sinful men which makes men willing to lose everything if they might but
bless and win men to Christ! "My kinsmen," he says, "according to the
flesh."

4, 5. Who are Israelites; to whom pertains the adoption, and the glory,
and the Covenants, and the giving of the Law, and the service of God,
and the promises. Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the
flesh Christ came, who is over al, God blessed forever. Amen.What
dignity has God put upon ancient Israel! How favored far beyond any of
us in these particulars! They had the Light of God when the rest of the
world was in darkness! Theirs was the Law of God, and theirs the
Covenant promises! Above all, of them it was that Christ came! Our
Savior was a Jew! Forever must that race be had in respectful honor and
we must pray for their salvation.

6, 7. Not as though the Word of God has taken no effect. For they are
not allIsrael, which are ofIsrael. Neither, because they are the seed
of Abraham, are they all children: but in Isaac shall your seed be
called. Now the Apostle is getting to his point. You Jews claim to have
the mercy of God because you are of the seed of Abraham, but there is
nothing in that, he says, for God made a distinct choice of Isaac to
the rejection of Ishmael, as he did afterwards of Jacob, and then Esau
was left out.

8. That is, your flesh which are the children of the flesh, these are
not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted
for the seed. Now Isaac was not the child of Abraham's flesh. He was
born according to promise, when his mother was past age and his father
well stricken in years. His was the birth according to the promise and
that is the way the line of Grace runs–not according to the flesh, but
according to the promise! If, then, all my hope of Heaven lies upon my
being a child of godly parents, it is an Israelite hope and good for
nothing! If my hope of Heaven lies upon my having been born according
to the promise of God–born of His Grace and of His power–in that line
the Covenant stands! God has determined that it shall be so.

9-13. For this is the word of promise. At this time will I come, and
Sarah shall have a son. And not only this, but when Rebecca also had
conceived by one, even by our father Isaac (for the children being not
yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God
according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calls)
it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is
written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.So, then, there is
no claim of birth, for he that had the claim of birth, even Esau, is
passed by! There is, indeed, no claim at all, for God gives freely
according to His own will, blessing the sons of men.

14. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God
forbid/There is no unrighteousness in anything that He does! And in the
winding up of all affairs, it shall be seen that God was righteous as
well as gracious.

15-16. For He says 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 wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that
shows mercy. That is where it must begin. When men are condemned, what
can they appeal to, but the mercy of God? Where is the hope of men, but
in the sovereignty of the Most High?

17-24. For the Scripture says unto Pharaoh, Even for this samepurpose
have Iraisedyou up, that Imight showMy power in you, and that My name
might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore has He mercy on
whom He will have mercy, and whom He will, He hardens. You will say
then unto me, Why does He yet find fault? For who has resisted His
will? No but, O man, who are you that replies against God? Shall the
thing formed say to Him that formed it, Why have You made me thus? Has
not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel
unto honor, and another unto dishonor? What if God, wiiling to show His
wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much long-suffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction? And that He might make
known the riches of His Glory on the vessels ofmercy, which He had
before prepared unto Glory, even us, whom He has called, not ofthe Jews
only, but also of the Gentiles?'There was the sting of it. They could
not endure that God should, in His Divine Sovereignty save Gentiles as
well as Jews! But He has done so and He has sent the Gospel to us while
they, having refused it, are left in the darkness which they chose.

25. As He says also in Hosea, I will call them My people, which were
not My people: andher beloved, which was not beloved.Oh, what a
splendid verse is this! Let some here who have been far from God until
now and never had a gracious thought, nevertheless hear what He has
done and will do again! "I will call them My people that were not My
people, and her beloved which was not beloved."