Thru the Bible - Sunday Sermon

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Oh, foundation, ye saints of the Lord is laid for your faith in His excellent word. If you're listening right now, I believe that's no accident. If you're facing difficult circumstances and wonder, is God really in control of what I'm going through right now, then you're in the right place. And if you simply need a reminder that God hasn't forgotten you, that He loves you with an everlasting love and that even now He has you securely in His arms, then I'm especially glad you're here today. Welcome to the Sunday Sermon on Through the Bible for Dr. J. Vernon McGee's deeply personal message from Exodus 19:4, titled On Eagles' Wings. Our text reads, "This is God talking to His people, the Israelites. He was reminding them how He rescued them from certain death when they were escaping Egypt." He said, "You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself." What a picture. On eagles' wings. It's a beautiful and surprising image of how God cares for His people. And Dr. McGee's message touches on the way an eagle teaches its young to fly, the way Jesus sent His disciples into a storm and the way God sometimes allows us to walk through trials that feel overwhelming. But through it all, He's caring us. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank You that You're a God who loves us and carries us. Speak tenderly to our hearts, especially to those who are discouraged and defeated and give them a renewed sense of Your presence. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Now, here's the Sunday sermon on Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Our first text this morning is Exodus 19:4, "Ye have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bear you on eagles' wings and brought you unto Myself." This morning, we are going to explore the world of ornithology. That means we're dealing with the subject of birds today. We will be bird watchers here for the next few moments. Now, the bird that we're looking at this morning is the eagle. And the eagle does not come off very well in Scripture. First of all, he's known as an unclean bird, and the eagle is called unclean. In fact, an abomination. I'm reading now from Leviticus 11:13. "And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls. They shall not be eaten. They are an abomination." And number one, the eagle. And it's the first bird that's mentioned as being unclean and an abomination.

Now, there are many characteristics of the eagle, however, that are listed on the page of Scripture as being worthwhile and being outstanding and actually representing God and certain members of the body of the eagle. For instance, in the book of Ezekiel, we are told there about four beasts, and one of them has the face of an eagle. That definitely is a vision of deity. And if we had any doubt, it would be dissipated when we go to the book of Revelation, where the scene is transferred to heaven. And there we are given four living creatures, and one of them, the fourth one, is a flying eagle. Therefore, the wings of the eagle are given as a symbol of God. And you'll recall that David, when Saul and Jonathan were slain in battle, and he actually loved Jonathan. And so he could say, "Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives and in their death, they were not divided. They were swifter than eagles. They were stronger than lions." And in this panegyric of praise, David again uses the wings of the eagle to speak of swiftness. So you see that this particular characteristic of the eagle, the wings, typify the person of God and what He does for you and me.

The eagle therefore is the jet plane of the bird family. He sows the highest, and he flies the fastest, and he's superior to all other birds in these two respects. Now, God uses the wings of an eagle to set before us His salvation by grace. And when He brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt and brought them to Mount Sinai, at that time, He said to them, "Moses, you go down and talk with them and tell them, 'Ye have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bear you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself.'" And traveling on eagles' wings is traveling by the grace of God. It was salvation by grace that brought them out of the land of Egypt.

Now, let's look for just a moment at what's implied in that statement. These people, they went down, of course, Jacob and his family of 70 souls, he had 12 sons. And in the course of time, about 400 years, they became a great nation in the land of Egypt. So much so that the Pharaoh, a new one that had arisen, who knew not Joseph, was alarmed by their increase. This population explosion is not something new. And so he did everything that he could to stop it. And he put these people in slavery and in hard bondage. And in spite of the fact that he put them in slavery, they continued to grow in number. For God told them that's exactly what he would do for them. And so the the fact is that the children of Israel were down in Egypt now, in slavery, and they have incurred the hatred of the Pharaoh on the throne. I suppose, as you look at these people, they were as helpless and as hopeless as any people have ever been on topside of this earth, and I'm confident that any person had passed through the land of Egypt in that day and had looked upon them, would not have believed that they would exist as a nation for 4,000 years. And God's still not through with them, for they are to go into eternity as a nation. God has said that, and I believe that since He's done it for 4,000 years, He'll be able to continue to do it.

He raised up Moses to be the deliverer. Moses was hasty, of course. He was actually 40 years ahead of God, and God had to train him. God put this man out on the backside of the desert, gave him the first PhD degree that any man's ever had. That's backside of the desert degree. And I tell you, 40 years out there, you need a degree or something because this man had hard training. But he's now ready, and God appears to him at the burning bush and says to Moses, "Moses, I want you to go down yonder to the land of Egypt again. I want you to return to your people, and I want you to deliver them. You are to be my instrument." He said, "I've seen their affliction. He said, "I know their sorrows, and I've heard their cry by reason of the taskmasters." And I have now come down to deliver them. He said that I've heard their cry. And that, friends, is the only thing that appealed to God in these people. They had nothing that made them superior to the Egyptians. I'm of the opinion, to look at them from the outside, they were a sorry lot under slavery because of the treatment that had been given to them. They were not true to God. They were in idolatry. They lapsed into out in the wilderness. The first thing they wanted was a golden calf to worship. They reluctantly went with Moses. They complained all the way along. And now God says, "I've heard their cry, and therefore, I've come down to deliver them."

And, friends, if he hadn't had that appeal to His heart, He would never have delivered them. And this morning, He would never save us on the basis of our ability, our character, our works, our church membership, or who we are. God today sees us as lost sinners, hellbound. And this morning, if God should let this entire world go into the darkness of eternity, the holy angels would still sing out, "Thou art holy and just and righteous." The thing that is appealed to God's heart on this little earth down here is our lost condition. That's the only reason God's closed in today for us. And so God began to move in behalf of these people. Moses came back. He made the announcement to the people. He went before Pharaoh, and then there began a contest, which actually was the battle of the gods. And it culminated in that tenth plague, the death of the firstborn. And God said to His people, "This will be a night that you will never forget. This is the beginning of days for you. For this night, the Passover angel will pass over every house where there is the blood on the doorposts and on the lintel." And you would have seen the children of Israel that day getting ready for the Passover, killing the lamb, putting the blood there. I'm sure that some of the Egyptians passing by on the way home from the office, they looked in and said, "These crazy Israelites, they always come up with the oddest thing. And imagine they put blood on the doorpost. We'll have them wash it off tomorrow." May I say to you that that was the announcement God had made through Moses to Pharaoh. "This is the last plague. You'll let them go tonight." And in the sacred stillness of that night, the death angel went over that land. He did not stop to inquire if the people inside were having their prayers. He didn't ask them if they had joined a church. He did not ask them what kind of lives they were living. He didn't ask them if they were giving to the Lord's work. He didn't even stop to ask if they were Israelite. "When I see the blood, I'll pass over you."

Let them know that without shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins, and though God loves them, and God will redeem them, the price of their sin, the penalty must be paid. And so that night, the death angel went over, and there went up a cry out of the land of Egypt, even in the home of Pharaoh, when he saw his firstborn dead. And so God that night said, "You'll go out." Pharaoh said, "Let them go," and they went. And they came down to the Red Sea. And when they got down to the Red Sea, the Egyptians had had second thoughts. They decided they'd exterminate them. And they found out they weren't taking the route up by the sea. God did not want to expose His people to warfare at that time with the Philistines. He took them through the wilderness. And when they came there, they actually were bottled in on all three sides with the sea, and back of them was the Egyptians. And again, these people let up a howl. They said, "Why did you disturb us? Let's get back to the brickyards." Moses took that rod. He smote the waters all that night. They rolled back, and the next day, the children of Israel went over dry shod. They had been redeemed by blood. Now, they're redeemed by power. And they went through those waters that speak of resurrection, for the Egyptians are saying to do, they were drowned. And God brought them up out of the waters of death, the death and by death and resurrection. He brought them out. And we are told that by faith they passed through the Red Sea, which the Egyptians are saying to do, they were drowned. And it wasn't their faith either. It was the faith of Moses. Moses was the one that struck the waters. It was Moses that led them over. And when they came to the other side, it says they sang the song of Moses. They're identified now with Moses, and Paul can say, "They were baptized unto Moses, just as you and I are joined to Christ today by the Holy Spirit. By one Spirit, are we all baptized into one body?" And that body is the body of believers, the church. And so they passed over.

And then they hit the wilderness trail, and it wasn't too good. God continued to deliver them. They went three days without water. Finally, they, after murmuring and complaining, they came to the Mara, but the water was bitter. A wood was put in there, a certain tree, and it made it sweet. And they had to find out, as many of us, that it's the cross that makes the journey down here sweet. You'll become better even as a Christian today, without taking this one, the Lamb of God, that died for you on the cross. And they complained. They got thirsty, and God gave them water from the rock. They got hungry, and God gave them manna to eat. And then He brought them to Mount Sinai, and He said, "Ye have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bear you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself." Would you like to keep traveling by eagles' wings? Would you like not only to be saved by the grace of God but to live by the grace of God? That was God's method in the Old Testament. In the little book of Ruth, that Moabitish girl, lovely she was, shut out by the law. A Moabite and Ammonite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord. Deuteronomy 23:3. And this girl could never have come in, but she came in by grace. And when Boaz went out into the field and saw her and fell in love with her, he could say to her that day, "The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust." She knew what it was to travel by eagles' wings. And the writer of the 91st Psalm, David could say, "Under His feathers." That's a marvelous place to be. And then he could say, "Under His wings." A wonderful place to be.

You see, God's mode of transportation, as He led these lost sinners out of Egyptian darkness into the promised land, it was by an airlift. It was by eagles' wings, by His grace. And today that's still His method. You you can go back to the ox cart of law if you want to, but He is saving today by grace. It's the only way He has to save. And the tragedy is that that when these people got to Mount Sinai, God reviewed their past. And He said, "Look, you've seen, would you like to go on, or would you like now to have My law?" "Uh, do you want to do now the law?" And they foolishly said, "All that the Lord commands, we'll do it." And they didn't even know what the Ten Commandments were then. What arrogance, what conceit. But it's in existence today for there are many people today that are saying, "A man said to me not long ago, he attended here several times." He said, "You know, McGee, I thought for a long time, if I did the best that I could, God had to accept it." God's not taking your best. God can't even save you, my friend, by your own righteousness or your own goodness as we've been looking at in the book of Romans. A man cannot even be saved by perfect obedience because he cannot render it. And he cannot be saved by imperfect obedience. God won't accept it. We're in the horns of a dilemma. I'll tell you. There's only one other solution, and that is to accept the righteousness that He provides in Christ, which enables us to stand before God where no one can point a finger because in Christ, He sees us in the Beloved. And He said of His Son, "This is My beloved Son, in Whom I'm well pleased." John says, "The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."

These people, while Moses was getting the law, they were down at the foot of the mountain breaking the first two commandments. "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any likeness." And they were sure busy at that sort of thing. So today, are you traveling by jet? Are you traveling by ox cart? Law won't save because you can't produce a perfect obedience. Law demands. Grace gives. The law exacts. Grace bestows. The law says, "Do." Grace says, "Believe." The law says, "Work," but grace says, "Trust." The law threatens, pronouncing a curse. Grace entreats, announcing a blessing. The law says, "Do, and thou shalt live." Grace says, "Live, and thou shalt do." The law condemns the best man, and grace will save the worst man. The law reveals the character of God, and it reveals the weakness of man. Grace reveals the love of God, and it presents a hope and a salvation for man.

Now, we know that whatsoever things the law saith, saith to them that are under the law that every mouth might be stopped, and the whole world become guilty before God. But when we see ourselves guilty and lost, then go to Christ, then He's the Savior who will save. The law, therefore, was given not to save us, but to let us know that we're sinners. The law can no more get you to heaven than taking your blood pressure will cure a heart condition, or having an X-ray made will cure cancer, or sticking your tongue out will cure poliomyelitis, or taking the temperature is not the way to deal with leprosy. And that's all the law is. It's an X-ray. It's a thermometer. It reveals blood pressure. May I say to you that we can change the figure of speech for a moment. The Lord Jesus, when He came, they began to make inquiry, "Why did He do that and didn't do that?" He said, "I did not come to sew a patch on an old garment, but I've come to give you a new garment." And I do not know this generation knows nothing in the world about patches. I was never so shocked. I was talking to a group of young married folk the other day, and they didn't even know what the depression was. I mentioned the depression. They said, "What do you mean by the depression?" And I said, "Oh, that's right. You didn't go through it." And they they just don't know today. They think money grows on trees. And looks like it does. May I say to you, when I was a boy, I don't know about you, but I had pants that had patches on them. In fact, the patches had patches on them before I got through with a pair of pants. I never shall forget one time my dad took a trip into the city. That was a town about 10,000. And he brought me back a pair of khaki pants. And my mother just sewed a patch on an old pair, and I was putting them on. When he came in, he pitched them over to me. I never shall forget the thrill of putting on a new pair of khaki pants. My friend, the Lord Jesus said, "I didn't come to patch up anything. I didn't come to patch up law by sewing grace on it. I came to give you an altogether new garment that will, that is the righteousness of Christ that will enable you to stand before God. I've come to do that for you." And that's what it means to be saved by grace, is to accept what He offers today, and He asks nothing in return. He says, "All you do is trust Me."

I think that you could divide all these cultisms and religions in Southern California from Christianity with just two words. If I hear them aright, they're always saying, "Do, do, do, do." And I'm afraid we say it. But when you're talking about salvation, you better drop "do" out of your vocabulary because there's no "do" on that fleet. May I say to you that Christianity alone says, "Done." The great transaction's done. The Lord Jesus on the cross said, "Tetelestai." Just one word. We translate it, "It's finished." And how dare you come to sew your little patch on a new garment. He offers you His righteousness today. "Run, run and do," the law commands. But gives me neither feet nor hands. "Later news the gospel brings. It bids me fly and gives me wings. You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bear you on eagles' wings and brought you unto Myself." And that's not all. There is a discipline by grace. A great many folk think, "Well, since we're saved by grace, you can sit down and do nothing." If you do that, you weren't you weren't saved by grace. Somebody says, "Well, if all you do is believe, then that's all you do." Well, if that's all you do, then you didn't believe because faith that saves is never alone. It produces something. And then God disciplines us by grace. There is a tremendous discipline in it. Listen to Him.

In Deuteronomy 32:11, He says, "As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, bareth them on her wings, so the Lord alone did lead him. There was no strange god with him." Now, the eagle is noted for its ferocity. It's noted for its strength and its cruelty. No bird's like it. The eagle flying along will see a little lamb down there, and it'll make a lightning plunge down and destroy that little lamb. But let me hasten to say that there's no bird or animal that shows the tenderness that it does for its own young. Nothing like it. There's no member of the bird family that will protect its young as the eagle. Of course, the eagle's able to do it, whereas another bird wouldn't be able to. But the eagle will die rather than let you take its young. The eagle goes and builds its nest way up high. Builds its nest where no animal can get, no snake can get up there. No wild animal can get to it. It goes up there where it alone can go. Builds its nest. The female lays the eggs, and she begins to sit on them, and you know what? The old man sits on them too. You think of the eagle being a great big fierce bird. Pop Eagles is one of the biggest sitters in the world. He sits on the eggs, and after they're hatched out, he just he just takes turns baby sitting. He watches over them. He goes and gets them food and brings it to them. And then these little eaglets, they find out they're really getting red carpet treatment. And they like it up there. They're out of the smog. They're up there where it's nice and quiet. Nobody disturbs them. And to tell the truth, they like having breakfast in bed every day, and they're not just about to get out of that nest. In fact, the matter is, they purposely give the impression to papa and mama that they can't fly. And they'll hang on there.

One day, mama discovers that they've got enough feathers on them to fly. And the time has come. And you know what she'll do? She pushes the little one to the edge. One of them, and the little fella just, he looks, "Oh, no." She says, "Go ahead." "Oh, no." And makes it back to the nest. And she gets another one. And not a one of them is going to make a trial of it. They all run back to the nest. You know what she does? She comes over the nest and tears it up. And looks at him, "Now what are you going to do? You're going to have to learn to fly." Now, she pushes one of them off. And you'll say, "My, how terrible. A little fellow will, he's going to fall down there, and he'll just, he'll just mash himself." No, he's not. That mother eagle is watching, and papa's watching over there also. And if that little fellow can't spread his wings, and if he doesn't get straightened out, mother or papa one will be right under him with their mighty wings and just lift him back up and take him up and say, "Now, little fellow, we'll try it again." No, he says, "I didn't do so well. I don't want to try. Let's wait." He says, "There'll be no waiting. It's time for you to fly." Pushes him off again. And this time, with papa following him, he makes it over yonder to another place. And he says, "Well, I can fly, can I?" And he said, "Yes, and from now on, you better keep at it because no longer will we be bringing food to you. You'll have to get your own, but I'm going to show you how to get it." And he teaches him.

You say to me, "Is that the way they do it?" Yes. Let me read to you an excerpt from David who did a great deal of hunting in Asia and Europe. And here is a statement out of his book. Will you listen to it? "I once saw a very interesting sight above one of the crags of Ben Nevis, as I was going in pursuit of big game. Two parent eagles were teaching their offspring to fly. They began by rising from the top of the mountain right into the eye of the sun. They first made small circles, and the young birds imitated them. They paused on their wings until they made their first flight, holding them on their expanded wings when they seemed exhausted. And then they took a second and larger gyration, always enlarging their circle of flight so as to make a gradually ascending spiral." And that's exactly what Moses is saying in the 32nd chapter of Deuteronomy. "As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, bareth them on her wings. So the Lord alone did lead him. There was no strange god with him."

Now, at the beginning of their wilderness march, when they got out of Egypt, God says, "You've seen what I've done to the Egyptians. I bear you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. I've redeemed you. I'm not through with you. I'm going to train you for 40 years in the wilderness, and after that 40 years," He says, "Now you know what I've been doing. I've been pushing you off the cliff, but not one of you fell. Not one of you fell. I was there always to bear you up, and I have borne you up." Now, today, God not only wants to save us by grace, but He's going to discipline us by grace also. You'll recall that when commercial flying first began, they they never got, I don't think, 10,000 ft up, and the planes were constantly bumping into mountains. Then the jet came along, and now they fly 30 to 40,000 ft. Now, that doesn't mean that since they fly 30 to 40,000 ft, that they haven't passed 10,000, and it doesn't mean that since they're not flying 10,000 now, that the planes are on the ground. They're not, they're higher than ever.

Now, my friend, if God has saved you by His grace, He hasn't called you to fly 10,000 ft by law. He's called you to go on up yonder to the heights because that's where the eagle wings are. He's called us to live on a higher plane. Or the Paul says, "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men." But that doesn't end it. When he was writing to that young preacher, Titus, he says, "That same grace, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world." And there's not much much talk today about holiness. We hear very little of that in our fundamental circles today. And I'm more and more of the conviction that the lives of fundamentalists today are keeping more people away from Christ than anything else. I know people that would have been saved right here, had it not been for the lives. My friend, He doesn't want you 10,000 ft. He wants you up yonder where He can put eagles' wings under you. Living godly lives, soberly, righteously. "Oh, this is old fashioned. I'm a square." I know that. What? We've tried the other today, and it's not working. Why not come back to God's program? Talk a little about a holy life today.

Listen to Paul as he tries to bring us up. "I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice." Have you done that? Oh, He won't make you. You don't have to do that under grace, but you're going to get up there where the eagles' wings are. You'll have to come to that place. Paul said to the Ephesians, "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the high calling." We're to walk on mountaintops. To walk, walk worthy of the high calling to which you are called. But the very interesting thing, the first thing he says is to walk in lowliness of mind. And if you're walking up there, you're walking a lowly life. God has always used eagles' wings to discipline those that are His own. God breaks up the nest. Oh, so many times today, and pushes His little eaglets over the cliff, never to destroy them, but to discipline them and enable them to live in the heights. Adam and Eve would love to have stayed in the Garden of Eden. And I suppose they wept and said, "Oh, Lord, let us stay here. It's nice. And we'll build our little home here. We'd like to stay." God says, "Nothing doing. You are not going to live forever in sin. I'm going to put you out yonder where the thorns are growing, where I'm going to discipline you." And He did. And I think Eve knew that when she held that bloody boy, Abel, to her breast, and she thought her son who killed him was the Savior. She found out what discipline is.

Abraham was a prosperous merchant down in Ur of the Chaldees. I read not too long ago the story of an archeologist that's been working in Ur of the Chaldees. That was a great civilization in Abraham's day. God says to Abraham, "Get away." And Abraham says, "You mean I got to sell my house and my business?" God says, "You'll get rid of all of it, and I want you to leave your kinfolk too. They're idolaters, and I'm bringing you out yonder." And the story of Abraham reveals that God disciplined him. Moses had the good fortune of being raised in the palace of a Pharaoh, and he would have been the next Pharaoh. And I'm of the opinion, he could have rationalized and said, "Now, look here. I think I can help the children of Israel by being Pharaoh." Of course, that's a better job. And those that live in palaces have soft clothing. God says, "Moses, I can't use you here. You've been 40 years ahead of me. All the learning of Egypt hasn't prepared you to lead My people out. I want to give you a little desert training." And God put him out there. He pushed the little eaglet off. He didn't let him fall, but he sure disciplined him. And then David, David was a shepherd boy. David knew what it was to lead sheep by the still water and into the green pastures, and God says, "David, this is not for you. I'm going to discipline you in the caves of the earth. I am going to put you through the the mill. I'm going to make you as rough and as tough as a cob. That's what I'm going to do for you." God did it. What a man.

We have so many softies today. Whine, they even cut their finger, think they're going to die. James and John were prosperous fishermen, with their father. They had a good thriving business. And one day, Jesus came by and ruined the fishing business. He said, "I'll make you fishers of men." Paul was a proud young Pharisee by the name of Saul of Tarsus. Oh, he was getting up in the world. And God knocked him off a donkey down in the dust on that Damascus road and said, "You, my man. I'm going to show you how great things you must suffer for My name's sake." He put those 12 men in a little boat. He said, "Go to the other side." They didn't know what they were running into, but He did. He sent them into a storm that night that they believed would take them to the bottom of the sea and not to the other side. I was giving that up in Northern California about that trip by boat. And I said, "The Lord Jesus definitely, deliberately sent them into that storm." And a lovely couple, they've been personal friends of mine over the years. They came to me, "Oh, Dr. McGee, don't say that. The lovely Lord Jesus would never send them into that storm. You know He wouldn't do that." I said, "He wouldn't?" I said, "I'd like to ask you a question or two." I said, "Uh, was He God?" Oh, they said, "Yes, we believe He's God." I said, "Does God know everything?" Oh, they said, "Yes, of course, He does." I said, "Did Jesus send them into that storm?" "Well, they said, "When you put it like that." I said, "Well, I'll put it like, because He knew. But that little boat just happened to be about the safest place there was because it's not going to the bottom because underneath are the everlasting arms."

There are the wings of a mighty eagle. God gave me a verse when I was in college. Philippians 1:6, "Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." Has He brought you up to this morning? Has He? Can't you go back over your life and see the hand of God in your life, Christian friend? Then why do you think He's going to let you down tomorrow? Why do you think that He's going to going to let you fall? Underneath are the everlasting arms. You've seen what I did to the Egyptians. I bear you on eagles' wings, but I also, I bear you up when you're about to fall. He's not going to let you fall. Last week, I was down in the Hemet area. I met a pastor down there. He was a brave man to invite me and he'd never met me before. And I I hadn't met him. And I found out he was a very wonderful man. And I discovered that he was one of these men that runs deep. He was a really a spiritual man. He never told me this, but some of his members told me this because they said, "He's only mentioned it one time." That when he first came here, he had a little boy born into his family. They didn't notice it at first, but he had cerebral palsy. They didn't believe God would let them have a child like that. They believed that any day he'd be healed. He got up every morning, went, looked at the little fellow, thinking he'd be healed. He wasn't. They prayed, asked others to pray. And then they did what I'm confident a great many parents today that are wrought like that. They took him to the faith healers. I don't criticize him for it. I criticize these people that play upon the emotions of folk today. They took the little fellow to the faith healers. They were sure somebody would help. They took them to the familiar one. Same old story, the little fellow wasn't healed. Then they came back in bitterness and cried out to God. Then they came to the conclusion, then maybe God intended them to raise the little fellow. And they kept him as long as they could handle him. Now they put him up here in Santa Barbara in a home. He never said anything to me other than he said to me when I told him goodbye Wednesday night, "Well," he said, "I'm coming through Los Angeles Thursday. My wife and I are going up to Santa Barbara to see a little fellow that'll never be able to know them or to talk." He said this to me. He said, "I have found, McGee, that underneath are the everlasting arms." He'll push you off a cliff if you're his because that's the way he does his little eaglets. He wants them to fly. He wants them up yonder in the heights.

I close with this, "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint." Back in the 19th century, this hymn was written, "Rise, my soul, and stretch thy wings. Thy better portion trace. Rise from transitory things toward heaven, thy native place. Sun and moon and stars decay. Time shall soon this earth remove. Rise, my soul, and haste away to seats prepared above." Don't come to the Lord's table, friends, and go waddling out of here to live in the mud today like a mud turtle. Move that. Live in the heights for God today. And if you've come in here today and you've found that in this troubled world that you're perplexed and puzzled, that you're baffled and beaten, and you're tested and tempted, you're discouraged and defeated. You are groping and gasping, and you know this morning, you are frail and feeble and fragile. And your wits and corner. May I say, he says to you today, "He saw what I did to the Egyptians and how I bear you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself." And this morning, He's the one that wants to bring you to Himself. He just asked you to trust Him today and get on the eagles' wings. Just trust Him. That's all He asks.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Trusting Him may seem too simple an answer for a complex problem, but that's all it takes. That's all that He asks us, to trust Him for our salvation and then to trust Him in every moment that follows. A great place to start is Dr. McGee's booklet, Living the Christian Life God's Way. You can download your free copy from our app or over at TTB.org. And I'd invite you to join us on the daily program of Through the Bible. We're just beginning in Exodus as we continue our five-year journey through the whole Word of God. And you can also share the ride with someone else by ordering a free pack of Bible bus passes. Each one includes a QR code that takes them straight to our app. Just call us and get some yourself. 1-800-65 Bible is the number. As always, we love to hear from you, so drop us a note, won't you, in our app or email us at biblebus@ttb.org. I'm Steve Schwetz, thanking God for your partnership and presence on the Bible bus. And as we go, I pray Isaiah 40:31 especially for you, that those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, mount up with wings like eagles, run and not be weary, and walk and not faint. Amen.

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