Thank you. Exodus chapter 1. We're going to start studying
through the book of Exodus. I read and prayed about it, what
to study. I read several, started reading
several books. Genesis. We've looked at Genesis
twice. We've been through that. Twice,
I started looking at Hebrews. It was 13 years ago since we've
looked at Hebrews. Acts, I started reading Acts
for my own enjoyment. And it's been 15 years ago since
we looked at Acts. The Psalms, I thought about going
through the Psalms, but we do that on occasion, we look at
Psalms. And I started reading Exodus,
and it was such a blessing to me. It's been, we went through
it before, but it's been 20 years. It's hard to believe. 20 years. Exodus means going
out. going out. It's about how God
brought His people out, out of Egypt, and their journey through
the wilderness. What a picture this is of God's
people. Egypt is the world, and the children
of Jacob of Israel were in Egypt. The history, this is the history,
of the Hebrew children, but really it is His story of how He brought
them out. It's for His glory. I want you
to turn quickly to Exodus 23. In Isaiah and other places it
speaks of the angel of His presence bringing the children of Israel,
leading them, bringing them out. Here in Exodus 23, everything,
Christ is all. In Exodus 23, look at verse 20,
Behold, I send an angel, capital A, before thee to keep thee in
the way and to bring thee in to the place which I have prepared. That's Christ, isn't it? That
is Christ. So, Exodus. Let's dive right
in. Chapter 1, Exodus. Read the first
seven verses. Now these are the names of the
children of Israel which came into Egypt. Every man in his
household came with Jacob. That's who the children of Israel
are. Jacob, sons of Jacob. Reuben.
Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali,
Gad, and Asher. And all the souls that came out
of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls. Joseph was in Egypt already. Joseph died and all his brethren
and all that generation The children of Israel were fruitful and increased
abundantly and multiplied. Who is this all about? It's about the sons of Jacob.
What did God say about Jacob? Jacob have I loved. These were
God's chosen people. Right here their names are written
in God's book. What a picture this is. of all
of God's chosen people. All of God's people are chosen.
All of God's people are loved by God before the world and with
an everlasting love. And all the names of God's elect
are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. When was that written?
Before the foundation of the world. So what a picture this
is, the whole book about God's people. Is your name there? Are
you one of God's elect? Can you know? Well, let me ask
you, what is your name? The angel wrestled Jacob to the
ground and he said, what's your name? Jacob. What's that mean? Cheat. Surplatter. Sinner. What's your name? Sinner. Really? Do you need a lamb? That's how
you know. God's people. Do you want out
of Egypt? Do you feel like you're in bondage?
You can't get yourself out? Do you know how you're going
to get out? The one way you will get out of Egypt? How did they
come out of Egypt? Blood. Do you know that? You
must be a son of Jacob. Your name must be in the Lamb's
Book of Life. Oh, the stories of all these
sons of Jacob, each one of them had their own stories, and we
spend our years as a tale is told, and everything about us
is written in the book of life. God's people. Verse 7 says, the
children of Israel were fruitful. All the sons of God bear fruit,
the fruit of the Spirit. And it says they increased abundantly. Listen to this. Paul said concerning
the people of God, he said, I pray, 1 Thessalonians 3, the Lord make
you to increase and abound in love one toward another and toward
all, even as we do toward you. So God's people bear this fruit
of the Spirit and they grow in grace and the knowledge of our
Lord. Faith, hope, love, these fruits, fruit of the Spirit grows
and they multiply. They multiplied and waxed exceeding
mighty, and the land was filled with them. The land was filled
with them. They multiplied. It started with
twelve, and it spoke of seventy. And then it says there was more
than can be numbered on them. What a picture that is. Creation
started with one man, didn't it? Adam. And then mankind multiplied
greatly. God's people start with one man,
Adam, the second Adam. And oh my, God has a people,
Scripture says, which no man can number. No man can number. And they lived, where did they
live? They lived in Egypt. Egypt. That's where we are. That's the
world. Did God love Egypt? Have you read this story? Did
God love the Egyptians? Who did God love? The sons of
Jacob. Does God love everybody in this
world? No, He has a people in the world, out of every tribe. We just read all these tribes.
He has a people out of every tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue
under heaven. God so loved the world, the people
out of every, you know, family, Jews and Gentiles. But no, God
doesn't love this world, per se, and everybody in it. God
loves His people who are in the world. He smoked Egypt. He said, I'm coming through and
I'm going to smite Egypt. The wrath of God abode on Egypt,
didn't it? And so it does in this world,
but not God's people. He's bringing them out. Bringing
them out. There was a king in Egypt, verse
8. There rose up a new king over Egypt which knew not Joseph.
This is Pharaoh. Pharaoh. Now, in the New Testament,
there's a king. His name's Caesar. We have no
king but Caesar. Now we have a king. Ironically,
his name is Joseph. Is he our king? Is he? Was Caesar the king of
the Jews? Israel, the Hebrews, lived in
Egypt. They were under the government
of the Egyptian king. They were subject to the rulers
and the ordinances and so forth. But their true king was God Himself. The Lord Himself. They answer
first and foremost to their King of Kings and Lord of Lords. They
answer to Him. And anything the King of Egypt
says that's contrary to what their true King says, they're
not going to do it. Moses refused. Moses forsook. Moses didn't fear
the King of Egypt. He feared God. What a picture
that is. God's people. It says he knew
not Joseph. He didn't know Joseph. Joseph's
a type of Jesus Christ. That's another book. That's Genesis. And this king of the world, of
Egypt, hated, didn't know Joseph, and he hated the Hebrews. Now
who's he a picture of? King of this world. King of Egypt.
Satan. God of this world. He's an adversary
and an enemy of God and His children, His people. He's not the enemy
of the Egyptians. They do His bidding. They like
having Pharaoh over them. What a picture he is of the God
of this world. Verse 9, He said unto His people,
Pharaoh said to the Egyptians, Behold the people of the children
of Israel. See, there's a difference. And
he acknowledged it. These people, the children of
Israel, are more and mightier than we. Come, let's deal wisely
with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass, when they
fall without any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight
against us, and so get them up out of the land. Now the children
of Israel were passive, weren't they? They weren't the enemy
of the Egyptians. Were they? They were peaceable,
loving, hardworking, good citizens. They weren't doing anything wrong.
Who was the enemy? Who hated who? The Israelites
were the friend of the Egyptians. The Egyptians weren't the friend
of the Israelites were they? What a picture that is. The world's
not a friend of God's people. We'd be the best friend the world
could ever have. And now they hate God's people. They think the world would be
better without them. Egyptians, verse 11, they sent over them,
the children of Israel, they sent over them taskmasters to
afflict them with their burdens. And so the sons of Jacob built
for Pharaoh treasure cities, Python and Ramsey. But the more
they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and
grew. I told men when I was studying
this, there were things that just sent chills up my spine.
It was so wonderful, so glorious, such a picture of Christ. And
that was one of them. The more they afflicted them,
the more they grew. afflictions. I'll tell you in
just a minute. But verse 12 says the Egyptians
were grieved because of the children of Israel. Now who did this? Who began to
make life hard on the children of Israel? Who did this? Who
made the lives of God's people so miserable in Egypt? Who set
these testaments? Who laid these burdens on the
children of Israel? Who was it who really afflicted
the children of Israel? God. This was the goodness of
God. See, He's bringing them out. He's bringing them out. The Lord
did this in love, mercy, and great wisdom. He made the Hebrews. They were living in Goshen. They
were living in the best of the land. They were happy. They were happy in Egypt. They
were just fine in Egypt. They liked Egypt just fine. Was
that not you? At one time when you were dead
and trespassed in sin, living in this world without God, without
Christ, without hope? You didn't need Him. You were
doing just fine. So what does God do? Make you
miserable. It's the mercy of the Lord to
make His people miserable in this world. The misery of God's
people is His mercy. Another preacher in Franklin
County would say that. You know, I've been here longer
than any preacher in Franklin County. And they wish I was gone,
I guarantee you that. But they were building these
treasure cities. They were building these treasure
cities, Pytham and Ramses, and they were working for the Egyptians,
and they were building Egypt. Treasure cities. You know the
world treasures its cities, don't they? These cities that the world
treasures, like New York. I've been there. Paris. I've been there. London. I've been there. Do you treasure
these places? Do we treasure... Many say, I'll
never go back to New York City. Are these cities our treasure
places? Is this what we treasure? Well, God's people live in this
world and we're working for this world and we're building their,
you know, their businesses and so forth. What's it all about? God's kingdom. God's kingdom. Let me ask you this about treasure
cities of Egypt. Where are they now? Anybody know
where Ramses and Python is? They're gone. You might find
a stone lying in the desert with sand all over it. In fact, there's
some big images of Pharaoh out there in the desert, sand blowing
all over it, a big lion with a, what do you call those? Sphinx. Sphinx? Anyway, that's
the treasure of cities of Egypt. That's where it's all going to
end up, New York City. There's not going to be one stone
left standing on. Those things that men treasure
in this world, God's going to destroy it all. That's what the
scripture says. We have a city. A treasure city. You know what our treasure is?
Jesus Christ. In Him are hid all the treasures
and wisdom and knowledge. Oh, He's that pearl of great
price, the one we treasure. Now, as said, Pharaoh, the king
of Egypt, throughout Exodus represents Satan and his ministers. We're going to look at the story
of how Pharaoh and his army went after the children of Israel. And the God of this world and
his demons, he summons, he musters all the power and the demons
he can against God's people. It seems like they're no match
for him. Did they make it? They all went
after Him. What happened? The Lord. He that is with us, greater. They that are with us are more
than they that are against us. So Pharaoh hated the Hebrews
and he purposed to kill them all. What he purposed to do was
to stop them from being born. If we can just stop them from
being born, there won't be any more of these Hebrews. Now what do you reckon that means? God's people are born again. And the God of this world, the
thing He does more than anything else is try to stop people from
hearing the gospel. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation. The word of God, the gospel is
His power. That's how we're born, being
born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, the
word of God, Peter said. And this is the word which by
the gospel was preached unto you. Every son of God is born
by the gospel, born again by the word of God. He begat us,
James said, with the word of truth. Nobody's begotten with
a lie. All of God's people are begotten
with the Word of Truth. So what is the God of this world
out to do? Stop people. Try to stop people
from being born again. He knows. He's seen His people
held captive by Him. He's seen them taken away from
Him. That's what our Lord said, said,
except a mightier than Him come and spoil His goods. He's seen
it happen. He knows who he does not have
complete control over. And he's seen what God used to
do that, to bring them out, the gospel. So that's his cheap work. And he and all his ministers
and all his powers on this earth are against his people and those
who preach the gospel to them. You know it's so. Don't you?
The whole world can get together. All religions can get together
against the truth. The truth. All right? There were some women
called Hebrew midwives. The king of Egypt, verse 15,
the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives. What are these
midwives? Well, they represent preachers
of the gospel. That's what they represent, who
they represent. That's who the Lord uses to give new birth. Okay? They don't give life, mind
you, but they're just helpers of the faith. Paul said that.
We don't. We preach, we plant, we water, we feed, but God gives
the entry. No preacher gives life, but he
preaches the gospel which does. Okay. He's Hebrew and Midwestern. The name of one was Shipra. The
name of the other was Puah. You know what those names mean?
Brightness and glitter. In other words, they were two
bright and shiny lights. That's exactly what the Lord
calls His preacher. The Lord said of John, He's a
burning and shining light. At the tomb there were two angels
in shining garments. God gave them shining garments
and they were wearing it. And they were standing vigil
and announcing the risen Christ. That's His gospel preaching.
Stars over in Revelation. Stars in the hands of the Lord.
Stars, mind you. Glittering, shining. Those angels, those messengers,
those preachers of the gospel who reflect Christ the light. By which the gospel we are born
again. Verse 16, here's what Pharaoh
said to these midwives. When you do the office of a midwife
to the Hebrew women, seat them upon the stools. These were something
used back then for ease of birth. Don't get hung up on that, okay? That's not important. But he
said, if it be a son, kill him. If it be a daughter, she shall
live. Kill the sons, let the daughters
live. Satan is out to kill the sons
of God. He'll let alone religion of women. That's what, ironically, we're
going to talk in the next message about how the Lord's disciples,
most of them were women. But the church is not run by
women. And we don't worship a woman,
Mary, or Esther, or any of these women, Diana, the goddess of
the Ephesians, and so on and so forth in the New Testament. But here's the fact of the matter
is, false religion is represented as a woman. And so Pharaoh said, let the
females live, kill the men. God's people, by the way, are
called sons of God, all of them, even the females, sons of God. But these God-fearing midwives,
verse 17, The midwives feared God. They said, they're not going
to do what the king of Egypt commands them. Don't stop this
giving birth. Stop this preaching the gospel.
Oh, no. How many of these midwives have
been killed over the years? How many prophets? What prophet
had they not slain, our Lord said? If it were lawful today,
they'd kill them all. But they didn't. They feared
God. They feared God. God-fearing preachers. Though
tempted by Satan, they will not do his bidding. Listen to this
in 2 Corinthians chapter 11. This is what Paul said about
Satan and his ministers. He said, they're false apostles,
they're deceitful workers. Evil men and seducers wax worse
and worse, he said to Timothy. He warned him, deceiving and
being deceived. And he says, they transformed
themselves into the apostles of Christ. Now you know that
apostles of Christ were chosen by Christ. There are no more
apostles. You know that, don't you? You
know that. How few people know that. And a fellow can make himself
an apostle and down here on 220 Business, there's a sign that
says Apostolic Corner. I guess that's where the apostles
parked their cars. Well, there's faults. They're
fake. They can call themselves what
they want to, but they're not apostles of God. Apostles of
God were chosen by Christ Himself, given these special gifts by
Christ Himself. They had to see Christ Himself.
There are no more apostles. We don't need any. Why? Because
the apostle, Hebrews 3, the apostle, there are no more high priests.
Why? Because the high priest of our profession has come, Jesus
Christ. He put an end to it all. Put
an end to it all. Like the prophets. He's that
prophet. So he goes on to say, Paul, that
they transformed themselves into the apostles of Christ. No marvel,
Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. When Satan deceived the woman
in the garden, apparently he was a very good-looking fellow.
Good, smooth words, good speeches, fair speeches, he deceived her.
That's what the Scripture said, good words and fair speeches
deceived the simple. It was a woman, he said. And
every good-looking fellow who decides he wants to be a preacher,
you know, and he can speak well and all that, he can get a whole
crowd full of people. No, it's no marvel, as Paul said,
that Satan, his ministers transformed into ministers of righteousness. Their ends shall be according
to their work. But you're not talking about Christ's righteousness.
All right, in our text it says, in verse 18, the king of Egypt
called for the midwives And they feared God and they didn't, verse
17, they feared God, they didn't do as the king commanded them,
but they were helpers to the birth of these sons of Jacob
and saved the men children of life. We preach a gospel of life,
don't we? And the midwives, and the king
of Egypt, verse 18, called for the midwives. And he said unto
them, why have you done this thing? Why have you saved the
men and children alive? And the midwife said unto Pharaoh,
because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women. They're
lively. They're not like the Egyptians.
They're alive. They're not dead and trespassing.
They're alive. They're living stones, lively. That's what Peter even called
us, the lively stone. They're lively. God's people
are lively stone, living stone. And they said, they're delivered
as soon as we get there. They're giving birth. In other
words, we didn't have anything to do with it. This new life
comes and we just observed it. And brothers and sisters, you
don't really need me. I'm just observing. I'm just
preaching. I'm watching God do His work.
I don't know. I don't give birth here. No man
gives birth. God gives the increase. And God
gives life. He gives life. And I'm just,
you know, I feed you afterwards. and meat, but God gives life
to them. You don't need meat. When I'm
gone, He'll give you somebody else, another midwife. So that's
what they said. They said, they're alive and
they're delivered before we get there. We come
into them and they're just, they're born. And so what happened? Verse 20.
These midwives feared God and didn't do what the God of this
world said, but rather what God says. Caretakers and helpers
of God's people. So God dealt well with them. Did you read it? God dealt well
with those midwives. You know what he says to every
servant of his, preachers and all these people? Well done. Now good and faithful servant.
Now all of us say, we didn't do anything. Every one of us. When did we? What did we do?
I'm a reasonable servant. We didn't do anything. But God
says, well done. You've done well. Didn't our
Lord say of the preacher of the gospel, when he comes finds them
feeding his sheep, that he'll greatly reward them? God dealt
well with the midwives and the people multiplied. Paul in every
one of his epistles says, grace and peace be what? Multiplied. And they waxed mighty, grew,
they grew in strength. Peter said, after you suffer
a while, you may be established, settled, strengthened, strong
in the faith. And it came to pass, verse 21,
because the midwives feared God, God made them houses, special
places to dwell. Oh, in the end, we're in John's
Gospel. Chapter 14, he's speaking to
11 midwives, his apostles. He said, in my Father's house
are many dwelling places, mansions. I go to prepare a place for you. That's reservations in heaven
for all of God's people, His preachers, but I believe it represents
the churches, these houses. He put each one of these midwives
in a house. Put me in one. I'm grateful for this house.
God's house. God's house. Verse 22, Pharaoh charged all
his people saying, Every son that is born cast into the river. And this really happened. This really happened. Every son
of Jacob, he said, thrown in the river of death. And they did. Every single one
of them. Every daughter saved a life.
But every one of the sons of Jacob that were born in Egypt
were thrown into the river of death. Now the next chapter is about God bringing a Hebrew,
a son, born. One of the Hebrews. And he put
that son in order to save his people in the river. That's what Moses means, drawn
out. And because Jesus Christ came,
Son of God, Son of Man, and was put in the river of death for
us, and God brought him forth, Do you think, as a type of Christ
and His people there, do you think any of those sons that
were thrown in that river were lost forever and cast into hell?
No way. Neither is it possible for any
for whom Christ died to perish. Now who wrote this book? Is this
not amazing or what? That's just the first chapter.