turn to Exodus chapter 1. Exodus chapter 1. This morning I want to look at two women mentioned here in Scripture for their work of faith in God, their work of faith toward God, and it's seen in their disobedience to Pharaoh. Their faith in God is seen in their disobedience to Pharaoh's command.

Now, we know from last time that Pharaoh was persecuting the children of Israel. And when he saw that he could not stop their increase, he did something even more vile and more wicked. And we read in verse 15 and 16, And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other, Pua. And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools, that is, in labor, ready to give birth, if it be a son, then ye shall kill him. But if it be a daughter, then she shall live.

Now in Egypt, A pharaoh was not as a king is today. They're just a token emblem of bygone years. They don't have much power. It's more like a parliament is in power. But in that day, Pharaoh was taught to the people that he's a god. He's a god on earth. And when he speaks, you're to hear his word and his command as the voice of a god speaking.

And Pharaoh told these midwives to the Hebrew women to kill the sons as they were born, before anybody realized, just to make it look like a stillbirth. And since these two midwives would not have been sufficient for all the Hebrew women, these are probably the heads of the midwives, of the women, who would then give the directive to the other midwives under them. We don't even know if these were Egyptian women that were midwives to the Hebrew women or if they're Israelites. It doesn't say what they are. We just know that they were midwives to the Hebrew women.

But we do know something very important about them. We know that they feared God more than man. They feared God rather than fear man. And Pharaoh, no matter how powerful he was on the earth, he's no God. And he's nothing like the true and living God. No man on the earth is likened unto God. That's just a lie. That's a lie. No man is a God and no man is to be worshipped on the earth. Only the triune God, only God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost are to be worshipped. There's no other God beside Him.

So look at verse 17. It says this, but the midwives feared God. They feared God and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. So they disobeyed the desire of Pharaoh because they feared God more than they feared or were afraid of man. Disobeying Pharaoh could have cost them their lives. He had the power and the authority to put them to death. If he said, put them to death, they would have been put to death. No one would have batted an eye about it. No court of law would have said, you can't do that, hold up. They would have been put to death if he wanted it.

And it reminds us of what our Lord said to his disciples in Matthew 10, 28 and 29. Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. But rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father." And a farthing being the lowest amount of money in that day, and you can get two for one. That's how insignificant the sparrows are, and yet not one dies except the father has a will and a purpose in it. So this is an account of faith, faith which is given, faith which works by God in the heart of his people. Faith which is found in the fiery trial unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. This is faith, true faith in these women. And it's recorded here for our encouragement and for our comfort that you and I might be strengthened knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren throughout the world. That you're not alone, you that suffer.

Here we see these women suffering the fiery trial for their faith in God. They trusted the Lord.

So this Pharaoh here, he is a type of the wicked one. The wicked one. That wicked one in the earth seeking to destroy the promised seed of God. I promised of God in the garden who would come to destroy the works of the devil and to reconcile all that which was lost, to reconcile us unto the Father through the promise of his coming into the world.

Remember when God said to the serpent who had deceived Eve, saying, I will put enmity between thee and the woman. and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head. It shall crush your head, and you shall bruise his heel. But he's going to destroy you. He's going to destroy you. You're going to think to destroy him. He's going to triumph gloriously over you.

And so from that hour, the enmity began. The enmity began. The persecution of the saints of God began in that hour. so that we see right out of the garden, after Cain and Abel were born, what happened. Cain slew Abel because Abel was righteous in the eyes of God. Abel was received of the Lord because he came in the blood of the Lamb. He came believing God, knowing what Adam had taught him, how that God slew the two beasts, shed blood for their sins. to cover their nakedness, a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's how Abel came.

But came, he was rejected. He was refused, because he came in his own works, saying, ah, I got something better. How about what I bring? I'll bring what I've labored and brought forth out of the cursed ground, and God will be pleased with my works. And he was refused, and so he hated God, and he slew his brother.

We see another example of this with Herod, who when he heard that the king of the Jews was born, and the wise men came, And he was talking with them, said, let me know when you find out where he is, because I want to go and worship him. Liar. No, he didn't. He wanted to destroy the seed. And so when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, being warned of God not to go there, not to go back to Herod, they went out another way. And he was angry. And so he did what? He slew all the children, two years old and younger, in Bethlehem and all the coasts around there. based on what he had learned from the wise men. And so we see this hatred and this persecution.

And before Herod, there's Pharaoh. Here's Pharaoh seeking to murder the sons born to the Jews in Egypt. Well, what spirit does that? What wicked evil spirit would possess men to be so cruel and hateful and murderous and so wicked? Well, the evil one, that spirit of of the evil one. And Peter writes of him in 1 Peter 5, 8, and 9, saying, Our adversary goes about as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour, whom resist steadfast in the faith. In faith to God, trusting the Lord is able to save you, to deliver you, to fulfill his word of promise unto you that he shall never forsake you and never leave you. Trust him, fear him, not the devil, not man. They have no power and authority over you except God permitted for a purpose, for a good purpose. knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

And so that's what we see, that spirit working in Pharaoh, the one who deceived Eve, which led to Adam's sin, Adam's fall, and our fall in him, into sin and death and darkness. We see that. And when we came forth, being born of Adam's seed, the scriptures tell us that we come forth dead in trespasses and sins. We come forth born of that corrupt seed.

Therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ, the promised seed of God, came into the world to put away our shame, our guilt, our sin, our death, our darkness, to deliver us out of it and to give us life and light in himself, to live upon him, to know him, and walk in fellowship with him, believing him, walking by faith, by faith.

And so our Lord came, and that's why the devil wanted to destroy him, to put that seed, to extinguish it, to put it out. so that it could not come forth according to God's promise, seeking to destroy. And so this is that evil one whose works our Lord destroys in his coming. He destroys that work in you. He breaks that binding spell and that darkness over his people. He destroys that work and brings us out of that darkness into the light and life of Christ.

And Ephesians 2 speaks more to this, telling us what we are brought out of. under that wicked one. Ephesians 2, 2 begins, wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation our walk in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath even as others.

But God, God makes the difference. God by his grace and his power and his love and his spirit interposes and destroys that work and brings us out of that death into life so that we live, we live upon him. Verse 4 of Ephesians 2, but God, but God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in trespasses and sins. Hath quickened us together with Christ.

And I'll jump down to verse eight. For by grace are you saved through faith. And that faith is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. And so when God brings salvation to his chosen people, he gives us faith which worketh by love. And that's the faith we see in Shiphrah and Puah.

Faith which worketh by love. No, we're not gonna do that. We're not gonna do this wicked, unjust thing that you command us to do because it's wrong. It's against the promise and word of God. We're not doing it. We're not going to do that. They feared God. They feared God. That's faith. That's faith that attended their hope in God.

So they disobeyed Pharaoh, knowing that Pharaoh could have put them to death. They could have died for that by disobeying the law of the land, as it were, because they trusted God. But trusting our God, they followed his will instead, doing that which is right, that which is just, and that which is holy before God. And in so doing, they served you, brethren. They served you.

To this day, they laid down their lives to serve the body of Christ, to provide some better thing for you, brethren. They provided better for you and I. And so that's a picture there, right? Because the devil is shown in Revelation as standing like a dragon over the woman, waiting to consume the child as soon as he be born, to extinguish the hope of the believer, to destroy your hope in him. to bring you into despair and despondence. But he can't. He can't defeat God's will. And being angry, therefore, he turns his anger against the woman.

But what did the Lord show us in Revelation 12? He says that the woman was delivered into a place prepared for her. What did our Lord Jesus Christ say? I go to prepare a place for you. Our deliverance, our safety is in the blood of Christ, in his redemption, in his atonement, in his salvation of what he has accomplished for us. That's our safety. That's where we're brought. And all that we need to believe God, to live upon God, to stay upon him, is provided, is given to sustain you, to comfort you, to strengthen you in our faith, in our faith, to stay upon the Lord, to trust him, even in the face of great danger and bodily harm, even in that place.

Paul describes it in this way. this view of being made new creatures in Christ, brought out of that death to oppose the strength of man and the will of man and the mind of man, to oppose that. Paul describes it this way in Galatians 5, 5 and 6. For we, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. We have a hope. We trust the Lord. We believe Him. We believe Him by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. Faith which worketh by love.

And we see this action of faith in these two midwives. They believed. They didn't say, well, you know, it's going to cost us our lives. I guess we don't have any other choice. Got to do it. No. They stood firm in the faith, believing God, fearing God. And so they resisted that devouring line, standing firm in the faith. That's exactly what we see here. The midwives feared God and did not, as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.

And believers, living in that light and hope of the Lord Jesus Christ, by living upon that hope, that love, and that faith of God revealed in them, That's where we stand, opposed to the kingdom of darkness, and opposed to this kingdom, its works, its ways, which are entirely contrary to the will and purpose of God. It's all an assault on us. This whole world is in a constant assault on our hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. And by his grace and power, by the giving of his spirit, we hope in him, we continue to hope in him, we love him who first loved us, and we believe him, and stand in that faith.

When you know it's wrong, don't do it. To him that knoweth it's sin, that it's wrong, it's sin, don't do it. and trust the Lord, and fall upon Him, and cry out to Him for grace and strength to help you and to keep you, because He delights to do it, to justify you who believe in Him. He'll justify. He'll appear for you, to help you, to strengthen you, to keep you, to provide for you, to deliver you. He does it. It delights Him.

And so we see this in these two midwives here. It's a picture. It's a picture of the faithful believer trusting the Lord. There's a sense here in which these midwives are a picture of all who minister Christ to others, all you who love Christ and would serve your brethren as though you were serving Christ himself because you love them. You love Christ and you love them. And we see this pictured here in these ladies, right? Peter words it this way, not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven." 1 Peter 1.12.

That's a beautiful, beautiful picture of our brethren who have gone before, and we see it right here in Shiphrah and Puah, faithfully standing, fearing God rather than fearing men.

Paul writing to the Galatians. who were, he first preached the gospel to them, and now they're in great danger, right? Soul-subverting heresy is now entering in to turn them from Christ back to the law for righteousness. He said, my little children, think of this in terms of a midwife, my little children of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.

Like a midwife, he travailed with the body till Christ be formed in them, because he loved them. He loved Christ. He stood with Christ and labored that Christ be formed in your hearts. Think of all the sacrifices Paul made so that we have the gospel of grace clearly in the Scriptures. Clearly, that's faithfulness that God gave him, that we would have the truth rather than it being covered and lost and mixed up and drowned out and devoured by the devil.

No, no, we have the truth. We hope in the grace of God, just as these women, to provide for them.

So these midwives, they risked their lives unto death. Look at what it says in Exodus 1, 18 and 19. And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive? And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women, for they are lively and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them."

I'm certain there's a spiritual truth in there. They're living souls, and they're delivered because God has done it. But we know they lied to him. They just flat out lied to him. Not for their own selves, not for their own sakes, right, to profit themselves, but to save that seed, believe in God. They trusted God. was able. To protect that seed, they risked their own lives.

And believers do that. Paul did it. He took whippings and beatings and jailings and shipwrecks to ensure that gospel came to you. Came to you, brethren. Just like that. So they labored. They labored until the seed of Christ was born, laboring in travail until Christ be formed in you.

And like their example, Paul said, I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even under bonds. Call me what you will, but I know the truth, and I'm going to stand fast in the truth and the faith of our most holy faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to ensure that you, brethren, this day, hear that truth. Hear that truth.

And it goes all the way back here to these two darling, dear women, Schiffer and Pua, being faithful, being faithful, standing in that truth there, brethren.

And so these are written to show us that God is not limited. He's not bound by our weaknesses. Though men oppose, though men try to destroy it, they can't. Paul said, I'm not even worried. Throw me in jail. You can't stop the Word of God, because God delights to take the weak vessels that we are and triumph gloriously, still sending that word out, not being stopped, no matter what the devil a man does to try and oppose it. And so he does. He delights to use disciples who have no power, no connections, no abilities in themselves to oppose the principalities and powers, and yet he triumphs gloriously.

to justify you that believe him. Say, nope, I believe God. He's able. I'm going to trust him. Even though it hurts me, that it might hurt me, I'm going to trust him. And what did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego say? If God chooses to let us die, we'll die. But we know he's able to deliver us if he wills. But we're not bowing down to you. We're not going to worship you. Just like these women who said, I'm not going to bow down to you. I'm going to do what? I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. And so they had that same spirit.

We see this spirit in Rahab, too, right? She believed God so that she hid the spies. She hid those spies that came to her. That's faith in action. That's faith believing. All right, saying, as soon as we heard these things, right, she's recounting, we here in Canaan heard what the Lord did for you, and all our hearts melted. All our mighty men became cowards, and their strength and their courage left them. Why? Because the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above and earth beneath. He's God, he's sovereign, he does as he pleases. And she believed, she believed it.

So that Hebrews 11 31 tells us, by faith, the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not when she had received the spies with peace. She received them and she hid them and she protected, she lied to the people that came to protect them. to turn them away so they didn't find them. And she said, you go out this way and hide there for three days and then come out and you'll be fine. So she obeyed, and she obeyed their word. She said, give me a token. They said, well, you keep this scarlet thread in the window. And you stay in that house. You stay in that household. And don't you go outside of that. And so she stayed in what? The household, the place prepared. The household with the scarlet thread hanging out of the window. A picture of Christ. his blood, his redemption, which came out of the window of heaven down to his people, and you that believe him, stay right there in that household of faith, believing the word of God. Don't go out of it. Don't go out of it because you'll be destroyed with the unbelievers. You stay right there in that household of faith.

And it's a picture, right? She believed and waited. Could you imagine, though, sitting there in that house when the walls start coming down? You know the people out there marching, and you're staying in that house, you and your family, and you're not going outside of it, and you're hoping. They said. that if we stay here with this thread in the household, hanging out the window, that we'll be safe. And she stayed there. What? Much like Paul's words, we, through the spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness by faith, which worketh by love. All things demonstrated in Rahab. What she did there, she waited patiently in hope of that scarlet thread hanging out the window. And she trusted that word. And this is the word preached unto you in the gospel, brethren. You trust that word of Christ, that his blood is sufficient to save you to the uttermost. You stay right there in that household, in that faith, believing him, just like Shiphrah and Puah and Rahab and Paul and all the many other prophets and blessed brethren here in the scriptures. And so these are just a few examples that we see, like this picture of grace, working faith in these two midwives who feared God rather than fearing man, and demonstration of the salvation that our Lord accomplishes in his people.

Look over in 1 Thessalonians 1, 3 and 4. 1 Thessalonians 1, 3 and 4 there. Paul says, remembering, without ceasing, your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father, knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.

All right, you that are elect, The Lord manifests these things in you, his people. Faith, hope, and love. He brings them forth in you. And so this is the spirit of Christ accomplishing these mighty acts of his grace and power in you.

Turn over to Ephesians chapter six. Ephesians chapter six. Paul tells us, we'll look at verse 10, and pick up there. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might, put on the whole armor of God, and ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood. Oh yeah, you might see a pharaoh there, somebody in power there, but that's not who we're wrestling against. We're wrestling against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand, stand therefore.

And I'll just quote the one verse from verse 16, above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. That's what Shifra and Puah did. They just quenched that dart which was come against the promised sea. because they believed. They believed God. They trusted Him. That's the gift of God in them. It's not the flesh believing. It's God's work wrought in you, brethren. And it's recorded here to encourage your hearts, to comfort you, to strengthen you, to stand in Christ, believing Him.

Our Lord has saved us by his grace, and he's delivered us from the yoking bondage of the law for righteousness, having to work for your salvation, which none of us could do. He saved us by grace, freely, freely. And we see him coming as the servant of the Lord, laying down his life for us. Believe him, trust him. He's done nothing but shown us grace and love and mercy and patience and kindness and longsuffering and gentleness. through the coming of Christ, so that whosoever believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved." Trust him.

Now, the name Shephra, in closing here, the name Shephra means brightness, like a bright beauty. And the name Pua means splendid, splendid. And we're told in verses 20 and 21, therefore God dealt well with the midwives and the people multiplied and waxed very mighty. And it came to pass. because the midwives feared God that He made them houses.

These women were added to the household of God with His saints as beautiful, shining testimonies, adorning the gospel of His grace, of His faith. of his hope and love that he gives and works in his people. Shining examples, brilliant, beautiful examples of the Lord's grace and power here.

Now, Pharaoh didn't stop trying to persecute them. Verse 22 says, Pharaoh charged all his people saying, every son that is born he shall cast into the river and every daughter he shall save alive. And so the persecution continued, and so the persecution continues unto this day, but you be encouraged. And in closing, turn to Philippians 2. Go to Philippians 2. Philippians 2, and we'll pick up in verse 12.

Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Fear God, and consider well the awful power of God to do as he sovereignly pleases in the earth. You trust Him, for it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure."

We depend upon Him. The strength and power isn't of us. It's not of you. It's not of me. It's of God. To do all things without murmurings and disputings. Don't feed and continue in that flesh that opposes faith, hope, and love. But rather stand firm in that faith, that work of faith, that labor of love, and that patience of hope. The flesh opposes that. You stand in the faith of Christ, that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke.

in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world." Pharaoh was crooked and perverse, what he was doing. You stand firm in the Lord, as in the same wicked and perverse world. Same country, same place where we are today. But that brightness and splendid beauty of Shiphrah and Puah, who were faithful to God, I stand as them, holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored."

As a midwife, in vain. It's just a beautiful picture there of what the Lord accomplishes in his people, and we see the sacrifice of our brethren before us, all to bring you the gospel, the gospel of grace by Jesus Christ. We leave them, brethren. Amen.