All right. Thank you, Jerry. I'm going to miss the words of
that. Another hymn about Exodus, the
children of Israel. Exodus meaning they departed
from, left out, in and out of Egypt to the promised land. Exodus
is where we're studying tonight. Exodus, chapter two. Is that
where you're studying them? That's good. If you want, I know
if you're like me, you have trouble at times just knowing where to
start reading in Scripture. That's part of the struggle,
just knowing where to start. Well, I'll tell you, I've been
reading in Exodus. And if you want a blessing, you
start in Exodus chapter 1. Just start reading. And while
you're reading, think of this. Now, this is the story of God
delivering his people from bondage in Egypt, and their walk to the
promised land. But it's more than that. This is the reason it happened,
and the reason it's written, is it's a picture of how God
saves us. how God saves us by Christ, our
deliverer, like Moses. And I walk through this world
on the promised land. So when you start reading it,
look at everything in that light. I'm real tempted to start going
through this book, but I don't know. I'm not promising anything.
But when you read it, if you do read it, think of Israel as
God's people, as the church, as you. Think of Egypt as the
world. And all other tribes, it's the
world. And Pharaoh is the god of this
world, Satan and Satan. All right, let's look at chapter
1. Go back to chapter 1. This is the story of the children
in bondage. Look at verse 7. Children of
Israel, this is God's chosen people. Israel being Jacob. That's his name, right? Jacob have I loved. That's God's
chosen people, His eleven. Israel, the children of Israel,
were fruitful and increased, abundant and multiplied, and
waxed exceedingly mighty, and the land was filled with them.
And God said He has a people as the stars of the sky, and
the sands of the seashore, for none of which no man can humble. That's how many. And verse 9,
the people of Egypt said, The children of Israel are more almighty
than we. So if you want a reason to think
that there's going to be more redeemed than glory, right there's
one. That's what all the old writers
used to say, that Satan's not going to get you victory. He's
not going to be more damned than redeemed. Well, at any rate,
God's people are a myth. the stars, lest anybody should
complain. Verse 8, it said, Now there rose
up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. A king which
knew not, nor regarded Joseph. Joseph being a picture of Christ
also. Now this new king, Pharaoh, And no regard for Joseph whatsoever.
No regard for the children of Israel. This is Satan. God of
this world. It says he's the king over Egypt,
but he's not Israel's king. He's not Israel's king. God of
this world is not our God. Not our king. Verse 11. Well,
they stood up over from Pharaoh's instructions. They sent over
the children of Israel, taskmasters, to afflict them with their burdens. Taskmasters. That is, people who gave them
difficult, impossible things to do and afflicted them with
heavy burdens which they were not able to bear. Does that sound
familiar? Our Lord said many false prophets
have gone out into the world, many false preachers, scribes,
Pharisees, hypocrites, many of them. Our Lord said this of them. He said they bind heavy burdens
on you, on the people, which they won't lift one finger, use
one finger to lift. Many of you were in religion,
I'm sure, and under this religious bondage. Look at this. 11 said,
and they built for Pharaoh treasure cities. Religion has built these huge
treasure houses. Hasn't it? Full of idols, silver
and gold and so forth. Treasure cities under the satanic
synagogues. That's what they are. Verses
13 and 14. The Egyptians made the children
of Israel serve with rigor. They made their lives bitter
with hard bondage. They gave them things to do,
and they were hard, difficult, hard bondage. And as I said,
some of you were in religion before, and before Christ painted
you, and under bondage, trying to serve God, trying to work
your way to heaven, according to the instructions of the rich
taskmasters. Verse 15, King of Egypt spake
to the Hebrew midwives. Now here's a story of these Hebrew
midwives. Hebrew midwives. Let's not read
down through there. But let me just tell you about
the Hebrew midwives. Pharaoh instructed these midwives
who helped the Hebrew women. They were Hebrew themselves.
Hebrew midwives. They were helpers of those who
were in travail and giving birth. That's what a midwife was, to
help them give birth. These Hebrew midwives, Pharaoh
instructed them to kill all the firstborn sons of the Hebrews. He instructed them to do that.
But verse 17, the midwives feared God and did not, as the king
of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men and children alive. Now who are these midwives? These
represent the true prophets of God. Now, God gives life. God plants the seed. God gives
new birth, if you will, to prophets to help the people along in their
knowledge of God. And God must give the encrypt.
Midwives represent the true prophets of God. Satan and his ministers
seek to bind and to kill. But the true prophets of God
want nothing but the salvation of God's people. And they fear
God. They're God-fearing prophets. They seek just one thing. The
salvation of God's people. All right. That's down through
verse 21. At verse 21, look at this. You've got to see this.
Because of Midwife's fear of God, God made them houses. He prepared them a house, a dwelling
place, a sure place, a prophet's. All right. And we dwell under
their prophet's abode. All right. Now, Chapter 2 is
the story of the deliverer. God raised up man. Now the children
are in bondage. They're in bondage. They're trebating
in pain, and birth, and so forth, and under hard bondage. And they
had these helpers, you know, midwives. But God sent them a
man. You know who he is, don't you?
Chapter 2, verses 1 and 2. Let's read. There went a man
of the house of Levi, and took the wife, a daughter of Levi.
Levi. Who's Levi? That's the tribe
of the priesthood. This man was a high priest, Levi. And this son of his took the
daughter of Levi, verse 2. And the woman conceived and bared
a son. And when she saw him, when she
looked on this son, she saw he's a good little child. He's a special
child. There's something special about
this child. Something special. Well, Galatians
4 says, in the fullness of time, in the fullness of time, God
had sent forth His Son, made by the woman, made under the
law, to redeem them that were under the law. And just as this
woman said of her son, he's a goodly son, So God said of his son,
Yea, he's a goodly son, none good but God, and none good but
my son. I'm well pleased. He's altogether
loving. He's the Son of God. He's the
Deliverer, the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, this child was pursued
by Pharaoh from his birth until his manhood. He was pursued and
hated and pursued by Pharaoh, and he was hidden in a little
ark. Now, you know who this is, don't you, by now. Hidden in
a little ark, his son. Ark, son, ark. Hidden in an ark,
and the child's name was Moses. Look down at verse 10. The child
grew, and Pharaoh's daughter, you remember the story, we're
not going into it. She found him among the bulrushes, and
brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses.
That means drawn out. This is Moses that we're talking
about. Drawn out. Just as Moses was
drawn out of the water, he will draw out God's people. Mercy
level. Here's the story of Moses. It
came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went
out unto his brethren and looked on their burdens. He went out
to his brethren and looked on their birthdays. And so it says
of our Lord Jesus Christ, he came to his own, he came to his
brethren, looked upon their birthdays. And it says he saw their birthdays
five, verse 11, Egyptians smiting a Hebrew, one of his brethren.
He saw all of the world striking his brethren. Verse 12, And he looked this
way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian and hid
him in the sand. He saw that there was no man,
and he looked this way and that way, and saw no man, so he himself
became that Israelite. Now listen to the verse. Listen to this. Listen to these
very words. The Lord came and it says, and
he saw that there was no man. I'm reading Isaiah 59, verse
16. And he wondered that there was
no intercessor. Therefore his arm brought salvation unto him.
His right arm is sustained him. He put on righteousness as a
breastplate, a helmet of salvation on his head. He put on the garments
of vengeance for clothing, clad with zeal as a cloak. And he
came to save us. No man was sufficient for this
task but Moses. God raised up Moses. Even so,
the Lord Jesus Christ was no other man, none other man, one
be yet the man of Christ Jesus, one deliverer, one intercessor,
one redeemer. And like Moses, our Lord was
pursued from the cradle until his adulthood. Verses 15 and
16 now, chapter 2. It says, When Pharaoh heard this
thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face
of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well. It's amazing this. Are you catching
all this? Everything spoken of here is
a picture of Christ, who literally came into Samaria one time and
sat on a well, waiting on his daughter. Verse 16, Now the priests
of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water,
and filled the troughs with water that fathered the flock. Moses
came to Midian and he sat on a whale and here came seven daughters. One of them was his future bride. Verse 17. And the shepherds,
there were some evil enemy shepherds, came and drove them away. Oh,
how much the Scriptures talks about false shepherds, doesn't
it? All through Jeremiah and Ezekiel, it talks about the false
shepherds who feed on the sheep, don't feed the sheep. They feed
off of them. They get rich off them. They
fleece the sheep. They beat the sheep. They require
them. They don't feed them. That's
a picture of these false prophets. People read it, you say, all
through Jeremiah, all through Ezekiel, story after story, warning
after warning, of these wolves and sheep, these false shepherds. And the faithful shepherd, like
Moses, like our Lord, is continually warning people about these false
shepherds. And he said, look, drove them
away from the water. It is water that they drove them
away from. And now that's a picture. Our
Lord said, they withhold my word from the people. They don't give
them the water of life. Read on. It says, they drove
them away, verse seventeen, when Moses stood up and helped them. That is, he defended them. He,
I don't know what he did. Maybe he fought them all single-handedly.
Maybe he did. I don't know about that. It sounds
familiar, doesn't it? Another story, another deliverer
that did that. One man. One man. How many shepherds do you reckon
there were? Much of them. One man. He must have been a
man. Unafraid, bold, courageous, as
a lion. These seven women, what could
they do against all these children? Nothing. Just one man could. He drove them away. One man,
mighty, put their enemies to flight. Verse 18 and 19. And
so, these ladies, they ran home to their father. They came home
to their father. And he said, how is it you come
home so soon today? Every day they couldn't wait
to get home and tell you, come see me. The women returned home with
the good news of a deliverer, a man, verse 20. He said under
verse 19, they said an Egyptian delivered up, but he's not an
Egyptian. He looks like an Egyptian, but
he's not an Egyptian. He's a Jew. Our Lord looks like a man. We
see Jesus made a little lower than the angels for the suffering
of death, but he's not an angel. He's the great Deliverer. He's
the God of Israel. There is an Egyptian Deliverer.
Come see a man, a woman said, at the well. He's not just a
prophet, not just a Deliverer. And they all, with one accord,
said this. All of them, with one accord,
said, this man, this Egyptian, delivered us. He drew water out
for us. We could do nothing. We did nothing.
We didn't bike. We didn't draw. We didn't do
anything. He did it all. He served us. He did it all. Well, their father
was pleased. And their father was one of their
warden's men. Verse 20, And he said unto his
dog, Where is he? Why is it that you have left
the man? Call on him. Call on him. He
puts the down to eat bread. Are you catching all of it? I hope
so. The Lord, if you call on him, everyone that calls on the
Lord, he'll dine with you. Well, it says he came, verse
21, Moses was content to dwell with the man. Those are everyone
who calls on him, he'll dwell with them. He had the right to
murder them. Our deliverer. Our deliverer. Verse 22, well, he married one
of them. Verse 21, Moses married a zebra,
the daughter of this man of Midian, and she bared him a son and called
his name significantly a stranger. The son of Moses was called a
stranger. A stranger in a strange land.
Pilgrim. Like Moses. Like all of God's
people. That's what we're called, isn't
it? Pilgrim. Pilgrim man. Pilgrim in red. Strangers in
a strange land. Moses was an Israelite, wasn't
he? But he was in Midian. Now this son of Moses was the
son of Midian, the son of Moses. All God's sons are in the world,
but they're not of it. They're sons of man, but yet
they're sons of God. That's strange. Now, the next
three verses is where I want us to dwell. All right? The next
three verses in chapter two. You with me? I can't make decisions.
God, I can't do this. But these next three verses are
wonderful, a glorious picture of the gospel. Summary of our
salvation. All right, verse 23. It says,
It came to pass, in the process of time, that the king of Egypt
died. Our Lord said of Satan, he hath
but a short life. When Christ fell on that cross,
he crushed his head. He's good as dead. He's not alive
and well. I don't care what Hallelujah
says. Only what God says. Satan is not alive and well.
Not at all. He's on a chain. The king of
Egypt died, but it says the children of Israel were still under bondage. They sighed. Look at it. Two things the children of Israel
did. They sighed by reason of their bondage, and they cried. Sighed and cried. Their cry came
up unto God by reason of the Father. Do you know anything
about this bondage? All the children of Israel did.
Every one of these children of Israel knew what it was like
to be under bondage. You know what it meant to be
under bondage? You're bound, burdened down. Have you ever had a big weight
on your back? Have you ever felt like you're
shackled and broke and tied? Huh? Bondage? What is this bondage
that all the children of Israel are under? All the days of her
life? Sin. Sin. Bunyan's book on Pilgrim's
Prophecy had this heavy burden on the back. Weighed him down. Nobody else had children. The
bishops didn't have it. They weren't burdened by it.
It didn't bother them anymore, but he was excited because of
this bondage. You ever sigh? You know, all of them siding
with their siblings. You all hear them? You all hear their
sighs? I remember, growing up, hearing
my dad let out a sigh from that table very close. And I wondered, what's wrong?
What's wrong? Did I do something wrong? Did
you ever do that? Hmm? Have you ever heard that?
You know what I'm talking about, huh? You get a feeling of your
awful sinfulness, the burden of your wretchedness, huh? This
old man that weighs you down, like David wrote about in Psalm
38, he's ever-performing. He said, my Lord, you're filled
with this loathsome disease. Do you? And these children of
Israel sighed. It says, after they sighed, they
cried. They cried. And their cry came
up. Listen to this. Listen to this. Everyone who sighs out of a sense
of their sinfulness and their helplessness, God will hear them.
Listen to this. Psalm 12, verse 5 says, For the
oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will
I arise, saith the Lord. of the day. Pharisees don't sigh. Pharisees don't cry for the day. God's children, Israelites, cry. You know what it is to cry? All of that is called, the word
is called there, Christ. Brother Henry, one of your favorite
songs, Psalm 107, it says, four times they cried unto the Lord
because of their trouble. Now hear, four times they cried,
they cried, they cried. This crying unto the Lord is
not a one-time thing. This calling unto the Lord because
of your sins is not a one-time thing. It's not a one-time confession
of faith that you make. And they saw the pie in the sky,
and they all know, you cry all day of your life. God's people
are cryers. And I don't mean literal, weak
sorrow, not as those who have no hope. We weep, but not bitterly. Weep not uncontrollably, but
we cry. But our chief reason for crying
is because of our sinfulness. Our sinfulness. And their cry goes up unto God. To God, it said. Their cry goes
up unto God, because there's no one else that can help them
with this bondage. There's no one else they can cry unto. They
didn't know the Deliverer. They cried, God help us. They cried. All who, let me tell
you something, all who call on the Lord shall be saved. That's
what it says. All who continue to call us,
never stop signing or calling. And it says this, look at this,
verse 24. And God heard their groaning. God heard their groaning. You
ever groan? It's like signing or crying.
You ever groan? Huh? Grown, I'm talking about over
yourself, over your sin. Listen to Romans 8. Listen to
Romans 8. We've grown within ourselves,
waiting for the adoption to with the redemption of our bodies.
We've grown. black cactus in this body of
sin. That's what Paul said in Romans
7. Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? All I can seem to be able to
do with this body is sin. And that's what he said in Romans
8 also. He said the Spirit knows. The Spirit makes intercession
for us with what? For our own ends. There cannot
be another. God doesn't hear these fancy
prayers, but He hears every cry, every sigh. He sure does. It says God, in verse 24, heard
their groaning, and look at this, what God did. Upon hearing their
sighing, their crying, their groaning, it says, God remembers
His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. His promisers. God remembered His covenants.
What's this all about? God remembered His covenants. Now, these Israelites are no
better than Egypt, you know. Matter of fact, start reading
this, you'll see they seem worse. No, sin against such mercy and
such grace, sin against such life, sin against so many miracles
that God performed for them, sin against so many deliverances
that God did, so much mercy, so much grace that God did for
them, spared them on every hand, didn't spare the Egyptians, yet
they still sinned against them. Sin, still went after idols,
covetousness, got bitter and murdered and complained, so much
mercy. They were worse than the Jews.
God shouldn't have had any mercy.
God shouldn't have chosen these people. Why didn't he choose
Jacob? You know the story of Jacob, don't you? Why did he
love Jacob? People have trouble with the fact that God loved
his son, hated his father. We don't have any trouble understanding
that. There's no human being worth loving. Certainly not Jacob. Jacob was cheating a scoundrel.
Cheating his brother. Cheating his father-in-law. He
got cheated too. Served him right. But God loved
him. Why? Because he did. Why did God love
Jacob? Because he did. Because he pleased
the Lord. That's why. He pleased the Lord
and made Jacob his people. God had set his love on him.
He says that over and over. Moses keeps reminding the Israelites
over and over throughout the five books. He said, but God
didn't set His love on you because you're better than the Egyptians.
Ha! He said, you're a spitting neck and heart of everything.
He said, God didn't save you because you were righteous. You
don't have that. No better than the Egyptians.
God didn't do all this because of you, but He did it for His
nation. He pleased the Lord to make you
his people. Not better than Egypt, you're
not better than the world, but God made covenant. God chose his people in Christ.
He elects God chose his people for what is the foundation of
the world, in Christ Jesus. That's who God's covenant with,
Christ Jesus. He gave his people, he chose.
Who are they? Well, God humbly knows them,
but I'll tell you this, they're sired and criers and groaners.
They're sinners. So they are, and they see a need
for a deliverer. But God, God chose them in Christ
before the foundation of the world that they should be holy
and without blame before Him in life. That is predestinated
them unto the adoption of children. A bunch of sons of Jacob saw
God, but God. That's what made the difference.
Who made the big difference? It says over in chapter 11 of
Exodus, it said, God that put a difference between Israelites
and Egyptians. God made the difference. It's
not in me. God set His love upon them. God
remembered His covenants. God doesn't feel sorry for us
because we're worthy of feeling sorry for Him. We're to be blamed. But God has pity on us with His
name. God has compassion upon us for
Christ's sake. And yes, God does love us. I don't want to take away from
God. God did set His love, put the
love of God in Christ. Always has. He loved Christ and
all those in Christ. And he remembers his covenant
with Christ, with Him. All the promises of God are in
Christ. Today and amen. The glory of
God the Father by Him. And all that come by Him. All who believe Him are heard,
accepted, and forgiven. Every single rotten son of a
gun. because God remembered his son
and his blood and righteousness. All right, look at the next thing.
And it says in verse 24, God heard, God remembered. In verse
25, and God loved him. Now every one of you parents
know what this is saying. I do. No matter how old your children
get. All the time. Just a little talk. What's it gonna be about? Huh? What's it gonna be about? God. Love. Huh? Huh, Steven? You ever
go and look at that poem? How many times? For that girl? My, my. God looked upon that,
and mercy, and love, and grace, and the next thing He said, and
He had respect unto it. For the word respect there, if
you'll notice in the marking, is He moved on it. That is, He entered in with the
same word, moved, as when it says Adam moved his life. He
joined together, two became one. They entered into a life-long
relationship. Since God looked upon him to do them, oh yes,
God knows. You just don't understand me,
Dad. Oh, Dad understands you more than you understand Jesus. Huh? Dad loves you. You are Dad. Lord, carest thou not that we
perish? Oh, your father knows more about
you than he knows about you. Your father became you. It became
him. It behooves him to become like
us. He might be a merciful, faithful.
He looks upon his children. He knows. He knows us. Time of blood. I thought about
Ezekiel. Listen to this. This goes so
perfectly. Well, I was telling my father
over the phone. We were rehearsing our messages
with one another. I told him what I was going to
say. And I read these verses to him.
He said, that sounds just like a Zekiel's anthem. I said, it
sure does, Dad. I've got to read it. Now, when
I passed by, Dee, I looked at the phone. Do you remember that
anthem? Don't you come out and think
you can make it. Waiting for the animal to eat
it. Good as day. It says, God came by and he looked
upon thee and behold, time of love. There's no greater time of love
than when you go in alone and you're looking down on that child.
Time of love. And I spread my spirit over him.
Spread that light over him. God, Christ, covered us with
his robe of righteousness. I covered him naked. Yeah, he
became naked, but he covered that up. Yea, I swear unto thee,
and entered into a covenant with thee, that the Lord God would
cause you but pain. Yea, God looked upon me, and
showed a picture of me. Can you think of God looking
on you while you're sleeping at night? I'm thinking of you
like you think of your child. It's a million times more than
he does with your own child. Or your husband or your wife.
A million times more. Yes it is. He even said that. He said your mother and your
father may leave you. He said where's the deal with
abortion? Your husband made the abortion. Not your mother. Your
mother or your husband. He said, I'll never leave thee
on the subject. You may leave Him for a time.
He said, I'll never leave you. And I'll draw thee back towards
the blood. God looked upon him, and God
moved him, and he entered into a relationship with his people,
an eternal relationship. Now you notice, this, all of
this was after He told us about the deliverance. You see, all of that, He said
that after He told us about humbleness. You see, because before there
was ever a sinner. Before the first sinner cried
by reason of his bondage, there was a landslide before his death. There was a deliverer already
risen. There was a Messiah. That Christ was sitting there
with the Father every day of his life, making his way. He
ever lived. He ever lived. to make intercession
for the first sinner to the last. Turn back to Hebrews. Now I want
you to read this again. This might mean more to you now,
after going through all that. Hebrews chapter 2. Let's read
it again in closure. Like I said, all this was that
said the Lord did. He heard their cries. He sighed in their groanings.
He remembered His covenant and He looked upon them. And he knew
that. All of this after he revealed
Moses. Hebrews 2, look at it again.
It says, verse 14, For as much then as the children are partakers
of flesh and blood, he also himself, likewise, took part of the same,
that through death he might destroy the hymn that hath the power
of death, that is, the dead, and deliver them. and through
fear of death all their lifetimes. All their lifetimes. You see, we're on it. Moses was led, here's where the
tide stops. Moses was with those Israelites
for 40 years. Every step of the way. Wherever
Moses led them, Moses went before them. Did you know that? They
followed Moses. Moses provided water. Moses provided
bread. Moses parted the waters and went
over on God. And all that fixed their crosses.
He was with them all their lives. Up till they got to the cross. And that's where the tide stopped. Moses represents the lost. The
law can't take us into heaven. Only Joshua can. Joshua means
Savior. Joshua took the name of the Father.
Joshua is the Old Testament name for Jesus. The law can't take
us into heaven. It can't take us to God, but
Christ can. And He is. And our Lord is with us. And
Him belongs with the prophets. We've always got our standards. Our Heavenly Father, thank You
for revealing Christ unto us and our great deliverance, and
thank You also for Convicting us of our sins. He said that's
what the Holy Spirit would do. And He comes, He convinces us
of sin, righteousness, judgment. And we'll take the things of
Christ and show them unto His people. We thank You that we
have the Deliverer. We sigh by reason of our bondage. We cry unto Thee. We call upon
Thee daily. That's the forgiveness of our
sins. Deliver us from our sins. This bondage, this body of death. We thank God through Christ Jesus,
our Lord, that there is therefore now no condemnation and there
is no pride. In his name we pray. Amen. I.