All right, brethren, let's be turning to Exodus, Exodus chapter 5. But I just want to say a few things to wrap up chapter 4. What happened was Zipporah, Moses' wife, it seems like she was not very favorable toward circumcision. And what happened was Moses hadn't done anything.

He hadn't circumcised his son Gershom, and they're heading down to Egypt now, and the Lord strikes Moses. It seems like it was with an illness, and he was going to die because it says something about them being in an inn. And so Zipporah, his wife, who was likely not in favor of circumcision, circumcising their son, she had to do it. She circumcised their son and called Moses a bloody man. And so it seems that this was the time when Moses took his wife and children back to his father-in-law. before he got down to Egypt, that he sent them back to his father-in-law and left them there.

And then this is where Moses and Aaron meet again at the Mount of God, where God revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush. is at the Mount of God. And so if you look at chapter four, verse 28, Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord that the Lord had sent to him. Well, verse 27 says that it was at the Mount of God. And then Moses tells Aaron everything that the Lord said to him and the signs.

And now he never said this to his father-in-law. But here he tells Aaron who's going with him. And so the two of them go down to Egypt and look at verse 29, chapter 429. And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. And Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people.

And the people believed. And when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped." And so here is a manifestation of the Lord's people, right? The Lord is revealing that these are his people. How do we know that these are his people?

They believed. They believe the Word of God. That is the difference that the Lord makes in them that hear the Word. A lot of people hear the Word preached. Well, how do you know who are the Lord's people? Those that believe the Word, those that receive the Word, that hear the voice of Christ speaking to them, and they believe that Word. What does that mean, the Lord speaks to his people?

Well, they were rejoicing in that the Lord visited them. and that the Lord saw their afflictions. That meant something to them. When a sinner hears that the Lord cares for them, that the Lord has provided salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that they are called to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, when they hear that word, a sinner, those who are a true sinner who knows their sin and knows their guilt before God, they rejoice in that message.

It's not just a message of, oh, well, that's nice. That's a nice story. That's how the world hears it. Oh, that's nice. That's fine. If that's what floats your boat, if that's what makes you happy, that's great for you. I don't care. That's how the world is. They don't care about this message.

But to you, who are sinners, that hear of what God has done for sinners, what he has done for me, that hope that he creates in the heart of his child, they hear and they believe that word. And so there's a distinction made here. Paul said it this way. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. As it's written, the just shall live by faith. God reveals faith in them that are his.

Those that are not his, there's no faith. They don't believe. They don't hear the word. It means nothing to them. They despise it, they mock it, they may say nothing at all, but it's fruitless. It doesn't mean anything to them. It's fruitless, well, it doesn't produce any good fruit. It only produces rotten, rotten fruit in them. And so the scriptures speak of what our Lord has done for us, right? This is a picture of what we see here at the end of chapter four is a picture of the gospel.

How so? How has the Lord visited us? He sent his darling son, his only begotten son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification. And he drew near when we were enemies of God, when we were yet ignorant and in darkness in our minds, the Father sent his Son, the Son came and accomplished redemption for his people. That a sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through the righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Lord reigns in the heart of his people. They hear and rejoice in him, they're glad in him. It's good news to a sinner of what Christ has done, it's good news, but now, Moses and Aaron in chapter five, they're standing before Moses. They've preached to the people, the people have heard it, they're rejoicing in it, they're glad at what they've heard, and now Moses and Aaron are preaching to Pharaoh.

Now remember, Egypt is typical of this world. The world we know today with all its attractions, all its riches, all its treasures, all its allurements, all its lusts, all its perversions, that's pictured in Egypt. And Pharaoh is a picture of that spirit of Antichrist which is in the world, that false spirit, that lying spirit, that spirit that says, don't worry about that.

Don't worry about that word. That has nothing to do with you. You don't need to worry about that. That'll take care of itself. You just focus on this world. You just focus on pursuing the riches of this world, the fame of this world, the joys and pleasures of this world. That's your business. You don't worry about that. That's just the deceiving spirit of Antichrist there. And that's pictured here in Pharaoh. That spirit is one of rebellion. That spirit is one of unbelief. of disregard, of not hearing it or believing the truth of Christ and what I need to hear.

And so he that is of that spirit, which we all are by nature, we're all of that spirit until the Lord sends his spirit to deliver us from that bondage and that ruin and that lie and that falsehood. Until that spirit is gone, we will not come to Christ that we might have life. we're inhabited by that spirit of the world until we're delivered by Christ.

Paul said it this way, in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 3 and 4, he said, now if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. If we're preaching this word, because we're preaching to everyone that the Lord brings, if it's hid to someone, if they won't hear it, it's hid to them that are lost, that are not the Lord's. They can't hear it. They're shut up to it. In whom, he says, the God of this world, that spirit of Antichrist, hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them.

And so they're kept in that blindness. and they need the Lord to make his word effectual to them to break that bondage, to break those chains, to break them out of that prison and that darkness and deliver them from that false lying spirit. However, the word must be preached and so they preach it and it begins in verse one. We're just gonna look at the first three verses here in this chapter this morning. Afterward, Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.

Now again, no man can hear this, except the Lord give it to you. All right, no man can hear this, no man can receive this with faith. and say, Lord, are you calling me? Call me, Lord. Don't pass me by. Make me to hear this, right? No man will do that. No man will have that desire or that interest, except the Lord drive away that false spirit and deliver us from that death. and make it effectual to us.

And so, there's a people that will hear. Now, they're preaching to Moses, sorry, they're preaching to Pharaoh, and he's not gonna hear. It's a picture of that world in death and in darkness. But there is a people. We preach it because there is a people whom the Lord saves.

He calls them a remnant. He tells us that a remnant shall be saved. If you've ever gotten carpet or anything like that in your house, you know that you can pick up remnants, little pieces of it. Just a small piece compared to what's all going in the house. It's called a remnant, or a little cloth. It's a remnant. It's a small fraction or percentage of the whole thing.

Well, that's who's saved. Of all the people, there's a remnant saved, few in number, a few people that are saved by the Lord. And many in the world hear it. They pretend to care. They play in religion. They're very hypocritical. And they reject and scorn the word of God, which turns us to Christ. That turns us from ourself and from thinking that we save ourselves to hear Christ, to look to Christ, to cry out to Christ to save us from our sins. But the Word, we preach the Word because the Word's going to go forth and it's going to discover those that are the Lord, those that are lost, those for whom Christ died.

And it'll be from the people you least expect it. They'll hear and they'll rejoice. It'll be made something to them. It'll be important to them. They'll want to hear it. It's not, we can't tell who they are on the outside. Nobody knows, but the Lord knows them. He knows the heart. He knows those that he chose in Christ before the foundation of the world. And so they will hear it.

There's examples in scripture. Paul was preaching to the Jews, and the Jews were trained up in this. The Jews had the law. The Jews had the prophets. They had the pictures and the types and the shadows given to them in the law and in the prophets, and you would have thought they would have heard Christ. These are the religious ones. These are the ones who know God. Surely they will hear and believe the Lord Jesus Christ. Nope. Nope. It was the pagan, idolatrous Gentiles that the Lord revealed himself to. They asked, hey, can we hear that word that you were preaching to the Jews last week? Paul said, all right, well, just show up, and I'll be there preaching at the synagogue.

And they came. And it says that when they heard this, when they heard that word of what Christ has done to save his people from their sins, who he is, why he came, what he accomplished, the scriptures say they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal life, believed. They were ordained to this. God chose them. And they heard it and they believed.

So understand this word is preached unto you today because you and I, we need salvation. We need this grace of God to deliver us from death. We're under, we're subjects of that spirit of Antichrist, the spirit of the world. listening to the voice of the serpent. We need to be delivered from that, and God is pleased to deliver his people through the preaching of the gospel.

And so that's being pictured here, Moses and Aaron standing before Pharaoh and preaching this word, knowing they ain't gonna hear it unless God makes it effectual unto them. And so they preach it. In this word, in preaching Christ, this is the mystery of God being revealed unto you. God make known to you what he has purposed from the foundation of the world. Why are we here? Why did God make us? For this purpose, for Christ. We're his inheritance. We're his people. And so that's why he's done it. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Now, Moses told Pharaoh, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, let my people go. You see, God has a people and he's gonna make them hear. His word's gonna go forth and they're gonna hear the call, come to Christ, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. His people will hear the command and they will believe. That which is impossible for man to do, they will do because God will work it in them. They will hear and obey the gospel. They will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ unto salvation.

Our Lord says in John 10, 14 and 15, I am the good shepherd and know my sheep. I know who they are. We don't know who they are until the Lord reveals them. I know my sheep and am known of my sheep. They're going to know me because it pleases me to reveal myself to my people, he says. As the Father knoweth me, even so I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. Not every individual in the world but for my sheep."

That's who I came to save. That's what Christ is saying. I know who they are. The Father gave them to me, and I came to shed my blood for the forgiveness of their sins, to deliver them from death and bondage. And they hear it. So Christ has a people given to him, and he loves them, and he came for them, and he gives them life. This is his commandment. The scriptures say that we should believe on the name of the son of God, on his son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he gave us commandment. Believe him and love one another. That's what he says.

We hear the voice of Christ in the preaching of the gospel. We declare these things knowing no man can hear this except God give it to him. But we trust, we trust that the Lord, this is how he saves his people, please God through the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Who of us likes to hear someone preach to us? No one wants to hear someone preach to us and yet it's through that very offensive thing to our flesh that God uses to reveal his people. It just demonstrates the power of God in them that believe. Otherwise, we would just all be careless, dead sinners who could care less about this. But God has a purpose in Him.

And our Lord said, back in John 10, again, verse 26 through 28, because He's speaking to the Jews, He said, but ye believe not because ye are not my sheep. That's why people don't believe. because they're not his sheep. Those that believe are his sheep, God revealing them that are his. And he says, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.

And he reveals it, he reveals faith in them and they believe and they follow Christ. They start following Christ one day and they can't stop. They just keep on hearing it and keep believing and keep coming and keep supporting the work because he reveals that he is their God and they are his people. And I give unto them eternal life, he said, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. I'm gonna, I save them. I give them life. I do the work of salvation, he says.

That's what the Lord Jesus Christ is telling us. Now, that word goes forth. It's good news to them that are sinners, but Pharaoh here, his reaction is one of death. It's showing that he's dead, and he can't hear it. Look at verse two, Exodus 5-2. And Pharaoh said, who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. When this word goes forth, look to Christ, believe on him, the world says, who's Christ?

What is he to me? I don't believe. I ain't listening to him. I don't believe him. I'm not following him. I'm not bowing to him. I'm not changing. Nothing, I'm gonna just keep doing what I'm doing. That's what the world does. They will not hear, they will not believe. He doesn't even want his ignorance of God corrected. He doesn't ask, well tell me. I don't know who this Lord is, tell me about him. Who is he? No, he doesn't wanna know, he doesn't care. He's just proud and arrogant and ignorant of God and he's happy in his ignorance. This is the condition of man left to himself.

This is what we are by nature until the Lord makes his word effectual in our hearts. This is the sinful, dead condition of man in Adam, born of Adam's seed, until the Lord shines his light into our heart, turns our heart from love and death and love and dead things to hear Christ, to believe him, to love him, and to follow him. That's our condition, dead in trespasses and sins, without God and without hope in the world. hateful and hating one another, just doing the things of this world in enmity against God. And Ephesians 2 through 3 describes men in this condition, that we were walking according to the course of this world.

When we're left to ourselves, we're just doing what the world does. That's all that we are, that's all that we know, according to the prince of the power of the air, that's the devil, that's the serpent, that's the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, meaning those that don't believe the gospel, that don't have a hope in Christ, that's what he's talking about.

He's not talking about if you smoke cigarettes and watch TV, that's not what he's talking about. He's talking about you that either believe or don't believe. on the Lord Jesus Christ. Man looks at the outward things. Man looks at the flesh. God looks at the heart. And he knows them that are his. And he calls that sinner to himself, to believe on Christ, to bow to Christ, to follow Christ, to trust him. I'm not here to tell you how to live. Christ will tell you how to live, and He'll give you the power and the strength to it, and keep you looking to Him and believing Him. He is able.

Among whom also, Paul said, we all had our conversation, our way, 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. That's us, that's what God delivered us from. That's what he plucked us from, from hell and death. He delivered us from that.

And so the Lord in the preaching of the gospel makes known his will towards sinners. He makes known whether he loves them or not. How do you know if God loves me? Do you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Because he gives faith to believe on Christ and to follow him and strength to follow him. and a need for him, a hunger and a thirst for righteousness, a desire for Christ. The scriptures say it this way in Romans 9, 15 through 18.

Well, earlier in Romans 9, 13, it says, for Jacob I loved and Esau have I hated. Meaning that God has a people that he loves and he works salvation in them. And it's pictured in Jacob and Esau. Esau, on the outside, looked like the better kid, the better man, better character. And Jacob was this tricky little conniving guy. And yet God loved Jacob and called Jacob to himself. And Esau, who on the outside looked good, was left in darkness. God just passed him right by. That's what it means, that he hated Esau. He did no gracious thing for Esau.

He was provided for in the world. He had things of this world, but then he died and went to hell. But Jacob had trouble, afflictions, sorrows, difficulties, trials, tribulations, and yet the Lord blessed him to know and call upon the true and living God and to believe him and follow him. And he was given life everlasting, not for his works, but for what Christ did for him. And so Romans 9, 15 through 18 says, The Lord saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And I'll have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then, it's not of him that willeth. It's not your decision or my decision. It's not whether I make a decision for Jesus or let Jesus save me.

The scriptures don't talk like that. Scriptures speak of how God saves his people to the uttermost. He comes in there and delivers us from death. So it's not of him that willeth. nor of him that runneth, meaning it's not of you that do good works and do all these different things to save yourselves. That's not our hope. But it's of God that showeth mercy. That's the difference right there.

Lord, save me. He puts that cry in the heart of his child, the cry in the heart of the sinner, Lord, I'm a sinner. I'm guilty. I'm ashamed of my sin. Have mercy on me, Lord. Save me. Wash me in the blood of Christ. Make me to hear your word. Make me to believe you. Don't leave me like you left Esau. Love me like you love Jacob. And that's what he works in his child.

So it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. And related to what we're looking at here with Pharaoh, for the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for the same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath God mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth, like Pharaoh. Pharaoh's heart was already hardened to God. Pharaoh was already in ignorance. Pharaoh was already a dead sinner in trespasses and sins. And Pharaoh rejected the Lord and the Lord just hardened his heart all the more in that hardness, just left him there.

He said, you're gonna deny me. I'm just gonna harden you up and I'm gonna show my power in you to show how I am gracious and merciful to whom I will be gracious and merciful and how I harden those that hate me. And when we are delivered from that same hardness and death, we have only God to thank for, who is gracious to us and merciful to us. Thank you, Lord, because that's where I should be, that same hardness, that same deadness. But for some reason, you loved me and chose me and delivered me from that death. Thank you, Lord. That's what he works in us.

And so the Lord hardened him to show his power in Pharaoh. Now, Moses declares three points to Pharaoh in verse three. And these are the same three points, the same truth of these points are declared to us and revealed to us in the ministration of the gospel. So let's read verse 3, Exodus 5, 3.

And they said, the God of the Hebrews hath met with us. And that word Hebrews there implies that they're strangers and they're pilgrims. They've come over the river, and there's strangers and pilgrims here in this land. That's what's implied there by Hebrew, strangers and pilgrims in this world. The God of the Hebrews hath met with us.

Let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword. All right, so the first point here is the demand of Jehovah God. to set his people free. He sends forth that command of his word to look to Christ, to believe Christ, to hear him whom the Father has sent, to hear him and believe him. And we see it there when it says, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, let my people go.

Don't stay in that bondage, don't stay in that prison. When he opens the door and he shines the light in there, the light of Christ, hear him, believe him. Go forth, sinner, come into the light. See what the Lord has done. Seek him to know him. He reveals himself to those that seek him. And again, it's a picture of his grace, but he tells us don't sit there and do nothing. Keep coming, keep coming, keep believing. It's a testimony of what he's worked in you. And so don't be disobedient to the call. Hear his call and believe on him and follow him. And so God sends forth this command throughout all the world, let my people go. It's a picture of what said in Acts 1730, God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. To repent. Repent of what? Of your false ideas of God.

Oh, God's okay with that. He's just a nice old grandpa up in the sky. He'll understand. No, he won't. He's holy and just. He punishes sin. And all sin will be accounted for and punished for. You either stand before God in your own sins, in your own works, or he says, hear my son. And those who believe on Christ stand not in their works, they stand in the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. in whom God may be merciful, and forgive, and longsuffering, and give them an inheritance of life, not for their works, but for Christ. Because his righteousness is my righteousness.

I don't want to be found in my good works. They stink. My righteousnesses are as filthy rags. They're dirty, filthy, stinking, rotten rags. I don't want to be found standing before holy God in that day, boasting of what I've done, because I haven't done anything. to merit grace and forgiveness and eternal life.

But Christ says, that's why I believe him and hope in him and look to him because he is salvation, the very salvation of God provided graciously, freely. And so he says, repent of trusting your vain dead religion, of trusting the form of religion, thinking, oh, this is what God's pleased with.

No, he's not. He's pleased with his son. He's pleased with Christ. We're not trusting that we come here. We're trusting Christ. And we come here to worship him and to love one another in fellowship, being thankful to God who loved me, who loved you, who loved us and gave himself for us and put us together as strangers and pilgrims in this world. to give us an inheritance in Christ, to help one another, to encourage one another, to look to Christ, to pray for one another, to care for one another. He works that in our hearts.

And so we hear that word, to not come as dead letter sinners, but to come by his grace and power as new creatures, right? For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision but a new creature. And what that's saying is it's not what you do or don't do, it's not your works or your lack of works that saves, it's that Christ makes us new creatures so that we hear by faith that word of grace preached in Christ. So that it stops being a worthless, meaningless word to us and it's made effectual.

I need that. I need that salvation. I need his righteousness, Lord. He works that in us. And he tells us that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Now, the hope in Christ here has to do with this second point that Moses makes here when he speaks of a sacrifice, a sacrifice unto the Lord our God. They need a sacrifice, lest Jehovah God fall upon them with pestilence or with the sword. A picture of judgment. We need a sacrifice, lest God fall upon us and judge us according to our sins. We need a sacrifice. What is that sacrifice? What is the sacrifice? It's the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the sacrifice of the believer.

That's how we come to God, being accepted of Him, in Christ, looking Him, trusting Him, Lord, save me, because I'm done, I'm ruined. If God sees me and my works, I'm undone. I'm going to hell. There's nothing I can do. But if you robe me in your righteousness, if you wash me in your blood, if you cleanse me of my sin, and you give me your spirit and your life and your salvation, Lord, then I can stand before holy God and be received of Him. And so that's the picture here is that we come in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ who came willingly knowing what he was coming into in this world, the hatred of man against him, that we would put him to death, and that he would die as the Lamb of God, as the sacrifice whom the Father sent to put away the sins of his people. And he came willingly and did that for his bride, for his church, for those given to him of the Father before the foundation, of the world.

That's the feast. And it'll be pictured when we get to the Passover. And we're looking over that Passover lamb. They're going to eat it there in Goshen. They're going to eat it in haste. And they were to sacrifice a lamb. And the Lord said, you put the blood of that lamb over the lintel, the top part of the door and on the posts, the sides. And when the destroyer comes, he says, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. That's how that gets the word Passover. I will pass over you.

That's the same hope that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ, that when holy God comes, when we come before him to be judged of him, when he sees the blood, the blood of Christ, he will pass over us and not destroy us. That's our hope. That's what the Passover picture is there in the Old Testament. It's picturing Christ. It all speaks to him.

And then the third point here that's made, Moses said, let us go, we pray, three days journey, three days journey into the desert. Well, three days is the exact time interval of when our Lord Jesus Christ sacrificed himself on the tree, on the cross to the Father to atone for our sins and was buried in the tomb and rose again when? Three days later. All right, that's the picture. We're going three days journey into the desert. We're looking to Christ. who gave his life and was buried, who died on the tree, sacrificed himself to the Father to atone for our sins, to propitiate God's wrath, to turn it away from us, was buried and rose again on the third day.

And so that's the ground that we come to holy God in, on that holy ground of Christ. He's our inheritance. He's the land given to us. He's the inheritance of God to his people. His blood was shed. Because you and I, we can't satisfy holy God. We come in the sacrifice, in the blood of Christ. We come in substitution, in the substitute of the Lord Jesus Christ who died for me and gave himself for me.

That's the hope of the child of God. That's what he works in us. And so you either hear that and rejoice in Christ, or you don't hear it and you don't rejoice in Christ. So that you're either numbered by God with the people of God, distinguished by his grace and faith, or you're numbered with Pharaoh and that spirit of antichrist that doesn't believe and was destroyed.

And so I pray that the Lord bless that word to our hearts, that we hear it, and that we obey the word of God. That is, that we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, unto the saving of our soul, all by his grace. To the thanks, praise, and honor of his name, amen.