Once again with the Lord's help I would like you to turn with me to the chapter that we read together, Exodus chapter 8 and the text you will find in verse 1. The Lord spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Let my people go, that they may serve me. Be the words of my mind or just the last part of this of this verse, let my people go that they may serve me.

If you remember this morning we looked at the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and the way by which God set forth Abraham as that example as to the way that he saves, that he set forth Abraham as a man who believed God and it was accounted unto him for righteousness. and that belief that he had in God caused him to walk in obedience to God in circumcision and in leaving his own land and in offering or going to offer up or the willingness to offer up his son Isaac. And we saw that that is how the Lord works.

We are not saved by the works that we have done. It's not that the Lord Jesus Christ came to top up our own righteousness by his. It's not that we can get 90% and then add 10% of the Lord Jesus Christ who is set forth right from the beginning of the scriptures that it is by faith that we are saved. Those of the Old Testament were saved by faith looking forward to that perfect sacrifice, the Messiah that would come and we are saved by faith looking back to the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ and in seeing our own sinfulness and turning from our sinfulness and trusting in the Lord Jesus.

And so we saw this morning that he was delivered up for our offences and was raised again for our justification. And Moses we see as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, a man who was raised up by God to bring forth the children of Israel out out of Egypt and to lead them into the promised land.

And as we know that Egypt is set forth as a type of the kingdom of darkness, a type of a sinner in slavery, being bound and oppressed by Satan, although that person doesn't fully realise Although that person believes that they are free, but the scripture tells us that there is only that freedom in the Lord Jesus Christ and that it is Satan's kingdom is the kingdom of darkness. It is Satan's kingdom that keeps his people blinded and unable to see the glorious light of the gospel. And then comes that great deliverer the Lord Jesus Christ to deliver those people, his people, out of that darkness and to lead them on that way, the narrow way that leads to life.

And so God speaks here to Moses as we write in the middle of the plagues. Right at the beginning we read that Now God hears the cries of his people. They were oppressed by their slavery and they cried unto the Lord and he heard them. He saw their afflictions. They were his people. they were his covenant people and that they were in this life of oppression and slavery and you know that can be the same as us, we can be one of the Lord's people and we could have entered into the covenant with him through the Lord Jesus Christ We may know something of the preciousness of the blood of the Lord Jesus. We may be one of the Lord's people, just like these Israelites, yet we may be passing through a time of oppression and a difficulty and hardship. And we may feel, as we're in the darkness and unable to see any light, we may feel to be abandoned by God. But the Lord had his perfect timing for these people.

He was fully aware of what was taking place. He knew prior to them even going into the land of Egypt how long that they would be there and when he was going to come and to deliver them. He knew that he would be raising up a man called Moses. He knew how Moses was going to be preserved in the river, then preserved in Pharaoh's house, then taken into the backside of the desert to be dealt with, and then at the right time to be brought into contact with Pharaoh once again.

The Lord had it all under control and we may feel like that we are also in this darkness, this impossibility and we've forgotten the greatness of our God. Well let's go back to what God said to Abraham. that when Abraham was called out of his home country and as he went on that journey after he separated from Lot and then God begins to deal with him as an individual, he speaks to him and tells him, fear not Abraham, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. And as we saw this morning, Abraham believed God. God said to him, you're going to be the father of many nations. You are going to have descendants as the sand of the sea and as the stars of the sky. But he says, how is it, Lord?

I don't understand. I don't see how what you are saying to me is going to work out because what I am seeing seems to be an impossibility. You're saying that I'm going to have the descendants. You're saying that I'm going to have all of this, yet I don't even have a child of my own. Seeing I go childless.

And Abraham said, behold, thou hast given me no seed, and the one born in my house is my heir. And behold, the word of the Lord came unto him saying, this shall not be thine heir, but he shall come forth out of thine own bowels and shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad and said, look now toward heaven and tell the stars if they'll be able to number them. And he said, so shall thy seed be. Now if we look If we go right back or right to the end of time and we see around the throne of the Lord Jesus Christ, what do we see?

Every nation and every kindred and every tongue. How did they get there? By their good works? No, they got there by faith in the beloved Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And they are children of Abraham that sit around the throne of God. Abraham, the father of the faith. Abraham believed God. The impossibility that was before him did not stop him from believing. He believed that what God had said, God was able to perform.

And he tells him and says unto him, Abraham, know for a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and they shall serve them, and they shall afflict them 400 years. before it even takes place. The Lord knows that Abraham is going to have a son and that son is going to be in the, that son is going to have a son and that son is going to have a son and that son is then, one of his sons is going to be taken into Egypt and there the people of Israel are going to be preserved they're going to preserve and they're going to multiply and multiply and multiply till there's something like two million of them and then the Lord is going to deliver them and bring them out and take them to the promised land and the Lord knows that if we were to trace that line of Abraham we would come all the way to the beloved son of God the Lord Jesus Christ and that in him that in Abraham's son that would come. all the nations of the earth would be blessed as the glorious gospel advances and brings many sinners to salvation and brings them into Abraham's bosom where they will be safe forevermore. And so the Lord knows. There's something that we are always to remember, something that we're prone to forget, that the Lord has all things under his control. If he's able to say to Abraham, look, your children are going to be in a foreign land, they're going to be enslaved. they're going to be there 400 years. Abraham doesn't know how all of that is going to work out.

We can read through the book of Genesis and see how Joseph is raised up and how Joseph is a cause of jealousy among his brethren and how they get rid of him and sell him and how the providence of God moves him into Potiphar's house and how the The bitterness of the wife of Potiphar ends up casting Joseph into prison as she lies about him.

But even then, the Lord hasn't left him. Even then, he is still one of the Lord's people. He's still one of God's chosen. Even though his life doesn't look like he's enjoying life right now and it's very difficult, that doesn't stop him from being one of the Lord's people in the prison. was one of the Lords. In the prison he found the favour, he had the favour of God upon him and the Lord was blessing him there while he was waiting for that time when the Lord would bring him out and take him to be the right hand of Pharaoh and there the wisdom of God would shine forth. as he interprets the dream of Pharaoh and the seven years of plenty, the seven years of famine and that the Lord uses that then to preserve his people. Old Jacob comes and he comes to live in Egypt and there the people of Israel multiply and multiply. So they never stop being the Lord's people.

God is a covenant-keeping God. He entered into a covenant with Abraham, and that remained sure. Abraham may sin against God, but God is not going to abandon him. it's the same with us in the Lord Jesus Christ. If we're in a covenant relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, if his precious blood has been shed upon Calvary on our behalf and we have been purchased by that blood, we have been redeemed by that blood, we are secure for time and for eternity.

That's because we go through a difficult situation. It doesn't mean that God has abandoned us. That's because our life doesn't look quite as enjoyable and exciting as the people of the world's. It doesn't mean that we're outside, we're suddenly outside of the covenant relationship with God. It's an impossibility. The Lord has delivered us by his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We have been taken from that kingdom of darkness and we are in that kingdom of light. We cannot go back. The people of Israel, when they went on their journey, they looked back and they said, oh, for the cucumbers and the watermelons of Egypt, maybe that's where you've come.

Your life is difficult at this moment in time. And you're looking at your neighbors and they're thinking, well, they don't have the problems that I've got. Their life is a lot more easier than my life. And you're thinking, well, if only I was just like them. Why is it I'm meant to be the Lord's and yet I'm getting all the grief? I'm getting all the trouble.

That is how the Lord chastens us. That is how the Lord deals with us. That is how he causes us to grow, causes us to trust in him. Joseph had to go into the prison. Moses had to go into the backside of the desert. The Lord was dealing with them both there in those difficult situations, waiting for his time, waiting for his purposes, 400 years, 40 years. four thousand years for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. God is never in a hurry to bring about his purposes.

It's his time. It is set and he will work. He could have in one moment delivered Israel from Egypt but he chose to go and destroy every single one of the gods of the land of Egypt. Maybe that's what he's doing in your life. He's prolonging your trial because there's things that he needs to deal with, the things that he needs to strip, idols that he needs to knock off the throne.

The gods of Egypt had to go one by one so that it would be seen that there is one God. in Israel, that there is one God in the earth, there is none like the Lord our God. Every single one of the plagues meant something to the people of Egypt. until he comes right down to that last place, the death of the firstborn son, in which is the first threat made to Pharaoh. If you don't, I would take your firstborn son. And so the Lord knew all the time that is what is going to take place and even in the death of that firstborn son there was going to be a prophetic stamp of his son, the one and only son, the beloved son of the Lord Jesus Christ made in the in the lamb that was shed, in the lamb that had its blood shed. the Passover is instituted right at the end of those of those plagues and the blood is placed upon the doorposts and upon the lintels of the houses and when the angel sees the blood he will pass over. So the Lord had all of these things worked out to bring about his own purposes in his own time, to fulfil his own will, and to set forth his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

And he was going to do this by the hand of Moses. As he appears to him in the backside of the desert and reveals himself to him, after he'd been there those 40 years. So we looked at recently that Moses did not feel that he had the ability to do what God wanted him to do. Just like the Apostle Paul that we looked at the other evening, the Lord has given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, except I should be exalted above measure. Use this Moses, a man that could be, that God could be most glorified in. He says, I can't speak. I have a stammering lip. And so the Lord gives him his brother to help him, to speak for him. So the Lord comes and says, let my people go. They were the Lord's people. They had been crying out to him.

He had seen them in their affliction and he had come down to deliver them. The Lord wanted them to be delivered so that they may serve him. If we look at how it was in Egypt, they were slaves serving Pharaoh. Although they were the Lord's people, God wanted them to be delivered, delivered from that slavery so that they may serve him.

He was going to lead them. He was going to provide for them. He was going to bless them with his presence. He was going to give them the law of God, that they would know his holiness. He was going to give them the ceremonial law. He was going to give them the temple and the sacrificial way of worship.

He was going to provide for them. and they needed to be delivered from the land of Egypt and to follow the Lord. As they come out, it's then that they begin to see the Lord leading them. You see, as they were in Egypt, the Lord was with them. The Lord was watching over them. He hadn't abandoned them. He could see them and he could hear their cry.

But as he delivers them, it's then they begin to see him. They see him in the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. They then begin to see his wonders as he opens the Red Sea for them, as he provides them the manna in the wilderness, as he opens the rock and brings the water for them to drink. In Egypt, they didn't see his wonders. But as they walked with him, it's then they began to see all the wonderful things that he could do for them.

I wonder if that is how it is in our life. If we are walking with the Lord, you remember the times when you maybe heard about God, you maybe heard about the Lord Jesus Christ and the things that he could do. You've read about it in the scriptures. But then as you begin to walk with him, as you begin to follow him, You then see his wonders. You then see those answers to prayer. You then see those provisions. You then see that abundance. You then see that providence working on your behalf.

He's let you go. You've been released from that kingdom of darkness and now you're in the kingdom of light experiencing the blessings of that kingdom, the closeness of God. Look at Abraham. What was he? An idol worshipper. What did he become? He became a friend of God.

All of the Lord's people, those who are in Christ Jesus, they are friends of God. They're in Abraham. They have believed God and it's accounted to them for righteousness. They have left the land of Egypt, the spiritual Egypt, and they're on their way to the promised land. And they are a friend of God. The scripture tells us, or Jesus tells us, when you pray, our Father, that is in heaven. That is the closeness of the relationship between the Lord and his people. Christ has removed the enmity. He has removed sin. He's removed the hostility that there was between us and God. And now we've been delivered from Egypt. We've been let go.

And we've been called to serve with the Lord. If you remember, the temple was the dwelling place of God. Although God is everywhere, yet he had his specific dwelling place was there in the Holy of Holies. It was there that the high priest had to go to offer that specific sacrifice on a yearly basis. he would dwell with his people. But what about today? Where does he dwell today?

He dwells in the heart of his people. Our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. That earthly temple, that physical temple has been done away with, destroyed, And now God dwells with man. As Jesus says, he's cast out Satan, he's cast out the kingdom of darkness. He's given a new heart, a new spirit. We may be able to serve the Lord. He is dwelling with us. He's not a God that is far off. He is the God who is near at hand.

As Israel looked to that cloud and to that fire, they knew that their Lord was there. They knew that he was close by. They knew that he was leading them and guiding them and directing them and we should know that the Lord is clear and nearby to us, close at hand, a God who is not a far off, the friend of sinners. and that we can commune with him through his son, the Lord Jesus. The Israelites, how did they commune with God?

Through the priests and through the priestly system. They spoke to God and the prophets spoke to the people. But today we have it all in the Lord Jesus Christ, a prophet, priest, and a king. We have him as our great high priest and our mediator. We have his living word before us by which we can understand and hear his word. We can communicate with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. And as the Lord provided all these things for Israel, so he has provided everything in the Lord Jesus. We saw this morning, everything hangs on Christ. If he be not risen, our faith is in vain. But if he is risen, as he is risen, everything hangs on Jesus, prophet, priest, and king. He is our shepherd, he is our friend, he is our husband, he is our master.

And he's come and he said, let my people go. As he rose again from the grave, let my people go. No fiend of Satan, no kingdom of darkness can hold the Lord's people anymore because Christ has risen. And as the Lord says to Moses, go to Pharaoh and say, let my people go. So he comes again and he says, let my person go. Deliver them from those chains for they are mine. And there is no more accusations against him because I have borne their sin. They belong to me, therefore let them go that they may serve me.

If any of you have ever read of Harriet Tubman, Harriet Tubman was a slave girl in America and she was known as the Moses of her people. She was the one who escaped slavery and entered into the underground railroad and made her way to freedom. But she didn't stay in freedom. She wanted to go back. Why did she want to go back? So that she could get others and lead them to freedom. And so she risked her life multiple times in going back the other way along the underground railroad, all the way back into where the slaves were held. And then she would take them and gather some together and lead them all back to safety. And in doing so, she led some 300 slaves to freedom. And they used to call her the Moses of her people.

And they would sing. come down to Egypt and tell old Pharaoh, let my people go. Isn't that really the song of the Lord's people? So we want the Lord Jesus Christ to come down and go and tell that Pharaoh, Satan, let my people go, release them. that they may walk on the narrow way that leads to life, to the promised land, and not walking with their hands in their pockets. Now walking, singing the praises of their Redeemer, doing their work for His honor and for His glory, serving Him in their day and in their generation, doing all they can to, as the scripture says, pluck from the, as a brand plucked from the burning, doing all they can for the service of their master. Just like Harriet had a concern for those that she left behind and that she risked her life You risked being enslaved again to go back and to deliver her people. And the Lord blessed her labours and many were delivered and brought to freedom. Go and tell old Pharaoh to let my people go, that they may serve me. Are you grateful this afternoon for your salvation? Are you grateful for all that the Lord Jesus Christ has done for you in delivering you from spiritual Egypt?

Are you walking in obedience like Abraham? Abraham believed God. It was accounted unto him for righteousness and that belief that he had gave him a desire to obey God in everything. Do you have that desire this afternoon? Yes, you've been delivered, you've believed God, but are you walking in obedience to him? Are you suppressing the faith that you have?

Let my people go, that they may serve thee. As Jesus says, don't hide your light underneath a bushel. that they may see your good works, that they may glorify your Father that is in heaven, that the Christian life is to be lived in response to this great deliverance. The Christian life is to be lived in response to love, the love that we have had in the Lord Jesus Christ.

That was the desire of the Lord. Let my people go. Why? That they may serve me. And that's the same even today in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let my people go, that they may serve me. May the Lord help us then, if we are his this morning, this afternoon, as we have been delivered to serve him. Amen.

May the Lord help us as we close this service by singing hymn number 54 from Hymns of Worship. There is a name I love to hear, I love to sing its worth. It sounds like music in my ear, the sweetest name on earth. Hymn number 54 from Hymns of Worship, to the tune 124. Is a name I'd love to hear I'd love to sing it well It sounds like music in my ear The sweetest name of all It tells me of a Saviour's love Who died to set me free Tells me of His precious blood The sinner's perfect fear My trembling soul rejoices And tries each rising day It tells me when I still swerve on To trust the Lord Jesus, the name I love so well, the name I love to hear well. The Satan's work can tell, now all can tell. This name shall shed its fragrance still, Her long, red, thorny rose, Shall sweetly smooth the rugged ebb, That leads me up to God.

And that with all the blood both flow From sin and sorrow free I'll sing the new eternal song Of Jesus' love and grace And now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the fellowship and communion of the Holy Spirit, be with us each now and for evermore. Amen.