There we go. Exodus 1 starting
in verse 6 and then we'll go to the end of chapter 2. The children of Israel, I'm sorry,
and Joseph died. and all his brethren, and all
his generation. And the children of Israel were
fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding
mighty, and the land was filled with them. Now there arose a
new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And he said unto
his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are
more and mightier than we. Come on, let us deal wisely. with them, lest they multiply,
and it come to pass that when there falleth out any war, they
join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get
them up out of the land. Therefore they did set over them
taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens, and they built
for Pharaoh treasure cities, Phythum and Ramses. But the more they afflicted the
children of Israel, the more they multiplied and grew. And
they were grieved by the children of Israel. And the Egyptians
made the children of Israel to serve with rigor. and they made
their lives bitter with hard bondage in mortar and brick and
all manner of service in the field, and all their service
wherein they made them serve was with rigor. And the king
of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of
one was Shipra and the name of the other was Pura, and he said
unto them, Why do the office of a midwife, or when you do
the office of a midwife, do the Hebrew women see them upon the
stools, if it be a son, kill it. If it be a daughter, let
her live. But the midwives, but, but, but
the midwives feared God and did not, as the king of Egypt commanded
them, but saved the men, children alive. And the king of Egypt
called for the midwives and said unto them, why have you done
this thing and have saved the men, children alive? And the
midwives said unto the Pharaoh, because the Hebrew women are
not as the Egyptian women, for they are lively and are delivered
air, the midwives come in unto them. 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. And Pharaoh
charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born, you shall
cast into the river. Just murder them again. And every
daughter you shall save a life. Chapter 2, verse 1, And there
went a man of the house of Levi, his name was Amram, and he took
a wife of the daughter of Levi, we don't have to guess at her
name, her name was Jochebed, this is found in Exodus 6, verse
20, the names of the husband and wife. And the woman conceived
a bear son, and when she saw that he was a goodly child, she
hid him three months. And when she could no longer
hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, dabbed it with
slime and with pitch, and put the child therein, and she laid
it in the flags by the river's bank. stood afar off to wit what would
be done with him. And the daughter of Pharaoh came
down to wash herself at the river, and her maidens walked along
the river's edge or side. And when they saw the ark among
the flags, she sent her maiden to fetch it. And when she had
opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the babe wept. And
she had compassion on him and said, this is one of the Hebrew
children. Now everything that was said
before by the king, it doesn't change what he said. Then said
his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a
nurse of the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child for thee?
Pharaoh's daughter said, Go. And the maid went and called
the child's mother. What luck! No, never. And Pharaoh's daughter said unto
her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give
thee thy wages. And the woman took the child,
and nursed it. And the child grew, and she brought
him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she
called his name Moses, and she said, Because I drew him out
of the water." Now, you know, he's in the water. He's by the
bulrushes or the flags or whatever, but he's there. What a glorious
lesson in God's sovereignty, God's wonderful grace, and providential
care for His elect. Let me read you something here. The history of this Moses is
one worthy of strictest attention, and his remarkable life deserves
the closest study. The life of Moses presents a
series of striking antithesis, or types, or shadows. He was
the child of a slave, the son of a queen. He was born in a
hut and lived in a palace. He inherited poverty and enjoyed
unlimited wealth. He was the leader of armies and
the keeper of flocks. He was the mightiest of warriors
and yet the meekest of men. He was educated in the court
and yet dwelt in the desert. He had the wisdom of Egypt and
the faith of a child. He was fitted for the city and
wandered in the wilderness. He was tempted with the pleasures
of sin and endured the hardships of virtue. He was backward in
speech and yet talked with God. He had the rod of a shepherd
and the power of the infinite. He was a fugitive from Pharaoh
and yet an ambassador from heaven. He was the giver of the law and
the forerunner of grace. He died alone in Mount Moab and
appeared with Christ in Judea. No man assisted at his funeral,
yet God buried him." How many types and pictures of the Lord
Jesus Christ is there? But just as our sovereign protected
Moses for the deliverance of his people, He did the same thing with the
Lord Christ. Remember when Herod sent out, he saw that he was
mocked by the wise men, he sent out a decree, every child two
years and under, kill them. Kill them. And yet Christ lived. We see
that in Matthew chapter 2. Now what about us? How many times
perhaps we may look back on our lives We may have lost our life
or thought it was about to, and we're here today. He's redeemed
His people who He foreknew. He will not forsake His people.
So, there's so many types of salvation and pictures of grace
and God's providential dealings. I just want to look at a few
of them. Let's look at this amazing lesson. Let's just look at this
amazing lesson. The first thing we see is Pharaoh.
Okay, Pharaoh represents the enemies of God, the enemies of
Christ, and the enemies of the people of God. Look at this,
in verse 7, the children were fruitful. Verse 8, they were
more in number and mightier than the Egyptians. And then Pharaoh
says, let's deal wisely, or cunningly, or deceptively. Let's deal this
way with these people. And so they set taskmasters over
them to afflict, verse 11. But the more they afflicted them,
the more the children of Israel grew. Verse 13, the Egyptians
made the children of Israel to serve. They made their lives
hard and bitter with bondage. The king of Egypt, he gets the
Hebrew midwives and says, this is what you're going to do. You
go in there. The lady is with child. She bears a child. You help her with that child.
If it's a boy, Kill it. I mean, we think things are bad
today. This was going on thousands of
years before modern warfare. The depravity of man knows no
bounds, no limits, no age group. It doesn't start when you're
ten. It starts when you're born. All are born under sin. So this
is in the heart of every man that do this. It doesn't know any ethnic backgrounds.
It knows no race, no creed, no monetary. No. All are a forsaken
God in their own way. And look at how vicious this
man is. You take this boy. If he's a
boy, you kill him. You shall kill him. Verse 16.
If it's a daughter, he'll live. Then they got... It's amazed
me that they didn't follow what he said. He's king. I wonder
if there was any repercussions. We don't know that. So that didn't
work. So then he just tells his own
people, you see a boy born, you throw it in the river. Now that
river is the Nile, that river is crocodile infested. We cannot have these people increasing
in number. We cannot have this man to rule
over us. So he schemes this horrible,
horrific plan. But look at, God has other plans. Look at verse 17. But, but, that's
like Ephesians, but God, who's rich in mercy. But the midwives
feared God and did not, as the king of Egypt commanded them,
but saved the men, children alive. Our Lord will plunder the best
laid plans of men, the best thought out plans, and the most intellectual
workings of man to accomplish his divine purpose. But the midwives feared God.
whether it's the sure and faultless rise of the seed of woman, as
here in Moses, to accomplish the deliverance of his people
in their salvation. Moses was going to be used. He
didn't know it. He was just a little kid in the
bulrushes and an ark. But God's purpose and will will
never be thwarted. And Lynn and I were talking about
this. See what they did? Now I have to say this, the midwives
feared God and did not as the king of Egypt commanded him.
Now again, we are, it's pretty clear in scriptures, we are to
obey the magistrates, in our case the president and the governors
and the mayors and this and that, but if it contradicts what we
know to be true in the word, we do not do it. Shut this building
down, nope, not gonna do it. Not going to do it. Why? Because
the scripture of Hebrews says, forsake not the assembling of
yourselves together. If those in Rome could still
gather under the guise of, you know, they could do it somewhere
else. But they were going to gather together under the threat
of death. That's why they had the fish.
That's why the fish was the big deal. God's people, and I know
we've got modern conveniences and all these different things,
And that's good. I'm glad we have them. I'm glad
we have them. There are some who cannot come,
distance or whatever it may be. But the midwives feared God. That's it. That's the key. That's
going to be our next point. But that's faith. One old writer said, he who lives
by faith will never die by fear. He just won't do it. Now, death
is a fearful thing. But our Lord has conquered death. He will save His people, or as
it relates to each and every elect, chosen sinner, we will
see all things work together for good. I refer you to that
little pamphlet, the book of Esther. I refer you to Daniel
in the lion's den. I refer you to Joseph. You thought
evil against me, but God meant it for good. That's what we have
going on here. We, through many trials and tribulations,
shall inherit the kingdom of our Father. We must go through
affliction and the furnace to see the gold purified and the
dross consumed. And it shall be for His glory
and for our best interest. That's the first thing. Pharaoh.
He tried and tried and tried to decrease the number and he
couldn't do it. Faith. Faith. Faith. But the midwives feared
God. Faith. Okay, let's look at the
second thing. Faith in this lesson. The midwives. The first thing
is that they feared God. But the midwives feared God.
Or that word could be believed or trusted in Jehovah God. That's
the first thing they did. Then the second thing they did
was action. They didn't do what they were supposed to do. Then
the third thing is, with every act of faith, of obedience, there's
a blessing. Okay? So, this is a gift from
God. And so therefore, so is faith. You try to produce these gifts
of faith and fear. We can't do it. It's not natural
to us. Only sin is natural to us. Sin
upon sin. Wretchedness upon wretchedness.
Turn with me to Proverbs chapter 9. They feared God and therefore
would not obey, direct disobedience to the command of the king. I
don't know what happened. They didn't know what was going
to happen. But here's what we see. Here's what we see. Proverbs
9 and verse 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. And the knowledge of the Holy
is understanding. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 30. 1 Corinthians 1
verse 30. But of Him are you in Christ
Jesus who is made unto us wisdom. Righteousness, sanctification,
redemption. That according as it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. Did they glory in the fact that they
feared God in our story? No. Faith was aroused. Fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. And Christ has made unto us wisdom. It's a gift.
That's my point. These are gifts. What they're
doing. Midwives feared God. What they're
doing. is a gift of God. Now, the blessing,
look at verse 20, Therefore God dealt well with the midwives.
And verse 21, And it came to pass, because the midwives feared
God, that He made them houses. Now people in religion get it
wrong. They say, I want houses and I need this and I need that,
so I'm going to fear God. You can't do it. Fear and faith
and grace and repentance and love is all a gift of God. If He doesn't give it to us,
we can't have it. We won't get it. But the beginning of the
fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And Christ is made
unto all these things. So, you just simply, as Bruce
says, live your life with direct obedience to the Word of God.
Familiarize ourselves with this Word. Look at it daily. Open
the book. Crack it daily. This is how we
know God's will. Something happens. I'm going
on what the Lord says. And He will bless faith. He rewards
faith. And this is what He did here.
Okay, then now you've got the mother and father. Jochebed,
the mother, and Amram, the father. Verse 2, And there went a man
of Levi, and a house, and took a wife of Levi, and she conceived
and bare a son. And when she saw that the child,
verse 2, chapter 2, when she saw that the child was a goodly
child, she hid him three months. Now that makes it look like,
well, he was beautiful, so she... No. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
11. We'll see what really happened.
Hebrews chapter 11. And verse 23. Hebrews 11, that great
chapter of faith. Hebrews 11, verse 23. By faith, there's that word again,
by fear, by trust, by belief in God, Moses, when he was born,
was hid three months of his parents. Why did they do that? By faith. Because they saw he was a proper
child and they were not afraid of the King's commandment. Fear. There's no fear there. Fear of
the Lord. But no fear. They were not afraid
of the King's commandment. They saw he was a proper child.
And that could be that he was a child graced by God. But they did what they did. And
in Acts, I think it's chapter 7, verse 20, it talks about the
dad. They're both involved. was hid by his parents. Both of them. Both of them had
faith. Both of them were believers.
They acted because faith was given to them to fear God and
not man. And to put that child into an
ark. Now listen to this. How much
faith does this take? This is the faith of Abraham.
To slay your own son. In the New Testament it says
that he believed God was able to raise him from the dead. So
he was going to kill Isaac. Faith is the same. Faith has
the same object, has the same Lord, and produces the same results. They put the child in an ark
in a crocodile infested river. They took the child and put him
in the river, the very same place where Pharaoh said, if you find
a boy, drown it. Or just a little baby, you just
throw it in the middle of the water and it's going to die. Why wouldn't they, I mean, if
common sense, I would take, run inland. Get as far away from
that river, because that river pictures death. Do not go to
the river. I believe God's gonna take care
of this child. Baby's born, three months, puts it in an ark in
Crocodile Infested River. You would think, that the mother
and father would have went the other way, not towards the river.
Faith or obedience will have its reward. The mother will be,
as our story says, will be reunited with the son. Now how amazing
is that? The Egyptians, they go running,
they go find somebody that can nurse the baby, and then they
find the mother, and the mother and child are
reunited. Instead of never seeing that child again, the mother
and child are reunited, to nurse it to life. Isn't our God truly
beyond amazement and compassionate to us poor sorry sinners? We're full of unbelief and fear.
God takes care of His own. Without faith, it says in Scriptures,
it's impossible to please God. Therefore, He imputes Unto us
righteousness, and with that comes faith, all through the
merits and the worth of the doing and dying of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We do not have faith by birth. We cannot conjure it up, just
like we can't conjure up fear and belief and trust. He has
to create in us a new heart. The third thing I see in this
is the overruling grace of God in all the events. Why did Pharaoh's
daughter come to this point, this spot in the river Tawarsh? Why was Moses preserved from
sure death at the command of the king to kill him at the river's
edge? Why did this daughter This daughter,
Pharaoh, see and have compassion on the child in direct defiance
of her father's command. It's a Hebrew. She knew it was
a Hebrew. She said it's one of the Hebrew children. And it's
a boy. Make your life easy. Just throw
it and walk away. Why? Why did the Egyptian sister
with Pharaoh's daughter even think about nursing a child with
another despised Hebrew? Go back to the Egyptians. Surely
in the combines there's a woman who could nurse this child. But go to the despised Hebrews
and have someone nurse it, which happens to be the mother. It's
just too wonderful. I just love this. Why was this
all to play out right here on the shore, the banks of this
river? Why was it to all play out for
the very destruction of Pharaoh and his mighty army when he himself
said, if you find a boy, kill it? But this was all going to
play out through history. And Moses was going to rise up
and the children of Israel were going to leave. and all of Pharaoh
and his army were going to be drowned in the Red Sea. Why?
Because when God speaks, no one can silence Him. When God sets
forth His decree, who can alter it? None, no one, be it a man,
a woman, a boy or a girl. The Revelation says, Our God
omnipotent reigneth. And this is such a beautiful
picture. He's ruling and reigning. The fourth thing we see here
is a lesson of free grace in the salvation of His church.
Every lesson, every story in this book, all Scriptures, not
only speaks about Christ, but it speaks about His redemptive
work on behalf of His chosen bride. Moses. Look at the last verse of chapter
2 that we read. Verse 10, And the child grew,
and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, And he became her son,
and she called his name Moses, because she said, I have drawn
him out of the river. Drawn out. Drawn out of the river. Now the overview. He's been drawn out of the river.
The river shows death. Because that's where all the
kids were going to die. They're going to be cast, all
the boys. That picture's death. He was
drawn out. to rescue His own people. To rescue every last Israelite. Turn to 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3, verse 18, For Christ
also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that
he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but
quickened by the Spirit." There's the gospel. Though Moses
was brought to the place of death, the water's edge, the river where
death reigned, he was delivered by the hand of God and set to
set the Hebrews free at long last. We died in Christ and we
will rise again in Christ. Ephesians chapter 2, verses 5
and 6. Ephesians 2, verse 5 and 6, Even
when we were dead in sins, He hath quickened us together with
Christ, by grace are you saved, and hath raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We, here today, as in our lesson,
are guaranteed a merciful providence and provision in God as He spares
our life from sure death to bring us to glory with Him one of these
days. And that's all done through Christ.
It's the same thing back here in this early, early history
of Moses. And it's in our history. God
is foreordained. It will come to pass. It will
certainly come to pass. So in closing, Bless our God. Bless your soul. Ye who know
by faith in Christ and His Word, who can see God working behind
every situation, behind every minute circumstance and every
scene. Behind every scene. You draw
that. I want to know what's going on. God's going on. God is what's
going on. He controls all things. And that
is for us. In closing, turn to Hebrews chapter
2. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 10. Verse 9, But we see Jesus. Now
verse 10, For it became Him for whom are all things, and by whom
are all things, in bringing many sons and daughters unto glory,
to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering."
And Romans chapter 11. Speaking of the depth of the
riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, Verse 36, For of Him, God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, for of Him, and through
Him, and to Him, are all things, to whom be glory forever. All things are in Him, for Him,
and because of Him. Look at this lesson. Look at
this lesson in wonder and amazement. and see the redemptive work of
Christ. See the providential dealings
of God with His people. This child's going to live. He's
not going to die. He's going to turn Pharaoh and
Egypt upside down, and He's going to deliver His people. That's
kind of about what He did here, and I'm so thankful. Bruce, would
you close us?