In this sermon, the preacher discusses the role of Jesus as the last Adam and his victory over sin and Satan. He emphasizes that Jesus willingly faced temptation and gave Satan every opportunity to prove that he was not the Son of God. However, Jesus triumphed over Satan and stripped him of his weapons, leaving him helpless and conquered. The preacher then shifts to the story of Moses and the burning bush, highlighting the three lessons Moses learned in his journey towards becoming a deliverer. The preacher draws parallels between Egypt as a representation of the world under the control of sin and death, and the deliverance that Christians experience through the power of Christ.

So now I'm going to turn to your, the subject before us, that of the Book of Exodus. We're going to give two talks today that are absolutely necessary background subjects in order to bring you into, shall we say, mentally at least, into harmony with the intended teaching of the Spirit of God in bringing up the subject of the tabernacle. It's God's answer to the conditions that we find described here in the earlier chapters of the book. That's how God has written the Word of God. He gives us, like in the schoolroom, the dark background of a blackboard and then he writes upon that his answer to the situation as contained in that dark background. Man in his sin and departure and rebellion needs a remedy and God has the remedy, only God. And so that is portrayed for us in picture form in the subject before us in this wonderful book of Exodus. Being the second book of the Bible, by the very number, and we're going to study numbers and their value in the Word of God, for they are very significant, and the number two indicates rescue. There has to be a second person to rescue one who is helpless and would drown, we'll suggest, or would die if it weren't for somebody to come along and rescue him, like the good Samaritan came where the poor man was and took care of him. And so the second book in the Bible indicates the second person of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ, coming to rescue a man in the dilemma in which his sin has placed him or placed us. And so the whole thing is a marvelous description of the New Testament therefore, the second book or second part of the Bible. So it says in the first verse then, Exodus chapter one, verse one. Now these are the names, fifth verse, and all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls. For Joseph was in Egypt already, and Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceedingly mighty. And the land was filled with them. Now there arose up 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, Pithom and Ramses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of 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 in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service wherein they made them serve was with rigor. And the king of Egypt made a spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other pure. And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and seeth them upon the stools, if it be a son, then ye shall kill him. But if it be a daughter, then she shall live. 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 ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive? And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as Egyptian women, for they are lively, and they are delivered ere 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 ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive. Now of course this is literal history. It actually happened. But we are treating it, as the Spirit of God I believe very definitely intends that we should treat it. Not merely as a book of information as to ancient history. Otherwise I wouldn't waste my time, nor yours either, in coming all this way to talk about some historic lesson that you could easily read if you wished, and be informed just as equally as I could, wherever I might have been. The point we're interested in, is what God would have us learn today, of the circumstances that we see described so clearly, here in this opening chapter of Exodus. Clearly God is the author of circumstances, not man. And in those circumstances, man and his attitude towards God is tested. And as to man's reaction under those conditions of test, so God's attitude and disposition is rendered to us. He provides the remedy for our situation, and if we'll graduate shall we say, from the class or the lesson, in that class He'll put us into a higher class and teach us more lessons. Well anyway, we find here that hunger is a driving force in people's lives, and if you read the earlier chapters, that is chapters in the book of Genesis, you'll find that there was a famine in the land up further north, and Jacob and his children had to find food. So they learned through quite a chain of circumstances, of which they had a great deal to do, that Joseph, their own brother, talking about the children of Jacob, their own brothers had tried to kill him and sold him instead into the hands of the Midianite merchantmen, and they had taken him as a captive and a slave down into this land of Egypt. Now I'm going to have to be as brief as I can, and yet I do hunger to tell you the details here. It's so consistent with the whole story of man's departure from God, and so we see here that they had sinned in dealing with their brother like this, and God was seeking to bring them to a realization of their need, and to bring us to a realization of our need, spiritual hunger in our case, due to our rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ as a race of people, the human race, in spurning God's grace and mercy to us. They were in circumstances in the land of Canaan that were quite sufficient to sustain life, and in fact a marvellous country, capable of producing the fruit and of provision as we know by history, yet nevertheless God brought about a famine, a land full of everything and yet had nothing for them. That's true in connection with man in relation to God. The Garden of Eden was filled with every luxury, every circumstance that could satisfy and make happy the couple that had been placed there. But they were placed there not alone in the image of God, but also to be in union with God, and to be in cooperation with God. But they chose to cut themselves off from link with God by disobeying his words of command. Consequently they were a ruined race at once. They were the head of the ruined race. So God, to quote the revised version, Mr Darby, as it happens to be in the last verse of Genesis 3, so God drove out man, the whole race, not just Adam and Eve. They were the federal heads of the whole human race of which you are a part, and me. And so God drove out man. He couldn't have man in a state of rebellion. So man had cut himself off from God. Now God had made man to enjoy God's presence. And none but God could satisfy the natural inclination of the man's heart. The nature that God had put into that man, none but God could truly and fully and completely satisfy. Though man's conditions and surroundings were limited, nevertheless if he walked in fellowship with God, then God's unlimited character and powers and blessings would completely satisfy and fulfill all of man's possibilities and potentials. And so man cutting himself off from union with God by disobedience constituted his own ruin. And though he did not lose, the powers given to him to enjoy God's presence, he did lose the sphere of their operation. Consequently man is a dissatisfied creature and couldn't be anything else but dissatisfied because he was made for a higher form of enjoyment, higher level of fellowship, even with deity themselves. And deity would be the complement of man's creatorial powers. That's why the world today has gone crazy in seeking some pleasure, seeking some fun, seeking some satisfaction. And the parting word today is have fun. But God made us for his pleasure. And we're not concerned about his pleasure by nature. Because of our renegade state, and therefore there needs to be bringing back. So Christ once suffered in the flesh the just for the unjust that he might bring us back to God. That's the sphere of our perfect and complete enjoyment. We know in married life that a well chosen companion is the complement of the other, that each need the other. Now in religion, in the things of God, to say the proper word, why Christ, God, the Holy Spirit, the word of God, is the complement of the individual. There's no other source of permanent satisfaction and lasting joy. And so we find that the circumstances here are going to bring about that situation in the tabernacle and the people gathered around, especially in connection with the priests, allowed to come into the presence of God and hold sacrificial worship before God in bringing to God that which God can take pleasure in and they themselves share with God in, shall we say, the national garden of Eden, the tabernacle, and its circumstances and furniture and all the sacrifices and priesthood. So that's the objective we're going to aim for in our studies. We'll commence them in detail tomorrow evening when we take up the first vessel, the Ark of the Covenant. We'll have the model up here where I'm standing and everything fixed as best we know how for the cramped conditions. Now here we find then that Egypt is a picture of the world in which you and I now live, under the heel of a great taskmaster, which is not merely Satan, but the great law of sin and death. We are told in the Eighth of Romans of our deliverance, who are Christians, those of us who are born again, our deliverance from that. He has set me free from the bondage of sin and death. For the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, the second verse of Romans 8, the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law, principle of sin and death, in which I was born, to which I was bound, and from which I could never break the union. But God has, through Christ, through redemption, made this possible for every one of us. Now Egypt, the word in the Egyptian language is Mizraim, meaning double straightness, two narrow strips of land, the banks of the river Nile, surrounded by mountains and sandy deserts by many, many hundreds of miles. And the struggle of existence is very, very obvious in that land, those two narrow strips. They are utterly dependent upon the overflow of the river Nile, which brings down a very fertile amount of silt, that overflowing the land around, otherwise pure sand, it leaves a very fertile topsoil, and according to the overflow of the river, so they would either have much to eat, and feast or famine, one or the other. And so if they have a good overflow, they have a feast generally, and if they don't, it's a poor situation. Well, all right, now we'll suppose, for instance, that the crops are coming very promisingly, they've had a good overflow of the river, lots of good fertile silt have been left on the top of the sand, and the crops are coming along beautifully. All right, then one night, this is always quite, quite possible, and very frequently the case, a huge windstorm is set up, and there's tons and tons and tons of sand from all the surrounding Sahara deserts, the desert of Zim, the desert of Tabor, and all, no matter what way the wind comes, can lift up the sand, and dump it over the mountains on the crops, and now they're ruined again. It's to indicate the struggle in this world for, to live. The struggle for living, an honest living, is harder still to earn today. And so the world in which you and I live, can never truly produce satisfaction for the heart, and our hearts crave it, do we not? And so God, in his infinite grace, allows this picture to come to our attention, to show these people as slaves, under conditions over which they have no control, and this great arch enemy of the people of God, Pharaoh, and his taskmasters, are representatives of the conditions that are against the progress of God's word, and God's work, through Christ, in the hearts of the population of the world in which we live today. Along with that, with the rigor and the bondage and the demand for more brick, I know many sides of business life, I've had many years of business in my own life, and the efficiency expert comes along and says, now we've got the record of your sales, for instance, for 1959, now 1960 we want those, that record doubled, more bricks, more bricks, we want more bricks. And then they put you in a place of responsibility, and you can't do what you used to do anymore, and you've got to do more work though, nevertheless, and show more results, and that's the demand. And people are crowded, and they're crowded, what Satan is after, and the spirit of the age is after, is to crush out Christ, and that's what we see in the death of the man-child here. The order was given out by Pharaoh and his men, that the male child shall be killed. Why? Well my friend, I don't know if you're familiar enough with the word of God, and with God's ways of doing, but here is the beginning of the whole Bible-wide subject of the sinister attack of Satan, to try and prevent the birth of the man-child promised in Genesis 3 15, to the woman after she had sinned, and God said, thy seed shall crush his head. Thy seed, the woman's seed would crush his head, not the man's seed, but the woman's seed. And so, this great objective that God introduced in that 15th verse of Genesis 3, is an objective that Satan is going to prevent, if he can. And down through the history, Satan always works through a front, never does he come out into the limelight, and to be seen, and heard, and known, and recognized. But he works through a serpent, or he works through a Pharaoh, or he works through an Athaliah, or he works through a Herod, or he works through some other person, or thing, or group. And working through them to crush God's man-child, Christ Jesus, from being born in your life and mine. Now that's the way this chapter presents itself. Now, there are two persons introduced, and whenever God gives the names of people and places, but these, in this two cases, it's verse 15, it's the name of the two midwives. And we all know what the midwife is, what her job is. Well, all right, now in order to bring life, real life, into your heart and mine, a midwife is usually used. I'm not talking about the literal midwife now, I'm talking about God's midwife. And that is the evangelist, the preacher of the gospel. He's one who brings the good news. And strikingly enough, the word in verse 15 means beauty, and the word, the name pure, means utterance. The beautiful utterance. And isn't that a picture of the gospel? And if you'll turn in your Bibles at your leisure, or write it down for the future reference to Isaiah 52.7, you'll get the beauty, beautiful utterance, spoken by the prophecy concerning the coming Messiah. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who bringeth good tidings of good, of joy. And so we see it's a foreview of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the great midwife, shall we say, who comes bringing the good news of deliverance, of bringing us into life, bringing life to us, and salvation to those who are dead in trespasses and in sin. Of course I've got to be brief, so I can't repeat too much. But here we find that in the second chapter of our Bibles, of the book of Exodus rather, one great man child is born. Whether they liked it or not, Moses was born. And what does it mean, name mean? Drawn out or taken out. Isn't that striking for the new birth? Isn't that a picture of new birth? Taken out. Out of what? Out of the world. For God. Separated by our being born again. By the midwife's action in fearing God and not fearing the king. See of the women, their husbands are not named. There's no name of a man in connection with these two women. Now don't think modern thoughts about independence of men here. In the Bible, it is God's thought for women to be subjected and independent upon the male. That's God's order. Whether man has done any item, whether today we have any popular ideas differently, doesn't change the fact of the teaching of Scripture. Now, here we find that these women have no men. Meaning that they are utterly dependent upon God himself. And so the evangelist is. He is not dependent upon men. He shouldn't be looking to men for guidance as to what he shall say or where he shall go. He is dependent upon God utterly for the blessing upon his word. For the bringing of life, bringing Christ into the life. And so preaching Christ is preaching the good news. And Moses is brought into being now. There are three forties in Moses life. He lived 120 years. Three forties in Moses life. Now here's a picture of the human life divided into three parts. The first forty of Moses life, he was being prepared to be somebody. To be a big person. To be very prominent. Very much, great power. Great authority. It's important. That's what the world thinks. Then the second forty, when Moses was driven out to the back side of the desert to be a shepherd. A thing that the Egyptian royalty hated. He had to learn in those forty years, the second forty, that he was nobody. And then the third forty, after God took him up and sent him out with the rod in his hand and gave him directions to lead and direct the slaves of Egypt out of bondage into liberty. He learned the third and most important lesson. That's the trouble. We learn it so late in life. After he was 80 years of age, he found out that God was everything. And he was sufficient. But he was necessary. Two things. God is necessary and God is sufficient. And when you and I get that clearly in our minds, we won't mind meeting in a little humble place like this. Without a spire. Without a paid preacher. Without the incense and the service and the beautiful choir. All the appurtenances of the world religion today absent. But like the tabernacle covered with a black covering. Out of sight. Ugly. Unattractive to the eye of the natural observer. But inside pure gold. Pure silver. Gems and jewels and sacrifices of praise to God. And these are the things that should attract and hold our hearts today. It's a new set of values. An altogether new set of values. Not as the world makes them. But as we learn them from the word of God and find them to be so true. Third chapter. Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the backside of the desert and came to the mountain of God. Now if you looked in your maps you wouldn't find any mountain called the mountain of God. But God called it there because that because it's at these various mountains. There are three or four of them in the Bible called the mountain of God. At these mountains we're at an elevation where we can see the mind of God. The purposes of God. We can look at great distances physically of course but illustrative of the fact that we can get into the mind of God in these great mountains. And this is a mountain of God. He'll go down into the valley later on but he will never forget what he learned in the mountain of God. Even to Horeb. Second verse. And the angel of the Lord and wherever that occurs is always in the singular and it refers to deity. It's the Lord himself. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush and it's a thorn bush. And he looked and behold the thorn bush burned with fire and the thorn bush was not consumed. Now here's a lovely lovely picture shall I say or shall we say a very accurate picture. Maybe my term lovely isn't very very suitable but at any rate it's a very accurate picture of the world. You see since sin came in the thorn which is the sign of the curse of sin has been here. And man every one of us by nature are a thorn in God's side. We're thorns and thistles. We're an aggravation. We've offended God. We are an insult to him. We have no right to exist. We haven't we haven't justified our creation by nature. And this is a picture in shall we say composite form of what the world was in God's sight. And yet his presence in the midst of this thorn bush in a desert. No no beauty no green thing nothing to nourish or strengthen its inhabitants. A barren desert. A moral picture of the world today. Nothing in it for God. Nothing in it for the satisfaction of the heart of those who live in it. And we find that God can dwell in a bush like that in a world like that without burning it up. It's of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. But his mercies pay or not. And why is it that God can deal with us and have anything to do with a corrupt world like ours and people in it. It's the people we refer to when we speak of the world. The world hasn't done anything to bring dishonor upon God. Nor he the brute beast but only man. But why is it that God can dwell in our midst. Well it tells Moses take your shoes off your feet for the ground whereon you stand is holy. What does this suggest. It suggests the work of deity the work of the Father Son and Holy Spirit at Calvary. It's the work of Christ and God's entire and complete. Listen to me God's entire and complete satisfaction with that work with that person his dear son. That he can allow Moses and all the rest of us to stand in his presence and he'll not burn us up as we richly deserve. And listen to me folks this talk we heard this morning about souls having to be to live up to certain conditions before they can be saved and they can't know it until the end of their days. That is deliberately contradicting and twisting the scripture out of its place over the radio we heard it this morning. That's the trouble people just are simply swamped with bad teaching and they'll never refer to the word of God all over the world just a portion of scripture taken out of its context to prove their point and misapply the statement they do read. But what a pity Moses stands upon holy ground but Moses what's he he's nothing but a sinner. He's a man who's done murder. He's a man who's had no standing in the presence of God. If God takes Moses up he does it by sovereign grace just as he did Abraham. Abraham and his parents and all the rest of them in that Ur of Chaldees were idolaters and Moses was a man who was a criminal. He had murdered an Egyptian and buried him in the sand and God didn't tell him to do it. He did it in anger. What right did he come to stand in the presence of God? No more right than you or I and we know right more right than he. But God has found a way thank God whereby we can stand in his presence and come with repentance and be blessed. Well anyway down in verse 13 Moses said unto God after he'd been told to come and deliver the people of Israel out of Egypt. You can read the previous verses please at your leisure and 13th verse of the third chapter of Exodus and Moses said unto God Behold when I come unto the children of Israel and shall say unto them the God of your fathers has sent me unto you and they shall say to me what is his name what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses I am that I am and he said thou shalt thou say unto the children of Israel I am have sent me unto you. What does that mean? Well my friend it's a it may not appeal to you at first but it's a most marvelous picture of God's method of how he is able to deal with us and bring blessing to us contrary to the appearance of things what we deserve and how we want it and our likes and dislikes etc. You see this electric light up here and probably you know enough about electricity and the ladies to know that there are two wires going to that light up there. There are two wires going to the clock two wires going to your electric equipment one is called a live wire with the electricity because it's connected with the generating station somewhere the other is called a dead wire because it's connected with the ground. All right now let's change the terms we'll change the word live wire to the I am wire and the dead wire to the I am not wire. Now if God is the I am wire the source of power what is the dead wire a picture of? Will you take your place that's your place my place I am not I'm not able to please God I'm not able to do anything right I'm not good I'm not righteous I'm not clean I'm not pure I'm ignorant of the mind of God I don't know his mind I'm not I am not I am not that's why Adam fell that's why you and I are where we are today by nature when I say by nature I'm talking about us before we are born again and if you're not born again it's your state right now. You are not able to work out your own salvation you're not able to do a thing to please God so don't join church to please God because that'll make him more displeased with you it'll only hurt rather than help stranger that may sound. But there was one came into this world who has made a change for some of us and it's his name is Jesus Christ the son of God and what did he say his name was I am the bread of life one I am the light of the world two I am the door by me if any man into any should be saved three I am the good shepherd four I am the resurrection and the life five I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh under the father but by me six I am the true vine and when those who arrested him in the garden of Gethsemane he said to them whom seek ye and he said I am and they fell back they couldn't have touched him had he not permitted them and said this is your hour and the power of darkness and he put himself into man's hand and it was a circumstance that God had ordered in order to show what man is what man's heart is in our true state and if we'll only open our eyes my friend you'll see your picture in that awful situation the Lord Jesus is the great I am now hurriedly please turn to the fourth chapter and this is where we'll have to stop but we'll finish this evening Lord willing fourth chapter and Moses answered and said he's still at the burning bush but behold they will not believe me nor hearken unto my voice for they will say the Lord has not appeared unto thee and the Lord said unto him what is that in thine hand and he said a rod and he said cast it on the ground and he cast it on the ground and it became a serpent and Moses fled from before it now stop just a minute here we see the modus operandi of God's great delivering work the work of Christ in redemption is in view here what how is he going to do it well he's going to do it that is in your heart and mind by taking us back to the garden of Eden a man there was given power authority to have dominion over the fish of the sea over the fowl of the air over every living creature on the earth and the fish and the fish and the fowl and everywhere else he was to be the king of the world God had delegated to man certain authority certain powers and he was to exercise them for God what is the insignia of power what's the symbol of power and authority among men men in office well there's the office there's the staff the mace there's the back of the speaker's desk in the house of representatives and behind on one of your dimes I don't know if you've got a dime but you might as well pull one out if you have I've got one I think no never mind I haven't got one but you have anyway you look at your dime if you can and at your leisure on the back you'll see a bundle of rods tied around with a leather band and then in the middle of the rod projecting above the rest is an axe an axe head now that's the symbol of delegated power that's what they've got in the emblazoned on the wall behind the speaker's desk in the house of representatives that's what's used by the Bank of Italy as their uh trademark the old automobile called the Huffmobile had it as their trademark it's the mace or the Macy's and the fatties also is another name for it it speaks of man's authority when the queen was coronated in London in Westminster Abbey she received three scepters three scepters and one was a globe with a cross on it showing Christ as the king over the world through his death on Calvary's cross these are emblems of authority delegated to her the scepters of legal lawful secular government the book the ball or globe with picture of the world and the earth and the cross on top signature insignia of her being the the uh part of the head of the Church of England her religious authority all right now the scepter as we spoke at speak of the Lord Jesus in the first of Hebrews that a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom it's a rod may be decorated may be emblazoned with jewels but it's a rod nevertheless a stick what is it what did Moses have in his hand a rod God was going to delegate authority and power to Moses to deliver them the slaves of Israel out of Egypt all right the Lord Jesus came into this world and he says all power has been given unto me in heaven and in earth all authority now Moses then is the picture of Adam the first in the garden of Eden and God gave him power authority and what did he do with it he threw it away just did exactly that and by throwing it away he brought about a situation that he couldn't control so he ran away from it in other words my friend the sin question is something you can't face you cannot face your sin question don't try i can't face it i can't meet it i can't remedy it if only only i had power words of power to impress that upon my hearers especially if you're here unsaved only one person can control and to and can change the situation you are utterly helplessly lost under the awful indictment of your sin and you can't remedy it Moses ran away from it now let's read verse 4 and the Lord said unto Moses put up thine hand and take it by the tail now that's a silly thing to do for a snake who's going to take it for the tail i have some pets snakes around my place down in florida and though i know they're helpless and i mean they're dangerous at all they're harmless i did take hold of one by the tail he crawled up my arm and i didn't like it so i shook it off there's something about a snake anyway i don't know why kids put in their pockets and in this anyway we find that this is a venomous snake and he's to take it for the tail and what did what happened it became a rod in his hand a rod of power a rod of authority and this is the rod from now on who's which is called the rod of God the rod of Aaron the rod of Moses he that rod he stretched over the red the red sea and with a wind that night the waters parted and gave them a dry path through it and it was a picture of death death is that unknown quantity and God can give the child of God a path a dry path through it because death has lost its sting for the christian but now there's there's the rod the stick that went into this bitter water there's the rod that was held out over their malachites and the war was won for Israel there's the rod that went over the the red sea the um the Jordan and there was the rod that smoked the rock all this is the product of the victory gained for us by the Lord Jesus Christ what did he do well my friend Moses in the fourth verse here is a picture of the last Adam in the first third verse is a picture of the first Adam in the back in the fourth verse is a picture of the last Adam and what did the Lord Jesus do he came and took up the sin question and he gave Satan and sin the full length of the rope he took it for the tail gave it every opportunity to prove that he was not son of God that he was a sinner that he was unable to do anything for us he gave satan the complete length of rope he went and faced satan face to face the first and only time that satan was ever out in the open he demanded no front now in that temptation in the in the wilderness of Jesus and Jesus stripped him of all his weapons and satan went away helpless defenseless conquered a victim of success by the Lord Jesus and Christ came out of conqueror a victor you see first Adam was tempted by satan he fell the last Adam was tempted by satan and satan fell now our sinful state is the result of man's test in the garden of Eden by the temptation number one but our salvation state our state of salvation depends upon the victory of the man who was tested in the temptation number two the conquest of Christ over satan and now we find the next thing uh he says in verse five that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob hath appeared unto thee and the furthermore unto him put now thine hand into thy bosom and he put his hand into his bosom and when he took out took it out the whole his hand was leprosy snow oh now what well let's go and see the picture that's given to us in mark's gospel chapter seven leprosy is always a picture of sin mark chapter seven verse 21 speaking the Lord Jesus speaking for with from within out of the heart of man things that we promise we blame the devil for we find it out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts adulteries fornications murders theft covetousness wickedness deceit lasciviousness and evil eye blasphemy pride foolishness all these evil things come from the devil oh no from within now don't blame the devil he's got enough burden to bear for all eternity but don't blame the devil for what we're we're guilty of and so this man moses was told to put his hand in his bosom he's dealing with the sin question again even after we're saved we've still got that evil nature how can it be cured well now he says put now thine hand into thy put thine hand into thy bosom again verse seven and he put his hand into his bosom again and plucked it out of his bosom and behold it was turned again as what as his other flesh what's this mean it means that the purifying work of the spirit of god after we're saved entering the believer his work is to clean things up that's why he came down on the apostles and disciples and from the church in the early acts of the apostles in cloven tongues of fire instead of the form of a dove as it came on the lord jesus because there was nothing to clean out for him he was sinless but for the unsaved man woman and child and we need the cleansing fires of the word of god in the power and energy of the spirit of god if we'll bow to them that's the question because we're so stubborn but that's why we've got to come to as little children and some of us are so old we get stuck up proud rebellious against being considered to be necessary to be a child again but my friend to be newborn you've got to be a child to be born again you've got to return to babyhood spiritually speaking and you've got to start learning from the ground up and so we find this wonderful story of this uh corrective uh power by the lord jesus first by the lord jesus in taking up the sin question but the tale so to speak and dealing with it successfully and conquering satan and all sin providing a remedy and the proof of that is that he can raise dead people romans 1 tells us how does that prove that he has a power over sin my friend death is the consequence of sin and if he can undo death and produce a live person out of the grave after being there four days well then you know very well that he has power over the consequences of sin therefore you can conquer sin conquer disease conquer everything he is absolutely supreme christ and he alone religion isn't christ is you see we're not preaching religion we're continually referring you to christ a person that is christianity not religion and so last it says in the eighth verse and it shall come to pass if they will not believe thee neither hearken to the voice of the first sign that they will believe the first the voice of the second sign the latter sign and it shall come to pass if they will not believe also these two signs the work of the lord jesus and the work of the holy spirit they won't believe either one all right that thou shalt take of the water of the river a picture of the word of god and pour it upon the dry land the dry land picture of the hardened hard heart of man rejecting the word of god and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon dry land there's blood guiltiness having to bear the consequences of one's own sin for all eternity even a picture like that found in the book of exodus early chapter tonight we'll take up the 11th the 10th plague and introduction to the tabernacle and its answer to all man's sad story and history may god bless these thoughts to everyone's heart and go over these scriptures for yourself don't accept just what i've said but recognize what has been said and try and see if that doesn't fit not merely in the passage itself but the whole word of god now if the whole bible is is portrayed and there's no uh break on the truth of god in the doctrines of the new testament well then i'm may sound wrong but you've got to believe it that's you you can't help yourself if you don't believe it then you reject the whole word of god as a complete revelation of the mind of god portrayed for us pictorially in the old testament our father we come to thee in the name of our blessing