In this sermon, the speaker reflects on the story of Moses and his initial reluctance to answer God's call. Despite Moses' objections, God became angry with him and Moses ultimately failed to reach his highest potential. The speaker then moves on to discuss the covenant between God and his people, emphasizing the importance of understanding the true nature of God. The sermon concludes by highlighting the promise and commitment of God to his children, particularly through the person of Jesus Christ.

As you will know, or most of us anyway, this is the third in the series on Moses, and we're going to turn back again into the book of Exodus. My one fear, if I'm allowed any fears, is that we shan't cover enough of this man's life to really sort of justify us closing the series. I don't know what we'll have to do about it, but we'll see. When we took so long last week in the opening section, well, I don't know quite what we'll do tonight. I hope then that you can remember, if not the tapes are available, that we were thinking of the beginning, the great call of God to this man, and how at first he was so reluctant. He brought some really reasonable things, why he couldn't be what he thought God wanted him to be. Then he made one or two objections that in the end made God angry with him. And you know, God, he doesn't like getting angry with his own people, but he got angry with Moses, and as a result of it, Moses, as great as he was, failed of the highest they could have attained to. Here is one of the great things. It was on a very serious problem. It's on the relationship between Moses and the Lord Jesus Christ, because you will know that Moses was the mediator of the Old Covenant, and the Lord Jesus is the mediator of the New. And the Lord had to prove himself before he could mediate the Old, the New Testament, which he did from the day of Pentecost onward, on the basis of his sacrifice, and of his great high priestly work. And you know, this is one thing that Moses forfeited, that had he not said, well now I'm not eloquent, and I can't do this, that, and the other, so that God had to say to him, all right, Aaron's your brother, and I'll give you Aaron to be your mouthpiece. Moses would have been not only a prophet, which he was, and a king, as he was, because you will remember that we are told that Moses was king in Jashur, but he would have been priest as well. But you see, Aaron took the place of high priest. It's a marvelous how it works out, because obviously you couldn't have any man who was both prophet, priest, and king, like the Lord Jesus. But he forfeited it because of his, because of his reluctance and his disobedience. Well now we put out the sort of note that I suppose goes with Scotland a little bit more, and it could have thought it was a bagpipe, that drone all the time. But in chapter 6, we're going to start tonight. I hope everybody can see, and that hasn't plunged you into terrible darkness. I wish to refer to darkness before we're through tonight. But in chapter 6 of Exodus, we find the Lord speaking to Moses. Now then the Lord said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh, for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land. And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the Lord. That is the word Jehovah. And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, or El Shaddai. But by my name Jehovah was I not known to them. And I have established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage wherein they were strangers. And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered my covenant. Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am Jehovah, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments. And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God. And ye shall know that I am Jehovah your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you in unto the land concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and I will give it you for an heritage. I am Jehovah. And so here we are introduced right to the point where Moses, who had already met God in the burning bush, you remember it was from that that Moses was sent. God saying, I am. And now here God is saying, I am Jehovah. And this really refers to the present, the past, and the future. This great name Jehovah. He that is, he that was, and he that is to come. That's the great truth that's bound up in this name Jehovah. Now I suppose in these days the name Jehovah has got a bit tainted in our ears because of those that call themselves falsely Jehovah's witnesses. But ridding ourselves of all that nonsense, shall I say, without wanting to be too insulting to them, we need to stand in knowledge of this tremendous person that God reveals himself to be. This is the God that's going to move in covenant grace and power to his children. And seeing all that they had been through and all that was yet to come, it was a marvelous promise and a wonderful commitment on the person, from the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. What a tremendous truth it is. I know that together some of us have looked at this before and I don't intend to labour it tonight. But you need to see this, beloved, that all that God is going to do commences with, I am, verse 6. I am Jehovah. And he finishes it in verse 8 with the same words. I am Jehovah. I am, verse 6, I will, I will, I will. Praise God, that's tremendous. I am and I will. Well, that's a tremendous thing. Then he goes on and he says in verse 7, I will, I will, I am. Verse 8, I will, I will, I am. Praise the name of the Lord. Now that's the way everybody should expect their God to speak. That he's moving off the ground of himself. Indeed, you will know that following in these next chapters, 7 and 8 and 9 and 10 and 11, and then going on into chapter 12, we have the record of the ten great plagues that God is going to bring upon this nation of Egypt. There's no doubt about it. It's one of the most terrible and tragic occasions recorded in the Scripture. I don't know whether you've ever read through these ten plagues and noticed the way they go. You remember, it starts off with the blood on the land and in the vessels. You will know then that it goes on from there to frogs and lice and all sorts of things. And when you think that it ends up in the terrible death in chapter 12, and then the further death, the second death, you might even say, in chapter 14, 13 and 14, when they cross the Red Sea, you will see that the thing that Pharaoh said is very, very opposite. Let's look and see what he did say. It's not the last of the plagues. It is the plague of the locusts. In verse 16 of chapter 10, we read this, that Pharaoh calls for Moses and Aaron in Hathan. He says, I have sinned against the Lord your God and sinned against you. Now therefore, forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and entreat the Lord your God that he may take away from me this death only. And if you look higher up, that is back into chapter 9, you will find the Lord saying to Moses in verse 13, Rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. For I will at this time send all my plagues, Now notice, upon thine heart. You got that? And what we are being shown through these ten plagues, and please everyone take very real notice of this, is a foretaste of hell. You know that Pharaoh is the living representative of the devil. He was the great false god of the world. You know that Egypt stands for the world. And you are being shown by the plagues of God, that God brought upon this man and his people and that land, a little foretaste of hell. You imagine going to bed with frogs in it. You imagine being smothered in lice. You and everything and everybody you know, you imagine that, you imagine the boils that come, came in these great plagues. You imagine the locusts that came. Imagine the flies that got in your eyes and in your mouth when you opened your mouth to eat. Imagine it, if you can, as I have sought to do, in these days of thinking around tonight's message. Beloved, what a dreadful thing. The constant torment, the constant torment. Death all around. Locusts following hard on, marrains and boils and blames, on hail and fire and death. The smashing up, the breaking down of everything, everything torn to pieces. And going on from that into darkness, Egyptian darkness that could be felt, that nobody could move from their place. Going on from there into death itself, the death of the firstborn. And God in these plagues is showing to us, we who have an eye to see, a little of what it's going to be like in the lake of fire. No wonder we get the story of redemption in chapter 12. May God show us this, that what God says is, I'm bringing these plagues upon your heart Pharaoh. That's where I'm bringing them, not just on your beasts, not just on your possessions, not just on your water supply, not just on anything like that, but on you. That's what I'm doing. And Pharaoh knew it was death. We read it. Take away this death. Dreadful, isn't it? Dreadful. I hope then that that solemnly lays on our hearts this great hell and death from which the Lord Jesus Christ has come to redeem us. I hope it does. And I hope that you will read all through these plagues because we haven't got time. We could take an evening on each one of the plagues. We don't have sufficient time to study them all individually. But I have sought to show you the way that God was informing us, writing it right back there in Scripture, as I say, opening the eyes of each of us that is willing to see and wanting to know to the dreadful state, that everlasting death from which there is no return at all. Pharaoh admitted that it was death. I sometimes wonder whether it wouldn't be worth thousands and perhaps millions of people on the earth this day to go through something similar. If only it would wake them up to what hell is all about. I know today as I meditated on it a bit, I wanted them more and more to be able to go out and tell people what it's all about. You know, it was old General Boole and we sang a Salvation Army hymn to start off tonight. It was old General Boole who reckoned that nobody was fit to preach the gospel until they had hell revealed to them. Then they know why Jesus came. They know what love's about. They know the reality. They're not just mouthing texts or talking words or getting sermons together. They've got concern. Terrible, terrible. So wonderful, beloved, that through nine of the plagues the children of Israel were free. They never visited Goshen where the children of Israel lived. But the tenth plague would have gone as much through Goshen as the rest of the country if they hadn't conformed to the instructions of God. So God overruled to prevent the plagues, nine of them, reaching into the place, Goshen, that is, where the children of Israel were living. But when it came to the last great plague that had to deal with redemption, it wasn't general, it was individual. Now that's a tremendous thing for each one of us to get deep into our hearts. But before we get there, I want to remind you, or if you like, each of us remind ourselves from the book, that this was all done as we read in chapter 6 when we were reading about the covenant. Because of the great promise, verse 3, I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob. And he says in verse 4, I established my covenant with them. This is why God was doing it. If you turn your Bible back into Genesis, we'll read about the establishment of this covenant in chapter 15. Not all the chapter, but this is what I want to remind you of. That when Abraham had taken the animals and the turtle dove and the young pigeon, verses, at the end of verse 9, and in verse 10 we're told, But he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another. But the birds divided he not. And when the fowls came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away. Here's the verse, And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abraham, and lo, and horror of great darkness fell upon him. And he said unto Abraham, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them four hundred years. And also that nation whom they shall serve will I judge. And afterward they shall come out with great substance. Now because God had said these things to Abraham, that is precisely what happened. For you will know that the ninth plague was a plague of great darkness. For three days and three nights they sat in darkness that was so thick and dreadful did these Egyptians that they couldn't move. They dare not move. Darkness that they could feel. Darkness reigned over everything. And then you will remember when you move on to the tenth plague in chapter twelve that it was in the darkness that God came. At midnight I will pass through the land, he said. And he was looking for the blood on the side posts and on the lintel of the home. That's what he was looking for. It would have been of no use to them saying well I'm an Israelite I'm not going to be bothered I'm going to be protected by God. Each Israelite it was individual with them. God wasn't saying I'm only going to do it to the Egyptians. He said I'll do it to the Israelites too if I don't see the blood. Very, very individual when it came to that. And he moved out in the darkness. And this was that great horror of darkness. God gave Abraham a foretaste of that those centuries before. Verse twenty nine of chapter twelve of Exodus. Verse twenty nine it says this It came to pass that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon and all the firstborn of cattle, forty. Now the sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years and it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years even the selfsame day it came to pass that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations. Note then this great thing that God did. He put Abraham into the horror of darkness. Dear old Abraham we were thinking about him about this time last year if you remember. And now it's being fulfilled would God that the truth of this gripped every heart. God I think before he brings anybody into the glory of his redemption has to bring them to darkness where they can't see anything where all the light they thought they had seems to have gone out. And then the Lord moves in in the darkness. What a glorious thing it is. It was a terrible thing that the Lord did in Egypt. There's no glossing over it beloved. That's why it's being put in scripture. I suppose this is one of the reasons why the devil has got people who profess to be the Lord's off the habit of reading their Bibles. Lest we should be informed about things that the devil doesn't want us to know anything about. Because we need to come to a proper understanding that the Lord himself should teach us the truth. And when you think of this horrible thing that happened when you think of it beloved you say well why? Why? Why did it happen? What would you have thought if you'd have woken up and found the firstborn of your family dead? What would you have thought? And before that you'd spent three days in such terrible darkness. What would you have thought? Mind all the psychologists might have thought we'd all got depressions or something. And perhaps depressions are related to it. And perhaps depressions are more related to sin than anything else. More than the psychiatrists know. And not only to that. To the devil. And to worldliness. And to idolatry of some kind or another. Modern idolatry of course in what's called a civilized land. But then the Egyptians were the great civilized people in those days. But you just think of it. Think of it. Why did God do it? Well, it was simply because this man, Pharaoh, and all the Egyptians with him contested God. Hip and thigh. Stood against God. Wouldn't have anything to do with it. Well, beloved. Turn to chapter 7. The Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a God to Pharaoh. And Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. Thou should speak all that I command thee. And Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh that he send the children of Israel out of his land. Well, beloved, you will know that that's just what this man refused to do. The Lord in verse 8 speaks further to Moses and Aaron saying, When Pharaoh shall speak unto you saying, Show a miracle for you. Then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod and cast it before Pharaoh. And it shall become a serpent. And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh. And they did so as the Lord had commanded. And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants. And it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers. Now the magicians of Egypt they also did in like manner with their enchantments. For they cast down every man his rod. And they became serpents. But Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods. So you will see that these people were moving in terrible black magic in those days in the world. They were in link with evil spirits. They had these people, magicians that we might call magi now. M-A-G-I that we associate with the birth of the Lord Jesus. Please take note. They were in touch with occult and evil powers. And it's amazing what they could do. Now when Pharaoh saw this you see he hardened Pharaoh's heart. Verse 14 The Lord said to Moses Pharaoh's heart is hardened he refuses to let the people go and then he gives him the commandment about turning the waters of the Nile into blood. And that's exactly what happens and in verse 22 the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments. They turned the water into blood. But here's something for you to understand. We went from the river Nile turned to blood to the frogs in chapter 8. Aaron stretched out his hand verse 6 over the waters of Egypt and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt and the magicians did so with their enchantments and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt. So in three of these great miracles the devil's agents could do the same but do you notice this that what they could not do was reverse it. They couldn't do that. Now that's a tremendous thing for you to see. And this again is one of the reasons why the Lord dealt with Pharaoh and the Egyptians as he did. He started with just a contest of rod with rod. If Pharaoh had had his eyes opened he would have seen immediately that when Aaron's rod swallowed up all the magicians' rods God was going to swallow up Satan. That should have been as clear as anything that the work of God was greater than the work of Satan but they refused to heed, you see. And as you go on you'll find that they could do say they could bring up the frogs out of the river but what they could not do was get rid of them. It was the power of God that got rid of the frogs. They gathered them out of their homes out of their beds out of their houses out of their ovens everywhere and stacked them up in the land and the land stank with these dead frogs. It must have been absolutely horrible how they didn't all catch diseases or who's to say they didn't anyway we're not told. It was the power of God coming up over everything. Here I want you to notice something, beloved the distinct difference between the children of God and the children of Satan the distinct difference between those who are the Lord's people and those who are not. You notice that Pharaoh was not interested in the word of God he was only interested in miracles. I get a little bit afraid of those that keep running around after miracles I do. They want to see miracles. They believe in the sign ministry well, who doesn't? Who's got any sense? But miracles, miracles, miracles this man was only interested in miracles his magicians could do miracles but the children of God although they saw some miracles the children of Israel they received the word of God go and speak God said to Moses you go and speak to the children of Israel they will believe it. Now of course they did have great difficulty after 420 years my word here comes a prophet of God I guess they'd lost touch with prophets and prophecies following Joseph don't you? And I hope you've noticed that Moses is fifth in line in the revelation Abraham Isaac Jacob Joseph the next one is Moses five, the number of grace and he came with the word of God to these people they received it but Pharaoh all he wanted to do see signs can you do it? we can do it now I hope that you'll agree with me beloved that what we're needing in these days is power greater than the devils would you think that? absolutely more and more I know that we don't need to see all these signs in order for us to believe but you know it says in Mark that God confirms the word with signs following that's what the scripture says and we've got to see them the children of Israel saw the signs they didn't need the signs in order to persuade them they weren't people that were living of miracles there were people like that when Jesus was on the earth you know when he fed them with the loaves and the fishes and they went after him he said you're not seeking me he said because of the miracle he said you're just seeking me because you had your stomachs filled by the miracle the benefit that you got from it that's the thing there are plenty of people on the earth like this today they were on the earth when Jesus was on the earth but oh beloved you and I we've got to receive the word of God now this was the thing that gripped the heart of Moses tremendously go back again with me into this 6th and 7th chapters of Exodus verse 9 of chapter 6 Moses spoke so unto the children of Israel but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit and for cruel bondage now that started a conflict in Moses' mind he was as human as you and I he'd been sent of God and he'd spoken the word of God he'd done some of the signs that God gave him to do as we were thinking about last week and now he's come to a place where he was saying the truth of God to them and they weren't heeding now that always brings a man of God to a crisis always when you're preaching the word of God to people I want to say all this to the preachers here and that includes myself and you know you're preaching the word of God and there's no response that really does something inside I don't mean that you've always got people out the front I'm not meaning that at all what I mean is that there's no real taking effect down in people's lives let me refer for those of us that know say to last Sunday when we were greatly blessed and many responded to the preached word in the evening that was wonderful but that's not the end of the story unless that takes effect in the life both the preaching and the response were in vain that's the whole thing it's got to be absolutely real let's get out of any myth of coming to the frontitis sort of thing though let people keep coming let's all keep responding to the word of God don't let me put the wrong angle on this but here's the great truth beloved it's got to take effect in the life Amen it's got to be life changing it's got to be and if ever you hear the word of God and as yet you aren't there into all that you've heard then you keep going till you are that's the great truth but let me come back to the conflict in this man's mind and he was one of the great men of scripture probably as I said the other week last week next to Abraham probably the greatest man in the Old Testament but here's wonderful truth the Lord speaks unto Moses and he says verse 11 go in speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt that he let the children of Israel go out of his land and God's put his finger on the reason why is it they're in anguish of heart they're in cruel bondage it's because they're being held by the devil that's what he's saying and now Moses the conflict builds up in Moses more and more and Moses says unto God of course or before the Lord saying behold the children of Israel have not our hearken unto me how then shall Pharaoh hear me who am a man of uncircumcised lips now that's such a place a thing in his heart that it's mentioned again look at it the end of the chapter Moses in verse 30 says before the Lord I am of uncircumcised lips how shall Pharaoh hearken unto me now you will know I hope you will know that there'd been a great conflict between God and Moses on this matter of circumcision for after the Lord met Moses in the bush and he was told to go back unto the land look into chapter 4 verse 19 the Lord said unto Moses in Midian go return into Egypt for all the men are dead which sought thy life Moses took his wife and his sons and set them upon an ass and he returned to the land of Egypt and Moses took the rod of God in his hand and the Lord said unto Moses when thou goest to return into Egypt see that thou do all these things do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in thine hand but I will harden his heart that he shall not let the people go and thou shalt say unto Pharaoh thus saith the Lord Israel is my son even my firstborn and I say unto thee let my son go that he may serve me and if thou refuse to let him go behold I will slay thy son even thy firstborn now you're seeing why God slew the firstborn of Pharaoh and all the Egyptians and it came to pass verse 24 by the way in the inn that is when they were going down to Egypt the Lord met Moses and sought to kill him well that's strange taking all these pains to get hold of a man like Moses coming down in a miraculous way and now he's trying to kill him when apparently he's being obedient and doing exactly what God says now watch it Zipporah took a sharp stone cut off the foreskin of her son cast it at his feet and said surely a bloody husband art thou to me so God let Moses go then she said a bloody husband art thou because of the circumcision she wasn't blaspheming the precious blood of Jesus Christ like people are today when they use that word bloody she was speaking literally what was wrong Moses had gone wrong on the covenant the great covenant that God made with Abraham was confirmed in chapter 17 of Genesis by the sign of the covenant which was circumcision and Moses he was in real trouble about the circumcision I guess his wife didn't want want it done wasn't something they practiced in Midian remember he married a Midianite woman and this is one of the things that often happen in mixed marriages traditions of different upbringings affect the marriage a woman is brought up under one culture a man is brought up under another and this is one of the real tragedies that all these people that bleat on the radio and television never take into account I'm not for apartheid don't misunderstand me I'm pointing out the truth here it is in scripture you see and God was not going to let that man go bound into Egypt and bring covenant truth to the people in Egypt to Israel unless he was in the covenant himself now this is often the failure with ministers and preachers they're not really right in these things as they should be and Moses has got it he knew that the Moses has got it he knew that the whole truth of deliverance this is what God was saying lay in the covenant of circumcision it wasn't going to be so long before God instituted the new national feast really the first great national feast the Passover which was going to be the beginning of their new year their life their year was going to start with the Passover but this was deeper in the race than the Passover this had started in Abraham didn't start with Moses Moses before I can use you to start something you've got to conform to what I started in someone before you Amen let every man get this into his head he starts nothing he is brought into something by the grace and the power of God and he's got to conform and I suppose I only suppose this I hope I'm not doing the woman an injustice the zipper didn't want it but God said no matter what your zipper thinks or what you think either you get your son circumcised there is God in particular about that about little the you know there are some people think that little things don't matter ask Moses God nearly killed him after commissioning him after calling him he had a rough night but God let him go only when his wife did what should have been done within eight days of the child's birth that's why he saw oh Moses I'm of uncircumcised lips he knew that as he looked back why have I failed to impress these people why hasn't it happened why are they not listening to me now my lips are uncircumcised what do you mean Moses well it's what came out of my heart at that burning bush when I said to the Lord Lord I can't do this I'm not eloquent I can't speak I can't do this I can't do the other it takes us a long time sometimes to discover what's deep down inside us that's right to discover the real self is a horrible thing to discover Jesus that he loves and saves and forgives is a wonderful thing but to discover yourself afterwards he discovered himself partly in the inn as he appeared to be doing the will of God when basically he wasn't even though he was called and chosen and commissioned and he saw I wonder I wonder Lord if this is why people aren't listening to me I wonder it's good to do some thinking without getting too introspective if you get too introspective you give the devil a big whip to whip you with don't do that but on the other hand man, if you're a preacher leader, teacher, elder or what you be if you're not getting results if you can look back 12 months and say if you're not getting results you ought to start questioning yourself it's no good burying your head in the sand it's no good why aren't people hearkening to me it says they didn't listen to him well we've already read chapter 7 let's look at it again after he's been saying how's Pharaoh going to hearken unto me if my own people won't God says listen I've made you a God to Pharaoh Amen Pharaoh did not fall down and worship Moses what did God mean by that I've given you superior power you can make him do what he should do, Moses and he did it's wonderful you can make him do you can match word with word power with power Moses you're called of God, Moses you can go in you can do it, Moses praise the name of the Lord he must have given Moses a tremendous thrill when all the signs that God gave him originally to do worked you get to the end I hope you're not weary of turning over these pages but that's what these meetings are for you get to the end of the contest almost in chapter 11 Moses is standing before Egypt before Pharaoh, I'm sorry let's read the whole chapter it's only 10 verses it's a very important one listen the Lord said unto Moses yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt afterwards he will let you go hence when he shall let you go he shall surely thrust you out hence all together where is Moses when God says this he's standing before Pharaoh in the pitch black darkness and Pharaoh is saying unto him get thee from hence get thee from me take heed to thyself see my face no more in the day for in the day that thou seest my face thou shalt die Moses said thou hast spoken well I will see thy face again no more and the Lord said unto Moses he's standing there in the dark couldn't see his face ah it was nemesis for Pharaoh he was at the end of the line now and Moses talks to him and we go down in verse 4 of chapter 11 Moses says thus saith the Lord about midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne even unto the firstborn of the maid servant that is behind the mill and all the firstborn of beasts and there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt such as there was none like it nor shall be like it any more but against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue against man or beast that ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel and all these thy servants shall come down unto me and bow down themselves unto me saying get thee out and all the people that followed thee and after that I will get out and he went out from Pharaoh in a great way that's Moses what a tremendous man he was everything happened at his word the words that came over his lips happened do you know why? because he believed the words that came out of the Lord's lips that's why now listen that's what's going to happen to us when we get into the place where we believe yes believe what God says and obey what God says God may have to wrestle with us a bit to get us there like he did with Moses you see Moses nearly came to death but he got there hallelujah he looked back tremblingly he looked back and said oh Lord what's gone wrong and sometimes a man comes right up against his failures and a great brick wall of unbelief in people's hearts but surely as he will act on what God says to him then other people will have to do what he says that's true he'll have power over the devil he'll have power over other men and women I can look back to time years ago when I happened to be blessed of God in a place where God was pouring out his spirit and I can remember now clearly at that time that people just had to do what I said and if they didn't do it they never got saved or nothing happened to them and if they were told I look back at it now I didn't recognize it then I was quite youngish in these things and if I said you get up off your seat and come and kneel here and God will meet you if they didn't get up and they should have come they couldn't get off their seat and felt they were nailed to it they had to do as they were told would God that this great move and power of the spirit should so come upon us that we should be in holy awe of the word of God and act when God speaks that's why you're bound that's why lots of people aren't free they will not do what God says they believe in their own impotence they believe in their own ability very strongly they profess inability they are confessing sheer disobedience now here then is the glorious truth it had to happen like Moses said stood in awe of the word of God like that we're so lackadaisical we've got hold of this word grace and we make God appear as though he's soft now may the Lord really work upon everybody's heart to bring us there you go in there and say God hmm you do what I say now the blessing of the Lord was so wonderful that he just started with a few serpents on the ground and a drop of water like blood and turning the Nile into blood and so on and so on and so on and frogs and went through fleas and flies and all these sorts of things marina, beasts, locusts, thunder, lightning, hail all sorts of things must have been a very terrifying experience we've become too familiar with them and we've almost got to contemptuous places in our thinking you should have lived in Egypt in those days a million times worse than living in Egypt in these days you understand that or anywhere else on the earth hmm beloved God's going to work he's going to do he's going to do tremendous things he's just got to he's just got to and Moses was the man ready God could use what a tremendous thing it is I wonder what went through Pharaoh's mind we know within a little of course for when Moses went in first to him and he spoke to him he said let's get his exact words shall we we can get them hmm Pharaoh did not hearken unto the Lord well when Moses went into him this man said who's the Lord I don't know him why should I do what he says and that's how he went on the word was always to Moses through Moses to Pharaoh beloved I want to tell you this if any of you feel in any way bound by Satan if any of you feel that the devil's gotten hold of you you remember this God is saying let my people go you let him go you let her go sometimes I like to get into the conflict when people are possessed or oppressed from the enemy something in me rises I like to really get into it when you know where you're standing when you know the power of the name of Jesus hallelujah great it is you know I don't know whether Jack chose that hymn tonight because of it you know marching on more than conqueror in every fight glory be to God it puts a healthy glow on your cheek it does all sorts of things to know that you're moving in the direction of under the direction of God by the power of his spirit hallelujah he wouldn't let them go where should we start there's so tremendous there's so many tremendous things let's have a look at the time oh we've only been going an hour so we're alright so many tremendous things that we can learn here that look at chapter 5 verse 1 Moses and Aaron went in Pharaoh thus saith the Lord God of Israel let my people go that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness Pharaoh said who's the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go I know not the Lord this Jehovah you're talking about neither will I let Israel go and they said the God of Hebrews has 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 sword I guess that God had been saying some things to Moses and he told them because that's just what happened in Egypt the pestilence came the sword came he slew all the firstborn of course you know the sword of the Lord isn't something that he keeps in a scabbard got two edges on it and he sharpens it on a carborundum stone or something like that it's nothing to do with it the whole tremendous truth is that they knew that the judgments of God were coming do you? oh they're tremendous things God goes on and on and on let's see how Pharaoh responded perhaps we'll draw to a conclusion shall we in verse 25 of chapter 8 this is after the flies that corrupted the land do you see there? verse 24 the land was corrupted by reason of the swarm of flies corruption note it you remember that Paul uses this very word to the Galatians he says that we've escaped the corruption that's in the world Pharaoh calls for Moses and for Aaron and says go ye sacrifice to your God in the land now God had said no I want my people out of Egypt I just don't want them to be a sacrificing people now note this every one of us I don't want people to think that they can have they can be in the world and go along to a service once a Sunday or something this is not to be oh well you can have the word you can stay here you can enjoy this you can have this and you can do all the other and you can still believe in God and you can still go and sing about the precious blood now listen let's get this right he says and this is how the devil does it he makes people think they can be worldlings and Christians too you can't sacrifice to your God in the land he says there's no need for you to go away it's all right here you see we won't stop you if this is what you want of course we believe in free religion and opinions like that very modern isn't it Moses said verse 26 it is not meat to do for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God lo shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes and will they not stone us I want you to see that stoning as capital punishment did not originate with Israel they used it in Egypt oh what did he mean when he said shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians just this that the Egyptians abominated sheep and shepherds that's what you'll discover if you read through Genesis when Jacob was going down that great shepherd into Egypt because there was corn in Egypt that's what they were afraid of and that's why Joseph persuaded the earlier Pharaoh to let them stay in Goshen because the lovely grass lands there for the sheep you see that's what it was all about it was very very wonderful and they knew that if they took their sheep and they sacrificed them to God the Egyptians would stone them because they abominated never offered sheep to their gods abominated them here we go verse 27 we'll go three days journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as he shall command us Pharaoh said I will let you go that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness only shall not go very far away oh that's the next subtle thing of the word well you know don't go far away if you won't stay here well well don't get too way out now don't you go too far you see keep within distance so that I can grab you any time and pull you back and this is why some people never really get away with God never get on with God they think they can play around in this area you can not you're either a worldling or a Christian one of the two and the Lord makes this very very clear oh let's keep some of our worldly habits shall we let's do this let's do the other well let's carry on shall we get into chapter 10 with me the first one was stay here in the world and just sort of have your religious Christian beliefs the next one is well no go a little farther no you can sort of see these people can't you in chapter 10 we get another contest I want you to notice something here this time they're talking about locusts and so on it's going to be a dreadful thing these locusts were going to the finishing touches to everything that they had the hail and the fire had done a tremendous lot but now God was going to destroy everything by the locusts they were going to be brought to nothing and he's been in and talked to Pharaoh has Moses and the end of verse 6 he turns himself and goes out from Pharaoh's presence Pharaoh's servant says unto him unto Pharaoh how long shall this man be a snare unto us don't you see Moses being a snare hmm have you ever been a snare to anybody he was a real snare to these Egyptians I'd like to be a snare in the sense that Moses was a snare you see he was really they could see as they looked back how he'd really snared them you know just done a little something with a stick and it turned to a serpent swallowed up the other sticks well that didn't matter much you see and then it was the Nile and then it got to something else and that they could look and they could see how that they'd been drawn on and on and on and on and he'd snared them absolutely snared them now listen that's what God does with all the devil's agents you get this deep in your heart he snares them he gets them glory be to the name of the Lord mine stories spring to mind that I could tell you how God snares I can remember a man once came to us when we were in the Baptist church that's many years ago now way down in England this man came along and he was a fellow he's one of the outstanding examples of it to me he was a fellow that used to earn tremendous lots of money he used to put through great insurance schemes and rake in I don't know how much bonus and then he used to go on drinking sprees and one thing and another and then he'd go and do another job and he'd go on and on he just lived like this he would call him a bender or something but to me they were breakers but I can remember how he got in and he came into the group and he was quite nice when he was sober and he could really quote the Bible and he could quote all sorts of things Shakespeare he was really up and how he fastened on to me and so on and so on and we went along together and then one night he came and sat in a meeting and God revealed him to me as plain as anything and I saw the devil and that was the end of him and I could see how God had used me to snare him caught him tripped him up he thought he was going to really plunder God's church but God was too smart for him it's a marvellous thing and that's what was happening with Moses he'd been a snare to these people Pharaoh and all company they thought they were going to swallow him up if they'd only had their wits about them they'd seen that his stick had swallowed up all theirs for a start but no, it's an amazing thing how you can get blinded in the end we only see what we want to see unless we let God open our eyes and be our light now let's go right on, shall we let the men go, they said in verse 7 that they may serve the Lord their God knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed and Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh and he said to them go, serve the Lord your God I bet Moses thought that's tremendous and then he said but who are they that shall go Moses said we will go with our young and with our old with our sons and with our daughters with our flocks and with our herds will we go for we must hold a feast unto the Lord and he said unto them let the Lord be so with you as I will let you go and your little ones look to it for evil is before you not so go now ye that are men and serve the Lord for that ye did desire and they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence here's the next great thing that Pharaoh wanted them to do you see just you men go no matter about anybody else but here's the subtlety of it shall we go and the devil have our children this was the thing you know what happens don't you if you really want to sort of get goats or sheep or bullocks or cows I know I've got to speak very carefully here because we've got at least one expert in the room if no more but if you want to really get the parents you know lock up a little goat or little sheep or little cow in the shed let it keep bleating for its mum its mum will come if it can it'll come back you can take your mum off but if when she hears that bleating way back in that shed when it comes to feed time she'll be back she goes that's right and that's what Pharaoh knew you go leave your wives leave your children you men go and old Pharaoh's thinking now she'll be back now that's what happens with so many people you'd almost think they were delivered you'd almost think they were free you'd almost think they were out but they aren't and back they go back they go Pharaoh was acting as though he was sort of looking after them oh you don't know it's terrible out there the evil we're looking after we're more concerned about your children than you are can't you almost hear the world saying it now we provide social benefits we educate your children we do this we do that but what do they stuff into your kids' heads eh? something you'd be ashamed to read if you could read their mind no doubt yeah you give us the children give us the children you go what happens does dad lead his children out no the children lead dad back so often that's what I've discovered of course the veneer of religion can be kept up but old mortis knows this he sees what God wants to do it's got to be total it's got to be total glory be to the name of the Lord I praise God for this man Moses I would have liked to have known him I don't suppose he'd have looked my way oh yes he was a good man so he would have done but what I mean is what a tremendous man he must have been have you ever thought how great a man this Moses was or do you read the Bible really like you read Enid Blyton or used to when you were younger he was a tremendous man or let's go a little further in the same tense chapter we're in the darkness now the plague of darkness verse 24 Pharaoh calls unto Moses and he says go ye serve the Lord take only let your flocks and your herds be stayed let your little ones also go with you artful man wasn't it all their herds and flocks had been slain with a marine of beasts and the herds had been killed with terrible hailstones and burnt to cinders whilst they were in their pastures I hope you know how horrible it was I hope you know that this was a foretaste of hell I hope you know what it's all about unless you've got into some sort of fanciful ideas about hell to fit in with the modern sophisticates who want to say all this that and the other about it leave your herds Moses says thou must give us also sacrifices and burnt offerings that we may sacrifice unto the Lord our God our cattle also shall go with us there shall not an hoof be left behind bravo Moses how about that how about that not one hoof glory be to God we're going out we're going out whole we're going out totally we're going out we're not going to leave a fingernail behind because that's what a hoof is well something of the same sort if you know what I mean we're not going to leave anything us we ourselves wives children cattle we all belong to the Lord hallelujah that's the way to come out right out of the world that's what Moses saw most places I go I find people are trafficking with the world temporizing with the world they think it doesn't do too good to get too way outish why you can accommodate anything I'd like to give you some good advice if I may that is get hold of the newsletter that's been published and read the article by A.W. Tozer you do it if there's some spare copies and you haven't got one you ask for one before you leave you can have one and read that article by A.W. Tozer that great American that saw this thing that I'm talking about to you now this absolute clean cut and cut it was the sword of the Lord made the cut have you really got right out have you listened to the word of the Lord as sure as you leave anything in the world that belongs to the Lord you're in trouble when we shall get into chapter 12 we'll have to sort of save that for tomorrow night I'm sure, won't we I'm sure beloved that this tremendous redemption to which we're approaching in chapter 12 oh it's so complete God intends you to be redeemed utterly out of everything of the world you're to be in it as only for the glory of God and for service of the Lord that is all and no more and spiritually you're to be living in the land of God's promise now that's what Moses saw God said I'm moving on my promise to Abraham Isaac and Jacob Moses and you know beloved God is now moving on the promise understood not between Abraham Isaac and Jacob but between Father Son and Holy Ghost and you and I are to understand the tremendousness of this and ask yourself this question am I really a worldling secretly underneath am I living for lusting after the world ask yourself the question face it accept no excuses there are easy things coming through modern things beloved we've got to come back to our great and glorious gospel Amen with all our hearts I think perhaps we ought to finish let's pray shall we Father we do rejoice in thee for thy loving care of us for the certainty of thy word for the blessed illustrated illustration that we find in this story Oh Father how wonderful it all is Lord help us to see all this great display of hellishness all thy judgment poured out Oh Father Father that we should want to flee the world we should want to flee it's gods we should want to flee it's rulings and live only in thy kingdom and for thy glory we bless thee Lord for this man Moses whom thou didst raise up who is even now with thee we ask thee Lord that we may come unto a fulfillment of all the seeds of thy planting in the gospel that thou didst preach through him worked out for us fully now by our Lord Jesus Christ we bless thee Lord for this thy loving kindness and oh Lord let the truth and power and reality of it all move every heart keep us Lord in the place of readiness for thy movings we ask it in Jesus name Amen