Exodus 2, verse 11, the Bible says, And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked unto their burdens. And he spied an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, one of his brethren. He looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together, and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? Intendest thou to kill me as thou killest the Egyptian? And Moses feared and said, Surely this thing is known. Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses, But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well. Now the priests of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. And the shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and helped them and watered their flock. And when they came to Raul their father, he said, How is it that you come? How is it that you come so soon today? And they said, an Egyptian delivered us. Thank you, sir. Delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and also drew water enough for us and watered the flock. And he said unto his daughter, where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him that he may eat bread. And Moses was content to dwell with the man. And he gave Moses Sephora his daughter. How would you like to have been Sephora in that situation? Yeah, I'm glad you did that. Here's my daughter. She's your wife now And she bear him a son and he called his name Gresham or Gershom and for he said I have been a stranger in a strange land, and it came to pass in the process of time that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed by the reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by the reason of the bondage. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and with Jacob, and God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them. So now as we continue our study in the book of Exodus, we'll look how God's preparing a man. And God allows Moses to make some choices that kind of shape who he is, kind of play a big part in his life. We could all testify tonight that the choices we've made in our life have had a big, big impact in our life and who we are today, where we went to school at, the career that we chose to do. whatever the choices and choices and choice that we make they all they all kind of God uses all those to shape us and to make us who we are but I want you to notice number one tonight that that Moses causes a problem Moses causes the problem before we get up on our big spiritual horse we could all testify tonight that I've called some problems I wish I could say that I've never been the the wrong party that I've never been the one that calls the problem never been the instigator But truth be told there's been many problems in my life that the only reason I had a problem because I caused it And it's not anything that anybody else did to me, but I caused my own problem So first of all tonight we see Moses causes the problem in verses 11 through 15 And in this process, we see his identification in verse number 11. The Bible says, And it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren. Now, he's not talking about his Egyptian brethren. We know that he was adopted, but this is directly referring to his Israelite brethren. Because we know, though he was raised in the courts of Pharaoh's house, he was a Hebrew by birth. And we learned that last week, how not only was his mother a Levi, but his father was a Levi as well, the tribe of Levi. And so he was a Hebrew through and through. But notice his identification. You have to ask yourself, well, how did Moses know that? How did Moses come to be, to understand that even though where he was raised at, he knew who he was in the eyes of God, and knew who he was nationally speaking. And there's three ways that Moses could have known this. One was through divine revelation. God could have made it real clear to Moses that he was a Hebrew. And we know that, as you get into the study of the book of Exodus, chapter number three, When God begins to call Moses and God meets him at that burning bush, he makes it really clear, and there was no doubt in Moses' mind, that he was a Hebrew. He could have learned that by direct and divine revelation from God, or he could have learned that from directed reinforcement. We do know that his mother helped raise him even though she was just a handmaid, even though she was just a servant there in Israel. But we know, we learned that last week, how Pharaoh's daughter needed somebody to help nurse and raise Moses. And because his sister was there, she... lined it up so Moses' mother could raise him. So I guarantee you, as she did those motherly duties to Moses, I guarantee you she whispered in his ear every time that he's a wonderful creation that God had blessed her life with and that she was so proud and so thankful that God had given her a man-child, not just that God had given her a man-child, But God had allowed, God had spared his life and now he was able to raise it. So I guarantee you, if Moses' mother was spiritual at all, she was a direct reinforcement of his identification. Not only that, there was also a demoted reminder. It could have been Pharaoh's daughter. Because I guarantee you Moses didn't look like anybody else in the palace. Moses didn't act like anybody else in the palace. There were some stark differences in how Moses not only physically appeared, but maybe the way he spoke and all that. It could have been slightly different than what they were used to. And so I guarantee you every time, I think Moses or Pharaoh's daughter took care of Moses and tried to help Moses the best she could. But ultimately there probably came a time where Pharaoh's daughter looked and said, There's nothing we can do about it. You're just a Hebrew. As much as I love you, as much as I want to, I cannot change the fact of who you are. Truth of the matter, you can't hide who you really are. You hang around somebody long enough, their true color's gonna come out. And that's exactly what happened here in Moses' life, whether it's through divine revelation, directed reinforcement, a demoted reminder. It's made known that Moses knew who his brethren were, and so he identified with them. And the book of Hebrews even says how Moses chose rather to suffer the affliction of God than to be called a son of Pharaoh. And so he knew who he was, he knew who he belonged to, he knew exactly where he came from, and he had no problem identifying with that in his life. And so not only did he, when he caused this problem, we see his identification. we also see his indignation his indignation the Bible said he looked on their burdens and so every time when I think about this when I and I've studied this before and I've read through this I always thought Moses was my age 20 years old just you know just firing from the hip just angry because he didn't know why but at this time Moses is around the age of 40 and we get that from the book of Acts Stephen Acts chapter 7 says when he when he came forth to his people he was at the age or he came out of Pharaoh's house he was at the age of 40 and so he's 40 years old and he's he knows the situation he's not he's not naive he's been around the block so to speak and so he every morning he gets up yes he's living in the in luxury yes he's living in the palace of Pharaoh but I guarantee every time he looked out he's seen the suffering of his people and and he knew who he was he knew who his brethren was and could you imagine the thoughts that ran through his mind maybe throughout the days and throughout the days of his life the years of his life saying why would God let me sit right here why would God put me up why would God allow me to live such a lifestyle when my people when my brethren are out there suffering ever had those thoughts why why is God so good to me when he's and it seems like there's the people that are that are trying their hardest and seeming like they're scrapping by, they're struggling. And here I am and I'm feeling guilty about it. No doubt those thoughts went through Moses' mind, but there was an anger, there was a... madness that kind of rose up in Moses's life when he looked out and the Bible said he saw he looked on their burdens and here's the thing here's the thing about their burdens their treatment the way they were being treated was wasn't necessary it was unnecessary nowhere in the past of Israel at this time had they ever came across as a warring people had they ever came across as a fighting people And so when the Pharaoh decreed that they were to be and they were to treat them as slaves and servants, none of that was necessary because they didn't have the characteristics of a people that needed to be treated like that or people that needed to be handled like that just so they wouldn't cause any problems. So not only was it unnecessary, but it was unneeded. Like we said before, there was nothing about Israel's character that would have tipped off Egypt to treat him the way they were treating. That was their burden. But he also, he was mad because he'd seen their beatings. The Bible says in verse that when he woke out, he woke out, where's he at, in verse number 12, he looked and he saw, excuse me, verse number 11, and he spied an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, one of his brethren. And so he walks out, and so no doubt he had probably heard the people cry, no doubt he'd probably heard the people anguish in pain and suffering, but he walked out, and I don't know if this was the first time, I don't know how many times he had witnessed this, but this time it triggered something in Moses, that it had triggered before as he watched one of his brethren be beat by an Egyptian. That word smite... It isn't a playful tap. They weren't just poking them. That means to strike. That means to beat. That means that you literally, when you go to attack the person, you're doing it, trying your best to almost destroy them and end their life. And so this was not a simple, just a love tap, so to speak, but they were beating this Israel and this Hebrew was being beat by the Egyptian. And so not only do we see his identification, we see his indignation, but then we see his incrimination. Look at verse number 12 through 14. And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together, and he said to them, that did no wrong wherefore smitest thou thy fellow and so we know what he does I think I wrote down the wrong verse verse number 12 he looked this way and that way and when he saw there was no man he slew the Egyptian and hit him in the sand and so we see his incrimination first of all he did a hurry check he looked around so I don't see nobody you ever that you ever had to do that if you had to stop and see if anybody's gonna notice you it's probably not the right thing to do you go to the store and say well anybody's gonna watch me buy this It's probably not the thing you need to buy. Unless you're trying to surprise your wife with a ring or something like that. You're trying to make sure she's not there. But if it's something that is sinful, something that's wrong, and you've got to do a double check, I wouldn't do it if I was you. And so he did this hurry check, and no doubt he looked around, he didn't see nobody. But here's the thing. Even though no man was there, God was there. And God knew what was going on. The same is true in our life. Though nobody we know may be around, God's still there, and God sees all, and He knows all. So we see his hurry check, then we see his horrible crime. He said he slew the Egyptian and he hid him in the sand. in verse number 12. He slew him and he hit him in the sand. You say, no brother Tate, that was the right thing to do. He stood up for his brethren and he was full of national pride and he was just trying to defend the person. That might be the case, but there was no need for him to kill the Egyptian. No matter how you classify it, no matter how you look at it, it was still murder. And here's the thing, Moses knew it was wrong by how he reacted to it. He hit him in the sand. If it had been so righteous and what we could possibly classify it as, he would have had no problem saying, yes, I'm the one, because of what he was doing, I'm the one that took his life. He deserved that for what he was doing to the Hebrew, but no, Moses knew it was wrong by how he reacted. He hit him in the sand. That will be our first instinct whenever it comes to sinning. It will always be our first instinct to try to hide it. Here's the thing, you cannot hide your sin without lying. You can't do it. It's an impossibility. You can't hide your sin without lying. whether you lie to somebody else, whether you lie to yourself, or whether you try to lie to God, you cannot hide your sin without lying. And so there was a hurried check, there was a horrible cry, and then he goes on in verses 13 and 14, we see his hesitant comrades. He goes out the next day as if nothing's happened. He's probably walking down the street doing that little whistle thing when you're trying to act like nothing's wrong. You ever seen that? And I would do it, but I'd butcher it tonight. And people just act like there's nothing wrong, and I guarantee he's going about his life trying to act like nothing's wrong. In verse number 13, He goes out and the next day he sees two Hebrews that are arguing, about to be in a fight, about to take it too far, and he stops them. And he stops one of them and says, what are you fighting about? Why are you fighting? Is what it breaks down to. And one of them looks at him and says, well, what are you going to do to us? You going to kill us like the Egyptians? I guarantee you the first thing that went through Moses' mind was, I thought nobody was there. I didn't see nobody. Just because you didn't see nobody doesn't mean they weren't there. But notice they questioned his authority. Who made thee a prince or a judge over us, is what they asked. Who do you think you are, Moses? I understand you grew up in Pharaoh's house, but truth be told, you ain't an Egyptian. You're a Hebrew. Who made you a king and a prince over us? And then they questioned his actions. Intendest thou to kill me as thou killest the Egyptian? Then we see his hasty confession. Next thing out of his mouth is, surely this thing is no. Oh no, somebody caught me. You know why most Christians or you know why most people get upset? Isn't it the fact that they're actually sorry? They're just sorry they got caught. And Moses says, oh no, I'm caught. He's probably got that deer in the headlight. Look, I thought I didn't see nobody. And so surely this thing is known. And then under this problem that he calls, we see his ingenuity. Verse number 15. Now Pharaoh, when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well. Here's his ingenuity. He notices he's a wanted man. Pharaoh wants his life because Yes, he grew up in Pharaoh's house, but he was a Hebrew. And I guarantee you, Pharaoh is not going to let a Hebrew murdering an Egyptian slide. He's not going to cover that up. He's not going to let that just kind of go away in the time. He's going to deal with it because at this time, Israel is a servant and a bond to Egypt and to the Egyptians. And they're not just going to let a bond servant, they're not going to let a slave have their will and way and do what they want to. Not only is he a wanted man, but he also becomes a wandering man. He just kind of takes off. He fled from the face of Pharaoh and he dwelt in the land of Midian. Why? Because he got thirsty and he sat down by a well. Just because that's how he ended up. So he was a wandering man. And he was a wanted man. But really, we see in verse number 15 that Moses in that instant is a picture of every man. That's how we lived our life without Christ. We were wanted. We had a death sentence on our life. But ultimately, we were wanted. We had no purpose. We had no reason. I mean, we tried our best to find purpose. We tried our best to find reason in our life. But everything we tried for, everything we strived for wasn't enough. It didn't satisfy us. And that's exactly where Moses is at in his life. He's wanted and he's wandering. And so this is the problem, number one, that Moses caused the problem. And we've all been there. We've all caused problems. But thank God that Moses' story doesn't stop there. There's more to the chapter. And we're just two chapters in. There's 38 more chapters to go. And so if we average one a week, we'll probably finish this up sometime next year. But we may pick up some more in between here. But notice, not only does Moses solve a problem or cause a problem, number one. Number two, Moses solves a problem. Aren't you glad that yes, there's times when you cause problems, but thank God, by the grace of God, you can solve some problems. You can fix some things, not only in your life, but in the lives of others. And this comes from verses 16 to 21. And to give you a quick synopsis, we've already read it, but Moses is sitting there, and the daughters of Raul, which is mentioned right here in chapter number 2, which we know to be Jethro, who is living in Midian. He's a Midianite priest, I believe, and he's also a shepherd, but he sends his daughters to water the flock there at the well, and we can tell by the scripture that this happens more times than just this time, but when they get there, the other shepherds come, move them away, kick them out, and take over the well, and those ladies have to wait to finish watering their sheep before they go back to Jethro their father but this time it's different because Moses is there and instead of causing the problem this time he solves the problem he fixes the problem it was a similar situation as he's watching this take place so daddy's sitting at the well and he sees these ladies who are being overtaken by these shepherds and once again that triggers something in Moses but this time he handles it the right way he doesn't take it too far he stands and he does what's right And he acts within reason and what he's supposed to do. And so it's a similar situation. Notice this. And he has the same reaction. He aligns with the weaker person. Last time he aligned with his brethren in the Hebrew, which were the weaker people at the time. And this time he aligns with those ladies and those women because, I mean, that's just how it played out. He knew they were weaker. He aligned with them and his actions were right. The Bible said he drove away the enemy. I don't know how he did that. I don't know if he got the swing of sticks at them. I don't know how he did it. But the Bible says he drove away the enemy. He drove away the others that were there. Then it goes on to say that he stood up. He stood up for what was right. And so this time, instead of causing another problem, Moses helps solve the problem. He does what's right, and therefore these ladies are able to get their water, which rightfully should have been theirs because they were there first. And so Moses stands up. This time he does the right thing. Instead of causing a problem, he fixes the problem. And it was sincerely appreciated in verses 18 through 20. Those ladies go back, and their father is surprised. He's shocked. He says, well, what time? Or how is it that you come home, or that you come so soon today? There was a notable difference. Jethro looked out and he realized this you know no no you guys still got an hour something's wrong something happens you get enough water and they they recount the story they tell them but here's the thing they don't tell the complete accurate account it's very close to what happened but but they get one thing wrong look at verse number 19 and they said an Egyptian delivered us out of the hands of the shepherds only problem was Moses wasn't Egyptian Moses wasn't Israelite but the Bible said it was a nearly accurate account and so why well why would they say that brother take more than likely he was still dressed in his Egyptian clothes because he had took off He run, and so he may look like an Egyptian, but he's not an Egyptian. He's an Israelite. I may look like what I used to be before I got saved, but thank God, I am not what I used to be before I got saved. I might have the same clothes, I might drive the same car, I might have the same eye color, but that's all just physical things. What Christ did on the inside of me has changed me for all eternity. And so you might look at it and say, well, that just looks... Brother Tate, you look exactly the same before you got saved than you do now. and I might but thank God what's on the inside is completely different so there was a notable difference there was it was a nearly accurate account but there was a needed gratitude look at verse number 20 and he said unto his daughters and where is he why is it that you've left the man call him that he may eat bread it kind of reminds me about TR and saying thank you and I've shared this here before about how we were sitting at dinner one night and We had cooked dinner, all that, and T.R. got to saying thank you. He said, thank you, daddy. Thank you, mommy. Thank you, sissy. And then he looked over at Raylan. He said, you tell my daddy thank you. He said, you better tell my daddy thank you. And Jethro looks at his daughter and said, well, go get this man. He saved your life. He helped us out. I've got to do something to pay him back. There's a gratitude that I need to share and that I need to express to this man. And so they go and they get Moses, and they bring him back before Jethro, and Jethro thanks him. And verse number 20, verse number 21, Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses Zephora his daughter. And so here's the thing, it would also supply the need for Moses. It gave things Moses needed. First of all, he found a comfortable life. He could dwell in Midian and take a break. He was on the run from Egypt still. Pharaoh's death sentence was still out there, but because he was in Midian, because of where he was located, he was able to take a break and sit down, catch his breath, and just have a comfortable life. He was content to dwell where he was, but he also received a compounded blessing. Jethro simply didn't just tell him, thank you. Thanks, appreciate it. No, he went far above and beyond. Just like I mentioned in the beginning, he gave one of his daughters to be a wife. I mean, it just goes beyond my ability to comprehend how that played out. I'm so thankful. Here's my daughter. You can have her as a wife. I don't think I could ever look at somebody and say, man, I really appreciate you fixing my flat tire. Here's my daughter. You can have her for a wife. It just don't make sense to me. But not only did he get a wife out of this, but he also got a son. The Bible says that Zipporah gave birth to a son named Gershom in verse number 22, where he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land. So he got a wife, he got a son, and he also got a father-in-law. And that comes back to play in Moses' life. Once you get in the book of, I believe, either Deuteronomy or Numbers. and Moses is about to lose his mind trying to deal with all the Israelites and Jethro his father-in-law says well why don't you do this and he sets up a plan that helps Moses get everything in order and so not only did Moses get that instant blessing with a wife and he got the the the future blessing of a of a generation and of children, but he also got a blessing in disguise. He had no idea that years down the road that God would have used Jethro, his father-in-law, to be a blessing in his life. And I'm glad that, yes, God gives us instant blessings, yes, God gives us progressive blessings, but I'm also thankful this evening for those blessings in disguise that we have no idea that we're about to receive, but God has a way of getting them to us and blessing them with us. Y'all ever had a blessing in disguise? Something happened in your life and you're thinking, bro, this is bad and it turns out to be good. Thank Lord, I'm sorry that I ever doubted you. I'm sorry that I was upset about this. So number one, we see Moses causes the problem. Number two, we see Moses solves the problem. Notice number three tonight. God remembers his people. God remembers his people. Verses 23 through 25. First of all, we see that he hears their cry in verse number 23. And it came to pass in the process of time that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. And I've seen the truth as I've studied through this, and I'll share with you in just a few minutes. But why did Israel cry? Their cry came from a letdown. The cry came from a letdown. Verse 23 tells us that pharaoh had passed away, that king of Egypt had died, and they thought, well, maybe a new king will bring new programs and new political ideas, and he'll let us go free, and that wasn't the case. This would be the same Pharaoh that Moses would have to go to that we know that he hardened his heart and he was just as bad, if not worse, as the first Pharaoh that were mentioned in the book of Exodus that was trying to take the lives of the children. And so their cry came from a letdown. What they thought, what they were looking forward to did not pass out. He didn't release them from bondage. He didn't release them from slavery. No, he made them continue to do what they were doing. They thought a new Pharaoh would be a good thing, but this Pharaoh was the same, if not worse. So their cry came from a letdown. Their cry was caused by their problem, by reason of their bondage. by reason of their bondage in verse number 23. And they cried and their cry came up to God by reason of bondage. that word cry my my son's got a he'll do this every now and again really more than I we'd like for it to happen but if you don't get his way if you don't get what he wants here comes a cry it is the most played out it is the most you can tell it ain't real like we've had to tell him son that's not even close to being a real cry and But when we're talking about the nation of Israel, this ain't one of those whine cries because they didn't get their way. You look that word cry up in your concordance, it literally means to shriek or to weep. I mean, they are beyond hurt. This is from a deep pain deep down inside. They begin to weep because of what they're going through. And it's almost as if they're crying because they've lost hope. They know they're the nation of Israel. They know that God's promised some things and God said some things to their forefathers. But now they don't know. They don't know if it's ever going to play out. They don't see any out from this. They don't see any hope in this situation. And they begin to cry. They begin to weep because of their bondage. That's exactly how we were before Christ saved us. We wanted to do right, we wanted help, we wanted to fix, but it got so bad we had no hope. We had nothing that we could turn to, and we began to lose hope. We're thankful that Christ showed up in our life one day, and he gave us reason to hope, and he gave us a hope that'll last for all eternity. But their cry was caused by their problem. But notice this, their cry was not directed towards God. I've always read that and thought they cried out to God. No, the Bible says they cried by reason of their bondage. Look at verse number 23. And then verse number, yeah, verse number 23. And they cried and their cry came up unto God by reason of their bondage. And God heard their groaning. God heard their groaning. They were crying because of their situation. They didn't know what to do. They didn't know what to do next. It wasn't necessarily directed to God. But aren't you glad that even when we don't necessarily direct our issues and our things, we don't necessarily direct them to God, God's still able to hear them? When things are just beyond words and things are beyond a hurt that we can explain, that God's still able to hear us when we cry? But God still heard their cry, even though it was not directed to him. Psalms 34, 18, The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Even though we may not cry out to God, when we cry, God hears us. And I'm thankful for that this evening. One, not only that he heard their cry, but verse number 24 tells us he remembers his covenant. He remembers his covenant. Look at verse number 24. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham and with Isaac and with Jacob. Well, if God remembered it, does that mean he forgot? No, God can't forget. He knows everything. Thank you, Miss Ella, for the head shake. She was right on with it. She said, no, Brother Tate, God can't forget nothing. He chose to forget my sins. Chose to remember them no more. But here that phrase remember, it doesn't mean to forget and to bring back to mind, but it means to be mindful of. It means to mark as if I'm setting this here and that way it's a constant reminder and that I will remember of the covenant that I made with these people. And he lists this out and it's not by accident. you'll find this many times in the Old Testament where God said that I'm the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob everybody ever heard that it's a common phrase in the Old Testament because it deals with that Abrahamic covenant and all that what God promised him and so he says right here verse number 24 with his covenant with Abraham well where's that covenant coming it's Genesis 12 1 now the Lord said unto Abram get the out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee, and I will make thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing, and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curseth thee, and thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And we have the covenant with Isaac in Genesis 26, 3. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and I will bless thee. For unto thee and to thy seed I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I swear unto Abraham thy father. And then we have his covenant with Jacob in Genesis 28, 13. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac, the land where thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west and to the east. and to the north and to the south, in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And behold, I am with thee, and I will keep thee in all the places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again unto this land, for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. And so what this is saying here is so many times we think that God got Israel out of Egypt because of the obedience of Moses. Now, Moses' obedience did play a big part in that. He trusted God, and God used him to be the man that would lead Israel out. But ultimately, Israel got out of Egypt not because of Moses, but because of the covenant that God had made with himself. I will bless thee, Abraham. I will bless thee, Jacob. I will bless thee, Isaac. And so what God's saying is, as he hears their cry, he said, I am mindful of the promise that I made my children, that I will bless them, and they will become a great and mighty nation. And that their lineage and their children will be like the dust of the earth, the sands of the seas, the stars of the sky. And God said, because of the promise I made, I have prepared a man, I have raised a man who will lead them out of Egypt into the promised land. Aren't you glad that God is a God that keeps his covenant? I'm glad that he's not an Indian giver, so to speak. I'm glad that when he promised me that he saved me for all eternity, that I'm saved for all eternity. I'm saved by the grace of God. I'm glad that when I die and I stand before God, he's not going to say, well, I told you I saved you, but I'm taking that back. I'm glad that he is faithful to his word. He's faithful to the covenant that he's made to himself. But notice this, not only that he remembers his covenant, that he heard their cry, but notice this last one will be done tonight. He has respect unto Israel in verse number 25. And God looked upon the children of Israel and God had respect unto them. First of all, we see that God watched over them. God looked upon the children of Israel. They probably thought, where is God? And God said, I'm right here watching over you. I understand it's not enjoyable, I understand that you may not like it, but don't you ever get over the fact that God is watching over you. I understand the situations aren't always easy, the situations aren't always fun, but God is watching over us. We'll never leave His sight, we'll never get to a place where God cannot see us. We're always in the eyes and the focus of God. So He watched over them, but the Bible also tells us that He cared about them. God had respect unto them. That word respect means to acknowledge, it means to care. He cared about Israel enough that he had preserved the life of a man that he was going to call in the next chapter, that was going to go before Pharaoh and was going to lead the nation of Israel out of Egypt. He cared enough that he preserved his life. He cared enough that he worked everything together that Moses' life would be sustained, that he could lead the nation of Israel out. And he knew that a man who he'd been raising and preparing was going to be used to deliver his children out of the bondage of Israel. Why? Because he had respect for Israel. He cared for them. I'm glad that we don't read Exodus chapter number 2 and verse number 25 says something along the line, and God did not know what to do. There's enough going on in my life that I don't know what to do. I'm glad that when I cry out to God and I call out to God and I said, Lord, I don't know what to do. He's never once said me either. But no, he's always took me to his word. He's took me to preaching. He's took me to the conviction of the Holy Spirit. And he showed me exactly what needs to be done because God always has a plan. God always has a reason. That's something that God's never been without. That's something that God's not going to go without. You can't read the book of Genesis. You can't read the book of Exodus. You can read the entire Old Testament, the New Testament. All of it points back or all of it points towards or points back to Calvary. This whole thing God's been working on and really all that's going on here like we mentioned in the introduction, we mentioned how this whole experience that the nation of Israel goes through is not just a historical account, but it's a spiritual account, and it helps us understand our salvation, how God called us out of Egypt, which is always a picture of sin, brought us through the Red Sea, and now we're on the other side, and he closed up the Red Sea behind him because he didn't want to go back. The same is true in our life. And all that being said, God was preparing a man and God was raising up a man that would lead them out. And there's no telling who's here tonight, whether it's in the older generation, the young generation. Remember, Moses ain't 18 when this took place. He's 40. And by the time he comes out of Midian and he stands before Pharaoh, he's 80. He's 80 years old, about to do his life's goal, his life's mission. And sometimes we think, well, once I hit 55, there ain't much that God can do with me. was 80 years old it was about to lead over 2 million people out of Egypt I heard one man preach on this this week on the statistics and all that he said that more people left more Israelites left Egypt that then that live in South Carolina did you imagine the whole South Carolina was just crossing the Savannah River crazy to think about walking through Clarks Hill is completely mind-blowing. I think he said that it had to be at least 6 to 12 miles wide for them to cross in the amount of time that they did. What's all that mean, brother Tate? That God has a plan. God has a reason, and we'll get more into that when we get to that part of the chapter in that part of the book, but tonight I just want to encourage you that God's preparing things in your life. He's allowing you to go through things. He's allowing you to make mistakes. He's allowing you to see problems solved just so you'll remember that He's in control and that He's got a purpose for your life. All things work together for good that love God and look forward and look to His appearing. And so they are called according to His purpose. God works all those things together to prepare you. to prepare you. Those struggles, those battles, the good things, the bad things, God's using all of that because He's got a great ministry for you. He's got a great purpose for your life and all that's going to play into it. There's days where I wonder why in the world did I work at a fast food restaurant for six years? And God was trying to teach me things. God was trying to teach me that it always pays and it's always a good thing to stay humble Even when no, you're right. Let I mean, listen, you want to learn you want to learn how to deal with your pride, get cussed out over a cheeseburger. That'll make I mean, that's how it's a hard pill to swallow, especially when you know you're right. You did not ask to take mustard off your burger. You said all the way. But all of that works together. Why God put me in a cabinet shop? Why God put me around the people in that place? Why did God put me there? So I could learn to love people for who they were. Not because they were just simply spiritual. Not because they were simply good people. They were people that need to be loved. So God has a reason for everything that you're going through. That's happening in your life. And so he's preparing you just like you prepared Moses. I'd encourage you not when the things get tough, when problems arise, sit back and realize that this is not a punishment. God's just prepared me. God prepared me for some great and mighty work that he has in store for me in my life. So don't get discouraged, but just say, Lord, would you teach me or help me that I might better understand what I'm going through in my life? Amen. Amen. Let's all pray tonight, every head bowed, every eye closed. We'll be dismissed. Thank you so much for coming tonight. And hopefully this was a blessing to you. It helped you somewhere along the way.