Okay, I trust you have your Bibles there this morning. Turn with me to the book of Exodus and chapter 5. Book of Exodus chapter 5. We are currently making our way through the book of Exodus on Sunday mornings. Exodus contains some of the most famous Bible stories. Moses at the burning bush, let my people go, the liberation of the Jewish people from Egyptian bondage. Exodus chapter 5. we're going to read the whole chapter and we'll pray as we get into our lesson this morning. Exodus chapter 5 reading from verse 1. And afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told 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 is the law that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. they said the God of the Hebrews hath met with us let us go we pray thee three days journey into the desert and sacrifice under the Lord our God lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword and the king of Egypt said unto them wherefore do ye Moses and Aaron let the people from their works get you unto your burdens Pharaoh said behold the people of the land and now are many and ye make them rest from their burdens Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people and their officers saying, you shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore, let them go and gather straw for themselves. And the tail of the bricks, meaning the tally, which they did make heretofore, you shall lay upon them, you shall not diminish ought thereof, for they be idle, therefore they cry saying, let us go and sacrifice to our God. Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein, and let them not regard vain words. And the taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spake to the people, saying, Thus saith the Lord, thus saith Pharaoh. I will not give you straw. Go you, get you straw where ye can find it, ye yet not ought of your work shall be diminished. So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw. And the taskmasters hasted them, saying, Fulfill your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw. the officers of the Children of Israel which Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them were beaten and demanded, wherefore have you not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and today as heretofore? Then the officers of the Children of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants? There is no straw given under thy servants, and they say to us, make brick. Behold, thy servants are beaten, but the fault is in thine own people. But he said, ye are idle, ye are idle. Therefore, ye say, let us go and do sacrifice to the Lord. Go therefore now and work, for there shall no straw be given you, yet ye shall deliver the tale of bricks. The officers of the children of Israel did see that they were in evil case after it was said, ye shall not minish ought from your bricks of your daily task. And they met Moses and Aaron, who stood in the way as they came forth from Pharaoh. And they said unto them, The Lord look upon you and judge, because you have made our Saviour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants to put a sword in their hand to slay us. And Moses returned unto the Lord and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this people? Why is it that thou hast sent me? We're dealing this morning with the subject, Facing Pharaoh. Facing Pharaoh. We have Moses' first encounter with Pharaoh here in Exodus chapter 5. Let's pray. Father we ask for your blessing now upon your Word, we thank you that your Word is able to meet the needs, Father, as nothing else can. We pray now for the help of your Holy Spirit for both the speaker and the hearer, Lord, that our hearts might be quickened, Lord, that you would strengthen us in our infirmities, Lord, we are so weak and so in need of your help, Father. We just ask that you would fill us with your Spirit, speak to us through your Word, make your Word come alive to us we thank you it is alive that it is powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword but we pray that that power might be unleashed in our hearts this morning that the Holy Spirit would give the Word of God free course and that each heart would be touched by your truth we pray so we look to you now asking for your help and for your blessing in Jesus name Amen. We come to this section in Exodus chapter 5 through 14 that deals with this confrontation, this showdown between Moses and Pharaoh. Don't forget that Pharaoh was the most powerful leader of the most powerful nation on the earth at this time. And here God raises up Moses, a man who was trained for the first 40 years of his life, remember he was taken out of the Nile River by the Egyptian princess and he was raised in the palace of Pharaoh, he was schooled in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, he was a man mighty in word and in deed but the age of 40 he was not yet ready for God to use and so God took Moses out of Egypt and gave him 40 years in the desert in Midian where he married Zipporah and served faithfully and then God met Moses at the burning bush. We looked at that how God manifested his power and his person and his glory in that bush that was on fire and yet not consumed and God called Moses and commissioned Moses and sent him back to Egypt to deliver his people from bondage. So in chapter 5 we have the first encounter between Moses and the Pharaoh. And what chapter 5 of Exodus really does is it gives us an even greater picture of what Egyptian slavery looked like. It shows us the heart, the cold and cruel heart of the Pharaoh. it gives us further insight into the situation and really paints that picture of the sinner's life under slavery to sin before salvation because we know that Egypt is a type or a picture of the world and slavery in Egypt pictures the life before salvation and then of course we know as we go through exodus the blood of the lamb was that the lambs were slain the blood was applied to the doorposts Moses is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ because Moses himself said in prophecy that God would raise up a prophet like unto him. we know that is Jesus Christ and so Moses is sent to a captive people to deliver them picturing Jesus Christ who came to this earth to deliver us from our bondage to sin and to Satan. And so I've divided the account this morning under three headings as we study the chapter, and I want to draw your attention firstly this morning to the demands in the confrontation. So we have this confrontation between Moses and Pharaoh, Moses and Aaron together, and Pharaoh, and then we note in verse 1 through 4 the demands that Moses makes to Pharaoh. afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh thus saith the Lord God of Israel let my people go they may hold a feast under me in the wilderness and so don't miss the significance of this here you have Moses standing before the most powerful ruler in the ancient world and declaring thus saith the Lord Moses came with a divine message and a divine mandate let my people go So we have the declaration of God's Word here. The declaration of God's Word in verse 1. And we notice a number of things under that. We see the partnership for the preaching. God put Moses and Aaron together as ministry partners in order to take the Word of God to Egypt and to liberate the people of God. And if you back up to chapter 4, we could just remind ourselves about how God put this together. It says there in chapter 4 verse 14, where are we here? Okay, I think I've got the wrong reference here. sorry, chapter 4 verse 27, pardon me, So we see that God put Moses and Aaron together in a ministry partnership to go together to Egypt to declare the Word of God. You know, this is a frequent theme in the Word of God. Often we see God putting two men together to do his work. Jesus Christ sent the disciples out two by two. And what I love about this picture, and we didn't have time to cover it in our last message on chapter 4, is you see God working in Moses' heart all the way over there in Midian and revealing to him that Aaron was to partner with him in the calling that God had for him and then all the way there back in Egypt you have God working in Aaron's heart moving him to come out of Egypt and as these two men followed the will of God their paths crossed at Mount Horeb. that's amazing because in those days there was no FaceTime I mean Moses was not FaceTiming Aaron saying how you going bro you know could you just come and meet me I'll meet you at this intersection here at the at the Mount Horeb no no no no here you have God moving in Moses heart and and laying upon his heart that Aaron was to work with him. And then you have God moving in Aaron's heart all the way there back in Egypt. And as both men yielded to the will of God, God caused their paths to cross and to enter into a ministry partnership in the work of God. You know, it's a wonderful thing to have a ministry partnership that is orchestrated by the Lord. When the Lord puts men together to work for the same cause and the same calling. we see this all through the Bible. Now some wonder how two brothers could work together in the ministry. Well, and sometimes actually people wonder that, they say, how do you and Pastor Dan really get along, you know, being brothers and all of that, you know, yeah, wink, wink, we understand. No, but it's interesting, isn't it, to look in the Bible and see that here God put two brothers together to do his work. In fact, as you read the list of the 12 disciples, you'll find at least two sets of brothers in the list of Christ's disciples. So, Nehemiah, also another example, worked with his brother Hanani. The key thing is, in any ministry partnership, it needs to be the Lord's will and it needs to be the Lord's doing. So bear that in mind, because a few whisper whispers went around Adelaide, oh, Pastor Simeon just brought his brother over because he's his brother. No, that was not the reason. I did not ask him to come and be my assistant pastor because he was my brother. It was due to seeking the Lord and his will and the Lord working in his heart on his end. And it's a wonderful thing when you have a ministry partnership that is orchestrated, ordained and blessed of God. it's God's way very often to put men together, to harness them together and so that they might work in the ministry that God has for them. And so we see the providential leading of God in this partnership and then the practical workings of the partnership, we see there's a very clear order here, Moses was the primary leader and Aaron was in a support role and you know we need men for both those roles. We need men who are going to be the main leaders of the work to have that vision and that calling, but we also need men who can be like Aaron, who can be supporters to the main leaders, supporters in the work of God, and both roles are vital and both roles are valuable. Bear that in mind. You say, I believe God's called me to preach. That's wonderful. Just keep an open heart. Maybe God might have you work as a second man, as a support role, Maybe he'll have you work as the primary leader, but whatever, we see the principle there of God putting men together in the work of God. And so I think that would have been a blessing for Moses when you're going in to face Pharaoh, the most powerful leader on earth at that time, to have Aaron there as a support and God put them together. So we see now not only the partnership for this preaching, but the point of the preaching. What was the message they declared? Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, let my people go that they may hold a feast under me in the wilderness.' Now imagine what it must have felt like for Moses to be walking back into the Egyptian palace for the first time in 40 years. I have no doubt, if you think of the flood of memories that came back to him as he approached the outskirts of Egypt, as he approached the palace I mean he was very familiar and probably it was his familiarity with the palace that enabled him to get access because this was a new pharaoh, it wasn't the pharaoh that was trying to seek Moses' life 40 years earlier, this was a new pharaoh now sitting on the throne but Moses probably because of his extensive training knew how to access and the protocol with which to get into the palace he comes now before Pharaoh with Aaron by his side and they declare that God has commanded him to let the people go. And so here we see this showdown, this confrontation that really is forming up between the God of Israel and the false gods of Egypt. Between Jehovah God of Israel and Pharaoh We have really the clash between thus saith the Lord and thus saith Pharaoh. That's the contest we're going to follow from chapter 5 through 14. The clash between God Almighty's word and Pharaoh's word. God's demands versus Pharaoh's demands. Pharaoh is sitting on the throne as, picturing there, Satan really is the god of this world who is a usurper prince, a pretender prince, holding people in captive. so the message was clear, let my people go, says God. You see, Pharaoh felt that the slaves belonged to him, that they were his people, but God now says through Moses, no Pharaoh, these are my people and you are to let them go. Why? That they may hold a feast under me in the wilderness. And we're going to see this theme as we go all the way through, that God was seeking to save his people out of Egyptian bondage in order that they might serve him. Liberating them from Egyptian bondage that they might serve him, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. So God was looking to liberate his people and separate his people from Egyptian bondage. So there in verse one, we see the declaration of God's word. Then look number two at the defiance of God's Word. Look at the response from Pharaoh and Pharaoh said, who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. So here we have the response of an unbelieving heart. Look at the ignorance of Pharaoh's defiance of God here, the ignorance of Pharaoh's defiance. Who is the Lord? I know not the Lord. You say, what was behind Pharaoh's reaction to Moses and Aaron? Why was it that Pharaoh could so blatantly Say no to the one true God, the creator of heaven and earth. Well, very simply, he was ignorant of the God who is. You say, why is it that people can live the way they live today? I'll tell you why, ignorance of the God who is. You say, why on earth is it that people can do the things they do and live such wicked lives and such sinful lives in blatant defiance to the revealed will of God and the word of God? I'll tell you, they know not the Lord. But you need to understand that this was not some sort of passive ignorance on the part of Pharaoh, this was a willful ignorance. Pharaoh's attitude was, I don't know Jehovah God and essentially I don't care to know him. This was an arrogant ignorance. The ignorance of Pharaoh's defiance. You need to understand that the Egyptians believed that Pharaoh was a god. Pharaoh believed that he was a God. So here you have Moses and Aaron come and say, the God of Israel says, let my people go and he says, I am God. What do you mean? What do you mean God's told me this? I am God! It's kind of the attitude today, isn't it? You say, the Word of God, this is what God says. What do you mean? I run my own life. I'll do as I please. They may not say explicitly, I am God, but people very much seem to have the idea today that they are God, that they can master their own destiny, that they can do whatever they want. You see, that's the problem, isn't it? When man sets himself up in the place of God, he defies the God who is. ignorance of Pharaoh's defiance, the insolence of Pharaoh's defiance. We see there's arrogance in his word, there's a total disregard and disrespect and even disgust for Jehovah God. He had no intention of obeying the God, he did not know and we could say this, ignorance of God leads to defiance of God. What Pharaoh reveals here is that unbelief is more than an intellectual problem. It's a moral problem, a heart problem. Isn't it interesting that Moses defiantly, sorry not Moses, Pharaoh defiantly expresses his rebellion against a God he says he doesn't believe in. It's kind of a strange contradiction of the unbelieving heart. I don't believe in God! I'm not going to do what God says! Well, hang on a second, why are you expressing rebellion against a God you say doesn't exist? If he does not exist, why do you spend your life, Mr. Atheist, expressing your rebellion against a God who apparently does not exist? Have you noticed that? I don't believe in God! And then, I'm not going to do what God says! Hang on a second, if God doesn't exist, why are you so enraged against the morality he requires? If God does not exist, why are you so angry against this God? Is not your rage against God and your rebelling against God evidence that deep down in your heart you know there is a God? what Romans 1 talks about, Romans 1 18 through 20, it talks about the fact that God's wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. That word hold in the Greek has the idea of to hold down or suppress. So Pharaoh essentially is saying I don't know God therefore I'm going to disobey him and I want to stay ignorant so I may continue to disobey him. Do you know that's the case out there today? It's more than just ignorance, it's a willful ignorance. I don't want to know anything about God. Why? Because I want to keep living in sin. I want to keep doing what I want to do. I want to keep being the God of my own life. As someone put it, he is disobedient because he is ignorant and he chooses to remain ignorant so that he can keep on being disobedient. Is that not the case out there? Ignorance leads to disobedience against God but if the heart is hard in unbelief, don't tell me about God, don't tell me about what the Bible says, why? Because I don't like the implications that might have for the way I'm living. You see, most people's problem is not intellectual, it's moral. The reason you deny God's existence is not really because there's no evidence for God. The reason you deny God's existence is you don't want a supreme authority that might have something to say about how you live your life. That's what people really don't want. You see, Pharaoh did not want to acknowledge the authority of the Almighty God of Israel over him. Summarise, someone put it this way, Pharaoh was ignorant of God's identity, resistant to God's authority and malevolent toward God's community. We see that. Ignorant of God's identity, resistant to God's authority and therefore malevolent, malicious towards God's people. Now, how did Moses and Aaron respond to this? Oh Pharaoh, we're sorry you're offended. We'll bring the band in and make it sound a bit better, you know, we'll tone the message down. Sorry for offending you Pharaoh. No, look at what they say in verse 3 and I love this, the men of God just simply double down. they said, the God of the Hebrews hath met with us, let us go, we pray thee, they're still respectful in their tone but nonetheless they're not budging from the message, three days journey into the desert and sacrifice unto the Lord our God lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword. I love Moses and Aaron's example here, they don't alter the message. Do you know we have no authority to alter the message of God's Word? You say, but they're so angry at me for telling them. You can't change the message. No matter how people respond, if they respond with hostility, if they respond with negativity as Pharaoh did, your job is to humbly and graciously continue to stand upon the revelation of the Word of God and reiterate, thus saith the Lord. The defense of God's Word. Moses and Aaron did not bow to Pharaoh's defiance, but they simply stood on God's righteous demand. When people deny and defy, thus saith the Lord, we are not to budge one inch from the divine message. God's word is still God's word, no matter how angrily people may respond to it. So they added a little bit further information here, they said, let us go we pray the three days journey into the desert and sacrifice under the Lord our God lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword. Now the reference to the third day here is very significant. The third day in the Bible is the day of resurrection. So he says, I want you to let us go three days journey into the wilderness. that third day for Israel would represent the start of a new life essentially, of liberty. Plus three days journey would put a comfortable distance between Israel and Egypt. You see God is always in the business of calling his people out, separating his people from the world to live for him. So the third day is when new life commences. The feast to be held on the third day in the wilderness would mark the beginning of a new life for Israel. So we have the demands of the confrontation here, Moses and Aaron come before Pharaoh and issue the divine demands, let my people go. Look number two now though, at the deterioration after the confrontation, verse 5 through 18. things get better at this point or worse? You know sometimes things have to get worse for the sinner before they get better? Do you realize that? Sometimes, because part of what God is doing here, God is really working on Israel as well so that they get to the point where they have had enough of Egypt. They want to get out of Egypt. mean there were some lurks and perks for living in Egypt. Later on they would lament, oh we remember the leeks and the garlics, there were some positive aspects to living in Egypt and what God is doing, in fact as you look at God, whenever God's moving, he's often doing so many things in the one event. God is moving in the nation of Israel. God is moving to make known His greatness and His power to a pagan world. God is moving to judge Pharaoh and to judge that wicked regime. But God is also moving in the lives of His people and making things very uncomfortable so that they're sick of their bondage and ready to leave. Do you know the sinner has to get to that point where they are sick of sin slavery, where they are sick of being under the power of Satan to where they're prepared to run to Christ who is the deliverer. So things initially got worse before they got better. Pharaoh responds here by inflicting even greater suffering upon the enslaved Israelites. Look at what happened. Look at what happened, we could summarize it this way by saying, number one, their bondage was increased. Their bondage was increased. How did Pharaoh respond? He responded by increasing their bondage. How did he do that? He said, well, you're idle, there's too many of you. You can always hear the can hear the cold steely sound in Pharaoh's voice, you can see the darkness in his eyes, you can see the sinister look that spreads across his face, I'll show you. You want to go and worship, you want to go and worship the God of Israel, you've got too much time on your hands, here's what we're going to do, we're going to take away the provision of straw for brick making, And you will have to not only continue with that back-breaking work of making the thousands and thousands, hundreds of thousands of bricks for my empire, but you will now have to go and gather straw. Now, we have some insight into the ancient world, and archaeology has discovered thousands of these bricks, so this is not a fairy story. Ancient brick-making before kilns were in widespread use involved the use of straw. And the straw was a binding agent to hold the clay together. So what they would do, in fact there's a base relief that's been discovered in a tomb of a high-ranking official at Thebes that actually depicts workers at various stages of brick making. And those who have studied this relief have summarised it. as follows, here's the steps for brick making. First, mud was broken up with a hoe and the binding agent, the straw and water, was mixed in. Then this was kneaded with the feet until it had the right consistency. Then it was pressed into the brick moulds. bricks were then pushed out of the mold and arranged in rows in order to be dried by the sun. Now what's interesting is researchers have examined the Egyptian papyrus, so these are ancient Egyptian documents and things that are still, or fragments of documents that have been discovered, and they have found, even within the Egyptian papyrus, instructions and details that basically mirror exactly what we have written in the Bible here, a system of quotas. careful management of brick making and you say why do you say all of that? Well because I want you to have faith in the historical reliability of the Bible. This is not a fairy story going on here, this is actual history and it's backed up by archaeological discoveries, it's backed up by even the ancient documents, we see that this was the kind of brick making procedure that was in place in ancient Egypt. so Pharaoh commanded, verse 6, the same day the taskmasters of the people and their officers saying, you shall no more give the people straw to make brick as heretofore let them go and gather straw for themselves and the tail of the bricks which they did make heretofore you shall lay upon them you shall not diminish or thereof for they be idle therefore they cry saying let us go and sacrifice to our God let there more work be laid upon the men that they may labor therein and let them not regard vain words and so the taskmasters go out they hurry the people and clearly the taskmasters were the Egyptian overlords, Egyptian managers so to speak of the slaves or slave drivers and then under them they had Jewish officers that were responsible for maintaining the quota of bricks and what happened by the end of the day? They had not fulfilled the daily tally or the daily quota that was required and so the Jewish officers were beaten. So the deterioration here. their bondage was increased. You know, I think we get a very graphic picture here of Satan and sin. Sin, slavery, slavery, remember Egypt pictures the world under the dominion of the Prince of Darkness, Satan, that's very clear in the Bible. Pharaoh's a type, a picture of Satan. How does Satan respond when someone maybe hears the gospel or maybe even considers the message of deliverance? What does he do? He increases their bondage. He tries to tighten the chains further. That's the picture we see here. Pharaoh's response to the message of liberation was to tighten his grip on his slaves and in like manner Satan tightens his grip on the unbeliever when his dictatorship over them is challenged by the gospel. Do you know that's why there's always a massive battle over a soul getting saved? There's always spiritual warfare involved for someone to come to accept Jesus Christ as Savior because the God of this world has no intention of letting go of his slaves. What is Pharaoh doing here? He's demanding more from his slaves while at the same time giving them less and less. You know, that's exactly what sin does in people's lives. It demands more and more and more from you, all the while it gives you less and less and less. That's the picture of the devil. That's the picture of sin. Sin just takes more and more from you, but it gives you less and less. Think about that. The drug addict finds that exactly. The drug addiction demands more and more of him, all the while it gives less and less satisfaction. The porn addict finds the same thing. It's just that addiction demands more and more, and yet there is less and less satisfaction. Sin always takes more and more from you, all the while it gives you less and less. True? Until you end up a hollowed out wreck of humanity. Have you seen that in people's lives? They hear the gospel and sometimes their lives get worse. Satan's trying to bind them tighter. And sometimes, as we're going to see in a moment, they run back to the old habit. They run back to Pharaoh and say, set us free. He says, thank you for coming to me. Let me just tighten those chains a bit for you. Let me increase your work. Let me lay more suffering upon you. Sin always demands more, and more of it slays, all the while it gives less and less. one commentator wrote, sin is the harshest of taskmasters as it always demands more and more from us while giving less and less in return. The more the lustful man indulges his fantasies, the less happy he becomes and the more gratification he craves. Satan never loses his grip, he is always busy tightening the chains of our captivity, it is always more bricks and less straw for it is the very nature of sin to seek to control the sinners whole. whole life. John 8 34, Jesus said, whosoever committeth sin is the servant, the bond slave of sin. More bricks, less straw. You want a life of sin? Remember that. it'll be more for less as time goes on and the initial sin that gave you pleasure eventually is going to ruin you and wreck you and you're going to be a burdened down individual. You know there was, these people needed to be set free, these people needed to be delivered from this terrible bondage of slavery but there was only one who could deliver them, he was Moses, God raised up Moses as the deliverer God's power was going to work through Moses to set the people of Israel free from Egypt and I'm here to tell you this morning that Moses pictures Jesus Christ and it's only Jesus Christ who can set you free from the bondage of sin, from the chains of Satan in your life. It is only through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Deliverer, that you can be set free from the slavery of sin. Jesus said, John 8, 32, "...and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." And in the same chapter, just a few verses later, "...if the Son therefore make you free," verse 36, "...ye shall be free indeed." You know, it's become a bit of a popular thing, these freedom movements. I'm not against every aspect of maybe what they're trying to do to bring attention to our, I guess, our rights, our liberties, these sorts of things. But I see a danger. If you're looking for freedom but you don't come to Christ, you'll never have true freedom. It's not enough to see that there's corruption in the world. It's not enough to see that there is tyranny in the world. It's not enough to see all the evil in the world if you don't ever come to the solution which is found in Jesus Christ. And you can have rallies for freedom, you can talk about freedom on social media, but you will never know freedom until you come into contact with Jesus Christ, the Son of God. So how did Pharaoh respond? Increase their burdens. You want to go on living your life of sin, by the way, as a Christian, you want to get tangled back up with the old slave master sin, it'll be more for less. Oh, but I'm sure it's going to feel so good. Yeah, but it'll be more for less. It'll just demand sin, will demand more and more and more and more for your life. All the while, it'll give you less and less and less and less until you are a hollowed out, gutted human being. You see them out there? I say that in compassion. People in bondage to sin. And don't you just wish, sometimes you say, don't you just wish that people would accept deliverance in Jesus Christ? But sometimes they have to go for another round of bondage and sometimes they have to go through even a worsening of their situation so that they finally come to the realisation, Egypt is not my home. this is not the kind of life I want, I need deliverance through the blood of the Lamb. But you see it, there's a battle raging over these slaves and when a soul is bound by sin and Satan and you come with the gospel, get ready for a fight. The devil is going to try and hold that person in bondage. What a picture of the devil we get here in Pharaoh, cold, cruel, no compassion in Pharaoh. That's how the devil is. That's how the world system under Satan's dominion really is. You'll never find compassion in the devil. You will never find compassion in sin, but you'll find compassion in the Christ. Jesus Christ, the Son of God who loved you and gave himself for you. So their burdens were increased. Look at number two, their cries were ignored. Verse 15 through 18. Do you see a problem with that? The very worst place you can go to for deliverance or seek deliverance at the feet of your oppressor. That would have been much better to cry unto the Lord but he said ye are idle, ye are idle, therefore you say let us go and do sacrifice to the Lord. Go therefore now and work, that's the devil's answer isn't it? You go looking for deliverance in more sin? You go looking for deliverance in the devil? Guess what his reply is going to be? Go and work harder for me. Go back to your burdens. That's what he said, didn't he? Back in verse 4, get you unto your burdens. That's what the devil's going to say to you. That's what the world will do to you. Just go back to your burdens, back to your addiction, back to your enslavement to sin. Their burdens were increased, their cries were ignored. their pleas were met here with coldness and cruelty. Do you know Satan? His cruelness and callousness personified. If you go to the devil hoping to get freedom from him, you will not find one skerrick of compassion in the devil. You don't believe that? You better know the devil's not your friend. Young people, you better know that if you go to the world and to the devil looking for freedom, you will get slavery. If you're going to pray to the devil as a 16 year old and ask him for your freedom, I know of someone who did that, a young man who grew up in a Christian home, the devil won't give you freedom, he'll destroy you! There is no freedom to be found in the God of this world, nothing but coldness and cruelty. Satan is a murderer, Jesus said, and a liar from the beginning. He's a murderer, a liar, a deceiver, and he will destroy you. And here we have this enslaved people, instead of crying to God for deliverance, initially they went and cried to their oppressor for deliverance. Is that not a picture of the world? Sometimes you come and say, you need Christ. here's the gospel and they run back to their sin to try and find relief, run back to their ungodly habits, run back to their lifestyle trying to find some new meaning, only to find, if they're honest, greater bondage and greater slavery. No compassion would be found in Pharaoh and no compassion is available for you in the devil and in this world system. Don't run to the devil for deliverance, run to Christ. Don't go back to your sin, trying to find freedom there. Don't go to some false religion, trying to find freedom there. Come to Jesus Christ. You know what's sad today? People run to just about anything and anyone for relief from their sin bondage except the only one who can really help them. They run to the bottle, they run to the internet, They run to whatever, I mean there's any number of things, people run to just about anything. Just like these officers, they ran to Pharaoh, the very man who had nothing but cruelty in his heart towards them, seeking for relief, seeking for mercy. That's the wrong place to seek help. A lot of it today is people run to themselves. You know, I just need to have freedom, I need to really just, I've really just come to believe in myself. Yeah, you'll be enslaved to yourself. There's no hope in self, you are not your own saviour. There's only one who can set you free. His name is Jesus Christ. There's only one who can set you free from sin and His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He's the only Deliverer. Number three now, at the discouragement from the confrontation. Here we focus upon Moses' response to all of this now. So Moses and Aaron go before Pharaoh, they confront him with the demand, let my people go. Pharaoh responds by tightening the chains as it were further by increasing the bondage and the suffering of the people of God. The officers of Israel they go and they cry out to Pharaoh but look at now Moses' response and what happens with him and I think we can pick up maybe a few encouragements here or helps for the ministry because Moses faced what every faithful servant of God will face at times, discouragement and disappointment. you don't think Moses was discouraged at this point, he says, Lord why did you send me? I think every preacher at some point faces that sentiment. Why Lord did you send me? Moses was clearly discouraged. Verse 19, and the officers of the children of Israel did see that they were in evil case after it was said, you shall not minish ought from your bricks of your daily task. And they met Moses and Aaron who stood in the way as they came forth from Pharaoh and they said unto them, the Lord look upon you and judge, means to pass sentence. Because you've made our savour, savour meaning our smell figuratively speaking there, to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh. You've made us stink, basically they're saying, in the eyes of Pharaoh. Now at this point in time, like the more Moses obeyed God's will, the worse things seem to get on the human level. You'd be wise to remember that. Sometimes we get the wrong idea that obeying the will of God means that everything is going to be rosy straight away, everything is going to be fine, everything is going to just just be fantastic? Did you know sometimes when you obey God, and I'm not talking about going out on your own and doing something foolish in your own wisdom, I'm talking about obeying the will of God, did you know that very often it comes with a cross to bear? And the reward comes later. I don't understand. God called me to preach. God led me to this church. all these people turned against me, what's going on Lord? That happens. Moses, things got worse for Moses at this point, before they got better. He was now being rejected by both the Egyptians and the Hebrews. Just consider for a moment the source of Moses' discouragement and the solution for Moses' discouragement. Firstly, the source of Moses' discouragement. What were the sources of Moses' discouragement? Well firstly, he faced defiance from Pharaoh, that would have been disheartening but probably not very surprising. But you know, I think what would have been probably the hardest thing for Moses at this time was to be rejected falsely accused and blamed by the very people he was trying to help. You know that's very hard, that's a very bitter pill for you to swallow in the ministry when the very people you love, the very people you are trying to help, accuse you and lay blame upon you. And it's not just for preachers. If you're going to serve God faithfully in some area of ministry, at some point you encounter something like this, where the very people you're trying to help turn on you. Have you ever had that happen with a family member? You're trying to help them come to Christ and they get angry at you. They turn on you. Be prepared for that. It's part of service for the Lord, bearing the cross of misunderstanding, taking sometimes the false accusations and the misplaced blame. You know, it's very easy to blame our leaders for problems going on in our own lives. Happens all the time. You've got problems at home, it's easy to project all that onto the pastor. you've got problems in your personal life and strains, very easy to point the finger at the man of God and say it's his fault, it happens. The pastor, the preacher, the man of God becomes an easy target for people going through stuff. They blame Moses for their misfortune. In fact as I read through Exodus I think that was really a pattern. Moses got blamed for a lot of things, falsely accused and unfairly blamed for many things in his ministry. And that's just a cross that God's men often have to carry in the ministry. But remember, when you are hurting or suffering, it is easy to lash out at the man of God if you're not careful. It's all your fault Moses. Moses, God look upon you and judge. Word means to pass sentence, this is very strong language. God judge you Moses, you've made a stink in the eyes of Pharaoh! Pretty hard. One sense you can understand, these people have just been beaten, they're suffering, in fact in the next chapter Moses delivers another message from God saying that God is going to deliver them and the Bible says they couldn't hear for anguish of heart. for cruel bondage. You know, it's very hard, just to be compassionate, when someone's really going through deep suffering, it's hard for them to be objective at times. It's hard for them to hear advice, even good advice from the Word of God sometimes, because of the anguish of their lives. And so that's a cross that must be borne at times, the discouragement of misunderstanding, false accusation, unfair blame. What was the solution to Moses' discouragement? Well, I like the fact that Moses went to the Lord. You see the officers of the Hebrews ran to Pharaoh, wrong move. We see Moses at least went to the Lord, look what it says here, and Moses returned unto the Lord. What do I do when I get discouraged? What do I do when I get falsely accused by the very people I am trying to minister to, the very people I'm trying to love and help? Go to the Lord. Pour out your heart to the Lord about that, that's the best place to go. Yeah, I've found that even in my ministry today, sometimes the best thing you can do is just talk to the Lord, usually it's the best thing to do. Sometimes you can't talk to even any person about certain things, you just have to take it to the Lord and pour out your heart before Him. So I want you to look at what was right with Moses' prayer and what was wrong with Moses' prayer. There was a bit of both here. What was right with it? Well, Moses went to the Lord in prayer with his bird and I've mentioned that and he stands there in contrast to the Hebrew foreman who appealed to Pharaoh instead of God. So that was the right thing to do, to pour out his heart before God. What was wrong with Moses' prayer? I think there's a couple of things that are wrong here. It was forgetful. I think we can see Moses' prayer is very human but it was full of doubt. God had given Moses some very clear promises back at the burning bush that he was going to deliver his people. He had the word of the great I am but now Moses is filled with doubt. He's clearly not trusting the promises that God has given him. was also somewhat disrespectful because here we see the people blamed Moses, then Moses turns and basically blames God. Again very human. Now I think we have to be careful, the Bible reveals Moses' words but not the tone of his voice. know, sometimes when you're expressing doubt to the Lord, it may not necessarily be with a disrespectful tone, even if the words, if you really think about them, are a bit disrespectful. So don't necessarily assume that Moses yelled at the Lord and said, why have you done this? Why have you sent me? Maybe it was like that. You know, if you're honest, at some point in your Christian life, You've expressed that kind of sentiment to the Lord. Lord, why did you allow this to happen? And you're not really thinking about the implication of the words, are you? Lord, why didn't you come through for me? Lord, why did you not help me? And it's very human, we can be that way, but we have to sometimes pause and think about the words we're saying to the Lord and whether it's faith or doubt. Moses essentially said, God, it's your fault. I think every preacher struggles with that sometime. Did you really send me Lord? Did I misunderstand? Was I really meant to be here? These are just the struggles of the human heart. Now in the next chapter we're going to see God's response. Do you know what I love about God's response to Moses? This really struck me. God did not rebuke Moses once. God's gracious response to Moses is really remarkable. There's no rebuke for Moses, just an answer of grace. Look at it there, Here's a thought. Sometimes when someone is struggling with doubt, the best way to help them is to reassure them in God's Word rather than rebuke them. Just a thought. Looking at how God dealt with Moses here, we can look at Moses' words and it's easy I suppose for us to say, oh Moses, you know, that was really so doubtful. Have you ever felt that way? I'm not saying we should express that kind of accusation to the Lord and say, Lord, why have you done this and why have you done that? But I'm just saying, I love how God responds to his weary, confused, discouraged prophet here with grace, reassurance, and again, we've talked about this before, Moses, just get your eyes off yourself for a moment. Just remember who I am. I am the Lord. I am the Lord. will perform what I said I will perform. So I think we can learn something from God's response to Moses' discouragement there. You're dealing with a discouraged believer? It's good for us, for those of us who really think a rebuke is a one-size-fits-all for every problem in the Christian life. Maybe you turn that heater down, you've lost you. Some people feel like a rebuke is a one-size-fits-all for the Christian life. Do you know sometimes discouraged believer just needs a word of reassurance. When they get themselves sorted out, probably down the track they'll realise, sorry Lord I shouldn't have spoken to you that way, Lord I shouldn't have doubted you, I'm just so discouraged, I'm struggling with this, oh you should be more full of faith! You know you should... some Christians are like that, in fact there are some Christians you get to know, don't ever go to them for comfort. They just have a verbal cricket bat ready for you. Bend over, spanking time. No, I think we can learn something here. Moses is discouraged, he's disheartened, he pours it out to the Lord. Yes, let's see what it is. There's a lack of faith there, there's doubt there. Do you ever feel that way? We are so weak. But I love how God just doesn't even rebuke Moses for his unbelief. He says, Moses, I am the Lord. Rest in me. You're discouraged this morning in some aspect of your service for the Lord? What's the answer? Just look back to the promises of God. Look back to who God is. Hear his word of grace and assurance to you. The Lord is very patient with us. Very patient. I'm glad I'm not God, I wouldn't be as patient as God is. So maybe we could pause here and say how should we respond to setbacks and discouragements in our service for the Lord in the ministry? A few thoughts, number one, wait on the Lord. Night precedes the dawn. if you can get a hold of this, that the Christian life, so many aspects of the Christian life are not an instantaneous thing, well I just, God's called me, I'm going, I'll see all the results. No, you might go through a dark valley to begin with, until there's some sunshine on the other side. You might go through some very fierce battles before you see some fruit. Wait on the Lord. Hold on to the promises of God. God had given Moses some promises here, to hold on to. I am God, I am that I am. Moses, I'm going to deliver the people. Moses, Pharaoh is going to respond stubbornly but I'm going to pour out my wonders in Egypt and I will do the work, Moses. Moses had some promises he could have reflected upon and held on to. What do you do when you face setbacks and discouragements in the ministry? Well, be faithful, stay in the will of God. Lord, why have you sent me? The Lord doesn't really say to him, oh yes Moses, let me reassure you. It's almost like the Lord ignores that one. It's best to ignore that one, isn't it? It's a doubt from the devil. Are you sure you're supposed to be really serving the Lord where you're serving him? No, no, no, just push that one to the side, okay, be faithful, stay in the will of God and then look to God in faith, trusting him. So there we have Moses' first encounter with Pharaoh, facing Pharaoh. And God has really commissioned us to take the message of the gospel, hasn't he? That message of freedom and liberation and say, as it were, let my people go. And don't be surprised though, if you're involved in that kind of ministry of trying to see people set free through the gospel, is sometimes the individual you're trying to reach deteriorates, even for a time, as the devil turns up the heat. and tries to tighten the chains around their lives until they're ready to accept God's deliverance. So let's bow for prayer, shall we, as we conclude this morning. Every head bowed, every eye closed. I wonder this morning, are you still trapped in the bondage of sin? More bricks, less straw. Sin is a hard task, master. Satan is a cruel oppressor and until you come to Jesus Christ, your Deliverer, whether you like it or not, you're actually under the mastery of Satan and the mastery of sin. You're a slave to sin. You're in the kingdom of darkness, the kingdom of Satan, and only the Lord Jesus Christ can set you free. He died on the cross for you. He took your sin upon himself. He broke the power of Satan. He destroyed Satan at the cross, bruised the serpent's head, was buried and rose again so that you could be set free from sin. taken out of Satan's kingdom of darkness and placed into the kingdom of light. A priest can't do that for you, a church can't do that for you, a religious system cannot do that for you, a pilgrimage cannot do that for you. Only Jesus Christ who is our mediator with the Father. Is there anyone this morning who would be honest and say, Pastor, if I'm honest, I'm not sure that I'm saved. I have not yet been set free through Christ. I've not been set free from sin and from bondage, but I'd like today to receive salvation, to receive that deliverance through Jesus Christ. If that would be your desire, would you just raise your hand? I'm not asking you to join our church. I'm not going to call you out by name, but I'd love to give you that opportunity. I'll pray for you. Then after the service, I'd love to take the Bible and show you clearly how you can be set free from sin, set free from Satan's power through the Lord Jesus Christ and what he accomplished in his death, burial, and resurrection. Anyone at all? Would you just raise your hand? Pastor, if I'm honest, I'm not sure that I'm saved. If I was to die today, I have no assurance that I'd go to heaven, but I'd like to know for sure that my sins are forgiven and that I have been set free. Would you pray for me? Anyone at all? Yes, amen. Anybody else? Discouraged believer in the will of God? Feeling tempted to doubt God? You say, where do I start? Well start by pouring out your heart to the Lord as Moses did. Return to the Lord, go to the Lord, talk to the Lord about it. Lay hold of the promises of God. continue on in what God has for you. Lord, we thank you for your Word, we thank you for the power of it. Lord, what a picture we see here of the bondage of sin, more for less. And Lord, it does grieve us to see people in such a state, under ever-increasing levels of bondage in the world, burdened under sin, Lord, chained by Satan, And we pray that you'd use us, use this church to see people rescued from Satan's kingdom, all set free by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you, Lord, that the day we got saved, all those burdens rolled away, the burdens of our sin. Lord, the chains of the devil, we thank you that you set us free at the foot of the bloodstained cross where you died and shed your blood for our redemption. We thank you for the empty tomb. In Jesus' name, amen.