Well, good morning, everybody. It is good to be among you. We've regularly prayed for you guys and Cody, and just think about this congregation and how the Lord has done a lot in about the 10 years you guys have gathered together. And if you can, I'd like to invite you to turn in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 5. if you're not already there. I'm gonna read Exodus 5, verses 1 to 21, and then I'll pray and see what God says through his word. Exodus 5, beginning of verse 1. Afterward, Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, let my people go that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness. But Pharaoh said, who is Yahweh that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know Yahweh and moreover, I will not let Israel go. Then they said, the God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to Yahweh our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with a sword. But the king of Egypt said to them, Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens. And Pharaoh said, behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens. The same day, Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, you shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. But the number of bricks that they made in the past, you shall impose on them. You shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, let us go and offer sacrifice to our God. Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words. So the taskmasters and the foremen of the people went out and said to the people, thus says Pharaoh, I will not give you straw. Go and get your straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced in the least. So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. The taskmasters were urgent, saying, complete your work, your daily task each day, as when there was straw. And the foremen of the people of Israel, whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, why have you not done all your task of making bricks today and yesterday as in the past? Then the foremen of the people of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, why do you treat your servants like this? No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, make bricks. And behold, your servants are beaten, but the fault is in your own people. But he said, you are idle. You are idle. That is why you say, let us go sacrifice to Yahweh. Go now and work. No straw will be given you, but you must still deliver the same number of bricks. The foreman of the people of Israel saw that they were in trouble. when they said, you shall by no means reduce your number of bricks, your daily task each day. They met Moses and Aaron who were waiting for them as they came out from Pharaoh. And they said to them, Yahweh look on you and judge because you have made a stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants and have put a sword in their hand to kill us. Let's pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, ask that the unfolding of your word would give light, that would be a lamp unto our feet and path, that you would illuminate our hearts by your word, that your spirit would come and teach your people spiritual truth. Open our ears and cause us to hear what our Lord says. We pray this in His name, amen. So this is a chapter, if you are unfamiliar with Israel's history, it is a chapter that might seem a bit odd. If you're familiar with Israel's history, you actually might take some solace in what is actually happening here. Just a brief recap to kind of catch us up to speed. Israel is in Egypt, they're in bondage, they're in slavery. And Yahweh has just appeared to Moses saying, go to Pharaoh and deliver them out of Pharaoh's hand, deliver Israel out of Pharaoh's hand, and tell Pharaoh that the God of the Hebrews is getting his people out of Egypt so that they can worship me. So that's a very, very basic, but that's a basic backdrop of what's going on here. What is further going on here is what life is really like under an enemy. There are two contrasts set here. There is Yahweh, and I read the word, the Lord's, the Lord Yahweh, because we have a better idea of this personal battle between Yahweh, the God of Israel, and this so-called God Pharaoh. But Yahweh has commanded Israel to come out from their burdens. And we see in the Bible that when Israel came out of Egypt, there's a lot of parallels between what happens in Egypt and the bondage and the slavery that they are under and the redemption found in Christ. So there's a lot of parallels between what we read here and our own spiritual deliverance. The New Testament, many passages in the Bible actually, would show that our life in sin was akin to slavery in a sin. That's what Romans 6 would say. We're slaves of sin. And that language comes right out of passages like this, where Israel was in slavery. Christ is also called our Passover lamb, and that is, of course, the last plague that will hit. Egypt and decimate them and completely humble Pharaoh when he loses his firstborn child, not to mention the firstborn of many animals. And then generally there's a movement from redemption before glory that is just wilderness journeying. Peter writes, various phrases in the New Testament show that we are in between deliverance and glory, there's exile. We're sojourners in the land. This home is not our home. No matter where we live, Orland, Cody, wherever it may be, it's not our home ultimately. Ultimately our home is across the Jordan into Canaan, the promised land. we're not worshiping yet to the fullness to which God has called us to. So we have this movement in Exodus from bondage to slavery, to redemption, to journeying out of the land to glory, to worship, right? And that's all over the New Testament, that's all over the Bible. What that also means then is that what Israel experienced in Slavery is akin to our life under the adversary, the devil. Your enemy, my enemy, everybody's enemy. What does the adversary like to do with people under him? But to make life hard. to make life burdensome, and to execute his merciless plan to keep you dismissing the gospel of Christ and worship. We'll get into it more, but think about how the Pharaoh talked about Israel. You're lazy. You're idle. There's not enough work for you. I'll make more work. Make more bricks, this time without the straw. The same strategies, the same wiles are there of the devil. He would like you to fill up your time with work and not worship. He wants you to dismiss the gospel. He's merciless in his ploys and his strategies to keep you off the narrow path. So we're gonna look today at life under the adversary. And for some of us here, that may be a call to exhort each other for true gratitude that we have been delivered from a horrible, horrible, mean, vindictive, cruel tyrant. And we should be thankful to Christ for that. On the other hand, those who are still in bondage, you need to flee. There is no hope, no joy, no fun, no life, no deliverance found in Adam. You must find a new Adam, Christ, who will rescue you powerfully from the strong man's house. Plunder that strong man's house and take you as a captive from his house to his freed servants. I don't know where everyone is in the Lord here or out of the Lord, but one, we can either be grateful that we have been delivered from a strong, powerful enemy that had us hoodwinked for years before we came to Christ, or flee. Flee the wrath. Flee the enemy. There's no good and there's no mercy found in him. So let's begin walking through this passage. First off, notice how Pharaoh just pridefully dismisses Yahweh in verses one through three. Moses and Aaron come to Pharaoh, and that's really the only thing they get right at first. Moses and Aaron from the get-go, we'll look at Pharaoh's dismissal of Yahweh, but before that, Moses and Aaron come to Pharaoh and they throw down this gauntlet in verse one. Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, let my people go that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness. Wrong, Moses and Aaron. That is not what Yahweh said. Yahweh said in the previous chapter, chapter three, verse 18, say this, Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews has met with us. And now please let us go a three days journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to Yahweh our God. The initial opening line, as it were, that Yahweh has to Pharaoh, is somewhat of a king-to-king respect, even though we know Pharaoh is no king. But Yahweh would say, Moses and Aaron, you're really nobody. You need to walk into that throne room and pay normal respect to him, but then tell him, please let us go a three days journey away, okay? That's not what Moses and Aaron do. They just throw it down and say, thus says the Lord. What does Pharaoh say to that? Who is Yahweh? Verse two. Pharaoh says, who is Yahweh? I don't know no Yahweh. Who is he that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I won't let Israel go. Now Moses and Aaron say, oh, okay, okay, screwed up. Let's try this again. and they get it a little more right. Verse three, the God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to Yahweh our God. Okay, that's spot on the money, but yet they still screwed up. Lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with a sword. Yahweh never said to tell that to Pharaoh. That's not in there at all. Later in chapter four, Yahweh does tell Moses and Aaron, when you tell him this, add this, I will strike down your firstborn Pharaoh. So Moses and Aaron, for some, for some reason, They approach Pharaoh this second time and they say the right thing, but then they put the burden on Pharaoh to do what he should, lest Moses and Aaron and the Jews receive pestilence or the sword. But the fact is, Yahweh said, I'm gonna strike you, Pharaoh. Pharaoh could care less if Yahweh strikes Israel. He's just gonna lose labor force. But in this, Moses and Aaron approached Pharaoh, they screw it up a little bit, but ultimately they communicate the gist of it. But here, look at what Pharaoh does. He is not interested in Yahweh. The Pharaohs, by the way, that is their title, not their name, they saw themselves as an independent, sovereign deity. They saw themselves as an incarnation of the gods of Egypt. That's what they thought they were. God and flesh. God and flesh, that's what the pharaohs thought they were. Pharaoh saw himself as an embodiment of the gods, that he was a divine figure. And in the eyes of himself and in the eyes of the Egyptians, he pretty much was. And so what is going on here is actually not just Moses and Aaron talking to Pharaoh, but this is a clash of titans. This is the true one living God, Yahweh, versus a so-called self-appointed God. And Yahweh will humble this little G-God very, very soon. And Pharaoh will come to eat his words very quickly. But he pridefully just dismisses him Who is Yahweh that should obey his voice? I do not know Yahweh. Moreover, I will not let Israel go. We can't really fault Pharaoh in some way for not knowing Yahweh. What has Yahweh done for Israel that would make Pharaoh tremble? Israel's been in slavery for over 400 years. Pharaoh thinks Israel's God is some impotent God, weak, unable to do anything. Why would he fear Yahweh? He hasn't done anything for 400 years. So he pridefully dismisses him. And this is where we start to see sinners are not in the neutral zone. We are either in Pharaoh's slavery, under the adversary, or we are free in Christ. There's no DMZ. There's no spiritual neutral zone, either firmly planted in Christ or in Adam or in Christ. And Pharaoh's attitude here is exactly what the enemy would like most people to do when they hear the gospel. I don't know Yahweh. I don't care about Yahweh. I'm just going to dismiss Yahweh. He has no ultimate bearing on my life. How often do we talk to people about the gospel and they just dismiss it? You go to church on Sunday? You miss football? You could be out. hiking, camping, hunting, and you're going to church, you're a fool. That's what the world thinks. It just dismisses it. Salvation is a pipe dream. You're not going to get saved. You're too bad to get saved. There is no God. There is no salvation. There is no Christ. Those are all attacks of the enemy. That's all the ploy of the enemy. That he would convince us the gospel is something to dismiss. That he would just pluck up the seed right off the path before it ever has a chance to die and go into the earth. That's the enemy's approach to every single person in this world. Dismiss the gospel. And had it not been for the marvelous grace of Christ, we'd all be there. If you've ever thought there is no place for you in Christ's kingdom because you're too far gone to be saved, you can be sure that you bought a lie from the devil. I know we often think of supernaturalism in the Bible in two different ways, right? We over-emphasize it maybe, or maybe pretend it's not even there. The devil's real. He's prowling around. He hates you. He hates me. He hates this idea going on right now. And he hates the gospel of Christ. And he hates anybody for the gospel of Christ. And he would be so happy to mark it up as a win, to think, oh, that person just dismissed that thought of redemption, like they forgot what happened yesterday. It has no bearing on our life. And we follow the prince of the power of the air. He is the spirit at work in the sons of disobedience. And we follow him in dismissing the gospel when we think there are more important things than life everlasting. So Pharaoh proudly dismisses Yahweh. Then look at this other aspect of life under the enemy. Pharaoh makes life burdensome. The adversary wants to make life burdensome. Pharaoh's response to Moses in verse four, get back to your burdens. Moses, Aaron, that ain't flying around here. I'm only concerned with one thing, Moses and Aaron, work. You are my slaves. Get back to your burdens. That's all he wants. That's all Pharaoh wants. He doesn't care a lick about the health and well-being of the Israelites. All he wants them to do is get back to their burdens. So what does he do? In a bit of a temper tantrum, he says, fine. You want to go worship the Lord? That makes me think you're idle and you're lazy, and there's too many of you. Because there's too many, there's not enough work. So you're lazy and you're idle, you're sitting around. I know what I'll do. Pharaoh says, I'll make more work. I have no problem doing that, Pharaoh says. I'll make more work. I will make you produce the same quota of bricks As in the past, as I will now, only this time, you need to get your own straw. So because there's no clay and because of the kind of land they're in, they needed to put straw into their bricks to cause them to form and hold together, kind of like oatmeal into a hamburger patty almost, maybe. And maybe it's too early for lunch jokes. So they would normally do that and have the straw delivered to them. Right? Well, Pharaoh said, okay, you get your own straw. You get your own straw. So they're scattered to get their own straw, but then it says in verse 12, they have to gather stubble for straw. So what's probably going on here is this. The word for stubble is really the last couple inches of the straw harvest that's just poking out of the soil. So Pharaoh isn't allowing Israel to go harvest the straw, reap it, and collect it. That's already happened. Pharaoh is saying, you get to collect that stubble poking right out of the dirt, and you pick that up, and you use that to make those bricks. Backbreaking labor. It's merciless, merciless. Pharaoh says, this is what I want you to worry about. I want you to dismiss the idea of redemption and worshiping Yahweh, and I want you to focus on work. Everything else is a lie. How does he describe it in verse 9? Let heavier work be laid on the man that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words. That idea that Moses and Aaron brought about worship and life and freedom, that's a lie. That's a lie, Pharaoh says. It's the same thing Satan would say. Worship is a lie. Christ is a lie. Christianity is a lie. Faith, lie. Heaven, lie. Hell, lie. It's all lies. It's all lies. Everybody believes that in the world we live in. Everybody believes that. Maybe some of you in here believe that. that Christ dying on the cross for your sin is a lie. Just as Pharaoh wants to distract or dismiss Israel from the thoughts of worship, so the enemy would want to just flood you with thoughts about everything you believe is completely myth, made up. Legendary, a lie, fairy tale, fable. Those thoughts ever enter your mind? Am I really living in regard to this book? Am I staking everything on this book? Yes, it is not a lie. It is truth. But the enemy would have you believe And he does a pretty good job of it, that it's all a lie. We have the modern conceptions of Satan are that he's evil, but he's fun. There's a party in hell kind of thing. Ridiculous, blasphemy. And that God, he's good, but he's boring. So I'd rather have an evil master with joy, than a benevolent, wonderful, merciful king that's boring. That's how God and Satan are pushed and presented in modern day times. And it's the opposite. All life and goodness and mercy and grace and joy is found in God. And all misery, evil, pain, hardship, is found with Satan. We got a little echo back to the garden here. They're working, toiling by their hands, sweating by their brows, and Pharaoh's just like, work! I don't care about your health, Israelites! Get back to your burdens! And that's the mantra of Satan. He doesn't care a lick about you. He doesn't love you. He doesn't have a spiritual cell in his body that has mercy towards you. He hates you. He hates everybody. And he would love to do nothing else than to keep you bound up in his misery. Lastly, notice Pharaoh's merciless demands here. So he has dismissed Yahweh's invite to Israel to worship in the wilderness. Pharaoh has now put extra work, extra burdens on Israel. You know, I wonder if that's where maybe John Bunyan gets this idea of the burden on the back. Just nothing but burdens. Next, Pharaoh makes merciless demands. What else could he do? How worse can it be after that? Well, the next scene in verses 14, approximately to 18, Pharaoh begins dishing out punishment for the Israelites at failing to make the brick quota. So, make the same number of bricks, do without straw, just a little stubble, and I want you to produce the same amount of bricks as before. When Pharaoh told the taskmasters about this in verse six, he also told the foremen. Same day, Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and the foremen. The taskmasters were Egyptians, Egyptian slave drivers, period, just slave drivers. The foremen were Israelite superiors to the slaves. So Pharaoh appointed taskmasters over all, and for some Israelites, he appointed foremen of the laborers. We all know how that works at a job site today. There are laborers and there are foremen. But these foremen were not Egyptians, they were Israelites. So they were slaves, but just brought up a notch. Not completely worthless, almost. So when the Israelites failed to make the brick quota, in verse 14, we see this. The foremen of the people of Israel, whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten. And were asked, why have you not done all your tasks making bricks today, yesterday, as in the past? Pharaoh holds the foremen responsible for Israel not creating the brick quota, hitting the brick quota. And he beats him. He beats him. No mercy. No mercy. It doesn't matter if you're 50 bricks shy, one brick shy. They're beaten. And then, when the foremen come back to Pharaoh in verse 15, it says, the foremen are the people of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, why do you treat your servants like this? No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, make bricks. And behold, our servants are beaten, but the fault is in your own people. But he said, this is Pharaoh speaking, you are idle. Again, it repeats itself, you are idle. Merciless. The enemy is merciless. He doesn't care at all about us. He hates us and he wants to make our life miserable. The foremen come to Pharaoh and they cry out, which is just a euphemism for a groaning prayer. They're in anguish, right? Who's ever had an anguished prayer and they cry out to God? Pharaoh hears that and he's not moved at all. He's not moved to tears. His tear ducts are dry. He's unable to cry. And Pharaoh says, make bricks. When are you gonna get it, Israel? That's all you're good for. Make bricks. Get back to your burdens. It's the same thing for the enemy. Christian person, When are you going to realize you live in my home? I am your father. You work for me, you're slaves of me. Make bricks. That is all the enemy wants. The enemy would be really happy to make a kingdom of himself, by the slavery of others. And if we think there's any leniency given to us who work for the devil, he would just as quickly as he fell from heaven, yell down to you, make bricks. I don't care about you. Uncompassionate, no mercy, no love, no goodness whatsoever. That is Pharaoh to the Israelites and it's the enemy. It's Satan to every single person. He doesn't care about us. He loathes the Christian, hates the Christian. And if he had his way, he would build an empire by the sweat of your back. And if you expected any leniency because you were his foreman and working for him, you would be sorely mistaken. Because nobody under the enemy receives any kindness whatsoever. Period. Let me wrap up here with a contrast between the enemy and the merciful Jesus Christ. In every way, Pharaoh showed himself mean, evil, merciless, diabolical. Christ shows himself kind, loving, gentle, sympathetic to his people. You could not have a different, polar opposite master. And like I said before, we either live in the territory of the enemy, or in Christ. There's no in between. There's no in between. When this adversary seeks to enslave people, Yahweh seeks to free people. It's amazing how much we have to convince ourselves of the goodness of God. But Yahweh likes to free people, give them life and light. Yahweh would have worship for you, not for you, but you to worship Him and find your greatest joy in Him. The adversary kills, the Son of God makes a life. It's beautiful. Secondly, Pharaoh gives burdensome work. Yahweh grants rest. The word rest there in verse five, same root word for the word rest in Hebrew. We get the word Sabbath. Yahweh gives rest. You guys tired? Is life hard? God knows that. That's why he gives rest. Peace. Comfort. Satan would have you work to the bone. Christ, come unto me. All you are heavy laden and I will give you rest for your souls. Take my yoke upon you. You have two choices. A yoke of evil, slavery, no mercy, or actually Christ's yoke. Beautiful, good, merciful Lord walking with you, sharing your yoke. And then lastly, Two cries, two responses. When the foreman cried out to Pharaoh, what did Pharaoh say? I don't give a rip about what you're saying. Get back to work. We've all had bosses like that. We've all had bosses. It's like, you think I care about your personal life? Get back to work. That's all I care about. That's Satan. They cry. That's what Pharaoh says. And previously, In chapter three, we have this beautiful set of verses. At the end of chapter three, it says in verse 23, the people of Israel groaned, right? This isn't just a few tears. No, deep groaning because of their slavery, they cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel, and God knew, or God took notice of them. Here's the enemy. Crocodile tears. He doesn't care. You cry out to the Lord, like we sang, Psalm 61, and God takes notice. He takes notice of his people. He puts all your tears in a bottle, the psalm says. We could not have two polar opposite masters. Who are you serving? Who are you serving? So again, I guess, repeat. Be grateful. For those of you in the Lord, be grateful you are not under such burdensome, toilsome, hard work. You're under Christ, wonderful, merciful Savior. And those of you, maybe some of you kids, maybe some of you adults, who are not in Christ yet, flee Egypt. Flee the enemy. There is no good there. You've probably tried a bunch of different kinds of happinesses. different kinds of joys and enjoyments and good things, and you found out they're broken cisterns. They don't satisfy. They're just empty. They satisfy for a little while, and then what do you know? You're empty again. Flee Egypt. Flee Pharaoh. Run to Christ. He will receive every single person who comes to him. He will not cast out a single soul who comes to Him. No greater words can there be. He will not cast out anyone who says, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Says thief on the cross, barely knows anything theologically. Or be merciful to me, a sinner, the publican says. No matter how short the prayer, no matter how well informed, theologically, whatever it may be, biblically, anybody who comes to Christ will receive mercy. Christ guarantees it. So let us be grateful that He has provided grace that we can come to Him. And let us also see our friends, our family members who aren't in the Lord and tell them, flee. There's no There's no good thing found in Egypt. Let's pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, I do not say those words lightly. You are gracious. And we are glad you are our Heavenly Father. Your Son told us that when we are in Adam, that our father was the devil. And you have ripped us from his house, you have plundered that strong man, and you have brought us into your kingdom, a kingdom of marvelous light, the kingdom of your beloved son, a kingdom in which we are seated in the heavenly places, and we have all spiritual blessings. Satisfy us this morning with those. We pray this in Christ's name, amen.