Please turn in your Bibles to the book of Exodus chapter four. If you're using the black Bibles that are in the pews, you can find this on page forty seven. You're reading a passage that overlaps actually three chapters going to start reading a chapter four verse twenty seven which is very near the end of the chapter read all the way through chapter five and read chapter six verse one. We're going to see Moses joining up with Aaron and then the two of them going to Egypt to do the task that God had given them. Hear God's word. Exodus chapter four verse twenty seven through chapter six verse one. The Lord said to Aaron go into the wilderness to meet Moses. So he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him. And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord with which he had with which he had sent him to speak and all the signs that he had commanded him to do. Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the people of Israel. Aaron spoke all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed. And when they heard that the Lord had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped. Afterward, Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, let my people go. that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness. But Pharaoh said, who is the Lord that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord. 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 the Lord, our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the 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 straw for yourselves wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced in the least. 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 foreman of the people of Israel, who Pharaoh's taskmasters had said 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 foreman 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 and sacrifice to the Lord. 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 now 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, the Lord, 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. Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, oh, Lord, why have you done this evil to the people? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all. But the Lord said to Moses, now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand, he will send them out. And with a strong hand, he will drive them out of this land. Moses and Aaron have received God's commission. After Moses' encounter with God at the burning bush, they are now in Egypt to do what God has called them to do. He's given them a word to deliver to both the people of Israel and to the king of Egypt, Pharaoh. And he has also given them signs, miracles to perform in the sight of Israel, so that even if they're skeptical at first, the people of Israel will believe the message that they are preaching. And as we've looked at over the last few weeks, what they are preaching is the good news. They're preaching the gospel of both God's grace and justice. And it's double edged, right? The message of God's justice is mainly going to Pharaoh. He says, you better let my people go or I'm going to judge you for it. You are doing wrong and I will not have it. As we looked at last week, God is jealous in his love for his children. We also looked at the word of God's grace and we see the people of Israel at the end of chapter four reacting to this. The people believed and when they heard that the Lord had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped. The gospel contains both this message of God's justice and God's grace. As we look at this passage, as we look, in fact, at much of the Book of Exodus, especially these early chapters, I think it's worth thinking for a few minutes about how we think of ourselves in relation to this story, right? What does this have to do with us? We're reading a very, very, very old account of a foreign people on the other side of the world getting redeemed from slavery from another foreign people on the other side of the world. What does this have to do with us? Well, as we look at the Old Testament, we look at it through Christ. And we see that Christ fulfills what is going on in the Old Testament and applies it to us as his people, as people who, like the people of Israel, have been reconciled to God through the mediatorship of Jesus Christ. And so practically speaking, as we read this passage, I want to look at two things. First of all, we are both hearers and speakers of the word. We are both hearers and speakers of the word. Now, as we look at these passages, we can see that they're sort of separate roles. Some people are hearers. Some people are speakers. Israel heard the word from Moses and Aaron, right? There's a clear hearer and a clear speaker. Moses and Aaron are the speakers. Israel is the hearer. Also, Pharaoh is a hearer of God's word. Moses and Aaron speak, but they also received the word of God and the elders of Israel. When God gave this task to Moses and Aaron, he said, I don't want you to speak all by yourselves. I don't want it to just be Moses and Aaron coming before Pharaoh. I want you to take these leaders of Israel, these elders who have now received my word, and I want them with you to speak my word to Pharaoh. God's people are at the same time speakers and hearers of the word and God's people fulfill just like Christ does multiple offices. We are many different things to the world. We are prophets to the world, which is what we're looking at now. We speak God's word to the world. We are priests to the world. on God's behalf, we pray for and minister to the world on God's behalf. And we are even, in some sense, kings in the world. Now, this is mainly in the New Testament. We're told to look forward to the day when we will be seated in authority with Christ. But even now, we are told to submit to earthly authorities, not because they're in charge, but because Christ is in charge and he tells us to. We have authority alongside Christ. And we receive God's word, right? We receive God's word from him. This happens in many different contexts. It happens in public worship right now. We are all, including the preacher, receiving God's word as it is read and preached. It happens in small groups in church and community groups. It happens in families when families read and study God's word together, when they think about it and talk about it. It happens privately and individually as we read scripture on our own. And this word means both, again, his grace and his justice. We receive the word of God's grace, which offers us forgiveness and offers us mercy to even the worst sinners on earth. And we receive at the same time the word of his justice so that the word of God is always challenging even people who have been Christians for decades. I was going to say centuries, but I don't know any people that even people who have been Christians for decades are constantly challenged by the word of God's might and justice, because the kingdom of God, the message of the kingdom of God constantly challenges the kingdom of me. I'm always working on the kingdom of me. I'm always trying to build up a kingdom of me. Children, you are always trying to build a little kingdom for yourself. That is why you and your parents knock heads so often. God's word is a challenge to us as well as a message of grace and mercy. But we not only receive this word, we speak this word, we speak it to each other. Think about all of the times that God's people are called to in scripture and do, in fact, speak or minister God's word to each other. It happens individually, person to person, and it happens in groups. In fact, it can even happen inside of us that we not only receive God's word, but we have to, in some ways, counsel ourselves. The Bible calls this meditation, where we take what we know to be true from scripture and apply it to ourselves. Scripture tells us things like we are competent to counsel one another. We're able to counsel one another from scripture. We are to encourage one another from scripture. We are to forgive one another, representing Christ as he promises through scripture, forgiveness of sins. We are even to confess our sins to one another and hold each other accountable. And we do this in a body when we get together as God's people, as we worship together, both in a big group like this and in smaller groups. We you may have heard this before, if you're in the Reformed Presbyterian Church, we speak to one another with songs, hymns and spiritual songs, OK? That's not just code for we're worshiping God. There is a God word direction in worship, but there is also a people word direction in worship so that when we sing, it is not just for just something between me and God and there happen to be people in the same room. It is something where we speak God's word to one another and we build each other up and challenge each other. We also speak God's word to others. Uh, we see this happening again in Acts chapter eight, when, uh, there's a big persecution, all the Christians have to run away and they speak. It actually says they preached the word to those in the cities that they went to. And we have commands like that in first Peter three 15, be always ready to give a reason for the hope that is within you. In addition, we have all of those places in the new Testament that call us straightforwardly to bring the gospel to others. So the first thing, we are both hearers and speakers of the word. The second thing, our struggle is not against flesh and blood. And here's what I mean. Our temptation, if you're a Christian, I'm going to guess that you've had to deal with this at some point or another. Our temptation is to play Israelites and Egyptians, OK, where we line up the good guys and the bad guys. And it could be my church is the good guys and everybody else in the world is the bad guys. Or we Christians are the good guys and everybody else in the world are the bad guys. Something like that. We have a tendency to identify one group as the good guys and another group as the bad guys. We think one group are God's people and the other are God's permanent enemies. We think of ourselves as Israel in this picture and everybody else is Pharaoh. And that can be one nation versus another. It can be one culture versus another, one church or one theological tradition versus another. Sometimes in the history of Christianity, it has even been one race versus another. Every living human being is on one level, both an Israelite and an Egyptian. OK? Every living human being. Those who have died don't have to worry about this conflict within themselves anymore. But if you were alive, you are both, to some extent, an Israelite and an Egyptian. When a person turns to the Lord in repentance and faith, the key change has taken place. I don't want to turn. I don't want to shy away from that. But the sinful nature is still within us. We still have pride and rebellion that do not sleep. They stay with us. And further, every enemy, we're given a promise in scripture that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Right. Every enemy will be defeated by Jesus Christ. But what does that mean? It can mean death and hell. OK, they can mean death and hell. Straightforward. We have an example of that in Acts chapter 12, where the angel of the Lord comes and strikes, strikes Herod because he made himself equal with God and it strikes him down. He's eaten by worms and died. Hell starts early for him. It's a horrible, horrible thing that takes place. And it's just very clear. God is angry at you for persecuting his people. You are like Herod and you are like Pharaoh. You are being struck down. But a few chapters later, there's a very similar situation in Chapter 12. Peter's in prison in Chapter 17. Paul and Silas are in prison. And what does God do? Does he kill the jailer? Does he kill those who are in charge? No, he shows mercy. He shows mercy. Enemies can be conquered by Christ either with death and hell or with repentance and faith. In this world, we do not have a word from God like Moses did. Pharaoh is going to be your enemy all the way through. If you do, then maybe you and I need to talk, OK? We don't have enemies like that. We have enemies that may become our allies and friends and brothers at any moment. Grace and justice meet together in the cross of Jesus Christ. Those outside need to hear of God's grace and justice. Those within the church need to hear of God's grace and justice. They meet in the cross of Christ. In the cross, we see the ugliness of sin and we are judged. We are devastated. And in the cross, we see the power of God's love and we are forgiven and cleansed. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood. We are not given a name card with an enemy that we are free to hate with all our might for the rest of our lives. We worship the one who said love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. Spiritual powers are constantly at work. Understand that the call to faith and repentance is one we turn to both outwardly and inwardly. The grace of God is a blessing to his enemies if they receive it. The justice of God can be a terror to his people if they continue in sin and rebellion against him. These things in mind, think about this passage, think about this passage, what God has to say through it to us here, God's word about how the gospel should be communicated. Now, it's easy to miss this. Moses does not do what he was supposed to do. OK, it's easy to miss this, but Moses does not do what he was supposed to do. If you go back to chapter three, verse 18, and hear what God says, God gives Moses some pretty clear instructions. Here's what you're going to go do. He's going to go speak first to the Israelites and they will listen to your voice and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him the Lord 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 the Lord our God. If you look at chapter 5, verse 1, here's what Moses says right out of the box. He's got some improvements. Afterward, Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness. Now, Pharaoh reacts very strongly against this. And then a few verses later, Moses actually gets to the things that God originally told him to say. The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go three days journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice the Lord our God. And then he tacks on a little something extra. Lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword. You catch this. God gave Moses very clear instructions on what he was supposed to say. And Moses goes and he adds more stuff to it. And he changes the entire tone of how God told him to go speak to Pharaoh. God tells him to bring the elders with him. Moses just brings Aaron. It's not about you, cowboy. Right. Think about this as you speak the gospel to somebody. Is it that important that you get the glory in bringing someone to Christ? Get some friends in on it, at least have them pray with you. God tells him to identify him as the Lord, the God of the Hebrews. As we talked about a couple of weeks ago, the Hebrews was sort of a generic term for the slaves or the servant class. This is a humble way for Moses to come and present his request to Pharaoh. But instead, right away, Moses identifies him with Israel, which is pushing the nation and its rights forward. Humility, not aggression, is our way. And God says to say, the Lord has met with us. Please let us go a three days journey in worship. Moses starts out with a command. Thus says the Lord, let my people go. It's the old Moses, right? It's the Moses before he ever went to Midian, the Moses who, as a young man, was capable and did, in fact, kill a man. who was touching one of his countrymen. Thus says the Lord, let my people go. The first way, the thing that God told him to do is to request to worship their own God. But the second shifts, it's a demand that Pharaoh obey their God. Now, step back for a second. Does Moses have the right to say, thus says the Lord, let my people go? Yeah. A request from God is a commandment, right? Because he's God, and that's how it is. Is Moses demanding something that's righteous and just? Yes, he is. But even with a tyrant like Pharaoh, God wants Moses to be as peaceable and humble and even polite as possible. What does that tell us as we look for opportunities to share the gospel with those around us? So we see the results, and the result is sort of fleshed out through most of Chapter 5. Pharaoh grinds the Hebrews down even further into the mud. He demands bricks without straw. Now, how many of you guys have a lot of brick-making experience? Raise your hands. No, not a lot of brick-making experience. Well, in the ancient world, when they were making bricks, they needed the straw as a binding agent and they would need to go take piles of straw, mix it with the mud, form it into bricks. And this was apparently what the Hebrews mainly did was make bricks and build with bricks. And so what Pharaoh says to do is just make life way harder. He says, we're not going to give you any more straw, but you still need to do the same amount of work. We're going to make your life a misery. He knows it. He sets the machinery to working, to grind down the people of Israel. He has the overseers who are in charge of making sure, the Israelite overseers who are in charge of making sure that the work gets done, beaten when they cannot produce. We have, as a result, this internal conflict among the people of Israel. And we have the elders and the people turning away from Moses. And then Moses, in classic human style, takes something that's completely his own fault and goes and complains and blames God for it. Right. He turns to God and he says, oh, Lord, why have you done the evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people and you have not delivered your people at all. If God in all of his might and justice can be polite to Pharaoh, you can be humble and polite too. I think this is a failing of many Christians, especially if they're not used to speaking the gospel to those who need to hear it. They'll often overcome their fear by going in guns blazing and be pushy and rude. God doesn't call us to that. Second thing that God speaks to us through this passage. Hear God's word, his warning that we will suffer. OK, hear God's word. There are two ways that God and that Moses and God's people don't listen to God's word in this passage. The first is when Moses decides that he can improve on the message. Right. The second is that all of the words that Moses told them would have included God's warning that God will harden Pharaoh's heart. Right. God warned Israel through Moses and Aaron that Pharaoh would harden his heart. In chapter four, verse 30, Aaron spoke all the words that God had spoken to Moses and did the signs inside of the people. Well, what are those words? Back in chapter three, verse 19. God says, but I know the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. In chapter four, verse twenty one, he says, when you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I put in your power. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. We also have been warned and we must not be shocked when we suffer for Christ. OK, Matthew, chapter five. Jesus says, Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. First Thessalonians, Paul goes to great length encouraging people who are suffering for being Christians in first Peter. Peter does the same. He says in chapter one, in this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Do you want praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ? Rejoice in the suffering that comes when you suffer for the sake of Christ. Chapter Chapter two, he goes over this again. First Peter, Chapter two. What credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? OK, you get yourself in trouble and then, you know, you're very patient under suffering. It's fine, not a big deal, but if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this, you have been called for Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you might follow in his steps. In first Peter three, the famous passage, even if you should suffer for righteousness sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. And Paul warns again in First Timothy, indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Jesus warned not only that his people would suffer for him, for following him, but that many would not last long. In Luke chapter five or chapter eight, he tells the long parable of the sower. One of the things he says is that the sower sows the seed of the word. Some of it falls on the rock and it springs up, but it quickly dies because it has no root. And when he explains it, he says the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root. They believe for a while and in time of testing fall away. Persecution, suffering, by the way, If you see other Christians around you wilting under suffering, be patient with them. Be patient with them. God was not done with Israel when Israel got wimpy and started complaining. God was patient. Be patient with those who wilt under suffering. Why? Why will God's people suffer for speaking his word? Why will God's people suffer for following Christ? The message of God's justice and grace challenges the world. It just does. Now, one thing that's not a reason persecution does not happen because there's not enough evidence for the gospel. OK. Pharaoh had a cultural grid into which the Lord did not fit. It's interesting. He says, I have not. What is it? Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord. And moreover, I will not let Israel go. One of the Jewish targums, one of the commentaries from the ancient world on this passage says that Pharaoh consulted the book of the angels, meaning he looked it up in the God dictionary. And he didn't find the God of Israel. And therefore, he said, well, I'm not listening to this jazz. Right. It didn't fit for him. And most of the time when people say, well, I don't think there's enough evidence for God, I don't think there's enough evidence for the Bible that you're trying to talk to me about. It's not that there's not enough evidence because the evidence is overflowing. It's because God and the gospel do not fit with reality as they are used to it, or rather, they do not fit with reality as they would like it to be. Keep your ears out for that, because you will hear a lot of people say it doesn't make sense to me or I don't see the evidence for it. And very, very, very often that is code for I don't like what I see. The gospel challenges human institutions. It shows that human institutions are none of them ultimate. None of them can save. None of them are unimpeachable. The gospel challenges human habits and lifestyles. The gospel has big picture things to say as it did to Pharaoh. Let this huge nation of slaves leave your country, leader of Egypt. But it also has small picture things that make us just as uncomfortable. Because the gospel challenges the kinds of lives that we want to live. It challenges our relationships. It challenges the way we use our time, the way we think about who we are, the way we use our money, the way we even live life with our families. The gospel challenges the spiritual powers at work in the world. The gospel challenges pride. And the aim of persecution, you'll look at it in chapter five, verse nine here. Pharaoh says, let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words. The point of persecution is to distract you from God's word. That's the point. That is what those who persecute hope will happen. So here's a question. Why don't we suffer more than we do? Now, some people in this room have suffered a lot for the sake of the gospel. Some things nobody else knows about. You've gone through hard things, but by and large, we don't suffer much for the sake of the gospel. Well, here's a couple possible answers. We're particularly blessed. Well, yes. We have the freedom to live quiet lives and work and worship God. And that is a blessing. That's very clear from scripture. It's something we should want to do. We shouldn't be looking for trouble. Right. Don't go picking a fight, Moses. Don't go picking a fight, young men. We're not to go looking for trouble. So it's wonderful when we don't have trouble. But. We should not make the opposite mistake of thinking that people who suffer for Christ are under his curse or his discipline. First Peter 4, again, if you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. Second possible answer, we deal with suffering in more subtle ways in this culture. Persecution isn't gone, and that is true. And some people definitely suffer for Christ. The third answer that's a little more scary to me is that we have largely refused the cup of suffering. We've largely refused to suffer for Christ by living lives that are indistinguishable from the world, first of all. Second, by keeping our mouths shut about the gospel. We don't live in the Bible Belt, right? You may have noticed that. We don't live in a very, very intensely evangelical Christian part of the world. And for most of us, we're fine with that. OK? That doesn't bother us a lot. Sometimes it can be wearing when you don't know many other Christians in the whole area. You can feel kind of alone. But for most of us, that's fine. But it can make us feel like the possibility of clearly speaking the gospel to others and having them hear and accept what we have to say is just impossible. And so we chicken out. We just don't do it. We bide our time for months and years and decades, and they go by and we don't talk. It's not that Pharaoh is being nice to us. I want you to catch this. For most of us, it's not that Pharaoh is just being extra nice to us. It's that we've never said anything that would make him mad. How does the passage end? I overlapped with chapter 6 verse 1 because I think this is so important. But the Lord said, Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh, what I will do to Pharaoh, but with a strong hand, he will send them out with a strong hand. He will drive them out of his land. This is the awesome part of the passage to me, because God is saying. I know that you did this badly. But ultimately, it doesn't matter because it's my task. It's my job. I'm going to bring about a deliverance so clear that Pharaoh will be glad you are gone. I will do it. Not you. If you're not a follower of Jesus Christ, you need to know this. God's people are not impressive. God's people? Sorry. I love you. We're not impressive. We don't speak impressively. We don't speak impressively in this passage. We don't act impressively in this passage. Right. We've got Moses who goes in firing a gun into the air, into Pharaoh's presence, ticks him off and then gets mad at God. And we've got the people who have just been told five minutes ago, God is going to harden Pharaoh's heart. It's not going to be easy. Then it's not easy. And they have a fit. God's people are not impressive in this sermon. I know I've been beating us all up a little bit, and God's people are not impressive in the everyday experience of most Christians or excuse me, most Americans when they meet Christians. We tend to be self-conscious. We tend to be either belligerent or wimpy about our faith. We tend to be, in short, sinners. But it's not God's people you have to worry about. It's sort of the opposite of The Wizard of Oz. You guys all seen The Wizard of Oz? Children, have you ever seen The Wizard of Oz? Almost at the end of the movie, or if you've read it in the book, almost at the end of the movie, the travelers, Dorothy and her friends, confront The Wizard of Oz, and he's this huge head speaking to them, right? And then Toto goes behind the curtain and finds this little man, and the huge head says, pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. Well, it's kind of the opposite with us, right? Out in front are God's representatives, a bunch of unimpressive people, right? We're small. We make mistakes and sin all the time. We goof up. We try to improve on what God's given us. We wimp out. But behind us is God. And his message is not something you could just brush aside because the messengers aren't very impressive. It's the reality of what God has done in the past and what he will do in the future. It's the reality of life and death of the beginning and end of the world of the drama of history. It's the destination of all those who refuse to receive God's free gift of forgiveness and eternal life. And it's the demonstration of God's power, whether in Egypt with Pharaoh on the third day after the cross with Christ. In your own life or in the coming judgment, that's what you need to worry about, and that, Christians, is what we speak of. We don't preach ourselves. We don't preach ourselves. We preach Christ. Followers of Jesus Christ. Pay attention to God's message to you. He instructs you be peaceable and humble as you speak the gospel to others. If you have already screwed up, by the way, let's say you have a friend and you want to speak the gospel to him and you tried it one day and it went over like a lead balloon. You're not done. You're not done. This is God's work. Your job is to believe and to speak the gospel. Second, he warns you, when you speak, you will suffer. On some level, you'll suffer. Probably in this country, you're mostly going to suffer personal conflict and embarrassment. I don't remember hearing about the last time someone was killed in this country for preaching the gospel. If you've begun to complain and weaken under pressure, don't despair. God is patient. If you're around people who have begun to complain and weaken under pressure, don't get mad at them. God is patient with them. You know, it's interesting back to the end of chapter four, what we were looking at. When we read in verse twenty seven, the Lord said to Aaron, go into the wilderness to meet Moses. There's a passage, there's a chunk of Exodus that starts, I think, at the end of chapter one, goes through the end of chapter four, that has all of these, you know, biblical scholars love numbers. They love counting how many words of a certain type. And there's all of these words that show up seven times, seven times, seven times, or a couple of them show up three times, three times, three times. That go into the wilderness is the 14th go in that passage. The overwhelming weight of the first three or four chapters of Exodus is go, go. And Jesus tells us, go. One day, God would act again. He would act in a way that would make the Exodus look like small potatoes. He would send his son, who would obey and hear his word perfectly. who would suffer willingly and who would speak the word of his grace and justice, even though it cost him everything. And it is through him that we have salvation and strength. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we in this room stink at speaking the gospel to those around us. You give us opportunities and we don't know what to do with them or we do and we went out or we go in with guns blazing and we become the pushy Christians that give you a bad name. We pray for your help. We pray for opportunities. We pray that you would give us fortitude and suffering for your word and suffering for following Christ. We pray that you would please help us to be bold and to speak the word that you've given us. Not to improve on it, not to come up with extra stuff that we think is cool, but to speak clearly from the scripture, the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we pray for the salvation of brothers and sisters, of friends and coworkers and business partners and relatives and neighbors. Everybody around us, Lord, please help us to be diligent in prayer for them. Please help us to immerse ourselves in your words so that we know what to speak. And please help us to do that, Lord. Save them. Make yourself known. We ask it in Jesus name. Amen.