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Well, good evening, everyone. Welcome to Mountain Baptist Church. Take your songbooks and turn to song 167. Song 167. We'll sing All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name. If you would stand, we'll sing song 167. All hail the power of Jesus' name, let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem and crown Him Lord of all. Bring forth the royal diadem and crown Him Lord of all. Ye chosen seed of Israel's race, ye ransom from the fall. Hail Him who saves you by His grace and crown Him Lord of all. Hail Him who saves you by His grace and crown Him Lord of all. Let every kindred, every tribe, on this terrestrial ball. To Him all majesty ascribe and crown Him Lord of all. To Him all majesty ascribe and crown Him Lord of all. Oh, that with yonder sacred throng we at His feet may fall. We'll join the everlasting song and crown Him Lord of all. We'll join the everlasting crown Him Lord of all. All right, let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we just want to thank you, God, for another night that we can gather and hear your word preached. I pray, Lord, that you'd be with our pastor, from with your power and spirit, for it's in Jesus' name we ask all that. Amen. All right, you may be seated and turn just a page over to song 169. Song 169 in your song books. We'll sing Come Thou Fount. Song 169. Come Thou Fount of every blessing. Tune my heart to sing Thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing. Call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mount I'm fixed upon and mount of Thy redeeming love. Here I raise mine Ebenezer. Hither by Thy help I come. And I know by Thy good pleasure safely I'll arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger wandering from the fold of God, He to rescue me from danger interposed His precious blood. O to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be. Let Thy goodness like a fetter bind my wandering heart to Thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, O take it, seal it. Seal it for Thy courts above. Amen. I'm about to just give up on this whole AV system. Welcome to Mount Baptist Church on this Wednesday evening and just some general church announcements here. We have all the services are as scheduled on here so Sunday everything's as usual. We have our Sunday sowing time at 1 p.m. so that should be happening as usual there. And then again on the bulletin which we'll have changed this coming week the regional sowing times there Brother Charles is switching to Monday instead of Tuesday but then Brother Richie's still got Wednesday there leading up that time. Our Bible memory for the month is Psalm 12 and Galatians 4.18 is a memory verse for the week and then don't forget ladies that the women's prayer meeting is a Saturday at 11 a.m. and so if you can come out to that. And then just be in prayer for all the ladies on the pregnancy list and be in prayer for all those that just had babies. Yeah, so it's almost getting to the point where it's like half and half as far as this year's concerned with babies being born and then the ones that are pregnant now. So just be in prayer for all these ladies in our church and be in prayer for all those that may be wanting to have kids or having trouble and all that stuff. Just pray for the ladies in our church when dealing with children in general. I think that's about all. You probably saw the sign that's out there. Did he move it down a little bit from where it was? Yeah. Okay. So it looks fine where it's at but just so when that guy comes down on his lawn mower you know, they complain about it. You're like, well, you're going to pick that up at the city. But anyway, so we have that out there so there should be no excuse. People should know this is a church now. So we're going to start beating people off with a stick, you know. Anyway, but what was I going to say? No, that's about it. That's about all I got for announcements. We're going to be starting Exodus tonight so going through the book of Exodus. So I recommend reading obviously through the book as we're going through this and just so that you know what we're going to be covering going into the weeks. But excited about it. And so we already did Genesis, what, when we first started? Was that the first book I did? No, I did Romans, Romans then Genesis. So it's been a little while since we did Genesis but going into Exodus, I'm so excited about that. And about all I got for announcements. Brother Dave is going to come and sing one more song and brother Anthony is going to be reading Exodus chapter 1 for us tonight. All right, song 212 in your song books. Song 212 we'll sing Oh Happy Day. Song 212. Oh happy day that fixed my choice On thee my Savior and my God While may this glowing heart rejoice And tell its raptures all abroad Happy day, happy day When Jesus washed my sins away He taught me how to watch and pray And live rejoicing every day Happy day, happy day When Jesus washed my sins away Oh happy bond that seals my vows To Him who merits all my love Let cheerful anthems fill His house While to that sacred shrine I move Happy day, happy day When Jesus washed my sins away He taught me how to watch and pray And live rejoicing every day Happy day, happy day When Jesus washed my sins away Tis done the great transaction done I am my Lord's and He is mine He drew me and I followed on Charmed to confess the voice divine Happy day, happy day When Jesus washed my sins away He taught me how to watch and pray And live rejoicing every day Happy day, happy day When Jesus washed my sins away Now rest my long divided heart Fixed on this blissful sin to rest Nor ever from my Lord depart With Him of every good possessed Happy day, happy day When Jesus washed my sins away He taught me how to watch and pray And live rejoicing every day Happy day, happy day When Jesus washed my sins away All right, take your Bibles and turn to Exodus, chapter number one. Exodus, chapter number one. Brother Anthony, come and read that for us. Exodus, chapter one. Babri, now these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt. Every man in his household came with Jacob, Ruben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls, for Joseph was in Egypt already. And Joseph died and all his brethren and all that generation. And the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly and multiplied and waxed exceedingly mighty, and the land was filled with them. Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come on, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply and it come to pass that when they are fallen out any war, they join also unto our enemies and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Ramses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor. And they made their lives bitter and with hard bondage, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service wherein they made them serve was with rigor. And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other, Pua. And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools, if it be a son, then ye shall kill him. But if it be a daughter, then she shall live. But the midwives feared God, and did not, as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men and children alive. And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men and children alive? And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women, for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and waxed very mighty. And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses. And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast unto the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this time. We can gather in now this series through Exodus. I pray God you would help us all to learn, and fill Pastor Robinson with your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. So you're there in Exodus chapter one, and literally Exodus just continues on from the end of Genesis. So if you think about the books of Moses, if you will, obviously Moses hasn't even been born yet in Genesis, but these books all are basically historical books that are going from book to book. So there's really, you know, it kind of recaps, actually. You know, it talks about Joseph dying in chapter 50 of Genesis, and then it kind of recaps it a little bit. So there's a little bit of overlap, if you will, when you go into Exodus here. But let's start reading here in verse one of Exodus. It says, Now these are the names of the children of Israel which came into Egypt. Every man and his household came with Jacob, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls, for Joseph was in Egypt already. And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty, and the land was filled with them. So we see here that they all came into Egypt, and we see that in Genesis, actually at the end of Genesis. There's the famine, the seven-year famine, and that's where Joseph's brothers obviously were coming to get corn, and you know the whole story after the second time he reveals himself as being their brother, and then he basically tells them all to come down into Egypt, they're going to live in Goshen, and that's the story there. Now, when it comes to who's coming into Egypt, obviously you have all the other brothers besides Joseph. Joseph was already there, but there's seventy souls that come in that were of the loins of Jacob, and you know there's that so-called contradiction, if you will, which is not a contradiction, but in Acts it talks about more than seventy souls, and all that came down to is that there were other people that came in besides just those that came out loins of Jacob. So as far as being like physically like bloodline related of Jacob, there were others that came in on top of that. But seventy souls as far as his sons and all those that were born of his sons. But the one thing I want to point out as we get into Exodus here is that the Bible's very clear that they sojourn in Egypt for 430 years. I want you to go to Exodus chapter 12 and verse 40. And so I kind of want to start this book off with that premise and the fact that let's just get this really nailed down that they are sojourning there from when they come into Egypt, when all of Israel, the brothers, all that stuff come into Egypt, it's 430 years before they actually leave with Moses and cross the Red Sea and all that. And you say, why are you making this point? Well, there's people out there that believe that it's less than that, and a lot of times what they're doing with that is they're trying to fit some kind of agenda when it comes to the age of the earth and they're wanting it to be less than that. Or they'll see, well, there's only like three or four generations of people that are mentioned when it comes to Moses' lineage, so therefore how could it be 430 years? That doesn't make any sense. Well, we know from Matthew chapter 1 that people are skipped, if you will, in the genealogy and that there are, you know, basically just because you have, you could say that Abraham begat David and go down the line and you have a big gap there, right? So that being said is that I want to nail this down really quick. In Exodus chapter 12 and verse 40 it says, Now the sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was 430 years, and it came to pass at the end of 430 years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. Not only is it 430 years, it's 430 years to the day. The selfsame day that they went in, 430 years after that was the selfsame day they left. So that's pretty miraculous right there, but at the same time, this is 430 years, and what they'll try to do with this, okay, is they'll try to say, well, the 430 years is from Abraham, which doesn't make any sense, okay? Because notice what it says here, it says, Now the sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt. I mean, did Abraham dwell in Egypt? I know that he like kind of went down into Egypt once or whatever, but at the same time, you know, he didn't dwell there, and so this doesn't, it wouldn't make any sense to children of Israel dwelling there when you have Abraham who doesn't even have his children yet. I know they're in the loins of Abraham, but they're really stretching it. Now, what they'll try to use as their proof text is go to Galatians chapter 3, Galatians chapter 3, because this 430 years is actually brought up in the New Testament. 430 years from when they go into Egypt and when they leave Egypt. Galatians chapter 3 and verse 15, it says, Brethren, I speak after the man or men, though it be but a man's covenant. Yet if it be confirmed, no man disanaleth or addeth thereto. So we're talking about this covenant that's made, but it's saying, but if you confirm it, then, you know, there's something added there, right, as far as like no disanalling, and notice what it says here in verse 16. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not unto seeds as of many, but as of one, to thy seed, which is Christ. So those promises that were made to Abraham, they were made to Abraham and to his seed, which is Christ, but it's going to give a timeline here, it says in verse 17. In this I say that the covenant that was confirmed before of God and Christ, the law, which was 430 years after, cannot disanal that it should make the promise of none effect. So what they're going to say here is that, well, see, that 430 years is after he made a covenant with Abraham. See what they're trying to say right there? But it says the covenant that was confirmed before of God and Christ, that happened with Jacob right before he went into Egypt. Now go to Psalm 105, and I don't want to go too deep into this, but I could show you the place in Genesis where this happened, but in Psalm 105 I'm going to show you where it literally states that it was confirmed unto Jacob. So when it was confirmed unto Jacob, it was 430 years after that the law was given, because that's what it gets into later on about the law and that it was added because of transgression, so the seed should come to whom the promise was made. So that's why it's bringing up the 430 years is the fact that there's a timeline there. There's a big space of time between when he confirmed it with Jacob and when the law was actually given, and obviously the law was given till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. So the seed hadn't even come yet after the law was given because that's obviously Christ that was later on. Now in Psalm 105 and verse 9 here, Psalm 105 and verse 9, and you could also find this I believe in 1 Chronicles. I don't have the chapter off the top of my head here, but Psalm 105 and verse 9, it says, Which covenant He made with Abraham in His oath unto Isaac, and notice this, and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law and to Israel for an everlasting covenant, saying unto thee, I will give the land of Canaan the lot of your inheritance, when they were but a few men in number, yea, very few, and strangers in it. So when you're looking at Galatians chapter 3 and it says the covenant which was confirmed before of God and Christ, you're talking about the fact that He confirmed it with Jacob right before He went in to the land, and it was 430 years after that that the law was given. So that makes a lot more sense when you're dealing with the fact that the Bible just straight up says they're sojourning there for 430 years. Now, let's add to that. Go to Genesis chapter 15, and something is stated here about what was going to happen in the future. Now, if you know this story with Abraham, this is where he has that sacrifice and he's beaten off the birds from the sacrifice. Anyway, he falls into this deep darkness of sleep, if you will, or this dark vision, if you will, and he's like fearful about what he has, this vision, if you will. And in Genesis 15 verse 13 it says, And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them four hundred years. And also that nation whom they shall serve will I judge, and afterward shall they come out with great substance. So now it's stating that they're going to be evil and afflicted four hundred years. So they're going to sojourn for a total of 430 years, be evil and treated four hundred years. Now, that wouldn't make any sense if half of that happened before they even got into Egypt. Does that make sense? Like, I mean, you're supposed to be sojourning there for 430 years. Well, if you're going to say, well, you know, Abraham went down and Isaac went down, so they kind of sojourn there from when Abraham was in there. I mean, that's very loose, but how about this? How was Egypt evil and treating them for all that time as well? So you're really straining at an act to try to make that fit. How about in Acts chapter 7 it says the same thing, or basically it's talking about what was said in Genesis chapter 15. But Stephen obviously is preaching full of the Holy Ghost. It says in verse 6 of Acts chapter 7, it says, And God spake on this wise, that his seed should sojourn in a strange land, and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years. And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God, and after that shall they come forth and serve me in this place. So how about we just take for what the Bible says? The Bible says they sojourn for 430 years, and for 400 of those years they were evil and treated, and they were put into bondage. That actually makes a lot more sense. Now, let's look at some ages here when it comes to Joseph, because I think there's something interesting here when it comes down to, you know, how old was Joseph when they started to get evil and treated, or did he die, or was he a lie when they started to get evil and treated, right? So Joseph was 110 years old. If you look at Genesis chapter 50 in verse 22, so let's do some math here. So just stay awake here for me a little bit. We're going to do a little bit of math. Addition and subtraction, so it's nothing crazy here. But I just, you know, I always like looking at this type of stuff when it comes to trying to understand what was going on at that time, you know, who was alive, who wasn't alive. But in Genesis chapter 50 in verse 22, it says, And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father's house, and Joseph lived in 110 years. Now, when you're doing the age of the earth, you really care about Jacob's age because Jacob was 130 years old when he started journeying there, and then you're going from there 430 years till the end of that, and then 40 years in the wilderness. You go on and on and on, right, to get the age of the earth. But we're not calculating that right now. What we really want to know is was Joseph alive, you know, when they were starting to be evil and treated and all that. Now, he's 110 years old. Okay, well, the question is how old was he when they went into Egypt? So go back to Genesis chapter 41, Genesis chapter 41 and verse 46. So he lives to 110, and it says that he lives to see the third generation of Ephraim, and then it says basically he sees his great-grandchildren of Manasseh. It goes into that. So you kind of see that he sees a few generations after him. But in Genesis 41 and verse 46, it says Joseph was 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went throughout all the land of Egypt, and in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls. Okay, so when he sees the dream, or when he interprets the dream of Pharaoh, he's 30 years old. When he comes out of prison, 30 years old. But you have to add seven years to that because there's seven plenteous years before he even runs into his brother, before he runs into his brothers, right? So they don't come to him until after that seven plenteous years. So he's 37 years old before his brothers ever come to him. But the question is how long into the famine were his brothers, like when his brothers came to him and then like how far in? Well, it actually tells us. So actually in Genesis 45 and verse 6, Genesis 45 and verse 6, so he's 30 years old when he's brought out of prison and he's set up as being second in command basically. He's 37 by the time those seven years of plenteous years are done. Verse 6 of Genesis 45, it says, For these two years hath the famine been in the land, and yet there are five years in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest, and God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So when he makes himself known unto his brethren, how many years into it? Two years. So two plus 39, really hard math, but 39 years old. Okay, so he's 39 years old when he reveals himself unto his brethren and when they're coming into the land. Now, give or take, I mean, when it says he's 30 years old, he could be 30 and a half. So don't think that I'm like taking this to the T as far as when I'm adding these years and all that stuff. But at the same time, it could have been two and a half years in and he's rounding up and rounding down or whatever. So how old was he? How long into the sojourning was Joseph when he died? Well, you take 110 years, he lived 110 years, and subtract the 39 years. So he's 39 years old when they started the sojourning, if you will, when all of Israel was there, and he would have been 71 years into the sojourning. That means that there was 359 years left, okay? Now, what does that mean? Well, they were evil and treated for 400 years, and they were evil and treated till the end, let's just be honest, okay? So that being said, that means that for about 40 years, 41 years, Joseph was still alive when they started to get evil and treated. Does that make sense? I just want this to be very clear. Now, that means that when they started to get evil and treated, as far as when you think of how old was Joseph when they started to get evil and treated, he was 69 years old. He was like 69 to 70 years old. So he's not exactly a young buck at that time. And what I want to show you here is that at verse 8 of Exodus 1, the question you may have to ask yourself is, when did this new king not know Joseph? When he was still alive or after he died? And I can't definitively tell you that. It does state that Joseph dies, then there was a king that knew not Joseph. So just by reading, I've always taken it as being after he died. And that's a legitimate case, and it's probably the case. But let me give you an example of a kingdom where there was a very well-known prophet when there was a king that was reigning, and the prophet was still alive, and the new king didn't even know who he was, and that is Daniel. Go to Daniel 5. Daniel 5, you have Nebuchadnezzar obviously knew who Daniel was, the whole story. But then there was actually, I believe, a king between Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar. I know there was a king between them. His name was Evil Merodach. And so Evil Merodach was in between that, and this story with Belshazzar, Belshazzar was the king that actually died by Darius' hand. Remember, the Medes and the Persians took out Babylon. That's what happens at the end of this chapter. So that ends at 70-year captivity. So if David was a young man, you know, a child, if you will, the Hebrew children, right? We don't know exactly how old he was when he went in there, but he was over 70 years old, right? Because, I mean, there was a 70-year captivity. He was there from the beginning, so he was over 70 years old at this point. But in Daniel 5, verse 10, it says, Now the queen, by reason of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banquet house, and the queen spake and said, O king, live forever. Let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed. Now, the reason that his countenance changed is because he saw a hand writing on the wall, okay? Like a hand, he saw a hand writing something on the wall, and verse 11 there says, There is a man in thy kingdom, and whom is the spirit of the holy God? So obviously this queen, I don't believe, is a saved person, okay? But that doesn't mean that she doesn't know who Daniel is. It says, In whom is the spirit of the holy gods? And in the days of thy father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods was found in him, whom the king of Nebuchadnezzar, thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers. For as much as an excellent spirit and knowledge and understanding and interpreting of dreams and showing of hard sentences and dissolving of doubts were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar, now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation. It's interesting because Daniel literally saved him and his friends' lives by interpreting a dream. Joseph got out of prison by telling the king a dream. That makes sense? You kind of have the same thing. Daniel obviously comes later, and Daniel's was a little harder because he had to figure out what the dream even was, okay? But obviously God's the one that gives the interpretations. God can tell you what the dream is, all that. But that being said is that you kind of have the same story a little bit, and Daniel's still alive. Daniel's still in the kingdom, but this king, the new king, doesn't even know who he is. Does that make sense? So it's possible. It's possible that the new king that starts afflicting the people started afflicting the people when Joseph was still alive. It's possible. I'm just putting that out there. I know when you read it, it seems like he dies, then this new king that doesn't know him starts evil and treating him, but if you look at the fact that they're evil and treated, no doubt they're evil and treated before Joseph dies, okay? Because it's 71 years into the sojourning, and it says they're going to be evil and treated for 400 of the 430 years. So the question is, was Joseph evil and treated at all, or was it just part of the people? And what I believe when it comes to the evil and treatment is that it built up, okay? It kind of started off small and built up. Actually, we'll see in Acts that it says they dealt subtly with them, and I believe they kind of subtly started afflicting them, and you can think about how they do that here in America when it comes to subtly putting you into bondage. You know, oh, you want some safety? Okay, here's some safety and some chains to go with that. And meaning this is that it starts off subtle. It starts off small. It's like the frog in warm water until it's boiling, okay? And I believe that's what's going on with this, and I believe it actually started before Joseph actually died, okay? Now, this new king, like I said, even if this new king that knew not Joseph was after Joseph already died, that means that the king before him still went evil and treated the people, okay? It may just be a different king. And also, if we're dealing with, while Joseph is alive, obviously you're dealing with more than one king after this, meaning that there's a new king that goes over Egypt. I don't believe this is the same king that is commanding for the children to be thrown into the river, okay? I believe that it's basically just giving you a story that this new king comes up, he starts putting them into rigor, and then there's like kings down the line that are coming down the line because obviously these kings aren't living for 400 years or 300 years or whatever the case may be. So, again, when you're reading through this, there's probably a lot of time lapse that we're not seeing, but if this is the king that's after, you know, let's say it's after Joseph died and it's 100 years after Joseph died, maybe that's how this story plays out in the fact that, okay, they were evil and treated, but it wasn't until this new king came up that didn't even know who Joseph was that it really got bad, right? It's like evil and treated, but this is like now even more extreme. But I think it built up, and here's how it built up. Notice what it says in verse 9 of Exodus chapter 1. It built up just for the fact that they were multiplying, okay? So, when it comes to this, they were having a lot of kids, and they were multiplying, and after all the sons of Jacob die, no doubt there's a lot of people that are there. In verse 9 of chapter 1 it says, And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come on, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, so get them up out of the land. Therefore, they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens, and they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Python and Reamisies. So, basically this new Pharaoh that rose up and didn't know who Joseph was, he was just afraid that, since there's so many of them, that if any enemy came in and said, hey, we'll free you, or we'll basically give you whatever you want, just join us, and we'll basically take them out from within. And so they were, he was afraid of basically being, you know, like there was going to be some coup against, you know, the Egyptians. And so what he did is he put burdens and taskmasters on him and made them build these treasure cities. So, when we're going through this, who here has seen like movies on, like Moses, right? You have the old Charlton Heston movie, right? The Ten Commandments. You have like cartoon movies and stuff like that. I want you to realize that in every single one of those movies, there's a lot of misinformation. There's a lot of things that aren't in the Bible. Some things are. Some things aren't there that are true and right, but there's a lot of things that they take a lot of creative liberty when they've made these movies, okay? And so when you look at this, I want you to see that, hey, there's things that are in these movies that aren't in here, or there's things in here that aren't in the movies, okay? This is right. What's stated here in Exodus is actually what happened. And if the movie shows something that it doesn't say in Exodus, I wouldn't take any merit to that at all, because Hollywood came up with that. They're like, well, Josephus, the historian, they have info from Josephus lived after Christ, like in the first century A.D. What would he know about it, okay? That'd be like me writing about the first century and saying, hey, let me tell you about when Jesus walked on the earth and the apostles were here, and you'd be like, well, what would you know about that? So obviously there's things in history and there's writings and all that, but you always got to take history with a grain of salt, and so maybe there's some things that are in the... Anna, move over there. Sit up, Clara. Sit up. Now, maybe there's some things that are in these movies and some things that are stated are actually factual, but how are you going to know that for sure? What you know for sure or what you can take to the bank is what is in Exodus. Exodus happened. Everything that's stated here actually happened. So when you watch these movies and they're making these treasure cities, that actually happened, okay? Now, exactly what that looked like, who knows? But they were making bricks, they were building cities, and they were under bondage doing it, okay? Now, Python and Rameses I guess is the name of the treasure cities. It's interesting because I forget what the percentages of history that is basically just lost, where we just don't have information on it. I remember Belshazzar. Belshazzar, the king of Babylon, the only thing that was ever recorded, anything in history that was about Belshazzar was actually in the Bible, and they basically just questioned whether he was an actual real person. Then they found a coin with his name on it. Well, the Bible's always right, but here's the thing. They may not have physical evidence of things, and I've watched a lot of documentaries on Egypt because I like documentaries on stuff like that, you know, whatever, but they basically talk about how there's just like no writings about Moses. There's no writings about what happened in Egypt at that time, and it's like it was just not there. But here's the thing. There's so much about Egypt that they just don't know. I mean, when they found King Tut, for example, they had no idea that that guy existed until they dug up this grave and found him there, okay? And so that being said is that take history with a grain of salt, but you know what's great about the Bible is that we have history that you can't find anywhere else, but we know for a fact it's true because it's God's word. So we're diving back. So if you like history and you like looking back into time and seeing what was going on, here it is, and you can take this 100 percent because you watch the documentaries, they're only as good as the people that are putting together the information, okay? And that narrator may sound like he knows what he's talking about, but he's just reading off a piece of paper that someone told him to read, okay? So it can only be as authoritative as the information that they have, and that is not an authoritative source, but the Bible is. And Exodus chapter 1 and verse 12, they actually, you know, so they obviously started afflicting them because there were so many of them. They were trying to basically keep them under control. So to keep them under control, they basically put them in the bondage, but notice what it says in verse 12 here. It says, but the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew, and they were grieved because of the children of Israel. Now, I love this verse right here because it states that the more they tried to just afflict them and put them down, they just grew even more. Look at Acts chapter 7. Acts chapter 7, it states, you know, basically the information here, and I want to just show you where it talks about it stating how they dealt subtly. Now, in the Old Testament it says they dealt wisely with them, but you see how this is going to progress. Basically they put taskmasters over them, started making them make treasure cities, and they afflicted them, but then because they grew, the more they afflicted them, it's going to get worse, worse, and worse and worse. But in Acts chapter 7, verse 17, it says, But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt. Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph, the same dealt subtly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live. Now, that's going to get into something that's going to be stated here later on, but the thing I want you to see there is they dealt subtly. In the Old Testament it says wisely, but if you think about the wisdom of the world, obviously the wisdom of the unjust, the subtlety of the serpent, if you will, and being wise as serpents, like that idea there is not always maybe the wisdom of God, but the wisdom maybe of the world sometimes when it comes to how they're crafty. And it talks about how God's going to take the wise and their craftiness, but that being said is that this started off, I believe, with them being subtle about it, subtle kind of wisely, you know, dealing with them and all that, and eventually going into hard bondage. Now, in Acts chapter 12, here in Acts chapter 7, it says that the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. I want you to look at, I'm just going to read basically the first part of this chapter and the ending of this chapter. Acts chapter 12, verse 1, it says, Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hand to vex certain of the church, and he killed James the brother of John with the sword. Now, I want you to think about that. James was in the upper three. I mean, think about if you had, like, David's mighty men, right? David had his three top guys, and then he had, like, three other guys that were beneath him, but they never attained them to the first three, but then he had, like, 30-some other mighty men. Imagine a top guy gets taken out, one of the three top guys gets taken out, and how you think that would take down the morale or basically just destroy everything that you were doing. You're just like, if that person could be taken out, then any of us could be taken out, and what are we doing? And obviously we know the story. Peter was also taken, and he was going to kill Peter, but God sprung him out, literally out of prison. But look at verse 24. Obviously Peter gets out, but in Acts 12, verse 24, it says, But the word of God grew and multiplied. So even though there's great persecution and there was great persecution, you know, after Stephen was stoned and all that, but yet the word of God just spread out and multiplied. The word of God still grew, and as Christians, the more we're afflicted, the more we should grow. And it's interesting, you know, especially in the world we live in, because we live in perilous times. There's no doubt. And, you know, I was kind of explaining to my daughters about, like, what a slave would be, you know, as far as, like, what the Israelites were, basically in bondage. And, you know, they were asking, you know, like, are we slaves? You know, I was like, how do I answer this? You know, yes, we're free, probably more than anybody else in the world, but in the end we are basically servants to this government, servants to, you know, taxation and all these different things, right? Because, you know, what did Jesus say about tribute and taxation? He says, you know, who pays tribute? Those of the country, or the children of the country, or those that are strangers? He says, well, strangers. He says, then are the children free? That means that if we're under taxation, which is theft, by the way, if we're under taxation, then we're not free. And it's interesting because how much of our paycheck goes to the government, and it talks about, like, 20% going, like, a fifth part, you know, where they're taking from, when Joseph basically sold themselves to Egypt for corn, they basically had to give a fifth part of their increase to the government. That's 20%. Wouldn't that be awesome if we only had to pay 20% of our income? Right? And they were like, we're in bondage. They literally sold themselves in the bondage, 20%. What's that make us? Right? So, yes, technically we're free. Like, we could leave if we wanted to, right? We're not, they're not holding us down with taskmasters. But when you think about the, you know, the taxation, the tribute, if you will, that we have to pay, are we really that free? And so it's kind of a hard answer. But at the same time, when it comes to this, what I wanted to get to is having children, right? When we're talking about increasing and multiplying with Israel, we're talking about them having children and multiplying, right? You know, replenish the earth and all that. That's something that he told Adam, or I'm sorry, he told Seth, or he basically told Adam and Eve, you know, but he also told Noah. And down the line, we're supposed to replenish the earth and multiply, right? Be fruitful and multiply, replenish the earth. And so, but some would look at, if you were in Exodus, if you were in Egypt at that time, to say, you know what, I don't want to bring anybody into this world under this. Because isn't that what a lot of people say today? They're like, you know, we're living in this world that's just wicked and sinful and, you know what, there's just, our freedoms are being taken away. What kind of future is there going to be for our children? And I just don't want to bring someone into this world. I don't know how many times I've heard that. From good people, good conservative people. And I understand where you're coming from, but at the same time, when affliction comes, we should multiply even more. Because if the world is that wicked and sinful, then who needs to multiply more? The good people, right? Christians, believers need to multiply. And so you can't expect to actually make things better if we all just didn't have any children and then we just die and then we're gone and you're not bringing up a new generation. And so when the affliction comes, you should actually multiply more. Now, that doesn't seem right in your mind, you know, because obviously there's verses in the Bible when Jesus comes back and when you have the Great Tribulation, the woe unto them that are with child and those that give suck in those days. You know, I understand that because it has to deal with travel, right? Traveling and fleeing while you're pregnant or you have a sucking child, okay? But people take that way too far because it doesn't say woe unto them that have children in those days, does it? Take it in context because what it's talking about is traveling with a newborn or traveling as a pregnant person, okay? But it doesn't say like woe unto those that have a bunch of children in those days. It doesn't say that. But that's the way people take it and I feel like it just got a lot brighter in here. Oh. I just wanted to point that out because a lot of people are afraid to have children nowadays because of the times we live in. But you know what? That didn't deter the Israelites and I would say they had it worse, okay? I'm obviously, I hate taxation and I hate all the regulations that we have in this country. But I'm not getting whipped into building a treasure city for our governor right now, okay? Or for our president. So yes, you know, I'm mad at the bondage that we have but let's be real about it. We're not in that state right there. So go to Exodus chapter 1 and verse 13. Exodus chapter 1 and verse 13. So now because even the more they afflict them, right, they put tax masters over them, they're making them build these treasure cities, it doesn't work. They just get bigger and bigger. And which is kind of funny when you think about it. Obviously this is not a funny story. But it's just funny that this Pharaoh thinks that, you know what, I'm going to start beating them down and then that's going to cause them to stop multiplying. And then they multiply more and they're like, you know what we need to do? We need to beat them down more. It's like the government saying like, well, you know what, this program has wasted all this money. Let's give it more money. You know what, I heard someone say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. Now I don't know who quoted that. So if that was Gandhi or something like that, I'm sorry. But I don't know who said that originally. But the idea is kind of, it is true though. I mean if you think they're doing the same thing that has failed time and time again, it's like socialism. It's like, well, you know what, if we just do it a little different, no. I mean you have to realize, okay, that's not working. That's not working. Maybe I should try something else. No, he doubles down on it. And in Exodus chapter 1 verse 13 it says, And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor. So they were serving and they were basically putting taskmasters over them, but at that point it wasn't with rigor. Now rigor is basically like harshness, right? Like bitter bondage. Keep reading there. In verse 14 it says, And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service wherein they made them serve was with rigor. So basically any job that they made them do, it was going to be hard, bitter, harsh. Basically their lives are going to be miserable. Okay, so you see how that kind of went down the line of like, okay, let's make us these treasure cities, you know, all this stuff, but now we're going to go into like rigorous stuff, okay? Now let's get into the wickedness of this Pharaoh here. Notice in verse 15 it says in verse 15 of Exodus chapter 1, it says, And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other, Puah. And he said, When you do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women and see them upon the stools, if it be a son, then ye shall kill him, but if it be a daughter, then she shall live. But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. And the king of Egypt called the midwives and said unto them, Why have you done this thing and have saved the men children alive? And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women, for they are lively and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. Now I don't know why, but it always just makes me laugh because it's kind of like this little stab to the Egyptians, right? Like, listen, these women are not like your women. These women are lively, you know? These women are not just going to lay down and let us kill their children, okay? And I don't know what they had going on when it comes to birthing process back then, obviously. I don't know. But, I mean, think about today. There's a lot of anesthetic type stuff. There's a lot of stuff to basically make, you know, for less pain and stuff like that. I mean, Egypt was a very, you know, industrious, very intelligent society, so much that even today people are trying to figure out how they did a lot of the stuff, how they moved those stones of the pyramids and how they did other things to get things into place. And they were doing surgeries back then. They're finding out, like, surgeries like brain surgery and all this other stuff, okay? That being said, it could very well be that the Egyptians had a process where it would maybe alleviate pain, but it would put them kind of out of it, you know, as far as, like, when it comes to the birthing. I mean, think about an epidural, right, and how that basically paralyzes, you know, the woman from the waist down. And the whole point of that is to take away the pain. So if you're paralyzed from the waist down, how are you going to basically fight if someone's trying to kill your child, okay? But yet if the Hebrew women, who are obviously serving with rigor, I don't think they'd get the same amenities as, you know, the Egyptian women. Now, it could just be that the Hebrew women just have a lot more tenacity than the Egyptian women. Maybe it's just a cultural thing, you know, as far as that goes, that they're just more tenacious than the Egyptian women. But either way, in the end, they could just be saying this to give them an excuse, right? Because what it comes down to is that the midwives didn't want to do this, obviously, and the midwives feared God over Pharaoh, okay? And what we see is the fact that they're going to get rewarded for what they do, but this is a Pharaoh that was for after-birth abortion. Now, there are, what they call it, is partial-birth abortion, okay, is what Obama signed, you know, before he was even president, Obama signed yes to, and there was, I forget, some senator or something like that, I forget what his name is, or I would call it out, but I think he was running for president at one point. But anyway, the idea here, though, is that he said, he was asked the question, you know, what if a baby was born alive, right? You have an abortion, they're having an abortion, but the baby's just born alive. And he basically said, well, you know, then the doctor and the patient will have to make a decision. Like, make a decision? What, to kill the baby? Because there's no decision to make. What decision are you making? What, to name it? That's the only decision you should be making at that point about what to name the child. But what he meant by that is that at that point, they still have the option to kill the baby. And let's just put it right down the table. There's nothing different from the baby that's in the womb one second before it comes out of the womb and starts breathing air. That baby is just as alive, just as much alive, and these people are wicked as hell, and if you think that there's a new thing under the sun, what does Exodus teach here? We're talking about abortions here. We're talking about killing babies. You know, they would sacrifice their children unto false gods in the Old Testament. There's nothing new under the sun. This has been going on since the beginning of time. It's always been wicked, and it will be judged. And it's interesting because Egypt does get judged. It takes 400 years before God lays down the hammer, but you know what? This country's going to get it one way or the other. It's going to get judgment for all the innocent bloodshed. And go to Luke chapter 12. And these midwives, these Hebrew midwives, they fear God more than man. You can read over this and think, well, this is, you know, of course they should. Well, yes, of course. If you had a choice of killing a baby or maybe being killed for not doing your job, obviously you should make that choice to not kill the baby and all that, but these women made the hard choice that they were going to fear God over man because Pharaoh could have just been like, all right, you're dead. You didn't keep my commandment. They're going to put you to death. What is the Bible saying here in Luke chapter 12, verse 4? It says, and I say unto you, my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no power that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear. Fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell. Yea, I say unto you, fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, not one of them is forgotten before God, but even the very hairs of your head are at all numbered. Fear not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. Now, obviously people that think they can lose their salvation are going to rip this out of context, but he's talking to his friends basically stating that you need to fear God over man because God is more powerful. What he's stating here is that man can only kill the body. He doesn't have any other power past that. He can't do anything to your soul, but God can both kill the body and the soul. He can cast into hell. He is way more powerful, and the whole premise here is that God is more powerful than man, and he cares for you more than sparrows, and he has all the hairs of your head numbered, so you better fear God over man. And when it comes to this, a lot of times you can come out the greater for it. I mean, there's so many examples in the Bible, but this is going to be one of those examples where they actually win in the end. They actually win out even in this world because even if, let's say, they just survived and they just went on with their life, that would have been good enough, and then I'm sure they'd be rewarded in heaven for fearing God and not succumbing to that commandment, but notice what it says in Exodus chapter 1 and if I can get to the verse here, verse 20. Exodus 1 and verse 20 says, Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and waxed very mighty, and it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses. So they actually got nice houses because of fearing God. They broke the commandment of Pharaoh, and they feared God, and God rewarded them. Well, look at Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter 10, because you can be rewarded and reap the benefits even in this life. I'll say this. When you're dealing with persecution, you should just expect that anything that you get is in the life to come. Just expect that and be like, This is a reward in heaven. I'll get it then. But I'll say this. Don't be surprised if God gives it to you now. Don't be surprised if God gives you something now and then. God is merciful, gracious, loving. We can't even fathom what He has prepared for us, and so I want to show you that that's a case where Mark 10 actually comes true here, and actually to the literal T comes true. Notice what it says here in Mark 10 and verse 28. And then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee. And Jesus answered and said, Barely I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake and the gospel's, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time. You see that? Now in this time, houses and brethren and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions and in the world to come eternal life, but many that are first shall be last and the last shall be first, or last first. So here's a case where it's stating that even in this time, you can end up receiving houses, fathers, mothers, and obviously you can see how this would apply when you leave all the unsaved world and you come out from among them and you link up with a good church. Well, there's a bunch of sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, you know, and all that stuff can be added unto you even in this life. But how much more in the life to come? I mean, even if you were not to have a good church and you got saved and you were trying to live for God wherever you're at, then you know what? In the world to come, you'll have that. But here's a case where it actually comes to fruition, you know, just like it says here in Mark chapter 10. Now, last verse here is one verse, but this is the crux to what makes the story of Moses, like starts off the story of Moses, is what this commandment is here or this charge that the Pharaoh gives to his people. In Exodus chapter 1 verse 22, And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive. So the midwife thing didn't work, right? So think about this. See how this stuff has gone downhill here? You start off with, all right, they're multiplying. We're afraid of that because we don't want to have some coup where they're going to come and take us out. So we're going to put taskmasters over them and we're going to kind of put them in check, right? They're going to build us these treasure cities. Well, that doesn't work. They still multiply even more. So now it's going to be hard bondage with rigor. We're going to make their lives bitter. Well, that doesn't work because the more they afflicted them, the more they grew. And then they're like, well, okay, we're going to get their midwives to kill their sons. Well, that doesn't work because they fear God over man and they grow and wax strong and multiplied. Now, straight up, he's telling his people to go kill the sons or the sons of the Hebrews, okay? This is where, I mean, this is kind of a cliffhanger here, but then you get into the story of Moses. Chapter 2, actually, chapter 2, it's interesting because you watch these movies and it's just like this full feature, like two-hour movie or something like that, and it's like it's chapter 2, you know? Obviously, there's chapter 2 and 3 with the burning bush and everything, but when you think about like him in Egypt, that's chapter 2, and not even all of chapter 2 because then you got him going in the Midian and finding his wife, and I mean, that's all in chapter 2 as well, and it's not that big of a chapter, but there's a lot packed in there as far as what's going on, and we'll see how his mother and father save him, his mother saves him from being killed, but that all goes into the fact that the whole reason that his mother has to save him and put him into this ark of bulrushes is because this charge has gone out to basically take all those that are born, all the sons that are born, and throw them into the river. I mean, how wicked is that? I mean, how wicked was it for him to tell the midwives to do that? But now how wicked? He's basically just like, all right, so you think about it now, there's like all partial abortion. You have all these wicked abortion doctors that should all drop into hell tonight, and you have all those wicked people that are just trying to like subtly get people to do this and try to kill your children and all this stuff. What's the next step? Straight up just killing your children. Straight up just commanding his people to go out and kill your children. I mean, that's the decline, isn't it? Talk about starting off small and then working up to basically just straight up killing your sons. And that's where they're at where Moses comes on the scene here. And go to Matthew 2. It's interesting, and something I'll probably bring up too is that when this happens would be because Moses is 80 years old when he brings them up out of the land of Egypt, right? So if they sojourn for 430 years, you're dealing with, what, 350 years into the captivity or whatever. So this is 80 years before they get out. So just let that sink in, 80 years. So this decree goes forth 80 years before they end up getting out. And just to kind of put it in perspective because usually when you watch the film or something like that and it's kind of like, all right, that happens and boom, now we've got God getting on the scene here, but that's 80 years there. Because Moses lives in Egypt for 40 years, then he goes off in the Midian and he lives there for another 40 years and he's 80 years old when he comes back. He lives to 120. But the thing that I want you to see here and the last thing I'll point out is how similar Moses and Jesus are when it comes to the story of their birth. And it says in Matthew chapter 2, dealing with Herod, so basically Pharaoh, the king, was trying to kill all the boys, all the sons of the Hebrews, and Moses was spared. Moses was saved from it. Well, when Jesus was born, guess what? The king, he tried to kill every single child when he was two years old and younger. And in Matthew chapter 2 and verse 13 it says, And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word. For Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord, by the prophet, spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son. Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wrath, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men, then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, In Rhema was there a voice heard, lamentation and weeping, great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted because they are not. I mean, think about the similarities to that story, because you imagine the weeping of all the mothers and everything when that happened in Egypt, and how this is very similar to the story, and the fact that he's literally going to flee, they're fleeing into Egypt, and out of Egypt have I called my son. Now, that's a quotation from Hosea chapter 11, but that same terminology is going to be used by God to Pharaoh about Israel, about let my son go. Let my son Israel go. And we haven't got there yet, but I just kind of want to get you thinking about that before we get there. But how about this? How about this correlation between Moses and Jesus? It says in John 1.17, For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. How about the dichotomy between the law of Moses and the grace of Jesus Christ? The Old Testament, which was given by Moses, and obviously was dedicated with a sprinkling of blood, of bulls and of goats and all that, but then you have the New Testament, which is by the blood of Christ, and he is the high priest and all that. And just how similar those stories are with how that started, because you kind of have Moses to deliver, right? And then you have Jesus to deliver. One's going to start off the Old Testament or the First Testament. The other one's going to start the New Testament, the everlasting covenant, and just how similar those stories are. I don't believe it's by coincidence. I believe that everything in the Bible happens for a reason. But that's Exodus chapter 1. Actually, Exodus chapter 2 is going to be packed with some information about Moses, and another thing that's nice is that the New Testament actually gives us some extra light on it. So you may read through Exodus 2 and be like, Really? That's all we got? That's all the information we got? Well, the New Testament actually gives us some more light on Moses, what was going through his mind, what he knew, and what he didn't know. It seems like no film got that right about what he understood when he was in Egypt. So if anything that I get through your head here, flush that stuff out of your mind, what you've seen on movies, and look at what the Bible teaches. And I'm out here to say, Well, it's wrong to watch those movies or whatever. If you watch anything on anything biblical, just know that it's not going to be accurate. Just take it to the bank. It's not going to be accurate. I don't care if you have a fundamental Baptist that is making that film. I don't care if you have a new I.B., hard preaching fundamental Baptist. I don't care if I'm making the film. It's not going to be accurate to the T because anything you do in a film, you're going to have some kind of guessing as far as what people looked like, what they were doing, how they acted. All right, so that being said, take all movies with a grain of salt when it comes to anything like that, but take the Bible for straight-up facts. That is what happened. That's the truth. And so I'm excited to go through the book of Exodus, but let's end with a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for today. Thank you for your word, and we pray that you be with us as we go throughout the rest of this week here with work and just everything else, and just pray that you would help us to bring glory to your name, but help us to understand all the stories in the book of Exodus, help us to use them in our lives, and just help us to find all kinds of nuggets of truth and just different things in the Bible. Lord, we love you. Pray all this in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. So, brother, they will come and sing one more song, and then we'll be dismissed. All right, song 227 in your song books. Song 227, if you would stand, we'll sing Saved by the Blood, song 227. Saved by the blood of the crucified one, Now ransom from sin and a new work begun, Sing praise to the Father and praise to the Son, Saved by the blood of the crucified one, Saved by the blood of the crucified one,