Beloved radio friends, in the precious and the worthy name of the Lord Jesus our Saviour, we greet you. This is your Bible teacher of the air speaking, J.W. Bramhall, giving you a hearty invitation to enjoy with us the meditation upon the word of God from the book of Exodus. We are particularly seen to bring out of the early chapters of the book of Exodus practical and timely applications of the Word of God to our present day. I wonder how many of us recognize and have any proper realization of the character of this world in which we are living. It has been going on for many, many centuries, but in reference to this expression concerning the world, We are seeking to apply it in relation to what the Word of God teaches, the world in its character, under the dominion of Satan, who is the God of this age, and called the prince of this world in Holy Scripture, and the conditions that prevail under his authority and the dominion of sin. There is no question of doubt, there is an end to come. in relation to the dominion of sin, Satan, and the character of the world. But how it is important for us to realize what God thinks of this world, and particularly what His purposes are in the way of redemption for the human race found within the world. We would quote again the premise that we have been seeking to follow, from a New Testament text found in the book of Galatians chapter one verses three and four it is within this text that we have these words our Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us out of this present evil world according to the will of God our Father. May I re-emphasize, my fellow believer, you and I who have been saved have been delivered by God's grace and power through our trust in Christ and His finished work, to be taken out of this present evil world. To my friends who may not yet be saved, may I speak before you God desires to save you, to deliver you from this evil world, and the conclusive and the inevitable judgments that will yet come upon him. In the early chapters of the book of Exodus, we have been following certain types that illustrate the great gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have noted that the great empire of Egypt It's so typical of the world in which we are now living. And then we have also noted that Pharaoh, who in his days, many of them consider themselves to be gods, represent the person who is the God of this world, the prince of this world, none other than Satan himself. We noted that the children of Israel, having sprung from just a few people, by number only seventy-six going into the land of Egypt with Jacob became a multitude of approximately three million and more when they came out of Egypt in the Great Exodus. They represent to us in the Gospel narrative the world of people which has undoubtedly increased and become in its multitude in this character very, very great in number. and the people of this world, so typical of what the Israelites were in Egypt, are under the bondage and the tyranny of the God of this world, even Satan, who is the master of many, and in the tyranny as well as the affliction and the sorrow and the bondage of sin with its power. How people need to be saved. May I re-emphasize, we live in a world in which men and women are in need of a deliverance that only Christ can effectively accomplish. And then we have noted that the hero in the story of the book of Exodus, by the name of Moses, blessedly typifies, though not in perfection of course, but is a wonderful illustration in type of the one who is the world's great deliverer, the emancipator of sinners. the Savior of sinners, even our Lord Jesus Christ. We have covered the first four chapters of the book of Exodus. We now begin our consideration of chapter five, where we now begin to see the conflict which raged between Pharaoh and the Egyptian powers and God's earthly people under the leadership of Moses and also of Aaron. We would read in chapter five, verses one and two, and particularly read the question or the challenge that Moses and Aaron laid down before Pharaoh. Afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord? that I should obey his voice and let Israel go. I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. Now may we bring before our hearts and minds this solemn fact. This is the commencement of the conflict. But we would remind our listeners that behind the conflict between Moses and Aaron and Pharaoh and the Egyptian power There was an invisible contest for these contestants that we read of in our chapter were but representatives of a divine power on one hand and a satanic power on the other one. The invisible contestants of this great battle were really on one hand Jehovah God himself and on the other hand Satan, the God of this world. And so the contest began between divine power and between the power of the serpent, not merely, my friend, between Moses and Pharaoh alone. Let me re-emphasize that these things that were written aforetime, according to the New Testament, were written for our learning upon whom the ends of the ages have come. the invisible contestants in relation to this world and the population of humanity within it under the bondage of sin and Satan. Those contestants are primarily and in their essential importance, God on one hand, Satan upon the other. The New Testament scripture in Ephesians chapter six and verse twelve very definitely states We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against wicked spirits in high or heavenly places, which are undoubtedly the rulers of the darkness of this world, as the Apostle indicates in the Ephesian Epistle chapter six and this twelve verse. And so we can recognize, let's realize the true the most important contestants in the conflict. Now God comes through Moses and Aaron with a command. The command to Pharaoh is this, thus said Jehovah, the God of Israel, let my people go. That is the demand of God. But then we have the absolute blank refusal of Pharaoh, who in his blatant agnostic, atheistic attitude, declares, Who is the Lord? Who is Jehovah that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I don't know the Lord, neither will I let the people of Israel go. My beloved, you can recognize, and please again let me put into the picture the real contestants again. Here is a world in which you and I live in. We have a God of whom it is said in First Timothy chapter two, God is willing that all men should be saved. And again in the Epistle of Peter we read the words, God is not willing that any one should perish, but that all should come to repentance and live. And I wish to make a declaration on the authority of the Word of God. God desires to save you and me and all who will be saved and wish to come to him from the power of sin and Satan and the ultimate destruction of eternal fire. And God's request and God's demand is for the salvation of the lost. But I'm sure we recognize realize too much in its power there is an enemy none other than the serpent the old devil the dragon himself who in his denial of God will say I don't know the Lord neither will I let my captives go my beloved what a battle I want you to face the real issue of the battle I wish to propel by the help and the grace and the power of God's spirit The true contest. That battle may be raging, even within your own soul, my radio friend. On one hand, you may be hearing the voice of God by His Spirit, through the gospel, convicting you of sin, and pleading with you to turn to Christ for salvation. God desires to save and deliver your precious soul from the fires of an eternal hell. On the other hand, you have an adversary. the devil himself who will not let you go. Oh, my beloved, may I indeed plead that you realize the true character of the conflict, God desiring to save you on one hand, and who has given his son to die on the cross to deliver you from the power of Satan and the dominion of sin. And he pleads with you to come to that deliverer, the Lord Jesus Christ, who alone can save you. Oh, may God, by his power, through the Spirit of God, bring some to the Lord Jesus Christ today. Our Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus, we pray thy blessing on thy spoken truth to the glory of thy name and the salvation of the lost. For Jesus' sake, amen.