We read now from Holy Scripture, Exodus chapter 10. Exodus chapter 10. I ask that you pay special attention to verses seven through 12, which are the focus of the sermon this morning. Verses seven through 12. I'm not going to read those again. When the Lord said unto Moses, go in unto Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might show these my signs before him, and that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son and of thy son's son what things I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them, that ye may know how that I am the Lord. And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh and said unto him, thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, how long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me. Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow will I bring the locusts into thy coast. And they shall cover the face of the earth, that one cannot be able to see the earth. And they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field. And they shall fill thy houses and the houses of all thy servants and the houses of all the Egyptians, which neither thy fathers nor thy father's fathers have seen since the day that they were upon the earth unto this day. And he turned himself and went out from Pharaoh. And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, how long shall this man be a snare unto us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed? And Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh. And he said unto them, go serve the Lord your God, but who are they that shall go? And Moses said, we will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go, for we must hold a feast unto the Lord. And he said unto them, let the Lord be so with you as I will let you go and your little ones. Look to it, for evil is before you, not so, Go now, ye that are men, and serve the Lord. For that ye did desire, and they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence. And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left. And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt. And the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night. And when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and rested in all the coasts of Egypt. Very grievous were they before them. There were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such. For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened. And they did eat every herb of the land and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left. And there remained not any green thing in the trees or in the herbs of the field throughout all the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste. And he said, I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. Now therefore, forgive, I pray thee, my sin, only this once. and entreat the Lord your God that he may take away from me this death only. And he went out from Pharaoh and entreated the Lord, and the Lord turned a mighty strong west wind which took away the locusts and cast them into the Red Sea. There remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart so that he would not let the children of Israel go. And the Lord said unto Moses, stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days. But all the children of Israel had light in their dwelling. And Pharaoh called unto Moses and said, Go ye, serve the Lord. Only let your flocks and your herds be stayed. Let your little ones also go with you. And Moses said, Thou must give us also sacrifice and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the Lord our God. Our cattle also shall go with us. There shall not a hoof be left behind. For therefore must we take to serve the Lord our God, and we know not with what we must serve the Lord until we come thither. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go. And Pharaoh said unto them, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more. For in that day thou seest my face, thou shalt die. And Moses said, Thou hast spoken well. I will see thy face again no more. We read that far in God's holy word. Beloved in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the chapter that we just read, the great contest between Jehovah, God of heaven and earth, and Pharaoh, king of Egypt, has reached its climax. The Lord has fulfilled the promise that he made long ago to Abraham that he would take his seed and bring them into the land of Egypt where they would dwell for some 400 years, where there in the cradle of civilization they would become a great and mighty nation in their own right. And now, as God also had promised, it is time for Israel to leave the land of Egypt and to go home. There is in Egypt now a new pharaoh who knows not Joseph, who fears the children of Israel, that they will become mightier and greater than the nation of Egypt, and so in response has put their back to the lash, has put their feet to the fetters, and taken their mind and their muscle and enslaved them, making brick and mortar to build his cities. Their cries, the cries of the children of Israel, have gone up unto the Lord, where He has heard them, and in response has raised up and sent His servant Moses, and sent Moses into the face of Pharaoh with a single message, Let my people go. Pharaoh, as God has ordained, hardens his heart, so that the Lord has consecutively sent seven plagues, each worse than the previous, and which have destroyed the land of Egypt thus far. Three plagues remain, the plague of locusts, the plague of darkness over all the land, and finally the killing of all the firstborn sons and animals of the Egyptians. But at this point, Pharaoh comes with a proposal, a proposal to compromise. Yes, I will let the people go, but only the men, that is only the adults, not the children. This proposal is more significant than a mere concern over parental rights, the parental rights of Jewish men and women. It is part of the great battle between Jehovah God and Satan, the great battle between the people of God as the seed of the woman that He chose unto salvation and the seed of the serpent. the reprobate. This proposal concerns the Savior, Jesus Christ, who is a part of those children. There is also enmity between the children of God, the children of the woman, for through the sacrifice of God, God has redeemed them, and He liberates them from the bondage of sin and from death. that which Satan holds them and does so so that they may worship God in freedom and in holiness. This proposal concerns the children of God. God demands their complete salvation from sin and death. Salvation that is worked out in the cross of Jesus Christ and demands it for all his covenant people. not merely now old people and adult people, but also children. And so to this reposal, down through the ages, not only here before the seventh plague, but even now, God's people respond, no, not without our children. Consider that with me this morning. Not without our children. the tempting proposal, the godly resolve, and the covenant blessing. The proposal that a Pharaoh brings here after the seventh and before the eighth plague is the proposal that he will let the people go but not the children, they must remain behind. This is the proposal, is very clear from the passage, where after the plague, the servants of Pharaoh come to him and they tell him, since you know the land is destroyed and can see the destruction, why don't you give a little? And where you give, they say, is to let the men go, verse 7. And when Pharaoh calls back in Moses and then asks him who now will go, Moses' response is, we will all go, young and old, male and female, man and wife, but also children and also our animals, to which Pharaoh responds, in essence, No. The English of verse 10 is somewhat difficult. Let the Lord be so with you as I will let you go with your little ones. Look to it, for evil is before you. In essence, what Pharaoh is saying, in shorthand, is if you think I'm going to let you go with your children, you've got another guest coming. Your Lord had better be with you because I'm not about ready to let that happen, which is why in the following verse it begins, not so. And that this is the proposal and what it concerns is that after the plague, Pharaoh does allow or brings up another proposal that this time he will let them go with their children, but now they have to leave the flocks and herds behind, which brings another plague that we can consider at another time. This is a tempting proposal, and it is also not the first one that Pharaoh has made to Moses in an attempt to bargain with him and thus with God. The first proposal came after the fourth plague. There was the plague of water being turned to blood, the plague of the frogs, the plague of the lice, and then the plague of the flies, at which time God makes a division between the nation of Egypt and the nation of Israel. And then at that time, Pharaoh offered a proposal. I will let you off for a short amount of time, but you must remain in the land of Egypt. So you can have a break from your slavery, but a very short break and you're not going anywhere. Now the reason that's brought up here is because that proposal is also one God rejected. Because it's not what He required and it's not what His salvation consists of. God, in that proposal, was teaching that the essential battle here was not at all physical, but a spiritual battle. And it was a battle not really between Moses and Pharaoh, but between God and Satan. A battle between God's Christ and Satan's Antichrist. A battle between God's people and Satan's people. It was a battle of test of the will and the power regarding not physical servitude, that of whips and offenders, but of sin and death. It concerned not really life in Egypt as such, or even Canaan, but the spiritual life of God's people to serve and glorify Him forever and ever, not only in this life, but in a new creation. God, in rejecting that proposal, was teaching the nature of this salvation, concerns servitude and worship of God versus the service and worship of Satan. God had called his people to worship him in spirit and in truth, to worship him in spirit and truth as the creator and the provider of all things. to worship and glorify God as the one who had chose them from eternity in His love, who had promised them absolute freedom from the bondage of sin and from death, and that God would do that by the seed of the woman we know, Jesus Christ. That through Him, God would redeem His people from the authority of sin and from the power of sin and break that in their life so that they would be free, truly free. And so when Pharaoh said, well, you can worship that God, but you must remain in Egypt, you understand that was a tempting proposal. That's essentially the proposal that Satan still comes with today, that is basically, you can have your cake and eat it too. I'll allow you to worship this God that you claim will save you and give you eternal life, but you must do so in the confines of the land of Egypt. You may leave in any sense, and there's many benefits for doing so, because you can have, therefore, the benefits of life with God and salvation by God, but also the benefits of this life in the land of Egypt. You're free to worship your God and do whatever you want, but you can also do whatever you want in this life. You can enjoy all of its culture, you can enjoy all of its riches here in the cradle of civilization. You can be one with your God and you can be one with us also. That was the original proposal and God rejected that proposal because His salvation consists of complete deliverance from this world of sin and of death. God rejects this proposal because He knows one cannot serve two masters. You cannot serve God and mammon. You cannot serve Pharaoh and serve God. Freedom from sin and from death occurs by the shedding of the precious blood of Jesus Christ so that One whom God saves belongs to Him. Belongs to Him body and soul. He purchases us from one Master so that we might serve Him as our only Lord and Master. God rejects this proposal because He understands true freedom to worship Him in spirit and in truth is an abomination to the world. As long as they serve their old Master, They consider it an abomination to serve God in spirit and truth, to serve God now and eternally instead of oneself. Consider it an abomination to be freed from the bondage of sin instead of serving one's own pleasures and serving the pleasures of sin. Consider it an abomination to be freed by the grace of God and the grace of God alone rather than the free choice and will of man. They considered it abomination to not be able to love this world and the things of this world. So God must bring his people out of Egypt, not only in the Old Testament, but in the New. God does this by making his people his own, does so by regeneration, giving us a new heart and a new mind and new strength to serve him by giving the gift of faith by actually calling his people out, come out from among them and be ye separate and touch not the unclean thing. Don't you know that as long as you remain in Egypt, as long as you are surrounded by their gods, their life, their culture, they are a threat to you and your new life and your new identity. And so God says to Phaeton and to Pharaoh, no, my people must go. They must go out into the wilderness. That's the way of my covenant people. It's the way of the cross. It's the way of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's the way where you must forsake the world, crucify our old natures as we read in the baptism form, and follow God. It's the way of selflessness, not serving self. It's the way of humility and not pride. It's the way of the riches of the kingdom of heaven and not the riches of this earth. God says, no, my people must go. They must go out into the wilderness because I will destroy this wicked Egypt. I will destroy its property. I will destroy its culture. I will destroy its people. You must not stay here. When God rejects that proposal and Pharaoh stubbornly persists, God sends three more plagues. God is there enforcing his demand, let my people go, and his rejection of that proposal to stay here. It's at this point that Pharaoh comes with this second tempting proposal, you may go, you adults, but leave your children behind. Again, again, Pharaoh here is showing that he is learning even what's at stake in this demand of God to let his people go. It's singing into him that he understands that God is demanding complete liberation from the land of Egypt and its people and its culture and its life. God is demanding a permanent liberation, not a temporary one. God is demanding liberation from the power and authority of all that is related to Egypt. And God is demanding that with regard to not only the parents and the adults, but also the children. You understand that proposal of Pharaoh is very shrewd and cunning. Pharaoh understands that he may have indeed lost the battle over the parents and the adults. God through seven plagues has taught him that. He's going to have to give on that point. But now if he retains the children, he still wins. He understands that if he retains the children, then whatever loss he suffers through the parents is only a temporary loss. Because one of two things is going to happen. Either those parents are going to come back and return for those children, because after all, there is nothing like the parent-child bond. There is nothing like the tie of blood that binds. Or, if they're able to overcome that, Pharaoh will have the children. He may have lost a generation of slaves, but he will still have a new generation of slaves. And from them, even more slaves that he can have. Either way, he wins a shrewd and cunning Proposal. And you understand because it's also tempting. A tempting proposal. Put yourselves in the shoes of those parents once. Husbands whose back had been laid open to the bone by the whips. Perhaps parents who had taken children and thrown them into the river or seen it happen, heard the stories. Parents who were exhausted from the labor who said to themselves, well, I can't be around and help my children anyway. I'm so busy working for this slave. Pharaoh might as well have them. At least I myself am free. I can produce more children out there. Leave the children behind. They will perhaps have a better life than what I have. Maybe Pharaoh will be merciful and kind unto them. He seems that way. We like that proposal. Let us go and we will sacrifice some of our children. Tempting, don't say it isn't. The same tempting proposal from Satan faces you today. You have to see that. When the government comes to you and says, we'll help fund your schools. You just have to do this or that. We'll reduce the burden. We'll lessen it for you. Give us your children. Let us give them security and healthcare and housing and jobs and an education. If you let us educate them, it's free. Let us have them to help us fight our battles. Let us have your children to promote our agenda. Just for a while, just for a bit, Let us teach them what it's really like to be a citizen in the world. Let them experience what it means to be free, to be somebody, to make the kind of money that one can make in this world if he only follows our agenda. The world brings that message to you and to your children nonstop. If you can't see that that's what's going on through your television sets and through your cell phone, through social media and entertainment, you're blind. There's one message coming through those devices from the world, and it's the message, give us your children. The way of happiness for those children is not the way of being a slave like you are, It's not the way of serving your God, it's the way of worshiping our gods, of money, the way of property. It's not the way of serving God, it's the way of serving man. It's the way of heaven on earth. It's the way of serving one's own self-interest. Let us have them. Let them see what we see, hear what we hear, let them drink what we drink. Let them cheer what we cheer. Let them do whatever is right in their own eyes. Let them taste whatever is good. Hear whatever sounds good. Let them feel whatever feels good. Worse yet, that is the message coming from many churches who have made common cause with Egypt, who have in their folly returned to Egypt. And you know that. You can tell that. by what they worship. Oh, they may worship God on Sunday morning, but by Sunday afternoon, they're serving the gods of Egypt. They may read the Bible in their worship service, but they don't believe that it's true. Some even consider their children little children of Egypt and refuse to even give them the sign of the covenant. They say and preach, let those children make their own choices. Let them grow up with a little freedom. Don't be so authoritative. Don't be so doctrinaire. Don't catechize. And so they gave their children over to the world, and now it's hard to tell the difference between the church and the world. But don't say it's not tempting. Don't say to yourself, well, I would never do that. How tempting is the proposal to want the best for your children? To say, I want the best for my children, and to do that, I have to work hard. I have to spend a lot of hours. Surely, a little bit of time of my children with the world doesn't hurt anything. I have to go out, let me put my children over in the care of this person, or plunk them in the front of that television set. Surely there has to be some way to reduce Christian school tuition or avoid paying it all together. Surely it doesn't hurt if I, as a mother, go out and work. We do, after all, have to support our children. If we don't do these things, perhaps we're going to deprive our children of a good job in the world and a future. It's just harmless entertainment, and it's only for a while. they do, after all, have Sunday for the Lord, perhaps Monday in catechism, and don't ever minimize the tie of children and its strength, which explains why often, when Egypt does sometimes allure one of the children that grows up in the church back into Egypt, it's not unheard of that parents soon follow a very tempting proposal. the godly resolve. May God give all of us, beloved by faith, the resolve of Moses in this text. We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters. In other words, we will go, but we will not go without our children. Moses does not hesitate. Moses does not say, let me think about it a while. Moses doesn't even have to say, let me talk to God first and see what He has to say. Moses knows the will of God in this matter. And he knows it because of the covenant promise that God has made with Abraham to be a God unto him and to his seed after him. That he would be the God not only of Abraham, but also his children, and that God has not changed his relationship to parents in the covenant. Moses knew this because he himself had been raised as a covenant child. And if there was any doubt about that, by the way, God removed that from Moses on his way to Egypt. You may recall the story When Moses, on his way to Egypt to tell Pharaoh, let my people go, God stopped him in the wilderness and threatened to kill him. Why? Because Moses had refused to circumcise his second son, largely through the influence of his wife. So important was this covenant truth, that God would not allow godly Moses to confront Pharaoh without the sign of the covenant in his children. Beloved people of God, God give to us such resolve to say to this world today and every day, not without my children. We will not leave them behind in Egypt. We will train them. We will teach them. We will raise them. We will bring them with us out of this world to worship God, not only on Sunday, but every day of the week. It's the destruction of the church, beloved, when parents are willing to let Egypt keep their children, even for a few short hours, let alone for a few years. It's going on. There may be churches that indeed have their own schools, but they have taken the teachers of Egypt and brought them in, teaching all the worldly culture. by teaching all the worldly standards about what the Bible is to those little children. And it is any wonder then when they grow up, they assume Egypt's stance regarding Scripture and the Word of God rather than God's own Word. In the churches today, many don't even bother to go three days out into the wilderness. They can't even make it a few hours on a Sunday. Worship God at 9.30 a.m., and by 12 they're on the golf course, or they're in the parks, or they're in the arenas, with all the world cheering on the same idols that the world cheers. Don't say, it can't happen to me. Let this resolve of Moses be your resolve when you baptize your children, when they receive that commitment on their forehead, And say to yourself, not without my child. Say they are in the covenant of grace with us. They belong to God. They must live with God. They must worship and learn about God. We will not leave this in this world that God will destroy, but we will take them with us. I, as their parent, will be faithful in teaching them and having devotions with them. in family worship, in Christian education, in catechism instruction, even in their entertainment. Not without my children, not for a minute, not for a second will Pharaoh have them. They are my most precious possession, and they are not that because they are simply my blood. Understand that. If you say, that's my resolve, but that's my resolve now because they are my blood, you've made a crucial mistake. Have that resolve which finds them precious because God finds them precious. Because you understand that children also went to Sinai with their parents, worshipped in the tabernacle, who went to Canaan. Just think. of the important role that these children played later on. These parents fell in the wilderness because of unbelief, and it was only the children who reached the land of Canaan. Don't ever minimize what God has in store for our children. That resolve came directly through Moses, God's office bearer. So think about how important this is for those who hold office, not only now mothers and fathers, but especially fathers, but also elders. The office bearers of this congregation must insist and make sure not only that the parents of the congregation are presenting their children for baptism, but that they are living their life in the home saying, no, not without my children. God, of course, must work that resolve. God worked it in Moses by his spirit, even by the unique circumstances of his life. God did that to show what he is able to do even in a Moses who indeed was raised. in Pharaoh's home. God didn't do that now as a pattern, but God did that to show how important it is that there be a break. Hebrews 11 is going to bring that up. By faith, Moses chose to suffer with the children of Israel and live with all the dainties and riches of being heir to the throne in Pharaoh's house. God works that in us also. That's the work of the Holy Spirit by faith. that should cause every godly parent and adult to say, we must and we will go. We don't want to stay here. The gods of this life and the culture of this world are a threat to us and to our children. We're willing to live in the wilderness of this world, to suffer for Christ's sake, to take up our cross and follow him. We want to go to the promised land, but not without my children. due to the resolve of Jesus Christ of whom Moses is a picture. Because he's the head of that covenant. So he says, not without my children. Ultimately due to his resolve, his promise, I will come down to earth and by my death I will make not only you but your children my own. They too will be buried with me and raised unto newness of life They too will ascend up to heaven where I am the head. Through the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the Red Sea, I will lead them through the wilderness of this life all the way home. The blessing, of course, is that we may enjoy this spiritual salvation from sin and death, both now and in the future with our children. We must remember, beloved, that this is really true love for one's children. True love for your children is the desire for this greatest of all goods. Nothing more than that. A godly mother and father will sacrifice even earthly bread and water if only to take their children along with them. How that's been brought out throughout history. True love for one's children is a desire that they share this life. Not that they have a good-paying job and a lot of degrees behind their name, that they be somebody in this world, have an appreciation for sculpture and paintings, are able to go to some ball games and cheer on their favorite teams. It's that. Rather, they love God. It's the resolve that says I have no greater joy than that my children walk in the truth. My one great desire for my children more than anything else is that I may walk with them now in the fear of God's name. And when we get together, that we can talk about things other than sports and the weather, we can talk about what God has done for us and what God is doing for us. I have no greater desire that I may live an eternal life, not just by myself and a bunch of adults, but my children and my grandchildren and my great-grandchildren. That's not an easy life, but it's one that requires parents forsaking Egypt and not looking back. a life of suffering in the wilderness. Right there, by the way, is proof that God must work this resolve. Israel was going to learn that very painfully in the wilderness, even after they're delivered. Within a few days, many want to go back with the onions and the leeks and the garlics of Egypt. A whole generation is gonna perish in that wilderness because of unbelief. But God preserves that nation through those children. That makes clear something, doesn't it? But neither may we say, well, then no godly resolve is required of me. It doesn't matter what I think about the matter. God will work what he works and do what he does. No. Someone whom God delivers from the bondage of sin and death, someone in whom God works, especially parents, works in them, reminds them, teaches them of what must happen with their children, gives them resolve now not in themselves, When one says, not without my children, the resolve isn't now, look what I will do by my own strength and by my own power, but the resolve is in God. That's faith. And notice, even verses 1 and 2. That's an amazing thing. How this whole chapter starts. God says, I'm going to harden Pharaoh's heart. That's an amazing statement all by itself. It has to do with things like reprobation. The two-edged sword of the Gospel. Lot to learn there, but notice what God says about why he's going to do that. I'm going to do that so that you may tell this in the ears of thy son and thy son's son. God's purpose of this miracle is so that parents can teach their children his power and his resolve and his salvation. That's ultimately the only way that you can take your children with you. Say to them this, My child, my son or my daughter, don't you know that the devil was willing to let your mother and father go and serve God? If only we would leave you behind. But God wouldn't. So we won't. Say to your child, I will not leave you behind because you are in the covenant of grace that God made with us, because God has saved and redeemed us from all the power of the devil by his greater power, because he has given his son, Jesus Christ, Because God has given us faith, because God has given us a new life, and God has given us a new home. And this is so much better than Egypt. And this is the reason why we raise you the way that we do. This is why things are different in this home rather than that home. This is why we insist on being here today and all of this day. This is why we don't just allow you to do whatever you want and make your own decisions. And be assured. that in a way of such resolve, God will work mightily, wonderfully, to bring you to the heavenly Kenan with your children. Amen. Our Father, which art in heaven, we thank Thee for Thy Word. Give unto us that resolve, Lord. Save and redeem us from all the power of the devil, from the guilt of sin, from the shame of sin, from the power of sin, by the precious blood of our Lord and Savior, the sign and the seal of which we have received through baptism and that thou has placed upon our children. Lord, save and redeem our children and give unto us the resolve to carry out our covenant obligations and duties toward them, to not give them up to the world, to fight, to struggle, persevere, to teach and to train, to comfort and to carry our children. For thou dost love and redeem them. Thou hast given to them Jesus. Thou hast made them thine own. O Lord, bless this. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.