Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20090405.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Exodus: God's Forming The Nation Israel For His Abrahamic Covenant
Part I: God's Deliverance Of Israel From Egypt, Exodus 1:1-15:21
A. God's Use Of An Evil Ruler To Prepare For Israel's Deliverer
(Exodus 1:1-2:10)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    Significant uneasiness exists in many citizens about the directions our government officials are taking us as a nation:

    (1) Tuesday morning as I drove to the Church office to begin to formulate this sermon, I heard local radio talk show host Brad Davis interview an authoritative author on the policies of our nation's leaders.

    This expert was noting how our President was heading for Europe for a summit with international leaders. Though European leaders have historically been quite vocal in telling American presidents to become as socialistic in their policies as they are, some leaders this time were ready to object to the high spending plans of the new American administration, something unusual for socialistic governments. These leaders were concerned about the huge debt that will be produced in our nation were our current administration's budget to be passed, and the harm it would do to world trade and hence to their own national economies!

    Indeed, this expert told Mr. Davis that he himself was troubled about the new administration's spending plans!

    (2) Last Monday, national radio talk show host, Glenn Beck, claimed he senses a great number of folk he knows who feel stressed at issues and movements they see in the country. Mr. Beck suggested that his listeners take advantage of these trials as "character-building" opportunities, but I could discern that Mr. Beck himself was anxious.

    (3) Glenn Beck then reported how the New York Times had run a cover story that day on his burgeoning popularity, stating that people are flocking to his views (that the paper thought were extreme) because such folk felt disenfranchised by the new administration! Then, the New York Times article suggested Mr. Beck's listeners need not try to produce an ideological "revolution" as Mr. Beck suggests, but be satisfied that it had occurred at the last November election!

    (4) However, such a stance promoted by the mainstream media is exactly what concerns many radio talk show listeners!



    Thus, we ask, "If many feel oppressed by the acts of rulers, WHY does God allow it to occur, and how should we respond?"

    Need: "With the concerns many have about 'oppressive' actions of rulers, why does God allow them, and how am I to respond?!"

  1. Though Israel had enjoyed Joseph's protective oversight in Egypt, after he and his generation passed away, events occurred that led a new pharaoh to subject Israel's men to slave labor, Exodus 1:1-11:
    1. Exodus 1:1-5 connects the book of Exodus to Genesis, recalling how Jacob's family had moved into Egypt to enjoy Joseph's protection and provision during a severe seven-year famine, cf. Genesis 45:9-11.
    2. However, when Joseph and his brothers' generation died, and their descendants kept growing in number (Exodus 1:6-7), a new pharaoh arose who did not know Joseph and his good deeds for Egypt, and he did not appreciate Joseph's people, the nation Israel, Exodus 1:8.
    3. Besides, historical events occurred that led the Hamitic Egyptians to become nationalistic and intolerant of Semitic groups like Israel:
      1. After Joseph's death, the Hyksos, a Semitic group, dominated the Hamitic Egyptians for 150 years, Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 106.
      2. When the Hamitic Egyptians regained power, they did so with a degree of nationalism that made them intolerant of foreigners, especially Semitic folk like the Hyksos and Hebrew peoples, Ibid.
      3. The Egyptians thus made such foreign Semites in their land build defense projects and palaces to secure their grip on power, Ibid.
    4. For this reason, Pharaoh oppressed Israel's men, putting them to slave labor to keep them from helping other foreign people groups that might once again threaten to rule Hamitic Egyptians, Exodus 1:9-11.
  2. Pharaoh's oppression caused Israel's population to multiply, so he told Israel's midwives to slay all newborn Hebrew males, 1:12-16.
  3. The midwives revered God, so they did not slay the infants, but told Pharaoh they could not intercept the birth of the newborn infants since the Hebrews delivered their sons before they could arrive, Ex. 1:17-19. This was a lie, but it rose from their fear of God, so He blessed the midwives with families of their own, 1:20f.
  4. Finally, Pharaoh told his Hamitic people to vent their intolerance of Semites by casting every Hebrew son into the Nile, Exodus 1:22!
  5. In RESPONSE, a Hebrew mother who realized God had long-term intentions for her son by FAITH sought to position him like former JOSEPH had been positioned to SAVE Israel, Exodus 2:1-5a:
    1. After Pharaoh charged his people to cast Hebrew infant boys into the Nile, a wife of a man named Amram of the tribe of Levi (1 Chronicles 6:3), gave birth to Amram's son, a beautiful male child, Ex. 2:1-2b.
    2. She reasoned that the Creator would not have given her such a beautiful boy unless He had a long-term goal for his life, so she believed God wanted to use him like the Lord had used the handsome Joseph (Genesis 39:6) of Jacob's era to save the descendants of Jacob.
    3. Thus, to give her beautiful baby boy the best opportunity to be put into Pharaoh's court where Joseph had once been positioned to serve God, she implemented an ingenious plan of faith in God (as follows):
      1. The mother nursed her infant for three months until she could no longer hide him from the Egyptians, and until the baby would be ready to handle the rigors of her plan, Exodus 2:2c.
      2. Then, she put him into a waterproof basket, anchoring it in the shallow edge of the Nile by a bunch of reeds for Pharaoh's daughter to note when she arrive there as was her custom to bathe, and heard this beautiful three-month old baby cry loudly to be fed, Ex. 2:3.
      3. This Hebrew woman's older daughter, Miriam, stayed nearby to watch and protect her infant brother in hope that the motherly love of Pharaoh's daughter would lead her to want to adopt the beautiful baby and position him in Pharaoh's court where God might use him to deliver Israel like Joseph had once done, Ex. 2:4; 1 Chron. 6:3.
  6. God rewarded this mother's faith (Hebrews 11:23), blessing her effort to place Moses, Israel's deliverer in the Exodus into the court of the very Pharaoh who had wanted him slain, Exodus 2:5b-10!
Application: If concerned over oppressive conditions we face, may we (1) trust in Christ as Savior to become a child of God, John 1:11-12. (2) Then, relying on the indwelling Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:16-23), may we (a) REALIZE that GOD has LET oppressive events arise to MOTIVATE us to RESPOND, and that we are to (b) TRUST God's Word and (c) FOLLOW God's PRECEDENTS to (d) PLAN our RESPONSE to be USED of God to EDIFY others!

Lesson: Though Israel suffered under an oppressive Pharaoh, GOD USED that oppression to (1) PROMPT Moses' MOTHER so to LONG for DELIVERANCE THAT she might (2) PLAN and ACT in ACCORD with GOD'S PRECEDENTS with JOSEPH (3) to POSITION a DELIVERER for Israel in the very court of the Pharaoh who had wanted her son slain!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

This sermon is an application of its own lesson as follows:

(1) Several months ago, a young woman asked what I would preach when we finished the book of Genesis in our morning sermons.

I told her I would follow God's leading to do what He willed.

She then said, "I hope you preach out of Exodus, that you keep going in the story line that continues where Genesis leaves off!"

(2) Later, I became aware of the great "pressure" many adults face today in regard to events and circumstances in their lives, a fact we detailed in our sermon introduction. Thus, it seemed fitting for me to continue on into Exodus for the sake of needy adults, for this book reveals God's deliverance of His people from numerous pressures!

(3) On March 31st, last Tuesday morning before I came to the office to begin typing up the first draft of this message, I spoke with my wife on the needs we saw in the lives of people, and she wondered if God might want me to keep preaching out of Exodus after finishing Genesis so as to address those needs! I said I had been thinking on it!

(4) Then, driving over to the Church to type up this sermon later that morning, I heard the interview mentioned in this sermon's introduction where Brad Davis was speaking with an economics official who expressed his worry about the economic policies of government leaders. Thus, I had been "hit" with various precedents of circumstantial evidences about proceeding with this series in Exodus!

(6) So, at the office, all I could do was type up this sermon!



So, may we respond to oppression we face in our era like Moses' MOTHER did: may we in FAITH in God realize God is using the oppression to create a sense of NEED in our minds so that we might PLAN and ACT in accord with His PRECEDENTS to be put into position so He might USE US to EDIFY the needy!