It's More Than a Misunderstanding

The Lord’s plan is to save us completely

The Lord’s plan is to save us completely and He’s going to do whatever is necessary to accomplish that task.

And to understand this, we are going to start with a guy named Phil Collins and a band named Genesis.

Phil and his wife divorced and his wife and two kids moved away and Phil was left alone.

He started writing songs to help him deal with the grief and pain he felt

And he wrote a song titled “Misunderstanding.”

It was one of my favorite songs by Genesis.

The song is about a guy who was dating a gal and she was a no show for a date.

And after some looking around, he found out she ghosted him because she was seeing someone else.

The misunderstanding he was singing about was, he thought they had a relationship and well, obviously not.

There was a misunderstanding.

He didn’t see things as they really were.

Our text is going to talk about reality.

What’s really going on, even when we don’t see it.

Our text today is the 5th chapter of Exodus and the 1st verse of chapter 6.

I invite you to open your Bibles to Exodus 5 so you can follow along as we go.

Kids, one of the things we learn about Jesus is

He will do whatever He needs to do in order for Him to save us.

Jesus love you very much and He wants to save you completely.

As you follow along in your worship guide, you are listening for three words: straw, misunderstanding and God.

Everyone, this is a story - I want to ask you to listen to it as a story.

We often blank out when we listen to scripture - it’s just a thing - we all do it.

But right now, try hard to hear the story - listen to the plot and the characters and hear what is happening.

It is really very, very fascinating.

Hear now the Word of the Lord from Exodus 5:1-6:1

Exodus 5:1–6:1 ESV

Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’ ” But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.” Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.” But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens.” And Pharaoh said, “Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens!” The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’ Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words.” So the taskmasters and the foremen of the people went out and said to the people, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I will not give you straw. Go and get your straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced in the least.’ ” So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. The taskmasters were urgent, saying, “Complete your work, your daily task each day, as when there was straw.” And the foremen of the people of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, “Why have you not done all your task of making bricks today and yesterday, as in the past?” Then the foremen of the people of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, “Why do you treat your servants like this? No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people.” But he said, “You are idle, you are idle; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ Go now and work. No straw will be given you, but you must still deliver the same number of bricks.” The foremen of the people of Israel saw that they were in trouble when they said, “You shall by no means reduce your number of bricks, your daily task each day.” They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came out from Pharaoh; and they said to them, “The Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.” Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.” But the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”

This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

There are a couple of little housekeeping things so we can make this all fit together.

Number 1, this chapter took a few minutes to read, but it took months to live.

There is no timeline here - but when you start putting together all of the things that happened

It could have been at least 6 months or more.

And listen, we heard how the people were suffering - some were being beaten.

When you start suffering for more than a minute, things get intense.

No one likes pain.

And 6 months of pain is a long time - especially when you thought something good was going to happen.

They thought they were going to be let go and instead, they were put in worse bondage than they were before.

Number 2, we need to talk about brickmaking.

Obviously that was the Israelites job.

And how that worked, is they dug clay from the banks of the Nile.

The took the straw that was collected from the harvest every year.

They chopped the straw up and mixed it with the clay.

They formed bricks that were somewhat larger than our bricks today.

And they laid the bricks in the sun to dry.

Obviously they made millions upon millions of bricks.

When Pharaoh cut off the straw supply, he cut it off.

Not only did he not have it delivered to their worksites - He did something else with it.

There was nothing left but stubble.

Have you driven past a cotton field after the harvesters come through?

I’m always amazed at how much cotton has been left laying on the ground

But what I haven’t paid much attention to until today, is that little bit of cotton plant that is left in the ground.

The machine cuts the plant down almost to the ground, but it leaves just a little stubble.

That’s what they had to go get in order to make bricks.

We’ve got to understand this so we can see just how miserable these folks lives became.

They went from having big bales of straw that they could pull down and start chopping up.

To sending themselves and their kids in the field to stoop over in the hot sun and pull up the little bits of plant left behind after harvest.

That’s hands and knees work.

And Pharaoh doesn’t give them any quota relief.

What he has done is he has made it impossible for them to succeed

And then he has their Hebrew foremen beaten as object lessons to them.

That says, “Don’t get out of line, or you could be next.”

So, what does this story teach us?

First

There is no misunderstanding about who the Lord is

Exodus 5:2 “But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.””

Pharaoh sees himself as a god - He makes his decrees and he expects people to obey them.

And when Moses talks to him, Pharoah says, “Who is the Lord? I do not know the Lord....”

There is no misunderstanding here - the man said what he said and he said it clearly.

I don’t know who this is, and I don’t care.

Keep that in mind as we continue in Exodus.

When we study the plagues in a few weeks, you might think Pharaoh is seeing the light.

Exodus 9:27 “Then Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them, “This time I have sinned; the Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong.”

Hail had destroyed everything and Pharaoh was devastated.

But the minute the plague passed, Exodus 9:34 “But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again and hardened his heart, he and his servants.”

Pharaoh’s actions will show us over and over what he truly thinks of the Lord, regardless of what he says.

This is something for us to pay attention to today.

In 7 months we will have Presidential and Congressional Elections.

This will be the most consequential election in our lifetimes - just look at the state of the world to understand it.

The direction of this country, our state, our county and our city will be determined by this election.

Some candidates will make commercials and they will be sitting on the tailgate of their pickup trucks telling us about how much they love God and guns.

Don’t listen to their words.

Watch what they have done and what they are doing.

Inspect their fruit.

Remember Jesus saying this, Matthew 12:

Matthew 12:33 ESV

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit.

Jesus said this too John 15:8

John 15:8 ESV

By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

We prove we are Jesus’ disciples by the fruit we bear THAT OTHER PEOPLE CAN SEE.

There is no misunderstanding here.

The Lord expects us to bear fruit and for people to see it and that’s how they will know who we belong to.

Which kind of puts us in harms way just like it did the Israelites.

The world sees Christian fruit and hates it.

Because the salvation the Lord offers the world comes with strings attached

In order to be saved, we must follow the Lord.

And that’s not what the world wants.

The world wants no limits - open your eyes and ears, you can see and hear that.

It want’s no restraints on pleasure and it wants pleasure without consequences..

And yet, Jesus is the restraint and hell will be the consequence.

There is no misunderstanding.

Evil knows who the Lord is.

That’s why they demand that the Lord and all that belongs to Him must be crushed.

Number 2

There is no misunderstanding about how the Lord acts

Look at verse 21 Exodus 5:21 “and they said to them, “The Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.””

They all thought, after Moses gathered all of the Elders and Aaron and Moses talked to them and showed them the signs

They all thought that Moses and Aaron would go to Pharaoh and say “Let my people go,” and Pharaoh would go “Yep, yup, that’s what I need to do.”

“You guys go and have a good time.”

And if he had, I wonder how that would have worked out for everybody.

Moses and Aaron would be hailed as heroes - and what would the people of Israel had become?

Certainly not devoted to the Lord.

One of the things that is coming more clear to me as I gain some age is

God truly enjoys and makes the greatest impact on us when He does something that only He can do.

I can’t wait to see what becomes of our Jesus’ Hands ministry to hungry kids.

We’ve never done anything like this - it’s way bigger than we are.

It’s not just simply the amount money we need to collect.

It’s dealing with people who are not like us

And you can hear it in some of the questions that we ask:

“How do parents allow their kids to be hungry?

“What kind of parent doesn’t do everything they can to feed their kid?

“Can we be sure the kids even get the food?”

Those are real questions that we don’t have real answers for

Because we weren’t called to answer them.

We were told, Matthew 25:35

Matthew 25:35 ESV

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,

And that, that’s kind of terrifying.

“I was a stranger and you welcomed me...”

These folks that we are feeding

Their lives will never be changed until they meet Jesus

And that’s going to involve welcoming them in here.

That’s so cool on paper

But this isn’t on paper.

This is real life.

I have no idea yet what that’s going to look like.

But here’s the deal - the Lord knows what this looks like and He’s preparing us right now.

Let me show you something really cool in this story that lets me know God’s going to do something for us too.

Look at Exodus 5:12 “So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.”

Now, if you flip over a few pages to Exodus 11:2 “Speak now in the hearing of the people, that they ask, every man of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor, for silver and gold jewelry.””

Now follow me here.

The Lord knew that Pharaoh wasn’t going to let anyone go on try number 1.

The Lord knew that Pharaoh was going to make the Israelites lives miserable for a good while.

The Lord knew that the Israelites weren’t going to like it - Exodus 5:21–22 “and they said to them, “The Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.” Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me?”

The Lord knew that the Israelites would have to travel all over Egypt collecting the stubble and it would be hard and hot and painful

He knew they’d meet other Egyptians than just those they saw everyday and those Egyptians would see what kind of people they were.

And listen to Exodus 11:3 “And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.”

The Lord knew when the day came for the Israelites to leave, they asked people from all over Egypt for their silver and gold as the Lord told them to.

Now look at Exodus 12:36 “And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.”

Do you see what the Lord did here?

While the people were groaning in what they considered to be unbearable agony

The Lord was preparing them for a great victory over their enemies - to the extent that they “plundered the Egyptians.”

And we’re going to see later how the Lord uses that plunder for His glory and their good.

And they had no clue - they just thought that the Lord was letting bad things happen to good people

They had no clue that the lord was about to give them their greatest victory yet.

There is no misunderstanding how the Lord works for His people.

His goal is to save us completely and He will do whatever He has to in order to do that.

What we are called to do when we don’t understand, is what Moses did:

When we don’t understand, cry out the Lord.

Pray -ask why - tell the Lord exactly what you are thinking and feeling.

Listen to Moses: Exodus 5:22–23 “Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.””

What was the Lord’s reply?

Exodus 6:1 “But the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.””

“You are getting ready Moses.

“You watch me.

“You watch me.

“I’m going to work it out so that Pharaoh wants you gone so badly, he will himself throw you out.”

What an encouragement for us.

While life is hard - very hard - we can take comfort in hearing that the Lord is saying to us:

“Now, you shall see what I will do....”

Doesn’t that make your heart skip a beat

Knowing that we are going to see the hand of God at work all around us

Doing things that you and I can’t even dream about yet.

And yet, He is right now paving the way.

Remember now though - He won’t save everybody.

The Lord will only save those who trust Jesus

Who follow Jesus with all of their hearts

For the rest of their lives.

But, no surprise right - you know that.

And maybe you’ve been wrestling with that.

We want to invite you to follow Jesus.

He died for your sins.

He was raised so you could have new life.

So you could be saved completely.

Join us - become a part of this body that is trusting Jesus to take us to His promised land.

We are making a difference.

We are fulfilling our purpose for being here.

Won’t you join Jesus and find your purpose for being here.

In a moment, we will sing.

We invite you to trust Jesus.

Talk to someone here before you leave and tell them you want to follow Jesus.

Let us pray.