HOPE IN SUFFERING

Good morning Church!

Bible out…Exodus chapter 1

Exodus- Second book in the bible

Second book of the Pentateuch (first 5 books written by MOSES)

NEW SERIES STARTS TODAY!

Walking through Exodus from now through Christmas…

Some of you may be thinking “thats a long time to be in the OT!”

Let me tell you church…

After we are done walking through this book together…

I promise you…

You will have a better understanding of who God is…

You will have a better understanding of…

His unconditional love for those that belong to Him…

AND His desire to be Lord of our lives.

IN FACT…here is what you are going to see…

The over all BIG IDEA of this book of Exodus as a whole is this…

The Lord of all… has a great DESIRE TO DWELL amongst His people…

Exodus 29:45–46 “I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.”

THAT IS THE LORDS DESIRE…

To be the God of the the people and to dwell amongst them… The LORD of CREATION…

The LORD of the Universe…

The LORD of Heaven and Earth…

DESIRES to dwell amongst His people….

Desires to dwell with you…

And as we will see in this book…

There is NOTHING THAT THE LORD WILL NOT DO TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN…

And as we walk through this…we will see that everything done in this book was to show us how the Lord would fulfill this desire eternally …

Through Jesus Christ…

(PAUSE)

Your gonna find that…

This book of Exodus is so important..that all throughout the bible… the other writers refer back to it over and over again…

David, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Paul…

BUT WHY?

Because as we read through Gods word cover to cover…

Both OT and NT…together

It all points to the same thing!!!

All 66 books…

Point directly back to Jesus!!!

And in this book of Exodus…

You are going to see Jesus everywhere!!!

There are 40 chapters in this book…

Broken down into 2 parts

Chapters 1-18 are all about deliverence from bondage…

Chapters 19-40 are all about a life long covenant that leads to God dwelling amongst His people…

Laying the foundation to what Jesus will do over 1000 years later…

Rescuing us from the bondage of sin and death…

So He can unite with us in a covenant and dwell with us forever!!!

(GET HYPE!)

IM PUMPED TO JUMP IN!!! YALL READY?!?!?

Before we get to the text….

Exodus background:

Written by Moses…

The word EXODUS means DEPARTURE or TO DEPART FROM

It Follows the events that took place around 1446 BC when the nation of Israel departed from Egypt…

If you have never read Exodus you might be asking yourself “Why is the nation of Israel in Egypt??”

Well in order to know where we are going we gotta know where we have been…

You need to understand church…

Exodus is NOT a stand alone book…

Its a continuation of the book before it…

In fact as we are about to see…The end of Genesis flows right into the beginning of Exodus…

Exodus chapter 1 pick up after the ending of the story of Joseph…do yall remember that story???

Yall remember:

-Abraham had a son named Isaac…

-Issac had 2 sons…one named Jacob

-God re-named Jacob Israel right…

-Jacob had 12 sons…but the bible tells us he loved one of those sons the most …his son JOSEPH…

Joseph was the 11th born son…

And because he was loved most by his father…his other brothers wanted to kill him…

They didn't…instead sold him into slavery

These slavers brought him to Egypt…

This is a very bad situation for Jospeh…

He is in bondage in a land he does not belong…

BUT from that point forward the bible tells us that THE LORD was with and blessed Joseph…

Made him prosperous…

So much in fact that those who enslaved Jospeh began to notice that he was blessed by the Lord and everything he touched was prosperous

Joseph was elevated, by the working of the Lord, from house slave…

To Pharaohs right hand man…the second in command of the great nation of Egypt.

It was during this time that a great famine came across the land…

And because the Lord was working through Joseph…he helped prepare food stores years before the famine…

Which saved not only the people of Egypt…

But through that famine God brought down Josephs family who were seeking food (his father Jacob and the same brothers that betrayed him) and saves them from starvation as well.

As he reunites with his brother…

Who are in awe at the fact that Joseph is now one of the most powerful men in the world…

Jospeh tells his brothers…

Genesis 50:20 “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

So the LORD was with Joseph, and though evil was done to him…

The LORD was with him and leading all things for the good of His people…

Bringing them into Egypt to save them and prosper them

And that is where we pick up today in Exodus 1:1.

READ V1-7

When Jospeh and his brothers settled together after the famine…

Bible says there are 70 of them in total…

So the nation of Israel is 70 people deep at this time…

Thats not very good…

Theres about 70 people in this room right now lol

But God made a promise to Abraham and to Jacob…

I will make you a great nation…be fruitful and multiply…and boy did they…

They multiplied to fill the land after Jacob and his brother were dead they kept growing…growing into a great nation…

Things are going GREAT for Israel right?!?!?!

They are strong..

they are filling the land…

So much in fact…that they are gaining the attention of the “New” Pharoah.

READ V8-11a

Know this… Egypt during this time was the greatest nation in the world

There was a reason Jacob and his sons came to Egypt looking for food

And God’s people are getting so big it is scaring the most powerful king

Thats how fruitful God has made them…

So they are making the great King nervous…

So he Enslaves them…

In fact, as we are about to read…

God’s people are about to enter into an intense season of suffering…

Its a hard physical, economical, political, spiritual slavery they are entering in to…

(PAUSE)

One thing that we can see in scripture as a whole is this…

God’s people will always face suffering right?

We will always face persecution from the world…

In our flesh…

Both world inflicted and self inflicted…

We see that suffering is a reality throughout the entire bible…

BUT What the text in Exodus today is going to show us is that because we belong to the LORD…

Their is HOPE for us!!!

What the text today is going to show us is…

BIG IDEA: When God’s people are suffering, He sends a Savior

(PAUSE)

Pick back up with me in Exodus 1 starting again in V11

READ V11-22

When God’s people are suffering… (v11-22)

HOW?:

Enslaved

Hard Bondage

Ruthless treatment

Bitter Enslavement

This isnt just a house enslavement of cooking and cleaning…

This is ruthless work…overbearing work

The people of Israel were charged with building great treasure cities with brick and mortar…

These salves are not only manufacturing stone and mortar…which is a filthy and dirty job…

But also building these great buildings with them…

Massive blocks of heavy stone…

Back breaking work in dangerous environments…

2 massive cities called PITHOM and RAAMSES (PICTURE)

They are also…

Working in the fields…

Back breaking work…

And on top of that…

Genocide

Attempted to eradicate them as a people entirely by having all the baby boys killed…

There is 2 things we need to see in this suffering…

#1-How are God’s people reacting in the midst of suffering…

Exodus 1:17 “But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.”

Pharoah was the most powerful king in the world…

But these mid wives still feared God more!!!

TODAY…we are to react the same…

Paul tells the church in Corinth …

When he speaks about about the motivation he has to spread the gospel even though persecution comes with it…

2 Corinthians 5:11 “Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.”

We who belong to God…

We His people…know how powerful and mighty He is…

These 2 midwives FEAR the Lord more than they feared Pharoah…

Because they stood on the truth that God is the LORD of ALL…

THATS THE FIRST THING WE NEED TO SEE…

THE SECOND THING IS THIS…

#2- Is how does God respond?

In 3 ways…

First…

Exodus 1:20–21 “So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.”

Second…

Exodus 1:12 “But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel.”

The more they were oppressed the more He multiplied them…

NO MATTER THE SUFFERING YOU ARE IN GOD IS STILL THE LORD OF ALL AND HE IS IN CONTROL FOR GOOD!!!

The Third way God will respond…

The LORD is about to respond in a BIG WAY…

Because…

When God’s people are suffering…

He sends a Savior (2:1-10)

READ 2:1-10

Look with me back at the last thing Jospeh said to the house of Israel who were dwelling in Egypt before He died…

Genesis 50:24–25 “And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.””

As we see here in chapter 2…

2 enslaved Hebrews , husband and wife…

Have a baby boy…

Hid it (Because remember…all male Hebrew children will be killed)

And when she could hide him no longer…

She made him a little basket boat…

Made of bulrushes…which is similar to straw…

and covered in pitch…

sent him down the nile river…

(PICTURE)

Could you imagine laying your 3 month old in a homemade bassinet boat and pushing him down one of the mightiest rivers in the world?? But you dont have a choice!!

Its either this or death…at least with this he has a chance… maybe…

BUT THE KEY HERE IS THIS…

ITS THE LORD WHO IS IN CONTROL!!!

This is God ordained Church!!!

Just so happened…Pharoahs daughter bathing down river…finds the boy in the basket…

AND WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?!?!?!

CALLS FOR HIS MOTHER TO CONTINUE TO CARE FOR HIM

Not only that!!!…SHE PAYS HER TO DO IT!!!!

THIS IS THE LORD WORKING IN A GRAVE SITUATION FOR THE BETTERMENT OF HIS PEOPLE…

GOD IS FAITHFUL TO HIS WORD…

FAITHFUL TO HIS PEOPLE…

HE SEES THE SUFFERING OF HIS PEOPLE…

AND JUST AS JOSEPH TOLD THEM IT WOULD HAPPEN…

HE IS SENDING THEM A SAVIOR…

The one that Joseph said would “bring them up out of this land”

A baby named MOSES…

Whose name in Hebrew literally means “To draw out”

LOOK HOW GREAT THE LORD IS CHURCH!!!!

Look how faithful…

Look how powerful…

AND ALL BECAUSE HE WANTS TO DELIVER HIS PEOPLE AND DWELL AMONG THEM!!!!

CHURCH YOU CAN TAKE THIS HOME WITH YOU TODAY…

WHEN GOD SEES HIS PEOPLE SUFFERING…

HE SENDS A SAVIOR…

No matter what we have hope that we serve a faithful God…who sticks to His word…

AND IN EXODUS…

The stage is set…There is hope for the people of Israel… and the Lords hands are in it all!!!

For us today though…

This is EXACTLY what HE did when he sent Jesus Christ to die for our sins…

For thousands of years the Lord had watched His people be in bondage under sin…in bondage under a law of righteousness..

A bar we can not hit…

He saw our suffering…

And SENT US A SAVIOR!!!

ANOTHER BABY IN A straw bed…

As you are walking through Gods word this week…

See JESUS!!!

Because as we will see next week…

There is nothing God wont do to deliver His people from suffering…

Even sending His only son to die for our sins…

LETS PRAY AND CONTINUE IN WORSHIP TODAY!