Moses, the Premier Prophet: Delivering the Deliverer

Text: Exodus 1-2:10

Theme: God promises His people that he will never leave us nor forsake us.

In 1998 the Disney Company produced an animated film called The Prince of Egypt. It details the first two-thirds of the life of Moses. Although it is not authentic in every detail, the truth of God’s miraculous deliverance of His people and their exodus from Egypt was clearly portrayed. The picture introduced Moses to a whole generation of children who probably do not know much about him.

Moses was indeed The Prince of Egypt. He was raised 40 years in the splendor of Egyptian royalty. However he became much more. If he had remained merely a prince of Egypt Egyptologists might have discovered his name in a rare cartouche. God had different plans. God changed him from a Prince of Egypt to the Premier Prophet of Israel, and the deliverer of his people. And because God did, not only did Hebrew history change, but world history changed, and Moses is now one of the most well-known figures of ancient history. All three of the world’s monotheistic faiths consider him a prophet. (He is the most frequently mentioned name in the Qur’an where he is known as Mūsā).

When we look at the life of Moses, we discover that he is something of an irony. On one hand he was a mighty man of God. He was obedient and faithful and courageous. On the other hand, he was often rash and impetuous and initially tried to weasel his way out of God’s calling. His life teaches us many lessons.

The Bible divides his life into three forty-year segments. The great evangelist D.L. Moody said of him, "Moses spent forty years thinking he was somebody, forty years learning he was nobody, and forty years learning what God can do with a somebody who discovers that he’s a nobody.

Over the next six weeks, I want to preach a series of messages about the life of Moses. Each message will involve a clip from the Disney version of his life. This evening’s clip introduces us to the story of the Hebrews in Egypt and how God used a faithful mother to deliver Israel’s deliverer. After watching the clip we’ll apply three transforming truths for today.

I. TRANSFORMING TRUTH #1: GOD IS A GOD OF DELIVERANCE

1. we live in a world that seeks to enslave men’s spirits just as the Hebrews lived in a world that enslaved their bodies

2. their story begins with the legacy of Joseph

A. THE LEGACY OF JOSEPH vv.1-7

1. vv.1-7 of chapter one tell us how Israel came into Egypt

2. Israel began with Abraham and his son Isaac

a. Isaac had a son named Jacob who had 12 sons of his own

1) one of the twelve was Joseph

a) he was his father’s favorite and spoiled beyond belief

2) his brothers became jealous of him and so they sold him into slavery in Egypt and told their father that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal

b. God watched out for Joseph and after many trials exalted him to the position of Prime Minister of Egypt — vice Pharaoh if you will

c. because of a severe famine in the Middle East, Joseph’s brothers came to buy food in Egypt

d. eventually, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers,

1) Pharaoh was touched by Joseph’s love for his siblings . . .

2) he convinced Joseph to bring the whole family down . . .

3) . . . and gave them the fertile land of Goshen in Egypt

4) everyone sighs, “Ah, happy ending.”

3. in Goshen, the Hebrews prospered

“Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. And they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly.” (Genesis 47:27, ESV)

a. over the next 100 years, they lived in great prosperity and grew to great numbers

b. note the superlatives in v.7,

1) it begins by saying the children of Israel were fruitful

2) it says they increased abundantly

3) they multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty

4) finally, the land was filled with them

c. their success became a problem for the Egyptians

B. THE PROBLEM OF THE HEBREWS vv.8-10

1. though they were aliens in a foreign land, the Hebrews had been a blessing to Egypt

a. in order to preserve the lives of Jacob’s children, God raised Joseph to a place of prominence in Egyptian life

b. in saving his family during the great famine, Joseph also saved all of Egypt

c. but memories can be short

2. verse eight introduces a plot-twist

Exodus 1:8-10 “Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt. 9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become much too numerous for us. 10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.” NIV

a. for 100 years, the Egyptians had been blessed by the Hebrew’ presence among them

1) now the Egyptian felt threatened

b. the new Pharaoh pointed out to his advisers that the children of Israel are mightier than we

1) he feared they would continue to multiply and if there were a war they might join our enemies and fight against us

a) but there is something even more subtle going on here

2) notice what Pharaoh feared even more — they might leave the country

a) if the Hebrews left Egypt a valuable human recourse would be gone

ILLUS. In American culture, migrant workers are at or near the bottom of our social ladder. They’re different than the rest of us. Most of them are Hispanic. They speak a different language. They have different customs and mores. They’re not like the rest of us. They keep to themselves and most Americans probably like that. But imagine, if you will, if every migrant worker in America up and left the country. It would plunge American agriculture into a crisis. A significant percentage of vegetable crops would not be harvested. Almost all orchard crops would rot on the trees for want of someone to pick the fruit. The cost of fruits and vegetables would sky-rocket. Packing houses and truckers who deliver produce would be thrown out of work.

c. what is Pharaoh really worried about?

1) to quote a well-known presidential campaign slogan from years ago, it’s the economy stupid!

2) the Hebrews were a problem

3. the history of the world shows that when any group of people become a problem for another group of people the result is either —

a. slavery, or

b. banishment, or

c. ethnic cleansing (a euphemism for genocide)

C. THE STRATEGIES OF PHARAOH vv.11-22

1. in v.10, Pharaoh says, "Let us deal shrewdly with them."

a. in quick succession he implemented three deadly strategies

2. Strategy #1 – Forced Slavery vv.11-14

a. we are not told how Egypt initiated this policy or how long it took, but the result was that an entire national sub-culture was enslaved

b. the life of a slave in the ancient world was very cheap

1) God only knows the thousands of Hebrews that died building the monuments of ancient Egypt

2) Pharaoh thought slavery would kill many and break their spirit

3) it didn’t

v.12 "The more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew."

4) by the time of the Exodus there were over 600,000 men above age 20 plus women and children

d. note also in verse twelve it says, "they [the Egyptians] were in dread of the children of Israel."

1) dread comes from a Hebrew word that describes a loathing so strong it causes physical illness

2) the Egyptians saw the Hebrews as a cancerous growth on their country and were so frightened of them, they were physically sick

e. they made them serve with rigor or harshness

1) they made their lives bitter with hard bondage

2) still, miraculously the Hebrews grew even stronger — slavery didn’t work at all

2. Strategy #2 – Full-Term Abortion vv.15-21

a. abortion is not just a modern atrocity

1) it was the second strategy in Pharaoh’s bag of evil tricks

b. Pharaoh instructed the Hebrew midwives to kill any boy baby while the mother is on the birth stool

1) it means to kill the baby boys while in the actual process of delivery and is akin to the controversial partial birth abortion of our day

c. Pharaoh assumed that with a generation or two of males gone, the females would marry Egyptians and within a generation the Hebrews would be absorbed into the Egyptian race and culture

d. v.17 says the midwives feared God more than they feared Pharaoh

1) the result was that they saved the male children

e. when he found out Pharaoh was furious

1) he called the midwives back and demanded, Why have you done this thing?

2) to which the midwives countered —

“The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”” (Exodus 1:19, ESV)

3) it might also be that the midwives were probably intentionally late!

3. Strategy #3 – Full-Blown Genocide v.22

a. determined to stop this miraculous population growth among the Hebrews, Pharaoh enlisted all Egyptians in his plans

b. he told them, Every son who is born you shall cast into the river and every daughter you shall save alive

c. no doubt hundreds, perhaps thousands of Hebrew boys perished in the Nile River — however, there was one baby even the mighty Pharaoh could not kill

D. THE BEGINNING OF GOD’S DELIVERANCE 2:1-2

1. though the Hebrews were afflicted and their lives made bitter with hard bondage, and though their babies were fed to the crocodiles, God was with them

a. 500 years before the Hebrews were enslaved by the Egyptians, God told Abraham it would happen

b. but He also told Abraham that He would remember His people, that He would deliver them and bless them

“Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. 14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.” (Genesis 15:13–14, ESV)

2. a transforming truth of this passage is that our God is a God of deliverance

a. evil and sin cannot thwart God’s plans when His people are faithful and obedient

1) God will find a way to keep His promises

2) God always works in His own time and His own way

3) sometimes we don’t understand His ways and His seeming delays, but God always keeps His promises

3. men still need God’s deliverance

a. what do we need deliverance from?

b. sin

“Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” (John 8:34, ESV)

1) sin is a tough task master — it afflicts us and makes our lives bitter with hard bondage

“For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” (Galatians 5:17, ESV)

3. if we are going to know freedom from sin, its yoke must be broken

4. God sent His own son Jesus Christ into the world to break the bondage of sin that grips our lives and deliver us into His freedom

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36, ESV)

ILLUS. In 1824 Peru won its independence from Spain under the leadership of General Simon Bolivar. General Bolivar called a convention for the purpose of drafting a constitution for the new country. After the convention the general was approached by a delegation urging him to become their first president. Bolivar declined saying that he felt someone else deserved the honor more than he did. The people still wanted to do something special for Bolivar to show their appreciation for all that he had done for the country. So they offered him a gift of 1,000,000 pesos, a huge fortune in those days. Bolivar accepted the gift. He then asked how many slaves there were in Peru. He was told there were about 3,000. “And how much does a slave sell for?”, he asked. About 350 pesos for an able-bodied man, was the answer. Then, said Bolivar, “I will add whatever is necessary to this million pesos you have given me and I will buy all the slaves in Peru and set them free. It makes no sense to free a nation, unless all its citizens enjoy freedom as well.”

5. how tragic that in spite of the fact that Jesus Christ has paid the price to free all "citizens" of our world that there are still those who remain in bondage to sin when their ransom price has already been paid

a. God is a God of deliverance

II. TRANSFORMING TRUTH #2: GOD IS A GOD OF IRONY

1. an irony is an incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs

a. let me share with you a couple of ironies concerning today’s text

A. GOD USED AN UNLIKELY PERSON TO ACCOMPLISH HIS WILL

1. Moses was the most unlikely deliverer that either Pharaoh or the Hebrews could imagine

a. who would imagine that a Hebrew baby — destined to be crocodile food — would be found floating in the Nile by Pharaoh’s daughter and then raised in the courts of Egypt?

b. who would have guessed that at the age of forty, Moses would turn his back on his adopted family with all their wealth and power and identify with an enslaved people?

c. who would believe that forty years after he fled Egypt that God would call an accused murderer and fugitive from justice to return and deliver his people from slavery?

1) sounds good enough to make a movie about, doesn’t it?

2. God still uses the unlikely person to accomplish His will

a. who would have thought that a simple carpenter from Nazareth could be the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the Living God?

3. there is a second irony in this story

B. GOD USED THE HEBREW’S SLAVERY IN EGYPT TO TURN THEM INTO A STRONG NATION

1. Joseph said to his brothers in Gen.50:20, "But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good."

a. God often uses adversity to mold and shape the character of His people

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:1–5, ESV)

b. but whatever our adversity, it cannot separate us from God’s love

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” “38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:31, 38–39, ESV)

2. what may seem bad in your life, God can use for great good — trust Him!

III. TRANSFORMING TRUTH #3: GOD IS A GOD OF REWARD

1. Jochebed made a faith decision and trusted God to aid her

a. He rewarded her faith richly!

1) not only was her son saved, but she ultimately wound up caring for him the first three years of his life

2) she was undoubtedly instrumental in forming his character

3) she saw him grow up to be a great leader in Egypt and an even greater man of God who led his people

2. God still rewards us when we step out in faith

ILLUS. The Parable of the Three Sisters. Once there were three sisters: Mary, Martha, and Salome; they lived in the town of Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee. One day Jesus passed through with a crowd of followers, and so the sisters, having heard much about this man, decided to follow along. Soon the day grew hot, however, and the road was dusty. Mary, the oldest and a bit of a pessimist, turned to her sisters and said, "I've had enough; I'll follow on another day when it's more comfortable." And with that, she returned home. Finally they arrived at a spot lush with green grass, and Jesus had the people split into smaller groups. Martha's stomach was growling, so she shouted to one of the disciples of Jesus: "You there. Why in the world did you bring us out into this countryside where there is nothing to eat?" The disciple nervously conveyed the question to Jesus, who responded, "You have five loaves and two fish; give them something to eat yourselves." Hearing that, Martha was more incredulous than ever. "You're going to feed these thousands with five loaves and two fish? Dream on! I'm going home where at least I know there's a hot meal." And Martha went away. Of the three sisters, Salome was left. She looked at Jesus and the loaves and fish. She turned and saw that many, like her sister, were leaving, unwilling to trust that Jesus could provide for them. Salome was tired and hungry. She wanted to leave. She didn't believe that Jesus could do it. But something made her stay. Suddenly, she found herself sitting on the grass. One of the followers of Jesus came by with a basket full of bread and fish, and Salome took as much as she could eat. Salome felt changed. She knew that this was no ordinary rabbi; he was the bread of life. She knew that from now on, she had to have this bread, for he had satisfied her deepest hunger.

3. like all parables, the moral is simple: which sister do you resemble on the road with the Lord?

a. are you like Mary, who soon gave up when it grew hot and dusty, when the "road" became uncomfortable?

b. are you like Martha, who walked the road but at the end, at the crucial moment of trust in the Lord's ability to provide for her needs, turned and went away?

c. or are you like Salome who, like her sisters, doubted, yet still stuck with the Lord and was rewarded with the bread of life?

Three transforming truths: God is a God of deliverance; God is a God of irony; God is a God of reward. Heb.13:5 "For He Himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you"