Sermon Tone Analysis

Prayer

Pray

I.

The Reading

A reading from Exodus Chapter 2, reading from the English Standard Version translation of the Bible.

This is God’s Word:

[ Scripture Reading ~6 min ]

Say Amen

If you receive this as the word of God and not the word of man, will you Say Amen?

Amen!

II.

The Exhortation

The first chapter of Exodus introduced us to two Hebrew midwives who feared God.

Remember, Pharaoh had commanded that all male children born to the Hebrews were to be killed by these midwives, but the midwives disobeyed Pharaoh and did not do what Pharaoh commanded, because these midwives feared God instead.

We observed that in the text of Scripture, God did not send an angel or in any way appear to these midwives.

God did not give them a command, or promise them certain blessings if they disobeyed Pharaoh.

These midwives did what they did, and disobeyed Pharaoh, for no other reason than that they feared God.

And as such, we were challenged to consider how:

God is to be feared.

If God never gave us a command, or an instruction, or a promise, or an outcome we are still compelled to obey God and serve God because God alone is to be feared.

When we say that we “fear” God, it means that we reverence God.

We honor God.

We are in awe of God.

But fearing God doesn’t mean we don’t still tremble at His presence.

Fearing God doesn’t mean we don’t still shudder.

This is why it is called “fear.”

It is not an unhealthy fear, but rather a holy fear, of a holy, living God!

The first chapter of Exodus introduced us to two Hebrew midwives who feared God.

As such, the Scriptures reveal that only one God is to be feared.

This second chapter of Exodus introduces us to people who related to God in a similar way as the midwives, but Scripture doesn’t use the word “fear” to describe the actions of these people.

Instead, it uses the word “faith.”

Moses’ parents act by faith.

Moses acts by faith.

And this text ultimately leads us to the object of our faith - the only God who also acts according to His covenant faithfulness.

Just as we are to have a healthy, reverent fear of God, we are also to have faith in God.

And our faith should show forth in deeds of faith.

Faith acts, because God acts.

Our faith should work!

James says it this way:

Romans goes as far as to say it this way:

Romans 14:23-b (ESV)

23 ...For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

Faith and obedience go together.

And for the people in Exodus Chapter 2, they had faith in God for what God would eventually bring about in God’s time, so they acted by faith.

They had faith in God even though they could not see God, even though they could not see the outcome of what they believed God would do.

So they acted in faith.

Church - this text exhorts us, through the examples of these men and women of faith, to act in faith with our lives too.

Because God, the only God, is a faithful God.

This text exhorts us, to believe God in all that we do, on the basis of His Word, even if we do not yet have what we hope for - even if we do not yet see what we believe.

III.

The Teaching

This text begins with:

A. The Faith of Moses’ Parents [ 1-3 ]

Look with me at verses 1-3:

The Scriptures reveal that both of Moses’ parents had faith.

Upon first reading of Exodus, it appears that the faith belongs to Moses’ mother who saw that he was a fine child, and hid him for three months, and when she could hide him no longer, she made a basket and placed him in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank.

Moses’ mother is credited with much of the action.

But don’t miss the first verse about Moses’ father:

I agree with Warren Wiersbe, who points out that it must have taken faith for Moses’s father to maintain marital relations with his wife at a time when the king’s command is that all male babies be killed.

They didn’t have ultrasound machines then.

Moses’ parents wouldn’t have known whether this child would be a boy or a girl.

It was a considerable risk for them to procreate at such a dangerous time.

It required faith.

It requires faith to have children.

I remember Marianne and I talking before all of our children -

we wanted children, we believed God wanted us to have children, but we didn’t know how we could make it work.

There is a considerable cost, medically, to bringing children into the world today.

Hospital bills.

Doctor visits.

Co pays.

Deductibles.

There are other costs too - the cost of clothing, diapers, wipes, a room for the children to sleep in, toys to play with, food, ongoing medical expenses.

And as the children grow, these costs don’t decrease, but continue grow!

Their activities grow.

Their needs grow.

It requires faith to have children.

There are sacrifices involved - someone has to raise them!

That is costly!

The average cost of childcare in the United States per year is over $8,000 - per child. . .

Most families require both parents to work to live - Families may have one child, barely two, but most can’t go beyond that.

Even Pharaoh’s daughter paid Moses’ mother to nurse him.

Child raising is costly, sacrificial, and even fearful!

The lost sleep as you make sure your child is breathing through the night.

The worry over every sickness.

As they grow, the worry over the decisions the make.

I remember us saying - “We can’t afford to have children!”

But then we realized that if we waited until we could afford children, we’d never have them.

We had to make a conscious decision in our family, to act and obey in faith.

To trust God based on the words of Scriptures like —

It requires faith to have children.

Each day with a child is a new day to have to trust God on their behalf and to teach them to trust God as they grow older.

Moses’ father took a wife and the woman conceived and bore a son, and this took faith in God during a time when there was no way that this child would be kept alive if he was a male.

But God makes a way.

And these parents acted in faith that God would make a way and they were not afraid of the king of Egypt’s command.

Their faith overcame any worldly fear.

Moses’ mother looked at her baby in the same way that God looked at all Creation that he created, and saw that it was good - he was “a fine child,” a “good child.”

A gift from God.

So she acted in faith and hid him.

And when she could hide him no longer, she acted again, making a basket, or ark, placed the child in it, and placed it in the river.

And as we have heard read, God does what only God can do - and orchestrates a way so that Moses is saved by the daughter of Pharoah, the daughter of the man who commanded that he be killed.