From Pasture to Brickyard

While this scheme and this is to exterminate the chosen nation from which Jesus Christ will come to thought his plan is exterminate the Jew get rid of the borough and then know why the Messiah can come from. While he is inaugurating that plant. God is in his own sovereignty designing another. It is this affliction.

This opposition, whereby he stirs the pot makes their lives very uncomfortable and willing to risk the bone.

Maybe you even arrived at the point where you wondered if God had turned his back your heart was asking how could God let this happen. I suspect that for the ancient Hebrews.

Their years of cruel slavery in Egypt might have led them to conclude that God had abandoned the he had.

He knew their situation and he love them enough to deliver them from bondage organ to learn more about this today. This is wisdom for the heart with Stephen David and today we begin a series from Exodus called out of Egypt if we were to take a survey this morning and asked you to jot down a piece of paper. Those books of the Bible that you have been reading your own study or devotional time. I have a feeling that Exodus would not make the list. We consider this stuffy Old Testament book to be written 35 centuries ago.

Not very appropriate to today but I think as we study this book as we continue our study through the entire Bible, you'll discover with me that this book is as fresh and living and appropriate to our times, as if it had been written this past week. I hope that you will come with myself to learn to love all of the Bible including this book that we know so little about. Unless you want to learn something of Moses or go back and read where the old where the Old Testament, 10 Commandments were first given.

I hope you learn to love it as well as I it's really a sequel to the book of Genesis that we have just completed study.

However, between the last verse of Genesis chapter 50 in the first verse of the book of Exodus 300 years of events have taken place and a number of things have changed one of those things. If you have your notes and your following along with that may be helpful to you. The covenant is becoming more evident among the Hebrews verse six. It tells us that Joseph died but verse seven the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly and multiplied became exceedingly mighty so that the land was filled with them studying with me the Abraham a covenant. It was threefold. God promised the Hebrew God promised the Israelites basically three things as his covenant people. Number one, he promised them a seed that is that they would multiply that they would literally fill the earth. He also promised them blessing.

He said that they would multiply in their and their financial resources in their herds and their cattle and all that material things could give them this was a promise to Abraham. The third ingredient of this promise was one that is not yet fulfilled and that is the promise of land. They are now in Egypt and they have been there ever since. Joseph and that 70 membered tribe of Jacob and come to live there.

You remember to overcome the famine or to survive it and so now for 300 years. The Hebrew people have been living in another land. They have been prospering their seed is being multiplied but still they do not have Canaan they don't have the land yet and so Exodus is the book in the Old Testament that tells us the story of how God will bring the Israelite back to the land that we get the name Exodus from the Greek translators of the Old Testament. In fact, it's a Greek word transliterated into our language.

We get the word exit. You might right into the margin of your Bible by that name. The words departure or the way out going out. This book is a story of how the Israelites exited Egypt and entered the promised land.

It's also a book about the redemption of God, because as they are held in bondage to the Egyptian taskmasters God prepares a Redeemer Moshe a or Moses to bring them out in thus the illustration is given of our lives, how we being in bondage to sin have been given the Redeemer of Jesus Christ and entered the promised position of being in him.

With that said, let's take a look at the second change that has occurred. Now, over these 300+ years, and it gives it to us or we find it first mentioned in verse eight. Now a new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph.

This king perhaps was thought most the third.

He was one of the Kings or pharaohs in a new dynasty and he did not know the word God, which means he didn't have any association with Joseph Joseph to this young ruler was just a compilation of stories, some so exaggerated and so outrageous that surely they must be fiction. He didn't know anyone who had been associated with Joseph King was even now living who could give him stories first tandem of this amazing man and so he had no obligation to Joseph or to that tribe of what was once 70 people now numbering nearly 3 million, and as a result of not knowing him some other things transpire. He says in verse nine to his people, the holder lock the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we are, let's deal wisely, literally translated, let's outsmart them unless they multiply, and in the event of war. Join with our enemies. Now during Joseph's reign as prime minister.

Several instruments have been introduced into Egypt. The chariot, the lance and other materials of warfare. Up until that time Egypt had no desire to engage in battle, but now these elements have been introduced and there in the eastern horizon. There was the cloud of of war that seemed evident from enemies of Egypt and they were afraid that this 2 million band of people would allied themselves with the enemies therefore overthrowing Egypt and he says we need to do something. We got to outsmart them somehow and he inaugurates a threefold plan.

The first was intended to discourage them. Notice verse 11. So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labor and they built for pharaohs storage cities that we have on earth.

The archaeologists have been very helpful it for us. They have on earth by them or pick them in Ramses. These were storage cities Egypt being so wealthy. The fleets of ships floating by on the Nile with deposit their treasures and they needed somewhere to hold them or house them as they sold them and so they built huge elaborate cities and we know that price them and Ramses were built by these Hebrew slaves not only from Scripture but from murals that have been discovered. In fact, archaeologists have been helpful in introducing us to this entire legacy of taskmasters. There is been one inscription discovered or mural on an obelisk or a pillar that is been unearthed, and on that pillar is a mural and the mural shows two men holding whips and before them. There are people bowing to the ground and worked in there making bricks and the inscription has been readable and so they have translated it from old Egyptian hieroglyphics and these taskmasters with their whips. The inscription underneath reads them saying works without fainting. Perhaps even an indication or a mural of the time that the Israelites were making bricks to build the cities of the thumb. Ramses but not verse 12, it wasn't working very well.

They hope to discourage them into thinking it would be better to die than propagate our our line in this land, but the more they afflicted them.

The more they multiply, the more they spread out the more they were in dread of the sons of Israel, that is, the more they discourage them. The more they beat them, the more they they force them into labor camps and out into the fields taking them away from family and friends, and the more they try, the more this try multiply it says here that the Egyptians were in dread of the sons of Israel, the word dread is a word that refers to someone being sick of nauseated over the Egyptians looked at this multiplying band of Hebrew aliens and it nauseated that they were they were infrared they were sick so that every time they saw them.

They thought all they will multiply and ultimately overthrow us. The Egyptians are losing sleep over these people. They had no idea that the Israelites were not awarding people lease not at that point they had no desire to conquer Egypt. They simply desire to get along with themselves and do what they believe their leaders under God's covenant commanded them to do so. Plan a was to discourage them so they would throw up their hands and say there's no need developing a family who cares were going to die. Under these taskmasters, but it didn't work so he inaugurates plan B. Notice what happens here in verse 15 then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiprock and the other was named pool. These names respectively are interpreted beauty and splendor, I think it's ironic the way that God chose these women with these names who were evidently the leaders of the midwives we know with you, the Israelites, multiplying a very fast rate that there must've been 20 or 30, maybe even more midwives busily at work. This was an occupation and that day that was taken up by Hebrew women who had never married and so these Hebrew women had a midwife or midwifery going full tilt and these two probably represented that group or that occupation and Pharaoh calls these two women in hoping to intimidate them, hoping to perhaps impress them with the glory of Egypt and he hands down. This dogma, and he says to them.

Basically when you are at the birth stool. That is when you are delivering into this world. One of those Hebrew children take note and it says literally the moment it is in writing or upon the birth stool. If you see it as a son put it to death and would only take slight pressure on the throat for a minute or so to snuff out life and they could then tell these Hebrew wives or our mothers that the child was stillborn. Seem like a clever plot Pharaoh could get on with his business, no one would really know.

However, the character of these women would go down the drain.

These Hebrew women. He was hoping for turncoats for someone to betray their own people.

He said therefore take their lives but note for 17 but the midwives feared God, you'll underline that and then underline it in verse 20 wanted it up.

It appears twice the midwives feared or revered trusted God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the boys live. This is an interesting a construction it it it's talking about a woman who is not simply allowing a midwife, not simply allowing the boy to be born, but it's an aggressive verb.

It literally means that they redouble their efforts. They were there at the birthing stool and they would say to each other. It's a boy let's make sure that lives and somewhere along the line, the news got back that the mortality rate among Hebrew boys was improving wasn't working very well because these women had great conviction. They were willing to say to an authority no word that is sadly missing in the English vocabulary know when we get to a passage like this, people start fidgeting. This is one of those tough passages of Scripture that is hard to interpret and much order to apply. However, if we approach it as we always do literally and apply it literally. I think we can come up with a very great application. These women said no to an authority because they believed in a higher authority, that being God. And when the authority told them to disobey the moral law, the command of God, which by the way you had not yet been written. That's a few chapters later, however they knowing God would know, being made in his image that life has value and that they are not to take life and so risking their own lives.

They said no. Ladies and gentlemen, you may or may not recognize the fact that the reason you hold a Bible in your hand. Translated in English is a result of someone like Tyndale saying to the established church, no he said I desire to put the Bible into the language of the plow boy the common person doesn't need to be changed in the pulpits written in Latin. Let's get it out among the people and he said no and he lost his life. The reason we are sitting in a church like this Protestant with root word being protest is because there were men like a monk.

Martin Luther who dared to say no to papal decree and he said salvation is by grace through faith alone and because of his character. We now worship like we do. You may have an authority over you, such as an employer who says manipulate the financial reports.

Let's show an increase, not a loss this quarter. What you say when you are offered something from appear some substance and they say luck everybody is involved in this. Take this do this. What do you say no when our government legalizes things that violate the authority in the character of God do we say they've legalized abortion, do we say no, they will legalized prostitution, homosexuality, do we have the courage and the character to say no. For those of you that are growing up in the public school system. You will be told that this abortion is a viable option. And yet I trust that you will learn from these midwives that there is value in life and that to disobey God, would be to disobey the highest authority anywhere and you would say no. So this plan didn't work. He thought he was getting to midwives and instead he got two evangelists when around making sure that all the Hebrew boys lift so he inaugurates his third and most horrible plan.

Look at verse 22 then Pharaoh commanded all his people say no to all of the Egyptians are given the news now is out of the closet. Every son who was born to you or to these Hebrew as you are in a cast into the Nile and every daughter you are to keep alive. Now what I want you to understand is something underneath what's written.

It is in the context of what we understand in Egypt Was Taken Pl. in Egypt, their highest God was the Nile God that Pharaoh knew that he would have perhaps tyranny on his hands or mutiny if he would suggest something so overt and hidden in these words is a suggestion to do something religious he said let's say if the Nile God will allow these children to live.

We have in our own books, records of temples in Egypt. One of most gruesome that sends chills up and down my spine as the temple of Thebes. I have a picture of it in my study, the temple of Thebes was built along the river Nile.

The Nile was at this time infested by the servants of the God Nile crocodile in this temple was given to child sacrifice, and it had stairs leading down the embankment right into the water of the Nile where they would practice their religious practices of child sacrifice and the priests would've hurled babies into the air out into the waters as sacrifices to their God, the Nile God what the Pharaoh is saying is this, we have these aliens in the land. They don't worship our God's they don't worship the Nile God let's offered to him in appeasement and let's see if his servants will allow the children to live.

I doubt there was a very high rate of five nonacceptance from the servants. Now I want you to note that this will take place in the last 480 years because this introduces a horrible moment in the history of Israel.

I can imagine that the fathers are building underground rooms where their newborn sons can hide. I imagine that addicts are built or course sheds are used as as infant nurseries to keep the Egyptian from finding out that they had a boy born into the family and if they were found out the boy would be snatched from the home taken to the Nile and offered as a religious sacrifice to the Nile. This would last for 80 years until Moses leads the people out. I have mentioned abortion and I'm not quite through with that. One of the reasons that I fear that movement is because it will take our country to the next logical step in that is infanticide and euthanasia. All of the other horrible thing. One of the women or the woman who founded Planned Parenthood by the name of Margaret Sanger is heralded as the same today but let me read you something that she wrote listen carefully. She writes that abortion appeals to the advanced radical because it is calculated to undermine the authority of the Christian church.

I look forward to seeing humanity free someday from the tyranny of Christianity. This movement has nothing to do with free choice and has nothing to do with the right of a woman. It has everything to do with rebellion against the value of wife that is been given to us from God of value that is adopted by these Hebrews in Exodus chapter 1 there is a man living today. Unfortunately, who writes what would become the next step. A man by the name of Francis crick, who writes this no newborn infant should be declared human until it is passed certain tests regarding its genetic endowment and that if it fails these tests. It forfeits the right to live. Let's not declare them alive until three days after birth. Then all parents could be allowed. The choice only a few were given under the present system. The doctor could allow the child to die of the parents so chosen save a lot of misery and suffering.

I believe this view is the only rational, compassionate attitude to have.

This movement has nothing to do with compassion.

Nothing to do with rationale nothing to do with freedom of choice. It has everything to do with violating the values of a God who says human life is precious protected. It has everything to do with violating the authority and character of the God of this book.

People who place themselves as little gods, declaring who will live and who will die the tragedy as our country is on the way it sounds like Exodus chapter 1 to me. They did it in the name of religion. We do it in the name of civil liberty are we willing, should they coerce us to say no. I trust you will underneath this chapter are some applications for the 20th century I've hinted at some but let me give you two more if you're taking notes as I observed the Hebrews under such opposition and cruel circumstances afraid of the lives of their sons.

I came up with these thoughts that I think might encourage you in the first is this. While affliction seems unfair. It's often necessary. While Satan had his scheme and this is to exterminate the chosen nation from which Jesus Christ will come to thought that his plan. That's exterminate the Jew get rid of the borough and then no wine from which the Messiah can come from. While he is inaugurating that plan. God is in his own sovereignty designing another. It is this affliction.

This opposition, whereby he stirs the pot and makes their lives very uncomfortable and willing to risk the bold Exodus. It's been very easy for the Hebrews.

In fact, it's easy for us to be at home in Egypt, and God is using this affliction to make these people desirous to leave all of the luxury all of that which they have in Goshen for a rocky region known as Canaan. Why would 4 million at that time go there. God is using this to refocus to redirect to remind them that they've been given a promised land.

Look back to Genesis chapter 15 Genesis chapter 15 God knew what he was doing.

In fact he had already told Abraham that this would happen. Genesis chapter 15 verse 13 and God said to Abram know for certain that your descendents will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed, but the next phrase 400 years to the day he knew exactly how long they would be in Egypt. He said verse 15 and as for you, or verse 14 but I will also judge the nation whom they will serve Egypt and afterward they will come out the same Greek word Exodus and then they will Exodus with many possessions. God knew how long it would last. And although it seemed unfair, and although they must've been probably wondering what God it intended when he told Abraham that they would be a nation that would multiply you. Now they are being slaughtered and their sons are being thrown into the Nile. Yet God knew that the trial would not be permanent. The second thought is along that line.

While God seems absent. He is always at work when he seems absent. He is always at work.

Look at verse seven of chapter 3 God came to that little baby boy that had now grown into manhood who would be the Redeemer, the Lord God said to Moses, chapter 3 verse seven. Note this. I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have given heed to their cry because of their task masters. I am aware of their suffering. I love that they think I'm I'm gone.

They think I'm absent. They think I don't see yet I have seen I have observed. I know everything that is transpired in your lives. Ladies and gentlemen and mine. There may be affliction come nothing this drastic. I doubt, but you may be in line to lose a position if you go along with un-biblical ethic you maybe in in fear of losing a job, losing a reputation losing a friend because you say no. Perhaps you're threatened right now with the thought that God is absent and not at work and that would be a demise in your spiritual relationship as well.

God is at work with the Israelites, even though it was so horrible he had meted out through his sovereign hand and he knew how long it would last. Not a day over 400 years.

He was preparing them to return to the promised land. Read a story this past week of little boy to grocery store who was carrying a basket and he was walking down the aisle with his dad and his dad would take an item off-the-shelf and he put it in the little boys basket little boys trudging along to the basket seem to be rather heavy and one of the customers felt a little sympathetic and said to the boy best is getting awfully heavy and boy stuck his chest down on a whirring.

My daddy knows how much I and so does your heavenly God has your life ends and he's always working out the circumstances of your life for his glory with today's lesson are Bible teacher Stephen Devi begins a series from Exodus called out of Egypt. This is part one of that series and today's lesson is called from pasture to Brickyard we have a Bible study that's based on this series.

It's a resource that's beneficial for you personally. As you study God's word is also a resource that several groups have used in classes and in small group situations.

If you'd like information on how you can have the study guide entitled out of Egypt.

Give us a call today. Our number is 86 648 Bible once again our phone number is 86 648 Bible to call us after hours, more if were on the phone with other listeners. Please leave a message will get back to you just as soon as we can be glad you tuned in today. Join us back here as we continue this series. Next time on wisdom for the hearts