Chapter One
PROMISES, PROMISES – AND ALL OF THEM TRUE!
Ex. 1:1-22
Intro:
1. Years ago I was minister of outreach at Calvary Hill Baptist Church. The Pastor was Bro. Ralph Gossett. He was a great man of prayer and every now and then, he would sing a special, it was always the same song, Promises.
“Promises, promises and all of them true,
He's done exactly what He said He would do;
He didn't tell me my heart would not be broken,
Oh, but He did say He'd mend it when I pray.”
Nothing more precious and needful then the promises of God for the problems we face in life.
2. Promises, Promises – and all of them true!
“A period of 400 years has passed between the close of Genesis (Gen. 50:26) and the beginning of Exodus (Ex. 1:7). Genesis closes with a family of 70 safely dwelling in Egypt, and Exodus opens with a nation of over 2 million ready to be delivered from their bondage. The family of 70 had come from Canaan to Egypt and now a nation is ready to leave Egypt and go back to Canaan.”
I. FIRST, THE PROMISES ARE GOOD IN SPITE OF IMPOSSIBLE CIRCUMSTANCES.
A. The Situation.
God promised Abraham and his barren wife, that his descendants would multiply into a great nation (Gen. 12:1-3; 15:5; 17:2; 46:3).
B. The Seventy. 1:1-5
1 Now these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt; each man and his household came with Jacob: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin;4 Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.
5 All those who were descendants of Jacob were seventy persons (for Joseph was in Egypt already) - Only 70 of them! How are they going to become a great nation? By God’s supernatural power! But by the time of the Exodus, there were more than 600,000 men who were twenty years and older (Ex. 12:37; 38:26); and when you add the women and children, the total could well be nearly 2 million people, all of whom descended from the original family of Jacob. God certainly kept His promise!
Trans: Israel became a great nation, is still is a great nation, and will always be a great nation because she is chosen by God. Israel is a visible reminder that God’s promises are true (Jer. 31:35-36). The Gulf Stream is a river that flows in the ocean. It is a remarkable thing. The Gulf Stream flows north. And, if you're out fishing and if it's a clear day, the water might be about the color of aqua. However, when you come to the Gulf Stream, suddenly there is a crisp line in the water, and the water is a deep blue, like blue ink. There is a river in the ocean. That is the way the Jewish nation is, you would think that with all their dispersions that they would have been absorbed, but they're not, they remain a distinct, God-chosen nation. Often God’s promises seem impossible, how is God going to rapture us out of here? How is God going to take care of us in this economy in the meantime? How can God save that contrary lost person? How can God restore that rebellious child?
I read about a mother who prayed for her son’s salvation since the day he was born. Year after year, he showed no interest in Christ. He left home and got mixed up in Eastern Religion, began living with a woman, had a child out of wedlock. It seemed the more she prayed the further he got from God – but she kept on praying. One day that boy got saved; his name was Augustine, who became one of the greatest theologians of the 4th century.
II. GOD’S PROMISES ARE GOOD REGARDLESS OF OUR IMPATIENCE.
It would take 400 years in Egypt before Israel would become a nation, revealing the need for Patience (Heb. 10:36). Adrian Rogers, “We've got a lot of Alka-Seltzer Christians—you dip them in water, they fizzle for a while, and disappear. The only difference is they give you headaches. They don't stick it out. They don't stay with it. They have not learned to wait upon the Lord.” The fact that we have to patiently wait on the Lord for something reveals that we are not yet ready to receive those promises. My grandson, Dylan, once said he wanted a knife, and I had one, and I would have loved to give it to him…but he is not ready for a sharp knife. He would hurt himself and others but the day will come when he will be ready. We grow impatient but our impatience has no effect upon God who will fulfill every promise He ever made to us, in His own good time.
III. GOD’S PROMISES ARE GOOD REGARDLESS OF THE DEATH OF IMPORTANT PEOPLE. 6-7
6 And Joseph died, all his brothers, and all that generation. 7 But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them - Joseph was a major reason behind their blessing in Egypt. Now he is dead! God’s promises are dependent upon no man! It was God, who was behind their blessings not Joseph. When Moses died, God raised up a Joshua; when they stoned Stephen, God raised up a Paul. Wycliffe died but that gave way to Martin Luther; D.L. Moody died but then came Billy Sunday; and after Billy Sunday came Billy Graham; and after Graham, bar the rapture there will be another man of God…but the focus is on God not the man! Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf became a national hero after driving Iraq out of Kuwait during the Persian Gulf War. When he was first promoted to the rank of brigadier general he was instructed to go to the Pentagon along with 36 other generals for a 10-day orientation. On the first day of class, Gen. Bernard Rogers went to the podium and stared at them for a long time. The he said:
“If all of you had taken the same airplane to Washington, and that airplane had crashed and you had all been killed, we could go right back into the ranks of colonels and find 36 more, just as good as you.”
No one is indispensable to the fulfillment of God’s promises but God Himself!
IV. GOD’S PROMISES ARE GOOD REGARDLESS OF IMPIOUS PEOPLE. 8-17
Note: Not all of God’s promises are positive! God had promised Abraham that they would be slaves in Egypt (Gen. 15:12-13). Not all of the promises that God has given us are positive either (Phil. 1:29/ 2 Tim. 3:12). He has promise that we are going to suffer at the hands of a sinful and rebellious world (Jn. 15:15-20). Maybe you have watched the television series, ER? They had a series of stories based on what it costs a doctor to be involved in saving lives in the emergency room. Dr. Benton, an African-American doctor, was the focus of that evening’s show. He works 100 hours a week, then he goes home to take care of his dying mother. He and his sister are fighting over who takes care of Mom the most. She’s always mad at him saying “You’re never here when we need you. All you do is work down at that hospital. You don’t keep up your end of the load.” Mom’s birthday party is coming up and his sister makes him promise he’ll be at the party. The next day it’s quitting time, but another case gets rolled into the emergency room. It’s a white man, a skinhead. He’s been stabbed during a gang fight. They move him to the operating table in that emergency room. They roll him over. Tattooed on this skinhead’s arm, with other words: “Die, N____, Die.” He looks at the others and says, “Folks, we’ve got a job to do. Let’s do it.” Then he cuts the skinhead’s chest open and saves his life. Dr. Benton goes home. The party has been over for an hour, and his sister lets him in and then storms out of the room. And Dr. Benton says, “Can you beat this? I missed my mother’s birthday party to save the life of a guy with those words tattooed on his arm.” We are also in the business of working in the emergency room, of sharing the gospel that saves lives to a people who do not want to hear that they are sinners and in need of a spiritual operation – God has promised if we are faithful to our calling, we are going to suffer persecution and rejection!
A. The Slavery. 8-14
1. The Pharaoh. V 8
Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph – the word Pharaoh is a title used for an Egyptian king. Many try to identify the name of this king, but since the Bible does not give us his name, I don’t concern myself with who he was. [Like the two witnesses in Rev. 11] Why didn’t this new king know Joseph? Because God’s people had stopped sharing their faith! We are always one generation away from paganism! America is in need for the church to find her voice again not to protest or get more involved in the political process but to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel. Judges 2:10
A Bible knowledge test was given to five classes of seniors. Most of them failed miserably. Some thought Sodom and Gomorrah were lovers. They thought that the Gospels were written by Matthew, Mark, Luther, and John. Eve was believed to be created from an apple. Sixty percent did not know the identity of the Trinity. They thought the epistles were the wives of the apostles.
2. The Phobia. 9-10
9 And he said to his people, "Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; 10 come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land." – as we have said before fear often imagines things that are not really there. Israel posed no threat to Egypt.
3. The Philosophy. 11
Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses – work’em to death!
4. The Phenomenal. 12
But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel – no amount of persecution can keep God’s promises from being fulfilled. Notice the persecution by this godless Pharaoh did nothing but provoke the growth of God’s people (Rom. 5:3-4). I read about a beekeeper who told how young bees are nurtured to ensure their healthy development. The queen lays each egg in a six-sided cell which is filled with enough pollen and honey to feed upon until it reaches a certain stage of maturity. The top is then sealed with a capsule of wax. When the occupant has exhausted its supply of nourishment, the time has come for the tiny creature to be released from its confinement, but that release involves much struggling. The opening is so narrow that in the agony of the exit, the bee rubs off the membrane that encases its wings. Thus, when it finally does emerge, it is able to fly! This man told of a moth that got into the hive and devoured the wax capsules. As a result, the young bees crawled out without any effort or trouble, but they couldn't fly. He said other bees soon instinctively proceeded to sting them to death. God uses our trials to strengthen us whether we realize it or not.
5. The Persecution. 13-14
13 So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor. 14 And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage--in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor – things went from bad to worse, but God was still on His throne.
B. The Savagery. 15-17
1. The Directions given to the midwives. 15-16
15 Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; 16 and he said, "When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birth stools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live." Who is behind this? Satan! Why? He is seeking to wipe out the children of Israel so that the promised Seed cannot come (Gen. 3:15),
Pink, “It is not difficult to peer behind the scenes and behold one who was seeking to use Pharaoh as an instrument with which to accomplish his fiendish design. Surely we can discover here an out breaking of the Serpent’s enmity against the Seed of the woman. Suppose this effort had succeeded, what then? Why, the channel through which the promised Redeemer was to come had been destroyed. If all the male children of the Hebrews were destroyed there had been no David, and if no David, no David’s greater son.”
2. Their Devotion. 17
But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive – we are not to obey the government if it violates God’s Word. Daniel kept praying in spite of the king’s command not to; the disciples continued to share the gospel even though commanded not to;
V. GOD’S PROMISES ARE GOOD IN SPITE OF IMPERFECT PEOPLE.
A. The Deception. 18-19
18 So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, "Why have you done this thing, and saved the male children alive? 19 And the midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them." – this obviously wasn’t true. It was ok to disobey the government, but it was not right to tell a lie.
B. The Demonstration of grace. 20-21
20 Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very mighty. 21 And so it was, because the midwives feared God, that He provided households for them - Courson words are helpful:
“Wait a minute, hadn’t these women lied? Yes, but God blessed them anyway. It isn’t that God approved of lying. Rather than focusing on the fault of these women, He sees that they feared Him, that they disobeyed Pharaoh and risked their own lives to do what was right in His sight. God the Father has a way – not only with Shiphrah and Puah, but with you and me of finding what is good, and celebrating that. Aren’t you glad that God doesn’t focus on our failing and shortcomings, but rather has a way of looking at us and approving the things which are excellent. This doesn’t mean God doesn’t convict us of sin and call us to repent and change direction. But it does mean that our God is exceedingly kind.” If you have ever played on a team, after the game the coach will say, “Good job!” He doesn’t mean by that, that there were no mistakes or errors. He will point them out before the next game, but that does not mean he takes back the “Good job.”
C. The Dastardly Deed. 22
So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, "Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive." – notice he didn’t tell them to take a knife and stab them for all to see.
Parker, “Pharaoh did not charge the people to [dig a Hole], and then lay the murdered children in the ground; that would have been unpleasant; no, he said, throw them into the river – there will be a splash, a few bubbles on the surface, and the whole thing would be over. The river will leave no marks; tell no stories; sustain no tombstones; it will roll on as if nothing ever happened.”
Is that not the way of abortion? It is not done in public view by visible hands. But in secrecy inside a clinic, the bodies put in a bag and shipped off as if nothing ever happened…no tombstones! It’s done quietly and quickly as if nothing ever happened. But its murder, nonetheless, and God will one day judge those who murder babies, just as he did with Pharaoh and his people. The firstborn will be slain in the Passover; and the Egyptians will be drowned in the Red Sea (Ex. 14:28).
Con:
1. Promises, Promises – and all of them true! Regardless of the Impossible; our Impatience; the death of Important people; the Impious; or our Imperfection.
2. We usually are like those Midwives – if truth be known we are not always truthful or right in our speech or behavior. Sometimes we behave badly but God still keeps His promise to ultimately bless us.
3. Former president George Bush Sr., was a Navy pilot during World War II. On one mission, after being hit by Japanese gunfire, he had to bail out of his burning torpedoed bomber. That did not go well. As he bailed, he slammed his head against part of the plane, cutting and bruising himself badly, and partially tearing his parachute. He plummeted swiftly to the earth and might have been killed if he had not landed in the ocean. Mr. Bush promised that he would someday jump out of an airplane and get it right! Some 50 years later, on March 25, 1997, George Bush, at the age 72, jumped from a plane at 12,500 feet above an army testing base in the desert of Arizona. This time he landed without a hitch. He said enthusiastically, "It was wonderful, I'm a new man. I go home exhilarated." God has made those of us who are a new man a wonderful promise – one day were going to get it right! We are going to our heavenly home exhilarated! He promised! Num. 23:
Johnny A Palmer Jr.
