AM Exodus 1 An Outline of Exodus

[0:00] We're looking at the book of Exodus this morning and reading a portion from that book. We'll read from the first chapter of the book of Exodus and we'll read the whole chapter.

[0:30] Exodus chapter 1 verse 1. These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household.

[0:56] Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

[1:16] All the descendants of Jacob were 70 persons. Joseph was already in Egypt. But then Joseph died and all his brothers and all that generation.

[1:33] But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly. They multiplied and grew exceeding strong so that the land was filled with them.

[1:47] Now there arose a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us.

[2:06] Come, let us deal surely with them, lest they multiply. And if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.

[2:23] Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Ramses.

[2:37] 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.

[2:50] So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves. And made their lives bitter with hard service.

[3:02] In mortar and brick. And in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.

[3:13] Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives. One of whom was named Shepra.

[3:28] And the other pure. When you serve as midwives to the Hebrew women. And see them on the birthstone.

[3:40] If it is a son, you shall kill him. But if it is a daughter, she shall live. But the midwives feared God.

[3:52] And did not do. Did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them.

[4:03] But let the male children live. So the king of Egypt called the midwives. And said to them.

[4:13] Why have you done this? And let the male children live. The midwives said to Pharaoh. Because the Hebrew women.

[4:27] And not like the Egyptian women. For they are vigorous. And give birth before the midwife comes into them. So God dealt well with the midwives.

[4:39] And the people multiplied. And grew very strong. And because the midwives feared God. He gave them families. Then Pharaoh commanded of all his people.

[4:55] Every son that is born. To the Hebrews. He shall cast into the Nile. But he shall let every daughter.

[5:07] Live. May God bless. The reading of his word. May God bless the hearing of his word. This morning. To grasp the teaching.

[5:25] Of Exodus. To understand something of it. God's word is always profound. It's always deeper. Than we can understand.

[5:38] When I was a young Christian. I thought that I would reach a stage. In the Christian life. Where. My knowledge of God's word. Would be something. Startling and astonishing.

[5:50] And people would admire it. I came to understand. That you never. Can understand God's word like that. It's always profound. Always deep.

[6:01] And the more you read God's word. The more you want to read it. And the more you understand God's word.

[6:12] The humber you become. And Exodus. Is a book. That you can understand.

[6:23] In one of two ways. You can understand it. Historically. And that is. Following through.

[6:35] The historical account. Of the journeying. And experiences. Of the children of Israel. You can understand it. Historically.

[6:47] But then. You can understand it. Spiritually. That as we read God's word. In this book of. Exodus.

[6:58] In particular. We learn. That God's word. Is something.

[7:12] That is always. Beyond us. It's a spiritual book. That's true. Of the scriptures. As a whole. It's a spiritual book.

[7:24] We have known men. And we don't make them up. These were men. Who knew. The word of God. In an intellectual way.

[7:39] They could debate. The word of God. And they could explain. The word of God. But because. They weren't born again. They couldn't understand.

[7:49] The word of God. There are people. Because they're not born again. The understanding.

[8:00] Of the word of God. Is beyond them. I don't know. If you've ever met. Men like that. Met men. Ministers too. Who can't grasp.

[8:11] The meaning. Of the word of God. Because they haven't. Been born again. Of the spirit of God. God. But the word of God. The spirit of God. Gives us.

[8:22] At our conversion. An anointing. John tells us about it. An anointing. That.

[8:34] Illuminates. The word of God. And that illuminates the mind. God. All dear friends today. Seek the anointing.

[8:48] Take time. To be holy. Don't rush through. The word of God. Take time.

[8:58] To study. And meditate. The word of God. And to.

[9:11] Follow God's word. And to understand God's word. Bring spiritual enrichment. Into the heart. And into the mind.

[9:25] It's a terrible thing. When a person. Knows about the word of God. God. But does they understand. The word of God.

[9:36] There's an intellectual knowledge. Of scripture. That does not profit at all. It's understanding about. The Bible.

[9:47] Maybe even able to quote. Texts. But to understand. The word of God itself.

[9:59] Illuminated. By the spirit of God. It's a wonderful privilege. We see it enriches the mind.

[10:10] And the heart. I felt these thoughts. Coming again to my mind. As I. Opened several weeks ago. As I opened the book of Exodus.

[10:22] This. And felt again. Something of the thrill and joy. Of a people.

[10:35] Who knew the Lord. Who served the Lord. And who were obedient to the Lord. God.

[10:46] Yes. We know. That Israel. Had their down settings. Israel. Had their failures. Israel.

[11:02] Israel. Were not always. What God. Wanted them to be. But they were.

[11:16] A repentant people. That wonderful psalm. Of David.

[11:28] That a brother brought. Before us. Two or three weeks ago. That wonderful.

[11:42] Touching. Moving. Warm. Experience. Of a man. Who lost his way. And yet a man. Who found it back again.

[11:53] Amen. It's an awful thing. To fail.

[12:08] And most of us. If not all of us. Have known what it is. To fail the Lord. But how wonderful.

[12:21] To remember. That God. Is a merciful God. A gracious God. A God. A God who delights. In mercy. Oh I'm glad.

[12:33] You have no idea. How glad. This preacher is. This morning. That God's a God of mercy. One of the things.

[12:46] That's wrong with us. Is that we're far quicker. To point the finger. At our brothers and sisters. Than we are. To point the finger. At ourselves.

[12:58] And some of us. Go through. Our Christian life. In a sort of. Hypercritical. Sort of. View of things. This one does that.

[13:09] And this one. Does the other thing. Somebody's failed here. Somebody's let me down. And we. We continue. We continue. To point. The finger. At those who.

[13:23] Are not up to their expectation. David's heart. Was a humble heart. A man after.

[13:38] God's heart. Oh I want to be like that. God. I couldn't say this morning. That I've lived my Christian life.

[13:50] Without failure. But we do believe. That we can humbly say. That we'll learn.

[14:01] What it is to repent. And to come back. To the Lord. To the Lord. There's an old hymn.

[14:16] I've wandered far. Away from God. Now I'm coming home. It's wonderful to repent.

[14:30] And to come back to the Lord. And to know that though we've failed. There's mercy with the Lord. That he might be feared.

[14:47] This book then. Is in common. With the word of God as a whole. It is a book. Of failure.

[15:00] But it is a book. Of recovery. Of recovery. It is a book. Where God's people. Israel.

[15:12] Lose their way. And yet find it again. As we worked at this.

[15:27] Book again. We. Thought that perhaps.

[15:38] It could be. Understood. In four. Main divisions. There's a lot of subdivisions.

[15:50] But I thought. That we would. This morning. Look at the four main divisions. That we think. Help us to understand the book.

[16:08] This is. Chapter. One to four. We have redemption.

[16:20] From Egypt. That is a clear division. Second division.

[16:33] There's a confrontation. With Pharaoh. Verses five. To eleven. We have.

[16:54] Education. In the way of God. God. And we have relations.

[17:08] With Jehovah. To bring up the book. To an end. Obviously.

[17:22] We're not going to try to do. Anything more than just. Touch something. Of the beginning. Of this book. And try to follow.

[17:39] The wonderful. Practical teaching. That it brings before us. We believe the book.

[17:51] Can be looked at. As deriving lessons. From the book.

[18:09] Not a mere history. Of the book. But. Deriving. Lessons. From the book. Practical lessons. Maybe we can say something.

[18:22] About. A young Christian. Who. Was recommended. To read. A book.

[18:40] And he read it. And he said. That's just. Me.

[18:52] That book. That book. That book. That book. That book. That book. That book. That book. That book. That book. That book was. That book was. That book was. Pilgrim's progress. And he had been recommended it. And he read it. And he was so impressed.

[19:04] He felt that that book was speaking about him. About his experience. And as I've read this book again.

[19:14] I've been impressed with the fact that this book's about me. The ups and downs. The sins and failures. The blunders.

[19:28] The straying. They're about me. And wonderfully too. The grace of God. Is here in this book.

[19:41] Reminding us. That there's grace and mercy. And forgiveness. Let's try to see if we can do something.

[20:01] Work something out. Redemption. From Egypt.

[20:13] It's all. So, found themselves in a place of bondage.

[21:01] A place that though at the beginning was a place of comfort, to them.

[21:17] These early years were happy times. Israel seemed to prosper. Things seemed to go well for them.

[21:30] But then things changed. There arose a king who knew not Joseph.

[21:46] Have you ever been in a situation like that? There arose a king. Things changed. Things were fine.

[21:57] And then things changed. There arose a king who knew not Joseph.

[22:10] And things changed. They began to experience the gall of bondage.

[22:21] The gall of bondage. And the pressure of what it was to be made slaves.

[22:40] Things changed. have you ever had an experience in that your life? Things change. I remember I worked in a place a good number of years ago.

[22:57] And the fellow I worked with left. Left.

[23:11] And the new workman came to work alongside me. Now I found him a totally different man from the first man.

[23:29] Bullish sort of man. man who cursed and swore without any apology. And that did guide to wear in me.

[23:45] I didn't know what to do with it. The last man had been although a worldly man the last man had been a decent sort of man.

[23:57] You know what I mean by that. No a religious man decent sort of man. But this man was totally different. And I didn't know what to do.

[24:12] I remember going to the Lord in prayer. And asking the Lord I said Lord my spirit's grieved.

[24:26] I'm dreading each day going in to work. and I called on the Lord. And I remember my joy and delight when the next day he came in and he said I'm leaving.

[24:49] going to another job. Now it doesn't always work like that. We're not speaking about miracles ten a penny but it worked like that as far as I was concerned.

[25:04] One day I was absolutely overwhelmed and the next day to know that he was gone and the fellow started who I knew and was a decent chap as well.

[25:18] I still see him from time to time. To know the presence of the Lord and to seek him in prayer is something of great privilege.

[26:02] God's word tells us that as we seek him in prayer he answers and in this book there's a seeking heart and there's the answer prayer.

[26:36] During this book we come time and time again to the wonderful and glorious reality that God hears and answers prayer.

[27:01] that first section redemption from Egypt shows God coming in and delivering Israel from their need.

[27:27] I often challenge myself as to my conception of prayer. I often find that I'm content to ask for something sometimes failing to seek on for the answer.

[27:58] We're content to say we've asked the Lord and sought the Lord about it but to wait upon the Lord to cry upon the Lord to call upon the Lord Lord sometimes is a realm that we're not too familiar with.

[28:16] I believe myself that prayers are often answered in the place of pressure and we call upon the Lord as Israel did.

[28:30] We call upon the Lord and we continue to call upon the Lord prayer is answered in the place of opportunity I don't know how you feel about that you might have something to say about it it might not be just what you think but don't you find that something comes our way we ask the Lord about it and then we forget all about it we've asked the Lord you see we've sought the Lord but opportunity in prayer I believe is one of the secrets of answered prayer praying and next day praying again and praying about the matter until God in some way or other answers prayer we have this in the book before us

[29:40] Israel restored we have in the second section a confrontation with Pharaoh Pharaoh turns against Israel raises his ire against God's people people I want to say it's a solemn thing to turn against God's people I was reading a wee bit about the covenanters again God's enemies angry against the people of God and God time and time again confounding them bringing them down

[30:57] God is jealous for his people God can just judge his people but you'll know that man just judge his people he takes the responsibility of putting us right when we go wrong he'll do that and he'll do it well but God does not place chastisement in the hands of the ungodly he deals with them and bring them to their knees God is the avenger of his people the third section his education in the ways of

[31:58] God you know these journeys that Israel took you know wandering through the wilderness we kind of forget at times that Israel weren't their agricultural people they weren't their sorry they weren't their nomadic people they weren't their nomadic people and so they wandered there back and forward both in this journey trusting in the Lord and leaning on him we leave it at that perhaps we need to think more when a people who proved their

[33:15] God despite their sins and failures despite their sins and failures they proved the Lord God and so can we God is the reward of his people may God bless his word God He does