Jochebed: A woman of Faithful Determination”
Exodus 2:1-20
Mother’s Day 2016
HEY:
OPEN: REAL MOTHER’S
Real Mothers are special people.
Real mothers would like to be able to eat a whole candy bar (all by themselves) and drink a Coke without any "floaters" in it.
Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils are probably going to end up in the sandbox.
Real Mothers often have sticky floors, filthy ovens and happy kids.
Real Mothers know that dried play dough doesn’t come out of shag carpets.
Real Mothers sometimes ask "Why me?" and get their answer when a little voice says, "Because I love you best."
Real Mothers know that a child’s growth is not measured by height or years or grade.
It is marked by the progression of Mama to Mom to Mother...
APPLY:
Mothers are an integral part of our lives.
We wouldn’t be who we are without our mothers.
TODAY IS A DIFFICULT DAY FOR MANY OF YOU….
MISSING MOM, MISSING MOTHERHOOD, MISSING CHILDREN00
Some of the greatest people in history:
- will tell you how important their mothers were to their lives.
George Washington, for example, declared:
“All I am I owe to my mother”.
Napolean Bonaparte said, “Give us strong mothers and we will have strong sons.”
Abraham Lincoln said, “Behind ever great man is a great mother.”
This was also true of one of the greatest men in Old Testament history:
a man named Moses.
Moses became the kind of man he was because of the type of mother he had.
MOTHER’S ARE GOOD AT FAITHFUL DETERMINATION…
- So much time is spent speaking and studying about MEN of the Bible
- I wanted to give some attention to WOMEN Bible heroes..
-
- Arlington Christian Church is in debt to women of Faithful Determination
o Who have raised and taught generations of people
o Who add Church service/labor to already FULL schedules…
Nothing will have a more profound and lasting influence in the lives of our children than having good, godly examples in their homes.
Moms you have a calling to receive.
To live a life that is a demonstration of God’s love
YOU:
- you to consider the example of JOCHABED…
- “Faithful determination” are the 2 words that I describe her with
- Strong to the finish…
Jochabed is in the book of Exodus because MOSES wrote the book of Exodus,
But funny thing is that without Jochabed there is no MOSES…
LOOK:
The story: How did we end up here?
o Remember back to Joseph leading his family INTO Egypt, and saving them from the famine??
o His family stayed and multiplied.
By the time of Pharaoh:
- the Hebrews had multiplied greatly
Pharoah feared the HEBREW PEOPLE would:
- outnumber the Egyptians and take over the nation.
- he commanded that all newly-born Hebrew boys be thrown into the CROCODILE INVESTED NILE RIVER….
LET’S LOOK AT JOCHEBED…..
1. Her Identity - A godly mother OF ARRON, MIRIAM NOW MOSES
- She was an Israelite,
- from the tribe of Levi:
2. Her Dilemma
She was living in a HOSTILE WORK ENVIRONMENT:
- Jochebed’s life was NOT EASY.
- she had known only the curse of slavery.
"The Egyptians worked the people of Israel without mercy. They made their lives bitter, forcing them to mix mortar and make bricks and do all the work in the fields. They were ruthless in all we read that their demands."
In Exodus 1:13-14 (NLT)
THIS GODLY WOMAN:
- does not complain or give up,
- EVEN THOUGH life under normal circumstances is hard almost impossible
SHE IS EXPECTED TO KILL HER OWN BABY…
3. Her Courage
Exodus 2:1-2
"And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three month"
Desperate Mothers:
Those midwives we courageous too!!
- when asked by the Pharaoh why they were not killing the boy babies as commanded,
- replied that the Hebrew women were “too vigorous” and babies ARRIVED before they could get there!
Jochebed HAD TO do something to save him.
- Moses was not an inconvience to her,
but an opportunity to BE FAITHFUL
- There is a cost to faithfulness
JOCHEBED FEARED GOD MORE THAN PHAROAH
Acts 5:29b "...We ought to obey God rather than men."
4. Her Sacrifice
"But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river's bank."
Exodus 2:4
The story plays out like this: BABY IN A BASKET
- When she realized that she could no longer hide her infant son,
- she made a little cradle of plaited reeds which were believed to be protection against crocodiles,
- then placed the cradle with its treasure secretly among the rushes at the river’s bank,
- and told Miriam her young daughter to stand near to watch over the small craft.
Jochebed put the situation in to God’s hands…
That is where we all need to ARRIVE,
PLACING OUR SITUATION IN GOD’S HANDS
5. Her Faith
- Jochebed had faith in God's protection of her baby.
- She believed that God would take care of the child.
- All she had was faith….
- There are times when Faith in God is all you have….
That’s okay.
"If you do not stand firm in your faith,
then you will not stand at all."
Isaiah 7:9
Jochebed fully entrusted her child to God's safekeeping.
"By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment."
Hebrews 11:23
God uses Pharaoh’s daughter: (WOMAN )
- Was at the riverside at the right time
- Saved this particular baby,
- Moses lived the first 40 years of his life under the royal protection and all the advantages of Pharaoh’s palace
Who years later (HAPPENS ) to LEAD GOD’S PEOPLE:
- out of oppression, slavery, and certain death
- through 40 years in the wilderness
- And to the border of the Promise Land
(bringing countless with him)
God worked with Jochebed’s faith:
- children were being murdered around her each day,
- She didn’t understand why God was allowing it
- She didn’t’ understand God’s plan.
- She trusted God with her son…
6. Her Reward
Faithfulness comes with a price, but also a REWARD
Often faithfulness means giving up something we can’t keep,
and trusting that God has something BETTER IN STORE…
God does NOT DISAPPOINT!
READ Exodus 2:5-8
This was NO ACCIDENT:
- It was no accident that when Pharaoh's daughter saw the beautiful baby boy and heard his cry that she had compassion on him.
- God caused Pharaoh’s daughter to save Moses
- God prepared for Jochebed to nurse the child for her at a given wage.
DOUBLE BLESSING:
- Not only was Jochebed’s infant was not only saved, but she was paid to care for him until he was weaned.
Ralph Wingate in his book: "Seeing Him” wrote
"God honored Jochebed's faith by catapulting her son from a death sentence to a royal position in the household of the king of Egypt." - page 105
God always rewards an obedient faith.
JOCHEBED:
- Jochebed was a godly mother who laid the foundation for Moses during the first five or six years of his life.
- Jochebed was the chief influence used by God during his early formative years in preparing Moses for the grand calling of God to lead His people out of Egyptian bondage.
THERE IS NO GREATER INFLUENCE ON A CHILD, THAN HIS MOTHER…
Hebrews 11:24-27.
"By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible."
Jochebed:
let go OF HER TROUBLE, AND HELD ONTO God:
SIN/PAST, WORLD
Just as God:
- provided for Jochebed as she placed her trust in Him,
- so He will provide for us as we trust Him.
Are you trusting God today?
Are you letting go and allowing god to work in your life today?
Do you know Him as your Lord and Savior?
Are you influencing others by living a godly life?
DO:
1. Reject the cultural standard
We obey God’s Laws
We answer to God
We are to Fear God more than man
Following man first is a mistake..
Trust God: you do your part, God will do His part…
The CULTURAL standard:
- was to destroy the lives of this Hebrew boys because they threaten our way of life.
What cultural or societal standard are you surrendered to today?
What do your children see?
Remember they do what we do, not what we say.
I want to encourage you to have the courage and faith of Jochebed.
What is your standard of morality social or biblical?
What is your standard of sexuality social or biblical?
What is your financial standard social or biblical?
Jochebed had STRONG FAITH,
We need strong FAITH,
Strong enough to Buck the WORLD’S STANDARDS.
Cultural and societal standards change while God’s truth never changes.
- We live in a world that is hostile toward Christians
- We live in a world that is growing Biblical Christianity.
John 15:18-19
“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."
She refused to go with the flow:
- She refused to consider her own:
- life, comfort, convenience or safety.
She refused to bow to Egypt's demands:
- We are going to FEEL PRESSURE to bow to Cultural Expectations.
o What’s important to God?
o That’s what’s important to US…
Godly people must resist and counter the evil pressures of the world.
2. Recognize your parental limits
If we want God to work:
- in our lives
and our families
We must place our faith in Him:
- and we must put our faith into action.
God will not and cannot work in our lives without our placing our trust in Him
"But without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him."
Hebrews 11:6
“When she could hide him no more.”
- The living God not only wants to use our abilities he also wants to use our inabilities.
A) There is a limit to how much you can protect your child or children
Jochebed couldn’t hide Moses all his life.
But all of life is preparing your children to leave.
You will be limited in how much you can protect them
You can be faithful in your Life, but you can’t MAKE THEIR CHOICES
Point them to Christ, then SHOW THEM WHAT that life looks like!
There is a limit to how much you can provide your child or children
Some of you sit here today under with a
burden that God wants to relive you of.
- You may have lost a child and wonder what you did wrong.
- Your child may be trapped in destructive lifestyle.
- There is a limit to what you can protect your child from.
We are limited, flawed, sinners, children rebell.
Can we Trust God with our Children???
- God loves your kids, because HE made them…
- He knit them together in a mother’s womb
A CALL TO OUR OWN FAITHFUL DETERMINATION:
Is their a PRODIGAL IN THE HOUSE??? – COME HOME/LOVES
Will we be faithful?
INVITATION:
GOD HAD A PLAN TO SAVE HIS PEOPLE…
To save Moses, To save His people,
- Jochebed played her part through determined faith
God always does His part,
Are we doing our part?
GOD HAD A PLAN TO SAVE HIS PEOPLE…
And he still has a plan….
GOD STILL HAS A PLAN TO SAVE HIS PEOPLE…
- To rescue the perishing
Are we saved?
- Today, this day find a place on the life raft that is Jesus Christ…
Can we be like Jochebed and through faithful determination:
- RESCUE THOSE WHO ARE LOST, floating downstream
Jochebed a model of the coming Christ?
SHE HELPED SAVE A NATION BY HER SACRIFICE
JESUS SAVED THE WORLD THROUGH HIS….
Today God tells us that we escape judgment:
from ALL of our sins
- By the blood of Jesus,
- God removes all of our sin from our lives.
Jesus is Better than Jochebed
When we believe in Jesus,
repent of our sins,
confess Him as our Lord and allow ourselves to be buried in the waters of Christian baptism,
God removes our sins as far as the East is from the West.
He buries it in the depths of the sea.
He removes it from our lives and remembers it no more
Jesus is searching for LOST SOULS....
