THE MOTHER WHO’S FAITH DESTROYED PHARAOH
Exodus 1-2
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. JOKE.
a. A little boy was talking to the girl next door. "I wonder what my mother would like for Mother's Day?"
b. The girl answered, "Well, you could promise to keep your room clean, go to bed when you're told, brush your teeth after eating, they quit fighting with your brothers and sisters, especially at the dinner table."
c. The boy looked at her and said, "No, I mean something practical."
2. JOKE.
a. I once read the story of a woman who went shopping for swimsuits with her mother. In the department store, though, she was having a hard time finding one that fit. After trying on at least 10, all to no avail, she grew increasingly frustrated.
b. Trying to calm her, her mother said "Look at it this way: what would you rather have – the husband and three children who adore you, or a swimsuit that fits?"
c. Before she could answer, a faceless voice from the next dressing room stall replied, "I want a swimsuit that fits!" Not every woman wants to be a mother!
B. TEXT
“Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live” Ex. 1:22. 2:1 Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, 2 and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child [“no ordinary child,” Heb. 11:23], she hid him for three months. 3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. 4 His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him. 5 Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. 6 She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said. 7 Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” 8 “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. 10 When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water” Ex. 2:1-10.
C. THESIS
1. I want us to look at a woman of which little is known, but she was a woman of great courage and faith.
2. Let's look at what made Jochebed (Ex. 6:20) such a great woman, let's look at what trials she endured, and how God was faithful to her.
I. WHAT MADE HER SO GREAT?
A. SHE KEPT HER FAITH IN A DARK HOUR
1. Not only were Jochebed and Amram dirt poor, they lived in one of the darkest hours of Israel's history.
a. The entire nation was in brutal slavery. The Egyptians were intentionally ruthless. There was no escape and no one to help them.
b. For population control, the Egyptians had begun killing their children. It’s easy to trust God when everything is going OK, but let the storm clouds gather – and we have to start thanking Him by faith!
c. Some of you mothers are experiencing dark times of your own.
1). You’re worried about your kids
2). You feel like giving up; hopeless. You wonder if God is hearing your prayers.
3). But as long as there is a God in heaven, there's a way out/hope.
2. Jochebed kept Moses hidden, not because of fear, but because of faith – she saw he was no "ordinary child;" she sensed a divine purpose!
a. But there’s something about having new life – you can’t hid it! It makes itself known. The time came when Jochebed could no longer keep Moses hidden.
b. There was probably a death penalty for hiding children, but she wouldn’t give up her boy no matter the cost!
c. It’s not just giving birth that counts, but having the grit to fight Satan and raise your kids for God!
B. SHE MADE GOOD USE OF HER LIMITED TIME
1. How incredible/awesome God is -- that Pharaoh's daughter not only gave Moses back to his mother with royal protection, but paid her to nurse him. What a deal! That’s like getting paid to eat Blue Bell ice cream! Not only that, but no one could put Moses to death, because he was under the Princesses’ protection.
2. She kept him until he was weaned, which may have been two years or more.
3. During that time, she undoubtedly taught him all that she could about her faith. She instilled in his heart and mind the faith in Jehovah. She was convinced there was a divine plan for his life -- which the luxury in Pharaoh's Palace, all the learning of the Egyptians, and the 40 years of herding sheep in the wilderness -- couldn’t destroy.
4. Likewise, all mothers only have a limited time to influence their kids.
5. Thomas Edison's tribute to his mother; "If it had not been for her
appreciation and faith in me at a critical time in my life, I would likely never have become an inventor. I was always a careless boy, and with a mother of different mental caliber, I would have turned out badly. But her firmness, her sweetness, her goodness were potent powers to keep me on the right path. My mother was the making of me. The memory of her will always be a blessing to me.”
6. M -- is for the million things she gave me;
O -- is only that she's growing old;
T -- is for the tears she shed to save me;
H -- is for her heart of purest gold;
E -- is for her eyes with love light shining;
R -- is for the right and right she’ll always be.
Put them all together, and they spell MOTHER, the name that means all the world to me.
C. SHE PERFORMED HER DUTIES – DESPITE HER IMPERFECTIONS
1. Jochebed probably had to work. You mothers who have to work may feel like you have a built-in handicap/disadvantage.
2. But remember, God can take a mother’s little bread and fish and multiply it to be more than enough.
3. Others probably feel, "If I had been more saintly, my kid would be living for God." There are NO perfect mothers. All parents do the best they can at that time! Jochebed, most likely, never got to see Moses in his greatness -- she just believed "in faith."
4. Moms, you do your best and God said He'd do the rest. God has promised us all our children. Come on Moms, hang on!
5. Phyllis Diller said, "I want my children to have all the things I couldn't afford. Then I want to move in with them."
II. WHAT TRIALS DID SHE ENDURE?
A. PUTTING MOSES IN THE BASKET-BOAT
1. Think how difficult it would be to leave your baby floating on an African river! With tears she placed her beautiful, healthy son into what looked like a coffin. Then she had to “Let go and let God” take charge of Moses’ life. She didn’t know that God was waiting by that cruel river, ready to unfold His masterplan for Her baby and the people of Israel!
2. The basket was supernaturally guided to the only person who could ignore Pharaoh’s command – his own daughter! Moses didn’t drown, wasn’t eaten by crocodiles, and his boat didn’t get stuck in the reeds. No one else could have legally kept that baby in all the land of Egypt. What a miracle that God took him to the one place of safety!
3. FOR ALL MOMS, there will be trials. Just like Jochebed, we must commit our children to God when they reached those tumultuous years.
B. AFTER SHE WEANED HIM, SHE HAD TO GIVE HIM BACK TO HELL!
1. Think of the atmosphere of Pharaoh's Palace; the idolatry, the dark occult, the immorality of those who thought they could do no wrong, the paganism. All the world where their slaves; there were many temptations in Pharaoh's court.
2. But Jochebed’s faith stayed "God-centered" -- "God, You are able to keep Moses and preserve him in the midst of hell." That lady had faith in God!
C. WHEN MOSES HAD TO FLEE EGYPT
1. Another difficult time came when Moses had to flee from Egypt and was gone for 40 years. He went out alone into a world full of dangers.
2. She may have never seen him again, but SHE DIED IN FAITH, BELIEVING GOD WOULD KEEP HIS PROMISES!
3. MOMS, YOU TOO CAN CLAIM THE PROMISES FOR YOUR CHILDREN. God said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you…”
III. GOD’S FAITHFULNESS TO HER
A. THINK OF THE HAND OF GOD IN:
1. When Moses’ mother put her son in the River, she consigned him over death. But when Pharaoh’s daughter gave him back, she received her son back as from the dead. What a type of Christ!
2. Using the King's own edict was used by God to bring the child forward that would bring about Pharaoh's own downfall!
3. Think; if the King had never made the law to throw the children in the river, Moses’ mother would never have put him in the basket boat, he would never have been found and adopted, educated, and trained as a leader in the royal family. It was Pharaoh’s law that started it all.
4. Further, see the timing. Aaron & Miriam, Jochebed’s first two children, were never in danger, but it was the very group endangered, from which God drew the deliverer. See how when Pharaoh challenged God, God immediately answered! Let the church be encouraged: when hell vents it’s most deadly fury against the church and it appears the church is in danger of annihilation, then God raises up a standard against it.
5. See how the faith of a little Jewish mother was able to defeat the intentions of the mightiest ruler of the Earth in that day!
B. SEE HOW GOOD GOD IS:
1. Jochebed probably just hoped to save Moses’ life.
2. But God did more: GOD…
a. Gave him status, wealth, position;
b. Gave him education & knowledge of the court;
c. Gave him experience in leading people.
3. God did far more than she had hoped for, and mothers, God will do the same for you! God is an abundance God!
C. DID SHE SEE MOSES’ GREAT VICTORIES?
1. Calling down the plagues on Egypt.
2. Leading Israel out of Egypt.
3. The great victory of the Crossing of the Red Sea!
CONCLUSION
A. TRIBUTE TO A MOTHER’S LOVE
******“NO CHARGE” by Tammy Wynette******
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4w3zcJnUxY
B. THE CALL
1. Mothers, please stand.
2. Prayer for Mothers and their ministry to their families,
communities, and nation.
3. Alter call for children of Moms to decide for Christ & follow the faith of their Mother’s.
