Exodus 2:1-10 12/3/23 a.m.
Last Sunday afternoon Rachel and I were talking about a mother that we know and some of you all do also. I'm not gonna tell you who it is, I don't want to embarrass he. And don’t worry, it was all good. Anyway, as the conversation went on, Rachel said something that really struck me. She said speaking about this mother, “SHE REALLY TRIED.” And when I heard that and thought about it, Rachel was right. This mother REALLY TRIED. And I think I know why. I think it’s because she REALLY CARED.
I don’t think I’ve ever preached out of this passage before and so let’s go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Exodus Chapter 2. We’ll read Verses 1-10.
“And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.
2 And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.
3 And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.
4 And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him.
5 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it.
6 And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children.
7 Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?
8 And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother.
9 And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the women took the child, and nursed it.
10 And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.”
I think, too often, we read these stories in the Bible and we just kind of SKIM over them. I mean, a lot of us who were raised in church have heard them since we were kids. Back in Sunday School we would make little baskets and put Baby Moses in it. Sometimes the teacher would pull out the LATEST GREATEST INNOVATION of the time. FLANNELGRAPH!!! She would stick the little basket into the CAT TAILS along the creek there and then tell us the story of Moses.
But as adults there is SO MUCH MORE for us to get out of this wonderful story of God’s deliverance and there is SO MUCH that we can learn from it as adults living in TRYING TIMES.
So let’s go to the Lord in Prayer and then we’ll get into this message. Brother ____, would you lead us?
I. To really see and understand how this mother came to this point where she had to PLACE HER BABY in a BASKET that floated in the river, we have to go back to Chapter 1 of Exodus. In Verse 8 it tells us,
“Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.”
So what happened? A new Pharaoh came into power who had not been told about how that Joseph had saved the Egyptian Kingdom from starving to death. How that he had been put in charge of STORING BACK GRAIN so that when the famine came, people would still have something to eat. Somebody DROPPED the BALL and didn’t TEACH their children and grandchildren about this HERO named Joseph.
Joseph had SAVED THEIR BEANS and now his FAMILY, his people, were being killed. In Verses 9 and 10, Pharaoh began to worry that the Israelites would outnumber them.
In Verses 11-14, it tells us how that the Egyptians basically ENSLAVED THEM, making them work and produce BRICKS to build with.
Then in Verses 15 and 16, the Pharaoh tells the MIDWIVES to begin KILLING the BOY BABIES and let the FEMALE BABIES live. Of course they refused and Verse 17 tells us,
“But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.”
The Pharaoh got mad and asked the Midwives why they weren’t killing the little boys and they said, “Well, they’re just too fast for us. The babies are BORN before we can get there.”
And so in Verse 22, the last Verse of the Chapter it says,
“And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.
I read these Verses because I think it’s so important to see the SITUATION and the SOCIETY that this mother found herself living in.
A MOTHER who REFUSED to kill her baby.
A MOTHER who BROKE the LAW, so her baby could live. A MOTHER who had other children to take care of, Aaron and Miriam. She didn’t give up. She didn’t give in. SHE REALLY TRIED!!!
So what is happening today, in our own society, that is DRIVING so much of the IMMORALITY that we see?
What is DRIVING so much of the CRIME that we see?
What is DRIVING so much DIVISION in our land? I can tell you!!!
We live in a land today that KNOWS NOT GOD. Somebody dropped the BALL. Maybe it was my PARENTS GENERATION or my Grandparents Generation or maybe it’s OUR GENERATION. Maybe ALL the previous generations are to BLAME.
Somewhere, someone has DROPPED the BALL when it comes to telling the TRUTH of GOD’S WORD to this GENERATION. Teaching our kids MORALS. And NOT just TEACHING but being an EXAMPLE of how to LIVE a life that is pleasing to God. Standing up against SIN. Standing for the RIGHT. EVEN when it’s NOT POPULAR. Maybe even when it’s AGAINST the LAW. That’s the DIRECTION we’re heading.
Listen, someday, if the Lord doesn’t come back and shut this whole thing down, the Undertaker is going to roll me down front here. For once maybe my fingernails will be clean. My tie will be straight. What is left of my hair will be combed. And when that day comes and people look down at me, I HOPE SOMEBODY is able to say, “YOU KNOW WHAT, THAT GUY TRIED”. He really tried.
SALVATION comes by what Jesus did on the Cross of Calvary. I could never earn it. But after SALVATION we take up our CROSS DAILY and we follow JESUS. We do HIS WORK. And that’s the part people seem to have forgotten.
II. Now let’s look again at Verses 2 and 3 of Chapter 2.
“And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.
3 And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.”
The second thing she did, she TRUSTED in God.
“SHH baby SHH. You’ve got to be quiet sweet boy. Everyone’s gonna hear you. They’re gonna know that you’ve been born. Oh baby Moses, you’re growing so big, your VOICE is getting so strong. Your CRYING is so loud. People are gonna know. The SOLDIERS will come and they will THROW you into the Nile River. They will know that I didn’t obey the ORDER of the Pharaoh. WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?!!!”
So Jochebed, Moses’s mother, took BULLRUSHES and began to build an ARK for Moses to float in. Bullrushes are a lot like cattails but larger and taller. Back then they were used as food and also to make clothing and shoes. It was a common occurrence for someone to go out and harvest bullrushes. I don’t know how this little ark was actually built but Jochebed probably tied the pieces together and then took pine tar or something like that and sealed up any cracks.
Probably during the night as Moses slept, she slipped him into the ARK and set it into the Nile River among the cattails and the weeds. Hey, what could the Pharaoh say, Moses was in the Nile River right?
But I still have to question, HOW could she do this? How could she take that little helpless three month old baby and just LEAVE HIM?
Well, #1, she had to be DESPERATE.
And #2, she had to TRUST GOD.
Folks, I don’t know all of your lives. I don’t know all of the things you have been through. I know some of your stories and I know some of the things that you have endured in the PAST. The PAIN of LOSS. The PAIN of HELPLESSNESS. The PAIN of REGRET. The PAIN of BETRAYAL. The PAIN of SICKNESS. The PAIN of DISEASE. The PAIN of EVIL. When you live in a world like we do, there will always be some kind of PAIN to endure. And all of these things bring DESPERATION to us. When we realize there is NOTHING we can do to FIX THESE THINGS we become DESPERATE.
Some folks turn to DRUGS or ALCOHOL. That doesn’t fix anything. It just NUMBS the pain for a little while and winds up making everything worse.
Some people become ANGRY and BITTER.
And this literally BREAKS my heart but I’ve known people who have taken their own lives when they were faced with some of these things. They feel like there is no way out.
But then, then there are those who do what Jochebed did. They CAST THEIR CARES UPON THE LORD.
Matthew 11:29 and 29,
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”
1 Peter 5:7
“Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”
I know it had to be really hard for Jochebed to PLACE that little ARK down into the WATER but she trusted God to have HIS WILL.
Listen, YOU can trust God in your own life.
He has PROMISED to never leave us nor forsake us. Hebrews 13:5.
He has PROMISED to SUPPLY all of our needs ACCORDING to HIS RICHES in GLORY. Philippians 4:19.
He has PROMISED to LEAD US and GUIDE US.
There are LITERALLY THOUSANDS of promises in the Bible that God has given to you and I, BUT!!! before we can CLAIM these PROMISES we have to put our TRUST in HIM.
Proverbs 3:5 and 6. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
And therein lies the problem. Think about what would have happened if Jochebed would have done things her way. What if she would have given in to the DEMANDS of the Pharaoh and threw the BABY into the Nile. I know God had the ability to save him whether she threw him straight into the water or placed him in the ARK in the water. But she TRUSTED GOD and HE showed her what to do.
People today want to do things THEIR WAY until everything turns into a MESS. Then they want God to FIX IT.
And God can and He will fix things but things would sure be easier on us if we would give Him control BEFORE things get TOO OUT of HAND.
I look at this and I wonder how JOCHEBED was able to do what she did. Well, I think I can tell you. She was DESPERATE and she TRUSTED GOD.
Folks, I’ve come to the point in my own life where it’s a little bit easier to TRUST GOD than it used to be. You see, through all of the HARD TIMES, through all of the TRIALS, through all of the HEARTACHES that come from living in a broken sinful world, I have TRULY LEARNED that EVERYTHING is gonna be alright. Oh, I still catch myself getting ANXIOUS, feeling worried but then I’m reminded He’s taken care of me in the PAST and I know He’ll take care care of me in the PRESENT and He’s really gonna take care of me in the FUTURE. That’s why I TRUST GOD.
Someday, when they ROLL this COLD DEAD BODY UP HERE for you to look at, I hope you can say that HE TRIED. And HE TRUSTED.
III. And so Moses’s mama TRIED her best, she TRUSTED in God, and in the end, she TRIUMPHED.
She succeeded in saving her sons life. As you read the rest of this Chapter it’s really amazing how that God worked it all out.
As Jochebed placed that ARK into the water, she probably KISSED her baby goodbye NOT KNOWING whether she would ever see him again. But yet she TRUSTED GOD and GOD came through. Moses wound up in the safest place in the KINGDOM. Right there in the House of Pharaoh. And Jochebed wound up being able to NURSE and TEACH baby Moses. It was more than she could have ever hoped for. It was GOD’S PLAN to deliver His people. But looking at Jochebed, it was a WIN, a VICTORY, it was a TRIUMPH. A TRIUMPH over DEATH. A TRIUMPH over the INNOCENT SLAUGHTER of little baby boys. A TRIUMPH over EVIL. I think about HOW HARD she TRIED to do the RIGHT THING. How that she TRUSTED God.
And now, because of that she TRIUMPHED. She won. She got what she wanted probably more than anything else in her life.
A. I began my message talking about TRYING to do God’s will. TRYING to PLEASE HIM in the way we live our lives. Putting Him first. Taking up our cross DAILY. And it just seems that those things aren’t TAUGHT or PRACTICED anymore. We are seeing Romans 6:1 and 2 lived out in the lives of so many people who claim the Name of Christ.
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?”
But SO MANY CHURCH GOERS continue to live in SIN even though they KNOW that it’s wrong. That’s WILLFUL SIN. That’s a REALLY DANGEROUS PLACE TO BE.
James 4:17 “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”
B. I also talked about the DESPERATION that I know Jochebed had to FEEL. But yet she TRUSTED GOD with her most valuable possession. Her baby son.
And maybe you feel kind of DESPERATE this morning. The world can be so OVERWHELMING. And I have to ask you this morning. Have you TRUSTED GOD with your most PRIZED POSSESSION? Your ETERNAL SOUL?
ILLUS: One of my favorite songs is “He Whispers Sweet Peace to Me.” We sang it last Sunday night. And the second Verse is my favorite.
Verse: “I could not go on without Him I know,
The world would o'erwhelm my soul;
For I could not see the right way to go,
When temptations o'er me roll.
Chorus: He whispers sweet peace to me,
He whispers sweet peace to me,
When I am cast down in spirit and soul,
He whispers sweet peace to me.”
Folks, I’ve got to ask you something. Have you been TRYING? I’m not talking about TRYING to work your way into Heaven.
I’m talking about after you got SAVED from your SINS have you been trying to LIVE for the LORD or are you just PLAYING a GAME. Because I GUARANTEE YOU a lot of SO-CALLED CHRISTIANS don’t take their commitment seriously. To SERVE GOD is a decision we make everyday before we even get out of bed.
Are you TRUSTING in Jesus and are you LETTING that TRUST and COMMITMENT CHANGE the WAY YOU LIVE YOUR LIFE? Or are you just HOPING you might make it?
Because SOMEDAY, we’re either going to TRIUMPH over DEATH, HELL, and the GRAVE or we’re going to be LOST. It’s one or the other.
Someday, when they WHEEL me down here in front of this church, I hope someone will say, “Look, he’s moving!!!” No, not really. I hope someone will say, “Well Old Mitch, he wasn’t perfect, he made mistakes, he had some regrets, but HE TRIED. He tried to live a life that was PLEASING to GOD. He didn’t always do a GOOD JOB of it but he TRIED to preach the GOSPEL. He TRIED to be an EXAMPLE and point folks to JESUS.”
And another thing I hope is said about me. “HE TRUSTED. Not in HIMSELF but in the SHED BLOOD of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not his own works because there ain’t NO WAY to work your way into Heaven. Not in his own GOOD LOOKS even though he was ONE HANDSOME DUDE. NO!!!
And not in his TALENTS because he didn’t have MANY. NO, he TRUSTED in GOD.
And because of that TRUST ... HE TRIUMPHED. He AIN’T HERE. This is just a SHELL. He’s gone on to GLORY.”
You know that mama that I was talking about when I began. She’s a lot like Jochebed. She didn’t quit when things got hard. She kept on keeping on. She kept on doing the RIGHT THING. She wasn’t perfect. She made mistakes just like all of us. But now, looking at her kids, she has TRIUMPHED. She did well and now she’s living in the REWARD PHASE of her life. Why? Because she TRIED, she TRUSTED and she TRIUMPHED.
And you can do the same today.
Let’s Pray
