Pharoah Increases the Israelites' Work
Notes
Transcript
Reminder of where we left off
And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.
And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.
And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days’ journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the Lord our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword.
And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? get you unto your burdens.
And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens.
Boldness of Moses to stand before Pharoah
but we get this boldness in God
knowing that God is always in our corner, and if God is with us, who can be against us?
and with God, nothing is impossible
so if we’re following God’s plan, it’s possible that we could make huge change, and do so boldly
Also, we discussed how the world doesn’t always react well to the words of God
but we know that at the end of the day, Moses and the children of Israel came out on top
even though they went through so much hardship and it didn’t look good
so there is ALWAYS hope
as God is our strong foundation
And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying,
Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves.
And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish ought thereof: for they be idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God.
Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words.
So not only does Pharoah pay no heed to what Moses requested, he decided to make it things harder on the Israelites
sometimes, when we try to spread the Word of God or witness to people, it doesn’t seem to do any good and even backfires
times like these may make us be extremely disappointing or discouraging
here Moses did what God said, but it didn’t work out at all, and in fact seemed to backfire
things like this may happen to us, people may think of us differently or treat us differently
but it’s in these times we have to consider what we’re really here for
are we here on earth doing what we want? what makes us comfortable?
or are we here doing what God wants us to do?
are we here relying on our own wisdom or are we relying on God’s wisdom and God’s plan?
we know some of the things that God has told us about how we will be received on this earth
Jesus told us that we won’t always be received well, that not everyone will like hearing the word of God
we look at how He was received, people oftentimes gave Him a very hard time for sharing God’s Word
Jesus tells us that many people will not want to hear the word of God, because it would require them to stop sinning
at the same time however, we are believer sharing the Word, and this is who God words through in this world
we are priviledged to be God’s people, the people that the Spirit of God works through to spread the gospel
so we cannot give up just because some people don’t accept God
because Jesus also tells us in the gospels that His sheep hear His voice, there are people out there that WILL respond to the gospel
we CANNOT give up on sharing the gospel, we MUST let God work through us
isn’t that what we’re here for? to be a servant of God and a servant to others? to try to spread the truth that heals to people so that they might be saved?
Thinking about what we’re here for, whether we’re here for God or for ourselves makes a difference in outcomes
what I mean is that the direction we head in the little things and the everyday makes a difference in the big picture
for instance, this is the first of many times that Moses and Pharoah meet
each made decisions each time, Moses would consistently deliver God’s message doing what God wanted him to do, though it seemed like an uphill battle, he knew he was doing what was right
also each time, Pharoah would do what HE wanted to do, since he was alerady in power, relying on his own power and knowledge to guide him in life
we know by the end of it, the power of God would come out on top, enabling them to be freed
this is because they were pursuing the path of God with their life
they were working toward something greater, leaning on the one with true power
when we pursue the path of self, the path of what we want to do, the path of OUR comfort, we put ourselves on the path of man, the path of ourselves
and we know that the path of man, the path of self, leads to destruction
we see this from the very beginning, even with Adam and Eve - the very first sin was Adam and Eve deciding to pursue their own path by eating the fruit, seeking to become like God
who and what we’re living for reveals the true core of our heart at the end of the day
we may know this and even believe this ourselves
but it’s also just as important that our compass is aimed in the right direction
if we think about the Scribes, Pharisees, and Saducees, the religious Jews that Jesus was dealing with back in His day
they all thought that they were doing right, they doggedly convinced that they were right
however, in fact, they had become corrupted all the while believing they were right
so what’s to be done about this? how do we protect ourselves from this outcome?
we keep our noses in the word, we study God’s word, and we study it ideally every day
we are blessed to each have copies of God’s word to humanity, it’s here for us to read, and we have no excuse not to be reading it
we may even come to church every Sunday, and we hear messages from people, but how many verses does a couple of messages a week cover?
we have one life to study the word of God, and to make sure our compass is pointed in the right direction, and we need to make sure we do it
let’s think about telescopes, you can buy these telescopes that have a guidance system that will follow a star or planet that you tell it to follow
but it will not work unless you align it, if it’s out of alignment, it will follow the star a little bit, but slowly it will diverge, and eventually be going a completely different direction
We talked about the wise men a couple of weeks ago, and they followed the star that God gave them to follow
and it led them to Christ, it led them to the right place
and what God’s given us to follow is His Word, which leads us to Christ, which is the right place to be
and following this path will lead us to life, to the breaking of the chains that oppress us in this world
so when we think about Moses and Pharoah, and the direction that they were going. and what they were living for, we see the difference in where that took them
Pharoah’s path would ultimately lead him to his death, his pride and his “knowing better” led to his downfall
Moses’ path, though there were times it seemed tough and an uphill battle, led to the freedom of the Israelites from their chains and led them to the promised land flowing with milk and honey
there’s a saying that says “anything worth having is worth working for”, and when we think about Moses and the Israelites, they had to wait, and deal with things
but they eventually got something great out of it
But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
This verse may seem hard to digest at first, but there are some great thoughts that can come out of this
first of all, hard times can truly reveal who we really are when the rubber meets the road
they can expose to us the real nature of our heart, giving us an opportunity to reflect and to correct ourselves if needed
Secondly, it gives us an opportunity to be close to lean on God and truly grow our relationship with Him
because if we can’t lean on God in the hard times and grow our relationship to Him, what are we really doing?
this gives us an opportunity to grow the substance of our faith
it also gives us an opportunity to be more Christlike
what I mean is that Christ went through much suffering in pursuit of God’s plan, and this gives us an opportunity to do the same, and to sort of commune with Christ in that way
to almost know how He felt, and sort of live in the same way that He did
this is a true privilege, and really speaks to who we really are and where our heart is truly at
and if we do lean on God in our hard times like this, we can have the blessing of knowing that Christ knows our pain and how hard it can be to suffer in pursuit of what is right
we can know that we don’t have some distant ethereal God that has no idea what it’s like to be a human and suffer
but as believers in Christ, we don’t ever have to feel that way
and so, we as believers, with promises from God, can know that we have a glorious hope to look forward to
we can have joy in this world knowing that we have great things to come
so looking back at the Israelites in egypt, they were suffering, their workload was increased for a while, for a season
but then, due to following the path of God, they were freed from their chains and given the promised land of milk and honey
and we as God’s people are in a similar situation right now
we are in the world, we are suffering in the world
but if we have perseverance, if we just follow God and His path, we have been promised a land ahead of us
we have been promised a path to life, a path to light, and a path to redemption
which brings us back to the question: what are we living for?
who are we living for?
what path are we on?
is our path aligned correctly? or have we deviated?
when we’re on a road trip, we check a map to see where we are
and the word is our map to the destination, so we need to be in it, checking on it, and making sure we’re on the right path
when we’re on the right path and living for the right reasons, we have great things to look forward to, just like the Israelites who followed God to the promised land in the Bible
we just have to persevere and lean upon God, and He will direct our paths to the right place