The Oppression of Evil

The Oppression of Evil

Exodus 1

It seemed as if all the world held its breath.  12 young men from the Wild Boars soccer team and their assistant coach were trapped in a cave in Thailand for nearly three weeks.  Rising flood waters threatened to fill the cave and end all hopes of rescuing the boys alive.  What began as a local search for the missing 13 turned into a complex rescue operation, involving hundreds of experts who flew in from around the world to help. Expert divers were brought in.

The conditions of the rescue were horrible.  "This is the hardest mission we've ever done. The lower the water is getting, the stronger the current. It's stronger now. Every step of the extraction is risky," said Narongsuk Keasub, a diver for the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand.  "We can only see our hands (at a) short distance. Secondly, the stones are razor sharp which is dangerous for our diving, (and) thirdly the passage is very narrow," he said.  Finally this past Tuesday, three days after the loss of one of the expert divers’ lives, all of the boys and their coach made it out alive.

This morning we are going to look at a passage in Exodus 1 on God’s deliverance.  We begin with the Israelites in a state of blessing.   Most of you know how Jacob (Israel) and his sons came to be in Egypt.  You know the story about how Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers.  Joseph, in fact, became the first of the Israelites to find himself enslaved in Egypt.  But, by Joseph's own confession, what his brothers had intended for evil, God used for good.  God used Joseph's position at the right hand of Pharaoh to preserve the young clan that would become the nation of Israel.

Let us study God's Word and notice how...

The Blessing Multiplies

The Blessing Becomes a Burden   and

The Blessing Prompts Threats

Read Exodus 1

1. Body

1. The Blessing Multiplies 
1. When God blesses it is abundant and for generations
1. Egypt is a refuge
1. The sons of Jacob came down to Israel at the request of Pharaoh.  
2. It was to honor and favor his right-hand-man, Joseph
3. They were given the choice, fertile lands of Goshen
2. Israel grows from 70 to a land-full
1. They were fruitful
2. "aou paru"  -- like healthy trees
3. God's promise to Jacob is fulfilled
1. So Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.  Then God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob!”
2. And he said, “Here I am.”
3. So He said, “I am God, the God of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there.  --  Gen 46:1-3
2. The Blessing Becomes a Burden
1. The ruler of this world has ways to attempt to change God's blessing into a burden
1. The King Forgets
1. A new king
2. No memory of Israel's God
2. The King Assigns Taskmasters
1. v. 12 -- dread - a sickening feeling
2. v. 13 -- with rigor - to crush to pieces
3. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens…What taskmaster are afflicting you this day?
1. Is it the taskmaster of…
2. Popular Opinion?…
3. Pride?…
4. Bad Habits?…
1. Lying?…
2. Drinking?…
3. Adultery?…
4. Pornography?…
5. Gambling?…
3. As a minister was addressing a group of men, he took a large piece of paper and made a black dot in the center of it with a marking pen. Then he held the paper up before the group and asked them what they saw. One person quickly replied, “I see a black mark.” “Right,” the preacher replied. “What else do you see?” Complete silence prevailed. “Don’t you see anything other than the dot?” he asked. A chorus of noes came from the audience. “I’m really surprised,” the speaker commented. “You have completely overlooked the most important thing of all— the sheet of paper.” 
4. Then he made the application. He said that in life we are often distracted by small, dot-like disappointments or painful experiences, and we are prone to forget the innumerable blessings we receive from the hand of the Lord. But like the sheet of paper, the good things are far more important than the adversities that monopolize our attention.
1. This reminds me of a bit of verse which, though I admit is somewhat trite, does express good practical advice. Someone has written: “As you travel down life’s pathway, may this ever be your goal:/ Keep your eye upon the doughnut, and not upon the hole!”
2. Yes, rather than concentrating on the trials of life, we should fix our attention upon is blessings. Let us say with the psalmist, “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits” (Psalm 68:19).
3. The Blessing Prompts Threats
1. When the plans of the powerful are frustrated, they strike back ever harder.
1. The King Solicits Conspirators
1. Exodus 1:17 says the midwives did not kill the children because they “feared God.” What is the “fear of God?” The Hebrew word for fear in Exodus 1:17 is yare’, meaning, “to revere.” The Hebrew midwives “revered” the Lord or respected him. They were not afraid of God in the sense of thinking he was looking over them, ready to strike them dead the minute they committed a sin. How is the “fear of the Lord” important in the lives of Christians? Jeremiah 32:38-40 reveals why Christians should fear the Lord. These verses say,
2. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God: And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.
3. The Hebrew form of the word for fear in Jeremiah chapter thirty-two is also yare’ (v. 39). The Lord wants his people to fear him, or revere him, in order that they might enter into a relationship with him. The Lord desires for all to be his people, and he desires to be their God.
2. The King Threatens Death
1. This is the worst any Earthly ruler has to threaten - loss of life.
2. Ref: Mat. 2 -- Herod Threatens Death at Jesus' birth
3. Jesus took the sting out of that threat when He rose from the grave.
3. God had promised life
1. Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years.   And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions.  -- Gen. 15:13-14
1. Conclusion
1. None of the threats of Pharaoh could outweigh God's care and protection over His people.
2. Even as their opposition began to grow worse and worse, God continued to be with them and they thrived.
3. In a similar manner, Jesus has promised never to leave us nor forsake us.
4. In the midst of whatever opposition may come our way, we are called to look to God and thrive.
5. In her poem “The Parable of Tomorrow,” Ruth Gibbs Zwall offers this description of the Savior’s leading:
1. “I looked at the mountain. ‘It is too hard, Lord,’ I said; ‘I cannot climb.’
2. ‘Take My hand,’ He whispered; ‘I will be your strength.’
3. I saw the road, ‘It is too long, Lord,’ I said; ‘so rough and long.’
4. ‘Take My love,’ He answered; ‘I will guard your feet.’
5. I looked at the sky. ‘The sun is gone,’ I said; ‘already the way grows dark.’
6. ‘Take the lantern of My Word,’ He whispered; ‘that will be light enough.’
7. We climbed. The road was narrow and steep, but the way was bright.
8. And when the thorns reached out, they found His hand before they touched my own.
9. And when my path grew rough,
10. I knew it was His love that kept my feet from stumbling.
11. Then I grew very tired. ‘I can go no farther, Lord,’ I said.
12. He answered, ‘Night is gone.
13. Look up, My child.’ I looked and it was dawn. Green valleys stretched below.
14. ‘I can go on alone now,’ I said— and then I saw the marks.
15. ‘Lord, Thou art wounded. Thy hands are bleeding. Thy feet are bruised.
16. Was it for me?’
17. He whispered, ‘I did it gladly.’
18. Then I fell at His feet. ‘Lord, lead me on,’ I cried.
19. ‘No road too long, no valley too deep, if Thou art with me.’
20. We walk together now and shall forever!”