Grace According to Moses Exodus 1:17-2:14

Exodus 1:17-2:14 (NIV)

¹⁷ The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. ¹⁸ Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, "Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?"

 ¹⁹ The midwives answered Pharaoh, "Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive."

 ²⁰ So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. ²¹ And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.

 ²² Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: "Every boy that is born ^{[b] you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live."}

^{Exodus 2}

 ^{1 Now a man of the house 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, 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 river bank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl 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. And 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, [c] saying, "I drew him out of the water."}

^{Moses Flees to Midian}

 ^{11 One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. 12 Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, "Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?"}

 ^{14 The man said, "Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?" Then Moses was afraid and thought, "What I did must have become known."}

^{Exodus 1:8-14 (NIV)}

     ^{Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt. 9 "Look," he said to his people, "the Israelites have become much too numerous for us. 10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country."}

 ^{11 So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites 13 and worked them ruthlessly. 14 They made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their hard labor the Egyptians used them ruthlessly.}

^{1. We will only find ultimate spiritual freedom when God is the ultimate person we worship}

^{Philippians 4:11-13 (NIV)}

     ^{I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13I can do everything through him who gives me strength.} 

^{2. It is especially when God seems most distant and absent that He is working through our struggles behind the scenes to prepare for our salvation}

^{Num 12:3 (NIV)}

     ^{Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.}

^{Be encouraged – we would not be seeking God if He was not already seeking us first and already working to prepare us to meet with Him}

^{3. In God’s way of salvation, He is especially drawn to those who admit and know that they are weak and powerless}

^{Exodus 1:15 (NIV)}

     ^{The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah}

^{Exodus 1:20 (NIV)}

     ^{So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous.}

^{Luke 9:29-31 (NIV)}

     ^{As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. 30Two men, Moses and Elijah, 31appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.}

^{4. Moses points to the ultimate Moses, found in Jesus who is our ultimate salvation whose strength we depend on for our complete salvation}