Sermon #4                                                                                                 Exodus Series

 

     Title:                         Our Pain and God’s Purpose

     Text:                         Exodus 1:1-14

     Subject:          Understanding Painful Experiences

     Date:                         Tuesday Evening — November 22, 2005

     Tape #             Exodus 4

     Readings:        David Burge & Rex Bartley

     Introduction:

 

I pray that God the Holy Spirit will enable me to speak comfortably to your hearts tonight about our pain and God’s purpose.

 

(Exodus 1:1)  “Now these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt; every man and his household came with Jacob.”

 

After coming into the land of Egypt, the children of Israel enjoyed, for about thirty years, a time of great abundance and prosperity. I say that this time of peace and prosperity lasted about thirty years because the Lord God told Abraham that the Egyptians would “afflict them four hundred years” (Gen. 15:13; Acts 7:6). Yet, we are told in Exodus 12:40 that “the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egyptwas “four hundred and thirty years.” So their time in Egypt was 430 years; and 400 of those years were years of bondage and affliction, pain and suffering, toil and bitterness, as strangers in a hostile land.

 

About 30 years after they first came into Egypt, “there arose a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph” (v. 8), and Israel’s woes began. We read about them in verses 9-14. This king who knew not Joseph…

 

(Exodus 1:9-14)  “…said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: (10) Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. (11) Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. (12) But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. (13) And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: (14) And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.”

 

God promised his blessings upon the children of Israel. In his covenant with Abraham, he swore that he was going to drive out their enemies and give them the land of Canaan, making them possessors of that land flowing with milk and honey. And all of this was to be done as a typical picture of the redemption and salvation of God’s elect by Christ.

 

Some Questions

 

In light of that fact, in light of the fact that God had revealed his purpose of goodness and grace to the chosen people, I cannot help asking some questions. — Why did God send Israel into Egypt? — Why did he leave them there for 430 years? — Why did he allow the Egyptians to treat them with barbaric cruelty for 400 years? — Why did the Lord cause his people to suffer so much pain for so long, before fulfilling his promise and bringing them out by the mighty hand of his grace?

 

Find the answer to those questions, and you will get some understanding of his providence, you will be able to see and see clearly that the pains we experience in this world by God’s providence and grace are pains brought upon us by God’s eternal purpose of grace toward us in Christ, by the purpose of him who “worketh all things after the counsel of his own will that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.”

 

Six Answers

 

I have searched the Scriptures and have found six answers to those questions. You might want to find a piece of paper and jot them down. I believe you will find them worth remembering.

 

1.    God brought all of Israel into Egypt by one man, because he had purposed and promised to bring them out of Egypt by one man, to the praise of his glory.

 

How did the chosen seed, the covenant children of Abraham get into the mess they were in in Egypt? The answer is plainly stated in Exodus 1:1.

 

(Exodus 1:1)  “Now these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt; every man and his household came with Jacob.”

 

Every man and his household came with Jacob.” — They came into this land of bondage and sorrow with their father Jacob. He was the one who brought them there. Notice, in this place the Holy Spirit uses his name “Jacob,” not “Israel.” Every time he does so, throughout the Scriptures, there is a reason.

·       Jacob” speaks of the natural man, fallen and sinful. It means “supplanter.”

·       Israel” speaks of the spiritual man. It is the new name God gave Jacob, the new name given to all the sons of Jacob in free and sovereign grace in Christ. “Israel” means “God prevails.” Israel is a prince with God.

·       The children of “God prevails” were brought into Egyptian bondage by one sinful man.

 

I am sure you see the significance of this already. — You and I were brought into the place of spiritual bondage and death with our father, Adam (Rom. 5:12).

 

(Romans 5:12)  “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:”

 

But this was no accident. Israel was brought into Egyptian bondage because God had purposed and promised, long before any of those who came into bondage were ever born, that he would bring them out by a mighty deliverer, in justice and grace, to the praise of his glory. God’s promise to Abraham was, “That nation whom they shall serve will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance” (Gen. 15:14).

 

All this was connected with a sacrifice required, provided, and accepted by God (Gen. 15:8-11) and a covenant made with Abraham (Gen. 15:17-21).

 

(Genesis 15:8-11)  “And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? (9) And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. (10) And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. (11) And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.”

 

(Genesis 15:17-21)  “And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. (18) In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: (19) The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, (20) And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, (21) And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

 

The sin and fall of Adam and of all the human race in him was no accident. It came to pass because God our Father, before ever the world was made, purposed to save his people by another Representative Man, by another Substitute, even his own dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, the Sacrifice he required, provided, and accepted, with whom he made for us an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure, “to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved” (Rom. 5:12-21).

 

(Romans 5:12-21)  “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (13) (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. (14) Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. (15) But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. (16) And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. (17) For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) (18) Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. (19) For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. (20) Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: (21) That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”

 

The only reason Egypt existed was that that nation might provide a place for God to show his grace to Israel. The only reason God raised up Pharaoh was to display his sovereign power and goodness in saving his people (Rom. 9:13-18). So it is with the entire world. The world is the cradle God created to receive his children, the house he created to provide for their carnal needs, the stage he created to display his wisdom, goodness, grace and glory in saving his people by his Son, for the praise of his glory.

 

2.    God brought Israel into bondage in Egypt to show his great displeasure against sin.

 

The thing that Joseph’s brethren did in selling him into bondage was precisely according to God’s purpose. But the holy Lord God shows us repeatedly that though he uses the evil devices of men to accomplish his purpose (Ps. 76:10), he neither forces the wicked to do evil, nor approves of the evil done. Every man is responsible for his wicked works, and must suffer the consequences of them, either personally or in Christ, the sinner’s Substitute.

·       Joseph’s brethren sold him into bondage because they intended to do him evil; but God used it to perform good (Gen. 50:20).

·       David murdered Uriah and took his wife, and his deeds displeased the Lord; but God used his evil deeds to bring his Son into the world. — It was through David and Bathsheba that Christ came into the world.

·       The Jews delivered our Savior up to be crucified, performing their own wicked wills; but the Lord God used their deeds of wickedness to accomplish his purpose of grace in redeeming our souls (Acts 2:23).

 

3.    The Lord God brought Israel into Egyptian bondage for 400 years, because he had told Abraham he would not fulfill his promise to give Israel the land of Canaan, that he would not destroy the Amorites until they had filled their iniquity (Gen. 15:16).

 

(Genesis 15:16)  “But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.”

 

God had told Abraham that his seed should sojourn in a strange land for four hundred years, but in the fourth generation they would come out and take possession of Canaan, because only then would the iniquity of the Amorites be filled up. The time for God to deal with the Amorites in judgment was not fully ripe, their iniquities had not reached the bound God had appointed, until Israel had been in bondage for 400 years. — Judgment is always just. God would not destroy the Amorites (vessels of wrath) in his wrath until they were “fitted for destruction” by their wickedness.

 

·       The Spirit of God would not allow the Gospel to be preached to the Gentiles until the Jews had filled up their sins (1 Thess. 2:16).

·       Our Lord says to the reprobate, as he did to the Pharisees of his day, “Fill ye up the measure of your fathers” (Matt. 23:32).

 

“Whatever the actings of men in wickedness and high-handed rebellion, they are made subservient to the establishment of the Divine counsels of grace and love...Even the wrath of man is yoked to the chariot wheel of God’s decrees” (Ed. Dennett).

 

4.    Israel was brought down to Egypt and remained in that land of darkness, bondage, and bitterness for 400 years, because the Lord God was preparing for himself a people.

 

The Lord God gave the land to the chosen nation back in Genesis 15. But Abraham had no children to possess it. And the land of Canaan was a huge, rich land. It would take a huge nation to possess it. So the Lord God gave Abraham a son, and through his son seventy more sons. And during the next 430 years he gave him millions of sons and made them willing and ready to take possession of Canaan at the appointed time. So it is with us. — All the boundless blessings of grace and glory were given to us in Christ before the world began (Eph. 1:3-6). — The New Jerusalem is a huge city, to be inhabited and possessed by a multitude that no man can number. — And it is written of our Lord Jesus Christ, — “A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation” (Ps. 22:30). Our God is here preparing for himself a people. And when the number of his elect has been fulfilled, deliverance will come! He is not slack concerning his promise. He is not willing that any of his chosen perish; and they shall not perish. Our God is preparing his people for their prepared place…

·       By Redemption.

·       By Regeneration.

·       By the Resurrection.

 

5.    The Lord God left Israel in Egypt for 400 years, so that he might display his sovereign goodness and grace in delivering them.

 

The deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage typified and foreshadowed the redemption of sinners by Christ. The land of Egypt vividly portrays the place and the state of God’s people in this world. Here we are, by nature, in a place and state of darkness, rebellion, and death, in total opposition to God. But as God stepped into that place and brought Israel out, so he steps into this world and delivers the objects of his love, snatching us as brands from the burning, “to the praise of the glory of his grace.

·       In Redemption.

·       In Regeneration.

·       In the Resurrection.

 

6.    And the Lord God left Israel in toiling in bondage in Egypt, to suffer hatred, oppression, and bitterness to teach us something about our trials in this world.

 

Their bitter experiences in Egypt and their many trials in the wilderness were designed by God to make them long for the land that flowed with milk and honey and to make that fair and happy land more glorious and them more thankful once they took possession of it. Therefore, the Lord God graciously, wisely, and with deliberate measure used the malice of Pharaoh and the Egyptians to make his people “serve with rigor. And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage.”

 

Holy Spirit Conviction — When the appointed time of love has come when the Lord God will deliver chosen, redeemed sinners from the kingdom of this world and translate them into the kingdom of his dear Son, he begins his work of grace by making their lives bitter. By providence and by grace, he graciously, sweetly forces them and makes them willing in the day of his power to come to Christ, trusting him. Our God knows how to bring sinners down, that he may lift them up (Ps. 107:1-43; Lam. 3:1-32).

 

(Psalms 107)  “O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. (2) Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy; (3) And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south. (4) They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in. (5) Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. (6) Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses. (7) And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation. (8) Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! (9) For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. (10) Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; (11) Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most High: (12) Therefore he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help. (13) Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses. (14) He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder. (15) Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! (16) For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder. (17) Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. (18) Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near unto the gates of death. (19) Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses. (20) He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. (21) Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! (22) And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing. (23) They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; (24) These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep. (25) For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. (26) They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. (27) They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit’s end. (28) Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. (29) He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. (30) Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven. (31) Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! (32) Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders. (33) He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground; (34) A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein. (35) He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into watersprings. (36) And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation; (37) And sow the fields, and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase. (38) He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly; and suffereth not their cattle to decrease. (39) Again, they are minished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow. (40) He poureth contempt upon princes, and causeth them to wander in the wilderness, where there is no way. (41) Yet setteth he the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him families like a flock. (42) The righteous shall see it, and rejoice: and all iniquity shall stop her mouth. (43) Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the LORD.”

 

(Lamentations 3:1-32)  “I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. (2) He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light. (3) Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day. (4) My flesh and my skin hath he made old: he hath broken my bones. (5) He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail. (6) He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old. (7) He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy. (8) Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer. (9) He hath enclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked. (10) He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places. (11) He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate. (12) He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. (13) He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins. (14) I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day. (15) He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood. (16) He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes. (17) And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity. (18) And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD: (19) Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. (20) My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. (21) This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. (22) It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. (23) They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. (24) The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. (25) The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. (26) It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD. (27) It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. (28) He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him. (29) He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope. (30) He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach. (31) For the Lord will not cast off for ever: (32) But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.”

 

The Believer’s Trials — After saving us by his grace, the believer continually lives in this world; and the longer we live in this body of flesh the more we find this to be a land of bondage and bitterness from which we long to be free. And that is precisely the intention of our God in sending them (2 Cor. 4:17; 1 Pet. 1:3-9).

 

(2 Corinthians 4:17)  “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”

 

Whenever I begin to think my burden is too heavy, that my pains are too many, that my trials are too great, and that my sorrows are to much to bear, I try to remember that these are but my “light afflictions.”

 

·       They are “light afflictions,” when I recall what my blessed Savior endured to save me (Lam. 1:12).

 

(Lamentations 1:12)  “Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.”

 

·       They are “light afflictions,” when I remember what I deserve!

·       They are “light afflictions,” when I think about the things others have suffered and are suffering.

·       And they are “light afflictions,” when I realize the glory awaiting me.

 

(1 Peter 1:3-9)  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (4) To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, (5) Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (6) Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: (7) That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: (8) Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: (9) Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.”

 

Unto us are given “exceeding great and precious promises,” and these are the promises of God who cannot lie. — “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God!” — Rest, then, my soul, with implicit confidence on the sure Word, forever settled in heaven, of the Lord God, my Savior!

 

(Romans 8:18)  “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

 

I send you hope and bid you “Happy Thanksgiving!” How happy we should be to give thanks to our God for every pain as well as for every pleasing thing, because both are performed by our God, according to his good purpose of grace; and by these things he is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory than we have ever imagined.