May please the Lord to bless
us this evening, we'll continue our meditation in the Acts of
the Apostles, chapter 7, and this evening we'll consider the
section from verse 17 to verse 29. As you will remember, this
is the statement that Stephen gave before the Sanhedrin, and
he'd gone right back to Abraham and he was tracing from Abraham
God's gracious hand upon his people. And this evening we have
read together in that second chapter of Exodus really the
part which Stephen now refers to. So from verse 17 we read,
But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn
to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, till another
king arose which knew not Joseph. And it's interesting to note
of course that he's speaking here of the time which is drawing
nigh, in actual fact it still had about 80 years to run, but
nonetheless it was coming near. And the lesson to us perhaps
is to think that when we understand things are going to occur, perhaps
quite soon, it may be a much longer delay than we may anticipate. God's purposes had to be worked
out in a most remarkable way. And as they were worked out in
a most remarkable way in the life of Moses and the children
of Israel. So we should not forget that
God is the same Almighty God today. There may be things in
our lives which have to be worked out and they are worked out. But they are worked out in accordance
with God's timing and not our timing. We know that God's timing
is perfect. We know that the way that the
Lord leads is perfect. And we know the result that God
brings about is perfect. So we should not be surprised
sometimes that things appear to be delayed, but in fact they
are all working together for good. So we recognise that these
truths that Stephen was able to declare fulfils the word of
God. And he says, to another king
arose which knew not Joseph, and previously we consider the
life of Joseph, and how throughout his life, of course, Israel had
been greatly favoured and blessed, as they come into that land of
Canaan and have been favoured, or Egypt rather, and have been
favoured and encouraged. the king had died and Joseph
had died and now there was a far more difficult situation so the
king arose in the same doubt subtly with our kindred and evil
entreated our fathers so that they cast out their young children
to the end they might not live there was a decree that went
out from the king that all the baby boys should be killed. What a terrible thing that was. And then we read at which time
Moses was born. And he was exceedingly fair and
nourished up in his father's house three months. And when
he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up and nourished him
for her own son. Well, because he wasn't quite
cast out in that way, as we know he was put in that ark of bulrushes
and placed among the rushes and his sister was watching over
the situation to see what developed and we know that Pharaoh's daughter
came down to bathe, to wash and it was then that she saw this
ark and she called for it to be brought And when she opened
it, there was Moses. And he cried. And Miriam, his
sister, came forth. And we see that the princess
recognised the need for a nurse and told Miriam to go and call
for a nurse. And of course she came and called
for her mother. And we must recognise here God's
overruling providence Quite amazing, wasn't it, that this princess
should come down at the very time and see this ark and then
in a way that she dealt with it right against the laws and
the rules and the commands of her father. She was so willing
to disobey those laws. And we should observe that in
those days, of course, it was a terrible thing to disobey the
law of a king. notwithstanding whatever position
you might be in, and that she wouldn't have been exempt from
being severely criticised or perhaps even losing her life
for disobeying the law of the king, especially with respect
to this situation. But nonetheless we see the Lord
appearing. And may these things be encouraging
to us today. The things which are impossible
with men are possible with God. Who would have thought The Lord
would have planned such a great situation to develop and would
prove that through this way his people would be led forth by
this little bay in this ark in the bulrushes by the river. So we read, And when he was cast
out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up and nourished him for
her own son. And Moses was learned in all
the wisdom of the Egyptians. It was mighty in words and deeds.
And we're thankful to the Lord to give details of this in such
an account. The account that we read didn't
give details like this. We see how the Word of God all
beautifully is interwoven and we see extra bits put in to encourage
us to realise the wonder of it. And so here was Moses then, taken
from his mother, from that humble situation, living in Egypt and
now to be found living in the palace of Pharaoh. And not only
living there but learning all the wisdom of the Egyptians and
was mighty in words and in deeds. You may remember that many years
after Moses said he was not eloquent. He said that he wasn't able to
speak. That was the work of God has
shown him his inability really in the sight of God. He didn't
make out he was a great person. I believe the work of God brings
a man or woman down low in their own esteem. That was quite clearly
what happened to Moses. He was brought down in his own
esteem. And so we are thankful that he
was. learned in all the wisdom of
the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds. And of
course this was necessary. God knew what he would do. And God today knows what he would
do and will do. In our lives, the purposes which
you and I pass through may not always seem to make any sense
at the time. But if we look back, we see nevertheless
afterward, we realise God's hand has perhaps been upon us. And
I believe it may be upon us like this to bring us down in our
own esteem for the great reason to raise up Christ so that we
view Him and we see the beauty and we see the need in the Lord
Jesus Christ which we would never see unless the Lord brought us
down in our own esteem. So we see Moses brought down
in his own esteem. And when he was then full 40
years old, well he spent many years in Pharaoh's palace. We
don't know precisely how old he was. When he went there he
looked after of course by his mother initially, but no doubt,
well over 30 years he spent in the palace of Pharaoh. And then he decided, it came
into his heart, you might think, well, what was that? It was a
movement of the Spirit of God. It came into his heart. His heart
was moved. What a good thing it is when
our hearts are moved by the Spirit of God. It's not just some theory
in our mind. We're moved by the Spirit of
God. And this man here, this man Moses,
was moved by the Spirit of God. He came into his heart to visit
his brethren, the children of Israel. And again, to follow
through the detail, we might think, well surely that was something
which was quite obvious and no doubt we should expect that to
happen, but it would appear from this that it wasn't something
which he generally did. But now there was an appointed
time and we see the chain of events in Moses' life. And we see his reaction, seeing
one of them suffer wrong, he defended him and avenged him
that was oppressed and smote the Egyptian. He smote the Egyptian. He killed the Egyptian. And then
we understand what he was feeling in his heart. For he supposed
his brethren would have understood how God by his hand would deliver
them. Clearly the Lord had been instructing
Moses all those years, and he'd been instructing him, and speaking
to him, and blessing him, and giving him the evidence that
he would be that one, chosen by God to deliver his people
out of Egypt. Now clearly he would have had
no idea how that was to develop. Nonetheless, he had this very
deep exercise in his heart that God had called him and therefore
he expected it to be evident to these people that he was to
deliver. But we read, but they understood
not. That was a blow, wasn't it? That
was a blow to him. Sometimes a blow to us. We might
think people would understand our position. Surely they can
see what God is doing for us. Surely what God is preparing
us for. But you see, God sometimes blinds
people's eyes. Not that they would not see,
but their eyes are blinded so that his purposes may be revealed. And no flesh or glory in their
own situation. And then we read, and the next
day, He showed himself unto them, as they strove, and would have
set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren. Why do
ye wrought wrong one to another? But he that did his neighbour
wrong thrust him away, saying, Who may be a ruler and a judge
over us? Would thou kill me, as thou didst
the Egyptian yesterday? See, Moses made well a thought
that that which had occurred no one would have seen. But God sees and God knows the
purpose, and God clearly gave sight to some who observed what
had occurred. And no doubt the news travelled
very fast. So Moses was in danger. And what we then read, they say,
they'll kill me, As I did see Egyptian yesterday, then fled
Moses at the same, and was a stranger in the land of Midian, where
he begat two sons." Well, Moses' life, how it changed. The affluency
of the palace to the back side of the desert. What a change. He learnt a lot in the palace
of Pharaoh. He learnt a lot in the backside
of the desert. God knows what we each need in
preparation for his work. And so we see the wonderful account
of Moses and we see how God graciously dealt with him and prepared him
for that great work he was to do. We'll leave it there. May God bless his word. Amen.