Exodus 11:1-10 "One Final Warning"

[Music] this evening we come to Exodus 11 and we'll look together at Excellus Exodus 11 verses 1 through 10 you'll find that in your pew Bible on page 53 Exodus 11 verses 1 through 10 where God's Word rhesus follows the Lord said to Moses yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt afterward he will let you go from here when he lets you go he will drive you away completely speak now in the hearing of the people that they ask every man of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor for silver and gold jewelry and the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt in the sight of Pharaoh's servants and in the sight of the people so Moses said thus says the Lord about midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the hand mill and all the firstborn of the cattle there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt such as there has never been nor ever will be again but not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel either man or beast that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel and all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me saying get out you and all the people who follow you and after that I will go out and he went out from Pharaoh and hot anger then the Lord said to Moses Pharaoh will not listen to you that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he did not let the people of Israel go out of his land so far the reading from God's Word this evening it's blessing to our hearts there was a brutal ending to the Second World War much time seems to have passed at least I'm sure it was the case for those who were serving in areas of combat after the Germans had surrendered in the Pacific campaign there was still much more fighting that was done and so there was a stubborn enemy the Empire of Japan which refused to admit admit defeat before the Allied forces and there was a slow and painful process in which the defeat of the Empire of Japan was made successively more and more certain now as part of the strategy of the Allied forces they would fly their bombers over Japan and they would fire bomb cities now to the modern mind that strategy seems unthinkable seems barbaric especially in our day of smart bombs and precision ordinances but when the Allied forces carried out their fire bombings of these cities they didn't do it without warning part of the strategy was to send bombers over these cities first and shower them with thousands upon thousands of leaflets in the Japanese language that warned the citizens that bombing was coming warning the citizens to get out of the city to spirits that they would be spared from the effects of these bombs and so there was a warning of the the looming doom that was hanging over that nation well the same thing is true in a very real sense and in a more urgent sense perhaps even here in this section of scripture where Moses gives to Pharaoh one last warning gives to the servants of the Egyptians one last warning that they would avoid the doom that is hanging over their nation it's a warning not from some generals from some Allied forces but it is a warning that comes from God himself who is at war with the Egyptians and God says to the Egyptians you will be humbled and my victory is certain so humble yourself before me today of course we know that the Pharaoh won't do that and so what we actually learned from this passage of Scripture is that God's power over Egypt is finally seen when they are humbled before his mighty power the warning comes they will not listen to the warning and so God's power is seen in humbling them to the fullest we're gonna learn that lesson by looking at two things from our passage we're gonna look at the victory predicted in verses 1 through 8 and then we want to see defeat predicted in verses 9 and 10 so we want to see God's power over Egypt seen when they humph they humble themselves when they're humbled before his mighty power we're gonna see victory predicted and defeat predicted so let's first think about victory predicted from verses 1 through 8 it's important as we begin this passage that we understand the overall flow where we are 11 verse 1 we have to understand it in light of 10 verse 28 and 29 there you have that last exchange with Pharaoh and Moses where Pharaoh tells Moses to get out of his presence that he will never see his face again in Moses responding by confirming what Pharaoh says it's true that he actually will never see his face again but Moses in chapter 11 is still in the presence of Pharaoh Moses hasn't departed from Pharaoh's presence and then comes back he is still in the presence of Pharaoh this is right after God has given relief from the plague of darkness the ninth plague that he brought upon the kingdom of Egypt and so here in verses one through three what you have really is a big giant paren the narrator Moses puts into this account where he inserts another part of God's commandments to show the overall victory that God wins over the Egyptian so one-two-three is it's a bracket at insert and then in verses 4 through 10 we pick back up in the presence of Pharaoh where Moses is still warning this obstinate and rebellious King so the essence of this text then is a continuation of what happens in the ninth plague the essence of it is a detailed prediction Pharaoh you have said you will not want me in your presence again and I will not return but know for certain for the last time that your nation will be brought to its knees and this is how you will know God is about to end the conflict with the Egyptians he said he's about to bring Pharaoh to his knees and the king will finally yield to the Lord the Lord says that to Moses in the first verse one more plague will I bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt and afterward he will let you go from here so the king has about to the king has almost served his whole purpose in the sight of God as important as Pharaoh might think that he is he really is just a puppet in the plan of God he's really just an instrument used by God to accomplish his purpose for the Egyptian nation and so God by the nine plagues so far has made known to Pharaoh has made known to the nations around Egypt and has even provided an object lesson for the children of Israel they have these plays have supplied knowledge then about God who he is and and so his purpose of revealing himself in these plagues being finished now he declares victory and he's going to declare victory in three very easily recognizable ways and he predicts them here in Chapter 11 the first one first sign of God's victory over the Egyptians is the plundering of the Egyptians by the slaves of Israel the second one is the death of the firstborn of Egypt compared to the protection of Israel and the third one is the pleading for the Egyptians to leave the pleading of the Egyptians for Israel to leave their land verses Pharaoh's insistence that he will never let them go that we have seen throughout these plague narratives so we want to look at each of those one at a time to understand how God is declaring victory and each of those circumstance the first one is the plundering of the Egyptians by the enslaved Israelites and so in verses one through three you have God speaking to Moses letting the people of Israel know that they are to gather jewelry from their Egyptian oppressors God commands his prophet to speak it says in verse two in the hearing of the people that seems like a fairly innocuous phrase but when you think about the plague narratives actually what you have here is a bookend it began with Moses doing something in the presence of the people and it's ending now in Moses doing something in the presence of the people so if you look back at Exodus 4 and verse 30 even before the war war between the Lord and and Pharaoh had begun God sends his prophet Moses to the Israelites and he tells him to do the signs in the sight of the people so now Moses is going to declare something in the sight of the people in the hearing of the people at the beginning it was doing something in the sight of the people that's not the people of Egypt that's the people of Israel so at the beginning and at the end God is speaking to his own people causing them to take notice of the events that are about to happen but in the message spoken to Israel there is a radical shift in their condition when we meet Israel even back in Exodus 2 we see an in crumbling under the bird and the harsh oppression of Pharaoh there they are groaning they are crying out to the Lord there are weak and enslaved with no hope of rescue but then God hears and God and His perfect providence delivers and that deliverance has been progressively building and now we're at the climax now we're at the at the the night before the deliverance of the people of Israel so where Israel at first was the lowest of the low where he was despised where he was oppressed where he was someone's property here in this passage of Scripture this chapter you see that the Lord is instead given them favor in the sight of the Egyptians now that's not typical of the slave master relationship when you have the favor of the master on the slave it's noteworthy you see it in the relationship of Joseph with his master in Genesis that's pointed out because it's unusual it's it's noteworthy the slave is not usually somebody who possesses but the slave is one who is possessed by another human being and so the Lord in that circumstance still instructs the enslaved people of Israel to ask their Egyptian oppression oppressors for jewelry for silver and for gold more than that the Lord makes the Egyptians have a favorable view of the Israelites and so in a sense the Israelites plunder the Egyptians Moses himself as the one mouthpiece of God who who must have been seen as one who brought so much ruin on the land of Egypt he also was held in high esteem by the people of Egypt and that is the fruit of their deliverance God has taken those who were slaves and he's about to restore them to set them free to deliver them out of bondage and really what you have in this deliverance this this this plundering of the isrealites of the Egyptians is the judgment of God being poured out on them on the Egyptians I know that because that's what the Bible says that's what the Bible teaches about the plundering of the Egyptians and you have to go back to Genesis 15 to see that promise manifests Genesis 15 God is speaking to Abram and he's telling Abram that his people will be afflicted for 400 years in a land not their own but God says at the end of it I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve and afterward they will come they shall come out with great possessions so Israel coming out of Egypt with great possessions is actually the culmination of the judgment of God on the nation of Egypt predicted four centuries ago and so that's what we see we see as part of God's judgment as part of his judgment on the Egyptians they're plundering the victory of God over this once mighty nation the second evidence of God's victory over the Egyptians is seen in the death of the firstborn son specifically as it's compared to the protection that God offers over Israel and you see that in verses 4 through 7 at midnight or in the middle of the night God is going to go out into the midst of the Egyptians and every firstborn son will die from the most important family to the very least and even to the animals now Pharaoh when we left him in Exodus 10 verse 29 was saying to Moses if I see you again paraphrase if I see you again you're a dead man that's what Pharoah was saying to Moses Moses agrees with him in part he says you'll never see me again but he adds this final warning this with a second way that the victory of Israel is going to be established and recognized again this final victory of God over the Egyptians is not a new idea is not something that God came up with after the ninth commandment this was something that was part of his plan all along when it came to the conquering of the Egyptians you see it in Exodus 4 and verse 22 there before any of the plagues have even come Moses is before fair and he's giving him warning Israel is God's firstborn that's what Moses says and so you must let God's son go God when he sends Moses tells him to say that let my son go that he may serve me if you refuse to let him go behold I will kill your firstborn son and so what you see in this conflict between the Lord and Pharaoh is Pharaoh holding on to one of God's possessions his his children his firstborn son Pharaoh has stubbornly in steadfastly refused and resisted the commands of God to release his son and now in a twist of irony God is taking the firstborn son of Egypt God in bringing defeat to his enemy is going to turn and strike Pharaoh at the very place where he thought himself so strong he thought himself as the Lord of the children of the God of the Hebrews but now his stubborn pride will cause him to lose all the firstborn sons of Egypt instead and so that's the second evidence of the victory of the Lord over the nation of Egypt because none of the children of Israel are afflicted in that way you see that in verse 7 not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel why that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel then there's the third evidence of the victory of the of the Lord over the Egyptians and that's that the Egyptians will actually plead for Israel's departure throughout all of the plagues Pharaoh has consistently refused to let the people of Israel go in plagues one through three and plague six it says that Pharaoh would not listen to the word of the Lord from Moses in plagues four five seven eight and nine it says that Pharaoh would not let the people go and explicitly it says in Exodus 10 verse 10 by the mouth of Pharaoh the Lord be with you if I ever let you and your little ones go that's been the mindset of Pharoah all along a refusal to yield a refusal to let the people of Israel go in the midst of all the turmoil in the midst of all the suffering in Egypt that has been the one constant the one constant thing Israel is going to stay but Moses the prophet of God speaking predictively tells this King how different things will actually be he tells this proud King how he actually will be a humbled Moses is not going to come to him to ask him to release the people of Israel that's not gonna happen instead the Pharaoh is going to come to Moses the king the once-proud King is going to come and plead with Moses that he and the people of Israel would depart the very thing that pharaoh had insisted on all along will fall by the wayside all of Egypt's control over Israel will be removed and they will be defeated before the Lord now these three things are the predicted points at which Egypt will be able to recognize that they have been defeated by the Lord of the Hebrews that they that Yahweh has victory over them now this is amplified of course that it is predictive in nature so when it actually happens we see it even more clearly but here already by way of warning God through His Prophet is telling the King what will happen that even at this late hour he be able to turn from it now we want to look next at the defeat predicted in verses 9 and 10 despite the warnings that God gives in Chapter 11 his design is constant Pharaoh's heart remains hard he does not listen to the Lord he will not listen to the Lord and the truth of the matter is that he cannot listen to the Lord I know that from Romans 8 and verse 7 where it says the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God for it does not submit to God's law indeed it cannot that's where Pharaoh is Pharaoh as a man of the flesh is hostile to God he does not submit to God's commandments indeed he cannot Pharaoh is dead in his sins he is a corpse he cannot act there is no way out for him now that is the biblical tension between the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man if God wills Pharaoh to do this and God's will cannot be resisted then would it not be unjust for God to hold Pharaoh accountable that's the argument that you hear from so many places if Pharaoh cannot but rebel if that's all he can do against God how can God at the same time punish him for that rebellion and before we think ourselves so clever with our logic and how we how we question God's sovereign rule over the world that very argument is addressed for us in Romans chapter 9 in Romans 9 using this very Old Testament narrative Paul is pursuing a hypothetical discussion about the sovereignty of God and Paul first debunks the notion that God is unjust to Pharaoh and he says in verse 14 of that chapter what shall we say then is there injustice on God's part and God says that he will have mercy on whom who ever he will and he hardens whoever he will now if that is the case is it in fact right to charge God with wrongdoing for demanding something of his creature that his creature can't deliver because that's what God's doing when he sends Moses into the presence of Pharaoh he demands a pharaoh subjection to his commandments but we know from Romans 8 that Pharaoh in the flesh can't subject or can't obey the commandments of God and again before we think ourselves very clever Paul anticipates that very question in Romans 9 and in Romans 9 after saying that Pharaoh was raised up for that very purpose in verse 19 he asks this hypothetical question coming from the mouth of his critic why does he that's God still find fault for who can resist his will that's the very questioning that we've been talking about together and what is the answer that scripture gives it's not maybe a very satisfying answer for those of us who think that we have the right to sit in judgment over the Word of God but it says this scriptures answers this who are you oh man to answer back to God has the Potter know right over the clay so what's the argument of paulin in romans 9 well he's saying God the Creator has made Pharaoh for this specific purpose and God the Creator is well within his rights to do just that he is the maker of heaven and earth and so the defeat of Pharaoh far from being unjust is simply God's plan from the very start of the plague narratives that God's plan of redemption would be men fest and made clear in the lives of his people right at the beginning of these plague narratives well actually while God's calling Moses out of Midian in Chapter three of Exodus verse 19 he says this to Moses I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand so I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it after that he will let you go all of this working in the plague narratives all of these destructive hardships that come upon the people of Egypt they're all manifestations of God's rule over his creation so as you think about God's victory predicted in those three different ways and the defeat of Pharaoh predicted we think of that account in the context of the breadth of Scripture and we come away with two warnings from this dire prediction that Moses makes in the presence of Pharaoh the first one is a warning to the unbeliever and that warning is that the defeat of the unbeliever is unavoidable now that should be alarming for those of you here tonight who do not believe now and I'm not talking about people who have no exposure to Christianity I'm not talking about the rank pagan I'm not talking about the one who has never heard the gospel before I'm talking about those here in this building right now who know the truth maybe have heard it their whole lives and yet no pay no attention to the truth of God's Word maybe you live as if God is not all that important maybe you see God as one of your choices but not the center of your life I'm talking to you who are called by his name but who never consider his words who are called by his name but never acknowledge your need of him in prayer who are called by his name but have to be compelled to come and worship Him that's what Ferro is in some sense Pharaoh is familiar with a theological terminology of the worship of the God of the Hebrews he knows God's command he has been warned repeatedly he's come face-to-face with God's power in a very personal way talk about an experiential call out of to repentance that's Pharaoh Pharaoh knows what it means to be under the heavy hand of the Lord and and still he says no the only difference between the people that are gathered here who are living in unbelief and Pharaoh is that Pharaoh didn't actually consider himself to be part of God's people but the warning is identical the warning is the same the warning to you who are living that way is this God will be victorious you will not be able to stand against him in Psalm 2 it talks about the kings of the earth and the rulers taking counsel together saying let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us talking about Leda coming together to to band together to live in rebellion against the god of creation well what's that passage of scriptures response to this boastful statement from the kings of the earth it says he who sits in the heavens laughs the Lord holds them in derision if you are a student of the Bible or if you know of the content of the Bible you should be terrified of standing in opposition against the Lord sometimes we think just the super rebellious are the enemies of God right the people who are way out there and it's it's obvious that they hate God because of the great acts of immorality that they are committing but the apathetic are actually much worse the people who know of God and have no use for him for them the God of heaven and earth is of no consequence they treat the God of heaven and earth with disdain the book of Revelation describes these kinds of people as lukewarm water in God's mouth he will he will spit them out his judgments will fall on them without any warning that's the doom of Pharaoh and the doom of Pharaoh is only a small foretaste of the final doom that belongs to all who do not place their faith in the Lord God Almighty so there's a warning to the unbeliever that we can draw out of this passage as it sits in the overall context of Scripture but in this passage we also see a foretaste of the victory of the Christian if Pharaoh is all doom the picture we get from Israel is one of great hope great encouragement Israel and sense paints an opposite picture to Pharaoh the slave is exalted the oppressed is lifted high the poor man is made rich now never in Scripture is this progression presented as the norm for the believer in terms of a material blessing that's that's you know going up our bank account is always getting bigger so to speak but but in the Exodus it is a picture of the special blessing and of God honest people and their vindication so that applies to us as well there is a special blessing that rests on the people of God where they will be vindicated through Christ we also are led out of a land of slavery it is a spiritual slavery it's a spiritual bondage to sin through Christ the hard heart of stone that we possess in the natural man is softened and is replaced with a heart of flesh we were dead like Pharaoh dead as dead could be but God made us alive Christ in the flesh we are in change in the flesh we're enslaved to the world the flesh and the devil but now now we are rich in Christ in him are all the spiritual treasures we are shares in the splendor of heaven our eyes are directed there by the Holy Spirit and so through Christ the believers is refreshed in that knowledge the knowledge that we have new birth the knowledge that we are made alive by Christ in essence the chains of our slavery have fallen off our wrists and we are free free as free can be we had a brutal slave master who was always accusing us who is always mocking us who is always castigating us and he has been defeated by our Savior we are vindicated because we are called by his name and being called by his name he has made us new in our desires he has given us new affections of the heart we live as citizens of a new land no longer in the land of Egypt the land of our bondage but in the land of promise the land flowing with milk and honey our hearts are no longer set on the rebellion of Pharaoh's people the word of the Lord has come it has been ignored by the Egyptians but now there is one more step People of God there is one more thing that we are waiting for because our before our vindication is final before our vindication is perfected the return of Christ that's all we're waiting for is the return of Christ and it says in God's Word that his return is imminent it is the only part of his work of redemption that still remains in complete his return on the clouds of heaven and scripture says to us that he will come that he will gather his people to himself that he will bring them into their inheritance and it's not an inheritance that will spoil or fade but it's an inheritance that endures eternally so there's a foretaste of victory for the Christian so as we come to this last warning that God gives through Moses his prophet to this proud king of Egypt the we really come face to face with dreadful words their words of terror really if you think for a minute from the perspective of Pharaoh and the Egyptians God the God who has ruined the whole land is giving them one final warning where he tells him exactly how he's going to Humble them and bring them to an end of themselves he tells them that the rich oppressors will be made poor that Israel will leave rich that the firstborn of God will go free but the firstborn of Egypt will all die Pharaoh's stubborn refusal to let Israel go will turn into pleading that they in fact will leave his land it's a complete reversal of everything that we've seen in these plague narratives so far Egypt is totally defeated and Israel go out Israel will go out as God had always said that they would because the enemies of the Lord have no hope of victory it seems trite but the exhortation to all mankind is not to not be the enemy of the Lord any day God's offer of redemption is made freely to you do not despise it today but look to Christ for freedom freedom from your bondage to Egypt freedom from your spiritual poverty look to Christ for freedom from your sin because only in him is victory and eternal vindication found let's pray together

Channel: Cliffwood Presbyterian Church

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Length: 35min 59sec (2159 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 25 2020