Exodus 9 - 2011 - Skip Heitzig

[Music] welcome to expound our weekly worship and verse by verse study of the Bible our goal is to expand your knowledge of the truth of God by explaining the Word of God in a way that is interactive enjoyable and congregational we call this a textual community let's rejoice and learn God's Word in an interactive and enjoyable new way why don't we pray together our Father in Heaven how grateful we are to be a part of a family the family of God that you have called us into you're our Heavenly Father you sent your son to die that we might have life and have it everlasting forevermore and that makes us unique brothers and sisters as part of a spiritual family that brings a responsibility to help train one another up and encourage each other in the common faith help us to do that and thank you Lord for the Bible the revelation of your working throughout history in the lives of men and women help us to understand and to understand its application again we remember the words of Paul who said these things were written before time for our admonition and we thank you for them in Jesus name Amen superstitions come from pagan religions not always but often you'll find that many superstitions that people hold will trace their roots back to paganism and that's simply because pagan religions taught their adherents to be morbidly afraid of their gods they didn't live in peace and joy like we know it in our relationship with Yahweh the Covenant God they were in fear of their gods here's an example if you were to go back hundreds of years into medieval Europe and paganism prevailed at many places like in Germany and Holland and let's say two friends met in the forest let's call one Hans and one France just for the sake of the illustration and so Hans walks up to Franz and says hey Hans I bought a new house and Franz would go oh das he's good and Hans would say yeah and I got it for a good price - and they'd all get so happy and then they would realise their mistake and quickly run to the nearest tree and start knocking hard on the tree because they believed that the gods of the forest lived in the trees and were listening in on people's conversations and would become jealous and angry and filled with avarice over any joy that mankind would have on the earth and so to make the gods living in the trees flea they would beat on the tree trunks and that's where the old expression comes from knock on wood and so you people say yep it's been a good week knock on wood all of that has its stem in paganism from that time well the people of Egypt were also very superstitious and they worshipped many different gods I counter list today of known gods verified gods so they think there were hundreds of a hundred and twelve different named gods over different jurisdictions in the Egyptian Pantheon now Pharaoh who was considered deity as well said to Moses and to Aaron and we've been referring back to that conversation several chapters ago he said who is the Lord that I should obey Him and we've been discovering that God is happy to introduce himself to Pharaoh through several attention-getting plagues so Pharaoh will not only know who he is but know how great he is much more so than any of his gods and goddesses now I'm gonna I'm gonna risk something a little bit I'm going to date myself how many here and I want an honours show of hands how many here remember a television commercial called kennel raishin raise your hands you remember that do you remember the song to it go ahead sing it no it's it's it goes like this it goes my dog straight not one sing it my dogs better than okay my dog's better than your dog my dog's better than yours you all know it my dog's better cuz it gets kennel racing my dogs better than yours lets you sang it like a hymn or something well when I read this I picture Moses and Aaron smiling and singing My gods better than your gods My gods better because he brings indignation my gods better than yours and indeed Yahweh the only living and true God is able to go up against all of these false gods and goddesses in the Egyptian Pantheon and take them on God is getting Pharaoh's attention being very gracious to him hoping that he'll turn giving him ten chances to repent plenty of warning in advance but he doesn't turn God has interesting ways to get the attention of world rulers several years ago when I was in Jordan I met with the princess of Jordan part of the royal family at the time her name was sharifa zayn and she was a direct descendant of Muhammad the Prophet very steeped in Islam very gracious lady a wonderful lady classically trained and we were there distributing shoeboxes throughout the country of Jordan and she was part of this project she loved the fact that there were people in other parts of the world that packed gifts and they did it in the name of Jesus to bless people in other parts of the world well this this Muslim princess cited her own people saying why is it that the Christians of this world are the ones that are getting our attention and giving our children gifts and we we in our religion don't do any of that those were her words God was getting her attention through those boxes well in the same trip I also made it over into Baghdad Iraq when Saddam Hussein was in power and I met with a couple of his ministers including the minister of Religious Affairs and he interviewed us one night and it was put on national television and I'll never forget what he said he said you know we've always thought that the Christians in the West hated us but now we know by this gesture that the Christians in the West love us and and I was seeing how the Lord uses simple things and simpler people to get the attention of even world rulers and God is doing that but in much more dramatic ways here why dramatic ways well I think it depends on the makeup of the person some people you don't have to really do much you can just nudge them and they'll they'll get the message you know you can speak to them and they'll believe others have to be persuaded others are more stiff-necked more stubborn well God can take both of those types on he can nudge you gently and if you don't want to listen God has Vaes of getting your attention and he definitely gets his attention now something we noted about the plagues the last couple of times and I bring it up because you'll find this in most literature that speaks about the plagues the plagues seem to at least mirror natural occurrences that is we have on record in the annals of history similar plagues natural phenomenon that happened in Egypt before and after the time of Moses they're similar to this so it's as if God is using natural phenomenon but these plagues are heightened by supernatural factors so think of it that way natural phenomenon heightened by supernatural factors now I'm going to read a document to you or a portion of a document found in a Jewish source it's a document that has been discovered from the general time of Moses and it was written by a critic an unknown social and political critic it is called the admonitions of Apple where let me just read it to you the Nile is in flood but no one plows for himself because every man says we do not know what may happen throughout the land many are dead and buried in the river the river is blood if one drinks of it one rejects it and thirst for water the homes are destroyed barbarians from outside have come into Egypt such as our water such as our welfare what can we do about it we're going to ruin laughter has disappeared and is no longer made it is wailing that pervades the land mixed with lamentation it's as if we're reading a source about possibly these very events that occurred during the time of Moses now in Chapter nine we come to the fifth plague in the lineup of ten plagues it's the fifth time Moses will say to Pharaoh in the name of the Lord let my people go and this time it's a plague of a pestilence a severe pestilence verse 1 then the Lord said to Moses go into Pharaoh and tell him thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews let my people go that they may serve me now I want you to notice that the freedom that God wants for his people is not just freedom for the sake of freedom but freedom in order that they might worship and serve the Lord let them go that they may serve me not that let them go because they have human rights although that's important but first and foremost let them go because they belong to me and they're going to use that freedom to worship and serve the Lord but or for verse 2 if you refuse to let them go and still hold them behold the hand of the Lord will be upon your cattle in the field stop remember last week when the Egyptian priests after one of the plagues said this is the finger of the Lord remember that statement this is the finger of the Lord well if that was the finger this is the whole hand and you're gonna notice that the plagues become much more intense and much more severe until the final the tenth the death of the firstborn the whole the hand of the Lord will be upon your cattle in the field and on the horses on the donkeys on the camels on the oxen on the Sheep of very severe pestilence we don't exactly know what this pestilence was nobody does lots of different guesses apparently at some infectious disease some commentators say an anthrax like condition perhaps but we don't know it is more severe than any of the preceding plagues those were annoying those were infuriating those were bothersome and inconvenient but now God is touching their wealth God is touching their wealth their livestock is going to die now just a side note the horse was unknown in Egypt until the dynasty we talked about in Genesis and a little bit in Exodus called the Hyksos dynasty do you remember that those Semitic people that came in and we showed how that may have equated with the children of Israel horses were unknown until that dynasty something else camels though you find them all over Egypt now were introduced into Egypt from Arabia in one of the earlier dynasties when merchandise traders brought them from Arabia and brought them into Egypt now I know they're there today because I've seen a lot of them when I've been in Cairo and around the pyramids so they're there to stay verse four and the Lord will make a difference between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt so nothing shall die of all that belongs to the children of Israel then the Lord appointed a time saying tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land in other words you've got 24 hours Bubba to think this over or else it's gonna happen tomorrow so the Lord did this thing on the next day and all the livestock of Egypt died but of the livestock of the children of Israel not one died then Pharaoh sent that is he checked it out he wanted to see if this thing really happened then Pharaoh sent and indeed not even one of the livestock of the Israelites was dead but the heart of Pharaoh became hard and he did not let the people go in the Nile Delta there were four separate provinces areas that had as the overseeing God and they're in their several I'm going to talk about gods that enjoyed the emblem of either a cow or a bull now one of the principal gods was APUs APUs the bull God the second-largest temple in the land of Egypt was dedicated to APUs the sacred ball APUs was considered to be the sacred animal of the god Ptah if you're trying to write that down it's p:t aah Fatah had the sacred animal APUs as sort of its guardian animal here's the tradition according to Egyptian pantheon theology APUs the bull the sacred bull was birthed by a moonbeam from heaven and a new apis was born every time the old APUs died so when the old APUs died a new one was born when the old APUs died it was embalmed and entombed in Memphis not Tennessee Memphis Egypt it's not like an Elvis follower anything Memphis Egypt and in Memphis Egypt they have discovered a neck propolis it's the city where dead people live no it's a it's a it's a place where necropolis it's a large burial ground a large Cemetery and they've discovered several of sarcophagi or these stone boxes and inside the embalmed preserved body of the ball what they thought was APIs the bull once APIs died and a new one was born that dead one passed into the afterlife and was joined with Osiris the God of the afterlife and it became known as a serous APIs so archaeology has uncovered all of these mummies of these ancient Bulls which was the god APIs there's a second goddess a cow goddess Hathor hey Thor was the goddess of love and fertility beauty and joy and she appears in the depictions in Egypt as having the body of a woman in the head of a cow some of the depictions show the king or a pharaoh being suckled by this cow god that is receiving nourishment directly from this goddess in 1906 they found a sandstone monument showing hey Thor the goddess and Amenhotep or amenhotep ii and some believe that was the Pharaoh of the Exodus nestling himself under the chin of hey Thor that is becoming completely dependent on this this goddess the cow goddess then there was another goddess or a god that was represented by a cow or a bull not was man Eavis but there were several of them so when God threw this plague touches the livestock once again it is a direct assault on the ideology the beliefs belief system of these pagan Egyptians at that time here's what's interesting hold on to this thought because later on we're going to come to Exodus chapter 32 now that might not take place till we're in the Millennium at our rate but in Exodus chapter 32 when Moses goes up into the mountain and hears from god the people of Israel gather around Aaron the good look Moses is dead he's not coming back we need a god to worship and what is the depiction that they build a golden calf a cow or a bull a calf of a bull and that is because in their minds they're not used to an unseen God Egypt had representations visible representations all around them and so that golden calf was representative to them of strength and beauty and nourishment and tangibility and they worshiped that false God well here God has already taken away the fish supply temporarily damaged the water supply temporarily now the cows are dead there's no red meat you might say God has a real beef with the gods of Egypt right I mean holy cow that's just crazy [Music] okay that's the video room I had no idea that was coming seriously you guys let's get back to the Bible verse 7 look at verse 7 once again the Pharaoh santen indeed not even one of the livestock of the Israelites was dead but the heart of Pharaoh became hard and he did not let the people go there's a proverb you may want to write down in the margin of your Bible or on your notes proverbs chapter 28 verse 14 let me read it to you blessed is the man who fears the Lord but he who hardens his heart falls into trouble we've talked about a hardened heart what's the opposite of a hardened heart you'd say well it's a softened heart a supple heart well according to the Bible the opposite of a hard heart is a heart that fears the Lord that is gives reverential awe to the only true Living God and that reverential awe gets translated into obedience it's a reverential awe that produces obedient behavior to a loving God but he hardened his heart he didn't have the fear of the Lord now I'm sure by this time the Egyptian commoner was saying okay like what's next what kind of a play could happen after this what else could possibly happen well verse eight tells us plague number six comes and these are boils or infectious sores or pustules if you will upon the body on man and animals verse eight so the Lord said to Moses in Aaron take for yourselves handfuls of ashes or soot from a furnace or we would call it a kiln and let Moses scatter it toward the heavens in the sight of Pharaoh and it will become fine dust and all the land of Egypt and it will cause boils that break out and sores on man and beast throughout all of the land of Egypt so we have a disease that would be airborne and something to notice about this plague whereas in the previous judgments there was warning a 4-time like okay you got 24 hours to think about this tomorrow this is going to happen there's no warning this time no grace period of 24 hours Moses and Aaron simply were instructed go over to the kiln stick your hand in it get a bunch of ashes throw it up in the sky and trust that God's gonna do the rest and God does the rest one of the doctors that researches diseases in the Middle East noted that in the summer time there's a phenomenon called Nile blisters or Nile blistering the intense heat in Egypt along with the dust of the land and by the way I say intense heat he can get upwards of a hundred and twenty to one hundred and thirty degrees in Egypt and you mix that with the the sandstorms and the dust that hovers in the air and you get these nile blisters and the skin turns scarlet purplish and these innumerable pimples start forming on the skin and soon they clustered into thick ulcerations around the entire body the Egyptians called it humm el needle that's their Egyptian hamed Neal which means the inundation of heat it occurs in the summer as I mentioned when the Nile is overflowing and it produces this itchy prickling tense sensation on the skin and doctors say it resembles the symptoms of scarlet fever okay but keep in mind natural phenomena heightened by supernatural factors God may be borrowing some of the phenomena that occurred in Egypt but this is clearly a supernatural plague that is falling upon these people something interesting though the Egyptian priests used to take soot ashes and throw it in the air to bless people they believed in a goddess called net eat in EIT sometimes spelled knew eat and uit sometimes spelled net and UT I liked that one the best she was a net that was the sky goddess the domain that brought all the blessings of the atmosphere upon the earth and so there was this incantation oppressive Egypt would take the soot the dust and throw it into the air it would be a blessing from the sky goddess nut that which was once a blessing has now become a curse something else I find fascinating this furnace as I mentioned is probably one of the brick kilns where the slaves the Israelites baked the bricks before building the cities of Pharaoh that furnace then was the emblem of suffering for the Israelites that furnace which was once the emblem of suffering for Israel was now the emblem of suffering for Egypt God just turns the tables completely as he judges this false religious system verse 10 then they took ashes from the furnace in stood before Pharaoh and Moses scattered them toward heaven and caused boils that break out in sores on man and beast and the magician's could not stand before Moses because of the boils now you recall in previous plagues the Egyptians try to imitate the very judgments that Moses and Aaron bring forth which I still don't quite get I've read I've heard it explained I still don't get it it's like no if you're gonna do anything stop it and reverse it then they go no no no we're gonna bring more judgment I'm gonna copy what you did not only do they not do that here they are affected immediately themselves that they're unable even to stand before Moses because of the boils for the boils were on magicians and on all the Egyptians what happened when this plague fell upon the Egyptians I imagine because this is what Egyptians did they would immediately since since Newt or nay eat has failed them since the nut goddess couldn't protect them they would immediately turn and pray to to other gods for healing and intervention one of the gods called Serapis and the other God was called a hot tip and you'll know what that is from the movie The Mummy remember the mummy and remember the incarnation of in him hotep him hotep was at one time a doctor a physician in charge of all of the healing of Egypt in one of the early dynasties of the Egyptians and throughout time until this time he became sort of incarnated as the God that they worship to protect them from diseases they would have prayed to these gods for help and nothing would have helped something else it was Egyptian regulation that to serve in any of the thousands of temples that dotted the landscape especially in Memphis and he lopoliths that you had to be clean from any skin disease they wore linen but if they had any kind of sore or any kind of blister on their skin they were forbidden from serving so think of all of the signs they had to hang on all of the temples sorry closed due to illness they were completely incapacitated so effectively God shuts down the entire false worship system of Egypt for a period of time verse 12 but the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh it's the first time we read that we have read that God promised that he would harden the heart of Pharaoh we have read that Pharaoh hardened his own heart but this is the first time we read that God hardens the heart of Pharaoh the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh he did not heed them just as the Lord had spoken to Moses I think there's a lesson and I want to talk about it here when people ignore the repeated promptings of the Lord time after time after time he will confirm the decision made in their hearts remember we talked about that that there's two different words in Hebrew one when when Pharaoh hardened his own heart it was a decision that he made he dug his heels in God came along and confirmed or firmed up the decision Pharaoh already made when people ignored the repeated warnings and promptings of God time after time God will confirm that and a person can come to a place where it becomes impossible for him to believe the New Testament refers us to as a reprobate mind God gave them over to a reprobate mind let me read it to you Romans chapter 1 God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful and wicked people who push the truth away from themselves they begin to think up foolish ideas about what God was like the result is that their mind became dark and confused claiming to be wise they became other fools instead and instead of worshiping the glorious everliving God they worship idols made to look like mere people or birds and animals and snakes when they refused to acknowledge God he abandoned them to their evil minds and let them do things that should never be done or as the King James Version a New King James puts it God gave them over to a reprobate mind so here's God giving Pharaoh chance after chance after chance let my people go or else no okay you really that's what you want yeah okay have it your way then another plague now a plague is coming tomorrow let my people go no really okay have it your way and God lets this go on until finally he confirms the decision and it harms the Pharaoh who made the decision I think this will help us understand what the New Testament refers to as the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit remember jesus said all manner of sin will be forgiven mankind except for the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven and one of the most frequently asked questions of anybody in any ministry is what is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit seems to be tied into what people do with Christ since the job of the Holy Spirit is to point people to their need for a savior when people repeatedly reject Christ over and over and over and over again God will confirm their choice over and over and over again until they can come to a place where all is lost and if you die in that condition of rejecting the work of the spirit to point you to Christ there's no hope for salvation there's an old hymn that was sung many years ago in the 1800s and one of the stanzas goes like this there is a time we know not when a line we know not where that marks the destiny of man between sorrow and despair there is a line though unseen once that line is crossed even God and all his love has sworn that all is lost so Pharaoh is hardening his heart hardening his heart hardening his heart and then we read here that God hardened his heart I have a question that came via text so we're gonna throw it up on the screen and look at it and consider it it says if God did supernatural works - clearly attack pagan gods then why does he not do that today against the false religions of our day well one of the things God has at his disposal besides divine judgment as shown in the biblical text are God's people to take the truth of God and to preach the gospel and show them what God feels about false gods and goddesses now God you say well God could certainly do a better job than I could if he did some miraculous saying he'll get their attention more than you were out you're right but I got to tell you something God has decided to limit himself to using men and women to preach the gospel around the world even though an angel would do it a lot better than you or I even though miraculous science would get their attention a lot faster than you were I God is determined to in Grace give people the chance by using the words that we have the knowledge that we have pointing them to the objective truth of the scripture showing that God did work in history like this in times past and he will do it again listen carefully he will do it again in the tribulation period an angel will fly through heaven preaching the everlasting gospel to men and women upon the face of the earth so whatever we haven't been able to accomplish in our lifetimes and generations God will make the gospel absolutely crystal clear to that angel who preaches on the earth in the tribulation period but you know what the kicker is they still won't believe there will be miracles there will be signs there will be wonders it's going to happen in more dramatic fashion than it happened in Egypt in that Great Tribulation Period but men even then will harden their hearts as they did here in this time let's go to the seventh plague and that is fiery hail fiery hail I have to say that right because you could slip and say fiery hell and that that is true as well but we're dealing with hail that fell from heaven then the Lord said to Moses rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh and say to him thus says the Lord God of heaven or of the Hebrews let my people go that they may serve me for at this time I will send all my plagues to your very heart and on your servants and on your people that they may know that there is none like me and all the earth now if I had stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence then you would have been cut off from the earth but indeed for this purpose I have raised you up that I may show my power in you and that my name may be declared in all the earth Paul lifts this text out and uses it in Romans to speak of God's sovereignty verse 17 as yet you exalt yourself against my people in that you will not let them go now in reading these verses we understand there's a there's a two-fold purpose in the plagues that are coming up God says I'm going to direct these plagues to your very heart the core of who you are and who your people are in Egypt number 1 verse 14 I want to let you Pharaoh the King unmistakeably know as the leader of this nation and the representative of this people that there's only one God and all the rest are false gods they don't exist they're not real that's why he says in verse 14 that you may know that there is none like me and all the earth second reason for the upcoming plagues that you're about to read about this week and next is that the rest of the world would know it as well look at verse 16 that my name may be declared in all the earth so now the judgment is going to be focused on the goddess of the air that's net or new eat or nut the nut job goddess of the air God is going to direct this plague against but look at verse 17 as yet you exalt yourself against my people in that you will not let them go here's a better translation of that a more literal translation you raise yourself up as an obstacle a against my people imagine being the dude that stands in the way of the work of God for his people that's a heavy duty place to be you are standing in the way you have raised yourself up to get in the way of what I am trying to do with these people and anybody who does that is in serious trouble being the one who impedes the work of God in the lives of people so basically God is saying look dude I've had enough of this I'm aiming for the heart because there's not enough room in this town for both of us one of us has to go and it's going to be the pharaoh verse 18 behold tomorrow about this time I will cause very heavy hail to rain down such as has not been in Egypt since its founding until now that's quite a statement God's about to do something that has never happened in Egyptian history never happened from the beginning until now so whatever natural phenomenon that these may be based on clearly this is heightened by supernatural factors this is divine judgment that's an important phrase what we just read because it sounds similar to what Jesus described the great tribulation period as in Matthew chapter 24 and at that time there will be a Great Tribulation such as has never been from the beginning of this world until then but what happened in Egypt nothing happened from the beginning until that period of time what's going to happen in the Great Tribulation will be worse than anything that has ever occurred on the earth from its history onward therefore send now and gather your livestock and all that you have in the field for the hail shall come down on every man in every animal which is found in the field and has not brought home and they shall die he who feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his livestock flee to the houses did you get that apparently there were some Egyptians that were getting the message the king wasn't doing it he's not listening he's hardening his heart but there's enough of the common people are going this guy's nuts like the sky goddess nut he's crazy I don't want anything to do with them I'm getting the message their hearts are starting to fear the Lord but he who did not regard the word of the Lord left his servants and his livestock in the field some of the Egyptians are beginning to awaken they're getting the idea that hmm this Yahweh this god of the Hebrews must be something because none of our gods none of our goddesses have ever been able to do this now this is important because some of these Egyptians are going to leave with the children of Israel in the Exodus you understand that not all the people that went out of Egypt were all Israelites almost all of them were but there was a group of Egyptians that were fearing the Lord and afraid of being under the dynasty of Pharaoh and wanting to escape it so they will join the children of Israel in the wilderness that's good and bad they'll become what's called the mixed multitude and the mixed multitude still has their thinking back in Egypt but they're in the wilderness and transit to a new land and they're gonna be the ones that will create the problems and bring more judgment upon the children of Israel in the wilderness now please notice again 10 times and all God is being very patient with Pharaoh and giving him chance after chance God isn't just judging immediately I mean as I read this through I don't say how can a God of love do this I go how can a God of anything allow this nincompoop to have that kind of latitude I mean I wouldn't put up with this 10 times nobody would God did that's important had God just immediately judged them without these warnings without this handout without the possibility of repentance The Critic would have come along and say well that's unfair for God to just judge him so God gave him time space just like the antediluvian before the flood those people that live before the flood God sent Enoch a preacher of righteousness the Bible says Noah building an ark and testifying for years about the coming flood and in grace and patience God dealt with them then the Lord said to Moses verse 22 stretch out your hand toward heaven that there may be hail on all the land of Egypt on man on beast on every herb of the field throughout the land of Egypt and Moses stretched out his rod toward heaven and the Lord sent thunder and hail and fire darted to the ground and the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt so there was hail and fire mingled with the hail and so very heavy that there was none like it in the land of Egypt since it became a nation now this fire was probably the lightning that accompanies the Thunder that zigzagged its way to the earth is fire or lightning that came from heaven and darted toward the earth with the hailstorm and the hail struck throughout all the land of Egypt and all that was in the field both man and beast and the hail struck every herb of the field and broke every tree of the field January 25th 1995 Thomasville Georgia in these united states supercell thunderstorms invaded the area sending a hailstorm hailstones the size of softballs and grapefruit devastating town the just great portions of this town wiped out supercell hailstorm imagine walking your little dog during a hailstorm like that well you better get shelter quick well now you think about this hail in Egypt and you think about the hail and Georgia softball-sized now fast-forward to Revelation 16 the Great Tribulation Period the plagues that God sends upon the earth one of those is hailstones from heaven the size of a talent a talent is a hundred and twenty-five pounds when I worked in a delicatessen years ago we had an ice house out back and we had blocks of ice that were 25 pound blocks and my job one of them was to carry these 25 pound blocks of ice out front to any customer who wanted a block of ice that was 25 pounds a hundred and 25 pound careening from the sky hailstones look out I don't care where what building you're in you're gonna be impacted by that unless you're like a hundred feet underground and even then there'd be devastation so what would the worshippers of not do with this I mean they're worshiping the sky goddess the nut goddess knew eat it not whatever you want to call her they would be looking up this is the domain from which this judgment comes she's unable to do anything about it she's responsible for the blessings of the warmth and the Sun then there were two other gods Isis and Seth who were responsible for the crops that grew the agriculture of Egypt and they worked in concert with nut and raw the chief god of the Sun the chief god of Egypt none of them were helping none of this was working by the way the Egyptians used to say was the tears of Isis falling into the Nile River that caused every summer the Nile to overflow its banks and it was that overflowing of its banks that brought such a blessing to the land of Egypt none of them had any power they were powerless verse 26 only in the land of Goshen where the children of Israel were was there no hail and Pharaoh sent and called for Moses in Aaron had said to them listen to this I've sinned this time excuse me this time this is called selective memory disorder dude you've been sinning the whole time I've sinned this time he says the Lord is righteous and my people and I are wicked yeah entreat the Lord that there be maybe no more thundering inhale for it is enough I will let you go and you shall stay no longer boy this sounds good this sounds like he's repenting this sounds promising I mean we've come a long way from chapter 8 verse 25 where he said go and sacrifice but stay in the land and then he said go but don't go very far that's chapter 8 verse 28 now he says go just get out of here but listen to his language I've sinned this time forget - this time he said I've sinned he admits that he sinned he admits that the Lord is righteous and he is wicked and his people are wicked you know if this happened today in some prominent figure or world ruler said I have sinned and the Lord is righteous we'd have him go on tour we'd make him write a book and make it the best-selling Christian book and say this guy's a believer look what he said but you know what sometimes there's a thing called fake repentance the Bible calls that having a knowledge of God but denying the power thereof a form of godliness Paul writes to Timothy but denying the power thereof this isn't true repentance he doesn't really mean it perhaps a better New Testament scripture to refer to Pharaoh is in Titus chapter 1 verse 16 let me read it to you they profess to know God but in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient and disqualified for every good work so don't get fooled by just the confession of the mouth now what is the Pharaoh gonna do well let's see Moses said to him as soon as I have gone out of the city I will spread out my hands to the Lord that's a traditional form of prayer in those days often the Hebrews would pray with their hands stretched out palms up that's why Paul said I would that men everywhere would pray with holy hands without wrath and doubting it's that symbol of surrender to the Lord I'm gonna stretch out my hands as if praying to the Lord trusting the Lord imploring the Lord the Thunder will cease and there will be no more hail that you may know that the earth is the Lord's but as for you and your servants I know that you will not yet fear the Lord hey king loved your little speech back there really impressed with those words about God being righteous and you being wicked and that you sinned but I'm not buying why is it Moses buying whoa see this is where just the written word doesn't always give all of the information to us like Moses would have had watching his body language or hearing the tone of voice perhaps maybe it was a look in the eye that he had seen before in Pharaoh and he saw that that time or a tone of voice and he goes yeah I'm not buying it you're really you really don't mean this so he says I know that you will not yet fear the Lord or notice something fear the Lord God look at verse 30 as for you and your servants I know that you will not yet fear the Lord God Yahweh Elohim he combines Moses combines the two titles of God and I tell you I think he does this Pharaoh has been told about Yahweh the God of the Hebrews the word for God is Elohim in Hebrew we know that as God but in its literal translation since it's masculine plural Elohim gods to the Pharaoh there were the gods superintended by the God but he did not equate Yahweh with anything more than another deity competing for all of the other deities in Egypt now tell you there's something important here in ancient times like in Egypt and in Babylon there was polity ISM the belief in many gods Sun Moon sky water fire all of them had superintending gods number one number two there was a phenomenon known as henotheism that is there were gods and goddesses assigned jurisdiction over certain areas whether they were mountains or valleys or waters and thus their power only extended to those areas so many times in ancient times the way people saw battles between nations is one god of an area battling another god of the area and if he wins if he wins in in their area in the area where the God is supervising it means that my God is greater than your God so I'm gonna read a passage of scripture to you just so you can see this principle it's first Kings chapter 20 it's the Syrians talking about the Israelites the Syrians are talking about the Israelites listen carefully they're God's the Israelites say the Syrians their gods are the gods of the hills therefore they are stronger than we but if we fight them in the plains we will be stronger than they that's henotheism we have to fight in the area where our God's the one that we worship our superintending if we get into that God's turf we're dead meat so that's henotheism polytheism henotheism a third very important syncretism syncretism is where you take one religious system and you bring it into another religious system and what happened to the children of Israel through Kings like Ahab who marries Jezebel the princess of Sidon who had her false gods and godesses is they brought in all of these belief systems and sort of mix them together and made a hybrid religion so that Yahweh the only God gets mixed up with all of the other deities once again and that happened in Israel syncretism polytheism henotheism syncretism no wonder in the ten commandments God will say I am the Lord God you will have no other gods besides me you won't even have a depiction of me because I am so unique you can't capture me in any kind of artistic depiction at all now some people read those verses and they go so temperamental so so insecure I mean okay I know he didn't want competition but he's not insecure he's like totally secure it's just that he knows there ain't no other gods besides him they're all fake you can make them up you can call them this or that but there's only one and that's him and when you recognize it you are to be exclusive and it's that lack of exclusivity that brought judgment upon God's people eventually verse 31 now the flax and the barley were struck this is important for the barley was in the head and the flax was in the bud the barley ripens and the flax blossoms in January okay if it happens in January and they're struck during this time this probably was around January February that's when it starts the flooding of the Nile which happened when the first plague was going on happens around July in August so it's already been seven months this has been a long period of judgment seven months the plagues have lasted in fact the last plague the death of the firstborn will be Passover that'll be around April so it's about a nine month period of judgment that is going on in Egypt this didn't happen just in a few days but over a period of several months that have been going on but the wheat and the spelt were not struck for they are late crops so Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and spread out his hands to the Lord but the thunder and the hail ceased and the rain was not poured upon the earth interesting just just a thought this just struck me just moments ago actually God will refer to the children of Israel and already has but will again call them Israel my firstborn remember that Israel my firstborn last week we talked about this being we're witnessing the birth of a nation I just find it interesting that the period of judgment lasted nine months that God is giving them this whole picture in in graphic relief the birth pain that are lasting and becoming more frequent and more intense like the birth of a child the birth pains of his firstborn in the land of Egypt look at verse 34 when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the Thunder had ceased he sinned yet more and he hardened his heart he and his servants so the heart of Pharaoh was hard neither would he let the children of Israel go as the Lord had spoken by Moses boy proof after proof after a demonstration after a demonstration trying to get through to this thick-headed numbskull called Pharaoh that all of these other gods and goddesses that he and his forefathers have worshipped are nothing that he can manage completely his people and will deliver them with a strong hand and yet he will refuse and harden his heart reminds me of a story of a wealthy Chinese businessman who once saw the demonstration of a microscope boy did he fall in love with it put his eye up to the lens and he could see at close range flowers and leaves and grass and in incredible detail and he loved one and so he decided to buy one and bring it home to China and one evening before his meal he decided to put some of his favorite food underneath the microscope and look at it and in that microscopic world he saw that on his favorite food were all sorts of things crawling around at the microscopic level it's so rude him out and infuriated him that his only solution was to destroy the microscope get rid of the source of Revelation rather than the food that I like to eat minds we have a lot of people God speaks to the heart they hardened the heart they get rid of the revelation I believe that there are some here tonight that God has been trying to speak to patiently maybe even more a little dramatically lately trying to get through to your heart and you've hardened it you closed it you've watched other people come to the you've listened you've come close but you've never given your life to Christ God has been so patient friend you're in in serious territory when you harden and harden and harden because God will confirm the choice if there's any inkling at all in your heart tonight any desire at all to live a different kind of a life a life of forgiveness a life of purpose and meaning than you give your life to Christ tonight let's pray Heavenly Father we thank you that what we read here is very very applicable to what we see and live today we understand that men and women are men and women in every generation in every age the human heart is deceitful and wicked above all things who can know it well certainly you know it you see if our hearts are crying out for you and tender toward you desirous of you and wanting to know your will and will fall in line with your precepts in your word or if we've been hiding from it running from it holding back and turning away Lord I pray for anyone who might be here tonight may be brought by a friend or coming out of curiosity but they're here nonetheless once again you're reaching out to them you're speaking to her you're dealing with him you're drawing them into relationship with you and I think of the words in the New Testament where when Paul talks about these Old Testament stories he said don't be like them in those days who harden their hearts don't harden your heart lord I pray that you would draw men and women young and old into the kingdom tonight as we close this service as our heads are bowed if you do not belong to Christ tonight if you can't confidently say I'm following Jesus Christ he's my Savior he's my Lord if you're not walking for him if you're not living for him or if you've walked away from him but God has spoken to your heart tonight and you want to come back to him and see a relationship establish a covenant relationship between the God of heaven and you yourself upon this earth you desire to see your sins cleansed washed away and have a new status before God and have the joy and the comfort that comes along with it if you want that if you really want that as we're praying I want you to raise your hand up in the air just raise it up and I'll pray for you as we close this service give your heart to Christ tonight anybody just raise your hand up in the air and you're saying pray for me god bless you in the middle toward the back on my right and on my right-hand side on my far right god bless you anybody else raised the hand up way in the back right up here in the front on the side in the family room I see one two three of you in the family room another one right up here in the front on my far left right over here what about in the balcony anybody in the balcony raise your hand up father for these around the auditorium we pray tonight that they will leave whatever stronghold that has gripped them up to this point and release them into the kingdom of the son of your love let them know the peace that we have spoken about let them know how much you love them bring comfort to them bring healing to their broken hearts their hungry hearts as they give their life to Christ tonight lord I pray that all things would become new in Jesus name Amen let's stand quickly as we sing this final song if you raise your hand you might be in the family room and come through the doors right up there on your right right up in the front if you're up here on the closer to the front or toward the back find the nearest aisle walk right up here in the front come right now and allow me to lead you in a prayer to receive Christ don't wait another week or another night this come right now tonight and give your life to Christ or rededicate your life to him whatever it might be those of you who have come forward you're about to make a commitment with the Lord himself and that involves you praying to him asking him to come inside so I'm gonna pray out loud and I'd like you to pray out loud after me from your heart to the Lord let's let's pray lord I give you my life I know I'm a sinner please forgive me I believe that Jesus died on a cross that He shed his blood for my sin and that he rose from the grave I turn from my sin I leave my past and I turn to you I make you my Savior and my Lord fill me with your Holy Spirit and give me power to live a life that is pleasing to you in Jesus name Amen you

Channel: Calvary Church with Skip Heitzig

Views: 6,591

Rating: 4.6170211 out of 5

Keywords: Calvary, Albuquerque, Skip, Heitzig, Jesus, Exodus, Sermon

Id: ual5mJNLwm8

Length: 61min 31sec (3691 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 19 2018