Showdown Throwdown (The Staff)
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Introduction
Introduction
OPENING hockey save
YouVersion: Showdown, Throwdown (The Staff)
We’re in Exodus 6:28-7:13
Exodus 6:28–30 (ESV)
28 On the day when the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, 29 the Lord said to Moses, “I am the Lord; tell Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say to you.” 30 But Moses said to the Lord, “Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips. How will Pharaoh listen to me?”
Last week - Moses got a bad reaction
God says, “Go speak!”
Moses is dragging his feet...
1. It’s easy to drag our feet when we don’t expect good results
1. It’s easy to drag our feet when we don’t expect good results
Cleaning the floor for the new sanctuary
Ridiculously mad - had a company come in
In the end, I had more than enough time
He was right, I was wrong
But I was dragging my feet because I didn’t want to fail
In truth, failure wasn’t going to happen unless I kept dragging my feet!
That’s what Moses is doing
D.L. Moody: “To fear is to have more faith in your antagonist than in Christ.”
What do we do with that?
Stop dragging our feet and remember God
But Moses points out his uncircumcised lips (AKA unclean)
Similar to Isaiah’s response to being in the presence of God in a vision
Isaiah 6:5 (ESV)
5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
When you meet God face to face, your shortcomings become clear
You want to back out - I’m not worthy
At the same time, we need to answer His call
Being a sinful human is complicated...
Exodus 7:1–2 (ESV)
1 And the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. 2 You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land.
Used to love Civilization IV
I’d build outrageous armies with stealth planes, carriers and nukes
Everyone else had spears and frigates
Any time a leader challenged me, I’d send 100 planes and subs and nuke them all
When they begged for peace, I’d send the next wave
No mercy!
How dare you question the great Dan Johnston!
With that, you might expect God to flick Moses off the face of the earth
He doesn’t even correct him!
But instead, He makes Moses “like God”
Wow, Moses became like God? What does that mean
Pharaoh has refused to deal with God, so God works through Moses
He became God’s representative with full authority
God is telling Moses his words will be God’s words, and his power will be God’s power
So Moses should speak and act boldly, because it’s not him, but God
One of my favorite verses
2 Corinthians 3:3 (ESV)
3 And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
What does that tell us?
2. God’s power in our lives makes us His representatives
2. God’s power in our lives makes us His representatives
When we go into the world, we show the world His power by letting our lives be evident
W.H. Griffith Thomas: “Are we giving those around us a true idea of God?”
How many people bear the name Christian...
But then don’t let God have an opportunity to change us?
People want to see God’s power...
But when we get in His way and let the world rule over us instead of Him
People never see His glory, because all they see is another example of the world
So if Moses was to be “as God,” Aaron was to be Moses’ prophet (the spokesman)
Aaron was to listen to Moses’ instructions
Is it going to work? Not right away...
Exodus 7:3–4 (ESV)
3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, 4 Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment.
So God is the one that hardens Pharaoh’s heart? Doesn’t that make all of this God’s fault?
Well, this is a mistranslation - sorta
This particular verse doesn’t necessarily communicate who is doing the hardening
HOWEVER! We’re going to see some things in the coming weeks
Let’s jump ahead...
To get Pharaoh to release the Hebrews, He’s going to send 10 plagues
In each plague, Pharaoh’s heart is hardened - but is it God or Pharaoh?
1 - Blood: Pharaoh’s heart is hardened (7:14)
2 - Frogs: He (Pharaoh) hardened his heart (8:15)
3 - Gnats: Pharaoh’s heart was hardened (8:19)
4 - Flies: Pharaoh hardened his heart (8:32)
5 - Livestock Die: The heart of Pharaoh was hardened (9:7)
All of these are attributed to Pharaoh hardening his own heart
Then we hit the second half:
6 - Boils: But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh (9:12)
7 - Hail: he sinned yet again and hardened his heart (9:34)
8 - Locusts: I have hardened his heart (10:1), the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart (10:20)
9 - Darkness: the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart (10:27)
10 - Death of the First-Born: the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart (11:10)
There’s a back and forth here...
Romans 9:14–24 (ESV)
14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?
What does that mean?
God allows those who reject Him to face the repercussions
As a result, we better understand what He has saved us from!
We need to know:
Pharaoh made the choice first
God simply stopped intervening
SIDE POINT - God is abundantly patient, but there is an end
Allowing evil to grow will eventually be consuming
There’s a principle to evil we learn in Proverbs:
Proverbs 29:1 (ESV)
1 He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck,
will suddenly be broken beyond healing.
If we allows sin to be rooted, and grown in us
Eventually is will encapsulate us permanently
We no longer even have the ability to turn from it
Sin will permanently imprison you
You ever get caught up in long-term sin?
Before you know it sin is a lifestyle?
Then you look back, how did this start?
Then God starts to disappear from your life - you’ve completely given up?
You’re here today, so it doesn’t seem God’s given up on you yet!
We know God gives up at at death - but maybe sooner
God realized Pharaoh would only outright reject him, so He let it be so
God never forced Pharaoh to have a hardened heart against his will
God strengthened Pharaoh in the evil he already chose
why? To show the saved He loves them!
Big question, what is God going to accomplish with this?
Exodus 7:5–7 (ESV)
5 The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.” 6 Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them. 7 Now Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.
The Egyptians will know that the Lord, is the Lord!
God is showing Pharaoh and Egypt that their idolatry is foolish
Their rejection of God is sinful
AND that God even reveals Himself to the sinners!
Isn’t that interesting!
God is still working on the very people that rejected Him!
If that’s not a testimony of His mercy...
3. Don’t stop, even if they won’t listen
3. Don’t stop, even if they won’t listen
Moses and Aaron are getting up there in age...
Charlton Heston looked pretty good for 80!
(If you don’t know what I’m saying, ask your parents or grandparents)
Now God is using guys that should have long been retired!
If you’re a believer, you don’t to retire from serving the Lord!
We don’t stop, we run the race, no matter what gets in our way
Charles Spurgeon: “If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.”
Don’t stop trying to reach the lost
God will eventually let them have their way, but we don’t stop until there’s no time left
They may not listen now, but maybe they will someday
Exodus 7:8–10 (ESV)
8 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 9 “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Prove yourselves by working a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’ ” 10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent.
God knew how Pharaoh would respond
Prove it!
Staff becomes a serpent
The example before with Jacob (nachash) was certainly a snake
But the Hebrew here (tannin) could be a crocodile or an Egyptian cobra (asp)
Either one is an important symbol
CROCODILE -
Crocodiles were important in Egypt - There was a crocodile god Sobek
Crocs are powerful and dangerous - pictures casting spells for safety
Also lots of them - represent fertility
Sobek is a Chad (If you don’t know what I’m saying, ask your kids or grandkids)
Depended on the Nile to flood to grow crops
Worshipped crocs to get Sobek to flood the river
They would mummify crocs to appease them
COBRA -
Pharaoh wore a cobra on his crown - why?
Cobra represented a commission by goddess Wadjet
She protected lower Egypt
This symbol literally meant Pharaoh was commissioned by this goddess
This symbol represented proof that Pharaoh was a god
And so Aaron’s staff transforming was symbolic of deity
Moses and Aaron could walk away - God could walk away
But God wanted to show Himself
So what can we learn?
4. Don’t stop, even if they challenge you
4. Don’t stop, even if they challenge you
Why? Because God might just want to reveal Himself!
Am I saying you should go fight with everyone whoo doesn’t believe?
That you should go try to perform miracles everywhere?
That you should take on every challenge that comes to you?
No, but don’t let challenges be the reason you quit representing God!
Craig D. Lounsbrough: “Once I stare into the face of God, I can stare into the face of anything.”
So let’s see what happens next:
Exodus 7:11–13 (ESV)
11 Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. 12 For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. 13 Still Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.
This is likely a demonic trick
We don’t see that too much anymore...
Satan doesn’t want to prove his power over God to scare us
His tactic today is to be covert
He wants to make us think he doesn’t exist at all...
Rather than convincing us he’s powerful, he wants us to think we are!
We don’t need God, we made Him up!
But in ancient Egypt, Satan could convince people to worship him
And so here we see demonic power at play
2 Thessalonians 2:9–10 (ESV)
9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
Sometimes we see people trying to get us with demonic attacks...
But often times we see people trying to prove their own power
I believe in science over religion (as if the 2 are against each other)
God’s not moral, He’s an egotistical, genocidal maniac!
I have money and success, what could God offer me?
Those are people believing the same lies Satan has promoted since the Garden!
Sometimes they can be convincing, but you don’t back down!
5. Don’t stop, even if they are powerful
5. Don’t stop, even if they are powerful
Woodrow Kroll: “With the power of God within us, we need never fear the powers around us.”
God is the one at work, and there’s nothing to fear
We can’t be weak enough, mess up bad enough, or be wrong enough to stop God from doing what He’s already decided to do!
That doesn’t mean we’re always right, it just means we’re not that important!
We have to set ourselves aside and remember that God is in charge
For Moses, his snake ate the other snake!
God’s power can swallow up anything that anyone else puts forth
Conclusion
Conclusion
You have a mission
men, next 25 weeks
Communion
Communion