This exposition of Exodus 10:1-20 by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, August 19, 2018.
Intro:
It’s the question you cannot avoid. I know, I don’t like to be put on the spot either. I like to think there’s nothing I can’t get around if I set my mind to it.
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I mean if you don’t want to answer the question - don’t answer the question. You can get creative. You can skillfully change the subject, you can put it off, you can joke your way out of it. Surely there is a way out of any question. Not this one, because of who is asking the question. He was the most powerful man on earth and he wasn’t getting out of it. Your experience will certainly not be as dramatic but it will be just as real, just as binding and just as sobering. “How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?” That is the question the Sovereign King of the universe put to Pharaoh, son of the sun, king of Egypt. Seven plagues had battered the obstinate ruler and yet he refused to yield to God’s command. Water to blood, an invasion of frogs, man and beasts covered with lice, great swarms of flies, livestock struck with deadly disease, men and animals covered from head to toe with festering sores, a devastating hailstorm yet he would not budge. The nation of Egypt was rocked economically, agriculturally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. The gods of Egypt had proven to be impotent against the God of the Hebrews. Yet, the stubborn king held tight to the delusion that he was still in control, that he was captain of his own soul. Such is the nature of unbelief. Our text this morning is found in the 10th chapter of Exodus.
Text: Exodus 10:1-20
Yes, the story is old. The events recorded happened some 3500 years ago but the story is as relevant as tomorrow’s news. The issues involved are contemporary and the truths revealed are eternal. The story of the Exodus is not the story of conflict and struggle between Moses and Pharaoh. It certain involves the struggle between the True and Living God and the gods of the Egyptian pantheon but even more fundamental it reveals the struggle between the will of God and the stubborn refusal of unbelief. The Exodus is the story of redemption, of deliverance and salvation. As such it is a story that needs to be told and more importantly understood.
There is great confusion today about salvation. What it means and how it is experienced. This confusion is found in the culture at large and within the church. Why is salvation necessary? What are we saved from? How do we come to possess salvation? How is salvation accomplished? What does salvation require? What is the result of salvation? These are important questions and they demand biblical answers. Everyone has an opinion but only God’s opinion matters! What has God said? What has he revealed?
Exodus is a picture of redemption. Thus as we look at it, it reveals certain truths to us about the nature of salvation. The people of God were enslaved. They were unable to deliver themselves. They were incapable of securing their own freedom. They had to be delivered. They needed a Savior. Through the story of the Exodus we gain valuable insight to how God saves, and what salvation requires.
- The Bible says, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23)
- “The wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23)
- We are sinners - bound, held captive by sin.
- Our righteousness is worthless - “there is no good thing in us,” “none are righteous not a single one.”
- Thus we cannot save ourselves - God requires perfection, everything we do is tainted by sin.
Like Israel, we need a Savior.
As we work our way through our text we are going to discover that…
Thesis: God’s judgment of Pharaoh and the nation of Egypt reminds us of the underlying issues of a biblical understanding of salvation.
There are three things I want to point out from our text as it relates to a biblical understanding of salvation.
- God’s judicial judgment reveals his nature as absolute Sovereign and that he demands submission to his will. (10:1-6)
- The Sovereign One will accept nothing less than unconditional surrender. (10:7-11)
- God’s sovereign and devastating judgment reveals the stubborn resistance of the unrepentant heart. (10:12-20)
Conclusion:
He is seeking to manipulate. This but a ploy to get his way. He regrets the consequence of his sin he is not sorry or mournful over the sin itself. He just sent for the preacher because things were bad and he wanted the preacher to pray for him. There is no sorrow over his sin, no regret for what he had done, there was no repentance and thus he remained hardened in his sin. Such is the power of unbelief. This is what it means to be dead in trespass and sin. Your only hope is the grace of God awakening you and calling you out of your bondage to sin and death. That is the work of the Gospel.
God is absolutely sovereign and he demands you submit to his will.
The Sovereign One accepts nothing less than unconditional surrender.
Only the grace of God can break the stubborn resistance of the unrepentant heart.
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