Alright, let's look here now
in Exodus chapter 9. We're going to return this morning
to our questions series. In this series of messages, we're
looking at questions asked to sinners by the Lord. The next
question is found in Exodus 9.17, and the Lord is speaking to Pharaoh. And here's the question, Exodus
9, 17. As yet, exaltest thou thyself
against my people, that thou will not let them go. Still you
exalt yourself. That's what the Lord is saying.
Still you exalt yourself. That'll be our title. Those of
you here today who've never submitted, never come down, from that high
lofty place and submit it to the Lord, this is the question
for you. Still you exalt yourself? Still you exalt yourself after
everything you've heard that the Lord has done? After everything
you've seen that the Lord has done? Still you exalt yourself? Let's go up to verse 13 and let's
get the context. And the Lord said unto Moses,
rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh. Pharaoh
was a very religious man. And early every morning, Pharaoh
went to the river to worship. That sounds good, but he went
to the river to worship the river and the snakes and the frogs.
He was an idolater, Pharaoh was. And Moses had met him at that
place earlier in his dealings with Pharaoh. So now the Lord
tells him to go meet him there again. And the Lord tells Moses,
verse 13, He says, Say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of the
Hebrews. That's who God's people are,
His elect, the Hebrews. It means people from beyond.
He says, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people
go. that they may serve Me." Five
times, five times the Lord had given this command to Pharaoh
already. How many times have you heard
the Lord give the command to believe on Him in the Gospel?
How many times? The Lord showed him a miracle.
He had shown him, He brought Aaron and Moses in, and remember
that rod of the Lord that we looked at? They put it down on
the earth and that rod turned into a serpent. And then that
rod ate up Pharaoh's magicians. They did this with their rods.
And they turned their rods into serpents. But his rod ate up
their rods. That's a picture of the gospel.
That's a picture of Christ who came into the earth, was made
that thing that was biting us and inflicting venom into us,
made sin for us, and put away our sin. And now He's ascended
again to the heavens. He's ate up our enemies. He's
destroyed our enemies like that rod ate up theirs. How many times
have you heard the Gospel? That's what that was a picture
of, and He showed that to Pharaoh. Well, the Lord had sent six plagues
to Pharaoh already. This is what He'd done up to
this point. He turned all the water in the land into blood.
He made frogs cover the whole land. He even came up into Pharaoh's
bedroom. He brought lice upon man and
beast in the whole land of Egypt. He sent flies, just a mass thickness
of flies into all the houses. He sent disease upon all the
cattle so that they died. He brought boils on man and beast. and all of this, everything he'd
done, Pharaoh hearkened not. He refused to obey the Lord. Now, for the sixth time, the
Lord commands him. He says to him, Thus saith the
Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve
me. And next, God warns Pharaoh of what's about to happen to
him, the plagues that are about to happen. Verse 14, I will at
this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy
servants, and upon thy people. The Lord said, these next plagues,
those other ones appear to have had some, they had some time
in between each of those. And they weren't as severe as
this. He said, these are fixed to come rapidly. And He said,
and they're fixed to come right into your heart, upon all your
people and your servants. Verse 14, that thou mayest know
that there's none like me in all the earth. I'm nothing like
your idol gods, He said. Verse 15, for now I'll stretch
out my hand that I may smite thee. and thy people with pestilence,
and thou shalt be cut off from the earth. And in very deed for
this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee my power,
and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. So
now here's the question, and as yet, exaltest thou thyself
against my people, that thou will not let them go? After all
this, you still exalt yourself? Now, here's the one point we
see running through this whole message this morning. Pride goes
before a fall. Pride is sure to go before a
fall. Here's the first thing we see.
The natural heart is as hard as stone. It's as hard as stone. God holds Pharaoh up here to
show us what a man will do if he's left to himself. This is
what he will do. Pharaoh was born just like you
and me, just like every son of Adam. with a heart that was as
hard as stone. The longer he lived, the higher
he climbed in life, the more achievements he accomplished,
the more religious he became, the harder his heart became throughout
his life. He thought he was God. That's
what he thought. He was exalted high in his own
mind. That was the root of all his
blasphemy. God's going to save his people
from him, but he's going to hold Pharaoh up here for everybody
to see so we can see the hardness of the natural heart. Now a natural
heart can't be changed just by threats of judgment. The natural
man's got to have the law to keep him in check. It will at
least somewhat keep him in check. He's got to have threats of law,
threats of punishment, promises of reward. threats of judgment,
things like that to keep him in check. The law wasn't made
for a righteous man. The Lord's people aren't governed
that way. A person who has a heart of flesh,
one made new in spirit by the Spirit of God, he follows the
Lord and is constrained. His heart doesn't have to be
restrained. He's constrained by the love of Christ. Moses
is standing here, him and Aaron, and they're obeying the Lord
because they have a new heart. God's given them a new heart.
They had a heart of faith. They had a heart of humility.
They had a heart of submission. They had a heart, a spiritual
heart, a new heart. And so they obeyed the Lord and
spoke the words He gave them to speak. But the natural heart,
it can't even be penetrated by threats of judgment. Remember
the rich man in hell? The Lord gives that parable of
him. He didn't repent. Even when he was in hell, there's
not even repentance in hell. And so we see here in Pharaoh,
he was threatened with all this judgment and he never repented. Now there's some times that he
called for Moses. Look back at Exodus 8 and look
at verse 8. He called for Moses one time
here, and it says in verse 8, Pharaoh called for Moses and
Aaron and said, Entreat the Lord that He may take away the frogs
from me and from my people, and I'll let the people go that they
may do sacrifice unto the Lord. So the Lord removed them. He
removed the plague. Verse 15 says, But when Pharaoh
saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart and hearkened
not unto the Lord as the Lord had said. Another time, he said,
I'll let you go. But as soon as Moses took away
the plague, it says, Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time
also. Neither would he let the people
go. And then right after this, the Lord sends hell and lightning. And it kills men, it kills cattle. We're not talking about softball
size hell. We're talking about hell about
the size of hay bales. And we're talking about hell
that's falling and just crushing people. So look what Pharaoh
did in Exodus 9 verse 27. It says, And Pharaoh sent and
called for Moses and Aaron, and he said unto them, I've sinned
this time. I sinned this time," he said.
And he said, the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.
Entreat the Lord, for it is enough that there may be no more mighty
thunderings in hell, and I will let you go, and you shall stay
no longer. And Moses said unto him, As soon
as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands
unto the Lord, and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there
be any more hell, that thou mayest know how that the earth is the
Lord's. But as for thee and thy servants,
I know that you will not fear the Lord God. And the flax and
the barley was smitten, for the barley was in the ear and the
flax was bold. But the wheat and the rye were
not smitten, for they were not grown up." You know what Moses
just did? Pharaoh didn't have ears to hear,
so he gave him a parable. That's what he did. He gave him
a parable. He said, Pharaoh, I know you're not going to fear
the Lord. For the same reason, the flax and the barley was smitten
by that hail. Because they were too grown up,
they were too exalted, and therefore they were ripe to be cut off
in judgment by the Lord. Oh, that you'd been like the
wheat and the rye. They were not grown up, and therefore they
yielded to the Word of the Lord. That hadn't grown, it hadn't
grown yet. So it was yielding, it was young
and tender, and it yielded to the judgment. Moses went out
of the city. He called for the hail to stop.
Sure enough, it stopped. And sure enough, look what happened.
Verse 34. And Pharaoh saw that the rain
and the hail and the thunders were ceased. He sinned yet more
and hardened his heart, he and his servants. And the heart of
Pharaoh was hardened. Neither would he let the children
of Israel go as the Lord had spoken by Moses. You see, Judgment
won't do it. Without the Spirit of God, judgment
won't do it. The Lord has got to, He's got
to send the Spirit and He's got to give us a new heart. He said
in Isaiah, Let favor be showed to the wicked, yet will he not
learn righteousness. In the land of uprightness he
will deal unjustly and will not behold the majesty of the Lord.
But the Lord, when He gives a new heart, like here is Moses and
Aaron, they're obeying Him. Do you know the only difference
between Moses and Pharaoh? The only difference between them
is the difference the Lord made. It was the difference of His
grace working in their heart. Look at Exodus 11 and verse 7.
Exodus 11 verse 7. He said, but against any of the
children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against
man or beast, that you may know how that the Lord is the Lord. The Lord does put a difference
between the Egyptians and Egypt. The Lord does. Look over at Romans
chapter 9. Romans chapter 9. Paul gives the commentary on
this verse we're looking at in Exodus. Look at Romans 9. Romans
9.15, For he said to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy. and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
For the scripture said unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have
I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that
my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath
he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardens. Somebody will say, well, hold
your place there in Romans 9. I'm going to show you something
else. Somebody will say, well, it's not fair because he hardened
Pharaoh's heart and Pharaoh couldn't believe. Oh, it's not fair. God's
not dealing fairly with Pharaoh. Well, let's see. Was it fair
whenever God made Pharaoh to be born in a good home, healthy,
with no infirmities, nothing wrong with his body? Was it unfair
whenever God protected him all his life? Was it unfair when
God opened every door for him so that as he went through his
political career, he climbed up politically, climbed the ladder
in politics? And was it unfair that God set
him on the most powerful throne in the most powerful nation in
all the world and gave him all the riches more than can even
be imagined? Was that unfair that God gave
him all that? Was it unfair that God put Israel
in Egypt there? There they are in Israel, these
folks who know the Lord, who know the Gospel, who've been
taught by their father Israel, who was taught by his father
Isaac, who was taught by his father Abraham. Is it unfair
that there they are with the Word of the Gospel right there?
Was it unfair that He sent Moses to Him with the Word of the Lord
and spoke the Word of the Lord to Him and told Him all these
things? Was that unfair? When we see
that God raised up Pharaoh and gave him all that most people
would look at his life and they'd say, oh, there's a blessed man.
If that was us, if that was one of our friends or somebody we
knew, men of today would say, oh, he's so blessed of the Lord. When we see the Lord raised him
up and set him on that throne and put him where he put him,
not to bless him, but to hold him up as a display of the hardness
of men's hearts, we ought to be careful before we attribute
God's blessing just because it's based on prosperity. Because
we see somebody being blessed with prosperity. But why was
God dealing with Pharaoh like this? Why was it fair? Why was
it unfair? Why would you say it was unfair? Men claim they don't need God's
grace. Men claim they can come to God of their own will anytime
they get ready. So why was it unfair that God
withheld His grace from them? Why was it unfair then that He
just withheld grace from them and didn't give them grace? Pharaoh
had plenty of opportunity to hear the Word of the Lord. He
had the light of creation. As I said, he had Israel there
in his midst. Moses was sent to him with the
Word. And a man can't remain neutral
when the gospel comes. He just can't. One of two things
is going to happen. Either he's going to believe
the Lord and be blessed of the Lord or he's going to reject
it and God's going to send him to hell. And it's going to be
worse for you sitting here, have heard the gospel. It'll be worse
if somebody sitting here has heard the gospel and meets God
without Christ. It'll be worse for you because
you've heard the gospel. You've heard it. Pharaoh had
refused to walk in the light God gave him. That's the long
and short of it. He refused to walk in the light
God gave him. He looked to his false preachers,
to his magicians, instead of to God's true messengers. That's
who he looked to. So God hardened his heart. He
hardened his heart. But we see in all that that the
Lord did, we see the longsuffering of God. That's the second thing.
First, we see the hardness of his heart, of a natural man's
heart. Secondly, we see the longsuffering of God. Look there at Romans
9.22. What if God, willing to show
his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction? Exodus 7, in verse
7. You can turn back now, that's
Exodus 7 and verse 7 tells us this. There's all kinds of little
details in the scripture and you read those little details
and sometimes you don't know, well what's that detail there
for? This is one of those little details, Exodus 7 verse 7. at
the end of speaking there about something that sounded like a
totally different subject. It says in verse 7, And Moses
was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years
old, when they spake unto Pharaoh. What does that have to do with
anything? Well, it shows us several things. It shows us one, that
God's deliverance of Israel out of captivity was exactly in the
fullness of time, just like He said it would be. 400 years to
the day. He told Abraham, 400 years, I'm
going to bring them out. I'm going to bring them out."
It was to the day. In the fullness of time, Christ came. In the
fullness of time, His people are called out. But here's something
else it shows us. It shows us for over 80 years,
God had been long-suffering toward Pharaoh. He had borne with his
rebellion and his rejection for 80 long years. That's right. So Pharaoh was fit for destruction
a long time before God threw him in the Red Sea. A long time
before that. God would have been just to destroy
him the first time he refused His command. You think about
it. If a man is guilty and the court,
the judge, they found the man guilty, the judge can pass sentence
on the man whenever he wants to. He's guilty. He's guilty. And so if he does it that day,
or if he waits three or four days, or if he waits a week,
he's just to pass sentence on him whenever he wants to. The
man's guilty. Well, if God passes judgment
on us, when we're 10 years old, or He does it when we're 25,
or He does it when we're 80 years old. He's just to do it. We came
forth guilty. We came forth guilty. If a man's
going to end up in hell, well, God's just, while He lives, to
give him a reprobate mind before he gets sentenced to hell. He's just to do that. But we
see here, He was very long-suffering with Pharaoh. He waited a long
time with Pharaoh. Sinner, don't waste time. Don't
waste the time God's given you. God would have been just to destroy
us a long time ago. The first time that you refused
His command to believe the Gospel, He would have been just to destroy
us. He'd be just to destroy one today if we walk out of here
refusing His Gospel. He'd be just to do it. You see
how long-suffering God is? or despisest thou the riches
of His goodness, and forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing
that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance." God was
longsuffering because He had a people there and He was not
going to cut off Egypt and Pharaoh before He brought that people
out. He was going to bring that people out of there. God's not
slack concerning His promise. He's coming again. He's coming
back. But He's long suffering toward us because He's not willing
that any of His people should perish. And they're not going
to. None of His people are going to perish. So I'm sitting here
this morning telling you, let God's people go. And you'll think,
well, I'm not holding God's people captive. I'm not holding them
back in any way. If you're God's sheep, if you're
one of His sheep, you are. If you're the last one, you're
holding us back because when the last one's called, we're
leaving Egypt and we're going to the promised land. So yeah,
you're holding them back. You're holding us back. Look
here thirdly. We see God hardened Pharaoh's
heart in judgment. God hardened his heart. That's
what he said there when I read to you in Exodus 9, and it said
there, and Pharaoh's heart was hardened. God hardened it. He'd
reached his limit. Pharaoh wouldn't walk in the
light God gave him, and so God eventually hardened his heart.
He hardened it so that Pharaoh could not believe. They could
not believe. God does the same today. The
more that grace is given to one of His people, the more the believer
submits and casts all care into the hand of the Lord. But the
more God removes his light from a sinner and removes it from
a sinner, the harder that sinner gets and the more venomous he
gets against God. I found this interesting. The
Scriptures said at the beginning that God would harden his heart. He would harden his heart. That's
what the Scriptures said. The Lord said, I will harden
his heart. And the Scripture says the Lord hardened it, and
the Scriptures say Pharaoh hardened his heart. And both are true.
Pharaoh kept hardening his heart, hardening his heart, rejecting,
not listening, and God hardened his heart. He made it so he could
not believe. But this is what I found interesting.
Do you know the same word that is translated hardened? Whenever
it says, the Lord said, I will harden Pharaoh's heart. That
same word that's translated hardened. is used in a positive sense,
the very same word, whenever the Lord was speaking to Joshua,
and He said, As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee, and I
will not fail thee nor forsake thee, only be thou strong. That word strong is hard, hardy. It means hardness. That's what
it means. It's the same word. That's interesting
to me, isn't it? That the same word is used in
one respect. It's a good thing for the believer,
and it's a bad thing for the unbeliever. And I thought about
it. In his saints, by the Spirit
entering the new heart, causing the believer to submit and trust
the strength of the Lord to save him, God hardens the believer's
heart. That is, He makes it strong against
our enemies. But in the reprobate, by the
Spirit removing his restraints off the carnal heart, removing
his light from the carnal heart, the reprobate exalts self and
relies more and more upon his own strength so that his heart
becomes hardened. That is, he becomes strong in
rebellion against God. Do you see that? God left Pharaoh
to the corruptions of his own heart, to the corruptions of
his own nature. And God left him to the power
of Satan. And God did something positive
on Pharaoh too. He gave him strong delusions
so that he would believe the lying miracles of his magicians.
Pharaoh, he would listen to Moses and he would see what Moses was
doing, like when he did that miracle with the rod. And you
could see him paying attention. And then his magicians would
come along and they would, and their picture of false preachers,
they'd come along and they'd imitate what Moses did. And Pharaoh's heart would just
become hardened, more and more hardened. I've seen that happen. I've seen that happen. By the
grace of God, these plagues that were coming on Pharaoh and on
the Egyptians, by the grace of God working in their heart, they
weren't called plagues to Israel. They were called signs and wonders.
Because with each plague that came, or with each one of them
that came, each sign and wonder, by grace they saw, they became
more and more convinced, more and more persuaded that their
deliverance was sure. God was bringing them out. But
that same exact The thing that God sent was a plague to Pharaoh. He just got harder and harder
and harder by it. You'll see a man, he'll come,
he'll hear the Gospel, he'll pay attention, you know, and
start. You think he's getting settled.
You think his heart's getting more calm. You think the Lord's
working in him, you know. And then he'll go and he'll listen
to some magician. to go listen to some false preacher.
And his heart just gets more hardened against the truth. His
heart gets more hardened against truth. Or if some catastrophe
comes in this earth, and if some whirlwind comes through and a
bunch of folks are destroyed, the believer is sitting there
looking at these tornadoes and hurricanes, and we're sitting
there thinking, oh, the strength and the power and the might of
our great God. He's going to save us. There's
no doubt He's going to save us. Look at how He can just with
His finger, what He can do in this earth. And the unbeliever's
sitting there looking at it and his heart's getting harder and
harder against God. How can God let something like
this happen in the earth? And he just gets hardened and
hardened and hardened by it. Do you see? You see how this...
Same with the gospel. One man hears it, he's delighting
in the gospel. Another man's hearing it, he's
just getting harder and harder. Today's the day of grace. Harden
not your heart. God's fixed a limit to His day
of grace. A limit, like He did with Pharaoh. And when that limit's overstepped,
when that limit is met, there remains nothing but judgment.
Nothing but judgment. Take heed, brethren, lest there
be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from
the living God. But exhort one another daily
while it is today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness
of sin. For we are made partakers of
Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence, steadfast
to the end. It's not a sign of God's grace
for one to just begin the race. It's who ends it. That's how
you know there's true grace in the heart. Well, here's the fourth
thing we see. We learn by God's dealing with
Pharaoh that everything God does is for the sake of His people. Exodus 9, verse 17, As yet exaltest
thou thyself against My people, that thou would not let them
go. Every time he's talking about my people, every time he speaks
fairly, he's speaking in defense of my people, my people, my people. Our Redeemer shall deliver every
one of his captive children. By Adam's transgression, we're
sinner. We come forth in bondage like Israel was. Under the curse,
under the bondage of the law, our wills and affections were
in bondage to our sin nature. Under the power of Satan and
his taskmasters like Pharaoh and his servants were taskmasters
over the children in Egypt. False religions been taking men
captives and keeping them captive. They went to Pharaoh and they
said, let us go. We want to go into the wilderness
and worship. And Pharaoh said, you're idle,
you're idle, you're idle. That's why you come and want
to go heed these vain words. He said, go make me some more
bricks. And he took the straw away from him and said, now go
gather your own straw and make me the same amount of bricks.
That's what religion does. Keep them busy, busy, busy, busy
doing something so they can't go listen to what they call vain
words. But God only allowed Israel to
become slaves in Egypt so He could show His great name and
His power in bringing them out. That's the only reason He allowed
us to fall in Adam. That's the only reason He allows
us to fall now. Verse 4 said, Exodus 7, 4, Pharaoh shall not
hearken to you. For this reason, that I may lay
my hand upon Egypt and bring forth mine armies and my people,
the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.
And the Egyptians shall know I am the Lord when I stretch
forth my hand upon Egypt and bring out the children of Israel
from among them. And he said in Exodus 8 and 1,
and I'm bringing them out for this reason, let my people go
that they may serve me. We can't serve God when we're
in bondage. We can't serve God when we're afflicted and in bondage. But don't ever forget this, if
it looks dark, if it looks like there's no light, if it looks
like we're being held captive in this world, everything God's
doing in this world is for His elect people. Everything. By
Christ's blood, He's redeemed every single one already. And
He's going to send forth Moses, His preacher, like He sent forth
Moses. And by His Spirit, He's bringing every one of them out. Out of the bondage of their sin
nature. And where the Lord is, there's liberty. The Lord is
that Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there's liberty. We've got liberty to serve Him. We've got
liberty to serve Him. So look back now in our text.
Exodus 9.16. Let me close with this. He said, in very deed, verse
16, in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to
show in thee my power, and that my name may be declared throughout
all the earth. And yet exaltest thou thyself
against my people, that thou will not let them go. What's
the answer to the question? Well, in one sense, no, Pharaoh
didn't exalt himself. God said there, I raised you
up. I exalted you. I've made you
to stand this whole time. That's the same with you, sinner.
God has raised you up. God has made you to stand. You
stand, you have breath, you're alive right now because God has
exalted you. He's holding you up. But without
God, Pharaoh didn't have any power whatsoever. That's what
Christ told Pilate. And God exalted Pharaoh for a
purpose. He exalted him so to make his
power and his name known, to do whatsoever his hand and his
counsel determined before to be done. And here's another answer
to the question. Yes, yes, he exalted himself. Pharaoh was without excuse for
his wickedness. He was lifted up in pride and
rebellion against God. He took everything God gave him. everything God gave him and used
it to hate God and rebel against God and rebel against his people.
That's true of everybody right now that's not in submission
to Christ. That's true. But he exalted himself. He refused
to let his people go. But guess what happened? God
won. God won. God threw him in the
sea and killed him and all the Egyptians with him, his army
with him. So sinner, here's what I'm saying
to you. Believe God today. Believe Him today. Don't war
against God. You won't win the war. You just
won't win it. You will not win the battle.
But just submit to God. Bow to Him. Bow to Christ. There's
a set limit. There's a set time to rebellion. And God will turn a man over
to a reprobate mind so that you can't believe Him. I've seen
that happen. If you're thirsty, come to the
waters, the water of life, and drink freely. Drink freely. Your
soul shall live. God will protect you all your
days. And after this life, that's just the beginning. Just the
beginning. Amen.