Moses Lifted Up The Rod

All right, brethren, let's turn to Exodus chapter seven. Exodus seven. Pharaoh's heart is hard. The Lord our God has hardened his heart so that he will not hearken to the voice of the Lord and he will not let the Lord's people go into the wilderness to worship him. And we're told what God did, that he did this in verse 13.

Exodus 7.13, And God hardened Pharaoh's heart, that he hearkened not unto them, unto Moses and Aram, as the Lord had said. Now the Lord, our God, is sovereign, and he does as he pleases, and he hardened Pharaoh's heart. Now this is, it should not be alarming to any of you that read the scriptures with understanding and see what the word of God teaches us about the sovereignty of God. that he does as he pleases according to the good pleasure of his will.

And we know from the scriptures that all men are born dead in trespasses and sins. They're born rebels against God. They don't want to hear God or follow the true and living God. They're not running up to God to say, Lord, please have mercy on me. And the Lord's just denying them and pushing them away. They don't even have a heart for the Lord.

And so we see here the sovereignty of God to do as he pleases. And he hardens this man for a purpose, to glorify his name in all the earth, that he might show and display his glorious power throughout all the world. And so what the Lord is showing us here and what it does is it humbles man. It brings us low in ourselves to not think too highly of ourselves. Like we're in control of this and we can turn it on and off when it pleases us to do so.

We don't manipulate and control God. God controls us. He's sovereign. He is the Lord and he's making us to know that except God be gracious to me, except God show me mercy, I'll never believe him. I'll never seek after him. I won't have a heart for him. I need his grace. Lord, be merciful, be gracious to me."

This is what he affects in his people. There's two ways that men hear this. They either hear this as an offensive thing to them, to their flesh, or they hear it in a manner which makes them soft unto the Lord, and to cry out to him for grace and mercy, that he not harden their hearts, that he not harden them.

And so we see this in scripture. Let's turn over to Romans 9. I just want to go through these scriptures quickly before we break into the rest of of our text here. In Romans 9, verse 15 and 16, the Lord said to Moses, for he saith to Moses, verse 15, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

I'm not being manipulated by man. I'm going to do what I want to do. I'm the sovereign God. I'm able to do as I please. So then, it's not of him that willeth. It's not of our decision, our walking in Isle, our giving our hearts to Jesus. It's not what we do, but what the Lord does for us. It's not of him that runneth. It's not our works. It's not our going to church and trying to be religious. It's not our running that does it, but of God that showeth mercy.

That's just putting everything into its proper perspective to know that he is God and I'm just his little, I'm a little creature, a little creature that he's made for his own glory and purpose. I'm like an ant. I'm a maggot, right? That's what we are by nature. We're just maggots and worms. That's all we are.

Additionally, God told Moses there in Romans 9 that he would harden Pharaoh's heart in order to glorify his name. Look at verses 17 and 18 of Romans 9. For the scripture saith 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. And in Exodus it says, in Egypt, right? And Paul says, throughout all the earth. In other words, we see that Egypt is a picture of all the world. It pictures the world. What we're looking at here in Exodus.

Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth. The Lord teaches us that if you don't like this, keep your mouth quiet, keep it closed, keep it shut, because God is sovereign, not you. I'm not God, you're not God, God is God. And look at it there in Romans 9, 19. Thou wilt say then unto me, well, why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay, but, O man, who art thou that replyest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus?

Don't you remember ever having a discussion with your own children about things like this? Why can't I do that? Well, because I'm your parent, and I told you, you're not doing it. And they had to learn that, well, I'm not daddy. Daddy said no. And that's it. It's just that simple.

Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? 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, and that he might make known the riches of his glory? Because he doesn't owe us anything, and yet he has vessels of mercy upon whom he is merciful to, which he hath aforeprepared unto glory, even us whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. Now the only ones that complain about this are those that are boasting of their own self-righteousness. who are only mindful of themselves and their glory.

And the scriptures reveal that such have a hard heart, such hate God and hate his Christ and hate his people and can care nothing for it. They have hard hearts and they're self-righteous. Such, the scriptures of God teach us, that they're under the judgment and wrath of Almighty God. for their wicked works and their rebellion, seen in the fact, displayed in the fact that they will not bow before Almighty God and hear his word and do as he commands.

They have no heart for it. Such were us. We have no heart for it by nature, except God was merciful to us and gracious to us and broke our hearts and revealed himself to us in mercy and in truth. and gave us a willing harp in the day of his power. It's what he does. And so they're under the wrath and judgment of God.

In fact, in Romans 1, if you're still there in Romans 9, turn over to Romans 1, verse 24 and 25. Wherefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts. That lust, that rebellion's already there in man, born of the corrupt seed of Adam. And he gave them up to that lust, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves, who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the creator, who is blessed forever, amen. And so, all men as such are under the judgment and wrath of God by nature.

And they show that they are through their continued hardness and hatred of the true and living God. Now, we say that because there are some who tremble to hear that. Where God goes from being a little fairy, little God in their imagination, to almighty, magnificent, glorious God. And when you realize that God is God, and he can do as it pleases him, suddenly, God, you see God as God to some measure.

You stand before him realizing, I didn't realize that he has control over everything. It never entered my heart. I didn't think of it in that way. And the Lord uses that to humble us, to bring us low in ourselves. And we begin to ask, well, how do I know if God's heart in my heart? Maybe he's hard in my heart. Maybe the Lord isn't revealing himself to me. Maybe I'm hard of heart. Well, how do we know this?

Well, look back in our text, Exodus 7, verse 13 tells us, how a man may know if his heart is hard. Verse 13, God hardened Pharaoh's heart that he hearkened not. He hearkened not unto God's word spoken to him by his servants. It really is that simple. A man with a hard heart will not hearken to God's word. He won't hear it.

He doesn't care. It doesn't mean anything to him. He can take it or leave it. He can hear it or not hear it. He don't care. He's got a hard heart. He doesn't hear it the way that God's people hear it. It's not life to him. It's death. And he could care less. He's got a hard heart. That's how you know if God is hardening your heart, you won't hear him. You won't believe his word. You won't bow before him. There's no desire there. It's just hardness. It's like Esau.

He seemed like a decent enough fella in the world, but he had no heart for God, no interest in the things of the Lord. He was fine not believing, not worshiping God. And Jacob, on the other hand? He was given a heart for the Lord. He did care. And he did hear. And he did bow down and worship God. He did hear. He hearkened to the Lord and followed the Lord.

That's how you may know. if you're the Lord's. And extending from that, you're going to glory in the one whom he sent. You're going to glory in Christ. You're going to make your boast of him. You're not going to be speaking of what you've done for the Lord, and how you made a decision for the Lord, and getting mad at your relatives when they don't make that same decision for the Lord. Because you did, and they didn't. You're not going to compare yourself to other sinful men. We don't make our boast in what we did for the Lord.

We're going to confess, God was merciful to me. Oh, would you hear his word? Just come and listen. Cousin, brother, sister, whoever, parent, come and listen. Would you just come and hear the word and hear of his son, Jesus Christ? That's all we want. For them, the same thing, because he was merciful to us. We sat there in deadness and in silence and in darkness. And then one day, the light was shown. And we heard it, and we rejoiced. And now we just want the same thing for those that we love and care for. and our friends and our neighbors. We want that same thing.

And so you're going to know what a man believes because you're going to hear what he speaks about. You're going to hear what he's boasting about, what he's rejoicing in, either himself or he's rejoicing in the one whom the Father hath sent to save his people from their sins.

Now, in our text, Exodus 7, verses 14 and 15, and the Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hardened. He refuseth to let the people go. He's not hearing the word that I sent you to preach to him. Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning. We see the mercy of God, right? He's still sending Moses, but he's sending him there because he's going to glorify his name. This word's going to go forth. Get you to Pharaoh in the morning.

Lo, he goeth out unto the water, and thou shalt stand by the river's brink against he come. and the rod which was turned to a serpent. Don't forget that. Don't leave that behind. You take that in your hand. You go and you face off with Pharaoh. You're going to meet him at the river. This is where you're going to see him. You're going to go to that river.

And so he goes down there, knowing that Pharaoh's going to be there, to speak to him in the name of the Lord God of the Hebrews. He's going to declare God's word to him once again. Now, why Pharaoh is there, we're not told. We don't know if he's just there to bathe himself, to clean up, or whatever. Or maybe he's there to worship the river. They worshiped that river Nile. They worshiped it. That river, from the perspective of the Egyptians, afforded them a great many blessings.

It had a purpose. I mean, there's a reason why civilizations were built near rivers back then, especially, right? Instead of out in the middle of nowhere, because that river would overflow, and it would bring out nutrients from the river, and it would settle on the soil, and they'd grow great crops, and they could get drink for themselves and drink for the, It's probably just the wind. And drink for the plants, and they can get abundance of fish. A lot of food was given to the people because of that river.

In fact, in Numbers 11.5, we're told that when the Lord brought Israel out into the wilderness, when he did deliver them out from under the bondage of Egypt, and they're in the wilderness, and God is feeding them with manna from heaven, the bread from heaven, And they began to tire of that bread from heaven.

They wanted to give something to quicken this old man of flesh, to make this old man of flesh strong again. They wanted meat and protein. They wanted the things of this world given to them. They didn't want this manna from heaven. They didn't want to hear about Christ. And that's the picture there.

And it says that they began to complain, saying, we remember the fish, all the abundance of fish that we got out of that river. It was free and full. We could eat all we wanted of Egypt. We had the leeks and the cucumbers, the melons, the garlic, the onions. We loved it. We loved it, loved it.

But now we're getting this light bread from heaven. And that is a picture of what we see in gospel churches today when some come in and they realize all you do is preach Christ. All you do is give us that light bread from heaven. All you do is make your boast of Jesus and what he's done. What about me? What do I have to boast in? What about my works and my application and what I got to do? That's the entire of the same thing.

They're complaining of the same thing that the Israelites were complaining of in the wilderness, who all died and perished, not in faith, not having received the promises, but died in unbelief. But the Lord has some better thing for you that do here, that rejoice to eat the manna from heaven and rejoice in that heavenly bread, which is Christ. That's where you and the new man are satisfied and thankful for what the Lord has done. And so the Egyptians, no doubt, they worshipped this river, and Pharaoh would have worshipped this river. But the reality is, whatever they thought of this river, they had many gods, many gods.

And that's what the Lord does. He confronts the vain imaginations of man, the refuges that men hide in and run to and think, this is my salvation. This lie I'm telling myself is my salvation. This is the hope by which I stand before God in the hopes that I'll be found worthy of that world which is to come. That's what man is trusting in. But the Lord confronts that, like sending Moses down to meet Pharaoh at the river spring to confront him and say, this is the truth.

And the Lord said, don't you forget that rod. Because that rod's very, very important. Moses went with that rod and that ham, that rod that Pharaoh was getting to know something about, that rod that was turned into a serpent, and ate up all the rods of the other guys. He ate up their serpents, their rods, showing that God is supreme. The God of the Hebrews, he is the true and living God. There's no other God like him. He is God alone. And he does as he pleases. And so he saw that rod, and that rod is Christ.

What the Lord's giving us here in Exodus 7 is a picture of the gospel that the Lord sends to confront you in your mad dash to hell believing in idol God. All the things that we trust in by nature, all the things that we think are good and profitable for my eternal life that are going to help me that are of this flesh, that are vain, idle, false gods, the Lord confronts those. He confronts my idols in my heart, in my studies, in the word. He confronts your idols, your false gods, in the preaching of the word, and when you read the word and study. He opposes all that is a lie, all that would sink us to hell, all that would destroy us. He opposes it with the gospel.

And there's a people that hear it, and there's a people that won't hear it. There's a people whose heart is soft, and listens, and hears God, and is willing to hear God, and is shook, and trembles before the Lord in a good way. And there's a people who won't, who will just stay hard. And it'll just sink them to hell. And that's what is happening here. As Paul said to the Corinthians, such were some of you, but ye are washed. Ye are sanctified. Ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus by the spirit of our God.

God is faithful to give you a spirit, faithful to give you his word, the word, the bread of heaven, to feed you, to nourish you in the new man, to make you a new creature in Christ through a new birth, a new and living way, not an old, dead, tired way of form and you know, outward religion, dead letter religion. And so he's shown us Christ. He's shown us who the son is, what, why he came, what he accomplished in his coming, what he's done for us as the sacrifice and the substitute of his people to put away our sins and to give us life, life and knowledge and understanding of the true and living God, and to dwell in fellowship with him. And so Paul writes, now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's dead be reconciled to God. For God hath made his darling son, Jesus Christ, to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. and by the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so our God sends his preacher with that message of hope, with that rod in hand, that rod of salvation, and it's called the ministry of reconciliation in which our Lord Jesus Christ is revealed to those who are gathered. Just like he confronted Pharaoh with it, he reveals Christ. And we trust in coming to it that the Lord has said, go, preach the word, and that the Lord will lay it to your hearts severally as he will.

He'll apply it in mercy. He'll comfort you, give you peace. He'll correct you. He'll do whatever you need. He'll provide it, because he knows. In the quietness of your own heart, he gives you exactly what you need to bless you. to bless you who are his people.

But there's a message also for those who refuse it, who refuse to hear and worship God, and it's a message of judgment. It's a message of judgment so that the wicked will know you're refusing him who is the Lord God. And as you're being judged now and suffering now, you'll suffer then too. He'll make sure that they know it, that they hear it.

Look at Exodus 7, verse 16 through 18. The Lord says to Moses, thou shalt say unto him, the Lord God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee, saying, let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness. And behold, hitherto thou wouldest not hear. Thus saith the Lord, In this thou shalt know that I am the Lord.

Behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink, and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink of the water of the river. And so the Lord, by his servant, let Pharaoh know that because of his refusal to bow, because of his refusal to believe the word of God and to hear his command and obey by letting the people go, that God is judging him and judging Israel. All right, and so you think of the gospel truths being revealed here, and what a judgment it is upon men who refuse to hear it.

Paul describes this over in 2 Corinthians 2, if you read the end of that chapter, he speaks of these things. He speaks of the preaching of the gospel and the ministry of reconciliation we've been given. He describes it at verse 14 of 2 Corinthians 2, he calls it, The preaching that we are making manifest, the saver of God's knowledge in every place. When we preach Christ crucified, we are making known to you the saver of God's knowledge. We're making known to you the saver, the saver, that scent of Christ whom the Father loves. We're making known who is the saver, the Lord of the earth to you through the preaching of the gospel. And when men believe it, it's described as the saver of life unto life and them that are saved. That's why they believe it. That's why they hear it. It's life to them. It's life to them, and it's a saver of life to them.

When men reject that word, when they will not hear it and they refuse the salvation of God, they refuse to worship and honor the Son whom the Father has sent, who he is, why he came, and what he accomplished. It's called the saver of death unto death and them that perish. So to some, that same word is death. And to others, it's life. It's life and rejoicing.

Now, in the book of Revelation, when there's many people, it's described as waters. In Revelation 17, verse 15, many people are called waters. And it says, the waters which thou sawest where the whore sitteth, the whore of Babylon, that lie, their peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. And the Lord sends Moses out to meet Pharaoh at the waters of the River Nile.

And they're going there. And he sent them there to smite those waters with the rod, to smite them. in which they'd be turned to blood so that every living thing in it dies. Picture in those fish, they died, they stank, and no one would drink it. No one wanted to touch those waters anymore.

And the rod of God in Moses' hand was made to the Egyptians a saver of death unto death and them that perish. It was made a saver of death unto death, and that's what God sent Moses to do. In confronting Pharaoh, go preach to them, you tell them these things, but in Pharaoh and in Egypt, it's gonna be a saver of death unto death.

I'm telling you now, as you say, now verse 19, Exodus 7, 19. And the Lord spake unto Moses, say unto Aaron, take thy rod and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt. upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water. You preach that savor of Christ to all, as it were, some from every kindred, tongue, people, and nation. You just go and you declare this word, that they may become blood, and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.

And so, but think of it this way. At the same time that to Egypt it was death unto death, the saver of death unto death, and then that parish. Think about how this was all being done to accomplish the deliverance of God's people. To them, it was a saver of life unto life, and them that live. So while it was making some to know the curse and the judgment that they're under, the Lord uses it as a blessing.

That same word that condemns them is used to deliver you, to comfort you, to give you hope and rejoicing in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's made a wonderful scent. You're rejoicing in Christ. You're rejoicing in that word. because you live. God's merciful to you. He's been compassionate to you. And so it's great for you that here. Verse 20.

And Moses and Aaron did so as the Lord commanded. And he lifted up the rod and smote the waters that were in the river in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants. And all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. And the fish that was in the river died. And the river stank. And the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river. And there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. And so there's death to the Egyptians, and that's what the Lord does. In sending his word, to preach his word of Jesus Christ crucified to you, he's accomplishing his will. He's doing exactly as it pleases him in the hearts of men and women who hear it.

Laying it to your hearts to make you to hear Christ. And you either believe it or you don't. It's either made effectual to you or it's not. And beg God that it's made effectual to you. Beg God for mercy and grace that he would make the preaching of Jesus Christ, what he's done for his people, that it would be made a savor of life unto you and that you would live and hear and rejoice in his word. Beg him for that. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these other things that you worry about in the flesh will be added unto you. He says, don't you even worry about those things.

What you need is life, life in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so by the preaching of the gospel, he's confronting all our vain imaginations. Paul called, he described it as casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought and imagination to the obedience of Christ. All right, to think of what we think of in light of Christ. Lord, what would you have me to do? Lord, what would you have me to hear? What would you have me to be? What would you have me to do today, Lord? All right, we want to bring it into the obedience of Christ and lay it before him, all our cares and concerns.

And it's made a delightful word to you that believe. And I love it in the text here where it says, and he lifted up the rod. What a sweet, sweet picture of exalting the Lord Jesus Christ. He lifted up the rod. It reminds me of the gracious words that our Lord said in John 12. John 12, 32, and 33. And he said, if I be lifted up from the earth, it will draw all men unto me. And this, John tells us, he said, signifying what death he should die. In other words, we lift Christ up in the preaching of Christ crucified. of what he's done.

That's your salvation. You want to know how the Lord is gracious to you? Through Christ. We lift up Christ, the rod of God, who was crucified for his people, laid down his life for his people to obtain the forgiveness of sins and to give life to his people. And he draws all men unto himself from every kindred, tongue, people, and nation as it pleases him And so we also see in this, which is judgment to the Egyptians, it's also mercy to his people. It's mercy to them who died with Christ, who was lifted up for us. We were crucified with Christ.

His blood flowed and covered us, putting away our sins, washing away our sins. His death, he rose again, and that life, which is his, is given to us. And we are made alive in him, by him, for him, to know him and to worship him. And so he's done all this. We look at our works and we count them like Paul.

They're dung. They stink. I don't want nothing to do with those things. And I don't want to drink of those waters of death anymore. Let me drink of the waters which flow in the belly of your spirit. that ever flow, that never stop, never cease, because he's our life.

He's our all to us. Turn over to Romans 6, and we see this. Paul traces out this truth that we died with Christ. You that believe him have already died to Christ, have been judged in Christ. He's borne it for us. The debt settled. In Romans 6, verse 5 is where we'll pick up.

Paul says, for if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin Everything I am, everything I trusted in, it all stinks.

That body of sin is destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. The Lord delivers us from serving that dead letter form of religion that cannot save, from trusting the things of our flesh, from trusting, well, I just get up and go to church when I'm supposed to and God just Well, no, we love him. We want to be here to worship him, to hear his word, and to be nourished and fed and comforted in him. For he that is dead is freed from sin, freed from those dead ways, and freed from those old ways that we came to God in ignorance and in darkness, delivered from those things. Now, if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more. Death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once. But in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And so the gospel must be preached. God has ordained it to be so, because it accomplishes both things. It lets those whose hearts are hard and refuse to bow before God, that they're under judgment. And it lets you know that tremble before his word and rejoice in the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ, that love him for, that are humbled by his grace and mercy for you. It lets you know you have life. He's blessed you. He's given you the earnest, the down payment of your inheritance in him. forever, brethren.

Now, Pharaoh wouldn't believe, right? His heart was hardened, and he continued in that, and it says down in verse 22, Exodus 7, 22, and the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments, and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them as the Lord had said. He just couldn't get out of it. He couldn't get out of his own way.

He just, that's what we are by nature. We are trapped in that death and bondage, except the Lord pluck us out of it. except he be merciful and gracious to us, we'll be just like him. We'll see something in this world, some enchantment, some little magic trick, as it were, that just takes our eyes away. The birds come down and just gobble up the seed we've heard or just falls on rocky ground and dies under persecution or gets choked out by the cares of this world. But you that are Christ, he puts it in good ground, good ground.

Now Pharaoh, because he was just shut up in himself and hardened, Pharaoh turned and went into his house. Neither did he set his heart to this also. And all the Egyptians dig. They had to just keep on working and working and working and working and working to try and get something. because they would not hear. They would not hear. And just to get a drink of water, because they couldn't drink any more of the river. And seven days were fulfilled after that the Lord had smitten the river, which we know that verse seven is a completion. He was just sealed up in his hardness.

You that drink of this water of Christ. And it's good, and cool, and refreshing to you. What a mercy. What a blessing of God for you. What a saver of life unto life in you that live. Rejoice. Rejoice in it, because this is what the Lord does for his people. And it's a mercy. There's other pictures in there, but I just want you to see Christ. Just rejoice in him. You know, Moses. His miracle there was in turning the waters into blood. Our Lord, what did he turn the water into? Wine. Wine, which refreshes the heart and gives joy to you that hear it.

And so, has the Lord hardened my heart? Well, what are you rejoicing in? What are you rejoicing in? Are you rejoicing in your works and yourself, or do you rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ? Because if you rejoice in Christ, your heart ain't hard. It's soft. That's a mercy of God. Give him thanks and ask him to keep on doing that. Amen.

Moses Lifted Up The Rod

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Moses Lifted Up The Rod

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