An Explosion of Miracles

Q: What does the Bible say about the miracles of Moses and Aaron?

The miracles performed by Moses and Aaron demonstrate God's sovereignty and power over creation and the wickedness of Pharaoh. The miracles performed by Moses and Aaron against Pharaoh, detailed in Exodus 7-10, showcase an explosion of divine power. From turning Aaron's rod into a serpent to unleashing the plagues on Egypt, these events reveal God's sovereignty and His willingness to judge those who oppose Him. Pharaoh's defiance ultimately leads to Egypt's downfall, emphasizing God's supreme authority as He orchestrates events for the deliverance of His people, the Israelites.

Q: How do we know God's sovereignty is evident in the plagues of Egypt?

God’s sovereignty is evident in the plagues as He hardens Pharaoh’s heart and executes His judgment, leading to the redemption of Israel. The ten plagues serve as a powerful testament to God's sovereignty over Egypt and its ruler, Pharaoh. Throughout these events, God actively hardens Pharaoh's heart to demonstrate His might and authority, ensuring that His name is declared throughout the earth. Pharaoh's continual refusal to heed God's commands results in increasing judgment, manifesting the justice of God while simultaneously orchestrating the fulfillment of His redemptive plan for Israel. God’s actions not only affirm His sovereignty but also illustrate His commitment to safeguarding and delivering His chosen people, showcasing a divine interplay of judgment and mercy.

Q: Why is understanding God's judgment in the plagues important for Christians?

Understanding God's judgment in the plagues underscores the seriousness of sin and the inevitability of divine justice. The plagues inflicted upon Egypt serve as a stark reminder of God’s justice and the consequences of sin. They illustrate that God does not overlook the rebellion and cruelty of the wicked. Pharaoh's refusal to free God's people results in severe judgments that not only prompt Israel's deliverance but also exemplify God's righteous retribution against evil. For Christians, recognizing this aspect of God’s character is crucial, as it highlights both His holiness and the urgency for humankind to repent and seek refuge in Christ, who provides safety from divine wrath. The plagues also foreshadow the ultimate judgments that will be enacted at the end of time, reinforcing the need for faithfulness and vigilance among believers.

Q: Why did God harden Pharaoh's heart during the plagues?

God hardened Pharaoh's heart to display His greatness and ensure that His power would be known among the nations. The hardening of Pharaoh's heart is a pivotal theme in the story of the Exodus. God explicitly states that He hardens Pharaoh's heart to demonstrate His sovereignty and to execute His judgment in a way that reveals His divine power. This hardening serves two primary purposes: first, it showcases God's authority over Pharaoh and the Egyptian gods, and second, it establishes a historical record of God's deliverance of Israel, for generations to come. Through Pharaoh’s obstinance, God ensures that His name and might are made known not only to the Egyptians but to the entire world, emphasizing that He is the one true God. Thus, the hardening is not arbitrary but part of God's salvific plan.

Q: What can we learn from Israel's experience during the plagues?

Israel's experience during the plagues teaches about God's faithfulness and the assurance of His promise to deliver His people. The plight of the Israelites during the plagues reveals God's unwavering faithfulness and commitment to His chosen people. Despite their suffering in Egypt, God's promises remain steadfast, and He orchestrates the events surrounding the plagues to bring about their deliverance. As the plagues unfold, the Israelites come to realize that God is actively working on their behalf, which should instill hope and assurance in believers today. This narrative teaches that even in times of adversity, God remains with His people, faithfully fulfilling His promises, and ultimately assuring their redemption. The experience of Israel highlights the importance of trust and reliance on God's unchanging nature—He is always present to save His elect, as evidenced through history.

Tonight we are going to look
at four of the most remarkable chapters in the Bible. I say
they are four of the most remarkable chapters in the word of God because
they set before us an explosion of miracles, miracles performed
by Moses and Aaron against Pharaoh and against the Egyptians. They
begin with Aaron's rod being cast down and turning into a
serpent. and proceed to describe the first
nine plagues that God unleashed upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians. Let's read the first few verses
of Exodus 7, and then we'll skip over to the last verses of Exodus
10. Exodus 7, verse 1. And the Lord said unto Moses,
See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother
shall be thy prophet. Thou shalt speak all that I command
thee, and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send
the children of Israel out of his land. And I will harden Pharaoh's
heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of
Egypt. But Pharaoh shall not hearken
unto you, 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
that I am the Lord, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and
bring out the children of Israel from among them. And Moses and
Aaron did as the Lord commanded them, so did they. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's
heart, and he would not let them go. And Pharaoh said unto him,
Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more. For in the day that thou seest
my face, thou shalt die. And Moses said, Thou hast spoken
well. I will see thy face again no
more." The whole land of Egypt was made to tremble beneath the
successive strokes of God's rod of judgment. Everyone, from Pharaoh
on his throne to the lowest servant in the field, was made to feel
the terrible weight of divine judgment. Hold your hands here
and we'll find a summary of all that is given in these four chapters
in Psalm 105. Psalm 105. In verse 26, the psalmist
is describing the history of Israel and giving praise to God
for all that he has done up to this time. And now in verse 26,
he speaks of his goodness in his judgments upon the Egyptians. Psalm 105 verse 26. He sent Moses
his servant and Aaron whom he had chosen. They showed his signs
among them and wonders in the land of Ham, in the land of the
cursed. He sent darkness and made it
dark, so dark God describes it in Exodus as darkness that could
be felt. And they rebelled not against
his word. He turned their waters into blood
and slew their fish. and their land brought forth
frogs in abundance in the chambers of their kings. He spake, and
there came diverse sorts of flies and lice in their coast. He gave
them hail for rain, and a flaming fire in their land. He smoked
their vines also and their fig trees, and broke the trees of
their coast. He spake, and the locusts came
in caterpillars. and that without number, and
did eat up all the herbs in their land, and devoured the fruit
of their ground." That is an explosion of miracles. Yet, Pharaoh,
in his arrogance of heart, in his enmity against God, in his
hatred for the God of Israel, defied the Most High God, and
as a just consequence of his rebellion, He was given over
to a judicial blindness and hardness of heart, which at last brought
him to hell. Turn to Exodus 9, let me show
you. Exodus 9, verse 12. And the Lord hardened
the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them, as the
Lord had spoken unto Moses. And as the Lord said unto Moses,
Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and
say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let
my people go, that they may serve me. 14 For I will at this time
send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants,
and upon thy people, that thou mayest know that there is none
like me in all the earth. For now I will 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 I have raised thee up, for to show in thee my power,
and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth." Now
what shall we learn from these things? the things recorded in
these four chapters. I've chosen this evening to give
an overview of the four chapters because they really form one
complete section of this blessed, blessed book describing the history
of Israel in the accomplishment of redemption by our Lord Jesus
Christ. I want to show you seven things
and I promise I'll either get done in 45 minutes or I'll quit
when I get done. All right, Exodus chapter 7.
The first thing that comes to my mind as I read these chapters
is the fact that the salvation of God's elect is sure. There is no possibility that
any sinner loved and chosen of God and predestined to everlasting
salvation shall not possess it. As I read these chapters, I'm
reminded of the inspiring visions given to John in the book of
Revelation. In that blessed book, we read
just a portion of it a little bit ago, we see the last proud
oppressor of Christ's people bringing down upon himself, that
is, Antichrist, the man of sin, bringing down upon himself and
upon all who follow him the seven vials of wrath, the wrath of
the Almighty God. It is God's purpose to save his
Israel. and all who oppose him, and all
who oppose his people, and the two are the same. Those who oppose
you who are gods oppose God." That ought to be enough to sustain
us. All who oppose the purpose of
God, setting themselves against his church, shall be taken out
of the way. Divine grace will find its object,
and all who stand in the way, God will remove one way or the
other. It doesn't matter whether you're
talking about Egypt, or Babylon, or the beast that comes up out
of the pit. All shall be taken out of the
way. God in His providence clears the path for His grace throughout
the world. I correspond with some folks who live in the former Soviet
Union. God broke down the walls and sent the gospel into that
place, and now there are folks there who believe and worship
our God. in spirit and in truth, because
God in his providence cleared the way for his grace at the
appointed time of his love. And so it is in all times and
in all places with all God's elect. His enemies and ours shall
reap throughout the everlasting course of ages the bitter fruit
of having exalted themselves against the Lord God of the Hebrews. This is his promise. No weapon
that is formed against thee shall prosper. And I have proved it
in constant experience for forty years, haven't you? No weapon
formed against thee shall prosper. In his infallible faithfulness
our God assuringly makes good what his infinite grace has promised.
Every chosen redeemed sinner shall be saved. Every saved sinner,
called and regenerated by his grace, shall be kept in his grace,
and brought by grace at last to his heavenly glory, and made
to possess the inheritance to which he was predestined with
Jesus Christ in his glory. Thus it was in Pharaoh's case
when he persisted in holding in his grip those people God
called his people. the Israel God had chosen, the
vials of wrath were poured out upon him without mercy. The land
of Egypt was covered, covered in its length and breadth with
darkness and disease and desolation and death, covered in the judgment
of God. And yet, all the while, God made
a distinction between Israel and Egypt so that none of these
plagues came upon the land of Goshen. So it will be with the
man of sin, with this last great oppressor who has emerged from
the bottomless pit, armed with satanic power to crush beneath
his foot of pride the God of truth and the truth of God. Satan
and the man of sin shall be overcome. Babylon is fallen, our Savior
said. He didn't say it shall fall.
It is a fallen enemy. A fallen enemy is not an enemy
to fear. The number for the man of sin,
for the beast, is 666. That's three numbers of man. Six. Frustration. Six. failure, six, defeat. Babylon is fallen. We're just watching him topple
her. That's what's going on in this
day. Babylon and the man of sin and Satan shall be plunged in
God's wrath, not into the Red Sea, but into the lake that burneth
with fire and brimstone. And all whose names are not found
in the book of life of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of
the world, shall be made to perish out of the way forever. Not one
jot, not one tittle of God's word shall fail. He will accomplish
everything, notwithstanding all that has been. all that is and
all that shall be, notwithstanding all that is said and done contrary
to that which God has revealed. God remembers his promise and
he fulfills his promise. All the words of God are yea
and amen in Christ Jesus. No power in hell or in earth
shall ever thwart reverse or even hinder God's purpose of
grace. We watch the news or we see what's
going on in the religious world around us and we sometimes tremble
like Eli trembled for the ark of God. You need never tremble
for God's ark. It is safe. Truly, there is none
like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in
thy help, and in his excellence on the sky. The eternal God is
thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms, and he
shall thrust out the enemy from before thee. Thus it has been,
thus it is, and thus it shall be." Now, there's a second thing. When we read about miracles in
the Old Testament or the New, and miracles were performed in
various ages of the Church during the compilation of Holy Scripture,
when we read about miracles such as those performed by Aaron and
Moses in the hardening of Pharaoh's heart and in the deliverance
of God's people Israel, we inevitably have to ask the question, should
we expect such miracles today? The vast majority of people tell
us the miracles described in the Bible never took place at
all. Or those who aren't quite so brazen, who like to pretend
that they are worshippers of God, though they deny everything
he says, who like to pretend they believe in God, though they
deny his power as God, they will say, well, the miracles happened,
but they really weren't miracles. They can be explained scientifically. And if you, especially during
Christmas and Easter, turn on the Discovery Channel or the
History Channel, you'll see folks in brilliant ignorance trying
to show you how the miracles can be explained away as scientific
things that can be explained. In doing so, they prove their
religion to be a delusion, and their professed faith in God
to be a denial of God. You see, there is absolutely
no difference between absolute atheism and the denial of the
fact that God Almighty rules the universe all the time. There's
no difference. To deny God's sovereign dominion
over all things, the elements of the earth, as well as the
thoughts and intents of the hearts of men and the deeds of men,
is to deny that God is God, and that is utter atheism. There
are others who do not hesitate to say that we should always
expect a miracle. You turn on that fellow out yonder
in Oklahoma. They tell us that if we don't
see such miracles, it's because we don't have faith sufficient
in our God. They tell us that if preachers
do not perform such miracles, it's because the preacher has
no anointing from God's Spirit. But if you read the Word of God
and pay attention to what it says, you'll discover that in
the Scriptures, All the miracles fall into four categories. They
were all performed either during Moses' day, or during the days
of Elisha and Elijah, or they were performed during the time
of Babylonian captivity, or they were performed during the days
of our Lord's earthly ministry and the ministry of his apostles
in the first generation after our Lord's ascension. In other
words, they were always performed in times of crisis, in times
of crisis relating to or portraying the redemptive work of Christ
and his saving grace by his Spirit. In a word, the miracles were
performed very sporadically. They take up very little of the
space of time that's set before us in Scripture. And those who
get caught up with the performance of miracles always, always miss
the message they convey. Always. In fact, that can be
said of everything in this book. Those who get caught up with
this fact or that fact, who get caught up with this thing or
that, inevitably miss the message of God's free grace set in those
things. The miracles were given by God
to teach spiritual gospel truth, to give us a message in picture. It was not the miracle itself
that was important, no sir, but the message conveyed by the miracle.
God dividing the Red Sea in itself is insignificant. God created
the world. If you miss the message of God
dividing the Red Sea and bringing Israel dry shod on the other
side with no harm done, while at the same time drowning Pharaoh
and his armies in the Red Sea. If you miss the message of redemption
accomplished by free grace alone through the sacrifice of Christ
our Passover, you may as well not know about the miracle. The
miracle itself is meaningless without its message. Having said
that, Let me be crystal clear. I want you to turn to 2 Peter
1. I get questions real regularly. Folks read something or hear
something I've said and they want to know, well, are you saying
that miracles have ceased? No, no, no, no. I'm saying men
don't have them. Men don't possess the ability
to perform them. Men do not have the gifts of
the Spirit given to the prophets and to the apostles of old. Those
gifts ceased with the completion of the whole revelation of God
in Holy Scripture. Pay no attention to any man,
any man who comes and says, I have a new revelation from God. or I have got something new to
tell you that folks haven't seen before. If it's new, it's not
true. If it's true, it's not new. God has given us the complete
revelation of himself in the person and work of his Son as
it is set before us in the book of Holy Scripture. Now you can
be sure that there are no apostles or men who today possess the
gifts of God's Spirit given to the apostles and prophets in
days of old, because when Philip was down at Samaria, I'll give
you one example in Acts chapter 8, Philip had the gift All these
gifts that were given on the day of Pentecost. He was there.
He was there. He had the gifts of the Spirit,
but he was no apostle. And so when he came and preached
down in Samaria and multitudes were converted, when Peter came,
Peter laid hands upon those folks and they received the same gifts,
showing that God gave his Spirit not to the Jews only, but also
to the Gentiles. Why didn't Philip do that? Because
he didn't have the ability to convey the gifts. So when the
last apostle died, the gifts ceased to be. Now we see this
clearly with regard to the Holy Scripture in 2 Peter 1. Peter
is describing for us how he learned the things he's been teaching,
which he would have us to be continued in, in verse 16. For we have not followed cunningly
devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his
majesty." He said, when I'm talking to you about the glory of Christ,
I'm not telling you something somebody reported to me. We were
eyewitnesses of his majesty. Peter, James, and John were on
the Mount of Transfiguration, and they saw him transfigured
before them. For he received from God the
Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him
from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I
am well pleased." We were right there and heard it. And this
voice which came from heaven, we heard when we were with him
in the Holy Mount. Now watch his next word. I'm
going to just suppose, I'm going to just suppose, that that was
the greatest miracle anybody ever saw. They saw a man who just a moment
before stood before them in human flesh with nothing special about
his appearance. Just an ordinary man. A man without
sin, but an ordinary man. No halo over his head, just an
ordinary man. The God-man, yes, but he stood
before them as just an ordinary man. Suddenly his face and his
countenance and his garments were like the light of the sun.
And God spoke from heaven and said, This is my beloved son
in whom I am well pleased. Peter said, We were eyewitnesses.
We heard these things. Now watch this. We have also
a more sure Word of Prophecy. You know what he's talking about?
Bobby Estes, you're holding it in your hand. This is better than seeing it
and hearing it. We have it given to us by God
himself, whereunto you do well that you take heed as unto a
light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and
the day star arise in your hearts, knowing this first, that no prophecy
of scripture can be interpreted by itself." That's the meaning,
is of no private interpretation. You don't pull a text of scripture
out and say, now this is what I think that means. No, no. But
you interpret the scripture in its context with the scripture.
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man.
This wasn't something men conjured up. What utter foolishness to
imagine such. But holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. There had been none with the
gifts and abilities to do those things the apostles did since
the days of the apostles. And if you want to read it for
yourself again, I suggest you make a note and read 2 Thessalonians
2, verses 7-10. You say, well, Brother Don, how
do you explain the charismatic nonsense going on in our day?
How do you explain all these folks who see visions and have
revelations and tell you if you'll send them your money that God
will do something good for you. How do you explain these miracles
and these healings and all these things that take place in our
day? Those who today pretend to have those gifts as the apostles
and prophets of God are the messengers of Satan by whom multitudes are
deceived. And that's exactly what Paul
tells us. Let me take that back. No. That's
exactly what God the Holy Spirit tells us in 2 Thessalonians 2.
They are deceitful workers sent with satanic power to deceive,
delude, and damn the unbelieving who receive not the word of the
truth. The love of truth. Alright, here's the third thing.
Back here in Exodus. When Moses and Aaron made their
second appearance before Pharaoh, they were standing, as my friend
Brother Roger Ellsworth put it, on the front edge of one of history's
most dazzling displays of God's sovereignty and glory. The Lord
God first demonstrated His sovereignty over Pharaoh, commanding Moses
to give when Pharaoh commanded Moses to give him a sign. When
he did, Aaron cast down his rod and it became a serpent. And
when he threw down his rod and it became a serpent, Pharaoh's
magicians imitated what Aaron did. And the scripture tells
us repeatedly, every time they imitated Aaron, they did so by
their incantations. That's the way God describes
the prayers of folks who worship at Babylon's altar. By their
incantations they may recall on wizards and witches and perform
the incantations of wizards and witches. The preaching, the teaching
of false prophets is nothing but the incantations of wizards
and witches, nothing but satanic delusions. Remember the serpent
was the emblem of Pharaoh's power. On his crown he had the image
of a cobra coming, standing up right out of his crown. And the
Egyptians worshipped the snake. And God said, Pharaoh, watch
this. Aaron's rod ate up the serpents. Swallowed them up. Pharaoh, you're nothing before
God, and your gods are nothing before God. He is the God of
gods. The ten plagues were God's assertion
of his supremacy over all the gods of the Egyptians. When he
turned the water of the Nile to blood, where the Egyptians
worshipped the Nile River, he turned their God into that which
was repugnant and repulsive to them. He will do that, either in grace
or in judgment, I promise you. The Lord God will show himself
glorious and make every imaginary thought of God repulsive to men. Either by revealing Christ in
your heart or by casting you down into hell. He will make
your imaginary gods repulsive to you. One after another. The
plagues came, frogs and lice, diseased livestock, boils, hail,
fire, locusts, darkness that could be felt. And with each
plague, God declares, I alone am God. There is none like me. The sovereign God who demonstrated
his might over the Egyptians and their gods is the God with
whom we have to do. We will either bow to him and
worship him as he has revealed himself in Christ, or we will
be taken out of the way forever in his wrath. Here's the fourth
thing. These plagues that God sent upon
the Egyptians not only demonstrated his sovereignty, they demonstrated
his just judgment. They were the just judgments
of God upon the Egyptians. Because of their cruel treatment
of his people. Because they had slaughtered
the male babies of Israel. Men commonly think. Because God
doesn't send judgment immediately, he never will. So nobody thinks
like that. Listen to the scriptures. This
is what the scripture says, they say. Man has said in his heart,
God hath forgotten, he hideth his face, he'll never see it. Wherefore doth the wicked contemn
God? For this reason he said in his
heart, Thou wilt not require it. Behold, they belch out of
their mouth, swords are in their lips, for they say, Who doth
hear? Yet they say the Lord shall not
see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it." Now hear me,
nobody ever gets by with seeing. Nobody. The wheels of justice
grind slow, but they grind to powder. Judgment will come. The plagues that God sent upon
Pharaoh and the Egyptians were miniature pictures of that which
he will send upon all unbelievers in the last day. Read the 16th
chapter of Revelation. In that day, people will cry
for the rocks and the mountains to fall on them and hide them
from the wrath of God and of the Lamb. But there will be no
escape. Now hear me and hear me well.
Throughout this book, divine judgment is always set before
us. as an act of retribution on God's
part, always. Well, don't you believe God predestined
everything? If you asked that question, you hadn't been listening
to me for the last 27 years. Of course God predestined everything.
But this book, throughout its pages, declares that God's judgment
is always divine, just retribution upon man's iniquity. Judgment
is always a strict matter of justice. It is judgment executed
upon each according to that which he has done. That's the language of this book.
We labor diligently on it. preaching the gospel, warning
every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may
present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, urging all to flee
the wrath of God, urging all to flee to Christ for refuge,
the only refuge sinners have. But those who hear stop their
ears and harden their hearts just like Pharaoh. And unless
God Almighty prevents it, unless God Almighty prevents it soon,
They shall discover that the soul that sinneth, it shall die. God will by no means clear the
guilty. Here's the fifth thing that set
the force in this chapter. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
11. Satan is a wise, cunning, crafty
adversary. It is ever his work to counterfeit
the work of God. We look at our television sets
and we see the immorality, the ungodliness, the corruption,
the promotion of fornication, adultery, drunkenness, the promotion
of lewdness of every kind, the promotion of homosexuality. from
kindergarten through life. We see it promoted everywhere,
promoted by every form of media, promoted everywhere. I don't
mean just tolerated, I mean promoted everywhere, promoted everywhere.
And horrible and abominable as those things are, the scriptures
always speak of such ungodliness as that which men perform from
the lust of their flesh. always, because that's what fallen
man is. False religion, throughout this
book, is presented as the work of Satan's counterfeit. Throughout
this book, Satan sends his servants, transforming them into angels
of light and ministers of righteousness giving them power to perform
signs and wonders, calling down fire from heaven. He calls his
messengers to preach righteousness. I want to show you. I want to
show you. To preach righteousness, morality, the moral majority. To preach righteousness, to teach
you to do good. Or what can be wrong with doing
good? Nothing is wrong with doing good unless you stupidly, unbelievingly,
blasphemously imagine that doing good does you good. 2 Corinthians 11. This was a matter
of concern to Paul and it ought to be to us. I fear lest by any
means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so
your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in
Christ. For if he that cometh preaches
another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or you receive another
spirit which you have not received, or another gospel which you have
not accepted, You might pay attention to us. You might be smart to
bear with us. You might well bear with him,
and so you might be smart to bear with us. Verse 13. For such
are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves
into the apostles of Christ. Antichrist doesn't come with
a red suit and horns on his head and pitchfork and a long tail.
No, no. He comes as a preacher of righteousness. Teaching men to do righteousness
so that they don't have to trust Christ alone for righteousness. And no marvel, for if Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light, therefore it is no
great thing if his ministers also be transformed as ministers
of righteousness. whose end shall be according
to their works." Now you write this down, stick it in your hat,
and remember it. The most satanic opposition there
is to God, to Christ, to the gospel of his grace, and to his
people, is the imitation of his gospel. Preaching a form of godliness
but denying the power of it. Preaching the form of godliness,
but denying the gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation.
If you want to read later 2 Timothy chapter 3, Paul speaks of perilous
times, these perilous times in which we live. And we would never
have known the names of Satan's soothsaying magicians. We would never have known the
name of Pharaoh's preachers, his prophets, if God hadn't given
them to us in 2 Timothy 3. The names were Jameis and Jambres,
who withstood Moses to the face. But God makes this blessed assurance,
they shall proceed no further. All they can do is withstand. They can't stop, hinder, or prevent. Here's the sixth thing. Pharaoh's hardness of heart displays
the incredible hardness of the human heart. The hardness of
Pharaoh's heart is described in three ways in these chapters. In some places, we're simply
told that it was hardened or grew hard. In other places, we're
told that Pharaoh hardened his heart. And in other places we're
told that the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart. Putting all these together,
this is what they teach us. Number one, God has purposed
everything. Even the hardness of the ungodly
and the damnation of the wicked. That's no more to be separated
from God's purpose. than God Almighty having purposed
our redemption by Christ. We recognize that taught throughout
the scriptures. Particularly, we know Paul says
so in Romans chapter 8. Second, when people harden their
hearts against Christ, God often judges them by hardening their
hearts even more. And third, When sinners harden
their hearts against Him, they bring upon themselves the wrath
of God. God didn't create evil in Pharaoh. No, sir. No, sir. So how do you
explain that? I'm not even about to attempt
to explain that. I worship a God who's just slightly
bigger than my puny brain, and yours too. We dare not charge the holy God
of heaven with sin. We are accused of making such
charges. But we dare not do so. Turn to
James chapter 1. James chapter 1. Much as I admire Martin Luther
for so many things, Martin Luther couldn't figure out a way to
reconcile that which is revealed in the epistle of James with
that which was revealed in the book of Romans. And so rather
than bowing to the revelation of scripture, Luther denied the
inspiration of the book of James and called it an epistle of straw.
Don't be so foolish. James chapter 1 verse 13. Let
no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. Don't try
to justify your ungodliness by blaming it on God's purpose.
For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any
man. But every man is tempted when
he is drawn away, not of God's lust, but of his own lust, and
enticed. Then, when lust hath conceived,
it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth
forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. What a solemn warning this is
to all who hear the gospel and harden their hearts against it.
God said, turn you at my reproof. You stick your fingers in your
ear and say no. God says, all right, I'm going
to laugh at you when you seek mercy and send you to hell with
your hearts hardened. We then, as ambassadors together
with him, beseech you that you receive not the grace of God
in vain. For he saith, I have heard thee
in an accepted time, and in the day of salvation have I succored
thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, the day is the
day of salvation. Harden not your hearts." Here's
the seventh thing, back in Exodus 7-10. These plagues yield another truth. God is gracious, always gracious
toward his elect. Israel had been in such desperate
conditions for such a long time they must have felt as if God
had forsaken them and had forgotten them. They must have thought
God didn't care. But as the plagues began to unfold,
Israel began to see God was showing himself strong on their behalf. You and I often encounter the
same feelings. How often we felt like crying,
is his mercy cling gone forever? Does his promise fail forevermore? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his tender
mercies? We want to cry when our hearts
are crushed. God, where are you? In such time,
resist Satan's snare. Brother Henry Mahan, back in
1969, his son Robbie volunteered in military service. He got off
the plane, got on a truck. In Vietnam, and on his way to
camp, was killed. News broke in Ashland that Robbie
had been killed. And one of the wheel-worshipping
preachers, one of the churches there, called Brother Mahan up,
Brother Henry Enstatholm, the fellow said, where is your God
now? I wouldn't expect anything less
from the fools and the blasphemers. And this is what a man who believed
God said. He's right where he was the day
my son was born. He's on his throne. God give me so to believe you. Amen.

An Explosion of Miracles

What does the Bible say about the miracles of Moses and Aaron?

How do we know God's sovereignty is evident in the plagues of Egypt?

Why is understanding God's judgment in the plagues important for Christians?

Why did God harden Pharaoh's heart during the plagues?

What can we learn from Israel's experience during the plagues?

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An Explosion of Miracles

What does the Bible say about the miracles of Moses and Aaron?

How do we know God's sovereignty is evident in the plagues of Egypt?

Why is understanding God's judgment in the plagues important for Christians?

Why did God harden Pharaoh's heart during the plagues?

What can we learn from Israel's experience during the plagues?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

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