We're going to look tonight at
the first 13 verses in this chapter, Exodus chapter 7. 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, 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 stretched forth mine hand upon Egypt, bring
out the children of Israel from among them. And Moses and Aaron
did as the Lord commanded them, so did they. And Moses was four
score years old, 80 years old, and Aaron, 83 years old, when
they spake unto Pharaoh. And the Lord spake unto Moses
and unto Aaron saying, When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying,
Show a miracle for you, then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take
thy rod and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent.
And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the
Lord had commanded. And Aaron cast down his rod before
Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. Then
Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers, now the
magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their
enchantments. For they cast down every man
his rod and they became serpents. But Aaron's rod swallowed up
their rods. And he hardened Pharaoh's heart
that he hearkened not unto them as the Lord had said. God had purpose to deliver his
people from Egyptian bondage. And we all know tonight what
is true concerning God's purpose. As we read in Isaiah chapter
14, and this applies to all of his purpose. And I like to use
that word singular, purpose. I know sometimes we say purposes,
But God's purpose is one, and it never changed, never will
change. But this is what we read in Isaiah
chapter 14 about God's purpose. His purpose is all-inclusive,
I should remind us. His one purpose is all-inclusive. The Lord of hosts has sworn,
saying, surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass. And
as I have purposed, so shall it stand. God purposed to deliver
the children of Israel from Egypt. And he also purposed to use Moses
as an instrument in accomplishing his purpose. Now we ended last
time in chapter six with Moses asking this question of the Lord,
how shall Pharaoh hearken unto me? How shall Pharaoh hearken
unto me? And in the context, you remember
the Israelites, the elders of Israel, they were not listening
to Moses now because they had believed that God sent him. But
then when they went into Pharaoh, Remember, Pharaoh increased their
burdens. And so the elders of Israel,
they didn't believe Moses. How then, Moses asked, shall
Pharaoh hearken unto me? But still remember, Moses is
a man, was a man that God purposed to use. And his weakness and
his lack of faith needed to be shown. It needed to be established,
first of all, as we consider this history. His weakness, his
lack of faith needed to be brought out so that when God delivers
Israel from Egypt, no one but God is to receive the glory,
the praise. It cannot be given to Moses because
we see that he was a weak instrument. He was a man who doubted God. He was reluctant to do what God
had told him to do. And this will only manifest,
his reluctance, his lack of faith, will only manifest more the glory
of God in bringing out his people. Now I have five things I want
to point out to us in these 13 verses that we read here in chapter
7. First of all, Moses is made a
god to Pharaoh. That's what we read the Lord
said unto Moses, see, I have made thee a God to Pharaoh. And when I wrote that down in
my notes, of course, I put down God as the scripture here does
with a small G, with a small G. He didn't turn Moses into
God Almighty, no, but he made Moses a God and notice unto Pharaoh. He didn't make him a god to anybody
else, but he did make him a god. God made Moses a god unto Pharaoh. In other words, in the place
of God, Moses would be God's ambassador. And in the chapters
that we will look at, God willing, we will see how Moses will command
Pharaoh and Moses will reprimand Pharaoh and Moses will punish
him, inflict punishment upon Pharaoh as God could do, as God
could do in commanding someone and reprimanding someone and
commanding miracles and judgments to come upon the nation of Egypt. He was made a God unto Pharaoh. And then he said, and your brother
Aaron, your brother Aaron, he'll be your prophet. He'll be your
prophet. If you look back to chapter four,
and this is such a good definition here of what a prophet of God
was. Here in chapter four in verse
15, we read, And thou shalt speak unto him,
that is, unto Aaron. Moses, you shall speak unto Aaron,
and put words in his mouth. And notice, put words in his
mouth. He didn't say just put thoughts
in his mouth. The scripture, the word of God,
is divinely inspired, yea, the words of God are divinely inspired. God put the words in the mouth
of his prophets of old. Even so much so that even a letter
was inspired when he said seed, singular, and not seeds. We believe in the inspiration
of the scripture, don't we? I do. All scripture is given
by inspiration of God and is profitable, and we see here how
that God put the words, how Moses, as Aaron was his prophet, was
to put the words in his mouth. And that's the way God did to
these prophets of old. He put his words in their mouth. And I will be with thy mouth,
Moses, and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall
do. was a prophet, Moses' prophet,
because remember Moses said, I'm slow of speech, and God said,
well, your brother Aaron, he can speak well, he'll be your
mouthpiece, he'll be your spokesman. But the word was given to Moses,
and then he in turn gave the word to Aaron. Aaron wasn't at
liberty to make up his own message. Moses, God didn't send Moses
and Aaron in before Pharaoh and Moses turned to Aaron and said,
tell him what you want to tell him. No, no. God gave the word to Moses and
Moses then gave it to Aaron and Aaron spoke. That's a, that's
a wonderful picture and definition of what a prophet of God was. I don't believe we have prophets
today. Because the scripture says the church is built upon
the foundation of the apostles and prophets. And the foundation,
of course, is Jesus Christ. That foundation has been laid. That doesn't mean that someone
might be able to prophesy of the future like Agabus in the
New Testament. Remember, he prophesied concerning
Paul, what was going to happen to him. But as far as the 12
apostles, the 12 prophets of old, we have them given unto
us in the Word of God. But my point is Aaron wasn't
given liberty to make up his own message. And preachers today,
pastors and preachers today, in the sense of preaching the
Word of God, we are called prophets in 1 Corinthians. Still, the
command is to preach the word, to preach the word. I was speaking
with a lady recently in another state, and she told me, she said,
I've been watching your messages, been watching your messages,
and she said, you're different. She said, if I'm right, she said,
you You take the Bible, you take the word of God and you preach
from the Bible. She said, the pastor I've had,
he just always talked about different topics and things like that.
I said, well, that's what God's told us to do. It's to preach
the word. And that's never changed. We
have no license to make up a message. And God's word is always relevant. It's always relevant. because
it's God's word, no matter where we preach from in the scripture. Well, that's the first thing.
Moses was made of God to Pharaoh. The second point I want to make
or point out to us in verse three, once again, we read, I'm reading verse four. Verse
three is the one I wanted. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart. Once again, we read, this is
the second time in Exodus, as you begin in chapter one and
come this way, this is the second time that the Lord told Moses
that he, that is God, would harden Pharaoh's heart. And as we go
on, we will see that God says this several more times. But
also, intermixed with these verses which tell us God would harden
Pharaoh's heart, we also will read that Pharaoh hardened his
own heart. Some see a problem here. Some
see a problem here. And they say, well, if God hardened
his heart, then God is the author of sin. God hardened his heart,
he said, and God judged him for it. God, that makes God the author
of sin. But some try to explain it in
this way, and this is the way John Gill explained it. He first,
that is, Pharaoh first, hardening his own heart against God. and
all the remonstrances made unto him, it was but a righteous thing
in God to give him up to the hardness of his heart, to deny
him his grace, which could only soften it and leave him to the
corruptions of his nature and temptations of Satan. Let me
say that again. He first, Pharaoh first, hardening
his own heart. But I would just remind us that
all men have a hard heart. By nature, our heart is hard. And for God, when we read God
hardening a man's heart, all God must do or would need to
do in doing that is just leave the man alone. just pass him
by and not give him grace like he does his elect. And that man
would harden his own heart, and in that sense, we could say God
hardened his heart. But here's, like I say, some
people see a problem there and try to say, well, that makes
God the author of sin. But to me, it's like the matter
of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. There's no way
any of us can explain that. There's no way that we can explain
that. And as a pastor, as a preacher,
what I know is I'm commanded to preach God's sovereign and
man is responsible. Not only preach it, but believe
it. But believe it. So much so that
I would say that this is sure that if men go to heaven, it
will be because of God's grace. If men go to hell, it will be
because of their sin. God is sovereign in his works
and man is fully responsible. You say, can you explain that?
Probably not to your satisfaction. No. Someone said, how do you
reconcile those two points, God's sovereignty and man's responsibility? Spurgeon, I believe, one time
said, friends don't need to be reconciled. Friends don't need
to be reconciled. These are two friends, God's
sovereignty and man's responsibility. The Word of God declares it,
I believe it, and I proclaim it. But here is one, let me give
you tonight one of many verses in the scriptures that I, when
I come up upon difficult matters like this, here's a verse that
I try to go to in Psalm 145 and verse 17. The scripture says,
the Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his
works. That's just what I believe, what
the word of God says. The Lord is righteous in all
his ways and holy in all his works. Here's the third point
I would make. The Egyptians shall know Jehovah. This is what God tells Moses.
The Egyptians shall know Jehovah in verses four and five. 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. You remember when Moses first
went in before Pharaoh, Pharaoh said, who is the Lord that I
should obey his voice? Now, I don't believe we're given
the time period from when Moses first went in before Pharaoh
and spoke those words and when God delivered them at the Red
Sea. How long this period is, I don't
think we're given that. The miracles, the judgments seem
to come one right after the other. But how long that is, I don't
know. But Moses is assured here by
God that the Egyptians would soon know. who Jehovah is, and
that's his name Jehovah that's used here, the Lord, who the
Lord is. They would know that he is God
alone and that he is God almighty and God over all nature and over
all things. They would know that. They would
soon know that. God could command the darkness
where the Egyptians live and light in the same country in
the area where the Israelites live. Now, I don't need to say
that's miraculous, do I? What a miracle. I mean, can you
imagine if it was dark, you go outside this building and it's
pitch dark, so dark that you can't even hardly feel your way,
and a block down the road here, it's noonday light. It's a miracle. And that's exactly what, that's
just one of the 10 judgments that God brought upon Egypt. They're going to know, Moses
was told, they're going to know who the Lord is. They ask, their
leader asks, who is the Lord that I should obey his voice?
They're going to know. They're going to know who God
is, but listen, they're not going to know God savingly. There's many people who know
there is a God, who believe there is a God, but that's one knowledge
of God, but to know God in Jesus Christ is to know Him in a saving
way. The Lord Jesus Christ said, This
is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. Yeah, they're going to
know that God is God, no other God but Him. I looked in Daniel
when God, the same God, Jehovah, when Nebuchadnezzar told his
soldiers, heat that furnace seven times hotter and throw these
three rebels in, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And they did. And the soldiers who threw them
in, the heat was so intense that they died. And yet, Shadrach
and Meshach came out of the fire with not even the smell of smoke
on them. And then listen to what Nebuchadnezzar said. The king
confessed, there's no other God that can deliver after this sword. And I would say the Egyptians
would have said the same thing. There's no other God. They had
hundreds of gods, but there's no other God who can do these
miracles, bring these plagues, these judgments upon our land
like Jehovah. The Egyptians who survived would
know Jehovah, but not in a saving way. The fourth thing I wanted
to point out here in verse seven, this seems somewhat strange that
right in the midst of all this, we're told how old Moses and
Aaron are. Verse seven, and Moses was four
score years old and Aaron four score and three years old when
they spake unto Pharaoh. Well, that seems kind of strange,
doesn't it? That that would be inserted here,
their ages. Why was that? Well, I think the
best explanation is this showed how long Pharaoh and the Egyptians
had been oppressing the nation of Israel, at least 80 some years. Remember, when Moses was born,
Pharaoh may not have been the same Pharaoh, but he had already
commanded the babies to be cast into the river. How they had
been oppressing, and the Israelites had been living under this oppression
for a long time. And God heard their groaning.
That's what we're told when God spoke to Moses. He heard their
groaning, and he was aware of it, and he came down to deliver
his people. That's the way God always acts
in judgment. First, there's a seeming reprieve,
like when Noah preached. How long did he preach before
God sent the flood? Well, I believe we're told 120
years. 120 years Noah was preaching. And the scripture says he was
a preacher of righteousness. So that tells us he was preaching
concerning the Messiah who was to come, who is the righteous
one, who is the righteousness of God, made unto us righteousness. So 120 years, and that is the
way God works. Usually there's a lull. But eventually, and you know
there's a scripture in Ecclesiastes, let me see if I can halfway quote
it right. Because sentence against an evil
work is not executed speedily, the hearts of the sons of man
is fully set in them to do evil. In other words, a man He goes
out and he, let's say, he takes advantage of his neighbor. He
robs him or something like that. Well, God doesn't strike him
dead. God doesn't send lightning immediately down and kill this
man for his evil deed, does he? He gets away with it. And because
he does, that just causes his heart to be more set in his evil
ways. No, God doesn't. Now sometimes
he does, sometimes immediately. He sends judgment upon an evil
deed, but most of the time, no. He gives men space to repent,
to turn. The last thing, the fifth thing, Pharaoh will ask to be shown
a miracle. This is what we're told in verses
8 through 13. And the Lord spake unto Moses
and unto Abraham, saying, When Pharaoh shall speak unto you,
saying, Show a miracle for you. God knew. God knows all things,
doesn't he? He's the omniscient one. He knew
that When they went in and spoke to Pharaoh, Pharaoh would want
to see a miracle to show their credentials. You say that you're
coming in the name of Jehovah. Well, show me a miracle. Prove
to me. Prove to me that there is a God
named Jehovah and that you have been sent by him. Show me a miracle. God told him which miracle. You
remember, God gave him two miracles before. The rod he cast down
became a serpent. He put his hand in his breast
and it became leprous. But God told him to show Pharaoh
the miracle of the rod being turned into a serpent. And he
did. And we're told that Pharaoh,
he had some soothsayers and magicians and evil workers, you know. He said, turn your rods into
serpents. It's amazing to me that some
of the commentators at least believe that these men somehow
were able to deceive Pharaoh and those men there into thinking
that their rods were turned into serpents. But I believe they
were turned into serpents, just like the scripture says. You
say, well, can Satan do that? Does Satan have that kind of
power? With God's permission. With God's permission. You remember
what he wanted to do to Job, but he couldn't do it until God
gave him permission. And when God gave him permission,
then lightning or fire fell down from heaven and consumed many
of his animals. And that wind came out and destroyed
the house where Job's children were feasting. Satan, he has
power, but only when God gives him permission. After everything
is said and done, he's God's devil, isn't he? He cannot go any further. He's
just like that junkyard dog, you know, that has a big collar
and a chain. Boy, he can tear out, scare you
to death, but he reaches the end of his chain and he's pulled
back. And that's Satan. Yeah. The scripture says that he was
able to cause their rods to turn into serpents, but here was the
big difference. Aaron's rod that was turned into
serpent swallowed all their rods that were turned into serpents.
No doubt this miracle was performed and God told him to work this
miracle because it showed Pharaoh, it intimated to Pharaoh and all
the Egyptians there that they were under the dominion and power
of Satan, worshiping these false gods. that they worship. Well,
I pray the Lord would bless His word to us here tonight.