The Hardened Heart: Why Self-Reliance Fails

• Theological Warfare [00:37:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines the plagues not merely as natural disasters but as a divine strategy to dismantle Egypt's polytheistic religious system and expose the powerlessness of their gods.
• Plague of Blood [00:40:32 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains how the plague of blood targeted the Nile, the source of Egypt's life and wealth, thereby exposing the impotence of their fertility and inundation gods (Hapi, Canoom, Osiris).
• Plague of Frogs [00:43:54 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes the plague of frogs as a direct assault on Hecate, the frog-headed goddess of fertility, turning a symbol of life into a source of death and disgust.
• Plague of Gnats [00:46:21 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor notes that this plague targeted Geb (earth) and Set (chaos), and highlights that the magicians could not replicate this plague, acknowledging it as the 'finger of God'.
• The Plagues of Egypt [00:46:32 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor details the progression of the plagues (gnats, flies, livestock, boils, hail, locusts, darkness), noting how each targeted specific Egyptian deities or economic pillars.
• Divine Distinction [00:49:41 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor highlights that starting with the plague of gnats, God distinguishes between the Egyptians and the Israelites, protecting His people while judging the oppressors.
• Pharaoh's Hardened Heart [00:57:49 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor analyzes the theological tension of who hardened Pharaoh's heart, concluding that God confirmed and strengthened Pharaoh's existing stubbornness to display His power.
• Warning Against Hardness [01:00:18 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor applies the concept of a hardened heart to the congregation, warning that repeated refusal to obey God's voice leads to a cumulative hardening of the heart.
• Limited Power of Magicians [01:01:21 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor begins to discuss the magicians' ability to replicate some plagues but their ultimate failure, highlighting the limits of human or demonic power compared to God.
• The Hardening Heart [01:00:18 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that a hard heart is the cumulative result of repeated refusal to obey God's voice, leading to a reprobate heart.
• The Limits of Counterfeit Power [01:03:53 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts the magicians' ability to add to plagues with their inability to reverse them, demonstrating the limits of demonic power compared to God's creative power.
• Modern Idols and Trust [01:06:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor challenges the congregation to identify and renounce modern 'Niles' (career, finances, reputation, health) that they rely on instead of God.
• Guarding Against Hardening [01:08:32 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor warns against the cumulative effect of repeated 'no's to God, citing Hebrews 3:12, and urges immediate repentance and obedience to maintain a soft heart.
• Trusting the Finger of God [01:11:16 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor connects the power behind the plagues to the resurrection of Jesus, urging believers to trust God's power in their own battles.
• Self-Reliance vs. Divine Dependence [01:14:59 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor identifies the realization of one's dependence on their own abilities rather than on God.
• Divine Communication and Obedience [01:15:07 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor expresses hope that God has spoken to the congregation's hearts, fostering a tender heart that hears, trusts, and obeys God's call.
• Divine Power [01:15:24 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor encourages trust that God will show Himself powerful on behalf of the believers.

• Sermon Illustration [00:44:55 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses a personal anecdote about leaving an outdoor light on at night, which attracts flies and then frogs, to illustrate the horror and inconvenience of the plague of frogs invading homes.
• Sermon Illustration [00:55:58 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about visiting the Lost Sea in Tennessee, where a tour guide turns off lights in a cave to demonstrate total darkness, illustrating the intensity of the plague of darkness in Egypt.
• Sermon Illustration [00:48:45 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references local news in Naples about helicopters spraying pesticides to kill flies and mosquitoes, using this to illustrate the severity and annoyance of the biting flies in the plague.
• Sermon Illustration [01:01:21 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the biblical account of the magicians in Pharaoh's court to illustrate the limits of counterfeit power, noting they could add to plagues but not reverse them, and eventually admitted 'this is the finger of God.'
• Sermon Illustration [01:06:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of a 'Nile' to represent modern sources of security (career, finances, reputation, health) that can be 'turned to blood' or removed by God, illustrating the futility of trusting in created things.

• Pastoral Charge [00:37:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > Open Bibles to Exodus chapters 7, 8, and 9.
• Pastoral Charge [00:40:32 ▶️ 📄]
  > Open Bibles to Exodus chapter 7, verse 14.
• Pastoral Charge [00:43:54 ▶️ 📄]
  > Open Bibles to Exodus chapter 8.
• Pastoral Charge [00:46:21 ▶️ 📄]
  > Open Bibles to Exodus chapter 8, verse 16.
• Pastoral Charge [01:06:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > Identify and renounce modern idols by asking what would destroy their life if it were removed.
• Pastoral Charge [01:08:32 ▶️ 📄]
  > Guard against a hardening heart by recognizing that hardness is the cumulative result of repeated refusal to obey God.
• Pastoral Charge [01:11:16 ▶️ 📄]
  > Trust the power of God in personal battles, recognizing that the same power that raised Jesus is available to believers.
• Pastoral Charge [01:13:37 ▶️ 📄]
  > Examine the state of one's heart to ensure it is soft and tender, receiving the Word of God and obeying immediately, rather than being hard and resistant.
• Pastoral Charge [01:14:26 ▶️ 📄]
  > Examine one's heart to ensure it is not hard-hearted like Pharaoh, and recognize dependence on God rather than self-ability.
• Pastoral Charge [01:16:07 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor prays for the congregation to have soft hearts, be led by God, and bring glory to God in all their actions.

[00:30:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:30:55] Welcome to Venture Church. My name is Jason and it's great to have you with us today.
[00:30:59] If you're new here, we invite you to stop by the welcome desk in the lobby after the service and we'd love to say hello. Fill out a connect card and tell us a little about
[00:31:05] yourself and what you're interested in. That's how our team helps you find your next step here. And if you have a prayer request, our team would be honored to pray with you this week. You can fill these out at the welcome desk by tapping on your phone on that disc
[00:31:17] in front of you if you're here in the auditorium or by clicking on the link in the comments if you're joining online.
[00:31:23] Coming up next month, we get to celebrate baptisms.
[00:31:25] If you place your faith in Jesus and you're ready to take that next step, we'd love to be a part of that moment with you.
[00:31:31] We also have something starting this fall for anyone with questions about faith.
[00:31:35] Jason's going to tell you about it.

[00:31:38] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:31:38] Hey Venture family, I want to personally invite you to Alpha.
[00:31:42] Alpha is a space where you can ask honest questions about life, faith, and God in a relaxed environment.
[00:31:50] Whether you're new to faith, coming back to church, or simply have questions, Alpha is a great next step.
[00:31:58] Each gathering includes a meal, a short video, an open conversation with people who are exploring the same things that you are.
[00:32:06] We'd love for you to be a part of it.
[00:32:08] You can learn more and sign up through our website or the Venture app.

[00:32:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:32:13] And for our families, Awana kicks off soon.
[00:32:16] It's a midweek program that's been helping our kids grow in their faith, memorize scripture, and build real friendships over 70 years.
[00:32:22] We'd love to have your kids there this fall.
[00:32:24] Head to VentureNaples.com to learn more and sign up.
[00:32:29] This week, Pastor Fernando was in Kenya providing Bible training to students at Ahare Empowerment Academy.
[00:32:35] He heard about one student who is there now teaching more than 30 people in their own community.
[00:32:40] One person, trained, and the gospel keeps going from there.
[00:32:43] That's what your giving does.
[00:32:45] It makes it possible to invest in every age and stage of life here at Venture, serve our community, equip leaders all around the world. You could give through the Venture app, online, and through the offering boxes around our campus. Thank you for giving today. Today we continue our series
[00:33:01] Into the Wilderness as Pastor Tim keeps walking us through the life of Moses. Let's hear from God's

[00:33:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:33:06] Word. Good morning Venture Church. Good to see all of you here today. Welcome to those who are joining us online. We're glad to have you with us today as well. It's great to be in God's house
[00:34:07] it amen amen we're continuing our study on the life of Moses and what a fascinating individual and there's just so much for us to learn as we study his life and you know really if you look
[00:34:24] back at Moses you know supernaturally taken care of by God as he was pulled out of the out of the river uh by pharaoh's own daughter and raised as the prince of egypt living in pharaoh's house
[00:34:39] he'd lived there till he was about 40 years old and then at 40 years old he saw one of his people the children of israel being attacked and so he ended up killing an egyptian and it got found out
[00:34:49] and so he fled and he and he just went off and uh out into the wilderness and you know fled for a period of time and became a shepherd on the backside of the wilderness and spent 40 years
[00:35:05] as you know as a shepherd taking care of somebody else's sheep and at 80 years old he's out doing his job and he sees a bush that's on fire and he goes over and examines this to see what that's all
[00:35:21] about and God speaks to him and gives him a calling that is unique a calling that is transformative to his life and he says I want you to go to Pharaoh and say let my people go I want
[00:35:34] you to be the deliverer of my people Israel and clearly this is a this is a huge responsibility it's a big ask and you know it took some convincing but God gave Moses a rod and turned
[00:35:50] into a snake and and then back into a rod and so God did some things to prove to Moses that it was indeed him that was speaking to him and so he did that he went back and he confronted Pharaoh and
[00:36:01] Pastor Sean did a great job last week kind of telling that story and and how that even though he was doing exactly what God had called him to do Pharaoh rejected what Moses had said
[00:36:13] and actually made things worse for the children of Israel because of it.
[00:36:19] And so Moses is probably like, what's that all about?
[00:36:22] I mean, I did what you said.
[00:36:23] I said what you said to say.
[00:36:25] And now what's happened here?
[00:36:27] Things have gotten worse, not better.
[00:36:28] You ever been there?
[00:36:29] You ever feel like you're obeying God and doing what he's calling you to do and it feels like it gets worse instead of better?
[00:36:33] Sometimes that happens.
[00:36:36] But you need to understand that God's got a bigger plan at play always.
[00:36:41] And so today we're going to see the all-powerful hand of God on display in really a remarkable way.
[00:36:49] As one by one we go through a series of plagues where God demonstrates his incredible power and showcases his power as opposed to the inabilities of the Egyptian gods.
[00:37:03] So if you have your Bible, we're going to be in Exodus chapter 7, and we'll go 7, 8, and 9 here today.
[00:37:10] So as we look at this, you need to understand that the plagues are not just a series of natural disasters.
[00:37:17] Though they are natural disasters, that's not what this is.
[00:37:20] This is theological warfare.
[00:37:24] God is going to war with the Egyptian gods.
[00:37:27] He is publicly dismantling the entire religious system of Egypt.
[00:37:35] He's taking on each one of their gods one by one, and he's exposing the emptiness that they have.
[00:37:41] And he's revealing himself as the one true God.
[00:37:46] And he tells us this in Exodus chapter 12, 12.
[00:37:48] It says, on all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgments.
[00:37:52] I am the Lord.
[00:37:55] He says, listen, I'm going to take it to them.
[00:37:56] And he confirms it again in Numbers 33, 4.
[00:37:59] It says, the Lord has also executed judgments on their gods.
[00:38:04] So these plagues are targeted, they're precise, they're intentional, and they strike at the very heart of everything that Egypt trusted in. Now, we could spend weeks going through each one of these plagues. I mean, they're really incredible, but this is a series on Moses, and Moses is a
[00:38:26] big story that we're going to try to get done in just a matter of 10 weeks, and so I don't have a lot of time to describe them so I'm going to walk through them today the first nine pretty quickly
[00:38:37] and we're going to see how each one of the plagues actually was a response to an Egyptian God that you know he was trying to you know just target and then at the end we'll draw some
[00:38:50] application points for our lives today in the end of our time together today I hope to see three things one that God confronts the gods of our culture just like he did back then it still
[00:39:03] happens today God is still in the business of displaying his power and showing who he is and the fact that he still deals with the hardness of man's heart so we're going to look at these
[00:39:13] things today so if you would join me in prayer and we'll jump in here today Heavenly Father we come before you humbly this morning and God we've come to hear from you today not from me so God I
[00:39:26] pray that I would fade into the background. And God, as we read your word, as your Holy Spirit is in this place, God, I pray that you would speak to hearts. Lord, I pray that you would
[00:39:34] speak to every heart in this room today. I pray that, God, you would get through to each person with whatever message you would have for them. And so, Lord, we look forward to opening your
[00:39:44] word to studying, to learning, and, Father, to changing. So, God, we just dedicate this time to you in Jesus' name. Amen. Egypt was a land of many gods, very polytheistic. They had gods for the
[00:39:59] Nile. They had gods for fertility, the god of the sky, the god of the earth, the god of healing, the god of sun. Even Pharaoh himself was considered a god. These gods were just woven into the very
[00:40:11] fabric of national identity, their agriculture, security, their daily life. And so to challenge the gods was to challenge egypt itself so god begins here uh with the plagues with the most foundational of them all and uh you know and we're going to see that that's the the plague
[00:40:32] of blood so if you have your bible exodus chapter 7 we'll begin reading in verse 14 then the lord said to moses pharaoh's heart is unyielding he refuses to let the people go go to pharaoh in
[00:40:45] the morning and as he goes out to the river confront him on the bank of the nile and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake. Then say to him, the Lord, the God of the
[00:40:56] Hebrews, has sent me to say to you, let my people go so that they may worship me in the wilderness.
[00:41:04] But until now you have not listened. This is what the Lord says. By this you will know that I am the Lord. With the staff that is in my hand, I will strike the water of the Nile and it will be changed
[00:41:17] to blood. The fish in the Nile will die and the river will stink. The Egyptians will not be able to drink its water. Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. He raised his staff in
[00:41:28] the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile and all the water was changed into blood. The fish in the Nile died. The river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could
[00:41:37] not drink the water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt. The Nile was not just a river. Egyptians, entire civilization depended on it. It flooded every year. That's what made their ground fertile.
[00:41:55] It's what produced their crops. It's what made them wealthy. This was their source.
[00:42:01] and what god was doing here is is he was uh you know going against the god of the nile that they had deified uh you know happy h-a-p-i is the name uh that was the god of fertility and inundation
[00:42:19] there was another god uh canoom was the guardian of the nile source some said that you know even even Osiris who's the god of the underworld in the Egyptian culture and so God takes this symbol the Nile of their identity and all they are in the religious system and he turns it
[00:42:41] to blood the fish die the river stinks the water is undrinkable and that's not limited just to the main channel of the Nile every canal every pond and even the water in their wooden and stone
[00:42:55] vessels was affected so can you even imagine the shock of the people the very thing that defined egypt has become a source of of death and disgust and so their god was exposed as being powerless
[00:43:11] really yahweh is saying here the nile does not belong to happy or to canoe but to me i'll do with it as i please and so this is a direct assault on egypt's theological and economic
[00:43:25] foundation because everyone put their faith their trust their security in the Nile and just like that God turns it to blood next we see of course you know Pharaoh he still does not let the people
[00:43:43] go and so God sends another plague and this is the plague of frogs we see this in Exodus chapter 8 it says then the Lord said to Moses go to Pharaoh and say to him this is what the Lord says let my
[00:43:54] people go so that they may worship me. And if you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs on your whole country. The Nile will team with frogs. They will come up into your palace
[00:44:05] and your bedroom and onto your bed and into the houses of your officials and on your people and into your ovens and kneading troughs. The frogs will come up upon you and on your people
[00:44:14] and all your officials. So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt and the frogs came up and covered the land this this plague targets Hecate the frog-headed goddess of fertility birth and resurrection frogs were a symbol of life they were closely associated with the Nile and God
[00:44:38] multiplies them so much that they are everywhere they're in the houses they're in the bedrooms they're in the kitchen they're in the their beds they're in the ovens they're in the bowls they're making things can you even imagine I don't know if this happens at your house but if you leave
[00:44:55] the outdoor light on at night it collects flies around there and then the flies draws frogs and then these ugly little cream colored frogs they they get there and they and they're the ugliest four-legged little beasts of creatures and they'll be there and you're trying to get into your house
[00:45:09] and they'll jump on you anybody ever had that happen where a frog jumps on you and you say all kinds of things and dance like a fool you know I mean you're trying to knock this thing off I mean
[00:45:18] can you imagine your house being inundated with frogs and everywhere you went there were frogs and not only were there frogs everywhere but then he let the frogs die and now you've got smelly dead frogs that you're just walking over you're feeling them under your feet they're
[00:45:41] everywhere this is this would be absolutely horrible now the irony here is that their god had the face of a frog. I mean, so this was, you know, this was supposed to be their God of
[00:45:55] fertility and all this. And now it's a picture of death. God is not subtle. He's making a point.
[00:46:08] Still, Pharaoh refused to let the children of Israel go. So next we see the plague of Nats, Exodus chapter 8, verse 16. And the Lord said to Moses, tell Aaron, stretch out your staff and
[00:46:21] strike the dust of the ground and throughout the land of Egypt the dust will become gnats they did this but when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts they could not since the gnats
[00:46:32] were on people and animals everywhere the magician said to Pharaoh this is the finger of God but Pharaoh's heart was hard and he would not listen just as the Lord said now I've done quite a bit
[00:46:47] of research this week you know looking at the plagues and it's been a fascinating study and if you have time I encourage you to do so the word in Hebrew here translated gnats can also sometimes
[00:46:58] be translated mosquito sometimes it's translated lice sometimes it's fleas it's just just a horrible horrible thing and so this really strikes it at Geb who was the earth god and Set who was the god
[00:47:16] of chaos so dust which should be producing life produces irritation and uncleanness now it's interesting that the first plagues pharaoh's magicians were able to replicate they were able to replicate turning water into what appeared to be blood by them and then they were able to bring
[00:47:36] frogs up out of the nile but when they got to the gnats they said we're out you know we can't do that this is the finger of God we don't have the ability to do this so you can see the procession
[00:47:49] here he starts with the Nile and then he moves to the sacred symbol of fertility the frog and then he hits the ground and turns that against them so systematically and methodically he is dismantling
[00:48:05] the pillars of their entire religious security next we see the plague of flies exodus 8 20 then the lord said to moses get up early in the morning and confront pharaoh as he goes to the river and say to him this is what the lord says let my people go so that they may worship
[00:48:24] me if you do not let my people go i will send swarms of flies on you and your officials on your people and in your houses the houses of the egyptians will be full of flies even the ground
[00:48:34] will be covered with them you know this was a bad year for flies and mosquitoes here in naples you know uh i mean it seems like every other day the helicopter was flying over trying to kill these
[00:48:45] these pests on society um you know it's it's these flies are not that's referring to here are not your typical cute little house fly uh these are deer flies these are horse flies these are the
[00:49:01] these are the biting flies these are the ones that bite you and leave welts they're annoying they're in your face they're in your eyes they're buzzing all around and they're the ones that you're just always trying to swat away and it says here that dense swarms fill houses cover the ground
[00:49:20] and yet this time God does something different he for the first time makes a distinction between the children of Israel and the children of Egypt. Because the children of Israel were living in the land of Goshen and the flies, God said, I'm not going to send the flies to Goshen. And from this
[00:49:41] point on, the plagues only affect the Egyptians. They do not affect his people, the children of Israel. So there's a distinction there. And so you would think water to blood, frogs, gnats, mosquitoes flies biting things you would think that pharaoh would say just just go
[00:50:04] take your people and get out of here but he doesn't and so god sends yet another plague the plague on livestock exodus chapter 9 verse 1 then the lord said to moses go to pharaoh and say
[00:50:16] to him this is what the lord the god of the hebrews says let my people go so that they may worship me and if you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them back the hand of the lord
[00:50:24] will bring a terrible plague on your livestock in the field on your horses and donkeys and camels and your cattle your sheep and your goats so now the livestock of the egyptians die but not one of
[00:50:39] the animals of the israelites is harmed so this is going against the cattle deities of apis who is the sacred bull and hathor who is depicted as a cow now you know egypt was a land of of plenty
[00:50:55] and you know they had the Nile and they had they had all kinds of food because of the river and because of the ground being so fertile and they had cattle that ate and they were doing so well
[00:51:05] and now the economic backbone of the country is dismantled the symbols of sacred fertility are wiped out and now all they see is death and yet they see that God protects his own and again you
[00:51:20] would think that Pharaoh would just say take the people and go but he doesn't he refuses to let them go. And so God sends the plague of boils. Exodus chapter 9 verse 8. Then the Lord said to
[00:51:32] Moses and Aaron, take handfuls of soot from a furnace and have Moses toss it into the air in the presence of Pharaoh. It'll become fine dust over the whole land of Egypt and festering boils
[00:51:42] will break out on the people and animals throughout the land. So that's indeed what happens. Painful, oozing red infected boils break out on the egyptians even the magicians who were in pharaoh's court that were doing all of the uh you know trying to do the same plagues you know here
[00:52:02] they couldn't stand before pharaoh because they themselves were covered with boils and so this is targeting egypt's healing deities particularly sekhmet and isis uh and just showing the fact that they weren't able to protect they weren't able to restore or heal and so as i mean you would
[00:52:24] think if they haven't had enough you know with all the bugs and flies and critters and no food and and now we have boils all over our body and still refuse so the lord sends the next plague the plague
[00:52:38] of hail verse 13 then the lord said to moses get up early in the morning confront pharaoh and say to him this is what the lord the god of the hebrews says let my people go so that they may worship me
[00:52:47] Therefore, at this time tomorrow, I will send the worst hailstorm that has ever fallen on Egypt from the day it was founded till now.
[00:52:58] So a catastrophic storm.
[00:53:01] I can't even imagine what this storm must have been like.
[00:53:05] But hail falls with fire and it kills people.
[00:53:08] Anyone who was outside was killed.
[00:53:10] Animals who were not in some kind of a shelter were killed.
[00:53:13] it destroyed the remaining crops destroyed the flax and the barley the plague confronts the sky and the storm gods nut and set they were agricultural deities and God just makes himself known and shows that these other gods are nothing in comparison to him and yet Pharaoh
[00:53:41] still refuses to let the children of israel go so he sends the plague of locusts exodus 10 verse 1 then the lord said to moses go to pharaoh for i have hardened his heart in the hearts of the
[00:53:53] officials so that i may perform these signs of mine among them if you refuse to let them go i will bring locusts into your country tomorrow they will cover the face of the ground so that it cannot
[00:54:03] be seen i don't know you can still see videos even on youtube today of in africa when swarms of locusts come in it really is a terrifying thing I mean just the the roar that they make
[00:54:15] when a swarm comes in but I can't imagine the swarm of locusts that that came here onto Israel or Egypt it says that the entire ground was black you couldn't see anything when a swarm of locusts of this size comes in they eat absolutely everything green so that means
[00:54:31] there's no more grass there's no more leaves there's no more weeds there's no more there's no more no more leaves on the plants there's there's no more plants they devour everything so you can just imagine i mean just a mere days ago they would walk out in the palace and you would see
[00:54:50] the beautiful nile and you see green fields and you would see lush lush farms and now you look out and what do you see i mean it's destruction it's death everywhere you look finally with the
[00:55:06] locust pharaoh begs for relief confesses his sin and god removes the locust but then pharaoh hardens his heart again and refuses to let the children of israel go and so that leads us to the next plague the plague of darkness exodus 10 21 then the lord said to moses stretch out your
[00:55:29] hand toward the sky to the so that darkness spreads over egypt look at this darkness that can be felt so moses stretched out his hand toward the sky and total darkness covered all egypt for
[00:55:42] three days no one could see anyone else or move about for three days yet all the israelites had light in the places where they lived about a month ago i took our kids and grandkids up to the lost
[00:55:58] sea uh up in in tennessee cool cool places to see that's underground you can take a boat ride underground and uh while you're down in this cave about 50 60 feet underground at one point the tour
[00:56:10] stops and they say we're going to show you what total darkness looks like and they shut off the lights in the cave and you absolutely cannot see a thing you can't see your hand in front of your
[00:56:20] face there's you can't see anything and i mean seriously i mean they leave it on for about 10 seconds and at about five seconds and you're like i've had about enough of this you know uh i don't
[00:56:31] I don't like this. It says that the darkness that the Egyptians felt, it was so dark it was something you could feel. They couldn't move about. They couldn't put a foot in front of the other.
[00:56:42] I mean, there was no light whatsoever. Of course, this was a direct assault on the sun god, Ra, who is the king of their gods, the very symbol of Egyptian power. And it's like God just extinguished
[00:57:01] a candle just let me show you so at this pharaoh offers a partial compromise but moses refuses and pharaoh's heart reaches a new level of hardness and he drives moses from his presence now these are not random acts of power these are targeted judgments by god from the nile to the sun
[00:57:27] god is systematically dismantling their entire religious system and showing them that there is only one true god and as we look at these two other realities come into focus that i want to mention here this morning and one is pharaoh's heart the hardness of his heart that brought
[00:57:49] this about and then the limited power of the magicians who who were replicating some of these things. The first question is who hardened Pharaoh's heart? The text uses two different kinds of language here. Sometimes it says that Pharaoh hardened his heart and then there's other
[00:58:07] times that it seems as if the it seems to say that the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart. So who hardened Pharaoh's heart? Was it Pharaoh or was it God? Well in the early plagues the first ones
[00:58:21] the emphasis clearly falls on pharaoh's own stubborn refusal pharaoh is the one who refused to let the children of israel go but then later on in the text it more explicitly says that the hardening was by god so understand that pharaoh was not neutral in this he wasn't forced into this
[00:58:43] he was already a proud oppressive ruler who claimed deity of himself and when God confronted Pharaoh this is what he said Exodus chapter 5 verse 2 who is the Lord that I should obey him and let Israel go I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go so we see
[00:59:05] that Pharaoh had a hard heart from the beginning and God knowing this just confirms and strengthens what pharaoh had already chosen so that god's power would be fully displayed essentially god turns pharaoh over to the foolishness of his own heart he lets pharaoh just continue down the path
[00:59:29] that he had already chosen so that one day pharaoh would see just who god is exodus chapter 9 verse 16 says but i have raised you up for this very purpose that i might show you my power and that
[00:59:47] my name might be proclaimed in all the earth you know and paul quotes this in romans 9 to show that god is free to use even a resistant ruler for his larger redemptive purposes pharaoh hardened his
[01:00:02] heart and god basically like in romans chapter 1 uh just you know let him continue in his own sin let him continue to do what he would turn him over to a reprobate heart now there's a warning
[01:00:18] in there for us a hard heart is usually the cumulative result of repeated refusal each time we hear God's clear voice through his word through the power of the Holy Spirit through a message when we hear God and say no something in here hardens a little bit when we feel led by God to
[01:00:48] do something and we choose not to do it something hardens when God points out a sin in our life when we knowingly do something we know is not right that we shouldn't do and we don't repent
[01:01:06] something hardens in here so there's a lesson in here and I'm going to get back to that at the end of the message but the second thing i want to talk about here uh is the magicians
[01:01:21] in pharaoh's court how how were they able to turn the nile into blood how were they able to get frogs to come out of the water so we don't have time to go through all of these and and how
[01:01:38] they may have been able to replicate the first couple but they were able to do some things i mean if you remember you know uh aaron threw down the you know moses's rod it turned to a snake
[01:01:51] the magicians threw down their rods which turned to snakes and then aaron moses's rod ate the other magician snakes remember that you know it's god saying you know you know pointing out you bet you
[01:02:06] can't do that you know you know they were able to turn the water into blood and they were able to bring frogs from the Nile but when they got to the gnats right they got to the gnats like we're out
[01:02:17] we don't we don't do gnats because we don't know how to do gnats we don't know how to bring something out of nothing we can't do that we can take something that God's already created and
[01:02:27] bring it out of the water we can change the color of the water we can't make gnats so how'd they do it well typically it's taught that they do it one of two ways one um either the magicians operated
[01:02:47] with some kind of demonic power scripture says that satan can produce counterfeit signs that's theory number one theory number two is that they were skilled illusionists uh it talks about the secret arts of the egyptians so it's much like an illusionist or a magician today who can you know
[01:03:09] you know do some slight of hand and you know make things appear make things look different than they really are i have studied this quite a bit this week and and i'm personally convinced that
[01:03:23] uh this is demonic power and that uh that the magicians were just operating under the power of a demon or satan i think that it's interesting that the counterfeit gods and the counterfeit power here is real enough to impress for a season but it has limits right can't create
[01:03:53] something out of nothing and it it can't reverse a single plague right when you look at the plagues and you look at what they did, the magicians, you know, they added more blood to a land that was
[01:04:07] already chock full of blood, right? They added more frogs to a land that already had enough frogs.
[01:04:13] They didn't need any more frogs, right? God had sent frogs from everywhere and they were able to send more frogs. But notice what they couldn't do. They couldn't change their blood back to water.
[01:04:21] They couldn't get rid of the frogs. All they could do was add more problem. No answers. They couldn't undo what Moses had done through the power of God and by the time we get to the third plague they
[01:04:36] can't even fake it anymore they're standing before Pharaoh and they actually make this statement this is the finger of God this is this is something bigger than us and by the time they get to the
[01:04:48] sixth plague the magicians themselves are covered with boils and they can't even stand before Pharaoh right so bit by bit the entire Egyptian system is being stripped down to nothing and I believe the point where they say this is the finger of God is the turning point in this narrative because
[01:05:12] the opposition admits the fact that they've been defeated and that something greater is at work and from that point on the gap between God's power and every rival power only widens we don't live in Egypt today we don't worship happy or heck it or raw but you know what hasn't
[01:05:41] changed in 5,000 years? It's the human heart. We still build our security, our identity, and our hope around things that, well, ultimately they'll never satisfy. And so God still exposes our rival gods. So I want to give you just three takeaways and we'll wrap up here this morning. The first,
[01:06:10] I think we need to identify and renounce the modern gods that we trust. Just ask the simple question, what Nile are you relying on today? I mean, what are you viewing as your source?
[01:06:26] What is it in your life that if it was gone, if it was turned to blood, it would destroy your life?
[01:06:33] What source of provision or security or identity that if it was removed would devastate your life?
[01:06:40] Maybe it's a career. Maybe if you lost the ability to do your job, your education, everything about your life is tied up in this and you can no longer do it maybe it's your financial security and maybe
[01:06:55] you've created a nest egg and you you just think I don't have anything to worry about because I've got a big enough nest egg that I can I can I can coast for the rest of my life and do you not
[01:07:05] understand the fact that just like God can change the Nile he can he can turn our finances as individuals and as a country and as people in his world maybe it's your reputation you're so proud
[01:07:18] of what you've built and who you are, the title you've achieved. And if you lost that, you would lose your identity. You're not sure who you would even be. Maybe it's your physical health. Maybe
[01:07:27] you've worked so long in life to be this healthy person who's just done everything right as far as health goes. And then one day you go to the doctor and everything's great. The next time, it's not
[01:07:41] great. Maybe your Nile is the approval of certain people and you live for their applause. You see, God is still in the business of showing us that these things are not where we are to place our
[01:07:56] trust because every one of those things I just mentioned can be taken away disrupted or turned against us you see God is just looking for people who will trust him who will put their faith their
[01:08:12] trust in him and him alone but we get so caught up in the gods of this world that we we we rely on them, sometimes more than God. Second, we need to guard against a hardening heart. You see, Pharaoh's
[01:08:32] story is a cautionary tale because hardness rarely happens overnight. It's the cumulative results of repeated no's. God speaks to you and you go, no. God calls you to surrender your life to Christ and you're like, maybe another day. Not sure. Don't think so. And when you do that, you tell God, no.
[01:09:01] something gets a little harder and you feel prompted by the spirit of God to do something and you say ah that would really mess up my life that everything I've got going on this is not a
[01:09:12] good time thanks God but no something gets a little harder you fall to temptation and sin and where you used to repent and feel guilty now you just kind of just roll with it something's
[01:09:36] hardened. Anytime we delay, excuse, or push back from God, our heart gets a little harder. Hebrews warns us, Hebrews 3.12, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from
[01:10:02] the living God, but encourage one another daily, as long as it's called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness we've come to share Christ and if deed we hold our
[01:10:14] original conviction firmly to the very end and has just been said today if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion softness of heart is not automatic it comes through quick repentance and simple obedience that when we do wrong we immediately
[01:10:39] confess it. We immediately tell God that we were wrong and that we shouldn't have done it, and we acknowledge it before God. Softness of heart happens that when we read the Word of God, we hear the Word of God preached, when we feel the prompting of the Holy Spirit of God to do
[01:10:53] something, to give something, to go somewhere, that we say yes immediately. That's what fosters a soft heart. But when we stiff-arm God, when we say, no, not yet, maybe I'll think about it, I'll pray about it. Give me some time. I'm not sure. Something hardens. Final takeaway is this.
[01:11:16] We need to trust the finger of God in our own battles. You see, the same power that turned the Nile to blood, that brought frogs and gnats and flies and hail, is the same power that raised
[01:11:38] Jesus from the dead Jesus used the language the finger of God when he cast demons out in Luke chapter 11 you see Jesus has already won the victory over every false God when he died on
[01:11:59] the cross and rose from the dead so when our opposition looks strong when it seems like the opposition can kind of match you understand the fact that God is God and you can trust him you
[01:12:18] can believe him you can take his word to the bank in these first nine plagues we'll talk about the tenth plague next week in the first nine plagues God dismantles Egypt's entire religious system he shows the folly in all of their gods he exposes the limits of the counterfeit power they have and
[01:12:43] he reveals himself as the one true living God and the question that Egypt faces the same question that we face will we keep hardening our hearts and leaning on the gods of this world or will we
[01:13:06] bow to the God whose finger cannot be touched Jesus Christ has already confronted every power every false claim through his death and resurrection so my challenge to you today is how's your heart how's your heart is it soft is it tender does it receive does it receive the word
[01:13:37] of God when the word of God is preached when you read the word of God when the Holy Spirit speaks do you say yes do you obey immediately do you trust him or are you honest enough to say today
[01:13:51] that maybe your heart's hard and you've been saying no to God for a long time and you've been pushing back and maybe there's something you know God wants you to do.
[01:13:59] Maybe you're here today, you've heard the gospel presented so many times, you've just never said yes and you're kind of proud of the fact that you haven't said yes.
[01:14:09] Your heart is so hard and you're just rejecting God.
[01:14:17] Maybe you've been a Christian for a long time but truth be known, you've kind of grown cold.
[01:14:24] That's the equivalent of a hard heart.
[01:14:26] maybe from the story of pharaoh we can have a takeaway that maybe we need to examine our own heart to make sure that we aren't hard-hearted like he was maybe like the children the the people
[01:14:44] of egypt who relied on their false gods and the nile for their provision and their cattle and their fruit and their trees and their maybe today you'd realize the fact you know what my dependence
[01:14:59] is on my own abilities.
[01:15:01] I've not really been dependent on God.
[01:15:05] So I don't know what God would say to you.
[01:15:07] I'm hoping that God said something to you, that maybe God spoke to your heart in some way today so that all of us have a soft, tender heart, that hears what God says, that trusts what God says,
[01:15:24] that's willing to do what God calls us to do, and we can trust that the finger of God will show himself powerful on our behalf amen let's pray heavenly father we worship you this morning we thank you that you are the one true God there is no other God before you
[01:15:41] never has been never will be God we recognize that Jesus Christ is the one and only son of God that he died on the cross to pay for our sins that he rose from the dead proving that he was God
[01:15:52] God you've called us to serve you you've called us to be your people in this day so God may we go here, go from this place to fulfill your purpose. May our hearts be soft. God, may you lead us and
[01:16:07] guide us every step of the way, and may everything we do and say bring glory and honor to you and you alone. Father, we love you and we praise you today in Jesus' name, and all God's people said
[01:16:17] amen and amen. Let's stand as we sing our final song.

[01:17:56] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]
[01:17:56] The shepherd and the son who went to see Jesus.