Sermon Tone Analysis

God’s Wrath Reveals

Exodus 9

The reason for the plagues was to change the heart of pharoah in order for pharaoh to come into submission of the God of Heaven.

However the pharaoh had a steadfast hard heart, the beginning of God’s judgment has begun at this point.

It was God who hardened pharaoh’s heart .

As we examine this text and think about this section, it is important for us to remember this is the last in this series of plagues.

As we’ve seen these plagues are split into 3 sets.

There are 3 sets of plagues and then 1 final plagues.

What you will notice is that the first of the 3 plagues happens in the morning.

Probably while pharaoh is at the Nile to worship the river itself.

The second of the 3 happen to pharaoh at work, where Moses and Aaron go before pharaoh in his royal court and demand the release of God’s people.

Then the final plague in each of the 3 sets happen to pharaoh without warning.

If you look back you’ll notice God warns then strikes, warns then strikes, then God just strikes.

He does this in each of the 3 sets of plagues.

warn-strike

warn- strike

strike

In this plague we see that God speaks to Moses and says :

So this is a warning ahead of time this is the final set of plagues before the fullness of the wrath of God is poured out.

We saw in the middle plagues that God was setting apart his people Israel, He was redeeming His people Israel.

He was stepping into their bleak circumstance to take action against their enemies.

So this is a warning ahead of time this is the final set of plagues before the fullness of the wrath of God is poured out.

We saw in the middle plagues that God was setting apart his people Israel, He was redeeming His people Israel.

He was stepping into their bleak circumstance to take action against their enemies.

That is the God we serve, the God who loves, the God who listens, the God who rescues.

God was making a distinction between those people who were his and those who were not His.

When the plagues came upon the livestock, when the flies came, when the boils came, when the gnats came.

These plagues would be extremely difficult but they would not touch Goshen where God’s children lived.

God would tell Pharaoh ahead of time that He was going to set His people apart, and then He would do exactly what He said He was going to do.

But the pharaoh would not listen.

Even the pharaoh’s advisors were telling phraoah things like..surely this is the finger of God.

His magicians could not stand before Moses and Aaron.

Their parlor tricks, their attempts to duplicate the miracles being displayed could not be done.

Even in the face of all this proof of God’s soverign hand, pharaoh would not believe.

Thus is the human heart.

I wonder how many times a person will come into a sanctuary, and hear a preacher preach and think...”wow it’s like he knew my thoughts...”

How would the preacher know this was what was going on in my life?

Yet even in the face of direct proof that god is speaking to them they rationalize, and explain away the reality that God is speaking to them, and they walk out having never responded, and walking out into “life as normal”

Without knowing that it was God trying to save them from future trouble.

In this last set of plagues, God highlights a growing sense of belief in Egypt.

Starting even with this first plague.

We will see a response of belief, now let me say this:

Growing belief is not neccesarily Growing Faith

(Repeat)

The key here is the contrast betwen the pharaoh and the other Egyptians.

You see the difference between someone with a hard heart and a person whose heart is at least soft enough to believe what he sees and respond appropriately.

You see the difference between a person who ought to know better by now, but doesn’t or at least doesn’t act on it because his heart is so hard, and individuals who are beginning to come to a place where they are understanding that whatever God says is a gurantee to take place.

They are beginning to understand they had better at least respond.

This demonstrate what it looks like when a heart grown hard.

The man is not even rational enough to respond in fear.

We see the other Egyptains responding at least in fear, if not faith.

They may not believe that God is God.

They may not believe that their false idols are not gods, or that pharaoh is not divine but they at least believe that when Moses tells them that something is about to happen, then something is about to happen.

When he says its going happen tomorrow, then its gonna happen tomorrow!

James says of belief:

James

The difference between you and the demons, and you and pharaoh is not that you believe… and they dont.

The demons believe, they actually believe in a way more than you believe.

#1 because they live in a realm that you don’t.

They’ve been around longer than you’ve been around

They are well aware that God IS who He says He is and that God and God does what He says He is going to do.

THEY BELIEVE AND THEY SHUDDER

But their hearts are hardened and filled with contempt for the Lord God.

Trust me when I tell you Pharaoh believed God was causing the miracles but his heart was hard and filled with contempt for the people of God and God Himself.

The next day he woke up and he was looking for hail, He believed it.

In the previous plague with the livestock, when God said the plague wouldn’t go to Goshen, what did pharaoh do?

HE SENT SOMEONE TO GOSHEN!!

Why?

Because He knew God was telling the truth, but he would not respond to that truth!

Trust me by now Pharaoh shudders!

He is terrified of God and He should be!

As every individual ought to be.

The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom...

However when your heart is hard, believing that God is going to something, and being afraid of what God is going to do is not enough to save you.

Either you are committed to your cause or just committed to not bending the knee.

Did you know in our culture we glorify and applaud this type of hard haertedness?

There is a movie about 2 tank division and they are only a few guys left and they are facing insurmountable odds, this idea of standing against insurmountable odds and fighting no matter what...

Normally in situations like this people arent thinking hey.. were gonna beat these guys!

No they are thinking there are alot more of them than there are of us, but sometimes you dont stand against an undefeatable foe to defat them but you stand against them to say “WE WILL NOT BOW TO YOU”

When it happens for our side we build memorials for them and celebrate them… and we should because thats honorable.

But when it happens against God thats another thing altogether.

That’s where pharaoh is right now.

“I know you can do all you have said you will do.

I know you can kill my livestock, I know you can bloody the Nile, I know you can send flies and gnats, and boils… I know you are great and awe inspiring… BUT I WILL NOT BOW TO YOU!

Because I’m pharaoh and I’ve got a reputation to uphold.

this is what a hard heart looks like.

you see people don’t stand this way in opposition to God because they don’t believe EVERYONE believes we just suppress the truth in our unrighteousness.

Paul tells us in .

There are no such things as an atheist folks!

If someone tells you they are an atheist, the one thing you know is that they are a liar.

Amen somebody

Im an athiest…really?

Is that why you fight so hard against the God in whom you do not believe?

Ever notice that?

I mean athiest write books agains the God in whom they do not believe…WHY?

Because they believe.

How many books have you found refuting the existance of unicorns?

How many PHD’s have spent thier lives trying to prove that fairies and goblins don’t exist…?

They dont… why?

Because it is absolutely ludicris to even entertain the thought of such a mythical creature.