WEBVTT 00:00:00.620 --> 00:00:03.359 Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons, 00:00:03.459 --> 00:00:06.440 a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg. 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:08.960 It's our hope that these sermons will draw you 00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:11.359 more into the life of following God, Father, 00:00:11.519 --> 00:00:14.359 Son and Holy Spirit. Please consider coming and 00:00:14.359 --> 00:00:16.480 joining with us each Sunday morning at 10 a .m. 00:00:16.539 --> 00:00:18.980 in the heart of Midtown Harrisburg. You can find 00:00:18.980 --> 00:00:22.559 us online at secondcitychurch .org and on Facebook, 00:00:22.839 --> 00:00:25.219 Instagram and YouTube. We hope you enjoy this 00:00:25.219 --> 00:00:30.420 sermon. God bless. Let me pray again for us. 00:00:34.570 --> 00:00:38.149 I pray these words from Isaiah 40. Lord, the 00:00:38.149 --> 00:00:45.990 grass, the flower fades, the word will last forever. 00:00:47.049 --> 00:00:49.750 For God, we so often cling to these things that 00:00:49.750 --> 00:00:53.649 fade. In the hardness of our hearts, we grab 00:00:53.649 --> 00:00:58.070 things of this world. God, I pray that the morning 00:00:58.070 --> 00:01:02.009 you would soften us. Lord, that we would receive 00:01:02.009 --> 00:01:06.969 your word. You'd write it upon our hearts, that 00:01:06.969 --> 00:01:11.780 we would earn. and find the life in you. Here's 00:01:11.780 --> 00:01:16.959 where we ask in your name. Amen. All right, a 00:01:16.959 --> 00:01:20.540 few weeks ago, we were over in Princeton, New 00:01:20.540 --> 00:01:23.379 Jersey. Melissa had a tennis tournament, and 00:01:23.379 --> 00:01:26.810 so we went over to watch her some. Since we're 00:01:26.810 --> 00:01:30.010 in Princeton, which is the first and most historic 00:01:30.010 --> 00:01:33.870 Presbyterian college and seminary in our country, 00:01:34.409 --> 00:01:39.530 we went to the cemetery, as people do, as Presbyterian 00:01:39.530 --> 00:01:43.950 pastors do. We saw the great sights of John Witherspoon, 00:01:44.049 --> 00:01:45.930 actually the only minister who signed the Declaration 00:01:45.930 --> 00:01:49.209 of Independence. He was also the moderator of 00:01:49.209 --> 00:01:51.950 the first Presbyterian General Assembly in the 00:01:51.950 --> 00:01:55.099 United States of America. And he was also the 00:01:55.099 --> 00:01:58.620 sixth president there at Princeton. We saw the 00:01:58.620 --> 00:02:02.400 great grave of the theologian there, Aaron Burke 00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:08.219 Sr. And of course we saw the grave of Jonathan 00:02:08.219 --> 00:02:13.699 Edwards. regard him as among, if not the greatest 00:02:13.699 --> 00:02:16.800 theologian that America has ever produced. I 00:02:16.800 --> 00:02:18.620 mentioned a few years ago, at least I think it 00:02:18.620 --> 00:02:20.379 was a few years ago, I was trying to think. I 00:02:20.379 --> 00:02:22.960 have to think about like, am I reusing illustrations 00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:25.280 sometimes, you know? But I think I mentioned 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:29.479 a few years ago that John Edwards' legacy is 00:02:29.479 --> 00:02:34.009 great. It's sort of remarkable. John Edwards, 00:02:34.270 --> 00:02:38.650 he was born in 1703. When he was 13, he went 00:02:38.650 --> 00:02:42.050 to Yale. I don't know what you were doing at 00:02:42.050 --> 00:02:46.520 13. When he was 19, he became a minister of a 00:02:46.520 --> 00:02:50.729 church in New York City. He became a teacher 00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:55.159 back at Yale. And then 20 years, he was the pastor 00:02:55.159 --> 00:02:58.569 of a church in North Massachusetts before becoming 00:02:58.569 --> 00:03:01.129 a missionary to some of the Native Americans 00:03:01.129 --> 00:03:04.770 farther west in what was sort of the early colony, 00:03:04.849 --> 00:03:07.849 the Western colony of Massachusetts. There's 00:03:07.849 --> 00:03:12.050 an American educator, A .E. Winship. who in 1900 00:03:12.050 --> 00:03:15.889 traced Edward's descendants for five generations. 00:03:16.389 --> 00:03:20.810 Five generations since John Edwards and Sarah 00:03:20.810 --> 00:03:23.530 Edwards. So the five subsequent generations. 00:03:23.979 --> 00:03:27.719 And this is what he found out. Among 1 ,394 traced 00:03:27.719 --> 00:03:30.900 relatives were one US vice president, three US 00:03:30.900 --> 00:03:33.719 senators, three governors, three mayors, 13 college 00:03:33.719 --> 00:03:38.060 presidents, 65 professors, 100 lawyers, 30 judges, 00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:42.659 60 doctors, 75 military officers, 80 public office 00:03:42.659 --> 00:03:47.000 holders, 100 clergymen, and 285 college graduates. 00:03:48.189 --> 00:03:51.889 A remarkable legacy for a man who knew his sin. 00:03:52.259 --> 00:03:55.590 and through the grace of God. And interestingly, 00:03:55.990 --> 00:03:59.430 just actually not long after that, sorry, not 00:03:59.430 --> 00:04:01.849 long before that, 23 years earlier, there was 00:04:01.849 --> 00:04:05.689 another study by a sociologist who studied this 00:04:05.689 --> 00:04:11.189 guy who was born in 1720. That guy was Max Jukes. 00:04:11.210 --> 00:04:15.590 He was born in New York. And here's his descendants. 00:04:16.009 --> 00:04:19.149 This is a study by Richard Dugdale. Richard Dugdale 00:04:19.149 --> 00:04:21.670 traced 1 ,200 descendants over five generations, 00:04:22.009 --> 00:04:25.949 finding seven murderers, 60 thieves, 150 convicts, 00:04:25.990 --> 00:04:31.009 190 prostitutes, 310 indigents, 440 alcoholics, 00:04:31.050 --> 00:04:34.569 and 300 premature deaths, costing New York State 00:04:34.569 --> 00:04:38.509 what is equivalent to our day of 30 million dollars 00:04:38.509 --> 00:04:43.129 in welfare expenses. And I'm kind of putting 00:04:43.129 --> 00:04:46.350 that out there as just here's a soft heart towards 00:04:46.350 --> 00:04:51.579 the Lord and here's a hard heart. against the 00:04:51.579 --> 00:04:55.470 Lord. But if you know Jonathan Edwards, you probably 00:04:55.470 --> 00:04:58.889 know him because an English professor maybe in 00:04:58.889 --> 00:05:01.269 high school or maybe in college assigned for 00:05:01.269 --> 00:05:05.620 your reading, sinners in the hands of an angry 00:05:05.620 --> 00:05:08.459 God, right? If you know one writing of Edwards, 00:05:08.819 --> 00:05:10.519 you probably know sinners in the hands of an 00:05:10.519 --> 00:05:12.759 angry God. It's one of the great sermons of the 00:05:12.759 --> 00:05:14.680 First Great Awakening in the U .S., which largely 00:05:14.680 --> 00:05:18.319 happened in the mid -1730s to the mid -1740s. 00:05:18.680 --> 00:05:21.139 A huge revival that happened throughout the colonies. 00:05:21.560 --> 00:05:25.379 And it's a sermon of God's judgment, yes, but 00:05:25.379 --> 00:05:29.180 it's also a sermon of God's mercy, His grace, 00:05:30.069 --> 00:05:33.430 when soft hearts turn to the Lord. So this morning, 00:05:33.829 --> 00:05:36.589 we're continuing this series, right? We've been 00:05:36.589 --> 00:05:38.310 in the book of Acts, kind of looking at the life 00:05:38.310 --> 00:05:40.350 of Moses, but also the story of the exodus through 00:05:40.350 --> 00:05:43.740 the life of Moses, the beginning of chapter seven. 00:05:43.980 --> 00:05:47.220 And I want to say that this part here is sort 00:05:47.220 --> 00:05:51.449 of the preamble, the beginning, the first part 00:05:51.449 --> 00:05:53.870 that introduces the rest of the plagues. And 00:05:53.870 --> 00:05:57.050 here we see this battle of God, the battle of 00:05:57.050 --> 00:06:01.209 the gods, the true God against false gods. Moses 00:06:01.209 --> 00:06:03.769 has come to Pharaoh here for the second time. 00:06:04.449 --> 00:06:08.029 And this sort of introduces these next few chapters. 00:06:08.470 --> 00:06:11.680 And what we see in this little bit, is actually 00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:14.279 the same movements that we see in the rest. We 00:06:14.279 --> 00:06:15.939 could follow the plagues and they have this same 00:06:15.939 --> 00:06:18.199 sort of pattern. And so I want us to look at 00:06:18.199 --> 00:06:20.800 these sort of three movements as a way of getting 00:06:20.800 --> 00:06:23.160 this big idea of what's happening in the battle 00:06:23.160 --> 00:06:26.439 of the gods. Each movement speaks to this big 00:06:26.439 --> 00:06:29.959 idea, battle against other gods, against sin 00:06:29.959 --> 00:06:34.660 and rebellion, and that this battle is the Lord's. 00:06:34.779 --> 00:06:36.519 But there's a great judgment for sin and there 00:06:36.519 --> 00:06:39.300 is great judgment or there's great mercy for 00:06:39.300 --> 00:06:43.129 those who turn to the Lord. The first sort of 00:06:43.129 --> 00:06:45.990 thing that you see is that this is first a battle 00:06:45.990 --> 00:06:48.870 with words of the other gods or the gods. There's 00:06:48.870 --> 00:06:50.930 a battle between words. So our passage begins 00:06:50.930 --> 00:06:53.410 like this. If you have it open, maybe you just 00:06:53.410 --> 00:06:54.709 have a really good memory and you can remember 00:06:54.709 --> 00:06:57.649 everything that Rebecca just read. So then the 00:06:57.649 --> 00:07:02.230 Lord said to Moses, see I have made you like 00:07:02.230 --> 00:07:05.089 God to Pharaoh and your brother Aaron shall be 00:07:05.089 --> 00:07:07.970 your prophet. You shall speak all that I command 00:07:07.970 --> 00:07:11.470 you. And your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh 00:07:11.470 --> 00:07:15.829 to let the people of Israel go out of this land." 00:07:16.120 --> 00:07:22.709 It says, see, I've made you like God. Does that 00:07:22.709 --> 00:07:24.250 make you kind of scratch your head? Like, what? 00:07:25.009 --> 00:07:27.110 Why is the Lord telling Moses, see, I've made 00:07:27.110 --> 00:07:32.959 you like God? Well, maybe you noticed that it 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:35.240 says, and the Lord said to Moses, and actually 00:07:35.240 --> 00:07:37.240 here's the first movement, right? There's these 00:07:37.240 --> 00:07:40.300 battle with words between God, the true God and 00:07:40.300 --> 00:07:44.009 false gods. And every single plague. Every single 00:07:44.009 --> 00:07:46.610 movement of these next few chapters begins with 00:07:46.610 --> 00:07:49.209 those words that begin this chapter, and the 00:07:49.209 --> 00:07:52.230 Lord said to Moses. So you can read that again 00:07:52.230 --> 00:07:56.529 in 714. The next section, you can read it again 00:07:56.529 --> 00:08:00.009 in 81. You can read it again in 816. You can 00:08:00.009 --> 00:08:01.529 read it again in 820. You can just keep reading 00:08:01.529 --> 00:08:03.910 that. That's how all of this sort of beginning, 00:08:04.129 --> 00:08:06.870 all these movements of these plagues begin with 00:08:06.870 --> 00:08:09.949 this idea, the Lord said to Moses. And these 00:08:09.949 --> 00:08:12.310 are actually the exact same words that the Lord 00:08:12.310 --> 00:08:15.670 had given to Moses. What he's saying is, my words 00:08:15.670 --> 00:08:19.529 are the words that you are to speak. It's what 00:08:19.529 --> 00:08:21.930 the Lord said to Moses back in chapter four. 00:08:22.290 --> 00:08:24.389 You maybe remember when Moses was like, Lord, 00:08:24.449 --> 00:08:29.930 I am not eloquent. I should be your spokesperson. 00:08:31.079 --> 00:08:33.399 But then the Lord said, I will be with your mouth. 00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:36.139 He actually says it twice. I will be with the 00:08:36.139 --> 00:08:39.480 mouth of Aaron is what he says. And he says, 00:08:39.690 --> 00:08:42.809 to both Moses and Aaron, all the words of the 00:08:42.809 --> 00:08:45.710 Lord which he had sent him to speak are the ones 00:08:45.710 --> 00:08:49.000 that just speak. And again, it's what we find 00:08:49.000 --> 00:08:50.659 in the beginning of chapter five, when Moses 00:08:50.659 --> 00:08:53.179 and Aaron first come to Pharaoh, they say, thus 00:08:53.179 --> 00:08:56.340 says the Lord, the God of Israel, let my people 00:08:56.340 --> 00:09:01.669 go. So when we come to the beginning here of 00:09:01.669 --> 00:09:05.149 this section, verse 1 of chapter 7, it says, 00:09:05.370 --> 00:09:08.190 I've made you like God to Pharaoh. I think there's 00:09:08.190 --> 00:09:09.789 this initial thing to scratch our heads, but 00:09:09.789 --> 00:09:11.629 there's actually something hugely important here. 00:09:12.049 --> 00:09:14.769 We say that the Lord's words are, the words that 00:09:14.769 --> 00:09:16.649 Moses is supposed to say are the Lord's words. 00:09:16.730 --> 00:09:18.789 This isn't Moses just kind of saying, I'm gonna 00:09:18.789 --> 00:09:20.509 come in, I'm gonna tell you what to do, I'm gonna 00:09:20.509 --> 00:09:21.710 tell you what to think, I'm gonna tell you how 00:09:21.710 --> 00:09:24.370 you're supposed to let these people go. God is 00:09:24.370 --> 00:09:27.590 saying, this is my battle, these are my words, 00:09:28.289 --> 00:09:32.769 you're just my representative. And it says, I've 00:09:32.769 --> 00:09:36.110 made you like a god to Pharaoh. Well, the ancient 00:09:36.110 --> 00:09:42.120 Egyptians considered Pharaoh a living god. He 00:09:42.120 --> 00:09:48.570 was a son of the great god Ra, the sun god. And 00:09:48.570 --> 00:09:51.950 when Pharaoh spoke, it was the gods speaking. 00:09:52.809 --> 00:09:54.409 So you have right here at the very beginning, 00:09:54.529 --> 00:09:58.090 the clash of the gods, the voice of the Lord. 00:09:58.580 --> 00:10:01.980 and the voice of Pharaoh. So when Moses speaks 00:10:01.980 --> 00:10:04.820 the words of the Lord to Pharaoh, it's not Moses, 00:10:05.059 --> 00:10:07.440 but it's the Lord saying, I'm with your mouth. 00:10:07.639 --> 00:10:09.919 I'm going to give you the words to speak. You're 00:10:09.919 --> 00:10:12.799 going to be like God. It's going to be a clash 00:10:12.899 --> 00:10:17.299 of the gods. It's going to be a battle of words, 00:10:18.590 --> 00:10:20.090 battle of the words of the Lord and the words 00:10:20.090 --> 00:10:25.419 of Pharaoh, the divine spokes and gods. I want 00:10:25.419 --> 00:10:28.690 you to think about this for a moment. People 00:10:28.690 --> 00:10:35.200 often Bible, You know, the Bible says we are 00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:39.279 sinners. We are in rebellion against the Lord. 00:10:41.100 --> 00:10:46.759 The Bible says we are slaves to sin. The Bible 00:10:46.759 --> 00:10:49.519 says, like we heard in the Psalm, but we can 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:53.519 read so many other passages, that we love to 00:10:53.519 --> 00:10:58.789 make idols and are futile. They're not gods, 00:10:58.789 --> 00:11:01.389 but we love to make them. And we worship anything 00:11:01.389 --> 00:11:05.669 other than the true God. We make idols of this 00:11:05.669 --> 00:11:08.690 world of ourselves, of power, money, possessions, 00:11:08.710 --> 00:11:12.090 like we said in our confession of sin. And of 00:11:12.090 --> 00:11:14.710 course, there is a bristling, there's a reaction 00:11:14.710 --> 00:11:18.850 against this. Likes to be called a slave to sin, 00:11:19.210 --> 00:11:23.330 an idol factory, as Calvin might say. So we want 00:11:23.330 --> 00:11:24.870 to discount the words of the Bible. They can't 00:11:24.870 --> 00:11:27.980 be trusted. Why? Because they were written by 00:11:27.980 --> 00:11:29.779 people. That's a common thing. Ah, these are 00:11:29.779 --> 00:11:33.440 people writing this. Didn't Moses write the first 00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:39.720 five books of the Bible after all? You want me 00:11:39.720 --> 00:11:42.740 to believe that this is the true account of where 00:11:42.740 --> 00:11:46.639 the world came from, of why it's all so wrong, 00:11:48.169 --> 00:11:50.990 of what might be done about it. You want me to 00:11:50.990 --> 00:11:53.610 believe that this is the true account of things, 00:11:57.029 --> 00:11:59.029 that it counts for all the injustice of the world, 00:11:59.070 --> 00:12:02.009 all the pain of the world, for all the destruction 00:12:02.009 --> 00:12:04.970 of the world, that the center of all that is 00:12:04.970 --> 00:12:09.470 a rejection, a rebellion against God. And so 00:12:09.470 --> 00:12:12.779 we often hear attacks on the Bible. Maybe you 00:12:12.779 --> 00:12:16.570 know that in your own heart. We want to say it's 00:12:16.570 --> 00:12:18.370 just written by people. These are just the words 00:12:18.370 --> 00:12:20.889 of Moses and God says, no these are my words. 00:12:20.929 --> 00:12:23.490 You're going to be like God. You are going to 00:12:23.490 --> 00:12:28.509 be like God to Pharaoh. This is a battle of words. 00:12:29.259 --> 00:12:35.710 God against the false gods. Do we take the words 00:12:35.710 --> 00:12:39.419 as from God or do we place ourselves as God? 00:12:39.860 --> 00:12:43.440 I can decide. I can decide if this is truly God's 00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:47.129 word or not. I can dismiss this part, accept 00:12:47.129 --> 00:12:51.330 this part. Maybe I can accept that he commands 00:12:51.330 --> 00:12:53.129 me to do this, but I don't know that I accept 00:12:53.129 --> 00:12:56.330 he commands me to do or say or whatever. That 00:12:58.509 --> 00:13:02.679 calls me to repent. Maybe I'll decide what is 00:13:02.679 --> 00:13:04.580 wrong and what is right, what I might need to 00:13:04.580 --> 00:13:08.629 repent of or not. There's a clash at play here 00:13:08.629 --> 00:13:11.009 with words between the true God and the false 00:13:11.009 --> 00:13:14.409 God. And in some ways it is the same clash that 00:13:14.409 --> 00:13:20.120 we wrestle with today. But it's also a battle 00:13:20.120 --> 00:13:23.320 against the gods the gods of Egypt, the gods 00:13:23.320 --> 00:13:26.100 we make to replace the living God. It's not just 00:13:26.100 --> 00:13:28.519 this battle of words, but it's also this battle 00:13:28.519 --> 00:13:30.899 of the gods. And I think this is also seen in 00:13:30.899 --> 00:13:33.419 sort of the second movement that we have not 00:13:33.419 --> 00:13:36.100 just actually here in this text, but all throughout 00:13:36.100 --> 00:13:39.259 the plagues, okay? So maybe you remember back 00:13:39.259 --> 00:13:43.570 to chapter three, when Moses said, well, this 00:13:43.570 --> 00:13:46.409 is kind of me paraphrasing. And he's like, the 00:13:46.409 --> 00:13:48.690 people aren't gonna listen. Who am I supposed 00:13:48.690 --> 00:13:54.039 to tell them sent me when they ask? Maybe your 00:13:54.200 --> 00:13:59.480 Israelites never ask that. Moses thinks, when 00:13:59.480 --> 00:14:01.399 the Israelites say, who's this God that sent 00:14:01.399 --> 00:14:04.750 me, who am I supposed to say? You know what, 00:14:04.809 --> 00:14:09.100 somebody does ask that. Pharaoh asks that. Pharaoh 00:14:09.100 --> 00:14:12.539 asks in chapter five, right? Pharaoh says, well, 00:14:12.539 --> 00:14:15.799 who is this Lord? Why am I supposed to listen 00:14:15.799 --> 00:14:19.789 to you? And you can imagine. Pharaoh and the 00:14:19.789 --> 00:14:22.950 Egyptians going, okay, Yahweh, I am what I am. 00:14:23.070 --> 00:14:26.230 Well, I know, you know, they were thinking, I 00:14:26.230 --> 00:14:30.350 know the god Hopi, the god of the Nile. I know 00:14:30.350 --> 00:14:33.970 the god Hakket, the frog -headed goddess of fertility 00:14:33.970 --> 00:14:37.730 and childbirth. I know the god Geb, the god of 00:14:37.730 --> 00:14:41.350 the earth. The god Kepri, the god of, it's a 00:14:41.350 --> 00:14:44.690 scarab -like, a fly -like looking god. I knew 00:14:44.690 --> 00:14:50.659 the god Hathor. the bovine deity, odd -like cow. 00:14:51.419 --> 00:14:54.539 I know the god Sokmit, the god of diseases and 00:14:54.539 --> 00:14:57.200 healing. They know the god Nut, the sky goddess. 00:14:57.360 --> 00:14:59.720 They know Osiris, the god of fertility and of 00:14:59.720 --> 00:15:06.620 agriculture. They knew Ra, the sun god. But who's 00:15:06.620 --> 00:15:09.539 the lord? That's what they're saying. Who's this 00:15:09.539 --> 00:15:12.970 god? I can list all these other gods, which if 00:15:12.970 --> 00:15:16.629 you didn't follow, those followed the plagues, 00:15:17.029 --> 00:15:21.179 okay? So Moses and Aaron come and they say what 00:15:21.179 --> 00:15:24.490 God tells them to say. And actually they do what 00:15:24.490 --> 00:15:27.169 the Lord had told them to do. Aaron cast down 00:15:27.169 --> 00:15:30.269 the staff, right? And it becomes like a serpent, 00:15:30.450 --> 00:15:35.159 like a snake. But then what happens? And I think 00:15:35.159 --> 00:15:36.840 this next part is again, maybe the second thing 00:15:36.840 --> 00:15:39.139 that makes us scratch our heads. The next thing 00:15:39.139 --> 00:15:42.159 that happens is these wise men and sorcerers 00:15:42.159 --> 00:15:44.740 and magicians of Egypt, they go, well, watch 00:15:44.740 --> 00:15:48.090 this. And they throw down their staff too. becomes 00:15:48.090 --> 00:15:55.269 like a serpent. And what we're supposed to see 00:15:55.269 --> 00:15:58.379 is here's a battle. They're saying, oh yeah, 00:15:58.580 --> 00:16:01.220 you think your God can do great things. Look 00:16:01.220 --> 00:16:05.799 at our power at the sorcerer's hand of all these 00:16:05.799 --> 00:16:11.399 gods. We can cast our staff too. It's a battle 00:16:11.399 --> 00:16:13.820 between the Lord and the gods of Egypt. And the 00:16:13.820 --> 00:16:18.799 Egyptians think, yeah, well we can do that too. 00:16:19.909 --> 00:16:23.440 So what? I want us to think about this, okay, 00:16:23.440 --> 00:16:28.600 for a moment. Of course, the Nile was like a 00:16:28.600 --> 00:16:31.409 god for them. In some ways, of course, the sun 00:16:31.409 --> 00:16:34.710 was like a god for them. Every year, there'd 00:16:34.710 --> 00:16:37.450 be these rains in the mountains. They were at 00:16:37.450 --> 00:16:40.110 the beginning of the Nile. They would rain hard. 00:16:40.350 --> 00:16:42.370 And the whole Nile, it still happens, right? 00:16:42.690 --> 00:16:46.149 The whole Nile, now there's a dam. But the whole 00:16:46.149 --> 00:16:50.029 Nile would flood, right? And bring all this silt, 00:16:50.169 --> 00:16:53.629 all this fertile soil down into the floodplain. 00:16:55.100 --> 00:17:00.110 with the sun beaming down on it, crops flourished. 00:17:00.429 --> 00:17:03.049 It was life blood. The Nile was like the life 00:17:03.049 --> 00:17:06.750 blood of Egypt. It was their place from which 00:17:06.750 --> 00:17:10.990 they had such prosperity, had such wealth. It 00:17:10.990 --> 00:17:14.569 was the sun and the Nile together giving them 00:17:14.569 --> 00:17:18.529 the life that they treasured. It was the source 00:17:18.529 --> 00:17:23.039 of who made them who they were. Of course, it's 00:17:23.039 --> 00:17:25.839 the same thing we do. Our false gods are so often 00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:30.759 things sort of who we are, right? There are things 00:17:30.759 --> 00:17:33.420 that if taken from us, we would be crushed because 00:17:33.420 --> 00:17:37.299 we find our place, our identity, our wellbeing 00:17:37.299 --> 00:17:40.259 in them, right? The gods of course of our jobs 00:17:40.259 --> 00:17:42.519 and our education, our ability to articulate 00:17:42.519 --> 00:17:45.619 things and argue things, think well of ourselves. 00:17:48.700 --> 00:17:51.299 Of course our children can become this. We think 00:17:51.299 --> 00:17:54.839 how easy it is for so many to spend so much. 00:17:54.859 --> 00:17:56.420 If you've read about this, you'll know how much 00:17:56.420 --> 00:18:02.930 I'm talking about. travel sports so much the 00:18:02.930 --> 00:18:04.690 detriment of so much else in their life it becomes 00:18:04.690 --> 00:18:09.960 like them for so many a God think how vehemently 00:18:09.960 --> 00:18:13.700 we defend our ideas and our knowledge just like 00:18:13.700 --> 00:18:16.099 the Egyptians we have so many gods near the very 00:18:16.099 --> 00:18:18.519 place that gives us sort of our sense of identity 00:18:18.519 --> 00:18:21.680 and our well -being and if taken from us or crushed 00:18:22.289 --> 00:18:25.589 from Jonathan Edwards famous sermon he says some 00:18:25.589 --> 00:18:29.650 make gods of their pleasure Some choose mammon 00:18:29.650 --> 00:18:32.950 for their God. Some make gods of their own supposed 00:18:32.950 --> 00:18:37.009 excellencies, or the outward advantage they have 00:18:37.009 --> 00:18:40.369 above their neighbors. Some choose one thing 00:18:40.369 --> 00:18:43.910 for their God and others another, but men can 00:18:43.910 --> 00:18:47.329 be happy in no other God but the God of Israel. 00:18:47.329 --> 00:18:53.029 He is the only fountain of happiness. But these 00:18:53.029 --> 00:18:56.789 other things that the plagues are all battling 00:18:56.789 --> 00:19:00.470 against, were the place of happiness for the 00:19:00.470 --> 00:19:02.569 Egyptians, their place of their well -being, 00:19:03.509 --> 00:19:07.240 a place that defined who they were. These plagues, 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:09.339 just like the snakes that came from the staff 00:19:09.339 --> 00:19:12.960 of Aaron and of all the sorcerers, they are the 00:19:12.960 --> 00:19:18.680 battles of the gods. And this is why in verse 00:19:18.680 --> 00:19:20.440 five, actually, of our text from this morning 00:19:20.440 --> 00:19:25.819 chapter seven, the Lord says, the Egyptian shall 00:19:25.819 --> 00:19:31.299 know that I am the Lord. Because Pharaoh had 00:19:31.299 --> 00:19:34.789 said, well, who's the Lord? I know all of these 00:19:34.789 --> 00:19:39.210 other gods. And Lord, in these acts, in this 00:19:39.210 --> 00:19:46.279 battle, that the Egyptians will know who, the 00:19:46.279 --> 00:19:48.240 Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord is a 00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:51.470 way of saying, they shall know that their false 00:19:51.470 --> 00:19:57.819 gods are just that, false. So we turn to these 00:19:57.819 --> 00:20:02.720 plagues and what do we find, right? Like I suggest 00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:05.599 to you, what we find is exactly God taking on 00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:09.200 their gods. There's the Nile God and the frog 00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:12.180 God and the God of the earth, the gnats and the 00:20:12.180 --> 00:20:14.960 flies and the livestock and disease and the God 00:20:14.960 --> 00:20:18.980 of the heavens, rain and hail. There's the God 00:20:18.980 --> 00:20:22.750 of locusts. There's the God of diseases. And 00:20:22.750 --> 00:20:26.500 there's the sun God. These are not arbitrary 00:20:26.500 --> 00:20:30.569 plagues. These are God coming to battle against 00:20:30.569 --> 00:20:37.089 all the other gods. to stand against him. And 00:20:37.089 --> 00:20:41.009 what God does show in all of it is that he and 00:20:41.009 --> 00:20:45.359 he alone is the Lord. They would know that I'm 00:20:45.359 --> 00:20:50.170 the Lord. And so the serpent from Aaron's staff 00:20:50.170 --> 00:20:56.259 does what? Swallows up the others. They try to 00:20:56.259 --> 00:20:58.960 say, oh yeah, we can do that. And the serpent 00:20:58.960 --> 00:21:06.309 swallows up the others. I want to say this, one 00:21:06.309 --> 00:21:08.710 of the best things and also one of the hardest 00:21:08.710 --> 00:21:13.660 things. that can happen to us is for us to be 00:21:13.660 --> 00:21:17.789 shown that our gods are worthless. Sometimes 00:21:17.789 --> 00:21:20.210 the best thing that can be taken from us is actually 00:21:20.210 --> 00:21:25.859 our gods. Like I said, we can make our gods, 00:21:25.859 --> 00:21:28.140 and they are great, and they are gifts from the 00:21:28.140 --> 00:21:31.299 Lord. But they can't hold the place of God. And 00:21:31.299 --> 00:21:33.519 if we put that pressure on them, there's always 00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:38.259 going to be conflict. Destruction will always 00:21:38.259 --> 00:21:41.130 come. Our beauty. A gift from God. God made us 00:21:41.130 --> 00:21:43.829 each fearfully and wonderfully, the Lord says. 00:21:44.930 --> 00:21:47.569 And yet we place our well -being in our appearance 00:21:47.569 --> 00:21:50.569 and our beauty. As David Foster Wallace says, 00:21:50.809 --> 00:21:53.410 you will die a million deaths before they plant 00:21:53.410 --> 00:21:58.750 you, if you find beauty to be your God. Or as 00:21:58.750 --> 00:22:02.910 he says, if you worship power, you'll... If you 00:22:02.910 --> 00:22:07.410 worship... You will end up feeling stupid, a 00:22:07.410 --> 00:22:10.589 fraud, and always on the verge of being found 00:22:10.589 --> 00:22:13.289 out. One of the best things that God can do for 00:22:13.289 --> 00:22:16.650 us is show us just how frail all other gods are. 00:22:18.660 --> 00:22:21.200 And the plagues again and again and again do 00:22:21.200 --> 00:22:24.740 this. They show that the battle is the Lord's. 00:22:24.839 --> 00:22:26.500 Aaron throws down his staff and the sorcerers 00:22:26.500 --> 00:22:31.039 say, well, look at our gods. And right there 00:22:31.039 --> 00:22:33.339 from the beginning, we have the sign that these 00:22:33.339 --> 00:22:39.950 gods are nothing compared to the Lord. The night 00:22:39.950 --> 00:22:44.029 was no match for the Lord. Frogs are no match 00:22:44.029 --> 00:22:48.329 for the Lord. The God of livestock are no match 00:22:48.329 --> 00:22:51.390 for the Lord. The great God, Ra, is no match 00:22:51.420 --> 00:22:55.200 for the Lord. So what I'm saying is that the 00:22:55.200 --> 00:22:57.980 first movement here is the battle of words. And 00:22:57.980 --> 00:22:59.519 we see that again throughout it, right? The Lord 00:22:59.519 --> 00:23:01.740 said to Moses, you're supposed to speak on my 00:23:01.740 --> 00:23:06.009 behalf because this is between, this is me. And 00:23:06.009 --> 00:23:07.569 the second movement we see is this is a battle 00:23:07.569 --> 00:23:12.339 of the gods. God will not be mocked. He's taking 00:23:12.339 --> 00:23:17.279 down all other gods. There is one true God. But 00:23:17.279 --> 00:23:23.440 also this is a battle of the heart. And I think 00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:25.819 this is actually a good sort of way, when you're 00:23:25.819 --> 00:23:28.019 studying the Bible, I want you to look for the 00:23:28.019 --> 00:23:29.660 places where you want to scratch your head and 00:23:29.660 --> 00:23:32.619 go, what's going on there? Okay, because I think 00:23:32.619 --> 00:23:34.140 a lot of times it's the places where we want 00:23:34.140 --> 00:23:35.980 to scratch our head that actually the key is. 00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:39.640 So, you know, God says, Moses, you're going to 00:23:39.640 --> 00:23:42.019 be like God to Pharaoh. You should be like, what's 00:23:42.019 --> 00:23:45.559 going on there? What's happening? And when the 00:23:45.559 --> 00:23:48.880 snake, you know, The staff is thrown down and 00:23:48.880 --> 00:23:50.660 becomes a snake, and then the sorcerers can do 00:23:50.660 --> 00:23:53.059 the same. And there's a battle of snakes. You're 00:23:53.059 --> 00:23:54.559 like, what's happening here? Why did the sorcerers 00:23:54.559 --> 00:23:56.359 get to do that? You scratch your head going, 00:23:56.519 --> 00:23:57.720 well, maybe the Lord's telling me something. 00:23:59.519 --> 00:24:02.259 And then there's this other part in this passage, 00:24:02.630 --> 00:24:04.869 I'm titling this the Battle of the Hearts, that 00:24:04.869 --> 00:24:08.309 I think also makes us scratch our heads. And 00:24:08.309 --> 00:24:10.390 I bet you noticed, because it was actually mentioned 00:24:11.130 --> 00:24:16.049 three times in our text, in just these few verses, 00:24:16.430 --> 00:24:19.809 14 verses. that Pharaoh's heart is hardened. 00:24:20.710 --> 00:24:22.309 And a couple of times it's very clear that it's 00:24:22.309 --> 00:24:25.809 the Lord that hardens it. But I will harden Pharaoh's 00:24:25.809 --> 00:24:29.950 heart and though I multiply wonders in the land 00:24:29.950 --> 00:24:34.660 of Egypt, Pharaoh will not listen to you. Verse 00:24:34.660 --> 00:24:37.539 seven, still Pharaoh's heart was hardened and 00:24:37.539 --> 00:24:41.400 he would not listen to them as the Lord had said. 00:24:43.259 --> 00:24:48.660 And then verse 14 where it says, then the Lord 00:24:48.660 --> 00:24:54.720 said to Moses, Pharaoh's heart hardened. He refuses 00:24:54.720 --> 00:25:01.869 to let the people go. And I think it's rather 00:25:01.869 --> 00:25:08.900 understandable to ask, God hardened Pharaoh's 00:25:08.900 --> 00:25:13.279 heart? Right? And out of that question, we're 00:25:13.279 --> 00:25:17.680 inclined to think, well, maybe Pharaoh has nothing 00:25:17.680 --> 00:25:23.940 to do with this. And then, of course, actually, 00:25:23.980 --> 00:25:27.440 maybe the next thought is, what an injustice 00:25:27.440 --> 00:25:32.440 of God. Pharaoh should be let off the hook here. 00:25:34.380 --> 00:25:38.920 God's just making him do it. His Pharaoh just 00:25:38.920 --> 00:25:48.509 a puppet on a string, dangling there. This phrase 00:25:48.509 --> 00:25:52.210 is a key part of all of the plagues, just like 00:25:52.210 --> 00:25:53.990 those other two movements are. This phrase, the 00:25:53.990 --> 00:25:56.369 heartening of the heart. It's actually mentioned 00:25:56.369 --> 00:26:00.289 14 times between chapter four and chapter 14. 00:26:01.109 --> 00:26:06.079 It's just all throughout it. Text throughout 00:26:06.079 --> 00:26:09.259 shows us two things that the Bible says again 00:26:09.259 --> 00:26:13.140 and again and again. It's just clearly taught 00:26:13.140 --> 00:26:18.170 in the Bible. The Lord is sovereign. He's over 00:26:18.170 --> 00:26:25.789 all. And your heart and your actions and your 00:26:25.789 --> 00:26:30.289 life, your words, you are a real agent in the 00:26:30.289 --> 00:26:34.299 world. This is just clearly taught throughout 00:26:34.299 --> 00:26:38.500 the Bible, both things. And they seem like so 00:26:38.500 --> 00:26:41.980 sort of extremes, polar opposites. And people 00:26:41.980 --> 00:26:44.079 have wrestled with, how do we make sense of these? 00:26:44.099 --> 00:26:45.880 How do we place them together? It is a great 00:26:45.880 --> 00:26:50.710 act of faith. Both are laid before us, that we're 00:26:50.710 --> 00:26:52.690 true actors in the world, that our decisions 00:26:52.690 --> 00:26:57.500 and actions truly come from our heart. God is 00:26:57.500 --> 00:27:00.839 over all. This whole episode of these plagues 00:27:00.839 --> 00:27:03.619 shows us this again and again. And it shows us 00:27:03.619 --> 00:27:06.920 also that Pharaoh is accountable for his own 00:27:06.920 --> 00:27:09.039 actions. He's responsible for his own actions. 00:27:09.359 --> 00:27:11.900 Let me give you a couple of ways that we see 00:27:11.900 --> 00:27:16.230 this. Six times alone in the first five plagues, 00:27:16.369 --> 00:27:19.849 it says Pharaoh hardened his heart. That's what 00:27:19.849 --> 00:27:26.049 it says. He does it. He is deliberately going 00:27:26.049 --> 00:27:29.259 against the Lord. His actions, his heart have 00:27:29.259 --> 00:27:34.420 real consequences in the world. Five of the plagues, 00:27:34.859 --> 00:27:40.269 God makes as a conditional kind of thing. Sort 00:27:40.269 --> 00:27:43.549 of a sort of threat of what he's going to do. 00:27:43.809 --> 00:27:46.349 if Pharaoh chooses to continue to go against 00:27:46.349 --> 00:27:49.559 the Lord. So, you know, they go like this, let 00:27:49.559 --> 00:27:53.079 my people go, but if you do not, then this is 00:27:53.079 --> 00:27:56.920 what's going to happen. Five of them. What is 00:27:56.920 --> 00:27:59.640 clearly being said is, Pharaoh, your life, your 00:27:59.640 --> 00:28:02.519 actions, your choices, your heart posture towards 00:28:02.519 --> 00:28:10.309 me has a huge effect in the world. The plagues, 00:28:10.369 --> 00:28:12.430 in other words, could have been stopped if he 00:28:12.430 --> 00:28:17.700 hadn't refused so many times. Another odd thing 00:28:17.700 --> 00:28:20.640 that happens in some of these plagues, like two 00:28:20.640 --> 00:28:23.799 and four and seven, is that Pharaoh actually 00:28:23.799 --> 00:28:26.839 says, okay, okay, okay, I'll let him go. I'm 00:28:26.839 --> 00:28:32.539 sorry. I confess, you know, these things. And 00:28:32.539 --> 00:28:36.079 then every time he goes back on that. And what 00:28:36.079 --> 00:28:38.519 seems very clear is that Pharaoh is a true actor 00:28:38.519 --> 00:28:42.819 in the world and his heart truly is hardened 00:28:42.819 --> 00:28:47.369 toward the Lord. Some of the plagues, you know, 00:28:47.980 --> 00:28:50.930 he really does repent. I mean, he literally says, 00:28:51.250 --> 00:28:54.970 please forgive me. A couple of the later plagues, 00:28:55.069 --> 00:28:59.259 seven and eight. He asked God to bless him and 00:28:59.259 --> 00:29:03.720 then he rejects the Lord. And there's no question, 00:29:03.880 --> 00:29:05.980 this is what the Bible teaches, that God is sovereign 00:29:05.980 --> 00:29:13.339 over all and your actions matter immensely. Your 00:29:13.339 --> 00:29:17.089 heart towards God and the actions and words and 00:29:17.089 --> 00:29:19.069 decisions that come out of your heart have real 00:29:19.069 --> 00:29:21.390 consequences in the world. Think of this, okay? 00:29:21.390 --> 00:29:23.650 Jesus himself in John chapter 15 says these words, 00:29:24.089 --> 00:29:26.869 if you keep my commandments, you will abide in 00:29:26.869 --> 00:29:29.470 my love. Or maybe more strongly in Matthew 15, 00:29:29.490 --> 00:29:33.369 he says this, for out of the heart come evil 00:29:33.369 --> 00:29:36.650 thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, 00:29:36.869 --> 00:29:42.150 theft, false witness, slander. The Lord Himself 00:29:42.150 --> 00:29:46.440 is saying your life matters, your heart matters. 00:29:46.619 --> 00:29:50.210 All over the Bible we find this truth. All over 00:29:50.210 --> 00:29:52.430 the Bible we find that there is a battle for 00:29:52.430 --> 00:29:58.829 the heart, to pursue false gods, to pursue the 00:29:58.829 --> 00:30:05.539 Lord. So what do we do with this battle? What 00:30:05.539 --> 00:30:14.960 do we make of it? Well, interestingly, Israel 00:30:14.960 --> 00:30:18.700 is actually warned themselves about their own 00:30:18.700 --> 00:30:23.250 hardness of heart by this very story. This is 00:30:23.250 --> 00:30:25.890 a message for Egypt, but actually what happens 00:30:25.890 --> 00:30:31.440 is that this becomes a message for Israel. Many 00:30:31.440 --> 00:30:35.200 times, Israel itself goes after other gods. In 00:30:35.200 --> 00:30:38.420 the very book of Exodus, they go after other 00:30:38.420 --> 00:30:43.430 gods. They make a statue of a bovine, right? 00:30:44.650 --> 00:30:48.940 Reflecting the false gods of Egypt. It's not 00:30:48.940 --> 00:30:51.240 just that we find Pharaoh refusing to listen 00:30:51.240 --> 00:30:54.380 to the Lord, or the battle of the gods between 00:30:54.380 --> 00:30:57.640 Egypt and Yahweh, but what we find is this battle 00:30:57.640 --> 00:31:01.029 constantly at play. because it is a battle of 00:31:01.029 --> 00:31:04.519 the soft heart towards God and the hardened heart 00:31:04.519 --> 00:31:11.759 towards God. So there's a famous Psalm, some 00:31:11.759 --> 00:31:16.369 of you will know, Psalm 95. Today, if you will 00:31:16.369 --> 00:31:19.759 listen to his voice, what does it say? This is 00:31:19.759 --> 00:31:23.900 speaking to Israel. Do not harden your hearts, 00:31:24.769 --> 00:31:27.170 as at the day of Miraba, just later on in the 00:31:27.170 --> 00:31:31.460 Exodus story. Same wording. You don't harden 00:31:31.460 --> 00:31:35.500 your heart. Because a hardened heart has repercussions 00:31:35.500 --> 00:31:38.549 in the world, both in this life and the life 00:31:38.549 --> 00:31:40.769 to come. The hardened heart is a terrible thing, 00:31:40.769 --> 00:31:43.369 not just for Pharaoh and not just for the Israelites, 00:31:43.470 --> 00:31:48.680 but for us. There's a battle for the heart at 00:31:48.680 --> 00:31:52.829 play in the world. The story of the plagues becomes 00:31:52.829 --> 00:31:57.910 a signpost, sort of a example of human rebellion, 00:31:58.779 --> 00:32:02.569 of false gods and of hearts that are bent towards 00:32:02.569 --> 00:32:06.250 other gods, bent towards the self. bent towards 00:32:06.250 --> 00:32:08.089 other things that give us our meaning in our 00:32:08.089 --> 00:32:15.200 life, God's judgment comes on false gods. And 00:32:15.200 --> 00:32:18.240 also, with his judgment, also has seen his mercy. 00:32:20.680 --> 00:32:24.869 And I say that because this text is not the end 00:32:24.869 --> 00:32:29.269 of the story for Egypt. I mean, Egypt is one 00:32:29.269 --> 00:32:31.869 of the big bad guys in the Bible, right? Think 00:32:31.869 --> 00:32:36.390 of the Babylonians and the Egyptians and the 00:32:36.390 --> 00:32:39.420 Assyrians. You make your list. One of the big 00:32:39.420 --> 00:32:42.109 bad guys in the Bible. This is not the end of 00:32:42.109 --> 00:32:44.569 the story for Egypt. In fact, we could look at 00:32:44.569 --> 00:32:47.650 Isaiah 19, the middle part of that chapter, the 00:32:47.650 --> 00:32:50.210 first half of the chapter is about God's judgment 00:32:50.210 --> 00:32:52.329 on Egypt. That's what the first half of that 00:32:52.329 --> 00:32:55.250 chapter, Isaiah 19 is. And it's not the old judgment 00:32:55.250 --> 00:32:56.750 that's talked about here. It's a new judgment 00:32:56.750 --> 00:32:58.569 because they're continuing to rebel against God. 00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:01.700 But actually the interesting thing about that 00:33:01.700 --> 00:33:03.980 middle part of Isaiah chapter 19 is that Egypt 00:33:03.980 --> 00:33:06.859 hears the possible judgment that comes upon them 00:33:06.859 --> 00:33:10.740 and they repent and they turn. And God's mercy 00:33:10.740 --> 00:33:13.430 is for them. They don't live into a hardened 00:33:13.430 --> 00:33:15.970 heart. They repent and they turn to the Lord 00:33:15.970 --> 00:33:19.029 and his mercy and his grace is for them. Or I 00:33:19.029 --> 00:33:21.849 could point you to Psalm 67. Psalm 67 is one 00:33:21.849 --> 00:33:24.170 of my favorite psalms. Cause all the different 00:33:24.170 --> 00:33:26.470 people that are mentioned in Psalm 67 are the 00:33:26.470 --> 00:33:29.369 enemies of God. And it's mentioned by the North, 00:33:29.410 --> 00:33:31.269 South, East, West sort of quadrants. And then 00:33:31.269 --> 00:33:33.630 it actually mentions Egypt, the far off people. 00:33:34.559 --> 00:33:36.940 The people you'd least expect Babylon is mentioned 00:33:36.940 --> 00:33:39.589 in that Psalm. And all of those people come and 00:33:39.589 --> 00:33:41.970 they say, all of my founts are in you. They turn 00:33:41.970 --> 00:33:47.390 to the Lord. Their hard hearts are softened to 00:33:47.390 --> 00:33:53.900 God and they're welcomed. They're welcomed. What 00:33:53.900 --> 00:33:59.619 do we do? Of course, reflect on the idea of the 00:33:59.619 --> 00:34:03.569 battle of words. Can we receive God's word as 00:34:03.569 --> 00:34:07.359 His word? How do we approach the Bible? How do 00:34:07.359 --> 00:34:11.820 you approach the Bible? What about the battle 00:34:11.820 --> 00:34:16.090 of the gods? Do you know the idols that your 00:34:16.090 --> 00:34:21.039 incline make? Will you let God take them apart, 00:34:22.289 --> 00:34:25.889 destroy them? But of course, an obvious question 00:34:25.889 --> 00:34:29.420 is where's your heart to the Lord? Do you have 00:34:29.420 --> 00:34:34.219 a hard heart towards God? Has it been softened? 00:34:40.349 --> 00:34:42.909 This passage here that we have, it's one of the 00:34:42.909 --> 00:34:44.789 great stories of redemption in the Old Testament. 00:34:45.679 --> 00:34:47.099 In fact, next week we're gonna look at the last 00:34:47.099 --> 00:34:48.840 plague and some of what's going on there. But 00:34:48.840 --> 00:34:51.840 these make up the great story of God and his 00:34:51.840 --> 00:34:54.019 grace and his judgment in the Old Testament. 00:34:56.099 --> 00:34:59.960 And what is that play right there? is at play 00:34:59.960 --> 00:35:03.639 on the cross, the great story of Christian redemption, 00:35:04.059 --> 00:35:08.280 the great story of Jesus. It's a battle. It's 00:35:08.280 --> 00:35:13.739 a battle of the gods, the powerful, the religiously 00:35:13.739 --> 00:35:18.300 controlling people, most of all sin and Satan 00:35:18.300 --> 00:35:21.789 and death. It's a battle right there on the cross. 00:35:22.630 --> 00:35:25.309 And the resurrection says, the battle is won 00:35:25.309 --> 00:35:29.070 by the Lord. In some ways the question is, will 00:35:29.070 --> 00:35:31.809 we receive it? Will we have soft hearts towards 00:35:31.809 --> 00:35:35.849 it? Will we continue in the hardness of our hearts? 00:35:37.500 --> 00:35:39.099 Or will we see that the Lord is taking apart 00:35:39.099 --> 00:35:42.460 all other gods and he alone is revealed as the 00:35:42.460 --> 00:35:46.869 true Lord? In some ways we could ask the question 00:35:46.869 --> 00:35:49.309 like this, will we be like John Edwards hearing 00:35:49.309 --> 00:35:51.650 the words of our Lord to repent and repent and 00:35:51.650 --> 00:35:54.309 have a soft heart towards him? Or will we be 00:35:54.309 --> 00:35:58.860 like Max Jukes, right, who rejects God? And this 00:35:58.860 --> 00:36:04.860 world is worse off for it. So let me end with 00:36:05.760 --> 00:36:08.000 a little bit from that famous sermon. It says, 00:36:08.219 --> 00:36:10.440 and now you have an extraordinary opportunity. 00:36:11.179 --> 00:36:13.340 A day where in Christ has thrown the door of 00:36:13.340 --> 00:36:19.059 mercy wide open and stands in calling and crying 00:36:19.059 --> 00:36:26.139 with a loud voice to poor sinners. It's a wide 00:36:26.139 --> 00:36:30.679 open door and the Lord says, come, receive my 00:36:30.679 --> 00:36:36.610 grace. Do not harden your hearts. Lord, we think 00:36:36.610 --> 00:36:40.139 of this cosmic battle that's in display for us 00:36:40.139 --> 00:36:42.920 in the plagues. Think of how we know that to 00:36:42.920 --> 00:36:47.380 be the reality of our lives, our hearts, a battle 00:36:47.380 --> 00:36:49.519 for the things of this world, for all the false 00:36:49.519 --> 00:36:52.739 gods that we make, and inclinate the doubt your 00:36:52.739 --> 00:36:56.889 words, doubt your power, proclivity to hardened 00:36:56.889 --> 00:37:01.389 hearts. We would be people that have soft hearts, 00:37:01.449 --> 00:37:06.530 that repent, that turn to you, that have mercy 00:37:06.530 --> 00:37:08.670 because the judgment that was justly do upon 00:37:08.670 --> 00:37:13.579 us came upon Jesus. Please make us a people who 00:37:13.579 --> 00:37:16.380 hear your words, who heed your words, who put 00:37:16.380 --> 00:37:19.920 to death false gods and who have soft hearts 00:37:19.920 --> 00:37:22.380 towards you. Please do this Lord. We beg in Jesus 00:37:22.380 --> 00:37:26.409 name. Amen. Thank you for listening to Second 00:37:26.409 --> 00:37:29.230 City Sermons podcast. We hope this sermon has 00:37:29.230 --> 00:37:31.230 encouraged you to worship God and to celebrate 00:37:31.230 --> 00:37:34.090 the gospel of Jesus. Please consider subscribing 00:37:34.090 --> 00:37:36.949 to this podcast and joining us in person each 00:37:36.949 --> 00:37:39.820 Sunday at 10 a .m. You can find us online at 00:37:39.820 --> 00:37:42.980 SecondCityChurch .org and on Instagram, Facebook, 00:37:43.239 --> 00:37:45.719 and YouTube. Thanks again for listening. God 00:37:45.719 --> 00:37:46.079 bless.