
(This sermon, when delivered live, starts
with a rope trick.)
Now, you’ve all seen me do “magic tricks”
before. And they are JUST that- tricks! They are nothing more than parlor
tricks, designed to entertain and amuse…at best. But make NO mistake- they are
parlor tricks. And today’s sermon makes the clear distinction between OUR
parlor tricks and God’s wonders!
Today, we continue our current, 8-week
sermon series, focusing on destiny. We are walking through the life of Old
Testament giant Moses as we consider The Making of a Leader. Through HIS life,
we are seeing how God is calling each of US to be a leader in our right. Five
weeks ago, we looked at the difficult beginning of Moses’ life- a baby, adrift
in a basket in the Nile River. Four weeks ago, we looked at the time Moses, in
a fit of anger, murdered an Egyptian for mistreating one of the Hebrews and had
to flee into the desert to save his own life. Three weeks ago, we looked at
where he went when he fled, as well as his encounter with a burning bush. Two
weeks ago, we went with Moses as he travelled BACK to Egypt to confront Pharaoh
with God’s ultimatum. Last week, we saw God announce His intention to free His
people once and for and put His wondrous powers on display for all to see.
Today, that promise comes to fruition…in a powerful and frightening way. And
there is a history throughout the Old Testament of God doing just that.
Ezekiel
25:15-17 ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says:’ Because the Philistines acted
in vengeance and took revenge with malice in their hearts, and with ancient
hostility sought to destroy Judah, 16 therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD
says: I am about to stretch out my hand against the Philistines, and I will
wipe out the Kerethites and destroy those remaining along the coast. 17 I will
carry out great vengeance on them and punish them in my wrath. Then they will
know that I am the LORD, when I take vengeance on them. ”
Moses doesn’t understand what the plan
REALLY is, so he complains to God. God’s response is succinct and to the point-
“Buck up, Moses! Now you…and the Egyptians…will truly see My wonders!” Moses spent
the first 40 years in Egypt being nurtured to be somebody. He then spent the
next 40 years in the desert learning to be nobody. Then, 80 years into the
story, God shows up and demonstrates what He can do with somebody…who is willing
to be nobody.
God sends Moses and Aaron back to the
court of Pharaoh. He has them throw Aaron’s staff to the ground, where it
becomes a rather large snake. Everyone is shocked and amazed. Everyone, that
is, except Pharaoh’s magicians. They claim that what Moses and Aaron did is
merely a parlor trick. To prove it, they turn THEIR staffs into snakes.
Everyone is impressed…until Aaron’s snake/staff promptly EATS theirs! This
begins God’s very intentional demonstration of the difference between words and
actions, between our parlor tricks…and His wonders. The legendary 10 Plagues of
Egypt unfold, in all their horrendous splendor.
Plague
#1– God says to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to
let the people go. Wait on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your
hand the staff that was changed into a snake. Then say to him,’ The Lord has
sent me to say, ‘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 into
blood. The fish will die, the river will stink and the Egyptians will not be
able to drink its water.’” It happens, just as God said. The people are panicked,
but Pharaoh’s magicians re-create a version of the miracle through their parlor
tricks and Pharaoh’s become hard.
Plague
#2– 7 days later, God says to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Let
my people go. If you refuse, I will send a plague of frogs on your whole
country. The frogs will come upon you and your people and all your officials.’”
Then God said to Moses, “Tell Aaron to stretch out his hand with his staff over
the streams and canals and ponds, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.”
Aaron does as God says and the land is teeming with frogs. Again Pharaoh’s
magicians re-create the miracle. But Pharaoh is beginning to wonder, so he
tells Moses that, if he will get God to get rid of the frogs, Pharaoh will let
God’s people go into the wilderness to worship Him. Moses does…God does…but Pharaoh
does NOT.
Plague
#3– Then God says to Moses, “Tell Aaron to stretch out his staff and
strike the dust of the ground and throughout Egypt the dust will become gnats.”
Aaron does and gnats are suddenly EVEYWHERE! Pharaoh’s magicians try to
re-create the miracle…but they can’t. They tell Pharaoh that it is “the finger
of God”, but Pharaoh is hardened and won’t believe it.
Plague
#4– Then God tells Moses to confront
Pharaoh and tell him that, unless he lets the people go, God will send swarms
of flies. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies; even the ground
will be covered with them. Pharaoh is done with his worthless magicians and
tells Moses to have the people worship God right where they are. Moses tells
him that won’t work. So Pharaoh says he will let them go if Moses will pray to
God to get rid of the flies. Moses does…God does…but again…Pharaoh does NOT!
Plague #5– Then God tells Moses
to tell Pharaoh that, if he refuses to let the people go, God will bring a
terrible plague on the livestock. The next day, ALL of the Egyptian livestock
was dead. But Pharaoh just dug his heels in harder and refused to yield.
Plague #6– Then God tells Moses that the warnings are
over. Moses is to take handfuls of soot from a furnace and toss them in the air.
The soot will become fine dust and festering boils will break out on the people
and the animals. But Pharaoh’s heart just continued to harden.
Plague #7– Then God tells Moses
to confront Pharaoh with the news that, if he doesn’t let the people go, God
will unleash the worst hailstorm that has ever fallen on Egypt. Pharaoh would
not relent, so God sent thunder, lightning and hail that beat down everything
growing in the fields and stripped every tree. Pharaoh called Moses in and
admitted that he had sinned and God was right. He begged Moses to pray to God to
intervene on his behalf. Moses did…and God did…but yet again Pharaoh did NOT.
Plague #8– The Plague of
Locusts
Then God tells Moses to let His people go or
He will bring locusts down on Egypt. They will cover the ground and devour what
little the hail left. They will even fill the houses. Pharaoh’s officials beg
him to let the people go. So Pharaoh calls in Moses and tells him that the men
can go but the women and children have to stay behind. So God tells Moses to
stretch out his hand. He does…and locusts begin to swarm over the land and
devour everything. Pharaoh summons Moses, admits he has sinned against God and asks
Moses to forgive his sin and pray to God to take the locust away. God sends a
wind that sweeps all the locust away, but Pharaoh’s heart hardens even more and
he won’t relent.
Plague
#9– Then God tells Moses to stretch out his hand and darkness will spread
over Egypt– darkness that can be felt. Moses does, and total darkness covers
Egypt for three days. Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and told him he could go AND
take the women and children with him. But they would have to leave their belongings
and livestock behind. Moses tells him it’s all or nothing…so Pharaoh chooses
nothing and refuses to let them go. He also tells Moses that, if he sees his
face again, Moses will die.
Plague #10– So God tells Moses
that He is going to bring ONE more plague on Pharaoh the Egyptians. It will
cause Pharaoh to not only let the people- he will DRIVE them out. At midnight,
God will go throughout Egypt and every firstborn Egyptian male…will die. There
will be loud wailing throughout Egypt– worse than there has ever been or ever
will be again. God tells Moses to have the people paint the blood of the lamb
above their doors so that the Angel of Death will pass over their homes. And
this Passover is still observed today. At midnight, God did exactly as He said-
all the firstborn of Egypt were struck down…including the firstborn of Pharaoh.
Pharaoh summoned Moses and told him to gather his people and livestock and go.
He also asks Moses to…bless him.
One day Moses and Jesus were
playing golf. They were at the tee of a beautiful par 3, with a lake right in
the middle of the fairway. Moses selects a 5 iron, tees-up his ball and swings.
His ball sails very high and lands in the middle of the lake. He mutters to
himself and tees-up a second ball, this time selecting a 4 iron. This shot was
perfect; landing right in the middle of the green. Jesus pauses for a moment to
ponder his club selection. “Hmmmm….. Arnold Palmer would use this,”
he says as he picks up a 5 iron. “But, Jesus. My 5 iron shot ended up in
the lake. You should use a 4 iron!” “Nope. Arnold Palmer would use a
5,” insisted Jesus. So, Jesus swings hard and alas his shot ends up in the
middle of the lake too. Jesus strolls over to the lake and walks out on the
water to retrieve his ball. As Jesus is walking on the water trying to locate
his ball a foursome comes up to the tee, sees a man walking on the water and
one of them exclaims, “Who does that guy think he is? Jesus Christ?” Moses
says, “No- He IS Jesus Christ. He THINKS he’s Arnold Palmer.”
Pharaoh tried to get God to compromise. He
tried to negotiate with God. He didn’t want to let his slave work force go. So
in an effort to not “give away the farm”, Pharaoh offered a series of 4
compromises:
1.
Worship God here- “You don’t have to go anywhere- you can make your sacrifices right
here.” Pharaoh encourages the people to
“hedge” on their call from God. But God
requires separation. He wants us to step out of our normal, daily life and
focus our worship on Him…alone.
2.
Don’t go far- “You can go…but stay
close by. Don’t go too far away.” The world says, “It’s OK to go to church. It’s OK to
worship God…but don’t be a fanatic! Religion is fine…as long as you don’t take it
too seriously or too far.” There is a great temptation in this country to be
fence-sitters- borderline believers who strive to be close to the world AND close
to God.
3.
Only the men can go- “You and the guys…go
ahead. But leave the family behind.” Faith involves the WHOLE family, both figuratively
AND literally.
4. Go…but leave your stuff here- “You can go and take the family, but if
you leave your belongings behind, I know you will come back.” The Bible says, “Where your treasure,
there your heart is, also.” The devil loves it when we hold on tight to our “stuff”,
because when we do that…we can’t use it for God. But the truth is that all we
have belongs to God already.
4 compromises- 4 negotiating tactics that,
on the surface, don’t seem to be TOO bad. But God simply doesn’t negotiate. So Moses
dutifully refused each compromise. He said, through his actions, “I will NOT
compromise my beliefs.” Which causes me to wonder…do we? Are we willing to
compromise OUR beliefs? You know what I mean- “Oh, just go ahead and do it; no
one is looking!” When we are driving, do we struggle mightily to hang on to our
Christians beliefs and tenets? Do we all too easily hold grudges against our
brothers and sisters? Do we catch ourselves thinking, “I think I’ll just skip
church today- who would that hurt?” We are encouraged to act one way while we
are here in “God’s house” and yet act a totally different way when we are out
there…in the world. We see that all the time. We even try to convince ourselves
that we’ve won a victory when we compromise, because we have pacified the world,
we’ve “kept the peace”. But we are…mistaken. To quote that great theologian
Harrison Ford from the movie Air Force One, “We don’t negotiate with
terrorists. It’s our bedrock principle.” We simply can’t negotiate with the devil
or settle for what the world offers and still please God.
It doesn’t work that way. God
expects…and deserves…nothing less than our total obedience and commitment.
2Peter
3:8-9 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: with the Lord a day is
like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not
slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient
with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
The Plagues revealed Pharaoh to be
powerless, impotent. They also showed, definitively, that the God of the Hebrews
is the Lord of all. Even though the Hebrews were walking through the valley of
shadows, they were not alone- God was with them every step of the way. The same
is true for you and me. Regardless of what you are going through, no matter how
deep the shadows are in the valley you are currently traveling…God is with you.
And He will protect you. You can rest in the shadow of the Almighty. He is your
refuge and your fortress. He will save you from the hunter’s snare and from the
deadly pestilence. He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in
all your ways. He will lift up His mighty hands so that you will not strike
your foot against a stone. He will save you. And if you have any doubt about
that, look back to the 10th Plague- the death of the firstborn. The
key to that plague, that which spared the Hebrew people, was the blood of the lamb
painted over their doorway. When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior,
we are marked…washed in the blood of THE Lamb. And it is His blood, His
sacrifice that ultimately saves His people…saves US!
Thanks for stopping by- I pray you have a blessed day! Please make sure and come back again tomorrow, and stick with Jesus!
Tomorrow- Ah…Snow!
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