Delivered By
Kevin Huber

Delivered On
November 14, 2021 at 10:00 AM

Subject
Sacrifice for what?

Description

Chapter 8 completed

V25 Pharaoh summons again. Sacrifice here, sounds reasonable, why not, worship could be seen by the Egyptians.  

V26 no compromise in God. You don’t worship where sin is taking place.  Set apart, God is into holiness and being set apart from all others. Not a God, the God. Not to be compared with others, not to just be in the mix with their false gods. Moses shifts the blame to the Egypt as the reason, not for their sinful false god worship, rather they won’t like our worship.  Sinners don’t like to be shown that sin costs something.  It is detestable because shed blood is hard to watch.  If we keep our eyes on the shed blood of Jesus we might not sin.  The shed blood of Christ is offensive to the unbelieving sinner. 

V27 3 day separation is required.  3 days is what separates a believer from an unbeliever then and still is today.  Jesus died and rose on the 3rd day and that truth is a separating distinction in belief.  They go 3 days because God commanded it, we worship a God that died and rose again in 3 days because God commanded it.  Can you believe in the 3 in 1 God of the universe who rose again on the 3rd day? 3 days God changed the world.

V28 Don’t go far? This is ambiguous, still seeking compromise. How do you define far? 

V29 The power of prayer brings relief on a nation. Warnings to not act deceitfully fall on deaf ears. This means nothing to Pharaoh, he already got away with lying before, why quit now. Some people stay in there lies because the relief keeps coming, it is a false hope to hope in a lie.  The truth will always run you over in the end. People know Jesus is true but refuse to do anything about it.  Jesus is the Truth, don’t run from it.

V30 the power of prayer

V31 the heart of man stays hard when relief comes. What will it take to move our hearts? Does tragedy need to come or will we bend the knee before it is too late?

Chapter 9

V1 The message is the same, God claims ownership of the Hebrews.  God claims He is God, not Pharaoh, people should worship the true God, not a false king. There is no compromise in God’s word. 

V2 IF, always a choice, God shows mercy to the King, He gives him so many chances to repent. The word hold is same verb used describe the hard heart of Pharaoh. Ironic. 

V3 Don’t strong arm them because I will strong arm you back. Scary words that God’s hand is against you.  That is exactly where we stand with God when we reject Him.  Some feel that hand against them worse then others.  God’s Mercy is not always equally distributed. He is  sovereign in His distribution.   Gnats are the finger of God while pestilence is the hand of God.  Stronger in the resulting effects. 

This is the first time death will become a consequence.  Animals will die, there will be a food shortage.  Strong economic implications to this. God had no fly zone, now he has a no pestilence zone, He shows a distinction so there will be no doubt God is in control. 

Why doesn’t he stop this? Is the livestock worth the sacrifice? Is pretending to be god more important? Has his sin become too important to him? WE pursue things that are worth it to us. If the king won’t let the people sacrifice, he will make a sacrifice of Egypt's animals. 

What is worth sacrificing for in your life? Have you given up things to follow Christ? Or is God at war with the things that you hold onto? Seems silly and foolish to fight God. 

Join the snake crushing God or join the snake who will be crushed? 

V5 Pharaoh liked having 24 hours to think about his choice of living with the frogs, God humorously gives him a day to think about flies, and now he gives him a day to think about pestilence.  This is a mercy for God to delay judgement, we have chances to get it right while we are under His mercy.  Will we abuse the mercy shown or will continue to fall into our own traps.  Are sacrifice the good has offered for the sin and consequences the snake offers us? 

Mat 6:34 Jesus told us not to worry about tomorrow.  He is in control.  Here, the king should worry about tomorrow because God’s hand is against Him.  In Christ no worry, out of Christ worry. Focus on the now, What is now? Christ is King today, come what may. 

V6 When God saves, not one will fall by accident.  You are safe in the Lord, not one from His flock will be lost in the messy judgement. Chosen people are distinctive from the rest of the world. We are set apart, we pursue holiness, drop things that get in the way of holiness. 

V7 Despite the miracle of God, the king lacked the faith to believe, He was warned at the beginning from Moses that God’s command to let them go and worship was a life or death matter.  Now he can literally see a picture of life and death.  What would you choose? Death penalty for unbelief. Submit to the word of God for saving life.  It’s not logical to pick death. 

Imposter god Hapis is attacked, bull worship, why do you worship dead things? 100s Mummy bulls still found in Egypt. Sacred cows. Recorded battles: Enemies used herds to protect themselves from Egypt's armies. 

Rebellion against God affects others and not just Pharaoh. Our sin spreads to others. 

All could mean literally mean all, Pharaoh steels the Hebrew livestock for boils? Or all means most of, or all kinds… interpreted in the relative sense. Or verse 3 those in the field, not in sheds. 

V8 Plague to processions is followed by a plague to the person. Tossed ash in the air, symbolic this is coming down from heaven. Poetic, justice the furnace is a place of false worship who’s bricks are built from the backs of Hebrew slaves. The furnace is a symbol of oppression.  The fire burnt here is now the sight of punishment and judgement.  God will make the skin burn and be inflamed with boils, blisters, pussy, messy, festering, painful, unclean ailment.   Beasts vs. livestock. No statement that Hebrews would also suffer, assume another distinction is being made? 

V10-12 The false priest suffer because they worship something that is not real.  False religion is being put out of business. Like turning the light out in Vegas. Pharaoh remains stubborn. Still not worth the sacrifice of letting Hebrews worship, it would be like admitting all his gods and he himself is false.  All of his world would count for nothing.  Which it in fact does without acknowledging the one true God. 

Magicians could not stand. Moses was told to stand before the King, now the Kings trusted false priest can no longer stand before Moses. 

Every instance of the hard heart is result of the existence of God. 

V13 same message repeated 9x, uncompromising God. Confront, stand before. Moses can stand the magicians cannot. 

V14 if we persist in rebellion we can expect discipline or judgment.  

V15 what he could of done is show no mercy, instead he has given them a chance. Same is true today with us. Plagues have been merciful. What you are going thru might be a far cry from what you deserve. If I wanted you dead you would be dead already. Opportunity to repent.

We are from the Earth, God is not. 

V16 God wants to be worshiped for our benefit, God doesn’t need our worship, it is a privilege and gracious opportunity to show Him respect. The almighty doesn’t need us, but He wants us. All of the badness we see is for a greater purpose.  No pain is without meaning. Power on display. People everywhere will know who He is. Pharaoh doesn’t remain over a lack of God’s power, He remains because God wants to show his power and make him submit. Evil people remain so God can reveal his glory.  

We don’t rejoice evil exists, but we trust in knowing God has power over all. 

V17 he exalts himself above others and obstructs others from serving. Don’t stand between God and his people, it will end badly for you. 

This exact hour tomorrow, very detailed. 

V18 like one never seen before. Intense. Mockery of Egyptian deities. 

V17-19 scorched earth is coming.  You had to be brave or stupid to ignore this. Rain is not common place in Egypt, again God showing He controls all natural forces and can make them do unnatural things.  The land of little rain will get a lot of rain. 

Each new tomorrow Pharaoh is given a chance to think about it. God is singing “don’t stop thinking about tomorrow”.  Unlike the song suggests, one day there will be no more tomorrow for us to ponder God.  Yesterday is gone, and tomorrow will both be gone. 

Why do I bring up all these weird gods no one knows about?  God saw fit to be at war with these made up gods then, what made up gods do we have now that God might battle us over?  If he did the same thing today, what false gods would he diminish in your life? 

Besides Nut, Shu, Tefnut, also,

    • Osiris-god of crops and fertility. He couldn't protect the crops.
    • Set-god of storms. He could not prevent them.
    • Isis-goddess of the air.

V19 God gives them warnings to protect what they have, always a choice. Mercy, they can avoid this.  A deadly storm. 

V20 many officials are converted and believe.  When you believe something your actions show it.  They protected their stuff as best they could. God’s word should cause us to be uncomfortable when we don’t obey it. They are learning this lesson. Fear of the Hebrew God has happened, beginning of wisdom. There is a reward for faith.  Test to see which God they will trust in. Says they hurried, didn’t waste time. 

Exodus 1 midwives feared God,… they to are rewarded. 

V21 Some have no regard, set their hearts against God’s word.  It is a sad and tragic thing.  Given opportunity and it is wasted on them. They understood the warning, not an intellect problem, it’s a heart problem.  Not willing to give up on the false things they pursue and sacrifice for. Not questioning what their gods are worth to them. Will they learn from their mistakes?