Exodus 6:28–7:7

Hey, hey, good morning. Good morning. Welcome to coffee and devotions are every day You and I we get together have a little bit of coffee get into God's Word and grow in our love for the Lord together And this year 2023 Lord on we'll make it from Genesis to Leviticus So glad to be with you in this morning. Well, we have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll jump into God's Word Let's pray Father, it is a great joy and blessing that we get to read your word. Father, we pray now that as we do so, your spirit would attend to the reading of your word. that you would teach us, that we would walk in your ways, in Jesus's name, amen. Okay, so we are at Genesis, not Genesis, Exodus. Exodus chapter six, beginning at verse 28. And we're going to go through verse seven, here we go. Chapter seven, verse seven.
And it came to pass on the day the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, that the Lord spoke to Moses saying, I am Jehovah. Speak to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, all that I say to you. But Moses said before Jehovah, Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh heed me? So the Lord said to Moses, See, I have made you as a God to Pharaoh.
And Aaron, your brother, shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you. And Aaron, your brother, shall tell Pharaoh to send the children of Israel out of his land. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh will not heed you so that I may lay my hand on Egypt. and bring my armies and my people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. And the Egyptians shall know that I am Jehovah when I stretch out my hand on Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from amongst them. Then Moses and Aaron did so just as the Lord commanded them. So they did. And Moses was 80 years old and Aaron, 88, 83 years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.
Well, we need to ask ourselves like every day, A, what's this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do in response to these words? So what's this about? We're picking back up the story. Yesterday, we had the genealogy of Moses and Aaron. We learned of the historical veracity of this, of this passage, of this whole story. Now we're jumping back in. And the end of chapter 8 verse 28 through 30 is really a recap.
God's going to show himself to Pharaoh. Moses objects to his being used as a prophet. And then we get to new things in chapter 7. God tells Moses he's going to make him as God to Pharaoh. And Aaron, his brother, is going to be his prophet, right? What is this getting at? It's not that Moses is somehow turning into God, but it's as if when Moses is standing there before Pharaoh, he is going to see this is truly the one sent by God. He's going to be the ruler over him. He is going to be God's mediator. And Aaron is going to be his mouthpiece. He says, you're going to speak when I command you.
He's not allowed to say whatever he wants to say. No prophet is allowed to say whatever he wants to say, but he needs to tell them exactly what the king has told him. Right. The ambassador represents the king, but he's not free to do whatever he wants.
So Aaron, your brother, shall tell Pharaoh to send the children of Israel out of his land. But how is God going to do this? Right. Verse three, I will harden Pharaoh's heart. Why would God do that? Why would God harden someone's heart? God is going to harden Pharaoh's heart because he's going to display his glory. He's going to show his power. He's going to put on full view his might and majesty. Pharaoh had asked, Who is the Lord? He doesn't want to listen to Moses. He doesn't want to let the Israelites go. This is a slave labor force. Get out of here, Moses, you bum.
Who's the Lord? Why should I listen to him? God's going to harden Pharaoh's heart because he's going to display to Pharaoh and to all of Egypt through these various plagues that are coming. The wonders of his might. And so he's going to he's going to multiply his signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. He tells Moses, right?
You got to be ready for this, bud. But Moses or Pharaoh will not heed you. Pharaoh is not going to listen to you. You need to recognize that. God is graciously warning him here. He does this similarly with some of the prophets when they're commissioned. I'm going to make you a prophet to an unbelieving people and they're not going to listen to you. But your job is be faithful preaching my message. But here he says, I'm going to work. I'm going to do the work. I'm going to redeem. I'm going to save. You're going to speak and Pharaoh is going to hate you. He's not going to listen to you.
But it's for a purpose. What's the purpose? So that I may lay my hand on Egypt and bring my armies and my people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. He's going to bring his people out. That's why he's doing it. And so there's two things here, right?
It's to redeem his people and the Egyptians shall know that I am Jehovah. When I stretch out my hand on Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them, I'm going to answer Pharaoh's question. Who is Jehovah? They're going to know me because they're going to have seen my great power. I'm not just sending you and Aaron to speak to Pharaoh. There's going to be powerful signs and wonders and miracles and they're going to know who I am. And so God's going to do this, right? This is a recap of what's coming up, a preview of what's going to happen.
And then we learn in verses six and seven that well, Moses and Aaron do this and they're old men, right? 80 and 83. Maybe not as old as we would consider because people are living to 120, 130 still at this time, but still old men. And they're nearing, they've just, well no, they've just hit their 80th birthday. And so what's this whole section about? God is redeeming his people by great strength and power. The Lord is in charge here. He's in control of what's going on. What's the best verse to summarize this?
Well, I have six words underlined in verse three, and I will harden Pharaoh's heart. And then I have verse four and five, but Pharaoh will not heed you. so that I may lay my hand on Egypt and bring my armies and my people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. And the Egyptians shall know, I have verse five double underlined, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand on Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them. And I think these are purpose verses. So I think that's why I have it underlined there.
Well, lastly, calling, what are we called to do? Well, some of you know people with hard hearts. You've told them the gospel, you've told them the gospel, you've told them the gospel, and they keep going through hard things in their lives. Difficult things, challenging things, and it seems like, Lord, when is it going to get through to them? Pray that they might. Be softened by the Lord. that he doesn't just display his power in his wrath, but that they might see that he is strong, but he is also gracious.
We don't always know why the Lord hardens people's hearts. That's not our prerogative. Romans 9 teaches that he hardens whom he hardens. Jacob, I love, but Esau, I hated. Why? I can't tell you the why. I don't know that we can pray for those whose hearts are hard And plead with the Lord that he would open their eyes Reminds me of the Apostles or the yeah, that won't would be the Apostle Paul, but when he was Saul Having a hard heart Being there condoning the death of Stephen dragging people out of their homes We're gonna see We're going to find out that they're actually Egyptians.
Who through all of this hardship, through all these trials, they're going to find out who Jehovah is. And they're actually going to go with the Israelites. They're going to yoke themselves together. They're going to confess and they're going to go through the Red Sea and be saved. But yeah, there's other Egyptians, the vast majority of them, who will hate. who will chase them to the edge of the Red Sea and will try to kill them.
Pray. Pray for those whom you love who have what seems like hard hearts that maybe God's providence might not be for their hardening, but as their hearts of stone continue to resist that someday you might take out their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Let's pray. Father we pray for those we love who though they have gone through hard providences still don't seem, it seems like nothing's going to ever make them bow the knee to you. Father we pray that you would somehow turn their hearts. We pray for our nation. As hardship comes, as difficulties happen, we pray that you would turn the hearts of our leaders to you.
We pray, Father, they might know, as you have revealed yourself in your word and even to us by your spirit, that you are the Lord, the sovereign of the heavens and over the earth. and that they might repent, turn from their hardness of heart and trust in you. In Jesus's name. Amen. May the Lord bless you. May you walk in the joy and peace of Jesus Christ. And I'll see you next time. Bye.
Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith and your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue. Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.