EXODUS 5-10 OBEY THE VOICE OF THE LORD2018 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Exodus 5-10 Obey The Voice Of The Lord

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2018.

This morning as we look at Exodus chapter 5 and on into chapter 7 as well, we'll get into as we work our way through our time together this morning, we're looking at and continuing on the account of the children of Israel and their time in Egypt and what we're seeing the interaction that happens between Moses and Pharaoh as Moses delivers the message of God that God wants his people to be let go.

And as we spend our time together this morning, I want to encourage you to consider specifically the example of Pharaoh and some of the important lessons that we can learn from the interaction that Pharaoh has with God and his response to God's instruction to him. And this morning I've titled the message, it's our encouragement to us this morning, and that is, Obey the Voice of the Lord.

I want to encourage you this morning to obey the voice of the Lord. And I chose to kind of illustrate this as the background image, a picture of a vice. And I don't know how much experience you have with vices. And I don't mean vice like a bad habit. I mean, you know, like a metal clamp, you know, that I

I don't have much, but my dad used to have these kinds of things in the garage when I was young. And so I played with them a little bit. And here's the kind of dumbed down Jerry Simmons definition of a vice. Here's what a vice is for. It's for holding things in place that don't want to stay there.

That's what a vice is for, right? It's you put on the pressure, you hold it in place. Maybe you're trying to drill something or sand something or work on something and it keeps falling out of your hand, it keeps falling off the table. You need to work on it, but it's not staying in place and so it's making it very hard to work on. And so what a vice does is it puts pressure, it holds that thing in place so that you can do the drilling, the sanding or the work that you need to

And as we talk about obeying the voice of the Lord, it's an appropriate picture for us to consider that, well, I would encourage you to think about what Paul said in Romans chapter 12.

He talks about the need for us to present ourselves as a living sacrifice. In Romans chapter 12, verse 1, he says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

Paul says, here's what I want you to do. Here's what I beg you to do. Give yourself willingly as a living sacrifice. That is, willingly offer yourself to God and allow God to do the work that He wants to do. That's what Paul says you should do. I should do, but I heard a pastor teach on this one time many years ago, and he said the problem with living sacrifice is

is that they keep climbing off of the altar, right? And we understand how that is. We come to those points in our lives where we are on the altar, we are throwing up our hands in surrender and saying, yes, Lord, I will do whatever you want. Yes, Lord, I will walk with you. Yes, Lord, I will follow you. I will obey the voice of the Lord. And we come to those decisions and we make those declarations. But then later on, we find ourselves climbing off of the altar, right?

And there's things that God is calling us to. There's things that God is directing us in. There's things that God is saying to us, and we're saying that I don't want that. I don't agree with that. I have a different opinion about that. And we find ourselves in conflict, and we're no longer in that place of on the altar, freely offering ourselves. We want to be, and we remember those days, but

But we're in conflict with the will of God and the plans of God. And we can find ourselves begin to experience the pressure as God begins to clamp down the vice and look, hey, altar or sacrifice, you know, you need to stay on the altar. And I would ask you to consider this morning, how much pressure does God need to apply for you to walk in obedience and to walk in his will and to walk in his plans for you?

As we look at the example of Pharaoh, I think it's clear from the chapters and the testimony of Pharaoh here that Pharaoh is convinced that he is the vice. He's convinced, I have the power, I have the control, and the people of Israel are in my grip.

And God says, well, you're in my grip, Pharaoh. And he's going to apply pressure to Pharaoh to show him, I am God and I am on the throne. And it's a great reminder for us to recognize who God is and to put ourselves in that place of submission and obedience to God, to obey the voice of the Lord.

There's three points I'd like to highlight for you from the example of Pharaoh here in the book of Exodus. And the first one is in these verses we just read, verses 1 through 9 of chapter 5. Point number one this morning is God gets to tell you what to do. This is maybe a hard truth for us at some points in our lives, but it is a reality. And we must come to the place where we acknowledge this reality and

God gets to tell me what to do. That is his right. That is his rightful place. That is his right as my creator, as the one who sustains me, as the one who gives me breath, as the one who died on the cross for me. God gets to tell me what to do. He has the right. There's that old saying, there is a God and

and you are not him. You know, there's certain truths that you can hold on to. There is a God, that's for sure, absolutely. And secondly, you're not God. You're not the one in charge. You're not the one in control. You don't have the authority even over your own life. God is God, and he has the right and the authority to tell you what to do. Looking again at verses 1 and 2, it says this,

afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, thus says the Lord God of Israel, let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said, who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go. Moses comes before Pharaoh with, it's a pretty bold request. Let my people go, God says.

Now, we know that ultimately God's plan is to bring the people of Israel out of Egypt entirely, but this request is not all the way there yet. This request is actually for a vacation. Give my people a vacation is really what the request is. Check out verse 3. So they said, the God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go three days journey into the desert to sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with sword.

And so the idea is they're going to go three days out, have a feast unto the Lord's sacrifice, and then travel the three days back to Egypt to continue on their labor and their position and their role within the nation of Egypt. So let's call it seven days vacation. Give us seven days of vacation. Give us this time off. That's what the Lord says. Let my people go. But Pharaoh's response is, who is the Lord?

I don't recognize God as one who has authority in my life to tell me what I should do with my laborers. I don't recognize God as one who has the authority to dictate whether or not they have time off or whether or not they keep working. I don't recognize God as having that role in my life. Who is the Lord? I don't know him, and I'm not going to do what he says.

And you can kind of understand Pharaoh's position in the sense that, you know, here's some random guy. He, you know, used to be around Egypt, but out of the blue, he just walks in one day and says, you know, you need to give everybody a week off. Can you imagine walking into the office of Jeff Bezos and saying, you need to shut down the company for a week? Now, maybe you're wondering who Jeff Bezos is. Does anybody know who Jeff Bezos is? He's Amazon, right? The CEO of Amazon. Amazon employs about 540,000 people.

That's just about the workforce that Pharaoh had. 600,000 men is when the census is taken, we'll see that. 600,000 men is the workforce that Pharaoh had who were brought out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses. And so we're talking about a similar size group of people, except for the children of Israel, you know, also had the women and children. It was a much larger group altogether. But you get the picture, right? The workforce, right?

Now, can you imagine you, you're just some random person. I don't think anybody here actually knows Jeff Bezos. If you do, I'd like an introduction. That'd be cool. But just walk into the office and say, God says, shut down Amazon for a week. Can you imagine what that would be like? Can you imagine the boldness that would require to do that? Can you imagine that going well? And Jeff Bezos goes, wow, that's what God wants. Okay, we're shutting down Amazon for a week. That's probably not going to happen.

According to their last quarter's earnings, they made about $2 billion for the holiday quarter, which works out to about $22 million a day. Seven days shut down, that's $154 million down.

deficit. You know, that's what they lose if they shut down for that amount of time. That's probably not in their best, you know, interest as far as the company is concerned. It's a big request, even though it's not the final request of, hey, Israel's going to leave completely and never come back to Egypt. Telling Pharaoh, you need to give them this week off, and you're going to lose all of that labor for the next seven days while we have this feast to the Lord is

It was something that Pharaoh said, you know, I don't like that idea. I don't think it's a good idea. I don't want to lose all of that labor, that progress. And I don't recognize God as having that kind of authority over me or my kingdom. And so Pharaoh says, no. Verse four, then the king of Egypt said to them, Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people from their work? Get back to your labor.

And Pharaoh said, look, the people of the land are many now, and you make them rest from their labor. You see, the labor and the progress, this is what Pharaoh was focused on. God says, let my people go. And he says, look, there's work to be done. There's stuff that needs to happen. Progress needs to be made. Money needs to be brought in. They can't take time off. They can't have vacation. No. No.

God says, let my people go. And Pharaoh says, no, I need them to work. And again, here we get to see that Pharaoh is convinced that he is the vice.

Because he tries now to apply pressure to the children of Israel. In verse 6, the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their officers saying, you shall no longer give the people straw to make brick as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. And he goes on to explain, look, the quota is not going to be changed. The same requirements, the same standard has to be met. But now you're going to have to work harder to meet that standard.

He applies pressure. He applies this force upon the people and the taskmasters are making them work harder now to show, this is Pharaoh in his obstinance against God saying, no, you're not in charge. I'm in charge. Let me show you how in charge I am. I'm going to make things more difficult. I'm the one who applies the pressure, not you.

And so we see that Pharaoh disagrees with God. And we could look at this and we could be very quick and it's kind of easy, you know, to judge Pharaoh and to be critical of Pharaoh in this. But I would ask you to consider that this is actually a pretty common response whenever God brings forth a message. God brings forth a message many times and it is met with this kind of resistance and

in the hearts of people, and even his own people. And that's why we need the reminder this morning, God gets to tell you what to do. We have the saying, we describe, you know, conversion and salvation many times as I gave my life to the Lord. But like the picture of the sacrifice who gets off the altar, right? Many times we give our lives to the Lord and then we take it back. And we forget God gets to tell me what to do.

That it's not about me. I get to just live my life and do what I want and experience what I want and go the direction that I want, that I get to choose and that I'm in charge. But the reality is we take our lives back many times. And when God tells us what he wants, like Pharaoh, we can easily disagree and quickly disagree. God gets to tell you what to do.

And that applies to every aspect, every arena, every avenue of your life. God has the right to tell you, go to Alaska. I don't know if you want to go to Alaska or not, but God has the right to tell you. Now, like Jonah, you could run to Hawaii instead of Alaska, right? That is a temptation, and we have those kinds of tendencies sometimes.

But it doesn't turn out very well, and it's not going to turn out very well for Pharaoh, as we'll see in our time together this morning. But the point is, God can tell you that. He has the right to say, you no longer live in California. You are meant to live in Alaska. God could tell you, if you wanted to, you need to stand upside down for the rest of your life. Now, God's not telling you that, and you're saying, Jerry, that's ridiculous. Yeah, it's ridiculous. But God has the right. If he wanted to tell you that, he can tell you that.

He has the right to tell you, buy this house and not that house. He has the right to tell you, go here, not there. He has the right to tell you, sell your car or go buy ice cream. He has the right to tell you to be faithful to your spouse. He has the right to tell you whatever he wants, whether it's staying away from sin or whether it's entering into some type of ministry. Again, it's easy to be critical of Pharaoh, but

I think I would encourage you to consider this morning that Moses had to wrestle with this truth also. Moses had to wrestle with this fact. God gets to tell me what to do. Because you know, God told Moses to do something that Moses did not want to do. If you rewind just a little bit to Exodus chapter 4, verse 10 tells us, then Moses said to the Lord, oh my Lord,

I am not eloquent, neither before since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue. So the Lord said to him, who has made man's mouth or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing or the blind? Have not I the Lord? Now, therefore, go and I will be with you and with your mouth and teach you what to say.

Now Moses continues to argue with the Lord and say, no, I still can't. And then it ends up, you know, the Lord offers Aaron and Aaron will be the spokesperson. But you see that the point there that Moses is hearing from the Lord, God's telling him what to do. And he's saying, God, I don't really like the idea of what you're telling me to do. You're calling me to involve myself and to be in this place. And I don't really want to be in that place.

I don't want to have that role. It's really not much different than what Pharaoh is doing and saying, who is the Lord? I don't acknowledge him as an authority in my life. I'm not just going to do what he says. Again, like Pharaoh, like Moses, we can find ourselves in that place, hearing from the Lord, but then not being willing to submit to it. Again, whether it's an issue of sin or

or commandment, or whether it's an issue of ministry. And I really liked what F.B. Meyer said about this. I think it might be encouraging to you. He says, Moses looked at himself. He said, look, I stutter. I don't speak very well. And F.B. Meyer says, good, that's fine. You can hold on to, you know, those low opinions, that low esteem, that insecurity that you have.

cherish that, sure, but unite that with the reality of God's sufficiency. And God even says that to him in chapter 4, right? He says, look, I'm the one who created the mouth. I can help you with that. He goes on to say, self-depreciation may lead to the marring of a useful life. We must think soberly of ourselves, not too lowly as not too extravagantly. The one talent must not be buried in the earth.

I think we're very familiar with the concept and the dangers of thinking of ourselves too extravagantly, right? Pride and arrogance and those things. And we think, you know, we're awesome and we're familiar with that. But there is also the danger on the other side of thinking too lowly of ourselves. So lowly that we will not obey God when he speaks to us. And God says, I want you to go. And you say, well, I don't really have a good education. I'm not really that smart. I don't speak very well. And we can, right?

Don't bury the talents. It's referring to that parable that Jesus told of the different servants who had different talents. And the one who had one, he just like, I don't have very much. I don't know what to do with it. So I'm just going to bury it in the ground. And that was not a good example to follow. God gets to tell you what to do.

Even if it's an area where you feel inadequate, even if it's an area where you feel like you don't measure up, you're not up to the task, you're not qualified, you're not gifted, you're not worthy of that kind of call. God gets to say what you do and what you don't do about every aspect of your life, your personal life, your family life, your work life, your ministry, your church, everything, your leisure time. God is the one who has the right to

to tell you what to do. And I want to encourage you this morning as you acknowledge that reality to then obey the voice of the Lord. What is God speaking to you? What is it that God says about your life and your situation? A lot of times when there is a conflict between what I want and what God wants,

It's easy to rationalize my reasons, you know, and come up with why I think it's a good idea. And there is the concept that many times people have that, you know, well, God wants me to be happy. I know the Bible says this, but God wants me to be happy, right? And that's a misunderstanding of, first of all, what happiness is, but it's also a misunderstanding of who God is. More important than your happiness is

It is that God has the right place of authority in your life. In one sense, who cares if you're happy? God gets to tell you what to do, whether you like it or not. I know that's really exciting. You want to sign up for that, right? But putting it in a better perspective and understanding, understand God loves you. Everything that God says to you is for your benefit. It's for your good.

And it's because God loves you that God tells you, go do what you don't feel like doing. Go do what you don't feel qualified to do. Go this way, go that way. And we resist it, but we are only limited to our, you know, right now perspective. God seeing the whole picture says, this is what's best for you. And so God gets to tell you what to do, but you need to understand as you trust in him that he does so for your benefit. Obey the voice of the Lord. It's for your good.

God wants you to be happy in eternity for the long term. He wants to give you a complete and full eternity. He doesn't just want to gratify every craving and desire and pleasure that you have at this moment. There's more to life. There's more to what God has for you than that. God gets to tell you what to do. You know, in the society around us, another kind of example that we're seeing take place is this idea

you know, political thing and social thing about being able to choose what gender you are. And there is this resistance to the idea of God getting to tell me what to do. Listen, God gets to tell you who you are. He gets to tell you whether or not you're a boy or a girl. He has the right. We don't get the right to just decide to do what we want to do or to be who we want to be or go where we want to go. God's rightful place is

is in that place of authority, that position of declaring who we are and what we do and what we don't do. He is God. He's in charge, not Pharaoh and not you. So God gets to tell you what to do. So obey the voice of the Lord. Now, moving on, we're going to jump now to chapter 7.

to continue looking at this interaction between Pharaoh and the Lord. And in chapter 7, we get point number 2, and that is, God is prepared to use as much force as is necessary. You need to know that God is prepared. He's not afraid to apply some pressure.

He's not afraid to put you in the vice and begin to crank that handle and bring those, whatever they're called, teeth or whatever, you know, closer together. And you can see them, you know, begin to bring pressure upon an object, upon someone. And, you know, God is not afraid. He is not timid in that way. He's prepared to use as much force as is necessary.

God has the right to tell you what to do, but there's a little bit of tension in understanding who God is and how he works in that he has also given us free will. And so there is this understanding that God has the right, but he doesn't force everybody into his plan and his commands, but he is willing to bring some force to help us to be willing to

to come in line with his will and his plan. God's prepared to use as much force as is necessary. You know, a couple weeks ago, we were looking at the life of Joseph, and we were looking at the idea that God is working out his plans, and seeing the sovereignty of God, the big picture, and how God worked all these things together to accomplish something amazing, his plan. And at that time, there was a different Pharaoh, but there was the Pharaoh in charge of Egypt and

And we saw him as a willing participant in God's plans. He said, Joseph, wow, there's no one like you in whom is the spirit of God. Come and be second in command. And that Pharaoh willingly participated in the plan of God and reaped the benefits from it. But now we're seeing a different Pharaoh with a different approach in opposition to what God has said. And he is now an unwilling participant in the plan of God. And he gets to experience then the force of

that God will apply to help him come to the place of willingness to submit to God. Let's look at Exodus chapter 7 verses 1 through 5. Here's what it says. So the Lord said to Moses, See, I have made you as 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 and the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. 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. Here in Exodus chapter seven, the Lord speaks to Moses and he is beginning to prepare Moses

for the plagues that are going to be brought on the land of Egypt. And we'll see those introduced in chapter 7. There's 10 plagues that God brings upon the land of Egypt. All of these plagues are a show of force. They're God dealing with the various things that Pharaoh is trusting in,

The various things that Pharaoh has confidence in, the various things that Pharaoh would look to and think, I'm secure. I don't have to listen to God because I have these securities, these gods. And God is going to be breaking down all of those things through these 10 plagues. But before he actually brings upon the plagues, he gives Moses a little bit of an overview of what's going to happen.

He tells Moses, you're going to say to Pharaoh everything that I tell you. And you're going to tell Pharaoh to send the children of Israel out of his land. But Pharaoh is not going to listen. God says, I will harden his heart. And notice, multiply my signs and my wonders in the land. At the end of verse 4, God says that we're going to do this by great judgments.

We're going to deal with the nation of Egypt and the hardness of Pharaoh's heart. And it's by great judgments that then the children of Israel are going to be released and allowed to leave the land of Egypt. But notice in verse 5, And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. Going back to chapter 5, Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord? I don't acknowledge him. I don't give him that place of authority in my life. But by the end of these plagues...

Pharaoh will know who God is and that he has that rightful place of authority in his life, just like he has that right place of authority in our lives. And when we resist that place of authority, well, God is within his rights to begin to apply pressure. And so we see that 10 plagues unfolded. I'm not going to go into all the details of all of these, and hopefully you read through them this week as we're going through the book of Exodus, but

The first plague is the water that's turned to blood in Exodus chapter 7. And they are faced with this difficulty in that all their fresh water has turned to blood. Now this was significant to them because one of their areas of worship and the gods that they believed in was worshiping.

you know, deeply rooted and related to the Nile River, which fed them and provided everything that they needed. And so right off the bat, God is attacking their gods. He's attacking their resources. He's attacking and showing, I have power over all these things. Then we see the plague of the frogs in Exodus chapter 8.

Again, another object of their worship. And he blankets their houses and their homes and the land with these frogs and forces them in these very uncomfortable situations and difficult things. And again, showing that he is greater. He is Lord over their gods. He is Lord over creation.

Goes on to the third plague, which is the lice. And that one's an interesting one because, well, all the dust of the earth in their region is turned to lice. And God brings forth lice from the midst of it. Have you ever been amazed at how much dust is in your home? You know, you ever like you're sweeping up and maybe you have, if you've got tile or wood, you know, throughout your home and you're sweeping up and you bring it all to the middle and there's this big pile of dust. And you're like,

And you're like, wow, I just swept three months ago. How did all this dust get in here? Where did all this come from? Can you imagine if all of that dust became lice and all the dust in your backyard, especially for those of you who live in Norco, all the dust in your backyard and around you, suddenly you are just covered, invaded by lice. Now, this plague was...

Again, continuing for God to show himself and who he is, the magicians up to this point, they turned the water to blood. They produced more frogs, but they were not able to produce lice. And at that time, the magicians testify in Exodus 8, verse 19, this is the finger of God. Only God could do this.

And you can see that God is applying pressure. He is putting on the squeeze, turning over, you know, the crank a couple times. And Pharaoh is not there yet, but the magicians are recognizing, well, this really is God. This really is someone who has authority. This really is someone who can command things that we've never seen before. The pressure is being applied.

As each one of these are happening, it's increasing and there's more pressure being applied. The livestock are diseased in Exodus chapter 9. That's the next plague. And

Here, God shows that he's in charge, that he's doing this, and that he protects the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel had their own distinct and segregated land inside Egypt. And so they were this distinct community within Egypt. And all of this community was protected from this disease. But all of Egypt's livestock, all around them,

They were affected and they died as a result of this disease and God's showing them again, look, I am God and I can protect them and inflict disease on this one. I'm in charge of these things. I'm in control of diseases. I'm in control of life and death. I'm on the throne. Then we see the plague of the boils happen in Exodus chapter 9 verse 8.

And so the ashes from the fireplace are thrown into the air by Moses and Aaron, and the Lord sends those ashes all throughout the land and open sores. That's what a boil is. It's an open sore. It's a painful and agonizing type of wound that they just are breaking out upon man and animal that they're all experiencing this so much so, it tells us in verse 11, that the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils that they were experiencing. That

Again, God is showing, look, you trusted Pharaoh in these men. You trusted in their powers. You trusted in what they could do. You trusted in these guys to protect you. But I'm greater than these guys. And God is applying the pressure. He brought hail in Exodus 9, verse 13.

Hail like has never been seen before. It describes these huge pieces of hail mixed with fire, some very strange phenomenon that God brought upon and destroyed the crops in the land, brought great destruction to the land of Egypt. Then in Exodus chapter 10, we find the locust plague, and the land is covered in locusts. They'd experienced locusts before. They've had, you know,

Lots of locusts come through and, you know, those devastating things that happen. But this one is described as more severe than anything they've ever seen before. It was, you know, off the charts by comparison, showing that God, you know, God brought the wind. God is in control. He's on the throne. And then there's darkness in Exodus chapter 10, verse 21. The ninth plague, God brings darkness upon the land. Now we're used to darkness in the sense that, well, every night it gets dark.

But this was a darkness that you can imagine them trying to light lamps and it wouldn't bring any light. You try to light a torch, you know, you're trying to get a spark and there is this oppression that is upon them that removes light from their midst. Supernatural, directly, like right in your face, God is saying, look, I am on the throne. I am God. I am in control. And he is bringing them face to face with this.

Applying the pressure, using the force, not the Star Wars kind of force, but using pressure, bringing them so that they cannot escape this truth that God is God. Until finally the 10th plague found in Exodus chapter 12 is the death of the firstborn. And the firstborn son of every family all through the land of Egypt, including Pharaoh's own home, the firstborn is put to death.

It's the final straw. And finally, Pharaoh comes to the point where he says, you guys get out of here. God is prepared to use as much force as is necessary. Pharaoh was not willing, but God continued to bring on the pressure, to bring on the plagues, until Pharaoh finally is willing to say, okay, God, whatever you want. How much pressure?

will need to be applied before you and I obey God's voice. That's the question for us as we look at the life of Pharaoh. Again, Pharaoh is not some strange, you know, anomaly in history, like, can't believe he's the one guy who's ever resisted the will of God in all of history. No, actually, although we probably wouldn't like to think of it this way, Pharaoh is probably a very accurate picture of our own hearts and lives many times in resistance to what we know God wants.

How much pressure will be applied? Pastor Warren Wiersbe says it this way, if men will not obey his words of warning, God must speak by his works of judgment. When God speaks, people either obey and submit their hearts or disobey and harden their hearts. God speaks and he desires that we would respond when he speaks. But if we don't listen when he speaks, then, well, he will begin to turn the crank.

and bring the pressure, and he will speak by his works of judgment. Now, not every affliction and difficulty, and not every time we experience pressure is, you know, a direct consequence for us rebelling against God. That's not always the case. Sometimes we experience pressure directly in the will of God. So just to kind of, you know, I always like to bring up that other side. But although we may experience pressure in the will of God,

we will always experience pressure out of the will of God. When we resist what it is that God is saying, God will begin to ramp up the pressure, the force, the judgment that we would be, well, that we'd become aware of our position in our rebellion against God. Do you know why God hasn't done anything like this recently? Because he hasn't wanted to. God still has the right. God still has the power. He can still do whatever he wants.

And he could bring these plagues on my life tomorrow if he wants to. He's able to. He is the right. He's God. It's kind of like the old question, right? Where does an 800-pound gorilla sit? Wherever he wants to. Who's going to stop him? In the same way, God is able to do whatever he wants. And he's prepared. He's not afraid to use pressure. Now, it sounds like cruel tyranny, perhaps, if you think about that. But again, I would remind you that everything God does...

is out of love for us. If he's squeezing, it's because it's best for us. If he's applying pressure, it's because it's what we need the most to come to the place where we will obey the voice of the Lord. And that brings me to point number three, as we also stay in Exodus chapter seven, God will use as little force as possible. This is something to think about. There's a little bit of contrast here and irony that I think is interesting.

Here we have the great almighty God who has unlimited power and he always chooses to use the least amount of power necessary. Every time, without exception, God always chooses to use the least amount of pressure required. Very efficient in that way. God is not overusing his power, his force, his authority. He's not overreaching anything.

He uses the minimal amount in dealing with us to give us the opportunity so that when we respond to him, well, we get the least amount of pressure applied based on when we respond and how we respond to him. Jump into verse 14 here of Exodus chapter 7. It says,

Go to Pharaoh in the morning when he goes out to the water and you shall stand by the river's bank to meet him and the rod which was turned into a serpent you shall take in your hand. Verse 16. And you shall say to him, the Lord God of the Hebrews has sent me to you. Let my people go that they may serve me in the wilderness. But indeed, until now, you would not hear.

Thus says the Lord, by this you shall know that I am the Lord. Behold, I will strike the waters which are in the river with the rod that is in my hand and they shall be turned to blood. Here the Lord sends Moses to Pharaoh. Now this is, we looked at all the 10 plagues. This is going back to the beginning to the first plague. And God explains to Moses what's going on in verse 14. Pharaoh's heart is hard.

He refuses to let the people go. And so, Moses, we're going to turn the crank and we're going to apply some pressure. It's the first of many to come. But he's not responding. The issue is Pharaoh's heart. It's hard. Now, God is God and he gets to say, let my people go. Give them a week off. Shut down the nation for a week. God has the authority to say that to Pharaoh, to you, to me, to any nation on the planet at any time. God has that authority.

But when our heart is hard and we don't respond to what God is saying, well, then God begins to respond with the pressure that's needed to bring us to the place of obedience. But as you look at that, I would ask you to consider that Pharaoh could have taken a different route. Pharaoh had the choice. God didn't remove his choice in all of this. God didn't remove Pharaoh's free will. He applied pressure to

But he still gave Pharaoh the choice. And Pharaoh chose to harden his heart. In verse 16, the Lord reminds him, I said, let my people go that they may serve me. But indeed, until now, you would not hear. You've heard in the sense that you know what I'm telling you, but you would not hear in the sense that you will obey what it is that I'm telling you. I would ask you to consider this morning, is the Lord speaking something to you? What's it going to take for you to

Will you respond when just the Lord speaks to you? How many times does he have to tell you something before you begin to think about obeying it and putting it into practice in your life? And will it require pressure? Will the Lord need to bring in the vice, you know, hold you onto the altar and

So you will submit to me. Listen, I am God and you need to know that. Will that be an easy thing or will that be a difficult thing because you are resisting what it is that God is saying? I think it's important to consider the example of Cyrus. Cyrus was the king of Persia. This is many years in history after what we're reading about in Exodus, but Persia conquers Babylon and

And now has inherited this group of people, the nation of Israel, that has been in captivity in Babylon for 70 years. And God prophetically, through the prophet Isaiah, delivers a message to King Cyrus.

In Isaiah chapter 45, verse 13, God's speaking about Cyrus. He says, I have raised him up in righteousness and I will direct all his ways. He shall build my city and let my exiles go free, not for price nor reward, says the Lord of hosts. So here you have a different king delivered a similar message, let my people go. And Cyrus, in contrast to Pharaoh, lets God's people go.

But God points out, this is not for price or reward. I'm not paying you to let them go. You're just going to let them go. And Cyrus says, okay, I will submit to God in that. I will let God tell me to do that, and I will do that. Pharaoh had that same opportunity, but he chose a different route. But if he had chosen to listen to the Lord, it would have went differently for Pharaoh. God has the right. He has the power, but he also gives you the choice.

In the big picture, you can consider that God is using full force. He's working out all things together to accomplish his purposes. But on an individual level, I would remind you that God will do everything up to. He is willing to use full force minus the removal of your free will. Everything except for that, he's prepared to do. He's willing to do. He's able to do. He will not force you in the sense that you have no choice.

But he can't apply pressure and bring you to the place where you are finally willing. And if you'll just stop and think about this in a realistic way, you know, understanding, okay, if I resist in the first plague, there's nine more to come. And God's going to keep increasing the pressure. God's going to keep ramping up the force that's being applied until I finally submit. Now, the best thing for me is for me to submit now.

That's the best thing for me, is to listen to what God says. Let him be God. That's his rightful place. Think about Esther as an example. She was encouraged by her uncle Mordecai when she was afraid to go stand before the king and defend the people of Israel. Mordecai tells her in Esther chapter 4 verse 14, he says, "...if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise from the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish."

Yet who knows whether you have come into the kingdom for such a time as this. Again, big picture, God's going to save his people, Esther, with or without you. He's going to accomplish his plans. Force will be applied. He will make sure that happens. He will accomplish his will. But you get to choose your part in that plan. You can be a willing participant and be part of the deliverance, or you can refrain from doing what it is that God has set before you

and pay the price for that. There will be cost to that and consequences for that. God starts out with Pharaoh just speaking to him, let my people go. And he gives him a couple opportunities. He tells him a couple times before he even begins to apply any kind of pressure. And then things progress more and more severely as Pharaoh continues to resist. First, you know, things are just inconvenient, but then more pressure is applied.

He's brought to the end of himself and everything that he's trusted in is cast down. And it's clear over and over and over again. God is saying, you must submit to me and everything that you've trusted in and all that you're walking in, it does not measure up to who God is, his power, his authority, and his rightful place in your life. And so Pharaoh's heart grew hard and he brought upon these plagues upon himself by resisting God.

But at any point in the process, he could have chosen differently. God will use as little force as possible. He has the right, he has the power, but he gives you the choice. Will you obey the voice of the Lord? It's something for us to consider as we enter into our time of communion to close out our service this morning. Will you obey the voice of the Lord?

You know, in communion, the Lord gave us the reminders of what he has done for us. The bread to represent his body that was broken for us and the cup to represent his blood that was shed for us. Everlasting testimonies, everlasting symbols of the reminder of how much God loves us. That he was willing to take all the pressure upon himself for our sin.

And he received the full brunt of that vice. He received the full brunt of it. The judgment on our behalf because he loves us. So that, first of all, we could have the opportunity to choose. But secondly, so that we could always know what God has for you is what's best for you. What God speaks to you, it's for your good. And so as we partake of communion this morning, I would encourage you to consider what is God saying to you? Whatever it is, obey the voice of the Lord.

God gets to tell you what to do. Make sure he has that place in your life, that you give him that position of authority. And understand, if you resist, God's prepared. He's not afraid to apply any amount of force that's necessary. He's not timid about his power. But at the same time, he would much prefer to just speak for us to be soft and receptive and open. God will use as little force possible to

the least amount necessary. Let's make it easy. You know, the Lord spoke to the children of Israel in Psalm chapter 32, and he said, I will instruct you. I'll teach you in the way that you should go. Don't be like the horse or the mule, which have to have the bit in their mouth and be forced. No, just let me tell you. The worship team can come up and get ready. And as we prepare our hearts for communion, I would just remind you the same thing we started with, and that is Romans chapter 12, verse 1. I beseech you, therefore, by the mercies of God,

that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Let's present ourselves to God as a living sacrifice. If you've crawled off the altar and been resisting and fighting against God in certain things, let's get back on. Let's take this time to appreciate what Christ has done for us, the payment that he paid on our behalf, the expression of love. But let's also take that with a recognition that

that we now have the opportunity to get on the altar and to express that love back to him in our obedience, in our response to his word to our lives. And so as we worship the Lord together, the ushers are going to pass out the bread and the cup and you're free to partake at any time during the worship between you and the Lord as you climb back on the altar and you worship him and you submit yourself to him. Partake. Remember what Christ has done and give yourself over. Let's surrender ourselves to the Lord, recognizing his right to

His power and our choice to obey Him as we worship the Lord together.