Do you have the real thing or a counterfeit? This weekend Pastor Steve Andres continued our MOSES series with a message about the ten plagues in Exodus.
Exodus 7:12-13
The magicians threw down their staffs, which also became serpents! But then Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. Pharaoh’s heart, however, remained hard. He still refused to listen, just as the Lord had predicted.
Pharaoh’s magicians did their best to copy what God did through Moses and Aaron. What followed was a contest that ended in judgment on Egypt and freedom for God’s people.
1) Counterfeits promise God’s gifts without submitting to God’s authority.
The plagues were more than judgment on Egypt; they were a confrontation of the counterfeit gods that had been integral to a culture opposed to God.
It is no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about Him. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there.
C.S. Lewis
Submitting to God may seem like a constraint, but true freedom is found in loving constraint. Submitting to God produces a true freedom that flourishes over time. You can find a lot of happy old saints, but not many happy old sinners.
Galatians 5:13
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
There are many options in our culture today promising happiness and satisfaction apart from God, but every counterfeit in eventually found out.
2) Shallow repentance won’t produce lasting change.
Pharaoh puts on a great show of repentance, but his heart hasn’t changed. As soon as each plague ends, Pharaoh’s heart becomes hard and he returns to his old ways.
Pharaoh doesn’t want a change of HEART, he just wants a change of HURT.
God knows our hearts better than we. That’s why we practice repentance and confession, giving the Holy Spirit space to change our hearts.
3) The price of sin is great, but the love of God is greater.
In the last plague, in a climactic moment of confrontation, the firstborn of every home in Egypt will be struck down, with one exception. Judgment will pass over those homes who have the blood of an unblemished lamb on their door. This pivotal moment in the Old Testament is pointing forward to an even greater moment of mercy.
Thousands of years later, on the night that Jesus was betrayed, he shared a Passover meal with his disciples. When we read the account of that night, there was bread and wine, but there was no lamb. This is because Jesus is the lamb whose sacrifice, whose blood, takes away every sin and delivers us from the judgment we deserve!
