The Story of God: A Story To Tell
September 4, 2018
Thursday morning I took some time to watch John McCain’s memorial service. It was pretty inspiring. What made it inspiring to me were the stories of character and integrity, friendship and inclusion that gave us a picture of how John McCain lived. One story that really stood out to me was Joe Biden’s enduring friendship with John McCain: How their friendship began when McCain was the Naval Liason officer to the US Senate and they found themselves traveling the world together. How they grew to know one another on these long flights talking about family, politics, and the promise of America. Although Joe was a Democrat and John a Republican they became friends. Sure they fought like brothers, but at the end of the day, they never let their political differences spoil their friendship. And after sharing story upon story of their unique bond, Joe’s love and respect for John as a brother was undeniable. It was powerful.
That’s the thing about stories. Stories are the stuff life is made of. Stories give our lives texture and meaning. And every story is different. When I hear your story I discover the people and events that have shaped your life: how your father’s belief in you gave you confidence or how your mother’s love shaped you into such a compassionate woman… Hearing your story I begin to understand what’s shaped your thinking, what’s important to you and why you choose to live the way you do. And chances are, when I hear your story I can also hear the role God has played in making you the person you are today.
In fact, everyone here has a story to tell about God’s role in your life. For some, up till now, God’s role in your life has been a bit indifferent. He’s been a part of your life, but not a truly significant part. For others, God’s role in your life is just getting started. You’re just now discovering you were made for something bigger than yourself. For others, God’s role in your life has dramatically shaped your life. For ever since Jesus included you in His story– He’s taught you what He is like:how gracious and powerful He is. He’s given you a purpose:to live in this world as His child. And He’s given you a confidence: you live in His love and you know He is with you. And that’s your story with God… But are you telling your story? Do your children, your grandchildren… do your friends know how amazing your God is? Do your children, grandchildren, friends have any idea all that you havein your relationship with God?
That’s what we’re going to look at today as we return to the story of God in Exodus. In the midst of these horrific plagues upon Egypt, God reminds us that these plagues are part of the story He would have us tell. So if you brought your Bible with you, why don’t you open it to Exodus 10,where we are going to unpack what God has given us to live out our story as God’s people; five truths that will help you live out your part in God’s story. And the first truth is one I’ve already made pretty clear:
We Have a Story to Tell: Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these signs of mine among themthat you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the Lord.” Exodus 10:1-2
God wanted His people to tell the story of the exodus. The plagues are part of their story. The mighty hand of God was part of their deliverance. And their story is a story of salvation. It was a story that explained everything they needed to know. It explained who they were: the people of God, delivered from slavery. It explained who God was: the Lord of Israel, the God of all power and glory. It explained where they came from: out of Egypt. It tells where they were going: into the land of promise. And it explained what their purpose was: they were saved for God’s glory. By sending the plagues against Pharaoh, God was giving his people a story that answered all the big questions:Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? What is the meaning of life? Is there a God? If so, what is He like?
We are linked to this same story… The same God who delivered Israel by His mighty hand is the same God who delivers us. God delivered us by the mighty hand of Jesus: Jesus came to rescue us from this present evil age. By His death he not only forgave us, but rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of light. This is what Jesus did. Jesus also made us God’s people: we are now sons and daughters of God through faith in Jesus. This is who we are. We are the beloved. Jesus also came to redeem us so we would receive the blessing promised to Abraham. So Jesus gives us purpose. We’ve been blessed to be a blessing. And when we bless others God is glorified. And Jesus shows us what God is like.He is love without limit. He is mercy personified. He is grace upon grace. He is the sinless Savior and the Shepard of our souls. He is the author and perfecter of our faith. He is our righteousness, our peace and our hope. He is all this and more. For Jesus is our God and our friend. This is our story. We are His people. We have a story to tell. But also…
We Have a Posture to Take: So Moses and Aaron wentto Pharaoh and said to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me. If you refuse to let them go, I will bring locusts into your country tomorrow. They will cover the face of the ground so that it cannot be seen. They will devour what little you have left after the hail, including every tree that is growing in your fields. They will fill your housesand those of all your officials and all the Egyptians—something neither your parents nor your ancestors have ever seen from the day they settled in this land till now.’” Then Moses turned and left Pharaoh. Exodus 10:3-6
In bringing God’s message again to Pharaoh, Moses reveals what is at the core of his hard heart. It’s his pride. We’ve seen this over and over again. Pharaoh refuses to obey God’s Word. God wants Pharaoh to let God’s people go, but Pharaoh doesn’t want to do what God wants. Even though God has destroyed the gods of the Nile, the gods of land, the gods of the air and the gods of healing and protection, Pharaoh continues to refuse God. But once again, God gives Pharaoh the opportunity to humble himself, and tells Pharaoh what to expect if he continues to oppose God’s will. He will send a plague that will wipe away what is left in the land. He will complete His destruction of Egypt. God has a choice for Pharaoh to take: Humble himself or face humiliation.
That is the same choice God gives all of us. God’s Word says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 1 Peter 5:5. You’d think by now Pharaoh understood this about God. He’d seen God’s power over his gods. He’s seen God ruin Egypt, destroy his priests, and humiliate his gods. And he’s seen God remove spare the Israelites these calamities. But still he refuses to surrender.
But what about us? We know what we want, and we want what we want. So, like Pharaoh we can fashion our own counterfeit idols. Remember the definition of idols we looked at a few weeks back: “An idol is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts,“If I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure” – Timothy Keller. We might not make idols out of gold or wood, but we can put people or things in the place of God. We can make our spouses or our families our source of meaning. We can put all our security in our finances. We can find our significance in our social standing, our friendships; or we can find our value in our morality. And when we do we can be just like Pharaoh. He refused to let God have a say in his life and he paid the price. And the same can happen to you. “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
So we have a posture to take. We need to humble ourselves on a daily basis. That’s why The Lord’s Prayer is a good prayer for us. For…
- When we pray “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name”we remind ourselves that our God is greater, wiser and more powerful than us. Then we can rest in a posture of humility knowing He can handle whatever we might face that day.
- When we pray “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” this expresses a surrender of our hearts and wills to His reign and His will.
- When we pray “Give us today our daily bread” we remember God cares for the simplest of our needs, so we are freed from worry and can rest in his goodness.
- When we pray “forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors”we remember how much we need of mercy and grace every day, and such a prayer will keep us from acting morally superior to anyone.
- When we pray “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’we are reminded that God has already delivered us and will always be with us. Such a prayer is a prayer of dependence, of humility.
- And when we pray this way we take a posture of humility… That’s the second truth God would have us take from His story today. Now a third truth:
We Have a God Who Never Changes: Now we know that Pharaoh never did humble himself before God. And Pharaoh’s officials knew this. And they didn’t want Egypt to face further ruin, so we read: Pharaoh’s officials said to him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the people go, so that they may worship the Lord their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt is ruined?” Exodus 10:7
Now give Pharaoh some credit. He may not listen to God, but he listens to his officials, and so we read: Then Moses and Aaron were broughtback to Pharaoh. “Go, worship the Lord your God,” he said. “But tell me who will be going.” Moses answered, “We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, and with our flocks and herds, because we are to celebrate a festival to the Lord.” Exodus 10:8-9
We have a God who never changes. Moses knew that. But Pharaoh didn’t. So at this point he tries to negotiate with Moses. “The Lord be with you—if I let you go, along with your women and children! Clearly you are bent on evil. No! Have only the men go and worship the Lord, since that’s what you have been asking for.” Pharaoh proposes a compromise. If he lets the men go and worship, he can keep the women and children hostage, thus guaranteeing that their husbands and fathers would return.
This seemed like a reasonable compromise, but Pharaoh was making two false assumptions. One was that women and children don’t count. Why not just let the men go and get it over with? Why? Because God wanted freedom for ALL His people. From the very beginning He said, “Let my people go,” and that meant everyone.
His second assumption was that he could bargain with God. He still believed that he and God were on more or less equal terms, and therefore he could negotiate with God. But God does not discuss terms; He dictates them. And what he demands in this case was nothing less than Pharaoh’s unconditional surrender to His will. It was ALL or nothing. We have a God who never changes to meet our agenda. If that were the case, we’d have a weak God; a God who was not really good. But our God is thoroughly good, righteous, gracious and just in every way.
That means we can count on Him to do what He says. We can depend on Him to always be for us; never give up on us and one day bring us home to be with Him. We have a God who never changes, who will not compromise His will. And that is a good thing. Pharaoh thought he could bargain with God, but that backfired, because now he was about to get more than he bargained for. That leads us to our fourth truth:
We Have a Warning to Heed: And the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over Egypt so that locusts swarm over the land and devour everything growing in the fields, everything left by the hail.”Exodus 10:12
So Moses stretched out his staff over Egypt, and the Lord made an east wind blow across the land all that day and all that night. By morning the wind had brought the locusts; they invaded all Egypt and settled down in every area of the country in great numbers. Never before had there been such a plague of locusts, nor will there ever be again. They covered all the ground until it was black. They devoured all that was left after the hail—everything growing in the fields and the fruit on the trees. Nothing green remained on tree or plant in all the land of Egypt. Exodus 10:13-15
We have a warning to heed. That’s a big part of this story of the plagues upon Egypt. Each plague was a judgment against the rebellion of Pharaoh. Each plague was a judgment against the gods of Egypt. You shake your fist at God, you defy Him, you get what you deserve. This time Pharaoh and Egypt got total devastation. The crops had already been battered by the hail; so by the time the locusts were finished, there was nothing left. But it was worse than that. Since the Egyptians were dependent on their agriculture, this mass invasion of locusts jeopardized their entire future as a nation.
Not only were they facing starvation and the end of their culture, but once again, God’s mighty hand had destroyed their gods: Min, the patron of the crops; Nepri, the god of grain; Anubis, the guardian of the fields, and Snehem, the protector against pests – all were humiliated. Egypt depended on these gods to preserve their food supply. But not this time. Egypt’s gods had failed them.
The locusts were a warning to Pharaoh. But they also stand as a warning to us because, like so many plagues from Exodus, they are a preview of the final tribulation. Listen to this description of judgment still to come from Revelation: The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. And out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes. During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them. Revelation 9:2-6
We can sit here and agree that Pharaoh deserved that he got what was coming to him. Never has there been a more defiant, manipulative, arrogant sinner than Pharaoh. He was evil. He had no regard for God’s people. He treated them as less than human. But the bottom line is this: Pharaoh received judgment because he refused to obey God. And that’s the warning this story puts before us. There will be a day of judgment for those who refuse to obey God. I would do you no favor if I never reminded you of this truth. This is how God’s Word warns us: Or do you show contemptfor the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? Romans 2:4 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” Romans 2:5-6
We have a warning to heed. This is a sobering truth, but it is part of our story. God will not be mocked. Go will judge the unrepentant. But at the same time, We Have Grace to Receive: And that’s what we see once again at the end of this encounter: Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. Now forgive my sin once more and pray to the Lord your God to take this deadly plague away from me.” Exodus 10:16
At last it looks as though God has humbled Pharaoh. For he calls Moses, and again he confesses his sin against the Lord. He says the right thing. But like we learned last week, Pharaoh’s confession was only about Pharaoh. He confesses his sin to Moses, not to God. He asks for forgiveness from Moses and not God. He asks Moses to ask God for relief from this judgment. So what happens?
Moses then left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. And the Lord changed the wind to a very strong west wind, which caught up the locusts and carried them into the Red Sea. Not a locust was left anywhere in Egypt. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go. Exodus 10:18-20
So what happened? God gave Pharaoh what he asked for. He took away this deadly plague. He changes the wind and sweeps the locusts away to the Red Sea where they drown. Then God hardens Pharaoh’s heart again. Why? He still would not humble himself before God. He still did not let God’s people go. So God took Pharaoh’s already hard heart and made it harder.
Pharaoh was obviously a hardened sinner. But God still gave him what he asked for. He still gave him relief. And we can learn from that. God gives even the worst of sinners grace. And that truth should give us hope. God gives us what we do not deserve.
That’s grace. Pharaoh didn’t deserve relief from the deadly plague. But he got it. Just imagine what he would have received if he had asked God for forgiveness? But he wouldn’t do it.
May that not be the case with you. You see, Pharaoh now knew God’s name. But he still refused to call on His name for salvation. Instead, he asked Moses to intercede to give him some relief.
But here’s the truth of what God’s Word says about salvation: “Everyone who calls onthe name of the Lord will be saved.”Acts 2:21 That’s an unwavering promise from our unchanging God. He offers salvation to all who call on Him. And the name God gives us to call on is Jesus. For of Jesus he says, Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. Acts 4:12
We have grace to receive. And its found in Jesus. He is at the center of God’s story of redemption. Have you called on him? If not, why not? If you have, then you have a story to tell. Let’s pray.
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