Don’t Be Pharaoh

We have come to the height of the story. The great cosmic standoff.

The 10 Plagues Egypt

Pharaoh vs Moses

The Gods of Egypt vs the One True God

The great confrontation that will see Israel finally go free

But, before we dive into a discussion of the details of Israel’s deliverance (which we will do),

I want to pause this morning to make sure that we are learning from both sides of the story.

In Exodus 7-13, we see, in Moses, the roadmap to freedom and purpose. But, we also see - in Pharaoh - a recipe for disaster and judgment.

If we are not careful, we can fall prey to what I call the “Hero Hermeneutic”. The Hero Hermeneutic is when we are only able to see ourselves in the protagonists of the scriptures.

The scriptures are full of aspirational examples and models that we should learn to follow.

But we must also learn to let the word of God search us and purify us. We cannot afford to hear only the inspired encouragement of the scriptures, we must train our ears and hearts to hear the authoritative warnings of the scriptures.

We have such a warning in the text that is before us today.

Pharaoh is in the narrative as a profound counterexample.

God is pleading through the text, “whatever you do, don’t be Pharaoh”

Sometimes, beloved, the key to figuring out what to do is understanding what not to do.

Pharaoh makes one mistake that seals his fate and it happens in this first back-and-forth with Moses and Aaron.

And we don’t want to skip this

Because we don’t want to make the same mistake

And so I want to preach just a quick sermon today. I’ve called it: Don’t Be Pharaoh

PRAYER

I only have one point today: But you have to let me get to it.

We have Pharaoh in our minds as a villain. But, that’s because we grew up hearing this story told.

In actual fact, Pharaoh is just a man trying to live his life

Trying to live up to his father’s legacy -

The Pharaoh of the Oppression—“the new king over Egypt who knew not Joseph,” and under whose reign Moses was born—is Rameses II,

he most prominent of the Pharaohs, a conqueror of many lands, the master-builder of Egypt, whose statues and temples in ruins are found all over the Nile valley.

Pharaoh is living in an age (around the year 1200 BCE) when the Ancient Near East was dealing with issues of

climatic change,

economic down turns,

And mass global migration

Pharaoh was an older man (he ascended to the throne around the age of 60) trying to figure out what would be the length and the legacy of his life.

The New Testament scriptures remind us that Elijah was a man just like us. Well, beloved, Pharaoh was a man…just like us.

Seemingly out of nowhere Pharaoh is challenged to radical change his life based on the word of a God he does not know…declared to him by men he does not trust.

Try to put yourself in Pharaoh’s sandals

Your economic stability is attached to Hebrew slavery

if you think that you would easily give up comfort for justice, take a look at your Amazon account

Your social life runs counter to this request -

This would not be what the people of Pharaoh's court would expect.

Letting slaves go was not cool.

Pharaoh would have been under tremendous social pressure not to do this.

All around him, he sees the brilliant cities that his father had built with slave labor.

How possibly, could he live up to that with the slaves?

The internal urge to resist must have been incredible.

And yet, the demand of God is clear and unrelenting

The fact is, beloved, that we don’t actually have to try all that hard to put ourselves in pharaoh’s sandals.

Every single one of us is a sovereign over our own little kingdom

Our bank accounts don’t store as much wealth as did the treasury of the Egyptian empire…But, we take it no less seriously than the pharaohs

We may have only a few friends, maybe a spouse, and few hundred social media “followers” in our royal court,,,But, we still care deeply about how they perceive us.

And when the gospel is preached…when call for offering is given…when the relaunch is announced,

there were are, church…

125 little pharaohs wrestling with the idea that the word of the Lord has compelled us to do something that our whole world is telling us is the wrong thing to do.

And so, Pharaoh invites God to audition for the role of Lord in Egypt

He even gathers a group of experts to help him judge the tryouts

You see, you’ve got to understand that these (wise men, and sorcerers, and magicians as the text calls them) are not the religious leaders

There was an order of cult priests in Egyptian religious practice, but Pharaoh does not call for them).

These are the cultural elites. These are the social influencers.

The wise men are the ones who have keen insight into the functioning of the human mind and interpersonal behavior.

The sorcerers were those who cast spells and mixed potions and dealt and communicated with the spiritual world.

The magician were chart-makers; experts in mathematics, astrology, and the general observation, interpretation, and manipulation of patterns

Pharaoh called on Oprah Winfrey, Depak Choprah, and Mark Zuckerberg to help him judge the validity of God’s power. And each produced a counterfeit miracle using their own mysterious arts

Oprah used the magic of media make it look like a serpent

And Choprah manifested a reptile through meditation

And Zuckerberg generated one with AI

The implication was that if God could somehow impress Pharaoh and the council of experts he assembled, the he would submit to God.

But there are two big problems with this approach

Problem #1: Lies can be very compelling and the devil will blow your mind if you let him.

We who are parents and leaders do a serious disservice to the young people under our care when we try to convince them that everything that is not of God sounds foolish and lacks intellectual rigor.

There are lots of non-Christians… who are totally disconnected from truth, but make a lot of since.

From Oprah to Steve Harvey to Charlemagne to the 17-year-old giving advice on Tik Tok…we can’t just teach our people to listen for logic, we have to teach them to listen for the word of God.

In fact the Bible declares that what we preach is foolishness to this world

But, let God be true and every man be a liar.

We who are parents and leaders do a serious disservice to the young people under our care when we try to convince them the Holy Spirit is the only spirit that speaks to people.

Beloved, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but powers and principalities and rulers of darkness in the heavenly realm (Eph. 6:12)

These angels of darkness masquerade as angels of light ( 2 Cor. 11:14)

And they whisper and they counsel and they guide…

That’s why when anytime somebody tells me that they heard something from “The Spirit”, my question is “What spirit”?

We must learn to be discerning “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5)

We who are parents and leaders do a serious disservice to the young people under our care when we try to convince them that only God defies natural law or at least makes it seem that way.

The Egyptian magic men replicated Moses’ miracle.

Don’t skip that.

Listen to the words of Jesus in Matthew 24:24: For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

Beloved, you will run into people who can accurately read your past, who are skilled with herbs and natural healing, who can levitate off the ground…AND THAT DOES NOT MAKE THEM RIGHT OR INVALIDATE GOD’S WORD

Friend, you and I are woefully under qualified to judge God’s audition.

Without fail the devil will get in it to deceive us.

And the devil can be as impressive as he is deceptive.

We must learn to be led by the Word of God illuminated by the Holy Spirit of God.

Problem #2 is an even bigger problem than problem #1: Problem #2 is that no amount of evidence will ever be sufficient to soften a hard heart.

Aaron’s staff swallowed up all of the magician’s staffs...why didn’t Pharaoh, at that moment, fall on his face and yield to God.

BECAUSE EVIDENCE DOES NOT CONVERTS THE SOUL

Psalm 19:7 - The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.

Beloved if our hearts will not yield to God’s word, neither will they yield to God’s wonders.

Here’s my 1 point: Pharaoh asked for proof when he should have asked for faith.

Faith is the substance of things hoped and the evidence of things we cannot see.

The devil wants to persuade this generation that it is acceptable to require proof of Jesus rather than desire faith in Jesus.

Mt 12:38–40: Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” 39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

Beloved, DON’T BE PHARAOH

We are a pentecostal assembly.

But we don’t preach miracles. We preach the Gospel of Jesus.

We don’t preach proof. We preach faith.

As we pursue this relaunch, we will walk by faith and not by sight.

Don’t try Jesus. Trust Jesus.

In this Relaunch

In this your personal life.

And when you face those moments when it is hard to believe (and trust me, beloved, you will). Don’t ask God for proof. Ask God for faith.

Mark Chapter 9 verses 23 and 24: Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

If you’ve been looking for proof. I come today to tell you that God will give you faith…and faith IS evidence.

Does anybody want to ask God for faith

Faith in this gospel

Faith for this Relaunch and for your life