Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

A marshal in Napoleon’s army who was devotedly and enthusiastically attached to him was mortally wounded in battle.

As the last struggle drew near and he lay dying in his tent he sent for his chief.

Napoleon came.

The poor man thought his emperor could do anything.

He earnestly pleaded with his leader to save his life.

The emperor sadly shook his head and turned away.

But as the dying man felt the cold, merciless hand of death drawing him irresistibly behind the curtain of the unseen world, he was still heard to shriek out, “Save me, Napoleon!

Save me!”

In the hour of death, that soldier discovered that even the powerful Napoleon could not give him life.

As we continue our study through Exodus, we are going to look at 9 of the plaques tonight and how all of Egypt would call out to their “gods” to save them.

We will see one by one that those false gods will all lose to the one true God.

Tonight’s teaching is going to be a little more heavier, which means, that I really encourage you to take notes because you are going to need them for your discussions in small groups.

While the bible doesn’t rightly come out and say who these false gods were, we can look at ancient Egyptian history and see that the Lord has chosen these specific plaques to prove that He is the one true God and that the Egyptian gods are unworthy to follow.

Let’s go into a time of prayer as we prepare to hear the Word of God tonight.

(Prayer)

1.) Unworthy Osiris(Ow-Sai-Ruhs)

In the second part of chapter 7 in Exodus, we see the first plague, the Nile turning into blood.

The Egyptian god that is being shown unworthy to follow is Osiris.

According to my studies, Osiris was considered an all-seeing and all-powerful “god”.

Osiris apparently had the power to turn death into life, but the the plague in the Nile River showed that Osiris didn’t have that power.

Look at verse 21.

Osiris didn’t come through.

He couldn’t bring those fish back to life.

The one true God is the only one who can bring things from death to life.

(Example: Jesus raising Lazarus)

2.) Unworthy Heka

The second plague has to deal with frogs.

Let’s look at chapter 8 of Exodus.

In Egypt, they worshipped a god named Heka.

According to their beliefs, she was a goddess whose body was shaped like a woman, but her head was like a frog.

She was considered the goddess of fertility at she aided women in childbirth.

With all these frogs around Egypt, no one could touch them.

These frogs didn’t help anyone, they just irritated people.

One thing we need to recognize from this is that the Living God is the only one who opens and closes a woman’s womb.

(Story of Rachel in Genesis)

3.) Unworthy Geb

The third plague is gnats.

Let’s look at chapter 8 starting at verse 16

There was an Egyptian god named Geb, who was considered the “earth god”.

He apparently blessed the Egyptian people with the dust of the earth, which provided fruit, grain, and vegetables.

By bringing the gnats, the Lord was showing that He is the true provider.

Those in Pharaoh’s circle are starting to realize who the really is the Lord.

Look at verse 18 again.

4.) Unworthy Beelzebub

Today, the term Beelzebub refers to Satan, but in the day of Egypt, Beelzebub was considered the fly god.

Beelzebub was suppose to protect people and the land of Egypt from a particular fly.

By worshipping Beelzebub, Egypt was apparently protected from an invasion of flies.

Clearly Beelzebub didn’t come through.

(Review/Stand up Break)

5.) Unworthy Apis

Plague #5 was an epidemic that destroyed cattle.

Look at chapter 9 of Exodus;

Egypt had a temple that was dedicated to the black bull god Apis.

By worshipping Apis, the Egyptians believed that all of their herds would be protected and preserved.

Are you starting to see a pattern?

Whatever the false god was claimed to do, the Lord showed just how unworthy that false god was.

This is significant for us, because many of us have false gods that we think are worthy of worshipping and in the end the result always shows just how unworthy those false gods are.

6.) Unworthy Religiosity

Let’s look at the sixth plague, boils.

From my studies, some believe that the boils were an attack on the god of religious systems.

To worship or serve as a priest in the temples, you couldn’t have a blemish, like a mole , boil, or any mark.

The animals they sacrificed couldn’t have any markings as well.

Imagine for a second these temples being closed because the priests and animals had boils on them.

Can you imagine seeing a sign “temple closed” do to boils?

We don’t necessarily need to imagine because we experienced a year or so when church closed their doors and have said “closed due to Covid.”

Now, you won’t ever hear me say Covid isn’t real.

The virus is real and it has effected many people in many different ways.

However, what this pandemic has shown me and even convicted me of is that we can and have fallen for the false god of religion.

We get comfortable with our cozy chairs , warm coffee, group games, big stages/equipment, inspiring messages and think we are some how “good.”

People would say “Oh the church was closed during the pandemic.”

No, the church was never closed, the god of religion was stopped and I believe in this time we are in the Lord is revealing who truly worships Him and who has worshipped the false god of religion.

Jesus said the following to a Samaritan woman in John chapter 4;

“True worship of the Lord isn’t confided to a building.

True worship is how you live your life for the glory of Christ.”

7.) Unworthy Isis

The 7th plague is hail.

The false god Isis is now on the hit list.

She was considered the “sky goddess” and she would provide rain to the Egyptians and protect them from hail, lightning, or any severe weather.

She, just like the other false gods, could not compete with the Living God.

8.) Unworthy Insect Gods

In chapter 10 of Exodus, the Lord sends the eighth plague, locust;

If you read all of chapter 10 of Exodus, you will see that just hearing about locust brought fear to all.

The people of Egypt feared and dreaded locust because they would eat all the remaining crops and threaten the existence of Egypt.

All of the insect gods were no match for the power of the Living God.

9.) Unworthy Ra

The last plague we will look at tonight is the plague of darkness.

Lets look at verse 21 of chapter 10;

This plague is showing how unworthy both the false god Ra and Pharaoh are.

According to Egypts culture of worship, the false god Ra apparently embody who ever was the next pharaoh.

This god is suppose to protect the land from darkness.

You can also say that Pharaoh was suppose to protect the land from darkness and yet he failed.

Why did we go through this?

Because we all have our false gods we need to identify and allow the Lord to show they are unworthy.

Anything we hold higher than the living God is sin.

False god of Beauty

False god of Comfort

False god of Substances

False god of Religion

False god of Sex