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Exodus 7:14-25

Symptoms of a Hard Heart

  • Matthew Dodd
  • Weekend Messages
  • August 20, 2017

Stubbornness can be funny and cute when a child is young but not so cute when they get older. In fact, a person can be so hard-hearted, that their story is tragic! You look at their life and wonder, “What will it take for this guy or gal to get it?” “How bad do things have to get before they hit rock bottom?”

We are going to study a truly tragic character, Pharaoh. As we examine his life, we will discover the “Symptoms of a Hard Heart” and also learn God’s remedy to reverse the diagnosis.

  • Sermon Notes
  • Scripture

Symptoms of a Hard Heart

Exodus 7:14-25

Introduction

ILLUS – Potty-training our daughter…

  1. Stubbornness can be funny and cute when a child is young but not so cute when they get older.
  2. In fact, a person can be so hard-hearted, that their story is tragic! You look at their life and wonder, “What will it take for this guy or gal to
    get it?” “How bad do things have to get before they hit rock bottom?”
  3. Today, we are going to study a truly tragic character, Pharaoh.
  4. As we examine his life, we will discover the “Symptoms of a Hard Heart” and also learn God’s remedy to reverse the diagnosis.

READ – Exodus 7:14-25

Context

1. This is a new section in Exodus where God brings judgments called plagues upon Egypt.

2. God’s purpose behind the plagues:

a. Reveal Himself as the Lord of all creation

b. Reveal that Egypt’s gods were false

c. Bring Israel out of Egypt and into the Promised Land

I. Symptom # 1 – Pride (14-19)

A. “It’s all about me!”

  1. The word translated “stubborn” literally means “heavy, dull, or weighed down” because of pride.

Psalm 10:4, “In his pride the wicked man does not seek Him, in all his thoughts there is no room for God.” (NIV)

 2. God confronted Pharaoh because he refused to let Israel go.

3. God confronted Pharaoh through Moses to demonstrate His superiority over Pharaoh, his magicians, and their gods (Staff into snake, vv. 8-13).

APPL – Pride seeks two things: 1. Glorify self, and 2. Gratify self. 

APPL – Pride is not liberating, it’s debilitating! When a person is filled with pride they are weighed down with self. Their focus is
ME, ME, “ME”!

APPL – People who are “full of themselves”, become dull to the things of God and blind to the warning signs; that they’re standing on
dangerous ground. God warns them because He cares for them.

Jonah 4:11, “And should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know
the difference between their right and left hand?”

Ezekiel 33:11, “’As I live!’ declares the Lord God, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from
his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways!’”

APPL – Pride can even infect the church…

3 John 9, “I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say.”

ILLUS – The late A.T. Robertson once wrote an article about Diotrephes for a religious publication.

4. God always wins. God is opposed to the proud.

a. God sent Moses and Aaron to confront Pharaoh at the Nile in the morning.

b. Religious ceremonies were often held at the Nile and Pharaoh led many of them.

Expressions from Hymn of the Nile , “The bringer of food, rich in provisions, creator of all good, lord of majesty, sweet
fragrance…”

Transition – What was the Lord declaring to Pharaoh? “Life is not about you, Pharaoh… 

B. “Life is all about God!”

ILLUS – Pastor Keith’s counsel to a future bride

1. God is the only true source of blessing

James 1:17, “Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is
no variation, or shifting shadow.”

2. All things were created by Him and for Him.

Colossians 1:16, “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions
or rulers or authorities – all things have been created by Him and for Him.”

3. When a person has this perspective, humility fills their heart. This humility before God brings His blessing.

James 4:6, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 

II. Symptom # 2 – Stubbornness (20-22a)

A. “It’s my way or the highway!”

1. Before their eyes the Nile was literally changed to blood. (20)

2. Result:

a. The fish died and the drinking water was tainted.

b. The Nile was foul-smelling, (“sweet fragrance”?)

3. Egyptians worshipped gods associated with the Nile

a. Isis – goddess of the Nile

b. Osiris god of the underworld. The Egyptians believed the Nile was his bloodstream!

4. So, Pharaoh called the magicians and they duplicated/ counterfeited what Moses and Aaron did!

5. Pharaoh’s heart was hardened which means “strong”, “rigid”, “firm” (v. 22)

a. He was set in his way

b. Stubborn, unwilling to move even though it may cost him everything!

APPL – Have you ever been unwilling to budge? Unteachable?

ILLUS – My sister’s response to my dad’s correction.

Common excuses when confronted/corrected…

This is the way I am!

If you don’t like it you can leave!

APPL – It’s amazing how stubborn a heart can be!

ILLUS – Christ’s Triumphal Entry (Luke 19:37-40)

B. “God’s way is the best way!”

1. God leads us in the ways of righteousness.

Psalm 23:3b, “He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”

2. God’s way brings life and peace. 

Romans 8:6, “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.”

APPL – Now, there are some things to be stubborn about…

Luke 9:23, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”

III. Symptom # 3 – Indifference (22b-25)

A. “Whatever! It doesn’t matter to me”

  1. Pharaoh “did not listen to them” (22b). He “turned and went into his house with no concern even for this” (23)
  2. Yet, all the Egyptians were struggling for the next seven days to get water and food (24-25)
  3. It would have been so easy for Pharaoh to end this by humbling himself and repenting of his sin.
  4. But he walked away!

ILLUS – Begging a woman to come back to the Lord

APPL – Some people are so set on learning the hard way… What will it take?

Transition – God is speaking. The question is, “Are we listening?” If we are then we will pray…

B. “God, have Your way in me!”

  1. How is your heart doing?  

a. Has life become too much about you?

b. Are you getting more set in your ways?

c. Indifferent about what matters most in life?

APPL – Or to ask the question in a different way, how much hardness of heart are you tolerating? How much is acceptable?

2. Return to the Lord just and let Him fix your heart.

ILLUS – Asking a man to leave our new fellowship in Dallas…

Psalm 51:17, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken spirit and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”

Conclusion

The Song: Spirit of the Living God…

Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me,
and lead me in the everlasting way.”

Exodus 14:1-16      NSAB

1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Tell the sons of Israel to turn back and camp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you shall camp
in front of Baal-zephon, opposite it, by the sea. 3 For Pharaoh will say of the sons of Israel, ‘They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the wilderness
has shut them in.’ 4 Thus I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will chase after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, and
the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.

5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his servants had a change of heart toward the people, and they said, “What is this
we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” 6 So he made his chariot ready and took his people with him; 7 and he took six hundred select
chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. 8 The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he chased
after the sons of Israel as the sons of Israel were going out boldly. 9 Then the Egyptians chased after them with all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh,
his horsemen and his army, and they overtook them camping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

10 As Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very frightened; so the sons of
Israel cried out to the Lord. 11 Then they said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?
Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘Leave us alone that
we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” 13 But Moses said to
the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lordwhich He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today,
you will never see them again forever.

14 The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.” 15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward.
16 As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea
on dry land.

 

Audio

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