Sunday Sermon

A Hardened Heart Dave Shaner February 15, 2004

Introduction: What causes a person's heart to be so hard?

Text: Exodus 6:28 - 7:5

Now when the LORD spoke to Moses in Egypt, he said to him, "I am the LORD. Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I tell you." But Moses said to the LORD, "Since I speak with faltering lips, why would Pharaoh listen to me?" Then the LORD said to Moses, "See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it."

I. Phrases to Harmonize:

A. The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart.

The LORD said to Moses, "When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go."  - Exodus 4:21

B. Pharaoh hardened his own heart.

C. Notice the condition of the heart after each plague: Exodus 7-14

D. Exodus 13:14-15,19

"In days to come, when your son asks you, 'What does this mean?' say to him, 'With a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed every firstborn in Egypt, both man and animal. This is why I sacrifice to the LORD the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.' ... Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the sons of Israel swear an oath. He had said, "God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place."

II. Points to Realize - God and the hardening of hearts:

A. God's hardening is a consequence of ____________ rebellion.

1. Romans 1:26,28

Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. ...  Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.

2. II Thessalonians 2:10-12

and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie
and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

3. Psalm 81:10-12

I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it. "But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.

4. The act of God that can harden one will soften another.

B. God's hardening does not preclude the possibility of ____________.

1. Pharaoh's officials changed their heart. - Exodus 10:7

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?"

2. Exodus 11:3

(The LORD made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh's officials and by the people.)

C. God's hardening can use evil to accomplish his ____________.

1. Exodus 9:15-16

For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.

2. Romans 9:14-18

What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

III. Principles to Emphasize:

A. God's ____________ is beyond ____________.

One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'" - Romans 9:19-20

B. God's ____________ is beyond ____________.

For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."  - Romans 9:15

C. God's ____________ is beyond ____________.

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?" "Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?" For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.  - Romans 11:33-36

Conclusion: Keeping God in line is not our responsibility. Keeping my heart is. Is your heart soft or hard?

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