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2024 Exodus 10, When Darkness Comes, Think And Choose Right One

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2024-12-29 16:19
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When Darkness Comes To You, Meditate And Choose Right One

Exodus 10

Pharaoh and Egypt had suffered a lot by 7 plagues. Whenever he faced plagues, he quickly confessed his sin and asked God for mercy but when the plagues were gone, he again became unbelieving, greedy and proud. We judge that he is foolish and evil. However, we cannot deny that Pharaoh is in us. Pharaoh’s enemy is Pharaoh himself and my enemy is me. Today, we see that God still gives him another, but final chance. God instructs him the way to escape the last disaster.

First, humble yourself
Verse 3 says, “How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?” Pharaoh was proud. Whenever Moses delivered him the message of God, he retorted, “Who is God? I do not need God.” This is Pharaoh’s attitude. So he rejected to let the Israelites go to worship God. He was confident without God and worship.

There are people who know that worship is important but they do not come to church to worship God because nothing happens to them though they do not worship God.

From the beginning, God’s message is consistent, “Let my people go so that they may worship me.” However, Pharaoh thinks, “That slaves are God’s people? No. They are mine.” This is Pharaoh’s illusion, pride and greed.

We are the same. When we have job, career, money and popularity, we grab them with our hands, saying, “Why is this God’s? These are mine.” With lips, we say they are God’s. But our conscience is that these are ours because we have worked hard to get them. So we do not want to give them up. This is pride and greed. God warned him, “If you refuse to let them go, I will bring locusts into your country tomorrow.

Look at verse 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?” Pharaoh’s officials knew that they and Egypt were in the crisis of total devastation. But only Pharaoh did not know it or ignore it by his greed and pride.

Today, I want you to hear the voice of God through people around you, “Do you not yet realize that you are ruined because of your stubborn greed and pride?” What is the solution to prevent destruction? Look at verse 7. “Let the people go, so that they may worship the LORD their God.” The solution is worship. And this is humbleness.

When we worship God, we can see and feel the glory and peace of God from heaven. When we worship we realize that everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world and the world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

Humbleness means surrender. If you are unhappy or restless or anxious, it is because you still rely on yourself or you still remain in your own world or you still grab what you have. It is because you have not surrendered yourself to God.
Don’t become confident without God like Pharaoh. Having confidence without God is vain. I want you to listen to the voice of God, “How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?” It means to surrender yourself to God and rely on Him and trust in Him. This is worship. Then you will be free from not only greed, pride, anxiety and worry and receive heavenly blessings from God.

Second, do not compromise.
When Pharaoh heard of the plague of locusts, he became afraid. Then he asked Moses, “Go, worship the LORD your God. But tell me who will be going.”(8) Then he began to negotiate and compromise. “Have only the men go and worship the LORD.” (V 11) This is Pharaoh’s cunning strategy to use the children like hostages. Only men? Only fathers? Only me? Then would it okay if my children and family fall into eternal judgment? Moreover, Pharaoh’s strategy is that the Israelites would return to Egypt again because of their families in Egypt.

Faith is not to be partial but full. Moses’ answer was clear. Look at verse 9. “We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, and with our flocks and herds.” The true meaning of worship is a congregational worship that the whole family gather to worship God together. The concept of Sunday school is not in the Bible. Its history is only 200 years. Children are to worship God with their parents.

The devil’s strategy is, “only you go and worship and devote. Let your children go to the library to study or sleep more. Let your husband or wife work to earn money.” By Satan’s skillful deception, even not a few Christians compromise lose spirituality and power.

Moses was clear, “We all, man and woman, young and old including our property worship God together.” This is faith. The reason church is weak is because only certain groups of people are focused. The reason church is weak is because Christians do not give an offering. There must be a balance between men and women and young and old with material offering.

The devil tempts us to compromise. And the devil lures us to maintain the status quo. “Okay, I will come to church on Sundays, but only this amount. If I am busy or have a family issue or exams, I can’t.” Those who like the status quo are prone to the devil's attacks. The purpose of salvation is to break the status quo. You must get out of your partial worship or partial devotion. Faith is to smash man’s comfort zone so called status quo. Tomorrow should be better than today and next year should be better than this year in our worship, devotion and spiritual knowledge. When our self-centered egos are smashed, we bear lots of fruit.

This is an irony spiritually. We feel free and protected when we are restricted. A man in his late 30s came to see his church’s pastor. “Sir, I am tired. Now, I want to be restricted by one woman.” He had thought that playing around with this woman and that woman was freedom, but he realized it was empty and destructive. The pastor teased him saying, “Man, it’s too late to realize it but you can start a new life in the Lord now.”

You worship God, you are bound. You can’t go anywhere but always have to come here. However, being bound is good. You can enjoy power of God, freedom and productive life when you are bound by worship, prayer and gospel work.

Third, mediate and choose right one
The 9th plague, the plague of darkness was the last chance to Pharaoh to obey God before the plague of death and judgment.
The plague of darkness does not cause much damage to Pharaoh and Egyptians. There is no practical damage such as loss of animals or property during 3-days darkness. What is the message? During the darkness, take time to meditate deeply and choose right one.

The supreme god that Egypt believed in was the god of sun named ‘Ra.’ Pharaoh was considered the son of the sun. So he was worshiped like a god. Pharaoh thought, “I am sun. I am light.”
Now God challenged and warned him, “Pharaoh, are you light? No. You are not.” God brought darkness to Egypt for three days so that Pharaoh might realize that he was not light. “Oh, I am not light. I am nothing.” God smashed Pharaoh’s proud ego.
Look at verses 22-23. “So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. No one could see anyone else or move about for three days.”

Have you felt that you are in darkness? When nothing seems to be clear, that is the time to mediate and realize, “I am not the light. I need light. O, Lord, shine your light on me from heaven.”

When darkness comes to us, let’s not call it a disaster. God wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:4) God does not want to destroy anyone. He is Father in heaven who wants to give us life and blessings. Three days’ darkness to Pharaoh is not a disaster, but an opportunity for him to repent before God and seek His grace. Therefore when you are in darkness, take time to meditate and return to God.

The life we have lived so far is God’s grace. The throne was given to Pharaoh from God. Pharaoh should have given gratitude and glory to God and let justice roll on like a river. However, he became selfish, greedy and pride. He relied on his own effort and strength.

Is living by my own effort and strength wrong? Is it wrong to live with zeal and diligence? Is accumulating money wrong? Yes, it is wrong if you do with wrong motive and purpose. The purpose of the ninth plague is to let Pharaoh know that his motive and purpose was wrong. He was proud and greedy.

We are not light. Without light from God in heaven, we cannot but remain in uncertainty and anxiety and end in destruction. We need light from God. We need mercy from God. We need to choose God and worship.
During three days’ no light, Pharaoh should have repented and denied his greed, pride and selfishness. He should have let the Israelites go to worship God. He should have worshiped God, the Creator. But he had no spiritual sense.
After three days’ thinking, he concluded that he should at least keep the property. He chose money, instead of God. How heartbreaking!

Look at verse 24. Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go, worship the LORD. Even your women and children may go with you; only leave your flocks and herds behind.” He should have meditated on his life and his peoples’ life. But he meditated on money. He should have chosen life rather than money. In the end, he lost his life as he tried not to lose money. Pharaoh is a fool. Is this only Pharaoh’s problem? Isn’t he also inside you and me?
When you choose life, money follows you. However, if you choose and follow money, money flies away and you will lose life. Dear young men, learn and seek wisdom.

A dean of business department in a prestigious university lectured freshmen, “Hey, didn’t you come to college to make money? If you chase money, money will run away but if you chase your mission, money will catch you.”
Many people think that it is they who make money. But money is flying. How much can you catch money? Those who have lots of money say that they do not try to catch money but money is given to them.

Now, many people say that they are short in money. However, the world is overflowing with money. Money is everywhere. Don’t try to catch money. Instead, be sincere before God and man. Find your mission in God and focus on it. Pharaoh did not know this. He only knew himself and his kingdom. He tried to keep the Israelites as slaves and he thought he was rich. In the end, he lost everything including his own life.

There are two ways in man’s life. One is man’s own plan. “I try to get what I want and hold what I have for myself.” This is the world of human effort, greed and stubbornness. The other is, “I rely on God and live by God’s grace.”

In the world of stubbornness, there is no worship, no self-denial and no devotion but only deceiving and being deceived. In the world of grace, there is worship, self-denial and devotion. In this world, there are limitless and heavenly blessings.
Look at verse 26. “We have to use some of them in worshiping the LORD our God.” Here ‘worship is the same with ‘serve.’ If you want to be great, free and rich, serve the Lord. God has called us to serve. This is our identity and mission.

Mother Teresa served "the poorest of the poor" in the slums of Calcutta. George Muller served 10,000 orphans and offered education to 120,000 by raising 117 school. Paul served God’s world mission command. One man served the Lord by toilet cleaning after worship service. I want to serve and bless 100 students in SFU through Bible study.
What do you want to serve? Have you found your mission from God to serve? When we serve, God gives us things we need, job, money, health, marriage, and PR. This is the world of grace.

I want you to discover and live in the world of God’s grace. God loves even Pharaoh and gives him opportunities again and again. "Pharaoh, you are not light. Repent and deny your greed. Let them go to worship Me. Get out of your own world and come into my world. Then you will live in freedom, joy and abundance.

But Pharaoh rejected the knowledge and grace of God. Instead, he chose his own glory and money. Can we condemn and criticize him? Pharaoh could be me and you. There are people who live with their own effort and zeal. They don’t sleep to study more and make more money. They invest in real estate or stocks or Bitcoins. But in the end, their lives go bankrupt like Pharaoh.

What does the Bible say about Pharaoh’s sin? It is sin of greed and pride. He never wanted to lose what he had. Before crisis, he compromised to let only women and later all go but never gave up money.

Pharaoh did not allow material offerings. Pharaoh’s attachment to money is indeed tenacious and persistent. However, worship must not be partial but whole including money. John Wesley said that our repentance is not considered complete until our pockets repent. Pharaoh refused to offer flocks and herds to God.

Look at verse 28. Pharaoh said to Moses, “Get out of my sight! Make sure you do not appear before me again! The day you see my face you will die.” He drove out the servants of God because of his greed for money. His greed for money cost him his life, his family and his country by the tenth plague. When greed has conceived, it gives birth to death. Only after all the firstborns in Egypt died, did he call Moses and Aaron again and let them go with flocks and herds. More than anything else, we must abandon greed and worship God with material offering. It is wise to offer material things to God before we lose everything including life. I pray that our worship may not be partial but whole.

Let’s do not live like Pharaoh. When darkness comes to you, have time to mediate and choose God and worship. Surrender yourself to God and serve. You will enter into the world of grace with salvation and heavenly blessings.