Learning to
Bow the Knee Before Disaster
Exodus 10
Pastor Craig Ledbetter
DATE: 9 Nov, 2008 AM
PLACE:
I.
Introduction – THE Most
Fundamental Need of Mankind – Humility
A.
An Abused Concept.
1.
Almost all religions
promote the need for humility
2.
But everyone knows
that there seems to be only two kinds of humility in people:
a.
False Humility – a
show, an act, a religious façade that is worn only at church, or at
funerals, but not at home
b.
Forced Humility – only
yielding because someone is bigger and stronger, not because it is right
3.
When people think of a
humble Jesus, they think of a wimpy, weak, failure – nothing could be
B.
A Biblical Concept
(1Petr 5:6) “humble yourselves…”
1.
Definition:
a.
Humility is freedom
from pride and arrogance
b.
A pattern of thought
that is empty of self, and full of God, and then others
c.
The Bible refers to it
as “lowliness of mind” – instead of highminded, and superiority
d.
A deep sense of one's
own unworthiness in the sight of God
e.
Easy submission to
God’s will.
2.
Example:
a.
The disciples had been
disputing who would be the greatest in the kingdom, and had agreed to ask
the Master (Matt 18:1-4).
b.
He set a child in
their midst and said, "Whosoever shall humble himself as this little child,
shall be exalted. "
c.
So, "Who is the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" What will be the chief distinction in
the heavenly kingdom? The chief glory of heaven, the true
heavenly-mindedness, the chief of the graces, is humility. "He that is least
among you, the same shall be great. "
C.
A Priority Need
– Apply this word to…
1.
In the Family
a.
Marriage - Instead of
two people considering each other, each considers their own needs first, and
the other’s last. You end up with fights, bitterness, and revenge
b.
Parenting – Instead of
yielding to our parent’s God-given authority, we seek our own way – and it
ends up in fights, bitterness, and a whole load of pain
2.
In the Nations
a.
We live in a nation of
selfish people, who only want to gratify and satisfy themselves through
entertainment and fun
b.
Driven by
coveteousness and greed
c.
Almost no one waits
for marriage today
d.
Almost no one cares
about God, and about His will
e.
Most young people have
tried drugs because they can’t imagine living without a high
f.
Jesus said, life is
found in the LOW!
3.
At the Workplace
a.
We have too many
“chiefs” and too few servants
b.
So many can’t handle
the thought that they are not praised all the time
c.
They do not work for
God, the work for gold
4.
In Worship
a.
Almost no one comes to
b.
Too many come in need
of a blessing
c.
HEY! The path to
blessing is through humbleness of spirit
d.
Our church, and all
churches need humility in its people
D.
Without it…
1.
There can be no
salvation of a soul – it is THAT important! Heaven is filled only with
humble people (Isa 57:15)
2.
Without it, there can
be no Holy Spirit Power in our lives – He only empowers yielded, tender
hearts
3.
Without it, our
children will only reflect the works of the flesh and self-destruct: divorce
is rampant because of parental failure to humble themselves in front of
their children
4.
Without it, Churches
are only entertainment stations, trying to keep everybody happy, instead of
everybody endeavouring to keep GOD happy
E.
It is Commanded – Humble
Yourselves!
F.
It is Blessed
1.
"He that humbleth
himself shall be
exalted." Luke 14:11, 18:14.
2.
"God
giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourself in the sight of
the Lord, and He
shall exalt you." Jas. 4:10.
3.
"Humble yourselves
therefore under the mighty hand of God,
that He may exalt you in
due time. "1 Pet.5:6
G.
Our need once again,
is to learn to bow the knee, before Almighty God, and humble ourselves – not
seeking success, and praise, but seeking to have a tender heart towards God,
so that GOD can grant success and praise!
H.
To learn this, let’s
go to the second most proud and stubborn person in the Bible, and learn how
to humble ourselves, the right way! Pharaoh of
1.
2.
Pharaoh saw himself as
a god
3.
Pharaoh saw himself as
perfect, and always right
4.
Pharaoh saw the whole
world as his to rule and conquer
5.
Pharaoh thought all
gods were his to manipulate and direct
6.
So, when Moses shows
up, there was going to be a very rude awakening
II.
Message
A.
God Exposes the Heart (Ex 10:1;
Proverbs 17:3)
1.
God’s
a.
Jesus upset a lot of
people didn’t He? The Pharisees, the proud, the liars, the hypocrites, the
fakers, the rich.
b.
Jesus actually
hardened many of them against Himself – even though that was not His
intention.
c.
Some people loved Him
– they were the broken ones, the empty ones, the “poor in spirit, the meek
already”
d.
Most people wanted to
stone Him, or shove Him off a cliff
e.
The truth is, most
people reject and resist God’s influence on their lives (Gen 6:3,5-7,12-13)
f.
In Pharaoh’s
situation, God was simply exposing what was already in Pharaoh’s heart -
hardness
2.
But…
a.
Sometimes, He opens
people’s hearts like He did
b.
Sometimes, He is able
to help soften people’s hearts
1)
As with David (1Sam
24:5)
2)
As with young Josiah
(2Kings 22:19)
3)
As with Manasseh
(2Chron 33:12)
c.
BUT, ONLY when the
person allows it! And usually, only because of calamity and troubles
1)
All of us are born
proud and stubborn towards God. We are not good – never have been, and never
will be good
2)
Most people get saved
when in times of trouble and distress – not when things are going good for
us!
3.
So God applies
pressure
a.
First just the
pressure of preaching His commandments – His Word
b.
Then, bit by bit, the
pressure of disasters – the Plagues
c.
You see, the moment we
become PROUD of heart, is when God HAS to
4.
And Pharaoh reacts to
God’s pressure by applying resistance back – a natural response, until you
realise that the pressure against you is from a locomotive, and therefore
quite stupid!!!
5.
What we need to do is
just humble our self, under whatever the hand of God is allowing into our
life.
B.
God Waits on Rebels (Ex 10:1-3)
1.
He will be glorified
no matter what we do
a.
Either by our willing
obedience and praise
b.
Or by His awesome
strength and might in
2.
No one wins against
God!
3.
Yet, the greater truth
is that God seeks to let us win
a.
But only through
b.
God honours us by
seeking to get us broken, humbled – that is the only good thing we can ever
do!
c.
God only blesses the
humble in spirit -
4.
God offered the
opportunity for Pharaoh to humble himself – isn’t that awesome!?
5.
So, God “works” with
us – He ought to judge and destroy all hard hearted people, but He waits on
us, and works on our hearts
6.
According to the
Bible, in 2Peter 3:9, God is not willing that ANY should perish! According
to Ezek 33:11, “As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the
death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn
ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?”
C.
The First Responsibility of Man
(Ex 10:3) – to Humble Himself
1.
It is a command – a
requirement by God to be able to work together
2.
To humble our self
means:
a.
Take every opportunity
of humbling yourself before God and man
b.
Yield to doing things
God’s ordained way – not MY way, or my wife’s way, or my children’s way
c.
Act with God’s
authority, and in His name – not your own. Moses and
d.
Be quick to say you
are sorry, and ask forgiveness
3.
Pharaoh shows us that
it is not that easy of a thing to do!
4.
Hey! It is MUCH better
to humble ourselves, than to have to BE HUMBLED!
5.
By the way, those who
hold grudges, you are even more rebellious when you won’t forgive! That’s a
whole other message, but OH SO IMPORTANT! I believe a lot of us don’t humble
ourselves because we don’t find people quick to forgive! I people found us
quick to forgive, maybe they would be quicker to humble themselves! Just a
thought!
D.
The Results of Rebellion (Ex
10:4-11)
1.
Rebellion will result
in the Destruction and loss of what you have (Luke 14:11)
a.
The entire nation of
1)
Water contamination –
full of death and blood
2)
Frogs had defiled
every square foot of every home, in food boxes, under bed sheets, in presses
and in clothes piles
3)
Lice had infected
every head and scalp
4)
Flies had contaminated
all the food throughout the land
5)
6)
Boils covered
everyone’s bodies
7)
Hail mixed with fire
destroyed most of the crops
b.
And there were three
more plagues ready to come, IF Pharaoh didn’t stop hardening his heart, and
finally gave in to God’s way of doing things, and God’[s right to govern the
affairs of man
c.
Take a look and
calculate what your stubbornness has cost you:
1)
Your health
2)
Your ability to work a
job
3)
Your relationship with
your wife or your husband
4)
Your family
5)
Your ability to sleep
at night
6)
Your savings
2.
Rebellion will result
in only partial obedience
a.
Pharaoh’s heart just
would not let God win
b.
Even though Pharaoh
KNEW God had won, he still wanted to act like HE has some say still – some
authority
c.
Partial obedience is
not obedience
3.
Rebellion will result
in HATRED of the messenger
a.
Notice: God uses human
instruments – He doesn’t write His will in the sky, or in a vision; He uses
simple people to show Himself and His will
1)
Hatred in the home is
a hatred of GOD, not of the partner, or parent
2)
Hatred of the Bible is
an hatred of Almighty God
b.
Here, God uses Moses
and
c.
Jeremiah (2Chron
36:12)
d.
Preachers experience
rejection – God says, “they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected
me”
e.
Words in a Bible –
reject them, despise them, ignore them, and you are ignoring GOD
f.
A Gospel Tract – only
a piece of paper, but God uses them to get the Gospel out, and on the basis
that someone rejects what they read, they will end up in hell!
g.
Your wife – reminding
you what God says!
h.
Your children – just
speaking simple truths
i.
Your husband – trying
to do God’s will
4.
Hey! There are NO good
results of being stubborn, and hard hearted!
E.
The Blessing of a Tender Heart
Towards God (Ex 10:16-19)
1.
God promises to exalt
us – how much higher could Pharaoh been exalted if he had only humbled
himself before God?
2.
Answered Prayer!
a.
Pharaoh asked that God
would remove the punishment, and God answered it
b.
Even at the attempt of
humility, God moves back towards us to help us
3.
A tender heart,
broken, soft heart will easily result in the Salvation of a wicked sinner’s
soul (Luke 18:13,14)
4.
Soft hearted people
will bring blessing to a home, a community, entire nations
F.
The Curse of Not Getting and
Staying Soft (Ex 10:20)
1.
It is only going to
get harder to soften your heart
2.
It is only going to
cost you more
3.
It is only going to
spread
4.
You yourself will end
up being destroyed!
a.
Ruined lives are the
norm today!
b.
Do you really think
that THAT is what God wants?
c.
Nope! It’s what the
father of pride wants though!
III.
Application – How to Humble
Yourself
A.
Understand the Softness of the
Heart towards God is Most Important.
1.
The most valuable part
of you is your heart – the place where you love and worship
2.
Money matters nothing.
Houses matter nothing. Business has no value – compared to the value of a
heart
3.
All our problems in
life come from the heart
4.
Wouldn’t it be great
to get a fix for the heart?
B.
Decide that humility is your
very first duty before God.
1.
Instead of praying for
God to fix your heart, why not humble yourself so that God CAN fix your
heart! You and I are most often in the way of God’s surgical hands!
2.
Humility actually is
the best way to protect your heart – by making it most vulnerable, most
soft, you are inviting GOD to come and surround and protect such a rare and
priceless treasure!
3.
Desire to be soft
hearted, no matter what it costs you!
C.
Accept with gratitude
everything that God allows in your life.
1.
Whether it is from
within or without
2.
Whether it is from
friend or enemy
3.
Whether it is normal
or abnormal
4.
Let everything always
remind you of your need of humbling, and let everything you experience help
you humble yourself.
D.
Believe that God’s Promise is
Certain (James 4:6):
1.
He that humbleth
himself shall be exalted!
2.
So, do the one thing
God asks: humble yourself. That’s all God wants.
3.
God will see to it
that He does the one thing He has promised. He will give more grace; He will
exalt you in due time.
E.
Sorrow Easily
(Ecclesiastes 7:3)
1.
The man, the woman,
the teenager who does not have periods where they weep over the hardness of
their hearts towards their own parents, towards their
2.
Ecc 7:3 “Sorrow
is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is
made better.” Don’t mock sin and stubbornness. By being sorry, you will only
be blessed
3.
Be quick to soften
under pressure
a.
Not become a wimp
b.
But get back on track
with doing things God’s way, and in obedience to God’s word
4.
The publican
worshipped with a soft heart that was broken over his own sin. The Pharisee
saw nothing wrong with himself
5.
King David sorrowed
and was sorry for the sins he committed against Bathsheba and her husband
F.
Serve Gladly
– not Grumbly!
1.
Be the servant of all
– not that you will be locked into slavery, but that the Lord will exalt
you, and raise you up, and He will praise you Himself
2.
Go out of your way to
spend and be spent for others, especially if they cannot pay you back
3.
It will keep your
heart soft and tender, and it will keep God blessing and honouring you more
than all the money the world can afford!
IV.
Conclusion
A.
THE Most Fundamental
Need of Mankind is to humble ourselves!
B.
It may be an Abused
Concept.
C.
But it is a Biblical
Concept (1Peter 5:6)
D.
THE Priority Need
everywhere!
E.
Without it there is no
hope for anyone
F.
It is Commanded –
Humble Yourselves!
G.
It is HARD!
H.
It is Blessed!
I.
I have taught you some
things to do to help you humble yourselves. You have seen the danger of not
humbling your hearts, and softening your hearts.
J.
Start today, and just
humble yourself, under whatever the hand of God is allowing into your life