Extraordinary Power

On Boxing Day 1944, a Japanese Imperial Army intelligent officer, Hiro Onado, was dropped off at Laban Island of the Philippines during World War II.

He and three other soldiers were ordered to do all he could to hamper the Allies on the island, including destroying the airstrip and the pier at the harbor.

The order also stated that under no circumstance was he to surrender or to take his own life.

He took the order to heart, so he spent 29 years hiding out in the Philippine jungle after the war was ended in August 1945.

Until his former commander traveled from Japan back to the island to relieve him from his duty by the Emperor's order in 1974.

For 29 years, Onado and his companions carried out guerrilla activities and engaged in several shootouts with the local police.

They had many pieces of evidence that the war has ended.

The first one was in October 1945, when he saw an airdrop leaflet announcing that Japan had surrendered.

But their heart was not convinced and decided to stay hiding.

One of his companions surrendered in 1950, and another one was killed in 1954.

Onado finally lost his last companion in 1972 after another shootout.

In February 1974, a young Japanese university jobber, Norio Tsuzuki, came to the island to look for him,

wanting to listen to Lieutenant Onado, wanting to listen to Lieutenant Onado.

When asked by Suzuki, why would you not come out from the jungle?

Onado said he was waiting for his superior officer to relieve him of his order.

So both government organized for his former commander to travel back to the island to order him to surrender formally.

The stubborn refusal of hero or another to surrender for 29 years caused constant disturbance and trouble for the locals on the Philippines island.

They stole their crops, they killed their livestock, and even some farmers too.

Today's chapter, we will also witness a nation being assaulted by a series of disasters,

and a leader who, despite these disasters, exacerbated the suffering of its people by repeatedly refusing to choose what is good and right.

We will learn about Pharaoh and the plate,

but most of all we will learn about the power and mercy of God,

and what will it take for you to surrender all of your life to God.

Last week in chapter 3 and 4, we saw how God called and equipped Moses for the task he is about to do,

by promising that he will be with him always.

After a couple of chapters of going back and forth,

we finally see Moses go up to Pharaoh in chapter 5 to deliver God's demand.

He approached Pharaoh with his brother Aaron and proclaimed to him in chapter 5 verse 1,

this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, say,

let my people go so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.

Moses.

They did an incredible boat at risking their life to make such a demand upon Pharaoh,

but they did it without compromise.

And there is no mention of Moses in this world.

They were speaking for God.

Moses finally realized that and took to his heart that God's liberation of his people

would be fulfilled through God's power, not his.

Moses was full of fear and self-centeredness before meeting the living God,

but God helped him to repent of his pride.

He is now confident and focused on God's power and began to die to himself.

In the New Testament, we see the disciples of Jesus experience the same kind of changes

before and after the cross and the resurrection.

They were changed because they have met the living Christ

and they were filled with the Holy Spirit.

Disciples of Jesus Christ were transformed because they have met the great I Am.

If you are a Christian, are you living a transformed and transforming life?

Are you growing?

How have you been surrendering your whole life to live a life

that centers on glorifies and honor God?

When Moses approached Pharaoh, he did not come to negotiate.

He came with a simple command that based on the authority of the living God.

He delivered to Pharaoh God's demand,

let my people go so that they may worship me.

Now it was Pharaoh's turn to encounter the power of the living God.

How would he respond?

Would he be transformed like Moses?

Would he have changed of heart and obeyed the demand of God?

Moses' faith has increased through his interaction with God

as God transformed his heart and his willingness to trust and serve him.

When it comes to Pharaoh, his story will witness an exact opposite dynamic.

Pharaoh's heart became like Moses' heart, hardened by self-love and pride.

But unlike Moses, Pharaoh's heart proceeds on a path of further hardening.

Pharaoh's heart never softened.

Instead, it becomes increasingly resistant to God's love and will.

He stubbornly refused to yield his heart towards God.

During his first encounter with Moses and Aaron,

in Pharaoh's response to God's demand to free his people

and allow them to go to worship him,

we can see the starting condition of his heart.

Pharaoh responds with contempt in Exodus 5, verse 2, saying,

Exodus 5:2

Who is the Lord that I should obey him and let Israel go?

I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go.

Pharaoh's reply seems blatant disrespect to God's message.

How dare he speak like that to our almighty God?

But the statement of, I do not know the Lord,

is a true statement of where he is at.

Before his encounter with God,

he considered himself a son of God,

and no one tells him what to do.

Pharaoh had not previously encountered God or his message.

In many ways, he was just like the rest of us in this regard.

When many of us first heard God's message through the scripture,

some would have a similar reaction to this claim on our life.

Like Pharaoh, we say in our hearts,

Who is the Lord that I should obey him?

And I do not know the Lord.

Every person who does not know God begins in the same position that Pharaoh occupied,

inclined not to accept God's truth.

But God was not done with Pharaoh or any one of us.

That is just the beginning.

God responded to Pharaoh's confession of ignorance of him

by unleashing a series of events

that were meant to ensure that Pharaoh and Egypt would know the Lord.

I will speak about those events

of how God revealed his power to Pharaoh and his people in detail later.

But let's keep looking at Pharaoh's heart now.

We saw in Exodus 5, verse 2, that Pharaoh is like a lot of us.

Exodus 5:2

When we begin our respective journey to find out more about God,

we begin this journey with an ignorant and resistant heart.

But let's see what happened to his heart

as God revealed himself through the power of the plagues.

As each successive plague comes upon Egypt,

Pharaoh's heart has only one reaction.

It becomes hardened to God.

That is an oversimplification of what is transpiring in Pharaoh's heart.

In his commentary, J.A. Mottia points out that

when it comes to Pharaoh's heart and his progressive hardening,

we encounter at least three ways to describe this process.

First, in Exodus 7,

in verse 13, it tells us that Pharaoh's heart become hard.

And verse 14, the Lord says Pharaoh's heart is unyeweling.

Then in verse 23, Pharaoh did not take the first plague to heart.

He did not allow his heart to be touched.

Then if we go over to chapter 8,

from verse 15 to 32,

it declared that Pharaoh's hardened his own heart.

So verse 19 states that Pharaoh's heart was hard,

just as the Lord has said.

And finally, when we come to chapter 9,

verse 7, it says that Pharaoh investigated the truth of God's word,

yet his heart was unyeweling.

So there's this statement in verse 12 that

the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart.

We can see in chapter 9 and even chapter 10

that Pharaoh even admit and confess that he has sinned.

But all aspects of Pharaoh's heart come to a culmination

in Exodus 9, 34 to 10, verse 1,

where Paul had just read out for us.

But I'll read that again.

Exodus 9, verse 34.

Exodus 9:34

When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hell and thunder had stopped,

he sinned again.

He and his official hardened their hearts.

So Pharaoh's heart was hard,

and he would not let the Israelites go,

just as the Lord has said through Moses.

Then the Lord said to Moses,

Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart

and the heart of his official,

so that I may perform these signs of mine among them.

There are two perspectives to the hardening of Pharaoh's heart,

Pharaoh and God.

By his moral choice,

Pharaoh let his heart become increasingly set in its way,

getting more stubborn and committed more and more irreversibly

to a cause of cultural genocide regarding the Israelites.

Pharaoh is responsible for the hardening of his own heart

through his action and choice.

God has revealed himself to Pharaoh,

and Pharaoh chose to respond with rebellion.

And with each rebellion,

Pharaoh's heart becomes more stubborn in its wickedness.

His heart becomes more brutal and rigid

with each sinful choice he makes.

From God's perspective,

as a moral ruler of this world,

the hardening of Pharaoh's heart

is nothing more than a statement

that the point of no return has been reached.

Pharaoh's own choice

had made his heart so hard

that the only justly,

due consequence

is to judge that his heart is hardened.

And God took the full responsibility

as creator of everything in this world

to say,

I have hardened his heart.

The story of the hardening of Pharaoh's heart

revealed to us that

there is a point at which

God will no longer endure or bear

our rebellions towards him,

but rightfully judge us for what we are.

After repeated rebellions,

whereby Pharaoh hardened himself

against the revelation of God,

God judged him for his disobedience

and sealed his heart of stone.

Don Carson's book,

For the Love of God,

which I was using for my devotional earlier,

it says that

God has not hardened a morally neutral man.

He has pronounced judgment on a wicked man.

Hell itself is a place

where repentance is no longer possible.

God's hardening has the effect

of imposing that sentence

a little earlier than usual.

God's hardening

and Pharaoh's hardening of his own heart

are mutually complementary.

The dynamic at work in Pharaoh's heart

are not unique to him,

but revealing a general truth

about God and his sovereignty

over every human.

God is never complicit

in instigating or causing sin,

but he is not required

to stop us from having what we desire,

even if it is sinful.

The cycle of hardening

that we see in Pharaoh's heart

is not limited to those

who do not believe in God.

Christian can also become

entangled in self-hardening cycle,

whereby the hearts become stubborn

towards God.

We build up a tolerance

to a particular sin in our life.

We try to limit our obedience.

Instead of throwing ourselves

into God's service,

we try to limit what we do.

What's the least I can get away with?

How far do I have to go?

Why should I have to deny my feelings?

Rather than suffering

for doing the right thing

and obeying God,

we all want comfort

and self-gloafification.

And we get entangled

in a temporary,

momentary release

that sin gives us.

When it comes to obedience,

the writer of Hebrew

told us that

in chapter 5, 8 to 9,

that although Jesus

was the son of God,

he learned obedience

from what he suffered.

And once made perfect,

he became the source

of eternal salvation

for all who obey him.

Jesus obeyed God

even to the point of death

on the cross.

God convicted us

of our sin

by Jesus' death

and softening our heart

by sacrificing his own son

to bear the judgment

of our rebellions.

God become,

Jesus become the source

of eternal salvation

for all

who committed

their whole life

to obey him.

What happened

to the heart of Pharaoh

teaches us about

the power and sovereignty

of God's will.

It reminds us that

the significant changes

between the believers

and unbelievers

are not the absence

of sin,

but rather

the presence

of God's grace

in softening,

convicting,

and renewing

the believers' hearts.

Pharaoh's

continuous rebellions

and disregard

towards God's call

to turn to him

to lead

to severe consequences.

A series of disasters

before Egypt

in 10 plates.

Exodus 7-10

covers the first 9,

and the next week

we'll talk about

the last plate.

So what do these plates

teach us about God?

The plate

serves many purposes,

and God refers

to the plates

in chapter 7,

verse 3

as signs and wonders.

The Bible tells us

that signs and wonders

are often performed

by God

for a very explicit

and truthful purpose.

first,

there were

a tool

of judgment

upon Pharaoh

and Egypt

for rebellions

against God

and the abuse

of God's people.

Secondly,

they are tools

of authentication.

They often serve

to validate

an authenticated

message

of God's messages.

The plates

conveyed to Pharaoh

that Moses

that Moses

was a representative

of the Lord

working with his authority.

In the New Testament,

Jesus also

used signs and wonders

to authenticate

his roles

as a savior

and confirm

his divinity.

The third purpose

of the signs and wonders

is they point

beyond themselves

to a more

significant truth.

The plates

immediately

revealed God's power.

They answered

Pharaoh's declaration

back in 5,

verse 2

that he did not

know the God

of Israel.

Between 5 to

chapter 11,

God declared

numerous times

that the purpose

of his action

are so that

Pharaoh and Egypt

would know the Lord.

Those references

are shown

on the screen.

In all these

chapters

in each of the plates,

God constantly

repeats,

you will know

that I am the Lord.

They also point

beyond this

immediate event

to a greater truth

about God's patience

and not wanting

anyone to perish

but to come

to repentance.

God is powerful

and is a God

of mercy

and salvation.

All these chapters

are God's

revealing himself.

The purpose

of the plate

was to convey

the knowledge

of God

not simply

to Egypt

or Israel

but the world.

Later in chapter

34 of Exodus,

it refers to God

as a compassionate

and merciful,

slow to anger,

lavish unfailing love

to a thousand generations

and forgiving wickedness,

rebellions and sin.

Yet,

he does not leave

the guilty unpunished.

God is patient

in his application

of judgment.

His compassion

and mercy

are demonstrated

because he did not

send down

the full force

of his plate

until the seventh plate

which he said

in chapter 9,

verse 15

will wipe

Pharaoh

and Egypt

off the earth.

But before he does so,

he said in verse 19,

keep an order now

to bring your livestock

and everything

you have in the field

to a place

of shelter

because the hell

will fall

on every person

and the animal

that has not

been brought in

and is still

out in the field

and they will die.

Pharaoh

has shown

no regards

for the suffering

of his people

for six plates,

repeatedly rebelling

against God.

This plate

will take

human life

and the correct

response

means life

and death.

And what was

the response

of the people

at a time?

Let's look at

verse 20

of chapter 9.

Those officials

of Pharaoh

who fear

the word

of the Lord

hurry

to bring

their slave

and livestock

inside,

but those

who ignore

the word of God

left their slave

and livestock

in the field.

God provides

Pharaoh

and the Egyptians

with ten plates

to spark

repentance

in them.

Those that God

have chosen

to show

mercy

respond

accordingly

and were saved

and those

refuse to hear

the repeated

warning

and upset.

God's

patience

and mercy

are sharply

contrasted

and revealed

by the stubbornness

and cruelty

of Pharaoh

and his officials.

The plates

reveal that

God is

patiently

merciful,

but they

also refuse

a point

of no return.

This plate

a comfort

assurance

for those

who trust

in God

and horrific

certainty

of judgment

for those

who do not.

In the gospel

and the rest

of the New Testament,

the signs

and wonders

performed by Jesus

and the gospel's

very proclamation

serve a similar

ultimate purpose

as the plates.

The gospel,

like the plates,

serves simultaneously

to assure those

who feed the word

of the Lord.

Those who trust God

for his saving power

and took the right

action to respond

will have life.

And remind those

who ignore the word

of the Lord

that while

God is patient,

God will ultimately

bring judgment

upon those

who reject

Jesus Christ

and fail to

acknowledge

what God is doing

for and in

their life.

And at that time,

only death

remains.

God said

in chapter 9,

16

and chapter 10,

verse 2,

that one other

purpose for

these signs

is to show

that I may

show you

my power

and that my name

may be proclaimed

in all the earth

and that you

may tell your

children and

your grandchildren

how I dealt

harshly with

the Egyptians

and how I performed

my signs

among them

and that you

may know

that I am

the Lord.

What happened

to Pharaoh

and those

Egyptians

who ignored

God's word

were designed

for the future

proclamation

that the God

we learn

from the Bible

is the only

true God

the world's

creator.

Like many

cultures of

today,

Pharaoh and

the Egyptians

believed in

many gods,

the sun gods,

the river gods,

the harvard gods.

Pharaoh was

seen as a

son of gods

so his

issue was

why should I

listen to

your God

when I have

got my

gods of

my own?

He was

saying,

don't impose

your belief

on me.

People are

not offended

if you tell

them you

are a

Christian,

choosing

Christianity

as a

religion or

spirituality

as long

as you

do not

proclaim

that Jesus

is the

only way

to God

and only

truth and

relevant God.

the place

are God's

ways of

distinguishing

himself as

the only

true God

and only

relevant God

and declaring

that he is

the only God

worth obeying.

God defeated

the gods of

Egypt and

the gods of

our culture

that believe

all religions

are valid.

Everyone has

a right to

live how

they like.

Many people

proclaim by

their life

choices that

they are

their own

God.

they

determine

who they

are and

how they

will live

their life.

A lot

of Christians

also does

the same.

They

choose

when,

where,

and how

they worship

God,

as if being

a Christian

is all

about

themselves.

To them,

the gathering

of believers

is nothing

to do

with mutual

encouragement

of one

and others.

others.

Even

being

physically

among

believers,

they will

click in

and click

off without

making any

effort to

interact or

engage with

one another.

God's

confession.

They may

confess they

have sinned

when the

sufferings and

consequences of

sin come,

but go on

sinning when

the suffering

are taken

away.

but

deciding to

become a

Christian

was only

the beginning.

It matters

how you

are living

and growing

in your

obedience to

God's

words.

And more

importantly,

it's your

motivation

and your

attitude

behind those

obedience.

Jesus

has

come,

has

became

the source

of eternal

salvation for

all who

obey him.

him because

he learned

obedience from

what he

suffered.

He suffered

the rejection

of man,

he suffered

the cross,

and ultimately

the rejection

of God

on the cross.

By his

death and

resurrection,

he bears

the consequences

and the

punishment that

our rebellion's

stubborn

hearts

deserves.

The

resurrection

of Jesus

is the

most

excellent

signs and

wonder

that God

performed.

It means

to point us

to the

powerful and

merciful God,

to acknowledge

his patience

in dealing

with us.

not all

people who

have seen

God's

signs and

wonder

will end

up believing

and fear

God.

Many

will

choose

to stay

stubborn

like

lieutenant

or

another

or

Pharaoh

and his

officials.

But to

you who

are here

in prison

today,

because

Jesus

has fought

for us

and won,

we no

longer need to

hide in the

jungle of

life.

Today,

God's

word has

come to

you to

relieve you

and to

order you

to surrender.

It

proclaim to

us the

name of

God is

Jesus

Christ.

Hurry,

today is

your time

to surrender

and come

inside Jesus

to be

saved.

Don't

stay out

in the

field and

ignore God's

word.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.