Opposed
Exodus • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 4 viewsWhen we obey God, we sometimes expect that everything will be easy... after all, if God is for us, what can stand against us? But Satan always opposes the work of believers. In the passage today, Pharaoh's opposition to Moses' message serves as a parallel to Satan's opposition of Christians in their obedience today. When he opposes our message of the Gospel, it is because he too does not want to let those in his clutches go.
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Exodus 5:1–6:1 (NASB95)
1 And afterward Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let My people go that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness.’ ”
2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and besides, I will not let Israel go.”
3 Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, otherwise He will fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.”
4 But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you draw the people away from their work? Get back to your labors!”
5 Again Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now many, and you would have them cease from their labors!”
6 So the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters over the people and their foremen, saying,
7 “You are no longer to give the people straw to make brick as previously; let them go and gather straw for themselves.
8 “But the quota of bricks which they were making previously, you shall impose on them; you are not to reduce any of it. Because they are lazy, therefore they cry out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’
9 “Let the labor be heavier on the men, and let them work at it so that they will pay no attention to false words.”
10 So the taskmasters of the people and their foremen went out and spoke to the people, saying, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I am not going to give you any straw.
11 ‘You go and get straw for yourselves wherever you can find it, but none of your labor will be reduced.’ ”
12 So the people scattered through all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.
13 The taskmasters pressed them, saying, “Complete your work quota, your daily amount, just as when you had straw.”
14 Moreover, the foremen of the sons of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, “Why have you not completed your required amount either yesterday or today in making brick as previously?”
15 Then the foremen of the sons of Israel came and cried out to Pharaoh, saying, “Why do you deal this way with your servants?
16 “There is no straw given to your servants, yet they keep saying to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And behold, your servants are being beaten; but it is the fault of your own people.”
17 But he said, “You are lazy, very lazy; therefore you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’
18 “So go now and work; for you will be given no straw, yet you must deliver the quota of bricks.”
19 The foremen of the sons of Israel saw that they were in trouble because they were told, “You must not reduce your daily amount of bricks.”
20 When they left Pharaoh’s presence, they met Moses and Aaron as they were waiting for them.
21 They said to them, “May the Lord look upon you and judge you, for you have made us odious in Pharaoh’s sight and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us.”
22 Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have You brought harm to this people? Why did You ever send me?
23 “Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done harm to this people, and You have not delivered Your people at all.”
1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for under compulsion he will let them go, and under compulsion he will drive them out of his land.”
INTRO: Have you ever had a simple home repair or project that turns into a fairly involved ordeal? It seems like every time I have a simple, 30-minute project or repair that it ends up taking something like 4 hours and 3 trips to Lowe’s. It’s so bad that when I say something to my wife like, “It’s a simple fix.” she gives me this look like, “Yeah sure.”
And really, what looks or sounds so simple almost always ends up not being easy. In fact, when it really is easy, I’m surprised. Sometimes, in my humanity, I actually dread when one of those ‘simple’ projects comes up. In my head, I’m thinking- “No way- something is definitely going to blow up… oh change a light bulb? Sure, I’ll end up having to replace a fixture and rewire the entire living room.” Something always seems to be working against me.
Well, it can seem like that in our obedience to God as well. Do you ever find yourself dreading obedience to God because you know that simple obedience isn’t always easy? Actually, we ought not be surprised by this. Jesus told his disciples that their obedience would be likened to a sheep sent out in the midst of wolves.
It is absolutely certain that Satan is actively working against us as we take up the Great Commission.
8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
Obedience to God means that we are entering a battle.
Paul describes this battle in Eph. 6:12.
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Suddenly the simplicity of obedience is met with opposition that might have us wondering if it’s really worth it. That was true for Moses as well. Moses was sent on a simple mission- Go to Egypt, talk to the Israelite elders and then tell Pharaoh to let the people go. Simple.
OK, So you might remember that God told Moses Pharaoh would not listen and would have to be compelled, but Moses did not anticipate the opposition to God’s mission quite as it played out.
(READ 1-2)
Actually, if the only thing we had in this interaction was the first 2 verses of ch. 5, I think we could expect it. People who do not know God have no foundation to obey Him. Of course, like many in our culture, not only did Pharaoh not know God, he had no interest in knowing God nor obeying Him.
But the message Moses gave was not up for negotiation… he was not there to ‘strike a deal’ - It was a command of God. It’s here that we see opposition rise against God’s messenger in ways that I believe are similar to the way we see opposition to the proclamation of the Gospel today.
So in our time today, I want to examine the ways the enemy opposes God’s messengers and message and of course, offer some biblical hope for us in this battle. I believe that this will be both insightful and hopefully encouraging as we wrestle with our call to obedience.
You will see how Satan opposes the Gospel in your own life as well as in the lives of those who are in bondage to Satan- to those whom we seek to liberate through the power of Christ. And you’ll also see that God always has the final word.
The sermon is titled “Opposed” - If you have a bulletin, I encourage you to make use of the sermon guide to follow along and take notes. We will observe 3 tools of Opposition that Satan employs. Let’s dive in:
One way Satan opposes the message of the Gospel is through:
Distraction (4-14)
Distraction (4-14)
(READ)
In the case of Moses, Pharaoh wanted to ensure that the Israelites were so busy, that they could not even think about what Moses had told them.
Now, they were already groaning under the oppression of the Egyptian king- they were slaves and were forced to work hard and meet daily quotas. In this oppression, they cried out to God and we looked at that several weeks ago. That’s why Moses was there- God heard them, and in compassion was going to deliver them.
And, at the end of ch. 4, we saw the joy of the Israelite elders as they realized God’s plan and they rejoiced. Now, after rejecting Moses’ plea, Pharaoh decided to add onto their already taxing labors by forcing them to find and harvest straw that would be used to make the bricks. This was completely unreasonable, if not impossible.
There was no way they could accomplish this. Their days were long and hard. Rest was out of the question, much less thinking about a vacation or time to get away and worship. Verse 9 shows us that the point was to keep them busy so they would not pay attention to the messenger or the message. The Israelites were conformed to the bondage of Pharaoh and this extra work served as just the distraction needed.
In many ways, we see the same strategy deployed in America today. We are too busy- there is always something that pulls our attention. Work, sports, hobbies, etc. make us so distracted that we don’t consider who God is or what message He has for us.
Think about how we have prioritized our lives- the temporary pressures of the world seem to be more urgent than the eternal realities of Heaven & Hell. This is true of people in the church and those who have yet to hear the message of hope.
In the church, there is a majority who will not commit to their growth in the Lord- they won’t join a small group, volunteer on a serving team, engage in evangelism, or make disciples. Why? We are too busy. We have given our time to everything else, and have none left for God.
But this is the wrong view of God… we have our priorities backwards. Rom. 12:1-2 paint a better picture. (This was a memory verse a few weeks ago)
1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Unbelievers are distracted by much of the same kinds of busyness. They don’t know God, and their life is so busy that they don’t see any need to try and squeeze Him in. And, look, Satan is so cunning here- when we are reaching out and inviting someone to learn about God or to come to church, there will be every possible distraction come up to hinder such a connection.
I’m convicted by this personally and pray that we can set aside distractions of busyness and take up the cause of Christ. Satan opposes us just as Pharaoh opposed Moses.
The next tool Satan uses in opposing the Gospel Message is:
Distortion (15-19)
Distortion (15-19)
(READ)
The workload was absurd, but when the Israelite foremen complained to Pharaoh, he rejected the plea and instead distorted the truth. But look here, they cried out to Pharaoh, not God. Earlier, in their oppression, they cried out to God, but now they turned to their oppressor and cried out. Why?
I believe it is because they had somehow bought into the lies and distortion. This is almost like what we know as Stockholm Syndrome. Stockholm Syndrome is a condition in which an abused person sympathizes with their abuser and develops a sense of loyalty to them. This is often due to the abuser’s manipulation, using words like, “You see what you made me do? I didn’t want to have to hit you, but you made me because you tried to run away...”
See if you can pick up on this distortion- in verse 17, he essentially says this: “This isn’t too much work- you are just lazy. You want to take a week off and go worship your God? If you have time for that, then you have time to do your work! You deserve the punishments because you have been lazy this whole time!”
He blamed the Israelites for the harsh punishments they endured and basically made the case that work was the thing that deserved their ultimate devotion.
This is a dangerous lie of the enemy. And I’m sure you can see that happening today. Let me see if I can give you a few examples of this distortion:
You don’t deserve the gospel, so why waste your time?
The Gospel isn’t real- heaven and hell are not real, so just live life to the max!
Why waste time at church? It’s just a place full of hypocrites that want your money.
You can’t believe in that- it’s just a fairy tale.
Or the latest: That’s hate speech!
Did you know that the Gospel is distorted by professing Christians sometimes as well? There are those who perceive the Gospel as a one-time decision that has no bearing on life or that it is about salvation and there is no life change involved. There is a distortion in what God has called His followers to. Let me remind you that Jesus rejected partial obedience. If you want to be a follower of Christ, you must die to yourself daily...
Distortion of the message of the Gospel is down right deadly.
Again, our enemy wants the message to be dismissed, so if he cannot distract you with busyness, he’ll try to distort the message so people will believe that it is not worthy of our devotion. He manipulates people so that they will remain in bondage to their sin.
Satan is actively opposing the message of the Gospel today. He distracts hearers and potential workers, He distorts the message and sells the lies of hopelessness. And on top of all that, we see one more tool of opposition in use. That is the tool of:
Discouragement (20-23)
Discouragement (20-23)
(READ 20-21)
The Israelite people turned on Moses. Though he had the message of hope and deliverance, the people only saw the intensified persecution and even put that blame on Moses. “You have made us look bad to Pharaoh!”
I can imagine Moses thinking, “So what? Pharaoh hated you already… you are slaves for goodness sake!” But at the same time, this was not how he pictured this going down.
Moses was sunk. Look at his words to the Lord: (READ 22-23)
Moses thought the whole thing was a failure. “It didn’t work… God, you said you’d convince Pharaoh… well? I didn’t see any convincing going on!! In fact, things are even worse!”
Can you imagine being sent to a people and then have these same people call you names and pray that God would condemn you?
You ever get discouraged like this? Maybe you are thinking, God, I was being obedient! I was doing what you told me to do, but now the people you sent me to are turning on me- they despise me though I only sought to do good for them. This is awful!
ILL: I have a pastor friend who recently was asked to leave his church because he spoke God’s truth. In particular, he addressed an issue of gossip and backbiting. In so doing, some of his deacons turned on him and accused him of disunity - not a single person spoke for him nor for the truth of his message. Talk about discouraging! What’s even worse is that he is so discouraged that he may not re-enter the ministry.
Friends, this is the work of the enemy. Satan knows that if he can discourage God’s messengers, then the message will not be delivered or advanced. It’s his way of shutting people up.
Look here, you might be facing some discouragement right now because Satan wants to shut you up! Maybe you shared hope and life and instead of being received well, you were laughed at or rejected. Maybe you are discouraged because you have seen the response of our society to Christians who stand for life or who stand for the biblical family.
Maybe you are so discouraged and you think that being silent is better than speaking up and making it worse.
Friends, I want to tell you: God is not done yet. Look with me to 6:1 (READ)
What God told Moses is that you haven’t seen anything yet! When God said, “Let my people go,” it was not a suggestion or negotiation. He was not asking for permission. That statement was intended to provoke a response.
God was giving Pharaoh 2 options: 1- you let my people go. 2 - I make you.
What we will see in the coming weeks is that God was not messing around. His message cannot be thwarted by the enemy- though Satan opposes both the message and the messenger.
And what you and I need to know today is that the message God has given us to take to the world is not up for negotiation either. You either repent and believe, surrendering to the rule and reign of Christ, saved from your sins and forever given the name ‘child of God’ OR Reject the gospel and spend eternity in hell.
Look, there will be a day when Satan himself will be cast into the lake of fire; when the opposing forces that we face today will be no more. And there will be no more death, not sickness, nor mourning....
For now, as we obey God, we will face opposition and tough times. But these times are not useless nor in vain. Even in the preparation and delivery of this message, there has been opposition by the enemy- But God’s Word will always accomplish its intended purpose.
This morning, if you are here and have never repented of your sins and trusted in Christ for salvation, then I urge you to take that step- like Gracie! Or maybe you just need to be encouraged as you battle opposition to your obedience - Won’t you come and lay it before God? Someone will meet you at the altar and pray with you.
As God leads, you respond.
[PRAY]
Discuss: In what ways can you identify opposition to the Gospel in your own life?
Discuss: What steps can you take to stand strong in the midst of Satan’s opposition?
Discuss: The Gospel provokes a response, not a negotiation. Explain what this means for you.
