Don't Let Your Heart Be Hardened

Have you closed yourself off to God? Sin slowly callouses our hearts, numbing us to truth, conviction, and the goodness of the Gospel until we grow indifferent to the things of God. But repentance breaks up that hardness, restoring a responsive heart that can truly hear and receive His Word.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

We are glad that you are here. And if you are visiting with us, my name is Ryan, one of the pastors here at Impact. And we are going to be continuing our study through the book of Exodus today before we get to the baptism. So if you have your Bibles, you can open to Exodus chapter 7. We have been studying through this Old Testament historical narrative that tells the story of God saving and rescuing his people, people of Israel, from the land of Egypt, where they've been in slavery for 400 years. And he calls this man named Moses, who was the prince of Egypt, but was one of God's people. And then he kills someone and runs into the wilderness to hide for 40 years, becomes a shepherd. And then God calls him at 80 years of age to go to Pharaoh and say, God says, let my people go. And so last week we talked about Moses doing this with his relative Aaron. How they went to Pharaoh and said, God says to let my people go. And Pharaoh's response was no. And he refused to do it because he doesn't know the Lord. And now God is going to be calling them back. And that's what we're going to be picking up in Exodus 7 today. Now, as I was thinking through this, uh a story came to mind which I've I know I've shared before, has been a bit, but uh my son, Andy, who's now almost 17, but when he was like two or three years old, I had a day where we were able to hang out together, just the two of us. And so I had a big plan where I was going to take him for the very first time to Chuck E. Chiefs, where a kid and his dad can be a kid. And I was so excited because he'd never been, and the the other kids, my girls had been there, they loved it, but and he'd never been there. So I was just so pumped for him to experience it. And it was just me and him, and I was looking forward to this so much. I got money, my whole plan was to get like a bowl full of tokens. We were gonna be there all day long. And so we get in the car and he's all excited. And I told him, I'm like, bud, like dad's gonna take you someplace really, really special, really cool, and we're gonna get lunch. And so his eyes lit up, and he just got so excited because he thought we were gonna go to his favorite restaurant, McDonald's. And he's like, We're going to McDonald's. I'm like, no, no, buddy. No, it is so much better than McDonald's. And the saddest look came over his face. He's like, Dad, I want to go to McDonald's. I'm like, no, buddy, I understand, but you don't know what you don't know. You gotta just trust me. Like, there's something so much better than McDonald's. And his eyes well up with tears, and he starts crying. I want to go to McDonald's. And I found myself in this weirdest situation of like, no, I am gonna take you to Chuck E. Cheese, whether you like it or not. So weird, right? Being a parent is just weird. And so I kept telling him, buddy, just trust me, trust your dad. Well, we get to the parking lot where there's the Chuck E. Cheese, and it was the one down in Escondito, because I don't think the one in Marietta even existed at this time. And we get to the parking lot, we we get in the car, and as we're pulling in, there's the Chuck E. Cheese where he didn't want to go. And of course, what is also right in the parking lot next to the Chuck E. Cheese? McDonald's. McDonald's. And he got all excited, like, oh, dad was just tricking me. We're going to McDonald's. And I'm like, no, no, no, buddy, we're going here to Chuck E. Cheese. He's like, the place with the mouse on it, that's not sanitary, you know? So he gets out of the car, I get out of the car, and he's trying to drag me. He's trying to pull me. Oh, let's go to McDonald's, Dad. Let's go to McDonald's. And I kept pulling him back over to Chuck E. Cheese. And I finally drag him through, open the door, and my son walks through those doors for the first time. You guys remember that experience as a kid? And all the lights and all the noises and all the bells and all the chimes and all the games everywhere and the smell of pizza and the creepy animatronic animals up there. Like he walked in and he just went, Where is this place? What if I just walked into this whole other world? And he looks up at me and I'm like, Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I had that dad moment where you don't say, I told you so, but you're like, I told you so. So happy that he finally got it. And we had a great time together. Guys, today we're going to be talking a little bit about how much our Heavenly Father loves us and how much good He wants to bring to our lives. And how often you and I, as His children, who are stubborn and obstinate and do not know, we fight Him for it. We fight against it. We think we know what's best. We want McDonald's. And God's like, no, you don't understand what I have for you. And we settle for so many weaker and lesser pleasures that this world has to offer. And we spend our lives chasing after the things we think we need and the things that we want. And God is there as our loving Father, knowing what is best, going, You don't understand. Just trust me. Walk with me. Live the way I've called you to live. Here's my son. Know him. Know what is available to you in him. The fullness of joy and life and hope and purpose and peace, the things that your soul longs for and craves, and you're never able to find in this world. Trust me. And the question is, will we or will we not? Exodus chapter 7. Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, which is a type of this world. Right? This world system that opposes God, that opposes his people. And they go to once again say, Let God's people go. And now God warns them, by the way, that when he tells Pharaoh this, the Pharaoh's not going to listen. Once again, he's not going to listen. And God says, He's not going to listen, but it's so that I can display my power and might in the land of Egypt, so they will know who I am, the true God, the God of Israel. And so that was his plan. He let him know what was going to happen. And verse 8, this is where we pick up. Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, When Pharaoh says to you, prove yourselves by working a miracle. Then you shall say to Aaron, Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent. Does this sound familiar? We heard about this back in Exodus 3 when God called Moses to go to Egypt. And Moses is like, I don't want to go. You got the wrong guy. And so he's telling God, your people, they won't even believe me. They're not going to listen to me. And so God told him, throw down your staff. So Moses does it, it turns into a serpent, and Moses freaks out and runs away. And then God says, Grab it by the tail. So he grabs it by the tail and it becomes a staff again. So he works this miracle and he says, if the people won't believe you, show them this sign and they'll believe you. And so he went to God's people, showed them the sign, and they believed. So it worked. So now here we have God sending Moses and Aaron. After Pharaoh already said no, he's sending them back. And he says, If Pharaoh won't believe you and he asked for a sign, do the snake thing. And so you can almost imagine Moses and Aaron being like, ooh, all right, cool, we get to do the snake thing again. That's cool. So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. But listen to the response, not quite like the people of Israel who believed. Verse 11. Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But that's not where the story ends. How cool is this? But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. Still, Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them as the Lord had said. A little plot twist here in the story, something that God doesn't mention to Moses when he's explaining what's going to happen. That yeah, you're going to throw the staff down, it will become a serpent, but then there's going to be Egyptian magicians who, through their sorcery and trickery, maybe their demonic manipulation or deception, they do the same. And yet the staff of God, the staff of Moses, consumed and swallowed up the other two staffs. But this plot twist, the magicians of Egypt doing the same by their secret arts, it reminds me of this New Testament letter the Apostle Paul wrote to the young pastor Timothy, his second letter to Timothy, in fact. And he references this story, and Paul actually lets us know the names of these Egyptian magicians. Second Timothy 3, verse 8. This is on the heels of talking about these sinful people that rebel against God and live for themselves and do all kinds of evil. And he says, just as Janus and Jambras opposed Moses, right? So we're speaking here in Exodus 7, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. But they will not get very far, for their folly or foolishness will be plain to all, as was that of these two men. Right? So these Egyptian magicians, as Egypt represents this world system, the spiritual system that opposes God, that separates people from God here during this life and forever in eternity. Right, this Egypt that in which we live, Janus and Jambris were these magicians of the world. And they opposed the truth. They represent everything in our world and everyone in our world who oppose the truth of God, who he is and what he has done for us. Guys, this world is always going to oppose God's truth. Its goal is to deceive us, to keep us from knowing who God truly is. Because it knows if we know who God is, if we really knew him to the full extent, we'd stop settling for the lesser pleasures of this world. Our eyes would be open to see that we are slaves. We are in bondage to our sin. We're not free to live however we want. We are slaves to our desires and impulses and sin and our own selfishness, and we can't escape it. And so the world doesn't want us to know about our bondage because the moment we come to know our Savior, the moment we come to know God and Yahweh and who He is, our eyes are open and everything changes. The world tries to deceive. It does it by duplicating and imitating what only God can create. Right? That's what the world does. It tries to duplicate and imitate what God alone can create. My daughter, uh, she's a freshman at CBU, and she told me her birthday's coming up, and she let me know that one of the things she wants is something called a nido. Anyone know what nidos are? All right, it's a new thing. It's almost like this kind of seems like a stress ball toy of some kind, but it's like this squishy toy, and people are all crazy about it right now. They're obsessed about it. And they're like out of stock. You go on Amazon, you can't find them right now. These nidos. Like, this is kind of crazy. And I looked at it, I'm like, these are really expensive for a little squishy toy stress ball thing. She's like, Dad, don't worry about it. Just get a dupe nido. I'm like, honey, I don't understand the words you're speaking to me right now. Is this English? What are you talking about? A dupe nido? Does anybody can anybody translate that for me? Yeah, you know exactly what we're talking about. A dupe is apparently it's a duplicate. So it's slang for a duplicate. It is a a uh uh a copy, right? It's an imitation. And so it's another way, too, where people may be duped by it, thinking it's the original. And so she's explaining all this to me, and I'm thinking, man, how often does the world do the exact same thing to us as children of God? It gives us the dupe version, the knockoff, discounted, cheap, breakable version of what only God can truly give. And it keeps us chasing after these things, and it is this futile, worthless pursuit that leaves us emptier than ever before. And we think we're gonna find happiness and contentment in it. God offers unconditional love. Love that is at the soul level, the only love that doesn't go away, no matter who we are, what we do. He meets us there. He loves us more than you could ever possibly fathom, even what love is. And so he offers us this soul-satisfying love. And yet the world comes along and says, Here's love, and it twists it and redefines it to this selfish version of my needs are being met by this person. It twists it and and and redefines it into it is something that's a feeling that I can fall into and fall out of just as easily. And it keeps us chasing after relationship after relationship. The the world tells us here's happiness. And we chase these dopamine hits, these rushes of moments of feeling happy about things. But how many of us know every experience in this world, the happiness, it doesn't last. It goes away when our circumstances change, when things don't make us happy anymore, or people don't make us happy anymore. And so we have to find the next thing or the next person to make us happy. And we chase it over and over and over again. The greener grass that's that proverbial greener grass that we can never actually seem to find because the happiness of the world is ultimately empty and it's temporary, it doesn't last and it doesn't satisfy. Only God brings true fulfillment, true joy. Right? The world tries to numb us to our pain, tries to distract us from our pain through entertainment and different kinds of pleasures that we pursue. God alone can bring healing, He alone can bring health and wholeness to our heart. And so the world is trying to dangle the dupes in front of us. It wants us to chase a McDonald's kind of life, guys. And God's like, here's Chuck E. Cheese. And you will never hear those words come from this pulpit ever again. Are we believing the deceptive magic of this world or the truth and the power of God? As if we are chasing after the magic of this world, what does Paul say about Janice and Jambris? Their folly, their foolishness was plain to all. And those of us who buy into that deception, looking to the world for the greater things only God can give, we are fools and like kind. We keep settling for lesser, empty pleasures that the world offers instead of the infinite pleasures of the soul that are available in Christ. Our desires are not too strong. That's not why you struggle with sin. That's not why you still struggle to do what this says and to walk with Jesus, because oh, I just have desires for this stuff that's too strong. They're too weak. We're settling for the weaker, cheaper, nasty satisfactions instead of going after what God gives to us. And isn't that what we see? The power of God and what is capable of compared to the magic of this world. Right? What happens? The magic of the world. Oh, they make serpents too. But what happens to the power of God and the staff? It swallows up the other ones. The power and truth of God completely consumed the deceptive magic of the Egyptians, the magic of this world. You know, Aaron's staff here is a symbolic foreshadowing of Jesus. Jesus, the Son of God, the true power of God. He's the one that swallows up the magic and deception that this world offers us. The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. The word here for serpent is the Hebrew word tanin. And it actually means a serpent, a snake, which fits. It can also mean a crocodile. And there's a lot of biblical scholars who would translate this that the staff became a crocodile, which kind of makes sense because Egypt is located on the Nile. And what's in the Nile? Crocodiles. In fact, the crocodile was a symbolic animal that represented the land of Egypt, it represented the world. And so you see the power of God consuming the world. So that the world has nothing for us anymore as followers of Jesus. Guys, the goodness and grace of Jesus swallows up anything this world has to offer us. When we understand who he is, when we truly revel in his goodness, when we get it, everything changes. I think back to when Trace and I first got married and we would have coffee every morning, but listen, we just got married, we were poor. We were broke, we didn't have a lot of money at all. And so our brand of choice was Folgers. Best part of waking up. So Folgers in your cup. And we didn't know any better. I wasn't even really a coffee drinker. So I sat down, just filled it with a ton of a yummy creamer, and I thought, all right, I'm drinking coffee. It wasn't until one of our former pastors retired a few years ago, but uh toward the end of his tenure here before he retired, he became a coffee connoisseur and he started ordering all these like exotic beans from different places and parts in the world. He had all this equipment and he brewed his own coffee, he roasted his own beans, and he had all these different notes and hints of flavors and complexities, and he's walking us through all of it. And I started to put creamer in it. He's like, whoa whoa, whoa, whoa. Just try it. Just try this Ethiopian blend. And I was like, all right. And I took a little sip and I had this incredible moment where I was drinking the sweet nectar of heaven. Like, what is this goodness? I mean, this is proof that God loves us right here. Because I didn't know the good stuff, I only knew the cheap imitation. And once I went to that, guess what, guys? I couldn't go back to Folgers anymore. I tried. It didn't matter how much creamer I put in. I'm just like, this is disgusting. I'll just drink the creamer. And I only want the real stuff. When the devil throws the world and his temptations in our face, that's when we need to throw Jesus and his reminding ourselves, reminding the enemy of God what is available to us in Christ. The infinite gifts that nothing in this world can offer that truly bring soul contentment and satisfaction. Or are we a little bit more like Pharaoh than we care to admit? We don't know the response of the Egyptian magicians. I'm sure they were a little surprised when their nice little sorcery got consumed by the power of God. But we know Pharaoh's response. What do we read? Still, Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, saw with his own eyes the transformative, miraculous power of God, and yet he still, in his stubbornness, refused to believe and to receive that power for himself. He dismissed it and he explained it away. He hardened his heart. Right? Exodus chapter 5. If remember, last week we covered verse 2, when Moses and Aaron said, God says, let his people go. His response, Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go. Guess here's the key. Pharaoh didn't know the Lord because he didn't want to know the Lord. He wanted to remain in control. He was on the throne. He was the king of Egypt. No one's going to tell him what to do. These are his slaves, and they've always been our slaves. We own them. And so no one's going to tell us to free them, not even their God. And with this stubborn, prideful defiance, he remained and refused to yield to God and insisted that he remain on the throne. His pride hardened his heart against God. Human hearts are hardened throughout this world. Hardened hearts are a human pandemic. At the word for hardeness, this Hebrew word kasha, it means dense, tough, severe, calloused. Right? Think about the layers of callous that we put over our heart toward the things of God. We want nothing to do with him. We don't submit to his word. And we're even guilty of this as followers of Jesus, as Christians. Guys, how often as Christians do we become numb and calloused to these incredible truths that God has worked for us? The truths of who he is. If I asked you today, what's the gospel? Many of us as Christians, we might give a really polished answer to that. Very academic, very astute, very eloquent and articulate. Maybe if you've been around here for any amount of time, we know the four movements in chapters. Well, the gospel begins with creation and then the fall and then redemption and then restoration, right? We know how to organize it. We could give an answer. And we may give that answer and feel really good about that answer. But isn't there something, when I ask, what is the gospel? Shouldn't there be something in us, Christian, that takes a moment and before we speak, all of a sudden reflects on what the good news of Jesus is and what it's done for my life? Who Jesus is, the sacrifice he made, the horrific death on the cross, brutality and suffering, his blood willingly spilt, poured out so that the sin of the world could be placed upon his shoulders. Your sin, that means you should be separate from God forever, was on his shoulders and he died for you. And we hear this and we just go, oh, the gospel's these things. And it's an academic response with no connection here. It never makes the journey downward. And when somebody says, What's the gospel? The first thing should just be a pause of reflection and remembering what the gospel is for me. And we share what Jesus has done, and we're just amazed. Man, the good news is I was this wretched, horrific sinner. And I was far from God and searching for meaning, and I was miserable, even though everybody else thought things were great. And when I finally turned to Christ, when I repented of my sin, he met me there and he forgave me, and everything's different, and your life can be different too. But we become so used to it all. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jesus died on a cross for my sin and stuff. Have we lost the wonder and the majesty of God? Because we're too busy chasing the magic of the world. Like Pharaoh, we're still following our own way instead of Yahweh. We're still chasing after what we want to do. As the only remedy to a hardened heart is repentance. It's acknowledging our pride and our sin. It's being willing to submit to the one who gave us his word. And saying it's not my way, Lord, it's yours. And I want to follow you, and I can't do it on my own. Holy Spirit, come into my life and help me live the way you've called me to live. Help me love you and love people the way that you've called me to. And repenting, acknowledging our pride and our stubbornness. Instead of just downplaying and dismissing it. Aren't we good at that? When it comes to our pride, our rebellion against God, we are so good at downplaying it and making our sin seem less than it actually is. Right? We make statements like, you know, like, I know I'm not perfect. You know, I know I've made some mistakes. Or my favorite, I'm only human. And this sounds so much better than I am a stubborn, prideful, obstinate, rebellious son who has rebelled against my creator, who indulges myself even at others' expense. I am a monster of iniquity. We don't like that as much, do we? Yet, what is more accurate when it comes to us standing before God and all of his holiness, all of his glory? For we are fully exposed and we can't fake anything, and we can't hide and cover anything. Not us, not just the things that we've done, but the things that we have thought, the motives and the intentions as to why we do these things. It is all laid bare before him. And guys, this is not to have us leaving here today going, man, we are all terrible. Now go in peace. It's to recognize who we are apart from Christ and to remind ourselves we are desperately in need of a Savior. What does Paul tell us, Ephesians 2, 1 and 2? You were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. We think we're just living our way and doing what we want. We have no idea. We are walking the way of disobedience, walking the way of this world that doesn't know or fear God, walking the way of the spiritual enemy of God who wants us dead and separate from Him. It's not our way, it's their way, and we're choosing to walk it instead of God's. And then we dismiss and just minimize and say it's not that big of a deal. The parable of the sower is such a beautiful picture of this truth. We don't have time to unpack that together today, but I encourage you guys, look it up and read through it. God just gives this story. Jesus gives this story of how the sower, these people that just share the gospel, beginning with Jesus and his disciples, they spread seed, the seed of God's word, the truth of Christ, throughout the world. And so the human hearts that are meant to receive his word are likened to different kinds of dirt or soil. And there's the hard path that the birds come and snatch it like the enemy does before it can take root. There's hardened soil with a layer of rock beneath it where the seed can't take root. And so when it the heat comes, it withers and dies. There's soil that's infested with weeds that are the cares and concerns of the world, and they choke out the truth of God. And then finally, there's healthy soil ready to receive soft hearts that want to know the truth of Jesus and what he's told us. And that's the heart that produces fruit. The question is, guys, what kind of dirt are we? What kind of soil are we to receive the truth of Christ? Or do we have hardened hearts where the word can't take root? Some of us come here every single Sunday, man. We we hear the message taught, we hear the word being brought forth, and we may leave going, like, yeah, that wasn't Ryan's best. I've heard better. And listen, I can guarantee you probably have. And it most likely was not my best. But do we ever step back and go, did I do what I needed to do before the Lord? To prepare my heart to receive whatever the Lord had. Because all we need to do is read, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life. And this simple verse that most of us know and it's wrote, and we just can cite it by memory. We we've lost the magnitude of what that truth communicates because our hearts are hardened toward it. Because every Sunday we come and we hear, and I have the blessing of grabbing the seed and just chucking it at all of you, just throwing it everywhere. What kind of heart is the seed falling on? Have we hardened, calloused ourselves toward the things of God? And I love seeing those softened hearts that are so receptive and ready for what He has. I can't tell you how many times people come up to me and they're like, Thank you. That was such a blessing, Ryan. When when you said this and this and this, it just was so impactful, it changed me. And I'm like, man, that's awesome. And in my head, I'm thinking, I never said that. Whatever you just said that changed your life never came out of my mouth. The Spirit of God was speaking through his word to your heart, and your heart was ready to receive.