Second Presbyterian Church Sermons

The second plague is a graphic and tragic portrayal of what it looks like for human beings to dedicate their lives to anyone or anything besides God revealed so graciously through Jesus Christ. 

I. Glorify God

On the one hand, God struck a severe blow against Pharaoh and the Egyptians because they were giving glory to other gods which belonged to him alone. On the other hand, they brought this blow on themselves by attempting to live contrary to the order of God’s creation. Even if it is necessary for God to strike you with a severe blow it is always conditioned by his mercy. It is intended to save you from yourself and bring you into real life with him. The frog was worshipped in Egypt as a god. By making frogs misery for the Egyptians, God demonstrated that anything we glorify before him will only make us miserable and will never fulfill. 

II. Enjoy God

When you completely give over your life to Christ, you get it back in an infinitely more joyful form. The Egyptians imitated the miracle by producing more frogs. It doesn’t matter how they did it, either by witchcraft or trickery, the point is they made things even worse. A real miracle would be to remove the frogs, but sin and the devil always exacerbate misery. When we insist on living for ourselves rather than “lose ourselves” for Christ and the gospel we irrationally choose a life of misery rather than joy. 

The first plague demonstrates the tragic consequences of disregarding God’s commandments and celebrates the blessings of obeying them as a gift of grace. 

I. The Lord (Exodus 7:14-19)

God eventually forces every person to acknowledge that he alone is the Lord. Lord is that name that conveys God’s utter sovereignty and self-existence. David especially loved this title for God. In fact, he added a redundant name to emphasize God’s utter superiority, “Sovereign Lord” (Adonai Yahweh). It’s like saying “Unsurpassed God.” David uses this combination five times in the Psalter to relieve disciples of fear of every enemy:

II. Our God (Exodus 7:23-24)

Rather than repent and “cry out to the Lord,” the Egyptians turned to their own devices to “provide cisterns” for themselves. This is not the only time in the Bible this image is used. Jeremiah relayed the Lord’s assessment of Judah’s rebellion this way: “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jeremiah 2:13).

III. Redeemer (Exodus 7:20-22)

Worship occurs in response to redemption. When we turn our backs on beautiful and free grace, the redemption we try to produce for ourselves is grotesque and costly. We have moved from the lowest to the highest motivation for obeying God. You should obey him at the very least because he is the Lord. A higher motivation is to obey him because he has crafted you with dignity and desires a relationship with you. The highest motivation is to obey the Lord God because he has redeemed you through the sacrifice of his only Son. 

This passage gives us hope for the times when it seems impossible to believe. 

I. I Will (Exodus 6:1-8)

Between verses 1-8, God says “I will” seven times. Altogether these declarations convey three promises by God to his people: redemption, possession, and liberation.  

A. Redemption
God promises redemption, saying, “I will bring you out” (6); “I will free you” (6); and “I will redeem you” (6).

B. Possession
God promises possession, saying, “I will take you as my own people” (7) and “I will be your God” (7).

C. Liberation
God promises liberation, saying, “I will bring you to the land” (8), and “I will give it to you as a possession” (8). 

II. I Can’t (Exodus 6:9-12)

Despite these seven “I will’s” spoken directly by God, the Israelite leaders can’t believe it. We too are unable to believe God unless he gives us the gift of faith. 

A. Discouragement
The Israelites could not believe because of the 430 years of slavery they had toiled under and the new pressure to produce their quota of brick without Egyptians supplying them with straw

B. Cruel Bondage
Discouragement was the emotional result of their slavery. Moses adds “cruel bondage” as a compassionate reminder that the Israelites’ slavery had hindered their faith as well. 

III. I Did

Jesus personally accomplished the redemption God promised. He makes seven “I am” statements in the Gospel of John that correspond with God’s seven “I will” statements in this passage. 

A. Redemption
Jesus accomplished the redemption God promised, saying, “I am the door” (John 10:9); “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12, 9:5); and “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). 

B. Possession
Jesus accomplished the possession God promised, saying, “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11); and “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6)

C. Liberation
Jesus accomplished the liberation God promised, saying, “I am the true vine” (John 15:10); and “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35, 48).

I. Speak the Truth (Exodus 5:1-3)

By Moses’ spoken word on behalf of God - “let my people go” - Pharaoh is eventually defeated and the people eventually believe. We have been given this same gospel word.

a. Presuppose the Truth

Moses and Aaron relayed what God said - “thus says the Lord” - to Pharaoh, demonstrating to us that we must begin with God’s Word when speaking the truth and speak in the confidence of His word rather than our own.

b. Stand on the Truth

The only way to be courageous in the face of intimidation or difficult circumstances is to put your trust in God’s Word. 

II. Prove the Truth (Exodus 5:4-9)

God proves two things through us when we follow Him despite our suffering.

a. His Power

Those whose eyes are trained on God’s redemptive plan to conform us individually to Christ and bring all enemies under His feet will conclude that God allowed things to get harder in order to demonstrate His redemptive power more irrefutably.

b. His Goodness

God has proved His goodness to us by drawing near to us to save us even at the ultimate cost to Himself. This proves the seemingly counterintuitive truth that God is good despite suffering.

Discussion Questions

In order to save us, Jesus had to enter into our world. In response, we must enter into the lives of those around us and speak words of hope, peace, and love found in the gospel. 

I. The Word of Hope

In order for Moses to deliver a word of hope to the Israelites, he had to be among them and begin to understand them, just as Jesus did for us. In the same way, we must seek to understand the people and places God places us in and step into those situations with a word of hope, knowing the Holy Spirit is with us and will give us the words we need to say at the right time.  

II. The Word of Peace

Donald Grey Barnhouse reminds us that “The devil was in Egypt. The devil was ruling Egypt. Behind Pharaoh there was Satan.” We must realize that each person we come in contact with is in spiritual warfare. We have the word of peace found in the gospel that frees people from their bondage to Satan. As ambassadors of Christ, we must represent him by speaking that word and allow the power of the Holy Spirit to make it effective.

III. The Word of Love

Sometimes love can be demonstrated through righteous anger. God demonstrates his love for his people by becoming angry at their harsh slavery and using Moses and Aaron to deliver them. He also demonstrates his love for us by drawing near to us in Jesus Christ. He is not remote and detached; he is close and personal. In the same way, we must demonstrate our love for people by showing up in their presence and then by speaking the word of love found in the gospel. 

Notice the parallel between Joseph taking his family to Egypt and Moses taking his to the same destination. Matthew 2:13-15 informs us that Joseph’s trek to Egypt and back with baby Jesus “fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’” Through this we see Jesus’ solidarity with us. Jesus is with us in our…

I. Captivity … to a fallen world

Jesus does not run from your brokenness, and he does not require you to be free of it before you can come to him. He became human and experienced the same suffering we experience and he now lives in us and through us in order that he might accomplish salvation for us. 

II. Conflict … with spiritual forces of evil

Moses was so focused on judgment for Pharaoh he neglected the spiritual care of his own family. However, in spite of his neglect, God mercifully spared his son and provided a way to preserve his life. We are also in a spiritual battle (Eph. 6:10-12) and Jesus has overcome the spiritual forces of evil and united us to himself so that we also have victory.

III. Conquest … with Christ
In our union with Christ, we have the Holy Spirit who empowers us to that which Christ calls us to do.

In view of God’s gift of Jesus Christ, we must turn from our presumption on his grace and give thanks to him for his perseverance to preserve us.

I. Presumption

Moses seems all too eager to witness God kill Pharaoh’s firstborn son if Pharaoh will not let the people go (23). However, he is so focused on the judgment he feels Pharaoh deserves, he neglects his responsibility to circumcise his own son, which was the sign of the covenant he was supposed to confer on him. It was the Old Testament version of baptism through which the parents and community entrusted the child to God’s grace. In other words, Moses is so busy judging Pharaoh, he forgets he and his family need God’s grace just as much as Pharaoh does. There are two ways we tend to presume on God’s grace. Like Moses, we judge other people and do not acknowledge our own need for God’s grace. Or, we presume on God’s grace in thinking that our sin is too great for his grace to forgive.

II. Preservation

God demonstrates his grace even more powerfully to Moses by preserving him and his firstborn son. God uses Moses’ wife, Zipporah, to confer the covenant sign of circumcision on their son to preserve his life. All of Moses’ presumption on grace and lack of faith in God ultimately killed God’s firstborn son so that Moses could be forgiven and Moses’ own firstborn son could be spared. 

In this passage, Moses doesn’t teach us to obey; God commands us to bring our disobedience to him so he can cure it!  We must take our disobedient hearts to God because ...

I. He Answers Ingratitude with Sovereignty (10-12)

Moses’ protest begins respectfully enough, “Pardon your servant, Lord.” However, it quickly turns accusatory, “I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue” (4:10). He was essentially saying, “you are to blame for my inadequacy because you made me. If you wanted me to do this job you should have made me with more gifts. We’ve been talking now for half an hour and you still haven’t made me eloquent! It is your fault I can’t answer your call!”

Notice how God answers. He reasons with Moses: “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” God gently reminds Moses of the “Creator-creature” distinction, that he is God and Moses is his dependent. He reminds him that he created the first man out of nothing and that he knitted together Moses’ mouth in his mother’s womb. That same mouth with which Moses expressed ingratitude and irreverence, God says he is able to rewire to speak boldly for the salvation of his people.

Furthermore, you can be assured that a Father who was willing to allow his only Son to die for your salvation, is one who allowed you to be the person you are because he has a great good to accomplish. 

II. He Answers Insolence with Anger (13-17)

God graciously informs Moses that he will accommodate his felt need for someone more eloquent to speak on his behalf. He will send his brother Aaron to be his spokesman. God’s lovingkindness overwhelms his anger and he accommodates Moses’ weak faith. God’s anger will motivate us to obedience, not because we fear judgment, but because we dread the thought of angering our beloved Father.

Remember, Moses is writing these words. Why would he give such a bad report on himself? Why would he detail his doubtful, irreverent, impertinent, impudent, and recalcitrant response to God’s call? Because he was not writing a memoir, he was crafting a prophecy. Not only did Moses want to make sure in all his books that God’s grace alone received adoration, he wanted to make clear that he was not the Christ. Later God told Moses that he would raise up from the line of Judah “a prophet” who would “tell them everything I command him” (Deut. 18:18). Moses would appear on the Mount of Transfiguration to point to Jesus as the one he merely anticipated (Matt. 17:5). On Pentecost, Peter proved Jesus was that perfectly obedient prophet (Acts 3:20-23). 

This is why Jesus said to his disciples (and us), “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). He is the one who is able to accomplish all that God commands so we must receive his strength rather than our own.