Exodus Chapter 10 Verse 18

• Moses displays great patience I look at this, Moses simply trusting God, walking in patience and mercy, and I want to be more like this…in the Spirit.  My flesh does not want to be like this at all…BUT….my flesh is not the lead.  How about you?
• This is not repentance…this is not true sorrow over sin…it’s been said of this scene, “Once again comes the easy confession of sin, and the shallow repentance that springs only from a desire to avert the consequences…” and yet still, Moses intercedes for him.

Exodus Chapter 10 Verses 19 – 23

• This is the ninth plague, the final warning before all is lost…and notice, it is darkness. Darkness so thick that it can be felt…this is the final stop for the one serving themselves in this life before the house of cards falls…darkness that is felt the most by those that surround you, your family and friends.  You can’t reach them, (not able to see one another), and they are simply unable to rise.  Why?  The darkness is so very thick. 
• Here is the cure.   Three days the disciples were in darkness of spirit as Jesus remained a dead Savior.  But when He arose, He came to them, gave them peace, and breathed on them again…saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” 
• Where should you turn if darkness has surrounded you? The people of God.  There is light there…but pride is such a weight and hook…if you are in darkness today, struggling with pride and your life is getting darker and you are not willing to humble yourself to God and turn in to where the light is…the next stop may just be the final destination…not God’s will for you.  It is however most certainly the will of the enemy for you…Christian and non-Christian alike.

Exodus Chapter 10 Verses 24 – 29

• If you try to negotiate, haggle…work something out with God…my side of my life, Your side of my life…then you really don’t yet know Him. When all He has for you is better than anything you could ever make for yourself… Pharaoh is now beyond reason…and Moses doesn’t fall at his feet and make things more comfortable for him or try another tactic or secede in any way…he turns, and walks out. 
• God has honored his free will…and at this point, Moses does too…but by the first verse of the next chapter, we know Moses continues to pray for Pharaoh…we know Moses’ heart was as heavy as Pharaoh’s was hard…because just like God wanted for Pharaoh, just as His will is for you…Moses also wanted Pharaoh to make it…but pride, man. Pride was Pharaoh’s god…not God.
• It’s been said that as seriously dangerous as pride is, it’s equally hard to spot. It affects our eyesight and insight, causing us to view ourselves and our lives and our situations through a lens that colors and distorts reality.  It is the universal grip of the flesh which even can paint our own sin in some sort of commendable  Here is the simplest way to spot pride…to identify it correctly.  Psalm 10:4, “The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts.”  That’s really it…I don’t care how you’ve been raised, what you’ve learned, how you feel, what you’re trying to accomplish, the way you are acting or reacting…would God be proud of you…or are you only occupied with your own pride?
• Here are a few subtle signs of pride in your life. Fault finding.  Pride has a way of filtering out the sense of evil in ourselves while also filtering out the value of others.  Second, a harsh spirit.  Those sick with pride and succumbed to it will speak of the short comings and sins of others with great contempt, irritation, frustration and unkindness.  Third,   When pride is powerful, we are very concerned, more concerned with how we are perceived than how we really are, the true state of our hearts.  And so we work the politics rather than the problem.
• Fourth, defensiveness. Humility is not knocked out of balance and thrown into a defensive posture by challenge or insult but instead continues in doing good, trusting the Lord.  Fifth, neglect.  Neglect of God and neglect of others.  Pride prefers self over God and pride prefers some people over others.  Sixth, pride goes from focus on self to down on self when confronted with consequence.  I’m doing fine and everyone around me is catering to me until one person says enough and confronts my sinful attitude, way or habit…and then I throw a poor me pity party.  Humility goes to school in that situation with even a grateful heart for now seeing what was not seen…while pride pouts that imperfection is present…just a few signs to watch for because truly, if anything will keep you from what God has for you, its pride…

Exodus Chapter 11 Verse 1a

• Nothing has brought change…no previous sign or miracle had served to wake-up Egypt as a nation because of Pharaoh’s hard heart. Has God showed you something, told you something, asked something of you over-and-over again?  There is a danger in that circumstance…in fact there are several.  One is that He simply will stop asking…and you remain just as you are…frozen in a state of arrested development for perhaps the rest of your life.  Never progressing…
• Second is that God just moves on without you…like Pharaoh. Let My people go…Let My people go…over and over…until finally, “I’ll let My people go…” and since you wouldn’t be the tool that I could use to make advancement, you will be part of the cost.  The expense side of the ledger.  And folks, you may feel a statement like that is unfair…my response to that in an objective setting such as this is, “Why?” 
• Who is the one that has not responded? Who is the one that has resisted?  Not God?  Peter Drucker once said, “Knowledge must be continually improved and advanced or it vanishes.”  I like that.  What have you done with what you have learned?  What do you do when God shows you something?  If you do nothing with it…then it’s like you never knew it.  If you don’t act on what you know to be right, you do not know what is right…does that make sense? 
• God has reached out to Pharaoh time and time again. With great wonders.  With great messengers.  He has used his nation, his people, his home, his day, his activities, his atmosphere, even his own false gods…what else, how else is left?  Unfortunately for Pharaoh, great loss…exceedingly great sorrowful loss…and yet even in the greatest of loss and regret there remains one more chance for him. 

Exodus Chapter 11 Verses 1 – 3

• What’s going on here? It seems almost odd…let me help you.  God makes His people whole.  They had been in Egypt for over 400 years…many years as honored guests under Joseph, getting the best of the land and favor in the nation…and then many years as   Before they depart, God pays them their back wages and I love that.  I will always lean on this…always trust on this…that there is NO LOSS in the Kingdom of God.  That which you lose may not be returned to you but man let me tell you, it will be overly compensated for by God!  He will and does always make His people whole.
• When you are shaking the stings of your brothers and sisters off and you want to shake them towards them…yet you choose to send the serpent to the fire…when you suffer in the darkness of your broken heart because of this world and the ways of it…as you seek the Lord…when you elevate the Spirit to the lead of your life and it costs you that job or that relationship or that profit…when you put God and others before yourself, remember this truth…God will always make His people whole. He has never been and will never be a debtor to any man.  I lean on that often because my flesh sees every opportunity for earthly flesh-filled justice but my Spirit says, “Wait, I’ll show you yet a more excellent way.” 
• Romans 12:17-19 says, “Repay no one evil for evil. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengence is Mine, I will repay!””  Repay whom?  1 Peter 3:8-9, “All of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit the blessing!”  Look down at verse 14, “As you suffer for righteousness sake, you are (will be) blessed.”  And in that moment that the Spirit, the Boss, the Captain, the Lead, the Shot Caller of my heart and life says to my flesh, down boy…it howls all the louder…but I know…God will and does repay…He never does and will never owe me anything!!  Remember that!! 
• Two more quick points. One very practical…the Egyptians can’t wait to pay the Hebrews to leave!  HA!  Their land, their homes, their livestock, their lives are decimated!!  Go Hebrews!  Here, take this and go!  And second, as God repays them, makes them whole…I want you to know…there are generations of slaves that lived and died…it’s only this last generation made whole as they leave.  Is that enough for you?  It isn’t for most people.  To suffer for righteousness sake for no benefit of your own but only to benefit that little one watching.  No son we don’t watch that kind of movie.  No daughter, you cannot go out on that date.  Yes, we are going to church Wednesday night…and they rebel and sigh and do the drag leg routine!!  But when they are old, they will not depart from the faith!  Is that enough for you!?  It is for me!

Exodus Chapter 11 Verses 4 – 10

• The word used here for “difference” could be translated, “to be distinguished.” All that we have discussed just tonight, let alone the hundreds of Bible studies we have had a church, but just tonight…to give the Spirit the spot of Lead in your life, to go to Jesus to cut through the thick darkness in your heart that others can even feel, at absolute war in your heart of hearts and your life against the pride of life, the universal grip of the flesh…acting affirmatively on the knowledge you are gaining of the truth in Jesus Christ and His Word, trusting God with your moments that He will make you whole and never be in debt to you whether you see it or it’s the next generation…if you resolve in just one of those…wow, perhaps all of those things…do you think you’d be any different than the world…would you be any different than you are today?