How many times has God freed His people?  Adam, Egypt, Babylon, Jesus, the Rapture, the New Heaven…you can tell a lot about the intentions of a person’s heart and how they are defined in their inner most parts by what they continue to do…

Exodus Chapter 7 Verse 1

• Why would He do that? Seems odd.  He is God, right?  But, Pharaoh would not listen to God nor was he willing to know God and so God began to deal with Pharaoh through Moses.  Have you ever heard the saying, “You may be all the Bible someone ever reads?”  God still does this with us.  He will send us, filled with the Holy Spirit, to testify, to put on display, to educate the darkness that is in the world about the truth that ultimately everyone will know…
• Jesus said in John 16:8-11, Jesus said, “When He has come, He will convict (reveal the fault, bring correction, call to account) the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” Believers, we are to shine as lights in the world (Philippians 2:15) and in order to do so, we may be accused of judging people. 
• We are not judging people, that is not our place. God is their judge.  But what we are to most certainly do is reveal, call to account and DEFINE sin for the world while pointing to and putting on display righteousness!  That is precisely what Jesus said the Holy Spirit will do…and the church are those who are filled and led by the Holy Spirit.
• So don’t refuse the title of judge when someone is defensive. Of course they will be defensive…you are talking about fault…but judge as Jesus has commanded us to judge.  Jesus said in John 7:24, “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”  How do you do that?  With the heart of God, objectively pointing not to how you’re offended or inconvenienced or better than them, but pointing to the Word of God. 
• Check this out, simplification baby…what I’m all about. Judge like you love them!!  Judge for THEIR best, not yours! In these last days, God is still sending folks in His place to the Pharaohs of the world.

Exodus Chapter 7 Verse 2

• Why is it that all of the movies and story books have Moses at the forefront with Aaron in the background? It’s a good question considering what God commanded and what actually happened is Aaron a bunch of the work.  I have a small suggestion.  The flesh of man absolutely detests submission.  It was the original sin…rebellion and rejection of submission.  But truly, just as Moses was not to act on his own initiative but to carry out God’s direction, Aaron is not to act on his own either, but to wait for Moses’ direction.  That is not a popular truth, not marketable…but that is precisely where God is…
• Why do we hate submission? Because submission is only possible when you don’t agree.  It requires disagreement and you trusting God, loving God and loving others, respecting others even more than you love and respect yourself.  BUT THAT IS THE CROSS, man!  Wholly foreign to the way this world works and thinks!!  Don’t tell me you’re submissive if you never disagree…wow…that will blow minds!

Exodus Chapter 7 Verses 3 – 4a

• We’ve covered this in studies past, specifically when we studied Chapter 4, but I want to say again, God did not harden Pharaoh’s heart against Pharaoh’s will. Pharaoh will not heed them and God knew it and so God simply confirms Pharaoh’s free will!

Exodus Chapter 7 Verses 4 – 7

• I love that the Holy Spirit just throws in that both Moses and Aaron were senior citizens! Whatever it is that you think limits you in serving the Lord, reconsider…

Exodus Chapter 7 Verses 8 – 10

• The last time that Moses met with Pharaoh, things went extra wrong! HA!  But now he goes back.  Why?  Simple obedience. The world calls that   Ever heard this.  The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different outcome?  The world calls that crazy.  I call that practice!  HA!  To go back it took courage and faith on the part of Moses.  It took the simplicity of wisdom in obedience.  And because of it, well, the story goes on…

Exodus Chapter 7 Verses 11 – 13

• What is going on here? How could this be that the witches of Pharaoh were able to do this?  Simple, one of the weapons in Satan’s arsenal is demonic/spiritual power!  Why would the Bible warn against consulting familiar spirits?  Leviticus 19:31 says, “Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them:  I am the Lord your God.”  Why would we be in danger of defilement…why would God give warning?  Because the darkness of evil in the spirit is real and Satan will and does use it to fight for souls.
• 1 John 4:1 says, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God…” This is very important.  Ultimately signs, wonders, miracles, be careful that our faith does not find its foundation there…Paul wrote concerning the last days in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10, “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all powers, signs, and lying wonders…”  The bedrock foundation for faith must be the Word of God. 
• Imagine if you or someone you love or someone you know living a very dark lifestyle, apart from the Lord, not in any way walking with the Lord and definitely not being used by the Lord to reach the lost…and they receive a sign…an angel, or a vision of God with them and reaching to them and smiling at them or something…some, not knowing the Word of God, not knowing who God is, may be made more solid in their depravity, thinking that God is with them and will walk with them like Kanye used to rap, right in their sin…We must be on guard and we must have a faith based on and filtered by the truth of the Word of God which God has exalted even above His own name. (Psalm 138:2)  Miracles prove that something is supernatural, but the Word of God proves that something is true.
• And I love this…Aaron’s rod (a picture of power and authority) devours the rod of the sorcerer…What God is doing is well more powerful, or what God wants to do if you’ll trust Him, is devouringly more powerful than what the world or enemy can or wants to do! God’s ways are always stronger!

Exodus Chapter 7 Verses 14 – 19

• There have been some in the past that have tried to explain the Exodus account of the plagues of God With some sort of scientific explanation.  That somehow there was some sort of natural phenomena that happened that caused the Nile River to turn red…like a red tide…but that doesn’t work.  (But before we move on…What is the most important day in Egypt?  Mummy’s Day!  HA!!  What kind of underwear do mummies wear?  Fruit of the Tomb!  HA!!)
• That just someone trying to explain away the Word of God…because we read here that it wasn’t just the Nile, but every bit of water that had been drawn from the Nile, in wood and stone basins in the homes of the Egyptians also turned to blood. (Most popular style of music in ancient Egypt?  WRAP music!  HA!!)
• Now, this is interesting. What we will see throughout these plagues is exactly what God said.  That He would show the Egyptians that He is the Lord, how?  By dismantling their gods.  First the serpent/crocodile and now the Nile.  Both worshipped as sacred gods.  The Nile being the god of life to the Egyptians…and next will come frogs which was also the symbol of their goddess, Heqet (the goddess of childbirth and creation).  God will show Himself stronger and God of their lesser gods!  (Interesting fact, we have Egyptian writings on papyrus (specifically lpuwer 2.10) which states that the Nile was blood and undrinkable)

Exodus Chapter 7 Verses 20 – 22

• Alright, that is double dumb! Dumb and dumber!!  HA!  If the magicians were legit, why not remove the blood?  Turn the blood back into water!  I like what F.B. Meyer says to that question, “Alleviation of human suffering is no part of the program of the devil or his angels.  That only comes from God.”  I like that.  What a bunch of losers but here’s the thing, Pharaoh falls for it! 

Exodus Chapter 7 Verses 23 – 25

• Notice as we close, Pharaoh is seeing with his eyes, hearing with his ears, debating and answering with his mouth, contemplating with his mind and rationale, but the issue that keeps him from freedom is his heart. Through all this, his heart was not moved.  We may, you may, I may think our issues of life are our histories or our situations or our spouses or our jobs or our physical limitations…or whatever…when the truth is, our issue is singular.  Our hearts, man.  Will God’s Word, God’s call, God’s love move your heart towards Him today?  If so, you move towards the answer and freedom in every other false god thing you think is the real issue, subject or problem.