Leadership Seminar 6: Portraits of Leadership - Chris Hamiton
00:00:00.000 | >> Whenever we talk about the general topic of leadership questions are raised about political
00:00:08.280 | and government leadership.
00:00:11.080 | And tonight we're going to address that issue by looking at the story of Moses and Pharaoh
00:00:16.440 | recorded in Exodus 1 through 14.
00:00:19.760 | Yes, we are going to cover 14 chapters of Exodus tonight.
00:00:24.380 | It's the story of two men, leaders of their nations, involved in a high stakes dramatic
00:00:31.200 | series of confrontations with the fate of nations in the balance.
00:00:37.640 | And before we do that, there's two aspects of political or government leadership that
00:00:42.200 | exist in tension that I think we have to address right away.
00:00:47.520 | One is that government or political leadership is ordained and appointed by God for our good
00:00:56.800 | and also for his glory.
00:01:00.020 | Government properly functioning as described in Romans 13 restrains and punishes sin.
00:01:06.900 | It rewards good.
00:01:09.660 | And when people reject the authority of government leaders for whatever reason, sin, chaos and
00:01:17.980 | disaster is the result.
00:01:19.540 | In fact, in Judges 21 verse 25, it describes what happened this way, "In those days there
00:01:26.860 | was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in their own eyes."
00:01:33.560 | The other tension there, the other side of that is that wicked, evil and godless political
00:01:38.000 | leadership is both a reflection of the people of that nation and that kind of leadership
00:01:45.420 | also leads a nation into evil and the certain and terrible consequences of sin.
00:01:53.560 | This is not new.
00:01:56.040 | All the kings of Israel and most of the kings of Judah described in 1 and 2 Kings were described
00:02:03.680 | as having done evil in the sight of the Lord.
00:02:07.740 | As the kings went, the people followed and vice versa.
00:02:13.940 | And you can read of the devastation of the afflicted in all of those accounts.
00:02:20.520 | So we must submit to government as God's ministers of good and we also must think about what
00:02:26.400 | to do with evil political leadership.
00:02:30.160 | Which leadership is the cause of evil and it is the result and I would even say the
00:02:34.780 | consequence of evil in the world.
00:02:40.320 | How should we think about the leaders around us, those who lead the world, those who lead
00:02:44.580 | our country, presidents, kings, prime ministers, senators, congressmen?
00:02:51.620 | We have a speaker of the house now who says he has a biblical worldview.
00:02:56.820 | How do we evaluate that?
00:02:59.240 | Governors, they've all been given visible substantial leadership roles and as you consider
00:03:05.940 | who's in charge and how to think about them, the Bible is obviously authoritative and helpful
00:03:11.900 | and the contrast and the similarities between Moses and Pharaoh that we're going to look
00:03:15.900 | at tonight are illustrative.
00:03:20.620 | I'm not looking to give you three elements of good leadership or bad leadership or the
00:03:28.520 | four steps to determining whether you should support leadership or the biblical framework
00:03:34.480 | for choosing who to vote for.
00:03:37.200 | The fact is as we're going to see tonight, those really aren't the right questions and
00:03:41.480 | they don't get us to the right place, to relevant conclusions as we consider political leadership
00:03:49.020 | in this world.
00:03:52.020 | Little footnote before we jump into Exodus 1.
00:03:54.260 | I am racing through Exodus 1 through 14 tonight.
00:03:58.340 | These are 14 chapters of incredible drama, a deep story, great color added to the story,
00:04:05.500 | a rich history and I cannot urge you strongly enough to go home either tonight or in the
00:04:11.500 | next few days and take the time to read these chapters.
00:04:15.380 | You will marvel at how much I'm leaving out tonight.
00:04:19.120 | I made the mistake of reading those chapters late last night and I marveled at how much
00:04:23.660 | I was leaving out.
00:04:24.740 | It's frustrating.
00:04:25.740 | It's a great story.
00:04:28.500 | But just understand, we're going to focus on two men, profiles and leadership.
00:04:33.780 | And we're going to start in Exodus 1.
00:04:36.140 | If you have your Bible, Exodus is right after Genesis, it's way back in the beginning.
00:04:42.500 | It's the tale of two leaders and the fate of two countries inextricably linked to the
00:04:49.620 | leadership of these two men and the relationship these two men had with their leader because
00:04:55.260 | everyone answers to somebody.
00:04:58.380 | First, we need to understand Egypt.
00:05:01.020 | Egypt is a desert with a river running through it and that river is the Nile River.
00:05:09.100 | Without the Nile River, there is no Egypt.
00:05:12.440 | With the Nile River, there was enormous wealth and power.
00:05:17.740 | The Nile River is the longest river in the world and that river delivered to Egypt practical
00:05:24.260 | sustenance, even life.
00:05:26.740 | It was a source of water, fish, and fertile soil from the Ethiopian highlands which are
00:05:33.940 | deposited in the Egyptian basin delta as it empties into the Mediterranean.
00:05:40.780 | That fertile soil enabled Egypt to supply much of the Mediterranean region and the world
00:05:46.820 | with grain, food.
00:05:49.380 | That explains why the Israelites would always go to Egypt when there was a famine or a drought
00:05:56.100 | in their land.
00:05:59.100 | So that's Egypt.
00:06:00.940 | Now we look at Israel and now we're in Exodus 1.
00:06:04.140 | If you're going to follow with me in the Bible, I hope I give you enough markers to stay up
00:06:10.180 | with me.
00:06:11.180 | We're going to go fast.
00:06:12.820 | Chapter 1 starts with the Israelites being captive within Egypt and when Exodus 1 starts,
00:06:19.540 | they have been captive inside of Egypt for 280 years.
00:06:26.060 | To give you some perspective, 280 years ago, it was 1744.
00:06:31.020 | It's a really long time for a world that lives in 10-minute news cycles.
00:06:39.380 | It's not how it worked back then.
00:06:41.380 | And since the end of Genesis, the captives grew, the Israelites grew from 70 men to approximately
00:06:48.180 | 600,000 males.
00:06:53.140 | Exodus 1 verse 7 says, "But the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly and multiplied
00:06:58.100 | and became exceedingly mighty so that the land was filled with them."
00:07:01.180 | The Israelites had become a national security issue but also an economic powerhouse because
00:07:10.140 | of the slave labor they provided.
00:07:12.880 | They had become a nation inside of a nation.
00:07:18.580 | Verse 8 of chapter 1 says, "A new king arose over Egypt."
00:07:22.540 | Verse 9, "He obviously saw the problem.
00:07:26.260 | He said to his people, 'Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier
00:07:30.540 | than we.
00:07:32.540 | Come let us deal wisely with them or else they will multiply and in the event of war,
00:07:36.260 | they will also join themselves to those who hate us and fight against us and depart from
00:07:41.900 | the land.'"
00:07:42.900 | There's two threats.
00:07:45.600 | One is if somebody attacks Egypt, the Israelites might join the attacking nation.
00:07:52.580 | The other threat is the Israelites might leave us and then we lose all that labor.
00:07:58.900 | So rather than be nice to the Israelites to make them want to stay, they went the exact
00:08:02.780 | opposite direction.
00:08:04.820 | Black masters were appointed to afflict them even more with hard labor, it says in verse
00:08:10.220 | 11.
00:08:11.220 | And the great thing is in verse 12, it says, "The harder they worked, the more they had
00:08:15.140 | babies."
00:08:16.140 | They multiplied.
00:08:19.660 | Egypt made their life bitter with hard labor and this pharaoh led the way.
00:08:25.900 | And the king finally decided or the pharaoh finally decided that he needed to stop the
00:08:30.300 | population growth.
00:08:31.580 | So his first try in verses 15 and 16 was to go to the midwives and say, "Kill all the
00:08:36.860 | male children."
00:08:39.340 | But it says in verse 17, "The midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had
00:08:43.620 | commanded them but let the boys live."
00:08:46.740 | His second attempt later on in chapter 1 verse 22, he decrees that, "Every son who is born,
00:08:56.900 | you are to cast into the Nile and every daughter you are to keep alive."
00:09:01.860 | It's probably a familiar story to you because in chapter 2 now, that's the context in which
00:09:08.780 | Moses is born.
00:09:11.980 | And you probably know his story.
00:09:13.260 | The daughter of Pharaoh rescues him, saves Moses, raises him as her own, as if he is
00:09:20.140 | one of her children.
00:09:21.780 | He's raising the culture, the wealth, and the power of Pharaoh's family.
00:09:29.580 | When he's 40 years old, he goes to visit his people.
00:09:32.540 | Yes, I said 40.
00:09:33.800 | We just skipped 40 years of history.
00:09:37.620 | And in verse 11 of chapter 2, it says, "Now it came about in those days when Moses had
00:09:42.220 | grown up that he went out to his brethren and looked on their hard labors and he saw
00:09:47.700 | an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren.
00:09:52.420 | So he looked this way and that and when he saw there was no one around, he struck down
00:09:56.980 | the Egyptian and hid him in the sand."
00:10:00.700 | That's Bible talk for murder.
00:10:04.380 | Moses' first recorded public act was murder.
00:10:10.660 | And by the way, on your handout, there's a lot of open space.
00:10:12.940 | If you're taking notes, I want you to note the biographical details of these two leaders.
00:10:20.060 | And sadly, the first one for Moses is he's a murderer.
00:10:27.300 | He thinks there's no witnesses, but the very next day, it says in the passage, he's trying
00:10:32.960 | to break up a fight between two of the Israelites, the Hebrews.
00:10:36.500 | And in verse 14, one of the Hebrews says to him, "Who made you a prince or a judge over
00:10:40.180 | us?
00:10:41.180 | Were you intending to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?"
00:10:46.060 | Then Moses was afraid and said, "Surely the matter has become known."
00:10:51.380 | And indeed it had because verse 15 says that when Pharaoh heard of this matter, he tried
00:10:57.260 | to kill Moses.
00:11:00.100 | Pharaoh almost meets Moses.
00:11:04.020 | Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian.
00:11:08.160 | That is in modern day Saudi Arabia.
00:11:14.440 | He marries there and has children.
00:11:18.260 | And now we're to Exodus chapter 3.
00:11:20.540 | Now Moses is 80 years old and he is called by God at 80 years old to rescue his people.
00:11:30.140 | That's where you'll find the encounter with God through the burning bush.
00:11:34.860 | And in Exodus 3, there's the preparation and training of Moses.
00:11:38.940 | It's an interesting read.
00:11:41.120 | And God tells him what to say to the Israelites and what God is going to do.
00:11:46.300 | And I know you're familiar with the story, but just listen.
00:11:49.180 | God says, "I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land flowing with
00:11:53.660 | milk and honey."
00:11:54.660 | They, meaning the Israelites, will pay heed to what you say.
00:12:00.500 | The king of Egypt or Pharaoh will not permit you to go except under compulsion.
00:12:05.240 | I will stretch out my hand.
00:12:07.180 | I will grant this people favor.
00:12:09.560 | You will plunder the Egyptians.
00:12:13.640 | All of this is given to Moses in preparation for what God's calling him to do.
00:12:19.240 | And then you get to Exodus 4 and either we're looking at the demonstration of genuine humility
00:12:26.340 | or fear or just foolishness on the part of Moses.
00:12:31.620 | After he has been trained by the Lord, he sees the power of the Lord.
00:12:34.860 | The Lord has told him what he's going to do.
00:12:37.780 | Moses says to God, "What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say?
00:12:41.640 | For they may say, 'The Lord has not appeared to you.'"
00:12:44.100 | Fair question.
00:12:46.700 | In response, God shows Moses his power through a series of miracles.
00:12:50.980 | We don't have time to go through them, but they're astounding.
00:12:55.320 | Then after that demonstration of God's power, verse 10, "Moses said to the Lord, 'Please,
00:13:00.940 | Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since you have
00:13:07.260 | spoken to your servant, for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.'"
00:13:12.640 | God responds to him in verse 11, "The Lord said, 'Who has made man's mouth or who makes
00:13:17.380 | him mute or deaf or seeing or blind?
00:13:19.940 | Is it not I, the Lord?
00:13:22.960 | Now then, go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to say.'"
00:13:29.540 | This is the God of the universe giving Moses everything.
00:13:37.460 | Moses in verse 13 says, "Please, Lord, now send the message by whomever you will."
00:13:43.840 | The translation of that is, "Send anybody but me."
00:13:47.460 | Isn't that incredible?
00:13:49.700 | Moses is negotiating with God.
00:13:55.380 | Send someone other than me.
00:13:56.540 | He believes he knows better and that he has standing to argue with God, to defy God, and
00:14:03.860 | he doesn't.
00:14:05.620 | None of us do.
00:14:08.980 | Verse 14, it says, "The anger of the Lord burned against Moses."
00:14:14.580 | I think you and I would hope that's never said of us.
00:14:17.460 | It's not a good place to be.
00:14:19.180 | "The anger of the Lord burned against Moses, and God said, 'Is there not your brother Aaron,
00:14:23.860 | the Levite?'"
00:14:24.860 | It goes on to describe the process of God allowing Moses and Aaron to go together.
00:14:34.260 | Then verse 19, "The Lord said to Moses and Midian, 'Go back to Egypt now, for all the
00:14:39.140 | men who were seeking your life are dead.'
00:14:43.220 | Moses obeys the Lord."
00:14:45.340 | I think it's fair to note here that he doesn't do a Jonah.
00:14:48.780 | It's an important note.
00:14:52.060 | Moses doesn't want to go.
00:14:53.300 | I hope you picked up on that.
00:14:55.480 | He doesn't think he's the guy, and he's working really hard to prove it, but God has picked
00:15:02.780 | him, and he tells him to go, and Moses obeys the Lord.
00:15:08.660 | Exodus 4.29 says, "Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the sons of Israel,
00:15:14.260 | and Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses."
00:15:17.820 | Did you catch that?
00:15:20.540 | Moses is still afraid.
00:15:22.620 | Aaron does the talking.
00:15:24.340 | "Aaron then performed the signs in the sight of the people, so the people believed.
00:15:28.700 | And when they heard that the Lord was concerned about the sons of Israel, and that he had
00:15:32.820 | seen their affliction, then they bowed low and worshiped."
00:15:37.700 | And they all lived happily ever after, right?
00:15:40.780 | No.
00:15:41.780 | We have a ways to go.
00:15:43.820 | And before we jump into Exodus chapter five now to meet Pharaoh, I want to introduce you
00:15:49.420 | to Pharaoh, and this is really short.
00:15:54.700 | Pharaoh's identity is unknown beyond the behavior that's described here in the Bible and his
00:16:01.120 | title, Pharaoh.
00:16:04.920 | He was immensely powerful, wealthy, and by all estimations, an effective, bold, aggressive,
00:16:10.900 | powerful, and confident leader who had built a wealthy nation.
00:16:17.100 | He was also as pagan as they come.
00:16:20.500 | And it's interesting that history has completely blotted out his name, including in the nation
00:16:24.940 | Egypt.
00:16:27.300 | They destroyed all records of this Pharaoh's reign.
00:16:33.100 | Chapter five, "Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh," they're finally meeting now,
00:16:39.900 | "Moses ultimately submits and obeys God."
00:16:44.500 | And from here on out, you will note that God tells Moses what to do, and he does it.
00:16:52.420 | "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, said Moses, 'Let my people go, that they may celebrate
00:16:58.940 | a feast to me in the wilderness.'
00:17:01.420 | But Pharaoh said, 'Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go?
00:17:07.140 | I do not know the Lord, and besides, I will not let Israel go.'"
00:17:12.140 | Verse four, "But the king of Egypt, Pharaoh said to them, 'Moses and Aaron, why do you
00:17:15.840 | draw the people away from their work?
00:17:18.420 | Get back to your labors.'
00:17:20.020 | Again, Pharaoh said, 'Look, the people of the land are now many, and you would have
00:17:25.980 | them cease from their labors.'"
00:17:28.980 | In other words, Pharaoh's not buying it.
00:17:32.660 | He orders the Israelites to work harder, and the people come to Pharaoh, the foremen of
00:17:38.820 | the workers come to Pharaoh to appeal to him, and his response is, "You are lazy, very lazy."
00:17:45.220 | And he orders the harsh treatment to be elevated to another level.
00:17:52.100 | So from the perspective of the Israelites, life has gotten markedly worse since this
00:17:57.400 | man Moses showed up and said that he was going to lead them to freedom.
00:18:04.780 | Here's this guy saying he's come to deliver them, and so far he's alienated Pharaoh so
00:18:09.580 | much and angered him so much that their life is now more difficult than it ever was before
00:18:14.340 | Moses showed up.
00:18:15.940 | It's obviously Moses' fault.
00:18:20.500 | Verse 19, the foremen come from a meeting with Pharaoh, they saw that they were in trouble,
00:18:28.140 | it says in verse 19, and then in verse 20, "When they left Pharaoh's presence, they met
00:18:32.940 | Moses and Aaron as they were waiting for them, and they said to them, 'May the Lord look
00:18:38.200 | upon you, Moses, and judge you, Moses, for you, Moses, have made us odious in Pharaoh's
00:18:44.900 | sight and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us.'"
00:18:52.180 | This is a tough hit.
00:18:57.020 | Moses knows the Lord is in control of all of this, the timing and the force of the events.
00:19:02.180 | Moses is an observer, he's a leader, but in that sense he is an observer, he's a follower
00:19:09.020 | of God and conversely the leader of God's people.
00:19:14.480 | So he's kind of betwixt and between as they say.
00:19:18.820 | He's in this gap, Moses loves his people and this must have stung.
00:19:24.780 | And by the way, this is one of the many costs of leadership and some of you know this, there's
00:19:28.100 | people who think they have all the information and they declare with no grace or hesitation
00:19:33.980 | the failure and the incompetence of leadership.
00:19:38.500 | And that's what the people did with Moses.
00:19:42.340 | So what does Moses do with that?
00:19:45.060 | Unfortunately, rather than lead, rather than remind the people of God's words and God's
00:19:52.340 | acts and the power of God, he does the same thing his people did to him.
00:19:58.740 | It says in verse 22, "Moses went to the Lord and said, 'O Lord, why have you brought harm
00:20:05.500 | to this people?
00:20:08.420 | Why did you ever send me?'"
00:20:10.940 | He's back like the dog returning to its vomit.
00:20:14.720 | "Why did you send me?
00:20:18.680 | Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, Pharaoh has done harm to this people
00:20:24.020 | and you have not delivered your people at all."
00:20:30.200 | That's bold in all the wrong ways.
00:20:34.820 | He doesn't lead.
00:20:35.820 | He reminds his people, his people's distrust of the Lord's power and authority and this
00:20:40.620 | is leadership by consensus rather than principled, courageous leadership.
00:20:46.740 | This is just another illustration how often leadership weakness is just a reflection of
00:20:53.060 | the weaknesses of the people that are being led.
00:20:57.340 | God's response is really interesting.
00:20:58.940 | If you go to Exodus chapter 6 verse 1, it's a key verse in this whole story.
00:21:05.820 | It says, "Then the Lord said to Moses in response to what Moses just said," he said, "Okay,
00:21:15.060 | I get it.
00:21:16.060 | Next Tuesday this will all be over."
00:21:17.260 | Is that what he says?
00:21:19.580 | It's not what he says.
00:21:23.140 | He says, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh.
00:21:25.380 | For under compulsion he will let them go and under compulsion he will drive them out of
00:21:30.300 | his land."
00:21:31.300 | Don't go over that too quickly.
00:21:32.340 | What you have is two completely contradictory statements, at least on their face.
00:21:38.740 | What God says to Moses is Pharaoh will let them go under compulsion and Pharaoh will
00:21:43.580 | drive them out under compulsion.
00:21:46.420 | So which is it?
00:21:47.940 | It's interesting that the response of God to Moses' complaint is not clarity.
00:21:54.580 | It's muddy water.
00:21:57.300 | His response must have caused a lot of confusion with a statement that seems impossible and
00:22:02.780 | contradictory.
00:22:03.780 | God does not give what Moses had hoped for, no clarity, no timeline.
00:22:11.740 | You see, there's no need for God to do that ever.
00:22:14.340 | He doesn't need to explain or clarify anything.
00:22:19.060 | Time does all of that.
00:22:22.380 | And that's in fact what happens.
00:22:26.500 | We're now to Exodus 7, the first plague.
00:22:33.500 | And before we get to the plague, you can read later in the beginning part of chapter 7,
00:22:38.360 | God demonstrates his power to Pharaoh with one more chance for Pharaoh to repent, to
00:22:44.420 | bend.
00:22:46.420 | This is his last chance to humble himself and save his country and his people from the
00:22:50.860 | wrath of God.
00:22:51.860 | He rejects that opportunity and the rest is history.
00:22:55.060 | And the first plague is in verse 20, "Moses and Aaron did even as the Lord had commanded
00:23:01.620 | and he lifted up the staff, struck the water that was in the Nile in the sight of Pharaoh
00:23:06.420 | and in the sight of his servants and all the water that was in the Nile was turned to blood.
00:23:12.140 | The fish that were in the Nile died and the Nile became foul so that the Egyptians could
00:23:16.940 | not drink water from the Nile and the blood was throughout the land of Egypt."
00:23:25.580 | Notice the text doesn't say the water turned red like blood, the water turned to blood.
00:23:31.620 | You can imagine what that smelled like, especially when all the fish died.
00:23:37.540 | The stench of dead fish and the terror of the people because there's no drinking water.
00:23:43.580 | And what's Pharaoh's response?
00:23:44.660 | It says in verse 23, "He turned and went into his house with no concern."
00:23:48.620 | It says a lot that Pharaoh had no concern for his people.
00:23:53.620 | He was in a struggle with God and in his mind the people were simply collateral to that
00:23:59.580 | struggle.
00:24:00.580 | We move on to chapter 8, "Frogs, Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt and
00:24:06.380 | the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt."
00:24:10.420 | Verse 8, "Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, 'Entreat the Lord that he remove
00:24:15.660 | the frogs from me and my people and I will let the people go that they may sacrifice
00:24:21.940 | to the Lord.'"
00:24:22.940 | It sounds like Pharaoh's in the right place, doesn't it?
00:24:28.580 | Verse 9 starts off with the words, "Moses said to Pharaoh," and I just want to make
00:24:33.060 | note here.
00:24:34.420 | "Moses seems to have lost his timidity now and his reliance on Aaron.
00:24:41.900 | Moses interacts firmly and clearly with Pharaoh and it says, "Moses cries out to the Lord
00:24:47.380 | concerning the frogs.
00:24:49.420 | Moses prays on behalf of Pharaoh and the people, 'Lord, take this away.'
00:24:54.900 | The Lord did according to the word of Moses," it says in verse 13, "and the frogs died out
00:24:58.780 | of the houses, the courts and the fields, so they piled them up in heaps and the land
00:25:02.660 | became foul."
00:25:03.820 | You can imagine.
00:25:05.180 | "But when Pharaoh saw there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not listen to them
00:25:11.100 | as the Lord had said."
00:25:15.340 | We need to make note of Pharaoh.
00:25:16.860 | He's a liar.
00:25:18.420 | He's dishonest.
00:25:20.000 | He's negotiating with a God without realizing he's negotiating with a God who doesn't negotiate.
00:25:26.420 | And you'll see that over and over and over.
00:25:28.800 | It's beyond Pharaoh's ego-driven worldview to ever consider that he answers to God and
00:25:36.800 | not the other way around.
00:25:39.760 | And you'll see that throughout the story.
00:25:41.560 | Moses, on the other hand, is compassionate.
00:25:44.640 | He's obedient.
00:25:46.780 | He follows the playbook exactly and his boldness is growing.
00:25:53.200 | We go to the third plague, the gnats, or biting insects.
00:25:57.120 | Verse 17, "All the dust of the earth became gnats through all the land of Egypt."
00:26:02.700 | Pharaoh's response in verse 19, "His heart was hardened and he did not listen to them."
00:26:10.240 | The fourth, flies, "There came great swarms of flies," in verse 24, "into the house of
00:26:15.360 | Pharaoh and the houses of his servants and the land was laid waste because of the swarms
00:26:19.840 | of flies in all the land of Egypt."
00:26:24.200 | Verse 28 records Pharaoh's response to this one.
00:26:26.960 | He says, "I will let you go that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness, only
00:26:33.440 | you shall not go very far away.
00:26:35.660 | Make supplication for me."
00:26:39.140 | He thinks God works for him.
00:26:43.120 | Verse 30, "Moses went out from Pharaoh and made supplication to the Lord."
00:26:46.560 | And you see this pattern over and over and over.
00:26:49.440 | Moses is a compassionate man.
00:26:52.520 | "The Lord did as Moses asked and removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants
00:26:58.360 | and from his people.
00:26:59.480 | Not one remained, but Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also and he did not let the
00:27:05.800 | people go."
00:27:06.800 | We move on to chapter 9, three more plagues.
00:27:13.200 | Verse 6 of chapter 9 says, "All the livestock of Egypt died, but the livestock of the sons
00:27:18.120 | of Israel, not one died."
00:27:22.520 | You could say that frogs, gnats, and flies are more of a personal annoyance, but when
00:27:27.480 | the animals die, that goes to the heart of the economy and the food supply.
00:27:34.760 | Things are tightening down and verse 7 of chapter 9 says, "The heart of Pharaoh was
00:27:39.300 | hardened and he did not let the people go."
00:27:43.340 | Number 6 is boils, and I know you've enjoyed my pictures.
00:27:46.680 | I actually found pictures of boils and I decided not to do that to you.
00:27:52.320 | You can do that to yourself, Google it.
00:27:55.800 | Verse 10, "They took soot from a kiln and stood before Pharaoh, and Moses threw it towards
00:28:01.400 | the sky and it became boils breaking out with sores on man and beast.
00:28:06.560 | The magicians couldn't even stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were on
00:28:12.760 | the magicians as well as on all the Egyptians."
00:28:17.000 | This is painful stuff.
00:28:18.760 | Verse 12, "And the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart.
00:28:21.440 | He did not listen to them just as the Lord had spoken to Moses."
00:28:26.960 | Hail, verse 23 of chapter 9, "The Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt."
00:28:32.680 | Verse 27, and I am skipping a lot, "Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and said to them,
00:28:38.480 | 'Listen to this, I have sinned this time.'"
00:28:43.080 | Now we're getting somewhere, aren't we?
00:28:45.280 | "I have sinned this time.
00:28:46.800 | The Lord is the righteous one and I and my people are the wicked ones.
00:28:50.720 | Make supplication to the Lord for there has been enough of God's thunder and hail and
00:28:56.440 | I will let you go and you shall stay no longer."
00:29:01.720 | Pharaoh makes the mistake of believing that confession, saying, "I have sinned," is the
00:29:06.560 | same as repentance.
00:29:09.760 | In that, he demonstrates his understanding of his need to repent and his refusal to do
00:29:16.240 | repentance the way God defines repentance.
00:29:19.960 | It's a game to him.
00:29:22.740 | When you hear a contrition from a politician or a government leader, understand that it
00:29:27.280 | just might not be honest.
00:29:31.560 | Verse 34, "When Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he
00:29:36.640 | sinned again and hardened his heart, he and his servants.
00:29:41.000 | Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he did not let the sons of Israel go, just as the Lord
00:29:45.280 | had spoken through Moses."
00:29:48.320 | Chapter 10, you have the locusts.
00:29:51.200 | Same story, "Pharaoh hurriedly called for Moses and Aaron and said, 'I have sinned against
00:29:56.360 | the Lord your God and against you.
00:29:58.000 | Now therefore, please forgive my sin.
00:30:01.080 | Forgive me this once and make supplication to the Lord your God that he would only remove
00:30:06.120 | death from me.'
00:30:09.200 | Moses went out from Pharaoh and made supplication to the Lord."
00:30:12.240 | There it is again.
00:30:14.440 | Moses has no reason to be concerned for Pharaoh or the people of Egypt.
00:30:19.720 | They're the enemies.
00:30:20.800 | But over and over and over, Moses makes supplication to the Lord.
00:30:25.680 | So the Lord shifted the wind to a very strong west wind, which took up the locusts and drove
00:30:30.980 | them into the Red Sea.
00:30:34.240 | Not one locust was left in all the territory of Egypt.
00:30:37.160 | And what do you think Pharaoh did?
00:30:40.480 | And what do you think the Lord did?
00:30:42.000 | It says, "The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he did not let the sons of Israel go."
00:30:50.880 | The ninth plague is darkness.
00:30:54.360 | Verse 22 of Exodus 10 says that, "Moses stretched out his hand towards the sky."
00:30:59.400 | There's no warning on this one.
00:31:01.180 | They don't go to Pharaoh first.
00:31:02.920 | This just happens.
00:31:03.920 | "And there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days.
00:31:07.920 | They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days.
00:31:12.520 | But all the sons of Israel had light in their dwellings."
00:31:17.960 | No warning.
00:31:18.960 | And the significance of this plague is that it is not only severely inconvenient.
00:31:23.400 | I mean, people were freaking out over a 10-minute eclipse of the sun.
00:31:29.340 | Over the last couple of weeks.
00:31:30.440 | Can you imagine three days?
00:31:33.920 | This was inconvenient, but it went directly to the false religion of the Egyptians.
00:31:38.680 | To blot out the sun was to block out the chief god in the Egyptian pantheon.
00:31:44.800 | The Egyptians worshiped the sun, and the sun was assumed to be the supreme deity.
00:31:53.120 | So darkness for three days also blotted out Pharaoh's power.
00:31:59.040 | This was an unmistakable statement by God of the universe demonstrating true power over
00:32:05.120 | the delegated earthly governmental authority and all their false gods.
00:32:13.740 | Verse 27 of Exodus 10 says, "The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart.
00:32:18.160 | He was not willing to let them go.
00:32:20.680 | Then Pharaoh said to Moses, 'Get away from me.'"
00:32:24.880 | Moses is angry.
00:32:27.640 | And then we get to Exodus 11, the 10th and final.
00:32:31.760 | "Moses says to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the Lord, 'About midnight I'm going out into the midst
00:32:37.480 | of Egypt, and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of
00:32:41.920 | the Pharaoh who sits on his throne.'"
00:32:44.160 | The man he's talking to.
00:32:45.700 | He's telling him his firstborn is going to die.
00:32:49.320 | "From Pharaoh to even the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the millstones, all
00:32:55.320 | the firstborn of the cattle as well, moreover, there shall be a great cry in all the land
00:32:59.920 | of Egypt, such as there has not been before and such as shall never be again."
00:33:06.920 | Again, judgment and grace in the same sentence.
00:33:11.360 | But against any of the sons of Israel, a dog will not even bark.
00:33:14.700 | I love that.
00:33:16.880 | Moses had a sense of humor.
00:33:18.000 | Let me say that again.
00:33:19.100 | He's telling them that the firstborn are going to die from Pharaoh's home all the way down
00:33:24.840 | to his servants, but against the sons of Israel, a dog will not even bark.
00:33:31.480 | In other words, nothing happens to the Israelites, whether against man or beast, that you may
00:33:37.180 | understand how the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.
00:33:43.840 | And it's interesting in the next verse, verse 8, it says, "Moses went out from Pharaoh in
00:33:48.760 | hot anger."
00:33:53.920 | Moses is bold here.
00:33:54.980 | He doesn't need Aaron this time, and that's good.
00:34:00.400 | But after all this time and after everything he's seen, Moses still thinks he can persuade
00:34:05.440 | Pharaoh into compliance.
00:34:08.580 | He has not lost that personal, compassionate concern and hope for Pharaoh.
00:34:16.560 | When he cannot persuade Pharaoh, he doesn't see God's hand in that, he gets frustrated.
00:34:23.080 | He gets angry and emotional.
00:34:26.080 | And like so many times in leadership, you find yourself more concerned with the sinner's
00:34:31.880 | sin than the sinner's concern with their own sin.
00:34:36.120 | And that's where Moses is at.
00:34:39.520 | We move on to Exodus 12 and 13.
00:34:43.320 | In the first 28 verses of Exodus 12, God is preparing his people for travel.
00:34:48.560 | There's 2 million people that are going to be moving.
00:34:52.400 | And then the death comes.
00:34:53.720 | In verse 29, "Now it came about at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in
00:34:58.280 | the land of Egypt from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne to the firstborn of
00:35:04.840 | the captain who was in the dungeon and all the firstborn of cattle."
00:35:08.560 | Exactly what he said he was going to do.
00:35:12.120 | Verse 30 says, "Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians,
00:35:17.720 | and there was a great cry in Egypt."
00:35:19.560 | If you can imagine that, as bad a man as Pharaoh is, his firstborn is dead.
00:35:27.200 | "Then he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, 'Rise up, get out from among my
00:35:33.880 | people, both you and the sons of Israel, and go worship the Lord as you have said.
00:35:38.360 | Take both your flocks and your herds as you have said, and go and bless me also.'"
00:35:48.240 | Pharaoh is a utilitarian, "Get out of here, solve my political problem, but bless me on
00:35:53.880 | your way out the door."
00:35:56.040 | But Exodus 6-1 still isn't fulfilled.
00:35:58.880 | Pharaoh is not driving them out of the land.
00:36:01.320 | He is letting them go under compulsion.
00:36:04.960 | So the story is not done, it's not over.
00:36:09.020 | In Exodus 14, the rest of the story, "When the king of Egypt was told," in verse 5, "that
00:36:16.800 | the people had fled, Pharaoh and his servants had a change of heart towards the people.
00:36:22.560 | And they said, 'What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?'
00:36:29.480 | So he made his chariot ready and took his people with him," verse 7, "and he took six
00:36:34.240 | hundred select chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all
00:36:38.560 | of them.
00:36:39.560 | The Lord hardened the heart of Egypt, the king of Egypt, and he chased after the sons
00:36:43.560 | of Israel, and the sons of Israel were going out boldly."
00:36:47.980 | And you know the rest of the story.
00:36:49.920 | Moses obeys everything the Lord tells him to do in that Exodus.
00:36:54.120 | The water parts, the Israelites cross, the Egyptian army follows in hot pursuit, and
00:37:00.200 | Pharaoh and his army are all wiped out.
00:37:07.200 | So we need to, we just went through 14 chapters of Exodus.
00:37:13.120 | And now I want to draw all of this together and make some observations about leadership.
00:37:18.120 | First, we want to compare the stories of Moses and Pharaoh.
00:37:25.600 | The Bible later summarizes these two lives this way.
00:37:31.400 | Daniel 9 and Revelation 15 calls Moses the slave or the servant of God.
00:37:37.840 | Psalm 90, a beautiful psalm, is written by Moses.
00:37:42.300 | It's called "A Prayer of Moses, the Man of God."
00:37:47.280 | Psalm 105, 26 says that God sent Moses his servant.
00:37:52.360 | Hebrews 11, the faith chapter, the heroes of the faith, Moses is included because of
00:37:59.840 | his obedience.
00:38:00.840 | It says, "He considered the reproach of Christ to be greater riches than the treasures of
00:38:06.800 | Egypt.
00:38:09.720 | He endured as seeing him who is unseen."
00:38:11.960 | Pharaoh, on the other hand, rejected God from the beginning to the end.
00:38:19.240 | Nobody knows his name.
00:38:22.520 | Romans 9, verse 17, summarizes his life this way.
00:38:29.200 | For the scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I raised you up to demonstrate
00:38:33.600 | my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed through the whole earth."
00:38:40.000 | Pharaoh accomplished God's purposes exactly the way God wanted him to.
00:38:48.320 | So if I describe a murderer who's emotional, arrogant, weak leadership, questions God's
00:39:01.560 | powers, thinks he can negotiate with God, accomplishes the purposes of God, and was
00:39:09.840 | appointed by God, am I talking about Moses or am I talking about Pharaoh?
00:39:15.840 | I heard somebody say, "Yes, that is right."
00:39:21.800 | And I threw that term "murderer" in there because both men were murderers and they had
00:39:29.160 | that similarity.
00:39:31.780 | If you were God, would you have picked either man to lead?
00:39:35.080 | But God did.
00:39:38.500 | Those are the similarities, but there's one difference between the two men.
00:39:41.720 | Pharaoh refused to submit, repent, and he died in his defiance and disobedience.
00:39:48.760 | Moses lived by faith.
00:39:51.680 | Pharaoh lived by terminal pride.
00:39:55.560 | Moses' life and leadership were both deeply flawed.
00:39:59.440 | He was human.
00:40:01.240 | His faith was hindered by his sin at times, but the trajectory and pattern of his leadership
00:40:07.000 | was obedience, faith.
00:40:10.720 | Love for God and love for God's people, compassion for Pharaoh, his enemy, a growing boldness,
00:40:19.600 | a humility, faithfulness.
00:40:23.680 | Moses grew larger in his leadership.
00:40:26.860 | Pharaoh was diminished more and more and more every day.
00:40:33.140 | There's a pattern in the circle of events occurring between God and Pharaoh and Moses
00:40:37.040 | and that was repeated over and over, and we need to kind of draw this story together.
00:40:41.880 | And if you would, turn to Exodus 9, 14 to 19.
00:40:46.040 | Six verses.
00:40:47.040 | We're going to go through it very quickly.
00:40:48.240 | It's a short and powerful passage dealing with the plague of the hail, but it's a clear
00:40:57.040 | summary and explanation of the triangle, what I call the triangle of leadership.
00:41:02.920 | Tonight was a tale of two leaders, Moses and Pharaoh and their leader, the God of the universe.
00:41:10.160 | We understand that the book of Exodus is really about God, right?
00:41:15.820 | If you're paying any attention at all to current news, we're watching the world and political
00:41:21.400 | leaders direct the nations towards prosperity or poverty, relative holiness, if you will,
00:41:29.660 | and abject debauchery and evil, success and failure, war and peace, economic growth and
00:41:36.440 | cultural destruction.
00:41:41.560 | Nations are going these directions and you and I don't always get to know the why as
00:41:44.980 | we observe evil people succeed, control, lead, get elected, reelected, and prosper.
00:41:57.460 | And in this short passage in Exodus 9, we see a comprehensive presentation of the foundational
00:42:04.600 | truth to keep in mind when hearing the story of Moses and Pharaoh and while observing the
00:42:10.800 | world around us today, especially as we think about those who are in leadership in government
00:42:17.480 | and politics.
00:42:19.160 | And there's seven observations and we'll go through these very quickly.
00:42:23.560 | They're on your handout from this passage.
00:42:27.000 | First, there is no one like God.
00:42:32.540 | Whoever your favorite politician is, your political party, your historical figure, there
00:42:39.080 | is no one like God.
00:42:40.720 | And we see this starting in verse 14, "For this time, I, God, will send all my plagues
00:42:50.800 | on you and your servants and your people so that you may know that there is no one like
00:42:55.160 | me in all the earth.
00:42:57.180 | For if by now I had put forth my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence,
00:43:03.360 | you would then have been cut off from the earth.
00:43:06.680 | But indeed, for this reason, I have allowed you to remain in order to show you my power
00:43:13.640 | and in order to proclaim my name through all the earth, still you exalt yourself.
00:43:19.120 | Behold, about this time tomorrow, I will send a very heavy hail.
00:43:24.800 | Do you see the personal pronouns?
00:43:27.840 | There is nobody like God."
00:43:31.400 | It's truly remarkable that human beings from their first arrival on this earth have tried
00:43:35.720 | to replace God, to lift people and things above God, to reject the concept that He who
00:43:42.800 | created us owns us and it will ever be till the end.
00:43:49.080 | Believers, just like Pharaoh and Moses in the beginning, attempt to place themselves
00:43:55.640 | above God or as an equal to God and to negotiate with God, to move God.
00:44:04.720 | More obviously, as a leader who seems to be a leader among leaders, his words and actions
00:44:08.720 | influence world events.
00:44:10.160 | If you think of historical figures, if he's saving the environment, changing the culture,
00:44:15.840 | saving the world from tyranny or other evil, there's no shortage of people that will put
00:44:20.520 | him on a pedestal that's even maybe a little bit higher than God.
00:44:25.900 | There's no shortage of political pundits or experts who will affirm that opinion and unfortunately,
00:44:32.920 | there are Christians prone to do the same thing.
00:44:36.720 | Never forget, there is no one like God.
00:44:42.040 | Second thing we learn that all authority is given by God and I know you know this.
00:44:47.360 | Verse 15, "For if by now I had put forth my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence,
00:44:53.060 | you would then have been cut off from the earth."
00:44:56.640 | There's no authority on this earth that can match that statement and if there was, it
00:45:03.040 | would have been put there by God.
00:45:07.640 | Verse 16, "I have allowed you to remain," that is the ultimate authority.
00:45:13.640 | We've had a taste in this country of anti-Christian political, legal, and cultural leadership
00:45:20.960 | and they're very successful and we're not done with that.
00:45:24.840 | There's no reasonable expectation or basis to expect that it will not or should not get
00:45:29.960 | a lot worse.
00:45:32.800 | That doesn't mean God isn't paying attention.
00:45:36.320 | It's hard inescapable truth that God appoints that leadership for His purposes.
00:45:44.120 | God's in charge and those types of leaders ignore Psalm 2, starting in verse 2, "The
00:45:50.040 | kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against Yahweh
00:45:55.240 | and against His anointed saying, 'Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords
00:46:00.120 | from us.'"
00:46:01.120 | That's Pharaoh.
00:46:04.400 | Verse 4, "He who sits in the heavens laughs."
00:46:06.800 | The LSB says, "The Lord mocks them.
00:46:12.040 | Then He speaks to them in His anger and He terrifies them in His fury saying, 'But as
00:46:15.720 | for me, I have installed my king upon Zion, my holy mountain.'"
00:46:20.960 | Christ is indeed king.
00:46:24.800 | And we need to remember as we look at political leadership around us that God is their king
00:46:33.880 | and they rail against God and the Lord mocks them.
00:46:37.440 | There's nobody like God and all authority resides with God and He uses that authority.
00:46:43.400 | Number three, God is actually and actively involved.
00:46:48.560 | As you view political leadership, governmental leadership, even as you read history, don't
00:46:53.640 | ever forget God is always actively involved.
00:47:00.440 | I will send my plagues, I will put forth my hand and strike you and your people with pestilence.
00:47:08.680 | I have allowed you to remain.
00:47:10.640 | My power, I will send.
00:47:13.160 | Don't miss all of that.
00:47:16.360 | It's wild to me that anybody can read this and think that God is passive.
00:47:22.160 | He does it all.
00:47:23.160 | He was personal, God and Pharaoh, God's actions, His purposes, His power, His agenda, His plagues,
00:47:30.520 | His people, His timing.
00:47:33.040 | There was no passivity in any of His statements.
00:47:36.480 | This was not a coincidental series of natural phenomenon simply used by a passive God to
00:47:42.280 | make His point.
00:47:45.320 | He intervened to exercise His supernatural will and to display His power through a defiant
00:47:52.160 | godless leader named Pharaoh.
00:47:55.400 | In other words, the story really isn't about Pharaoh and Moses, it's about God.
00:48:02.000 | We can't miss this lesson that as we view the world around us, God is actively involved.
00:48:09.720 | Number four, God is purposeful.
00:48:12.680 | It's hard to know sometimes what are God's purposes and I think there's three purposes
00:48:17.200 | laid out really clearly here and we see over and over and over in the story.
00:48:21.880 | If you were to read through Exodus 1-14, there's three purposes.
00:48:25.680 | Verse 14, that you may know there is no one like me on all the earth.
00:48:32.840 | Verse 16, to show you my power and verse 16, in order to proclaim my name in all the earth.
00:48:39.560 | These purposes are so definitive, so basic that in your life today to the extent you
00:48:45.040 | don't know God's purposes, you can assume that these three purposes are in play.
00:48:51.040 | They apply.
00:48:52.920 | And as you listen to the news and get concerned as you observe the world and its leaders and
00:48:58.080 | you wonder at the wickedness, you may not need to know more than just this.
00:49:05.600 | God is reminding us that there's no one like Him in all the earth.
00:49:10.760 | He is showing His power and He is proclaiming His name through all the earth.
00:49:16.800 | Fifth, God is gracious.
00:49:20.480 | As you view political leadership, understand that the grace and patience of God is pervasive
00:49:25.920 | in this passage, in this story of Pharaoh and Moses, and in this world.
00:49:33.120 | God could have gone straight to the death plague, couldn't He?
00:49:36.120 | Did you ever think why didn't He?
00:49:41.040 | Well it's because verse 15, "If I had put forth my hand and struck you and your people
00:49:46.400 | with pestilence, you would have been cut off from the earth."
00:49:48.920 | He's reviewing what happened and what's coming and it's grace.
00:49:52.520 | Verse 16, "I have allowed you to remain."
00:49:55.200 | And then verse 18, it says, "Behold, about this time tomorrow," meaning I'll give you
00:50:01.560 | 24 hours to move your flocks in.
00:50:06.920 | That's grace.
00:50:08.880 | Verse 19, "Now therefore sin, bring your livestock and whatever you have in the field to safety."
00:50:13.560 | There's always opportunity to bend the knee and save yourself.
00:50:17.480 | And it's to this end that we should be praying for our leaders, that they would repent and
00:50:25.320 | be saved.
00:50:27.800 | Pray that the Lord would grant them repentance, not so that our life would get easier and
00:50:32.240 | our worldview would be affirmed and our politics would be much more comfortable.
00:50:37.720 | We pray for their salvation so that the Lord's name would be known to show His power and
00:50:43.880 | that the world would know that there's no one like God.
00:50:47.880 | Sixth, the goodness of God is always and most clearly seen in contrast with the wickedness
00:50:54.060 | of men and vice versa.
00:50:58.160 | The hopeless corruption of leadership is best seen and understood in contrast with the goodness
00:51:02.700 | and holiness of the God who appointed that leadership.
00:51:07.640 | Pharaoh is a man created by God and appointed by God to his authority, presumed and fought
00:51:13.560 | to exalt himself over God.
00:51:16.860 | That is the ultimate demonstration of the depravity of man and it's contrasted with
00:51:21.320 | the patience and the grace and the immovable holiness of God.
00:51:28.320 | The futility of Pharaoh's best efforts demonstrate in contrast God's complete power.
00:51:38.880 | There's a cost associated with wicked leadership.
00:51:41.540 | Go back and read Exodus 1 through 14 from the perspective of the Israelites.
00:51:47.360 | They were, in some sense, innocent bystanders of a much bigger drama and there was a heavy
00:51:52.320 | cost.
00:51:53.320 | Pharaoh's demonstration of wickedness was at the expense of the people of God and that
00:51:58.880 | is as it has been since the beginning of time, since Eden.
00:52:05.940 | But whatever the circumstances, God is good, always.
00:52:10.640 | Whatever the cost of the wicked, sinful, political leadership, the benefit is to reflect on the
00:52:17.480 | contrasting goodness of our God.
00:52:22.360 | And finally, the leader is not a passive participant.
00:52:26.120 | We saw multiple, more than 10 opportunities in Exodus where Pharaoh hardened his heart
00:52:32.160 | and denied God, but he could have repented.
00:52:34.900 | And 10 occasions when Moses rose to the occasion, Pharaoh was willingly hardened, willingly
00:52:42.760 | wicked, willingly evil, ruthless, deceptive, manipulative, and dishonest.
00:52:49.240 | Moses was faithful, obedient, submissive, while also occasionally failing as he challenged
00:52:56.700 | and questioned God.
00:52:58.540 | You see, man is responsible for his own sin, he's also responsible for his own obedience.
00:53:05.420 | The cost of Moses' leadership was so high.
00:53:08.300 | You can imagine the pressures, the grief, the tension, and the broken human relationships.
00:53:15.120 | It wasn't easy for him.
00:53:17.820 | But at the end of it all, the reward was great, not because of the leadership he offered,
00:53:25.020 | but because of the goodness and the greatness of God.
00:53:30.700 | Our national leaders or whoever, political leaders are active participants in God's drama,
00:53:37.780 | not theirs, and so are you and I.
00:53:42.900 | So tonight as we reflect on national leaders, political leaders, probably the most visible
00:53:49.420 | group of leaders that we interact with, at least in the news and all the rest, more than
00:53:54.460 | any other, remember this, Christ is king.
00:53:58.100 | He appoints that leadership, and he is far above it all, and God is provident.
00:54:06.540 | Whether we view political, economic, cultural leadership as wicked or sympathetic to Christianity,
00:54:12.420 | we don't actually know.
00:54:14.620 | What we can know is that there's no one like God in all the earth.
00:54:19.460 | He is showing his power today, and he is proclaiming his name throughout the earth.
00:54:27.100 | And leadership matters.
00:54:28.840 | A biblical frame through which to evaluate leadership matters, and I pray that Exodus
00:54:36.700 | 1 through 14 has provided that tonight.
00:54:40.260 | Let's pray.
00:54:41.260 | Lord, thank you for your word.
00:54:44.140 | Lord, I pray that you would use what has been said tonight to give us clarity as we view
00:54:50.820 | the world around us.
00:54:52.100 | Lord, we thank you that you are God.
00:54:56.300 | You are king.
00:54:57.300 | There is no one like you.
00:54:58.820 | Lord, we pray that your name would be known through all the earth, that your power would
00:55:02.820 | be seen, that through that people would come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, that
00:55:10.580 | they would find salvation and seek salvation through you and not through politics or history
00:55:15.580 | or current events.
00:55:17.540 | Lord, we thank you for the peace that we have because of that truth.
00:55:21.940 | I pray that each man here would have that peace in their heart, and we pray this in
00:55:25.380 | Christ's name.
00:55:26.380 | Amen.
00:55:26.820 | [BLANK_AUDIO]