>> Whenever we talk about the general topic of leadership questions are raised about political and government leadership. And tonight we're going to address that issue by looking at the story of Moses and Pharaoh recorded in Exodus 1 through 14. Yes, we are going to cover 14 chapters of Exodus tonight.

It's the story of two men, leaders of their nations, involved in a high stakes dramatic series of confrontations with the fate of nations in the balance. And before we do that, there's two aspects of political or government leadership that exist in tension that I think we have to address right away.

One is that government or political leadership is ordained and appointed by God for our good and also for his glory. Government properly functioning as described in Romans 13 restrains and punishes sin. It rewards good. And when people reject the authority of government leaders for whatever reason, sin, chaos and disaster is the result.

In fact, in Judges 21 verse 25, it describes what happened this way, "In those days there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in their own eyes." The other tension there, the other side of that is that wicked, evil and godless political leadership is both a reflection of the people of that nation and that kind of leadership also leads a nation into evil and the certain and terrible consequences of sin.

This is not new. All the kings of Israel and most of the kings of Judah described in 1 and 2 Kings were described as having done evil in the sight of the Lord. As the kings went, the people followed and vice versa. And you can read of the devastation of the afflicted in all of those accounts.

So we must submit to government as God's ministers of good and we also must think about what to do with evil political leadership. Which leadership is the cause of evil and it is the result and I would even say the consequence of evil in the world. How should we think about the leaders around us, those who lead the world, those who lead our country, presidents, kings, prime ministers, senators, congressmen?

We have a speaker of the house now who says he has a biblical worldview. How do we evaluate that? Governors, they've all been given visible substantial leadership roles and as you consider who's in charge and how to think about them, the Bible is obviously authoritative and helpful and the contrast and the similarities between Moses and Pharaoh that we're going to look at tonight are illustrative.

I'm not looking to give you three elements of good leadership or bad leadership or the four steps to determining whether you should support leadership or the biblical framework for choosing who to vote for. The fact is as we're going to see tonight, those really aren't the right questions and they don't get us to the right place, to relevant conclusions as we consider political leadership in this world.

Little footnote before we jump into Exodus 1. I am racing through Exodus 1 through 14 tonight. These are 14 chapters of incredible drama, a deep story, great color added to the story, a rich history and I cannot urge you strongly enough to go home either tonight or in the next few days and take the time to read these chapters.

You will marvel at how much I'm leaving out tonight. I made the mistake of reading those chapters late last night and I marveled at how much I was leaving out. It's frustrating. It's a great story. But just understand, we're going to focus on two men, profiles and leadership. And we're going to start in Exodus 1.

If you have your Bible, Exodus is right after Genesis, it's way back in the beginning. It's the tale of two leaders and the fate of two countries inextricably linked to the leadership of these two men and the relationship these two men had with their leader because everyone answers to somebody.

First, we need to understand Egypt. Egypt is a desert with a river running through it and that river is the Nile River. Without the Nile River, there is no Egypt. With the Nile River, there was enormous wealth and power. The Nile River is the longest river in the world and that river delivered to Egypt practical sustenance, even life.

It was a source of water, fish, and fertile soil from the Ethiopian highlands which are deposited in the Egyptian basin delta as it empties into the Mediterranean. That fertile soil enabled Egypt to supply much of the Mediterranean region and the world with grain, food. That explains why the Israelites would always go to Egypt when there was a famine or a drought in their land.

So that's Egypt. Now we look at Israel and now we're in Exodus 1. If you're going to follow with me in the Bible, I hope I give you enough markers to stay up with me. We're going to go fast. Chapter 1 starts with the Israelites being captive within Egypt and when Exodus 1 starts, they have been captive inside of Egypt for 280 years.

To give you some perspective, 280 years ago, it was 1744. It's a really long time for a world that lives in 10-minute news cycles. It's not how it worked back then. And since the end of Genesis, the captives grew, the Israelites grew from 70 men to approximately 600,000 males.

Exodus 1 verse 7 says, "But the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly and multiplied and became exceedingly mighty so that the land was filled with them." The Israelites had become a national security issue but also an economic powerhouse because of the slave labor they provided. They had become a nation inside of a nation.

Verse 8 of chapter 1 says, "A new king arose over Egypt." Verse 9, "He obviously saw the problem. He said to his people, 'Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come let us deal wisely with them or else they will multiply and in the event of war, they will also join themselves to those who hate us and fight against us and depart from the land.'" There's two threats.

One is if somebody attacks Egypt, the Israelites might join the attacking nation. The other threat is the Israelites might leave us and then we lose all that labor. So rather than be nice to the Israelites to make them want to stay, they went the exact opposite direction. Black masters were appointed to afflict them even more with hard labor, it says in verse 11.

And the great thing is in verse 12, it says, "The harder they worked, the more they had babies." They multiplied. Egypt made their life bitter with hard labor and this pharaoh led the way. And the king finally decided or the pharaoh finally decided that he needed to stop the population growth.

So his first try in verses 15 and 16 was to go to the midwives and say, "Kill all the male children." But it says in verse 17, "The midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded them but let the boys live." His second attempt later on in chapter 1 verse 22, he decrees that, "Every son who is born, you are to cast into the Nile and every daughter you are to keep alive." It's probably a familiar story to you because in chapter 2 now, that's the context in which Moses is born.

And you probably know his story. The daughter of Pharaoh rescues him, saves Moses, raises him as her own, as if he is one of her children. He's raising the culture, the wealth, and the power of Pharaoh's family. When he's 40 years old, he goes to visit his people. Yes, I said 40.

We just skipped 40 years of history. And in verse 11 of chapter 2, it says, "Now it came about in those days when Moses had grown up that he went out to his brethren and looked on their hard labors and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren.

So he looked this way and that and when he saw there was no one around, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand." That's Bible talk for murder. Moses' first recorded public act was murder. And by the way, on your handout, there's a lot of open space.

If you're taking notes, I want you to note the biographical details of these two leaders. And sadly, the first one for Moses is he's a murderer. He thinks there's no witnesses, but the very next day, it says in the passage, he's trying to break up a fight between two of the Israelites, the Hebrews.

And in verse 14, one of the Hebrews says to him, "Who made you a prince or a judge over us? Were you intending to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?" Then Moses was afraid and said, "Surely the matter has become known." And indeed it had because verse 15 says that when Pharaoh heard of this matter, he tried to kill Moses.

Pharaoh almost meets Moses. Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian. That is in modern day Saudi Arabia. He marries there and has children. And now we're to Exodus chapter 3. Now Moses is 80 years old and he is called by God at 80 years old to rescue his people.

That's where you'll find the encounter with God through the burning bush. And in Exodus 3, there's the preparation and training of Moses. It's an interesting read. And God tells him what to say to the Israelites and what God is going to do. And I know you're familiar with the story, but just listen.

God says, "I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land flowing with milk and honey." They, meaning the Israelites, will pay heed to what you say. The king of Egypt or Pharaoh will not permit you to go except under compulsion. I will stretch out my hand.

I will grant this people favor. You will plunder the Egyptians. All of this is given to Moses in preparation for what God's calling him to do. And then you get to Exodus 4 and either we're looking at the demonstration of genuine humility or fear or just foolishness on the part of Moses.

After he has been trained by the Lord, he sees the power of the Lord. The Lord has told him what he's going to do. Moses says to God, "What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say? For they may say, 'The Lord has not appeared to you.'" Fair question.

In response, God shows Moses his power through a series of miracles. We don't have time to go through them, but they're astounding. Then after that demonstration of God's power, verse 10, "Moses said to the Lord, 'Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since you have spoken to your servant, for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.'" God responds to him in verse 11, "The Lord said, 'Who has made man's mouth or who makes him mute or deaf or seeing or blind?

Is it not I, the Lord? Now then, go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to say.'" This is the God of the universe giving Moses everything. Moses in verse 13 says, "Please, Lord, now send the message by whomever you will." The translation of that is, "Send anybody but me." Isn't that incredible?

Moses is negotiating with God. Send someone other than me. He believes he knows better and that he has standing to argue with God, to defy God, and he doesn't. None of us do. Verse 14, it says, "The anger of the Lord burned against Moses." I think you and I would hope that's never said of us.

It's not a good place to be. "The anger of the Lord burned against Moses, and God said, 'Is there not your brother Aaron, the Levite?'" It goes on to describe the process of God allowing Moses and Aaron to go together. Then verse 19, "The Lord said to Moses and Midian, 'Go back to Egypt now, for all the men who were seeking your life are dead.' Moses obeys the Lord." I think it's fair to note here that he doesn't do a Jonah.

It's an important note. Moses doesn't want to go. I hope you picked up on that. He doesn't think he's the guy, and he's working really hard to prove it, but God has picked him, and he tells him to go, and Moses obeys the Lord. Exodus 4.29 says, "Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the sons of Israel, and Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses." Did you catch that?

Moses is still afraid. Aaron does the talking. "Aaron then performed the signs in the sight of the people, so the people believed. And when they heard that the Lord was concerned about the sons of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed low and worshiped." And they all lived happily ever after, right?

No. We have a ways to go. And before we jump into Exodus chapter five now to meet Pharaoh, I want to introduce you to Pharaoh, and this is really short. Pharaoh's identity is unknown beyond the behavior that's described here in the Bible and his title, Pharaoh. He was immensely powerful, wealthy, and by all estimations, an effective, bold, aggressive, powerful, and confident leader who had built a wealthy nation.

He was also as pagan as they come. And it's interesting that history has completely blotted out his name, including in the nation Egypt. They destroyed all records of this Pharaoh's reign. Chapter five, "Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh," they're finally meeting now, "Moses ultimately submits and obeys God." And from here on out, you will note that God tells Moses what to do, and he does it.

"Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, said Moses, 'Let my people go, that they may celebrate a feast to me in the wilderness.' But Pharaoh said, 'Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and besides, I will not let Israel go.'" Verse four, "But the king of Egypt, Pharaoh said to them, 'Moses and Aaron, why do you draw the people away from their work?

Get back to your labors.' Again, Pharaoh said, 'Look, the people of the land are now many, and you would have them cease from their labors.'" In other words, Pharaoh's not buying it. He orders the Israelites to work harder, and the people come to Pharaoh, the foremen of the workers come to Pharaoh to appeal to him, and his response is, "You are lazy, very lazy." And he orders the harsh treatment to be elevated to another level.

So from the perspective of the Israelites, life has gotten markedly worse since this man Moses showed up and said that he was going to lead them to freedom. Here's this guy saying he's come to deliver them, and so far he's alienated Pharaoh so much and angered him so much that their life is now more difficult than it ever was before Moses showed up.

It's obviously Moses' fault. Verse 19, the foremen come from a meeting with Pharaoh, they saw that they were in trouble, it says in verse 19, and then in verse 20, "When they left Pharaoh's presence, they met Moses and Aaron as they were waiting for them, and they said to them, 'May the Lord look upon you, Moses, and judge you, Moses, for you, Moses, have made us odious in Pharaoh's sight and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us.'" This is a tough hit.

Moses knows the Lord is in control of all of this, the timing and the force of the events. Moses is an observer, he's a leader, but in that sense he is an observer, he's a follower of God and conversely the leader of God's people. So he's kind of betwixt and between as they say.

He's in this gap, Moses loves his people and this must have stung. And by the way, this is one of the many costs of leadership and some of you know this, there's people who think they have all the information and they declare with no grace or hesitation the failure and the incompetence of leadership.

And that's what the people did with Moses. So what does Moses do with that? Unfortunately, rather than lead, rather than remind the people of God's words and God's acts and the power of God, he does the same thing his people did to him. It says in verse 22, "Moses went to the Lord and said, 'O Lord, why have you brought harm to this people?

Why did you ever send me?'" He's back like the dog returning to its vomit. "Why did you send me? Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, Pharaoh has done harm to this people and you have not delivered your people at all." That's bold in all the wrong ways.

He doesn't lead. He reminds his people, his people's distrust of the Lord's power and authority and this is leadership by consensus rather than principled, courageous leadership. This is just another illustration how often leadership weakness is just a reflection of the weaknesses of the people that are being led. God's response is really interesting.

If you go to Exodus chapter 6 verse 1, it's a key verse in this whole story. It says, "Then the Lord said to Moses in response to what Moses just said," he said, "Okay, I get it. Next Tuesday this will all be over." Is that what he says? It's not what he says.

He says, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. For under compulsion he will let them go and under compulsion he will drive them out of his land." Don't go over that too quickly. What you have is two completely contradictory statements, at least on their face. What God says to Moses is Pharaoh will let them go under compulsion and Pharaoh will drive them out under compulsion.

So which is it? It's interesting that the response of God to Moses' complaint is not clarity. It's muddy water. His response must have caused a lot of confusion with a statement that seems impossible and contradictory. God does not give what Moses had hoped for, no clarity, no timeline. You see, there's no need for God to do that ever.

He doesn't need to explain or clarify anything. Time does all of that. And that's in fact what happens. We're now to Exodus 7, the first plague. And before we get to the plague, you can read later in the beginning part of chapter 7, God demonstrates his power to Pharaoh with one more chance for Pharaoh to repent, to bend.

This is his last chance to humble himself and save his country and his people from the wrath of God. He rejects that opportunity and the rest is history. And the first plague is in verse 20, "Moses and Aaron did even as the Lord had commanded and he lifted up the staff, struck the water that was in the Nile in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants and all the water that was in the Nile was turned to blood.

The fish that were in the Nile died and the Nile became foul so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile and the blood was throughout the land of Egypt." Notice the text doesn't say the water turned red like blood, the water turned to blood. You can imagine what that smelled like, especially when all the fish died.

The stench of dead fish and the terror of the people because there's no drinking water. And what's Pharaoh's response? It says in verse 23, "He turned and went into his house with no concern." It says a lot that Pharaoh had no concern for his people. He was in a struggle with God and in his mind the people were simply collateral to that struggle.

We move on to chapter 8, "Frogs, Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt." Verse 8, "Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, 'Entreat the Lord that he remove the frogs from me and my people and I will let the people go that they may sacrifice to the Lord.'" It sounds like Pharaoh's in the right place, doesn't it?

Verse 9 starts off with the words, "Moses said to Pharaoh," and I just want to make note here. "Moses seems to have lost his timidity now and his reliance on Aaron. Moses interacts firmly and clearly with Pharaoh and it says, "Moses cries out to the Lord concerning the frogs.

Moses prays on behalf of Pharaoh and the people, 'Lord, take this away.' The Lord did according to the word of Moses," it says in verse 13, "and the frogs died out of the houses, the courts and the fields, so they piled them up in heaps and the land became foul." You can imagine.

"But when Pharaoh saw there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not listen to them as the Lord had said." We need to make note of Pharaoh. He's a liar. He's dishonest. He's negotiating with a God without realizing he's negotiating with a God who doesn't negotiate. And you'll see that over and over and over.

It's beyond Pharaoh's ego-driven worldview to ever consider that he answers to God and not the other way around. And you'll see that throughout the story. Moses, on the other hand, is compassionate. He's obedient. He follows the playbook exactly and his boldness is growing. We go to the third plague, the gnats, or biting insects.

Verse 17, "All the dust of the earth became gnats through all the land of Egypt." Pharaoh's response in verse 19, "His heart was hardened and he did not listen to them." The fourth, flies, "There came great swarms of flies," in verse 24, "into the house of Pharaoh and the houses of his servants and the land was laid waste because of the swarms of flies in all the land of Egypt." Verse 28 records Pharaoh's response to this one.

He says, "I will let you go that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness, only you shall not go very far away. Make supplication for me." He thinks God works for him. Verse 30, "Moses went out from Pharaoh and made supplication to the Lord." And you see this pattern over and over and over.

Moses is a compassionate man. "The Lord did as Moses asked and removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants and from his people. Not one remained, but Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also and he did not let the people go." We move on to chapter 9, three more plagues.

Verse 6 of chapter 9 says, "All the livestock of Egypt died, but the livestock of the sons of Israel, not one died." You could say that frogs, gnats, and flies are more of a personal annoyance, but when the animals die, that goes to the heart of the economy and the food supply.

Things are tightening down and verse 7 of chapter 9 says, "The heart of Pharaoh was hardened and he did not let the people go." Number 6 is boils, and I know you've enjoyed my pictures. I actually found pictures of boils and I decided not to do that to you.

You can do that to yourself, Google it. Verse 10, "They took soot from a kiln and stood before Pharaoh, and Moses threw it towards the sky and it became boils breaking out with sores on man and beast. The magicians couldn't even stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were on the magicians as well as on all the Egyptians." This is painful stuff.

Verse 12, "And the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart. He did not listen to them just as the Lord had spoken to Moses." Hail, verse 23 of chapter 9, "The Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt." Verse 27, and I am skipping a lot, "Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and said to them, 'Listen to this, I have sinned this time.'" Now we're getting somewhere, aren't we?

"I have sinned this time. The Lord is the righteous one and I and my people are the wicked ones. Make supplication to the Lord for there has been enough of God's thunder and hail and I will let you go and you shall stay no longer." Pharaoh makes the mistake of believing that confession, saying, "I have sinned," is the same as repentance.

In that, he demonstrates his understanding of his need to repent and his refusal to do repentance the way God defines repentance. It's a game to him. When you hear a contrition from a politician or a government leader, understand that it just might not be honest. Verse 34, "When Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned again and hardened his heart, he and his servants.

Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he did not let the sons of Israel go, just as the Lord had spoken through Moses." Chapter 10, you have the locusts. Same story, "Pharaoh hurriedly called for Moses and Aaron and said, 'I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. Now therefore, please forgive my sin.

Forgive me this once and make supplication to the Lord your God that he would only remove death from me.' Moses went out from Pharaoh and made supplication to the Lord." There it is again. Moses has no reason to be concerned for Pharaoh or the people of Egypt. They're the enemies.

But over and over and over, Moses makes supplication to the Lord. So the Lord shifted the wind to a very strong west wind, which took up the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea. Not one locust was left in all the territory of Egypt. And what do you think Pharaoh did?

And what do you think the Lord did? It says, "The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he did not let the sons of Israel go." The ninth plague is darkness. Verse 22 of Exodus 10 says that, "Moses stretched out his hand towards the sky." There's no warning on this one.

They don't go to Pharaoh first. This just happens. "And there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days. But all the sons of Israel had light in their dwellings." No warning.

And the significance of this plague is that it is not only severely inconvenient. I mean, people were freaking out over a 10-minute eclipse of the sun. Over the last couple of weeks. Can you imagine three days? This was inconvenient, but it went directly to the false religion of the Egyptians.

To blot out the sun was to block out the chief god in the Egyptian pantheon. The Egyptians worshiped the sun, and the sun was assumed to be the supreme deity. So darkness for three days also blotted out Pharaoh's power. This was an unmistakable statement by God of the universe demonstrating true power over the delegated earthly governmental authority and all their false gods.

Verse 27 of Exodus 10 says, "The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart. He was not willing to let them go. Then Pharaoh said to Moses, 'Get away from me.'" Moses is angry. And then we get to Exodus 11, the 10th and final. "Moses says to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the Lord, 'About midnight I'm going out into the midst of Egypt, and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of the Pharaoh who sits on his throne.'" The man he's talking to.

He's telling him his firstborn is going to die. "From Pharaoh to even the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the millstones, all the firstborn of the cattle as well, moreover, there shall be a great cry in all the land of Egypt, such as there has not been before and such as shall never be again." Again, judgment and grace in the same sentence.

But against any of the sons of Israel, a dog will not even bark. I love that. Moses had a sense of humor. Let me say that again. He's telling them that the firstborn are going to die from Pharaoh's home all the way down to his servants, but against the sons of Israel, a dog will not even bark.

In other words, nothing happens to the Israelites, whether against man or beast, that you may understand how the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. And it's interesting in the next verse, verse 8, it says, "Moses went out from Pharaoh in hot anger." Moses is bold here. He doesn't need Aaron this time, and that's good.

But after all this time and after everything he's seen, Moses still thinks he can persuade Pharaoh into compliance. He has not lost that personal, compassionate concern and hope for Pharaoh. When he cannot persuade Pharaoh, he doesn't see God's hand in that, he gets frustrated. He gets angry and emotional.

And like so many times in leadership, you find yourself more concerned with the sinner's sin than the sinner's concern with their own sin. And that's where Moses is at. We move on to Exodus 12 and 13. In the first 28 verses of Exodus 12, God is preparing his people for travel.

There's 2 million people that are going to be moving. And then the death comes. In verse 29, "Now it came about at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captain who was in the dungeon and all the firstborn of cattle." Exactly what he said he was going to do.

Verse 30 says, "Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt." If you can imagine that, as bad a man as Pharaoh is, his firstborn is dead. "Then he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, 'Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel, and go worship the Lord as you have said.

Take both your flocks and your herds as you have said, and go and bless me also.'" Pharaoh is a utilitarian, "Get out of here, solve my political problem, but bless me on your way out the door." But Exodus 6-1 still isn't fulfilled. Pharaoh is not driving them out of the land.

He is letting them go under compulsion. So the story is not done, it's not over. In Exodus 14, the rest of the story, "When the king of Egypt was told," in verse 5, "that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his servants had a change of heart towards the people.

And they said, 'What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?' So he made his chariot ready and took his people with him," verse 7, "and he took six hundred select chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them.

The Lord hardened the heart of Egypt, the king of Egypt, and he chased after the sons of Israel, and the sons of Israel were going out boldly." And you know the rest of the story. Moses obeys everything the Lord tells him to do in that Exodus. The water parts, the Israelites cross, the Egyptian army follows in hot pursuit, and Pharaoh and his army are all wiped out.

So we need to, we just went through 14 chapters of Exodus. And now I want to draw all of this together and make some observations about leadership. First, we want to compare the stories of Moses and Pharaoh. The Bible later summarizes these two lives this way. Daniel 9 and Revelation 15 calls Moses the slave or the servant of God.

Psalm 90, a beautiful psalm, is written by Moses. It's called "A Prayer of Moses, the Man of God." Psalm 105, 26 says that God sent Moses his servant. Hebrews 11, the faith chapter, the heroes of the faith, Moses is included because of his obedience. It says, "He considered the reproach of Christ to be greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.

He endured as seeing him who is unseen." Pharaoh, on the other hand, rejected God from the beginning to the end. Nobody knows his name. Romans 9, verse 17, summarizes his life this way. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I raised you up to demonstrate my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed through the whole earth." Pharaoh accomplished God's purposes exactly the way God wanted him to.

So if I describe a murderer who's emotional, arrogant, weak leadership, questions God's powers, thinks he can negotiate with God, accomplishes the purposes of God, and was appointed by God, am I talking about Moses or am I talking about Pharaoh? I heard somebody say, "Yes, that is right." And I threw that term "murderer" in there because both men were murderers and they had that similarity.

If you were God, would you have picked either man to lead? But God did. Those are the similarities, but there's one difference between the two men. Pharaoh refused to submit, repent, and he died in his defiance and disobedience. Moses lived by faith. Pharaoh lived by terminal pride. Moses' life and leadership were both deeply flawed.

He was human. His faith was hindered by his sin at times, but the trajectory and pattern of his leadership was obedience, faith. Love for God and love for God's people, compassion for Pharaoh, his enemy, a growing boldness, a humility, faithfulness. Moses grew larger in his leadership. Pharaoh was diminished more and more and more every day.

There's a pattern in the circle of events occurring between God and Pharaoh and Moses and that was repeated over and over, and we need to kind of draw this story together. And if you would, turn to Exodus 9, 14 to 19. Six verses. We're going to go through it very quickly.

It's a short and powerful passage dealing with the plague of the hail, but it's a clear summary and explanation of the triangle, what I call the triangle of leadership. Tonight was a tale of two leaders, Moses and Pharaoh and their leader, the God of the universe. We understand that the book of Exodus is really about God, right?

If you're paying any attention at all to current news, we're watching the world and political leaders direct the nations towards prosperity or poverty, relative holiness, if you will, and abject debauchery and evil, success and failure, war and peace, economic growth and cultural destruction. Nations are going these directions and you and I don't always get to know the why as we observe evil people succeed, control, lead, get elected, reelected, and prosper.

And in this short passage in Exodus 9, we see a comprehensive presentation of the foundational truth to keep in mind when hearing the story of Moses and Pharaoh and while observing the world around us today, especially as we think about those who are in leadership in government and politics.

And there's seven observations and we'll go through these very quickly. They're on your handout from this passage. First, there is no one like God. Whoever your favorite politician is, your political party, your historical figure, there is no one like God. And we see this starting in verse 14, "For this time, I, God, will send all my plagues on you and your servants and your people so that you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.

For if by now I had put forth my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, you would then have been cut off from the earth. But indeed, for this reason, I have allowed you to remain in order to show you my power and in order to proclaim my name through all the earth, still you exalt yourself.

Behold, about this time tomorrow, I will send a very heavy hail. Do you see the personal pronouns? There is nobody like God." It's truly remarkable that human beings from their first arrival on this earth have tried to replace God, to lift people and things above God, to reject the concept that He who created us owns us and it will ever be till the end.

Believers, just like Pharaoh and Moses in the beginning, attempt to place themselves above God or as an equal to God and to negotiate with God, to move God. More obviously, as a leader who seems to be a leader among leaders, his words and actions influence world events. If you think of historical figures, if he's saving the environment, changing the culture, saving the world from tyranny or other evil, there's no shortage of people that will put him on a pedestal that's even maybe a little bit higher than God.

There's no shortage of political pundits or experts who will affirm that opinion and unfortunately, there are Christians prone to do the same thing. Never forget, there is no one like God. Second thing we learn that all authority is given by God and I know you know this. Verse 15, "For if by now I had put forth my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, you would then have been cut off from the earth." There's no authority on this earth that can match that statement and if there was, it would have been put there by God.

Verse 16, "I have allowed you to remain," that is the ultimate authority. We've had a taste in this country of anti-Christian political, legal, and cultural leadership and they're very successful and we're not done with that. There's no reasonable expectation or basis to expect that it will not or should not get a lot worse.

That doesn't mean God isn't paying attention. It's hard inescapable truth that God appoints that leadership for His purposes. God's in charge and those types of leaders ignore Psalm 2, starting in verse 2, "The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against Yahweh and against His anointed saying, 'Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us.'" That's Pharaoh.

Verse 4, "He who sits in the heavens laughs." The LSB says, "The Lord mocks them. Then He speaks to them in His anger and He terrifies them in His fury saying, 'But as for me, I have installed my king upon Zion, my holy mountain.'" Christ is indeed king. And we need to remember as we look at political leadership around us that God is their king and they rail against God and the Lord mocks them.

There's nobody like God and all authority resides with God and He uses that authority. Number three, God is actually and actively involved. As you view political leadership, governmental leadership, even as you read history, don't ever forget God is always actively involved. I will send my plagues, I will put forth my hand and strike you and your people with pestilence.

I have allowed you to remain. My power, I will send. Don't miss all of that. It's wild to me that anybody can read this and think that God is passive. He does it all. He was personal, God and Pharaoh, God's actions, His purposes, His power, His agenda, His plagues, His people, His timing.

There was no passivity in any of His statements. This was not a coincidental series of natural phenomenon simply used by a passive God to make His point. He intervened to exercise His supernatural will and to display His power through a defiant godless leader named Pharaoh. In other words, the story really isn't about Pharaoh and Moses, it's about God.

We can't miss this lesson that as we view the world around us, God is actively involved. Number four, God is purposeful. It's hard to know sometimes what are God's purposes and I think there's three purposes laid out really clearly here and we see over and over and over in the story.

If you were to read through Exodus 1-14, there's three purposes. Verse 14, that you may know there is no one like me on all the earth. Verse 16, to show you my power and verse 16, in order to proclaim my name in all the earth. These purposes are so definitive, so basic that in your life today to the extent you don't know God's purposes, you can assume that these three purposes are in play.

They apply. And as you listen to the news and get concerned as you observe the world and its leaders and you wonder at the wickedness, you may not need to know more than just this. God is reminding us that there's no one like Him in all the earth. He is showing His power and He is proclaiming His name through all the earth.

Fifth, God is gracious. As you view political leadership, understand that the grace and patience of God is pervasive in this passage, in this story of Pharaoh and Moses, and in this world. God could have gone straight to the death plague, couldn't He? Did you ever think why didn't He?

Well it's because verse 15, "If I had put forth my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, you would have been cut off from the earth." He's reviewing what happened and what's coming and it's grace. Verse 16, "I have allowed you to remain." And then verse 18, it says, "Behold, about this time tomorrow," meaning I'll give you 24 hours to move your flocks in.

That's grace. Verse 19, "Now therefore sin, bring your livestock and whatever you have in the field to safety." There's always opportunity to bend the knee and save yourself. And it's to this end that we should be praying for our leaders, that they would repent and be saved. Pray that the Lord would grant them repentance, not so that our life would get easier and our worldview would be affirmed and our politics would be much more comfortable.

We pray for their salvation so that the Lord's name would be known to show His power and that the world would know that there's no one like God. Sixth, the goodness of God is always and most clearly seen in contrast with the wickedness of men and vice versa. The hopeless corruption of leadership is best seen and understood in contrast with the goodness and holiness of the God who appointed that leadership.

Pharaoh is a man created by God and appointed by God to his authority, presumed and fought to exalt himself over God. That is the ultimate demonstration of the depravity of man and it's contrasted with the patience and the grace and the immovable holiness of God. The futility of Pharaoh's best efforts demonstrate in contrast God's complete power.

There's a cost associated with wicked leadership. Go back and read Exodus 1 through 14 from the perspective of the Israelites. They were, in some sense, innocent bystanders of a much bigger drama and there was a heavy cost. Pharaoh's demonstration of wickedness was at the expense of the people of God and that is as it has been since the beginning of time, since Eden.

But whatever the circumstances, God is good, always. Whatever the cost of the wicked, sinful, political leadership, the benefit is to reflect on the contrasting goodness of our God. And finally, the leader is not a passive participant. We saw multiple, more than 10 opportunities in Exodus where Pharaoh hardened his heart and denied God, but he could have repented.

And 10 occasions when Moses rose to the occasion, Pharaoh was willingly hardened, willingly wicked, willingly evil, ruthless, deceptive, manipulative, and dishonest. Moses was faithful, obedient, submissive, while also occasionally failing as he challenged and questioned God. You see, man is responsible for his own sin, he's also responsible for his own obedience.

The cost of Moses' leadership was so high. You can imagine the pressures, the grief, the tension, and the broken human relationships. It wasn't easy for him. But at the end of it all, the reward was great, not because of the leadership he offered, but because of the goodness and the greatness of God.

Our national leaders or whoever, political leaders are active participants in God's drama, not theirs, and so are you and I. So tonight as we reflect on national leaders, political leaders, probably the most visible group of leaders that we interact with, at least in the news and all the rest, more than any other, remember this, Christ is king.

He appoints that leadership, and he is far above it all, and God is provident. Whether we view political, economic, cultural leadership as wicked or sympathetic to Christianity, we don't actually know. What we can know is that there's no one like God in all the earth. He is showing his power today, and he is proclaiming his name throughout the earth.

And leadership matters. A biblical frame through which to evaluate leadership matters, and I pray that Exodus 1 through 14 has provided that tonight. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for your word. Lord, I pray that you would use what has been said tonight to give us clarity as we view the world around us.

Lord, we thank you that you are God. You are king. There is no one like you. Lord, we pray that your name would be known through all the earth, that your power would be seen, that through that people would come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, that they would find salvation and seek salvation through you and not through politics or history or current events.

Lord, we thank you for the peace that we have because of that truth. I pray that each man here would have that peace in their heart, and we pray this in Christ's name. Amen.