This recording is from Willow Creek Church in Winter Springs, Florida, where Dr. Pete Allen's in as our senior pastor. Today's sermon is part five in a series on the Book of Exodus. This message is taken from Exodus 6, verse 14, through chapter 10, verse 29, and it's called bigger than life. Now here's Pete with today's message. If you have your Bibles, take them and turn to Exodus 6 as we continue our study in the Book of Exodus. The second book of the Bible written by the greatest leader of all times after Jesus Christ. And Moses has so many things to say to us today that are very, very, very important because we all struggle in so many ways. We need what this has to say. By the way, I want to tell you, it's good to be back. I was on vacation last week in Argentina on a mission trip, hunting with seven other wild guys. It wasn't a mission trip. I got to confess. But we were duck cutting down there. It was winter. It's winter down there. The coldest winter on record since 1918, the people in Buenos Aires and the people were dancing like crazy people because of the snow. They didn't know what to do. And it was cold. All of us from Florida, I usually overpack when I go on a trip like that, didn't take enough and I wore every stitch of clothing I brought. But it's good to be back in Orlando where it is summer. Oh boy, is it summer here. But I want to thank Chris out of way for teaching God's Word. It's a privilege to work with him and I'm glad he was able to teach God's Word while I was gone. Well, the day we looked deeper into the Book of Exodus, we're going to be looking today at Moses' classic confrontation with Pharaoh. And it is a classic battle. In fact, this story is so important that it's a story that really is carried on throughout the rest of the Bible. You can't understand the rest of the Bible without understanding Moses coming face to face with Pharaoh. And so we're going to see the title of the sermon is bigger than life as in God is bigger than life. God is bigger than your life and God is bigger than my life and what we need is a God who's bigger than our life, right? Because we need power to live in a broken world and this world is broken. I bet every one of you can come in here today and say something that I wanted to happen didn't happen. An illness happened in my life that I didn't want, that I'm facing something right now that I wish had never come my way. We're not doing religion. We're not playing a religious spiritual game here. What we're about is life and death. We need a God who is bigger than life and as a matter of fact, we're going to see that God is bigger than life, bigger than the life that we're living today. Two weeks ago, before I went on vacation, there. Two weeks ago, before I went on vacation, I prayed for Mike who went through surgery and Mike is so good to see you here but man, this is your third surgery, it's scary. I'm glad you're here, you look so good man and we're going to pray for you. On that same day, I prayed for somebody else who was struggling in their marriage and going through a horrible divorce. I want you to know that all divorce is horrible. I've been a pastor for 30 years. I've never seen a good divorce. Hey, no problem, it's a good divorce, it's death, it's horrible. We struggle with physical illness, we struggle with reverses at work, we struggle with our kids, maybe not going the way we want them to go. Kids struggle with their parents, maybe not going the way they want them to go. There is so much pain in this room, we can sink a battleship, what I want to say to use don't give up. You don't have to give up. Moses didn't give up. I need this text, I want you to know, I'm not just preaching to you, I need everything in this text and don't come up to me and say why, you only work one day a week. You come up and say that, you'll get the fever and die, okay, you will. No, I need this, my life is tough too. It's all relative. I need Jesus as much as you do, I need these truths and so this is powerful stuff and so in order to deal with the real lives that we live, we're going to look at a genealogy, in plagues and God's real desire for our hearts, you say genealogy, yeah it's what I said. Because the genealogy talks about God's faithfulness, the plagues talk about God's power and what we're going to see is God's grace throughout the whole thing, that's what we need. That's what you need, a God who's bigger than life. So let's jump into it and take a look at the faithfulness of God, that's the first point. And I want to read this text, Exodus 6, 14 through 27, now this is the genealogy. By the way, what is a genealogy? It's a list of names, right, of related people, a list of names of related people. One time someone in my family came up to me and handed me a book, a genealogy of our family. I kid you not, it was this big. This big, it was big as a dictionary and I used it to prop open a door when I needed to. It was the driest reading you could ever imagine. But this genealogy is important, so let's take a look. Moses says, under inspiration of God, he says, these were the heads of their families, the sons of Ruben, the first born son of Israel, were Haynach and Paloo, Hezran and Karmee. These were the clans of Ruben. The sons of Simeon were Jamul, Jamin, Ohad, Jaken, Zohar, Sha'ul, the son of a Canaanite woman. The clans of Simeon. Verse 16, these are the names of the sons of Levi according to their records. Now, if you know where I'm reading, I'm reading from the sons of Israel, how many sons of Israel are there? Anybody know? 12. Am I going to read a whole genealogy of 12 sons with all of their sons and descendants and the answer is no, aren't you glad? Yeah, because it could get pretty sleepy in here if we did that. Let me tell you real quick what Moses is doing because this is important. If you go back to Genesis 29, you can read the story of how all of these sons came to be. Abraham Isaac, Jacob, whose name was later changed to Israel, had 12 sons and four wives and all of those stories are very, very unique. And these are the first three sons, Ruben, Simeon and Levi. And the reason Moses gives this is because he wants to show us where he fits in to this whole thing. So I'm going to read some more of verse 17, Gershon, Kohath, Mirari, Levi lived 137 years. The sons of Gershon by Klanz were, there's going to be a test on this, did I tell you this? Before you leave here today, you've got to have these names memorized. The sons of Kohath were Amran, Ishar, Hebron and Yuzel, Kohath lived 133 years. The sons of Mirari were Mali, Mushi. These were the Klanz of Levi, according to their records now. Here, verse 20, here it is, Amran married his father's sister, Jacobed, who bore him? Who? Aaron and Moses, Amran lived 137 years. Now, up to this point, the Old Testament had not ruled out, not made it illegal yet to marry your aunt, it soon would. But Moses is the most humble man who ever lived. The Bible says that, and he's not afraid to talk about his genealogy. He's not afraid to say that his dad and mom were aunt and nephew. That's not the strangest story in this room here today, what you'd know. That in the body of Christ, we've all kind of got some strange stories. Interesting genealogies, interesting backgrounds. I'd love to hear people's story about how they came to faith in Christ, because one thing is universal. We're all kind of a mess. And God and His grace has called us into this people of God. But now, why this genealogy continues? Here it is. I want you to note, I'm not going to read anymore. Is that verse 26? Here it is. It was this same Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, bring the Israelites out of Egypt by their divisions. They were the ones who spoke to Pharaoh King of Egypt about bringing the Israelites out of Egypt. It was the same Moses and the same Aaron. Here's why Moses keeps this genealogy in there. He wants us to know that God is faithful to all of His promises. That the fulfillment of God's past promises to Abraham are fulfilled in him. Now, you say, what was that promise? We'll go back to Genesis 12, verses 1 through 3. Where God said to Abraham, way, way back, God said to Abraham, I will make you into a mighty nation. He said, I will make your name great and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, whoever curses you, I will curse, and all the peoples on the earth will be blessed through who? Through you, Abraham, how old was Abraham when God gave him that promise? Anybody know? 80. How many kids did he have? Zero. And yet, God in His miraculous. And he got in His power, enabled Sarah, his wife, who was no spring chicken herself, to have kids, and then years later, 430 plus years later, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the descendants of Jacob included Levi, Moses, and Aaron. How big is Israel at this point? Well, the text of Scripture says in Exodus that there were 600,000 men who came out in the Exodus, not even counting the women and children. Has God fulfilled His promise to Abraham? Yes, because Abraham has now become a mighty nation in Moses and in the Israelites. And Moses brings this up under this first point to show that God is faithful. God makes a promise, He sticks to it. If I promise I'm going to do something for you, will I do it? If I write it down, if I don't forget, and if I can. If God makes a promise to you, will He keep it? Answer. God's faithfulness is an attribute of His essential being. That means that just as I am flesh and blood, and if you take a knife and cut me, I will bleed red blood. It is an essential part of God's nature to be faithful, that He cannot not be faithful. That when He makes a promise, it will be fulfilled. And in fact, He has done that. So there we have the descendants there. It is up on the screen. You can memorize this. It's in your outline so that you can go home and memorize these names. Trust me, these names are not to be memorized unless you like to memorize names. But there to show you the faithfulness of God at every point. And by the way, God would make another promise later. He said through Moses and Deuteronomy chapter 18, He said, I'm going to send another, there's going to be another prophet after me, who'd be greater than me. And in Acts, we see that that prophet is Jesus. And so not only did God fulfill the promise to Abraham by sending Moses to bring the Israelites out of Egypt, but He sent Jesus and fulfillment of something that Moses had said. And to bring all of us out of bondage to sin, to bring us to the freedom in Christ. God fulfills His promises to us. And we need to be people who hold on to the faithfulness of God. What's your life like? God. Don't get us started, right? This is a small enough group. We could have a sharing time right now. If I started calling on Allah, you wouldn't like that. I'm not going to do it. Trust me. So relax. But you wouldn't believe the number of things I hear just before a service. Pray for this because this is what's happening. I know. You guys are suffering. You need a God who is bigger than life. And you need a God who backs up His promises. So we need to be people of the book who hold on to the promises of God. Promises like Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight when you're paths seem very rocky. I need to know that God's going to straighten out the mess. Sometimes I bring the mess into my own life, don't you? Sometimes the mess comes to us, but we need to hold on to the promises of God. Isaiah 40. I love that. Here's another one. Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God. The creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary and is understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power. Are you going to have a holy nap this afternoon? You can do that. Do it. Because you're probably needed. We get tired. Long as you're tired all the time. We need to understand that He is the one that gives a strength. Even youths grow tired and weary. One men stumble and fall, but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. The faithfulness of God says that we need to be people who search the Bible for the promises of God and hold on to those promises. Billy Graham said the other day that, you know, his 86, his wife just died. Maybe you've been following his story. He said, I can't read well. My eyes, I can't read the Bible much anymore. He says, and so I am so thankful that earlier on in my life I memorized large passages of the Bible so that while I'm dying, when I'm struggling, I can go back to the promises of God that I have hid in my, you know what he said? He said, I wish there would be a stronger emphasis in the churches today of memorizing the Bible. Well, I think that's a good idea because we need the promises of God that remind us of the faithfulness of God. John Mason said this. Here it is. You ready? No problem is too large for God's intervention and no person is too small for God's attention. If you lean on the faithfulness of God, well, that's the genealogy now. Let's look at the plagues. The plagues get better because this tells us not about the faithfulness of God. It tells us about the omnipotence of God. What does the word omnipotence mean? Anybody know? Omnipotence is all powerful, right? So here we speak the fact that God is omnipotent. Another word would be the word sovereign, right? You guys are all the sovereign of your homes, your husbands, your married. Sovereignty means you're the supreme king of heaven and earth and what you say they do. Immediately you say it and it's done. If you act like that in your marriage, it's probably why you're having problems in your marriage. But God is the only one who is sovereign. He is almighty. And his sovereignty comes out here as he deals with Pharaoh and the plagues of Egypt. Now in a minute we're going to see that what Moses has gone to do is to get Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. Set my people free, but God's not going to let it be done easily. Exodus 7, 1 through 4. Then the Lord said to Moses, see, I have made you like God to Pharaoh. In other words, when you talk to Pharaoh, I'll be talking through you. And your brother, Aaron, will be your prophet. Why? Why is Aaron going to be the mouthpiece, do you remember? Yeah, because Moses was chicken. He didn't want to do any public speaking. He said, God, I'll do whatever you want, just not that. That's kind of my thing. I'll do whatever you want, God, just not what you've asked me to do. Anything else? That's cool. So God, you will be God to Pharaoh and your brother, Aaron, will be your prophet. You are to say everything I command you and your brother, Aaron, is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of this country. But I will harden, listen, I will harden Pharaoh's heart. And though I multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with my mighty acts of judgment, these are the plagues that we're going to look at in just a minute. With these mighty acts of judgment, I will bring out my divisions, my people, the Israelites. So here's the confrontation that's set up, Moses to Pharaoh, God working through Moses and Aaron and Pharaoh. The confrontation is set up where God is going to show his omnipotent power. And notice in verse 3 it says, I will harden Pharaoh's heart. Some of us struggle with that. Some of us get a little sentimental and we say, God, why are you hardening his heart toward you? Don't do that. Don't get all sentimental. I mean, on that one, because remember that Pharaoh was a really bad guy who didn't care a thing about the God of the universe. John Calvin, the great reformer, put it this way. He said this. He said, the hardness of heart is the sin of man. The hardening of the heart is the judgment of God. Did you catch that? Let me say it again. The hardness of heart is the sin of man. The hardening of heart of the heart is the judgment of God. And that teaches this. That sinners hearts are hard toward God. That when God says to us, come and repent and turn to me, the sinner says no way. When God says, let me give you the bad news, the bad news is that you're a sinner. The good news is I love you and I've sent a savior, Jesus Christ. All the here is the bad news. And their heart gets hard toward God. Pharaoh's heart was already hard toward God. And when it says that God hardened his heart, he merely accelerated the process away from God that Pharaoh was already going. So don't feel sorry for Pharaoh. But it does raise an important point that we need to understand. Some of you might be coming to this church, kind of checking out Christianity. You're looking over the fence, kicking the tires around here. Is Christianity the real deal? Is Jesus really the way and the truth and the life? And you're putting off making a decision for Christ. You're saying, you know, I don't need to do that right now because sometimes down the road I could do that. Except we have to understand that the justice of God can come in at any time, not just at the end of the age. Remember that person you're thinking of telling about Jesus and you said, now I'll do it another time? Do it today because you don't know when the hardening of the heart could be increased or accelerated by God. It's justice can come at any time. That's why Paul says, today is the day of salvation. As soon as you have the knowledge of Christ, receive Christ. So this hardening of Pharaoh's heart is continuing and God makes God hardens his heart. Why? To show who really is the power broker of the universe. And so Moses comes up and Aaron come up to Pharaoh and they meet him. And remember, he took his staff, Pharaoh took his, Moses took his staff and threw it down in front of Pharaoh. What happened? You remember the, that's right. The staff turned into a snake to show God's power through Moses. And what did Pharaoh's magicians do? Same thing. So did he let the Israelites go when he threw down his, no, he didn't let him go. His heart got harder toward God. He said, no way, God. And so God says in Exodus 7, 10-17 that Moses was going to go and give him more challenges and that Pharaoh's heart would still be hardened. So notice in verse 17 it says this, this is what the Lord says, by this you will know that I am the Lord with the staff that is in my hand. I will strike the water of the Nile and it will be changed into blood. So how many plagues were there? Well, there were nine plagues that came, actually 10, but the nine we're going to look at right now was the basis of this power encounter between Moses and Pharaoh. And the first one is that Moses comes up to Pharaoh and says, let my people go. Pharaoh says, what do you mean? Let my good work force go. Are you crazy? Of course not. And so he struck the Nile and it turned into blood. Now what, what is it that made Egypt great, more than anything else? What is it that made Egypt great? The Nile River. In fact, there would have been no Egypt ever if there had not been a Nile. And the Nile is, the Nile is not a river in Egypt, but the Nile is what made Egypt. The water that came from the mountains brought fertile soil down from the mountains and fertilized the ground right on the other side of the Nile so that they could grow crops from which they gained power and trade. And every one of these, every one of these plagues is an attack on a God of Egypt because you see there was Osiris, a happy man, and knew who were the gods of the river. And here Moses shows the power of God over the river and then the next one, this group one shows the absolute sovereign power of God over Pharaoh. The frogs, I don't know about you, but I'd rather pick up a snake than a frog. I mean, frogs are weird and they're just slimy and they're, oh, did I tell you that frogs were goddess in Egypt? And so when the frogs were multiplied because Pharaoh's heart was heart, there were frogs everywhere and the Egyptians couldn't take these frogs and kill them. Why? Because they were goddesses. Cool, huh? The power of God. Let my people go. Moses says to Pharaoh, Pharaoh, Pharaoh says, no way. And so the third is the plague of the gnats. Could have been lice. We're not sure. Could have been lice that got under the skin. Nats. Sometimes I'll ride my bike and come right through us, you ever done that? You're so glad you got glasses on because you go right through all those gnats. I don't know what it was, but it was awful. God's power was over the God of the land, Gab, the land produced gnats, not crops. Group two shows God's love for His people in contrast to how God treats His enemy. The flies, man flies everywhere and they get the Egyptians, but they don't get the Israelites. I love that. The disease of the livestock is on the Egyptian livestock, not the Hebrew livestock. The boils. You have a boil? Oh my goodness. Can't talk about boils. They're so painful. All over the Egyptians, not on the Israelites. This is God's power. This is a power encounter. The third group show that God could have destroyed Egypt at any moment, but in his mercy he did not. The hailstorm destroys Egyptian crops, but not the Hebrew's crops. By the way, is it rain in Egypt, a little, not much? Does it hail there? No. God shows His power over the God shoe, Horus, or Newt. The locusts over the grain, God, Nephi, total darkness is the last play. That's kind of funny, because in Egypt the sun always shines, and at night the stars are always clear, but there's a blackness, a darkness that was so thick you could feel it. God triumphed over the God raw, the sun God. One of these is an attack on the gods of Egypt. God is sovereign over the gods of Egypt. Here's the point for us. God is sovereign over the gods of this world, and make no mistake about it. Sometimes we run to those gods, the God of power, the God of success, the God of money, the God of a substance we think is going to give us all that we need. And God says, listen, don't run after these gods. These gods don't work. I work. We need a God who is bigger than life, who is faithful to us, and who is omnipotent. I know. What you're going through may not get solved right away. You know what? Your problem, your issue, might be so bad that it could bring you home, but you haven't lost. Because in Jesus Christ, God has come. He has died on a cross. He rose again from the dead, proof, proof that he has power over life and death. There is no situation too big for God's intervention and no person too small for God's attention. It's so important for us that we keep that in mind. God is faithful. God is omnipotent. And then the third thing. We looked at genealogy and a plague, now let's take a look at God's grace. Because every time Moses went to Pharaoh, what did he say? Well, Exodus 5.1, after this Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says, let's say it together. What do you say? Let my people go so that they may hold a festival to me in the desert. Let my people go. See, he says, the God of Israel says, the gods of Egypt don't work. But the gods of Israel says, let my people go, Exodus 7.16, then say to him, the Lord God of the Hebrews has said to me, let my people go so that they may worship me in the desert. This is what the Lord says, Exodus 8.1, let my people go so that they may worship me, Exodus 9.1, let my people go that they may worship me, Exodus 10.3, let my people go so that they may worship me. His desire for your heart is freedom. He wants you, as Israel was in political bondage, what he wants is for us to be free from sin. And so, guys, the really big picture of what it means to be a Christian is that God wants us free from sin. And he says, I offer you Jesus Christ. I offer you Jesus Christ because he is the only way to get free from sin so that we can go to heaven. Jesus said, I came to give you life and life, what? Abundantly. Only Jesus Christ can give you abundant life. And yet some people, still in our family here, don't quite get this. And so I want you to listen to me real carefully. Some people still think that salvation is sort of like earning points. Those of you who fly a lot and gain frequent flyer miles, you know, I fly some and I travel some of you travel a lot and you're always getting free tickets. I travel just enough so that when I call up the company and I say, hey, I'd like to get a free ticket and say, you don't have quite enough points yet. I never quite get enough points. Some people think that that's what Christianity is. I'm going to do some good things so that God, you know, I can get some points with God. You know, I'm going to go to church, I'm going to tithe, I'm going to say pastor that was a nice sermon even when you didn't like it. You're going to do all those kinds of things, right, to get points with God. But when it comes to spiritual mathematics, the points will never add up. That's what John 316 is all about. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. That whoever believes in Him will not perish but of everlasting life. Life comes through faith alone in Jesus Christ. Not by trying to earn points with God. Catch this. When the Israelites needed to be freed from Egypt, what did He do? Did He say, earn some points? And I'll think about setting you free. No. He said, I'm going to raise up Moses. Moses, get out there and do it. We'll set him free. When in the New Testament wants to set us free from sin, what does He say, earn some points? And I'll say, no. He says, believe in Jesus Christ. And some of you still need to do that. You're almost there. But you still think it's earning points for God. No. It's coming to the end of yourself and putting your faith in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation. Now do the other stuff. Follow the law. In other words, it's important to understand that the law of God is not given so that we would gain our salvation but to protect us from blowing up our own life. Kelly Boaz at our church is in the EOD. Once the bomb disposes a unit of Orange County deputies, I wouldn't want to do that job. But he was telling me the other day, this past week, that I guess down near McCoy Field, the airport, there was an old area where they used to drop bombs during World War II. They practiced. They found them as they're developing homes down there. Can you imagine? Can you imagine driving one of those caterpillars or tractors and coming upon a bomb from World War II? Things took a while. So he went down there and he said to a bomb guy, this is life, you know, found all these old bombs, put them up, he stacked them up and took 100 pounds of explosives and blew those bombs up. I wish I could have been there. Some of us think that what God is trying to do by giving us the guidance and the teaching of his word, do this, don't do that, is so that he can blow up our lives. He's not trying to blow up our lives. The law, his teaching, his truth is so that we wouldn't blow our own lives up. He sets us free, catch this guy's. What does he say to the Pharaoh? Set my people free so that they can do what? So that they can worship me. When God saves you in Jesus Christ, when you put your faith in Jesus Christ, he saves you to set yourself free, but not so that you can go do whatever you want. Not so that I could live for myself. He sets us free so that we can worship him, what we do here on Sunday morning, worship, so that we can live our lives for him and for other people because the reality is if we live for the gods of Egypt or the gods of this world, if we make ourselves a god, we're going to be very unhappy. The gods of this world can't meet our needs. So catch this. You may have been following Jesus for a lot of years and some of you are young in your faith and some of your kids of Christian parents and you hate it when they make you do all the stuff you're supposed to do because they're trying to ruin your life. No, they're trying to build your life, just like God's trying to build your life. Not my people free so that they may live a life that is a life of worship to me. That vacation in Argentina was so cool. It was beautiful, it was cold, vigorating, it was fun. You know, I didn't have to make any decisions myself. They told me when to get up, they told me when a meal was ready, told me when to get in the van to go travel, when to load my shotgun, when to get back in the van, when to eat, when to go to bed. Told me everything. I didn't make one decision the whole week. I didn't even answer myself. I didn't turn my cell phone on because it would have been $3 a minute if I called from there. So it was so cool, so relaxing, but you know what's good is to come back to a life of purpose that is not just constructed around pleasure. Now I enjoyed that and I needed that and you do too. But I need to live for something bigger than myself. I need to live for something that is eternal and so do you. I need to give myself to God and then to others, the two great commandments. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul of mine and your neighbor as why are we building? Not for just us. Why do you do ministry because that's life, that's where life is found. So as we wrap this up, I just want you to say God is bigger than life guys. He's faithful, he's omnipotent, he's filled with grace, what he wants for you is to set you free so that you can live for him where there is true life. If you don't know him, receive him. If you're his but have gotten off focus, get refocused. You take it to heart and so will I. Let's bow in prayer to you. If you have never accepted Christ as your Savior and Lord and life isn't really working out and you're kind of going the way of following the gods of this world, if you want to be forgiven and to get into the plan of the one who is really working, then pray in your heart something like this, God I don't want to do religion, I want to have a relationship with you. I want to be set free for my sins and to get into plan in the flow of the plan that you have for me. I want to do things your way because that's where life is so today I come and I want to turn for my past and accept Jesus Christ as my Savior and my Lord today. Come into my life, Jesus, be my Savior, forgive me for my sins and now I pray that you'd help me to live for you, trusting that your way is always going to be the right way. Keep me from blowing up my life, Father, as your children we come to you today and we ask that as we start a new week, we'd remember how great it is what Jesus has done. Now we pray that you would show us that we're free to follow you, lead us in your paths of righteousness for your name's sake and show us where life is found. Be with your people whom you love more than I can express. See you then this week as we pray these things in your holy name. Willow Creek Church is associated with the Presbyterian Church in America. Our website is www.willowcreekchurch.org and our phone number is 407-699-82-11.