A Hardened Heart (Ex 4:18-31)

• There’s some huge concepts within these verses. I am not able to fully cover them in  45 min Big rocks to life- Important bc it shows how we should live towards God in our own lives
• 4:21 And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in your hand. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.
• 4:24 And it came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that the Lord met him and sought to kill him.
• Two big concepts- The hardening of Pharoah’s heart and the desire for God to kill Moses. 
• This year we’ve been covering some large topics. One of these was hermeneutics. How to properly interpret the Bible. You must properly interpret this in the WHOLE of scripture
• We all have presuppositions and biases that we bring to our biblical interpretation. 
• What we already believe to be true, limits our ability to properly interpret what comes in
• But what’s TRUE- is that which is clear is clear- what is obscure may not be clear but still TRUE
• What is written is 100% true without contradiction- but I don’t hang my hat on one verse. 
• You can’t take one verse and make a fire by it and worship it- Its bad practice. (I am not smart)
• Here’s the issue with the Pharoah Hardened verses- 1. People use to as a complete justification for complete double predestination and God’s ultra sovereignty based on Pharoahs life. 
•  huge denominational divisions over it. Specific to this verse-  Here’s the problem with that- 
• One- You are not the enslaver of a chosen nation of God’s people working out salvation for Heb. 
• Two- We don’t do that with other people in the Bible- or at least we shouldn’t (Abraham being rich in the prosperity Gospel, Judas being used by Satan, Annias and Sapphira lying and dead)
• Three- There are just as many verses in Exodus of God hardening, as there is of Pharoah hardening on his own . Don’t elevate one above the other- you have to admit they both exist. 
• Four– People will say they believe in sovereignty and act contrary to it. Belief = action
•  You weigh the pros and cons of your decisions. You punish and reward your children, work out problems with others, make plans and choices, chose to be here today. Why pray for kids?
• Five- The Bible is filled with hundreds of demands for action with consequences- It would be a cosmic mistreatment for God to hold us accountable for that which we have no control
• If we are held morally responsible for our actions, but God is the author of our choices, there is no reason to serve God or walk out our faith. There is none. Live however you want. 
• The backdrop is God’s natural revelation- What we can see and what we can do- and God’s special revelation- what he has said to us in scriptures. What we can SEE v what he has SAID
• God’s natural revelation is clear. You make choices- You see results. Gods special revelation is clear- God has an ordained plan- he hold people accountable to their actions. We join with HIM
• Here’s the position– God’s Sovereign plan works in concert with our freewill. 
• Scripture example- Acts 2:23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death;

1. Different belief systems

• Different belief systems will influence how you act in your Christian life. (my filter of freewill)
• Let me explain the different belief systems of these difficult theological questions
• indeterminism, determinism, and compatibilism
• Help you understand free will, God’s sovereignty, and individual responsibility.
• Indeterminism: genuine instances of randomness or chance in the universe, free- choices.
• God has granted humans a degree of genuine, undetermined free will. God don’t know
• God knows all possibilities, He allows humans to make choices that are not preordained.
• (Moses was doing it all- his choices, plans, desires and outcomes- same w pharoah)
• Joshua 24:15 if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve 
• Determinism: every event, including human actions, is causally determined by God alone. His sovereign will governs all things, including human choices. God does it all, you do nothing. 
• We are being wholly controlled by God and have no free will. He controls all aspects
• (moses was possessed and forced to say, do and go)
• Ephesians 1:11  In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.”
• Hard Determinism: true free will is an illusion, and humans are not morally responsible for their actions. Live however you want. 
• Job 42:2 “I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.
• Compatibilism asserts that free will and determinism exist and are compatible. It suggests that it is possible for God’s sovereign will to work in harmony with human free choices.
• compatibilism holds that God’s sovereignty and human free coexist in a way that does not negate either. It acknowledges that God’s foreknowledge and plan encompass the choices that humans make. They work in concert together with God’s sovereign will. God can design this 
• (God speaks to Moses, moses has a CHOICE of submission to join God’s plan)
• Proverbs 16:9 A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”
• Indeterminism can cause you live for yourself, with no care for what God wants
• Determinism can cause you to take no responsibility for your life decisions and put it on God
• Compatibilism acknowledges God’s sovereign will, and our responsibility to align with it. 
• At the end of the day- you decide your beliefs. You can decide what you believe and why you believe it. But that belief is going to dictate how you live your life. Your beliefs drive action
• If I’m challenging your belief system, you will have cognitive dissonance. Discomfort.

2. Don’t have a hardened heart

• Pharoahs heart was already hard before Exodus 4:21. The Israelites were already enslaved, he was a murderer, and refused to let them go free. He wasn’t with God and changed- already bad. 
• When it says “I will harden his heart” you have to admit he was already in a bad place
• Here’s a truth- He will be given an opportunity to respond to a call from Moses to change
• Its HIS decision on whether he allow the challenge to soften his heart. Why be given choice?
• Who, what, how, when and responsibility on Pharoah is cosmically inconsequential for YOU specifically today- you are not him. What IS consequential– is YOUR heart. Is it hard? Are you resistant to God and living in a state of unrepentance? Has YOUR heart become hardened?
• God has not hardened your heart. You can’t sit here, have me tell you to repent, and look at me and say “God has hardened me. He has me in sin for a season”. Let your kid say that to you
• RIGHT NOW- You have a decision- Turn from sin, have your heart softened and return to GOD
• What is a hardened heart?
• Resistance to God’s Word and Will: resistance or stubbornness. unwilling or resistant to accept God’s Word, guidance, or moral principles. You make up REASONS for your disobedience. 
• The result is: repeated disobedience, unbelief, and a persistent rejection of God’s truths.
• Pr 28:14 he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity
• Hebrews 3:12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.”
• Loss of Sensitivity: to spiritual matters. callous or indifferent to matters of faith, morality, and conscience. no longer be moved by convictions or a sense of right and wrong. INDIFFERENT
• Hebrews 3:7-8 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness.
• Eph 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, 1 Th 5:19 Do not quench the Spirit.
• Spiritual Blindness no longer perceive or understand God’s truths or purposes. This can result in poor judgment, moral confusion, and a failure to discern God’s will. By walking with Satan
• 2 Corinthians 4:4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
• Consequences of Sin: sin and disobedience. persisting in sinful behavior, gradually hardened as a consequence of choices. a cycle of further sin and spiritual separation from God. HARDENED
• Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.”
• Galatians 6:7-8 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.”
• God may be involved in the hardening someone’s heart. But This is not a direct action of making the heart hard but rather a confirmation of an individual’s choices. When people persistently reject God’s calls and commands, God may allow their hearts to become even more hardened as a consequence of their own decisions. (as is the case w Pharoah- Already indifferent)
• Romans 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting;
• REPENTANCE is ALWAYS The GOAL. Not destruction. God always gives opportunity for the sinner to repent- but many choose not to. They don’t believe that God is real and consequences come. 
• THE ANSWER- if you think your heart is hardened, then REPENT. Come BACK TO GOD
• Lu 15:7 there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance 1 Jn 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Ps 86:5 For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You. Is 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. Mi 7:18 Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever because He delights in mercy.
• God can work to soften a hardened heart, but it requires an individual’s willingness to turn away from sin, seek God’s forgiveness, and be open to His transforming work. You work WITH GOD

3. God does not want to kill you

• Why did God give Pharoah a chance w Moses? Why did Moses Repent? Why did Jesus preach?
• 2 Peter 3:9 but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
• Ezekiel 18:23 Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord God, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?
• Exodus 4:24 And it came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that the Lord met him and sought to kill him
• Why? Circumcision Neglect: Moses had neglected to circumcise his son as was required by God’s covenant with Abraham (Genesis 17:10-14). Moses KNEW and God wanted CHANGE
• Testing or Rebuke?: intention was not to kill Moses but to test him or send a strong rebuke. 
• Symbolic Action?: emphasizing the importance of circumcision as a sign of God’s covenant with the descendants of Abraham. Remind Moses of his role as a leader of the Israelites and the need for obedience to God’s commands if he was going to be the leaderi
• Here’s the contrast between Moses and Pharoah. Moses responds to God, Pharoah did NOT
• this passage underscores the significance of obedience to God’s commands, including the rite of circumcision. It serves as a reminder that God takes His covenant and His commandments seriously and expects obedience from His chosen leaders and people. He REQUIRES
• God sought to kill Moses but spared him after his wife, Zipporah, circumcised their son.
• important to be obedient to God’s commands! God had told Moses to circumcise and he hadn’t. 
• individuals have choices, but they must align their decisions with God’s will. Compatibilism 
• Moses’ delay in circumcising his son disrupted God’s plan, self-determination should align with divine guidance to fulfill God’s purposes. 
• God does not take disobedience lightly. 
• Ephesians 5:6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
• Pr 14:11 The house of the wicked will be overthrown, But the tent of the upright will flourish.
• 2 Th 1:9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,
• Moses, in this instance, when God came to make right, had a choice of whether or not he was going to come alongside God’s divine will and purpose
• Circumcision was a demand put on Abraham, Moses was his descendant, he was required for himself and his offspring. He was in disobedience and had to make it right and he WAS
• God could not allow Moses to lead his people into the promised land being in disobedience
• What does it mean to you
• What areas of your life are you walking in disobedience? Has your heart become hard? 
• The path forward is obedience and a softened heart. Choose this day whom you will serve
• Honoring God and following his ways is the easy path. Probably not circumcision
• Football in High School- Coach Sato had a plan. He had requirements. Dress, conduct, practice, games, and HE called the plays. (Meyers wanting the ball). If you didn’t do the plays HIS way- he took you out. He forgave you for missteps that were honest mistakes, but willful continual disobedience resulted in getting benched, and maybe kicked off the team
• But he would give you chance after chance. You can choose to leave the team if you want. 
• Its not all exactly like this- it’s a weak analogy- but it paints a picture
• Get on the team. Run the plays. Fall into the plan of the Coach. Let him direct you. 
• HE is filled with forgiveness for you because he wants you to WIN. But you have to work with HIM. He cannot do it all for you, and you can’t do it by yourself. 
• Walk with GOD. His will is his WORD. Know his WORD. Don’t harden your heart. REPENT