Sermon Central
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Sleeping With Frogs
Contributed by Kemuel Travis on May 24, 2006 (message contributor)
Summary: To show that we must not allow sin to fester in our lives, but it must be dealt with quickly and completely when discovered.
INTRODUCTION
-Children love frogs
-Boys torment girls with them
-Fairy tales and stories are full of them
-But always, they bear a stigma of being ugly, gross, disgusting, something not meant ot be touched or handled
-Can you imagine a miraculous infestation of frogs?
-Discovering them in your flour jar when you begin to make bread
-Squishing them under your feet every time you take a step
-Finding them in bed when you go to lay down at night
-Hearing them croak in thunderous measure as you try to sleep
-We often look at Pharaoh and wonder what He must have been thinking to allow this plague and the others to go on
-But are we much different from him?
-Let’s look today at Pharaoh and see where he went wrong so we can learn from his mistakes
-Let’s see how to keep from spending one more night sleeping with frogs
I. He Had A Problem (vs. 1-7)
-The land was filled with frogs
-We see the stench as they are carried away
-The frogs are a symbol of sin
-Sin stinks!!!
-OT sacrifices were sweet smelling aromas to God
A. Because of his original disobedience
-This is the second plague
-First was water turned to blood
-To follow would be lice, flies, death of livestock, boils, hail, locusts, darkness and death of firstborn
B. Because of his self-sufficiency
-His magicians could only bring more frogs
-We often hijack our lives from the God who created us and loves us
-We can never rid ourselves of the sins in our lives
-Often we try, but we will always fail
II. He Procrastinated About The Solution (vs. 8-10b)
-He said “Tomorrow”
-He was of the mind set that says “never do today what you can put off until tomorrow.”
-Why didn’t he say “Today”?
A. He was blind to how bad the situation really was
-It was just a few frogs
-He saw it as simply an annoyance
-Often we are that way with our sin
-We see it as an annoyance
-We say, “Well, I just can’t help it”
-Or we say, “It isn’t really a BAD sin.”
-We don’t realize in these cases that sin is sin and every one is extremely displeasing to God
B. He was trying to find another solution
-Rather than obedience to God
-It’s amazing how we always seem to turn to God as a last resort
-Perhaps the greatest sin in 21st century America is the sin of self-sufficiency
1. I can do it on my own
2. I can do it with someone’s help
III. He Refused To Obey (vs. 15)
-He changed His mind
-Now that things were better, he didn’t believe he needed to obey God anymore
-The frogs were gone, why did he need to obey
-He went back on the deal he made
-Our God is the God of more than just the bad times
A. Obedience is difficult
1. Because our desires are evil
-We all are born with a sin nature
2. Because our thinking are wrong
B. Obedience is beneficial
1. Obeying God is always for our own good
-He never demands anything that isn’t
-It may not seem good in this life
-But it is always good for eternity
2. Obeying God is always for the good of others
-Pharaoh wasn’t just hurting himself by his disobedience
-Disobedience affects others and your relation to them
a. Spouse
b. Children
c. Neighbors
d. Strangers
C. Obedience is necessary
-Nothing else will ever be effective
1. No amount of sacrifice can take away your sin
2. No amount of human effort will make it go away
IV. He Faced Continual Consequences (vs. 16)
-The plagues just kept on coming
-Lice, flies, death of livestock, boils, hail, locusts, darkness and death of firstborn
A. Sin, undealt with, will continue to bring worsening
consequences
-Sin is like a cancer
-If left untreated it will eat away at more and more of your life
B. Sin undealt with will end in death
-Spiritually and eternally
-That’s why we need God’s chemotherapy and
radiation treatments applied through obedience
-They may be difficult and painful, but they will bring about the desired result of life
-Abundant life
-Eternal life
CONCLUSION
-Do we sometimes allow things to go on in our lives that we know should be eliminated, but like Pharaoh we do nothing about them?
-We let sins hide and fester within our lives
-Sins of disobedience
-Sins of self-sufficiency
-When they do come out, all will see just how ugly and rancid they are
-And trust me, they will come out
-If not in this life, then at the judgement
-Are you sleeping with a frog today?
-Is there a sin in your life?
-One left undealt with
