Sermon Central
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When God Says "Enough!" Series
Contributed by Bobby Oliver on Aug 9, 2018 (message contributor)
Summary: God takes care of His people and God warns His enemies.
When God says, “Enough!”
- We’re continuing our study through the book of Exodus.
- As we do this study, we’re asking the question, “What does this passage tell me about honoring God?”
- Last week, we looked at the ninth plague, the plague of darkness.
- We saw that darkness is overwhelming, it got Pharaoh’s attention, and it blinded Pharaoh’s mind.
- We compared this plague with the darkness of sin and saw that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Light of the World, and He has the power to deliver us from darkness, if we turn to Him.
- After He delivers us, we become part of His family, and then, as we live our lives on this earth, we shine His light for all the world to see.
- Today, we’re going to look at the final plague, the Death of the Firstborn, and I want us to see what it looks like when God says, “Enough!”
- When I was in the Army, one of the things we did at Basic training as part of our hand-to-hand combat training was to fight one another with these huge pugil sticks.
- We’d put on these helmets that looked like football helmets, and we’d wear our armor and then, we’d just go full force at one another, shoving and pounding our opponent with all our strength.
- The rest of the troops would form a circle around us and cheer us on as they watched us beat the living daylights out of one another.
- I think the Drill Sergeants enjoyed watching it!
- I remember fighting hard against my opponent, but the other guy was too strong for me, and no matter how hard I pushed and smashed him with the pugil stick, he still had the upper hand.
- Obviously, the Drill Sergeants didn’t have us fighting like that, just for the fun of it…
- There was a purpose to the training…
- We were learning how to fight fiercely and effectively so that when we deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, we’d be ready to fight up close and personal if the situation called for it.
- Anyways, it seemed like these matches would last forever, but at some point, the Drill Sergeant would shout, “Enough!” and end the match, declaring one of us the winner.
- Obviously, the Drill Sergeants knew that a person can only take so much of a beating before it’s too much for them, so they knew when to end the match.
- It’s like that with God, as well.
- When He sends judgment on a wicked person or nation, He knows when they’ve had enough, so He knows when to end the judgement.
- That’s what we find here with the final plague, the death of the firstborn.
- It’s the final plague because, compared with the other nine plagues, this one is the worst.
- Remember, God is full of mercy, and that’s evident as He gave the Egyptians 9 different chances to repent and let the Israelites go.
- They chose not to, so God said, “Enough”, and sent this final plague to end their stubbornness and rebellion.
- It’s important to note that I’m going to be skipping over the passage about Passover this week and will come back to it next week.
- The reason I’m doing that is because there are too many important details in that passage, that if I tried to combine it with the death of the firstborn, I wouldn’t be giving it enough attention.
- Instead of trying to rush through it, we’re going to take our time.
- I think it’s important as we look at the final plague, for us to focus on the ways God displays His mercy through this final plague, because a lot of people criticize God for doing this, and paint Him as a cruel, unloving, unjust God…
- But that couldn’t be further from the truth!
- I truly believe that even when God sends judgment on the wicked, that He’s doing so with mercy.
- As a matter of fact, in James 2:13, we’re told that mercy triumphs over judgment.
- So, let’s look this morning at three things that happen when God says “Enough.”
I.) He takes care of His people- Vs 1-3
- One of my favorite characters in the Bible is Joseph.
- His story is found in the book of Genesis.
- One of the interesting things that stands out to me is that it seemed like everywhere he went, Joseph found favor in the sight of those around him, even when he was a lowly slave.
- When his brothers first sell him into slavery, he is bought by Potiphar, who was captain of Pharaoh’s guard.
