Hard Hearted Pharaoh Prov. 29:1 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
Today’s broadcast is about hard hearted Pharaoh. Prov 29:1 says, “He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” Such was the case for Pharaoh. He was often reproved and yet he hardened himself against the Lord until he was finally destroyed in the Red Sea. Notice that Pharaoh’s heart was:
Hardened by the Lord – Ex 4:21; 7:13; 9:12; 10:1, 20, 27; etc. – the Lord knows the heart of every person – and he will harden whom he will [Rom 9:18] – in the case of Pharaoh, God raised him up to show his mighty power in him [Rom 9:17] – he knew Pharaoh’s heart was hard – so, when God needed to, he just hardened Pharaoh’s heart even more so that he could show all of his signs and so that all in Egypt would know that he is the Lord – this hardening by the Lord is similar to the Lord turning the unthankful over to uncleanness, vile affections and then a reprobate mind [Rom 1:24, 26, 28] – you must understand that when you step out into a life of sin against the Lord he may harden your heart – you may find yourself seriously opposed to the Lord in your sin, much further from God than you ever thought you would go.
Hardened by foolishness – Ex 7:21-23; 2 Tim 3:8-9 – Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses with their magic and enchantments [up to a point] – and Pharaoh was willing to believe that their tricks were equivalent to God’s miracles – that’s exactly what “science falsely so called” has done to refute the miraculous creation of the universe – using evolution to explain the origin of man is just foolishness [Rom 1:22] designed to harden the hearts of men against the Lord – often when kids who grew up in church enter college, they are hardened against the Lord by the foolishness they hear in the classroom and that they see all around them on the campus.
Hardened by respite – Ex 8:15; 8:32; 9:34 – after several of the plagues, when repentant Pharaoh saw that the plagues had ceased and the trouble had eased, he returned to his resolute refusal to let Israel go – he is so similar to sinners who humbly repent when facing punishment for their sin and who quickly return to their sinful ways as soon as it appears that they have escaped the judgment of God – they become hardened to the judgment of God.
Hardened by unbelief – Ex 8:19; 5:2 – when the dust became lice, the magicians told Pharaoh, ‘This is the finger of God’ – Pharaoh refused to believe that the plague of lice was a miracle of the Lord – for some people today, the mere mention that something could be attributed to the work of God turns them off – they do not believe in God and the more they hear about him the harder their hearts are against him.
Hardened by vengeance – Ex 9:7; 14:5-8 – before Moses and Aaron showed up, Pharaoh had already determined that the Jews could be a major threat against him if Israel ever sided with one of Egypt’s enemies in a war – so after the plagues started and Israel was being divinely protected from the plagues, Pharaoh became even more determined to oppose their removal – he hardened his heart to the point of desiring to eliminate them altogether – when your heart becomes this hard your desire to avenge yourself can easily lead to your own destruction.
Conclusion: when God starts dealing with you about your heart or about sin in your life, the last thing in the world that you should do is harden you heart against him – take the rebuke and repent – once you begin to harden yourself against the Lord, any number of things can make you even harder – in time you may find yourself like Pharaoh opposed to God’s people, God’s men, God’s miracles and even God, himself.