True Confessions: The Hardened Sinner

Exodus 9:23-35 – ²³ When Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, the Lord sent thunder and hail, and lightning flashed down to the ground. So the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt; ²⁴ hail fell and lightning flashed back and forth. It was the worst storm in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation. ²⁵ Throughout Egypt hail struck everything in the fields—both people and animals; it beat down everything growing in the fields and stripped every tree. ²⁶ The only place it did not hail was the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were. ²⁷ Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. “This time I have sinned,” he said to them. “The Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. ²⁸ Pray to the Lord, for we have had enough thunder and hail. I will let you go; you don’t have to stay any longer. ²⁹ Moses replied, “When I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands in prayer to the Lord. The thunder will stop and there will be no more hail, so you may know that the earth is the Lord’s. ³⁰ But I know that you and your officials still do not fear the Lord God.” ³³ Then Moses left Pharaoh and went out of the city. He spread out his hands toward the Lord; the thunder and hail stopped, and the rain no longer poured down on the land. ³⁴ When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts. ³⁵ So Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the Lord had said through Moses.

We can sometimes be like Pharaoh when…

#1 – We pray takes to stop the “.”

Exodus 9:25-26 – Throughout Egypt hail struck everything in the fields—both people and animals; it beat down everything growing in the fields and stripped every tree. ²⁶ The only place it did not hail was the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were.

Exodus 9:27 – Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. “This time I have sinned,” he said to them. “The Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong.”

We can just want out of the and are unwilling to go through the .

“The repentance that was born in the storm died/dies in the calm; that repentance of that was begotten amidst the thunder and the lightning, ceased so soon as all was hushed in quiet…”

“Sirs, you have forgotten the feelings you had in your hours of alarm; but, remember, God has not forgotten the vows you then made.” 

“You said, on a bed of sickness, that if he would spare your life You would never again sin as you did before; but here you are, And this week’s sins shall speak for themselves. You are no better Than you were before your sickness.”

“It is utterly worthless. It is of no use for you to say, ‘I have sinned,’ merely under the influence of terror, and then to forget it afterwards.”

Matthew 15:19 “For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.”

Ezekiel 36:26 – I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

1 Samuel 6:6 – Why do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh did? When Israel’s god dealt harshly with them, did they not send the Israelites out so they could go on their way?

“The God of the universe is not something we can just add to our lives and keep on as we did before.” ~ Francis Chan, Forgotten God.

Exodus 9:28 – “Pray to the Lord, for we have had enough thunder and hail. I will let you go; you don’t have to stay any longer.”

What “Hail Mary” prayer have I prayed that I am not upholding my end of the deal currently?

Is there anywhere that I am “heart hard” toward God right now?

We can sometimes be like Pharaoh when…

#2 – All is and we simply do our thing.

Exodus 9:34 – When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again…

Matthew 18:21-34 – ²³ “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. ²⁴ As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. ²⁵ Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. ²⁶ “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ ²⁷ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. ²⁸ “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. ²⁹ “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’ ³⁰ “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.  ³² “Then the master called the servant in…³³ Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ ³⁴ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Hebrews 10:19-27: ¹⁹ Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, ²¹ and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. ²³ Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.  ²⁶ If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, ²⁷ but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.

May I never forget that on my best day I still need God as desperately as I did on my worst day.

Exodus 9:34 – When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again….

“God is not just one thing we add to the mix called life.

He wants an invitation from us to permeate everything and every part of us.” ~ Francis Chan, Forgotten God