Are You Your Own Pharaoh?

The title of the sermon today is, Are You Your Own Pharaoh? Try to figure out how you might be your own pharaoh. Then the subtitle is, Drowning Pharaoh in the Water of the Word. One of the first steps in gaining victory over any being or anything is to recognize who the enemy really is. The real enemy, as we know, is Satan the Devil. And, of course, Pharaoh is a type of Satan the Devil. But I'm not saying that you are necessarily your own devil, but I am asking a question as to how you might be your own pharaoh. Satan is a spirit being, and thus the warfare is, by definition, spiritual. The battleground is your mind. Thus, Satan, first of all, tries to get you through your mind and your thought processes. That's how he tries to get through to you and how he tries to influence you, first and foremost, is through your mind and your thought processes. Let's go now to James chapter 1 and note how this process works with regard to what goes on in your mind. Satan is a great tempter. He is a seducer.

But a lot of it resides within our own being. You know, the old saying from the comedy show that Flip Wilson had several years ago, the devil made me do it, but did he really? In James chapter 1 and verse 13, Let no man say, when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. God is not a tempter, but of course Satan is. For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust or wrong desire and enticed. Every man, it didn't say some, said every.

Then when lust hath conceived, it brings forth sin, and sin when it is finished brings forth death. So what happens is when a thought enters our mind or we see something, as we heard on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, that Satan's three main areas in which he tries to get us through the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

So when any of those things happen, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, or pride of life, however the temptation might come, of course this has to enter into our mind somehow, either through the five senses or else through our thought processes. One way or the other, we begin to think about it and we maybe mull it over, think about the pros and the cons. Sometimes it's almost immediately that we do whatever it is we do that we shouldn't do. But oftentimes we think about it, mull it over, and then go ahead and do it. It says when lust has conceived, the next verse, when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin, and sin brings forth death. Everything that goes into your conscious stream of awareness, it doesn't have to come from the outside, it can come from within our own thought processes. But everything that comes within our conscious sense of awareness is stored in our memory bank. Psychologists call it the subconscious, and that can be emitted into the conscious mind. And of course one of the main things that is submitted to in our minds is music. When we hear a song, maybe there's a song we haven't heard for years, and then suddenly we'll start humming it one morning or evening or in the shower or wherever it might be, because this conscious stream of awareness is stored. Of course, that's one of the reasons why it is so important to guard your mind. So let's read verses 15 and 16 again. But every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust, and enticed, that's 14, then when lust conceives, it brings forth sin, and sin when it is finished brings forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift, every perfect gift, is from above, comes down from the father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. So once again, it is so important to keep our mind. In Proverbs 4 and verse 23, Solomon was inspired to write, Keep your mind with all diligence, for out of it flow the issues of life. You're very center, your heart of being. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it flow the issues of life. Sin has a nature all of its own. What would you say the principal nature of sin is? What is the principal nature of sin? Let's go now to Hebrews 3 and verse 13, where the Apostle Paul here tells us the principal nature of sin. I think I said Proverbs 3 and verse 13.

But exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. So the nature of sin is deceitfulness. And of course, one of Satan's principal strategies is to entice you and to deceive you. One of the great laws of human nature is that of self-preservation. We usually think of self-preservation in terms of protecting ourselves physically, protecting life and limb. But self-preservation and self-protection is not limited to protecting life and limb. Self-preservation is really more about protecting our psyche, our ego, our self-esteem, how we feel about ourselves, how we feel about others. Have you ever thought of self-protection from that point of view? Or we could call it self-defense. Everyone wants to feel like they are wanted, needed, and appreciated for who they are and what they are. And oftentimes, we as parents focus more on what we want our children to be rather than appreciating them for who they are. We all have unique personalities, qualities, and characteristics. One of the things they used to say in some of these students who would become distractors, an ambassador would say, this is just a yellow pencil mill. We're just turning out yellow pencils here. We want everybody to be the same. We want everybody to dress alike, everybody to speak alike, and everybody to do this, everybody to do that.

Well, there might have been some truth to that, but I don't think there was a lot.

But in some cases, perhaps we did and maybe do emphasize being like somebody else. Somebody else we want to be like is Christ, but we're not ever going to have the same personality, the same qualities and characteristics as another person. We are whomever we are. How much difference do you think there was between the personality of the Apostle Peter and the Apostle John? Peter, the outspoken, foot in the mouth, loud mouth, and then John, the Apostle of love. How much difference of their personality? Yet, God uses Peter powerfully in the early days of the Church. Usually, in the first few chapters of the book of Acts, you'll find Peter and John. Peter and John sometimes James, Peter and John did this. Peter and John did that. And they were just about as opposite in personality as you could get. So, what about just sometimes looking at a person saying, I really appreciate you for who you are, what you are. I'm not trying to make you into what I am or to what anybody else is. Of course, we all want to be conformed to the image of Christ, but there is their room for different personalities. We all want to feel like we're being treated fairly and that we're getting a fair shake out of life. Satan knows human nature very well. And one of the main things that Satan wants to do is to get you to feel like that you're getting the short end of the stick, as we say, that you're being treated unfairly. So, how does the author of Sin and Death go about his deceitful, seductive work? One of his principle methodologies is to sow seeds of doubt concerning who you are and what you are in your mind. And sometimes, other people don't even play a role in it. We do it all by ourselves.

Satan sows seeds of doubt in two basic ways. One, he plays on our own paranoia and influences us to think negatively about self and others. And then secondly, he uses other people to sow seeds of doubt. Let's go to Genesis 3. We've never turned there before in the history of the church, so let's go there. In Genesis 3, Now the serpent was more settled than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made, and he said unto the woman, Yea, as God said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden. And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree of life which in the midst of the garden you shall not, God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. And the serpent said unto the woman, You shall not surely die. So let's examine this. So first of all, he asks this question, has God said? Then Eve responds, and her response is somewhat accurate, though she adds a little bit to it. God had not said, You don't touch it. He had said, You don't eat of it. That's sort of beside the point. And then immediately, Satan accuses God of lying. Oh, he's lying to you. You're not going to die. That's a lie. In other words, Satan turns to the tables. He, the very epitome of deceiver, of deceitfulness, and says, God is a deceiver. He's the one who is deceiving you. So Satan attacks God's purpose for creating human beings in the first place by saying, you know, you'll not surely die. You'll keep on living in your sins, apparently. You know, love was the great motivating force that moved God to create humankind. God, who is love, wants to share who he is and what he is in a family setting. And Satan, of course, wanted to destroy that and to lie to Adam and Eve, and she fell for it.

Of course, the creation of humankind was one of the first steps toward God having this family, the spiritual family. Of course, all along, he and the Word had planned this great plan of salvation. They had planned it out, who knows how many years in advance, Jesus Christ slain before the foundation of the world. And even the angelic realm created, ministering servants to the heirs of salvation, as it says in Hebrews 1.14. But Satan sinned and became the ultimate enemy. We need to know and know that we know that the warfare is spiritual. So let's go to Ephesians 6, verse 10. I'm getting this popping on this thing. I don't know if I need to move this tie down or what. In Ephesians 6, verse 10, we read here where the warfare really is and who the enemy really is. Ephesians 6, verse 10, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. This is our key verse. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness's world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. So we need to recognize that the ultimate enemies are sin and death and that Satan is the author of sin and death and he is the one that we're battling against, he and the demons and his agents and anyone who would go along with him. Sin and death are enemies. Life is the most precious gift we have. We may remark from time to time that I wish I had never been born or I wish I could just close my eyes tonight, go to sleep, and never wake up. Life is our most precious gift and if we don't appreciate the great gift of life, there's not much hope for us. Sin is an enemy of life since the wages of sin is death. Paul says in Romans 6.23, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So we have this great hope. If you don't have life, though, you don't have anything. Life has been made to appear cheap in this world. Counting last night, that made nine mass killings in the U.S. in the last month. Last night, sometime in the dead of the morning, this guy comes into this room in New Orleans and he shoots four children. One was 19, and the rest were younger children. One as young as 23 months old. And all 50-something people have been killed as a result of mass murderers' actions in the past month in this nation. 50-something people. Nine mass killings. Life is made to appear so cheap. But let's go buy another video game. Let's shoot them all down. Let's destroy them all. In fact, some of the people are saying, some of the so-called experts on child rearing, saying, really, you know, this really helps us, these video games. It heightens our senses and sense of awareness and helps manual dexterity and hand-to-eye coordination. I mean, just, you know, kill a few million, no problem.

I don't know what it will, what will it take, what will it take in this nation for us to wake up, to realize that we're killing ourselves?

Oh, we worry about what's happening overseas, and well, we should.

But if we didn't even have the enemies overseas, we would be in deep trouble.

Life, especially, eternal life, is not cheap. It's the most precious thing you have. You don't have life. What do you have? 1 Corinthians 6, verse 18. Let's go there. 1 Corinthians 6, verse 18.

1 Corinthians 6, verse 18. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man does is without the body, but he that commits fornication sins against his own body. Of course, so much of the sin that is going on in this nation, we are a sex-saturated society, basically in which the whole advertising world makes its pitch based on some kind of sexual innuendo, and then most of the entertainment follows suit doing the same thing.

1 Corinthians 16, verse 19. What know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you which you have of God? You are not your own. All they say, this is my body. You know, if I get pregnant, I want to have an abortion. Who's to tell me that I can't do it? My body. I should have that right. There have been hundreds of thousands of fetuses destroyed in this nation in recent decades. You ought to read the description sometime of a partial birth abortion which the President of the United States, the current President, said that he would not cut off funding or he would restore the funding for partial birth abortion.

Verse 20, for you are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's. You are bought with a price. You go back to this garden, if you would be turning to 1 Peter 1, you go back to this thing in the Garden of Eden where Satan says, you shall not surely die. God is lying to you. Why would the very Creator, the one who created us, turn around and try to deceive us? That makes no sense at all. We wouldn't have life. There would be no human beings if it were not for the love and the mercy of God, of Him wanting to share His love and His being with us.

In 1 Peter 1, verse 19, well, let's read 18. 1 Peter 1, 18, for as much as you know that you were not redeemed, you were not bought back with corruptible things as silver and gold, this ties in with you were bought with a price. You were not redeemed, you were not bought back with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation or conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as if a lamb without blemish and without spot, who was verily foreordained, Proganoscho, known beforehand, before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who by Him do believe in God that raised Him up from the dead and gave Him glory that your faith and hope might be in God.

The ancient Israelites were freed from physical bondage and their firstborn spared by sprinkling the blood of an acceptable lamb on the doorpost of their dwellings. No doubt this was an act of faith because who's ever heard of such a thing? We're going to sprinkle some blood on the doorpost and God is going to pass over our dwelling. Because they had already witnessed nine plagues that had come upon Egypt, three of which, the first three also fell on the Israelites. What if you were in their shoes in a foreign land without the physical means to deliver yourself?

If someone tells you, kill a lamb and take the blood and sprinkle it on the doorpost, and by so doing, you'll be set free from this slavery, this oppression that you heard about in the sermonette. Would you believe him or her that told you to do that? The Israelites, as I've said, had witnessed the nine plagues. So they had a witness, they had a testimony of the miraculous power of God. So I suppose they were pretty well motivated by this time. God sent these plagues to show the people that He is the one true God.

He confronted the things that the Egyptians called gods. Now, for the first two or three of these things, the Egyptian magicians were able to duplicate. You know, when Aaron first cast his rod down and they cast their rods down and it became a serpent, then Aaron cast his rod down and swallowed them up. They were able to duplicate some of the things at first, but when even it's like the the lice that came upon the land, it was like the sand to the earth was turned into lice and really plagued everyone, they were not able to to duplicate that.

And even the magicians began to say, hey Pharaoh, this is from the true God. We're just fakes. We'll begin to sort of get into argue your own Pharaoh. So the ten plagues were righteous plagues and justly inflicted upon the Egyptians because each plague had something to do with the false gods that the Egyptians worshiped. And God can make the false things that we worship a burden to us. Whatever your God is and whatever you think is so important that's really not of God, they eventually become a burden around your neck.

The word plague is from the Hebrew word that's spelled in English O-T-H. And it means sign. It's a sign. The Egyptians believed in magic. They delighted in trying to override the laws of nature to perform their tricks. What they were doing was basically tricks, but what God was doing through Aaron and Moses was supernatural and of God. The entire episode of the plagues is supposed to happen within eight to ten months. And each of these plagues focus a sign to the Egyptians showing that he is God and he's greater than all of the so-called gods of Egypt.

And as I've already said, the first three plagues also fell on the Israelites from the last seven on the Egyptians alone. You wouldn't notice this in Exodus 8, verse 23.

Exodus 8 and verse 23.

This is where Moses, Aaron, begins to really interact and the plagues begin to come. They've already started. The first three had fallen upon the Israelites as well, but now God is going to make a distinction, or as it says here in the King James, a division between the Israelites and the Egyptians. Exodus 8, 23. And I will put a division between my people and your people. And tomorrow shall this sign be, and the Lord did so, and there came a grievous swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants' houses, and into all the land of Egypt. The land was corrupted by the reason of the swarm of flies. And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron and said, Go, you sacrifice to your God in the land. And Moses said, It is not fitting so to do. Why? For we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God. Lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us? We will therefore go three days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God, as he shall command us. One of the great problems that we have, and one of the notable things that is happening to our people today, and I don't mean just in the U.S. at large, I mean in the church as well, one of the notable things is to think that we can stay in Egypt and sacrifice to the true God. We cannot stay in Egypt and sacrifice to the true God. Now, I know you have to live in this world, as Paul writes about in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. It says that, I wrote to you in an epistle, not to company with, and in a whole list of various behaviors, but he says, that's with any brother who does this. Maybe we ought to read that. 1 Corinthians 5.

Then he concludes that you have to stay basically where you are, then you must need to go out of the world.

1 Corinthians 5.9, I wrote unto you in an epistle, not to company with fornicators, yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with the idolaters, for then must we needs go out of the world. But now, have I written unto you, not to keep company if any man that is called a brother.

This is what we might call tough language in today's world. A lot of people don't want to hear tough language. They want to hear smooth things. They are, many are turned to fables. This is the word of God. This is not my word. You can get mad at me. That won't help you any. This is the word of God. If we believe any of the Bible, we believe this. You have not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters, for then we must needs go out of the world. But now, I have written unto you, not to keep company if any man that is called a brother, be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a regular, or a drunkard, or an Hutner, or an extortioner, with such and one, no, not to eat. See, what was happening in Corinth was they had an incestuous fornicator among them, and they all knew about it, but they did nothing. In fact, they gloried in it. It's like, oh, his leavening doesn't hurt me. I'm above all of that. You know, I can still be his friend, because if we really were to confront the situation, he would get mad. He would be mad at me. He would do this. He would do that. And of course, I have faced that many times in the ministry. If you want, sometimes, people don't take correction very well. Of course, the book of Proverbs has a lot to say about it, about how we should. Verse 12, for what have we to do to judge them also that are without do not you judge them that are within, but then that are without God judges, therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. And they did put away the incestuous fornicator. And then in 2 Corinthians 7, he's back. Evidently, he took the correction quite well, and he's back in the church. And Paul is writing then to him to tell him that to forgive such a one, to restore it. But sometimes it's like if you make one mistake, you make one mistake, you're forever branded. Some of the most notable people in the Bible made some of the most horrendous mistakes you can imagine, and one of the ones that I think of right off, because it seems in earlier years we almost preached the virtue of David more than we did Jesus Christ. David, an adulterer or murderer, numbered Israel, and thousands died as a result thereof. And yet, it's quite clear, it seems to me in the Bible, that he's going to be in the kingdom of God.

Paul was killing Christians before he was called and struck down on the road to Damascus.

In Revelation 18, verse 4, I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not her plagues. Now, their plagues coming upon this earth again, and the plagues that came upon Egypt hundreds of years ago, would be what we would call a mild summer shower by comparison to the plagues that are coming upon this earth at the end of this age.

Well, before each plague, God commanded Moses and Aaron to warn Pharaoh, Go tell Pharaoh, go tell O Pharaoh, down in Egypt's land, let my people go. Why? That they may go and sacrifice under the eternal God.

So today, we pose the question, are you your own Pharaoh? I submit to you that oftentimes you are your own Pharaoh, and so am I. You are the one who holds the key to your own freedom and eternal life. You, me, we are the ones that hold the key to our freedom and eternal life.

Pharaoh's heart was hardened each time God spoke to him through Moses. Today, we are the ones who hardens our heart and rationalizes away the changes we must make in our lives to please God. So I ask, are we our own Pharaoh?

It seems to indicate in the Bible that God was placed in the name of Jesus. Pharaoh. It seems to indicate in the Bible that God was playing a role in Pharaoh hardening his heart. But God is not playing a role, per se, in us hardening our hearts, because he is not willing that any should perish. That all should come to repentance. And he is there all day long with outstretched hands. We're the ones who go puffed up, filled with leaven. So once again, we ask the question, will you harden your heart today to the words that God is speaking to you and I? Ironically, for the Israelites, they fell in the same trap that Pharaoh fell into by hardening their hearts. They got out of Egypt.

And then what did they do? Let's notice Hebrews 3 and verse 8.

What a paradox this is.

In Hebrews 3, verse 7, Wherefore, as the Holy Spirit says, today, today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness. When your fathers tested me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore, I was grieved with that generation and said, they do always err in their heart, and they have not known my ways. So I swore in my wrath, they not racialized entered my rest. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God, but exhort one another daily what is called today. Lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. So are we our own Pharaoh? And if so, if our heart is hard, how can it be softened? How can it be softened? Well, we might buy water softeners to soften the water. Talk about hard water, or hard disc, or that of the other. It takes a special tool to cut diamonds, one of the hardest substances known, made out of carbon. God has given us free will to make our own choices, whether they be good or bad. Let's go to Deuteronomy 30, verse 15. Review that. Deuteronomy 30 and verse 15. All the world has caught up today, especially the United States, with freedom to do with my being what I want to do. Freedom to choose my lifestyle. I not only want you to let me be free to do it, but I want you to embrace it. For example, homosexuality. It's not enough that you just sort of ignore what we're doing. We want you to actually praise what we're doing, to call evil good.

Deuteronomy 30, verse 15. See, I've set before you this day life and good and death and evil. In that I command you this day to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and the Lord your God shall bless you in the land where you go to possess it. But if your heart turn away, if you harden your heart, are you your own Pharaoh?

But if your heart turn away so that you will not hear, but shall be drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I denounce you this day that you shall surely perish, that you shall not prolong your days upon the land where you go to possess it over Jordan. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I've set before you life and death. Remember the precious gift of life. I've set before you life and death blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life that both you and your seed may live, that you may love the Lord your God, you may obey His voice, that you may cleave unto Him, for He is your life and the length of your days, that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swears to the fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. So we see very clearly here that God has given us free will to make our own choices, but He tells us if we choose to follow Him, we're choosing life. If we choose to go the other way, we choose death. So we see we can be our own Pharaoh. We can choose to be free. Let my people go. We can choose to let ourselves be free. Free from sin and death. Turn now, please, to Romans 6.12. Romans 6.12, what we call the baptismal chapter, Romans 6, crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. The analogy between buried in the watery grave of baptism, raised to newness of life. Romans 6.12, let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies that you should obey it in the lust thereof. Remember, we talked about how sin comes about.

Lust is conceived. It brings forth sin. The thought enters our mind. We can cast out the thoughts as we shall see. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in the lust thereof. Neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law but under grace. But then shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace. God forbid, we have been set free from the law of sin and death through the sacrifice of Christ and faith in it, raised in it in its life, and it is by grace that we stand. But, as Paul said, does that do away with the law? Are we going to continue in sin? He says, God forbid. Here's our key verse for this section. Know you not that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey. You're a slave. You can be a slave to sin, or you can be a slave to righteousness. Slave to sin brings forth death.

Stay in Egypt as a slave. Die in Egypt. Die in your sins.

Serve it of righteousness. Go on to the Promised Land. Eternal life. Live forever. Set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Choose life. Well, it would seem that only a fool would choose anything else. Who would choose anything else? Well, basically the whole world is choosing something else. We can say, oh well, they're deceived, and the devil is deceiving the whole world. Whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey. Whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness. See, we hold the key to a large degree of our faith.

So one of the first steps in softening our hearts is to listen to the voice of God, as he convicts us through his word and spirit as to how we should respond to him and live our lives. So now, subtitle, Drowning Pharaoh in the Water of the Word.

We don't want to choose to be our own Pharaoh. We don't want to harden our hearts. And how do we drown old Pharaoh? How do we drown human nature? How do we keep human nature in the watery grave?

So one of the first great steps is to listen to the voice of God, as he convicts us through his word and his spirit, as to how we should respond to him and live our lives. You know, great tragedies can change a person's direction. Wake them up as you hear, well, I got a wake-up call. I was almost killed in this automobile accident.

Some people face a life-and-death situation like that. And it jars them out of the way that they're going. We've all read or heard of stories where a person is in a life or death situation, maybe on the battlefield or in a storm. What about this earthquake in Italy? It was killed close to 300 people, and some of those people were rescued after five days. One old lady was knitting as she waited for them to come rescue her. Some of those situations, people will say, well, if God delivers me from this, I'll serve Him for the rest of my life.

And we saw after 9-11, for a season in this nation, there were a lot more people at church on Sunday morning, even though that's not the true church. I think it's better than Walmart, probably.

You know, people are at one of three places. They're at Walmart. They are at the restaurant. They're at the ballgame. Well, let's make it five places. They're either at Walmart, the restaurant, the ballgame, the hospital, and them that ain't there on their way. So. So Israel basically repeated this cycle of a wake-up call, get right for a little season, go back, do the same thing. Notice Psalm 78. Psalm 78 is one of the great summary psalms in the whole Bible. It summarizes to a large degree the history of Israel. Psalm 78 verse 34 basically picks up with them in Egypt and him delivering them and the cycles that they went through. Let's look at Psalm 78 verse 34.

When he slew them, they sought him. Oh, they would go into captivity. They'd cry out, especially during the period of the Judges. God would raise up a judge and deliver them. When he slew them, they sought him and they returned and inquired early after God. And they remembered that God was their rock and the high God, their Redeemer. Nevertheless, they did flatter him with their mouths. In other words, they gave lip service to God. And they lied unto him with their tongues. They weren't really with it, but they pretended to be. For their heart was not right with him. Neither were they steadfast in his covenant. But even in spite of this, but he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity and destroyed them not. Yes, many a times turned his anger away and did not stir up all his wrath. For he remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes away and comes not again. How often did they provoke him in the wilderness and grieve him in the desert? And they turned back and tempted, tested God and limited the Holy One of Israel. They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy. And this goes back into Israel's history of what they would do. And it's basically the history of humankind. The shortcut to having a soft heart is to read and study the Word of God, meditate on it, and as the Holy Spirit convicts you, respond to it. It's as simple as that. Bathed in the water of the Word, drowning O Pharaoh in the water of the Word. A soft heart, a heart that stands in opposition to the heart of Pharaoh. It's a humble heart. It does not kick against the pricks. It does not kick against the Word of God, the Spirit of God. It is a perfectly teachable heart. Let's notice it in James 1.19. Perfectly teachable heart. So many people get the message confused with the messenger. They don't like the messenger, so they don't listen to the message or respond to it. The thing you need to determine when it comes to messages is it true? And if it's true, no matter who it comes from or where it comes from, we need to consider it. In James 1.19, Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. For the wrath of God works not the righteousness of God. Wherefore, lay apart, put away all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness PRAUTES It means perfectly teachable. It's hard to translate this Greek word into English. Receive with a perfectly teachable heart the engrafted word which is able to save your lives.

So the heart of Pharaoh opposes itself. It's like a continual conflict.

A friction within a person's own being. Notice how Paul describes this in 2 Timothy 2.22.

A lot of people try to put on various outward signs of rebellion, that they are this, they are that. And what they're doing is actually opposing themselves.

You know, it would seem from watching the players in the NDA that the tattoo shops would soon run out of ink.

In 2 Timothy 2.22, "... Please also, youthful lust, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace within, that call on the Lord out of a pure heart, that foolish and unlearned questions avoid knowing that they do gender stripes. The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves." You see, when you harden your heart, you're convicted on the one hand, oh, you ought to do this, then on the other hand, you harden your heart, you're opposing yourself. Who's going to suffer from this? I'm not going to suffer from this. You're going to suffer from it.

If God, for adventure, will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, or Pharaoh is a type out of the snare of Pharaoh, who are taken captive by him at his will.

None of us want to be taken captive by the devil at his will, so we need on the whole arm of God. So if you don't acknowledge the truth and respond to it, Satan can take you captive at his will, and this is what this is.

You see, the battle is spiritual. It cannot be won through just self-will or road obedience. It can only be won through spiritual weapons. This is spiritual warfare. Now, self-discipline is important. Self-will is important to a certain degree to be a strong will person to do the right thing, but this is more than that.

One of the reasons why we don't win the battle against sin is because we try to win the war through our own willpower. Notice 1 Corinthians 10 verses 1 through 6. This is 2 Corinthians 10 verses 1.

Now, a little later, and we're getting close to that, we'll describe, and you've heard it described many times, the whole armor of God. Let's notice this verse. 2 Corinthians 10 verses 1. Now, I, Paul, beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in present am based among you, but being absent and bold toward you. But I beseech you that I may not be bold when I'm present with that confidence wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walk according to the flesh. And oftentimes, we confuse the message, and I believe some of our younger people, teenagers, are apt to do this, confuse the message with a messenger, and just think that some old guy up there shouting at me. No, it's the Word of God. You can read it for yourself. Hopefully you're reading it yourself. Paul says, we're not walking just according to the flesh. This is what God would have us do. For we walk, and some look at it as though we walk in the flesh. We do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, they're not fleshly, they're not just through human strength, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Now, what are the strongholds? The strongholds are those things that come on your mind, that grip your mind, that hold you in captivity.

Largely a product of your own thought and reason. They may be negative thoughts about yourself, and oftentimes they are. And Satan wants to plant those things there. I'm no good. I can't overcome. I'm always in the wrong. What's wrong with me? And of course, the enemies of faith, anxious care, fear, doubt, and human reasoning, feed on one another. You get into this vicious cycle. It's very difficult to get out of.

The weapons of a warfare are not fleshly, but they can pull down these strongholds. Verse 5, casting down imaginations. Some margins might say vain imaginations. They're not true. In every high thought that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, God says, I love you so much that I gave my only begotten son. I'll never leave you nor forsake you. I will help you. I will deliver you. I mean, claim the promises of God, not what your own mind might tell you, and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. In other words, if it comes back, defeat it again. Turn it around. Paul tells us to put on the armor of light. Notice Romans 13, verse 11. We're in the nitty-gritty now here of drowning Pharaoh in the water of the Word.

We're not going to be our own Pharaoh. We're not going to fall prey to, oh well, I can harden my heart. I don't have to listen to that. We don't have to listen to that.

In Romans 13, verse 11. And that knowing the time that now is, it's high time to awake out of sleep. For now is our salvation nearer than when we believe. Gennide is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. The armor of light. What is the armor of light? Notice John chapter 1. John chapter 1. So keep this in mind, Paul says, let's put on the armor of light. John chapter 1, verse 1.

In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God. The Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.

John 1.3. All things were made by Him. Without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. Further, we are put on the whole armor of light. In Psalm 119, Psalm 119, verse 105. Psalm 119, verse 105.

Your Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Put on the armor of life. Jesus Christ said that He is the light of the world, that in Him was light. He also says that we are to be the light of the world, and not to put our light under a bushel. Now let's turn to Psalm 119, verse 9.

Drowning Pharaoh in the water of the Word. This is our heart softening.

In Psalm 119, verse 9. Woe with all shall a young man cleanse his way. By taking heed thereto according to your Word.

With my whole heart have I sought you, O let me not wander from your commandments. Your Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you. Now, we quote our Scripture. Do you hear me quote almost every sentence? The words I speak, John 6.63. The words I speak, they are spirit and they are life. So if we put on the armor of light, we're going to be putting on the Word of God. We're going to be bathed in the Word of God. The heart of Pharaoh could be melted in the light of the Word of God. The heart of Pharaoh cannot stand up to the light of the Word of God. Paul instructs us about faith. First of all, let's look at 1 John 5, verse 4, what John says. Faith and the Word of God go hand in hand. We say that again. Faith and the Word of God go hand in hand. The Word of God and faith are inextricably linked together. We're going to see that clearly, I hope. But first, let's read 1 John 5, verse 4. We talk about during the days of Unleavened Bread, overcoming sin, leaving spiritual Egypt, and 1 John 5, verse 4.

For whosoever is begotten of God overcomes the world, for this is a victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. There are two main ways to increase faith. Well, let's say there are three main ways to increase faith. I want you please now to turn to Romans chapter 10. One is, of course, through prayer to ask God to give you the faith that is necessary. See, faith is one of those things that is a gift of the Spirit, and it's a fruit of the Spirit. It's the only thing listed in a dual sense that way. How so is it? Because when God convicts us, He is the initiator of faith because when He convicts us, He begins to convict our heart, lay a weight on our mind, so that if we respond, we begin to act in faith. In Romans 10, verse 17, so we ask God for faith. Then, in Romans 10, verse 17, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. So you have like a reciprocal. You read the Word of God, you begin to respond to it. He starts the faith process, you respond to it, and you increase it. A gift of the Spirit and a fruit of the Spirit. So everywhere we turn, as it were, the key is responding to the Word of God. We cannot defeat Satan and his minions with fleshly weapons. We must put on the whole armor. So now let's examine the whole armor. In warfare, there's what is called offensive weapons and defensive weapons. Strategic and tactical, as they say. Offensive weapons, defensive weapons, and the deployment of these weapons is based on the battle plan, which is usually based on intelligence reports from the enemy. Well, our intelligence report from the Word of God says, in spiritual warfare, our intelligence report from the Word of God says, we cannot win the war through physical means. Our intelligence report says that through faith, we can overcome.

We read from the Word of God that the words that God speaks, Christ speaks, they are spirit in their life.

That in Him was light. He is the living Word. And we live by it. The words I speak, they are spirit in their life. So we begin to get the picture of being bathed in the water of the Word, of drowning Pharaoh in the water of the Word. So our intelligence reports tell us that we've got to have spiritual weapons to win. Offensive and defensive. So in Ephesians 6, we have read verses 11 and 12, or 10, 11, and 12, but we'll read them again.

Ephesians 6, verse 10.

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, not just one part, but all of it. That you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Or we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Now the correct punctuation of these next two verses. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand, stand therefore, period.

Let's read through it and we're going to come back and examine. And having your loins girt about with truth, having on the breastplate of righteousness, your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith we shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication of all saints.

So let's look at this once again. In the above passage, Paul mentions two spiritual weapons that are offensive in nature and five defenses.

Offensive weapons are needed for an invasion. Defensive weapons are used by warriors to defend the ground that's already been conquered.

Satan has been driven out already. You know, at Passover we read, Be a good cheer. I've overcome the world. We have been delivered from sin and death through the sacrifice of Christ.

But we have to hold on to the ground, not allow him to get a toehold in the corner of our minds through our own doubts or by doubts planted by others. Or by being our own pharaoh and hardening our hearts. We've got to stand. Stand, therefore. Period.

God has called us to liberty. Hold your ground. Paul's admonition is, Stand, therefore.

So hold our ground. Stand fast. Don't let the enemy intimidate you. Or don't let him steal from you. He can steal eternal life. We must conquer Pharaoh. We must rule over our own mind. We must rule over our own thoughts and actions.

So looking a little more carefully at this, let's go back. Look back. Verse 14. Having your loins girt about with truth. John 17, 17 says, Your word is truth. The first part says, Sanctify them, Set them apart. With your word, your word is truth.

And having the breastplate of righteousness. Psalm 119, verse 172, All your commandments are righteousness. So this has to do with obedience. Having your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. The Great Commission. Matthew 28, verses 19 and 20. Make disciples of all nations. Teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. Above all things, take the shield of faith. Above all things. That is your number one defensive weapon. Take the shield of faith. Because through it, you will point to all the fiery darts of Satan. How so? Because if the shield of faith is there in which you know and know that you know that no matter what the situation or circumstance is that God is going to deliver you, then no matter what Satan hurls against you, it will fall harmlessly at your feet. It will not get a stronghold in your mind. Because you've already crossed that bridge. Your eyes are firmly focused on the one who's going to give you the victory. Your eyes are firmly focused. Because you have on the helmet of salvation. The helmet of salvation is hope. Hope makes us not ashamed. You see, hope has to do with that big picture of the kingdom of God burning brightly in our minds.

You would hold your place. Look at James chapter 1 here. This understanding is like if this were understood, and I believe we all struggle with it. I know I do. Because the trials come and I get discouraged. And sometimes I become a crybaby. And I just, you know, it's like I can't take it. And then you go back and say, hey, I'm becoming my own Pharaoh here. I'm my own worst enemy. I'm not going to win the victory like this. So we notice James 1-2. Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience. But let patience have a perfect work that you may be perfect entire, wanting nothing. How is this possible? Perfect entire wanting nothing and you're in all these trials? Because you have come to that point that you understand that God is faithful who has promised and He's going to deliver. You have that shield of faith. And Satan's fiery darts cannot get through. They cannot find a place to wedge in your mind or in your spirit. Let patience have a perfect work that you may be perfect entire, wanting nothing. Now back in Ephesians 6. So this verse 15, once again, I'm sorry, 16, Ephesians 6-16. Taking the shield of faith wherewith you'll be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Take the helmet of salvation. In 1 Thessalonians 5.8, that's defined as hope. In practical terms, that means the helmet covers the head. It permeates what your thinking is. Your thinking is, I'm bound for the Promised Land. I'm bound for the Kingdom of God. The big picture's burning brightly. I'm not going to be turned back. The helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit. The sword of the Spirit is an offensive weapon, which is the Word of God. It cuts asunder, dividing asunder the thoughts and the intents and the heart of man. See, when Jesus Christ was in the great battle against Satan the Devil and his temptation, Matthew 4, how did he win the battle by the sword of the Spirit? For it is written, Get ye behind me, Satan. You shall worship the Lord God, and him only shall you worship. The sword of the Spirit. So anytime that Satan throws that at you, you've got the sword of the Spirit, and it's cut up. The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and walking there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. So, brethren, God knows how to deliver us out of all temptations. If we resist the Devil, he'll flee from us. By putting on our spiritual armaments, we're submitting ourselves to God. And if we submit ourselves to God, the Devil is going to flee. By praying and reading the Bible, meditating on the Word of God, bringing every thought into captivity under the obedience of Christ, we become mighty warriors for the Kingdom of God. We become more than conquerors through Christ who loved us and gave himself for us. There will be no enemy, physical or spiritual, that can stand before us. Therefore, the victory is ours when the battle is the Lord's. Oftentimes, we try to fight the battle ourselves, but the victory is ours when the battle is the Lord's. Cast all your care on him, for he cares for you. He'll never leave you nor forsake you. The battle is the Lord's when we abide in his Word. When we abide in the Word of God, we shall know the truth, and the truth shall make us free. A liberty that most people have never experienced, but we can. So brethren, let's not be our own Pharaoh, and let's drown Pharaoh and his host in the water of the Word.