Exodus 3, verse 19. We'll look at several verses out of Exodus for just a few minutes. Verse 19, God is talking to Moses. He's commissioning him to go and deliver the people from Egypt, Egyptian bondage. And God says, I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand. Moses heads up, before he even gets down there, the problems he's gonna face with Pharaoh. Look at chapter five, verse one. And afterward, Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, thus said the Lord God of Israel, let my people go, that they may hold a feast under me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said, who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. God said he was not gonna let them go. And sure enough, the first time they confront him, he says, I'm not letting anybody go. Look at chapter seven. Chapter seven, verse 14. 714. And the Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hardened. He refused it to let the people go. That's the second time. Verse 17 of that chapter. Thus saith the Lord, In this thou shalt know that I am the Lord. Behold, I will smite with a rod that which is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. Verse 23, And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he set his heart to this also. Third time. Look at chapter 8, verse 6. 8, 6, And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. Verse 15. But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart fourth time, and he harkened not unto them as the Lord had said. Verse 16. And the Lord said unto Moses, saying to Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt. Verse 19, Then the magician said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God. And Pharaoh's heart was hardened fifth time, and he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had said. Verse 24 of that chapter. 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 reason of the swarm of flies. Just in passing, let me show you that this book is infallible, okay? Is the word flies italicized? That means it's not in the original, is that correct? When this verse is mentioned in Psalm 105, verse 31, the word flies is not italicized. 500 years later, God put the word in the text. It was not in Exodus here, but it's in Psalms 500 years later. Jesus quoted the verse from Deuteronomy 8. Matthew 4, verse 4, he said, we live by every word of God. The word word in Matthew is in the text. It is not in Deuteronomy. It's italicized. If Jesus can quote an italicized word, my contention is they belong in the book. Verse 30. And Moses went out from Pharaoh and entreated the Lord. And the Lord did according to the word of Moses. And he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants and from his people. There remained not one. And Pharaoh hardened his heart. That's the sixth time. At this time also, neither would he let the people go. Look at chapter nine, verse three. Behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thy cattle, which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep. there shall be a very grievous mirrain. Verse seven, and Pharaoh sinned, and behold, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead, and the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go. That's the seventh time he's hardened his heart. Verse 10, they took ashes of the furnace and stood before Pharaoh, and Moses sprinkled it up toward heaven, and it became a boil, breaking forth with flames upon man and upon beasts. Verse 12, and the Lord, Uh-oh. Pharaoh has hardened his heart seven times, and God's fed up with him. The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them as the Lord had spoken unto Moses. Verse 23 of that chapter, Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran upon the ground, and the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. Verse 25, and the hail smoked throughout all the land of Egypt, all that was in the field, both man and beast. And the hail smote every herb of the field, and break every tree of the field. Verse 27, And Pharaoh sent a call from Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time. Sounds like repentance, but it's not really. The LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked." That's the way a lot of people do. They get saved again, as we heard the other day. When they get in trouble, they get to pretend to get right with God to get the heat off of them, and then they go right back to their old habits. He said, The LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. that there be no more mighty thunderings in hell, and I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer. And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the Lord, and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hell, that thou mayest know how that the earth is the Lord's. But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the Lord God. Verse 33, And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread abroad his hands unto the Lord. And the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured upon the earth. And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more and hardened his heart. That's the tenth time, he and his servants, and the heart of Pharaoh was hardened. Neither would he let the children of Israel go as the Lord had spoken by Moses. Father, thank you so much for what you've already done here tonight and throughout this week. God moving among us, what a blessing it is to see the Holy Spirit move up and down the aisles and touch hearts. And God, people just worship you and praise your holy name. Now, Lord, in these next few minutes, I pray you'll speak one more time tonight to our hearts. There may be somebody here who doesn't know Jesus as Savior. God, I don't know how they sat still through the singing, because the Holy Spirit was no doubt drawing them unto Himself. And some Christian walking afar off, as we heard this morning, the Holy Spirit going about sweeping around the floor, trying to find that washroom. God, speak to our hearts one more time tonight. In Jesus' name, amen. Now God gave Pharaoh every opportunity. to accept the Lord and get right with Him and do what He was supposed to do. And on every turn Pharaoh rejected what God was trying to do. He hardened his heart until it reached the point that God hardened He is heart. Look at chapter 10, verse one. And the Lord said unto Moses, go in unto Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I might show these my signs before him, and that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them, that ye may know how that I am the Lord. And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, how long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? Yeah. That's the question. Amen. Christian, how long are you going to refuse to humble yourself before God? Amen. That's the question. Amen. How long before you will humble yourself before the Lord? Pharaoh rejected that call once too often. And then it became too late. God hardened his heart from that point on because if I ever got right, even if he wanted to, God would not listen. One word he had to say after God hardened his heart. Say, I don't believe that. Well, you're at your point where you've crossed the deadline. God will shut his ears to you and he'll never listen to another word you've got to say. And if you're lost, you're going to die and go to hell because you rejected all the opportunities. And if you're saved walking the far off, you're going to die with no rewards and no revenue to the Lord and His kingdom. There is a time when God will shut the door. God's merciful. God's got a love. Yeah. He's also got a wrath. My dad got saved when I was 13 years old. I remember remember very vividly the church service that morning we had gone to church all my life until that year we started going and my dad walked me out that morning got saved and I heard him say in his testimony later on he said I heard something telling me of course he wasn't talking about an audible voice but he said something kept saying to me this is your last He said, I know if I had not seen that one, I never would have gotten saved. God permits. Implication? He might not. He just might not. Over in Hebrews chapter 12 it talks about Esau and verse 17 talks about him trying to get things right and it says, ìHe found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.î Nobody listen anymore! Too late! Amen! Look at Deuteronomy chapter 1. historical recap of what all's happened for the 40 years in the wilderness. In chapter 1, he talks about the time when he sent out 12 spies to spy off the land. They spent 40 days out there, and they came back, and two of them, Caleb and Joshua, said, hey, this giant, we're willing, let's take it. work through us and we'll get the victory and the other team said no there ain't no way with our grasshoppers in their sight we better not go and so God said okay that's the way you want it you're not going and when Moses told them that they repented they said oh no we'll do what God said and Moses said you better not he's already shut the door on it and they went off anyway and a bunch of them got killed and in verse 45 chapter 1 he said what happened when they got back He said, you returned and wept before the Lord, but the Lord would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you. So you abode in Cain's many days, 40 years in fact, according to the days that you abode there. So you came back and wept, you got on the altar, and God was not listening. If God, perhaps He might, He might not. If God, perhaps He will give them repentance. to the acknowledgement of the truth that they may recover themselves from the snare of the devil who had taken captive by him at his will. You know what he just said? He said God might and God might not allow them to see their own condition so they can get right with God. Dependence to the acknowledgement of the truth. He might not do that, might not. That's a bad place to be. Well, let's look at two or three things. Number one, let's think about the pride of man. It's pride that keeps us from humbling ourselves before God. Amen. Not to humble yourself before God is foolish. It shows an awful ignorance of God Himself, of who God is, and how God works, and His ways. When Isaiah saw God for who He really was, Isaiah said, I'm a man of no claim there. When Peter saw God for how He really was, he said, depart from me. I'm a sinful man. Oh, Lord. When Job saw God for who He was, he said, I'm vile. I abhor myself and repent in dust and ash. So will you, and so will I, when we get a good glimpse of God. We'll see just how unholy we really are. Foolish, foolish. When the psalmist finally got that truth, he said in Psalm 73, 22, so foolish was I and ignorant. That's what Paul said. He said, before I got saved, all that stuff I was doing, in the name of God, by the way, I was ignorant of what I was doing. Jesus said, the day is coming when he that killeth you will think that he doeth God's service. Amen. You'll think he's in the will of God, killing you. That's what Paul thought. Thought he was in the will of God, killing those Christians. Amen. He said, Isaiah 44 verse 18, He said, They have not known or understood, for He, God, has shut their eyes that they cannot see, and the hearts that they cannot understand. God shut their eyes. God sealed their hearts so they could not understand anymore. Jesus said, You'll know the truth, and the truth will make you free. Amen. John 8 verse 32 says that. Isaiah 56 verses 10 through 12, they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, come ye say they and we will fill ourselves and tomorrow shall be as this day. He says they are dumb dogs going away from God and they say, you know, we are just going to eat, drink and be merry, we are going to party all our life, tomorrow will be just like yesterday. Not like today, you'd be in a cemetery somewhere away from God. It was 10 verse 3, they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God, which by the way is Jesus Christ himself. He is the righteousness of God. Acts 17, 30, the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now hath demanded all men everywhere to repent. He's not going to wink at our ignorance anymore. No excuse for us. concerning the lost Ephesians 4 18 says they have the understanding darkened being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart. We already heard a quote from 2 Corinthians how the devil blinds the hearts and minds of people against the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. And Christians are a lot of times just as blind as lost people. Can I say it's a self-inflicted blindness? Amen. I mean, our hearts will deceive us. Jeremiah 79 says your heart's deceitful. Does it say above all things? Does that possibly mean I'm deceiving myself more than the devil can deceive me? My heart's deceitful above all things? Not to humble ourselves is not just foolish, it's presumptuous. It is deliberately resisting God's will in our life. We presume God won't do what he says. The law's presumed he won't run. You know, I'll lay to God, wouldn't put anybody to help him. Just watch. And save people, backstabbing on God. Well, you know, I don't believe God's going to chase me. Isn't it amazing? Whatever we're doing, we think other people get in trouble for it. We won't. Presumptuous, presuming on God. We'll be sure your sin finds you out. Acts 7, 51, you do always resist the Holy Ghost. 2 Peter 2 verse 10 says the wicked are presumptuous and they are self-willed. Numbers 15 30 the soul that doeth aught presumptuously shall be cut off. That means killed. So presumptuously going against what you know is right. You know why the first sin had a community in the universe? It wasn't Eve eating the apple. What did she eat? It was Satan. Yes, sir. It was Lucifer, the anointed cherub, that hooked up with pride, and had himself, and thought he was as good as God, and God took him out of his exalted position, and he became Satan, and now the last verse in Job 41 says he's king over all the children of pride. You know what that means, child of God? When you get pride in your heart, you have forfeited King Jesus, and you're getting allegiance to King Satan. He's king over all the children of pride. That's why the psalmist said Psalm 19 13 keep that nice servant from presumptuous Let me go by that book not humming ourselves is also vain You cannot win against God. You cannot resist Him forever. Proverbs says, ìNo counsel shall stand against God.î Acts 5, verse 39, Gamaliel, the great teacher in Israel in that day, he said, ìIf it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it.î Amen. You cannot. Heís bigger than you are. Heís going to win in the end whether you think He will or not. of foolish man. Proverbs 18, 12, before destruction the heart of man is haughty and Proverbs 16, 18 says pride going before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fight. You know what He said in the first Corinthians chapter 11 verse 39-32, if we would judge That would be knocking the end of the world. I'd rather judge myself and say, oh, that's wrong with my life, I need to put that out, than to have God to have to do it. It's going to hurt a whole lot more than mine will. It's vain. Vain. All right, we've looked at the pride of man. Let's secondly think about the question of God. Humble thyself before God. That question reveals several things. It shows the grace of God. Why doesn't God just put somebody in hell when they're arrogant against Him? Why don't He just put a Christian out of His misery if they won't do God's will? Only one word, His grace. Amen. His grace is long-suffering to us would not bring the innocent perished, said Peter 3. And by the way, just for the record, that verse is talking to God's children. He's long-suffering too. God is so long-suffering towards us. Amen. Faithful last evening when we went out, Ecclesiastes said those sinners sinned a hundred times. It'll not be well. Well, why don't you get away with it a hundred times? God's grace. Just give me one more shot. Here's another chance. That's the way it is. Amen. Romans 2 verse 4, despiseth thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing the goodness of God. I mean, how could you turn from him when you just see how good he is? You just dwell on and recognize what he's done for you. How could you turn away from that? That question not only shows the grace of God, it shows the grief of God. How long, how long, how long is this gonna go on? I mean, rejecting God's grace grieves his heart. And we're commanded in Ephesians 4 not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God. But we do, do we not? Amen. Psalm 48, Psalm 78 verse 40, how often they grieve him. Talk about Israel being bewildered. We grieve Him when we reject His will. We grieve Him when we disobey Him. We grieve Him when we turn away from what He's done for us and what He's trying to do for us. We grieve Him when we don't humble ourselves before God. Let me say, it's not the devil telling you to humble yourself. He'll tell you to be puffed up in yourself. It's the Holy Spirit saying, hey, you need to come down off your pedestal and bow down to the King of kings. and humble yourself before Him. Amen. That question also shows the impatience of God. He has a limit, by the way. He does have a limit. How long is this going to go on as if His patience is wearing thin, His long-suffering, nearly exhausted? Genesis 6-3, My spirit shall not always strive with man. There's going to be a limit to it. In other words, God will not put up with our nonsense forever. He just won't do it. Amen. He told Moses about Israel and the wilderness. He said, these 10 times they murmured against me. And just to paraphrase a little bit, he said, Moses, it ain't going to happen no more. I said, no. I'm going to remount this burning sand to the last one dropped dead in the desert. Why, I'm disappointed. Other men wants to die after this judgment. Amen. Proud of man. Question of God. Let's think for just a few minutes about the excuses that get offered for not honoring ourselves. When God says, how long? Proud, egotistical, arrogant man comes up with all kinds of excuses, saving us all kinds of excuses against God. Turn to Luke 14. Let's just read a few verses there and we'll wrap this up with some of these excuses and see if they apply in here tonight. Luke chapter 14. 14, 16, I know you know the story, but it doesn't hurt to read the book again, does it? Luke 14, verse 16. Then said he unto him, a certain man made a great supper, and bade many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bid come, for all things are now ready, and they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I bought a piece of ground, and I must need go and see it. I pray thee, have me excuse. Isn't that the dumbest thing you've ever heard of? Anybody here ever bought a piece of ground without seeing it first? And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them. I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I am a married wife, and therefore cannot come. So that servant came and showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being, what's that word? Angry, said to his servant, go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor and the lame. and the blind, and the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the Lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do that. gain and all that stuff. And Paul looked at all that and said, it's just dumb compared to Jesus Christ. Just throw it all away. Business in verse 19, had a man tell me one time in church, he had his own business and he quit coming over here tonight. I said, what's the deal? What's going on here? He said, God has blessed my business so much. I just have to work every night to keep up with what I'm doing here. God has never blessed anybody out of church. We're gonna go camping up in the lake. Can I say you're not going to find God up at the lake on Sunday morning because he's going to be at church? Well, you know, Sunday's my only day. Then you ain't got one. The book says that's the Lord's plan. Amen! I had one of my men tell me one time, he said, I just have to get up and head to work. I try to encourage my folks to read the Bible every day. I'm sure you do too. He said, I just don't have time. I gotta get up and get to work. I have time to read my Bible through the week. Guess what? You got the same amount of time. that everybody else is. And what we do with our time is usually what we want to do with our time. Hey, how many of y'all believe in time? Anybody believe in time? And doesn't that the Bible teach that it's the firstfruits of the Lord. What about time in your time? There's 168 hours in every week. 10% of that is 16 hours and 48 minutes. Do you give God 16 hours and 48 minutes a week? Say, well, I go to church. OK, we'll let you count that. Sunday school, Sunday morning, Sunday night, please last four hours. We'll throw in a couple more hours for traveling back slowly. Say, OK, you gave God six hours. We've still got 10 hours and 45 minutes. That's about an hour and 45 minutes a day. Do you spend an hour and 45 minutes a day reading your Bible and praying and witnessing for God? If you don't, you ain't tied to your time. All kinds of excuses. Remember the excuse was off the ball, more convenient time. He said, Acts 24 verse 25, Felix trembled and answered, go thy way for this time. When I have a more convenient season, I will call for thee. There's never a more convenient season to get right with God than at the moment. He says, though, that seek for him with all their heart. He said, I will be found of you. Amen. And butter hatches when he's called. 2 Corinthians 6 verse 2 says, now, is the accepting time of the holy name, is the day of salvation. When should a person get saved? How about right now? When should a person get right with God? How about now? Accepting time, amen. Some people say, well, when I clean up my act, you'll never do it. Why? Because in our best state, we're all together vanitated. Everything we do that's right without God is filthy right. You ever clean up your act? Aren't you glad you didn't have to clean up your act to do so? You never got saved. That's why my psalm says, just as I am, you come to God with all your filthy baggage and let him clean you up. We couldn't do it anyway. Well, when I settle down in life, you know, I'll have time for God. That'll never happen. When I retire from business, I'll have time to remember that there's a guy in the Bible did that. This time I retire, he said, I'm going to build a big barn to hold all my junk. And then I'm going to sit back and drink Kool-Aid all day. I should say lemonade. Kool-Aid gets you killed, right? And drink lemonade. And then just kick back and enjoy life. And God says, you're a fool. Why? You're going to die tonight! And then who's all this junk going to belong to? You can't wait, man. Now's the time to get right with God. Some people think, well, you know, I'll get right with God before I die. You got no promise of even dying. You can die just like that and not have time to do anything. My mom died at 87 years old. Healthy. Very healthy, strong as a horse, whatever all that means. She was strong, tough, tough old lady. Not sick at all, nothing wrong with her. She calls her friend up one morning, this was in 2010, she said, put the coffee on, I'll be around in about 20 minutes, gotta run by the bank. Her good friend, her friend said, the coffee's on, come on. She went to the bank, pulled out of the bank, into the road, 16-ton dump truck loaded to the hilt, broadsided her, and she never knew what hit her. What you said, Richard, I'm saying you don't know if you're going to have a chance to get back on your deathbed. Thank God my mom was saved. She didn't have to get back there. Couldn't have if she had to. You just don't know. You got no guarantee somebody, God forbid, somebody could get killed going home tonight from the service. And if you left the service, Well, all these excuses add up to just one thing. When I'm good and ready, I'll get right into it. That's when I'll do it. I'll get saved when I'm ready. I'll serve God when I'm ready. The problem is you're not tired of your sin yet. You're not tired of your sickness, tired of yourself yet. Proverbs 14, 14 says a good man, that's one right with God, is satisfied from himself. If you're satisfied with Jesus, man, yourself don't matter. How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me, God says. Elijah put it a different way. How long haunt you between two opinions? If the Lord be God, serve him. Amen. That's powerful. Jesus said, whosoever exalts himself shall be humbled, shall be amazed, and whosoever humbles himself shall be exalted. We need to humble ourselves, Peter said, under a mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time. God resisted the proud like He did with Pharaoh, and giveth grace to the humble. Let me say tonight, if you're not saved, you heard that I'm preaching to keep you out of hell this week, get you right with God. Now get you on your way to heaven, and all you've got to do in these next few minutes, come down and tell this pastor here, I'm not saved, I'm not sure I'm saved, I'm not even sure I understand all this, and then I'll take the Bible and show you how to know for sure you're going to heaven when you die.