Plagues That Preach Series

SERMON OUTLINE:

(1). The Command.

(2). The Conflict.

(c). The Compassion

SERMON BODY:

Ill:

Some warnings are humorous:

• (1)Manufactures are now growing increasingly wary of being sued,

• When their products are misused,

• So they are attaching warning labels to hundreds of items.

• For example, a child’s Superman outfit bears this warning:

• “Parents, please exercise caution—FOR PLAY ONLY.

• Mask and cape are not protective; cape does not enable user to fly.”

• (2). Kathy’s children’s cough medicine contains this warning:

• “Do not drive a car or operate machinery after taking this medication”

• (3). Boots hairdryer:

• “Do not use while sleeping!”

• (4). Marks & Spenser’s bread pudding:

• “Product will be hot after heating!”

• (5). Our Christmas lights from B&Q contained this helpful information:

• “For indoor and outdoor use only”

• (6). Sainsbury’s peanuts;

• “Warning product contains nuts!”

Ill:

• Some warnings are much more serious:

• April 15, 1912 (2:20 a.m.) The Titanic sinks.

• Yet on the 11th April,

• She received six warnings from ships stopped in or passing through heavy ice.

• 5 more warnings came to the Titanic the next day - April 12th.

• 3 more warnings on April 13th.

• And 7 more warnings on the 14th the day before the Titanic hit the iceberg!

• All of these warnings would have been written down as they were intercepted,

• Logged in the radio book, and passed on to the officers on the bridge.

• There was no way that the Captain (Edward John Smith);

• Along with the officers would have been unaware of the huge field of ice,

• That now lay directly in front of them.

• Incredibly the Titanic itself;

• Actually relayed these warnings back to the shore.

• Yet the captain of the Titanic thought his ship was unsinkable,

• And continued his pace of 60 feet every 1.5 seconds.

• Captain Smith ignored warning after warning after warning from his crew & other ships.

• Whether it was pride, stupidity,

• Or faith in his ’unsinkable’ ship that stopped him listening to the warnings,

• We do not know - it was probably a combination of all three.

• But as a result April 15, 1912 (2:20 a.m.) The Titanic sinks!

TRANSITION:

• Thousands of years before Captain Edward John Smith.

• There was another stubborn and foolish man.

• He believed that his kingdom, his empire, his reign was unsinkable.

• His name is believed to be Ramesses II by many Bible scholars;

• Although no-one can be exactly sure.

• Whoever he was, please note that he refused to heed the warnings!

• He rejected and snubbed he instruction given to him.

(1). The command.

• I want you to note that seven times in these chapters (5-10),

• God says to Pharaoh, “Let my people go!”

i.e. Chapter 5 verse 1:

Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.’”

i.e. Chapter 7 verse 16:

“Then say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened”.

i.e. Chapter 8 verse 1:

“Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the LORD says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. 2 If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs on your whole country.”

i.e. Chapter 8 verse 20:

“Then the LORD said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh as he goes to the river and say to him, ‘This is what the LORD says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.”

i.e. Chapter 9 verse 1:

“Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: “Let my people go, so that they may worship me.”

i.e. Chapter 9 verse 13:

“Then the LORD said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, confront Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me”

i.e. Chapter 10 verse 3:

“So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me.”

God gives a command and when that happens there are only ever two responses: