Exodus - God Wants You to Know... He is The LORD - Exodus: 7-12

Welcome to the roots. So so glad you're here. I'm

excited to be preaching today. But we have a ton

to get through. So I'm just going to pray and

we're going to get into Is that okay? All right? God,

We thank you for today. We thank you for your word. God.

We just remove all distractions from our own minds. God,

we set aside our attention to be on you and

your word and what you'd have for us today. So God,

give us ears to hear it. Let us be challenged

by your word. Let us implement your word into our

lives daily. God, let us continue to be hungry for

what you have to say to us today. So God,

we thank you for this time and give it all

to you for your glory in Jesus name. Everybody said amen.

So grab your bibles and open up to Exodus. We

are in the Book of Exodus. If you need a Bible,

we have a bunch at the resource desks, so please

go grab one and take it. If you don't own

the Bible, we want that to be a gift for

you to keep. We want you to have God's word.

We've been in a series going through the Book of

Exodus and it's a kind of a quick overview look

at the book, and we're going to see that they're

there's three main sections or parts in the Book of Exodus.

The first main section we see God deliver the children

of Israel, his people from captivity. And the second part

that we see in this book is that he leads

them to Mount Sinai, where he's going to make some

demands of his people. He has some things that he

wants them to do. He has demands. And the last

section is we'll finish the series by seeing God dwelling

with his people. That he comes to dwell with his people.

So this is going to be a very high view,

like a ten thousand foot view of the whole book.

But currently we're in the first section. God's delivering his

people and so we're going to see some I think,

some mind blowingly amazing things today. And where we left

off last week in the text was I considered it

a pretty dire situation for the children of Israel that

God had promised to deliver the people from Egypt, and

he sent Moses to do it. But ever since Moses

had showed up, everything just continued to get worse. Everything

got worse Pharaoh had made their labor harder, their punishments

were more severe. So the people were beyond discouraged. They

were so discouraged they couldn't even listen to God when

he would reaffirm his promises to them. And I mean,

that's a pretty low spot to be in. But do

you remember what God said to Moses right after Moses

complained to him? And I just want to read it

as a refresher. It's from Exodus five. It'll be on

the screen here, verse twenty two. Starting there. Then Moses

turned to the Lord and said, oh Lord, why have

you done this evil to this people? Why did you

ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to

speak in your name, he has done evil to this people,

and you have not delivered your people at all. But

the Lord said to Moses, now you shall see what

I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand

he will send them out, and with a strong hand

he will drive them out of his land. Now you

shall see. Now, now you're gonna see. It's go time.

It is go time, Egypt. God is going to put

on one of the greatest displays of his power that

the world has ever seen. I'm talking like brain melting,

mind blowing displays of power. And that's what we're going

to be talking about today. God is going to do

these incredible and miraculous, unbelievable things. But underneath all this

miraculous works that he's doing, God's trying to communicate something.

He's trying to say something. Yes, he's absolutely going to

accomplish the plan that he set out, which is to

save the children of Israel. But there's another thing that

he wants everyone to know. And I'm going to have

a question if you guys ever put put together a

plan that had a purpose. I mean, this seems pretty normal.

Every time we do any plans. There's always a purpose

or reason why we're doing it. But even though you

put together this plan that had a purpose, at the

same time you were trying to make a point you

guys ever had one of those I made plans for

a purpose, But I'm also trying to make a point.

There's a purpose and a point behind what we do.

Think about when you feed your children, well, why what's

the purpose of feeding your children so they don't starve

to death? They got to eat, kids got to eat. Well,

that's the purpose, But what's the point we're actually making,

it's that we love and care for our children. Or

I like to think about the old wild West when

they had public hangings, and it's like, Greg, where are

you going with this? The purpose behind public hangings is

to execute justice against wickedness or law breakers. But what's

the point being made behind a public hanging. We don't

tolerate lawbreakers around these parts, right yhau, there we go.

I'll get my cowboy hat. Or what about when an

employer publicly thinks an employee, the purpose is to show

gratitude because they want to say thank you for whatever

the employee did, But the point is actually to encourage

the behavior that the company values, to encourage other people

to do that same type of behavior. So oftentimes there's

not just a purpose behind the plan, there's also a

point to our actions. And my argument today from our

text is I think God does the exact same thing. Today.

We're talking about the ten Plagues in Egypt. It's a

big chunk of text, the ten Plagues in Egypt. God

is miraculously and incredibly going to deliver his people from Egypt.

But even though that was the purpose behind all his

miraculous works, the point behind it was that he wanted

everybody to know something, and he wanted them to know

something very specific. In fact, he repeats it like seven

or eight times all throughout our text. And it's not

just something he wanted the people to know way back then.

It's actually something he wants you to know right now today.

Did you know that that God wants you to know

something about him? I think that's just kind of cool

that God actually wants us to know something about him,

and he went to great lengths to make sure that

we know this truth about him. So what is this

thing that God wants you to know? Have I built

up the suspense enough? God wants you to know He

is the Lord. God wants you to know he is

the Lord. That's what God wants you to know. He

wants you to know that he is the Lord. And

not only that he's Lord over all. He's the Lord

over all. He's the one true God, and there is

no one like him, and he's supreme and sovereign over

everything and everyone. And I love Psalm twenty four to one.

If you're gonna memorize the verse this week, let it

be Psalm twenty four to one. The Earth is the

Lord's and the fullness thereof, or everything that fills the earth.

So the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof

the world, and those who dwell therein. He is the Lord.

There is no one like God, and everything in all

of creation belongs to him, everything and everyone. That's what

God wants us to know about him. But Greg, that's

so basic, Like, no, duh. Well, first off, don't complain

to me. If you think it's basic, Plain to God

because he said it and he wants you to know it.

That's the first thing. Secondly, if you think it's basic,

I think we should slow down and stop and consider

what it actually means for God to be Lord. Consider

what it actually means for him to be Lord over everything,

because if we actually understand that basic truth, it will

affect every single area of your entire life. Not a

single part of your life will not be affected by

the truth that God is the Lord. So I want

to see this play out. Let's look at Exodus. We're

going to be in chapter seven, starting in verse one,

and the Lord said to Moses, see, I have made

you like God to Pharaoh and your brother Aaron shall

be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you,

and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the

people of Israel go out of this land. So Moses

speaking the words of God authoritatively to Pharaoh through the

mouth of erin verse three. But I will harden Pharaoh's heart.

And though I multiply my signs and wonders in the

land of Egypt, Pharaoh will not listen. To you, Gosh,

that sounds like sending on a failed mission. Read some Jonah.

That's a good book to read. But you got to

remember that God already said that Pharah wouldn't listen. He

already said this before. He also said that he was

going to stretch out his hand against Egypt before Pharaoh

would let them go. So all of what's about to

happen is gonna continue to happen till God has finished

what he set out to do. He's going to keep

bringing I can say, bringing the heat. That's what he's

gonna do, over and over and over again until he

finishes his plan. Verse four continues, Then I will lay

my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people,

the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt

by great acts of judgment. The Egyptians shall know that

I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand

against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from

among them. So right here in this text we see

all three parts. We see the plan. God's going to

execute great acts of judgment against Israel. One of those

great acts so ten plagues we're going to go through.

We see the purpose, and that is to bring his

people out of Egypt. He's going to deliver them. That's

the purpose for why He's doing these this plan. And

then we see the point. Did you see it right

there in verse five? The Egyptians shall know that I

am the Lord. So this is where the actual fund begins.

This is when the signs and miraculous works will start.

And as most things do, it's going to start kind

of small, but then as time goes on, it's going

to get more and more intense. God's going to keep

upping the antea. But it all starts with a staff.

Look at verse eight. Then the Lord said to Moses

and Aaron, when Pharaoh says to you prove yourselves by

working a miracle, then you shall say to Aaron, take

your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it

may become a serpent. So Moses and Aaron went to

Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron cast

his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became

a serpent. So that's already kind of crazy for that

to happen. I think it's pretty crazy. But this is

nothing compared to what's going to happen over this next

season in Egypt, verse eleven. Then Pharaoh summoned the wise

men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt,

also did the same by their secret arts. So let's

talk about these wise men. Pharaoh calls him to him,

and these wise men are learned or shrewd men often

described as astrologers, but he called a sorcerers or the

men who are practicing witchcraft. That's who he called out.

And they are able to do the same thing that

Moses and Aaron did. I think that's crazy. They were

able to do the same thing. They turned a staff

into a snake. But how do they do it? Well?

The text tells us says, by their secret arts. And

I was kind of digging into this this past week,

and you know, with the word for like the definition

of that word for secret arts, is part of that

definition actually comes from the idea of in wrapping something

in magic covert as like a covert means it's the

same idea as like hiding something or to trying to

conceal something. And if you think about any Duncan's gonna

be so sad when I say this, because he loves magic.

Think about any magician you've ever seen or like seen

videos online or whatever. What do magicians do? They do

magic tricks. It's literally in the name, they're tricking you.

They're doing magic tricks and duncants like don't like rain

on my parade, I believe it. That's magic, the like

covertly trying to hide the truth of what they're doing

from you to make you believe something else. So a

magician is doing it's not real, it's all tricks. So

that's most likely what's happening here. Moses and Aaron do

something actually miraculous by the Lord, and these magicians come

through and find some way to through trickery or secret

arts to do this the quote unquote same thing. So

it's either something like that or with some other demonic

deception happening, which also could be true. But back to

verse twelve for each man cast down a staff and

they became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staves. Still,

Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he would not listen to them,

as the Lord had said, I'd love this. The magicians

are trying to show off, and what happens. Aaron's staff

snake eats their staffs eats their snakes. I think it's

just a great godflex God is showing that his power

is greater than any fake power that they have. He

is greater, there's no one like him. And even after

this happened, what's Pharaoh's response. His heart is hardened and

he would not listen to them, which is exactly what

God has said would happen more than once He said that.

But now the actual plagues start. This is just a

Pharaoh saying, prove it, guys, and God said, when he

says prove it, do this, and they did it. But

now the actual plagues start, and we're gonna see a

familiar pattern as we read through these plagues. We're gonna

see that God sends the plague, Pharaoh begs for God

to relent. God does relent, and Pharaoh's heart remains hard.

That's the pattern I want you to see happen over

and over again. So let's look at his first plague,

water turning to blood. Chapter seven, starting in verse fourteen. Here,

then the Lord said to Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hardened.

He refuses to let the people go. Go to Pharaoh

in the morning, as he is going out to the water,

and stand on the bank of the Nie to meet him.

Take your hand, or take in your hand the staff

that turned into a serpent, and you shall say to him.

The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying,

let my people go, that they may serve me in

the wilderness. But so far you have not obeyed, Thus

says the Lord. By this you shall know that what

I am the Lord. Okay, the purpose so freedia Israelites,

But the point is for them to know that God

is the Lord. First continues, behold, with the staff that

is in my hand, I will strike the water that

is in the Nile, and it shall turn to blood.

The fish in the Nile shall die, and the Nile

will stink, and the Egyptians will grow weary of drinking

water from the Nile. And the Lord said to Moses,

say to Aaron, take your staff and stretch out your

hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, their canals,

and their ponds and their pools of water, so that

they may become blood. And there shall be blood throughout

all the land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood

and in vessels of stone. That's a lot of blood.

All the water is turning to blood. Well, Pharaoh hears

Moses and Aaron speak the words of God to him,

and he doesn't let the people go, even with the warning.

The warning is if you don't let him go, this

is gonna happen. That's the warning. So he doesn't listen

to what happens. Aaron raises the staff and turns all

the water to blood. The fish dye, the nile stinks,

the people can't drink the water. That's crazy. But those

darn magicians, you keep reading those darn magicians by their

secret arts. They show Pharaoh and just end be seen

Prince of Egypt. Yeah, if you haven't, it's a great

cartoon movie. It's awesome. You should watch it. But I

think it's like kind of like that they're like throwing

something in the water and turning into blood. But whatever.

These magicians, they show Pharaoh that they can do it too.

They can turn water into blood too. So what happens.

Pharaoh's heart remains hardened. He still wild not let the

people go. So now God is going to make things

a little more intense. He's gonna turn up the heat

a little bit. Who here likes frogs? Got one? Two? Three?

My wife hates four. You're gonna getting five. My wife

hates frogs. Where are you at? She like, I'm talking,

see a frog, runaway, screaming type of hate frogs. So

naturally this is her favorite of all the plagues in Egypt.

It's literally, it's literally the worst. I think frogs are cute.

Get a little green tree frog. Yeah, I name him.

I try to keep him. She won't let me. So

God sends Moses to Pharaoh, and he says, let my

people go so they can serve me. But if you don't,

I'm going to send frogs, a lot of frogs, Like

a ton of frogs. The whole country will be covered

in them, so many they will go up into your

rooms and in your beds. I mean, I have my

own lines, and I think God don't want him in

my bed. That's a line I'm gonna draw. But not

not only that, but they're going to be in your

ovens and you're kneading bowls. That's disgusting where you cook

your food and eat. So unless you're from Louisiana, you're

probably not excited about that one. Frogs everywhere filling everything,

And that's exactly what happened. God sent the frogs. They're

everywhere in everything. But Pharaoh's magicians they're able to pull

that one off too. Somehow they're able to bring frogs

forth through their secret arcs, secret arts to make frogs

pop up. And I'm like, the land is already covered

in frogs. You're just adding to the noise at that point. Congratulations,

he made the problem worst guys like, that's what just happened. Well,

Pharaoh is done with the frogs at this point, he

wants them gone, so listen to he says to Moses

and Aaron in verse eight. This is chapter eight, verse eight.

Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, plead with

the Lord to take away the frogs from me and

from my people, and I will let the people go

to sacrifice. The Lord just said, I'll let them go.

Moses said to Pharaoh, please be pleased, or be pleased

to command me when I'm to plead for you and

for your servants and for your people, that the frogs

be cut off from you and your houses and be

left only in the Nile. And he Pharaoh said, tomorrow,

Moses said, be it as you say, so that you

may know that there is no one like the Lord,

our God. Pharaoh's begging Moses to ask God to take

the frogs away. Moses agrees and goes to God. But

what does he say in verse ten? Be it as

you say, so that this is the reason this will happen,

so that you may know that there is no one

like the Lord, our God. I'll go to God. But Pharaoh,

you need to know this. There's no one like God.

This is the point that God's trying to make the

message that he's trying to get across. So God stops

the frogs. They all fall down dead. The people put

them all into these big piles, and it's disgusting and

it stinks all throughout the land. But as soon as

Pharaoh seizes that there's respite, that there is a break

and rest from the plague, guess what he does. He

hardens his heart, and he goes back on his word,

and he doesn't let the people go. He changes his mind.

So this leads to the third plague, the plague of gnats.

You guys know what nats are, a little tiny flees

and bugs. Aaron stretches out his staff and strikes the

dust of the earth. The dust becomes gnats that cover everything,

covers all the people, covers all the animals. I couldn't

imagine seeing so many gnats that it looked like dust.

We've all seen a dust cloud blow before, but it

wasn't dirt and dust. They were all gnats and covered everything.

Now this so remember God's turning up the heat, making

things more intense. This is something the magicians of Egypt

couldn't do. They're going shot for shot with the Lord,

and they can hang. Look of verse eighteen. In chapter eight,

the magicians tried, by their secret arts to produce gnats.

At least they tried. Couldn't do it. They could not,

So there were gnats on man and beast. Then the

magicians said to Pharaoh, and get this, this is the

finger of God. But Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he

would not listen to them. As the Lord had said.

Even the magicians came to the conclusion that this could

only happen by the hand of God, that this has

to be God doing it. And this is only the

third plague. God's making it more and more intense. He's

turning up the heat. But still Pharaoh's heart was hardened

and he would not listen. So God sends flies. This

is the fourth plague. He sends flies on everything in Egypt.

They even cover the ground. But he makes a distinction

this time, and this is something I think it's worth

pointing out. He makes a distinction. He says that he

won't send the flies to the land of Goshen, where

his people dwell, so these flies would only come and

ruin the land of the Egyptians. Look at verse twenty two.

But on that day, I will set apart the land

of Goshen, where my people dwell, so that no swarm

of flies shall be there, that you may know that

I am the Lord in the midst of the earth.

Thus I will put division between my people and you

and your people. Tomorrow the signs shall happen. And the

Lord did so. There came great swarms of flies into

the house of Pharaoh and into his servants houses. Throughout

all the land of Egypt. The land was ruined by

the swarm of swarms of flies. There's so many flies

that the land is being ruined. But why God bring

the flies into the only into the land of Egypt.

Why did he not send it to the land of

Goshen whereas people are dwelling that Pharaoh may know that

he is the Lord in the midst of the earth.

God is in the process of saving his people. But

the point he once understood, the thing that he wants

all the people to know, is that he is the Lord.

So as these flies are destroying the land, it kind

of looks like Pharaoh is about to relent, or starts

to relent a little bit. He tells Moses and Aaron

that they can make their sacrifices in the land. He's like,

go ahead and make your sacrifices. But that's not what

God said. It's not what God asked, is it. Now?

God said, let his people go out into the wilderness

to serve him and to make their sacrifices. But as

I was reading this, my question was, how often do

I do that with God's commands? I think God's pretty

clear most of the time what he wants from us.

But are there times when I pick and choose how

I want to obey? I like these commands, but do

I really have to do those ones? I love the

command to sing a new song into the Lord. I'll

sing all day. That's a good one. I like that one.

But do I feel the same way about growing in

the grace and knowledge of Jesus through my study of scripture?

Help bear the burdens of my brothers and sisters in Christ,

no problem, But pray for and bless my enemies. Wait

a minute, let's not get crazy, be humble in my

generosity towards others. Check. I won't let my left hand

know my right hand's doing. But how many times am

I supposed to forgive my spouse when they sin against me?

All of the times. God wants us to know that

he is Lord over all. And if he is Lord

over all, then I don't get to pick and choose

how I obey? Am I king or is he king?

I don't get to choose how I obey or when

I obey, or which parts I like to obey, or

which parts are easier for me to obey. Because partial

obedience is not obedience. Let me say that again. Partial

obedience is not obedience. If my parents tell me to

clean my room and all I do is make my bed,

but don't pick anything up off the floor, I didn't obey,

and shoving everything under your bed doesn't count either. Found

out that one the hard way. But this is what

Pharaoh is trying to do with the commands of God.

Sure you can make your sacrifices, but you have to

do it here. Well, that is not what God commanded.

So Moses and Aaron are They say, no, we can't

do that, and Pharaoh says, fine, you can go, but

don't go too far. Just please get God to take

the flies away. Remember, all the flies are everywhere. That's

why they're having this conversation. So Moses agrees to go

plead with the Lord, but tells Pharaoh, don't cheat us again.

Don't go and change your mind again. So Lord removes

the flies. And I'll give you one guess as to

what Pharaoh did. He let the people go, just kidding,

He did not. He did not let the people go.

He hardened his heart again. And now we've made it

to chapter nine, and God's gonna send a plague on

the livestock of Egypt, all the animals. This is the

fifth plague, on the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds,

the flocks. A severe plague starts wiping them all out.

But not a single animal from the people of God dies.

So God's making another distinction between the Israelites and the Egyptians.

And what does Pharaoh do. He hardens his heart and

he won't let the people go. So the Lord brings

the sixth plague boils. Yummy, this one grosses me out

the most, I think. But Moses and Aaron they grab

handfuls of soot from the kiln and they throw it

in the air in front of Pharaoh, and then they

all were covered in boils. Can you remember those magicians

who were trying to keep up with God and doing

their by their magic secret arts. We look at chapter nine,

verse eleven, and magicians could not stand before Moses because

of the boils. For the boils came upon the magicians

and upon all the Egyptians. But the Lord hardened the

heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them,

as the Lord had spoken to Moses. So everybody's covered

in boils. The magicians are covered. So magicians are covered

so much they can't even stand before Moses. God is

putting them to shame. He's embarrassing them in front of everybody.

He's showing him that he is the Lord, not them.

But here it said something in verse twelve says God

hardened Pharaoh's heart, and we got to remember that that's

what God said he was gonna do. God said he

was gonna do this way back in chapter four. He

said he would do all these signs in front of Pharaoh,

and that he would harden his heart so that he

wouldn't let the people go all the way up until

he threatens to kill Pharaoh's first born. So God's not

done showing his power yet. He's not done going through

all of these plagues. Yet, there's more to do in

order to show everyone that he is a lord. There

is no one like him, that the earth and everything

that fills it belongs to him. So God hasn't done yet.

The next plague, this one is a big one. It

kind of things start to get a little bit more intense.

This is the seventh plague and it's hale. So let's

pick it up. In verse thirteen of chapter nine. Then

the Lord said to Moses, rise up early in the

morning and present yourself before Pharaoh, and say to him.

Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, let

my people go that they may serve me. For this time,

I will send all my plagues on you yourself, or

on your heart like directly against you and your servants

and your people, so that you may know that there

is none like me in all the earth. God wants

them to know there's no one like me in all

the earth. God is one of a kind. That's why

his name is I Am, or I am who I am,

or I will be who I will be. There's no

one that compares to him. You can't compare anything to

God because there's no one like him. Verse fifteen. For

by now I could have put out my hand and

struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would

have been cut off from the earth. I means I

could have wiped you all out verse sixteen. Pay attention here,

but for this purpose I have raised you up to

show you my power, that my name may be proclaimed

in all the earth. You are still exalting yourself against

my people, and will not let let them go. God

wants Pharaoh to see his power and for the name

of God to be proclaimed everywhere. That's why he God

raised up Pharaoh, who puts all authority in place. God does.

God put Pharaoh in place, raised him up for this purpose.

And God's literally telling us all why. But now it's

time for this plague, the seventh plague of Hale, to

actually start verse eighteen. Behold about this time tomorrow, I

will cause very heavy hail to fall, such as never

has been in Egypt from the day it was founded

until now. Now. Therefore, send get your livestock and all

that you have in the field into safe shelter. For

every man and beast that is in the field and

is not brought home will die when the hale falls

on them. Then, whoever feared the word of the Lord

among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his

livestock of the houses. But whoever did not pay attention

to the word of the Lord left his slaves and

his livestock in the field. So God actually gives him

a warning. He tells them all what's going to happen.

And there were some among Pharaoh's people who feared the

Lord and listened to him. They heeded the warning. But

for those who didn't, they hail, and the Bible says

the fire fell from the sky and destroyed them, destroyed men, animals, crops,

the land. It's all destroyed. But you know where it

wasn't destroyed in Goshen, where the Lord's people are the

children of Israel. Only in Egypt, only against Pharaoh and

his servants. Did this happen because God wants Pharaoh and

all the people to know he alone is the Lord.

Can you guess what Pharaoh did next? After seeing all

this hail fire destroying everything it fell on, he begs

Moses to asked the Lord to stop. God, beg God

to make it stop, please. And in fact, if you

look exactly what he said, look at chapter nine, verse

twenty seven. Then Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron

and said to them, this time I have sinned. The

Lord is in the right, and I and I and

my people are in the wrong. Is Pharaoh starting to

get the picture? Is he starting to figure this out?

He's admitting that he's in the wrong. Verse twenty eight.

Plead with the Lord, for there has been enough of

God's thunder and hail I will let you go, and

you shall stay no longer. You guys can leave. Just

make it all stop, Moses said to him. As soon

as I have gone out of the city, I will

stretch my hand to the Lord. Stretch out my hands

to the Lord. The thunder will cease, and there will

be no more hail, so that you may know that

the earth is the Lord's. Who does the earth belong

to God? The earth belongs ungs to the Lord. You

see how even nature obeys the word of the Lord

and Verse thirty. But as for you and your servants,

this is interesting. I know that you do not yet

fear the Lord God. Even though Pharaoh is standing before

Moses admitting that he's sinned against God, admitting that he

and the people are both in the wrong and God

is in the right. Moses knows the truth. Moses knows

the truth that they don't fear the Lord. Yet the

only reason Pharaoh is saying what he's saying is because

he doesn't like what's happening. There's a difference between godly

sorrow and worldly sorrow. Tewod Corinthian seven says, for good

this won't be on your ear screen, but for godly

grief produces repentance, a repentance that leads to salvation without regret,

whereas worldly grief produces death. About when someone gets caught

doing something wrong. Not you, obviously, you guys are pervict.

What are you going to catch a kid stealing? They

stole something, took something he didn't belong to them. Are

you sorry that you did something wrong? Or you sorry

that you got caught? But when we do think of

our own sin, does it break our hearts that we

sinned against the Lord? Or are we just mourning over

the consequences of our sin? Because our sin has natural consequences,

even a Bible believing Jesus faith in Jesus Christian, there's

still going to be natural consequences to your sin. But

Pharaoh isn't turning to God or like saying he's sinning

because he fears the Lord, or that he even wants

to obey him. Pharaoh just doesn't like the consequences of

a sin against God. Hisn't like what was happening. And

that's evident because when God, as soon as God stops

the hail, what does he do? He sins again and

hardens his heart again. Him and his servants so this

obviously isn't real godly sorrow. Are you guys seeing that

pattern that I talked about. God sends the plague or First,

Pharaoh refuses to listen to God. He says, let my

people go, and he says no. Then God sends a plague.

Pharaoh begs Moses to ask God to stop. God stops

the plague. Pharaoh's heart is still hardened, and he refuses

to listen to God. This is this pattern over and

over and over again. But here at the start of

chapter ten, God says something I think is that I

think is pretty interesting to Moses. He tells Moses the

message he is sending to Pharaoh isn't just for Pharaoh.

It's not just for him. Look at the first two

verses of chapter ten. Then the Lord said to Moses,

go into Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and

the heart of his servants, that I may show these

signs of mine among them, and that you may tell

in the hearing of your son and of your grand

So how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians, and

what signs I have done among them, that you may

know that I am the Lord. So God tells them

I have hardened Pharaoh's heart. And this is just another

example of God displaying his sovereignty over all things. Remember,

the earth is the Lord, and the fullness thereof the world,

and those who dwell within or therein the second part

the world and those who dwell therein everything and everyone

belongs to the Lord. And that includes the kings, the rulers,

even the kings belong to God. And I love Proverbs

twenty one one, so it says the king's heart is

a stream of water in the hands of the Lord.

He turns it wherever he wills. That's God's sovereignty on

display right there, because the Lord is turning Pharaoh's heart

wherever he wills for his purposes. The Lord has hardened

Pharaoh's heart, and he did it so that he could

show all these signs He's showing the people. I want

everyone to see these plagues, but not just so Pharaoh

sees it. Moses, I want your son and your grandson

to see it, because I want you to know that

I am the Lord. He wants Moses and his people

to know that he is Lord. God wants everyone to

know He's the one true God. There is no other

God but him, and these last three plagues reached this

peak of tension in the story, because you can kind

of feel it building up here. But this is the

peak of the tension. Things are getting close to their

boiling point, close to the breaking point, and God is

asking Pharaoh, how long will you refuse to humble yourself

before me. Pharaoh's own people are asking him, how long

will you allow Moses to be a snare to us?

And they see that Egypt has already been ruined by

these plagues. They say, the land has been ruined. So

Pharaoh asks Moses, if I let you go serve the Lord,

if I let you guys go, who all's gonna go?

Moses says, well, all of us, all of the people

will go, all of the people of Israel. And Pharaoh

he doesn't like this. He thinks that Moses is trying

to pull a sneaky little trick on him. He's doing

something sneaky and evil. So Pharaoh refuses. Pharaoh refuses, and

God sends the eighth plague. The plague of locusts is

the famous one, but there were so many locusts in

the land that the land was actually darkened. I'm not

recommending going and seeing movies that are violent. But you

guys know the movie three hundred Our Arrows will blot

out the sun. That's what kind of came to mind

when I think about how many locusts there were, Like,

there was so many locusts the land was darkened by them.

But it also says that any green plant or fruit

that wasn't destroyed by the hail was consumed by the locus,

and verse fifteen specifically says that not a green thing

remained in all the land of Egypt. I might be

remembering just someone saying this, and I didn't fact check it,

but someone was saying, like before the plagues, that much

more of Egypt was like green and lush, but after

the plagues it was so ruined. We have lots of

deserts in Egypt now, don't we. I don't know if

that's true. He can fact check it, but it's a

fun little thought. But verse fifteen says not a green

thing remained in all the land of Egypt. So once again,

Pharaoh's like Moses, tell God to stop, Please make him stop,

let him relent. God does. He removes every single locusts

from the land, but the Lord hasn't done, Yet his

purposes for why he raised up Pharaoh are not done.

So he hardens Pharaoh's heart once again, and next the

Lord brings complete darkness over the land for three whole days.

This is the plague. It says darkness. It's so dark

that people can't see each other at night, we can

see each other. How dark had to how dark did

need to be for you not to not be able

to see anybody? So Pharaoh calls Moses, and look at

how this interaction goes. It gets even more intense. This

is chapter ten, starting in verse twenty four. Then Pharaoh

called Moses and said, go serve the Lord. Your little

ones may also go with you. Only let your flocks

in your herds remain behind. Time out what happened all

of Egypt's walks and herds. They're dead from the severe

plague from all the hail. Kind of makes sense why

it's like, don't take the animals, we're hungry. Verse twenty

five of Moses said, you must also let us have

sacrifices and burn offerings that we may sacrifice to the

Lord our God. Our livestock also must go with us.

Not a hoof shall be left behind, for we must

take all of them to serve the Lord, our God.

And we do not know with what we must serve

the Lord until we are there, arrive there hashtag know

hoof left behind. I'm sure if they had like shirt presses,

they would have put it on their shirts Verse twenty seven.

But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he would not

let them go. And Pharaoh said to him, get away

from me. Take care never to see my face again,

for on the day you see my face, you shall die.

Moses said, as you say, I will not see your

face again. Pharaoh's it like the height of his anger

and rebellion against the Lord. If I see you again,

you're dead. So Moses says, have it's your way. So

this is the peak of the tension in this story,

and God is about to bring the tenth and final plague,

which is the death of all the firstborns. So he

tells Moses, I want you to say something, and I

want you to say in the hearing of everybody. He

didn't send him straight back to Pharaoh. He just said it,

so everybody, including Pharaoh, can hear that at about midnight,

God will go through the land of Egypt, and every

firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die from the

top to the bottom, every single firstborn will die. But

even though Pharaoh heard all of this, the Lord hardened

his heart and he didn't listen. He still refused to

let the people go. But before God just pulls the

trigger on this tenth plague, this tenth and final plague,

he gives his people some instructions. And these instructions I

think are one of the most beautiful foreshadowings of the

gospel message we have in the Bible might be like

the one in the Bible. So he tells the people

to take a one year old male lamb that doesn't

have any blemishes, to kill it at twilight, and do

something very specific with the blood. So look at chapter

twelve from I've turned the page, Chapter twelve, starting in

verse seven. Then they shall take some of the blood

and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel

of the house in which they eat it. They shall

eat the flesh that night, roast it on the fire

with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They shall eat it,

do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water,

but roasted its head and its legs, and its inner parts,

and you shall let none of it remain until the morning.

Anything that remains until morning, you shall burn. In this manner.

You shall eat it with your belt fastened, your sandals

on your feet, and with your staff in your hand.

You're ready to go, and you shall eat it in haste.

It is the Lord's passover, for I will pass through

the land of Egypt at night, and I will strike

all the first born in the land of Egypt, both

man and beast, and on all the gods of Egypt.

I will execute judgments. I am the Lord. I want

to pause here before we continue on this because real quick,

before we talk about this beautiful foreshadowing of the gospel message,

I want to talk about this judgment that God is

passing and executing on the gods of Egypt, because at

first glance, when you look at all these plagues, it

seems kind of random. Water bugs, like famines, It seems

kind of random. But these are anything but random plagues

that God is actually doing. He's declaring war against the

gods of Egypt because they had a god for everything

in Egypt, basically, and he wanted him to know that

none of those gods are real. I'm the only God. Well,

God is not me him, I'm not putting in me.

God is the only God. He's the one true God.

There is none like him, that everything belongs to him.

So each and every single one of these plagues is

a slap in the face to an Egyptian God. You

think your son God is in control of the sun

darkness for three days, That's what God can do, because

he's the true God of the Sun. You think Happy

is the god of the Nile. God shows that he's

the true God over all the waters, not just the Nile,

by turning everything to blood. Pharaoh himself is considered ane

a person, a divine being by himself and by the

people who follow him. But none of what God was

doing was random or without purpose. He's showing everyone that

he is the Lord over all. He was declaring war

on the gods of Egypt, and he was humbling them all.

He even brought death on the firstborns, showing that he

is God, the true God of life itself. But in

the midst of all this display of his awesome power,

he's showing his grace by the institution of the Passover.

This gospel connection I'm talking about here, Look at verse thirteen,

if I can have the worship team come up, please

miss verse thirteen. The blood shall be a sign for

you on the houses where you are. And when I

see the blood, I will pass over you, and no

plague shall befall you to destroy you. When I strike

the land of Egypt, the judgment that God is bringing

over the land, he will not let fall on the

houses that are covered by the blood of the Lamb.

His judgment will pass over them. Verse fourteen. This day

shall be for you a memorial day. It's a day

to remember something, a memorial day, and you shall keep

it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations.

As a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.

So God is saying, the purpose of this is to

remind you of something. I want to remind you of

the day that I delivered you from the people of Egypt,

that I delivered you out of Egypt when he saved

them from oppression and slavery. You guys, see that beautiful

gospel connection in there. The people trusted God and those

who are covered in the blood of the Lamb, those

are the one who God's judgment passed over. Well, you

know what one of the things that Jesus is called,

is called the Lamb of God, who takes away the

sins of the world. So John the Baptist calls him

in John Chapter one, verse twenty nine. But for those

who trust God, who believe what God said, who turned

from their sin and put faith in Jesus, the blood

of Jesus, which was shed on the cross, covers them,

and they're forgiven of all their sins, and the judgment

and wrath of God passes over them. This is the

same story. It's the same story God saving the people

of Egypt or from Egypt. Excuse me, God saving the

people from Egypt is just a beautiful picture of the

Gospel message. It's a beautiful picture pointing to and showing

us our own salvation. God saving the Israelites from slavery

to Egypt through the blood of the Lamb. God saving

us from our slavery to sin through the face faith

and the blood of the Lamb. God saving his people

in Egypt from judgment that He's putting on Egypt. And

just like now, we put faith in Jesus, and what

happens to God's judgment It landed on Jesus, not on us.

It's the same story. Well, the clock strikes midnight. Getting

back into our text, clock strikes midnight, and the silence

that normally fills the middle of the night begins to

turn to wailing and crying. One by one, the Egyptians

wake up to find death in their home. Even Pharaoh,

he wakes up in the night to find his own

son dead. So still in the middle of the night,

he calls for Moses and Aaron. He calls them to him,

and he tells them all to leave. It says, go

and serve the Lord. All the people and all the flocks,

just leave and do it quickly. Is it really happening?

Is God finally delivering the people? Is he finally saving

them from the hand of the Egyptians. So with a haste,

all the people gather their things and they begin to leave.

But just as God had said, they had gained favor

in the eyes of the Egyptian. The Egyptians, so they

asked all the people for silver, gold, jewelry and clothing,

and the people give it to him. The Israelites had

literally plundered their captors, just as God said that they would.

They plundered the Egyptians and six hundred thousand, six hundred

thousand men plus women and children, So I don't even

know what that number is. They all left Egypt that day,

and they'd been there for four hundred and thirty years

exactly when they finally left, God flipped the world upside

down by what he did in Egypt. What other story

have you heard that's just crazy in all of human history.

He planned to do something amazing, to do these amazing,

miraculous signs of the plagues, all for the purpose of

saving his people, to communicate the point of what was

the point. He did all of it so that everyone

would know that he is the Lord. That's why God

did these things. He wanted Pharaoh to know he's the Lord.

He wanted Moses and Aaron to know he's the Lord.

He wanted their sons and their grandsons to know that

he is the Lord. He wanted the people of Israel

to know he is the Lord. God wants you to

know today that he is the Lord. It's not a

basic thing. This is a big thing. He is the

one true God. He is Jehovah. He's the existing one,

the eternally existing one. He's Lord overall in all things.

Belong to him. It's my question for you, for me,

for all of us. My challenge for all of us

today is do I live like God is the Lord?

Do I live like God is the Lord? If this

is the thing he wants me to know, and he

went through crazy circumstances to make sure I know it?

Do I act like it? Do I live like it?

Do I submit to him? Do I obey him? Do

I pick and choose the commands that I want to follow?

Do I act like I'm the boss, that I'm the

one in charge? Do I act like I'm the Lord?

Am I being like Pharaoh? Refusing to humble myself before

the Lord? Am I exalting myself against him? Or? Do

I submit to him in all things because he is king?

Do I live my life for his exaltation, for raising

him up? Do I seek to bring him glory with

my every breath? Does my existence? Does it bring him

ultimate glory? So don't be like Pharaoh? It's a pretty

easy application for today. Don't be like Pharaoh. God went

through great went two great lengths so that we would

know that he is Lord of all. So let's believe

that truth and let's live our life in a way

that reflects that truth. Amen. Can you guys stand on

your feet please,