The Waters of Blood: The First Plague on Egypt - Saved for the Glory of God | Studies in the book of Exodus

Well, we're staying with Exodus this morning.

And in chapter seven and verses 14 to 25, living overseas,

we were used to something that happened on a regular basis.

And we would often face periods of the shortage of fuel,

petrol and diesel for our vehicles.

And you'd start to see lines of vehicles form at petrol stations

as word would get out that there wasn't enough money in the

country, not enough foreign exchange in the country to buy the

needed or to import the needed fuel for filling cars and trucks

and everything else.

And so people would start to form these queues, initially orderly,

and then they'd get quite chaotic, wanting to fill their cars,

wanting to fill their jerry cans with petrol and diesel, so that

their lives wouldn't be impacted by what would be then a

shortage of fuel.

Now, I personally can't remember sitting any longer than

an hour in a queue for petrol, but at certain points during these

queues, they would be lasting for days.

I think the most was four days of sitting in a queue waiting for

petrol.

Now, perhaps you think that's shocking, but let me remind you of

25 years ago, because it's not only something reserved for African

nations, because back in 2000, the UK faced its own fuel shortage.

It peaked in the September of that year and was caused by organized

protests by truckers, farmers and other hauliers against high fuel

prices, leading to blockades of oil refineries and depots.

And it resulted in widespread petrol station closures, panic buying

and severe disruption to essential services like the NHS and

supermarkets.

Now, I'm going to show you a picture here, and 25 years on, you're

going to laugh, you really are, because look at that picture

and it'll tell you that a litre of petrol was 80p.

Wouldn't you love to go back to those crisis times?

But of course, the reason why there was a crisis was that it had

jumped from 59p to 80p in that year.

And what that crisis did, it halted the country for about a week,

until the government, under pressure, negotiated with the protesters

and they agreed to lift the blockades after promise to review

fuel duty.

And what it did was it highlighted to us our complete vulnerability

to supply chain disruptions.

We couldn't cope when there was no petrol and no diesel, not

just at the forecourt of a local filling station, but in depots

where supermarkets would fill their delivery trucks to get food

to us.

It's estimated that up to 3,000 petrol stations ran dry or

closed, leading to those long queues and leading to rationing.

And so the root cause was that laughable EDP per litre.

But back then, that was a jump of about 21p, and that was a huge

jump in just a matter of months of petrol.

And so we identified that, indeed, we cannot live without the

fuel that is pumped from the filling stations.

And I use this illustration because it gives us some idea of

what the Egyptian faced whenever their river turned to blood.

It's very hard for us to comprehend what does it mean for

a whole river, a river the size of the Nile, to be red with

blood?

What does that look like?

And we may not think, because it's so long ago, but of how that

would impact a society.

So the closest we can think of, if you can remember it, is that

fuel crisis of September 2000.

You see, just as petrol and diesel means so much to us, well,

the Nile meant everything to the Egyptians.

It was their mode of transportation, it was their source

of nourishment, their standard for measurement, and it was even

an object of their worship.

And so there was no better way for the God of Israel to show that

he was also the Lord of Egypt than by turning the Nile into blood.

And what we've read this morning is the first of the 10 plagues

that will come to Egypt that they would face because of Pharaoh's

refusal to let the Israelites go and worship God in the wilderness.

And with each passing plague, Pharaoh's heart was would only harden

as his pride would not allow him to relent.

But it's not just his pride, because it's even his own advisors

who they kind of prop him up in that thinking, as we'll see this

week in the text that we have, but also in the first Sunday back

after Christmas or in the new Year, we'll see how they do that

again.

But just as we considered last week, so we must remember again that

God said this was what was going to happen, that Pharaoh's heart

would be hardened, because at the burning bush, God told Moses

In Exodus 4:21, when you return to Egypt, see that you perform

Exodus 4:21

before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do.

But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.

So how this event plays out, along with plagues two to nine, should

come as no surprise to us that Pharaoh isn't going to relent.

He is going to be the one who's going to be forthright in his

determination to not let the people go.

But as we get into these plagues, we need to note something

about the purpose of them.

The plagues are not simply sent to Egypt to cause an annoyance

to the Egyptian people.

They're not used to be a display so that pressure would mount

on on Pharaoh from the Egyptians to let the Israelites go.

That's not their purpose.

We need to understand that they were directed against the gods

and goddesses of Egypt.

And they were intended to show the superiority of the God of Israel

to the Egyptian gods.

There were about 80 major deities in Egypt, all gathered about

the three great natural forces and focuses of Egyptian life.

The Nile river, the land and the sky gods in each of these natural

areas.

And it should not surprise us that the plagues that God sent against

Egypt in this historic battle follow against these three forces

to which the Egyptians worshiped.

The first two plagues, that is of blood and of frogs, are against

the gods of the Nile.

The next four were against the gods of the land.

And then the final four plagues were against the gods of

the sky.

And that culminated, as we know, in the death of the firstborn.

And so, having demonstrated the Lord's power through the staff

that turned into a snake in the earlier parts of this chapter,

and of course, that snake then proceeded to eat the other snakes

that were conjured up by Pharaoh's wise men and the Egyptian

magicians.

Now Moses receives instruction in verses 14 to 19 to return to Pharaoh

and once again demonstrate the power of God.

And one of the reasons Pharaoh was so hard hearted was that his

heart belonged to other gods.

And that's what we must understand about this most powerful

man in the world of his time.

He worshipped other gods, as well as believing himself to be a

God to be worshipped.

And again, notice that God told Moses to wait for Pharaoh on

the banks of the Nile.

And so God knows how Pharaoh works, He knows his heart.

And by his heart he knows his routines, he knows where he'll be.

And so Moses instructed to be at a certain place at a certain time

and to simply wait.

And so Pharaoh, as is his custom, goes every morning to the

banks of the Mana.

Now, the Bible doesn't tell us why he goes there, but maybe he goes

to bath every morning and to wash, like his daughters had done,

as we saw in chapter five.

Or he enjoyed taking an early morning swim.

But it perhaps is more likely that he also went there to pay homage

to the gods of the Nile.

If you are the leader of this land, and it is the Nile to which

you worship, to provide for all your water, for your transportation,

and for that nourishment of your foods, not only in the water

provides, but that annual flood that caused all the silt to

go across the land so that the fields would be filled with nutrients.

Well, then you're going to do everything you can to worship the

gods of the river to keep them happy.

And so it is easy to imagine Pharaoh blessing the waters in the

name of Hapai, the God of the flood, or giving thanks every morning

to Khnum, the guardian of the Nile.

And so perhaps he used the words of an ancient Egyptian hymn

that has been discovered.

Heal to thee, O Nile, that issues from the earth and comes to

keep Egypt alive.

See, that's what this body of water meant.

This was how important it was to them.

They could not survive without it.

And so when we understand the Egyptian association with the Nile

and the gods that they believed controlled it, we can see

then why this plague would have caused great concern to the

people of Egypt.

It's in verse 17 that we're told what the Lord tells Moses to

say.

By this you will know that I am the Lord.

With the staff that is in my hand, I will strike the water of

the Nile and it will be changed into blood.

Now, this miracle would cause, as verse 18 goes on to tell us, the

fish in the water to die and make the water of the Nile undrinkable

for all the Egyptians.

Fish were a major food source for the Egyptians.

And can you see the chain that's happening here?

The water goes to blood, the fish die.

The fish then can't be consumed, and neither can the water.

And so this is all encompassing in terms of the life

of the Egyptians.

But I also wonder, can you see the irony in this first plague that

is brought to Pharaoh and to the people?

Where have we heard of the Nile before?

Go back to the first chapter.

And the very water in which the Egyptians were told to kill the

Israelite baby boys in Exodus 1:22 now becomes the water with which

Exodus 1:22

the Egyptians can no longer depend on to sustain their life.

And all this will be a sign, so that Pharaoh, who earlier boasted

that he did not know Yahweh, will know clearly that the Lord Almighty,

the Hebrews God is Lord of heaven and earth.

And again, that's what verse 17 tells us.

And so once again, Aaron is to use his staff so that this sign will

take effect.

But it won't just be for the Nile.

Did you see how it extends?

Because all the reservoirs, the ponds and the canals of Egypt

will turn to blood.

No body of water, large or small, will escape the plague, forcing

the Egyptians to be unnerved, as they wouldn't be able to Wash,

they wouldn't be able to cook and they wouldn't be able to drink

even the water in their wooden buckets and their stone jars that

they would have stored water in at their homes wouldn't escape.

So it would be the waters of the Nile and the waters in the homes

that would be equally impacted by this.

And Moses and Aaron are obedient to God.

It's taken time for Moses to get on to the right level of where

God is at in all of this.

And he faithfully goes and he waits for Pharaoh.

And, and this is what we're told in verse 20, Moses and Aaron

did just as the Lord had commanded.

He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials

and struck the water of the Nile.

And just as God said, all the water was changed to blood.

Now we have to remember Pharaoh's watching this.

He's standing on the banks, he's maybe looking for answers as

to, well, where are the gods of Egypt in all of this.

So he is watching on as this first plague takes hold.

And so the king with his officials see that water change before

their very eyes.

But as we know, it wasn't just the water, as verse 21 confirms,

it was also the fish that died and so contaminating the water, causing

it to smell and to be undrinkable.

No one in Egypt was going to ignore or miss this.

And this last we're told in verse 21 for seven days.

And the section or verse 21 concludes to tell us that the blood

was everywhere in Egypt.

So this was a plague that had deep impact and would have caused

Egypt to really totter in its own self belief that it was in control

of everything.

But it's not only Pharaoh who is watching this unfold, because

remember who he has around him, the Egyptian magicians.

And as they did before and will do again, these sorcerer priests

imitate the sign as well.

But again, there's another irony here, because all that the

magicians can do is make matters worse.

What did they do the last time they tried to imitate?

Well, they simply created more snakes.

And now what do they do?

Well, they simply make more water, become blood.

And what would they go on to do with the frogs?

Well, they don't get rid of them, they make more frogs.

And so by them thinking that they're demonstrating their power,

they're actually not helping the matters, they're only adding

to it.

You see, these magicians, we must understand, can't reverse the

catastrophes, they can only increase them and inadvertently they

end up contributing to the Lord's fight against Pharaoh.

But Pharaoh misses the irony completely.

His heart remains hardened, using the sorcerer priest's deeds

as an excuse.

Look at what my men can do.

But he never asked the question, can you get rid of these?

And defy the living God of the Israelites?

Whether he knew deep down he couldn't do that or not, we don't

know.

But all we do know is that the men he depended on only added to

the problem and did nothing to its solution.

Verse 23 tells us instead he turned and went into his palace and

did not take even this to heart.

So we're told here in the language that we use all around us

here.

This is a thran man.

He's not going to take notice.

Even when the life source of Egypt turns to blood, he chooses

to ignore.

In witnessing this first miracle, Pharaoh doesn't apply his

heart to learn what he should.

And so we see that Pharaoh clearly, as we saw last week, clear

has a heart problem.

His hardness of heart leads to hard work for the Egyptians, because

verse 24 tells us, and all the Egyptians dug along the Nile to get

drinking water because they could not drink the water of the

river.

Now, digging along the Nile is exhausting work that lasts at least

seven days, as verse 25 tells us.

But no word from Pharaoh comes.

So the Lord prepares to strike Egypt again.

And this is where we leave Exodus until the new year when we

come to the next plague against the Nile, that is the plague

of frogs.

And so, as we think about this text and what we've learned from

it, we once again have been shown who Pharaoh truly is.

He is a man whose heart is for the things that are around him rather

than, as is now visibly demonstrated to him, submitting to

the one true God.

He would rather be focused on the things of self, I.e.

self worship, self determination and self righteousness.

He'd rather do all of this than on paying attention to the one

who made the world and the one who sustains it.

Here we have a man whose eyes are on what he can get out of the

world rather than on the one who can save him from the effects

of the world.

And if Pharaoh had simply admitted who he was dealing with,

then the whole thing would have been a lot different.

And so as we look back, as we look back on these thousands of years

of this event happening ago, we have to say it's a little bit

true of us.

Or perhaps it's a lot true of us because we too are like people

who are like Pharaoh, because we think of Self, rather than thinking

of God, our hearts, it turns out, can be very much like the ancient

king of Egypt.

We too worship false gods that cause our sight of the true God to

be blurred or to be darkened.

Now, whenever we think of false gods, we're normally thinking

of a statue that we bow down to.

That's not what we're talking about.

The false gods of our age are all around us and they're so subtle

because that's how crafty the devil is.

He will say that there are things that are okay and in and of

themselves.

They may be there is nothing wrong with them, but he will use

them to be false gods so that we will be taken away from where

our true focus should be on the living God, the Lord Almighty.

But we have to remember that these false gods are just that they

are false.

But what they do is they consume our time, they consume our

thoughts, and they consume our money.

So much so that they allow little time to take seriously the

one true God who will love us and who is the only one who can save

us.

This morning I'm asking you to be a doctor of your own heart because

I want you to look honestly at it.

And I think that when we do, we will see that there is a hardness

there.

See what is it that is taking you away from God.

We've thought of the things that happened to Pharaoh and so we'll

think of them for ourselves.

Is it first of all self worship?

Is your hardness of heart in that you want to worship self where

everything must revolve around you.

You follow the things you want, whether they be right or wrong,

because they make you happy and they make you satisfied.

And so rather than God being the center, you push him and you

take over the center so that almost you expect him to worship

you because you will want things your way.

Now, of course, none of us would ever admit to that, but if

we actually become a doctor of our own hearts and look closely,

we will discover that there's aspects in our lives where we're

saying, well, you know what, God, I'm just going to do it my way.

Therefore it's worship of self and not worship of him.

What does that look like?

That might look like some of our business practices.

It might look like some of our integrity where we say one thing

to someone and turn around and do the exact opposite to someone.

So we're not living a life that is of integrity of following

the standard of Christ.

We're double minded.

It might look like that we think that we're more important and

therefore what I want I get rather than actually what God tells

us to do.

And so as a doctor of your heart today, is self worship an issue?

Because it was for Pharaoh.

He expected everything to revolve around him.

And did it work?

Absolutely not.

There's only one God to be worshipped and he will not share

his glory.

It is to him we look.

And so our hardness of heart must be inspected.

And we must, as it were, take the rough skin, the callous off so

that we will worship him and him alone first and live by his standard.

Well, what was the second thing about Pharaoh?

It was self determination.

Well, what does self determination mean for us?

It means that you ignore the teaching of Scripture because you

think that it will stop you having fun or it will tie you down

from the real life you perceive others are living.

And so you focus, or your focus is on money, more things and

thinking that they will satisfy rather than depending on

God to provide for what you need.

And this is really the self determination is a problem of this

generation and the generation in which we live, the time in which

we live, because we're told there's an easy way to make money.

I remember when the National Lottery started, I couldn't tell

you how much a ticket is now.

Hope that comforts you.

But it was a pound.

I remember, I remember it all happening.

And so we thought for a pound, well, we could become rich.

And whenever we would become rich, what did that mean?

Well then we were self satisfied and self determined.

We could do whatever we wanted because we would have enough money.

And so the love of money became the root of all evil.

Now you may not do the lottery, but the principle is still

the same.

We'll do a wee bit this way, a wee bit that way, more than what

we need to survive.

Because we think that dependence on the money will be the

thing that will keep us.

The only one who can keep us is the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

He is the one who gave his life for us.

And so we cannot be self determined people.

We must follow his way and trust in him and give no sense that

we're trusting and relying on self, but looking to him alone.

It doesn't matter how many things we think we need and eventually

how many things we get.

We will always need more and want more.

Or maybe our hardness of heart is self righteousness where you always

have to be right.

And whatever determination you make, it's always the correct one.

And your hardness of heart will mean even when your error is

pointed out, you will never back down.

Are you Self righteous.

Because you think that your way is always the right way.

You see, the problem is, whenever we think that we are always

right, it means then we are completely closed through hardness

of heart to the way that God would lead us.

We are not open to the Holy Spirit challenging us and wanting

to take us in ways that are right and true.

And so we have a heart problem because the hardness of our hearts

is demonstrated in self worship, self determination and self

righteousness.

The problem is none of these three ways bring you to God for saving

grace.

They instead will keep you away, just like they kept Pharaoh

away.

And before any one of us sit back and say that none of these impact

you, I would caution you to think again.

The reality is I see aspects of all three of these in my own life

and I see them in my own heart where actually I do want to be number

one.

Do you know what?

I want to determine things my way.

Because let's face it, if you all did things my way, wouldn't the

world be such a better place?

Of course it wouldn't.

And I know that.

And self righteousness.

Well, of course I always want to be right, but I'm seldom.

You see, our hardness of heart infiltrates us all.

It's because of the world we live in.

And it is the consequence of this fallen world.

It's what we might call the sinful condition of the fall.

None of us are perfect.

No, not one.

And so the devil will want to go after our hearts.

And for some of your hearts, he has a hold on it so tight that

you don't even know the risen Lord Jesus because He's kept you

in his way all of your life.

See, the reality is this is who we are.

But the reality is that we have one who can free us from this

hardness of heart.

Because yes, we must guard our hearts.

And the only way to do this is to trust in the Lord Jesus so that

we can know his loving care and his loving salvation.

And that's what the writer of Hebrews tells us in chapter 3 and

verses 12 to 14.

See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving

heart that turns away from the living God.

But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called today,

so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

We have come to share in Christ.

If we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first, as

has just been said today, if you hear his voice, do not harden

your hearts as you did in the rebellion.

You could preach a Sermon on these verses alone, but will not.

But look at some of those words.

See, none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart.

Because what does a heart like that do?

Well, it turns us away from the living God and we must live as

long as it is called today so that our hearts will not be hardened,

that is live for Jesus, so that our hearts will not be hardened

by sin's deceitfulness.

And that's exactly what we've just been talking about.

Because all of those things of self are a deceit of the evil one.

But we have the hope.

We have the hope that as we come to Christ, he will hold us firmly

till the end.

Because today, if you hear his voice, please, please do not harden

your heart, but come to him and know him who will free you from

your self worship.

He will free you from that self determination and he will free

you from that self righteousness because he is greater

than the sum of our sins.

And we will discover that our hardness of heart is softened and

healed and restored.

This week I had to say to myself, check your heart.

And so I said to you this morning, check your heart and know

Christ as your only salvation.

Because do not trust nor depend in this world because it has

never been able to and will never save you from your sin.

You must not trust in other gods because they will not save.

Do not try to go after the idyllic life because it will not

exist.

Our only hope and security is in Christ and in him alone.

And so we look only to Jesus Christ and know the wonderful assurance

of his forgiveness, but also his grace.

Because it is his grace that keeps us each and every day.

However our hearts may be in that day, he is the One who is there

to welcome us back as we look to him and as he ever keeps us rivers

turning to blood.

Next time it'll be frogs.

Throughout the Nile the gods of Egypt attacked and demonstrated

too that there is only one God to which we hold because ultimately

his people will be saved for his own glory.

And that is the same for us today.

We are saved for the glory of God and for our good, so that we

will know him forever.

Check your heart, come to the Savior and know him as your only

hope.

Let's pray.

Our Father God this morning.

These words from this old text tell us something true for us today.

For the gods of the world have been around for generations and the

gods that we see around us today are just the latest incarnation

of how the devil will try to take us away from the Savior.

And we must be honest with ourselves.

Because if we're not honest, then we have no hope.

And for some of us, it may mean we have to change practices.

It may mean we have to change our focus.

But for all of us, we need to change our hearts so that each day

they're warmer towards Christ rather than colder, because the devil

will want to make them frozen.

So, Father, help us to respond well to your word, to live by it,

so that we will know that we are yours truly forevermore.

So draw us onto the Savior.

May we know his everlasting love demonstrated to us on Calvary's

cross.

And may we respond to him this day and be assured of that salvation

forever.

In Jesus name.

Amen.

Sa.