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[0:00] You can open your Bibles to Exodus chapter 8. If you remember, we've come through the first plague, which is the plague of the water of the Nile being turned to blood.

[0:14] Today, I was planning to cover the next three plagues, the whole chapter. I don't think we're going to get through the whole chapter. I've been praying about the kind of this morning, looking at some stuff. And I think we're going to do this intro that's going to take a little bit.

[0:25] I think we'll get through two plagues, I hope. But we'll see. So if we have to bail out quick, we'll put our parachutes on and jump out of the plane. And it might not be the smoothest landing, but we'll see what happens. But if you remember Pharaoh, at the end of chapter 7, he's turned back.

[0:40] It says, Pharaoh turned in verse 23 of chapter 7, went into his house, neither did he set his heart to this also. So Pharaoh's heart, which is being hardened, in the process of being hardened, the word there, set, if you remember, was to put or place.

[0:54] Nobody's making Pharaoh do this. Pharaoh is setting his heart in this direction. Away from God, against God, back into something that was familiar, something he had control of.

[1:04] Back into his own house, his own world, rejecting what God is doing. And then, if you remember, God, at the end of his judgment, displayed mercy. Because at the place of judgment and mercy, the place of justice and mercy, the place of blood and death, there a well of mercy was opened.

[1:20] And God's judgment ended in mercy. And we can kind of look at this and think, well, man, God is being kind of harsh. All of Egypt's being judged. And all of, even the Hebrews are being judged just because of Pharaoh's hard heart?

[1:33] Just because of Pharaoh's decision? I mean, that seems a little, you know, a whole nation just because of the leader? I mean, we're transitioning in our nation to a different administration.

[1:46] But it doesn't matter the administration. You can make whatever sin you want legal. I'm not going to wake up and go, oh, goody, goody, goody, let's go. We can all go sin, right? Because it's not this world that's telling us what to do or what not to do.

[1:58] It's not the laws of the land. They are simply to reflect what? They're to reflect God's laws. And they reflect the hearts, hopefully, of the people of the land. And we live in a nation that very much is doing that.

[2:11] But if you remember back in Exodus 7, verse 5, it says, In the Egyptians, this is the Lord speaking to Moses, They shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them.

[2:25] Who will know that I'm the Lord? Well, all of the Egyptians. This is not just about Pharaoh. And if you remember, we looked in Ezekiel, I think Ezekiel 20 or 21 or 22. I'm really bad remembering numbers.

[2:35] I remember words, but not numbers. Somewhere in Ezekiel, I think in the 20s, where it talked about how at this time, the Hebrews, they were holding on to these idols too. That God has said, reject those idols.

[2:45] Put aside the idols, the abomination of the Egyptians, and they wouldn't do that. So this isn't just Pharaoh, where this is not like, wow, this is a harsh reaction. This is all of Egypt is in idolatry, and as well, the Hebrews.

[2:57] They've been centuries now, living in Egypt and learning the ways of Egypt. But as we approach this section of scripture, you know, we can kind of just see, if you've been in the church a long time, and especially if you were in Sunday school as a little kid, in a church that did the traditional Sunday school, you've gone through the plagues, and then there's the frogs that come on the land and all of that.

[3:18] And it's very familiar to us. And we know that God used this to judge the nation of Israel, I mean, Egypt, to bring Israel out of the land. They're going to go through the Red Sea. But why?

[3:30] Why didn't God just come in and swoop in and save his people? Well, okay, we just read there that he wants the Egyptians to know that he is the Lord. But why did it take all of these plagues? Why 10 plagues?

[3:41] Well, if you pull out your insert that was in your bulletin, I put together a little chart so that would kind of help us have a little bit of a roadmap, maybe, as we go through these 10 plagues.

[3:53] On the left, you'll see in the column all the different plagues. And then moving across, we have different columns. That kind of help us explain what's going on. The first one, we see the reference where the plague first appears within Exodus.

[4:05] And then the next one is the Egyptian deity. Each one of these 10 plagues is specifically focusing on a deity, a false god, an idol within the Egyptian culture.

[4:15] And so the first one was Hopi, the god of the Nile. Remember, he wasn't very Hopi. The Nile got judged. He's been in denial ever since. And the next one is Hecate. I don't have a pun for that.

[4:27] And that's what we're going to look at the next with the frogs. And that was believed she was a goddess, the goddess of fertility, because, well, there's a lot of frogs. And frogs were in two worlds at once. They're amphibian in the water and in the land.

[4:39] And then if we keep going across, we'll see the physical. I didn't know how to word that. But there's the physical and kind of the moral aspect of the judgments. And as you look, there's a pattern within the judgments, the physical judgments.

[4:51] The first two have to do with water, with the Nile. The next two have to do with the land. The next two, the flesh. And then the next two coming from the sky. And then the last being death. And in the middle there, you see of the 10, I have a line drawn because there's a change that takes place.

[5:07] The first five do not actually come against a man. They're not like detrimental to the health of man. They're uncomfortable to have lice and flies and frogs.

[5:18] But the boils is directly now a judgment on man. And then the hail will create death. And there's a change as you get to the midpoint of this tribulation. There's a big change in God's judgment here.

[5:31] And then the moral, the first one we saw there was blood injustice. God's blood injustice. And we're going to see as we go through these next plagues, the frogs kind of represent outward corruption. Something that's seen, that's more outward.

[5:43] And then the lice is going to be an unseen corruption. And if you reject God's blood injustice, if you reject God's judgment of blood being upon all of man, and you reject that, you're just going to go further into corruption.

[5:56] As you reject the cross, his judgment upon man, you go further into corruption. Outward corruption, unseen corruption before you get to death and decay. And we'll see some of that as we go through. And then the last two columns, there's a pattern that rotates every three plagues.

[6:13] Because God warns Pharaoh for two plagues. And then the third one, he doesn't. The next two, he does. The third one, he doesn't. The next two, he does. The third one, he doesn't. There's a pattern there. The last one where it says, was Pharaoh warned?

[6:28] And it says, yes, with an asterisk. Well, I don't know. When we get to that point in Exodus 11, we're going to find that God speaks to Moses in that moment when he seems to be with Pharaoh and says, hey, this is what's going to happen with the firstborn.

[6:42] But we don't see Moses actually speaking that out to Pharaoh. It says he goes out from the presence of Pharaoh angry. I don't know if then he actually told Pharaoh or not. It seems like he could have. And the last column, are the Hebrews exempt?

[6:55] Are God's people exempt? Well, through these first three plagues, they're not. And we'll talk about that as we go through it. And through the rest of the plagues, they are. They're exempt. God's put to separation until you get the last one.

[7:05] And then there's an asterisk next to that one, too. And that's because, well, they are exempt. God says, hey, the death of the firstborn, the angel of death is going to come, and it'll pass over your households.

[7:16] But it's kind of conditional, wasn't it? They had to put the blood upon the doorpost. So they were exempt if they chose to be exempt. And we will reference this as we go. But I just thought it would give us somewhat of a roadmap, especially seeing how the judgment that God's bringing is not just arbitrary or not just because.

[7:35] But there's also another reason. And, you know, we live in a physical world. We live in a material world. God created this world in creation.

[7:47] But we're also spiritual, right? But we experience God. We experience the spiritual and the eternal in the physical temporary world.

[7:58] Now, we don't have to leave this world, this life. We don't have to have an out-of-body experience. I don't have to, you know, contemplate my navel or come to some higher plane to experience God.

[8:08] God has made a way that we can experience the eternal and the spiritual within the temporal, within the temporary. That's how God designed it. So when we come to the word, here it is. We can read this. I don't have to conjure up something.

[8:20] I don't have to come in some out-of-body experience. God has made it so that we are in a temporary world. But at the same time, we experience God who is a spirit. You know, in John 4, 24, God is a spirit.

[8:33] And they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. God is a spirit. Hebrews chapter 9, within this text of verse 914, sorry, verse 14 of chapter 9, it says, How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge yourself, purge your conscience, I'm sorry, from dead works to serve the living God.

[8:55] There we see that who through the eternal spirit. So God is a spirit. He's an eternal spirit. We are not spirit. We are not eternal. We are fallen. We do not have an eternal spiritual existence in life like God does.

[9:07] We have the opportunity for eternal death because we are separated from God. But God is a spirit and he's eternal. John 3, verse 6 says, That which is born of the flesh is flesh.

[9:19] That which is born of the spirit is spirit. So there's two separate things. That which is born of the flesh, that which is born into this world, the material world, the world is temporary. It's not born of the spirit.

[9:30] But that which is born of the spirit is eternal, as we just saw through the eternal spirit. Second Corinthians, Paul writes, While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.

[9:45] For the things which are seen are what? Temporal. They're temporary. They're not lasting. The things which are not seen are what? Eternal. So we can go back to John 3, 6 and we could read it.

[9:57] That which is born of the temporary is temporary. That which is born of the eternal is eternal. Eternal. And yet here we are in a temporary world experiencing the things of eternity, the things of the spirit.

[10:12] Our world is temporal. And while our world is temporal, it also means, it is also the means by which we experience the eternal spirit. We do not have to go outside of this life to experience the eternal things.

[10:25] But it doesn't mean the things then of this life become permanent. Just because I'm experiencing the eternal through the temporary, the things of this life are still temporary.

[10:37] Stick with me. This is going somewhere. Hebrews chapter 12, we read, God shakes things.

[11:00] In other words, he tries things, he tests them. And the things which remain, oh wow, well they're eternal. The things which are shaken, they're not going to remain. God is doing that here in Egypt.

[11:11] They are looking at their gods, the things of the temporary world, the things of the material, and they're attaching to them something spiritual, something eternal. And so God is shaking that, showing that this is temporary.

[11:22] The world sees the temporal not as the means to experience the spiritual and the eternal. But they see it as that which is spiritual and eternal.

[11:32] Example, we see a rainbow. Man, that's God's promise. That's God's promise. That's his hand of mercy, a promise. We see the sun come up. That is the faithfulness of a God. We see the creator through that. The world doesn't see that.

[11:44] The world sees a hot ball of gas that a million years ago came into existence and just happens to be there and by chance. Or they worship the creation as if it had intrinsic value in it.

[11:56] Well, if the sun is coming up and the sun is giving us light, why don't look past the sun and see the creator? I now put spiritual and intrinsic value in that as if it was the eternal thing.

[12:07] As if it itself now is the lasting and spiritual thing. Egypt did not see a God who created the Nile for man's benefit. But we look at the Nile and we would say, look at that.

[12:20] The flooding. Well, they put a dam there now, so it doesn't do that anymore. But at one time, you had the flooding of the Nile and they would irrigate all of Egypt and it created this great civilization. We say, look at God's provision for man.

[12:31] Look at God's hand. They wouldn't do that. Egypt looks at the Nile and they see the Nile itself as God. Why? Because Romans tells us that the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.

[12:51] So there's no man who has an excuse. The eternal things of God are clearly seen through what? The invisible things are seen through what? What he created. Through this temporary world. We are to look past that and see the creator.

[13:02] But if you reject that, and if you deny that, then you jump down to verse 25 of Romans 1. And it says that those who deny that, they change the truth of God into a lie. Notice the wording there.

[13:14] Not just that they don't believe it. They change the truth into a lie. Now the truth is a lie. If you say, well, no, no, I'm sorry. The sun did not come about billions of years ago by chance.

[13:28] We're not from monkeys. God made us. God created that sun. That's a lie. How dare you say it? You're a liar to say that God created that. Well, I'm sorry. In Egypt, Hopi isn't the God of the Nile.

[13:40] The Lord God, Jehovah, he created that. You liar. They change the truth of God into a lie. And they worship and serve the creature more than the creator, who is blessed forevermore.

[13:51] So when they no longer acknowledge God in their minds, and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient.

[14:02] We saw the word reprobate last week, meaning not worthy, not able to be worthy to receive. In other words, they're not worthy of faith because they've rejected God. So they're not able to believe.

[14:14] So when man looks at God's creation and does not acknowledge God as creator, then there's a series of degenerative effects that happens in his mind.

[14:25] You and I go, how can you not see God's hand in this world? How can you not see? That's for me, it's sunrise. When I'm out on one of my projects, my construction sites, and it's like, it's dark.

[14:35] They're paying however much money to rent these lights, these halogen lamps. And all of a sudden, the whole world just magically lights up. You don't see the sun. It just starts getting lighter, lighter. How can you not see God's hand in that?

[14:47] Who can do that? Who has the power to do that, to just turn on the light? But they don't see that because they've not wanted to retain the knowledge of God in their minds. They've turned the truth into a lie.

[14:58] For Egypt, what did that mean? Well, that meant they're going to serve the creature instead of the creator. Because now that they rejected God, instead of seeing through creation to the creator, they fixate on the creation.

[15:09] Instead of seeing a God who created the Nile, they see the Nile as creator. Instead of seeing God who created the frogs, we're going to get to the frogs, as an amazing creature that's very fertile and can live in two worlds.

[15:21] Oh, they see now the frog itself as the one who has that intrinsic value in itself. There are religions, false religions in the world today that are like that.

[15:34] They worship cows. You think of Hinduism. They worship cows and animals and whatever. We're living in a world that is now doing that as well in the West. It's called climatology. That we worship the world.

[15:46] That the world needs to be cared for and loved because it has some type of intrinsic value in it. And yet God said, that's temporary. I'm going to destroy it. All of that work. And he's going to destroy it.

[15:57] What's the point of it then? It's to see God through it. It's to edify man and to glorify God. We live in a society that today has gone one step further.

[16:07] No longer sees the creator through the creation. And it also doesn't even see creation anymore. The creature itself as having anything of value. We have rejected the idea of even the creation containing something spiritual.

[16:20] We see nothing in creation or beyond creation. In the Western world, there is only the material. We don't even see a God anymore as the sun God. We don't even see gods and goddesses of the woods and forests and trees.

[16:34] And I'm not advocating for that. But I'm saying we've gone so far that everything just has no meaning. There's no value anymore. You can't look at a rainbow any longer and see the beauty of what God has done. It's just a refraction of light through water.

[16:48] So I think as we approach this understanding, because sometimes we can think, how can you not see that? How can you not see God in the new life of a child? I mean, animals are cute when they're small.

[16:59] Evolution wouldn't do that, right? Every little animal is kind of cute. And some of them grow up and they're really ugly, right? Some people too. But, you know, God's merciful. That when there's a little baby, right?

[17:09] How can you not see God's hand in that? Because they've rejected the knowledge of God in their minds. The truth now becomes a lie. And then from there, they begin to worship creation or to deny any value in creation at all.

[17:23] And within Egypt, they are a society that did not see God as creator. They saw God in creation. So God is judging and shaking each one of these foundations of their society.

[17:35] God's people have been wrapped up in this as well. They've been caught up in this type of environment where they no longer see the creator. They also just see the creation.

[17:48] So as we move into verse one of chapter eight, that was our little philosophy for the morning. Don't be surprised. You should be surprised the opposite.

[17:59] If people don't see a creator through creation, because when they reject the knowledge of God, that's the natural process that happens. And so Pharaoh has done that. And the people of Egypt have continued to do that.

[18:12] And the Lord now, in verse one of chapter eight, spake unto Moses. And he said, go unto Pharaoh and say unto him, thus saith the Lord, let my people go, that they may serve me. Have we heard that before?

[18:22] Has God ever said that before? Yeah, he has. God's word doesn't change. And it's not dependent upon my response to it. God's word is the same, whether Pharaoh responds correctly or incorrectly. But God's word doesn't change.

[18:36] And it also isn't going to give us more information if we don't act upon what we already have. Right? We'll never know what more God has to say until we first respond to what he's already spoken.

[18:48] God, I want to know what's your will for my life. Well, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. No, I don't want to do that. But I want to know, well, if you're not going to listen to me on the first thing, I'm not going to continue to speak to you.

[19:00] But responding to God's word allows us to hear more of what God has to say. When God speaks to our heart and says, hey, I have a call upon your life. I want you to go and serve me. I don't really want to do that, Lord.

[19:12] But if you'll tell me over here how I can be blessed instead. But we haven't responded to God's word in the first place. And what he has spoken to us, what we already know, his word isn't going to change.

[19:23] It's the same to Pharaoh over and over and over. Pharaoh, respond to my word. And if, verse 2, you refuse to let them go, behold, I'll smite all your borders with frogs. It's just hilarious.

[19:33] You don't let them go, Pharaoh. I'm going to give you frogs. For Egypt, what they thought was a blessing, what they thought was a wonderful, beautiful picture of the goddess Hecate, is going to become a curse.

[19:51] God's going to reveal it for what it is. You know, idolatry is okay, we think, if we can contain it to its place. You know what? I mean, it doesn't consume my life.

[20:02] It's where it should be. The little frogs are in the Nile. It's fine. I can contain that. So what if I worship them? So what if I believe that way? I'm a good citizen. What Egypt thought was a blessing would be revealed for what it truly was, a plague upon the land.

[20:19] And that's what idolatry always is. And the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into your house and into your bed chambers and upon your bed and into the house of your servants and upon your people and into your ovens, roast frog, and into your kneading trough.

[20:36] You know, raisin bread. Well, frog bread. The frogs were sacred in Egypt. You could not kill the frogs. So frog jumps in your kneading trough.

[20:47] Oh, oh, oh, hey. If a frog's in your bed, you couldn't kill them. The frogs, they're going to eat. They're going to sleep.

[20:58] And they're going to drink frogs. It's going to be frogs everywhere. And you know, something that we may think is contained in our lives and something that we've placed in a place that shouldn't be. Maybe it's become idolatry. It begins to permeate every part of our life.

[21:12] And idolatry leads to corruption, and corruption cannot be contained. I thought, we can just keep the frogs over here. Well, God's like, man, I'm going to give you. You want to worship those frogs? I'm going to give you frogs. Corruption can't be contained, and corruption is absolute.

[21:23] As they have rejected God's judgment of the Nile, and now they go further into corruption. They would eat, they would drink, and they would sleep the fruits of their corruption.

[21:35] And you know, you can think, well, I don't have an idol in my life. Well, what do you think about? What do you talk about? When you sit down at dinner, when you're at your kneading trough, when you're opening the oven, when you're in your bed, what is it's on your mind?

[21:47] What is it's in your mouth? What is it's on your heart? You know, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And for Egypt, man, it was frogs, frogs, frogs everywhere. Man, every time I get together, this guy is always talking about frogs.

[21:58] Who won the last frog bowl? You know, how much money he's making at his frog job? It's always frogs, frogs, frogs, right? Well, God was going to give them their just desserts. And the frogs shall come up both on you and upon your people and upon all your servants.

[22:14] Nobody is exempt from consequences. All of your servants and all of your people. That which he who sows to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. God is not mocked whatsoever a man sows, that shall he reap.

[22:25] Nobody's exempt from corruption. We think we are. Nobody's exempt from consequences, I mean. We think we can get away with it. We just kind of keep it hidden. And the Lord spake unto Moses now and said unto Aaron, or yes, he spake unto Moses, say unto Aaron, stress forth your hand with your rod over the streams, over the rivers, over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt.

[22:48] Those who refuse to respond to God's judgment and justice of blood simply will go further into corruption. And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt. And the frogs came up and they covered the land of Egypt.

[23:01] No one will escape the corruption of idolatry. No one. When we choose idolatry, when we choose to place something that was meant for a different purpose, right? Is there anything wrong with hobbies?

[23:13] With work? No. Nothing wrong with those things. But when we put something in a position it should never have been in, it can become an idol. Is there anything wrong with frogs? I guess they're great in their own place, right?

[23:26] But we put them in a place they shouldn't be. It becomes an idol. And idolatry always leads to corruption. It will always overtake into many more areas than we ever expected it would.

[23:38] You know, I don't know how they worship the frogs. I guess they went to frog service and they came home. Nobody would expect that, like, now there's frogs in my house. Now there's frogs at the dinner table. They're everywhere.

[23:50] We cannot escape the corruption of idolatry, but we can keep ourselves from it by not going into idolatry. 1 Corinthians 10, 14, Paul writes, Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.

[24:03] Get away from it. Run from it. I mean, if something's beginning to consume your life, if you're talking about it, thinking about it, you're at the dinner table, you're talking about it, everywhere you are, it's like, maybe this is becoming too much. Maybe it works too much.

[24:14] Maybe this hobby is taking the place of what should have been a place reserved for. Something that actually had lasting value. That was eternal. 1 John 5, 21 says, Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

[24:29] So we flee idolatry and we can keep ourselves from idols. How do we do that? How do you keep yourself from something becoming an idol? Well, one verse before, 1 John 5, 21, is 1 John 5, 20.

[24:40] See, I'm kind of good with numbers. And we know that the Son of God has come, and that he has given us an understanding, that we may know him that is, and notice that word, true. And we are in him that is true.

[24:53] Even his Son, Jesus Christ, this is the true God and eternal life. How do we keep ourselves from idolatry? We focus on what is true and eternal. Jesus, the eternal God, the truth.

[25:04] We don't bother with the fault, with what is false, and what is temporal, to keep ourselves from that becoming an idol. Man, he's given us understanding to know what is true and eternal. We do that by focusing on Jesus.

[25:16] We will never need a substitute when we found the real thing, right? You don't need a substitute when you have the real thing. So now the magicians. Remember, last week they got their latest upgraded model magic staffs, and they're ready to use them.

[25:31] And the magicians in verse 7, they did so with their enchantments. They brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt. Great. Good job. I don't know what they did. Maybe there's a couple of trained frogs that come out, but, you know, I was thinking about this, and how the enemy, he wants to distract us from what God is doing, and he wants to discredit what God is doing.

[25:52] Because the whole point here is to say, look, Pharaoh, we can bring frogs up too. Great, they brought up three, four, five frogs. I don't know how many. But could they cover the land? Were frogs everywhere? No. And more importantly, guys, can you get rid of the frogs?

[26:04] They couldn't. The enemy never wants us to ask, why? He wants to keep us distracted. And he wants to discredit God, but he never wants to get us to stop and ask, why?

[26:16] Why did they do this? What's the point of this? There are so many things in this world that we never stop to ask why about. Why? Why do we believe the world's explanations?

[26:26] Why do we believe the world's explanation on science? This is a world that thinks we came from nothing, turned into something, and then grew from nothing into goo, and eventually to people.

[26:37] We're animals, and we're less than animals. Why do we believe their explanation of science? Why do we believe the world's explanation for health? They think it's healthy to kill unborn children.

[26:48] Why would we believe this world's explanation? Why don't we ever ask why? On their belief about family and life. Well, since there's nothing beyond creation, any intrinsic values only in creation, then every desire within man must be good, because man is good.

[27:03] So if this man wants to live with this man and call it a family, it must be good. But if we look beyond that, we see a creator, then what is his purpose for creation? And he says, oh, there are some desires to say no to, and there are some desires that are healthy, and then we know our purpose.

[27:19] Why do we believe the world's explanations? Why don't we ask why? 1 Corinthians 3, verses 19 through 21 tells us, the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.

[27:29] For it is written, he takes the wise in their own craftiness. And again, the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain, they're empty. Therefore, let no man glory in men.

[27:41] Let no man glory in men. Now, when man bases his wisdom off the wisdom of God, there is much good that can come from that. Even a fallen world can see the wisdom of God, the value that's in that, and they can base decisions off of that.

[27:58] But as they turn further from a God, from a creator, and worship the creation, their wisdom becomes the wisdom of man. And man begins to glory in men, and it's just foolishness.

[28:09] And here you have these wise men, Pharaoh's wise men, where he's like, oh, well, if they can bring frogs up, then obviously this is just completely discredited God. And then Pharaoh called for Moses in verse 8, and for Aaron, and he said, entreat the Lord.

[28:21] That literally means pray. Pray to God for me. Pray to the Lord, that he may take away the frogs from me, and from my people, and I'll let the people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the Lord.

[28:32] Yes, it worked. He's gonna let them go. This is great. This is awesome. Pharaoh's gonna let them go. Obviously, Pharaoh got tired of frogs. What's for dinner tonight?

[28:43] Well, frogs do, again. Even Pharaoh here, though, recognizes something. He's not calling on his God. He said, call on your Lord. Pray to your God for me.

[28:54] Entreat the Lord for me. Pharaoh recognized prayer is based upon relationship. Pharaoh had no standing with God. He had no relationship with God, and he knew God wasn't gonna listen to him because he would not respond honestly to God in faith.

[29:08] Pharaoh saw only to appease God, but he had no intent to please him. But we know, according to 1 John 3, 22, that whatsoever we ask, we receive of him.

[29:19] God hears our prayers and responds to them because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And what are his commandments? This whole list of do's and don'ts? No. When the disciples said, what is the work of God that we may do it?

[29:32] Jesus said, believe. Believe. To believe is the work of God. All of God's commandments flow from faith. For Pharaoh, he would not do step one in responding to God's word and faith, and he had no standing with God.

[29:45] Pharaoh only sought to escape the consequences of his choices, and consequently, Pharaoh had no intent to ever cease doing the deeds that led to his consequences.

[29:56] So I just don't want the consequences to my actions. I have no problem with my actions. I actually enjoy my actions that have led to these consequences. I just need some way to get rid of the consequences. So I'm gonna use God, and I'm gonna use his deliverer to get rid of these consequences.

[30:10] And that's the only value I see in God and his deliverer. And Moses said unto Pharaoh, glory over me. This is, well, that's what it says in the King James.

[30:21] I don't know what version you have. What does that mean? Then he asked him a question. He said, when shall I entreat for you and for your servants and for your people to destroy the frogs from you and your houses, that they remain in the river only?

[30:33] Glory over me means essentially, Pharaoh, you have the honor of picking. Pharaoh, I'm gonna let you have the honor to choose when, Pharaoh. When do you want the frogs destroyed?

[30:44] And even in this, we see God's mercy. God is giving Pharaoh a chance to respond in humility. Pharaoh, when would you like this? Pharaoh, your people are hurting. They're inundated with this plague. When would you like the frogs to be destroyed and remain in the river only?

[31:00] And he said, tomorrow. I'm good, we can wait another day. Tomorrow. Not today. How about tomorrow? Proverbs 16, 18 said, Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.

[31:14] And Pharaoh is just, God is in complete control over his mercy, but he's giving Pharaoh this chance to respond in mercy. I mean, to respond in humility. And Pharaoh's pride is just simply prolonging this misery for himself and for others.

[31:29] But God wants him to turn and live. He tells us in Ezekiel 33, 11, he says, As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, even you, Pharaoh. I have no pleasure in this. But that the wicked turn from his way and live.

[31:41] Turn you, turn you from your evil ways. For why will you die, O house of Israel? And so God is shaking the things that can be shaken. He's shaking the temporal. He's taking their eyes off of the creation that they're worshiping instead of the creator.

[31:55] So they can see, hey, this God, there's nothing to it. And he said, tomorrow. Tomorrow. And Moses said, Be it according to your words, that you may know there is none like unto the Lord our God.

[32:09] And the frogs shall depart from you and from your houses and from your servants and from your people. They shall remain in the river only. God here is giving Pharaoh a true picture of authority. Pharaoh thought it was through power, through might, through the magicians, but it's not.

[32:24] True authority is found in word, not in deed. If you have authority, you don't ever need to have to prove it. When my kids were little, they'd be playing with a bunch of friends.

[32:36] And I'd say, hey guys, time to go. Walk out to the minivan and turn around. Like, holy cow, there's a hundred kids. Would they all follow me? No. Well, you said it's time to go. They wouldn't all follow me. Who would follow me?

[32:46] My kids. My sheep hear my voice and they follow me, says Jesus. I have authority over those who hear my voice, right? Why would they follow me? Because they knew I was the authority.

[32:57] Now, if they didn't respond to the word, then came the power. Then you pick them up and you put them in the van and it's time to go. But the authority wasn't based in power. Unfortunately, you see some parent-child relationship like that.

[33:09] You see who can scream the loudest, who can, you know, show the most emotion. I'm going to try and take authority through power. But authority comes through our position, and that's through word, right?

[33:22] I have authority from the Lord within my home. I don't have to prove that. God is giving Pharaoh a picture here of true authority. If you don't have authority, you're not going to have authority, and no amount of power or might is going to give you authority.

[33:38] That is called tyranny. And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh. And Moses cried unto the Lord because of the frogs, which he had brought against Pharaoh.

[33:51] He cried for help. I think it's interesting that Moses had a very powerful public ministry, but look where his source of power was. He went out from Pharaoh. He went out and he talked alone with the Lord. And he cried for help because of the frogs that were brought against Pharaoh.

[34:06] Literally, the wording there brought against means to speak against. It is Moses cried unto the Lord because of the frogs that the Lord spoke against Pharaoh.

[34:18] God's word. It's God's word. True authority is not found in power, but in word. And the Lord did, according to the word of Moses. The frogs died out of the houses and out of the villages and out of the fields.

[34:31] They gathered them together into heaps and the land stank. Interesting. He said to Pharaoh, Hey, I'll destroy them out of all your homes and they will remain in the Nile only. He didn't say, I'll send them back to the Nile. So all of a sudden they all die.

[34:43] The land is covered with frogs. You weren't allowed to kill a frog in Egypt. And now all of a sudden they're all dead. Your God is just croaked. The frog God up and croaked and the whole land now stinks.

[34:58] The final end of idolatry is corruption and death. And God has just shown them once again, Hey, this has no intrinsic value in itself, but see beyond this and see to me.

[35:08] And when Pharaoh saw that there was respite or literally a breath, relief, a breather, he hardened his heart and he hearkened not unto them as the Lord had said.

[35:19] And God's respites, God's breathers, and they're for man's repentance. When God gives a respite, it's so that we might repent. It's not God saying, Hey, everything's fine.

[35:30] Everything's okay. Remember the goodness of God leads a man to repentance. The long suffering of God is salvation. Pharaoh saw God only as a problem to get rid of, not as a God to worship. And the Lord said to Moses saying to Pharaoh, Stretch out your rod and smite the dust of the land that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt.

[35:48] So plague number three is lice. And this is the first one that is not forewarned to Pharaoh. It just comes upon the land. And you think, well, that's not very fair. I think God should have warned him. Well, actually it was unfair of God to warn them.

[36:01] If God was going to be fair, fairness equals judgment. God's fairness, God's justice would lead us to judgment. God is very unfair when he shows mercy. Extremely unfair.

[36:12] Fairness equals judgment. It would be unfair of God to not show mercy. It's in fact very unfair when he does show mercy.

[36:24] When we want God's fairness, we're asking for God's justice instead of his mercy. So God does not, at this point, look on your chart. He doesn't warn them.

[36:34] It's the first one. And so we've gone through blood injustice, outward corruption. They've dealt with the frogs. And maybe you look at their life and think, you know what? They put away frogs. They've learned their lesson. They've cleaned up their life.

[36:44] You know, they look really good on the outside. Good citizens. Good family man. And yet they're still a source of unseen corruption. As they choose to continue to reject repentance in response to God's word.

[36:59] We'll just do this one more plague for today. And they did so. For Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, smote the dust of the earth. And there's a lot of dust in Egypt. And it became lice in man and in beast.

[37:11] And all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And this is the God, Gebe, the God of the earth or the God of creation.

[37:23] The one who had the rule over earth. Lice had an interesting effect in Egypt. The Egyptians were very concerned with hygiene. They shaved their entire bodies, if you remember. And then they had wigs.

[37:35] It completely shut down their religious system. It was covering the corruption. The uncleanness was on man and beast. They could no longer worship their gods as they would have liked to.

[37:46] Lice would have made the Egyptians unclean and therefore unable to perform their worship to their gods. God's judgment had just caused false worship to cease. And the magicians, they did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not.

[38:03] So there was lice upon man and upon beast. And here we see the limits of the enemy's deception. The enemy's deception is not limitless. It's limited. His power is not limitless. He wants us to think it is.

[38:14] He wants us to think that, man, he can do whatever he wants, but he can't. He can only go as far as God allows. And here we see Satan, a created being, the limits of his deception.

[38:27] And then the magician said unto Pharaoh, this is the finger of God. Or literally, it's God's identifying mark. This is God's fingerprint. And Pharaoh's heart was hardened. And he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had said.

[38:41] He was happy to listen to these guys when it worked according to his ideas of what he thought should be happening in Egypt. He's happy to have these wise men be his yes men.

[38:51] And now we see the irrationality of a hard heart. A hard heart is always irrational. Even those who were his closest advisors, who were right there with him, they said, hey, Pharaoh, we realize this is the finger of a God that's beyond any God of Egypt.

[39:04] And Pharaoh's hard heart goes into irrationality and says, nope. And he would not hearken, as the Lord had said. And the Lord said unto Moses, rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh.

[39:15] Pharaoh, here goes Pharaoh, going back to the Nile, the Nile that had been blood and now is water, the Nile the frogs had come up out of. He's still worshiping this false God, still choosing futility over faith.

[39:27] And yet God always gives this opportunity to obey, doesn't he? Moses, rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh as he comes to the water and say unto him, thus saith the Lord, same word, let my people go that they may serve me.

[39:41] Pharaoh, respond to me. It's not too late, Pharaoh. So Isaiah 57, 21 says, there's no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. And this is just what I think of when I think of Moses coming to the water, Pharaoh showing up and being like, I can't believe it.

[39:58] Moses, you're here. I can't even come and have my ritual bath. Man, I don't have any peace. That's a lot of flies.

[40:29] Again, something that's sacred to the Egyptians. They didn't all go out and buy fly swatters. There's flies everywhere. You know, when we reject God's judgment, when we reject God's word, when we reject God's justice, we go into corruption.

[40:48] And as we saw, as they rejected God's judgment of blood upon the land, they would not respond to his mercy. And they went further into corruption, outward corruption, then an unseen corruption. And when you think of flies covering something, what's that make you think of?

[41:03] Something that's dead. Something that stinks. Something that's attracting these flies. And so the whole land now is covered from the corruption and decay that came from this idolatry, from the rejection of what God was doing.

[41:16] There is no escaping the decay of corruption, and corruption always ends in death and decay. Those who refuse to respond to the blood and justice of God, they will go further and further into corruption until it ultimately leads to death and decay.

[41:32] And I will sever in that day, verse 22, the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there, to the end that thou may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth.

[41:46] I will sever, I will distinguish, I will separate. This is the verse we'll end with. And I'll put a division between my people and thy people. Tomorrow shall this sign be.

[41:58] I'm going to put a dividing mark between my people and your people, Pharaoh. There's been three signs of corruption and death. Three signs and then a division. As Jesus took upon himself our corruption and our death, and for three days as a sign lay in the grave, then he rose again and said, now there's a division.

[42:15] There is a distinguishing mark. And that word there literally means I'll put a division. It's the word for ransom and redemption. He said, I will put a redemption between my people and your people, and you will know tomorrow shall this sign be.

[42:28] God chose redemption to be the signifying mark by which he separated out his people from the people of Egypt. Why did it take three plagues?

[42:38] Why didn't he do that right in the beginning? Well, again, like we said, Israel, the Hebrews, they were also following the idolatry of Egypt. So, I think at this point, it doesn't say it, but I'd like to think that perhaps the Hebrews had begun to respond and say, hey, you know what?

[42:55] God is at work. Also, we just see the mercy of God. That God stepped in and said it's time for redemption. Just as he did in our lives. Just as Jesus did when he stepped into this world.

[43:06] God has his timing. Ready or not, it's time for redemption. Psalm 130, verse 7 says, Let Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.

[43:18] That's that same word there that is used in Exodus, where he says, and I'll put a division, I'll put a redemption. And with him is plenteous of redemption. You know, God's signifying mark, God's fingerprint is redemption.

[43:36] That's what separates out his people from this world. The enemy who would keep us focused upon the temporary, the natural, that would never have us never see beyond into the reality of the spirit.

[43:49] He would have us focused on this world of corruption and death, never seeing God's fingerprint. God's signifying mark of redemption.

[44:01] He came into this world and became a man. Jesus took upon himself physicality. He constrained himself to the temporal. He didn't come as a bright and shining eternal being. He came as a man.

[44:13] Redemption came into this temporary world and took on himself temporary flesh so that we might gain eternal life. God's signifying mark is redemption. Redemption is the fingerprint of God.

[44:24] Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the spirit through faith.

[44:42] You know, I love the Bible because as you read it, the Bible defines itself. Well, what is redemption? What does it mean to be redeemed? Okay, I know it means like to buy something. You know, if you're going to go and redeem something, you go to the pawn shop and you're going to redeem it now.

[44:55] You're going to buy it back. You're going to pay the value of it to gain ownership of it. What does that mean for us, to have redemption? Well, here in Galatians, it says, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.

[45:06] What is a curse? What's the curse of the law? Well, I know what the opposite is, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the spirit through faith.

[45:19] The opposite of curse is blessing. The blessing of the eternal, the blessing of the spirit, which comes through faith, which is responding to God's word, responding to the signifying mark of redemption that he's done in our lives.

[45:34] And that frees us from that curse. You think, well, what about the plagues? What about the plagues that God's bringing on this world? What about the judgments God's bringing? Man, God's divided it out. He's made a dividing line.

[45:45] He said it's redemption. You receive redemption? Well, guess what? You no longer come under the judgment of this world. You come under the blood and judgment of Jesus. The signifying mark in our lives, what makes us different from this world, we're all temporary.

[46:01] We're all part of this world. We're all fallen. We all have this flesh. It's not that we do great things or we have power. It's not that we are some great being.

[46:12] It's the fact that God has divided us out and said, I have redeemed you for something eternal of the eternal spirit. So as we go through these sections and we see God's hand dealing with Egypt, trying to wake them up, saying, wake up, put aside your idols.

[46:26] We don't identify with the fallen world. We don't identify with an Egypt that's rejected God, but we can identify with a people of God who've been redeemed by God, but maybe still have something in a place in our lives that it shouldn't.

[46:42] Right? We found that out in Ezekiel, that at this time, God has distinguished out his people and said, here's my mark of redemption on your life. And yet they still were following the idols of Egypt.

[46:52] They still had things in their lives that God said, man, I want to, I want to get that corruption out. It's just going to lead to death and decay. You think you can contain it? Just going to keep the frog in the tank. Before you know it, he's going to be in the oven.

[47:04] He's going to be in your bed. Man, don't bring that corruption into your house. Don't bring that corruption into your world. Let God remove it. Right? There's a place for things within this world that we can experience that are healthy and God wants us to.

[47:19] But as soon as we allow them in a place they shouldn't be, flee that. Flee idolatry. And we do that through responding to the redemption that Jesus has given us.

[47:31] Thank you, Lord, for your word. Thank you for, oh Lord, these pictures as we continue to go through Exodus, Lord, and see your dividing hand, Lord, your hand of judgment, your hand of mercy.

[47:42] And now, Lord, your hand of redemption, that you would reach down and you would put at this fingerprint of God upon your people. Say, this is what sets them apart. They're still slaves. They're still in idolatry.

[47:53] They're still flesh. They're still temporal. But they have been redeemed. And God, here we are this morning. Here we've been redeemed, Lord. We've been set apart.

[48:04] What is redemption? It means I'm no longer under a curse. It means I have opportunity to take part of blessing, a promise, and of the eternal spirit. And Lord, I pray that you would reveal those things in our lives, Lord, the frogs that have come into a place they shouldn't have, that we need to get them out of our lives.

[48:21] And Lord, that we'd see them as something like that. We'd see them as simple and as pathetic as that. You know what? This is just a fly. It just needs to be squashed. Jesus, you can take care of this.

[48:32] Lord, the unseen corruption in my life that I don't want anyone else to see, but I know it's there because it's bites and it itches and it's irritating. Lord, that you would remove that from my life. And that, Lord, had allowed the distinguishing mark of redemption to be what sets me apart in this world.

[48:48] And that I would take that truth to a lost world that only sees the creation and never looks past to their creator. But, Lord, you'd use me and you'd use us, Lord, to turn people's eyes, Lord, from the material to the eternal, from the temporal to the spiritual.

[49:02] And that beyond every sunrise and every sunset, we would see a loving father who tells us that, hey, man, I make the sun to rise and to set. I'm the just and the unjust because I am merciful, because I'm gracious, because you're not going to get what you deserve, because I'm an unfair God, that I would unfairly take your punishment so that you might receive my life.

[49:27] Thank you, Jesus, Lord. Thank you for your word. And, Lord, as we worship you now, minister to our hearts, Lord, as we close the service. And then, Lord, use us to minister to one another. That, Lord, we would truly be a body and a family, that we would pray for one another, we would care for one another, that the words we speak, Lord, they would not just be temporal words.

[49:48] They wouldn't be words that are just focused on things that don't last. But, Lord, they'd be words that have eternity behind them, words that have the fingerprint of God on them, words of redemption.

[50:01] We love you and thank you. In Jesus' name, amen. It's really easy to let the enemy distract us and discredit what God's doing. And many times he does that by having us focus on the parts of us that are temporal.

[50:15] Focus on our fallen natures, focus on our failures, and don't forget you're redeemed. This isn't the end. God's going to bring us out of Egypt. There's a promised land, and beyond that, there's heaven itself.

[50:27] Don't let the enemy distract you or discourage you. God's put his fingerprint upon you. You've been redeemed. You've been separated out. And that means we get to enjoy the blessings of the eternal spirit.

[50:39] Now may the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you. The Lord be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you and give you peace. God bless you. Have a good week.

[50:49] God bless you.