Exodus 9&10 - Bible Study - Pastor Daniel Batarseh

we try every Friday to stand up to read the Word of God but because we're covering so much we won't do that if you have your Bibles please open up to Exodus chapter 9 if you're joining us for the first time we've been exploring through the book of Exodus and we've been going through the ten plagues specifically and we've touched on so much but because of the continuty of these chapters and the flow of these plagues we're gonna try to gather chapter 9 10 and 11 and we're gonna try to stop perhaps at 11 or chapter 12 to focus on the last plague that hits Egypt but for the sake of dependence on the Holy Spirit let's pray and ask him to open our eyes father we thank you again for your presence in this place Lord we acknowledge that you are holy holy holy and we call upon your spirit to open our eyes in greater ways Lord as Paul prayed to the ephesian church for the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus Christ may you enlighten the eyes of our hearts tonight we need you our hearts sometimes grow callous Lord sometimes we allow the things in our lives throughout the week to fog up our perception of who Jesus is and Lord we're just praying that as we enter into your word that they would clear the air and that you would reveal who you are and who we are in you who we are without you and we ask Lord for those in here that do not know you Lord this is your work salvation and we will be faithful in the proclamation of your word but we ask that you would do what only you can do and that has changed someone's heart and so Lord would you as we pray week by week provide what a man needs in this place conviction comfort challenge encouragement healing Lord you can do it all in a moment and we call upon you by faith and we pray that there would be no distraction in this place because life and death hangs in the balance in these meetings and Lord though it is a Bible study it is still your word and those that come that do not know you must know that through your word the promise is found in this book grant this life and life eternal may it be so tonight and we pray this in Jesus name Amen Exodus chapter 9 here we are in the fifth plague we're gonna read from verse 1 down to verse 7 says here then the Lord said to Moses going to Pharaoh and say to him thus says the Lord the God of the Hebrews let my people go that they may serve me for if you refuse to let them go and still hold them behold the hand of the Lord will fall with a very severe plague upon your livestock that are in the field the horses the donkeys the camels the herds and the flocks but the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt so that nothing of all that belongs to the people of Israel shall die and the Lord set a time saying tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land and the next day the Lord did this thing all the livestock of the Egyptians died but not one of the livestock of the people of Israel died and Pharaoh sent and behold not one of the livestock of Israel was dead but the heart of Pharaoh was hardened and he did not let the people go there are some details in here sometimes we can get so caught up in the repetition of how these plagues are being presented that we miss we kind of just scan through the little details that are presented but there are some important details in these verses concerning the fifth plague but for the sake of opening it up let's open it up right off the bat to say okay what do we notice in these first several verses can anybody share anything that they've learned yes Tim keeps giving feral an opportunity to soften but keeps choosing okay that's an important point because we have to pay attention to who's hardening whose heart here and we're gonna get into that in a moment so all these plagues are being presented and they are some would say these are not God's given chances to Pharaoh to turn from his ways this is just God wanting to display his power and Pharaoh did not have a choice okay what else can we say about these verses yes Sofia so it's conditional tomorrow de-stank even 24 hours too late would you ever think that's been happening yeah so he says tomorrow I will do this thing that's a whole day to think about a lot great observation yes a nature of this play that has much many more long-term implications because of your cattle all dying so like the cattle that you know this way no you use them to work the land you know so this has many more long-term applications than just the day in which this curse exists so we are we seeing an intensifying of the plagues now ok he's striking on certain things and he's intensifying here and so for us living in this time of history and even where we are right now we're like what's the big deal cattle horses what does that mean to us well back in that day it was literally the economic center all of that that's the livestock that's their food that's their trade that's the way they do business that's even some would say that's even part of their worship to some extent so this is striking a nerve a central nerve to Egypt this is not some small thing this is very crucial to lose all the livestock means great implications for the future absolutely yes Aliyah it's real lights because all the Israelites livestock they're still alive that's an interesting observation so there's going to be a distinction in a moment between the livestock of Israel Egypt and who's going to be dependent upon who at that point good observation anything else we can say yeah yeah and Pharaoh says you know what can you go check and see what God did really did he really do it did he really keep his word he says that at the end anything else for the sake of reminded look at verse 1 then the Lord said to Moses go to Pharaoh and say to him thus says the Lord the God of the Hebrews let my people go he doesn't stop there it's not about letting the people go just because they're in bondage and he's compassionate though that is part of it what's the purpose of setting the people free that they may serve me that they may worship me that they may adore me see God's intention and saving the Israelites was to create a remnant that would love him adore him and represent him to all the other nations it's no different in the New Covenant God sets us free from the grip of Pharaoh for a purpose that we may serve Him and we learned that last week that God wants to pull you out of Egypt not for the sake of just pulling you out of Egypt Pharaoh didn't have a problem with them necessarily worshiping as long as they stayed in Egypt as long as they stayed close close proximity with the world because if you stay close enough you can pull you back in but no he wants to deliver you so that he can bring you to a place of total devotion worship adoration serving representing him completely let them go because I want them to serve me and then it says in verse 2 for if you refuse to let them go and still hold them there in the clutches of Pharaoh if you want to hold on to them behold the hand of the Lord will fall with a very severe plague so now we see a direct threat from God Himself saying my hand will come upon you and I will cause a severe plague upon your livestock that are in the field the horse of the donkeys the camel and all these different animals look at verse 4 but the Lord will make a distinction that's an important word distinction what is the distinction mean to be distinct to tell apart different separate yes there's a separation gonna happen there's gonna be this mark upon them and there's going to be this separation between Israel and Egypt so just look at the difference though it's the separation between a higher and a lower thing though it's so there's a distinction in a sense perhaps of quality if you look at psalms 4:3 it's the same word here use but know that the Lord has set apart of people for himself that word set apart is the same word distinction and so what he's doing here is I'm gonna cut and make a clear distinction between my people and your people and he says here the difference is going to be that there's gonna be livestock that are gonna be alive and there's gonna be no livestock so there's this distinction right is there any different with the Christian faith there's a distinction between us in the world there has to be distinction that's God's intention and what's the distinction it's not our livestock it's not that we have better livestock than Egypt that's not the distinction what should be the distinction between you believer holy set apart sure and our conduct and our speech and our attitude distinction yes what else well think about the symbolism here think about the picture amongst the Israelites there's going to be livestock amongst the Egyptians there's going to be death what's this what's the difference one has life one doesn't have life and it's no different for us either amongst us as believers there should be life true life life not existence there's a difference between living and existing right you can exist but not be living per se we as believers have life what did Jesus say he says peace I give to you but what kind of piece not as the world gives to you my peace I give to you so the peace that Christ's walk with on the earth is the peace that you and I should have in our hearts my peace I give to you not as the world gives what does he say about joy says you'll have joy what kind of joy my joy I'm gonna give you my joy and that you're gonna have it to the fullest so peace joy look at the ninth plague if you turn your Bibles to Exodus chapter 10 verse 21 this is the ninth plague then the Lord said to Moses stretch out your hand toward heaven that there may be a darkness over the land of Egypt a darkness to be felt have you ever felt darkness so Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven and there was a pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days they did not see one another nor any one rise from his place for three days but all the people of Israel had light where they lived same idea life not only life but there should be light we have the answers we're not stumbling around in this world we're not blind we're not wondering why we're here we're not wondering what's gonna happen after we exist our actually after we die we know we have the answers I am the way the truth and the life he has all the answers he's the way we're walking he is all of it and we as his people reflect that so what's the distinction do you have life you have joy there's a peace about you not only that there's light when there's questions we have answers we're not confused we're not stumbling around we're not paralyzed in darkness know we have clarity we have this word so we see that right what else can we say about this this distinction here yes sir can you see like it's kind of like nothing will touch you if you're a child of God so in the midst of like the chaos and it's electric flames I'm sure they were scared of what's going on but as people have got their cattle their livestock everything was in charge they weren't touch everything was just kept yes yes absolutely we can say that and what's our doctrine of suffering if anybody does suffer suffer as a believer what's the comfort in that say that again for our good but how did that happen yes it is for our good it's everything is for a good you are right that's Christ we should but what's the understand if somebody says what's the comfort in knowing that we if we are going through any type of suffering this is the comfort that if it happens to us God allowed it to happen in some sense that he gave permission to some degree unless we have invoked that suffering upon ourselves based on stupid decisions God has allowed it the same way that he gave Satan permission to touch job and he did not give the permission for Satan to touch Peter right we can take comfort and I in the midst of suffering that there is a purpose behind our suffering there's a refining process there's something good coming out of this but we have that protection as well like we talked about the Flies last week the swarm of flies will not touch the people who are in goshen that's a principle for the New Testament as well that we have the blood of Jesus covering us and that what Satan can do to a person who does not have the Spirit of God dwelling in them he cannot do to those who have the Spirit of God dwelling in the temple of the Holy Spirit and you are that temple yes what else can we say well look at verse 7 Pharaoh sent and behold not one of the livestock of Israel was dead what can we say about that yes Barry it's a testimony sent to see if it's true to see if they really are different and wonderful Pharaoh wants to go in a little bit of an investigation here okay so there's a distinction let me see if there's really a distinction go and see if there really is a difference how choose that of us it begs the question really if the world were to put an investigation on our lives would they see a distinction I love this question if a non-believer were to spend 24 hours with you would they be able to say and testify that this person truly is a Christian if a person was to wake up with you in the morning and at the end of the day follow you home throughout the entire day would they be able to say yes there is a distinction yes this person does have a piece that is supernatural yes this person does have a joy yes this person is holding their contact yes this person walks to a different beat that's what he's doing is he's seeing is there really a distinction is there something different about those that are in Goshen and remember remember where they're dwelling where they'd Wehling what place are they doing what's the name of it Goshen does anybody remember what Goshen means drawing near drawing near so the difference is only a reality in your life Christian when you are dwelling in Goshen symbolically speaking when you are drawing near to God where you are in the place where God wants you to be his standard that's the only place where there's going to be a distinction if you're outside of Goshen you're no different oh you can say you're an Israelite all you want but the distinction was in Goshen and Goshen was a set place by God he sent Joseph ahead of time to prepare that place so that they would be in Goshen symbolically speaking drawing near to God and in that arena of life was the distinction only in that place you really want to be distinct from the world be close to Jesus stay in close proximity to him and you will not even effortlessly the same way was effortless for them all they had to do think about it did they have to do anything that they have to do anything for these things to be a reality no you know what they had to do one thing one thing abide just stay in Goshen once you stay in that place everything else will radiate off you effortlessly you don't have to force yourself to be holy in the sense you don't have to walk ok I'm gonna walk into work holiness mode now you know how to do any of that you just stay in that place of abiding and it will literally light off of you you stay in Goshen that's all you have to do you abide in the vine abide in me abide in me that's all Jesus asked of us and you'll bear much fruit so he investigates in Pharaoh sent and behold not one of the lights ok so it's true there is a difference there is a difference but look how he reacts here but the heart of Pharaoh was hardened and he did not let the people go I want you to think about this he sees the distinction not only the distinction he sees the goodness of God his mercy and the fact that he has kept the people and kept their livestock from dying he sees what the goodness of God and so what does he do he hardens up so when he saw the wrath of God he hardened himself and when he saw the goodness of God he still was hardened and both are meant to lead us to repentance the Justice of God and the fear of God is a measure and a method to bring somebody sometimes you got to scare people into the kingdom it's just the reality if you don't believe me read the book of Jude snatch them out of the fire with fear and and other times it's his compassion and his mercy and His goodness that draws us what verse can we use for that theology yes Romans 2:4 Romans 2:4 what is Romans 2:4 say it's a powerful verse it says here do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance so even when the world sees the kindness of God and how does the world see the kindness of God does God dispense his kindness to the world how his grace how and specifically how Jesus yes mainly Jesus centrality is the cross yes but how how us does he dispense and display his greatness in His goodness common Greece go ahead key point yes when we talk about revelation pay attention revelation we're talking about the idea of God unveiling himself revealing himself making himself known right there are two types of revelation when it comes to God does anybody know the two categories at revelation one is general revelation and two is supernatural revelation or special revelation general revelation special revelation what's general revelation what Paul just said general revelation is God making himself known to all people and how does he do that they are without excuse how creation they see his actions how rain Sun crops his common grace being displayed that's general and then we go to special revelation which talks about how God has revealed himself to specific people at certain times of history and the ultimate revelation and the sealed revelation is what the Bible thank you and the ultimate revelation of who God is is through His Son Jesus Christ the exact radiance of his glory and the exact imprint of his nature so God displays his kindness and there's a beautiful verse when he tells Christians how to love and how to be in this world he says in Luke 6:35 he shows his kindness to the ungrateful and the wicked so so even to those who are not grateful even to those who are wicked he still shows his kindness but what's the purpose so that you would be in a place where your heart is melted in his compassion say I want to follow this God I want to live for this guy but Pharaoh couldn't take either one the wrath of God the kindness of God not don't want it that's a dangerous place to be if neither side convinces you what else is left well we're gonna find out is there anything else we can say about this when we read on to the next plague the Lord said to Moses and Aaron take handfuls of soot from the kiln and let Moses throw them in the air and the sight of Pharaoh it shall become fine dust over all the land of Egypt and become boils breaking out and sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt so they took soot from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh and Moses threw it in the air and it became boils breaking on sores on man and beast and the magician's could not stand before Moses because of the boils for the boils came upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians and the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh and he did not listen to them as the Lord had spoken to Moses very short description of a plague but there are a couple things that we can touch on what does it say here one of the things that I noticed reading this is that in the previous place you're seeing a God there you've seen God using place through nature through the water through animals but here you're looking at something that comes from the eternal these boils like the sickness and you're looking each agents you can get like pagan gods you know about that of the Sun God Indus so it shows God's power it's all-encompassing power that's not just limited to nature's you know it expands to other so he's not just lord over nature you know what he's what else he's Lord over your body your body God is really trying to show who he is that's what the whole purpose of these plagues are every plague has a message and what is he saying here I'm even control of your body not just nature not just the ways not just water not just the frogs not the Flies your blood cells your heartbeat your nerves your eyes I believe this is so important first because we have lost the sense of the bigness of God we really have we think he's distant though we wouldn't admit it we feel like he's distance and we would kind of categorize him as far even the way we speak about him but he is closer to you than your skin is to your bone he is so he's about to show right now I am Lord over your body which is comforting it shouldn't be something that we're scared of it should be comforting this is a small detail but look at the verse that we talked on verse 8 here and the Lord said to Moses and Aaron take handfuls of soot of the kiln and let Moses throw them in the air why is that significant well we read the plagues before many of the times who is doing this stuff Aaron say to Aaron take your stuff and do something with it and now here we see Moses taking something and he's throwing it in the air and here's just a simple practical little thing God has an assignment for each of us in his kingdom for Aaron for specific things for Moses for specific things for God he did specific things on his own but here's the comfort in this grand plan of God to bring glory to himself every person has an assignment and every person is a part of it to some degree so Aaron was doing it up to the up to this point he was being commanded by here Moses himself is getting his hands dirty so to speak I take comfort in that because it it shows me that we all have a part and what God wants to do for the cause of Christ let Moses do this and now afflict their bodies so he takes this black dust almost any throws in the air and it was like dust over all the land and boils start popping out and there's irritation and is there a purpose behind this really the sickness have a purpose for the unbeliever what's the message behind sickness really what's one message that sickness brings to all of us actually is it our mortality sickness reminds us we're human sickness reminds us hey you're gonna die one day you're all gonna die your body is frail in one moment everything can change so sickness really puts life into perspective and you probably know somebody that didn't really start thinking about their life and eternity until they were afflicted with the disease until they got that doctor's report until they realize oh I'm not gonna live what I thought to be 89 years comfortably it looks like I might expire a little earlier sickness does that it really humbles man because we when we're healthy and it's amazing don't we all think when we hear a story about somebody dying early we all just automatically we think it's never gonna happen to me majority of people will say wow that's a sad story thank God I'm gonna live 90 years how do you know how do you know nobody in here knows nope not one place not one person rather in here knows when they're leaving when this body will give up on them and God a sovereign a lot all over all of that because it says that every breath of living things are in the palm of his hand he knows but we don't know but when sickness on any level is afflicted to us we realize how weak we are we realize how short this life is we really get a perspective on eternity at that point and perhaps this is what the Lord is trying to say okay everything else was external up to a point but and yeah it was it did affect them but this is as Evan said now source from from them it's coming out of them and in verse 12 it says but the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh and he did not listen to them as the Lord had spoken them why is that verse significant yes ladies and gentlemen this is the first time that it mentions that the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart the first what plague number are we at six so what did he say beforehand Pharaoh hardened his heart and whenever the Lord mentioned anything with him to do with hardening you know what he said I will harden his heart I will harden his heart I will harden his heart and he hardens his heart long enough and he sealed his fate and God says okay I will speed up the process if you really want to cross that line I'll seal that process and I'll seal that condition for you and we'll work with that that's what he does for the first time it mentions here the sixth plague don't get it twisted that the Lord now directly hardens Pharaoh's heart that's important for us to understand yes harvest harvest explain both of the narrow did not ask Pharaoh to let them go doing actions about there's no preemptive miss about it this is just right right yeah Leah the first plate where the magicians tried to do something but they can't even stand up to Moses a man and now it's anyone tried to replicate what later yeah they can't even stand never mind do anything yes spirit I think part of the reason they can't stand before Moses is probably shame they're ashamed of their inability and also their rebellion but instead of coming to Moses or coming to God and saying you know help us we don't want to do this they hide instead right all of this is trying to provoke a humility and humbleness and the magician's in Pharaoh but there's just this continuous resistance and hardening that is a terrible way to respond either to God's discipline or God's compassion when you run the other way it's a terrible decision to make now we come to the seventh plague which is a very significant plague if you notice in your Bibles how long the introduction to this plague is and how long it's really happening for it we see the length here of time it's very significant let's read from verse 13 the Lord said to Moses rise up early in the morning rise up early in the morning there's some new mercies for you Pharaoh 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 how many times you need to hear the same sermon Pharaoh that they may serve me for this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself and your servants and your people so that you may know that there is none like me and all the earth for by now 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 but for this purpose I've raised you up to show you my power so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth you are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go behold about this time tomorrow I will cause very heavy hail to fall such as never has been seen in Egypt from the day it was found until now now therefore send get your livestock and all that you have in the field and to save for shelter for every man and beast that is in the field and it's not brought home will die when they Hale falls on them what can we say about these powerful statements as though every versus up as a sucker punch to the truth about who God is what can we say yes Afiya gather speed for earnest livestock well we don't know necessarily why it doesn't say why perhaps not all of the livestock died perhaps we're gonna find out a little bit even when he does this disaster not all of the the plants died either so there is a possibility that a little bit were left or there was some hidden we don't necessarily know but that's a good observation hey I go God's mercy listen if there's anything we're gonna learn tonight if there's anything in the midst of all these judgments and plagues and disasters we're gonna find out some interesting facts about the the mercy of God in the midst of his judgments yes specifically where though I could have cut you off in one blow but I didn't yes what else can we say yes Martha the god of the Old Testament is a bully a tyrant a monster if anybody ever says that to you I can guarantee they did not read the Old Testament for themselves they just read some article of an angry atheist somewhere what else can we say rise up early in the morning it's a new day there's something for you and it could be mercy if you're willing to embrace it mm-hmm yes sir Ferro it or is he doing all this before well good question his heart is hardened but now God has a different purpose God has a different purpose we're gonna talk about this in a moment we're gonna talk about how you can glorify God in your obedience and you can glorify God in your disobedience did you know you can do that you can do that and he's about to receive glory in a way that I would not recommend one person to give God glory in an indirect way we're gonna find that out so now from this moment on we're gonna see that he has a different purpose he says that in verse 16 right he has a purpose and he knew it beforehand that I may display my power to you and that I may have a name for myself amongst the nation's so now Pharaoh has set himself in a place in which he has a new mission concerning how God is going to use him and speak to him and do things to him and through him what else can we say Sani sure that's a good question people debate that as well is it now that he crossed that line where he's harden his neck so many times where he can't now come to that place of repentance perhaps perhaps not but I would say this up to this point what we do know is that he is about to be used in a way in which he will glorify God through Wrath and not through mercy because people debate what was the point where he crossed the line what was the point because now we're gonna see this this back and forth he hardened his heart God hardened his heart all we can say is this is that he made that choice long enough for God to seal that choice and to say okay I'll work with this that moment where it happened that's up for debate yeah yeah Pease we still have a free choice and this case yeah and we're gonna talk about that in a moment that's a very important verse where he says he acknowledges his sin I feel like in this plug there's a column of an invitation for the Egyptians to accept God as their own whereas like in the other place it's like okay here's the Israelites use the Egyptians now he's reaching out to Egyptians like come to me come beautiful now he's including the Egyptians anybody that's willing to come and to receive my mercy it is an abundance here drink from the rivers of my mercy absolutely he says in verse 14 for this time I will send all my plagues here is the third set so to speak of all the plagues we have the first set the first three the second set we just finished now we come to the third set where it's very intense and he says now I'm gonna about I'm gonna pour it all out on you now that's it I'm gonna pour it out and he says here for by now I could have put out my hand and struck all yet he says I could have done it from the beginning you know God had the ability he could have made that book of Exodus very short deliver my people all right let's do this Pharaoh you want to turn no all right and he could have picked all the Israelites up and dropped him into the Promised Land but he doesn't why did God relent we talked about why 10 plagues why at 10 lesson curriculum about who God is instead of a one-day thing what does it speak about God yes Isaac you can reveal himself in a specific way what does he say here he says that I may show you my power so I'm gonna do this in a way where you will undeniably know that I am God over all creation I'm God over all your little gods I am the true and living God I'm gonna show that with a 10-round fight with all your deities sure absolutely go ahead baron and longsuffering ii Peter 3:9 you were gonna say the same thing right his mercy that he is not slow to fulfill his promise but he relents he holds back why all so that all may reach repentance so he says you know I could have done it all in one moment but I chose to do it in a way in which perhaps by the fourth one at least you would have said this is the Living God let's just give up but no you don't okay but here's my mercy my mercies displayed in the midst of my judgments so we're seeing something here this is important because it's gonna say a lot about this plague if there's one plague that you don't want to fall asleep on it's this one so this is very important yeah yeah he says he says it's hard maybe if you have the King James perhaps it says Hart so I'm gonna reach your heart I'm gonna really touch the Citadel of your being and he says here verse 16 but for this purpose I have raised you up the reason why you have stayed up to this point where you have not been annihilated from the plagues before is for this reason that I may display my power and we go back to that point listen you and I every person in this world has the opportunity to glorify God in two ways through our obedience or through our disobedience God is able to display his power both through a man's obedience or through a man's disobedience guess what this is so exciting I love it no matter what God's gonna be glorified in the end Jesus Christ is going to receive all the glory all of it every knee is gonna bow right and every tongue is gonna confess no matter who you are how no matter what you wrote about Jesus how you mock Jesus how you did a comedy show again well no matter what who you are politician peasant you're gonna end up glorifying God one way or another and it's based on our response to the sovereignty of God whether I want to be the recipient of his blessing or his judgment in him receiving glory in either one of those things so this is a New Testament principle so Paul the Apostle that mighty miracles signs and wonders preach the gospel and God was glorified through his ministry and he was a recipient of God's blessing and it was an extension of God's blessing or we can be like an Ananias and Sapphira where we walk into church and because we want to impress people we want to say hey look how much I gave to the church and they put out the Apostles feet in Gus's are you serious and killed them both and guess what God got glory out of that because out of those two and their debts it says that this news spread abroad and all feared God when they heard about these things God got glory anyway so either a man's obedience or a man's disobedience will end up to the same destination God is gonna receive all the glory I want to be the one who walks in obedience because he's gonna show himself strong here and Pharaoh has set himself up as a canvas for God to paint his power upon that's what's about to happen now these precious verses is there anything else we can say about these things here yes absolutely we come into this as a Leah point out verse 19 look at this now therefore send like I'm about to do this but I'm gonna give you a sliver here therefore sent get your livestock and all that you have in the field into a safer shelter for every man and beast that is in the field and it's not brought home will die when the hail falls on them so he says listen you have an opportunity to avoid this disaster what does that say about God even in the midst of his righteous judgment what is this heart that leiden obedience fear yes repentance yes this well let me frame it this way this God the light in the death of the wicked Ezekiel 18 23 tells us that he does not he does not find joy so to speak when the wicked are annihilated it says as somebody mentioned he delights when there's repentance and they find life and so what we're seeing here this is important what we're seeing in the seventh plague are two attributes of God simultaneously being expressed we have what the Justice of God he's doing this out of justice and he's doing something else he's expressing what his mercy his justice his mercy his justice his mercy so much so that it is expressed now pay attention in a very detailed way you fast-forward down to verse 22 the Lord said to Moses stretch out your hand toward heaven now let's pause what's the play gear what's the play goods about that happened Hale okay remember that so that there may be hail and all the land of Egypt on man and beasts and every plant of the field in the land of Egypt then Moses stretched out his soft toward heaven and the Lord sent thunder and hail right and fire ran down to the earth and the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt okay yeah hail there was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hill very heavy hail such had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation how the plague was hail but there's fire remember this you remember the question that we talked about a long time ago no okay maybe just Halon fire I saw and I read somebody comment on this it says in a mocking way unfortunately Yahweh doesn't seem to know his physics because if there's fire it would warm up the rain if there was fire it would cancel out the water or vice versa it would in a sense disqualify what he intended to do but we see here in verse 25 the hail struck down everything that was in the field and all the land of Egypt both man and beast so the purpose was fulfilled hail did come and do what it needed to do to destroy and so what would seem to be a contradiction was in fact compatible what would seem to be not making sense actually fulfilled its purpose we don't see the fire cancel out the hail nor do we see the hail canceling out the fire we see both elements being expressed and being displayed with harmony just like God's justice and His mercy just like his justice and his mercy because people have this question how can God be just and how can God be merciful and those things be compatible because we know by definition that justice is giving what one deserves concerning punishment and we know that what mercy is is not in doing unto somebody what they have done for what they have done concerning breaking the law or whatever so we we see these two almost apparent contradicting attributes but in fact are not especially concerning God because we see God's justice and His mercy expressed at the same time on the cross we see the fullness of his justice and we see the fullness of his mercy being expressed through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ God's wrath was poured out fully and God's mercy was extended fully to all mankind hail and fire though it seems like it cannot work together in fact do work together God's justice and mercy do not contradict one another they weren't compatibly and he's able to walk in both and I believe that it is expressed even in the miracle within self there's a miracle within the miracle there was a message behind even the elements that were being shown here and in verse 20 there's really once again two responses to the Word of God there's two responses was really two answers to the Word of God at verse 20 then whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses number one when you hear the word of God when you hear the word of God you fear it I hope so you should fear it and the evidence of a person who fears the word of the Lord is that when they hear the word of the Lord they answer hurry with hurry they don't hesitate so to speak they are quick to action they are not just hearers of the word they are doers of the word those who fear the word of the Lord when they hear a message on Sunday when they come to Bible study they know what they have to do when they leave they know what they have to do immediately and they do it that is the evidence of somebody who fears the Word of God who trembles at the Word of God that is the difference and what's the second one but whoever did not pay attention to the word of the Lord did not do it two answers two responses two postures and you see it in church services even in Bible study every week you see those who fear the word of the God word of the Lord you see those who don't even pay attention to the word of the Lord she's the Bible oh look at that look what she's wearing well see you don't pay attention to something that you don't care about nor do you don't pay attention to something that you don't take seriously they did not attention to the word of the Lord so they did not act upon it and it wasn't that they didn't hear it is that they did not act upon it when they heard it they weren't quickened when they heard it they weren't moved when they heard it they were just like whatever this is just Moses speaking again it's not a big deal don't let your heart get to that place ever ever ever may your heart and my heart remains soft continually ready to respond that every time we sit in these chairs and whoever stands behind this pulpit trusting that they have soaked whatever they have studied in prayer God will speak fear the word of the Lord or did not pay attention to the word Lord let his slaves and they let them die and we come to verse 26 only in the land of Goshen where the people of Israel were was there no hail then Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron said to them this time I have sinned the Lord is in the right and I my people are in the wrong what does that sound like that's a pretty good altar call right there to me know that's a pretty good altar call I have sinned I mean he's never said this before this time I have sinned I've done wrong and God is in the right and I and my people are in the wrong that is powerful so can you relent you can you can you pray and these things would stop now I get it I'm a sinner I get it I'm in the wrong look what he says you in the end of verse 29 and this is what we didn't talk about okay I'm gonna I'm gonna ask Laura to make all of this cease so that you may know that the earth is the Lord's that's the whole purpose that that they would know that everything in the world belongs to God but look what he says in verse 30 but as for you and your servants I know that you do not yet fear the Lord that is so judgmental Moses did you not hear what he just said he said that he sinned he said that he was in the wrong and that God was in the right how can you say that they do not yet fear the Lord that gives us a wonderful insight about the fear of the Lord doesn't it what inside does he give us because look at verse 34 35 so the heart of Pharaoh was hardened and he did not let the people of Israel go just as the Lord had spoken through Moses so what does I say about the fear of God powerful it's not about what you say it's about how you live you can say all the right things all you want you can confess all you want but true evidence of the fear of the Lord is how you respond in action not what you say with your lips that's the whole point of this he's saying the right things and he's trying to just escape this season of turbulence and Moses you don't fear God yet I know because I know the moment this ceases you're just gonna go back and do the things that you were doing earlier and he was right he was right and we see even in verse 31 this random detail have you guys read this verse that flax and the barley were struck down for the barley was in the ER and the flax was in the bud but the wheat and Emmer were not struck down for they are late in coming up Bible just wants to give us a little sliver of insight why Evan because again this land you know down but you're picking a specific type of wheats that's still to come up so that way there's still a chance for the Egyptians to have food later on it's not like complete annihilation kind of completes like you know disappearance of like Adam Oh originally this is still so we see this rebuke we see this harshness we see disaster upon disaster and the Bible just wants to remind us here even in with nature he's merciful he didn't destroy all of the food there's still a little bit of food left yet to grow for them to survive on it to eat off of so we're seeing God's justice and mercy we're seeing that theme throughout all of this specifically with this plague so Moses what does he do he goes out he stretches out his hands he intercedes n:s ceases and he hardens his heart again then we come to chapter 10 we're almost done he says go to Moses again I've hardened his heart and the heart of his servants that I may show these signs and of mine among them he tells him that I'm doing this so that my plagues can be known so that your children would hear of them but now look at how they would address Moses so Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and set them thus says the Lord the God of the Hebrews how long will you refuse to humble yourself before me let my people go so that they may serve me but a liberating verse for us to know the core issue of Pharaohs resistance pride pride why is all of this hardening happening because this man is plagued no pun intended with pride he's gripped by it he can't humble himself even when he comes close to wanting to agree with letting the people go he always puts a condition on it he says okay you want to go by staying here you want to go don't go too far you want to go let the children go stay rather in the men go he never wants to give full control to God that is pride that is pride a man that's not willing to submit wholeheartedly to the commands and the standard of the Word of God what else can we say about this verse here this is the core issue about Pharaoh you want to know food you want to just escape all of this I mean the conversation is important I don't want to dismiss it who when that's very important it is we when we talked about it briefly but this is a port entitles character he's proud he's proud the hope from the beginning he had pride and this led to his demise this led to his destruction because pride there's a universal law with pride you touch the glory you step into that place where you want to be above God there is no end to the depth of where you will find yourself in destruction that's the law of pride doesn't matter who you are so we see here that this is the key ingredient to Pharaoh's demise his pride so he says now I'm gonna send and these locusts are going to eat after the things that weren't touched by the hill says here in verse 5 after the hill all the things after the hill and they shall eat every tree of yours that grows in the field and they shall fill your houses and the house of all your servants and all the Egyptians so says it's gonna be really bad and verse 7 then Pharaoh's servant said to him how long shall this man be a snare to us let the men go that they may serve the Lord their God do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined so Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh what can we say about that yes people are now turning against farrell you know the thing about pride is when you have it eventually you push out a lot of people in your life it's very hard for a person that has pride to have genuine friends in their life unless they're proud too you're just a big pride passi but they're like do you not realize that you are literally destroying this entire nation yes on more than one occasion this is not the first time yes in so they're like cleaning Moses being Miss Marron absolutely yeah is Moses really the snare or are they themselves the snare they're the ones that are doing this to themselves and here's Pharaoh because when you have pride when you really are a full-blown pride you are more willing to literally destroy the lives of so many around you including yours instead of submitting wholeheartedly to God when a person has full-blown pride they are willing to die before they submit their lives to Christ when a person has prideful bone fide they are willing to go to hell before submitting their life to Christ I will never forget this comment I read a real person said this quote I rather go to hell than to go to a heaven where your God is so I quote CS Lewis in the end there are only two types of people the one says thy will be done towards God and the other is God saying to man thy will be done because in the end every man has a choice and where they end up for eternity God says to them your will be done either you say to God your will be done or God says to you my friend your will be done you ending up in hell for all eternity any person that does is a person who has already decided I don't want to live in heaven with this god I don't want to spend eternity in his presence so Moses is not Moses rather Pharaoh is bringing himself not only himself his nation his family his son to destruction because he's just not willing to submit and even when he comes close we talked about this he says who will go with you and he says all of us are going it's a full package deal he says in verse 11 no go the men among you and serve the for that is what you are asking and they were driven out from Pharaohs presidency a person who has pride puts conditions on the commands of God when God says everything you say something it's because a person who just wants some kind of control over the lives so when a person gives their life to Christ when you really say yes to Jesus you were saying goodbye to your life it's his will it's his commands is his word over mine that's it a pharaoh can't let go of that he wants a little bit of control over his life so what happens he does it he says go he goes and he performs this plague and I was on the phone the other day with Benjamin my youngest brother I don't know if he's going through access but he said hey leave your Bible on you yeah Exodus chapter 10 okay good look at verse 13 so Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night says did you see that say what he says do you see that it says he brought an east wind I said yeah he goes now go look for verse 19 and when Pharaoh repents and asked them to relent it to remove it it says here and the Lord turned the went into a very strong west wind which lifted the locust and drove them into the Red Sea what an insight and he says listen when he came to judgment God was slower when he came to mercy he brought a very strong wind mercy and then I got on the phone again with my dad not knowing that we had this conversation Daniel hey how are you get him just driving had a headset on though you have a Bible on you no no I'm driving okay talking talking different things you know the Bible is fun to talk about and when you're in the Word of God really in the Word of God you want to share about what God's showing you he goes I have a question for you yes goes in the garden when Adam and Eve sinned what did God first do God first deal he walked yes you walked that's right now the prodigal son are you listening yes I'm listening when he turned back to the Father what did the father do he ran yes because he slowed to judgment and he's quick to mercy this is what God is trying to reveal about himself in these verses from the moment we were introduced to this plague even from before God yes he's just but he desires to extend mercy he delights in the repentance of man but he must execute his judgment because he is holy so even here when we see this wind that brought the locust it was different from the wind that removed the locust we're going to end on that note because tonight at this Bible study you might be sitting here and you do not know Jesus Christ but through this study alone God wants to let you know that he wants you to fully give yourself over to him and he desires to lavish his love and His mercy upon you because he is holy if you choose to reject him he will honor that choice and if you reject him long enough you might cross that line in which you will spend eternity in hell apart from God not because God intended it it's because you chose you so loved your sin you so loved the way you live you so love to be in control of your life God honors that choice and he says if you really want to seal it for all eternity but God wants you to have eternal life that is his desire so much so that he sent His only Son Jesus Christ to die on a cross that he might experience the wrath that you and I deserved and when he experienced that wrath it wasn't just the experience wrath it was so you and I can experience mercy and that mercy is available for you tonight that tonight can be the night where it is the turning point of your life you thought an ordinary Friday on October you were just gonna come because somebody invited you but in reality God set this up because he wants you to give your life to Him and the moment you even open your heart to him watch how he will take way more steps towards you you make that first step all it requires is humility God repels the proud those who say I don't need God I don't want God it's very hard for God to work with something like that but for somebody who says I need God watch how God will open the floodgates of mercy upon you because He desires to do so but he will not violate your free will make that choice tonight as we pray let's pray would you bow your heads

Channel: UE Church - Chicago

Views: 1,794

Rating: 4.8974357 out of 5

Keywords: exodus, bible, study, exodus 9, exodus 10, exodus 9 10 bible study, Uec, ue church, united evangelical church, daniel batarseh, agape young adults services, ue church agape, christians, sermon, preaching, teaching, jesus, god, holy spirit, christ, christianity, old tastement, torah, friday bible study

Id: 24lBshYyV0g

Length: 63min 54sec (3834 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 25 2017