How To Escape The Coming Plagues | Doug Batchelor

this beautiful sabbath morning and we are so thankful for the life you've given us and for your grace and for the hope we have in christ lord we pray that your spirit would come upon us now as we come before you we come boldly before your thrones you've invited us to do and we ask that you would lift us up into your presence lord we pray that you would help us to keep our eyes on the world to come and the hope we have in that world through christ but as we are still here we are reminded of many brothers and sisters who are struggling with illness and with other issues that are coming into this world at this time and affecting all of us we think especially of some of our online members in nevada whose daughter just found out that she has a very serious illness we pray for her healing we lift her up and ask that your grace would abandon her give her peace and strength and draw her close to you that she may walk with you now and in the world to come we also think of my brother will who i work with in amazing facts who's been struggling with covet in the after effects for many weeks and is still struggling we just lift him up to you and pray you would heal him and and bring him home soon lord we think of many others that are struggling with similar things or other situations relationships and financial issues we just pray that you would bless them the lord we pray most of all that you would prepare us as we see the signs of your sin coming we pray that you would give us that peace that passes understanding that you would help us to settle into the truth to be prepared not only to stand but to help and bless others and to bring many into the truth and into the eternal kingdom we just ask your blessing pray you be with pastor doug as he brings us the word today lord make it real to us bring us into the presence of your throne and give us a glimpse of eternity to come we pray your coming soon in jesus name amen [Music] thank you brother mike good morning friends i also want to thank the um the weimar singers that was delightful i sure appreciate the music well you may be wondering exactly what's going to happen with the the message this morning how to escape the coming plagues and you know the bible is a book that actually has good news in it the bible ends it's a happy ending in the bible but sometimes before you get to the triumph you've got some tribulation and trials and sometimes before you've got a baby you've got some labor pain and blood and this is the way you see it happening in the story of the scriptures now in the message how to escape the coming plagues i want to begin by going to revelation chapter 18 talk about the plagues on babylon because we really need to set the stage now we're living in a world let's face it we've got a plague right now in case you're wondering no i do not think the covet pandemic is one of the seven last plagues it is a plague in fact it's not the worst plague that we've had if you study history with the black death or the bubonic plague or the spanish flu and you look at the mortality number percentages they're extremely severe but this is definitely a plague jesus told us before he's coming there would be pestilence that pestilence has nothing to do with the seven last plagues so the pestilence that jesus referred to yeah that's happening now and you look at what's happened historically in the world in the last few years with fires on a great scale record-breaking and floods and pestilence i think the lord is maybe trying to get people's attention but you look in revelation chapter 18 it talks about the fall of babylon and verse 2 this angel that comes down from heaven he cries mightily with a loud voice saying babylon the great is fallen is fallen and i heard another voice from heaven saying come out of her my people now i'll tell you a little secret i'm a parent i've had six kids it's tough with kids in church sometimes but we can't broadcast the tape if there's a lot of cry in the background can't take it off the program we just have to shelf the tape so i want to give the parents a chance to get the children out revelation talks about weeping and whaling too so it fits in with the message for today so all right so he tells us that you're to come out of her the message from this revelation from this angel in revelation 18 come out of her my people lest you share in her sins and receive of her plagues now when you read about the plagues in revelation you find them principally in chapter 16 it's a prelude in chapter 15. then uh thank you i think the time of trouble has begun at least for me right now all right let's start over when you read about the fall of babylon and the plagueis in revelation to understand the teachings in the bible sometimes you've got to go back for instance if you look in first corinthians chapter 10 and in verse 11. he's talking about the exodus experience and paul says that everything that happened to them back then happened as examples for us upon whom the end of the world has come and um so when he says come out of her my people it hearkens back to the time when the children of israel were in egypt and they were called out of egypt matter of fact it says here in revelation come out of her my people you also have that in the old testament he said let my people go and so god's people are being kept in captivity so you read in exodus 3 come there now for i will send you to pharaoh that you may bring my people the children of israel out of egypt egypt was surrounded by the nile babylon is surrounded by euphrates the nile is mentioned in exodus euphrates is mentioned in revelation and you'll see in the seven last plagues that fall upon um the world in the last days there's a lot of parallels to the plagues that fell upon egypt in the old testament so to understand what is just before us now i thought it would be profitable for us to look at what happened back then so we're going to go from the beginning of our from the end of the bible in revelation we're going to jump to the beginning in exodus anyway turned with me to exodus chapter four and in exodus chapter 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 you've got the story of the plagues and they're coming out of egypt i'm just going to be able to highlight obviously certain points i can't read those 10 chapters right now now when moses gets the command he sees the lord at the burning bush god says i'm going to use you i had to shape you for 40 years to humble you prepare you and now you become the meekest man in all the world i'm going to use you to bring my people out now moses he feels unqualified he said i haven't spoken egyptian in 40 years my tongue is slow and i can't do it god said look who made the tongue i'm going to use you i want you to go a pharaoh won't believe me it says here do these signs throw down your rod and put your hand in your coat and pull it out it'll be leprous then i'll heal it again your rod will turn into a snake and then it'll turn into a stick again so you take these signs with you and what's the name of the god he says i am that i am i want you to go and so he agrees to this commission and something interesting happens a lot of folks skip over this but i think it's part of the story go to exodus chapter 4 the covenant is renewed exodus 4 24 and it came to pass on the way he's on his way to do what god said at the encampment i think it might say at the end the rest up that the lord met him and sought to kill him we can stop right there and people go the lord sought to kill him did his gun misfire did he swing and miss he said boy moses is fast stand still so i can kill you i mean if god really wants to kill you is there anything you can do to stop it so what does that mean he sought to kill him well it could mean that the lord struck him with an illness that could have been fatal because there was an area in his life where he was out of harmony with god moses is getting ready to lead his nation that has made a covenant with abraham said it was to be a permanent covenant with god's people of circumcision now the midianites did practice circumcision he had married a midianite girl he had married a media night girl sephora but they often didn't do it until they were 13. what does the bible say for hebrew boys eighth a day and i don't know there must have been something else going on in the background between moses and his wife because well let me finish reading it the lord met him and sought to kill him then zipporah took a sharp stone they had flint and eyes they used for this purpose and they were very sharp so don't let that scare you took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son could be because moses is incapacitated by illness and cast it at moses feet and said surely you are a husband of blood to me now she might not have been too excited about his mission of leaving home and taking the family to go do a showdown with pharaoh that could not end well potentially and also she may have thought that the practice was barbaric as some in the world still do today but whatever it is there was an area where moses was not obeying how can you lead the people if you have not practiced the covenant in your own life other people wonder it says the boy well moses had two sons he had gershom and eliezer eleazar means god will help me the oldest was probably already circumcised because he was past 13. they had neglected the right with the youngest at the beginning of moses going to pharaoh she says you are a husband of blood you know the first time jesus said blood was not on the cross when he was eight days old when they named him and he was circumcised so at the beginning of this birth experience of the nation of israel as he goes into sea pharaoh there is a shedding of blood of the sun another type of christ at the end we'll get to that to pass over their shedding of blood it's interesting that moses begins after 40 years in the wilderness he comes out of the wilderness to do his greatest work it was after 40 years or 40 days in the wilderness jesus comes to do his greatest work so a lot of parallels between moses who moses was born from slaves but he never served as a slave jesus was born from sinners but he never sinned and the bible tells us that moses is a great lawgiver judge priest prophet jesus is a great lawgiver judge priest prophet moses was the mediator between god and the people jesus is our mediator we pray in his name between god a lot of parallels so as we look at the story of their deliverance from egypt going to the promised land we're going to find out something about where we are in history right now coming out of babylon into the promised land plagues plagues at both ends of the bible here so after this experience he follows what he's supposed to do with the right of circumcision then the lord says to him in and now there's several momentous meetings that take place exodus 4 27 the lord said to aaron go into the wilderness to meet moses so he went to meet him on the mountain of god what mountain is that it's mount sinai moses was probably on the eastern side of the sinai wilderness mount horeb and he comes and he rendezvous with aaron actually at the mountain a lot of interesting things happened at that mountain along the way hadn't seen his brother in 40 years and before that he hadn't spent much time with aaron because he had been in the palace of egypt so he sees his older brother and he kissed him now at this time moses is fully resigning he is not an egyptian he is not a midianite he sees aaron and he goes this is my family these are my people and he becomes the leader of his people he had to follow the circumcision right he embraced aaron and his brother aaron was not just an old slave and they meet there at that mountain where the other covenant was made ten commandments in exodus 4 verse 29 then moses and aaron went and they gathered together all the elders they go from mount sinai back to egypt they call together all the elders of israel before they ever went talk to pharaoh i talked to the people this is a very important passage people skip over and something happened here that is extremely profound and significant they gather the elders together and he tells them what god's about to do and there's things you read between the lines here for one thing they said look you've been in egypt you're drifting away from the god of our fathers abraham isaac and jacob and you want deliverance from god well you need to renew the covenant that god made with abraham you're you're praying to these pagan gods there are some of you throwing your babies in the river um and you're not keeping the sabbath you're working seven days a week you need to recommit yourself to the lord and the people worship god that's what it tells us after they had this talk they said god is coming to deliver you he's looked upon your affliction then they bowed their heads this is verse 31 they bow their heads and they worship is the worship involved in babylon and coming out of babel in the last days what does the beast power compel you either worship the beast or you worship god so there's an issue of worship that you see here now we go to chapter five afterward moses and aaron they went in and they told pharaoh i don't even know how they got an audience but somehow they went and told pharaoh thus says the lord god of israel let my people go that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness and pharaoh said who is the lord i don't know the lord that i'm going to let him go now i don't have time to read all that's going on in the story between the two but i just want you to know pharaoh then gets upset you go to verse 5. pharaoh says look the people of the land are many and you make them rest from their labor that word rest and you can look it up some of you have a computer on your phone you can look it up that word rest there is shabbat he says you are making them rest a little later in the same chapter it says the pharaoh's saying don't listen to idol words don't believe the word moses and aaron had told him you need to renew your commitment to the lord obey his commandments he's going to deliver you and what do you think those words were they had talked to the people and the people were now keeping the sabbath and pharaoh says i've heard what's going on you're causing them to rest in fact i'm going to make it impossible for you to rest i'm going to increase your load of work by not giving you straw so you see right here before the great deliverance there is a renewal a rediscovery of the sabbath and a contention a controversy over the sabbath over rest could that happen again and then plagues come brace for impact friends i think we're living in the last days it says you're making them rest from their labor now as we go through the devil's strategy to keep us from getting out of babylon out of egypt same thing let me just there's an analogy that i think that i'm taking for granted everybody understands the exodus experience is a metaphor for salvation it really happened but it's a story of salvation the pharaoh who would he represent in this story the devil lucifer satan the adversary he is making the people slaves and we are all slaves to sin moses comes as the great deliverer who does he represent jesus you and i are the slaves who are wanting to be set free so you've got the whole story and when they cross the red sea it's a symbol of baptism and before they got out of egypt first corinthians chapter 10 again it says they were baptized in the cloud and they were baptized in the sea jesus said unless the cloud of fire remember and they went through the sea we must be born of the spirit and born of the water we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven and so everything that happens with the children they don't begin their journey without the sacrifice of the lamb that lamb is who it's christ and so you the the whole story of the exodus is really a picture of salvation now there are parallels for what happened back then to what is happening today the battle between good and evil has not changed and there's a reason that you've got those plagues that are in the old testament and the plagues in the new testament i'm going to just list the 10 plagues for you quickly because we don't have time to read all the details of what happened with them first plague water turns to blood is there blood mentioned in revelation yes was blood one of the plagues revelation yeah it says then frogs cover the entire land does revelation talk about three unclean frogs frogs in revelation then there's lice everywhere that comes after they sprinkle dust talks about dust in revelation then there were flies everywhere but goshen all the livestock died talks about that economic collapse in revelation 18. boils that's plague number six is there a noise and sore in the plagues of revelation yeah a hailstorm in the seventh plague there's a great hail hailstones a hundred pounds apiece ravaged land play gate clouds of locusts cover the land does revelation talk about locusts not among the seven plagues but locusts are mentioned as a plague earlier then darkness covers the land is there darkness mentioned in revelation one of the plagues then it tells us the firstborn of man and beast died in egypt and of course the bible tells us in revelation that christ is the only begotten son he dies in our behalf that we might be saved from that slavery so they come to pharaoh and say let our people go and he says i'm not going to let them go now one more thing i should mention the bible says that god hardened pharaoh's heart have you heard that says it two or three times pharaoh god said to moses he said i'll harden pharaoh's heart and people say well that wasn't very fair is that how god does it it's like you know a box of chocolates you just make them all a little different you're kind of surprised when you bite in to find out what it was god says i'm going to make this person they got a soft heart and they'll be saved i'm going to make this person with a heart heart and they can't be saved and then i'm going to punish them for having a hard heart even though i made them that way wouldn't that be kind of cool for god to say i'm going to make you so you're proud and stubborn and sinful and you're not going to be able to change and then i'm going to punish you for being the way i made you see where there's a problem with that theology god is good god is not an accomplice to evil in any way so that needs to be clear if you look in exodus chapter 9 it says pharaoh hardened his heart pharaoh hardened his own heart so why does it use that language that god said i'm going to harden pharaoh's heart what it's really saying is in the circumstances that god was going to bring because pharaoh was so proud it would harden his heart so you could say god hardened his heart through the circumstances but it was fair was choice i heard one pastor explain it this way you've got the sunshine and the sun shines on two different materials one material is wax and one material is clay the same sun shines on both the wax softens the clay hardens the problem is not with the sunshine the problems with the substance knowing the pride in pharaoh's heart the circumstances that god sent hardened his heart but pharaoh made the choice we are all free just like the devil was free but he chose to be proud he hardened his own heart so just want to make that clear because god did not just say well i in this story i need a heavy i need a fall guy who shall be i guess i'll make it the pharaoh same thing with judas people say did god make judas fulfill a prophecy and he had no choice so he was going to be the bad guy and then god's going to punish him no jesus didn't want you just to do it judas was free he made his own choice that's why the bible says whosoev will right choose ye this day who you will serve god is not willing that any should perish he creates potential for everybody to be saved christ died for all is that what the bible says so just wanted to touch on that because it is in the story all right first plague water turns the blood for seven days but after seven days pharaoh still doesn't change doesn't even call for moses makes it almost impossible for them to drink any water because it all turns to blood in the river and it says the river stank the fish went belly up and that smells pretty bad after two or three days and he hardened his heart then you've got the second plague is the frogs and the frogs have completely covered the land and they're hopping everywhere i've never seen a plague of frogs before um i've seen a lot of frogs in one spot but just i used to catch frogs when when i was young and and used to race them have hopping contests we had a lot of frogs in florida and my stepbrother and i got spear guns we put all the frogs in the pool and we decided to see if we could spear them i don't think we hit any of the frogs but every time the spear hit the edge of the pool that made a big pock mark in the concrete my father found out i never forgot about those frogs that's my frog story but it says that the water was destroyed by the blood but the frogs got in there kneading troughs and it destroyed their food so these first two plagues are affecting their bread and their water and pharaoh said well man enough is enough and he calls for moses and aaron he said all right and treat the lord that he might take away the frogs isn't it interesting that the unbeliever is praying and does god answer his prayer he does so don't think just because you pray and god answers your prayer that means everything's okie dokie god also answered pharaoh's prayer several times in this story so he calls for moses and arrows he said take away the frogs and i will let the people go then they might sacrifice to the lord and so moses prays god takes away the frogs they gather them together in heaps and take them out to compost somewhere but pharaoh saw there was relief and he hardened his heart and he did not heed as the lord said he said uh well we'll just procrastinate have you ever heard a politician make a promise that never is realized that wasn't even funny it wasn't that's just that is so real so he said look i just keep promising and as long as i promise the plague goes away but i'm not letting them go that's you know half our workforce why did they want to destroy israel they said there are more of them than there are of us if there's a war they'll join our enemies they can multiply and he said we're not lose all our slaves you crazy so he said i'm not letting him go so he uses his first tactic which is called procrastination god said get out of egypt the pharaoh said okay i'm going to let you go and they're waiting and waiting nothing happens the devil will say oh yeah one of these days you can be free you know one of the devil's most successful tools to keep people in bondage is procrastination i bet just about everybody here in some area of your life you can think of something that you plan on changing someday and you've been planning that for 20 years and it never comes the devil says yep you're going to get out of egypt cheer up it's going to get better one of these days i'll let you go but you don't ever break free procrastination is very dangerous when he saw there was relief he hardened his heart because the sun's still shining god is still blessing us we don't turn from our sins there's a passage in ecclesiastes 8 11 because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore the hearts of the sons of men are fully set in them to do evil whenever god calls us to follow him when does he say to follow him today if you hear his voice now is the accepted time jesus called the apostles says they immediately forsook their nets and followed him calls matthew walks away from the cash register and follows jesus he calls zacchaeus it says make haste and come down for today i must eat at your house. whenever christ calls us he calls us to come to him now someone said one of these days is none of these days i often thought about starting a procrastination club but i never got around to it someone said procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday i heard that during the revolutionary revolutionary war there was a general on the one side of the delaware general rawl and he was in his tent with his men and he was playing cards with his officers and washington was crossing the delaware and one of the lookouts saw that and a courier was sent with an emergency letter for general rawl that said washington's crossed the delaware and he hands him this sealed letter but he's playing cards so thank you very much he stuck it in his pocket he said i'll take a look after my card game by the time the game was over the americans had showed up and he and many of his men were killed and the battle was lost because he waited it's often true we lose i think a lot of battles because we procrastinate all right then there's more plagues you've got the second plague you've got the third plague that comes which is lice everywhere and then finally the fourth plague which is the flies and these are not just house flies that are annoying these are biting horse flies now they're worse than chiggers and everybody they're getting into everyone's house and pharaoh and his family and servants are all being bitten and he calls from moses said i'll let you go i'll let you go this is exodus 8 28. i'll let you go you may sacrifice to the lord god in the wilderness only don't go very far we want to you can go out there we will keep our eyes on you don't get further than we can see you from the top of the pyramid it doesn't say that i'm just saying he's basically saying you can go but don't go all the way out we want to watch you don't go very far and intercede for me well isn't that another tactic the devil says you'd be a christian but don't go too far now does jesus say he has followers that don't go all the way he says if you're going to follow me you got to take up your cross crucify yourself forsake all that you have and follow me to follow jesus he said i i can't be second to a second place in your life i can't be number two seek ye first the kingdom of god you know how peter ended up denying jesus it says he followed jesus at a distance john went all the way into the judgment hall but peter didn't want to look like he was too closely associated so he stood back and pretty he hung out with the servants the enemies of christ when jesus was being tried and finally girl thought she recognized and said aren't you one of them and through association he compromised and he said no i don't know who he is have you ever denied the lord by your actions didn't want people to know you were a christian follow from a distance acts chapter 5 verse 1 you remember what happened in the early church ananias and sapphira died because they promised to give a hundred percent and they gave part all the way my savior leads me we're not there yet but that's a closing song where to follow him all the way that doesn't work moses said no we're going all the way and pharaoh said well then forget about it so more plagues come you've got plague five and plague six there was uh all the livestock died boils broke out on all the people a hail storm ravages the land breaks down the trees thunder and lightning scares them after dead by the way is there thunder and lightning in the seventh plague in revelation yes and fire from heaven so when the eighth plague comes it's the locust now i have seen a plague of locusts it was in nevada and they just covered the ground we were able to drive out of it but do you realize the biggest local plague in recorded history you know where it was north america they were called rocky mountain locusts and at one point the locust reached over a thousand miles across the country you can imagine that the amazing thing is they are all extinct now you cannot find a single rocky mountain locust they don't know what happened farmers plowed up their eggs or something but they just disappeared but you can read about that story of the locust that covered north america well this plague that went on egypt it said there had never been anything like it the sky grew dark any living thing that happened to remain they landed upon it and gobbled it up the ground was black with them they were crawling everywhere you could not step anywhere without hearing a crunch crunch it was awful so pharaoh picks up the hotline he calls moses and aaron again he said go serve the lord your god but he's so proud he can't help himself uh but who's going moses said we're going to go with our young and our old with our sons and our daughters with our flocks and our herds we'll go for we must hold the feast of the lord that's all of us he said the lord would better be with you when i let you go and your little ones beware for evil is ahead it's dangerous out there you leave your little ones here not so go no now you were a men leave the women and the children and serve the lord for that's what you desired and they were driven from pharaoh's presence well was that going to qualify moses could have said all right well just the men are going to go the pharaoh knew that if i can keep their family if i can keep their relations their children or or their family and he now uses paternal compromises there was going to be paternal priorities just leave your children and i figured they would be anchor babies you ever heard that expression before you got to come back if they're there and moses said no that's not going to work what does jesus say about that does the pharaoh does the devil sometimes use our relationships to keep us from going all the way in the last days are people going to be tested because even some of our own household will become our enemies that's troubling to think about and i know some of you right now you don't want to look at the person on the right or left because you might think that you're incriminating them but there will be people that will turn these are the words of jesus father against daughter daughter against mother-in-law husband against wife parents against children it can be terrible heartbreaking betrayal jesus said matthew 10 37 he that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me someone came to jesus said lord i want to follow you but first let me go bury my father and what did jesus say say let the dead bury the dead you follow me when it comes to following jesus there is no second place he must be first and while i'm at that some people make a compromise with the pharaoh by saying i'm going to compromise my relationships i'm going to marry somebody outside of the faith i'll just give them bible studies and convert them later you better convert them first friends that doesn't always end well amen the bible's pretty clear about not being unequally yoked and this is one of the tactics that the devil uses to anchor people in egypt so pharaoh's trying to hold something back make sure the slaves are going to come back so he says give me your children. and then there's the ninth plague darkness over all the land and this this darkness is a darkness that you can cut with a knife it's so thick they can't see anything is darkness one of the plagues that falls on the seat of the beast in revelation yes and so uh pharaoh calls for moses and aaron and he says in exodus 10 24 go serve the lord only let your flocks and your herds be kept back well let the little ones go you can take your wives and your children with you but you got to leave your cattle here now why is that jesus said wherever your treasure is that's where your heart is and he thought if i have your treasure if i've got your assets if i've got your property some people are slaves to their stuff they can't go on a mission trip because someone's got to stay home take care of their stuff they never get out of egypt because they've got to buy more stuff they got to pay off their stuff and we become just slaves to materialism and so where the devil can't maybe get you through a partial commitment or through your relationships he tries to get you through materialism through your possessions and your property and what does the bible say about that luke chapter 14 33 so cli so likewise whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple pastor doug are you saying that we're supposed to put everything in the donation bag as we leave church today no you should give everything you have to the lord when you give him all your heart anything that you have if you are a real christian you are simply the steward of god's property because i've never seen a hearse pulling a u-haul you can't take it with you it all belongs to him matthew 19 21 if you want to be perfect sell what you have give it to the poor you'll have treasure in heaven and follow me the young man heard that he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions what profit is it if you gain the whole world and lose the soul and the pharaoh news some of these people their shepherds are going to come back for their property and we'll capture them and make them be our slaves again peter said to jesus lo we have left all and followed you did peter still have a house yes but they put jesus first in their lives you know one of the verses that jumps into my mind is where it says in luke 17 speaking of the second coming christ is warning and he's pointing back in that day he that is on the housetop and his goods are in the house let him not come down to take them away and likewise one who is in the field do not even turn back to get your your coat when we see that the lord is approaching he says you're on the roof do not even take the time to go back in your house and retrieve your valuables run for your life and then jesus says one you know the shortest verse in the bible is it's jesus wept right you know one of the next shortest verses remember lot's wife who looked back all of her treasure and her possessions and her people that was in sodom she looked back christ said any man who puts his hand to the plow and follows me and looks back is not worthy of the kingdom being a cree he's your creator does he deserve it 100 percent and he loves you more than anything in the world or anyone in the world is going to love you he said i've got to have your heart there should be no substitute i years ago i went to pompeii the ruins at the foot of mount vesuvius where that volcano blew up in i think 79 a.d and it just caught all these people by surprise a number of people escaped they had a lot of warning signs that the mountain was going to blow and they were able to get away but um a lot of people were caught by the the ash and the gases that came down and they could see it rolling down the hill and if they dropped everything and ran for the coast a lot of people got the boats and got away and lived uh pliny the elder the younger wrote first-hand account of what happened to pompeii but when they were excavating and they're still excavating they would find these uh remains and there was this one young lady they could tell from her skeleton that was just outside the city that it evidently was fleeing and thought she had time to turn around and go back in and gather some valuables and jewels and they found her in her hand clutching her earrings and some jewels and you think what a tragedy that you would lose your life for that she thought well i've got a little more time to hang on to this stuff what profit is it if you gain the whole world and lose your soul and pharaoh said let me have your stuff if the lord doesn't have all of your heart if it's all about your things then you're going to be a target for the enemy well more plagues come so that was the ninth plague now before the tenth plague you all know what the tenth plague is it's the uh the worst of all death of all the firstborn man and beast man and woman and slave rich poor was going to be taken and moses gives everybody plenty of warning in fact there are even some egyptians that have come now to believe in moses you know when they go out of egypt the bible says it wasn't just israelites there was a mixed multitude that said their god's bigger than the egyptian god we're going with them and they're told that if you're going to survive the plagues you need to sacrifice a lamb and they were to take a perfect lamb type of christ its bones were not to be broken christ's bones were not broken it was a male christ of course was male and they were to take this innocent lamb and after they sacrificed it they were to take the blood of the lamb and put it over the door of the home now they're going to be saved and it's going to be a passover and a procession exodus 12 13 now the blood shall be assigned for you on the houses where you are and when i see the blood i will pass over you that's not that many words let me say it one more time because i'm going to ask you to say it with me and when i see the blood i will pass over you you say that with me and when i see the blood i will pass over you this is an angel of judgment that's coming to judge and when he comes and that judgment is death the penalty for sin is death but he says when i see the blood i will pass over you the only way for us to survive the plagues in the last days is to have the blood of the lamb now that's the moral of the whole sermon there are plagues coming there's only one way to survive the plagues and you must have the blood that's where we get the word passover that angel of judgment will pass over when he sees the blood it's interesting that there's a judgment in egypt at the beginning of this 40 years before they come out of egypt and when the angel sees the blood those that have the blood above the door their homes are protected you go 40 years later and when jericho's destroyed the only house where people are going to survive is the house that has a red rope in the window that red represents what that scarlet robe the blood of christ everybody in that house survived do you have the blood over your your home your body is a temple of the holy spirit your home is a family your home as an individual they took the blood of the lamb and when the angel saw the blood he passed over and then of course those that had that sign around them the angel came through at midnight and there was a cry that went up from the land of egypt some of the egyptians put the blood over their door and they were spared but the majority of the homes did not and from pharaoh that sits on the throne to the person who is in the dungeon there was not a home in egypt did not did not experience the terrible agony of death it says a cry went up from the land the mourning and the wailing that went up from the land of egypt after that plague was frightening but nobody that had the blood perished and at this point pharaoh the people they're in such anguish they don't know if they're next this is deadly it's not just losing our cattle it's not just frogs and grasshoppers and lice and flies now now it's we're dying see god is so merciful when it comes to the priority of life god sent plagues on the rivers by the way all these plagues were against their their gods you realize they worship the river and they worship frogs and they worship all these things they worship the elements and so these were really judgments on their gods but god you know punishing river and frogs and lice and locusts it wasn't until the very end god said i want to spare you you're made in my image people aren't going to die until the last plague uh it's because god wanted to preserve them as long as he could it's at the end of the days of creation god saves his greatest work when he creates man in his own image because you and i he didn't die to save frogs and spotted owls i mean i like animals but he died to save us the blood is to save us he waited as long as he could at this point pharaoh says get out of town it says leave now and so they do they pack up and they they eat the passover meal how do they eat it you can read about this in exodus 12 and 13. they got their shoes on their feet they got their staff in their hand their bread is unleavened because they don't have time to wait for it to rise it's something that was done in haste again reminding us that if god is calling you to get out of babylon now we're taking it to our day get out of egypt don't hesitate you got to be ready to go when he calls you to go and that as soon as i sacrifice the lamb then pharaoh gave the command get out and they got up and they began their journey well as they got to the red sea and suddenly it got very quiet in egypt not only of all the firstborn died all the slaves are gone and the egyptians are saying to one another that was probably a natural occurrence and here the israelites have taken advantage of that all these plagues were probably they could be explained scientifically have you heard that before i remember there's a lot of fires that were happening in northern california i don't know if you remember but right after they legalized same-sex marriage california had a thousand lightning strikes in one day and i commented to a fellow pastor i said makes you wonder if it's a judgment oh he got after me he says oh man you still believe that stuff that's not how god works i said really he said i read in the bible that when they didn't repent there was like no rain and i said yeah sometimes i think that is how god works i said no it's all scientific it's the weather and they started egyptians started saying that wasn't god's acting that wasn't god taking any initiative here what have we done we let them go let's go get them back so they get their 600 chariots and all their soldiers that are still available and they go their trained army and they go to attack the children of israel and you know the story children of israel had taken the road to the south instead of the regular kings road and now they're hedged in between mountains on both sides and an ocean in front of them and they see the egyptians coming looks like there's no way of escape and god says stand still moses lifts up his rod the red sea parts god creates a way for them when it looks hopeless god often does his best work amen they go down the bible to the wall the water was like a wall on the right hand it's like going to visit one of those big aquariums they could look right in there and see the fish wall on the right a wall on the left and they went across and the pharaoh probably took some a few pep talks to get his soldiers to go down in there but he said follow me and they went charging with their chariots off through that chasm between the two walls of water all the israelites completely got on the other side and then the wall started to leak for the pharaoh and his army because it says their wheels got stuck in the mud it was dry ground when the children of israel went over and the wall started to leak and it might have been a warning for any of the soldiers that still had any sense to turn around get out of there but they kept going they got stuck in the mud and pretty soon god released his power the angels released the four winds and those walls came crashing in and not one egyptian was spared the next day it says they saw the egyptians on the seashore it says he has thrown the horse and rider into the sea you know what it says in revelation babylon is thrown down you look at the language of the exodus deliverance and you look at the language of revelation you're going to see amazing parallels it could be because god is telling us we're on the borders of deliverance he's telling us do not compromise with the pharaoh so many people are going to be lost because we're making deals with the devil and he's saying you've got to have a hundred percent commitment you need to be willing to come out a hundred percent from egypt babylon that's what god's calling for from his people then you've got the plagues and the punishment moses stretched out his hand over the sea when the morning appeared the sea returned to its full depth while the egyptians were fleeing into it so the lord overthrew the egyptians in the midst of the sea you know there's an interesting quote in the book last day events page 240. the lord god of israel is to execute judgments upon the gods of this world as upon the gods of egypt with fire and flood plagues and earthquakes he will spoil the whole land then his redeemed people will exalt his name make it glorious in the earth shall not those who are living in the last remnant of this earth's history become intelligent in regard to god's lessons that's one quote i just think i have time for one more i want to read you this is from the book great controversy when christ sees his intercession in the sanctuary above when michael stands up the unmingled wrath threatened against those who worship the beast in his image and receive his mark will be poured out the plagues upon egypt when god was about to deliver israel were similar in character to those more to those more terrible and extensive judgments which are to fall upon the world just before the final deliverance of god's people we're living in this momentous time you've got a world that's enslaved god is calling people to freedom jesus like moses is saying follow me and i'll get you out of here but he needs a hundred percent commitment there's only one way for us to escape the coming plagues when the angel sees the blood he will pass over are you consecrated to christ have you surrendered your life to him have you asked for jesus to cover your sins under that blood i remember reading an interesting story from history that when the people in holland and rotterdam holland they rebelled in the 16th century from the king of spain and he sent his army to destroy the people in the city well they held out as long as they could they held off the the spanish army but finally this town in holland fell and when the spanish breached the walls and the city fell they showed absolutely no mercy on any of the inhabitants because they had fought against the king of spain and they decided to annihilate everybody men women old young they went from house to house army surrounded the city slaughtering the people and there's folks in this one house it's called the house of a thousand terrors you'll understand why in a moment this one house filled with women and children they heard the judgment was coming through the city and the soldiers were going through and they're just massacring everybody in the city one young man had an idea they barricaded the door as best as they could and they had they got a goat they used to have their little stalls where the milk and goats were next to the house not far away he got a goat brought it in they barricaded inside they sacrificed the goat and as the army approached their house they took a broom and they pushed the blood of the goat underneath the door and the soldiers at first began to try to batter down the door and one of them saw the blood coming in under the door he said looks like our soldiers have already been here and done their work and they went on people in the house waited three days until they knew that the soldiers had left the city and they survived because of the blood well there's a time of judgment coming to this world and the only way for us to be safe is to be under the blood of the lamb and to make that commitment i will take up my cross and follow jesus all the way is that your desire friends like to invite our singers to come out we're going to sing all three verses of this song all the way my savior leads me and after we do that we'll pray together so you can stand please stand [Music] is [Music] is [Music] jesus do with all things [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] gushing before [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] you believe we are living in the last days god is calling his people out of babylon because those that remain in babylon it says the plagues will be fallen on babylon the way we get out of babylon is we come into christ and we turn away from the sins of the world is that your desire loving lord we believe that in looking at this this story today of the exodus we see echoes of what's happening in our day right now i pray we can learn from these lessons that are examples for us that we follow all the way keep us lord from making compromises with the devil and help us to see what his devices are forgive us for the times we have compromised lord and i pray that each of us in our hearts will resolve by your grace with your help to go all the way and to come all the way out lord bless each person help us to know how to apply this message to our lives and give us the grace and strength to do that i pray that we can be genuine bible christians in this very important time in the world's history also lord we want to pray that you'll be with those in our group that are struggling and sick and please bless the evangelistic program that begins in a couple of weeks pour out your spirit on that event as well we thank you and pray in christ's name amen just before you head out the door i want to remind you we do have a hand bills for everybody and we hope you'll take it and invite a friend to the upcoming meetings and they're also these really nifty little cards it tells about panorama prophecy tells about the website they can go to and they'll be at the door also our ushers will be there to receive your offering god bless and happy sabbath [Music]

Channel: Doug Batchelor

Views: 138,994

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Id: EA0tWNXTzuY

Length: 58min 34sec (3514 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 02 2021