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[0:00] God's blessing will turn to the book of Exodus.

[0:20] And chapter 7, Exodus chapter 7. And we'll read in verse 3.

[0:43] Exodus chapter 7, verse 3. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.

[0:57] But Pharaoh shall not hearken to you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt and bring forth mine armies and my people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.

[1:12] And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them.

[1:22] Especially verse 3 and the last part of that verse. I will harden Pharaoh's heart and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.

[1:34] And these signs and wonders in the land of Egypt is a reference to the great plagues or the ten plagues which many of you know God caused to fall upon the people of the land of Egypt.

[1:51] Now last time we looked at the life of Moses, we saw how Moses and his wife parted ways on the road down to Egypt.

[2:04] Zipporah went home along with the children and Moses continued on the path down to Egypt. And around Sinai he met his brother Aaron whom God had sent out of Egypt to meet his brother Moses.

[2:19] And they met there around that mountain for the first time in 40 years. And they then made their way down to the land of Egypt. And when Moses and Aaron introduced themselves to the people of Israel in the land of Goshen, they first of all questioned whether Moses really was sent by God.

[2:40] And so Aaron performed the signs that God had shown Moses. The rod became a serpent. The leprous hand was healed. And some water.

[2:51] Well later on, that happened later on. But the hand was healed and the rod was turned into a serpent. And the people of Israel bowed down. And they were thankful to God that God had sent a redeemer into their midst.

[3:04] And that the time had now come to be liberated out of the land of Egypt. And then Moses and Aaron went for the first time into the presence of Pharaoh.

[3:15] Now Moses had stood in that court before many, many years ago. But it was a new king. It was a new Pharaoh. And he stood there now, Moses did, as God's man.

[3:27] And he stood before Pharaoh and asked that the people of Israel be allowed to go. Now Pharaoh's response was a surprise, I'm sure, to Moses.

[3:37] Although God said to him that he would harden Pharaoh's heart, I have no doubt that the response was a surprise to him. Pharaoh's response was that from now on, far from letting Israel go, he was going to require them to make their bricks without straw.

[3:55] Now up to this point, the children of Israel were making the bricks. And they were building the treasure cities of Pharaoh. But straw had been supplied to them to that end.

[4:05] But now they were going to have to keep the same quota of bricks. But they were going to have to supply the straw for the bricks themselves. So in other words, the workload of the children of Israel was increased.

[4:19] And Pharaoh conveyed that message to the Israelites through the taskmasters who were set over them. And when the Israelites received the message, they asked their own representatives to go back to Pharaoh and to ask why this was so.

[4:34] And the representatives went and they said, why have you increased effectively our task? And Pharaoh said to them, because you are idle. You are asking for time to go into the wilderness to sacrifice.

[4:46] And if you have such time on your hands, he says, then you can increase your workload. And you can make the bricks and supply the straw yourselves. And when the representatives were coming back out of Pharaoh's court, who did they meet but Moses and Aaron?

[5:01] And there they told Moses and Aaron that far from liberating them, they had in effect made their whole situation worse in Egypt. And Moses went straight out into the presence of God and he said, why is this so?

[5:16] Why have you called me back down here in order to make me bind thine own people with heavier burdens than they had before?

[5:27] Now I think that reminds us, friends, that very often God can ask us to do a thing. And sometimes at the beginning of it, it doesn't look as though we're going to do the thing at all.

[5:37] In fact, providence looks as though it's flying directly against what God asked you to do. And that very often gives you perplexity in your soul. And sometimes it can make you wonder, well, am I in the right place?

[5:51] Am I here at the right time? Did God ever really ask me to do this? Because it looks just the opposite of what God asked you to do. God said, go and liberate my people.

[6:02] And the very first consequence of Moses appearing was that the burden was heavier on their backs than it ever was before. But God said to Moses, it does not matter.

[6:13] He says, I am hardening the heart of Pharaoh. You go back in and require the same thing, that my people be liberated.

[6:23] In other words, all this was God's plan. And it was going exactly according to God's plan. Because he was going to liberate his own people by judgments and by plagues.

[6:37] He was going to liberate them in a way that would show his might and that would show his power. The greatness of it. The majesty of it. And that was going to be seen in the ten plagues which were going to visit Egypt.

[6:52] And by means of these ten plagues, and notice this. By means of these ten plagues, Egypt was going to be vanquished and conquered. And by the means of the same ten plagues, Israel was going to be released.

[7:08] So the same mighty stroke of God was going to condemn the one and it was going to save the other. And that is really the way in which we should understand these plagues.

[7:21] Now, to make that a little more clear, let me remind you, just before we go into this in more detail, let me remind you of the overall context here and the significance of what is going on.

[7:33] First of all, Israel are the people of God. They are God's people. And Moses here is their redeemer.

[7:44] He is the one who is going to free them from their bondage. Pharaoh represents the principalities and powers of this world.

[7:55] He represents the satanic influences of evil that are keeping God's people in bondage. And that comes out clearly, as I've mentioned once or twice, in the serpent which formed part of the insignia of Pharaoh.

[8:09] This is the power of darkness. It is the power of wickedness which Pharaoh represents. And last of all, the actual bondage of God's people represents the powerlessness of the soul to do anything to free itself.

[8:31] The soul is in bondage to sin or to Satan unless God intervenes somehow powerfully in order to break that stranglehold.

[8:43] God has to enter in powerfully to free or to save his own people and to destroy the power of Satan. And that is really what we have before us here in the plagues.

[8:56] And that is why, very often in the Bible, the deliverance from Egypt is the great type of the deliverance of a soul from sin.

[9:09] Very often in the Bible, the salvation of a soul is prefigured or typified by this deliverance of Israel out of Egypt. So what I want us to do, rather than take all the plagues individually, is to take the plagues collectively and see them as God's power which condemns the one.

[9:32] And in condemning, one saves the other. In other words, you have a contest between the power of God on the one hand and the power of Satan in the other.

[9:44] And you see in the plagues both the judgment and the mercy of God. Now first of all, let's look again at the judgment of God as we see it in the plagues.

[9:55] And you have an interesting little verse in the book of Numbers, in Numbers 33 and verse 4, which tells us that the plague or the plagues were God's judgment upon the gods of Egypt.

[10:10] Now that is an interesting text. The plagues were God's judgment upon the gods of Egypt. Now this takes us to the heart of the matter.

[10:23] My friends, Satan's power is a great power. And we looked at that a little last Sunday morning when we spoke of the principalities and powers. We do not war.

[10:34] Christian people are not warring against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. Exalted dignitaries. Powers of wickedness.

[10:45] Now I made mention particularly of the fact that Satan, Lucifer, or morning star as his name means, he was the most exalted of all. He was the highest of the created angels.

[10:57] And when he rebelled against God, we're told in Revelation that he took a third part of the heavens with him. And many of them were principalities and powers. Many were cherubim.

[11:09] Many were seraphim. Exalted angels. No longer on the Lord's side. They are now on Satan's side. And have been ever since they fell. And these forces and powers, or demons or devils, belong to Satan.

[11:23] And they form a vast army over which he himself is head. Now many of the Lord's people often say, well Satan put that in my head. Or it was Satan who put that before me.

[11:35] But Satan has a legion. Or he has an army belonging to himself. The powers of wickedness which do his own work. Bunyan actually distinguished between Satan coming to you and his devils coming to you.

[11:50] He was very much aware that at one time in his life, he felt he had encountered the full wrath of Satan himself. At other times he was conscious that Satan was not personally present.

[12:04] Now I don't know how we thoroughly understand these things, but I throw them out to you. And I remind you that there are principalities and powers raging throughout the world over which Satan himself is the head.

[12:18] And he is the father of all kinds of idolatry. Now at one level an idol is nothing in the world. But at another level, as Paul reminds us, the demons and the devils are working in many ways to seduce and to deceive men and women.

[12:34] That was true in ancient paganism. It can be true in an evolutionary theory. It can be true in the modern New Age movement. And in many other various things, Satan blinds the minds of them which believe not.

[12:48] And he causes them to be attracted or to be seduced to things that are not glorifying or honoring to God. And Satan even has a certain power over nature.

[13:00] Or let me say just now, he had a certain power over nature. For example, if you read chapter 7 here on your own, maybe sometime later, you'll notice this. It's a remarkable thing.

[13:13] The first two plagues were reproduced by the magicians in Pharaoh's court. They were able to turn water into blood. And they were able to multiply the frogs in the land.

[13:28] But they were not able to go beyond the third plague. They could not change the dust of the ground into lice. And neither could they perform the rest of the plagues.

[13:40] Now, I want to say this in connection with that. Very often people ask, well, what kind of power did these magicians have? Paul tells us their name in 1 Timothy, Janice and Janbrace.

[13:55] What kind of power did they have? Was it slate of hand or trickery? In other words, the kind of magic used by someone like Paul Daniels or someone like that. Was it like that? Was it a deception?

[14:07] Or was it a real power of darkness which they possessed? Now, friends, I have no doubt at all about the answer to that. The answer to that is that it was a real power of darkness which they possessed.

[14:20] They did not do this by slate of hand or trickery. They really were able to perform the first two miracles. And I think there's one thing that convinces us of that more than anything else.

[14:35] Suppose for a moment you were Paul Daniels. And suppose someone asked you to multiply frogs or to make it look as though frogs were being multiplied. And then suppose someone asked you to make it look as though the dust of the ground was transformed into lice.

[14:51] Which would be the easiest? Well, surely it would be to make the dust of ground look as though it was being transformed into lice. After all, if you were even to look from a distance, the two things would be very difficult to distinguish from one another.

[15:04] How did the magicians manage to multiply frogs instantly but yet were not able to turn the dust of the ground into lice? Well, the fact of the matter is that it was the power of Satan which was being used.

[15:19] Not the power of trickery or the power of illusion. Let us remember that before the crucifixion of Christ, Satan had great powers given to him which he was able to wield in the world.

[15:34] God allowed Satan to perform certain miracles. Now, at the cross, Christ bound Satan. And since the crucifixion of Christ, the work of Satan is not so evident in those ways.

[15:50] He does not have the same sway over the powers of nature as he had before. His power of miracle is reduced. He is bound. But remember the word of God tells us that in the last days, Satan shall be unloosed.

[16:07] And the same powers shall be given to him as were given to him before. Or the same ability to exercise the powers. And that's why in 2 Thessalonians 2, we're told that in the last days, Satan shall come out with such power and with such signs as will deceive people madly.

[16:29] And if it were possible, deceive even the very elect. So the magicians here were in Satan's power and they were able to perform the work of Satan.

[16:41] And they were able to duplicate God's work up to a point. I'll come to that in a moment. Satan is always able to duplicate God's work up to a point.

[16:52] But he cannot really and properly do it. Now, I think you see the power of Satan at its height. Really, when the children of God are being cast into the river, and I mentioned that several times.

[17:07] There you have the hour of crisis or the hour of agony. The male seed of the woman is being cast into the river. And Satan looks as though he's going to triumph. So God must intervene.

[17:20] And God must come in. And so he does. And he comes in with the plagues. Now, this takes us again to the key. If you wonder what binds the plagues together, there is something that does bind them together.

[17:35] It's not just a case of random things or an arbitrary choice. Let's have frogs here and lice there or whatever. There is something that is binding all the plagues together.

[17:46] And that is that they are a direct attack upon the Egyptian system of idolatry. A direct attack on the Egyptian system of idolatry.

[17:59] And I'm just going to take five plagues to show us how that is through. First of all, the water of the Nile is turned into blood. Now, this may sound strange.

[18:13] It may sound even heretical to some of you. But I'm not sure whether we should understand that as literal blood. In several places, blood is used in the Bible in a figurative way.

[18:26] Let me take perhaps one well-known example. Joel, the prophet, said that in the last days the sun would be turned into blood. Now, of course, that does not mean the liquid substance blood.

[18:39] It means that it will be turned dark red to look like blood. It will become a bloody sun. Now, here when it says that the waters of the Nile became blood, I don't think that we're to take that as meaning that they were actually turned into the substance blood.

[18:57] If so, then so be it. I have no difficulty with it in that way. As the old woman said when she was asked if she believed that the whale swallowed Jonah, she said, I would believe it if the word said that Jonah swallowed the whale.

[19:09] Well, I'm like that in that respect. If this means blood, then it means blood. But I don't think that the word of God means it that way. Don't think it means it that way. For example, we're told that when the Egyptians had no water, they dug around the Nile.

[19:24] Now, why did they do that? Well, it was to filter. To filter the river. So that they could get water coming out in another channel. Now, that would be impossible with blood.

[19:36] But it would be possible if it was some noxious, poisonous substance that caused the water to look red blood and was harmful to them when they drank it.

[19:47] But when they filtered it through the soil, they were able to change or to make that water reasonably safe to drink. After all, how else did the magicians perform the action?

[20:00] If all the water was turned to blood, actual blood, how could they perform the action? Unless somehow they had filtered the water, as the word tells us here, and they were able to turn that to blood.

[20:12] So it turned red, like blood, and filled with a noxious, harmful substance. Now, let's remember, the Nile was sacred to the Egyptians.

[20:25] Just like the Ganges is sacred to the Hindu, so the Nile was sacred to the Egyptians. And in two or three places here, you find Pharaoh worshipping early in the morning at the Nile.

[20:39] On two occasions, God tells Moses to go and to meet with Pharaoh at the river. Now, what's he doing down at the river early in the morning? Well, the answer is that he is worshipping there.

[20:51] And, my friends, sometimes I think it's a rebuke to ourselves how often we find people engaged in idolatry early in the morning. Even the golden calf was told that, that the people got up early in the morning to worship the golden calf.

[21:08] They said, not sometimes a rebuke to ourselves as to how slow we are, sometimes to worship the Lord during the day. Early in the morning, Pharaoh was down at the Nile worshipping.

[21:20] And the Nile was to them the birthplace of the gods and the birthplace of Pharaoh himself. Now, when God turns it a bloody red, what is he saying to them?

[21:32] Well, he's saying this, that I will make your pleasures, I will make them pains, and I will turn your life into death. And the very things which you are glorying in, and the very things which you see as the source of your blessings, I will take them and transform them into judgments and curses.

[21:52] And I mentioned that not too long ago, how very often we live in the service of whether it be drink or sexual immorality or what it is. And these things are turned round by God to be the very destruction of your body and your soul.

[22:09] May the Lord cause it not to be so with yourself and myself. And interestingly, God announces that to Pharaoh just when he's in the act of worshipping the Nile itself.

[22:20] God says to Moses, go and meet Pharaoh at the river in the morning and tell him it will become blood. Let's take secondly the frogs.

[22:31] The frogs multiplied. Now here again is an interesting detail. The frog was also sacred to the Egyptians. It was to them the symbol of reproduction.

[22:46] And notice again how often they exalt the creature rather than the creator who is blessed over all. And the frog to them with its power of reproduction was a symbol.

[23:01] And it was associated to the god of reproduction. But what did God do? Well, God came down and caused this frog to multiply or these frogs to multiply so much that they became disgusting to the Egyptians.

[23:20] And not only so, when they died, they began to stink the land. So that the word of God tells us that if you were to walk through Egypt, the very stink of hundreds of thousands of dead frogs was filling your nostrils.

[23:34] It didn't matter where you went. In the bedchamber of the king, even in the ovens. Now the ovens of the Egyptians were just holes dug in the ground where they placed the wood and where they cooked.

[23:46] But the frogs were even going down into these things. It doesn't matter where you went. There was the stink of the dead frog. And again you're brought back to the same thing. That God is cursing the very things which we are exalting.

[23:59] And that will be true in a lost eternity. Nothing will be attractive there. The very things which were so attractive in this world, they will be a stink to you.

[24:10] And they will be loathsome in hell itself. And you regret bitterly that they ever came between yourself and God. Did I not bring that before you with respect to Esau?

[24:23] Esau said to Jacob, give me some of that red, he says. Some of that red, red pottage. But in the New Testament, it's just called a morsel of meat because that's what it was.

[24:38] But that wasn't the way it looked to Esau when he wanted it. It was so red. I must have it. It's so attractive. But in the cool light of day, it's just what it was, a morsel of bread.

[24:50] And so it is with these things. What we glory in, we'll see them in another perspective in hell. Not just will they become small, but we will wish that we had never worshipped them and never given ourselves over to them.

[25:06] I think that's true. And the Lord's people learn that too. Remember the golden calf again. What did Moses do with it? He burnt it. He took the dust of it.

[25:17] And he sprinkled the dust on the water. And he said, drink it. And he gave it to every one of them to drink. Because you taste. You taste it.

[25:29] The people of God, whenever they go off in one form or another into idolatry, or when they give first place to something they shouldn't, one way or another, they'll drink it. As a bitter thing.

[25:41] Not as a beautiful golden calf, but as dust that burns their throat when they take it. Let's take the next plague. The plague of lies. Now, the Egyptians were clean.

[25:56] They were scrupulously clean. And the people who were required to be clean more than any other, and this is interesting, were their priests. And they had to shave their heads every third day.

[26:09] And they had to wear fine white linen, so that no uncleanness at all would be attached to them. In fact, they had to shave all their bodily hair on the third day.

[26:20] Before they went to the altars, they had to remove all bodily hair from the crown of their head, right down to the sole of the foot. Now, you imagine what lies would do to the system of worship in Egypt.

[26:33] It would bring it to a grinding halt. The altars polluted. The priests polluted. Not one sacrifice, not one oblation could be offered when lies was on the rampage through the land.

[26:48] It is again God saying, I am God. I have the power. I am the maker of heaven and earth. I am the Lord, and besides me there is none else.

[27:00] That is the triumphant message of the plagues. Or take the flies. Flies were a menace in Egypt.

[27:11] And when swarms of flies would come in that hot land, it was a very destructive and discomforting thing. And they looked to a particular God called Beelzebub to prevent that.

[27:23] Now, many of you will know that the word Beelzebub means Lord of the Flies. And in fact, Beelzebub became a pretty standard expression for the power of darkness.

[27:34] And some people still use it today. You find it still in modern literature, Beelzebub as a name for Satan. Now, it was used by the Egyptians. And it means God of the Flies.

[27:46] This was the power they looked to to divert these thick swarms of flies. What does God do? Well, he shows himself more powerful than Beelzebub.

[27:56] He is able to multiply flies to a degree that they have never seen before. And in that again, the Lord is saying, I am God.

[28:08] Quickly and lastly, I'll take one other plague. I'll take the ninth one, the plague of darkness. Many of you will know that the Egyptians worshipped the sun. The sun was called Ra by them.

[28:21] And that word Ra is even in Pharaoh's title. The Are in the word Pharaoh is the word for sun, Ra. They worshipped it. What does God do to it?

[28:32] He turns it black. He brings a thick darkness. As the word is darkness, darkness. That's the way the Hebrew confirms a thing. A thick, thick darkness over the whole of the country.

[28:45] So that they are able to see absolutely nothing. As though God is saying again, here is your power and here is my power. I am stronger than Beelzebub.

[28:56] I am stronger than Ra. I am God. And besides me, there is none else. God is judging principalities and powers and he shows it to be so.

[29:09] Now, that takes us somewhere else. I would say that this is the one great incident in the Old Testament where God shows us his power over sin and his power over Satan, his power over principalities and powers.

[29:27] But you also find it breaking out in the New Testament. And where do you find it breaking out in the New Testament? Well, you find it in the ministry of Christ.

[29:39] Because as soon as Christ appears in the world, he begins a distinctive ministry of casting out devils and demons. You notice that.

[29:50] Once he introduces himself as who he is and he turns water into wine and he cleanses the temple, immediately he goes out to cast out devils.

[30:01] And you find that the devils put up our assistance to him. Sometimes they say, I know who thou art. Thou art the Holy One of God. And Christ will say, come out of him.

[30:12] And the devil would sometimes come out of the person. And there would be a noise as the devil was coming out of the person. Because Christ was showing himself again to be God breaking into the powers of darkness and liberating his own people from thraldom to the power of darkness.

[30:29] It is the finger of God. Now, we find that so clearly in the example that we took there in Luke chapter 11. Perhaps it's worth your while just turning to it.

[30:41] In Luke 11 and verse 14. I think it in many ways sums these things up for us. Luke 11 verse 14.

[30:51] And he was casting out a devil and it was dumb. Now, I think what that means is this, that the devil had a dumbing effect on the man who had it.

[31:04] Not that the devil himself was dumb, but it had a dumbing effect on the man who had it. And when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake and the people wondered. Now, listen to this. And this is connecting you straight away to the plagues.

[31:16] Some of them said, he is casting out devils through Beelzebub, the chief of the devils. But he says, what a foolish thing to say. No kingdom divided against itself can stand.

[31:29] How can I be casting out the legions of Satan by Satan's own power? No, he says, the finger of God has come here and it is casting out the devils.

[31:41] And that's the very word used in the plagues. The finger of God. But if I, he says, with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God has come upon you.

[31:53] When a strong man armed keeps his palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he comes and overcomes him, he takes away his armor, wherein he trusted, and divides his spoils.

[32:09] Now, here we have a picture of the New Testament judgment of God. Christ is coming. And who is the strong man armed? Well, it's Satan.

[32:20] And he has people under his sway and under his power. Many of yourselves today may be under the power of this strong man. And he keeps his goods in peace.

[32:30] There's nothing to disturb him. He has you. And there's nothing to disturb that. Nothing to shake it. There is no power that can shake the hold that Satan has of yourself.

[32:41] And he is armed. And he has many weapons to keep you in his own power and in his own possession. But he has a nuclear warhead or a nuclear device. And that's the power of deception that blinds you to your own condition.

[32:54] That's his most powerful device. The blindness that he puts over your eyes which makes you think you're all right and that you're not in his power at all. When he has you, a strong man armed keeps his own palace and the goods are in peace.

[33:09] Only one thing can intervene. And that is the power of God. Christ is stronger than he comes and binds the strong man and takes his goods.

[33:21] That is the Lord Jesus Christ coming in power and defeating the army or the legions of Satan. That is the finger of God casting out devils and opening the kingdom.

[33:36] And is that not a wonderful thing that what was typified there in Egypt Christ actually did. He judged finally and completely.

[33:47] He defeated Satan and he opened the kingdom. The kingdom of God to all men everywhere. I think in that connection there's a very interesting fact here about the plagues.

[34:01] You notice that the plagues really there's ten of them but in a way they're nine plus one. I say that because it's the tenth plague that was really catastrophic.

[34:13] It was the tenth plague that caused Pharaoh's will to collapse. It was the tenth plague that made him relent and say take the people take them out of Egypt because the firstborn had died right throughout the land.

[34:29] You relate that to the New Testament. See how the same thing is true. In a series of miracles Christ is casting out devils and he's showing his power.

[34:40] But there is one great miracle which shows his power over all and that is the cross. The cross. And what's that? It's the death of God's firstborn.

[34:53] It's the death of God's firstborn. And it's the death of God's firstborn that defeats Satan and that liberates his people. None of the other expulsions of the demons out of the young men and women could release God's people.

[35:09] But the last great judgment from God that did it. That did it. Remember what Christ said going to the cross. Now he says is the judgment of this world.

[35:20] Now is the prince of this world cast out. And on that cross and I'm sure Satan thought he had the victory. God's firstborn son dying as though it was a plague upon God himself.

[35:36] But no Christ takes the cross and he turns it and he wields it like a sword and he destroys principalities and powers.

[35:47] Colossians 2.15 Triumphing over them and makes a show of them openly and in so doing delivers his own people. And what a wonderful thing we have there.

[35:58] It's like nine plus one. A series of plagues and then the great judgment when God's firstborn dies in order to save the world. Now there's something else here too about the plagues.

[36:13] And it's a solemn thing. They all speak really of the judgments that are going to fall upon people even in a lost eternity itself.

[36:27] If you read the book of Revelation you'll find that God's judgments there are spoken of as lies flies and all these judgments darkness which came upon Egypt.

[36:41] It is as though we're being told there that this is the kind of thing that God will visit unbelievers with. Now that is a fearful thought that the children of wrath are to be punished by God in eternity.

[36:57] That is the truth of God's word that there will be judgment upon them and judgment for all eternity. How important my friend that you flee from the wrath which is to come.

[37:13] How important that you escape out of the city of destruction and enter into the ark of refuge. And that takes me to the second great thing more briefly.

[37:27] Not only is there judgment here but there is mercy here. And I think that comes through in two ways. First of all there's a mercy to Egypt or there is long suffering to Egypt.

[37:40] How does that come in? Well I think it comes in in the cumulative nature of the plagues. Now in all probability these plagues took many months to pass.

[37:54] It wasn't just a matter of one week there's one and the next week there's another. One would come quickly by the rod of God and then it would fade away. And then after some time another would come.

[38:07] You see God is visiting all the time with a plague and you'll notice that each one is more serious than the next until they reach finally the tenth solemn plague.

[38:19] Now why is that like that? Well I think we're to understand it like this that God is giving time even in the midst of his judgments he's giving time for people to repent.

[38:32] Time to repent. And that works with some even the magicians in chapter 8 they said we are going no further they said the finger of God is here they saw it as for Pharaoh he just hardened his heart and the harder God fought the harder he fought until finally the judgment of God came down upon him.

[38:57] Now there are many ways in which you can respond to God's works in the world to God's word even to the judgments and the providences that he brings into your life into your family into your home into the world you can harden yourself in your sin or you can turn to the Lord you either harden like Pharaoh or you soften like others which is it with yourself?

[39:23] How often has God spoken to you? How often has something happened and maybe you've explained it away as though God wasn't speaking in the thing at all and yet you'll say to people well if God could only prove himself to me I might believe do you think everybody in Egypt believed in the power of God?

[39:42] I'm sure many of them thought they were natural phenomena some of them would have said well we often have frogs when the Nile overflows isn't it unusual to have as many frogs as we have this year?

[39:54] Or even the sun going black they would have looked for some other natural phenomena to explain it supposing my friend the sun went black just now and supposing it was pitch black outside what would be your explanation?

[40:05] Ah because you were in the church you might say it's God speaking but once you got outside the church you'd say you know I wonder what the real reason for that was and something would have blocked the sun you would start looking to asteroids or to sand clouds or whatever it would be anything but the finger of God and how many times has God spoken to you and it's become everything to you but the finger of God and it was the finger of God God was calling you in that very sickness or in that poverty or in that tragic loss or whatever it was God was calling you and he's saying it is my finger come to me turn to me that you might have life before my judgment falls on you and what have you done with it?

[40:50] you hardened your heart and you did not come into the service of God there's always a reason why it's not God's finger and that must be why the people of Israel never turned the people of Egypt never turned in the last analysis there was some other reason and 2nd Peter tells us that quite clearly in the last days Peter says there shall be scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying where is the promise of his coming for since the beginning of the world all things continue as they were all things continue as they were since the beginning of the world and Peter says how deceived all things continue as they were because God is long suffering not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance God hasn't smitten you yet because he's giving you time it is as simple as that and if you're not using that time well you're using it badly and if you're not hoarding up for yourself treasure in heaven you are heaping up for yourselves omens to wrath tribulation and indignation in the last day time

[42:05] God is giving you and you're using that time to say where is he he's doing nothing when the time is given because he does not want you to perish does not want you to perish but to come to repentance and to come to himself and then again there's this you see God's mercy given to Israel and you see it very clearly in the land of caution being spared from these judgments how often you find it that the land of caution did not see the darkness it did not see the plagues was it anything special in Israel no did they deserve plagues yes just as much as anyone else in themselves they deserve plagues but you know God loved them and they loved the Lord in spite of what they were in themselves by nature they loved the

[43:05] Lord and God gave them a special way out and that comes through in the tenth plague when God was going to finally give the great act of judgment with the firstborn destroyed he doesn't just say the land of caution will not have it no because he wants to show the land of caution that they are not spared because of what they are in themselves no they're not and he makes a special provision and he says to the Israelites this is how you escape take a ban keep it four days roast it eat it take it with bitter herbs sprinkle its blood on the lintel on the doorstep and on the two doorposts and when the angel of death passes by when it sees the blood on your house it will pass by your house saved by blood from the tenth plague why did the cross not destroy you as it destroyed satan and all his legions because the blood of it is sprinkled upon you that is why because

[44:23] God took a lamb that was a lamb on the cross the lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world and that is sprinkled on your heart and because of that we are saved and so you see the ten plagues miraculously making a great division Israel saved in the midst of the tenth plague and the lost progressively and cumulately destroyed especially by the tenth plague my friend how are you responding to the word of God even today are you like Israel preparing or are you like Pharaoh stubbornly hard in your heart and not believing in the word of God may the Lord bless these thoughts and his truth let us pray oh Lord thou art reminding us that thou art the judge of all the earth and thou art greater and higher than all the powers of this world and all the powers of wickedness also we ask thee oh

[45:34]  Lord to call us to thyself as thou art doing in the gospel we pray for that heart that would long after thee and that would be reconciled to thee and that would escape from the judgments of God which will be poured out upon the world we thank thee that there is a cross to which we can come a cross which condemns the world but which saves the world also oh take us that we might trust in the Savior and that his blood might be ours in his name we pray amen