Exodus chapter 9 verse 8. And the Lord said unto Moses
and unto Aaron, take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace and let
Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh. And it shall become small dust
in all the land of Egypt. and shall be a boil breaking
forth with blains, ulcer, putrefying sore upon man and upon beasts
throughout all the land of Egypt. And they took ashes of the furnace
and stood before Pharaoh and Moses sprinkled it up toward
heaven. And it became a boil breaking
forth with blames upon man and upon beast. And the magicians
could not stand before Moses because of the boils. For the
boil was upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians. And the Lord hardened the heart
of Pharaoh. And he hearkened not unto them,
as the Lord had spoken unto Moses." I suppose the most important
thing that we can glean from the study of the Lord's plagues
upon Egypt is the spiritual lessons that they teach and represent
to us. Now these were real plagues.
These are not just made up stories. These really happened. And they teach us some real lessons
They were real physical judgments. And they picture real spiritual
plagues and judgments. They picture the plague of sin.
You know sin is a plague? The plague of sin which is in
all of us. And the judgment of that sin
is that the soul that sins, it shall die. That's God's judgment
against sin. The wages of sin is death. If you leave this life, this
world, in your sin, you will forever be damned. This is speaking of eternal death.
They picture the plague of false religion that is around all of
us. Everywhere you look, false religion
is everywhere. And the judgment is this, God
shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie.
Folks today believe just about everything but the truth. These
plagues picture the natural tendency within man to endeavor to provide
his own righteousness, to render his own sacrifice. to save himself
by his own will, way, and work. And God exposes the futileness
of man's idle worshiping of self and shows us that deliverance
and salvation from sin is accomplished only by the sovereign hand of
God in the person and in the work of Christ. It's going to
take the power of God to free you and I and give us true rest. I think a whole lot about rest
anymore. Eternal rest. And I speak of
that true rest and that freedom that's without works, without
personal sacrifice, and without guilt. True rest. True freedom. Now how can one
rest who is working? How can one rest who feels their
guilt? Well they can't. And true rest
is only experienced when the work is finished. True freedom
is only when the guilt is gone. These were real plagues. That's
the first thing I want you to see. The whole land of Egypt
suffered. Man, child, women, beast, all
suffered. Our spiritual plagues are real. And the whole of this world suffers
because of them. And when the third plague came,
God said, the dust of the earth shall become lice in man. That's the problem. That's a
picture of sin. That's what sin is in a man. It's a flesh eating vermin that
thrives upon the flesh. Sin is real. It's a real plague,
real plague. And it's a plague of the heart
and soul. And some of you see that and some don't. But sadly,
most people don't believe what they cannot see. That's just
a fact. Pharaoh didn't see it because
he couldn't see the invisible. God's got to give you eyes to
see the things that are invisible. My mother used to tease about
folks being from Missouri. She'd say, well, you're from
Missouri, the show me state. You don't believe anything until
you see it. And all of us, I suppose, have a little of Missouri in
us. By nature, we don't believe something until we see it. The
Lord Jesus told his disciples in John chapter 14, that he was
the way, the truth, and the life, and that no man cometh unto the
father but by him. And then he went on to say, if
you had known me, you should have known my father also. And
Philip, one of the Lord's closest friends, said, Lord, show us
the Father, and it'll suffice us, it'll satisfy us. And you
remember what the Lord said. He said, have I been so long
with you, Philip? And yet thou hast not known me? He that hath seen me has seen
the Father. And how sayest thou then, show
us the Father? Believest thou not that I am
in the Father, and the Father in me? But we can't see these
things unless God reveals them and shows them to us. You remember
Thomas in John chapter 20. Thomas didn't believe that the
Lord had visited his disciples after his resurrection. He wasn't
there. He didn't believe because he
wasn't there to see it. And when the Lord came the second
time, he told Thomas, he said, Thomas, take your finger. and
reach forth your hand and touch the scar in my side. And behold,
the scars in my hands. And Thomas answered and he said,
my Lord and my God. And the Lord said, because you
have seen me, you have believed. But Thomas didn't believe it
until he saw it. And then the Lord said, blessed
are they that have not seen and yet have believed. Pharaoh didn't
see the spiritual signs and warnings, and most importantly, he didn't
see who was behind it all. All he saw was Moses, and the
people of Egypt didn't see that this was the judgment of God
upon them. And they kept praying and they
kept sacrificing to their idols. And there are many today who
see and hear the messenger, but never see or hear the one who
the message concerns. Our Lord said that the scriptures
are concerning me. And sadly, like Pharaoh and the
Egyptians, all who don't see Christ, will perish in their
sin. Men and women don't believe the
testimony of this book concerning the invisible God. They'd rather
believe in evolution than creation. They would rather trust in science
instead of sovereignty. They would rather believe in
self-sacrifice than in Christ's holy and perfect sacrifice. And they believe in the things
that they can see and that they can touch and that they can feel,
but refuse to believe the intangible, supernatural things that can
only be received by faith. The child of God walks by faith.
He believes the things that God says, even when he can't see
them. In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul said,
we look not for the things which are seen, but at the things which
are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal,
are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal,
they're perpetual, they're everlasting, never ending. And I'm interested
in those things. I want God to reveal to me the
invisible thing. You know why? Because they're
eternal. They're the only things that
will endure. In the 11th chapter of Hebrews, speaking of Moses,
the scriptures say, by faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing
the wrath of the king. For he endured as seeing him
who is invisible. Moses saw it. Pharaoh did, and
it's God who makes the difference. The only way we'll ever endure
to the end, my friends, is to see Him who is invisible and
seeing the invisible God we endure. Now look again at verse eight
with me at this sixth plague. And the Lord said unto Moses
and unto Aaron, take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace and let
Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh. and it shall become small dust
in all the land of Egypt and shall be a boil breaking forth
with blains upon man and upon beast throughout all the land
of Egypt. And they took ashes of the furnace and they stood
before Pharaoh and Moses sprinkled it up toward heaven and it became
a boil breaking forth with blains upon man and upon beast. Now what's this about? What is
the picture here? What can we learn from this?
Well, first I want you to notice that this plague came unannounced. God didn't send Moses to say
anything to Pharaoh. Moses and Aaron didn't speak
a word to the people of Egypt. God just spoke to Moses and told
him what to do. And you know, there's no set
number of times that God will bring on a plague of His wrath. You know, there are some men
and women that God will deal with and be patient with for
a long, long, long time. He was with me. And then there
are others who reject and refuse Christ once, and God brings on
them wrath, judgment, and quick condemnation. Sometimes the mark
of eternal doom comes suddenly and unexpected. Now, what is
this furnace, and what does it have to do with this plague?
You know, if you read quickly over these verses, you might
miss this furnace altogether. What does this furnace picture
and represent? What do these ashes picture and
typify? They mean something. They mean
something. What do they mean? This furnace
that we find Pharaoh standing at was not just a place to keep
warm. It was where they sacrificed
to their false gods. These ashes were the remains
of the Egyptian sacrifices. Many of the old writers say that
Pharaoh was there to sacrifice to his gods that they may take
away the plagues that were upon Egypt. Now, there's a good possibility
that's so. Did you notice what God instructed
Moses to do with these ashes? He said, sprinkle these ashes
towards heaven, towards God, and do it in the sight of Pharaoh. Why does God have Moses to do
that? To teach Pharaoh and to teach
Egypt something, to teach you and I something. What is God
teaching us here? Well, He's teaching us that God
rejects the sacrifice of men. When men and women continue to
offer up their own sacrifices, which is the work of their self-righteous
hands, God will not receive them. God won't receive. Again, I refer
to Matthew chapter seven that I refer to very often where those
came before the Lord in the day of judgment and said, Lord, Lord,
haven't we done many wonderful works in thy name? And it's apparent
that all men's religious works in the end will be nothing to
the Lord, but works of iniquity. That's what he said. Depart from
me, ye who work iniquity. What did these false professors
glory in? Well, they prophesied. They preached
in Christ's name. They cast out devils in the name
of Jesus. A lot of folks doing that today.
Casting out devils in the name of Jesus. They did many wonderful
works in Christ's name. But Christ calls all their works,
works of iniquity. Anything that we do to attempt
to appease God in and of ourselves is iniquity, all of it, all of
it. And that's exactly why men and
women who normally have no interest in God, no interest in the gospel,
and specifically no interest in Christ, will offer their time
at Thanksgiving to serve in a lunch line to feed the poor. Now, I
have friends that do that. They don't grace the door of
a church and have no interest in God or His gospel, but every
holiday they're the first to sign up to feed the poor. Men and women who 364 days a
year have no concern for their sin and no interest in their
salvation will ring a bell and raise money or give their time
and money to help some poor soul to have a better Christmas. You
may be saying, do I think there's something wrong with that? only
if you're doing it to try to appease God and obtain some approval
from God in the covering of your sin and the guilt of it. If that's
why you're doing it, then yes, there's something wrong with
it. These folks in Matthew chapter 7 preached, but they preached
themselves and not Christ. Remember what Paul said, we preach
not ourselves. That's what these men were doing.
They sought their own things, not the things of Christ. They
glorified and they bragged on their works. Haven't we? Haven't
we? But they didn't speak of the work of Christ. They pleaded
on their own behalf for their admittance into heaven, but they
didn't plead the precious blood of Christ and His righteousness
in order to be saved. True rest. True peace is to rest
in the finished work and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. They
were attempting to appease God by the work and sacrifice of
their own doing. That's what we have a picture
of here in Exodus chapter 9. And we see that God rejects it.
And he does so by turning these ashes of their sacrifice into
boils, ulcers, and botches of putrefying sores which vividly
picture their sin within and without. You see, the sacrifice
of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, Proverbs 15a. Christ
told the Pharisees in Luke chapter 16 verse 17, he said, you are
they which justify yourselves before men. But God knoweth your
hearts, for that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination
in the sight of God. The Lord said, if the light in
you be darkness, how great is that darkness? Matthew 6, 23.
I think about old Adam. What did Adam do when he sinned?
He tried to cover himself. He tried to please God with that
fig leaf covering by the work of his own hands. The scripture
says in Genesis 3, 7 that Adam and Eve sold fig leaves together
and made themselves aprons. They tried to cover themselves,
but God wouldn't accept it. Blood had to be shed. And God
Himself slayed a lamb to cover them with the skins. All men,
even lost men, lost women, have the law of God written on their
hearts. Romans chapter 2 verse 14 and
15 tells us that. Let me read that to you. I won't
turn you there. For when the Gentiles, which have not the
law, do by nature the things contained in the law, having
not the law, are a law unto themselves, which show the work of the law
written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness
and their thoughts between themselves while accusing or else excusing
one another. You see, men's natural reason
dictates to them what's wrong and what's right. That's what
Paul is saying here. He said their conscience bears
witness to the things that they do and the things that they don't
do. In the most remote, uncivilized parts of the world, even in the
deepest, darkest jungles, you'll find tribes of people who have
had no contact with the outside world, and they themselves will
make sacrifices to a god of their imagination. That's what's going
on here in Exodus chapter 9 with Pharaoh and the Egyptians. Everybody
has a god, a little g-god, of their own imagination that don't
know the true God and cry. Everybody has some God that they're
paying homage to. But the true God is going to
accept only one sacrifice. That's the theme of this whole
book. And that is the blood of His
beloved Son. All other sacrifices of man are
just sin. And that's the picture that we
have here. That's what God has shown us. They are just what
the Lord called them, works of iniquity. And that's exactly
why God turned these ashes of their sacrifice unto boils, ulcers,
and putrefying sores. They became what sin represents
in the Scriptures. Hold your place here in Exodus
and turn with me to Isaiah chapter 1. Isaiah chapter 1. As I was reading these verses,
it was just almost as if God could have been speaking to Pharaoh
in Egypt here. God speaks in verse 4 to a sinful
nation. A people laden with iniquity. Evil doers, corruptors, those
who had forsaken God and those who had provoked the Holy One.
Look at verse 5. God asked, why should ye be stricken
any more? That would have been a good question
to ask Pharaoh. Why do you insist on being stricken
again and again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick and the
whole heart faint. Five times now, Pharaoh has revolted
and hearted his heart against God. He didn't see that he was
depraved. He didn't see that the whole
head was sick and diseased and that the heart was faint. That
word means troubled and plagued. And that's what God is showing
him in our text. His sacrifices to his gods were
nothing but sin. And his offerings to his gods
became what he was. He was diseased, stricken with
boils and blains, just like the rest of Egypt. Look at verse
six, from the sole of the foot even into the head. There's no
soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores
that have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with
ointment. That's a picture of sin. And
that's what God is showing Pharaoh. And that's what God is showing
Egypt. He's showing them what they are. Has God shown you what
you are? Back in Exodus chapter nine,
Moses here representing the law of God presents the sacrifices
of Egypt, picturing this religious world in which we live. He presents
these sacrifices of Egypt toward heaven in the sight of Pharaoh,
verse eight. And God shows them what they
are by turning them into boils with blames upon man and upon
beast throughout all the land of Egypt, verse nine. And this
is the curse of God that falls upon men because of false religion. That's another reason we find
the magicians of Pharaoh also suffering with the rest of Egypt.
These magicians could very well picture the servants and the
preachers of false religion. Look at verse 11. And the magicians
could not stand before Moses because of the boils. And for
the boil was upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians. Now
listen, none who attempt to appease God, I'm saying this again deliberately,
none who attempt to appease God by their own works of so-called
righteousness, Whether it's a claim of a decision, or a claim of
walking an aisle to be saved, or getting into the waters of
baptism, none, none, no one, can stand before the law of God
pictured here by Moses. Why? Because none can offer a
perfect sacrifice that the law requires. It must be perfect
to be accepted. Perfect, not just good, perfect. It's got to be perfect. These
magicians had been forced to confess back in chapter 8, verse
19, that this was the finger of God. And yet they did everything
they could to harden Pharaoh's heart against the Lord God. In
2 Timothy 3, 8 and 9, let me read this to you. It says, now
as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, do you know who they were?
They were the magicians of Pharaoh. And Paul goes on to say, as they
withstood Moses, they pictured the false servants and messengers
today who also resist the truth, men of corrupt minds, reprobate
concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further,
for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also
was. Now this plague upon the magicians
of Pharaoh, they were upon the magicians of Pharaoh, they were
upon Pharaoh, and verse 11 says upon all the Egyptians. But do
you know what this says without saying it? It wasn't upon the
Israelites over in Goshen. All who offer unto God the precious
blood of Christ is their only sacrifice. Those who offer up
the Lord Jesus Christ is their only substitute for sin. They
reside unharmed and unaffected in the land of Goshen. I think
Goshen here very well represents Christ and His church. Paul said,
everything in Goshen, everything in Christ is yea and amen. There's no nays, there's no nays
to them that are in Christ Jesus. All the promises of God are yea
and amen in Him, in Christ. Everyone that's in Goshen, everyone
that's in Christ is going to walk out of Egypt. There's no
boil, no blame, no botch in Goshen. And here's the amazing thing
when you really think about it. Israel did nothing to contribute
to their salvation. All they did was gather together
down in Goshen. Goshen to them was a city of
refuge. Those who are in Christ have
no sin. They have no boil, blame, putrefying
sores. They're perfect in Him. Their
sin's been put away. And isn't that why you faithful
are here tonight? We're gathered here together,
hoping in Christ. That's our only hope. We're hoping
in Christ. We're trusting in Him. We're
pleading His righteousness, not our. Resting in the truth that
God has provided for Himself a sacrifice. That's why we're
here. You don't want to hear what you've
got to do or what you have to restrain from doing in order
to be saved, because it's hogwash. resting in the truth that God
has provided for Himself, that sacrifice. Knowing that God will
accept that sacrifice and accept us in Him. Christ the Beloved,
that's the only place we're accepted. To the praise and the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, Christ. Being justified freely by His
grace, through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Where
is it? It's in Christ. Knowing that
there is no condemnation, none, to them which are in Christ Jesus. Knowing that the law of the Spirit
of Life in Christ Jesus hath made us free from the law of
sin and death. Free! Beloved, you are free from
the law of sin and death in Christ Jesus. And free means free. Knowing that neither death, nor
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's why we're here, to praise
Him, to honor Him, to worship Him. Knowing that we are all
the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, Galatians 3.26. It's all about Him. Knowing that
God hath raised us up together and made us to sit together in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus, Ephesians 2.6. Knowing that in
Christ Jesus, we who were once far off are made nigh by the
blood of Christ, Ephesians 2.13. Knowing that God has saved us
and caught us with a holy calling, not according to our works, not
according to our sacrifice, no sir, but according to His own
purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the
world began. Now, in Goshen, you can see the
plagues. In Goshen, you can hear the moaning
and the suffering. Don't you know that there was
some moaning and suffering going on? But in Goshen, the plagues
aren't upon you. They're not upon you. God has
severed, God has separated the land of Goshen. There's no weariness
even in well-doing in Goshen because Christ has done and accomplished
the well-doing for us. In Goshen, there's only worship. There's only thankfulness. There's
only appreciation for the one who gave himself for our sins,
that he might deliver us from this present evil world of Egypt
according to the will of God and our Father, to whom be glory
forever and ever. Amen.