All right, let's turn back to
Exodus chapter eight. I want to show you a series of
thoughts and scriptures that was greatly impressed upon me
this week. I mean, greatly impressed upon
me, I. You know how sometimes something
opens up to you in the word and it's just like, wow. In a very
convicting way, something that I already knew was opened up
to me in a much stronger way, a much stronger way. And it started
through me studying our text. And we're going to look at this
text and then I'm going to take you to some scriptures that came
from this. Sometimes a domino effect takes
place. And they all tie together. So
let's start with Exodus 8 verse 20. It says, And the Lord said
unto Moses, rise up early in the morning and stand before
Pharaoh. Lo, he cometh forth to the water
and saying to him, thus saith the Lord, let my people go that
they may serve me. Else, if thou wilt not let my
people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and
upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses,
and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies,
and also the ground whereon they are. Now notice that the words
of flies are in italics, all right? So that means that they
were added by the translators. The Lord sent swarms. And that word means diverse sorts
of flies. It means flies, it means mosquitoes,
it means stinging things, bees, wasps, whatever. Diverse sorts
of flies. The Lord said in verse 21, if
thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of
flies upon thee and upon thy servants, upon thy people, into
the houses and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of
swarms of flies, also the ground whereon they are. The ground. There were not just a few more
flying things than normal. It was totally covered. Totally covered. The ground where
they were was totally covered. Completely. They knew God did
this. It was not subtle. Everything,
the outsides, the insides of their houses, totally just covered. They had to rake all these flying
things off their tables to eat, off their food to eat. It was
bad. It was very bad. Covered. They were personally attacked.
Bees and wasps. Can you imagine? Personally attacked. Swarmed by them. Go over to Psalm
78. This is talking about the plagues.
Psalm 78 verse 43 says, how he had wrought his signs in Egypt
and his wonders in the field of Zoan and had turned their
rivers into blood and their floods that they could not drink. He
sent diverse sorts of flies among them, which devoured them. I mean, it wasn't a nuisance. They devoured them. and frogs
which destroyed them. They devoured them. Them. Now back over in Exodus
chapter 8 verse 22 says this. This is the Lord telling Moses
to tell Pharaoh, verse 22 says, and I will sever. Now that word means put a difference. It means separate and it means
set apart. I will sever in that day the
land of Goshen in which my people dwell. Israel was over in Goshen. That's where they were. And he
said, I'm going to sever in that day the land of Goshen in which
my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there. To the
end, thou mayest know that I am the Lord in the midst of the
earth. It was not just a ball of gnats over here and there
weren't any over here. It was covered and not one fly. That's amazing, isn't it? That's
amazing. This is the first plague that
the Lord did not allow to touch his children. This is the first
one. This is number four. The first
plague was blood and blood is on the hands of every single
man and woman, period. The second plague was frogs. Unclean spirits. We are all unclean
by nature. The third plague was lice. It came from the dust. Cursed
is the ground. Every man and woman in Adam is
born under the curse. Every single one. But our Lord
said, this one, this is where I'm putting a difference. Alright,
this is where it begins. Verse 22 says, I will sever in
that day the land of Goshen in which my people dwell, that no
swarms of flies shall be there. To the end, thou mayest know
that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth, and I will put
a division. Now, do you have a center margin?
What does it say? A redemption. I will put a redemption between
my people and thy people. Tomorrow shall this sign be. I'm going to put a redemption.
I'm going to put a redeemer. What makes the difference between
this people and that people? My redeemer does. That's what
makes the difference. Here's the point. Blood is on
my hands just like blood is on anybody's hands. The curse is
on me just like the curse is on anybody in my flesh, just
as I am. What makes a difference? My Redeemer
does. That's it. That's it. Verse 24 says, And the Lord did so. And there
came a grievous swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh and
into his servants houses and into all the land of Egypt. The
land was corrupted in the margins is destroyed by reason of the
swarms of flies. And Pharaoh called for Moses
and for Aaron and said, go ye sacrifice to your God in the
land right here in Egypt. Do it in the land. I'm going
to let you do it, but you're going to do it on my terms. You
can worship in a compromising way. Verse 26, And Moses said,
It is not meet, so to do, for we shall sacrifice the abomination
of the Egyptians to the Lord our God. Lo, shall we sacrifice
the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they
not stone us? Moses said we're not going to
do that. And here's why. The Egyptians didn't sacrifice
anything but swine, male oxen, and calves. That's it. What did
God tell his people to sacrifice? Sheep. A lamb. Sheep were idols to the Egyptians. They worshipped sheep. Moses
said, are we going to take what they deem is acceptable and offer
that to God? That would be an abomination
to God. That would be disobedience to
God. Cain tried that. God told Adam and Adam told his
boys, this is what God said you better sacrifice. Cain tried
it. It didn't work out. That would
be an abomination to God. Are we going to compromise our
worship? No way. And he said, if we sacrifice
to God what he has commanded us to in the sight of the Egyptians,
that would in their eyes be an abomination. And he said, and
will they not stone us? So verse 27, he said, we will
go three days journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the
Lord, our God, as he shall command us. We're going to do what our
God has commanded us to do. Period. Verse 28, And Pharaoh
said, I will let you go. And this is why he's just being
destroyed by these swarms. Just. He said, I will let you
go that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness.
Only you shall not go very far away. And then he said, Entreat
for me. Entreat for me. That's what he
said in verse eight. Look at verse eight. Then Pharaoh
called for Moses and Aaron and said, entreat the Lord that he
may take away the frogs from me and from my people. And I
will let the people go that they may do sacrifice unto the Lord.
And then right after that, he hardened his heart. And he says
it right now, and we already read it in the scripture reading,
he's going to harden his heart and he's going to say it again. I thought about how merciful
the Lord is to the wicked while they're here in this world. Oh, how merciful. They have more
than heart could wish. We do too. And the Lord sends
the rain on the unjust, just like he does the just. He relieves
their famine. He relieves their poverty. He
relieves their sickness. They say, I beat cancer. Isn't
that something? But the sad thing is there is
going to come a day when there will be no in treating the Lord. Go with me. I want to go very
quickly, but go to Luke 16. Luke 16 verse 19 says, There
was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine
linen and fared sumptuously every day. And there was a certain
beggar named Lazarus which was laid at his gate full of sores.
And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich
man's table, moreover the dogs came and licked his swords. And
it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels
into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was
buried. And in hell he lifted up his
eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus
in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father
Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus, that he may dip
the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am
tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember
that thou in thy lifetime receivest thy good things and likewise
Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted and thou art
tormented. And beside all this, between
us and you, There is a great gulf fixed, so that they which
would pass from hence to you cannot. Neither can they pass
to us that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore,
Father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house, for
I have five brethren that he may testify unto them, lest they
also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto them,
they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And he said,
Nay, Father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead,
they will repent. And he said unto them, If they
hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded.
The one rose from the dead. Great Gulf fixed. Once it's fixed,
it is fixed. There is no crossing it. The
Lord is so merciful to the whole world, all of mankind. And they entreat the Lord, and
He answers their prayers in a physical way. Man, that's something, isn't
it? That is something. Well, the
word, go back to our text over in Exodus chapter 8. Pharaoh
said, entreat the Lord for me. Verse 29 says, And Moses said,
Behold, I go out from thee, and I will entreat the Lord, that
the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants,
and from his people tomorrow. But let not Pharaoh deal deceitful
any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.
And Moses went out from Pharaoh and entreated the Lord. And the
Lord did according to the word of Moses. And he removed the
swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his
people. There remained not one. It went from total coverage to
you couldn't find a gnat. Period. Verse 32 says, and Pharaoh
hardened his heart. At this time also, neither would
he let the people go. Isn't that something? Somebody
gets in trouble and they just get so religious. As soon as
they get out of trouble, religion's out the window. Gone. When God
saves us, spares us, helps us, not to mention when He opens
our eyes to see salvation, that He cleansed us from sin, we ought
to spend the rest of our lives devoted to worshipping and thanking
our God. You know that? That's why we're
here. That's why we're here. That's
why we're here. That's why we make the effort
and we come here. It's not for us, it's for Him. Worshipping
Him. Now, here is the heart of this
message. All right. When I read the true definition
of these swarms of flies, I was convicted. I was convicted. And I was relieved. And I want
you to see this. The word swarms and the word
flies have the same root definition. And here's what it is. It means
to braid. To intermix. To barter. To exchange. To engage. Inter-metal. Metal with. Mingle. Mingle self. To mortgage. Like your house. Occupy. Give pledges. Be surety. Become
surety. Put in surety. Undertake. That's
what it means. To braid, to intermix, to intermetal,
to mortgage. Plagues and judgment are going
to come to this world because this world has braided. It has
intermixed. What? Everything. Start with law and grace. Start
with law and grace. Our Lord was so clear, right? And they have mixed it all. Works
and grace, I'll be my own surety. This world has skewed the lines
between God and man, they've brought God down and they've
intertwined it all, they've braided it all. This world has been mortgaged,
it's been sold to the love of this world. We're not, you know,
we're supposed to be sojourners, right? Pilgrims. We're supposed
to be renting. We got a mortgage. We're locked
in. Here's the thing that got me.
We talk about the world in the sense of them, right? In my flesh, in the mind and
the heart of my old man, I am talking about me. And you're
going to see what I mean by this. Right now, I am supposed to be
a new man. I'm supposed to be a new man,
right? I'm supposed to be a new creature. I'm supposed to be separated
to the truth and to life and to light. We read it in our text.
He said, I'm going to put this division, separate it. Not braided. Now turn with me
to Deuteronomy chapter seven. Deuteronomy seven, look at verse
two. When the Lord thy God shall deliver
them before thee, thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy
them. Thou shalt make no covenant with
them, nor show mercy unto them. Neither shalt thou make marriages
with them. Thy daughter thou shalt not give
unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.
And this is, he's literally telling them this, but every word is
spiritual meaning. Now look at verse four. For they
will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other
gods. So will the anger of the Lord
be kindled against you and destroy thee suddenly. Our Lord says,
I've separated you from this world. Don't be braided back
in. Don't be braided back in. Now,
go with me to Genesis 6. Genesis 6, verse 1 says, And
it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the
earth, And daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God
saw the daughters of men, that they were fair, and they took
them wives of all which they chose. And the Lord said, My
spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is
flesh, yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years. There
were giants in the earth in those days. And also after that, when
the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men and they
bear children to them, the same became mighty men, which were
of old men of renown." Now, again, spiritual significance. Intermixed,
right? Braided. They have families now. They have children now. Mortgaged. Mortgaged. Cursed is the ground. Cursed is this earth and everything
in it. And this curse is not just on
them, this curse is now in them. It has been totally intermixed. It's braided in. It is literally
in every fiber of my being to the point where you cannot get
it out. It cannot be separated out. We are so concreted in sin. It's not just what I've done,
it's what I am. We say these things all the time.
But I'm about to tell you something that has stabbed me. I still
haven't got to it yet. And it's just going to make all
this come alive. OK. We say things like it's not just
what I've done, it's what I am. That's true. That's true. In
my flesh, I am occupied with wickedness. We all know that's
true. I've pledged myself to be surety for wickedness. Put it on me. My flesh wants
this world. When they brought our Lord to
Pilate, this is what they said. His blood be on us and on our
children. Can you imagine? Genesis 6 verse
6 says this. Genesis 6 verse 5 says this. And God saw that the wickedness
of man, every man was great in the earth, and that every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, and
it repented the Lord that he'd made man on the earth, and it
grieved him at his heart." That is an amazing verse of scripture,
isn't it? Amazing. Now we know that the Lord doesn't
change. He said, that's why we're not
consumed. He's the same yesterday, today,
forever. We know what the word repent
means, don't we? It means a change of mind, a
change of mind. But that is not what this word
means. This particular word in this
particular verse. Now listen to this. Matthew 4.17,
our Lord said, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
And what that means is, have a change of mind. Be converted. But this word right here, it
repented the Lord. This is what it means. To sigh. to breathe strongly, to pity,
to console, to avenge one's self, to comfort self, to ease one's
self. That's what it means. Now this
is what it says, verse 6, it repented the Lord that he'd made
man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart. This thought has affected me.
I hope it for the rest of my life. I hope it has affected
me. I hope it's burned into my brain.
I hope it's burned into my heart. OK, here it is. Our Lord has
a heart. Our Lord has a heart. It grieved him at his heart. If our Lord does not have a heart,
then why would he have done all this in the first place? Why? It doesn't all make sense
to the natural mind. Everything, time, creation. Why would he have allowed the
fall? And if he is as holy as he says he is, why would he have
allowed redemption? Why? Start to finish. Why would he have done it? How
can there be true love without heart? How? True love is not in the mind.
My mind understands that love, but it is right there. He said, David is a man after
my own heart. Our God is not like the Lincoln
Memorial. He is not. He is our living God. More alive than we are right
now. We have a living union with Him. We have a living relationship
with Him. We cannot see it. We cannot enter
into it. Every now and then he comes up
and he touches us and we feel it. And only a person whom he's
touched knows what I mean by that. He is the husband of his
bride. He is our elder brother. He is our friend. He has a heart. And because my flesh has been
mortgaged, sold willingly to this curse down here. The things
that I do grieve the heart of my Lord. That's the truth. We know God sees everything.
We know he's watching me. Will anything change the fact
that they're my children? No. Can they do anything to cause
me to stop loving them? I don't think so. But I'm just a man. This is God.
But do they grieve my heart? Yes, they do. The things that
they do grieve my heart. So I want to teach them. And
I want to correct them. Right? I hurt his heart. Can you believe that? I mean, I know that. I know that.
But for the first time, that has just hit me. The stuff that's
coming out of my mouth and the stuff that's rolling around in
this hard rock in my head is just grieving his heart. My sinful flesh is the cause
of his sighing. If I could ever deeply get a
hold of that, I would have a very strong desire to stop hurting
the heart of the one that loves me. I really would. If I could
ever truly consider the fact that the long suffering of my
Lord is my salvation. I would have a deep desire to
stop grieving his heart. Now, I'm going to try to be quick. How do I grieve his heart? Turn
with me over to Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4, our Lord said, these
are my two great commandments for you. Love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind.
And he said, love thy neighbor as thyself. Now, how often does
my love, my heart, my affection leave my God and go to something
in this wicked world? How often? Something that I'm
intertwined with. How often do I love myself more
than my brother? Can you imagine how much I love
myself? I love me so much, I think I'm
rarely wrong. I am the greatest guy I know.
Everybody ought to like me. And then I can look at somebody
else and think, he don't know anything. Oh man! Ephesians 4 verse 21 says, If
so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him,
as the truth is in Jesus, that ye put off concerning the former
conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful
lust. That old conversation I've had
all my life. I've always known this. I've
always said this. I've always been this way. Put him away. Put him away. Verse 29 says,
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but
that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister
grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the Holy Spirit
of God. whereby ye are sealed unto the
day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you
with all malice and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath
forgiven you. That's his commandment to me.
How often does my corrupt communication dwell on the faults and the sins
of my brethren? If I can not say it out loud,
but just get up in my brain and get in my heart for a minute.
Every time I do, I grieve the Holy Spirit of my God. Every
time I do. You know why? Here is why. Christ put away the sin of my
brother. Christ took away the fault in
my brother. Is he doing it right here in
front of me? Yes he did. But he took away the sins from
the past, the present, and the future. And every time I bring
it up, I acknowledge that I have forgotten the price that Christ
paid to free my brother from that sin. That is the honest
truth. I'm bringing up a sin that does
not exist in the eyes of God. Well, it exists in my eyes, I
know, but not in God's. and that grieves the Holy Spirit
of God. Verse 29 right here says, Let
no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which
is good to the use of edifying. Edifying, edifying, edifying,
edifying, edifying. Christ died for our sins. The sins we committed a long
time ago, the sins I'm committing right now, the sins you're going
to watch me commit tomorrow. Christ paid for those already. They're gone. Well, don't you know what He
did? Well, Christ knew what He did. He felt it, and it grieved
His heart. And He dealt with it, and they're
gone. edify one another. Verse 29 says
that it may minister grace unto the hearers. Verse 30 says, and
grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto
the day of redemption. My flesh grieves him greatly
all the time, all the time for the things I do. The long suffering
of my Lord is my salvation. It's my salvation. Here's my
sin. It's all been recorded. This
is me. It's known. It's all known. Everything I've ever done, all
my sins, all my faults. Everything that is me, everything
that's in me, when God looks at me. He sees Christ. When God looks at me, he sees
Christ. Isn't that wonderful? Gabe Stoniker,
would you stop grieving the Holy Spirit of your Lord? Stop. Are they gone or not? Well, yeah,
they're gone, but they still did it. Are they gone or not? So verse, I closed my book. Verse 31 says, Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor, that means a tumultuous outcry, and evil
speaking be put away from you with all malice, that means trouble.
You know, in order, verse 32 says, be ye kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's
sake hath forgiven you. In order to forgive somebody,
you have to be offended. You can't forgive until you're
offended. This world has been braided with
sin, intermixed with sin. But listen to what our God said.
You are not of this world. This is where I'm stopping it.
This is where I'm stopping it. What do you mean I'm not of this
world? I was born in this world. I know my flesh. How can I not
be of this world? I am mortgaged into this world. Christ paid my mortgage. Christ bought this house. He lives here now. He became
my surety. He said, you take all the debt, everything that he's braided,
everything he's intertwined, everything he's done, everything
he is, and you put it on me. And now he said to his people,
you are not from here. This is where I'm putting a difference.
You know, he, that's what he said. You're not from here. Don't
you read that and think, yes, I am. No, you're not. You are
not. You are not staying here. You
haven't sinned here. This world has nothing on you.
This world cannot hold you. You are not intertwined with
it. I have actually literally put a difference. In the swarms
of flies, they're going to cover Egypt. They're going to cover
this world. They're going to be on it. They're going to be
in it, but it shall not come nigh thee. Not one fly. What
made the difference? My Redeemer. My Redeemer. He said, I am going to put redemption
on you. That's the difference. All right,
let's stand together.