Exodus chapter 7. Exodus 7. Pharaoh clearly represents the
God of this world, Satan. Clearly. Pharaoh was the most
powerful man on earth. He was not all powerful. No, no. Not by any means. God of this
world, Satan, is powerful. No man is a match for him. He
holds people captive, but there's one infinitely more powerful. The one that gave him his power.
I love the thought when our Lord was standing before Pilate, and
Pilate said, don't you know I have power to release you? He said, you
could have no power over me at all. He said, it will be given
to you from above. So, the God of this world is
Satan, and his power has been delegated to him. Satan, look
at verse 1 and 2, chapter 7. The Lord said unto Moses, I have
made thee a God to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother shall be thy
prophet. Thou shalt speak all I command thee. Aaron thy brother
shall speak unto Pharaoh. And he sent the children of Israel,
that he sent the children of Israel out of his land. God's ministers and God's servant
are known by Satan. You know that? He knows what
God used to take his people out from under his captivity. He
knows, and he knows who God sent. And so that's who he is. In Luke chapter 10, turn there,
Luke chapter 10. I have several scriptures I want
you to see. But Luke chapter 10, verse 1. Turn quickly. Luke 10, verse 1. God, the Lord sent 70 disciples
out. He didn't just have 12, He had
70 more. And now He has 7,000. They haven't bowed the knee to
Baal. Verse 1, He sent them out by twos to preach the gospel,
okay, which is the power of God. Verse 16, He says, He that heareth
you, heareth Me. He that despiseth you, despiseth
Me. That's not just the apostles. That's every preacher He sent,
right? Look at verse 17. Seventy returned
unto the Lord, saying, The devils are subject to us. We've seen
people removed from the power of the Satan himself, and so
have I. I was by a man, by the preacher of the gospel. And our
Lord reminded me, and I saw Satan, verse 18, as lightning fall from
heaven. How did he fall from heaven?
Christ took hold of him, cast him out, bound him with a chain,
and gave him a short season. do according to His will. He
said, verse 20, don't rejoice spiritual subjects come to you,
but rejoice your names written in them. So, Pharaoh knew Moses and Aaron. Now, God of this world knows
God's preachers, what God's power is, and His chief work is to
keep people from hearing the Word. The God of this world has
blinded the minds of the people of this world, lest the gospel,
lest they hear it, because the gospel is what delivers people.
So that's His work. And His seat, His chief seat
is in religion. And like in the garden, He used
the Word. He twisted the Word. And then
he flat out denied the Word to God's people. And so, and he
tried to tempt. He tempted the Son of God Himself
with the Word of God. So, he knew Moses and Aaron one
time that there were some sorcerers, some, what do they call them,
exorcists. That's biblical. The men that
claimed to cast out devils. Now, they're the ones doing it,
by the way. But Sons of Seba were their names,
and they were casting out devils, and one of the demons got a hold
of them, seven of them, and stripped them naked and shooed them off
like a cur dog. And they said, Jesus we know,
and Paul we know, but who are you? So Pharaoh knew Moses and Aaron. And we've often said, why didn't
Pharaoh just grab them and just have them killed? Why didn't
he grab Moses and Aaron so this would go no further, cut their
heads off? Because he couldn't do anything
unless God said so. And the disciples of our Lord,
the prophets and the apostles, went about preaching when their
work was done, Then God sent the sword, and all the prophets
were killed, and all the apostles were killed. Who killed them?
Were the Jews killed? No. God did. But they're the
ones, like Pharaoh in Egypt, they didn't want to hear the
Word of God. It hardened their heart. It hardened their heart. Verse 3 and 4, he said, I will
harden Pharaoh's heart and multiply my signs and my wonders in the
land of Egypt. Oh, my. Verse 4, Pharaoh shall not hearken
unto you that I may lay my hand upon Egypt and bring forth mine
armies and my people, the children, out of Israel, out of the land
of Egypt. Verse 5, the Egyptians shall
know that I am the Lord. Everybody's going to know. How?
By the judgments. By the judgments. That God sends. Psalm 9. I didn't write this
down, but I remember it. Psalm 9 says this. Listen to this. Psalm 9. It says, The Lord is known by
the judgment which He executed. The false God of this world doesn't
judge anybody. He loves everybody. Right? That's
the God the people of the world know. The God who is God is known
by His judgments. The fear of the Lord. See, men
don't fear a God who loves everybody. Men don't fear a God who will
take you as you are, whatever you may be, whatever you do,
it doesn't matter. He loves you like you are. No, the love of
God is in Jesus Christ. The fear of the Lord is a beginning
of wisdom. And God is known by the judgment which He executes.
And the judgments upon this world are for their damnation. But
the judgments in this world that God's people go through are for
our salvation. It's good. Convict us of sin. Convince us of sin. It wouldn't
harden our heart. It breaks our heart. Breaks our
heart. And how he does it, how does
he do it? The Word. The Word's the hammer, the sword. It breaks the hard heart, pierces
the conscience of the mind. It's the Word of God. This is
how he's going to deliver people out of Egypt, and this is how
God delivers His people out of this world. Look at verse 5. He says, All Israel shall know.
They'll know. All Egypt shall know. They'll
all know when I stretch forth my hand. Romans 1 says the wrath
of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and sin.
It goes on and on to say that the things of God are clearly
seen. His eternal power and His Godhead. They're without excuse.
God keeps sending things. Natural disasters, death, blood. Rivers of blood. And do you read
the rest of this chapter? Oceans of blood. Blood. Blood. Everywhere. People died left
and right. Wrath. Judgment. Men, they don't
acknowledge God. It's not God. It's some natural
phenomena. Mother Earth is angry. We've
got to appease Mother Earth. Give her a sacrifice. Ah, man. He goes on to say, Romans
1 ends this way, who know in the judgment of God, who know
in the judgment of God, don't care. They take pleasure in those
things. Flaunted. Isaiah said, they declare
their sin like Sodom. They come out of the closet. Okay? Okay, God said. And this is what he says in Egypt
to the people of history. He said in chapter 12, I will
smite. Didn't he? I will smite Egypt. I'll stretch forth mine hand.
Moses and Aaron, verse 6, did as the Lord commanded them. They
said what the Lord commanded them to say. That's what I'm
trying to do right now. God forbid that I should take
away the offense of the cross. Behold, Paul said, both the goodness
and the what of God? Behold, the goodness and the
severity of God. On them that fell, severity.
On them He saved, goodness. So, verse 8, and I asked the
Lord, let me preach the truth this morning with love. It's
love to be warned. You know that? It's love. If
you're warned, if God warned you and strikes fear in your
heart so that you repent of your sins and come to Him, come to
Christ and believe on Christ and want out of this world, that's
God's love. That's God's goodness. You don't
warn other people's children, do you? Do you? No, you don't. But God does. He warns His children. It's the
goodness of God. Let me say this in love and sincere
desire, that my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israelites,
that they might be saved. It begins with fear. It begins with fear. All right? Verse 8, The Lord spake unto
Moses, and Aaron saying, When Pharaoh shall speak unto you,
saying, Show us a miracle for you. Then thou shalt say unto
Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall
become a serpent. Show a miracle. Isn't that what
the world wants? Our Lord said that. They want
signs and miracles. And religion is the worst. Religion
is the worst. Pentecostalism, they call it
Pentecostal holiness. It's anything but either one
of those. Pentecostal, that's not what went on at Pentecost.
What's going on today is not what went on at Pentecost. What
went on at Pentecost was Christ crucified was declared and God
broke people's heart over Christ and Him crucified. And nobody
went home talking about tongues. They all went home talking about
Christ. praising God for His mercy and His love and His grace
in Jesus Christ, but not killing them all. The one they killed
was the one God used to keep from killing them. And that's what they all went
home talking about and talked about the rest of their days.
Not tongues, not signs, not wonders. This is the sign, our Lord said.
One sign will be given. The Lord had Jonah cast into
the ocean to keep from killing no savior. And the Lord had Jesus
Christ put on that cross to keep from killing His people. So, show us a sign. Show us a
sign. The rod was the sign, wasn't
it? You remember what the rod represented?
You got one in your hand. This is the rod, this is the
sword of God, this is the word of God, this is His power. Everything
Moses and Aaron did, they did with that rod. They spoke the
word, thus saith the Lord, and they took that rod and they parted
the Red Sea, smote the rock, water came out, smote the river,
became blood. The rod. God created all things
by the Word of His power and He upholds all things by the
Word of His power, and He gives life by His power, and He takes
life by His Word, just the Word. That's power, isn't it? Somebody
just speak the Word. God said, let there be light. And there was light. It's His Word, it's His power.
That's His rod. Now, the devil and his ministers
and the people of this world have no regard for the Word of
God. As said, Satan deceived, he did
deceive Eve concerning God's Word. He tried to tempt Christ
with God's Word and he still does that today. But it was the
Word, the very Word, which Satan tried to, well, brought in Sam. It was the Word of God that God
sent to put away Sam. To put away. Christ is called
the rod. The rod of Jesse, isn't it? The rod. Satan used the Word
of God to tempt and deceive the woman and cast all mankind into
sin and misery and death. So God sent the Word to bruise
the serpent's head. Well, verse 10. Moses and Aaron
went in before Pharaoh, and they did so as the Lord commanded.
And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants. See, they all saw. They all heard.
Haven't they all heard? Seen signs from heaven and wonders,
but they've heard the word. They've heard of the gospel.
And it became a serpent. You remember what that was? Anybody?
I hope you do. Christ was made sin. Then Pharaoh
called the wise men, the sorcerers and magicians of Egypt, and they
did in like manner with their enchantments. They had a rod. They cast it
down. It became serpent. See? All Egypt said, see? Ain't nothing
to this. We can do that. Go to 2 Thessalonians 2. And
in verse 22 it says the magicians did the same thing with the water
turned to blood. 2 Thessalonians 2. You see, as said, one sign is
given, Christ crucified. And that's the power of God.
He's the Word of God, the power of God. And He's the one that
men must believe and bow to and believe on and come to God through. But if men won't do that, they
have no regard for the Word of God. Verse 10, 2 Thessalonians
2, verse 9, it says, Him who comes after the working of Satan
with all powers and signs and lying wonders. Are you reading? There's some things that are
actually going on in this world. Phenomena and unexplained things
like that and seeming miracles and all that that are going on
in this world. And they're real. They're real. But God sent them
to delude the world. God deludes. Read on. Verse 10, "...with all deceivableness
and unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive
not the love of the truth, the Word of God, Christ crucified,
that they might be saved. For this cause God shall send
them strong delusions, that they should believe a lie and be damned,
who believe not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness."
Do you see that? So, these sorcerers, these magicians. A magician does things with sleight
of hand. Have you seen some magicians? Have you seen some of their tricks?
There's some things, sure you have. Everybody in here has seen
them. If you see a really good magician, you think, how did
he do that? You won't figure it out. You
can't believe it. I saw a panel of judges in some
of these shows, you know, America's Got Talent. And some magician,
all three of them, they couldn't figure it out. You see, God sends
these things. They're very real delusions that
God sends. He said, I'll choose their delusions
for them. They won't believe the Word of
God. They won't bow to the Son of God. They won't thank God
for His mercy and His love and His grace in Christ with the
blood of the crucified one. So God says, OK, you'll believe
anything. I'll sin every time. And you'll
believe anything. And they do. They do. So, these were tricks, but God
let them do it. Okay? And Egypt believed them. Not Moses and Aaron. All Israel
believed Moses and Aaron. So verse, look at this, verse
12. They cast down every man his
rod, and they became serpents. But, Aaron's rod swallowed up their
rods. And Isaiah 25 says that very
thing. He shall come. This is our God. He'll come and save us and He'll
swallow up death in victory. Amen. What a book. Verse 13. He hardened Pharaoh's
heart. Pharaoh saw that. Surely he'd say, finally he does say, doesn't
he John, Moses God is God. Finally when it's all over, Moses
God is God. It's too late. It's too late. Nicodemus. Who was the evil ruler? Manasseh. No, not Manasseh. Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar
is one. Image of himself, you know. And
when the Lord brought him down like an animal, he said, God of Israel is God. Everybody's
going to know. Satan's going to bow. The whole
world's going to bow. You know, God loves you if you
bow in it right now. If you fear Him right now, I'm
here to tell you from the Word of God, God loves you. God loves you. He's right now
made your knee to bow and your tongue to confess. Look at verse 14, Now the Lord
said unto Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hardened, and he refuses to
let the people go. Get thee unto Pharaoh in the
morning, lo, he goeth out unto the water, and thou shalt stand
by the river's brink, against he come. And the rod which was
turned to a serpent, thou shalt take in thy hand, and thou shalt
say unto Pharaoh, The Lord God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto
thee, saying, Let my people go. that they may serve me in the
wilderness. And behold, hitherto thou wouldest
not hear. Thus saith the Lord, in this
thou shalt know that I am the Lord. Behold, I will smite with
the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in
the river, and they shall be turned to blood. And the fish that is in the river
shall die, and the river shall stink, and the Egyptians shall
loathe the drink of the water of the river." Water turned to
blood. The very first plague, the very
first judgment upon Egypt to bring God's people to that was
water turned to blood. Will somebody tell me what the
first miracle of the Lord Jesus Christ was? Water turned to blood. All Egypt saw. They didn't believe. Israel saw it. They believed. It says the disciples saw our
Lord do that. And the servants saw our Lord
turn the water into wine. They believed. They believed. But not the rest of the people.
They were feasting and drinking and having a good time with wine
that the Lord gave them. This river, God gave, the river
Nile, God gave to Egypt and filled it full of fish. It was their
life, it was their food, it was their everything, it was their
recreation, it was their enjoyment. Everything they did was in this
river. Is it the world's longest river,
the Nile? I think it is. But anyway, it's, oh, it's...
The Lord gave this river water, river of water, just keep flowing.
Egypt's a desert land. An arid land, where the Lord
in mercy and grace has sent this river, which keeps flowing, filled
it full of fish. They had frolicked and had fun
in the river. Did they give God a thought?
Never. Never. Too busy having fun. So. So. Blood was shed. Blood was shed. Now one man entered
into this world, and so death by sin, death passed upon all
men. The life of the flesh is in the
blood. You know how much blood has been shed since Abel? Now this shall know that I am
the Lord. The first blood that was shed was what? Abel's blood. What was it over? The truth. The true God. And what Cain thought
was good enough. His work. Grace and work. Wasn't it? The first blood that
was shed was over grace and work. The blood of Abel, God said,
speaks from the ground. The very first blood that was
shed was over the truth. Okay? God said, I have my people
and then Satan has his seed. My seed. His seed. My seed know that there's salvations
in the blood. There's the blood that speaks
better things than that of Abel. The blood that cries unto God
for their deliverance. But that same blood cries for
the condemnation of those that come by works. Are you with me? Cain brought his works. Abel
brought blood. Little did Abel know that very
soon his own blood was going to be shed. Why? Just for believing
the blood. Just for believing that God provided
everything, that salvation is on the way. Just for believing.
God killed him. His brother killed
him. So you know what God does? God, he says, I bathed my sword. God's the one that kills human
beings. There's been rivers, literally
rivers of blood shed. In Judah, one time, there was
a battle. 120,000 men killed in one day. Talk about Gettysburg, 50,000
in three days. You know how much blood was all
over the ground in Gettysburg? Creeks and rivers full of blood.
The rivers ran red. The creeks ran red. It was about
50,000. God killed a lot more than that before then. But what
blood was shed first that we may know that God is God? That man is sinful, but God is
God. He's judgment sin. God is merciful. God is gracious. Long before
Abel, there's a lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
You know, before this world began, before sin came to this world,
God had a lamb. And you know what we're going
to see? You know, it's all over, and when God has smote Egypt
and there's no more left, but all of God's people in the Promised
Land, you know what every one of God's people are going to
see on the throne? A lamb as it had been slain. They all know. We came out of
Egypt. God spared us. I have to holler
this. Because of the blood And religion
has taken it out. We cannot come to God except
by the blood. They're talking about the blood
in heaven. How much more should we talk
about it on earth? No, Pharaoh is not going to believe it. I'm
going to turn the rivers of water into blood. Ponds and pools. Look at verse 18. And the fish
that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink, and
the Egyptians shall loathe the drink of the water of the river.
The fish shall die. Can you imagine? Is there anything
worse than dead fish? Ron, is there anything that smells
like dead fish? One thing. You've been around
a dead cadaver and a corpse of a human being. You nurses. That's
worse. It's worse. You can't get the
smell of rotting flesh out of anything. You can't do it. The
only way you can do it is burn it. Right? So, the Lord said, I'm going
to cause everything that they take great delight in to stink. stink. Everything that man takes
pleasure in and lives for, he will loathe someday. It says
the Egyptians would loathe the drink of the water of the river.
Isaiah 2 says that in that day, every man shall cast his idols
into the caves to the moguls and the bats, as if to try to
get these things away from them that cause them God's wrath and
judgment. Too late. So all Egypt was stinking. All
Egypt was stinking. And this whole condemned world,
you know what God says about it in Psalm 14? He said the whole
world has become filthy. And it means stinking. Stinking
to God. But you know what? God condemned the world and destroyed
the world, and Moses, he saved a man named Moses and his family
and put them in a heart. And when it was all over, when
Moses was delivered from that perishing world, he opened that
door to a world that had perished, a world that God had destroyed,
and Moses offered a sacrifice of every one of those clean animals
unto God. It says God smelled a sweet-smelling
savor. He burnt those sacrifices. The
whole world was filled full of that sacrifice. And God said,
Noah, Noah. Many say, Noah. Noah, and I always
get them mixed up, Noah and Moses. They're the same. They're the
same. But anyway, Noah offered that
sweet-smelling, God, still the earth. Man's still vile, isn't
he? Isn't he, John? Read Genesis
8. Yeah, Romans 8. Genesis 8. It
says, But God smelled that sweet-smelling sacrifice in this stinking world, Do you smell it? Is the gospel
sweet to you? Oh, does this world stink to
you? It does to God. It does to God. Oh, it is the gospel of Christ.
He's our salvation.