I'll ask you to open your Bibles
tonight to Exodus chapter 9. Exodus chapter 9. Now, as you
make your way to Exodus chapter 9, we've got a few folks who
are hospitalized. One of them is Tony Arthur. He and the family went down to
the Smoky Mountains He had a heart attack. He came back with RSV,
pneumonia. And he is down here in the hospital. A little bit better today, a
little bit better. His heart enzymes have improved,
but he's still pretty sick. And be prayerful for him. Also remember Tommy Thompson. She is also at King's Daughters. She has several issues that are
going on. And one of them is very low potassium
levels, but would you say a-fib and two or three other issues. And we ask the Lord to strengthen
her. And then also remember Joyce
Voss. She fell, her hip broke. She's in St. Mary's in Huntington. And we pray that the Lord will
give her a full recovery. Had some ladies
who've had knee replacement. It's good to have Susan back
with us as she continues to recuperate and also Sheila, I think she's
going back to the doctor tomorrow. And so we continue to remember
these ladies, others who've had procedures. And then, of course,
continue to remember Brother Roy Dean as the Lord continues
to watch over him until he's pleased to take him home to glory. And we remember Roy and his dear
wife, Bobby, and Lisa, and the family. Exodus chapter 9. I'm going to begin reading at
verse 18. Exodus chapter 9, verse 18. The Lord's word to Pharaoh through
Moses, Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause it to
rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since
the foundation thereof, even until now. Send therefore now
and gather thy cattle and all that thou hast in the field.
For upon every man and beast which shall be found in the field,
and shall not be brought home, that is, shall not be brought
into a barn, the hail shall come down upon them, and they shall
die. He that feared the word of the Lord
among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle
flee into the houses, and he that regarded not the word of
the Lord left his servants and his cattle in the field. And
the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch forth thine hand toward heaven,
that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon man and
upon beast, and upon herb of field throughout the land of
Egypt. And Moses stretched forth his
rod toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and the
fire ran along the ground. And the Lord rained hail upon
the land of Egypt. So there was hail, and fire mingled
with the hail, that is, lightning, of course, very grievous, such
as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it
became a nation. And the hail smote throughout
all the land of Egypt. All that was in the field, both
man and beast, And the hail smote every herb of the field and break
every tree of the field. Only in the land of Goshen, where
the children of Israel were, was there no hail. And Pharaoh
sent and called for Moses and Aaron and said unto them, I have
sinned this time. And he said, the Lord is righteous. and I and my people are wicked.
Entreat the Lord, for it is enough, we can't bear anymore, that there
be no mighty thunderings in hell, and I will let you go, and you
shall stay no longer.' And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am
gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands, unto
the Lord, and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be
any more hail, that thou mayest know how that the earth is the
Lord's. But as for thee and thy servants,
I know that ye will not yet fear the Lord God. And the flax and
the barley was smitten, For the barley was in the ear, and the
flax was bold. But the wheat and the rye were
not smitten, for they weren't grown up. And Moses went out
of the city from Pharaoh and spread abroad his hands unto
the Lord. And the thunders and hails ceased,
and the rain was not poured upon the earth. And when Pharaoh saw
that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, this
man who had just confessed, I have sinned, now the Scripture says
he sinned yet more. And further, he hardened his
heart, he and his servants. And the heart of Pharaoh was
hardened, neither would he let the children of Israel go as
the Lord. had spoken unto Moses. May the Lord bless the reading
of his word. Unite our hearts in prayer. Our Father, we're thankful that
you're the God of the covenant of grace. And before you made the universe, Before your works of creation,
you establish the work of salvation. Thank you, Father, that you,
in your own purpose and grace, chose a people unto salvation
who would be redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who would submit to the humiliation of entering into this world joining
His deity to flesh, and then laying down His life, giving
His life a ransom for all of your people. And we thank you
that in the covenant of grace you ordain the Spirit of God,
inspire holy men of God, men that you taught the gospel, to
write the scriptures, so that we have before us tonight the
very Word of God. And Lord, make us mindful whenever
we read a verse of Scripture, it is God speaking to us in those
words. What a solemn thought that you
would leave on permanent record those things that you would have
us to know Teach us, Lord. Teach us of yourself. Enable us to admit our natural
ignorance of who God is. Teach us of your glorious characteristics
and attributes that we might stand in awe and in fear of our
God. Teach us of your power of your
wisdom, of your justice, of your holiness, and of your grace. Teach us of the necessity of
the entrance of the Lamb of God into this world to save the people
of your choice. Lord, teach us of ourselves. Like Pharaoh said, We all have
to say, I have sinned. It's the one thing we all have
in common. No matter who we are this evening,
whether in this building, whether watching by way of the internet
or listening later to the CD or DVD, this is what we all have
in common. We're sinful people. We're unworthy
of entering into your presence, and we have no fitness to ever
enter into your holy heaven. So therefore, Lord, teach us
of Christ, the only Savior of sinful people. Teach us of the
necessity of his death, that our God might be just and justify
the ungodly. Teach us of how precious is that
bloody fountain filled with the crimson flow from Emmanuel's
veins. Teach us of how priceless is
His righteousness, and how glorious are His garments of salvation. And then, Lord, wash us and robe
us and clothe us in your mighty, free, and sovereign grace. For
these that we've mentioned and others as well of our congregation
that are needy, Lord, we lift them up to you. We read that
all things are of God, whatever condition physically we find
ourselves in, this is the will of God for us. I pray that we'll remember how
feeble we are, how frail we are in this flesh, and how much we
need the upholding mercy of our God. Heal, if it be pleasing
to Thee, these that are sick, grant comfort to those who suffer. And to those who are steadily
growing weaker, nearing that time when they shall cross the
river Jordan and enter into the land of bliss and glory, give
them grace. And we're thankful that with
all of your people we may say, the Lord is ever near us, and
he will never leave us, and he will never forsake us. Enable us to worship this evening.
Bless these moments that we share together. May we be serious about
the things of God and reverent toward thee. May we see our neediness
and run to Christ and find in Him a blessed refuge for our
souls. Lead us, Holy Spirit. Leave us
not to ourselves. These things I petition thee
in the name of Christ. Amen. Well, the Lord had sent Moses
who said to Pharaoh that The Lord himself had raised him up. Pharaoh endured. He stood by
the might of the Lord according to the purpose of the Lord. The
Lord maintained him in his position. And in God's message to Pharaoh,
the Lord said he's going to send an awful storm the next day. It's going to be a fierce storm
such as was never seen or experienced in the land of Egypt. There would
be thundering, thunders the sound of the voice of God. Lightning is the flashing of
his eyes. There's something about a fierce
thunderstorm, and in this case accompanied by hail. that made everybody to be full
of fear. You know, if there's one thing
that will get everybody's attention, it's a thunderstorm, isn't it?
That'll get you attention. One time I was flying to Florida
to preach, and a violent thunderstorm came up as we were approaching
Orlando. And the pilot said, he's going
to have to go around Orlando. We went way down south, Florida,
turned coming back up. And the lightning was so bright,
so vivid, and I was sitting right along the wing on this side,
on the right side. You could see all the rivets
every time the lightning lit up the wing of the plane. People got absolutely Quiet. And the lady beside me, who was
an older lady, probably about the age I am now,
back then, but she was an older lady and she was visibly troubled. And I said, I said, don't worry. I said, my father is sending
this storm. And I said, I'll tell you, man,
this thunder, that's the sound of his voice. Lightning, that's the flashing
of his eyes. She said, are you a preacher?
I said, yes, ma'am, I am. She said, would you mind if I
held your hand? I said, okay. But it got everybody's attention
and everybody got silent. Well, you can imagine, kind of
take that on a grander scale in Egypt. Here's the thunder,
rolling, roaring, the voice of God. Lightning, He sends, and
it's like fire running across the ground. And the hail is falling,
hailstones that those who are out in the field, animals or
men, if they were in the field during the storm, they were all
killed. And the Lord gave very specific
instructions through Moses to Pharaoh and to all the leaders,
to all the masters, to all those who owned servants and who had
cattle or sheep, to all their herds and their flocks, you better
get them out of the fields, you better get them in a place of
safety, for if they stay out there exposed to the judgment
of God, they're all going to die. I sure see a gospel lesson
there, don't you? You see, the Lord Jesus and Him
crucified is the only safe refuge for sinners. If you're out in
the field, the field in the Bible pictures what? The world. If you're out in the world and
you're not in Christ, When the storm of God's judgment comes
for you, you cannot survive. There's death out there. There's
only one place of life. There's only one place of salvation. There's only one place of refuge,
and that's in Jesus Christ crucified, buried, risen again, ascending
and exalted. There's no safety anywhere else.
If the judgment of God finds you exposed, To those floods
of wrath, you will be swept away." And this is what Moses gave the
word to Pharaoh and to all the other people. Get out before
the storm comes. And I'm telling you, a storm
of wrath is going to fall upon this world. It's surely coming. And even though the Lord threatened
judgment many, many years ago and judgment hasn't fallen, a
general judgment hasn't happened yet, it will happen. And if you
die before that great judgment happens, you're immediately going
to be ushered into the presence of God. And without a righteousness
that God approves of, without being washed in the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ, you will, you must perish. You cannot abide
the presence of a holy God by yourself. Christ is the only
place of safety. May the Spirit of God And only
He can convince. May the Spirit of God convince
you to flee to Christ even right now. You see, faith is not a
physical action, it's not walking the aisle, it's not raising your
hand, it's not making a decision for Jesus. Faith is a gift of
God, and if God gives you faith, you will in your soul flee to
Christ, who is the very Son of God, the only one who saves sinners. That's clear, isn't it? I don't
think I can make it any clearer than that. And I'll tell you
something else. There's another beautiful picture
here, and it's in verse 26. Only in the land of Goshen. Well,
what's so special about Goshen? That's where the people of God
were. That's where Israel was. There was no hail. There was
no storm. There was no lightning. There
was no thunder. While their cattle, if their
cattle were grazing right beside of somebody else's, and we know
Pharaoh had cattle in Goshen, we've already noted that. But
you see, Pharaoh, to some degree, to some degree, he's seeing that
God is Lord indeed. Now, he's a long ways from salvation. The Lord never brings him to
that. But he gets his cattle out of
the field. He gets his sheep out of the
field. And as I read down through here, he talked about the Lord
is righteous. You remember just a few chapters
before this, when Moses and Aaron said, thus saith the Lord, let
my people go. This same man said, who is the
Lord? Who is the Lord that I should
obey him? I don't know your God. At that
time, he was like an atheist, but he's not totally an atheist
anymore. He said, the Lord is righteous,
pray to your God. He now believes there is a God,
but wait a minute, the devil believes there's a God and he
trembles, but he didn't know God. It isn't enough to just
believe that God exists. Well, of course He exists. The
heavens declare His glory, right? The firmament, His handiwork.
He is a fool who denies God's creative power and glory. But it isn't enough just to acknowledge
that God exists. The Spirit of God has to teach
you who He is in His character, in His attributes. God's not at all like grandma
and grandpa probably said that He was. I'll tell you what God's
like. I'll tell you who God's like.
He's like He says of Himself in His book. Read the book of God. You want
to learn about God? Read this book. Find out who
God is. And I'll tell you, God's got
a people. Just like the children of Israel were. They were the
nation that He Himself chose above all other nations. And
they're safe. They're safe. I'm sure as they
looked out of the land of Goshen back toward the Nile River, back
toward the main body of the land of Egypt, they saw dark clouds
over there. Maybe they could hear the distant
roar of the thunder and maybe see the lightning way out yonder
on the horizon. And I bet they said, there's
a terrible storm over there. Let's eat lunch. We have nothing
to be concerned about. You who are the people of God,
oh, hear the word of truth. You have nothing to be concerned
about because our Lord Jesus, he has borne the full, full storm
of the wrath of God for us. There is no condemnation to those
who are in Christ Jesus. So feed the cattle, take care
of the sheep, go about your business, looking to Jesus, the author
and the finisher of our faith. And one of these days, the Lord's
gonna take you home to glory. It's a peaceful story with an
everlastingly glorious end. The end of God's people. Now, I want to draw your attention
to the words of Pharaoh in verses 27 and 28. And talk to you for
just a few minutes about confession of sin. Because on the surface,
this sounds good. This sounds rather hopeful. And Pharaoh sent and called for
Moses and Aaron and said unto them, and by the way, I'm sure you've read this before,
where Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, which means Moses
and Aaron had to leave Goshen and enter into the stormy part
of Egypt, but still they were safe. Have you ever thought about that? So Pharaoh's messengers
going to see Moses and Aaron, they were spared the judgment
of God according to God's purpose on this mission. And they go
to God's two preachers, and they say to God's two preachers, Our
King wants to see you. And all of them have a safe journey
back. And here's what Pharaoh said,
I have sinned. And it sounds rather hopeful
for this vile wretch. I have sinned, but then he adds,
this time. I have sinned this time. You
see, what Pharaoh doesn't understand is this. There's a lot of things
he doesn't understand. But he puts sin down to just
an action. I've sinned this time. I didn't
let Israel go this time and now my people are paying for it.
So I have sinned this time. Here's what he doesn't know.
Here's what he doesn't understand. And this is what most people
don't understand. Sin isn't merely what you do
or what you say or how you think or your motives. Sin's a principle. It's a nature in the heart. We're defiled from within. That's
where the defilement is. So I probably have done wrong
today. I'm certain of that. But you
do wrong and you talk wrong and you have wrong motives because
we are wrong. That's the problem. We're born
in sin. That's what David said. We've got a sin problem. We've
all got a common problem. We're sinners in the heart. The disciples told our Lord Jesus,
you've offended the Pharisees. Those Pharisees, they're separatists. They live holy lives. They live
godly lives. You've offended them because
you talk about sin being something on the inside. You know what
the Lord said? Leave them alone. They don't know what sin is. Sin is a basic evil principle. It's a virus. It's a spiritual
virus with which all of us are infected. I was talking about, talking to
a couple of ladies back there about I haven't visited Tony
and I haven't visited Tommy because of the presence of so many viruses
down at the hospital. But we have a far more serious
virus. It's the virus of sin. And there
is no human cure. Can we be cured of this illness,
of this virus? Well, there is a cure and the
cure is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. But it's a cure not only for
the actions that are wrong, but for the fact that we're wrong.
We're defiled from the inside. We got a heart problem. The heart
is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can
know it is what the prophet Jeremiah asked. You see, Pharaoh, he puts sin
down to one action. I didn't let Israel go. I should
have. I've sinned this time. You're
a sinner, my friend. And then he does speak right.
The Lord is righteous. That's why he's got to punish
sin. And he's right about this, and
I and my people are wicked. He's right about that too. But you see, his concern over
being a sinner, his concern over sin is not because he's troubled
by his own guilt or wretchedness, He's troubled over sin because
of the wrath that is the result of sin. That's what he wants
to get rid of. He wants to get rid of the judgment.
He doesn't hate sin for what it is, defiance, rebellion against
God. He hates sin because of the effect
of the judgment of God upon him and his people. So he says this in verse 28,
Entreat the Lord, for it's enough. We've had enough. Can't take
any more. I'm losing people out here. I'm
losing citizens of the country of Egypt. We're losing cattle. We're losing sheep. I see our
economic power going down. In truth, the Lord pray for us.
What do you want me to pray for, Pharaoh? That the Lord take the
judgments away. I'll tell you what you better
be praying about. The Lord take the sin away. The Lord do something
about my sin. Forgive me of my sin in a righteous
way. He ought to be asking this, how
can I be freed of my guilt and my sinfulness. How can God forgive
me? Moses would have taught him about
a sacrifice that set forth the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, entreat the Lord, pray
for me that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail,
and then I'll let you go. and you shall stay no longer.
And he not only prayed this prayer to Moses, of course, he ought
to be praying to the Lord, but he prayed this to Moses, but
he, again, turned a page or two over to chapter number 10. The
Lord's gonna send another plague, the plague of locusts. And they just gonna devour everything. Chapter 10, verse 16. Then Pharaoh,
after the locust plague, then Pharaoh called for Moses and
Aaron in haste. And he says again, I have sinned,
and this time he says, against the Lord. Watch his words. Your God. He didn't say, I have sinned
against the Lord my God. He refuses to identify himself
with the God of Israel. I have sinned against the Lord,
your God, and against you. And he says in verse 17, now
therefore, forgive. I pray thee. Forgive my sin. And here's another
problem he's got. Only this once. Only this once. I'm not a real
vile man. Just forgive this sin. He still
doesn't see that every vain imagination against God is sin. We breathe in, as it were, sin. Did you know the Bible says,
whatsoever is not of faith is sin? That's right in Iran. Whatever
is not of faith is sin. So the things that you've done
today, the words that you've used, the food that you've eaten,
all of those things, if you didn't Do those things. If your thoughts
were not according to the Word of faith of the Scriptures, if
your imagination, if your motive in coming here tonight isn't
faith in the Lord to learn more about Him, whatsoever is not
a faith is sin. Why, we're all guilty. Come on
now. We're all guilty. Well, you'd
be a fool to say, well, I'm not guilty. That doesn't affect me. Well, you're really blind then. Oh, that God would give us sight
to see what we are. And we'll see what we are in
the brilliance of the holiness of our God. And when we see to some degree
who God is, and our own condition, that's
when the Spirit of God will drive us to the refuge for sinners
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we'll run to Him and say,
I've got to have His blood. His blood alone washes and cleanses. I've got to have His righteousness.
His righteousness alone makes me fit. to stand before God. Confession of sin. He confessed
his sin. But you know what the scripture
says? Whoso confesseth his sin and
forsaketh it, and forsaketh it, shall find forgiveness. First John 1.9, if we confess
our sins, Not to one another, but to God. If we confess our
sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Now,
hang on a minute. Don't ever think that your confession
of sins to God puts your sin away. Your repentance and your
faith is not near powerful enough to rid you of the sin problem. The confession of faith, I'll
tell you what it will bring you. It will bring you the ease of
a troubled conscience as God assures you that He is faithful
and just to forgive you your sins through the bloody death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But your faith won't do it, your
confession won't do it. Don't think that confession puts
your sins away. It does not. Confession of sin,
true heart confession, is a gift from God so that you see you
have sinned against God. And upon the basis of the faithful
obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ, He forgives you. He forgives
you. There's a number of times that
expression I have sinned is found in the Scriptures. They're too
numerous for me to turn with you to them tonight. But I'll
just give you this one in closing. Psalm 51, David said, Against
thee and thee only. What does he say? Have I sinned
in thy sight? We've sinned against God. We're
sinners against God. Is there forgiveness? There is
forgiveness with the Lord that He may be feared, that He may
be reverenced. May the Lord give us a desire
for true forgiveness as we come before the Lord, just come clean
before Him in confession of sin. Get your songbooks. We'll sing
a closing song.