The Third Plague

All right, let's be turning to Exodus chapter 8. Exodus chapter 8. So the first plague, the rod of God touched the waters of the river Nile, and it turned the water into blood. And that was a picture of death and judgment. It was picturing death and judgment.

But this also pictures the savor of the knowledge of God that we make in every place in preaching the gospel. When we preach the gospel, because that's what the rod of Aaron here, which is the rod of God, It pictures Christ. It pictures the preaching of Christ. And when we preach Christ crucified, we are making known the savor of God's knowledge unto you.

It's revealing to you God's will, God's heart, what he would have made known to the people. It's a savor of knowledge. And in them that perish. It is a saver of death unto death. That's what it pictures there. And then that perished. But to the chosen people of God, that word is a saver of life unto life and them that are saved. It's a word that describes our deliverance. It's speaking to what our God has done for us, is doing for us, and shall do for us in the Lord Jesus Christ, all of his work, all of his grace.

Now, the second plague then that God brought upon Egypt was the plague of an overwhelming number of frogs. And we were told that these frogs went into all the borders of Egypt. They stretched all the way out to all the borders of Egypt. And frogs in scripture are likened to unclean spirits, that which is a lie, that which deceives, that which is meant to mislead and deceive and keep you in darkness. And that's what frogs picture.

They picture that unclean spirit, and it describes or gives us a picture of the strong delusion that men are under by nature, that all are under by nature. Now this third plague that we'll be looking at this morning here, it gives us a sight of God's sovereign power to bring forth life from the dust. It pictures what God is able to do that man cannot replicate or do. This plague also speaks to the corruption of man. It speaks to the curse that all are under by nature. And so when the enemies of God see this, they're forced to acknowledge God's power. And they're forced to acknowledge their own uncleanness and their sin and their curse. So that's what we see here in this third plague, which is the plague of lice. So let's read beginning in verse 16, Exodus 8, verse 16.

And the Lord said unto Moses, say unto Aaron, stretch out thy rod and smite the dust of the land. Again, this rod is a picture of the gospel. It's a picture of Christ. You stretch out your rod and you smite the dust of the land. You preach this word to the people, to the people who are made of the dust. that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt.

And this plague is done seemingly without any warning to Israel. No warning was given to them. It just follows directly on the heels of us being told that Pharaoh hardened his heart when he saw that there was a respite from the frogs. At the end of the seven days, he hardened his heart And he didn't let the people go as he said he would. And then the Lord struck the dust and made known the sin, made known the curse that's in all the land of man's flesh, in the body of sin here. And they did so. They did what the Lord told them to do, Moses and Aaron. For Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man and in beast. All the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt."

Now, I want to focus this morning in this plague here on five things that we are to take away from this, five things that we can take away from this plague of lice. First, This plague is a picture of the curse that is upon all men. We are under the curse by nature.

This flesh produces thorns and thistles, as it were. And it describes why my heart by nature is so hard, why there's a warfare in me, why there's an enmity in my flesh against the true and living God that will not yield, that will not bend to him, that will not listen. But as soon as there is a respite, I'll go right back to what I was in the flesh. That's the nature of man. That is what this flesh does. So it speaks to the hardness.

It speaks to the enmity that is in this flesh by nature against the true and living God. And this, of course, harkens back to Adam's fall in sin in the garden. And I'm going to read from Genesis 3 in verses 17 through 19. The Lord God spoke to Adam, and he said, Because thou hast hearkened, listened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it.

Cursed is the ground for thy sake. Cursed is the dust of the earth. Cursed is that ground for your sake. In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee. And thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground. For out of it wast thou taken. for dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return." And that speaks to the consequences of Adam's sin, and the consequence which has come upon the world, and the consequence that has come upon this flesh.

It's under the curse by nature. What the Lord says there about thorns and thistles coming up from the ground, that's true. I have things in the garden that I work, and every year, even though I pluck them out by the roots, there's a particular plant in there that comes back and it's got thorns.

If it's just a couple inches, it doesn't hurt me, but once it gets about six or seven inches, I grab it and ow, it stings me. It gets me right in my fingers or hand. Well, that's actually what is believed to be something that this lice did. It would bite and sting. That's what many of the commentators believe, based on the historical writings that were written, that this was some kind of biting, stinging lice. And that's what the ground produces. Thorns and thistle, something that stings and bites and makes it very difficult and painful.

And it reminds us, when we feel it, of the infirmity, the weakness, the sinfulness, the curse that this flesh is under. It's meant to remind us of the curse that we are under and our need of God's grace and mercy for us. And the Lord tells him that you are now dead, just like I said, for dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return.

Man died spiritually, And man physically, his body began to corrupt and die right from that moment until he was laid in the ground. And because of Adam's sin, this consequence struck to all the borders of the world. For by man, by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin. And so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. All have sinned in Adam. And we see it testified. in the world and in our own hearts every day, that we are sinners. We are sinners by nature.

And the ground was immediately cursed for Adam's sake, and his flesh died also, so that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. It continues to groan and cry out for the sin, for the curse that has come into this world.

And here, the Lord now moves from the waters. The former plagues, the first two, were upon the water. Now he moves to the land in this plague, and it hits its mark, and revealing all men are under the curse. At this point, there's no distinction made between Israel and Egypt. That isn't said until the fourth plague, that the Lord put a division between Israel and Egypt. But at this point, it's describing what we all are by nature, dead in trespasses and sins, under the judgment of God, going the course of the world, listening to the voice of the wicked one, heeding his voice, taken captive by him at his will. And we're all under the curse. So these first three plagues, there's nothing mentioned about a distinction made between Israel and Egypt. But that will come in the next plague, the fourth one with the flies there. And so all men are guilty, even the people of God.

It's not because we're good. It's not because we do anything different from others. It's because God will be gracious to whom he will be gracious and to whom he will, he will be merciful and compassionate and kind to them to deliver them from the death that we deserve by nature. And so Paul warns us, saying, of the common sins to all men, common even to us and our flesh, and this land of Philistines, as it were. He says, let no man deceive you with vain words, for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be mindful of these things that our God has saved us from graciously, graciously.

So this plague struck a blow to even the religious beliefs of the Egyptians. As I understand it, they, especially the priests, the false priests of Egypt, they practiced cleanliness. They purposed to keep themselves clean and to keep themselves from being plagued by vermin such as this lice, because it would interrupt their ability to worship their idol gods. But this thing struck everybody so that they were unclean.

And that's what the Lord does. When he strikes our dust with his word, it makes us to know I'm unclean. By nature, by what I do, if the gospels preach, you're going to know that my works are not cutting it. They're not making me righteous before God. I'm not doing it.

I need to hear, well, how then is a man righteous with God? How is a man justified with God? It's meant to show us our sin, to open our ear, and ask God, Lord, have mercy on me. Help me to hear it. Help me to hear what I need. If I can't save myself, Lord, then I need you to save me. And that's what it should be bringing us to.

And so this thing exposes It exposes our works and shows us our uncleanness before the true and living God. And so all are unclean and unfit to come before the living God and be accepted of him. And we need the Lord to show us that and to show us righteousness. Because he says by his prophets that all our righteousnesses, all our good works, all our best deeds are as filthy rags in his sight. And Isaiah 64, 6, they're unclean. We are unclean as a filthy rag, and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

And so that's a picture of us. And the Lord tells us, this is the eternal judgment coming upon you. For dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return. And we see it. All that we know and love and have heard of throughout history, all men die. All die and go to the grave.

It's a testimony of the corruption of this flesh. And it's a picture to show us that this flesh isn't getting better either. This flesh needs to be redeemed, which it shall be redeemed at the resurrection. That's when we will have a new heavenly body. Until then, it's a corrupt body. it's corrupt. Now, that's what the Lord's showing us first in this third plague.

Now, the second thing we may draw from this plague is that God's enemies are always rendered helpless. A man is going to be humbled before God. He's going to be shown his inability, his incapacity, his inability to do his will as he would do it. At some point he's going to hit his face on the ground and be humbled and shamed to know that he's not all powerful and able to do whatever he pleases to do. Look at verse 18.

And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not. So there were lice upon man and upon beast. Now, this is the first time that these men, Janus and Jambres, who had been opposing Moses, this is the first time where the Lord said, you're not doing it. He didn't permit them or allow them with however they were doing it, with their enchantments, that was the end of it.

They were not able to replicate what Moses and Aaron were doing. When Aaron's rod, before this, when Aaron's rod was turned into a snake, they were able to turn their rods through their enchantments into a snake. When Aaron's rod smote the waters of the River Nile and turned them to blood, by their enchantments, they were able to turn water into blood. When Aaron's rod brought forth an abundance of frogs up from the river, they were able to bring up frogs. Never were they able to roll back or fight against God. They could never oppose God. All they could do by their works was make the plague worse. They could only make it even worse by their works.

But here at this point, the Lord said, you'll go no further. No further. The Lord was now distinguishing and showing, you can't do what I am able to do. You cannot do what God will do, and you cannot oppose God in what he will do. You cannot change God's mind or alter what the Lord's purpose and will is. God is God, and man is not God. There is one God, one true and living God, and we are not it. You and I are not God, and we are not all powerful and able to do what we please.

And the Lord shows us that in many ways. And that's not a bad thing. That's a good thing to be humbled and to be shown I'm not perfect. I'm not able to do everything and anything I would. I need the Lord. It's good to be humbled. It's good to be shown your weakness. and your faults and your need of the Lord, because that's where the Lord brings all his people.

And he brings us to see our need of him. If you don't see your need of him, it's because God has left you in ignorance. And you're in ignorance and in darkness. And you need light and salvation. That's what the Lord does for his people. And you need him. I need him to do that for you and me. That's what we need. And so the Lord restrains them now. And he shuts the boast of man up. He stops man from boasting. And it just shows us that, though for a time, God may permit men to do what they will do. And they may go a long time sometimes.

I mean, even in Ecclesiastes, Solomon speaks of sometimes the wicked living out like the righteous, and the righteous coming to an end like the wicked. But for the most part, The Lord, and I think he does that just to confuse men and not let us get a finger on anything.

But what the Lord does is, you may go for a time, but there's coming a day in which it'll all end. He that liveth by the sword will die by the sword. And how you conduct yourself, the Lord tells us that what a man soweth, that shall he reap. And that's just how it is. And so we can go for time, but there's coming a day when it will end.

In fact, we see throughout scriptures how the Lord is sovereign and in control of all things. He tells us that the heart of the king is in the Lord's hand. And as the rivers of water, he turneth that heart whithersoever he pleases. He can move kingdoms and nations to do exactly what he wills for them to do.

And that's actually a comfort for us, isn't it? To know that nothing is happening by chance. It's not the devil. running the world, our God is in control of all things. And you can take comfort in that. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts. You can trust him. And you may be troubled. I get troubled by things. But let it turn you to cry out to the Lord, Lord, have mercy. Lord, help us. Lord, please be gracious to us. Preserve us and keep your people, Lord.

And he does. He does. Again, we read, surely the wrath of man shall praise thee, the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. Again, he's showing that nothing can be done by us, by men or devils, except God permit it. And what he permits is always going to work for God's glory, and it's always going to be for his good purpose. You that are born again, you that hope in Christ, you that are covered and washed in the blood of Christ and sanctified by him, all God's purposes are good for you. Everything's good, even our humblings, even our chastenings, even our being brought low. It's always for our good.

The Lord set the boundaries of all things. He describes even the waves. Job said, the Lord said, hitherto shalt thou come, but no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed. God set the boundaries of the waves. As I understand it, there's more water down there below the crust. I see more and more articles like that that speak about more water. That means the Lord brought up exactly the amount of water he would have come up and set the boundaries of the seas. and said, you're going no further.

It's all in his hand. Everything is in his hand. And so the point of this is for us to see we're all born under the curse and sin. God is the judge of all the earth. He's the creator, and he's the judge, and that's good. The hosts of heaven, we're told, praise him for this. They worship and praise our God because He is sovereign and in control of all things, and we exist for His good pleasure. They say, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created. And we can say that, and say it joyfully. not as a burden, but we can be glad and say, Lord, thank you.

Thank you for creating me. Thank you for my family. Thank you for my friends, my brethren. Thank you, Lord, for all that you've given to me. And it's good to be in a thankful heart and of a thankful mind for what the Lord has done. It's far better than being angry and bitter about things, because that doesn't do anything for us. It only puts us in more bitterness and more anger. Just be thankful. And we have much to be thankful for. And if you have a thankful heart, rejoice, because that's the Lord that gives that thankful heart. It's the Lord that has given us that tenderness and that thankfulness.

And thank him for that, because it's all of his hands. And so, consider these things while it's called today, because your tomorrow may never come. So consider them today. Consider and observe these things today, because tomorrow may be too late for us. So trust them now.

Now the third thing we see in this is that the enemy's acknowledgment of God's power. Look at the first half of verse 19. Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, this is the finger of God. With the limited, tiny understanding they had, they confessed, this is the finger. of God.

And they saw that their enchantments had reached their limit, and they knew what we're seeing here is something divine, something we can't do. We can't replicate or fool people or whatever we're doing. We can't do what he has done here. And this is a witness for unbelievers here. These were unbelievers, and this is a witness for unbelievers who refuse to hear the testimony of God.

Even the unbelievers who opposed Moses were made to acknowledge. They came to a point where they acknowledged, Lord, you are God. It was Julian the apostate, I think he's called there, that was made to confess in warfare when he was slain. His last words was, thou hast conquered me, thou Galilean. He had despised Christ. And he knew when he died that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of God, who is the Savior.

Don't turn from him. Don't cast away your confidence in him, brethren. And so man, by nature, will not hear the word of God concerning the things of God. Man will not believe a believer's testimony either. But will he hear another unbeliever's testimony? No, I don't think you will. Man won't even hear that.

But we have the testimony of God. We have the testimony of God's people. And here's a testimony of unbelievers who know that God is God, that God is God. And he reveals himself. And when he does, if you're there without Christ, you're naked, and all will see your shame. We need the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so these men, these idolaters, saw something that got their attention. And they said to Pharaoh, this is the finger of God. And you know something? These men, Janus and Jambres, they were never heard from again in the rest of the plagues. That was the end of them. Their voice was never heard anymore after this.

Now, whether you believe God and his Christ or not, the scriptures tell us that God hath made this same Jesus, this one whom we preach, Jesus of Nazareth, whom the Jews and Gentiles crucified, God hath made him both Lord and Christ. He is the one with whom we have to do. He is the one that either covers us of our sin or judges us in nakedness. In our nakedness, we need the Lord.

God testified that he is both Lord and Christ in raising him from the dead. He saw no corruption. His body did not corrupt. And God raised him from the dead to testify, to justify you that believe in him. The testimony that He is the Christ, that He is exactly who He said He is.

And so man crucified the Son of God whom the Father sent in the flesh, and our Lord Jesus Christ came willingly, fulfilling all righteousness, to go to the cross as the perfect Lamb of God, who willingly sacrificed Himself unto the Father, bearing the sins of His people, to obtain the forgiveness of our sins, to obtain for us righteousness with God and acceptance with holy God because our sin is put away. It's not as if we've never sinned, we are cleansed. We are cleansed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that we are righteous before God. As righteous as Christ is, we in the Lord Jesus Christ are as righteous as he is, made so by the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

When he died, he lay in the grave for three days and God raised him from the dead according to the scriptures and showed himself to the disciples on more than one occasion, several times, testifying that he had indeed been raised from the dead by the power and glory of God, after which he ascended to the Father. where he's now seated in session as the king ruling and reigning at the right hand of the throne of God till God make his enemies his footstool. God conquering all our enemies and blessing his people even now. The scriptures declaring our Lord's faithfulness in Philippians 2 verses 9 through 11, wherefore God also hath highly exalted him. his darling son Jesus Christ, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Now fourth, we shall consider a comparison of this text to John chapter 8. All right, the Lord here in Exodus, and turn to John chapter eight, we'll just read a few verses there. The Lord here in Exodus is declaring something to us in touching the dust of the earth. All right, and when he touches the dust of the earth, it makes men to know their sin. It makes us to know what we are by nature in the flesh here. To be aware of this curse that we are under, under the law. It makes us to know this.

And in John chapter 8, the Jews were told had taken a woman in adultery. They set up a trap, they set this thing up apparently because they didn't bring the man, they just brought the woman and they bring her to the Lord and to see whether they could tempt the Lord. They were trying to tempt the Lord. to get him to say something or do something that would allow them to accuse him, just as we read here in John 8, verse 6. This they said, tempting him. The law of Moses says we should stone her. And this they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him.

But Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground. He touched the dust. rode in the dust there on the ground as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down and rode on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last, and Jesus was left alone and the woman standing in the midst."

And so, like this testimony here of the grace of our Lord to provide for his people and to deliver us from from the justice of God, right, to satisfy holy God for our sins. This picture here points to what this third plague does. It humbles us. It shows us our sin. It makes us to know the curse that we are under by nature, that we are not God, that we can't just save ourselves and do what we will. We are creatures under the authority and power of almighty God. who does with us as it pleases Him. He's showing us through the scriptures, through the preaching of the word, our sin and our transgression and our unrighteousness, that all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. He's showing us this to us constantly, lest we should puff up and think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. but instead that we would be humble and bow before the Lord, not thinking of ourselves more highly than we should, but thinking wondrously of our God and thinking thoughts of thankfulness and joy for what He has done for us, and showing us the way unto the Father, which is the Lord Jesus Christ, who said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No man cometh unto the Father but by me. He shows us that. That's a grace of mercy. Our God brought something from that dust unlike anything these men had ever seen. They couldn't produce it themselves. Man can't produce life out of death. He can't bring a good thing out of a cursed thing. Man can't do that. I can't do that. You can't do it. But there's a testimony in this of what God is able to do. Just as God formed man of the dust, and breathed by his spirit, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and made him a living soul. So the Lord brought forth some creature here from the dust.

Some say it was gnats, some say it was lice, some say it was mosquitoes, some say it was ticks, they don't know. But it seems like it was some form of an unclean thing like lice. All right, people are skeeved out by lice because it's a gross, dirty, unclean creature that we don't even know how we got it. But we're unclean. All right, that's the picture. of it.

And so the Lord is able to bring forth life. And that's what we're seeing here, is you and I, we can't deliver ourselves, we can't save ourselves, but God is able. God is able to do all things. That we are weak in ourselves and insufficient for the task, God is able and he has provided the salvation, not by works that we do, but by grace. Entirely in the covenant of grace established by the blood and righteousness of his darling son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he gives his people his spirit and saves us by a new and living way, not by works, but all in his grace, freely given.

And so the fifth and final thing, we're told what Pharaoh did when he saw this new work of God It says there in verse 18, after they confessed this is the finger of God, Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them as the Lord had said.

And it's a warning to all. who hear the testimony of God week after week and know what the Lord has done, don't be willfully ignorant the way Pharaoh is. But hear these things. And though we can't make ourselves believe, the Lord tells us these things.

And I pray he stirs up our hearts with it that we would cry out to him, Lord, have mercy on me. Lord, don't harden my heart. but give me a soft heart and a heart that hears your word willingly and gladly. Lord, open my ear and give me that confession of Christ by faith, because the word of faith which we preach teaches us that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For, Paul tells us, with the heart man believeth unto righteousness. That's why the Lord gives us a new heart. that we may believe unto righteousness. And with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. They shall be saved. I pray the Lord do this for us this day and keep doing it for us, lest we harden our hearts like Pharaoh and die in our sins. I pray the Lord bless that word.

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