The Plague Of Eternal Death

Q: What does the Bible say about eternal death?

The Bible teaches that the wages of sin is death, resulting in eternal separation from God for the wicked. Eternal death is the ultimate consequence of sin, as highlighted in Revelation 20, which describes the final judgment of the wicked. Those not found in the book of life are cast into the lake of fire, a place of eternal torment prepared for the devil and his angels. This concept underscores the serious nature of sin and the urgent need for redemption in Christ, who provides a way to escape this eternal punishment through His sacrifice on the cross.

Q: How do we know God's sovereignty in salvation is true?

God's sovereignty is demonstrated in His ability to save His people from the punishment due to sin, as revealed in Scripture. The sovereignty of God in salvation is a core tenet of Reformed theology, illustrated through the plagues in Egypt, where God made a distinct separation between His people and those who remained in rebellion. In Romans 9, Paul discusses God's right to have mercy on whom He wills, emphasizing that salvation is not based on human effort but solely on God's gracious initiative. This sovereignty in salvation affirms that God is actively involved in saving His people, ensuring that none whom He has called will be lost.

Q: Why is the concept of being dead in trespasses and sins important for Christians?

Understanding that we are dead in trespasses highlights our need for God's mercy and the necessity of Christ's atonement. The doctrine of being dead in trespasses and sins emphasizes the total depravity of mankind, a foundational aspect of Reformed theology. Ephesians 2:1-5 teaches that we were all once dead in sin, unable to save ourselves. This reality underscores the amazing grace of God, which brings spiritual life to those who are dead, revealing the necessity for Christ's atoning sacrifice. Recognizing our spiritual condition deepens our gratitude for God's work of salvation and shapes our understanding of the gospel as not merely an invitation but a divine rescue for those in desperate need.

Q: What does the Bible say about God's grace in delivering His people?

The Bible reveals that God's grace is foundational to His deliverance of His people from sin and its consequences. God’s grace in delivering His people is vividly illustrated by the plagues in Egypt. Just as He sent Moses to free the Israelites from bondage, He delivers us from the bondage of sin through Christ. As stated in Ephesians 2:4-5, God, who is rich in mercy, saves us by grace when we were dead in sin. This divine grace not only secures our deliverance but also grants us the faith to believe in Christ. It highlights that salvation is entirely a work of God, demonstrating His unmerited favor towards us despite our unworthiness.

All right, brethren, let's be turning to Exodus chapter eight. Exodus chapter eight. We see now that three plagues have come to pass in the land of Egypt. First was the waters were turned to blood. Then there was the plague of frogs. and then the plague of lice, and each plague pictures one spiritual truth that the Lord declares to us throughout all the scripture, and that is that all are dead in trespasses and sins. That is the one overarching theme of these plagues. All are dead in trespasses and sins. The first plague declares the wages of sin is death. The wages of sin is death. The second plague declares that man born of Adam is heeding, listening to, following the voice of the wicked one. All right, the man is under strong delusion, just following, going the way, the course of the world under the bondage of the wicked one.

And the third plague declares that all are under the curse of the law. All right, they're all pictured in those plagues there. And these things, this is true of all men. This is true of every one of us by nature. We're all sinners, we're all by nature going the course of the world, following the voice of the wicked one, under strong delusion, we're all under the curse of the law. And this is true of all, and that's why these plagues extended all the way to all the borders of Egypt, all around. It affected everybody, and that includes the Israelites, that were slaves there in Egypt. All were affected by these first three plagues. But now, before this plague a division is made.

The Lord makes a division that is specific in declaring His, it shows His sovereignty, it shows His power, it shows that He is able to do whatsoever He pleases in all the earth, and it pleases Him to deliver His people. It pleases God to make a distinction between His people, His sheep, and the wicked of the world that are left dead in trespasses and sins. And so what it pictures is that the Lord spares his people from the punishment that is coming upon the wicked, the unjust, the disobedient. So we begin now in verses 20 and 21, Exodus 8, verses 20 and 21.

And the Lord said unto Moses, rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh, lo he cometh forth to the water and say unto 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, 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, if you're reading in the King James Bible, you'll notice that the word following swarms, which is of flies, is in italics. And that means it's not in the original, those words of flies. What the Lord is saying is he will send swarms upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians.

And the margin of your King James Bible, if you have a margin, it'll tell you that that word swarms is meant, or what it means is a mixture. It's a mixture of noisome beasts. Noisome, and that word noisome, it means disgusting. It means things like offensive. It's very unpleasant. Very unpleasant it's made.

These swarms of these flying insects, largely different types of flies. It's a mixture of flies. The psalmist tells us, He sent diverse sorts of flies among them, which devoured them. Speaking of this plague, diverse sorts of flies, which devoured them. So it's a various flies, just like we see, right? There's horse flies that like to bite you. There's other kinds of flies that just come and are nuisances. There's other flying insects that get on you.

And when you start getting bit, by a lot of the same kind or a mixture of them, your body can have reactions to it. You can have pain and itching. You can get blisters and red spots. And the more of those toxins you get, the worse it can be. You could just have bad, bad reactions. And that's what they were getting. They were getting overwhelmed and eaten up by these flies, these different kinds of flies. It plagued them. It plagued them, it was a nuisance, it was troublesome, it was no relief that they could get. And just these little creatures can inflict this great, great harm on them.

I remember many years ago when we were in Jersey, we were at the shore in one of the places and for whatever reason, the wind blew in a bunch of flies. And I remember looking down the beach and there was this big muscle guy, This big, big guy, you know, beautiful body, all built and everything like that and tone. And all I kept seeing was this guy jumping up and swatting and smacking himself because he was being plagued by the flies. It was just constantly a nuisance to him.

And it just, it just, I remember it stuck out to me about that. And that's what we're seeing here with these, these flies here. And so when we're looking at this, there's a progression going on here. There's a progression of these plagues so far seen in the death and the delusion and the curse that all are under. All men are under it expressed in those first three plagues. Well, what's the next step from there?

Eternal judgment, eternal damnation. That is the next step, eternal judgment and punishment of the wicked in which the body is tormented in hell, is plagued and tormented in hell for the sins, the trespasses, the iniquities, the transgressions, it's eternal punishment. It says in Revelation 20, whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. And that is the same place that we're told that the devil, the beast, and the false prophet are all thrown into where they're tormented day and night forever and ever. And that's describing the eternal punishment of the wicked.

But in our text, next we read in verse 22 and 23, where the Lord says, and I will sever, I will sever in that day the land of Goshen. I'm gonna carve out 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 between my people and thy people. Tomorrow shall this sign be." Now, here's the gospel, right?

Here's the gospel witnessed in these plagues, in the midst of these plagues, all men are under condemnation in Adam. Declared in those first three plagues, all are condemned in Adam under the judgment of sin, following the voice of the devil, bound under the curse of the law, and there's no ability for man to free himself or deliver himself from that curse.

We can't take ourselves out of it, but God, God does it. And God here gives the command to obey him, seeing him when he says to Pharaoh, let my people go that they may serve me. And left to himself, he perishes. Just like all men left to ourselves under the command before the command of God to obey him and to believe him and to follow him and to honor him perfectly, no man can do it. No man can do it. And so all are bound by that curse And we see here that a man either refuses God outright, no God, no, I won't do it, no God, I won't do it, I won't believe.

And yet we see that in many, as it's written, there's none righteous, no, not one, there's none that understandeth, there's none that seeketh after God, they are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not one.

And that's exactly how Pharaoh began with Moses, right? Who was the Lord of the Hebrews that I should hear him? I should listen to him and obey him, right? That's how he began. And then we also meet with others, right? Who say, I'll do it. I'll listen, I'll obey, but they don't. They don't follow through, right? They can't keep the law perfectly.

That the scriptures tell us every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. And so even though man hears the command of the law, man has no ability to obey it. He has no desire to obey it. He will not, he will not obey it. And the law can't make a man righteous. Hearing the law read, that doesn't improve this flesh. That doesn't make a man righteous. It doesn't make us able to hear it and to obey it. All the law does is condemn us.

It shows us what we are by nature. And we see this pattern repeated with Pharaoh now. He agrees in word to obey. He says, I'll do it, I'll listen, I'll comply, you can go. But then as soon as there's relief, he disobeys God. It reminds me of that parable that the Lord gave of the two sons. The first one said, I'll go father, I'll go into the vineyard and I'll work.

I'll go into the field and work, but he doesn't go. And then you have the other son who said, no, I ain't going there. I ain't doing that. I have no desire to go out there and eat of the day and pick the crops. I'm not doing that. But he does go. And the Lord asks, who will be? Well, the one who did go, right? And that's all of us by nature, isn't it? No, we ain't doing that.

We're gonna do our own thing until the grace of God breaks through and delivers us from that bondage and death that we're in. and he does it, and that's what the Lord does until when the Lord severs us out, when he comes after his lost sheep and he delivers his people, he plucks us out of that spiritual death, he delivers us from the judgment that's coming upon the wicked, saying, I've found a ransom for them, I've provided a ransom, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he blesses us with all spiritual blessings in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the Lord does.

And he says in verse 22, again, I will sever in that day the land of Goshen in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies, no picture of eternal judgment is gonna land on them. To the end, thou mayest know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. And so he's declaring here, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. That's what he's saying there. I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. I will show myself merciful to whom I will show myself merciful.

And that's because of the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ who loved us and gave himself for us. who willingly came and bore that punishment for us to satisfy the holy justice of God, which was against us. He established the law in perfect righteousness. He satisfied the justice of God for his people by his obedience to the Father on the cross as the sacrifice of his people, as their substitute to put away our sin and to obtain for us eternal redemption. Life and fellowship with holy God And though men refuse to believe and obey him now, there's coming a day of judgment in which they will know.

There's coming a day that pictures this, or that this pictures, I should say. There's coming a day of judgment. And turn over to Matthew 25, let's see this. Matthew 25, and let's go down to verse 31, to the end of the chapter, verse 31. Here our Lord says, when the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. Then he'll judge the nations. And before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. Verse 33, And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was in hunger, and ye gave me meat. I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink. I was a stranger, and ye took me in. naked, and ye clothed me. I was sick, and ye visited me. I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee and hungered, and fed thee, or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in, or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the king shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

It's such a beautiful testimony to us to love one another. Just to love one another. To be in fellowship and faithful to one another. It's a simple picture there. Believers think we gotta be doing this and that. Just love one another and follow the Lord. Be faithful to him. And in that, we are serving the Lord. We're doing these things as unto the Lord and he's well pleased with that. Then shall he say, verse 41, then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, the goats, depart from me, he cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.

For I was in hunger, and ye gave me no meat. I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink. I was a stranger, and ye took me not in. Naked and ye clothed me not. Sick and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, whence are we thee and hungered, or thirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it not to me, and these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.

What the Lord is showing us there is that we need him and we need his grace. And to set your heart upon him, to look to him and seek him, feed upon him, upon his flesh and drink his blood. And that is worship him and call upon him and cry out to him for his grace. And these are the works that he gives us to do, to love one another, even as Christ has loved us.

Now, returning to our text in chapter eight, verse 24, Exodus 8, 24. 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 by reason of the swarm of flies. And then this brings us to Pharaoh before us once more. So now Pharaoh comes back into view for us. Verse 25, and Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron and said, go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land. I'd imagine it didn't take very long for those flies and the various things started biting and chewing and devouring and just making him miserable, him and all around him.

And, but what he's saying there, when he says, go ye sacrifice to your God in the land, he's basically saying, worship with us. You can worship your God right here in Aramis. You can just, we'll let you do that. He'll just become one of the many gods with us.

But that's not what the Lord does. He separates his sheep from the goats. We see that in the scripture. He separates. He says, I'll sever. I'll put a distinction between my people and the wicked of the world. And so what he does is he leads us out, right? There's that picture of the great shepherd who knocks on the door and the porter, the Holy Spirit opens unto him and he leads his sheep out to pasture, right? In other words, the picture there in the beginning of John chapter 10 is that the Lord takes his people out of the world, out of the bondage, out of death and leads them into good pastures.

That's what the Lord does for us. And so he separates us, and that's where we learn of him. That's where we worship him. That's where we learn the truth of his word and his promises that are made unto us. We experience them and grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It's made real to us through the trials and the difficulties in the wilderness with one another. That's where the Lord teaches us. Now Pharaoh seems to have been humbled by God, right? But he was still under condemnation and wrath. He was humbled. He was seeing, but his heart wasn't changed. He's still a man, a carnal man, a flesh without the spirit of Christ.

And if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he's none of his. He's none of his, and so this is why our Lord tells us ye must be born again. And Paul says, for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision but a new creature. a new creature. When we are born again, we are made new creatures by the seed, the incorruptible seed of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is the operation of our God to do this for us. He gives life to dead sinners. He gives light to us who are bound in darkness, in the prison. He opens up as that picture in Listen, Isaiah 49 says he opens the prison door and says, sinner, show yourselves. Come into the light. Because all who come into the light, they testify that God hath done this. He's wrought this work in me. He's raised me from the dead.

And it's beautiful what the Lord does, because we're sinners, corrupt and dead and Adam, can't do anything good. We can practice forms, right? We can put on a good show. We can look good and pretend to be worshiping God, but until the Lord does it, and when the Lord does it, you can be humble and not have anything. and yet be worshiping the Lord. You can be in a building like this and worshiping the Lord as the body of Christ because it's not the form and the exterior, it's the Lord, it's his presence and what he works in the heart of his people and making us members one of another in one body to the praise, honor, and glory of his name.

And that's what he does. And he testifies to the truth of it. And so this is God's operation. When he breaks in upon a man or a woman, child, young or old, when he does it, we're delivered. We're delivered. There's no set things that we can do. We just hear, look to Christ, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

All who call upon his name shall be saved. You won't be disappointed. You won't be ashamed. You just keep looking to Christ and keep calling upon him because that's how he operates. That's what he does. That's the way he brings us to feel our need of him and to see it and to know I can't do anything, Lord. I need your grace. Save me, save me. And that's what he's pleased to do. And then by his grace, you look back and you realize the Lord's done this. The Lord's wrought this.

I was in complete darkness. Now I see, now I believe. Now I know the mystery of the gospel, that it's all of Christ. It's all of him. Before I kept tinkering and working and striving and laboring and spending and doing everything in religion, but no physicians could heal me. And then I came to the great physician and he healed me. I once was blind, but now I see.

And we confess him, we confess what God has done for me, an unworthy sinner. only a sinner saved by grace. He does that. He works that in his people wondrously. And so what we come to see here with Pharaoh is he's not, these blessings aren't meant to him. They're not given to him. He's severed out of it. He's cut out of it.

The Lord does this for his people. And you that know these things, rejoice, rejoice in your God's kindness and mercy. Thank him for your salvation and pray for your loved ones. Pray for those you speak to because he's the one who has to do it. And as long as they're alive, pray for them and encourage them and love them as best you can. And pray that the Lord break in upon them and reveal himself to them.

And so, he says, sacrifice your God in the land, and Moses responds in verse 26, it's 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?

In other words, we can't compromise the gospel to suit the world. Everyone's gonna die in that case. No one's gonna be saved if we change the message, if we try to suit, to fit into the world, there's already, the world's full of religion that suits the world. It's full of dead-letter religion that cannot save. We'll both be destroyed, we'll be destroyed. Compromise with the world is the result, it results in death. We must preach Christ plain, because that's what we're gonna preach, and the world isn't gonna love it, they're not gonna like it. but that's what we gotta do.

We preach Christ and trust that the Lord will do the separating. He'll separate out those that are his. And oftentimes it's in the person you least expect, like yourself and myself, right? It's the one that he didn't see coming, that the Lord loves to save. Verse 27.

We will go three days journey into the wilderness, Moses says, and sacrifice to the Lord our God as he shall command us. And when he says we shall go three days journey into the wilderness, there's a picture of preaching gospel. There's a picture of what Christ has done for us. We preach Christ crucified, who died on the cross for the remission of our sins, who was buried, as it were, went on a journey, was buried for three days, as it were. I go, he said, to prepare a place for you, and he did that. He was buried for three days, and on the third day he rose again for the justification, declaring that all you who trust and believe him are justified from all things from which he could not be justified by the law of Moses and the dead letter religion. Christ has done it. He's accomplished, finished the work that we needed done. He did it. He did it.

And so we don't compromise that work. We will go three days journey. Now we'll preach Christ. We're gonna trust Christ and not conform and bend to your will. We're gonna do what the Lord has said. We're gonna trust Christ. and we're gonna worship him and preach him, trusting that the Lord divides severally to whom he will his grace and salvation, making it known in the hearts.

All right, verse 28 through 31. And Pharaoh 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 treat for me, which I take to mean he's saying, Pray now and treat for me right now.

I'm done with this plague. Get this thing out of here. And Moses said, behold, I go out from thee. I'm not going to treating for you right now. I'm going out from here and I will entreat the Lord that the swarm of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants and from his people tomorrow, but let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully anymore and letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord. In other words, he's leaving that burden with him another day, right? And to say, don't harden your heart again, Pharaoh. Don't harden your heart again.

And Moses went out from Pharaoh and entreated the Lord, and the Lord did according to the word of Moses. And so that would be the next day, he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh and from his servants and from his people. There remained not one. And so though it appears that Pharaoh finally heard, and finally was obeying the truth of God, seeing it his way, but it was in form only, and the hardness of his heart betrays him, because no sooner does he get rest than he hardens his heart again and disobeys God, won't let the people go. Changes his mind again, verse 32, and Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go.

And so what we may draw from this is that We would all do the same thing, but for the grace of God. We would do those same things, but the difference is that God makes the difference. As he says in Ephesians 2, 4 and 5, but God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved. And so we preach this and trust that the Lord is working in the hearts of his people.

He's working this in your heart. Is the gospel made good news unto you? Is it a saver of life unto life? Do you delight and rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ or is it a saver of death unto death? He makes it known, he testifies in the heart what you're rejoicing in. Are you just looking for a little peace in your conscience to soothe your conscience and go on with your life in the world? Or do you love Christ and you're trusting him in the wilderness and you wanna worship him?

Be free of this dead corrupt body that is a trouble to us, it's a nuisance to us, but thanks be unto God, he says, you're delivered. This thing's gonna lay down in the dust and never bother you ever again. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, for the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his hand. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. I pray the Lord bless that word to our hearts.

The Plague Of Eternal Death

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about eternal death?

How do we know God's sovereignty in salvation is true?

Why is the concept of being dead in trespasses and sins important for Christians?

What does the Bible say about God's grace in delivering His people?

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The Plague Of Eternal Death

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about eternal death?

How do we know God's sovereignty in salvation is true?

Why is the concept of being dead in trespasses and sins important for Christians?

What does the Bible say about God's grace in delivering His people?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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