Well, instead of reading this
passage and just making some points like we have kind of covered
larger passages, I wanna go verse by verse through this. So let's
just look at verse one. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
go unto Pharaoh and say unto him, thus saith the Lord, let
my people go. that they may serve me." Does
that sound familiar? I know that it does because it's
exactly the same message that the Lord has sent Moses to deliver
to Pharaoh now three times. This is the third time that he
sent him back with the same message. And it won't be the last time,
not by a long shot. God's message to sinners is the
same message over and over and over again. How many times have
you heard the gospel in your lifetime? It's the same message
over and over. This entire book, all of the
types of pictures, the ceremonial law, the temple and all of the
workings around the temple, the priest and his family and all
the the Levites and what they did, the business of the temple,
in the worship of God, every lamb that was slain, countless,
every bullock, every offering that was made, every parable
that our Lord told every time He healed somebody. We see the
same thing all through the book, don't we? In every sign that
the Lord gave to show before Pharaoh, Christ in Him crucified. The message, the message of deliverance
for His people. What did our Lord show in the
book of Matthew when He healed the centurion servant? How He
saves a sinner by Christ in Him crucified. It's the same message
over and over and over again. I'll say the same thing to you
tonight that I said Sunday. And this coming Sunday, Lord
willing, if He gives me breath and a mind and doesn't let me
go, the way I would naturally go. I'll tell it to you again. And you'll come here and rejoice
in it again. Because it's the Word of God
and it never changes. You know why? Because it's perfect. God doesn't change and His Word
doesn't change. If anything changes, it either
has to change for the better or for the worse. And you can't
change perfection, you can't improve on it, and you can't
take away from it. That's why he said, if not one
jot or tittle shall pass from this book, if you add anything
or take anything away or try to from this book, every curse
that's in this book will be on your head. Because God's word
is perfect. Though Pharaoh had not hearkened
to this word, it doesn't change the word, nor does it change
the outcome. God's will does not change, his
word does not change, and his purpose shall stand, and he will
do all of his pleasure. The fact is that Pharaoh will
obey this word in God's good time. He's gonna do exactly what
God told him to do in God's good time. The gospel is always the
same. How many times have we heard
it now? The same message over every text, every sermon, every
service. Paul said in Philippians three
one. Finally, my brethren rejoice in the Lord to write the same
things to you. To me, indeed, is not grievous.
It's not. It's always fresh and new in
the gospel. When I hear it, when the Lord
opens my ears and enables me to hear what the preacher said,
it's like I've never heard it before. It's fresh and new, wonderful
every time. It's not grievous to me, Paul
said, and for you it's safe. What else would you want to hear
but what God said? Peter said in 2 Peter 1.12, Wherefore,
I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of
these things, though you know them. You already know what I'm
going to tell you tonight, believer. If you didn't, then you need
a new preacher. Because I'm here to tell you
things that believers already know. And be established in the
present truth. Yea, I think it meet as long
as I'm in this tabernacle. As long as God leaves me here
in this body. To stir you up by putting you
in remembrance. That's what preaching is. I'm
just reminding his people who Christ is and what he did for
you. and the gospel will not fail.
God's people will be delivered from Egypt in his good time and
every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Looks now like
Pharaoh's thwarting God's purpose, doesn't it? God wants him to
do this and Pharaoh won't do it. Is that how it is? When man
might even use this chapter, this passage of scripture to
prove that man has a free will. Pharaoh rejected God after all,
didn't he? Pharaoh chose not to obey God. Do you remember
how God said before Moses ever went, he's not going to hear
you? Because I will harden his heart. The command that God gave to
Pharaoh will be obeyed. sooner or later in God's good
time. God said in Isaiah 55 10 as the rain cometh down and the
snow from heaven and returneth not thither but watereth the
earth and maketh it bring forth and bud that it may give seed
to the sower and bread to the eater. He sends his water down
for a reason to cause the little flowers to bud, to cause the
crops to grow, to feed his world, So shall my word be that goeth
forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall prosper
in the thing where to I sent it. It always does. It always has. It always will. Verse two back in our text. And
if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy
borders with frogs. And the river shall bring forth
frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into thine house,
and into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house
of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens,
and into thy kneading troughs. And the frogs shall come up both
on thee and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants. Well,
I tell you what, if there was a Mrs. Pharaoh, I bet she had
something to say about the frogs in her bed. That was probably
worse than the frogs. To hear, to have to live with
just the horror of it. I mean, you can't even imagine
this, can you? And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying to Aaron, stretch forth thine hand with thy rod. over
the streams and over the rivers and over the ponds and caused
the frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt. And Aaron stretched
out his hand over the waters of Egypt and the frogs came up
and covered the land of Egypt. And the magicians did so with
their enchantments and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt. There's only one other place
in the word of God where frogs are mentioned. So I didn't really
have to wonder what this had reference to. We'll look at it. It has direct reference to what
happened here in Egypt in our text. Now, frogs are also mentioned
in the Psalms twice, I believe. But there in the Psalms, it's
referring back directly to what happened here in Egypt in Exodus
chapter 8. It's just telling what God did
there. Other than that, there's one
reference. Turn with me to Revelation chapter 16 and verse 13. Revelation 16, 13. And I saw three unclean spirits
like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the
mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet,
for they are the spirits of devils. working miracles which go forth
unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather
them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. These frogs now. This is a strange
picture, but it's not unclear. These frogs came out of the mouths
of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. That's Satan
and his servants. And they are the spirits of devils,
it says. Working miracles, like the magicians
in Egypt. They were able to show some signs
that looked like what God gave his servant Moses power to do.
And their purpose is to gather those that are deceived by them,
referred to as the kings of the earth here, to gather them to
the great battle, the great spiritual battle of Armageddon. Some talk
about how there's going to be a big battle, you know, someday,
an earthly battle. This is spiritual language. And
it's a clear picture. Egypt is the world in the Word
of God, always is. It refers to the world. And these
frogs are everywhere in the world, in the land of Egypt. And these
spiritual frogs are everywhere in the land also. And just like
in Egypt, it's the judgment of God, isn't it? In Revelation
16, 14, there where we read it, it says they went forth into
the whole world, into the whole world, in the whole land of Egypt,
the world. Where do they come from? They
come from the mouth of the deceiver and his servants, the mouth of
liars. This is the gospel of Antichrist. It's the false gospel of Satan. It's in this world. It's everywhere
in the world. Everywhere in the world. It's the judgment of God
upon this earth It's the unclean spirits coming out of their mouth
When they speak It's an unclean spirit coming out. It's a frog
coming out of their mouth and they're called the kings of the
earth in verse 14 there in Revelation 16 and That's everybody that
considers themselves a king of the earth, which is every sinner
apart from God's grace. You shall be as God's. Sign me
up. You're the kings of the earth.
You who reject the king. Free will. I have a free will.
You're a king of the earth and the frogs are going to gather
you up until that day of battle when the Lord will once and for
all destroy you and put you in hell where you belong. That's
a clear picture, isn't it? Strange, odd, perhaps, not language
we hear every day, but pretty clear, pretty clear. In other
words, all who are deceived by Satan and his false gospel, that's
those kings of the earth. This is a terrible picture, isn't
it? It's a terrible reality, too. As we sit here tonight,
the beast, the dragon, and his false prophets are in all of
this world. And the frogs are coming out
of their mouths, the unclean spirits, to deceive the masses. It's a plague upon this world. Sent by God. It's the very judgment
of God in this earth. Turn to 2 Thessalonians, and
I'll show that to you. It's the plague and judgment
of God in this world. 2 Thessalonians 2.8. And then
shall that wicked W, capital W, Wicked be revealed whom the
Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth That's the gospel. That's the truth the truth comes
out of his mouth and his servants mouths and Shall destroy with
the brightness of his coming That's the battle of Armageddon
right there. It's a spiritual battle against good and evil.
And it's not some fight that we don't know the outcome of.
We're not waiting to see who's gonna win. This is just God's
coming and defeating all his enemies and destroying them once
and for all. How's he gonna do it? With his
gospel, with the truth. Even him, verse nine, whose coming
is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and
lying wonders, There they are. They're going to imitate. They're
going to do their magic work, you know, trying to imitate the
miracle of God. Verse 10, with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish because they received
not the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for
this cause, God shall send them strong delusion. that they should
believe a lie. What are they? The spirit of
deception. They're those evil spirits that
come out that are called the spirits of devils out of the
mouth of the false prophet. He's a prophet. He's prophesying
things. He's telling things, but they're
not the truth. They're false. All right. And
because These loved the lie and loved not the truth. God sends
them strong delusion that they should believe a lie. There's
the plague, the judgment of God upon all the land of Egypt, the
whole world that hates him and opposes his truth, his gospel,
that they all, verse 12, might be damned who believe not the
truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Terrible, terrible reality. But be comforted, believer. And
we can be comforted in this as believers. Those who love God's
truth understand this and rest. Number one, God sent the plague.
This is His judgment. And He does everything right.
He does everything well. He's too good to do wrong, too
gracious to harm one of His little ones. He loves us too much to
allow any harm. He said, not a hair of your head,
the plague will come and they'll be falling all around you, but
it won't come near you. But this is Satan in all of the
deceivers throughout all the land of Egypt, throughout all
the world. This is not God, this is Satan. Job said in Job 12,
16, the deceived and the deceiver are his. They're his. He's using them for His purpose.
Are you still in Revelation? Turn to Revelation chapter 20
and verse 7. Look at how the Lord deals with
Satan and uses him in this world. Revelation 20 and verse 7. We
can be comforted in this. It's a terrible thing, isn't
it? God's judgment is upon this world already. Did you know that?
There's a final judgment that will take place. God's already
judging this world. And he's using Satan to do it.
Revelation 27, and when the thousand years are expired, whatever,
if that's a literal thousand years or not, I know this, it's
when God gets good and ready. When God says that's enough,
Satan shall be loosed out of his prison. and shall go out
to deceive the nations, which are in the four quarters of the
earth." I'm starting to see a theme there, aren't you? Satan's in
the deceiving business, isn't he? That's what we saw in Thessalonians
there, and in the other passage in Revelation 16. He's in the
deceiving business. In the four quarters of the earth,
Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle. Same thing. The number of whom is as the
sand of the sea, and they went up on the breadth of the earth
encompassed the camp of the saints about in the beloved city and
fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. It's already been foretold what's
going to happen. We're going to come out okay
in this thing. And the devil that deceived them
was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast
and the false prophet, these are the same ones in Revelation
chapter 16, who had the frogs coming out of their mouths, and
shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. Horrible, terrible
scene. But notice in verse seven, it
doesn't say Satan's gonna bust out of prison, he's gonna be
let out. and then he's going to be cast into the lake of fire.
Who's going to do that? God's going to do that. Satan
is on God's chain and he uses him as he sees fit for his glory
and for the good of his people. Even what we call evil, even
the rantings and deceptions and opposition of Satan. How in the
world, Chris, can you say that Satan is doing the will of God. I didn't say that, God did. Now
understand, Satan does not serve God in the sense of submissive
obedience to God's righteous commands. But never think that
God is ever in any position except in perfect, precise, and sovereign
control of everything and everybody in all of his universe. Never
think that. Nothing is out of his control.
Nothing happens against his powerful, almighty will. He said, I will
do all my pleasure. None can stay my hand in the
armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. He
doeth according to his will. Satan's just a palm in his hand,
and he'll put him where he wants to on the board and do what he
pleases with him until he's done with him, and then he'll throw
him away in the lake of fire. That's the God I worship. And
then secondly, the plague of the frogs, as all things, it
works toward the freedom of God's people from the bondage of Egypt.
It was a terrible plague throughout all the land of Egypt, throughout
all the world, and it is. What it pictures is a terrible
plague in this land. But everything in Egypt, everything
in this world, everything that God is doing, by these judgments,
is working together for the good of his people. To this end, we're
going to be set free. We're going out free. We're going
to be delivered from this present evil world. We're going to be
with him forever. We're going to be, bondage is
going to be a vague memory to us someday, if even that, because
of what God is doing. His terrible judgments are part
of that. Never doubt it for one second,
to God is mighty and terrible in his workings, but know that
they shall result in your deliverance if you're one of his, if you're
in his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then verse eight, back in
our text in Exodus chapter eight, look at verse eight, Exodus 8,
8. Then Pharaoh called for Moses
and Aaron and said, entreat the Lord that he may take away the
frogs from me. and from my people, and I will
let the people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the Lord.
And Moses said unto Pharaoh, glory over me, when shall I entreat
for thee and for thy servants and for thy people to destroy
the frogs from thee and thy houses, that they may remain in the river
only? And he said, tomorrow. And he said, be it according
to thy word, that thou mayest know that there is none like
unto the Lord our God. And the frogs shall depart from
thee and from thy houses and from thy servants and from thy
people. They shall remain in the river only. And Moses and
Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried unto the Lord
because of the frogs which he had brought against Pharaoh.
And the Lord did according to the word of Moses, and the frogs
died out of the houses, out of the villages and out of the fields,
and they gathered them together upon heaps, and the land stank. But when Pharaoh saw that there
was respite, he hardened his heart and hearkened not unto
them as the Lord had said. Now just a thought or two here.
Moses in verse nine, he says, glory over me. In other words,
I'll give you the say here. You tell me when you want the
frogs to be taken away and I'll pray the Lord that he'll take
them away. He's mocking Pharaoh. What are you doing? Just like
Elijah mocked the false prophets in first Kings 1827. Pharaoh is asking for relief. He's saying, pray the Lord that
he'll take these frogs away. Can you imagine? how hard that
was for Pharaoh to say. He's sitting on the throne. He
does what he will, when he will, with whom he will, he thinks.
But now he's got to come to this one that he hates so much and
say, I need relief. Take these frogs away. Take these
frogs away. And Moses said, glory over me. You just say when you want it
done and I'll take care of it. That you may know that there's
none like the Lord. There's none like Him. He said that thou mayest know
that there is none like unto the Lord our God. You tell us
when you want to be done with it. And it's interesting, there's
speculation concerning why Pharaoh wouldn't say right now, pray
right now, I don't want to see another frog ever again. And a lot of speculation about
why he didn't say that. He said tomorrow. I think there's
a lot of evidence in the scripture about why. It's called pride. Pride. But it's pathetic pride. And that's how it is with sinners
who rebel against the gospel of God's grace. He's a beggar,
but he's a proud beggar. Take away the judgment. Take
away the plague. Well, when would you like that
plague taken away? Tomorrow. Tomorrow. When God saves a sinner, He'll
knock that last little bit of stuffing out of you before he
saves you. Until you cry with King David
in front, like he did in Psalm 70 and verse five, I am poor
and needy. Make haste unto me, O God. Deliver
me right now. I need mercy right now. I need
help right now. I can't take any more. When that
last little bit of stuffing has gone out of you, You'll say,
oh God, you are my help and my deliverer. Oh Lord, make no tearing. Make no tearing. Save me right
now. I won't let you go until you
bless me. No more pride. Like Pharaoh, the proud sinner
says, I'll decide to be saved when I'm ready. When I choose,
I'll exercise my free will. At a more convenient time, I'll
call for you. Tomorrow I'll submit to God,
but God says now is the accepted time. Today is the day of salvation. It's time to throw down arms
right now. And he didn't say, let my people
go tomorrow. He said, let my people go. let my people go. Perhaps Pharaoh was still holding
out hope that this thing would just correct itself, that the
frogs would hop back into the rivers, you know, and that he
wouldn't have to let the people go and he could save face here.
And so he says tomorrow, what a pathetic, proud beggar. And sinner, your problem is one
that's not going to go away on its own. It's not going to go
away naturally. God says, come now and let us
reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. Come now. He didn't say, come
tomorrow. He didn't say, think about it.
He said, come right now. Your sins have to be dealt with
now. There's got to be submission
now. It's got to be today. There is
no tomorrow when it comes to the saving grace of God. There's
no tomorrow. We learn one other thing here.
Judgment. does not cause repentance. It never has and it never will.
Much less the threat of judgment, which is the tactic that most
false prophets, the ones with the frogs coming out of their
mouths. Here's what some of those frogs look like. They're designed
to scare people into submission to their bondage, to their religious
bondage, and into submission to their perverse false doctrine. They teach for doctrines the
commandments of men. And you can scare a sinner into
a false profession. I've seen it done. And you can
scare them into giving money. You can scare them into serving
the devil and thinking they're serving God the whole time they're
doing it. You can scare them into doing it, but you can't
produce repentance that way. And Pharaoh hardened his heart
yet again. Judgment never brings repentance.
Revelation 16, 8, and the fourth angel poured out his vial upon
the sun, and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great
heat. This is the judgment of God.
upon men, and they were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed
the name of God, which hath power over these plagues, and they
repented not to give him glory, and neither did Pharaoh, and
neither will you, unless judgment nor the threat of judgment will
get it done. The rich man in Luke chapter
16, he died and awoke in the torments
of hell, The judgment of God was upon him. He would experience
the very judgment of God. And he prayed that Father Abraham,
he prayed two things from hell. First of all, that Father Abraham
would send him some relief from the flames. He still primarily
was thinking about number one. He still didn't much care about
anybody else or anything else. He just wanted some relief. Send
Lazarus with some water. that he may dip his finger in
water, just a drop of water on my tongue, give me some relief. And that's all sinners are interested
in. Then false repentance wants to be relieved from the judgment
of God, but they don't want to submit to God's will and God's
way of salvation. And he prayed one more thing. He said, send Lazarus back from
the dead to warn my brothers. Send him to my father's house,
I've got five brothers. And send Lazarus back from the
dead to warn them so that they don't come here where I'm at
in this torment. And Abraham said they have Moses
and the prophets. They have God's word. They have
God's commandment, God's statutes, God's ordinances. God's Word,
they have the revelation of God, the Gospel concerning His Son,
that Paul said in Romans chapter 1 that God had promised to foreby
His prophets in the Holy Scriptures. Moses and the prophets, they've
got the Gospel. Do you remember what that rich
man said from hell? In Luke 16.30, here's what he
said. Nay. No, don't, don't. Don't preach the gospel to them,
that won't do any good. But if you send one back from
the dead, if one went unto them from the
dead, they will repent. He had no regard for God's word,
God's gospel when he was alive, and he didn't have any now in
hell, and he never will. In the flames of hell, think
about this. The flames of hell itself did not cause this rich
man to repent, and yet he foolishly believes that the threat of hell
delivered to his brothers by one comeback from the dead would
cause them to repent. If hell itself won't bring repentance,
then how is the threat of hell going to bring repentance? There's one thing that causes
repentance. God grants repentance, it's his
gift, and he uses only what Father Abraham said he would in order
to bring it to pass. 2 Timothy 2.25, listen to it
carefully. In meekness, Timothy, Paul said,
instruct those that oppose themselves. If God, peradventure, will give
them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. Maybe God will
give them repentance. It's his to give. It's his prerogative. Those whom God rained fire on
there in Revelation where we read, they repented not and didn't
give him any glory. All they did was blaspheme his
name even more. But Timothy, if you take this
book and instruct those that are their own worst enemy, God
might give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. Moses and the prophets, that's
how repentance comes. God gives it and that's how he
gives it. Through his blessed word, set
forth Christ and him crucified. The threat of judgment nor judgment
itself will break a sinner's heart before God. But tell a
sinner of the glories of Christ as revealed in this precious
book right here. The blessed son of God who came
to this earth to live and die for a worm like me. Set forth Christ in him crucified
and everyone who by God's grace hath an ear to hear will find what Paul said in Romans
2 for to be gloriously true. It's the goodness of God that
leadeth thee to repentance. He said to Moses, I'll cause
all my goodness to pass before you. And here it is. I'm going
to have mercy on sinners. I'm going to set your feet on
a rock. I'm going to hide you in the cleft of the rock. And
from there, you're going to see my goodness. It's the goodness of God. Don't
despise. the riches of his goodness, and
his forbearance and longsuffering today, today, today, if you will
hear his voice, harden not your hearts. May God grant repentance. I know that all of his people
will repent, and I know how. By the preaching of the truth,
by the preaching of this gospel, of His grace and glory in the
Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Let's bow in prayer.