Okay, Exodus 7 verse 14. The Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh's
heart is hardened. He refuses to let the people
go. Get thee unto Pharaoh in the
morning. Lo, he goeth out unto the water,
and thou shalt stand by the river's brink. Against he come, and the
rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand.
And thou shalt say unto him, the Lord God of the Hebrews hath
sent me unto thee, saying, let my people go, that they may serve
me in the wilderness. And behold, hitherto thou wouldest
not hear. Thus saith the Lord, in this
thou shalt know that I am the Lord. Behold, I will smite with
the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in
the river, and they shall be turned to blood. And the fish
that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink, and
the Egyptians shall loathe to drink of the water of the river.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying to Aaron, take thy rod
and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their
streams, upon their rivers, upon their ponds, and upon all their
pools of water, that they may become blood. and that there
may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels
of wood and in vessels of stone. And Moses and Aaron did so as
the Lord commanded. And he lifted up the rod and
smoked the waters that were in the river in the sight of Pharaoh
and in the sight of his servants. And all the waters that were
in the river were turned to blood. And the fish that was in the
river died, and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink
of the water of the river. And there was blood throughout
all the land of Egypt. And the magicians of Egypt did
so with their enchantments. And Pharaoh's heart was hardened,
neither did he hearken unto them as the Lord had said. And Pharaoh
turned and went into his house, neither did he set his heart
to this also. And all the Egyptians digged
round about the river for water to drink, for they could not
drink of the water of the river. And seven days were fulfilled
after that the Lord had smitten the river." Sometimes in order
to see a picture clearly, you have to back up a little bit.
so to speak, and look at more of it. None of the blind men
who described the elephant in the well-known poem could describe
him accurately because each one could only feel a small part
of the elephant at once. You remember one of the blind
men said the elephant's like a rope because he had hold of
the tail. Another blind man grabbed hold
of the tusk And he said, the elephant's like a spear. And
so the other blind men described only that part that they were
standing in front of. The word of God, though every
verse, every word bears close examination and is wonderful
in its detail and in its depth yet to fully understand each
scripture and each word. in each chapter, in each book. The word has to be seen in its
broad strokes as well. It has to be the whole book is
God's revelation. It's God's revelation of his
son and how he saves sinners by grace through faith in his
son. The scripture says to him, give
all the prophets witness. That's what Peter preached in
Acts chapter 10. to the Lord Jesus Christ, give
all the prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believeth
in him shall receive remission of sins. Christ himself said,
Moses wrote of me. Moses wrote the book that we
just read from the first five books of the Bible. And Christ
said, when he wrote that he was writing of me. It says in Luke
24, 27, when our Lord walked with his disciples, it says that
at beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto
them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. If
we have not seen in the scriptures the things concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ, then we haven't seen the scriptures. What were
the first three signs that the Lord gave Moses to perform before
Pharaoh? Number one, the rod of God, the
power and authority of God, is cast down to the earth and becomes
a serpent. And you notice that he said to
Moses in the text that we just read, he said, the rod that was
turned into a serpent, take that down to the river and smite the
river and it'll be turned to blood. That one, that rod. The one, the very power and wisdom
of God, Christ himself, came down to this earth and was made
sin for his people. He was made in the likeness of
sinful flesh and for sin, and he condemned sin in the flesh.
And then God told Moses to take the serpent up from the earth
by its tail, and it became the rod of God again. Picture in
our Lord Jesus Christ, triumphant and exalted, the very power of
God and having never changed. He was the power of God before
he came down to this earth. He was the power of God when
he was made the serpent. And he's the power of God as
I preach him to you tonight. Number two, Moses puts his hand
in his bosom at God's command. And when he removes it, it's
leprous showing that man's problem, man's sin problem, the leprosy
of sin. It's a bosom problem. It's an
inside, the word bosom there means inside, it means enclosed
or inside. And then Moses puts his hand
in again and removes it and it's whole, it's clean, it's pure.
Picturing what was accomplished by what's pictured by the first
part of the three-part sign. Christ coming down to this earth
and being made sin and then being taken up again, the power of
God. What's the result? What was accomplished by that?
Sinners are made clean by his cross work and righteousness.
Christ being made in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin and
condemning sin in the flesh, he came down here and took my
sin upon himself and now I'm clean. I was vile, but now I'm
clean. Because God's Son came to earth
and was made sin for me, I'm made the very righteousness of
God in Him. Moses' hand, leprous, is what
I am in myself, what I am by nature. Moses' hand, made clean
and whole, is what I am in Christ. Number three, then Moses took
some river water and poured it out on the dry land and it became
blood. showing Pharaoh and all the world
who heard of it that his people must be let go. They must be
let go. This is not a request, Pharaoh.
It's not a decision to be made. They must, they shall go free.
Why? Because blood is poured out.
Eternal blood is poured out. Deliver them from going down
into the pit. I found a ransom. Christ has
paid their ransom. There's no condemnation. They're free from bondage and
misery. Christ has made them free and they're free indeed.
And so they must go. Christ said to Nicodemus, you
must be born again. He didn't say you ought to be
born again. He didn't say, I suggest that you'd be born again. He
said, you must, why? Because of the blood. Because
as the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, so must the
Son of Man be lifted up. He must be lifted up, and you
must be born again. That's God's gospel. And now,
Moses has rebelled against God's authority and revealed will,
revealed in that three-part sign, or those three signs. As God
said he would, told Moses beforehand he would rebel, and now another
sign is performed. Aaron lifts up the rod of God
and smites the waters. And God manifests in all of the
land of Egypt his power to save. There's power in the blood. And
he manifests that which is the condemnation of his enemies.
His power to save and his condemning wrath upon his enemies against
all those who resist his will is manifest in the blood. The
title of the message tonight is from verse 21 there, where
he said at the last part of the verse, there was blood throughout
all. Blood throughout all. And I submit
to you tonight, that there was blood throughout all the land
of Egypt, because when it comes to the message of the deliverance
of God's people from bondage, there is blood throughout all
the Word of God. If you look at the history of
redemption, the old, old story of sinners and how they are reconciled
to God, there's blood throughout all. If you look at the history
of the nation of Israel, and picture God's elect in this earth,
God's spiritual Israel, and how he shall save them from their
sins by his own son, by his son coming to this earth as their
Moses, their deliverer. He'll raise up a prophet like
unto Moses, preaching deliverance like Moses did. and actually
delivering the people of God like Moses pictured by delivering
the nation of Israel. If you look at that history of that physical earthly nation
that pictured God's spiritual Israel, there's blood throughout
all. If you look at God's ceremonial
law, which is a visual, physical manifestation of the holy requirements
of God's justice and how that justice is satisfied. Blood throughout
all. Look at the tabernacle in the
wilderness, which pictured Christ, His person and His work in every
aspect of it. The priest, the sacrifice, the
altar, the incense, the candlestick, the bread, the mercy seat itself,
Christ and Him crucified. Blood throughout. The tabernacle
was a bloody place. If you consider the gospel of
Christ that we preach, how did Paul describe this gospel
that we preach? He did so with six words. We
preach Christ and him crucified. Christ and His precious, sin-atoning,
soul-saving blood is the message of the Gospel. There's blood
throughout all. And so, this picture that we
have in our text is clear. Let me remind you of something,
too, in this text that we've seen before, and we'll see it
again. This sign comes with a message.
It comes with the message of deliverance. He didn't just say,
smite the waters and they'll be turned to blood. He said,
you tell Israel, Pharaoh, let my people Israel go. And then
he smoked the water. It comes with a message and it's
not an invitation. It's not a suggestion. It's a
command. And there is rebellion. There is resistance, but understand
it is rebellion and resistance that the Lord has ordained and
foretold from the beginning. What a difference. It's not like
the religion of this world says it is. Pharaoh refuses for a
time to obey God, but that doesn't change anything. God said from
the start, his message in the beginning to Pharaoh was let
my people go. And the last thing he said to
Pharaoh was let my people go. And Pharaoh is going to let his
people go in God's good time. And this teaches something about
the gospel. In God's time and according to God's will, God's
message is let my people go and go they shall every last one
of them There will be rebellion there will be resistance to the
message, but that will not change the outcome The gospel message
of the deliverance of God's people By blood Goes forth now, and
there is resistance and there is rebellion, but the outcome
was never in question and it never will be. Christ said, all
that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And so they shall. Read Romans chapter 11 again
when you have time with this in mind. Paul talks about God's
purpose there in his providence in the blindness of the earthly
nation of Israel. and his revealing himself to
the Gentiles. And many have been confused about
this, confusing the physical and earthly with the spiritual.
They don't understand the spiritual nature of God's promises and
purpose. None of us do, apart from His
grace. But Paul concludes this thought concerning why God has
chosen Israel and why as a nation they're cast off. Generally speaking,
they're blind, they're in physical or spiritual blindness and darkness. And why the Gentiles and how
they were brought in, they were included. And Paul concludes
all of this concerning all of God's dealings with all of the
peoples of the earth this way in Romans 11, 26. All Israel
shall be saved. Not all of the earthly nation
of Israel, but all Israel, all spiritual Israel, from among
the Jews, from among the Gentiles, out of every nation, kindred,
tribe, and tongue under heaven, all Israel shall be saved. That was God's message of deliverance
from the beginning, letting my people go. All of them, only
them, let them go. And that's what's accomplished
in the end. And it's never been in question
from the beginning. All Israel shall be saved. Paul
said in Romans 11, 26, as it is written, there shall come
out of Sion the deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness from
Jacob. There's our heavenly Moses. There's
that prophet like unto Moses that God raised up for our salvation. And there's blood throughout
all. In our text in Exodus 7, Moses is the deliverer and all
earthly Israel shall be delivered. In the gospel we preach, Christ
is the almighty deliverer. promised in Isaiah 59, 20, which
is what Paul was quoting there in Romans 11, 26, where we just
read. And all spiritual Israel, all
of God's chosen elect people shall be saved. He hasn't ever changed his message
and the outcome has never been in question. The message of deliverance
that goes forth in the gospel is not an invitation. It's not
an attempt on God's part to influence anybody to do anything. It is
a clear and uncompromising command concerning the deliverance of
God's people from bondage. And to his people, it's a revelation
of what he, God, has done and is doing for them in saving them
and delivering them from this present evil world. In other
words, it's Christ and him crucified. as pictured by these signs that
God commanded Moses to perform. It's the power of God coming
to the earth and being made in the likeness of sinful flesh,
in the likeness of the serpent as he was raised up in the desert. In all of these signs, in the
blood poured forth, and in this one that we'll talk about tonight,
and the outcome is fixed and declared from the beginning.
all Israel shall be saved. Now God made, when he smote the
waters of Egypt, he made that which was life itself and prosperity. There's a reason why they settled
near the river Nile and in a place where there was plenty of water,
because that's life and prosperity. And that is important nowadays
because we can take water from wherever and bring it to wherever
and we can capture rainwater and use it as we will. But Egypt
was situated in a good, thriving place because of all the water
that was available. And their very life depended
upon that water. Their prosperity came from that
water. Their food. Notice the fish died. And the other fish, even the
vegetables. How are you going to have vegetables? You've got
to water them. The water was blood. It couldn't sustain life. even that with which they bathed
themselves. It became undrinkable. It became
unable to sustain the life of anything that they might eat,
vegetable or animal. And if they washed themselves
with it, they would only become more vile. This is significant. This is
the spiritual state of all who refuse and rebel against God's
message of deliverance. You refuse the blood poured out
on the ground. The third part of the first sign
that God gave to Pharaoh, when Moses took some water in his
hand, perhaps, or in some kind of a cup, a vessel, he said,
take some water from the river and pour it out on the ground
and it'll be made blood. And you refuse that blood, the
water of life who became God's propitiation for sin, God's offering
for sin, pictured by that water, turning into blood. And God will
make that very blood to be his curse upon your head. If you
refuse and reject God's way of salvation, which is Christ crucified,
pictured again by that water, the water of life come down from
heaven, turned into the very sin offering, the only sin offering
that God will accept, the blood of his precious son. That being
rejected, that very blood becomes your curse rather than your salvation. everything also that this world
worships and considers to be good, which that river now and
all the water there, pictured, they even worship the river because
so much, they depended so much upon it, so much life came from
it, the fish and they were able to water their animals and they
irrigated their gardens with it, drank it, It was full of
life and it made them prosperous as a nation. And they worshiped
that very river. But everything that this world
worships and considers to be good is made a curse to them
by God. How? By the blood. By the blood. But that which was death to the
Egyptians was deliverance to the Hebrews. This is how God
delivered his people. It became a curse to the Egyptians,
but not to the Hebrew. And maybe you're thinking, well,
no, Chris Pharaoh wasn't moved by this. This sign here didn't
result in the deliverance of the people. Oh, but it did. It
did. All of this was necessary in
the process of God's deliverance of the Israelites, or God wouldn't
have ordained it so. He wouldn't have commanded it
so. Why didn't God, maybe you've wondered, why didn't God just
skip to Passover night? None of these other plagues worked
anyway. They all did exactly what God performed them in order
to accomplish. Every one of them. Exactly. Nothing is superfluous. Nothing
is unnecessary in God's purpose or in the execution of God's
salvation. It's an eternal work. And everything
that happens in time Everything results in the salvation of his
people. I'm still learning that, and
I pray that God will give me grace to keep teaching that. The sun came up this morning
because God will save his people from their sins. By the precious
blood of his son, there's blood throughout. Without the shedding
of blood is no remission. We are redeemed from our sins
with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb, without blemish
and without spot. And this, his precious blood,
is spiritual life, much more vital and much more abundant
than the physical life-giving properties of the river Nile.
There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. throughout
all the land. And all of God's enemies saw
it. And when the gospel is preached, there's blood throughout this
world. His blood is declared in all
of the land, is it not? You remember what Paul said to
that evil king? He said, this thing wasn't done
in a corner. King Agrippa, this wasn't done
in a corner. There's blood throughout. To
some, death. to some a curse, but to others
life, to others the very blessing and favor and salvation of God. But there's blood throughout.
The Egyptians are specifically said in verse 21 to be unable
to drink the blood. Why? It doesn't say the Israelites
couldn't drink it, I don't know what God did physically
there for the nation of Israel. Perhaps when they took the water
out of the river and brought it to their home, it was turned
back into water, and they were able to drink it. I don't know.
Maybe they drank it like it was, but it tasted sweet to them.
I don't have any idea. It doesn't tell us that, but
the picture is clear. The Egyptians were unable to
drink the blood. Wow, because they represent those
who are flesh only. Whose blood was this? That filled
the rivers and the lakes and the ponds and the pools and even
the little streams that they had made that the irrigation
canals that they had manufactured themselves. Even the vessels
in their houses made out of stone and wood. The water there turned
into blood. Whose blood was it? All blood
is somebody's blood. Well, this was God's blood. This
was God's blood. God made it. God commanded it. God delivered his people by it. God was glorified in it. This
is the blood of God that filled those rivers in that sense. And
that pictures the gospel in that it is the blood of God that he redeemed his people with,
that he saved his people With it was the blood of god and only
a spiritual drinking of his blood will give eternal life The the
flesh can't do that. It never says the israelites
couldn't drink it, but the egyptians couldn't drink it Why because
they picture those that are only flesh? And the spiritual picture is
clear John 6, 53. You can turn there if you'd like
to. John 6 in verse 53. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son
of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoso eateth
my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life. And I will
raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him. The flesh can't do
that. That's a spiritual eating and
drinking. And the Egyptians can't drink. They can't drink there. It was the blood of God, and
it must be drunk spiritually by faith. Whose blood was shed
on Calvary? Acts 20, 28. Listen to Paul's
exhortation to the preachers of God. Take heed therefore unto
yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath
made you overseers to feed the church of God, which he hath
purchased with his own blood. To this world, spiritually speaking,
his blood is repulsive, stinking and undrinkable. The world can't
partake. But to his people, the blood is salvation. The blood
is life. The blood is drink indeed. And so a difference was made
by God between the Egyptians and the Israelites. by changing
all of the water to blood. What did those who rebelled and
despised the message and authority of God do for water? Look back
at the text, look at verse 22. And the magicians of Egypt did
so with their enchantments. They did a magic trick that looked
like All the water was already turned into blood, so I'm not
sure what they did. They had some kind of a trick
that they did. And Pharaoh's heart was hardened. Neither did he hearken unto them
as the Lord had said. And Pharaoh turned and went into
his house. Neither did he set his heart
to this also. And all the Egyptians digged
round about the river for water to drink. for they could not
drink of the water of the river. Those who rebelled against God's
authority and message, what did they do? They performed their
own magic trick that looked at least to them like the miracle
of God, the message of God, the sign of God. And what else did they do? They couldn't drink from the
river They couldn't find any water there, so they went about
to do what? To establish their own water.
That's what Paul said in the book of Romans. Chapter 10 in
verse 3, they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going
about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted
themselves unto the righteousness of God. Because they would not
submit to God's Word, authority, power, message, command. What
did they do? They went about to get around
it, to find a way around it. They started digging wells around
the river. And you notice there in verse
24, it never says that they ever got a drop of water to drink
out of it. All the Egyptians dig round about the river for
water to drink. for they could not drink of the
water of the river." They were digging for water. Did they ever
find any? I don't know. God may have let them find some
to sustain their bodies temporarily so that he could carry out his
judgments upon them. his future judgments upon them
for his own purposes, he may have sustained their bodies for
a while. I don't know. It doesn't say they found any
water. It said they dug for it. But I know this. Spiritually
speaking, you're not going to find any water that way. Those who go about to establish
their own righteousness, who will not submit themselves to
the righteousness of God, will have no righteousness before
God. in the judgment. There's no life
to be had in going your own way. He that cometh in another way
is a thief and a robber. There's no access. No man cometh
unto the Father, but by me, the Lord Jesus Christ said. And as I looked into this and
saw all of this blood, this was my prayer. May God make it so
that in our preaching, in our singing, in our worship, in our very lives that there's
blood throughout all. That all that we do may be done
unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his precious
blood. By his grace, may he make it so.