If you're taking notes, the title
of my message tonight is Take Away the Frogs. Take away the frogs or a repentance
to be repented of. The Holy Spirit speaks of the
sorrow of the world that produces a repentance to be repented of.
A repentance not unto salvation, but a repentance that is unto
death. We are so perverse in our depraved, corrupt nature
that we will do everything possible to make salvation a work that's
determined by us unless God stops us. Any doctrine that makes repentance
or faith A condition, a qualification, a prerequisite for grace and
salvation is teaching works repentance and works faith. Now understand
what I'm saying. Except you repent, you shall
all likewise perish. You and I must repent or we will
perish. But repentance is not the qualification
the condition that causes God to bring us grace. You must believe
on the Son of God or you will perish. But to make faith the
condition which causes God to turn to us in mercy is to make
faith a work and seek salvation on legal grounds. That's exactly
what Paul is speaking of when he speaks of a repentance to
be repented of, a repentance that is not unto salvation but
unto death. And that's exactly what we see
in the king of Egypt, Pharaoh. On three separate occasions,
Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron to come to him. He called
for them to come in haste because he was in trouble. And he confessed
his sin and he repented and asked them to entreat God for him. And when God was entreated, His
trouble went away and his repentance went away and his heart was hardened
and he went to hell. God save you and me from such
repentance. Exodus chapter 8 verse 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. Chapter 9, verse 27, And Pharaoh sent and called for
Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time. The Lord is righteous, and I
and my people are wicked. Entreat the Lord, for it is enough. that there may be no more mighty
thunderings and hail, and I will let you go, and you shall stay
no longer." Chapter 10, verse 20, or verse 16, I'm sorry, verse
16. Then Pharaoh called for Moses
and Aaron in haste, and he said, I have sinned against the Lord
your God and against you. Now therefore forgive, I pray
thee, my sin, only this once, and entreat the Lord your God,
that he may take away from me this death only.' And he went
out from Pharaoh and entreated the Lord, and the Lord turned
a mighty strong west wind and took away the locusts and cast
them into the Red Sea. There remained not one locust
in all the coast of Egypt, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart
so that he would not let the children of Israel go. Three
times Pharaoh repents. Three times he acknowledged that
the Lord alone is God. Three times his heart was hardened
and he refused to acknowledge that the Lord is God and refused
to confess his sins. Is this the same Pharaoh who
calls for Moses and begs Moses to entreat the Lord for him?
Who now calls for Moses to plead with God on his behalf? Who now
seeks Moses' mercy and God's mercy by Moses? Is this the same
Pharaoh who just a little earlier said, who is the Lord that I
should obey Him? Is the mighty ruler of Egypt,
is he now the same man who cowers like a whipped puck before God's
servant Moses and pleads with Moses to plead with God for him? Yes, he is, and that's the problem. He is exactly the same man. Nothing has changed about him.
What's wrong with Pharaoh's repentance? He said the right things. He
not only was in trouble, he felt judgment, the very judgment of
God upon him. He confessed his sin. He acknowledged
Christ as the Lord God of heaven and earth. He acknowledged the
necessity of worshiping and serving God by the sacrifice of Christ
as it was declared to him by Moses through the Lamb that God
required. He even acknowledged that only
the Lord God who brought judgment upon him could take away the
judgment. Yet Pharaoh's heart was hardened
and hardened and hardened with every pretense of repentance. Hardened and hardened and hardened
and he's in hell today because he refused to repent before God. Let me show you clearly from
the scriptures some things about Pharaoh and his repentance and
I pray God Almighty will be pleased to grant you repentance. And you who have been granted
repentance, I pray He will continually grant you and me repentance. God, let me never cease turning
from myself and turning to my Redeemer. The first thing is
this. The repentance of this man, Pharaoh,
was the repentance of an unregenerate man, a natural man. It was a natural repentance.
True repentance, like true faith, arises from the gift of God the
Holy Spirit giving life in the sinner. It is the result of the
new birth, not a prelude to it. We turn to God in repentance,
trusting him. trusting Christ as our Savior,
trusting the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and King when we
have been turned to God by the Spirit of His grace. And every
person who turns to God by the Spirit of His grace knows full
well that God turned him. It's not something that has to
be beat into his head. He knows full well God did the
turning. This is what Ephraim said, turn
thou me and I shall be turned. For thou art the Lord my God,
surely after that I was turned, I repented. After God turned
me, I repented. And after that I was instructed,
when God taught me by His grace and by His Spirit, I smote upon
my thigh. I was ashamed, yea, even confounded,
because I did hear the reproach, or I did bear the reproach of
my youth. Repentance to salvation, not to be repented of, is not
the cause of salvation. It's the result. Christ gives
us repentance by his spirit. Like faith, repentance is the
means by which we receive in the sweet experience of grace
the knowledge and assurance of life and salvation in Christ.
But repentance, like faith, is the gift of God. It is that which
God the Holy Spirit works in us. It is that which flows to
us through the blood of Jesus Christ our Lord. As he that believeth
and is baptized is saved, so he that repents and is baptized
is saved and no one else. Yet still the repentance is God's
gift. The gift of the triune God bestowed
upon us because of his grace. toward us, His love toward us
in Christ before the world began. The Apostle Paul tells us that
our God is He who has mercy on whom He will have mercy. And
whom He will, He heartens. And we must never forget, he
states, both. You and I, if God has given us
life and faith in Christ, If now He turns our hearts to Him,
it's because He is pleased to have mercy on us. And the only
thing that makes us any difference is that fact. That's the only
thing that makes any difference. And whom He will, just like He
did Pharaoh, He hardeneth. Oh, I pray God He won't harden
your heart, but grant you repentance. to the acknowledging of the truth.
If God has granted repentance to you, if he grants repentance
to me, let us praise and extol and honor him for his boundless,
continual, infinite, free grace to us in Jesus Christ. And if
God hardens men, we'll bow to him. We'll bow to him. Now, how
do you explain that? I have no intention of making
an effort to explain it. I'm just declaring to you what
God says in His Word, and He hasn't changed. Second, let's
look at Pharaoh's trouble. His repentance was the repentance
of an unregenerate man, and it was nothing except natural, legal
repentance. Each time the Scriptures are
clear in pointing out to us that Pharaoh's repentance arose from
trouble and fear, nothing else. It didn't arise from any sense
of the fear of God. It didn't arise from any sense
of the honor of God. It didn't arise from any sense
of the glory of God, just from fear. That's all. He was in trouble,
he knew he was about to die, and he couldn't do anything about
it, and so he acted like men are taught to act by nature and
by conscience and by false religion, he started to drive a bargain
with God. Pharaoh's repentance was the
mock repentance of a terrified sinner. Rose was sent to divine
judgment, nothing else. Three times in the text we've
read, we see Pharaoh visibly and deeply troubled. He was alarmed. He confessed his sin and he promised
to obey. Three times he did that. Now,
if you listen carefully to what I'm telling you, you'll understand
why God's servants, unlike religious hucksters, are not ambulance
chasers. Don't call me. Don't call me
and ask me to go see somebody because they're in trouble unless
they want to see me. Don't do it. Don't do it. I'm
not going to go and try to con folks into a profession of faith.
I'm more concerned for your soul, theirs, and God's glory than
to try to con folks into a profession of faith. I know, yes, that dying
thief was saved on deathbed repentance. There, as he was leaving this
world, he turned to God our Savior, and we have record of one such
man lest any despair, but only one lest any presume. Pharaoh's
repentance was nothing but the repentance of legal fear, nothing
else. He had the fear of going to hell
and nothing else. Now without question, without
question, God brings sinners down. He brings down their hearts
with labor. He causes them to reel to and
fro as a drunken man. He brings them to their wit's
end. Their bones wax old through roaring all the day long. Night
and day, God's hand lays heavy upon His own as He brings them
down in repentance. But Pharaoh was not crushed with
guilt, only with judgment. The judgment of God never produces
repentance. It doesn't do it. I can't tell
you how many times Folks call me or I'm chatting with them. You've got to go see my son.
You've got to go talk to my neighbor. You've got to go see this one
or that one because they're just so low. They're just so low.
And this is the time to deal with them. No time to deal with
them is when they think right and understand what God's doing.
Understand that they're dealing with God Almighty and God brings
them to judgment because of their sin. Turn to Revelation chapter
16. Let me show you. I said judgment never brings
repentance. If you've taken notes, underscore
the word never. Never. Here in Revelation 16
verse 8, the fourth angel poured out his
vial upon the son. And power was given unto him
to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great
heat. And they repented. And, not but, and they blasphemed
the name of God, which had power over these plagues. And they
repented not to give him the glory. Verse 10, And the fifth
angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast. and his
kingdom was full of darkness, and they gnawed their tongues
for pain. What a picture. And blasphemed
the name of God, the God of heaven, because of their pains and their
sores, and repented not of their deeds. Now again, let me be crystal
clear. Psalm 107 makes it abundantly
clear God does use judgment. Luke 15 speaks of the prodigal
son. God does use providential judgments
to bring his people down, but it takes more than providential
judgment. It takes something more than
the fear of hell. It takes more than desperation
to bring a sinner to repentance and faith in Christ. Yes, God
does use judgment, but judgment in itself will never produce
repentance in the heart of a man. The heart of man is so obstinate,
so proud, so hard that even the torments of hell don't change
him. Go back and read that 16th chapter
of Revelation again. Even the torments of hell don't
change him. Don't change him. Oh, men pretend
to change. They pretend to change. But even
in hell, men are not changed. They gnaw their tongues for pain.
but they will not shed a tear for the cause of their pain.
And if there's no repentance in hell where God's judgments
are greatest, you can mark it down. There's no repentance by
lesser judgments. I have seen personal experience. I've seen lots of folks get in
trouble. First thing they do is go to
church. I've done it myself countless times, countless times. Matter
of fact, about the only time we went to church with any regularity
when I was in trouble, or when I was a boy, is when I was in
trouble. When I created some trouble, and then jerk me up
and take me to Sunday school and church, and we start going
to church. Mama would read about hell to me when
she'd find it in the Bible and try to scare the hell out of
me. And preachers did the same thing, and it never worked. Now,
I don't mean I didn't make any changes. I did. I did, I'd come
front and I'd cry crocodile tears and I'd say this and say that
the next morning and everything. Well, I got by that one. I got
by that all right. That didn't cost me a thing.
Well, God will be there next time. God will be there next
time. That's exactly what's going on
here with Pharaoh. Any repentance produced by acts of judgment
or by legal fear is false repentance. Read it in the scriptures. Others
like Pharaoh, Cain, Herod, Judas, they all repented. They repented
of the evil they had done because they saw the judgment of God
upon them. But they weren't saved. They were all hardened by the
very act of repentance, and they all perished under God's wrath.
You see, the only thing that will ever break the sinner's
heart The only thing. The only thing
that will ever melt the heart of adamant is Christ crucified
revealed in you. The only thing. They shall look on
me whom they have pierced and shall mourn for him as one mourneth
for his only son. Now let's look at the request
Pharaoh made. He used the law to deal with
God rather than trusting God to deal with the law. Verse 8, chapter 8, ìThen Pharaoh called for Moses
and Aaron and said, ìEntreat the Lord that he may take away
the frogs from me and from my people, and I will let the people
go, and they shall that they may do sacrifice unto the Lord.
Pharaoh here cowers like a whipped pup before God's servant, Moses,
whom he had despised, acknowledging God alone to be God, whom before
he said, Who is the Lord, that I shall obey him? And he begs
Aaron and Moses to intercede for him, that the Lord might
remove the plague of frogs from him and his people. Let me just
interject something here. When men are in great distress, they often greatly value and
honor God's servants whom they treated with utter contempt before.
Over in 1 Kings 13, Jeroboam had erected an altar at Bethel,
and he heard the man of God speak. And the man of God said, God's
going to destroy this altar. He's going to tear it into this
altar where Jeroboam raised up his golden calves and said, worship
God here at this place. And Jeroboam stretched out his
hands like this and said to his servants, lay hold on him. And
he couldn't take his arm back. He couldn't take it back. There's
the king stuck, pointing his arm. It dried up like a dead
tree limb on his shoulder. And he begged that man to entreat
God for him because he had to have him. He was in trouble.
When King Saul was forsaken of God, manifestly so, and the Philistines
were about to destroy him and his kingdom, he went down to
the witch of Endor and asked her to conjure up a
prophet for him. And you know who he wanted to
talk to? Who do you want me to bring up
for you, Saul? Samuel, that prophet I hated. He's the man I've got
to hear from. The rich man in hell walked by
Lazarus, stepped around him every day, every day until he went to hell. And then he craved that Lazarus
might come and dip his finger in water and touch his tongue.
When I was a young man, I heard Ralph Barnard preach a sermon
I'd recommend everybody hear at least once called the Hounds
of Hell. He described Pharaoh in hell
screaming, get out of my face! Get out of my face! Get out of
my face! They wrote, who's in your face? That man Moses. That man Moses. Get him out of my face. Get him
out of my face. And forever, Moses' voice hounds
him through hell. John the Baptist, head standing
before Herod, tormenting him continually. And that's exactly
the case with the damned in hell. Pharaoh begs Moses, God's servant,
to pray for him when he thinks God's about to kill him. But
Pharaoh was dealing with a prophet now. He wasn't dealing with one
of his sorcerers. He was dealing with a faithful
man now, not a hireling shepherd. He was dealing with a man who
would not scrape and bow and applaud every time some peanut
man tipped his hat toward God as though he's doing God a favor.
Moses saw through Pharaoh's show of humility. I know he did. Look at verse 9 of chapter 8.
Look what he demands of Pharaoh. And Moses said to Pharaoh, all
right, glory over me. Now, I'll be honest with you,
I've been scratching my head about that for a while, but I'm
not scratching anymore. I know exactly what Moses is
doing. All right, Pharaoh, you want me to entreat God for you?
You deal with me right here publicly before these, your sorcerers,
and these, your people, as the man that God has sent to you
as God's representative. 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. When do you want me to do this,
Pharaoh? Why on earth do you reckon he asked that? So that
when it was done, everybody in the land would know, God did
this by his servant Moses. He said, well, tomorrow will
be all right. Tomorrow will be all right. And Moses said, all
right, this time tomorrow morning, the frogs are gone. And they
were. When we get to chapter 9, After enduring the plagues
of lice and flies and grievous moraine and boils and blame upon
men and beasts, pestilence and grievous hail, Pharaoh's terrors
were renewed and intensified. So he calls for Moses and Aaron
again, and this time he made three confessions that are in
this day of easy-believism thought to be sure evidences of saving
faith. Now I promise you, I promise you, If Pharaoh walked into most
any Baptist church in this country or any other next Sunday morning
and made these three confessions, I mean, this is a king, the king
of Egypt, the richest, most powerful man in the world. If he walked
into most any Baptist church anywhere in the world and made
these three confessions, he'd be chairman of the deacon board
in a month. Look at him. He says in verse 27, I have sinned
this time. I've been there before. Now,
I mean business this time. I might not have been sincere
before. I'm serious this time. I mean
it this time. And then he says again, the Lord,
Jehovah. He uses the name by which God
identifies himself to Moses back in chapter three as the singular
God who is life and from whom life comes. The self-existent,
eternal God. He says, the Lord, He is righteous. I acknowledge the judgments of
God only, and my people are right. I acknowledge that. If He destroys
us, He'll only be doing what's right. And then He says, I and
my people are wicked. Uh-oh. He let it out. I'm a wicked fellow. I'm a wicked
fellow. And, you know, that's the way with all of us. None
of us are perfect, you know. We're all sinners. Any man who
can find comfort in comparing himself with other men hasn't
had his sin exposed to him, not at all. And then Moses hears
Pharaoh cry, entreat the Lord for me. For it is enough. That sounds like Cain. My curse
is more than I can bear. God, you put enough on me now.
I've suffered enough for my sins. It is enough. I can't take anymore.
And then he tries to make a bargain. He says, I'll tell you what I'll
do. You take away this plague, and
I'll let you go. You take away the plague and
I promise I'll do better tomorrow." But Moses knew Pharaoh's hypocrisy. In verse 30 he said, I know you
will not fear the Lord God. And then in verse 34, when Pharaoh
saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased,
he sinned yet some more and hardened his hearts, he and his servants. And the heart of Pharaoh was
hardened. Neither would he let Israel go, just exactly like
God said. Chapter 10, verse 16. God sent the plague of locusts.
We were talking about this, Brother Bob and I were, before the other
folks came in. And I can't imagine this. Those locusts marched in
ranks like armies through Egypt. They ate every herb in the ground. every leaf on every tree, all
the fruit of the trees in all the land of Egypt. They were
spread throughout the whole land and so thick, so thick that the
sun was darkened in the middle of the day. We can imagine that. That's a hyperbole. No, that's
an exact statement. That's an exact statement. And
Pharaoh was terrified. He knew Now God's about to kill
him. Verse 16, Then Pharaoh called
for Moses and Aaron in haste, and he said, I have sinned against
the Lord your God and against you. Now, therefore, forgive,
I pray thee, my sin, only this once, and entreat the Lord your
God that he may take away from me this death only. Again, he
testified with the fear of imminent death, that the Lord is God,
and he's terrified by that fact. And he urges his servants to
go and hastily fetch God's prophet and God's priesthood. And his
confession is more thorough. He says, I have sinned against
the Lord, your God, and against you. But all he's talking is
just the ranting of a madman. Just the ranting of a madman.
Now, therefore, forgive, I pray thee, my sin, only this once. He's asking Moses, not God, to
forgive his sin. And maybe enough said about that,
but when he says, I pray thee, forgive my sin, only this once,
he's going a step further with his bargain. Before, he said,
now Moses, if you'll get rid of this plague, then I'll let
the people go. Now, he says, Moses, if you'll
take away this death, this plague of locusts from me, I promise
you, before God, I'm done with this business of sinning. I've been there too. He acknowledged
that God sent the plague and only God could take it away.
And here again, he betrays his heart. All he wants is to escape
death. Verse 20, that the Lord hardened
Pharaoh's heart. As we've read these three passages
of scripture together and heard Pharaoh speak, it's obvious that
he was convinced of many things and he was informed of many more.
He knew he had sinned. He knew that the Lord Jehovah,
the triune God of whom Moses spoke so clearly, is God alone. He knew and had been informed
by Moses that God has a chosen people to whom He is a lone God. He's God over everybody, but
He's the God of Israel, the God of the Hebrews, God who had made
a covenant with these people by which He was determined to
deliver them and that He's able to deliver them. that he is God
who would be worshipped only at the altar he appointed, in
the place he appointed, by the blood of the Lamb, exactly as
Moses had described him. But Pharaoh's knowledge was nothing
but carnal knowledge of facts. That's all. Just facts. What
do you mean, pastor? He knew he had done wrong. And he didn't have a clue what
sin is. He knew that God is sovereign. He didn't have any trouble acknowledging
that. He might not have liked it, but he knew God's sovereign.
God sent the plagues, and God could take away the plagues.
It is up to Him. But God hadn't conquered his
heart. Instead, he heartened it. He was terrified of God,
but had no fear of God. Understand the difference. Understand
the difference. I expect that young man right
there to reference me. I expect that of him. I insist on it, that he treat
me with respect, but I would be absolutely crushed to think
he was afraid of me. Do you understand the difference?
Do you understand the difference? Believers fear God and reverence
Him. They're not terrified of Him.
Pharaoh knew about God's covenant, but he knew nothing of covenant
mercy, love, and grace. He knew about the Lamb Moses
spoke of, and I'm pretty sure Moses spoke clearly about that
Lamb as to who He was and what He would do. But he didn't know
the Lamb. He knew much, but he knew nothing. It was all in his head. And that's where my problem is,
Rex, trying to preach to you, to this congregation, our sons
and daughters, to anybody else. All I can deal with is your head,
unless God speaks by faith. And I'm as honest as I can be.
I'm not interested in dealing with your head. Faith is a matter
of the heart. Repentance is a matter of the
heart. The knowledge of God is a matter
of the heart. All things spiritual are heart
issues. And the only person who can deal
with your heart is God Almighty. That's all. There are multitudes just like
Pharaoh in this world. I have no doubt that some of
you have been exactly where he is in this passage. Often trembling,
but never turned. Often convicted, but never converted. Often bent, but never broken. Often looking to God in fear,
but never looking to Christ in faith. I doubt there's anyone sitting
here who hasn't been at one time or another spoken to by the Word
of God. and made like Felix to tremble,
made like a gripper to be almost persuaded, only to turn and go
to hell. I've tried to tell you in preaching
this message these last few minutes, everything that this man Pharaoh
Everything he did, I did from my youth up. From my youth up, everything. I would confess my evil deeds
and promise to do better. I would try to persuade God to
be merciful to me. If he'd just keep me out of hell,
then this is what I'd do. Try and clean it up my time and
time again. And my heart, only heart. But what's the difference between
you and Pharaoh? You're looking at a man who's
described in the ninth chapter of Romans as a vessel of mercy. of four prepared for glory. And while I was obstinate and
determined to go to hell, God Almighty was infinitely obstinate
and determined to save my soul. And Pharaoh the vessel of wrath,
now fitted for destruction. What's the difference between
you and Pharaoh, Don? God Almighty stepped in and said,
Hitherto shalt thou go, and no further, and called me to life
and faith in Christ, revealing His Son in me. I began to repent. And I've been repenting. And one of the sweetest things
in this world is the most bitter thing I know. It's called repentance. Continually made to see and acknowledge
what I am before God Almighty. while I trust His sword for perfect
righteousness and perfect redemption and perfect forgiveness by His
obedience to God in my stead. Go to Christ. Go directly to
Him. Not to Moses, not to the law.
Not to a preacher, not to a priest. Directly to Christ. Go to Him.
He has said, Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast
out. Brother Don, I don't know if
I, surely you're not thinking like that. I don't know. Surely
you're not thinking like that. No prerequisites required or
allowed. No conditions demanded or permitted. No qualifications given or accepted. Go to Christ. Trust Him. Cast your helpless soul on God's
darling son and live forever. Else, there's a day coming when you're
going to pray. And I've read about it. In that
last great day, men and women are going to pray and pray forever. But it's going to be a strange
prayer meeting when God sends folks to hell. They're going
to pray to the rocks and the hills, not to God, cry and fall
on us, cover us. They're going to pray not to find acceptance in Christ,
but to be hidden from the face of the Lamb. Oh, what torment the face of
the Lamb despised must be to the damned this day. And they
are going to spend eternity praying Not for life, but for death. And the rocks aren't going to
fall. And the face of the Lamb is not going to be hidden. And
death's not going to come. Oh, God give you grace then to
repent, turn to Him, and live forever. Amen.