If ever God the Holy Spirit will
truly convince us that all things work together for good to them
that love the Lord, to them who are the called according to His
purpose, we will live in this world in peace. If ever, he will
convince us. All things. All things. All things. He raised up Pharaoh
for good. He raised up the nation of Egypt
for good. He sent Israel down to Egypt
for 400 years for good. And he sent Moses to conquer
Pharaoh and Egypt for good, to save his people. And in all those
things, portraying what he does in his good providence all the
time. With that, I want you to turn
with me to Exodus chapter 8. We're going to look at these
32 verses together. God sent Moses to turn the River
Nile and all the water in Egypt into blood and judgment. And Pharaoh hardened his heart.
And seven days were fulfilled. And Pharaoh must have become
complacent again. Well, God didn't mean business. He didn't mean what he said. And now God sends Moses back
to Pharaoh. And in this chapter, we see three
more plagues poured out successively upon the land of Egypt. Frogs,
lice, and flies are sent upon the land. By the command of God,
Moses brought these plagues upon the land of Egypt for purpose. Now, what's their significance?
Why did these things happen? Why are they recorded for us
upon the pages of inspiration by God the Holy Spirit? Are these
things just pictures of God's omnipotence and his dominion
over natural things, showing that God has power over nature? No. They certainly demonstrate
that. But if that's all you learn from
these things, you've not learned what these things are intended
to teach. Are these things simply given to show us moral lessons? Absolutely not. They are given
to show us pictures of God's saving operations of grace in
His good providence. As you read these verses together
with me tonight, understand that these things are written for
our learning to teach us patience, to give us comfort, and to encourage
us to believe God that we might with one mind and one mouth glorify
God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, all the time. That we might with one mind and
one mouth confess our God and worship him in the midst of all
things in the experience of life. That's what Paul tells us in
Romans chapter 15. The book of Revelation makes it crystal clear
that the plagues God brought upon the Egyptians were typical
of God's judgments brought upon the world today in His good providence. And don't ever be fooled by the
religious compromise of this age, and it is religious compromise
that seems to engulf nearly the whole religious world when judgment
comes, trials come, difficulties come, earthquakes, hurricanes,
tornadoes. I have some friends out in Lake
Tahoe who attend the church at rescue I'll see in just a couple
of weeks. I don't know yet whether their house was burned to the
ground or not. They were evacuated. house right across the street
had burned to the ground in that fire. Oh, what a terrible accident. What a terrible freak of nature. No. What a terrible work of God
in heaven. What a terrible work. And I don't
mean terrible in the sense of bad. I mean terrible in the sense
of terrifying. God Almighty has done this thing,
as He has all other things. You read the book of Revelation,
the opening of the seals, the trumpet judgments, the vial judgments
as they're poured out upon the earth. Refer back specifically
to that which is recorded in Exodus chapters 7, 8, 9, and
10. As then the plagues were poured
out upon Egypt and Israel was unharmed. Even so, the judgments
of God that fall upon the wicked Accomplish nothing evil for God's
elect, but only good. Read the 91st Psalm again and
rejoice. No harm shall come to you by
God's providence, no matter how harmful it appears and feels
at the time. The scripture declares there
shall no evil happen to the just. All right, let's begin with Exodus
chapter 8, verse 1. God commands Moses to go back
to Pharaoh, now the third time. 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. Let my people go, that they may
serve me. This is the third time Moses
heard this command from God. He will hear it eight times altogether. Though he hardened his heart
again and again, God's command will not be altered. God's purpose
will not be changed. No matter how Pharaoh responds,
God will cause Pharaoh to let his people go. When God speaks
to man, he doesn't ask man to do anything. He commands. And
when God speaks to devils, he doesn't ask anything, he commands. Read the life of our Lord Jesus
Christ. He is the God who sent Moses
to command Pharaoh, and he is the God who commanded the devils
to come out of men again and again when he walked on this
earth. The command of God is given. He is determined that
he deliver his people out of Egypt, and he will deliver them
by Pharaoh letting them go. Pharaoh is going to turn loose
of them, not willingly, and yet delighted to shove them out of
the land. Our Lord Jesus comes and binds the strong man and
casts him out and takes over, always does. It is God's purpose
to save his people, and save them he will. Hold your hands
here in Exodus 1 and look one more time at Romans chapter 8,
verses 28 through 30. God saves his people, and this
is how he does it, by his own sovereign purpose. And he does
it by the purchase of our souls through the sacrifice of his
darling son. He does it by the power of His
grace, and He does it by all things that are brought to pass
in time. Romans 8, 28. And we know, we
know, every child of God knows, we are taught of God the Spirit
by His Word. We know that all things, that's
not all good things, that's all things, that's not all things
that seem reasonable to men, that's all things work together. Work together. I was preaching
from this passage one time one Sunday morning. Preacher sitting
back there about where Brother Claus Peterson is sitting now.
When he walked out the door, he said, I don't see how on earth
any preacher could say that these evil things accomplish good. I didn't say it. God said it. God said it. All things work
together for good. To who? To them that love God,
who are those? To them who are the called, those
and they only who are the called, and they work together for good,
to those who are the called of God according to His purpose. What's His purpose? For whom
He did foreknow. Brother Lindsay dealt with this
foreknowledge a few weeks ago when he preached to you from
1 Peter. This foreknowledge is not God's pre-science. This foreknowledge
has nothing to do with God's omniscience. Foreknowledge is
not an attribute of God, it is an act of God, whom he did love
from everlasting, is what he's talking about, whom he did approve
of from everlasting in Jesus Christ his Son. For whom he did
foreknow, then he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his Son, that his Son might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
then he also called, and whom he called, then he also justified,
and whom he justified, then he also glorified." Now, what shall
we say to these things? What shall we say to these things?
Oh, that can't be right. Say that if you want to. What
shall we say to these things? Well, where does that leave man's
free will? Say that if you want to. What
shall we say to these things? Well, what about Satan? Say that
if you want to. This is what we say to these
things. If God be for us, who can be against us? Who can be
against us? Oh, but preacher, lots of folks
are against us. Yes, but not with success. against
us in the things they do, against us in the things they say, against
us in the works of opposition. But all that they say and all
that they do and all their opposition, persecution, even to martyrdom,
work for good to us. Who can be against us? Let us
ever pray for grace that God would make us obedient to Himself. and keep us from hardening our
hearts like Pharaoh. He says four times in the scripture,
harden not your heart. Today, if you will hear his voice,
harden not your heart. Turn to Psalm 119. Don't harden your heart against
the gospel of his grace. Don't harden your heart against
the doctrine of God our Savior. Don't harden your heart against
the works of His providence. Don't harden your heart against
the revelation of God. Psalm 119, verse 4, Thou hast
commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently. Now, this is not
talking just about the Ten Commandments. This is talking about the whole
revelation of God in His Word. keep everything revealed here
diligently. Oh, that my ways were directed
to keep, to cherish, to guard, to walk in thy statutes. Then
shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy commandments."
Have respect to everything written in this book. All right, back
here in Exodus chapter 8. all who harden their hearts against
the revelation of God, either in obstinate rebellion or in
attempts to compromise that which God has revealed, prove themselves
to be reprobate and court the judgment of God. And if thou refuse to let them
go, behold, I will smite 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 all thy people, and into thine ovens,
and into thy kneading-cloths. And the frogs shall come up both
on thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants. And
the Lord spake unto Moses, saying to Aaron, stretch forth thine
hand with thy rod over the streams, over the rivers, over the ponds,
and cause 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. He sent frogs, the psalmist says,
which destroyed them. This second plague, like the
first, was specifically directed against the idolatry of the Egyptians. God hates nothing like he hates
idolatry. The Nile River was revered by
them as a god. They looked upon it as the source
of life in Egypt, kind of like folks do in our society. We wouldn't
worship a river. No, we worship Mother Nature,
Mother Earth. What a horrible, horrible description
of God's creation. The Nile River was revered by
them as the source of life. And frogs, frogs were worshipped
by the Egyptians as symbols of fertility. If you read history
a little bit, it shouldn't surprise you that that's the case. heathen
gods almost always have some connection with fertility and
perverse things. And so the Lord God multiplied
their ugly, croaking, smelly gods until he made their gods
obnoxious to them. Would to God he would use me
to do that. The fogs not only covered the
land of Egypt, These frogs, their gods, invaded their homes, entered
their bedchambers, crawled into their ovens, and even into their
kneading troughs, so that everywhere there were frogs, until they
were disgusted with the smell and the sight of their frogs. The only time these dirty creatures
are mentioned in the New Testament is in Revelation 16. I want you
to turn there. You'll see something of the significance
of this play. These frogs represent the corrupting
influence of false religion. Specifically, they represent
the corrupting influence of false religion as it opposes Christ,
the gospel of his grace, and his people. They are here described
as the spirits of devil's working miracle. I won't spend too much time talking
about that tonight. I don't guess we've got any charismatics
here or anyone inclined to it. Revelation 16 verse 13. I saw
three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the
dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of
the false prophet. They come out like frogs out
of the mouth of the Antichrist, who's described in 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2 in exactly the same way. For they are spirits of
devil's working miracles. I've said it to you numerous
times. It needs to be said again and
again. Don't ever be deluded with the miracle religion of
this age. In the days of the writing of
the New Testament, the confirmation of God's messengers Those men
inspired of God to give us Holy Scripture was they had the power
from Christ by His Spirit to perform wondrous things, speaking
in tongues and so on. Gifts of prophecy, gifts of healing,
wondrous things they did. In this day of Antichrist freewill
works religion, read the book of God and see it. Miracle workers. Folks speaking in tongues and
having gifts of prophecy and visions and dreams are men who
are sent of Satan, messengers of Antichrist. In this seventh
verse, or in the seventh verse, the Lord God gives Pharaoh's
magicians power to imitate his servants. And the magicians did
so with their enchantments and brought up frogs upon the land
of Egypt. There is a statement in Job 12,
16 that needs to be understood. The deceived and the deceiver
are His. The deceived and the deceiver
are His. Turn to 2 Thessalonians 2. I
mentioned it just a moment ago. Verse 7. Folks are forever wondering who
Antichrist is, and every time there's some new squabble over
in the Middle East, they'll have 100,000 books on prophecy written,
gobbled up and sold, and before they get sold, the crisis is
over. Well, missed it again. Missed
it again. Make a fortune on it. Who's Antichrist? Where's he coming from? What's
he look like? I've heard folks say, Billy Graham was Antichrist,
Henry Kissinger was Antichrist, Nikita Khrushchev was Antichrist.
I mean every kind of evil thing in the world comes up as Antichrist.
Who's Antichrist? Every religious spirit that teaches
you salvation somehow depends on you. Every religious spirit
beginning in the days of the Apostle John said many Antichrists
have gone forth into the world. Look here in 2 Thessalonians
2 verse 7. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work. Only
he who now letteth will let. He who now restrains will continue
to restrain, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall
that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the
spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of
his coming. Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan,
with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness." And that's not talking about preachers standing
up and telling you ought to go have sex orgies. That's not talking
about preachers standing up and telling you that it's all right
to smoke dope. That's talking about men standing up and telling
you that you can perform and establish righteousness for yourself.
They come with deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that
perish. Perish because they receive not
the love of the truth. And these spirits of Antichrist
are sent that they might be damned. Look at this. Because they received
not of 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. The deceived and the deceiver
are his. Now this doesn't mean that somehow
we are to And I sit back and look at false prophets and false
religion and think nothing of it. Let us never cease to be
concerned for the souls of men. Let us never cease to recognize
the difference between free grace and free will, between grace
and works. Let us never cease to make clear
the distinction and preach the gospel to all men. But don't
ever imagine that anything is out of God's control. are running
contrary to God's purpose. Go back in Exodus chapter 8 again,
verse 9, and learn this. Judgment never brings repentance. Many, like Pharaoh, tremble because
they're terrified by God's judgment. I can't tell you how many times
over the years I've had folks to try to get me to chase ambulances
like most preachers do, like lawyers do. Somebody gets in
trouble, I believe this is the time to go get him to twist his
arm and make a profession for Jesus. Judgment never brings
repentance. It brings fear. It brings terror. It brings a temporary reformation. It may bring a permanent reformation
of life, but it never brings repentance. Look at this, Exodus
8 verse 9. Moses said to Pharaoh, Glory
over me, and I shall entreat for thee, for thy servants, and
for thy people, to destroy the fogs from thee and thy house,
that they may remain in the river only. And he said, Go pray for
me 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 house, and from thy servants, and from thy
people, and 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, and 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. When he saw the frogs were dead,
when he saw that God didn't execute him then, when he saw that judgment
had been averted, he hardened his heart and hearkened not unto
them just like God said he would. Paul tells us in Romans 2, 4,
the goodness of God. leadeth thee to repentance." Godly sorrow works repentance
to salvation not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world
works death. I do not say God doesn't use
providential judgments to arouse, impress, subdue, and humble his
elect and bring them to repentance. He does. The 107th Psalm makes
that clear. But I am saying this. Divine
judgment in and of itself will never produce repentance in the
heart of a man. Read Revelation chapter 16. It
speaks of God casting men into hell. And when He's cast them
into hell, in verse 9 we read, And they repented not to give
God the glory. They repented not still. Judgment
never brings repentance. Turn to Psalm 78, verse 31. Until God the Holy Spirit comes
into the heart by mighty saving operations of grace, no affliction,
no judgment, no terrifying alarms, be they ever so great, ever so
heavy, or ever so many, will reach the soul. Psalm 78, 31.
The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them,
and smote down the chosen men of Israel. For all this they
sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works. Therefore
their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble. When he slew them, then they
sought him, and they returned and inquired early after God.
They were just like Pharaoh. And they remembered that God
was their Rock and the High God their Redeemer. Nevertheless,
they just flattered Him with their mouth, and they lied to
Him with their tongues. For their heart was not right
with Him, neither were they steadfast in His covenant. Not only is
it true that judgment does not bring repentance, even favor
shown to the wicked will never produce repentance. The wicked
will not repent except God grant them repentance in the saving
revelation of his dear son. Chapter 8, verse 15. When Pharaoh
saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart and hearkened
not unto them as the Lord had said. Now look at verse 16. And the Lord said unto Moses,
saying to Aaron, stretch out thy rod and smite the dust of
the land, that it may become lice throughout the land of Egypt.
And they did so. For Aaron stretched out his hand
with his rod and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice
in man and in beast. All the dust of the land became
lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And the magicians did
so with their enchantments to bring forth lice. But they could
not. So there were lice upon man and
upon beast. Then the magician said unto Pharaoh,
this is the finger of God. Pharaoh's false prophets, his
magicians, his harling prophets, his diviners, his sorcerers,
they said, we can't duplicate this. This is God's finger. And
Pharaoh's heart was hardened. And he hearkened not unto them,
as the Lord said he would." Now, there are several things here
that demand our attention. Let me give them to you briefly.
First, Aaron smoked the dust of the land, and it became lice
upon man and beast. In the judgment of God, pronounced
upon our fallen father Adam, we read, Cursed is the ground
for thy sake. For dust thou art, and under
dust shalt thou return." When Aaron smote the ground, and its
dust became lice, and the lice came upon all the Egyptians,
we are given a graphic picture that all men by nature, every
fallen human being, is under the curse of God's holy law. When Pharaoh's magicians tried
to imitate God's serpents by their enchantments, this time
they could not. How come? Why do you reckon? They were able to turn their
rods into serpents just like Abraham. They were able to turn
water into blood just like Abraham, or make it appear so. Why couldn't
they at least fake this business? of turning dust into light because
God wouldn't let them. Just that simple. God wouldn't
let them. I could spend a while here. They
were helpless because God would not allow them to do what they
wanted to do. He had permitted them to fake
God becoming serpents. He had permitted them to fake
water becoming blood, but now he just stops them. He just stops
them. He withheld their magical powers
from them, and they were helpless to deceive. So it is with Satan
himself and with all his servants. Satan's power, God help you to
hear me, Satan's power is prescribed and controlled by God our Savior. He can't wiggle without God's
decree. He's not a rival to God. He's
the creature and the servant of God, just as surely as everything
else in God's creation. God may permit him to bring forth
uncleanness and deception, just as he permitted Pharaoh's magician
prophets to deceive him. But with the curse, he and his
messengers are impotent. They can remove nothing. The
curse that God placed upon man in the garden can be removed
only according to the gospel. by God's law and God's priest. Only by the satisfaction of justice
through the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ our Lord, who is
God our Savior and our mighty High Priest. Third, in verse
19, we read, Then the magician said unto Pharaoh, This is the
finger of Now you can mark this down in
a note somewhere. The last word these false prophets spoke as
far as the scripture records are these words, ìThis is the
finger of God.î And the last word in the last day that shall
be spoken by every creature, ìThis is God.î and there is none
else. Every knee shall bow and every
tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ alone is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father. And there is forth a striking
correspondence between this third plague wrought upon Egypt and
the eighth chapter of John's There is a similar contest between
Christ Jesus and false religion. There are the scribes and Pharisees.
They drag in the adulterous woman, using her as bait with which
they hope to ensnare the Son of God. And as they did, the
Lord Jesus' only response to them was to stoop down and write
in the dust of the ground. After saying to them, he that
is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her,
we read again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground. Do you
remember what happened next? They which heard, being convicted
by their own conscience, went out one by one, and Jesus was
left alone and the woman standing in the midst, as the Lord Jesus
wrote in the dirt By their action, they acknowledged, this is the
finger of God. I had no idea what he wrote.
I suspect maybe it was names and dates. But whatever it was,
they said, this is God. Let's get away from him. And
fifth, I find it strikingly delightful that that which God used to confound
and subdue these false prophets was something as small and weak
and insignificant and dirty as lice. That gives me a little hope by
the round three, he might use you and me. He still chooses
weak things of the earth, to confound the things that are
mighty. Exodus 8, And the Lord said unto
Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh. Lo,
he cometh forth to the water, and saith 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 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 of the ground whereon
they are. And I will sever in that day
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."
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. Psalm 78, the psalmist tells
us that the flies devoured them. This plague of flies is another
striking display of God's sovereignty. You see, the Egyptians worshipped
Beelzebub. They worshipped him as the God
of the flies. They had gods for everything.
What could be more strikingly admirable than for God Almighty
to show his contempt of their idolatry than to punish them
with the God they worshipped. That which they worshipped devoured
them. Dead flies caused the ointment
of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savor, the wise man
said, and their dead flies caused the religion itself, their gods
themselves, to stink. He used the flies to punish those
who despised his people in that day. And if you read Isaiah 7,
just after announcing the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ through
the womb of the virgin, the Lord God by his prophet says he will
use flies again to oppose those who oppose his darling son. Flies. Most everybody here at least
has been exposed to country life. You find them more in the country
than anywhere else. That's because we have more manure
than anybody else. You find them wherever manure
is thickest and freshest and wettest. You find flies. They're everywhere. A good representation
of the dung gods of this world. Do you know what Paul speaks
of when he speaks of self-righteous works religion? I mean by that,
religion that teaches you that you make yourself righteous somehow
by something you do. He said, I do count it but dung. That's exactly how God would
have us to look upon it. Let us ever give thanks to our
God for that great mercy by which he has set us free from the dung-heeled
deities of false religion. Notice there were no flies. in
the land of Goshen where the children of Israel dwelt in verse
22. Because God said in verse 23, I will put a division between
my people and thy people. Oh, thank God for distinguishing
free grace. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? God said I put a division between
my people I'll come back to that in a week or two, Lord willing.
But God makes the difference by election, by redemption, and
by effectual calling. Before the world began, He chose
a people to be His own. In the fullness of time, He sent
His Son, who by the shedding of His blood redeemed us out
of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. And then, at the
appointed time of love, he sends his Spirit and gives us life
and faith in his Son by almighty, irresistible grace. Thanks be
unto God for his unspeakable gift. He who is our God is God
indeed, for God is my King of old, working salvation in the
midst of the earth. Now, let's look at the last section
of this chapter, verse 25. And Pharaoh called for Moses,
and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the
land. And Moses said, It is not meet
to do so, for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians
to the Lord our God. Lo, we shall sacrifice the abomination
of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone
us? We will go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice
to the Lord our God as he shall command us. And Pharaoh said,
I'll let you go, that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God
in the wilderness, only you shall not go very far away. Entreat
from me. And Moses said, Behold, I go
out from thee and will entreat the Lord that the swarms of flies
may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people
tomorrow. But let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully
any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.
And Moses went out from Pharaoh. and entreated the Lord, and the
Lord did according to the word of Moses. And he removed the
swarms of flies from Pharaoh, and from his servants, and from
his people, and there remained not one. And Pharaoh hardened
his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people
go. He pretended to relent, but his pretense only demonstrated
greater hardness of heart. He tried to cover himself. They
tried to get Moses and Aaron to compromise with Him. Let me
call your attention to just three or four things here and I'll
be done. First, understand this. Our God, our God demands total
surrender. Total surrender. Folks these
days think they can pick and choose. what they will bow to
and what they want, what they will believe and what they want,
what they will do and what they want. Our God demands total surrender. Second, the sacrifice by which
we worship our God, the crucified Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, our
crucified Savior, is now, always has been, and always shall be,
an abomination to this world. I know folks love to talk about
Jesus' birth and His death and His coming again. But when you start to declare
to them that Jesus Christ, God's Son, actually did redeem His
people with His blood, He didn't just make it possible He redeemed
that every sinner for whom Christ died shall surely be saved by
his power. Not one shall perish at last. His blood was not shed in vain
for any, but rather he accomplished exactly what he pleased and now
sits upon the throne of heaven and rules over all flesh, Pharaoh
and his magicians included, the deceived and the deceiver, for
one purpose. that he might give eternal life
to as many as the Father has given him. Declare those things
and you will find out that he is still an abomination to this
world. Third, the only way we can worship
and serve our God is to sacrifice to him. Moses said, we've got to go out
and sacrifice to the Lord. And to use that phrase interchangeably,
we serve the Lord. We come to God, we worship God,
we serve God, and the only way possible for it to be done is
through the merits of Jesus Christ, our blessed Redeemer. There is
no acceptance with God ever apart from Him. And fourth, we cannot
worship and serve our God by compromise. Can't be done. Can't be done. I may come back
to this another day, but I see so much compromise. It
doesn't matter what the reason is. Doesn't matter what the excuse
is men give. Doesn't matter what the motive
is. Compromise is damning, both to the compromiser and to those
who follow him. Moses said, We're going to have
to honor and worship God just like He said. God give us grace
to do the same. Amen.