Open your Bibles, if you will,
to Exodus chapter 7. You have certainly noticed, I'm
sure, it's been quite a while since I last preached to you
from this book about deliverance. That's not because I've been
negligent. It's because I have been seeking God's message concerning
this first plague that He brought on Egypt for Israel's sake. I try, I try earnestly to seek
that which God the Holy Spirit intends for you and me to hear
and learn from His Word and not simply recite facts. These plagues
were miraculous things, like the miracles performed by our
Savior when He walked on this earth. But the purpose of the
plagues, the purpose of the miraculous works of God throughout the scripture,
never was simply to show his supernatural power over the elements
of the earth. That's not the purpose. There's
a far greater purpose. The purpose was to demonstrate
something clearly about the gospel of God's free grace. Well, I
believe God's given me a message for you. The title of my message
tonight is a deadly mixture, a deadly mixture, water and blood. Moses had gone in before Pharaoh
and performed a remarkable, remarkable sign and wonder. He had taken
Aaron's rod, or had Aaron to take his rod and cast it down
and it became a serpent. Pharaoh's magicians, his soothsayers,
his preachers, those who led him in his idolatrous worship
imitated the same thing. They threw their rods down and
they became serpents. But Aaron's rod swallowed up
their serpents and he took it in his hand again and it became
a rod. Of course, that rod portrays
clearly the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, when
he was made sin for us, was made a curse. He was represented by
Moses in the wilderness, you'll remember, by that serpent of
brass that was made by God's direction and hung up on a pole
and held up before men so that all who looked to him should
live. And that picture, the death of our Savior and the fact that
those who live, live by faith in Him and only by faith in Him. Looking to Christ, trusting Christ,
we live forever. He said, he that liveth and believeth
on me shall never, never die. But God hardened Pharaoh's heart. That's what we read in verse
13. And he hardened Pharaoh's heart. And this is what happens
when a man's heart has been hardened, that he hearkened not unto them,
as the Lord had said. Now, let's pick up in verse 14.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hardened.
He refuseth 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. That is, you'd be standing
there when he comes down in the morning. And the rod which was
turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand. Take Jesus
Christ the Redeemer portrayed there. Take the gospel of Christ
crucified represented there. Take it in your 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,
Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon
the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, and upon their rivers,
and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water. Stretch
it out over the river Nile, and all the canals they've digged
in the land, and all the ponds they've made for themselves,
every pool of water, that they may become blood. and that there
may be blood throughout 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 smote 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. They poured a little water into
a cup or a bowl and made it appear to be blood. And Pharaoh's heart was hardened,
neither did he hearken unto them, just like God said it would be.
And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he set
his heart on this also. And all the Egyptians digged
round about the river for water to drink, and they could not
drink of the water of the river. and seven days were fulfilled
after that the Lord had smitten the river. First, let me call
your attention to the place of confrontation. In verse 15, God
told Moses to go down to the Nile River and be standing there
at the river's edge when Pharaoh came out in the morning. Now
we're not told why Pharaoh came out in the morning. I suspect
he came out to take a bath. And Pharaoh thought that's what
he was going to. Perhaps he came out there to worship. Certainly
the Nile was a place of worship to Pharaoh. Not only a place
of worship, but an object of worship. One of the many objects
of worship in Egypt. They supposed, and Pharaoh supposed,
that the Nile was the source of all life and power. All vegetation they thought came
from the Nile, kind of like scientists in our day. They supposed that
Nile River was God to them, their great benefactor that gave them
power over all the other nations. But whatever the case as to why
Pharaoh thought he was going down to the river, God Almighty
arranged for him to be there. I can't help but to think for
a specific purpose. Eighty years earlier, another
Pharaoh's daughter went down to the Nile to take a bath. At
a time when her father had ordered all the male children of Egypt
to be destroyed, and she heard the cry of a baby boy that tugged
at her heart. A baby boy whom she took into
Pharaoh's palace and raised as her own son, protecting him,
caring for him, and providing for him. that boy whom God had
given birth to for the purpose of making him deliverer in Israel,
making him the one who would bring forth his people out of
Egypt at his appointed time of love. When I read that passage, I can't
help but think of Revelation chapter 12. You remember the
war between Satan and our Redeemer, the man-child? And the earth
swallowed up the woman who bore the man-child to help her and
to help him. Hear me, children of God. Our
Heavenly Father has so arranged things in His sovereign decree,
and He so arranged things, I like the term Brother Darvin used
Sunday morning, He so manipulates the affairs of this world that
everything in this world serves only to do good for his people. Everything. All right, that's
the first thing. God chose this place of confrontation,
and he sent Moses with a distinct and very specific message to
deliver to Pharaoh. He said to Moses, get you unto
Pharaoh in the morning, where he goes down to the Nile, and
thou shalt say unto him, verse 16, the Lord God of the Hebrews,
Now as you read this message that God commanded Moses to speak
to Pharaoh, you will observe that it is a clear, distinct
message. Yet there is no indication of
any mercy, no indication of any offer of grace, no indication
of any appeal made to Pharaoh. It is simply the declaration
of that which God revealed to Moses, the preaching of the gospel. The preaching of the gospel,
first and foremost, is simply the declaration of God's grace,
the declaration of that which God has done and is doing for
his people in Jesus Christ the Lord. And it is always confrontational. If there's anything this generation
has missed with regard to this matter of preaching, anything
that Many men who believe the gospel and preach the gospel
miss. The gospel is not an appeal to men. The gospel is a confrontation
of rebels. We're not sent to make the gospel
appealing to men. We're not sent to make things
appealing to man's nature. Well, if you would do this, I
can't tell you how many times In my lifetime as a believer
and a preacher, folks have said to me, say, you ought to read
this, you ought to do that. These things work. If you want
to get folks to come to church, do this, do that. You've got
to appeal to men. Oh, no. Oh, no. All appeal involves
compromise. All appeal to the flesh involves
compromise. Well, how do you expect sinners
to be saved? We expect God to save His own.
exactly the way he has ordained. Now watch what Moses says to
Pharaoh. The Lord God said to Moses, you tell him first of
all, I am the Lord God. What shall I cry? The prophet
said. He said, declare all flesh is
grass and behold your God. That's all. Read the 40th chapter
of Isaiah. This is the message God sends
us to declare. Man is nothing. Christ is everything. Behold your God. I am the Lord
God who is the Lord God of the Hebrews. I am God who is God
of a particular, distinct, peculiar, chosen people. I am the Lord
God of the Hebrews. He said, the Lord God of the
Hebrews hath sent me. He was sent of God and he knew
it. That gives boldness. He sent
me unto thee saying, let my people go. Now that's not a plea. That's a command and a declaration. The Lord God sent me to you. to say to you, let my people
go. Let them go. He commands Pharaoh
to let them go. Now Pharaoh refuses. Pharaoh
will not hearken. Pharaoh hardens his heart. But
Pharaoh is going to let them go. Because God has commended
him. And so it is in all things. All things and all men always
obey that which God has willed, purposed, and commanded from
eternity. There are no exceptions, including
Satan, of whom Pharaoh is but a picture. He says, Let my people
go for this purpose, that they may serve me in the wilderness,
that they may serve, worship me in the place I have ordained
and in the way I have ordained. And behold, hitherto Thou wouldest
not hear. Verse 17, that hasn't changed
a thing. Just because you didn't hear
it, just because you wouldn't believe, just because you're a rebel,
that doesn't change a thing. Thus saith the Lord, in this
thou shalt know that I am the Lord. My purpose here is not
that I should change you. I raised you up to show my power
in you. I raised you up that all men
might know that I am the Lord. And when I get done here today,
you are going to know that I am the Lord. Behold, I will smite
with the rod that is in my 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. Now that's the message God gave.
That's what God sent Moses to declare with which he confronts
the king of Egypt. He has up to this point gone
to the king's palace. Now God brings the king to him
so that he may be made to know that he is God. Now look at what
Moses performed, what God performed by him. And the Lord spake unto
Moses, saying unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine
hand upon the water of Egypt, and upon the streams, and upon
their rivers, and 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 commended. 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. Now try to get a picture. This
lasted for seven days. For seven days. Everything in
the Red Sea, everything in the ponds, or I'm sorry, in the Nile
River, everything in the ponds, everything in the canals, everything
died. Like that. Just like that. Can you imagine what this place
would smell like if every fish down there in that little creek
were to die all at one time? What a stench. The water was
essential for life. Essential for life. Without the
water, nothing could be washed. Nothing could be cleaned. Without
the water, no crops could be fed. Without the water, there's
nothing to refresh a man's thirst. Water is everywhere, but water
is essential. And that which had been a common
apparent blessing suddenly is made to be a curse. Indeed, everything that men look
upon as blessings in life—God help you to hear me—God makes
to be a curse. to those who will not hear and
follow Christ. Everything. Everything. Every
ordinary, common thing that men look at and say, oh, look how
God has blessed me. Everything shall be a snare to
them and drag them into hell forever. Everything. Upon all
who refuse to believe, to trust, to worship, and to honor our
Redeemer. But why did the Lord specifically
tell Moses to turn the water into blood? Why these two things?
Blood also speaks of life, doesn't it? Leviticus 17, you remember? The life of the flesh is in the
blood. Blood speaks of life. Where there
is no blood, there is no life. But the mixing of water and blood
are a sure token of death. You remember the man in the scriptures
that came to the master who had the dropsy? I just took time
to look it up a few minutes ago. I wanted to be sure I was right.
You know what his problem was? Water was mixed with blood. Water was where blood is supposed
to be. And he was dying. He was dying. You remember the
woman who came to the master with an issue of blood? You know
what her problem was? There was blood where water is
supposed to be. And if she didn't get cured,
she's going to die. Throughout the Scriptures, water
is used as a symbol and picture of God the Holy Spirit as He
performs His work of grace in His people. It's used everywhere. Let me give you just a few passages
to look at. Turn to John chapter 7. John chapter 7. Don't take my word for it. John
chapter 7, verse 37. In the last day, that great day
of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst,
let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the
scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. Now watch this. But this spake
he of the Spirit. The Spirit of God comes, and
he is in the believer a living fountain of water. Out of him,
in his inmost being, shall flow fountains of living water. This
he spoke of the Spirit, whom he would pour out upon his people
as the King of Glory. After that, the kindness and
love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of
righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy,
he saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing
of the Holy Ghost, which is shed on us abundantly through Jesus
Christ our Lord. When God the Holy Spirit comes
to the center, giving him life and faith in Christ, When God
the Holy Spirit causes the sinner to believe on the Son of God
so that he looks a way to Christ for everlasting salvation, righteousness,
acceptance with God, forgiveness, he does this as a washing of
his soul. The washing of his conscience
so that his mind, his heart, his conscience is purged from
dead works. That's what we read in Hebrews
chapter 9. It is called the sprinkling of the blood. Just as the blood
was applied, later in chapter 12 of Exodus, to the doorpost
and the lintel of every man's house by his own hand, so the
believer, by faith in Christ, believing on the Son of God,
has his heart, his conscience, sprinkled from dead work so that
the Spirit of God declares, you're redeemed, you're forgiven. But
the washing is not the redemption. The washing is not the atonement. The washing is not the forgiveness. It is but the declaration of
that which God has done. It is that which God does in
us. The blood, on the other hand, the blood represents clearly
our Lord Jesus Christ and his sacrifice. Without shedding of
blood is no remission. We are redeemed with the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why does he use these two things,
mixing them together, as a symbol of judgment and death? Because
we dare not fail to recognize and worship God, Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit, as God our Savior. We recognize and we rejoice to
declare, we rejoice to see that the whole of our salvation is
Christ the Redeemer. Simeon took him up in his arms
and said, Lord, let us now thy servant depart in peace, for
mine eyes have seen thy salvation. But this salvation is that which
is brought to us by God's eternal purpose, exactly as God has purposed
it. It is accomplished for us by
Christ's sin atoning death, and it is brought to us by the power
of his grace in the experience of grace. Our Lord said, You
must be born again. And that new birth comes as the
result of what God's done. Let me show you again in Ephesians
chapter 1. In verse 3, the Spirit of God here
speaks of the work of God the Father. who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Now watch how
he did it. According as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him, in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will. And we are saved by God's purpose.
Romans chapter 8 speaks plainly. This passage speaks plainly.
This salvation was accomplished in God's purpose. That does not
nullify, nor does it make any less significant, the necessity
of our redemption by Christ in time. Look what it says, next
slide. This He did that we should be
to the praise of His glory, wherein He hath made us accepted into
beloved, And now he's going to describe this acceptance. In
whom we have redemption through his blood according to the riches
of his grace. Jesus Christ, God's darling Son,
assumed our nature, lived in perfect obedience to God as our
representative. died as our substitute when he
was made sin for us and made a curse for us and by the sacrifice
of himself once and for all put away our sins and we were justified
and sanctified by his blood when he died and rose again. But that
doesn't mean that we must not be born again or that the new
birth is not a necessity. No man enters into glory except
Christ be formed in him by God's omnipotent grace. Look at verse
13. In whom ye also trusted, after
that ye heard the word of truth. When is it that a sinner believes
on Christ? When did you believe? When God
caused you to hear His word of the accomplishment of your redemption.
The word of truth. The gospel of your salvation. The gospel declaring the good
news, Christ has saved you. How do you know Christ died for
you? How do you know Christ redeemed you? When the Spirit of God causes
you to hear that He has. When He sprinkles your conscience
from dead works, applying the blood. Read on. In whom also,
after that you believe, that is, having believed, as soon
as you believe on Christ. Then and not till then. You were
sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. What does that mean,
sealed? All God's covenant mercy and
grace sealed to you. All of it. In the Old Testament,
the sign of the covenant, the seal of the covenant was circumcision. Now, that doesn't have one thing
on this earth to do with water baptism. Not one thing on this
earth. It speaks of a circumcision made
without hands, that work of God the Spirit in the hearts of men,
cutting away the filth of the flesh. How is that? By the washing
of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. You were sealed
with that Holy Spirit upon us, which is the earnest of our inheritance. The earnest of our inheritance.
of everlasting glory, the earnest of everlasting salvation. The
earnest is part and parcel with the thing for which it is the
earnest. I'll give you an example. You see an advertisement for
a new car. Somebody is going to sell it,
and you want to buy the car. So you go to the car lot, you
take it on a test drive, you negotiate for a price, and rather
than being ripped off by the financial officer of the car
lot, you want to go to your own bank. get a better deal. So you
write a check and you pay a down payment, earnest money. But that
down payment comes off of the whole price when you come back
with the rest of it. So that the earnest money is
part and parcel with the price of the vehicle. Now hear me.
God the Holy Spirit forms Christ in you. That which is born of
God is that which shall possess everlasting heaven and possess
it exactly as it is born of God in the perfection of righteousness,
in the perfection of holiness as Christ himself. He's the earnest of our inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased possession. I think there's clearly
another reason why back here God sent Moses to perform this
miracle before Pharaoh. Moses portrays law and judgment
and justice. You remember Satan contending
with the Lord over the body of Moses, in the case of Joshua,
contending with Joshua? And the Lord Jesus said, the
Lord rebuke thee, because Satan wanted to raise up the law before
Joshua. That's ever his purpose. And
I promise you, anybody who preaches law, work, salvation is but raising
up the law to condemn you. They are but representatives
of Satan himself in the message they declare. Ratshika, you remember,
came against Israel and said, I'm going to make you eat your
own dung before the day is over. That's exactly what law righteousness
is. It is eating your own dung. Obedience by which you hope to
make yourself righteous before God is nothing but the eating
of your own excrement and God won't have it. It is called filth. Filthy rags. Moses represents
law. He represents judgment. He represents
condemnation throughout the scriptures. Christ, of course, is grace and
redemption and salvation. When Moses comes, his first act
is an act of judgment. He turned the waters of Egypt
into death. He turned the waters into death. Our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom
comes grace and truth. by whom we receive grace upon
grace. When he began his ministry, John
chapter 2, this is the beginning of miracles. Do you remember
what he did? He turned water into wine. Not just wine, the best wine. He turned Ordinary water into
bountiful, joyful, blessedness. Wine, representing gladness of
the heart. Wine, representing merriment.
Wine, representing comfort. Wine, representing health. Everything. All that Christ does, He turns
everything that might be a curse to us and was a curse to us by
nature into a blessing for us. And so Moses and Christ are contrasting. But we don't. When God sends
judgment, when God sends judgment, He sends
a delusion. In 2 Thessalonians, the Spirit
of God speaks about before Christ returns, Antichrist shall be
turned loose on this world. And God will send men who, like
Pharaoh, refuse to hear, refuse to hear His Word, refuse to receive
love of the truth. He'll send them a strong delusion
that they should believe a lie, that they might be damned, damned
on the basis of absolute justice because they would not receive
the love of the truth. Look here at the next line, verse
22. And the magicians of Egypt did
so with their enchantments. As Pharaoh's prophets, those
deceivers of his soul, the kind he wanted and the kind he got,
they came and imitated the work which God performed by Moses. Now watch this. And Pharaoh's
heart was heartened. Neither did he hearken to them,
that is to Moses and Aaron, as the Lord said. And he turned
and went into his house. Neither did he set his heart on this. And for seven days for seven
days, completeness, fullness, until the time representing the
fullness of a man's iniquity, until the time representing the
completeness of a man's destruction was come. For seven days the
waters of Egypt were blood, and Pharaoh refused Pharaoh refused
to hear. Now, let me send you home with
something else. Turn to 2 Thessalonians 2. A passage I referred to just a
moment ago. This passage is talking about terrible, terrible judgment. Shelby and I were talking this
morning. Last year, I think it was, Easter
Sunday, Brother Merle Hart and his wife got in the church, coming
up through Harrodsburg, and some fools had decided that they would
give a good symbol of Easter, and three men were hanging on
crosses just outside of town. Merle and Shelby talked about
it a little bit, and Shelby said to him, he said, We could have been there. Merle responded and said, yes,
I'd have been there, been the one hanging on the middle cross
and proud as I could be of it, except for one thing. God wouldn't
let it happen. Why is it that you hear his voice
and enter while there's room, while others make a wretched
choice and rather die than come? Why is it that you delight in
the gospel of God's grace? Why me? While others despise
the same message. Why is it that those things that
cheer and gladden our hearts in the prospect of everlasting
glory are things of scorn and hatred in the minds of many?
I'll tell you the difference. Verse 13. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren beloved of God, because God has
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Whereunto he called you
by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast
and hold the traditions which you have received, which you
have been taught, whether by word or our epistle, now our
Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God, even our Father, which hath
loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through
grace. Comfort your hearts, establish
you in every good word and work. Amen. Our Father, thank you for your grace and
for every revelation of your grace. Thank you for the precious blood
of our dear Savior. by which our souls are redeemed,
by which we stand justified before you, by which our sins have been
put away, and we thank you. Oh, how we thank you for the
blessed gift of your grace by your Spirit, giving us life and
faith, forming Christ in us. Will you be pleased Will you
be pleased, our Father, give us grace that we may ever walk
in this world trusting Him who alone is our
Savior, looking to Him alone for all grace and righteousness. And will you be pleased by your
Spirit living in us to subdue the horrid lust of our flesh.
Strengthen us by your grace for Christ's sake. Amen. Okay, take your hymn books if
you will. We'll be dismissed, sing and redeemed how I love
to proclaim it. Let me look it up. I don't remember
exactly where it is.