Exodus chapter 11 and verse 1. And the Lord said unto Moses,
yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterwards, he will let you go
hence. When he shall let you go, he
shall surely thrust you out hence altogether. I wanted to bring
one more message before we look at the Passover, which is given
in the next chapter. And this chapter begins, as I
have just read, telling us that the Lord had told Moses that
he would bring one plague more. And afterwards, Pharaoh would
let Israel go. And there's two questions I want
to answer here. First of all, Where was Moses? Where was Moses when the Lord
told him this? Where was he? Well, because of
the chapter division, we are likely to miss this, but we have
to look back into chapter 10, beginning with verse 26. When Moses told Pharaoh, there
was darkness, you remember, all over the land, except where the
Israelites lived. Our cattle also shall go with
us. There shall not an hoof be left
behind, for thereof must we take to serve the Lord our God. And
we know not with what we must serve the Lord until we come
thither. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's
heart, and he would not let them go. And Pharaoh said unto him,
said unto Moses, after Moses had told him that they must leave
with all of their animals, not a hoof would be left behind. Then Pharaoh said unto him, get
thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more. For in that
day thou seest my face, thou shalt die. And Moses said, at
that time, Moses said, thou hast spoken well, I will see thy face
again no more. Where was Moses when he told
him, yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt? Afterwards, He will let you go
hence. He was in the presence of Pharaoh. Now how God told him this, we're
not told, obviously not with an audible voice, but God spoke
to him. And that's the way because God
told him at that time, yet one more plague and afterwards Pharaoh
We'll let Israel go. That's the way that Moses could
tell Pharaoh, thou has spoken well. And that last verse of
chapter 10, verse 29, thou has spoken well. God had already
told him. At that time, God had told Moses
one more plague Am I going to bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt,
and then he will let you go? And Moses said, Thou hast spoken
well. I will see thy face again no
more. What was this last plague that
God would bring upon the nation of Egypt? We've seen nine of
them. And they've all been awful. But
this one, this last plague, was the worst of all. And we read
about it in chapter 11, verses 4 through 6. This last plague
was the death of the firstborn. the death of the firstborn in
Egypt. Beginning with verse four, Moses
said, thus saith the Lord, about midnight will I go out into the
midst of Egypt, and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die. From the firstborn of Pharaoh
that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the
maidservant that is behind the mill, and all the firstborn of
beasts, And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of
Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it
any more. This 10th plague was the death
of the firstborn in Egypt. Firstborn of men and firstborn
of animals. Now, when this is related in
Psalm 78, I wanted to mention this. When the psalmist relates
the history of what we read here in Exodus, he says, and smote
all the firstborn in Egypt, the chief of their strength, in the
tabernacles of Ham. The tabernacles of Ham, of course,
refers to the tents of Egypt. Ham was a descendant, or Egypt,
rather, descended from Ham, and that's the reason Egypt several
times And the scriptures is referred to by that title, Ham. But the point I wanted to bring
out is, this was the chief of their strength. The chief of
their strength. They were all going to die. Of course, this is biblical language,
calling a man's firstborn, a son that is born usually in a man's
youth, his strength. And certainly it is the strength
of a nation, these young men, and they were all going to perish
that night. And from this chapter, and there
was no escaping. Pharaoh was a mighty king, but
there was a greater king coming through Egypt that night, the
king of Taros, that is death. God was going to strike the firstborn
of all in the land. from the Pharaoh on the throne
to the maid who worked in the kitchen, wherever the firstborn
was going to die. Now, from this chapter tonight,
I want us to consider three things to strengthen our confidence
in the Word of God, our confidence in the God of the Word, and our
confidence in the grace of God. First of all, confidence in the
word of God. Notice, let's read verses two
and three. And these should be read here
in chapter 11. These should be read as a parentheses. Speak now in the ears of the
people. Now this is something that had
happened beforehand because they're leaving this night. This is something
that God had told Moses beforehand, before this took place, when
he left Pharaoh for that last time. Because if you look in
chapter 12, just look over there, when he gives the commandments
concerning the Passover, speak you unto all the congregation
of Israel saying in the 10th day of this month." Well, the
Passover took place on the 14th night of the month. So this had
taken place, what we read here in verses two and three beforehand. And that's the reason I said
we should read these two verses like a parentheses. Speak now
in the ears of the people. And let every man borrow of his
neighbor, and every woman of her neighbor, jewels of silver
and jewels of gold. And the Lord gave the people
favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very
great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants,
and in the sight of the people." Confidence, this is the point
I want to make, confidence in the word of God. And I must say
this, that word baro in verse two, the translation here is
not the best. This Hebrew word that is there
translated baro, it's used 168 times in the Old Testament. And
162 of those times or all but six of those 168 times,
it is not translated borrow, but it's always translated ask,
request, require, or beg. And I noticed the New American
Standard Bible, the translation there is ask. When you borrow
something, the intent obviously is to return it. Well, that's
not what they're doing here. They're not borrowing, they're
asking. But the point I want to make
is, is our confidence in the word of God. When the Israelites
asked jewels of silver and gold, they were just asking for back
pay. That's what they were doing.
They were asking for back pay. They had worked as slaves. in
the brick lines of Egypt. And they're just asking for their
pay now. But the point again, as I said,
that I want to make is to see how God fulfilled his word. And God will always fulfill his
word. We have confidence, we should
at least have confidence, great confidence in the written word
of God. 400 years, 400 years before this,
God had told that this was going to take place. If you look back
to Genesis chapter 15, when God is speaking to Abraham
and tells him what his descendants would experience in Genesis chapter
15, and this is, like I said, 400 years beforehand, But you
see, when God says something, when God declares something,
it doesn't have to be fulfilled tomorrow, or 10 years, or 100
years, or 1,000 years, but it's going to be fulfilled. God's
words are not going to fall to the ground unfulfilled. The confidence
that you and I as believers must have in the written word of God. There used to be a saying, you
can take it to the bank. You've heard that, haven't you?
You can take it to the bank. Well, let me tell you something.
When you read something in God's Word, you can take it to the
bank. It's true. It's going to be fulfilled. These
words here to Abraham, beginning with verse 12, We read, and when
the sun was going down, this is Genesis 15, verse 12. And when the sun was going down,
a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and lo and horror of great darkness
fell upon him. And he said unto Abram, know
of a surety, you can be sure about this. This is God's word. Know of a surety, Abram, this
is what's going to happen. that thy seed, thy descendants,
shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs." What land
is that? That's Egypt, isn't it? And think
of the providence of God in bringing the descendants of Abraham into
Egypt. Think of the experience of Joseph. That was all part of getting
them down, Jacob, and there were 70 of them at that time, down
into Egypt. Oh, we see the hand of God, the
providence of God in everything. But know of a surety that thy
seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall
serve them. Now, it looked like at first
they were not going to be servants. Joseph was alive, he was next
to Pharaoh, and they had the best of the land. Oh, but God
said they're gonna be servants. They're gonna be servants. They
shall serve them, and they shall afflict them. They're gonna be
afflicted too. 400 years. 400 years. And also that nation, Egypt,
whom they shall serve, will I judge, and afterward shall they come
out with gray substance. Do you think any of them as they
were working, making those bricks ever thought after 400 years,
how much they remembered, how much they knew, we're going to
be leaving this place. And when we do, we're going to
go out with great substance. Do you think any of them thought
about that as they were working? Well, if they had the word of
God, no doubt they did. But this The point I'm making
is the confidence that we should have in God's word. When God
says something, it's true. He is the truth. Another time,
sooner or not as far back, but remember in Exodus chapter three,
God told Moses that this was going to take place. In Exodus
chapter three and verse 21, We read, and I will stretch,
and I will give this people favor in their sight of the Egyptians. And it shall come to pass that
when you go, you shall not go empty. You're going to go out. You're going to lead them out,
Moses. And when you do, you're not going to go empty. Not one word. that God has spoken
shall ever fall to the ground. Not his word of promise or his
word of threatening, all shall be fulfilled. Now, this reminds
us, or at least it should, of the importance of reading the
word of God. Reading God's word, meditating
upon God's word, Hearing God's Word taught and proclaimed, the
importance of the Word of God. You know, David, King David,
in one of the Psalms, he prayed, order my steps in thy Word. Order my steps in thy Word. Cause
me to walk. in the way that thy word prescribes
for us to walk in. Order my steps in thy word. Peter,
the apostle Peter, called the word of God a more sure word
of prophecy. This Bible, this written word
of God. And remember the Lord Jesus Christ,
he taught, take heed how you hear. Take heed how you hear. When you come to hear the word
of God, take heed how you hear. And he also said, take heed what
you hear. Not only how you hear, but what
you hear. And he also said this, take heed
and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Take heed how you hear, take
heed what you hear, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees,
the religious crowd, the religious leaders of that day. Take heed. I was thinking about that. A
person is baking bread, they put that leaven, mix it with
the dough, don't they? And then the leaven becomes part
of the dough. It's so mixed with the dough,
you can't, once it's there, how are you going to distinguish
between the leaven and the dough? That's the reason men and women
need to hear the Word of God, study the Word of God. So when
the preacher stands up to preach and you hear him preach, you
want to make sure he's preaching the Word of God. He's not up
here just going over today's news or what's happening in this
world. That all may be interesting.
It may all have its place, but not here in the pulpit. we are to be preaching and proclaiming
the word of God. Take heed, rather, what you hear,
because a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. One thing that
we hear and we should have absolute confidence in tonight, being
justified freely, freely. We don't have to work for salvation.
By the works of the law, no flesh shall be justified in his sight,
being justified freely by his grace through, and that's so
important, isn't it? Through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus. There's no redemption, there's
no justification. God's not going to set His law
apart. His law had to be satisfied and
has been satisfied. We're justified freely without
a cause in us through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Oh,
the confidence we should have in the Word of God. Second, the
confidence in the God of the Word. the confidence in the God
of the Word, His power over all creation. We have two examples
of that here in this chapter. You notice in verse three, the
Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Now what does that mean? The
Lord gave the Israelites favor. How could God do that? How could
he do that? Look in chapter 12, where this
is pointed out to us in chapter 12, verse 35. And the children
of Israel did according to the word of Moses. And they asked
of the Egyptians jewels of silver and jewels of gold and raiment.
And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians,
so that they lent unto them such things as they required, and
they spoiled the Egyptians. Now I think the Egyptians had
experienced these plagues one after the other. I mean, one
plague after the other, and they had to have known, they had to
have realized by this time at least, it's the God, it's the
God of these people, the Israelites, that are bringing these plagues
upon us. Well, naturally, you would think
they would have hatred in their hearts towards the Israelites. The last thing they would do
is lend or give something unto them. Can you imagine that? I mean, a man going in and said,
you know, I like that Rolex you've got on your arm there. Let me
have that. Oh, sure. Here it is. Oh, you've got that beautiful
gold chain around your neck. Let me have that. Here it is. Don't we see the power of God
over his creatures? You know that verse in the Proverbs
that we quote quite often, the king's heart is in the hand of
the Lord. As the rivers of water, he turneth
it whithersoever he will. And we always have to remind
ourselves, it's not just the King's heart that is in the hand
of the Lord. It's your heart. It's my heart. It's the heart of all his creatures. No one is outside of his power
and his control. You know, another proverb says
a man's heart deviseth his way. Man's heart deviseth his way. I'm going to do this, I'm going
to go into a city, and I'm going to settle down here, and I'm
going to get a job, and I'm going to live here, live out my life. Yeah, man's heart deviseth his
way. But the Lord directeth his steps. The Lord directeth his steps. What an illustration here we
have of the absolute power of our God. There's nothing impossible
for him. A second illustration in verse
seven. But against any of the children
of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue. Against the children of Israel
shall not a dog move his tongue. God here shows his power over
his creation. Imagine, imagine in your mind
this scene. There was a great cry. God said
a cry like had never been heard before when people awoke and
realized that their firstborn child was dead. Oh, the cry that
went out all over Egypt. And here these Israelites are
starting their journey out. And yet not a dog moved his tongue
against them. Not a bark, not a howl from a
dog in Egypt. Don't we see God's power in that?
God's absolute power. When King Darius was deceived
by those counselors and he passed that law and Daniel ended up
in the lion's den, you think he's going to be eaten? Remember what that king said
when he went out there the next morning, O Daniel, is your God
able? Is your God able? Yeah, he is. Those lions, they didn't open
their mouth at night. Most ferocious animals, and yet
we see God's power, His control over all creation. You know, we hear today a lot
about the laws of nature. The laws of nature. But let's
remember who is the God of nature? Who is the God of nature? And
these laws are his laws. And God is in control. I mean, some people act like
these, like, for instance, a hurricane, that a hurricane could just,
because of the laws of nature, just farm out here in the Gulf
of Mexico and become so large, just wipe Galveston and Houston
and all these cities along the coast, just wipe them off the
map. You believe that? I don't. I believe God sends
the hurricanes. God has the wind, the scripture
says, in His fist. And I know we see these, we call
them natural disasters and calamities and they break our hearts when
we see the sufferings that these things cause, but are they not
God's testifying? God testifying judgment is coming. Judgment is coming. Yes, this
seems like an awful judgment, and it is, but it's not anything
compared to the final judgment when men will pray to the rocks
and to the mountains to cover them from the face of the Lamb
who sits upon the throne. If a tiny speck of dirt could
somehow be outside the control of God. We could never have any
peace in our heart. We could never lay our heads
down on our pillows at night and go to sleep knowing it's
well. It's well, why? Because God is
in control. Reminds me of that story I've
heard where A group of people were crossing a channel in a
ferry, and a wind came up, a storm came up, and the ferry was moving,
and everybody was afraid for their lives except one boy. One boy, he was sitting there
just as calm as he could be. And after they got through it,
a man asked him, said, son, how could you have been so calm?
He said, because my dad's the captain. My dad's the captain
of this ferry. I knew it was going to be all
right. And that's the way every child of God, we may think. It's going to be all right. Why?
Because our God rules among the armies of heaven and the inhabitants
of the earth. And no one can stay his hand
or say unto him, what doest thou? No. And here's the last thing,
the confidence in the grace of God. What took place that night
in Egypt is a display of what we read in Romans chapter 11,
where the apostle wrote, behold, therefore, the goodness and the
severity of God. Behold, the goodness and the
severity of God. the goodness of God in dealing
with the Israelites, the severity of God in dealing with the Egyptians. And this begs the question, did
these Israelites, did they merit God's goodness? Were they such
a people that were just so holy and so obedient and so God-honoring
that they deserved that God would give them the remedy, the Passover
lamb? Were they? Or was it God's grace? I want
us to look at three verses of Scripture. And I want us to see
what the condition of the nation of Israel was at this point. Now, it's easy for us just to
think, well, they were all Abraham and Isaac and Jacob's descendants. They were men of God. They were
women. Oh, no, no. Now, I'm sure some of them were.
But I want us to look at these three verses. First of all, in
Leviticus. Leviticus chapter 17. And this
is when God, of course, is giving the law and the law concerning
sacrifices and the priesthood and everything to do with the
tabernacle. But look what we read here in
Leviticus chapter 17, beginning with verse five. To the end that
the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices. which they
offer in the open field, even that they may bring them unto
the Lord, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation,
unto the priest, and offer them for peace offerings unto the
Lord. And the priest shall sprinkle
the blood upon the altar of the Lord at the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation, and burn the fat for a sweet savor unto
the Lord. And, notice, they shall no more
offer their sacrifices unto devils. Huh? Were they more worthy than
the Egyptians? They shall no more offer their
sacrifices unto devils after whom they have gone a whoring.
What was their condition? Their condition was no better,
no better than the Egyptians. All right, let's look at another
place in Joshua, Joshua chapter 24. Joshua 24 and verse 14. Now therefore fear the Lord.
These are Joshua's parting words to the nation of Israel, to their
leaders. Now therefore fear the Lord and
serve him in sincerity and in truth. And put away the gods
which your father served on the other side of the flood and in
Egypt. and serve you the Lord. One other place. Let's go to
the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel. Ezekiel chapter 20 and verse
6. God is speaking here about the
time that we're reading about there in Exodus. to bring them forth of the land
of Egypt into a land that I had inspired for them, flowing with
milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands. Then said
I unto them, cast you away every man the abominations of his eyes,
and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the
Lord your God. But they rebelled. against me
and would not hearken unto me, they did not. Every man cast
away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake
the idols of Egypt. Then I said, I will pour out
my fury upon them to accomplish my anger against them in the
midst of the land of Egypt." God's severity. And here in Ezekiel,
notice in verse nine, I must point that out. But I wrought
for my namesake. Why did God deliver them? Was
it because they were somehow more holy, more righteous, more
obedient than the Egyptians? Of course not. God did it for,
he said, his namesake. Why does God forgive a sinner? Why has he forgiven you, if you're
forgiven tonight? For Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. Isn't that
what Paul said? It is, isn't it? Be ye kind,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's
sake, hath forgiven you. I pray the Lord would bless his
word to us here this evening.