themselves sing, they won't sing. Well, that's probably true. You have to hear yourself. We're
not trying to impress anybody. We're trying to worship the Lord,
right? Make a joyful noise unto the Lord. If you will, now let
us turn in our Bibles this evening to Exodus chapter seven. Exodus chapter seven, and I'll
read verse 14 as we begin. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Pharaoh's heart is hardened. He refuseth to let the people
go. Now last time, last Wednesday
evening, we saw that when Moses and Aaron spoke to Pharaoh, that
he witnessed a miracle. That is, Pharaoh witnessed a
miracle. Aaron put his rod down, and of
course it turned into a serpent. And Pharaoh called for his magicians,
and they came in and they threw their rods down, and they were
turned into serpents. But Aaron's rod, which had turned
into a serpent, swallowed up all of the serpents of the magicians. This testified to the fact that
Egypt was under the control and dominion, the power of Satan. But the miracle, as we see in
that text I just read, verse 14, the miracle only served to
harden Pharaoh's heart so that he refused to let Israel go to
worship Jehovah. Now with verse 15, we began to
look at 10 plagues, 10 plagues that God worked upon the Egyptians,
upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians. And I want to give us, first
of all, five things that I see that these plagues would accomplish. These plagues, we're all familiar
with them, but five things that come to mind that these plagues
would surely accomplish. Number one, the plagues would
reacquaint. The plagues would reacquaint
Israel with the truth about their sovereign God. They had lived
at this point in Egypt for over 400 years. Now you know, some
of you, when you go out on your job and you work among men who
are lost, and they act like lost people. They tell jokes, they
use words, things that are not good for a Christian to be around. But you have to do that because
you have to earn a living, I understand that. But think of these people,
this nation, who had been in this country for over 400 years
among these pagans who worship not just one or two or three
or four gods, but they worshiped a multitude of gods, just about
everything you can think of. as these plagues will reveal,
was a type or was a god that the Egyptians worshipped. And
so I say, first of all, that these plagues are going to reacquaint
the people of Israel, God's people, the nation of Israel, Jacob's
family, with who their sovereign god really is. that he's God Almighty and beside
him there is no other God and there is no competition from
any false gods. The second thing that this would
accomplish, these plagues would accomplish, they would show the
power and the might of God to the Egyptians. Now, Pharaoh and
his people, they had, as I said, many gods, and I'm sure that
they felt like their gods had power. This god, maybe if someone
had prayed to this god and they were sick and they got better. We see this happening today,
don't we? People will pray to a shrine,
or a saint, or someone like that, and they're sick, and they get
better, and they get well, and what do they believe? They believe
that there's power in that, whatever it is, to answer their prayers.
Well, God, by these plagues, shows Pharaoh and the Egyptians
the might and the power of God alone. In chapter 9 and verse
16, Moses tells Pharaoh, speaking for God, and in very deed, this
is God speaking to Pharaoh, now listen, and in very deed for
this cause have I raised thee up. Pharaoh, for this cause I
raise thee up. God puts down one, raises up
another. The leaders, the rulers of the
nations, who puts them in the places where they are? God does. And God told Pharaoh, for this
very cause, I raise thee up that I might show, I raise thee up
for to show in thee my power. Here's the reason, buddy. Pharaoh,
here's the reason you're on the throne. I raised thee up that
I might show in thee my power. That's what God said. And then
in chapter eight in verse 19, the magicians who had the power
to turn the rods into serpents, they finally had to confess this. is the finger of God. This is
the finger of God. The third thing that this would
accomplish, the plagues would serve as punishments, punishing
the Egyptians for the way that they had treated the Israelites.
Now, they were invited down. Remember, Joseph had been a savior
to Egypt. And they had come down into the
country of Egypt, and they were faithful, they were loyal citizens,
and over the years, they're turned into slaves. And they had no
doubt misused and mistreated these Israelites. Well, punishment time came. Payday someday, and payday had
come. They were getting punished for
what, for how they had treated the Israelites, the slaves. And
then fourth, the plagues would be judgments. Now this is, this
is interesting that the plagues would be judgment upon the gods
of the Egyptians. I said they worship these, they
worship flies. We know the fly god. They worship
frogs. They worship lice. We're going
to see God willing in the weeks to come how that these things,
these plagues represented the various gods that they worshiped.
Look with me in Numbers just a moment, Numbers chapter 33. God makes reference to this here. In Numbers chapter 33 and verse
4, we read, for the Egyptians buried
all their firstborn, which the Lord had smitten among them.
Now notice, upon their gods also the Lord executed judgments. So that's the fourth thing I
say these plagues serve to do. Their gods were judged in these
plagues. And number five, the plagues
would witness to the surrounding nations. Now, Egypt was a powerful
nation at this time. And the nations around heard
what God was doing. And we know that 40 years later,
40 years, that's a long time. That's a generation or two. 40
years later, nations around had heard and they were afraid. They were afraid when Israel
came, when they crossed over Jordan and came into the land
of Canaan. Look with me in Joshua, Joshua
chapter two. And these are the words of Rahab,
the harlot, remember, who hid Those spies, those that came
into the land, that Joshua sent into the land, look at what she
says in verses 9 and 10. Joshua 2, verse 9. Remember this,
40 years later, 40 years later. And she said unto the man, I
know that the Lord hath given you the land and that your terror
is fallen upon us. Now, they're going to go to battle. Israel is going to fight these
nations in battle. But the nations that they fought
were already discouraged. They already knew they were going
to lose. And you know how important that is, for instance, in sports. basketball game or football game,
what do the coaches try to do? They try to rev up the, you're
going to win. We're going to win this game. Maybe one of these colleges is
a number one tier college playing a number three tier college.
There's no way. But I guarantee you the coach,
he's encouraging those men, and rightly so, to get out and play. Because if they go out on the
court and they already know they're gonna lose. They don't have any
fight in them. Now, that's what happened to
the Canaanites. They already knew. She said,
we've heard, we know God's given you this land. Let me read on. And she said unto the men, I
know that the Lord hath given you the land and that your terror
is fallen upon us and that all the inhabitants of the land faint
because of you. For we have heard how the Lord
dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out
of Egypt, and what you did unto the two kings of the Amorites. They had already heard what God
had done, and they heard about the Red Sea, but no doubt they
also heard about these plagues before they crossed the Red Sea. Now, the first plague, that's
what we're going to look at tonight, the Lord willing. Verse 15, Moses
was told to meet Pharaoh at the river. Back here in chapter seven,
verse 15. Get thee unto Pharaoh in the
morning. Lo, he goeth out unto the water,
and thou shalt stand by the river's brink, against he come, and the
rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand.
So first of all, we see that God told Moses, now you go out
beside the river. And God being omniscient, knowing
all things, he knew Pharaoh was going to come out there. Some
of the writers believe that Pharaoh came out to gauge the water level
of the river because Egypt depended upon the Nile, upon this river
flooding the land. And so it was common for the
Pharaohs to come out to the water and see how things were progressing.
Now if the water doesn't rise, they've got a hard situation
because they depended upon this river. It irrigated their crops. There would be no crops. And
so God told Moses, you go and you'll meet Pharaoh by the river. And actually they worshiped this
river. Matthew Henry, he said, they
worshiped it more than the creator. They worshiped the river more
than the one who created the river, that is God. And Moses,
take that rod. That rod turned into a serpent
yesterday. You take that with you and you
go out to meet Pharaoh. The second thing Moses was told,
his message, verses 16 through 18. And thou shalt say unto him,
the Lord God of the Hebrews has 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
a 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." When we read here,
God telling Moses, thou shalt say unto him, We know that Aaron
was with him, because remember, Moses is made a God unto Pharaoh,
but Aaron, his brother, was his prophet. So when we read that
thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, we know that Aaron, God gives
Moses the words, he gives them to Aaron, and Aaron speaks them. And notice the message hasn't
changed. Let my people go that they may
serve me in the wilderness. Now this is the second time that
Pharaoh heard that message. Let my people go that they may
serve me. This is the second time and he's
going to hear this same message six more times. And that reminds
me that the gospel message never changes. We sang that hymn just
a moment ago. Yesterday, today, forever. Jesus is the same. Jesus is the
gospel. There is no gospel without Jesus,
the Lord Jesus. He is the gospel. Yes, the message
never changes. You go. And you say these words
unto Pharaoh. This is the second time Moses
has, through Aaron, has spoke these words. And that reminds
me, in the New Testament, where the Apostle Paul wrote to the
church at Philippi, now listen, to write the same things, to
write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous. But for you, it is safe. Message didn't change. Write
the same things to you. Paul told the church. And you
know, and I think it's 2 Timothy. Yes, 2 Timothy. Paul warns about
in the last days what will take place. And one of the things
he says, they shall heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. Itching ears. Wanted to hear
something new. Wanted to hear something different.
Let's change the message up a little bit. Make it more appealing. Make it more relevant to this
generation. God's word is always relevant. Always. Always has been and always
will be. Generations change, but God's
word, God doesn't change. That's the reason his word doesn't
change, the gospel doesn't change, and man's need doesn't change. They shall heap unto themselves
teachers having itching ears. And this is what impresses me
so much from this text here in 2 Timothy. They shall turn their
ears from the truth. and shall be turned unto fables. You see that, those two things?
They turn, Paul said, they will turn their ears away from hearing
the truth and they shall be turned to hearing fables. I believe
myself, we live in that day, don't you? So much of religion,
so much so-called Christianity, people have turned to fables.
They turned away from the word of God. It wasn't enough. People got tired of hearing the
same message. And so we've innovated, we've
changed it a little bit here and a little bit there. And now
they've been turned unto fables. His message was, here it is Moses,
this is what you're to tell Pharaoh. I will smite the river with the
rod, the waters in the river shall be turned to blood, the
fish shall die, there will be a terrible stench, and your people
will not be able to drink from it. And that brings me to the
third point, verse 19. 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, 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. He was to stretch his hand over
all the waters with that rod, Aaron was. And that included
the river, the River Nile, the canals, where they siphoned off
water to water their land, their property, and pools of water. And yes, people had their water
jug at home, and water in those jugs turned to blood. Turned
to blood. That's what God told Moses. Take thy rod and stretch thy
hand over the waters of Egypt. And the fourth thing we see in
verses 20 and 21, Moses obeyed. He obeyed and everything that
God said came to pass. Now that doesn't surprise you,
does it? Everything that God said would take place, took place.
Notice that in verse 20. And Moses and Aaron did so, as
the Lord commanded. And he lifted up the rod and
smoked the waters that were in the river in the sight of Pharaoh
and in the sight of his servants. And all the waters that were
in the river were turned to blood. And the fish that was in the
river died, and the river stank. And the Egyptians could not drink
of the water of the river, and there was blood throughout all
the land of Egypt. God said the water would turn
to blood. It did. The fish died. There
was no oxygen in that blood. They died. And as a result, there
was an awful stench among the people. Matthew Henry had three points
about this plague. Number one, it was a dreadful
plague and very grievous. This plague touched their food
and their drink. Number two, a righteous plague
unjustly inflicted upon the Egyptians. They, the Egyptians, they had
stained the river with the blood of the Hebrews' children, and
now God made that river all bloody. And number three, a significant
plague, a dreadful plague, a righteous plague, a significant plague. Egypt had a great dependence
upon this river. So that smiting it, they were
warned of the destruction that was coming upon their land. And he went on to say that it
proved to be a direful omen of what was going to take place
at the Red Sea when God destroyed Pharaoh and his armies. And the fifth thing I point out
in verse 22, the magicians. The magicians of Egypt did so
with their enchantments. And Pharaoh's heart was hardened,
neither did he hearken unto them as the Lord had said. I'm going
to say again tonight what I said last week, that these magicians,
they could do what they did with God's permission. The magicians
turned, we see this, they turned their rods into serpents, they
turned water into blood, and they brought forth frogs, these
plagues that they were able to do. That was as far as they could
go. They went as far as God let them,
allowed them to go, and that was it. The sixth thing, the plague stayed
for seven days, verse 25, and seven days were fulfilled after
that the Lord had smitten the river. Can you imagine? I know we can. The smell? I used to go to the
VA hospital to see a doctor, and one time I was out there,
I started a conversation waiting in line with a a man who had
been a sergeant in the Korean War. He was a big man. I mean, he was up there, you
know? I can see why they made him a
sergeant. But you know what he told me? He said, the worst thing
that I remember about the war is the smell. The bodies decaying. He said, I can never get that
out of my mind. the stench. Can you imagine seven
days? I mean, if it's just blood without
the fish, just the blood, the smell. But then you put in the
fish and nothing smells worse than rotten fish for seven days. For seven days. Now let's close tonight by considering
the contrast, the first plague and the first miracle of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Representing the two dispensations,
the old dispensation called the Mosaic dispensation, the dispensation
of the law from Sinai, and the new dispensation, the New Testament,
the gospel of Jesus Christ. Remember in John 1, John wrote,
for the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. Moses turned water into blood,
which is a symbol of death. Death. And that's what the law
could do. The killing letter of the law
can make us aware of our deadness. That's all it can do. It cannot
give life for a person to be able to obey it. All it can do
is show us our sin. But now the water turned to wine. What is wine a picture of? Joy.
There's one scripture that speaks about it causing joy to the heart of God. But yes, what a difference, right,
between the old dispensation, new dispensation, the law of
Moses, the killing letter of the law, and the regenerating,
life-giving gospel of Jesus Christ that brings joy to the heart. I asked my esposa yesterday, I said,
y'all still sing that song, I've got the joy, joy, joy down in
my heart. And she said, we don't sing in
our class. She said, the younger children,
they sing. I'm not sure if they still sing
that song. But God's people have joy, don't
we? We rejoice in the gospel of Jesus
Christ. But that old dispensation, it
didn't cause anybody to have any joy. No. Well, I pray the
Lord will bless this