And please turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Exodus. We're in Exodus chapter 8. Now, on the note sheet, I did not update the reference, so it has last week's reference on it. It should say at the top of the sheet that we are studying tonight chapter 8 verse 20 through chapter 9 verse 12. We are studying through the book of Exodus. We're in the first third of the book in which the Lord redeems his people out of slavery in Egypt. And we are in the middle of the 10 plagues. We're covering a big section tonight. We're looking at three of the plagues. So I just want us to dive right in. I'm going to read to us chapter 8, verse 20, through chapter 9, verse 12. If you are able, please stand in honor of the word of God. Exodus chapter 8 verse 20. Then the Lord said to Moses, rise up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh as he goes out to the water and say to him, thus says the Lord, let my people go that they may serve me. Or else, if you will not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and your servants and your people and into your houses. And the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with swarms of flies and also the ground on which they stand. But on that day, I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people dwell, so that no swarms of flies shall be there, that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. Thus I will put a division between my people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall happen." And the Lord did so. There came great swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh and into his servants' houses. Throughout all the land of Egypt, the land was ruined by the swarms of flies. Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, Go, sacrifice to your God within the land. But Moses said, It would not be right to do so. For the offerings we shall sacrifice to the Lord our God are an abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice offerings abominable to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not stone us? We must go three days journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as he tells us. So Pharaoh said, I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness. Only you must not go very far away. Plead for me. Then Moses said, Behold, I am going out from you and I will plead with the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants and from his people tomorrow. Only let not Pharaoh cheat again by not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord. So Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. And the Lord did as Moses asked and removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants and from his people. Not one remained. But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and did not let the people go. Then the Lord said to Moses, Go into Pharaoh and say to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. For if you refuse to let them go and still hold them, behold, the hand of the Lord will fall with a very severe plague upon your livestock that are in the field, the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds and the flocks. But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing of all that belongs to the people of Israel shall die. And the Lord set a time, saying, Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land. And the next day the Lord did this thing. All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one of the livestock of the people of Israel died. And Pharaoh sent, and behold, not one of the livestock of Israel was dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and let Moses throw them in the air in the sight of Pharaoh. It shall become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and become boils breaking out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt. So they took soot from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh. And Moses threw it in the air, and it became boils breaking out in sores on man and beast. And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils. For the boils came upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians. But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had spoken to Moses. This is God's holy word. Please be seated. This is the third set of three plagues leading up to the climatic plague, the 10th plague, the death of the firstborn. These plagues are the 4th, 5th, and 6th plagues of divine judgment against Pharaoh and Egypt. All 10 plagues were miraculous signs and wonders. They were not natural events that could be explained in natural terms. These were supernatural, miraculous events. These were signs and wonders. and the plagues we're seeing are growing in intensity and we're now in the middle of them. I put a question in the bulletin for us to discuss what are the most significant differences between these three plagues that we just read of and the previous three. That was not mentioned with the first three about any differentiation between the Egyptians and the Israelites. But here we see that God afflicted the Egyptians and he spared the Israelites in Goshen. Any other? Yes, Enoch. Right. With the first set, Pharaoh called them in. And they tried to duplicate what God had done. But in this one, we don't read of them ever making an attempt to duplicate them. And instead, we read they couldn't even come and stand before Moses. Here, the people themselves are being afflicted, where before, the Nile was turned to blood. It would affect them, but it wasn't directly upon them like some of these. Titus. The livestock now are affected specifically. Anthony. Pharaoh is beginning to make concessions to allow them to sacrifice. Or at least he's saying he will. Now, he did say something like that with the frogs as well, though. But you do see Moses kind of trying to negotiate. I'm sorry, Pharaoh trying to negotiate. Right. Before, it said his heart was hardened, but it didn't explicitly say the Lord hardened his heart. Now, at the end of this set, it explicitly says the Lord hardened his heart. Good. Any other differences noticed between this set and the previous one? Dorian. Moses starts to talk about the sacrifices that the people will make. And he indicates that it would be an abomination to the Egyptians. Once again, he's showing that the way that Jews were called to worship God was different from the ways that the Egyptians worshipped their God. Yes, yes. So you see the difference between the true worship of God and the false worship. All right. Good. Let's dig into this passage together. First of all, we have the plague of flies. the plague of flies. Take a close look at chapter 8 verse 20. Then the Lord said to Moses, rise up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh as he goes out to the water. or it could be translated as the NIV does, rise up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh. That's what the Lord is calling Moses to do here, is to confront Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. As we continue on there in verse 20, we read, And say to him, Thus says the Lord, Let my people go, that they may serve me. Or else, if you will not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and your servants and your people and into your houses. And the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with swarms of flies and also the ground on which they stand." So this plague is a plague of swarms of flies. We see that term repeatedly, swarms of flies. Literally, in the original language, it's just simply swarms, and it's implied in the passage of what insect is involved here, but literally it's just swarms. So, we don't know for sure that these are flies. However, that is a good conclusion to come to because the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament, that was made in Egypt before the time of Christ in the Septuagint, they used the Greek word for dog flies here. And since it was translated in Egypt, you would think that they would know what was being referred to here. So they understood this to be swarms of flies, Dog flies bit and sucked blood from their victims, transmitted diseases, and contributed to the prevalence of eye disease and blindness in Egypt. We read in verse 22, the message continues that is given to Moses to give from the Lord to Pharaoh. The message continues in verse 22, but on that day, I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people dwell. so that no swarms of flies shall be there, that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth." So we read here that this plague is not going to touch the Israelites in the land of Goshen. The Lord speaks of Goshen as the land of Goshen where my people dwell. Remember back in Genesis chapter 45, verses 9 through 10, how when Joseph's brothers had come to him after he had been made second in command in Egypt, and he revealed himself to his brothers, and his brothers were afraid of what Joseph would do to them when he found out these were his brothers, but instead of returning evil for evil, he did good to them. And he gave instructions for his whole family to come to Egypt, and he was going to take good care of them there. And we read in Genesis 45, 9 and 10 about how they were, by Joseph's desire, they were given the land of Goshen. I put it in your notes, Genesis 45, 9 through 10. Joseph says to his brothers, hurry and go up to my father and say to him, that says your son Joseph. God has made me Lord of all Egypt. Come down to me, do not tarry. You shall dwell in the land of Goshen and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children's children and your flocks, your herds and all that you have. Goshen is a small section of Egypt where the majority of the Israelites lived after they came into Egypt and all the way up to the time of the exodus. Certainly, there would be other Israelites in other portions of Egypt. They were made into a slave force, but the majority of Israelites lived in Goshen. Goshen was the eastern delta region. Egypt was centered on the Nile River, which ran from the south to the north. It emptied into the Mediterranean Sea, and so there was this large delta where the river fanned out as it was approaching the Mediterranean Sea. And Goshen was the eastern delta region. It was about 50 miles northeast of modern Cairo. It was a valley five or six miles wide and 30 miles long that ended in Lake Timsa, which is now part of the Suez Canal, which is built in modern times. Now, we see here that the Lord would spare the Israelites from this plague of the swarms of flies. And the fact that the Lord would save the Israelites in Goshen from it, that no one in Goshen would be touched by the flies, the flies wouldn't even enter into Goshen while they were swarming all over the rest of Egypt, this fact would further show the miraculous nature of the plagues. As I said, these cannot be explained in naturalistic terms. These are supernatural events. And that's reinforced here when the plague does not enter into Goshen. Though the flies, I'm sorry, the flies can easily penetrate most any man-made barriers. Just think about, you try to keep flies out of your house, but none of us are successful in that. The flies always find a way in. Though flies can easily penetrate most any man-made barriers, they would not be able to penetrate into Goshen, which would be protected by God's power. Now notice in verse 22 the purpose of God protecting the people in Goshen from the plague. We read in verse 22, But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen where my people dwell, so that no swarms of flies shall be there, that you, talking to Pharaoh, that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. Or as the New American translates it, that I the Lord am in the midst of the land, taking it as referring to the midst of the land of Egypt, or the NIV, that I the Lord am in this land. The Egyptians believed in local gods. like almost everybody else in the world at that time believed in. They believed that their gods were specifically for their nation, their port parcel of land. This is the God of the Israelites. He's going to show Pharaoh that he is in the midst of Egypt. He rules over all. He rules over Egypt. He rules over the sons of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He rules over the universe. The purpose of sparing those in Goshen would be that Pharaoh would look past the flies and think about the one who controlled events in this way. The sparing of Goshen made it all the clearer that these plagues were not natural events, nor were they controlled by the Egyptian gods. Now, this was the work of the God of Israel. This was the work of the one true God. Let's go on to verse 23. Thus, I will put a division between my people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall happen." So the Lord says to Pharaoh, thus will the Lord put a division between the Lord's people and Pharaoh's people. While divine judgment was falling on Egypt, Israel was being publicly set aside as recipients of divine deliverance. The same is recorded in the accounts of the 5th plague, the 7th plague, the 9th plague, and the 10th plague. How the Lord will make a differentiation between the Israelites and the Egyptians. Bringing judgment on the Egyptians and sparing the Israelites. Now I have a second question that I put in the bulletin. Can you think of any previous times in scripture when God's people were spared from judgment? Debbie. Noah's flood. That's the worldwide flood. God spared Noah, his wife, their sons, and their daughters-in-law. Others. Titus. Lot. Lot. So God judged Sodom and Gomorrah, but he spared Lot and any that went with Lot out of the city. Yes, Gabriel. Jacob's family was delivered in the time of the famine through Joseph. The Lord protected Jacob. I'm specifically asking about being spared from judgment. So I wouldn't see that the same thing. There Esau was angry with his brother and he wanted to kill him and God protected him. But we're specifically thinking about times in Scripture when God's people were spared from judgment prior to the Exodus. God had said, in the day that you eat of this tree that I am forbidding, you shall surely die. But God put animals to death and covered their shame with the skins of the animals. Blood was shed that they would be spared from death. So there are times prior to this when God delivered His people spared them from judgment. We see that here in the plagues as well. Now, here in verse 23, look at the timing of when this plague will occur. The message to Pharaoh is, thus will I put a division between my people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall happen. Not this moment, but tomorrow this shall happen. No one would be able to say that Moses was able to foretell the plague because it had already started and he had observed it starting. In addition, being tomorrow that the sign would happen gives Pharaoh plenty of opportunities to submit to God and avoid the plague. Remember what the Lord's words were at the beginning to Pharaoh there In verse 20 and following, thus says the Lord, let my people go that they may serve me or else if you will not let my people go. So he has a day to obey God's instruction to let the Israelites go. If he does not obey within that time period, the plague will fall on Egypt. So another divine blow. will fall on Pharaoh in Egypt to impress on Pharaoh with whom he is dealing and how inescapable judgment is if he persists in his refusal to let the Israelites go. Pharaoh is wrongly holding on to the Israelites as his slaves. The Lord has clearly given his command through Moses to Pharaoh, let my people go, that they may serve me, that they may worship me. And Pharaoh is digging his heels in, saying, no, no, no. Verse 24. I put in your notes Psalm 78 verses 42 through 45. They did not remember his power. That's a future generation of Israelites. They did not remember his power or the day when he redeemed them from the foe, when he performed his signs in Egypt and his marvels in the fields of Zohan. He turned their rivers to blood so that they could not drink of their streams. He sent among them swarms of flies which devoured them. So this psalm says the flies devoured them. The language here in verse 24 is, there came great swarms of flies throughout all the land of Egypt. The land was ruined by the swarms of flies. Verse 25, then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, go sacrifice to your God within the land. Why does Pharaoh say this? It's clear to Pharaoh that his only hope for release from this plague was in the God of Moses and Aaron. Pharaoh's gods clearly could not help. His only hope was in the God of Moses. Pharaoh tries here to resolve the situation by granting less than what the Lord has demanded. I want us to go back to chapter 5 to see what the Lord demanded of Pharaoh. Chapter 5, verses 1 and following are the first time that the Lord sent Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh. In chapter 5, verse 1, we read, Afterward, Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness. But Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord. Moreover, I will not let Israel go. Then they said, the God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword. So what was initially demanded of Pharaoh was that he would allow the Israelites to go a three days journey into the wilderness outside the land of Egypt to sacrifice to the Lord, to worship the Lord. And when God gave that demand, he knew that Pharaoh would not submit to that. But it's showing Pharaoh's complete rebellion against the true God that he wouldn't even allow the Israelites to go out of the land for a festival, let alone letting them out for good. So that's been the demand that the Lord has given to Pharaoh to let the people go a three days journey out into the wilderness to sacrifice. Now, what Pharaoh says here, he tries to compromise. What Pharaoh says in verse 25 is, come back to the right chapter, is go sacrifice to your God within the land of Egypt. I'm not going to let you do what you're asking for. I'm not going to let you go out of Egypt, but this is what I will agree to. I will let you sacrifice to your God within the land of Egypt. Pharaoh will only allow them to sacrifice within the land of Egypt where they will be under his jurisdiction and supervision. Here, Pharaoh is still refusing to acknowledge the Lord's superiority and sovereignty. He's refusing to truly bow before the true God in submission. Verse 26. But Moses said, it would not be right to do so. For the offerings we shall sacrifice to the Lord our God are an abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice offerings abominable to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not stone us? We must go three days journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as he tells us. Moses says to Pharaoh that the offerings that they would sacrifice or an abomination to the Egyptians. Now, notice what this suggests. This suggests that the Israelites have not been offering sacrifices to the Lord. Abraham offered sacrifices to the Lord. Isaac offered sacrifices to the Lord. Jacob offered sacrifices to the Lord. The Israelites were to offer sacrifices to the Lord. But these words suggest that they've not been doing so. They've not been faithful in worshiping the Lord. Now, what would Moses have in mind here? The sacrifices would be an abomination to the Egyptians who would see this. We don't know for sure what Moses has in mind here. The abomination may possibly relate to the use of sheep in sacrifice. In Genesis 46, verse 34, we learn that shepherds were an abomination to the Egyptians. Put in your notes Genesis 46, 34. where joseph instructed his brothers to say to pharaoh your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now both we and our fathers you shall say that in order that you may dwell in the land of goshen for every shepherd is an abomination to the egyptians the israelites will sacrifice the passover lambs on the passover the lord often had his people sacrifice sheep Maybe that is what Moses has in mind here, we don't know. But verse 27, Moses says, We must do exactly as the Lord has said. What Moses is communicating here to Pharaoh is that what is required from Pharaoh is total obedience to the Lord. There is no way around obeying all of the Lord's commands. God does not compromise. There is no escaping any of his requirements. Verse 28. So Pharaoh said, I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness. Only you must not go very far away. Plead You see, Pharaoh's afraid that they will not return. So he'll allow them to go outside, but not very far outside. He says, plead with the Lord. He says, plead with the Lord to remove the plague of flies. Verse 29. Then Moses said, behold, I am going out from you, and I will plead with the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people tomorrow. Tomorrow, as Pharaoh had asked previously. I put in your notes chapter 8 verses 9 through 10. With the previous plague, Moses had said to Pharaoh, be pleased to command me when I am to plead for you and for your servants and for your people, that the frogs be cut off from you and your houses and be left only in the Nile. And Pharaoh said, Tomorrow, Moses said, be it as you say, so that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God. Moses had given Pharaoh that choice. You determine when the plague is going to end, and then I will make the plague end on that time. And he uses the same timing here. Tomorrow. I'll pray that the Lord will take away the plague tomorrow. Again, the timing of the plagues shows the miraculous nature of the plague. Moses would foretell, this is when the plague will stop. And that's exactly when it would stop. Verse 29b, only let not Pharaoh cheat again by not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord. Well, the New American Standard translates it, do not let Pharaoh deal deceitfully again. Again, because he already had. I put in your notes chapter 8 verse 8, Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, Plead with the Lord to take away the frogs from me and from my people, and I will let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord. Verse 15, But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, after the Lord took away the frogs, he hardened his heart and would not listen to them as the Lord had said. So now In verse 29 of our text, only let not Pharaoh cheat again by not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord. Verse 30, So Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord, and the Lord did as Moses asked and removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people. Not one remained, but Pharaoh hardened his heart, this time also, and did not let the people go. So he cheated again. Once again, he was deceitful. That brings us to the next plague, which is the plague on the livestock. The plague on the livestock. Look at chapter 9, verse 1. Then the Lord said to Moses, go into Pharaoh and say to him, thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews. Now, we don't know how much time has passed. between the last plague and this one. It wouldn't be terribly long. The Lord said to Moses, go into Pharaoh and say to him, thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, let my people go that they may serve me. For if you refuse to let them go and still hold them, behold, the hand of the Lord will fall with a very severe plague upon your livestock that are in the field, the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks. But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing of all that belongs to the people of Israel shall die. Now understand that livestock was very precious to the Egyptians as witnessed both in their paintings and their literature. They used horses primarily in warfare. They used donkeys and camels for transportation, transporting people and loads. They used herds of cattle for milk. Their livestock was one of their main sources of wealth. And now This next plague is going to be upon the livestock in the field. Some of the livestock, such as bulls, were held to be sacred, but they will be afflicted here. They'll be killed here. In verse 3, we read, the hand of the Lord will fall with a very severe plague upon your livestock. This plague is a plague of pestilence. It's disease brought on by divine judgment that would kill the livestock. We see here, as we see elsewhere in scripture, that divine judgment does not just affect human beings. God gave dominion over the animals to mankind in Genesis chapter 1 verse 28. Consequently, when man rebels against God, God's judgment impacts those creatures under man's dominion, as happens here in this plague. Livestock under Pharaoh's rule is going to be affected by Pharaoh's disobedience. The fact that the Egyptian livestock would be struck but not the Israelite livestock would further expose the impotence of the Egyptian gods to whom the animals were sacred. There's nothing that these gods could do to rescue the livestock from this plague. Now, notice something very significant here in verse 3, that this plague is upon your livestock that are in the field. Specifically, the livestock in the field. It doesn't say here upon all the livestock in Egypt. It's all the livestock that are in the field. This is significant because later on in the plagues, we're going to see other livestock that are going to be affected. This is specifically the livestock that are in the field. Field is a general term for open ground, which was not subject to cultivation, but might be used for grazing. This plague will not fall upon livestock that are in barns. Only upon livestock that are out grazing in fields. Now, this warning here gives the Egyptians opportunity to bring their livestock into a place of shelter before the plague falls. Again, the plague is going to come tomorrow. So, if the Pharaoh and the other Egyptians believe the word of the Lord, then they're going to take their livestock that are in the field and they're going to bring them into the barns. So they'll be safe. Let's continue in verse 5. And the Lord said a time saying, tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land. And the next day the Lord did this thing. All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one of the livestock of the people of Israel died. When it says all the livestock of the Egyptians died in context, this would be all their livestock in the field died, not the livestock in the barns. Verse 7, And Pharaoh sent, and behold, not one of the livestock of Israel was dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go. So neither the greater intensity of this plague, No, the Lord's protection of the Israelite livestock is sufficient to change Pharaoh's heart. That brings us to the next plague, the last one for us to look at tonight, and that is the plague of boils. Plague of boils. Look at verse eight. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, take handfuls of soot from the kiln and let Moses throw them in the air in the sight of Pharaoh." They're to take handfuls of soot from a kiln. Kilns were used in Egypt for melting metal. They were used for preparing lime, because you have a great fire in a kiln. You have great heat there. So it could be used for melting metal, or for preparing lime, or for making some bricks. And you have to bake bricks as part of the process of making bricks. Other bricks were dried in the sun, but there were some that would be dried in a kiln. It is possible that the soot that Moses and Aaron take here came from a kiln used by Israelite slaves, but we just don't know. Verse 9, it shall become, that's the soot that Moses and Aaron are to take, that they're to bring into the presence of Pharaoh, that they're to throw in the air in his sight, This soot shall become fine dust over all the land of Egypt and become boils, breaking out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt. So this is a plague of boils. Boils normally were caused by infection and were a painful but not deadly skin condition. Think about Job and the boils that he had. If these boils were like those caused by skin anthrax, they were black burning abscesses. So Moses and Aaron had to take the black soot and throw it up into the air. The Lord causes that to disperse all throughout the land of Egypt. As it settles on men and beasts, boils form. Maybe black boils form on their skin. These boils would be painful enough to cause many Egyptians to seek relief from some of their gods. They had gods that they worshiped, that they believed had power to heal. The Egyptians would have sought relief from some of their gods, from the boils. But nothing could be done. Look at verse 10. So they took soot from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh and Moses threw it in the air and it became boils breaking out and sores on man and beast. And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils. For the boils came upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians. Remember the magicians from before? Remember the Moses and Aaron came before Pharaoh and did the sign of turning the staff into a serpent and then turning the serpent back into a staff. Pharaoh summoned his magicians and they imitated that sign, that miracle. Remember, they were under the influence of Satan, of demons. We also saw them imitate turning the water into blood. Now, They can't even stand before Moses. They're afflicted with the same boils and there's nothing that they can do to get relief. And the gods that they worship, the magicians are like priests. The gods that they worship can do nothing to provide them with relief because they're false gods. They're non-entities. They're no gods at all. Magicians can't even stand before Moses because of the boils, exposing the impotence of the magicians and the impotence of their gods before the power of the true God. Verse 12, but the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh and he did not listen to them as the Lord had spoken to Moses. Now while it was previously stated that Moses' heart was hardened, this is the first time that it is explicitly stated that the Lord hardened his heart. However, the Lord did foretell at the burning bush that the Lord would harden Pharaoh's heart. In chapter 4 verse 21, which I put in your notes, it says the Lord said to Moses, When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I've put in your power, but I will harden his heart, so he will not let the people go." Here in verse 12, when the Lord does exactly what He said He would do, and He hardens the heart of Pharaoh, so Pharaoh does not listen to the command to let the people go, This is a sovereign act of God hardening Pharaoh's heart. This is a judicial act of God against a wicked, disobedient man who had ignored God's repeated warnings and had repeatedly gone back on his word. In judgment upon Pharaoh, God hardens his heart so that he will not obey the word of the Lord. Now I want to show you in the Bible some similar examples of divine hardening and of the ordaining of evil. Turn over to Deuteronomy chapter 2 verse 30. Deuteronomy chapter 2 verse 30. I want you to see that this is not some isolated event of the Lord hardening wicked Pharaoh's heart. Deuteronomy chapter 2 verse 30. But Sihon, the king of Heshbon, would not let us pass by him, for the Lord your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate that he might give him into your hand as he is this day. Sihon was one of the kings of the Amorites. Sihon was wicked. The people he ruled over, the Amorites, they were wicked as well. And the Lord, in judgment upon Sihon, hardened his spirit made his heart stubborn so that he would not let the Israelites pass through. That would be the logical thing to do, to let the Israelites pass through. But the Lord hardened his heart so the Lord would give Sihon and his people into the hands of the Israelites. Because he would not let them pass through, Israel fought against them and defeated them. This was God's judgment. God's hardened Sihon's heart as judgment. Turn over to Joshua chapter 11. Joshua chapter 11 with the conquest of the Canaanites. The Bible makes very clear the Canaanites were wicked, wicked people. They practiced child sacrifice. They had all kinds of sexual perversions. They were known for their perverseness. In Joshua 11, beginning of verse 18, we read, Joshua made war a long time with all those kings, the Canaanite kings. There was not a city that made peace with the people of Israel except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. They took them all in battle. For it was the Lord's doing to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle in order that they should be devoted to destruction and to receive no mercy, but be destroyed, just as the Lord commanded Moses. So in judgment upon these wicked Canaanites, the Lord hardened the hearts of the Canaanite kings. So the kings wouldn't do the logical thing and try to just, you know, do whatever they could to, you know, make peace with Israel. It means we move away, we move away. No, he hardened their hearts so that they would fight against the Israelites in battle, so that they would be destroyed in battle by the Israelites. This was God's judgment upon the wicked Canaanites. He hardened their king's hearts. Turn over to 2 Samuel chapter 17. 2 Samuel chapter 17. Look at verse 14. We have wicked Absalom, David's son who rebelled against him, who took the throne from David, who led this rebellion, the civil war against David to take the throne from him. In 2 Samuel 17, verse 14, we read, And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, the counsel of Hushai the archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For the Lord had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the Lord might bring harm upon Absalom. One person counseled Absalom, follow David over the Jordan River. Now is the time to strike. That's what would have made sense for Absalom to do. But the Lord had ordained something different. Absalom listened to the advice that said, wait, don't attack now. First amass an army, then go after David. We read, the Lord had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel. So that the Lord might bring harm upon Absalom. It was the Lord's will to defeat Absalom. To stop this rebellion against David and to restore David to the throne. And so the Lord ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel. So the Lord might bring harm upon Absalom. And then one more example. 1 Kings chapter 12. 1 Kings chapter 12. 13 through 15. 1 Kings 12 beginning at verse 13. And the king answered the people harshly. See we have Rehoboam. He's come to the throne. He's following Solomon. And he has two sets of counsel. One set of counsel says treat the people with gentleness. You want to win them over. The other said, no, you need to be harsh with them, so they will fear you. Verse 13, the king answered the people harshly in forsaking the counsel that the old men had given him. He spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, my father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions. So the king did not listen to the people. He didn't listen to the good counsel, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by the Lord. that he might fulfill his word which the Lord spoke by Ahijah the Shilohite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. Jeroboam was under God's judgment. The kingdom was under God's judgment. And so God acted so that that judgment would fall. Coming back to our text, we read something that's not all completely unrelated in Exodus chapter 9 verse 12. that the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh. The result was Pharaoh did not listen to Moses and Aaron, and this happened as the Lord had spoken to Moses. Understand that the Lord's hardening of Pharaoh's heart so that he would disobey the word of the Lord, this was not unjust, nor was this arbitrary. It is the right of an infinitely holy God to deal with evil men in any way that he so desires. What all sinners really deserve is death. Romans 6 23, the wages of sin is death. Any good that God brings to the sinner is pure mercy and grace. God is not obligated to do good to wicked people. God had purpose to glorify himself through judgment upon Egypt, showcasing his power, showcasing his justice, his purpose to glorify himself through judgment upon Egypt, and redemption of Israel. Redeeming them out of the strong hand of the most powerful ruler in the world, who kept saying, I will not let them go. I will not let them go. God unfolds these 10 flags as he does. He hardens Pharaoh's heart along the way in order to bring glory to himself through judgment upon Egypt and the redemption of Israel. God is a God who both judges and redeems. And so he is to be feared is to be obeyed, and we're to find salvation in Him. Any questions, any comments on anything that we have seen tonight? Rita? I just read this. You might have said this before, because I missed it last week, that some of the plagues were announced to Pharaoh, and some of them weren't. Yeah. Now we've seen God warned Pharaoh of some of them. He says, let my people go. If you don't let them go, this is what's going to happen. And other ones, there's no recorded announcement of that. God just brings the plague. So the question is, why did the Lord give that message? It wasn't Moses' choice, decision. The message of the Lord gave to Moses to speak. We know that God's purpose, His plan, is that He is going to redeem them out of Egypt in order to take them down to Sinai. He's going to take them out of Egypt permanently. He's going to take them to the Promised Land. I mean, He's already revealed that to Moses at the burning bush. That's His revealed purpose. But for God's purposes, His immediate purposes, The first demand that he makes upon Pharaoh is to let them go into the wilderness to sacrifice. God doesn't start with a demand to just let them go free. The fact that God begins with this demand, and Pharaoh hardens his heart and says no, shows how wicked he was. That he wouldn't even allow these people to go away for a few days. to sacrifice to their God. It showed the tight fist or how tightly Pharaoh was holding on to this people. It all is what God was doing leading up to the glorious act of redemption, showcasing his great power and freeing the Israelites out of this strong hand of Pharaoh. It's part of the drama. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we bow before you. You are to be feared. You are the Most High. You rule over all. You are holy. You are just. You require complete obedience. And we have fallen far short of Your glory. We thank You, Father, that You provided redemption to Your people out of slavery in Egypt as a foreshadowing of the redemption that You would provide through Christ. Salvation from sin, salvation from the power that sin has had over us. Lord, we thank you for Christ. We thank you that Christ suffered the plague of your judgment in our place as our substitute. We thank you that you raised Christ in victory on the third day. having defeated all the powers of evil. Lord, we pray that we would have a high view of you. Lord, that we would live lives as your redeemed ones, live lives of worship to you. And Lord, may we be thankful for the redemption that we have in Christ Jesus. You didn't save the Israelites because they were a better people than the Egyptians. You saved them because of your grace. We thank you for this. For this is the way, the only way that we can be saved is by your grace. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.