Amen. When God calls us to put away false gods, to have no idols, it's so often for our hearts to read that as either a threat or some sort of onerous command, but Psalm 81 tells us that this is God's love to us. He would not desire us to fall prey and be enslaved to false gods and to our sin. He desires to save and free His people. if we would but heed his voice and follow his grace. We're going to see the work of God in salvation again in the book of Exodus this morning. If you'll turn to Exodus chapter 8, as we continue our sermon series, we are now at the second plague. This of frogs upon the land of Egypt. So we will be looking at Exodus chapter 8, verses 1 through 15. Exodus chapter 8, verses 1 through 15. Please give your attention to the reading of God's holy word. Then the Lord said to Moses, go into Pharaoh and say to him, thus says the Lord, let my people go, that they may serve me. But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will plague all of your country with frogs. The Nile shall swarm with frogs that shall come up into your house, and into your bedroom, and on your bed, and into the houses of your servants and your people, and into your ovens, and your kneading bowls. And the frogs shall come upon you, and on your people, and on all of your servants. And the Lord said to Moses, say to Aaron, Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the canals and over the pools and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt. And so Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. But the magicians did the same by their secret arts and made frogs come up on the land of Egypt. 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. Moses 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 he said, tomorrow, Moses said. Be it as you say, so that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God. The frogs shall go away from you, and your houses, and your servants, and your people, and they shall be left only in the Nile.' And so Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh. And Moses cried to the Lord about the frogs, as he had agreed with Pharaoh. And the Lord did according to the word of Moses. The frogs died out in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields, and they gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank. But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart, and he would not listen to them. As the Lord had said, the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our Lord will surely stand forever. Please be seated. So much of the Old and New Testament takes place in desert. And so you'll hear me remark frequently how blessed we are to live in a desert. We have a sense of relationship. When Elijah goes out into the heat of 1 Kings 19, when the Israelites grumble about a lack of water in the wilderness, that's something that Arizonans can relate to. Here's something that I fully suspect most of the native Arizonans have never seen in their lives, frogs. We have them, actually, in northern Arizona and in southern Arizona, not so much in Phoenix. But frogs, frogs is a plague. And I think among all the plagues, this is often the one that's the most confusing. It is not hard to see why your main source of water turning into blood is bad. That is terrifying, actually. So also for hail and fire from the sky, so also to be plunged into constant and unrelenting darkness. The idea of gnats covering everything that we touch, of stinging flies harassing us, these make sense as plagues. But frogs, frogs are popular with children. They're toys, they're pleasant things. Well, again, we see here, as we saw last week, the importance of understanding the Book of Exodus... ...as what theologians call polemic theology. A polemic is an argument against, it's an attack. And we come face to face here with the Lord as He is at war with the gods of Egypt. We said that was the subtitle of the Book of Exodus. Yahweh against the gods. But as Yahweh wages holy warfare against the gods, this plague is going to take particular offense at Egypt finding blessings, finding joy apart from Yahweh. And maybe now we're getting closer because frogs seem so happy and so pleasant to us. Guess what? They were for the Egyptians. Frogs are happy things. But can we be truly happy when we are separate from the Lord of hosts? Can we truly have joy and blessings if we do not have Yahweh? That's the question that God is asking of Egypt today, and that's the question He's going to ask of us as His children. Can we have blessing? Can we have happiness outside of Yahweh? And so as we'll unpack this plague, we're going to follow the structure we sent out last week. That at first we see what Pharaoh is trusting in. We see the false god and false blessings that Pharaoh turns to. And so today, this takes form in the Egyptian god Heket. And so Pharaoh is going to turn to Hecate. He's going to look for the first point in our sermon is the blessings of the world. That's our first point. That's what Pharaoh is going to turn to, is worldly blessings to satiate this pain. And then contrasted to that, the second point in our sermon is the freedom of the Lord. And we'll see which one of these things mankind can find real joy in. Is it going to be the blessings of the world, or is it going to be the freedom of the Lord? Well, as we said, this is polemical theology. The reason the frogs are showing up is because of the Egyptian god of blessings. And so we're going to start there. We talk about the blessings of the world. Pharaoh is turning to an Egyptian god called Heket for her blessings. Heket is a female god with the body of a human. Most Egyptian gods are like this. And the head of a Frog, very good. She is a frog-headed lady. She is married, and her and her husband, who has a very difficult Egyptian name that I'm not gonna try to pronounce, are responsible for the creation of human life, and basically of blessings. And so Heket, this frog-headed lady, is the source of blessing and kind of joy in Egypt. She's a very important member of the Egyptian pantheon. And so this Heket has three blessings that she offers her followers. One is fertility itself. Right? And so if you want to have new life, if you want to have a child, if you want your children to be healthy and happy, and that's certainly a case of joy, then you're going to turn and pray to Heket. The second blessing that Hecate offers is kind of this control and balance to worldly pleasure. So the Egyptians were certainly libertines, they loved pleasure, they loved fine things. But what Hecate does is she keeps that balance, she always feeds you exactly the joy that she needs. The joy that's going to keep you happy and satiated and smiling. And so Hecate not only offers fertility, she causes growth, but in the Egyptian pantheon she controls it. And so what's the sign that there's fertility in water in Egypt? And the answer is that there are frogs there. And fascinatingly, according just to Natural Revelation, this is broadly true. Frogs are one of the first biological indicators of the health of an ecosystem. If there's something wrong with the water, if there's pollution or the pH is off, the first animals to leave or to die are frogs. And so the Egyptians are kind of taking something normal that God has ordered and turning it into a god. So the presence of frogs in a water ecosystem is a sign of health. Heket brings health. But then Heket also is in charge of the crocodiles. The thing that stops the frogs from becoming too many. And now we're starting to see why she's in view. She controls the blessings. She gives them and then she controls them. And then more than anything else, if you read the Egyptian book of life and the book of death, When new human beings are born, her husband crafts them on a wheel, on like a potter's wheel, and then it's Hecate's job to take this pot and she breathes life into it. And as Hecate breathes life, this thing made out of dirt comes up to life. Now if that sounds familiar and quite blasphemous, it should. Because the book of Genesis records that it's not Hecate who does this, but the Spirit of God. It is the Holy Spirit that breathes life into Adam. And creates all humanity. So you see here that this is not just simply a fun legend. Right? What the Egyptians are promoting... is the source of all joy, of all balance, and of life itself comes not from the Spirit of God, but from Hecate. This is blasphemy. This is rivalry. As we talked about last week, if God is a good God, then He will not allow rivals to steal away the sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve. So now understanding this hope that Hecate offers, right? Fertility, control, and life itself. What we're now going to see in this plague is God humiliate Hecate. He's going to specifically wage warfare against her blessings and turn them upside down. And we see in this a picture of how God humbles the blessings of the world. Is the world full of life and joy and balance? Yes. Is that good? God said in Genesis chapter 1, very good. Very good. But, if that is the source of your joy, If that is your God, then it is very, very bad. And anytime we turn to the blessings of this world to be our God, to be the source of our true joy and blessing, God's going to turn them upside down. He's going to humiliate those blessings. And so how do we see that? In verses 3-4, let's go to Exodus chapter 8 verses 3-4 again. The Nile will swarm with frogs that shall come up into your house and into your bedroom. And on your bed and into the houses of your servants and on your people. And into your ovens and on your kneading bowls. And the frogs will come upon you and upon your people and upon all your servants. So Hecate is supposed to be the one who controls the creation of this life, of this fertility. God says, I control it. The very source of blessings that you're trusting in has its own source and it's me. I'm the ultimate source of the fertility you're looking for. And so when I say, go, there are frogs. When I say, let there be light, there is light. And so God is showing that He is the ultimate source of these blessings. Not a cat, not the natural life cycle, not even biology, it's God. When God says, let there be frogs, there are frogs. And the expansive language in Exodus 8 shows not only just how much control He has, but how miserable it is to have the very thing they were trusting on. Frogs seem great, except when they're covering your bed and your face. When your children are screaming and crying and begging you. to get these frogs out of their clothing, out of their bed, and you can't do anything to help them. This is getting a little bit more macabre, isn't it? These frogs are in your ovens. You can't cook food. Your machines aren't working. They are filled up with the gristle bones of frogs when you try to push your cart. All of life is coming to a grinding halt because Yahweh is the true source of life and fertility. This is miserable. These fat, slimy slugs with legs are surrounding everything. That's what he's saying. I have total control over the thing you thought you were trusting in. What then does Hecate supposed to do? She's supposed to be able to get rid of the frogs. And so it is when humanity trusts in the blessings of the world. I'll just have a little bit. I'll have one extra drink. I'll have one extra donut. I'll just gossip for an hour on Facebook today, right? I can find balance in myself and in these good things. That's what Hecate offers. And God says, there is no balance or control in the world. No one is sovereign except for me. And we see this just like we did last week in the Magicians, in verse 6 and 7. So Aaron stretches out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and frogs come up and cover the land. Yahweh is the source. He controls the blessing that you thought you trusted in. But now hear this, the gods of Egypt are impotent. Because when their priests, not like Aaron or Moses, but when their priests, Janus and Jambres, come forward, all they can do is make more frogs. Now, so last week, that was somehow encouraging to Pharaoh. Right? When Janus and Jambros turned water into blood, even though it just furthered God's aims. But when you're literally being smothered by frogs... ...having difficulty eating and breathing because they're choking you... ...your priests making more frogs is no longer impressive. And so God is humiliating Hecate. You can't stop these frogs. You have no control over them. And your very priests will only do what I tell them to do. If I want there to be more frogs, there will be more frogs. You can have no control in the world apart from me. And we see this, by the way, in the way that God promises to fix it. How does God say He will actually bring control of the situation in verse 9? The frogs will be cut off from you and from your houses, but then where will they go? They will be left in the Nile. He's going to restore his natural order. That's his point. It's my order. I made the frogs in the Nile. And when I tell them to come out, they come out. But when I'm done, they'll go back because I put them there. This is the constant refrain of the psalmist. And even when God speaks to Job in Job chapter 39, do you know where the eagle's nest is? Because I do. Do you know why the horse is so brave in battle? Because I do. And it's because I made them. And so God is humiliating our trust in this world by showing his total control. Not just that he eliminates them, but he restores to his natural order. Not Heket's. And then last. Last. Heket is the author of life. She breathes life. And the symbol of her life is frogs. And so what does Yahweh fill Egypt with? Dead, stinking frogs. Every time an Egyptian goes to pick up one of these dead stinking frogs, Yahweh is saying, look at your God. Look at the one that you're trusting for life. It's dead at your feet and it stinks. And that's what always happens when we trust in the world. It leads to death. This is Proverbs chapter two, right? This is sin in the form of the temptress woman. Her feet are long and they go down to Sheol. So God is saying the very thing, the blessings of the world, which I made to be good, but now that you're thinking of them as your source of joy and comfort, actually, they'll only bring to death. And in both, in the first plague and the second plague, it ends the same way, which is with what? But a stank. Verse 14, and they gathered them together and the land stank. This is in two ways. One, it literally stinks for the people of Egypt. Their sin has been so multiplied, there's so much death because of their sin, because of their trust in the world's pleasures, that there's rotting corpses and the whole country smells bad. But John Curry points out that this is also a stink that goes up to God. And this is frequent language from the prophets. The false worship, the people who don't love him, God says, it stinks in my nostrils. He actually goes so far in the book of Isaiah to say, if you're going to think that you can worship me and worship the gods of this world and find your happiness in the world and in its blessings and its joys, then God says, don't bother praying. I won't hear your prayers. He says, I will turn my face away from your requests. Because, in Isaiah, it stinks, is what God says. So it doesn't just stink before them. It stinks before God. And here in this plague, God is showing us the depth of disaster that come when we as human beings exchange the giver for the gifts. When we choose to trust in the blessings of this world rather than the one who blesses us. It stinks. I know we have little kids here today. What a great thing for you to go away with, right? How do you think about it when you don't trust God? What's a great way to think about it when you don't trust God, when you don't love God? You know what you can say? It stinks. It stinks when I don't trust God. By way of illustration, let's talk about the wonderful jungle paradise of the nation of Poyais, which doesn't exist. But you would be forgiven for thinking it existed if we lived exactly 200 years ago in London. So if we were in London, which was a big city like Phoenix, bigger, there was a very charismatic and well-regarded British general named Gregor MacGregor. Yes, he was Scottish. Gregor MacGregor. He is an honorable man. He's had multiple military victories in the New World. He's noted as a commander, as a leader, and as an explorer. And he shows up in London in 1825 telling you that for the low, low price of 1,000 pounds, you can buy land. in the jungle paradise of Pauillet. He says, I've been there, I've seen it. And what he has in his hands is evidence, right? He has bananas and he has fruit that Europeans have still never seen, right? Maybe if you're a member of the Royal Expeditionary Society, you've gotten to see a dragon fruit or a banana or these crazy things, but to bring them on London, these blessings from the new world. And so this goes down as pretty much inarguably the greatest con job in the history of mankind. Because he raises somewhere between two and two hundred million dollars defrauding people by offering them the blessings of Poirier. Right? Here's why I bring it up. When Hecate or Apollo or Thor or your hunger or your lust or your greed tells you That the blessings of Poirier can be yours. That you can find real happiness in your paycheck. And in romance. And in provision. You are getting conned. That's what's happening. And I bring that up because hopefully, I think as we as human beings, one of the things we all hate is being taken advantage of. God is saying in the first plague, in the second plague, these gods are taking advantage of you. They are lying to you. They can't offer you anything to trust in. The real joy has to come from me. And by the way, the point is death. Because this con job in the 1800s didn't just defraud people of $200 million as if that wasn't bad enough. It was so bad that it caused a nationwide economic recession. You can look up the crash of 1825. This man crashed an economy. And that's not the worst thing. Because he kept promising, man, if you get to Poyais, food falls off the trees. You'll never want, you'll be so full. And there are these tribes people that will cart you around. This is what he's promising. You'll have every one of your desires satisfied. 500 people move there. What's the problem with that? It doesn't exist. It doesn't exist anymore than this world's blessings can actually satisfy you. And 250 of them die. 250 people are dead because of this conjunct. because her feet are long and they lead down to Sheol. It stinks when we trust in this world's blessings, made by God to be good, but when we make them our whip and our wharf, our hope and our trust, it will destroy us. People will die, none more so ourselves. So against this false blessing from the world, what does Yahweh offer? Does he offer his own blessings? That's how a lot of ancient divine disputes would happen, right? Worship Thor instead of Apollos and Thor will give you victory in this battle. Worship Asherah instead of Sargoth because Asherah is the one who can really protect you from chariots. They just exchange blessings for blessings. I'll give you food, I'll give you money. Is that what Yahweh offers? The supposed blessings of the world are contrasted in the second plague with the freedom. Freedom from these things. In the Lord. And the freedom that God offers, we're going to define it two ways, two sub points in the second point. First, a freedom from. A freedom from, but then second, a freedom for. Why do we say a freedom from? Well, God's offering freedom to his people from this land. From this land that stinks. From this land of death. From this land of slavery and oppression and genocide. God cares. This was how this whole story started back in Exodus 3. The cry of God's people went up continually to heaven. And God heard. And God knew. And it ends there. One of my favorite sentences in the whole Bible. And God knew. So he's offering freedom from this cult of death. From this oppression. Which is a stark rebuke to the kind of Gnostic apathy. that can be so prevalent sometimes in a false Christianity. Well, God doesn't really care what happens to me. Yes, he does. God cares intimately. So he is offering, through his word and through his grace, a freedom from lies, a freedom from a cult of death. He's offering freedom from these things. But even more so than just worldly oppression, he is offering freedom from spiritual depression. He is offering actual freedom. And we see this very interestingly in the second half of this plague. Let's go back to verse 8. It's chapter 8, verse 8. So Pharaoh wants a freedom from the frogs. But Pharaoh is not stopping to ask why the frogs are here. We might say, if Pharaoh was here this morning, Pharaoh, the frogs are not your problem. They feel like your problem, because they're on your face, and they're in your kid's bed, and it's awful. But why are the frogs here? And the frogs are here because you are spiritually oppressed. Because you are worshiping idols and possibly demons. Because your sin is manifest, and it stinks before the Lord. That's the freedom you need, Pharaoh. That's the freedom you need. Because this is what happens when we worship. Is we become like the thing that we worship. This is what Psalm 115 verses 4 through 8 says. It's talking about how mankind makes idols made of silver and gold. And of clay. But it goes on to say that they are dumb and they are mute. And then the psalmist says, but so become those who make them. They become dumb and mute. They have nothing good going on and they have nothing good to say. That's what Hosea says in Hosea 9, 10. Right? That they give themselves to the shame of worshiping Baal and they become shame itself, Hosea says. And so yes, God will take away the frogs from Pharaoh, but that's not the freedom Pharaoh needs. Pharaoh needs freedom from Heket. Pharaoh needs freedom from idolatry. He needs freedom from this rank sin that stinks before the Lord. He needs freedom from temptation. He needs freedom from false worship. He needs freedom from sin. And that's what God is really offering. And if we doubt that, a wonderful peril to Exodus 8, and you can go ahead and put your finger here, because we're going to be jumping here a couple times now. John chapter 8, verses 31 through 38. John chapter 8 finds Jesus speaking to Pharisees, to rulers of his people. Calvin and others have pointed out that... ...every time Jesus appears before these Pharisees... ...it's not totally dissimilar... ...to Moses and Aaron appearing before the court of Pharaoh. Here God's prophet now stands before the rulers of the land. And the rulers of the land refuse to let go of their rank idolatry. They refuse to let go of their sin. And in fact they're furious at God's appointed messenger... ...for telling them that they're wrong. But God says you don't... ...you don't realize how wrong you are. You don't need freedom from Rome. You don't need freedom from frogs. John chapter 8 verse 31, And so Jesus says to the Jews who had believed in him, If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. And they answered him, We are the offspring of Abraham, and we have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say you will be free? Let's pause there. What? We are the children of Abraham and we've never been enslaved. It's kind of the biggest story in your Bible. You've never been enslaved. But brothers and sisters, is this a picture of the deception sin puts us in? We are so deceived and enslaved to our sin that we will say blatantly false things to justify not fleeing our sin. You will forget truths that you hold dear your whole life... ...if it means you can excuse or escape from being held accountable for your sin. So Jesus could say... ...sons of Abraham, God told Abraham that his descendants would be enslaved. Why doesn't Jesus go there? Because freedom from earthly slavery is but a picture. He's getting to the real point. Verse 34, truly, truly I say to you that everyone who practices sin is in slavery to it. The slave does not remain in the house forever, the son remains forever. So if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed. As Jesus always does, as the greatest teachers ever lived, he elevates the problem. You could point out their hypocrisy. They've forgotten about Exodus. But even the Exodus account wasn't just about freeing them from earthly slavery. And Jesus doesn't want to feed into their false narrative. You have been enslaved since Adam and Eve ate that fruit. Human beings have been enslaved for all time. You don't realize just how enslaved you are, but if you would come to me, those whom the Son sets free, What he's offering the Pharisees in John chapter 8... ...he is offering Pharaoh and the Egyptians... ...and the Israelites in Exodus chapter 8. Those whom the Son sets free... ...can be made free indeed. And by the way, not just freedom from sin and temptation and death... But the greatest freedom that God is offering, freedom from the slavery of finding all of your joy in the passions and blessings of this world, freedom from your idolatry, it's not just freedom from that temptation and that power of loving the blessings of this world too much, it's freedom for something. And that's what we miss far too often. And what's the proof of that? How does Exodus 8 start? Thus said the Lord to Moses, go into Pharaoh and say to him, thus says the Lord, let my people go, freedom, so that they may serve me, so that they may worship me. If we go back to Exodus 5 through 7, this is the first thing Moses and Aaron say to Pharaoh. Let us go that we may worship God, worship Yahweh. And Pharaoh says, I have not heard of this Yahweh. He's heard of him now. But the message remains the same. It's not just a freedom from sin, it's a freedom for God. That's everything. Let my people go, that they may worship me. And by the way, Pharaoh knows that. Let's go back to verse 8. Plead with the Lord to take away the frogs from me and my people, and I will let the people go to worship to the Lord. So even if Pharaoh doesn't understand his problem, he understands what Yahweh is offering. Not just a freedom from sin, although that is everything, life changing, but a freedom for, to worship and to know, to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Now this is what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3, 18, as the opposite, right? If we make idols, if we worship the blessings of this world, we will become the very shame that we're worshiping. Right? We will become like death. It will destroy us and our lives and our communities. But Paul in 2 Corinthians 3.18 says, the more we fill ourselves with the worship of the glory of the Lord, we are being transformed, Paul says, one image to the other. Because you will be like that which you worship. And so Paul says, here's the opposite. You don't just need to go to net neutral. You don't need your bank of balance instead of negative a billion to read zero. No thank you. You need a freedom for God. And because of His grace, instead of Hecate and Asherah and Baal, and your lusts and your pride and your greed and your gluttony killing you, you are freed for the worship of God, which will do nothing less than save your soul. That's what's being offered here. Not just a freedom from, but a freedom for. So let's go back to John chapter 8. And see how the Pharisees respond to Jesus' offer in verse 48. Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh and Jesus goes to the Pharisees and says that you are enslaved to your sin. The very things you think are giving you joy are killing you and it stinks before the Lord. But there's freedom in God. There's freedom if you would just go into the desert and worship Him. And so the Jews respond in John chapter 8 verse 48 by saying, are we not right in saying that you are Samaritan and have a devil in you? That's the response. You're a demon-possessed alien. Aren't we right when we call you a demon-possessed alien? Jesus say we're right. That's how we treat you for offering us freedom, not only from sin, but a freedom that saves us and brings us for and towards God. Jesus answers them, I do not have a demon. I honor my father and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks it and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, He will never see death. The Jews said to him, now we know you have a demon. Abraham died, as did the prophets. Yet you say, if anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died. Who do you make yourself out to be? And Jesus answers, if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my father who glorifies me, of whom you say he is our God. But you have not known him. I know him. And if I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him and I have kept his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. And he saw it and he was glad. Here is the great question set before Egypt and Pharisees and every son of Adam and daughter of Eve, is you were made for something. And Jesus says here that the God who made you glorifies me. The point of all this is that the Son of God would be glorified. Are you willing to accept that? Or, so desperate for your own glory, are you going to try to find happiness and joy in the blessings of this world, in what you eat and what you drink? But the Father who made you glorifies me. And so the Jews say, you are not yet 50 years old. Truly have you seen Abraham? And Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. The challenge given to the Pharisees is the challenge given to everyone of us sitting here today. We were freed for Jesus. And we will either be freed for Jesus, or we will be slaves to our passions. And slaves do not remain in the house forever, but the Son remains forever. As God humiliates Hecate and her avatars are stinking up Egypt with their death, He says, you can be freed not only from these things, but for God if you would but come to Him. That's the challenge. That's polemical theology. And so that's why it's so necessary for us to find the plagues are offering a positive freedom, not just this kind of libertine do whatever you want. Freedom on its own is nothing. Which sounds dangerous to say in America. Right? Team America is going to bust down the door if I speak against freedom. But freedom is freedom when it's for something. It's not simply a license to do whatever you want. You are free for something, and what you're free to do is to worship. You were made to worship. And let's be clear, you will worship. And you will either worship the blessings that you receive in your hand, like Hecate, or you will worship the sun. But you are freed for worship. Freedom on its own, by the way, will always end at worship, but it will stink like death. Let's go back not 200 years ago, but to 50 years ago, 52 years ago. And let's say right now you were offered freedom. Hey, there's this new city, and it is yet again a tropical paradise. And this tropical city is only freedom. There's no money. There's no property. There's no racial animus, right, which in the 1970s was a much bigger problem. There's no segregation. Right? And so if you would come to this jungle paradise, you will be totally free. And you will have everything you ever want. You'll pick fruit from the trees. You'll live in total harmony. There will be total freedom. The name of that town was Jonestown. And what happened? You can probably guess by the name of the town. Once freed, they started to worship. But they started to worship a man. They started to worship a man named James Jones, who demanded their worship, because that's what the world does. The world offers you its blessings and its riches in one hand, and then you take them, and the world says, now worship me. You can't take and not worship. And so worship fills until it becomes a cult. And what do we just say? You become like what you worship. Where does that lead? Death. Death. Death of everyone there, down to the children. Death. That's what happens when you're free from and you think you're allowed to do whatever you want. You can't just be free from, you need to be free for the Son of God over Haken. We started by talking about frogs. How can frogs be a bad thing? I hope we see now. That whatever God has created good, when we treat it like an idol, it becomes death to us. When we would find joy and blessedness apart from God, apart from His Son, it's death. Yes, even cute, adorable, wet, slimy frogs. And so the question I think Exodus is asking, not only of Egypt, but of us this morning, is what blessedness do we find in Christ? And what blessedness are we finding in the world? Christ desires to free us from and for, from and for this very morning. If you do not know that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God, then He desires, and I can tell you this is biblically true, He desires that no one should be destroyed, but that everyone should repent. He desires that you be freed from trusting in yourself and in the blessings that you've received, because they will die, and you will die. This morning, God desires to free you by faith in His Son to live forever. and a blessedness that you cannot begin to imagine. But for the Christians here gathered, Christ desires to free us from these sins that plague us. How does he free us from those sins? Point to the very thing that Pharaoh lacks in Exodus chapter 8, and the answer for that is repentance. Let me assign to you, if you feel like you have long-standing sin this morning, that you've been unable to free yourself from, we say amen. You cannot free yourself from it. But Jesus can. Those whom the Son sets free are free indeed. 2 Corinthians, chapter 7, verses 6 through 13. Paul says that he is glad to have rebuked the church in Corinth and caused them tremendous discomfort. That sounds pretty aggressive. But he says, why? And the answer is, because you have become enslaved to sin. I am not sorry that I've caused you pain. I'm only sorry if the pain I caused you doesn't free you, Paul says. And he goes on to contrast what he calls worldly repentance and godly repentance... And the illustration of this is Pharaoh in Exodus 8. Worldly repentance is only ever concerned with the consequences of our sin. Plead with the Lord to take away the frogs from you. What do we say? The frogs aren't the problem. The frogs are the consequence of the problem. And so in 2 Corinthians 7 Paul says those who only want the problem to go away... ...that's worldly repentance and it does nothing. Right? Godly repentance creates freedom, but not by the power of repentance. Because how does this whole thing start in 2 Corinthians 7, 6? That you would know the God who comforts those who mourn. The more you know God sets you free, the more you will run to Him for freedom. But it has to be for Him. Repentance is genuine repentance, unlike Pharaoh, when you're not concerned with the consequences, but with the Christ. And so that's what you bring to your sins this morning. That's what God is doing in Exodus 8. He is freeing you from the slavery that you've fallen into. If it's food, if it's sex, if it's money, if it's arrogance. God will free you from the blessings you've become enslaved to. But only if you first come to Him. If you first come to the Father of all comfort. He will free you from and then for Himself. That's available for you. You will never hear, I pray with all my heart, a preacher in this pulpit tell you what's available is money, and definitely a wife, and definitely six well-ordained kids who line up in a row and sing a goodnight song. We can't promise those things to you. What the scriptures can proclaim to you is those whom the Son sets free, He sets free indeed. And so come and speak with me and speak with an elder or an officer. Jesus desires to set you free from the blessings you've become enslaved to, but also a freedom for. not just out of your sin, but for God. And this is the great resolution. Should the Egyptians have been thankful for the Nile? Yes. Should Egyptians have been thankful for frogs? Yes. Should you be thankful for every blessing that the Father has poured out upon you? Yes. How do you guard against that thankfulness for good things becoming your actual joy? And the answer is by loving God more. And you can't love God more by deciding this morning, good news everyone, I've decided to love God more. I've just decided. How will God free His Israel? They will come out and worship Him. They will come to where He is and they will listen of His grace and His love and salvation. You cannot simply decide to love God more, but you can come to where God already is and hear of His transformative love for you. And in the words of Augustine, He will rightly order your loves. the more you come and hear of His love and His power, what He's done to save you from Egypt and Babylon and Rome and from your gluttony and from your sin and from your pride, the more He has blessed you with every blessing so that you can love and know Him more, the more you come to Him as He already is, come as you already are, then God will transform you. You come as you are and then God will take you and transform you by the power of His love. And so the Spirit says, come. And the bride says, come. Come to Jesus today and be filled more free of His love that you might see that He's already freed you. Already freed you from frogs and haket and all of the idolatry and even the blessings of this world that have stolen your affections. He loves you and He can free you if you would come to Him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we are so thankful for Your many, many blessings, for Your many, many graces. Father, truly everything we have, the food that we eat, the air that we breathe is from your hand. But Father, we pray with all our heart that you would continue to free us from falling in love with those things more than you, from trusting in the river and its abundance, from trusting in our culture or in our state, from putting our confidence in princes. Father, free us. Free your people from our sin and sorrow. Let us see that holding on to our possessions, holding on to only a joy in this world will fill the land with a stink that goes up to heaven. But Father, let us see that those whom the Son sets free are free indeed. And that if we would but go to Him, if we would but go to Him, Father, we will find freedom already in His hands. And so we pray now for the Christians here and those who don't know you, let them rise and go to Jesus. Let them rise and go and find in Him love and freedom. that they might be transformed. Do this thing we