Good evening. Good evening. It's a blessing to be back. Remember, I was here a month ago, almost. So glad to be invited back to preach the word this evening. My aim is to, if I could get opportunities, where we go through the 10 plagues with you. Last time, a month ago, we looked at the first plague, which is the Nile turning to blood. And today, or this evening, we're going to go ahead and go to the second plague, which is the frogs that the God of Israel sent upon the Egyptians and Pharaoh. So let us turn the pages of our Bible to Exodus chapter 7, verse 25. and then all the way through chapter 8, verse 15. Let us take heed to the reading of God's holy and infallible, inerrant word. Exodus chapter 7, verse 25. And seven days passed after the Lord had struck the river. Chapter 8 verse 1, And the Lord spoke to Moses, Go to 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 smite all your territory with frogs. So the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into your house, into your bedroom, on your bed, into the houses of your servants, on your people, into your ovens, and into your kneading bowls. That's funny, actually. "'And the frogs shall come up on you, on your people, and on all your servants.' And the Lord spoke to Moses, "'Say to Aaron, stretch out your hand, which will run over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to 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. And the magicians did so with enchantments and brought up frogs on the land of Egypt. Now that's even more funny. brought more frogs, okay? Verse 8, And then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, And treat the Lord, that he may take away the frogs from me and from my people, and I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice to the Lord. And Moses said to Pharaoh, Accept the honor of saying, When I shall intercede for you, for your servants, and for your people to destroy the frogs from you and your houses, that they may remain in the river only.' And so he said, tomorrow. And he said, Let it be according to your word, that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God. And the frogs shall depart from you, from your houses, from your servants, and from your people. They shall remain in the river only. Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried out to the Lord concerning the frogs which he had brought against Pharaoh. So the Lord did according to the word of Moses. And the frogs died out of their houses, and out of their courtyards, and out of their fields. And they gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank." Verse 15, "'But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not heed them. As the Lord has said, And then comes the third plague, which is lice. May the Lord bless the preaching of his word, both the message and the messenger. Lord, I pray also that you'll give listening ears to your people and obedient hearts so that they may become not just hearers of your word, but be doers of your word. And for your glory, we give you We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. The start of the second plague began in verse 25 of chapter 7. During those seven long days, the God of Israel triumphed over the river gods of Egypt, namely Osiris, Nu, and Hapai. Those are the gods that we learned last time. Those are the gods that the Egyptians worshipped, those river gods. When the River Nile turned into blood, fish died, the river began to sink, and the Egyptians had to dig for waters to drink. And then comes chapter 8, verse 1, tells us that God's demand for Pharaoh had not changed. The demand is still, let my people go so that they may go and serve me. You see, the Israelites were made for God's glory. So rather than slaving away for Pharaoh, they needed to be free to serve the living God. Great and wonderful reminder for us as Christian, isn't it? Christians are set free. We are set free from the bondage of our sin, from the slavery of our sin, to serve the living God. That's why we go to church every Sunday. That's why I always say we go to a service, a Christian service. That's what it means. We go to serve God as we serve one another. So that's what the Israelites, what the Egyptians were called to do, to let the Israelites free so that they can serve God. Now, this time, God's command came with a solemn warning. Again, let us look at verses 2 to 4. 2 to 4, it says here. But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all your territory with frogs. So the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up, come into the house, and so on and so forth. Basically, God warned Pharaoh that he was about to negah. That's a Hebrew word. Negah is a word plague. It's to strike. It's to blow. I'm going to strike you with this judgment. If you don't obey, if you don't listen, the God is a Hebrew word. But in spite of this warning, God's demand met with the usual response, which was no response at all. Pharaoh did not answer God. Once again, Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites go, and God judged him for the sin of rebellion. Verses 5 and 6, and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying to Aaron, stretch out your hand, which will rot over the streams, over the rivers, over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up on the land of Egypt. And so Aaron did that, stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. I want you to imagine the scene Imagine the scene, there were frogs everywhere. And the noises the frog can make will drive one crazy, isn't it? If you notice in the title of my sermon, it says frogs, and what comes after that? Ribbit, ribbit, ribbit. Can you imagine hearing that all day long, all night long? It would drive you crazy. Hundreds upon hundreds sitting on top of each other. They hop into people's houses, shelters, into every nook and cranny of the kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms. At night, the noise of these frogs makes sleeping impossible, isn't it? I'm a very light sleeper. Any little noise, I will wake up. Can you imagine hearing that noise all day long, all night long? And verse 6 tells us the frogs cover the land of Egypt. Now, someone may ask, what causes frog invasion? Well, some have tried to come up with natural explanations. Or, you know, every year during summertime when the river almost dried up, it would cause the frogs to come up from the dry bed of the river. Or some other people would say, well, the river of blood had killed off all the fish and the frogs, and there were dead frogs everywhere. Now, the problem with those kind of explanations is that the Bible does not make any connections with natural or normal Egyptian phenomena. Each plague is presented as a separate act of divine judgment. What brought the frogs up onto the land was the supernatural power of God flowing through the staff of Aaron. The God of Israel has control over His creation. Just like you're going to see all the plagues that come after. He has control over the flies, the lice. He has control over the cattle, the hailstorm, the sun, the darkness, the sun. Psalm 78, verses 44 and 45. It says, He turned the rivers into blood, and the streams that they could not drink. He set swarms of flies among them, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them. And then Psalm 105, verse 30, their land abounded with frogs, even in the chambers of their kings. Even in the chambers of their kings. I really think, just in my personal opinion, I know it really doesn't matter much, but I really think this is one of God's funniest miracles ever. It was. Frogs, you know, a lot particularly dangerous, right? But they can be a nuisance, right? Verse 3 tells us, in particular, that picture, I want you to picture an Egyptian mother. Egyptian mother was opening her oven, and scream as she found a frog sitting in the oven staring at her, right? And the kids probably love it. Her mother got scared, OK? I remember there was a time we were in Florida one year. We were visiting, and we pulled up. My wife can testify to this. We pulled up into a drive-thru, get some food. It was hot. The window was shut, and we had the air conditioning on. So we opened up the window, and a green frog literally jumped into the car. You know what? My wife screamed, and I wasn't scared of the frog, but I was scared of her screaming, and I started screaming, too. All my kids were screaming. A frog that jumped into our car. You notice that here, the frogs even hop into Pharaoh's bedroom, it says. We imagine Pharaoh lying down for a nap. and then just jump onto his feet when he found frogs under his pillows. You know why? This plague hit Pharaoh right where he lived. God did not allow this hard-hearted king to hide in his own palace, but he sent the frogs right into his bedroom. So the question here is, why frogs? Why not other creatures or other mammals? Well, by sending the frogs, once again, God was demonstrating his power over the gods of Egypt. It has to do with the frog goddess that the Egyptians worship, the goddess named If I can pronounce it correctly, it's spelled H-E-K-T. I don't know if that's how you pronounce it, a cat or cat, which was an emblem of a deity that the Egyptians worshipped. And Pharaoh worshipped it, too. Cat was the spouse of the creator god, Khnum, K-H-N-U-M. He was the spouse of the creator god, Khnum. Frogs were sacred to the Egyptians. The Egyptians relied on cat for two things in particular. Protection, number one. Protection. So when Egypt was overrun with frogs, this so-called cat was humiliated. This so-called god could not do anything to stop the invasion. This plague proved that this goddess was powerless to resist the mighty hand of the Lord. Protections, number one. Number two is this so-called goddess was to assist women in childbirth. To assist women in childbirth. Women turned to Cat for help when they were in labor pain. Now, this suggests that there may be a connection between the second plague And Pharaoh sinned against the Hebrew midwives back in chapter 1, right? When Pharaoh commanded the midwives to what? To kill all of Israel's baby boys. Remember that? Right? And that led to the birth of Moses, if you know the story. Now, given that background, it seems that God's first two plagues, the River Nile turned to blood, and then now with the frogs, struck blow against the gods of Egypt's river and the goddess of Egypt's midwives. I think there's a connection there. So the question again here is, is there a connection between Egypt's gods and our own postmodern deity? How can we apply this? Well, I think absolutely there is a connection. Often we are tempted to serve the same idols unknowingly. Well, maybe some people knowingly serve the same idols. But in what ways are we tempted to worship the frog goddess of the Egyptians? Well, first, we have to understand why the Egyptians worship the frog goddess in the first place. I mentioned about protection. Let me just go into a little bit more detail. It was because they desperately wanted to gain control over childbirth. You see, when an Egyptian woman went into labor, fearing both for her own life and for the life of the baby, of the newborn child, her only comfort was to cry out to this goddess. He kept the frog goddess for the breath of life. That's all they look to. That's all they trust and they depend on. Now, if you look at today, today there's not much of a difference here. Now, I'm going to say something that maybe some of you feel a little bit uncomfortable, but I think it's the truth here. Many single women are raising children on their own. Some married women are unable to have children. Others lost children through miscarriage. And then there are all the anxieties that come with conceiving, bearing, and delivering a child. I think the most difficult of all is when a woman give birth. All this have to do with the result of humanity fell into sin. I'm sure all the women know this, you know, why I have so much labor pain, right? Well, Genesis 3.16, God said to Eve, I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception in pain, you shall bring forth children. Now, this curse refers not only to the physical act of childbirth, but to all the losses and frustrations that come with it. It is during this situation that many couples attempted, tempted, to turn to the goddess he had, the frog goddess, Some couples, not you, some couples will make a sacrifice to the frog goddess of fertility by getting an abortion. Others may abuse the various forms of birth control. And there's more, as I think about this. Today, with the medical advancement, people can actually use human genome to produce children with certain attributes or certain abilities. Others wanted children so bad that it becomes an idolatrous obsession. So they try every which way to try to get a child. Now, this is not to say that some forms of fertility treatment are bad, or am I saying it's unbiblical, nor is it to say that Christian parents should not pursue adoption, which is a, I think it's a beautiful picture of God's love for his children and his provision. But it is to say that Couples should not place their confidence in some coarse treatment or in adoption agency, but in God himself, who alone is the giver of life. In other words, the birth of a child is not a human project, but it is a divine gift from a sovereign God. That's the point that I'm making here. Another thing is this. Idols. Idols. Whether the Egyptian river gods or the frog goddess, they don't have the power to comfort us or to protect us. Only the true and living God is able to bring healing to the deepest hurts of any woman in a woman's heart. Those who worship the goddess Hecate will never experience the comfort that God gives to everyone who trusts in Him. It's not the same. Believe me, it's not the same. Only the one true living God, the God of Israel, He's the giver of life. He's the one who gives you protection and comfort. Now, getting back to Pharaoh. Pharaoh, at this time, was starting to have his doubts about his frog goddess. Once again, he called for his magicians in verse 7. Let us look at that. And the magicians did so with their enchantments and brought up frogs on the land of Egypt. Now, this magician is just nothing but sorceress. They are just doing the work of the devil, basically. This magician could not do anything except to bring more frogs to Pharaoh. I mean, isn't that ironic here? So what Pharaoh really wanted was for someone to get rid of these frogs. Hey, get these frogs out of here. But when these magicians came, they couldn't do anything but brought more frogs into Pharaoh's chamber or into the land of Egypt. Again, we find even Satan's power was no match for God's power. Now, Pharaoh became so desperate that he ordered Moses and Aaron in verse 8. Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, And treat the Lord, that he may take away frogs from me and from my people, and I will let the people go that they may sacrifice to the Lord." Hmm. Talking about a prayer request, a prayer request, this was not a sign of Pharaoh's conversion, let me tell you, but only of his superstitions. only of his manipulation, if you will. Here's why. Because you see later on, you see that Pharaoh still did not let the people go, right? Well, you know, God did that for the purpose of multiplying the plagues. He's going to give Pharaoh more plagues, not just one or two or three, but 10. Looking at Pharaoh, today, like Pharaoh, many desperate people have called for a pastor or a minister to pray for them without ever really intending to call upon God. Think about it. It is true. Some people don't want to trust God. They just want to use God for their benefit. They just want God to take away their sufferings or the consequences of their sins. So like Pharaoh, by this time, he learned something about God's power. And by asking the frogs to be removed, he was admitting, at least, that the Lord God of Israel had power over all creation. Pharaoh seems to have understood that the way to gain access to that power was through prayer. At least he understood that much. But somehow he knew that divine intervention would come through human intercession. But God wasn't fooled by that. get manipulated by Pharaoh's lies. Pharaoh ended in verse 8 by making the first of many false promises. I will let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord. This turned out to be a lie, of course. If you read further down, you see how you will even find Pharaoh try to compromise. In one play, he said, well, I'll just let just the men go. The women and the wives and the children will stay behind. And then next thing, he will say, oh, I'm going to let the little one go. But you need to keep, but the cattle, just stay behind. He's trying to make that compromise. But Moses did not make that compromise. He said, God said, let my people go. That includes everything, young, old, little child, women, wives, cattle, everything's going to go, not just partly. And that's what the people of God will not compromise with God's command. So Pharaoh's promise turned out to be a lie? People will promise God anything when they are in trouble, isn't it? But a promise is soon forgotten. Like Pharaoh, this shows how much a person can learn about God without ever coming to his son for salvation. Yeah, it's so true. I mean, I've seen it in my whole life and all these years of pastoring. They know a lot about God. The knowledge of God is just amazing sometimes. they still haven't come to that final decision is to come to God for salvation. See, God doesn't want us to know Him by knowledge. God requires a personal faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. Pharaoh knew who the God of Israel was. He knew about His power. He knew about His name. He knew about what this God could do. But he did not know him as his savior and Lord. The proof is that he could not pray to God for himself. He could not pray to God for himself. He had to ask somebody, like Moses, to pray for him. He also made the wrong request. I want you to see that. Right? What did he say? He asked Aaron or Moses to, could you ask God to remove these frogs from me? Right? Well, rather than asking God to take away his sins, he asked God to take away the frogs. You see that? Pharaoh only wanted relief from the punishment for his sin without being willing to repent of the sin itself. And many people are like that today. They just want relief. They just want suffering to go away or the consequences of sin to go away. Instead of asking God to forgive them of their sins or repent of their sin, Well, at least Pharaoh asked Moses to pray for him. Well, I really think that prayer is one of the best tests of a person's true spiritual condition, isn't it? I think every Christian should have some type of prayer life. whether you struggle in prayer life, but you need to pray. Christians are to pray. A life of prayer depends on a personal saving relationship with God. God hears a prayer of faith. That means praying to God the Father, through God the Holy Spirit, in the name of God the Son, Jesus Christ. That is the prayer of faith. In the case of salvation, it begins with a prayer. The only way to receive salvation is by speaking to God directly, telling Him that you are sorry for your sins, and that you want His Son to forgive you, to be your Savior, to be your Lord. It's my conclusion. Pharaoh promised that as soon as the frogs were gone, he would let God's people go. But we see what happened here in verses 13 to 15. So the Lord did according to the word of Moses, and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the courtyards, and out of the fields. They gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank. Verse 15. But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not heed them, as the Lord had said." Moses prayed, God answered, and then Pharaoh broke his promise. Pharaoh was the kind of man who says anything to get out of trouble. But as soon as his troubles are over, he goes right back to his old, sinful, selfish ways. Like a lot of people today, he only wanted God to take away the consequences of his sins. He never had any intention of getting rid of the sin itself. Pharaoh should have begun his prayer by asking God to take away his sins, not his frogs, But Pharaoh wasn't interested in having a relationship with God. He was motivated only by self-interest. And once he had a little breathing room, he went back to his old self. So that's also one of the lessons that we learn from Pharaoh. Be careful. If you are here tonight, If you are still trying to decide whether to come to trust Christ for your salvation, whether you want to do that or not, you're still deciding. Let me tell you that the plagues are coming. Not the plague of lice, not the plague of flies, not the plague of locusts, or the plague of hailstorm, or the plague of darkness. This time, it is the final day of judgment. It is going to come. It will come. I guarantee that. Why? Because the Bible says so. The only people who will be saved on that day are those who truly belong to Jesus Christ. by placing their trust in Him for the forgiveness of sins and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and having the assurance of eternal life in heaven. Those are the ones who pray for their own salvation. Amen? Amen. Let us pray.