Let's turn together to Exodus chapter 7 this morning in God's Word. And then also to Ephesians chapter 6 this morning. Exodus 7 and Ephesians chapter 6. Page 49 and page 979 in your Bibles. Lord says in Isaiah 46, I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning, I will accomplish all my purposes. We recognize that all events, everything is overseen by God. And this morning we're going to see that that's true not only in the physical realm, but in the spiritual realm. That he is sovereign, that he is guiding and directing all things for his purposes. And we are to then submit to him and to know that We are strong in Christ. Apart from the Lord, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, we are weak and unable to stand for a moment. But in Him, we can withstand even those great adversaries that stand against us. Listen to the reading of God's word then first this morning in Exodus chapter seven, starting in verse eight. Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, when Pharaoh says to you, prove yourselves by working a miracle, then you shall say to Aaron, take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh that it may become a serpent. So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. Still, Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them as the Lord had said. And turn over to Ephesians, chapter six. where Paul is indicating that we are in a battle, to be sure. Whether we want to be or not, we are in a battle between God and forces of evil. This is not an even set of, even adversaries, but it is a battle nonetheless. Satan is seeking to devour as many as he can, to take down as many as he can, and so we want to remember how we need the Lord to fight our battles for us. Ephesians 6, starting verse 10. Be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might, put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication. So far the reading of God's own holy word, as we hear this word, may God establish this truth in our hearts that it would bear much fruit to his glory. Dear congregation loved by God, we give very little thought to the unseen spiritual realm today. There are indicators that that's changing. There seems to be a growing spirituality in our culture and in our world, but that's not necessarily a good thing. That doesn't necessarily mean they're all looking for God. They're following all kinds of different teachers and different religions and different faiths. And so we need to be clear in our proclamation of who God is. That he is God alone. That there is none besides him and that he declares the end from the beginning and will accomplish his purposes. We see in this prologue something that's rather interesting. There's a prologue to the 10 plagues. There's a prologue to the 10 commandments. God says before the 10 commandments, I'm the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. He says, I'm the one who's done this. So it is here in the 10 plagues. There's this prologue. What's going to happen? What's going to take place? Well, we see Moses and Aaron facing off against Pharaoh and his magicians, but it's more than that. It's God and Satan in a showdown. In his exposition of the life of Moses, James Boyce writes, this battle pitted Jehovah, the true God, against the false gods of the Egyptians, backed by a host of fallen angels who had turned from God as part of Lucifer's original rebellion. So he's helping us to see here that what's going on is there are things unseen that are behind this confrontation. The exodus is another engagement in the invisible war that continually rages between heaven and hell. Moses would have agreed with Paul when Paul said, our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. It's against the rulers and the authorities. We're too weak. Singing a few songs that get us inspired and worked up, that isn't going to do it. We need to be in the word, we need to be prayerful, as we're gonna see this morning. we were to have baptism this morning that was not able to happen. And so as I'm expounding on this passage, I'm thinking of that in the background. This is a message to us as the people of God, as parents, that we realize that this is not just about giving a few little platitudes to our children and saying, well, you know, just keep your nose clean, just do this and say no to that. There's more going on and we need to be praying for our children. We need to be realizing that there is a battle going on and that Satan is the schemer behind it and his power is great. It's not to be taken lightly. So the spiritual realm this morning and deception first of all. The spiritual realm and deception this morning first. Since the fall of Satan and his angels, Satan has made it his mission to oppose God and all humanity and especially God's people. He goes out to make war against God's people. It's been said he has the world and now he's going after the church. He's as a roaring lion, a prowling lion seeking whom he may devour. We need to know that he is powerful and he's not to be taken lightly nor are the fallen angels with him to be taken lightly. Here in the showdown between Aaron and Moses and the Egyptian magicians, we see the magicians performing the same signs that Aaron performed and we read by their secret arts. The devil and his demons are counterfeiters. They will make themselves appear very powerful, something to be worshipped, something that would be advantageous to have in one's life. When you start dabbling in this, you see very quickly that it's attractive. People get attracted to this power. I was watching an interview recently where they're talking about how this growth and the occult is happening in our culture because we've, We've gotten away from God, but we're still spiritual. We still want to know there's something, we know there's something beyond and so we're, as a society, we're dabbling in things we shouldn't be dabbling in and finding that it's very powerful and thinking that we're in control of it when in fact it's keeping us in darkness. So we're going to see some of that this morning, think about some of that this morning as we realize The devil's very, very crafty. He doesn't always need to appear like he's in control. He's perfectly fine to be in the background and driving a culture into murderous practices and into hateful confrontations. and to simply sit back and let people's hearts bubble to the surface and just simply say, look what happened. You hated and you got your way. Look, you played the victim and you won that case and so on. He makes it appear very effective. But evil is not something, wickedness is not something that we want to take on and say, this is how we're going to live life because it gives us what we want here and now. It's very dangerous. In Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians, he wrote that Satan is active, working signs and wonders to deceive as many as possible. And he says there are many who refuse to love the truth and are eager to look elsewhere for deliverance and power. They're eager, they don't want to go to God because God calls them to submit and to, and he says there is a way and there's only one right way. And so, They fall into what is false. And what we heard last week, we hear again in the end, God will be glorified, not only in the salvation of redeemed sinners, but in the judgment of wickedness and of the evil realm. He will show himself powerful. Demons are real and are as ready to deceive as angels are ready to help. When man who is made to worship God turns from his creator, he doesn't stop worshiping. So we have to understand, when man says, I'm just secular, I don't believe in anything. Nonsense. They worship self, they worship whatever will get them what they want. And they of all are self-deceived to say, well, I don't worship anything. I'm purely secular. No, there is worship happening. It's just not worship of God. They believe the lies of the heart and of the devil. When people turn from God, they continue to worship. It's just not the true God that they worship. Believe in whatever will give them what they want. GK Chesterton said this, when people stop believing in the God of the Bible, it's not that they stop believing at all, but they start believing in anything and everything. Now many find their way into the spiritual realm today through drug use, through meditation, through astrologers, through all kinds of different avenues, and they see that there's power, they hear that there's power, and they want to explore this. They want to see, well, is it advantageous for me? There's interest in what is beyond the visible realm. People were made for God, so they naturally look beyond themselves, but they think they can control whatever they discover. But very often, what we see is that they are being blinded, held in darkness. Satan loves to bind people in this way. He loves to lead people to believe that they can control him, when in fact what he's doing is he's in the background keeping them in bondage to their own sinful hearts and to keep them from looking to the light and to the Lord. One commentator writes, these sorcerers, these magicians, were doing what they did by the power of Satan, by their secret arts, by the power of Satan. They didn't just dabble in the demonic, they had fathomed the darkest depths of the occult regions, and they were now agents of Satan's deep secrets. That's what we see happening here. They're agents of Satan's deep secrets. The Bible speaks of evil spirits and the spirits of demons performing miraculous signs. Today we see religious systems with spokespersons who are very charismatic, very persuasive, leading people to deception. A reminder again this week, I'm not going to say who, but there was a television preacher again saying that he had just made covenant with God and he was told that he's going to live to be 120 and so he's convinced his followers that he is a special messenger of God and so on and the money just keeps pouring in. And it's just, it's pure deception. And then he goes on to say, and now I can speak to God for you and on your behalf and get you what you want. I'm, of course, summarizing here, but that's the gist of the message. So they keep sending the money. They say, well, I know what I want, and I know how I want God to serve me, and so I'll keep sending the money. It's deception, pure and simple. It's demonic. The devil is alive and well today, though people like to appeal to other things to explain the problems of the world, there are malevolent forces behind the evil in the world. The devil is a tempter, his demons are tempters. Now, hear me well, that doesn't excuse personal agency. That doesn't mean we can just simply go around and say, well, I don't know how that happened. Must be the devil made me do it. That's not what we're saying. We are responsible for yielding to temptation. We are responsible for listening to that and not resisting it. The Bible says, resist the devil and he will flee from you. So we don't just say, well, the devil made me do it, so I'm not guilty, I'm not culpable. No, that's not what we're saying. What we're saying is, The spiritual realm watches and sees what our hearts want and can drive whole cultures. It drove the Egyptian culture. It's driving the culture of the United States. When money is the object, then all of a sudden, morality changes to whatever will get us the money that we want. Well, it's just a right. It doesn't have to do with murder. It's a right, and so we can just keep feeding the industry, and the industry gets bigger and bigger and bigger, and money, there's money to be had, and people say, well, I want a part of that action. Or it's gambling, or it's lottery, it's these other things. And the Bible speaks out against making money by dishonest means. We're gonna hear about that tonight. But what's happening is that this is being driven because there's a move away from the word of God and being led by all manner of evil. But we're guilty, we're responsible for yielding to that and going into that. Today, many will say that evil's caused by, and these are some of the reasons given, they don't want to talk about the spiritual realm or their own hearts, they just say by lack of good upbringing, lack of education, or the wrong education. They were just not getting the right education. And these play a part. If we are in a godless educational system, then there isn't going to be much to look to for looking over our notes for the exam, so to speak. We're not going to find what we really need to find. So there's going to be a loss of one's way if we're not turning to God. When we're educated in a godless environment, truth is not taught, then people will turn to whatever life system or whatever system of information, I wanted to say truth but it's not really truth, whatever system of information they're receiving. They don't stop believing, they just follow that information, that system. Satan is happy to deceive people into believing that lies can be true. He even makes evil look good wherever he can. He doesn't always have to ask, did God really say? If we're so far from the Bible, he doesn't need to quote the scriptures anymore. He can just say, well look, look how happy those wicked people are. Look how happy they are. Look how wealthy they are. Look how much pleasure they have. And if we're not catching ourselves and saying, but wait, wine is a mocker, beer is a brawler, money, life does not consist in the abundance of one's possessions. Wait, murder is wrong. And so many other things. If we don't know what scripture's teaching, we'll follow right along because it's just following after our heart's desires. And if they're not grounded on God's word, then we'll go in any direction that our society tempts us to go and we have no desire to resist it. Pharaoh here and his magicians are slaves of Satan. They're not in control of anything. They're slaves. Pharaoh's heart is hardened to the truth, and he lives in the demonic realm of the demon gods of Egypt. He believed the demon gods could be controlled by him and keep him and his kingdom great, but he was a slave. His magicians thought they got their position by worshipping the secret arts, worshipping these demons, and so they weren't going to stop trusting in them. It got them to this position. It's going to keep them there. Recently I heard Dr. Michael Horton talking about people in the West waking up to the reality of the spiritual realm. Now, people in other parts of the world, they know about the spiritual realm. Those countries that have not been as influenced by Christianity, they believe in the spiritual realm. They believe in the unseen realm, and they use it to their advantage. There's countries very close to our own that are very dark. We can think of Haiti, for example. We hear of all the witchcraft and the darkness there. The fact is that We're spiritual beings. People want to know about what is above and outside of them. They want to use it to their advantage, or at least try to. The fact that occult practice and mystical religion is on the rise in the West is because the West has been de-Christianized. People are spiritual and they're looking away from God to find counterfeit power, which promises so much, but only in slaves. People talk about being in control of their environment and devotion by their spiritual practices. There's a feeling of control, but they're enslaved to their masters and inoculated to the truth. They feel delivered from their problems because of their spiritual practices, but they do not see their bondage and sin and need for God to deliver them. Pharaoh had that perspective. His heart was hard to God. Who is this God? How great is he? He brings his magicians out and they perform signs and looks close enough to him to what Moses and Aaron did. So he says, I'm not going to listen. Your God's no more powerful than my God's. When we preach the gospel, when we preach of eternal life, they say, well, that's fine and I'll get around to that someday. But right now I'm living for the moment. I've got my own things I want to live for. I've got things that are giving me what I want right now. Why would I change? Why would I turn from that? And it's a, it's a deception, a slow movement in a wrong direction. And pretty soon it controls the thoughts and the minds. Well, now before we move on, the question, and I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this, is can believers be demon-possessed? And the answer is no. Where Christ is, there is freedom, 2 Corinthians 3. But Satan can deceive, and we must know his schemes, and we must resist him. We must resist him and turn to God. Well, secondly, then, the spiritual realm and truth. As I said, the thoughts that I had as I was working on this sermon were to be toward parents and parenting and leading the home because of the baptism we were going to have today. But even without that happening this morning, we can still think about how we are to teach our children and how we're to look outside of ourselves to God. We are to look to the one who's made not only the material realm, but the spiritual realm. God himself, he's made all things as we heard this morning in the call to worship. The showdown between God and Satan has begun here, even before the plagues, which we're going to be looking at in turn, Lord willing. Even before the plagues come, God shows his power. He records this because he wants us to learn something important here, and that is although Satan is powerful, he's not absolutely powerful. He is not powerful above God. Magicians by their connection to the Spiritual realm to the evil spirits perform the sign seeking to deceive and We know that this can be very deceptive Paul talked about it. We just mentioned that earlier It can be deceived God performs signs as well But he does so to show his ability to deliver He does it to show his power The serpents appear, but Aaron's staff, the staff of God as we've seen before in our study of Exodus, swallows up the other staffs, showing that God is more powerful. And the outcome of the conflict between God and the devil is not uncertain. God will surely win. We know this even before the plagues start, even before they begin, God is already giving us a foreshadowing by saying that he is greater than these demon gods of Egypt. But Pharaoh, blind as he is in his sin, puts all of his hope in his gods and will not budge. The reality of the spiritual realm and power of the spiritual realm forces us to recognize our need for help and protection. Reminds you of what we read this morning in Ephesians chapter 6 where Paul says our fight is against powers greater than us. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, verse 12 of Ephesians 6, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. What do we do then for ourselves and for our children and for our homes? Well, we remember who God is. We remember his power. We remember his faithfulness, we remember his goodness that he promises to answer us. If we call upon him in truth, he will answer us and he will deliver. We're to put on the armor of God. Paul says here, let me go on, verse 13, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm. That armor that surrounds you completely from head to toe, the word of God, that which God gives is to surround you completely. There's not a place in your life, there's not a place in your existence where you don't need God's help and his protection. Verse 14, stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth. Stand in the truth. Stand. Don't sleep, don't lay down. Stand firm in the truth. Know it. Having put on the breastplate of righteousness, knowing that you're righteous in Christ. And have shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace." Be ready to give that gospel message to help people who are in bondage and perhaps to other believers who are questioning their faith and are struggling to have peace. Point them to Christ. In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. The shield of faith, reminding yourself that in Christ, you are righteous in Him and can resist all of the attacks that the devil might bring against you to get you to question your position before God. Take the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Take that word and go on the offensive, reminding yourself of what God has said, reminding others what God has said, that you might stand, that you might press on, that you might be protected, and then praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication. Be in prayer, fervent in prayer. They're not formulas, they're not ways of just speaking things away. That's what the false religions will tell you. Just speak that formula, say that thing and you'll get the demons to do what you want. God doesn't just do what we want because we say things a certain way. He wants us to pray to him and to humbly come to him and ask for his help, for his deliverance. Jesus taught us to pray, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil or deliver us from the evil one. Calvin speaks to the difference in text traditions there. He says, is it evil or evil one? He says, it really, at the end of the day, doesn't really matter because we know where evil's coming from. It's coming from the evil one who stands over against us, and we need protection from him. It's not God who tempts us. God cannot be tempted, nor does he tempt anyone, James 1. But he is rather the one who delivers. What does the catechism say about that aspect of Jesus' prayer? Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil means we are so weak that we cannot stand on our own for a moment. We have sworn enemies, the devil, the world, and our own weak flesh. So we are in a spiritual fight. We need God to keep us strong to resist. To resist what? To resist turning from God, to follow the lies of the devil, to resist turning to evil spirits, to try to get them to do something for us, to resist a culture, a society that tells us that the real life is right now. It's living for the moment. Living for your flesh, no. We need to know the truth from God. He says you must walk in the Lord Jesus Christ. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. or to resist the temptation to seek anything of life that we think can come from someone else, anything other than God. To resist that weakness of our own flesh to want to just give in and to give up. The catechism goes on, make us strong, it says this, it also means make us strong by the power of your Holy Spirit so that we may not be defeated in this spiritual fight. That's the truth, we need God's Spirit. False religions have this in common. There's many different expressions and whatnot, but they have this in common, they tell you to look within. They say, look within, find your salvation, find your deliverance, find your answer there. You know best, you know what's right, and yet the scriptures say, no, the heart is deceitful above all things. Even the heart is deceitful. Even your inmost being will deceive you. Satan deceives this way. He seeks to turn people inward, wanting to convince them that they can control their destiny through their own minds, by their own desires. We know even our desires are sinful. Looking in won't bring deliverance, but looking up, looking out, and looking up We put on that full armor of God. Parents, your children are going to be tempted by many ideas and promises from the world of what is life and what is true joy and what is true happiness. You have to remind them and show them that true joy and true happiness comes from finding the Lord Jesus Christ. True life is found in him, setting free from sin which seeks to destroy. The world will set prosperity, material prosperity and academic success or position before you. Say, look at the wicked, how they have it and how happy they are. We remind ourselves that life is not found in these things, but to look to the word of God and to fight against temptation. You're to show them what it looks like to look to God for deliverance. When they're caught up in pornography, when they're caught up in alcoholism, when they're caught up in bullying, when they're caught up in anger, when they're caught up in any of these things. It's hard to parent. It's easy to just say, well, it's all going to just go away. It's all going to just kind of work itself out. But we need to speak into their life, even as God speaks into our own, out of love. We don't want to be seeing them as Pharaoh just completely blind with their blinders on and not thinking about the truth of God. We need to keep it before them. We remind them there's a coming crown of glory that never fades away, the crown of life that endures forever, talked about in 1 Peter in the book of Revelation. We point them to faith in Christ, to quench the flaming arrows of the evil one who seeks to sow doubt and discontent. Show them what it looks like to be fully satisfied in Christ, to be joyful, to be thoughtful, to be generous in Him. We pray, and we pray. Pray that God would work in them the new life, that they might not look anywhere but to God for life. Pray to the God of all protection, God of all provision, the God of all power, knowing that he preserves his own. In a sense, nothing has changed, just like the people of old ask for signs. People today do the same. Well, finally, then God's sign of victory. Briefly, God's sign of victory. The world says, well, if you're God so powerful, show me a sign. I want to see him do something. Paul said the same thing. In his day, they looked for signs and wonders, right? They wanted to know, well, if this God's any good, let him show himself and reveal himself. And we may think to ourselves, how do we respond to that? And we ought to know immediately where to go. God has given not a sign, he's given the sign. He's given the cross. He's given the empty tomb. He's given the ascension. Is God powerful to deliver? Has God delivered? Absolutely. Completely. God made his supreme demonstration of power over Satan through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus disarmed the principalities and powers. He overpowered them and gained the victory at the cross, Colossians 2 tells us. Death has been swallowed up in victory. He gives the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's where we look. Triumphed over all things in the cross. I want to read that Colossians chapter 2 Where it says this You who are dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in the cross. Christ is powerful. That is God's sign that he is all-powerful and that no God or gods or demon or demons has power over his plans, over his people. It's the message we proclaim in face of idol gods of this age. There's deliverance in Christ and in Christ alone over sin and death and hell. We don't overestimate Satan's power, but we certainly don't underestimate his mischief. We don't underestimate how important it is to learn the word of God, to hide that word in our hearts, to know how to stand in the day of temptation. We know how, and we don't underestimate how important it is that we pray that God would plant the word deeply in us and in our children, that they and we would be pointed to Christ, the one who is our life, the one who has gained the victory. In this confrontation, we're just seeing the beginning of it. In this showdown, God is standing over against the devil, and he's revealing to his people his power. And he reveals to us today his power, promising that he can deliver us. He calls us then to follow after him, to look to him, not to be heart of heart, but to listen to him. to lean upon him. May God give us the grace to do that and the wisdom to do that. Amen. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the way you protect us and preserve us. through your power, even against those forces which stand against us, the principalities and powers, those things that would be at work in us, in the weakness of our flesh, would it not be for your spirit, grant us your spirit that we would be able to stand, resist the devil, to flee from him, that we would not be wooed by the culture, by their promise of of that which would give pure satisfaction and all the rest. Help us to see through the lies and to know that indulging in sin will not bring life, but only death. Help us to want to walk in that right path. To know the way of life is to be found in Christ, who is our righteousness. One who covers over all our sin. The one who intercedes for us. The one who promises to keep us as a good shepherd tends to the sheep. I pray that you would hear us. We ask it in his name. Amen.