Then the Lord said to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. Oh, excuse me. Well, that shows how similar they'll be. Rise up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh and say to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, Let my people go that they may serve me. For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself and your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. But for this purpose I have raised you up to show you my power, so that my name will be proclaimed in all the earth. You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go. Behold, about this time tomorrow, I will cause very heavy hail to fall. Such has never been seen in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. Now therefore, send, go get your flocks, your livestock, and all that you have in the field into safe shelter. For every man and beast that is in the field and is not brought home will die when the hail falls on them. Then whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses. But whoever did not pay attention to the word of the Lord left his slaves and his livestock in the field. Then the Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand toward heaven so there may be hail in all the land of Egypt. on man and beast and every plant of the field in the land of Egypt. And Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail and fire ran down to the earth, and the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. And there was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very heavy hail, such as there had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. The hail struck down everything that was in the field in all the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And the hail struck down every plant of the field and broke every tree of the field. Only in the land of Goshen, where the people of Israel were, was there no hail. Then Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them, this time I have sinned. The Lord is in the right. and I and my people are in the wrong. Plead with the Lord, for there has been enough of God's thunder and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.' And Moses said to him, As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hands to the Lord. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the Lord's. But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God. The flax and the barley were struck down, for the barley was in ear, and the flax was in bud. But the wheat and the emmer were not struck down, for they are late in coming up. So Moses went out from the city, from Pharaoh, and stretched out his hands to the Lord. And the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured upon the earth. But when Pharaoh saw the rain and hail, and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again and hardened his heart, he and his servants. So the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people of Israel go, just as the Lord had spoken through Moses. Then the Lord said to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I might show these signs of mine among them. and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians, and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.' So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and said to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go that they may serve me. For if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country, and they shall cover the face of the land, so that no one can see your land. Then they shall eat what is left to you after the hail, and they shall eat every tree of the land. They shall eat every tree of yours that grows in the field, and they shall fill your houses and the houses of all your servants, and of all of the Egyptians, as neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen, from the day they came on the earth to this day.' Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh. And Pharaoh's servants said to him, How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve their Lord, their God. Do you not yet understand that Egypt is in ruin, So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, go serve the Lord your God. But which ones are to go? Moses said, we will go with our young and our old. We will go with our sons and daughters and with our flocks and herds, for we must hold a feast to the Lord. But he said to them, the Lord be with you if ever I let you and your little ones go. Look, you have some evil purpose in mind. No. Go, the men among you, and serve the Lord, for that is what you are asking.' And they were driven out of Pharaoh's presence. Then the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt, for the locusts, so that they may come upon the land of Egypt and eat every plant of the land and all that the hail has left. So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night. And when it was morning, the east wind had brought the locust. The locust came up over all the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt. Such a dense swarm of locusts as had never been before, nor ever will be again, they covered the face of the whole land so that the land was darkened. and they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruits in the trees that the hail had left. Not a green thing remained, neither tree nor plant but the field through all the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh hastily called Moses and Aaron and said, I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. Now, therefore, forgive my sin, please, only this once, and plead with the Lord your God only to remove this death from me. So he went out from Pharaoh and pleaded with the Lord, and the Lord turned the wind into a very strong west wind, which lifted the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea. Not a single locust was left in all the country of Egypt. But the Lord hardened the Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go. Then the Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt. So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven. And there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days. But all the people of Israel had light where they lived. Then Pharaoh called Moses and said, Go serve the Lord. Your little ones may also go with you. Only let your flocks and herds remain behind. But Moses said, You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings, that way we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. Our livestock also must go with us. Not a hoof shall be left behind, but we must take them to serve the Lord our God. We do not know with what we will serve the Lord until we arrive there. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he would not let them go. Then Pharaoh said to him, Get away from me. Take care. You never see my face again. For on the day you see my face, you shall die. And Moses said, as you say, I will not see your face again. Please bow your heads with me. Almighty and merciful God, please be with me tonight. Shut my mouth, put away my opinions, Speak the truth of your word to your people. Let your word take root in the good soil of our hearts and may transform us and renew our minds. Conform us to your word, the image of your son. Let us not hear your word and walk away unchanged, being merely hearers. Thank you and praise you. Amen. Well, here we go again. I know some of you looked at the passage and said, it's the preacher's job to wash the congregation with the water of the Word, not to drown you in it. Hang on. We do have a lot of text to cover tonight, but remember, we are chasing particular themes here. The theme of God's judgment against the false gods of Egypt, and his mystery, or this mystery in the grouping of the plagues. Why are they in three sets of three? What is the image behind that? And we're looking to see where that pattern leads us. And why the last plague doesn't fall into those groups, why it kind of stands alone. So we'll continue with the plagues seven through nine tonight. So this is far from an exhaustive and thorough exhibition on this passage. There is always more to a text. We are only pulling a few threads. So let's launch right into that. We see for the third time this pattern of God sending Moses to Pharaoh early in the morning with an ultimatum. Basically, God grace your judgment Pharaoh, pick one. Will you submit to the Lord? Thus again highlighting the grouping of the plagues into those threes. At the start of each group, one, four, and seven, we have seen this same event almost word for word. So, we see three coming up. Very strongly being highlighted You might say three squared Underscoring the idea that of three and its representation of the power of life and death of creation and recreation One could even rightly argue that it is not about just life and death but about sovereignty the sovereignty of a tribe in God even over such intangible mysteries as creation, spirits, or people living and dying. And this sovereign, this sovereign God has sent Pharaoh this ultimatum. Now while these ultimatums so far have been ignored by Pharaoh, it is not because of the inability in the Lord to bring a conclusive end to Egypt and its inhabitants. That's, that is, What has stayed that very fate is the mercy of the Almighty. But we see His patient mercy is drawing to an end. It is nearly time for a more complete judgment that is less restrained by mercy and more along the lines of justice. And so we see in verse 14, for by this time, or for, excuse me, I'm thinking way ahead of myself, For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself, and on your servants, and on your people." This first construction implies that the Lord is saying that He will violently strike Egypt with His own hand. These plagues are not just being sent upon Egypt in immediate fashion, nor is the Lord sitting back and calling the shots, he is directly involved and responsible, as if he had physically delivered the blows with his own hand. Where the first set of plagues came from the Lord, but through Aaron with the staff, and the next set through Moses and his commands, this group would be signified by Moses reaching toward heaven, almost as if a wrestler were tagging in a stronger ally. This brutal display of power in this group of plagues would be directly from the hand of Almighty God. It's easy to miss, and it's not speculation. There is a historical document that confirms it, but this verse also says, at this time, I will send all my plagues on you yourself. Until now, Pharaoh and his palace had escaped a lot of the direct effects of these plagues. There's an ancient papyrus that partially survived, and it contains the rantings of one of his advisors who is berating him for continuing to hold the Hebrews in slavery. And he essentially says, Pharaoh, while you're holed up in your ivory tower, Egypt is in ruin. Let the slaves go before there's nothing left. And we see more of this hint coming out in chapter 10, verse 7, at the eighth plague. So the internal pressure is ramping up on Pharaoh. While, at the same time, God is turning the people against Pharaoh, the Lord is delivering these next plagues, these blows by his own hand in full force to Pharaoh. And then in verse 15, he doesn't justify himself, but rather explains for the benefit of general understanding. For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence. In other words, in such a way that you would have been cut off from the earth. You would have died but for my holding back. The sovereign potter determines the use of his vessels, some for honor, some for dishonor, but all vessels will glorify the Lord. And so he declares in verse 16, but for this purpose, I have raised you up to show you my power, that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. And the name certainly was proclaimed. Egyptians had begun to fear God and abandon their belief in the Egyptian pantheon. Verse 20 tells us that whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock back into houses. And his name would travel to the last reaches of the known world and affect the lives of people until the end of time. We're reading about it right now. We're studying it right now. This is our third Sunday night going through just the plagues. Even in Canaan, 42 years later, they were afraid when Israel arrived because they were the people of the God who lives. You heard the story this morning. They were all afraid of God. Their hearts melted within them. But Rahab feared God and pleaded for mercy. But in this story, you know how this goes. If you've been in church for five minutes, you've heard this before. Pharaoh is stubborn as a stone. He never bends the knee in this life. He never begs for mercy, except to feign it and have times of reprieves from the plagues. There is no obedience in his heart at any point. His heart is set with hate fully against his creator, and God offers no grace for his regeneration. As he said, for this purpose, I have raised you up. So here comes the blows of God's hand in the plague of hail. A terrifying plague, if you stop to think about it, really and truly. It reads eerily similar to the story of Sodom. All we have to do is change the word hail to sulfur, and it's practically the same. We see the continuing theme of judgment falling from heaven, signifying its divine origin. It's a hailstorm so fierce as to have never been seen before, has never, according to scripture, will never be rivaled again. And what a stark contrast this picture is. Water, the single largest physical component of life, the most important thing in this physical world, You're composed of mostly water. We don't have water. We die within a few days. We wash in water. We cook with water. Water is like the closest physical thing to the spiritual reality of life. Right? And here we see water is destroying everything. Water has been frozen solid. It's hard as stone, and it is falling from heaven. This is not similar in any way to the way water is described to Christians in Scripture. This is not the dew descending from heaven to nourish the earth. This isn't anything like the way the Lord treats one who is His child. Say in Psalm 1, He is like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. There's nothing like the tree of Egypt that's smashed and laying on the ground in dozens of pieces because it's being pelted by hail. Now this great and terrible punishment highlights water's ability to go from gentle and caressing to being as hard as stone. Analogous to God himself, like a gentle father, he eagerly seeks and binds the wounds of the helpless, Psalm 147. Neither does he hesitate to dash the wickedness to pieces with a rod of iron in Psalm 2. And then fire rained down with a hail, as if the pummeling wasn't enough. Now I don't think this is literally fire. I think this is lightning, and it's setting fire to whatever it strikes. But Moses is clearly inspired by the Spirit to use the word fire, because there is a spiritual image there for us to see with the truth of this historical event. This fire wasn't like Moses' first encounter with God in the bush, where it was lit, but it was not consumed. It was in control. It wasn't resting on anything or anyone like in Acts 2. Instead, it was here to do work. Everything uncovered was broken and burned, an image of itself, of the dire need for our covering, for Christ to stand between us and the wrath of God for sin. And the text here says the fire flashed continually. Can you see it in your mind's eye? The hail crashes down and breaks the trees, the buildings, the oxen, the people. And then the fire falls and catches it on fire. And it's struck with ice again, so it's being put out. And then in a moment, fire comes down again. Light it on fire, turn it off. Light it on fire, turn it off. In the midst of being pummeled continuously with hail. The fire never really ends as long as this plague continues. Sit back and think about being an Egyptian in his home looking out in the fields. Whatever's out there is being broken and burned. Watch everything that you owned break and burn while your chest rattles from the pressure waves of constant thunder. Remember how loud thunder is when the lightning is right by you, when the hair on the back of your neck stands up and you feel the thunder? This was the whole time for three days is the darkness. Forget how long, I'll have to go back. But for the entire time of this plague, that hail and lightning is striking, things are being lit on fire, and your chest is thumping from all this thunder. This is an experience like none other. And it calls to mind another verse that should strike anyone sober. In Mark 9, verse 43, Jesus said, if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It's better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It's better for you to enter life lame than with two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. For it's better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes be thrown into hell where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. So again, what do the Egyptians do? We're at the time where it's the human moment. It's time to make a decision. What do the Egyptians do? Again, do we pray to their gods? Was there another god for this situation? Someone to call from the Egyptian pantry of gods? You bet. There was a goddess of sky named Winegg. She also protected against chaos, except any time lately. And, oh yeah, the sky god Nut, well, she's not really helping today. But, you know, she was once reliable when all this kind of stuff wasn't happening. And, you know, after all, this is the first time we've had problems of this magnitude. Besides that, she's a little distracted with Geb. He's the Earth God. They had this thing going on behind her dad's back. Oh, you could try her dad. Yeah, you could try him. He's the God of Air. Shoo. But he's kind of busy. He holds up the Sky Goddess by her privates, because he found out about the thing between her and Gib, And he's not having that. So he's got to separate them and cover her stuff. And men, you can't blame them. As a father of a daughter, I'd say, Jared's not good enough for her. There was the god of the calamities that we looked at last go-round. Maybe she could help, but then again, she hasn't done anything thus far. Well, wait. Do we see once again that this entire stable of vain, imaginary, pagan, poser, demon gods is all useless? Every single one of them is unreliable? They're too distracted with their own drama to hear you? They're even corrupt. What good are they? It's no wonder the Lord wanted to strike down this nonsense in the process of redeeming his people. The nations are deceived. They're hoodwinked and suckered by the father of lies. One of his children is Pharaoh of Egypt. He's saying in this moment, I surrender. Call off the dogs. I've changed my mind. So, we go through the whole ultimatum process again. One more chance for Pharaoh. How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go. And the sinful heart says, how much must I obey? How many of them can I still keep? Moses said, all of the chosen people of God must go free. wonderful picture, all of the elect must be saved. And Pharaoh says, what? No way. Moses, the women are children. They're plotting on me. They're dangerous. Take the men and go. Are you kidding me? This is the kind of thing. The women and the children are the devious ones. The men of war can go free. This is the kind of ridiculous thing you hear potheads say when they're high as a kite. No one in their right mind says this kind of stuff, because it's demonic thinking. He's directly under the influence of Satan. And so, because we still refuse, we see the swarm of devouring locusts come to eat everything. If the hailing fire didn't kill it, burn it, or break it, the locust ate it. God, in his great mercy, timed it so that some of the crops would not be destroyed by the hail. But instead of recognizing that, Pharaoh goes for broke. Now what is left? The locusts are so thick they darken the skies. Could anything not be devoured by such a swarm? Not a green thing remained, neither a tree nor a plant of the field, nor all the land of Egypt. Nothing alive was spared. Everything was consumed. It brings to mind the verse we just read in Mark 9, verse 48 again, where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. What does the worm do? It does the same thing as the locust. It eats, and it eats, and it pretty much just eats. Pagan gods. What are the pagan gods to call on for this situation? Well, they've already failed in every plague before. There's not a new one left. So Pharaoh says, I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. Now therefore, forgive my sin, please, only this once. Plead with the Lord your God only to remove this death from me. So the Lord blew the locust away. That in and of itself is pretty amazing. You think about that for a minute. The wind itself would have to be a spectacle. I mean, figure what it takes of a straight line wind to blow something totally away that can, and I checked into this because I'm a nerd, something that can already fly 20 miles an hour, if it doesn't want to go somewhere, a breeze isn't going to move it. From what I can figure, it's going to take a wind of about 30 or 40 miles an hour. Constant wind to blow all these away. And it blew long enough that not a single one was left in the land. And then, he blew them in a different direction than he blew them in with. So no one can say, oh, they just blew through. This is a coincidence. Now this is the very hand of God. Sovereign God of heaven and earth. But the king of Egypt just remembered that he is supposed to be a sovereign God. He's the son of a Nile. He does not let the people go. So, the Lord sends another plague. The third time, the end of this set of plagues, just like in the other three, there's no warning, there's no ultimatum. Moses stretches his hand over Egypt, or in other words, to heaven. And darkness falls on Egypt. Not dimness, darkness. As in no one can see the hand in front of their own face. Has anyone ever been in a cave, the bottom of the earth, and then the tour guide says, alright, everybody turn off your flashlights. You can't see anything. I mean, nothing. You could slap yourself and not be able to see your own hand. And you can't get your hand any closer than that. So, when he says a darkness, He said a darkness that can be felt. This is an isolating darkness. No one could see, so it wasn't even worth getting up to do anything. It stayed in place for three days. If you were rich, you might could burn oil. I'm not sure. You could light fires to do something with. But I'm not sure how much is left to burn considering the hail just destroyed all the trees and burned it all up. I don't know what fires you're going to have. You're in a pretty tough situation because Egypt is already lying in ruins. And unless you're super rich, you've probably got no money left to work there. And sometimes money doesn't matter anyway. There's no resources left to buy. You're not burning the oil that isn't there. So you could pray to Ra in this instance. He is, after all, the sun god. But for three days, he cannot vest the I am that I am. So who is the sovereign over the sun? Only the living god. You might could try Nut again, you know, she didn't help. with the last plague, but she swallows the sun every evening, and it comes through, and that's how it resets in the morning. Except it's not resetting. Again, the gods of Egypt are useless. They're talking of one living god. and Egypt has spent three days insulated from the sight of their friends and family. Three days in darkness and separation. And so we see, kind of strangely, on first glance, Egypt is beginning to sound a lot like hell. There's destruction, there's burning, there's devouring, there's separation, There's an outer darkness, like Matthew 22 describes. And indeed, that is the point, where the first three plates paint the picture of humanity under the curse of a heinous sin and putrid death, and the second three depict the grace of God by election and the blessing that that entails by covering the people of God and separating them, making them distinct in the land of Goshen from the rest of the world. Now we see the alternative. to those elect. What happens to the people that aren't chosen? What happens to the people that don't receive grace? We begin to see the justice of God against sin, against wickedness and corruption. Those that remain in sin and do not call upon the Lord, do not plead for mercy, will find themselves getting what they have earned and sadly what they have wanted all along. You wanted to stay in rebellion to the sovereign king? You want him out of your life? You want to call the shots? Okay. But you won't like being your own god. You won't like when the source of all goodness and all peace steps out of your life. You won't like when the one who holds you together steps back and allows you to become undone. Since your spirit is created by an eternal God, that process will also be eternal. An eternal disintegrating. Eternally experiencing destruction, the burning, the devouring, and the separation from a gracious God of all goodness that you so hated. His mighty works have displayed His absolute and glorious sovereignty. His readiness to show mercy to the humble repentant and His resolution to destroy sin and redeem people to Himself as a family. And so we find ourselves back at the title. The Lord God is sovereign. Will He be your judge or will He be a redeemer? You say, I am a Christian. Great. Be edified in your faith. Do not turn to the right or to the left. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength. If not, what are you waiting for? Every moment is a chance, but when you die, the mercies of one more chance are over. And the next moment is not guaranteed to anyone. This could perhaps be your last time to make peace with God. It's simple enough that even children can do it. Confess that you are a sinner. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as your mediator with God. By his grace alone, you will be saved through faith alone and not of your works. You have no righteousness in yourself. And that faith must be placed in Christ alone, the only one who can offer salvation. The only one who lived and died in your stead and rose from the dead conquering. The only one who can blot out your sin and cover you in righteousness before the sovereign God Almighty. I'll leave you with this verse in summary. Job chapter five, verse 17. Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves. Therefore do not despise the discipline of the Almighty, for he wounds, but he binds up. he shatters his hand's heel.