So we're going to get back into Exodus chapter 7. And I kind of got a little ahead of us because I'm working on my next sermon. So I kind of know what's coming down the pike. I probably won't spend a sermon on each plague. That seems like it would be a bit much. And as we go through the plagues, there's a similarity. Not so much in the plague itself, but in the sign, what it's conveying. So we'll probably couple some of these together. But we're only going to get into the first plague today. So let me pray. And if you're trying to find your way there to read along, Exodus 7 verse 8 is where we're going to start. So let me pray. Our Father and our God, we pause before we read your word to ask your blessing on it. Lord, your word is powerful, it's rich, it's a direct revelation to mankind from our creator God. And Lord, we need ears that can hear it and hearts that can receive it, minds that can understand it. So Lord, speak to us today through your word. We thank you for that. In Jesus' name, amen. So let me read this, Exodus 7, 8. to 13. And before I do read it, this is the first of 11 signs of God's sovereignty. And I'll probably bring this up again, but when you go through, we call them plagues. Everybody likes to put as a header in your Bible, plague one, plague two. God doesn't call them plagues. They're signs. They're works of His wonderment that we would know He's God. And that's what's being conveyed is that The Jews would know him. And he also says, and Egypt's gonna come to know me as the true and living God. There's 11 signs, 10 what we commonly call plague. And I don't mind the word plague, because they do come as sort of a jolt to the nation. But there's actually 11. And we're gonna look at the first of these signs, which is not yet a plague here. So this is Exodus 7, 8 to 13. Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, Show a miracle for yourselves. Then you shall say to Aaron, Take your rod and cast it before Pharaoh, and let it become a serpent. So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, just as the Lord commanded. And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. But Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers. So the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. For every man threw down his rod, and they became serpents. But Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods. And Pharaoh's heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, as the Lord had said. God knows what's going to happen. God already said that was exactly what was going to happen. It's significant to me, when I was looking at this, is that when God's talking to Moses and telling him, hey, this is what you're going to do, this is how it's going to turn out. He says, when Pharaoh asks you for a miracle, What Pharaoh speaks to you saying, show a miracle for yourselves. God knows Pharaoh is going to ask for a miracle. And I want to go down a rabbit trail with that because Jesus taught on this. We don't look for signs and wanders. We have God's word. We don't need somebody to put on a show and have an elephant dance on the roof of a church for us to go to church. God reveals himself to us primarily in his word. So, like, for instance, Jesus says in Matthew 16.4, a wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. And Jesus is teaching what? You want the grand sign that God is going to give to the world? It's Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. That's the sign, right? Paul, the apostle, preaches that in the book of Acts, where he talks about how God, this God that they don't know, is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man of his own choosing. And he's proven this to us by what? By raising them from the dead. So that's the primary sign, is the Lord's death, burial, and resurrection. When Jesus goes before Herod in the New Testament Gospels, and he's on trial, I call them mock trials, they weren't legal proceedings, but he's brought to Herod, and it says, this is Luke 23.8, Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad, for he had desired for a long time to see him. Because he had heard of many things about him, and he hoped to see some miracle done by him. He wanted Jesus to put on a show for him. And if you remember, Jesus wouldn't do anything for him. Wouldn't speak, wouldn't do a thing. Infuriated Herod, who sends him back to Pilate. Do you remember that story? There's an insufficiency in signs. When Jesus is teaching about the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man dies and Lazarus dies, but Lazarus carried Abram's bosom. There is a great span of divide between the two. It says in Luke 16.27, Then he said, I beg you therefore, Father, and this is a rich man who's in torment, I beg you therefore, Father, that you would send him to my father's house. For I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment. And Abraham said to him, They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. He says, they have the word of God. Let them read the word of God. And he said, no father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, then they'll repent. But he said to him, if they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded that one rises from the dead. We have the Word of God. That's enough. We don't need signs and wonders. And I labor that just a little bit, and I'll end with that. Because a lot of the church, especially down in South America and whatnot, are caught up in sign and wonder movements, and there's no substance. There's no Word of God. There's no gospel. It's just all signs and wonders and name it and claim it and faith to heal and all that stuff. And it's absent of Christ and the gospel. So, going back to our story. And you'd have to dig into the original language to pick up on this a little bit. But here, when Aaron puts the rod down, and my translation says it turned into a snake, That's not actually what the Hebrew word says. And it might be a good translation, and I'll get to that after we go down this little trail. But the word in the Hebrew is tannin. And tannin, like when you go back to earlier, when God's with Moses in the burning bush, and he tells Moses, he gives Moses signs to perform. And he throws down his staff, and it turns into a snake. That was a different word in the Hebrew. That was the word nehash. Snake. That's the word in the Hebrew for snake. Turns into a snake. Here Aaron throws it down and it turns into a tannin. So it's a little bit of a different understanding here. In Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, it defines tannin as this. A marine or land monster maybe a sea serpent, a dragon, a sea monster, a serpent, there's our word, right? Or a whale. So this word, it's the only place in the Bible where it's translated, snake, is here. You go to the other places, it's translated otherwise. When you get to some of the obscure English translations of the Bible, and I'll just give you a few, just to give you an idea. Like the Jubilee Bible, 2000, translates this, dragon. turns into a dragon. Young's literal translation, just tries to be as literal to the original language as it can be, translates this, and it becometh a monster. And common English Bible says it turned into a cobra. And that might be what we have here, perhaps a cobra. That would make sense as we take a deeper look at this. I was reading J. Vernon McGee, who I like. I always get a chuckle out of J. Vernon. And he was convinced it was a crocodile. He's like, this is absolutely, it turned into a crocodile. And I was just kind of taken aback at how strong a stance he took, that that's what he thought it was. And he was talking about how God was combating the crocodile god of the Egyptians. So bottom line, we don't know exactly what it turned into. But being that the earlier episode in Chapter 4, it certainly did turn into a snake. I think it could be a snake or a cobra here. And that's why most of your translations say that. Dr. Ligon Duncan. writes, and he actually preached on this, and this is his sermon transcribed, but I have it written here. He has, first, many of you know that on the front of Pharaoh's crown was the enraged female cobra, a serpent, a symbol of the goddess of lower Egypt. This symbol was thought by the Egyptians to possess divine and magical power. And so when Aaron throws down the rod, which becomes a snake, He is directly challenging the authority of Pharaoh, whose authority was symbolized in this serpent creature. And so we see the very symbol chosen as a way in which God is challenging Pharaoh's sovereignty. I think that's probably the way to understand what's going on here. There's a limitation to what's going on here. If you go to the New Testament, the rabbinical writers, and Paul picks up on this in the book of 2 Timothy 3.8, they actually name the chief magicians here. You've probably heard these names before. Now as I'm reading the text. Now as Janez and Jambrez resisted Moses, so to these also resist the truth. Men of corrupt minds disapproved concerning the faith. And in that text, in the New Testament, Paul was talking about the wickedness of unregenerate men in the end times. And he says, my example, or the archetype, of these wicked men are these two magicians that confronted Moses in the Exodus experience. So I find that interesting. So you get a little bit of insight there. Here's the question that we probably, if you're a student of the Bible, certainly I asked it. Did they really perform a miracle here? These magicians? These wise men, the Bible calls them? Did they perform miracles? I mean, think about it. What God's doing when Aaron throws down this staff is taking an inanimate object and creating a living being out of it. That's the power of creation. I don't have a direct answer for you. I can tell you one thing. Commentators are split. Because I've read a lot of commentaries on this. And everybody who picks their choice is definitely miracles. It was satanic-powered miracles. Or somebody says, no, there's no way. These are lying wonders. And you ever hear anybody say, well, maybe they had tubes wood of some sort and the snake was hidden within and when they threw it down the snake slithered out and was sort of a sleight of hand kind of thing like a magician would do. I actually read somebody who said there's a way you can pinch a snake in the back of the neck and it kind of gets just stuck. almost like a staff, and they could carry that in and throw that down, and that would start slithering, and it was a magic trick. I've heard this. You decide. I'll just read you some scripture, and you decide whether these were actual miracles. I will say the Bible never presents it like it's anything other than they did the same thing that Aaron did. And they only can do this for so far. By the time we get to the third of the plagues, they can't match it anymore. Whatever they were doing, they can't do it anymore. So God is going to slowly show his sovereignty to both Pharaoh, his magicians, the nation. That he is the sovereign God. And let my people go. So let me read you a couple passages talking about Is this an imitation miracle, or what exactly is going on here? So I'm going to take you to the New Testament for this. So this is 2 Thessalonians 2.9 and following. It says, "...the coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders." and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, and that they all may be condemned, who did not believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. And whatever's going on in their story in Exodus, it certainly personified what I just read you there, because Pharaoh certainly believes the lie. It could have been a legitimate miracle of some kind, but the outcome is what we really want to focus on, is that Pharaoh's hardened. Pharaoh believes it. He doesn't think Yahweh, the sovereign God, is sovereign at all. He says, well, I can come up with this. Jesus said in Mark 13.22, for false Christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. And I labor this a little bit because The church holistically, and I see it where I go down in Belize, and I see it here in America, is fascinated with signs and wonders. And I could see how evil powers could use signs and wonders to mislead people away from the centrality of the gospel, the centrality of Jesus Christ, and down some other road. Because there they are. It must be the power of God, because there are signs and wonders. We're not to put our faith in signs and wonders. We're to put our faith in the Word of God and the God of the Word. That's what we're to do. Can the elect be deceived? Because Jesus says, these wonders are going to be performed to deceive, if possible, even the elect. Sinclair Ferguson wrote on that, and I thought he did a good job. And this is what he says. Christians have been and are capable of being deceived. Have none of the elect been deceived in recent years into supporting ministries that have proved so tragically different in reality from what they profess to be? Sadly, we are more easily addicted to the spectacular, signs and wonders, than to the substantial, to novelty, false prophets than to a wholesome orthodoxy. If we think Christians cannot be deceived, the deception has already begun." I thought that was really well worded. And that should really not make us fear in an ungodly way, but it should drive us to the Word of God. You've heard the old preachers used to say that the men that were hired to find false dollar bills are trained in the true dollar bill, the true $20. And then when you see the false, you identify it immediately. And I think that's a good example, illustration of us knowing the Word of God. So when we hear something, we go, you know what? I don't think it lines up with the Word of God. Because the word of God is the rule for our life, right? One more for you. Hebrews 5.13. For everyone who partakes only of milk. Now he's talking about our understanding of the Bible, a babyish understanding of the scriptures. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use, have their senses exercised to, listen to this, to discern both good and evil. It's by being exercised and trained in the Word of Righteousness. That's what the Bible teaches. And that's why we go to the Word of God week after week, day after day. So Aaron's rod swallows up their rods, right? Don't know how many they threw down, but Aaron's rod, his snake, his serpent, swallows their serpent. Now, notice that Pharaoh's magic men didn't try to mimic that miracle. They didn't say, oh, yeah, well, we even got a bigger one of these tannins. We throw it down. The battle for this little stage is over at this point. but a sign here of what God would do to the Egyptian. That's what's being conveyed. Aaron's snake swallowed up the magician's serpents. And the Bible, all throughout the Bible, the language of being swallowed up has to do with judgment, conquering. I'll give you an example. This is in Lamentations. Jeremiah wrote Lamentations after Israel was taken captive. And he writes, Lamentations 2.5, the Lord, he was like an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel, he says. That's the idea. So you can see what's being conveyed in this sign. That Egypt, in a sense, the authority of Pharaoh over the Jews, is going to be swallowed up by God. And Pharaoh's heart grows harder. He didn't heed, the Bible says. And that's because of what 1 Corinthians 2.4 says. It says, The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned, right? You have to have the Spirit of God to understand spiritual things is the idea. I was watching a video this week, last week, but it was Ray Comfort who's an evangelist. He does street evangelism. And he was out at a park, and he found three guys. And they were kind enough to sit down, and he got to talk to them. And you could tell they were kind of mocking Ray Comfort a little bit. Not horribly, but they were kind of cracking up, because they were three young guys. And Ray Comfort gives them the gospel. I asked him, do you guys have a Bible? And I could tell one guy was getting under conviction, the other two were just mocking at it. And he goes, well, thanks guys, you've been a good sport. He says, I see, I know, I gave you a good laugh, if nothing else. And then comfort came back, and he says, you know, the Bible says that the gospel is foolishness to those that are perishing. And I thought, isn't that true? You know, those that mock at the gospel, mock at our Lord Jesus Christ, it's foolishness. That's why they do it, because they're perishing, right? Ligon Duncan, one more time, says, the greatest miracle in the world cannot change a human heart. Only the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit can do that. That's something that we should never ever forget as we bear witness in an increasingly hostile age, an age hostile to evangelical Christianity. So God's wisdom and ways always will prevail. And you'll see that when they get to that third plague. That's next week, God willing. When they get to the third plague, the magicians are going to say this to Pharaoh. This is the finger of God. They're going to come to know that this Yahweh doesn't mess around. This is the finger of God. We can't replicate this. So it's coming. So the first plague sign, right? And this is a chunk of scripture. And where I was going, Exodus 7.3, God calls them not plagues. He calls them my signs and my wonders. But plague's not a bad term, I don't think. So this is verse 14 to 21. So the Lord said to Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hard. He refuses to let the people go. Go to Pharaoh in the morning when he goes out to the water And you shall stand by the river's bank to meet him. And the rod, which was turned to a serpent, you shall take in your hand. And you shall say to him, The Lord God of the Hebrews has sent me to you, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness. But indeed, until now you would not hear. Thus says the Lord, by this you shall know that I am the Lord. Behold, I will strike the waters which are in the river with the rod that is in my hand, and they shall be turned to blood, and the fish that are in the river shall die. The river shall stink, and the Egyptians will loathe to drink the water of the river. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, say to Aaron, take your rod and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over the streams of their rivers, over their ponds and over their pools of water, that they may become blood. And there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in buckets of wood and pitchers of stone, And Moses and Aaron did so, just as the Lord commanded. So he lifted up the rod and struck the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants. And all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. The fish that were in the river died. The river stank. And the Egyptians could not drink the water of the river, so there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. So the first sign that we just studied was in Pharaoh's chamber, and it was private. Pharaoh's there, whoever his wise men were, his magicians came, but it wasn't a public event. Now God moves on in this first plague to do something publicly. Every Egyptian was going to know something was going on. Pharaoh couldn't hide the fact that something was happening here. The Egyptians themselves were pantheists. Pantheism. Pan means all. Theos is the word for God, right? Theology, the study of God. So pantheism is all. All is God. So God is in the river. The river is God, right? The trees are God. I mean, you've heard this kind of thing probably before with New Age thought. So the river itself had some type of deity in the mind of the Egyptians. So this was a direct attack. that Yahweh is greater than your pantheism of this plenitude and plethora of gods that you have. Yahweh is mightier than the Nile. And the Nile, and I labored on this a couple weeks ago, was the source of life to the Egyptians. They had a god named Happy. And Happy was the Egyptian god of when the Nile would flood. Happy wasn't the god of the Nile, but of that event, that yearly event of the flooding, because the silt, and the nutrient, and the water would get into the land, and they could grow their crops. So they worshiped this god of the flood, Happy. Yahweh comes to their Nile and says, oh yeah? I'm the Almighty One. I'm turning this whole thing into blood. There's a sense here in which God, slowly but surely, is manifesting who he is, his power, his might, and he's defeating the enemy of his people. And that's exactly what God did for us. That's what our Lord Jesus Christ did for you, right? He defeated your enemy, that you might be made a free person. That you could be freed from the servitude of darkness and sin. In John 12, verse 31, Jesus says, Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I'm lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to myself. And he said that because he was talking about his crucifixion. I'm going to draw people to myself through my crucifixion, through the cross. But I'm going to defeat the enemy of mankind, the evil one. That's also brought forth in Colossians. Chapter 2 and verse 11, where it says, In him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism, in which you also were raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements." That's the law. the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." Here's where I was trying to get to. "...having disarmed principalities and powers. He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it." Not only did He rescue us and die for our sins, atone for our sins, but He's defeated our enemy. I mean, we were held, enslaved by Satan. The Bible says that over and over. Those that haven't come to Christ are under His sway, the Bible says. He's actually blocking their minds, somehow, actively, the Bible teaches. Otherwise, the gospel would pierce through. God has to do something supernatural. He has to defeat our enemy, and then he has to, by his almighty power, bring us to new life. A work of the Spirit in us. One more quote, Ligon Duncan here. The Lord's work of redemption includes not only purchasing his people at a price, but also his destruction of all the forces that are arrayed against them and against his rule. And part of that drama, part of that drama of redemption is God's conquest of the powers of darkness. And in Exodus 7-11, God's plagues, God's victory over Pharaoh's sorcerers, His sovereignty displayed against the enemies of His people, is itself an act of redemption. It is a destructive work. of redemption, the towers of God's enemies must be torn down if his people are to be safe and free. And so alongside of his positive work of rescuing his people, there is a corresponding and equally important negative work of shattering the resistance to his rule. And that's what we see as a type and shadow in this whole Old Testament exodus experience. It's ultimate fulfillment is what God did in sending His Son to rescue us and defeat those enemies that were against us. So verse 22 to 25, the result of the plague. Plague number one. Then the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments, and Pharaoh's heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, as the Lord had said. And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither was his heart moved by this. So all the Egyptians dug all around the river for water to drink, because they could not drink the water of the river. And seven days passed after the Lord had struck the river." So again, the question, are these sorcerers, these magicians performing demonic miracle signs? If they are, and I can tell you who argues strongly that they are, is Arthur Pink. I've been quoting him a little bit lately because he has a really good commentary on Exodus. But he would take us to Revelation 16. It says, just read this. I'm probably going to read this again when we get to the frogs in the Exodus story. But it says, And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are spirits of demons performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. They're performing signs that fool and deceive the kings of the world, the Bible says. And Arthur Pink takes a pretty strong stance. But understand this, if that's what's going on here, Satan and his minions, the demonic forces, are not sovereign. If this is taking place, and I get my example from the book of Job, then at some point they asked Yahweh for permission to be able to perform these things. And if Yahweh gave permission for them to be able to perform these things, then it was limited to begin with. Eventually he says, no, no more. But also it was a part of God's design. and what he's doing here in the whole Exodus experience. So never think that we don't believe like Eastern religion and a yin-yang, right? Evil and good are at war and they're equal. No. God is sovereign, flat out, right? The ways of Satan. And I think the Bible shows us several ways that Satan operates. There's one text that says that Satan appears to us like an angel of light. He doesn't come in guns a-blazing all the time. Sometimes he just comes as an angel of light to deceive people. The Bible also says in 1 Peter, I believe it is, that he comes as a roaring lion. seeking Christians to devour at times. I think of that when I see wicked governments arise that persecute Christians, or wicked military groups arise up and persecute Christians. That's Satan showing himself as a roaring lion. But sometimes he comes like a cunning snake. And we have to look out for all these manifestations of Satan, that we don't get duped and deceived by him. Now the serpent, Genesis says, was more cunning than any beast of the field which God had made. Remember how he operated there? Has God indeed said? Did God really say that? I think you're misunderstanding the text. Satan would say... He'd love to teach you the Bible. He knows Scripture. He just likes to twist it. That's what Satan does. The Bible is very clear on that. So here's the question I went to in my mind. I finally found a commentary that had the same question. Where did they get the water to turn into blood? Where did these magicians get the water? I mean, every body of water, even water that's in buckets. We've got a bucket of water in our basement because it's wintertime. When the power goes out, we go flush the toilet. Even that was impacted because it says even the stuff they had stored was turned to blood. Where did they get the water? I can only imagine, and this speaks to God's grace, that this was a plague of inconvenience. He didn't take away all the water and let them all die. They had to dig for it. That's what the Bible says. And I think probably they dug down and dug a little well somewhere near the bank of the river, and God permitted that to be fresh water, and they got that and probably put it in a bucket. So, I mean, compare the two. The false is maybe a bucket of water that they have, that they're working with. Whereas God, through Moses, through his brother Aaron, impacted everything, right? So it's really pale in comparison here of what's going on. And Pharaoh hardens his heart. And I put down some notes. I just wanted... God was teaching me. But Pharaoh, I think, here is an example of rigid unbelief. I think he hears... Think about this. He hears the Word of God preached through Moses and Aaron. He sees the Word of God confirmed in these signs, right? And now he's looking for a reason not to believe. He's probably relieved when he saw they could do something. And he says, well, my guys can do that. He was looking for a reason not to believe. And I have met people like that. I was one of those people at one point. But God conquered my heart. Where you're talking to them, the scriptures are so clear, and they're reasonable. The gospel is very reasonable. But then somebody's looking for some reason. It scares them, looking for some reason to not believe. And that's Pharaoh here. He exemplifies that attitude in Exodus 7.23. And Pharaoh turned and went into his house. Neither was his heart moved by this. That's a sad verse. If you take it as a standalone verse, Yahweh has revealed himself to the Egyptians and to Pharaoh directly in the working of this plague. And it just simply says, Pharaoh turned, went into his house, neither was his heart moved by this. When I was reading that, I remember I was at a house I went up to witness to a brother and sister, this was many years ago. And I was there with one of the deacons of the church at the time, and I was doing the talking, and I was sharing the gospel with them. And they were rough. I mean, they were a rough pair. And I knew that. That's why I went to them. And the boy, and I think he was on some drugs or something, Just right in the middle of my presentation, just got up, like, I don't want to hear this. And I just remember he walked in the door and shut the main door. And that was it for him. I got to continue to talk to his sister and continued, you know, to share the gospel with her. But it's the same thing. Pharaoh just turned and went into his house, shut the door, so to speak. Heart wasn't moved. The first plague and Jesus's first miracle. I do need to talk about that just for the last minute or two we have. The first plague, water is turned to blood. Jesus's first miracle in Cana, at a wedding, Cana of Galilee, Jesus turned water into wine. Blood is a symbol of death. And wine is a symbol of joy, and blessing, and God's provision. I personally believe, I think that's in John 4, but I personally believe that the water was ceremonial cleansing water to wash with, and it represented the law, and all they had to do to try to keep the law, and Jesus turns it into wine. The best wine they had ever had in their life. The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. I gotta give one quote to Arthur Pink, because he picked up on this too, and I loved it. All that the law can do to its guilty transgressor is sentence him to death. And this is what the water turned into blood symbolized. But by the incarnate word, the believing sinner is made to rejoice. And this is what the turning of the water into wine speaks of. And the only place I can think of where the two merge, the blood and the wine, is at the Lord's table. Jesus took the cup of wine and said, this is now the new covenant in my blood. And there's two cups. We, because of Jesus Christ, get to come to the cup of His blessing. He blesses us. He says again, you're mine. Every time we come to this table. We have the Lord's banquet to look forward to and glory the Bible speaks of. But there's also a cup of God's wrath. And all of humanity will drink from God's cup. It's just a matter of which cup will they drink from. The reason why we get to drink the sweetness of the cup of wine is because Jesus drank the cup of wrath that was in our cup. He drank it down. When Jesus said in the Garden of Gethsemane, Father, may this cup pass from me, but not my will, but yours. And the answer obviously was, well, it's my will that you drink this cup. That was the cup of all of our filth, all of our sin, all of our fighting against God, All of that mess, as hideous as it can possibly be seen, was in that cup. The wrath of God that was against us because of our own sin. And Jesus willingly drank it down. That we could come together in a church like this on the first Sunday of the month and lift up a sweet cup of juice or wine, some churches do, and realize it's only because he drank the other cup for me. Let me end with that. Our Father and our God, we thank you for your word. Lord, continue to teach us as we go throughout this week. Lord, we've shared a lot today. And Lord, we want to know you in a deeper, more meaningful way, more fully. So Lord, be our teacher this week. And we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Receive the blessing of the Lord. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. Go in the peace of Christ Jesus to a world that desperately needs to hear the gospel. In Jesus' name, amen.