Hello and welcome to another broadcast. We're in number 11 in the book of Exodus and number 5 in the area where we are talking about Moses' conflict with the world. Stay tuned for our message. We're reading here in Exodus chapter 9, verse number 13, another confrontation with Pharaoh. It says, And the Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth." Now, this is God speaking through Moses, and we see here, and we're looking at the fact that Moses had a confrontation with the world, or a conflict with the world, and you can rest assured you're gonna have a confrontation from our adversary, the devil, who, of course, Pharaoh represents here, You're going to have a conflict if you determine in this age in which we are living today to stand true to the cause of Jesus Christ. Well, he goes on and says in verse number 15, For now I will stretch out my hand, and I will smite thee and thy people with pestilence, and thou shalt be cut off from the earth And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. Now we've read over and over again that Pharaoh hardened his heart. He hardened his heart. He hardened his heart. And he crossed over that line. And God said, all right, I'll continue to harden your heart. And he said, I have raised thee up for to show thee my power. and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth." Pharaoh, you're not totally useless. We can always use you as a bad example, and that's what he's going to be used here for. Well, we read in verse 17, "...and as yet exaltest thou thyself against my people, that thou wilt not let them go?" Well, the seventh plague comes into play here, and in verse 18 we read, Behold, tomorrow, about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now. 24 Send thou therefore now, and gather thy cattle, and all that thou hast in the field. 25 For upon every man and beast which shall be found in the field, and shall not be brought home, the hail shall come down upon them. and they shall die. And he that feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses. And he that regarded not the word of the Lord left his servants and his cattle in the field." Now, we have both of those types out there in the world today. Some that are listening, they don't want to get saved. They don't want to get like those religious fanatics that go to church three times a week. but they do have an understanding that God is in charge now and in that event they live a little bit better than those atheists who say they don't believe in anything well he that regarded not the word he left his servants and his cattle in the field in verse 22 it says and the lord said unto moses stretch forth thine hand toward heaven that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt upon man and upon beast and upon every herb of the field throughout the land of Egypt. Then Moses did it. Now, this is hard. This wasn't an easy time for Moses. He realized some people are gonna die out there. Well, Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven and the Lord sent thunder and hail and the fire ran along upon the ground and the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt and those people who regarded not the word of the lord they found out they should have listened to the word of the lord and so again it says so there was hail and fire mingled with the hail very grievous such as there was none like it in all the land of egypt since it became a nation and the hail smote throughout all the land of egypt all that was in the field Both man and beast, and the hail smote every herb of the field, and break every tree of the field. But not where God's people were, it says in verse number 26, only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were. Was there no hail? Well, after this happened, we read that we got Pharaoh's attention, at least, and he says in verse 27, and Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron and said unto them, now listen to this hypocrite, listen to what he says, I have sinned this time. The Lord is righteous. I and my people are wicked. Entreat the Lord, for it is enough. that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail, and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer." Wow, that really sounds good. Well, today most people will be running out there and saying, wow, Pharaoh got saved, he's a Christian now. Well, let's see what it says here. And Moses said unto him, as soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the Lord. and the thunder shall cease neither shall there be any more hail that thou mayest know how that the earth is the lord now look at moses discernment here he says in verse 30 but as for thee thy servants i know that you will not yet fear the lord god and the flax and the barley was smitten for the barley was in the ear and the flax was bold or means in bud But the wheat and the rye were not smitten, for they were not grown up. And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread abroad his hands unto the Lord. And the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain was not poured upon the earth. And what have we got here? Verse 34, and when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder was ceased, he sinned yet more and hardened his heart, he and his servants. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, neither would he let the children of Israel go as the Lord had spoken by Moses. Now, Moses had discernment. Moses understood this hypocrite. Oh, that we had more people with discernment today that could discern who is a hypocrite and who is not a hypocrite running under the banner of Jesus Christ. Well, we come into the eighth plague after this in Exodus chapter 10, and it says, and the heart of his servants that i might show these my signs before him and that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son and thy son's son what things i have wrought in egypt and my signs which i have done among them that ye may know that i am the lord so he said back here a few verses back he said these these egyptians they're going to know i'm the lord But you need to know I'm the Lord too, and so do your children and your children's children, your grandchildren. Everybody needs to hear these stories about what I've done, and here we are thousands of years later still talking about it. The Bible says these things are written for our admonition. Let's be admonished. Well, it says in verse 3, And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord God. He keeps on saying that. We're not coming here in our own strength. We're coming here to tell you what the Lord God has to say. And what did he say? How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me. Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring the locust into thy coast, and they shall cover the face of the earth, that one cannot be able to see the earth, and they shall eat the residue of which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field. And so we read in verse 6, And they shall fill thy houses, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians, which neither thy fathers nor thy father's fathers have seen since the day that they were upon the earth unto this day. And he turned himself and went out from Pharaoh. And Pharaoh's servant said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? Let the man go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed? Well, Pharaoh's starting to lose popular opinion here. It's coming against him. And so he calls them in for another compromise, his third one. And Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh, and he said unto them, Go serve the Lord your God, but who are they that shall go? And Moses said, We will go with our young, and with our old, with our sons, and with our daughters, with our flocks, and with our herds will we go. for we must hold the feast unto the lord and he said unto them let the lord be so with you as i will let you go and your little ones look to it for evil is before you not so go now ye that are men and serve the lord for that you did desire and they were driven from the presence of Pharaoh. Now, that doesn't mean they pulled in their new Honda van and gave him a ride home. That means they drove them out. Anybody who's going to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. That hasn't changed since Pharaoh's day until today. Well, we read in verse 12, bring on the locust. It says, the Lord said unto Moses, stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locust that they may come upon the land of Egypt. and eat every herb of the land, even all that the ale has left. And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land that day and all that night. And when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts, and the locusts went up all over all the land of Egypt and rested in the coast of Egypt, very grievous were they before them there was no such locust as they they neither after them shall be such for they covered the face of the whole earth so that the land was darkened they did they did eat every herb of the land and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left, and there remained not any green thing in the trees or in the herbs of the field through all the land of Egypt." Well, we got Pharaoh's attention again. We read in verse number 16, then Pharaoh called for the Lord. I'm sorry, Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste. And this is what he said. Now listen to this hypocrite. Listen to this hypocrite. That's what he said. I have sinned against the Lord, your God and against you. Now, therefore, forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once and entreat the Lord, your God, that he may take away from me this death only. Well, sounds pretty good. And a lot of people would say, wow, Moses, back off. This is really good stuff here. Not good stuff, but let's see what happens. And he went out from Pharaoh and entreated the Lord. And the Lord turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts and cast them in the Red Sea. There remained not one locust in all the coast of Egypt. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go. Well, in verse 21, we read, The Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. They saw not one another, Neither rose any from his place for three days, but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings." Well, got Pharaoh's attention again. Compromise number four. And Pharaoh called unto Moses and said, Go ye, serve the Lord. Only let your flocks and your herds be stayed. Let your little ones go with you. And Moses said, Thou must give us also sacrifices and burnt offerings that we may sacrifice unto the Lord our God. Our cattle also shall go with us. There shall not a hoof be left behind. I like this fellow, Moses. There's not going to be, I mean, if a cow loses his hoof, we'll stop and pick it up and bring it. the cattle also shall go with us there shall not a hoof be left behind for thereof we must take to serve the lord our god and no and we know not with what we must serve the lord until we come thither but the lord hardened vero's heart and he would not let them go And Pharaoh said unto him, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more, for in the day that thou seest my face, thou shalt die. Now he's upset. Well Moses said, Thou hast spoken well, I will see thy face again. No more. Well, this is interesting. This darkness, we'll have to pick it up in our next message. We're out of time again, so be sure and tune in. We'll look at this. They worship the sun, you know, and bringing the darkness was an interesting thing that happened here. But we'll look at it again in our next message. Be sure and stay tuned for that. We'll try to make it plain, and we will try to make it simple.