Exodus chapter 6, verses 1 through 8. Then the Lord said unto Moses, now shalt thou see what I do to Pharaoh, for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land. And God spake unto Moses and said unto him, I am the Lord. And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name, Jehovah, was I not known to them. And I have also established my covenant with them to give the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers. And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered my covenant. Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm and with great judgments. And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God. And you shall know that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you into the land concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. And I will give you foreign heritage. I am the Lord. Gracious Father, we thank you for this scripture. We thank you for allowing us to be able to come and to be able to hear the word of God. And I pray that you would still our hearts now cause us to be silent before thee and to really listen what you have for us here today. What an amazing, amazing passage of scripture, not only Exodus chapter 6, but leading on the next few chapters. And I ask, Lord, that you would just speak to each person. Thank you again in Jesus name. Amen. Well, we're going to cover how this is going to be a little bit of a Bible study this morning, some. So if you have your Bibles open, or if you at least have your Bibles, I hope you're already turned to this passage of Scripture. And we'll be flipping back and forth in the next several chapters. Now, I could have taken half the sermon and had Brother Kurt read from Exodus chapter 6 all the way to the end of chapter 11. But I didn't. I thought that we would go ahead and just at least give a snippet and then kind of go through and walk through some of these other passages. Today we're going to look through the first nine of the ten plagues of Egypt. Now I don't know about you, but again this is one of those stories I can still recall sitting as a youngster in the church that I grew up in Massachusetts And we were down in the basement. How many remember a basement? Maybe you've been in Florida for a long time and you don't remember what a basement is, but they did have something that was below what we call the first floor. And we had a basement in our church, and that's where a lot of our children's classes were. I still can remember sitting in one of those classrooms and that teacher putting up the flannel graph, teaching the lessons every week. And one of those lessons that still is etched in my mind is the story that we're talking about here, and that is the plagues of Egypt. If you recall last week's sermon, God had basically placed a call on the life of Moses. Moses had come before this burning bush. This was no ordinary burning. This was a burning that was continual. The fire kept on going and that's what it really intrigued Moses. It wasn't the bush per se. It was the fact that this bush kept on burning. And so Moses comes and God says, Moses, you're on holy ground. The reason it was holy ground is because God was there. His presence was there. And so Moses takes off his shoes and he begins listening to God. And God says, Moses, I'm now ready to use you. I'm calling you to go back to Egypt to lead my people out of that country and to bring them to the land that I promised them. Now, 40 years had passed before Moses had attempted to do anything for God on that behalf. If you recall, Moses is 40 years old in Exodus chapter one and two, and he takes the initiative. He actually takes matters in his own hands, thinking that God is going to use him in some special way to lead the Israelites out. But it's not God's timing. And the Israelites do not accept him as a beautiful woman has to at least two sons that we know of. And it is there in the wilderness that each day Moses is learning from God. It's a head knowledge of God. And it is there in the desert that Moses is learning. And finally at 80 years old, think of it, 80, God called him to be a leader. Verses 1 through 8. But I want you to notice here, over the course of the last couple of chapters and leading through chapter 11, some of the things that are taking place, and let me walk through with you. I want you to go back a couple of chapters to Acts chapter number 4. I'm not going to read these, but I'm just going to let you see what's going on. Acts chapter 4, verses 18 to 20. Moses, now after this call of God, lets his father-in-law know that he's going to Egypt. He basically asks leave. I don't know if he's really asking permission. We're basically saying, now, you need to find someone to tend the sheep because I'm going to be taking my family, I'm going to be going back to Egypt. What he gave as far as details, we're not told. But the father-in-law gives the blessing, and now Moses moves on. Now notice verses 27 to 28, Aaron meets him to join in this work. Who's Aaron? Aaron is the older brother, three years older than Moses. And Aaron comes out to the wilderness and he meets Moses there. And the two of them now prepare to go back to Egypt to meet with Pharaoh and the elders of Israel. And that's what happens in verses 29 to 31. In the end of chapter number four, notice here what takes place. Moses and Aaron meet with the elders of Israel. You know, what's beautiful about God's timing is now the elders are ready to go ahead and listen to Moses. Forty years prior, they didn't want to hear what Moses had to say because Moses wasn't dealing with this in the right way. But now, as God's timing is perfect, and Moses goes back along with his brother Aaron, the elders now receive him. Turn, if you will, to chapter number five. Look at the first 14 verses. Now, after meeting with the elders, what does Moses do? Moses and Aaron both go to Pharaoh. And they seek the release of the people. Interesting. Basically, let our people go. God wants his people to go worship him in the wilderness there. And instead of allowing Israel to go, here's what Pharaoh does. Pharaoh's a little indignant. that Moses comes back to ask that the people would be released. So Pharaoh says, I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm not going to release them. I'm going to go ahead and increase their workload. And in fact, they need to do as much as they did before, even with the new measures that are put into place. So that's chapter five, verses one through 14. Well, now Moses comes back to the Israelite leaders after meeting with Pharaoh. And these Israelite officials are hot to trot. I don't know how much time had passed by, but all of a sudden they realized we got this increased workload. We've got all this going on. And now they're upset with Moses. Why did you go to Pharaoh? Why did you have to go ahead and complain to him? Why did you have to ask all these things? Notice what he's doing to us now. And now we come to our text in chapter number six where the Lord told Moses what he would do. Remember those verses that were just read a few moments ago. I love this. We're going to look at it a little bit more. But God identifies himself to Moses and how he will fulfill his covenant with Israel. And he tells Moses that he wants him to go and share this identity with the Israelites, and he wants him to share with the Israelites what he is going to do. And I'm telling you, as you get into chapter 7, and 8, and 9, and 10, 11, and next week we'll look at chapter number 12, it is amazing that as Moses speaks to the children of Israel and begins to tell them that yes, Pharaoh will not listen, but eventually God is going to bring you out of this land, and He's going to bring you to the land that He promised so many years ago. You know, it's a great reminder for all of us that God does not forget His promises. Something may have been given to you years before, maybe through a Bible study. Maybe God spoke to your heart as you were reading the scriptures and you think to yourself, God, where are you in all this? I want to tell you, God is a covenant keeping God. That's why he's the Jehovah God. God never forgets. For all of us, we're in this. We need things quickly. We need things right now. But for God, it's as if everything is in the present for Him. And God says, you just wait, you just be patient. In due time, in the right time, you'll get what I promised to you. And I think this is exactly where God wants Moses, as well as the children of Israel. Moses needs to come to the place where Pharaoh won't listen to him. where the Israelites now are not believing Him again, and Pharaoh or Moses has to be brought to the place where he says, if this is going to happen, it is all of God. Have you ever had a circumstance in your life come about where you realized that if anything was going to happen, it was going to have to be God? I'm telling you, in this life, we try to solve things ourselves. We try to take care of things. We try to throw in our own smarts and our own wisdom. But I'm here to tell you, most of the things, if not all of the things in this life, we desperately need the help and the wisdom and the strength of God. It doesn't matter whether it's a relationship. It doesn't matter whether it's a situation you're dealing with. It doesn't matter whether it's a trial. You need God's help. And Moses was once again brought to the place where he says, if anything is going to happen, if anything's going to be accomplished that is good, it's going to be because of God. I'll tell you, looking at these parables, they're powerful, these plagues that are given to us. So as we begin looking through chapter 7, you realize that God is beginning to work, and He's sharing with Moses a difficulty. When all is said and done, Israelites, Egyptians, Moses, Aaron, everybody will know that God is the Lord. I want to answer a question here for just a moment, and really the question is very simple. Why did God allow these plagues? You know, we have a lot of people that read the Bible, and they say, oh, I don't believe these things happen. It's amazing how people read the book of Revelation. They read the book of Exodus. They read some of the miracles that take place, and they categorically just deny all these things because in their own mind, they don't think that these things are possible, that they could really happen. But I want to tell you something. Our mind is very limited in what it can understand. We have finite minds, and we're looking at a God who has written this book, who is infinite, who is all-powerful, who is everywhere, and God can do anything He desires to do. So don't let yourself get sideways by people out in the world who say to yourself, oh, I don't believe those plagues ever happened. Really. Many times those are the same people that will tell you about certain miracles that took place in their life. how they've been spared from an automobile accident and being killed in one, how they've been spared from this, how this has happened, and they realize that things do really happen, but yet it is all Satan's ploy of trying to discredit God's Word. Do you realize Satan's done that from the very beginning? He's always trying to discredit this Bible. And so you've got to be careful of that. But why did God allow these plagues on Egypt? Well, let me give you three reasons. Number one, Our first major point is the plague showed Pharaoh that no one is more powerful than God. Very interesting. You know, as noted a few moments ago, the first meeting with Pharaoh was not really stellar from a human standpoint. I want you to go to chapter number 7, if you will. You're in Exodus chapter 6. I want you to go to the next chapter, chapter number 7, and look at verse number 3. Look what the Bible says. All right. Notice here, actually, let me begin at verse number 1. The Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a God to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. Thou shalt speak all that I command thee, and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of this land. And I, notice this, will harden Pharaoh's heart and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. Now how many of you, if you were given a task, would like to know right up front the difficulty of the task? That's exactly what God is doing to Moses. Hey Moses, you're going to go to Pharaoh, You're gonna be like a God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be the prophet. He'll speak on your behalf. So I'll give my words to you. You give them to Aaron. Aaron will speak them to Pharaoh. But here's the kicker. Pharaoh's not gonna believe you. In fact, Pharaoh's going to harden his heart, and he's not going to allow the people of Israel to go out. Now, I don't know about you, but if I was Moses, I would start thinking to myself, why am I going here now? Why have I been given this task? What is the purpose of going here? Well, I want to remind you of something here, that the whole reason, one of the reasons that God had Moses go and in giving these plagues of Egypt was to let Pharaoh know that there is no one that is above God. Because you know what Pharaoh thought? Pharaoh thought he was like a god. Pharaoh was the most powerful ruler in the world at that time. And Pharaoh thought to himself, there's nobody greater than I am. In fact, I want you to notice some of Pharaoh's response. I want you to go back, if you will, to Exodus chapter number five, please. Notice here the key to understanding Pharaoh's response. When Moses and Aaron first meet with Pharaoh, look at what the Bible says in verse number one, chapter five, verse one. Afterward, Moses and Aaron went in, told Pharaoh, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, let my people go that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said, who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel Wow. This man basically says to Moses and Aaron, I don't know this God you're talking about. I have no idea. But I'm just going to tell you something. There's nobody more powerful than me, and I'm not letting these people go. Now, what's incredible over the next course of the next few chapters, as you read these plagues, you note something about Pharaoh's heart. There's a plague that is given the reaction of Pharaoh. Second plague is given another reaction. Third plague is given another reaction of Pharaoh. Every time a plague is given in the scripture, there is a response by Pharaoh. And do you know what that response is? It is that Pharaoh's heart is hardened. In fact, as you read through the series of plagues, I'd encourage you today, this afternoon when you get home after you Well, maybe after you take your nap, I would say after lunch, but some of you after eating lunch, you're conked out for about an hour or two, okay? So after your nap this afternoon, get your Bible out, look at Exodus chapter seven and start following through. And notice here the response of Pharaoh. It starts talking about how on some occasions, Pharaoh himself hardened his heart. And then there were other occasions where Pharaoh's heart was hard, And then the Bible also tells us that God hardened Pharaoh's heart. Now you say, Pastor, which is it? Did Pharaoh harden his heart? Or did God? The answer is that both are equally true. But it began with this process. That Pharaoh himself began all of this by saying, I don't know God. I'm not going to believe in God. And therefore, I am going to do my own thing. Have you ever met somebody? Political leaders get that way. World leaders get that way. Business leaders get that way. We think that we are impervious to all this stuff. No one greater than God himself We say to ourselves, well, Pharaoh's heart was getting harder. Pharaoh was getting harder. Now, I want to tell you something. God is giving multiple opportunities for Pharaoh to respond. The first plague is given. Moses and Aaron go back in afterwards. Pharaoh pleads with them and the plague. They end the plague. Then Moses and Aaron say, we're going to do something else, and because Pharaoh's heart is hardened after every one of them. And really, when I look at it and you compare, and I don't have time to do this here today, but you look at the book of Romans chapter number nine. There are many who have looked at this and have gone full swing into the fact that there is no responsibility of man whatsoever, that man really has no free will. They have no ability to choose and that God is completely sovereign. Now, while I believe God is completely sovereign and God is in control of all things, he has given man a free will. to choose. You had the ability to choose salvation, whether you would accept God's Son or not. And as a believer, you have the ability to choose whether you will serve God or not. Pharaoh, in this particular instance, he hardened his heart. God, out of his sovereignty, continued with plague after plague after plague to show to Pharaoh and to the world that there's the hardness of the heart, but God's mercy is coming through over and over. Second thing I want you to notice here, why did the God give these particular plagues to Egypt? And that is this, the plague showed the Israelites that there is no God like Jehovah God. It showed to the Israelites that there is no God like the Jehovah God. Now let's think for just a moment of these Israelites For well over 400 years, they're there in the land of Egypt. Imagine now, when they first went in, they are welcomed. Jacob, the patriarch, is brought into Pharaoh's court. He meets Pharaoh. He gets blessed by Pharaoh. He blesses Pharaoh himself. There is a wonderful blessing. They're given a wonderful piece of property there in the land of Egypt. But all of a sudden they begin multiplying. And these people become very populous. So populous that the Pharaoh at that time thought to himself, I cannot let these people just be on their own. We've got to do something. And so they enslaved them. Now their time in Egypt was no longer joyous. Now their time in Egypt was filled with tasks that were just very grievous and work that was laborsome and they were whipped to do the work and they were made to do hard labor. And now their cries are going out to God, why are we here? While for 400 years they're now complaining to God, wondering where God is, why God has them there, has God forgotten them? You ever been in a situation like that? You ever had something happen in your life? You think to yourself, God has forgotten you? You think that God's nowhere to be found? You think that God has just kind of left you off by yourself? Well, I want to tell you something. God doesn't forget. He hasn't forget. That's why he showed himself as the Jehovah God to Moses. And he told Moses, I want you to tell them that the I am the Lord God is here to deliver you out. That's what he's doing. It's quite interesting when you look through some of these passages of scripture that God is showing him, them, that he is the Lord God. Look with me, if you will, at Exodus chapter 7 and verse number 5. Very interesting. It says here, the Egyptian shall know that I am the Lord. Look at verse 17, the same chapter, Thus saith the Lord, In this thou shalt know that I am the Lord. Look at chapter 8, verse number 22, And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which My people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there, to the end that thou mayest know that I am the Lord. Go to chapter number 10 and verse number 2. The Lord said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart, the heart of his servants, that I might show these my signs before him. You know, it's quite interesting. By the time we get to the third plague, which is the plague of lice, the magicians of Pharaoh are already confessing that this is the work of God. Look back at Exodus chapter 8, verse 19. You know, when the first plague was done, that is of turning the water into blood, the magicians were able to go ahead and do that. When the frogs were multiplied in the land, the magicians were also able to do that. But look at chapter eight, verse number 19. The magician said in the Pharaoh after this third plague, look at this. This is the finger of God. Wow. Even the magicians came through and said, we can't do this. This is God. This is a special God who did this. I tell you, we get to the seventh plague moving down, and even some of the Egyptians now become believers in God. Wow, what God is doing here is He's showing His people who He really is. Go back to chapter number six, and I want you to look at that passage again. That was so beautiful. God tells Moses here, he said, look, I'm the Lord, but I am El Shaddai. If you're familiar with some of the Hebrew words here, El Shaddai, the God Almighty. That name was given to Abraham after Abraham had been promised a son. That son was supposed to come to Sarah, but about 15 years had passed by and no promise had been brought through. And so Abraham takes matters into his own hand. He goes, multiply your seed. I'll bless your son Ishmael. But Sarah, who is old, healed himself right here to Abraham. So how did these patriarchs of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, how did they know of God? They knew him as the Almighty God. But it doesn't mean that they did not know this other name. Look at verse number three, the name that is given in all capital letters, Jehovah. Do you see that there in the King James Bible? It's Jehovah. But I want you to notice also here. That it is given throughout other portions of scripture. Look at verse number six. I want you to notice the King James translators helped us. The very same word for Jehovah is translated as Lord in verse number six. But notice in the King James Bible, it is Lord, all capital letters. Do you see that there? Capital L, capital O, capital R and capital D. This is the Jehovah God. This is who revealed Himself to Moses at the burning bush. The I AM that I AM. That self-existent One. That covenant-keeping God. The One who does not break His promises. He is Jehovah. He is the I AM. And He is the LORD, all capital letters. Go back to Israel and let them know that the LORD, God, is the One who is coming to them. It's not that they didn't know that God. They had seen that name. They had heard that name. But now God's revealing in a very special way to His people and letting them know. You know, I think about trials that we go through in our lives. Trials are oftentimes designed by God to help us see Him in a greater way. God's desiring for us to develop that relationship with Him. Those struggles that we face, those problems that are in our life, God allows those things so you will get to know Him better. Third reason the plagues are given, and that is the plague showed the Egyptians that there is no God greater than Jehovah. It's interesting here as you read through these chapters, God brought these 10 judgments known as the plagues upon Egypt. We read about them. They're all in chapter 7 going all the way to verse number 12. The first 9 plagues are set apart from the 10th plague. The 10th plague is the taking of the oldest child, and that'll be addressed on its own separately next week. But I want to make just some brief observations here, just some things that you might either make a mental note of or you might be able to write down in your notes here in regards to these first nine plagues. Plagues one through nine unfold in three series of three plagues each. In other words, plagues one through three are kind of separated to themselves, plagues four through six, and then plagues seven through nine. Each new judgment section begins with the Lord speaking to Moses. Powerful. This is not Moses initiating these things. This is not human intervention. This is God speaking to Moses and God doing his work. Each new judgment section ends with a response of Pharaoh's heart. I said that earlier. Every judgment that was given, it showed Pharaoh's response. What happened? His heart was hardened. But then Israel is spared from the second and third series of plagues. When you read about the first three plagues, Those all affected the Israelites, the water turning the blood, the frogs all over the place. But we get to plague number four and all of a sudden that stuff does not begin affecting the Israelites. And because as we move along, there is a severity of the judgments. Interesting, the plagues increase in severity, because when you look at the last set of three, plague seven through nine, they are the most devastating of the nine plagues. But here's what I want you to grab hold of at this juncture. And that is that these plagues serve as a purpose of humiliating the Egyptian gods in some way. Now I understand as we read through our Bible that we don't read the names of these particular gods that the Egyptians worshipped. But it is estimated that there were dozens, possibly even hundreds of gods that the Egyptians worshipped. They had a god for everything. So as I walk through these for just a moment, I just want to go ahead and highlight these things and help you see something right at the very end. If you were to look at chapter 7 verses 19 to 25, we see here the first plague, number one, the Nile water turned into blood. According to the Egyptians, the Nile was a very sacred river. Many gods associated with this beautiful river, this overflowing river, beautiful, But there is a God by the name of Hapi who is the God of the Nile. There are also other goddesses who cared for the fish. And so when Aaron raises up that staff and he takes it, he turns that water into blood by the very power of God, that water turns into blood and everything in the water dies. And so therefore, the God of the Nile, the goddesses of the fish, Now all of a sudden are made to look to the Egyptians as weak and frail, because God Jehovah is more powerful than them. The magicians couldn't even stop this. That's the real test of God's power. They could pull off some kind of turning water into blood themselves, but they did not have the power to stop the plague. That's why Pharaoh said, I need you to turn this around. chapter 8 verses 1 through 15 frogs how many of you despise frogs I have a couple of children of mine that just freak out if there's frogs anywhere near around them I'm telling you they just go crazy I don't know how big these frogs were I don't know if they were the little slimy ones I don't know if they were the big fat ones I don't know what they were but imagine Honey, I'm home. Put something in the oven, please. And you open the oven, and there's all these frogs. Retiring from bed late that night, and you slip your feet in, all of a sudden, wow, you feel these frogs all around your feet and your legs. It's awful. Everywhere that they went were these frogs. But the Egyptians had a goddess that they worshipped by the name of Hept. She was a symbol of fertility because frogs proliferate. And when all these frogs were brought out by God Himself, it was a smack against the goddess that was given here. Chapter 8, verses 16 to 19, now lice. Aaron stretches out his hand with his staff, and he strikes the dust of the earth, and there was lice. This was not any dust storm like any other that they'd ever seen before. This was a great storm of lice. The magicians of Pharaoh tried with their secret arts, but they couldn't even do this. Oh, they could pull off a little bit of bloody water. They could go ahead and get a little bit of frogs here and there, but they couldn't create this lice storm. And this went right against the gods associated with insects, the gods of Hathor and Newt. Then in chapter 8, verses 20 to 32, there is the plague of flies. So Moses is told to go to Pharaoh and to say, let my people go. God said, look, if you don't let my people go, that he's going to send swarm of flies on you and on your servants and on your people and your houses. And they'll be all over the place. They're going to cover the ground like carpet. But this will not be in Goshen where the Israelites are. It'll just be where the Israelites are. And this goes against the gods associated with flies, the god of Shu, the god of Isis. And what God is saying by giving this plague is your gods are helpless against me. Chapter nine, verses one through seven, there's a disease on livestock. And really, there's no natural explanation for this at all. But it was an affront against the god Apis, which was a sacred bull, a symbol of fertility. Chapter 9 verses 8 through 12 was the plague of boils. This plague involved dust all over the land, causing boils to break out like sores on man and beast. Now, I'm just going to tell you something. I don't know anything about this, but everything I've read about it, it is horrible suffering. We read about Job, one of the things that had happened to him, not only losing his children, not only losing his possessions in one day, but he had boils, sores all over his body. And he would take a piece of broken pottery and he basically would take him and and try to get those boils off. Awful. But there was a lion headed goddess by the name and a special priesthood called the Sunu Priesthood. And these priests would wear some of these things on them to ward off all plagues and pestilence. But I want to tell you all of this stuff that the Egyptians believed in was useless. Because now God comes in and every Egyptian is struck with boils. Then in chapter 9, verses 13 to 35, the Bible talks about how they covered the face of the whole land, and God created them for that occasion. Think with me about locusts for just a moment. It has been estimated, as people have studied this, that if you had one square mile of locusts, you could have 200 million locusts. A swarm of locusts have been known to cover 400 miles. Think about that. They can flap their wings non-stop for 17 hours. They can fly at a cruising speed of 10 to 12 miles an hour. And the land was darkened. They say that in a locust plague, and those things have happened even of recent times they've happened, they say that a locust plague, it's like night because all of the locusts will black out the sun. I want you to notice verse number 15. Not only is it an eerie feeling, them blacking out the sun and having them all here, but I want you to look at chapter 10 and verse number 15. Look at this. The Bible says of these locusts, they covered the face of the whole earth so that the land was darkened. And 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. So now not only is it real eerie and maybe scary, but now it brings about a famine. But now the ninth plague. Chapter 10, verses 21 to 29, darkness, thick darkness, all over the land of Egypt for three days. None of them were able to see each other here for that period of time, except the Israelites had light in where they lived. Now one would think that these plagues, going smack against the gods that the Egyptians worshipped, that these would convince Pharaoh But I want to tell you that's the plight of man who's rebellious against God. God will show His mercy. God will give opportunities. But Moses continued to say no. I want to close with three concluding thoughts. And I want to just, these are things that really as I studied, as I looked at some of these things that came to my mind about these passages of Scripture and these plagues that were given to Egypt. Number one concluding thought is there is no world leader who will ultimately win against God. Now, I don't know about you, but we live in a sick world today, a demented world. We live in a world that is so corrupt. We live in a world that is so bent on doing their own thing and When we ought to have political leaders and world leaders and business leaders who ought to be doing things for the good of humanity, we find them doing things for their own good and hurting others in the process. But I'm here to remind you that even though we may not see much of it now, that there is coming a time when God will right every wrong. You get tired of all the wrongs that are happening? Maybe in your life. Maybe some of the things that are transpiring here politically, whatever is going on. And it doesn't matter what your political beliefs are. It doesn't matter who you're voting for. I'm just saying that every one of us can look out at this world and say, there's a lot of injustice. There's a lot of problems. But there is no leader that is going to stand above God. There will come a time if it's not now when God will make it clear like he did in Israel. to Pharaoh, to the Egyptians, to the Israelites, to everybody they could see, that through these plagues, that God is the only God to be worshipped. That's it. That brings me to my second concluding point. The gods of this world are not worth giving allegiance to. Can you imagine all these gods that these Egyptians worshipped? I mean, the sun god, Ra, the goddesses here, the frogs and all of these other particular gods that they worshipped, pretty intense to realize that. You know, it's amazing here in this time frame that we live in, we look back at a time like that a few thousand years ago and we say, oh, my, those people were so primitive. Look at all those gods they worshipped. But I'm here to tell you something. We may not get down and worship some golden image like they worship. We may not have particular names of gods like they did. But I'm here to tell you, especially in our American culture, we have gods we worship other than the God Jehovah. Some may be here today or worshiping the God of money. Some may be worshiping the God of power. Some may be worshipping the God of pleasure. You name your God. What is it that gives you the most excitement in this life? What is it that you pay your allegiance to? What is it that you desperately want and desire in your life and you'll do anything to have it? That's your God. It's amazing how God said, Thou shalt have no other gods before me. And we say to ourselves, oh, that was just to the Israelites. He spoke that. No, that is applicable to today. Don't put anything above God, because whatever it is that you put above God, and I need to remind myself that there is nothing that is worth giving your allegiance to other than God. Number three, concluding thought, and I'll close with this. The plagues of Egypt are really a precursor to what the end times will be like. It's interesting we read the plagues in Egypt and then we really don't read a whole lot about plagues through much of the rest of the Bible till we get to the book of Revelation and all of a sudden it seems like plagues make a comeback if you will and when you look at the book of Revelation we read about the church which is the present day that we live in that's the people of God the body of Christ When we come to the beginning of chapter number four and we read about the rapture, what is the rapture? It is when all of those who are believers in Jesus Christ, if you by faith have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior and you're not accepting of works in your life to get you to heaven, but you're accepting that Jesus Christ is the only way, you're a believer. And if you're there at the rapture of Jesus Christ, you'll be raptured. That is, you'll be brought up to heaven to be with God. And then after the rapture will be the seven-year tribulation. This will be a time that is so intense that it will have plagues throughout it. In fact, the plagues that we read about in the book of Revelation, some of them are familiar to what we read about in the book of Exodus. Water turned to blood, the sun's heat intensified, darkness, drying up, hail, all of these things, locusts. What we read about in Exodus, we also read about in the book of Revelation. Do me a favor, if you will, look here at the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, Revelation chapter number nine. And I want you to see something incredible that happens here. Verse 20, Book of Revelation, chapter 9, verse number 20. That's pretty amazing. As you read this, there's been some incredible plagues and judgments that have come down on the earth. Numbers of people have been killed. In fact, the Bible says a third of the people have been wiped out. Now look at verse 20. The rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues Yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils and idols of gold and silver and brass and stone and of wood, which neither can see nor hear nor walk. What happened to the rest of these people? Oh, I know, before I read verse 21, they believed God. I mean, they saw all these people get killed. They saw these judgments and they said, I'm not in disbelief anymore. God, Jehovah is the God and I believe in Him. No, no. Look at verse 21. Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. Look at those first two words. Neither repented. They did not repent of their ways and they did not Believe in God. You may be here today. And you say, Pastor, you know, I believe the Bible a little. I believe there's some higher power out there. But I just don't believe that God really, you know, I just don't believe that God's going to judge anybody to hell. I don't believe that God is going to go ahead and do all these things that book of Revelation talks about. And I'm not sure if I really believe this stuff in Exodus. And it's hard for me to believe in a God like that. And so I tell you what, I'm going to go ahead and make it on my own to try to get to heaven. May I ask you a question deep down in your heart, how how well is that working for you? Because most people who are working their way to heaven, trusting in themselves, when I ask them, How well do you believe you're going to make it to heaven? Most people are like, well, I hope I'll make it. I'm going to tell you, hope is a big word. I mean, when it comes to heaven, you don't want to use the word hope. You want to use the word no, K-N-O-W. I know I'm going to heaven. But these people today, who will not believe in God and who think that God should be just a God of love and they have a hard time with the God that is spoken of, of judging people. I want to tell you something. This is God. Yes, he may be sharing judgment here and he may be bringing it down, but God is giving opportunity after opportunity for people to respond and say, you alone are the God and I believe in you. As opportunity. Let me give an illustration as I close this out. Imagine with me that you have a child or those of you that are older have a grandchild who starts dabbling in a little bit of small drugs. You go ahead and help that child or grandchild out and you say, let me help you. You start taking some measures to help them. You're doing all you can as the authority figure. You know those drugs are bad. You know what harm they'll have on that child's life. And so you're doing all you can to help them. And you think that you brought them through, that they've responded. But all of a sudden, weeks, maybe months down the road, you find that they get into some harder drugs like heroin. What are you as a parent going to do now? What measures are you going to take to help them? Are you going to say, well, you know, I tried before. I'm just going to let it go. No, I'm going to tell you, if I know most of the parents and grandparents in this room, you're going to take as much drastic measures you can to help that child get off of that. Why? Because you know the destructiveness of their own way. Can I say to you, God, who is in heaven above, knows the destructiveness of the human heart. He knows where sin will lead us. Not only while we're living here, but if you refuse to believe in Jesus, that sin will take you to a devil's hell. It's a devil's hell because it was never prepared for you and I. It was prepared for the devil and his angels. But for those who continue in their way and refuse to believe in God, Jehovah, and refuse to believe in God's Son will someday be cast into the lake of fire forever and ever and ever. And when we get to these end times and you say, Preacher, are we at the end times? I'm going to tell you, we're getting close. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if we walk out this door and we hear the trumpet sound. When that trumpet sound, every believer will be gone. Those who are not saved will be left here. And you'll see those judgments. And when they're looked at in just their little short scope, we say to ourselves, well, that's a mean God. But I want to tell you over the perspective of some six thousand years, God has been merciful to people. To share his love and his goodness. And to let you see that there are still opportunities for you to place your faith in Jesus Christ. And these people, after seeing these locusts and these unbelievable plagues, come to a place where they say, I'm not repenting. I'm not believing in God. I want to say to you today, place your faith in Jesus if you've not done so. Believe in Him. Because whatever it is you're putting your faith in in this world, it won't last. It's not worth it. Place your faith in Jesus Christ. Let's bow our heads, please, and close our eyes. Father, we come before You today. We pray for the working in hearts, that you, Lord, guide us, use us in a mighty way as we speak this invitation, as we invite people to make decisions for Jesus. While heads are bowed and eyes are closed here today, I trust that every person here knows Jesus Christ as their Savior. I'd like to just simply ask this question. How many would say here today, Preacher, if I were to die today, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I'd go to heaven. I know it. There's no doubt in my mind. I'm clear. And by uplifted hand, as a way of testifying, you say, Preacher, today I know that I'm saved. And if I were to die today, I'm going to heaven. Would you just slip your hand up right now? God bless you. May put your hand down. Now truthfully, as I look across these six sections of our auditorium, I couldn't see every hand, and it's possible that you didn't raise your hand. Maybe you didn't understand what I was asking, or yet, you understood and you really could not raise your hand because you know you're not saved. I want to tell you that today, you could repent of your sins, and you could, by faith, receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. You say, Preacher, how do I do that? It's as simple as this. Open your heart up to God. Believe that you're a sinner. Believe that your sin will take you to hell, but Jesus, God's perfect Son, died on the cross to pay for your sin. And if you would, by faith, receive that gift of salvation, the Bible says, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Saved from what? Saved from the penalty of sin. and saved to be able to go to heaven someday to be forever with God.