verses up until verse 20. And then in the middle of the sermon, we'll look at the rest of the chapter. So for now, Exodus chapter 10, beginning in verse one. And now I can read the children's questions. First, God could have just destroyed Pharaoh in a moment. Why didn't he? Two, what are the three plagues mentioned in this section? And three, how was living in Goshen different than living in the rest of Egypt? Exodus chapter 10, beginning in verse one, this is the word of God. Then the Lord said to Moses, go into Pharaoh for I have hearted his heart and the heart of his servants that I may show these signs of mine among them. And that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of 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 into 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 the land. And they shall eat what is left to you after the hail, and 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 all the Egyptians. as neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen from the day they came on earth to this day. Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh. Then Pharaoh's servant said to him, how long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined? 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 I ever 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 from 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 in the land, and all the hail has left.' So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the land brought an east wind upon the land all that day and that night. When it was morning, the east wind had brought the locusts. The locusts 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 and the land and the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Not a green thing remained, neither tree nor plant of 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 Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go. There ends the reading of God's word. Let's pray together. Lord, our God, we thank you for this account of these awesome days so long ago. But Lord, we know that you are the same awesome God who does mighty deeds to glorify your name. And so as we examine this passage together tonight through the message, Lord, we pray that we would see more of you and more of the way that you work throughout the ages and down to this very day. Lord, we ask that you would help us to receive your word well, and Lord, we pray that you would help the preacher and help all of us who are here as we come to you in the name of Jesus. Amen. But once again, it's at the break of day when Pharaoh is on his way to have his morning devotions at the Nile, and he's met by, once again, Moses and Aaron. And now we're going to enter round three of this series of three different plagues that have been sent on the land. These confrontations keep happening. confrontations between Moses and Pharaoh, which are really confrontations between God and all these false gods. And I think it's important for us to keep in mind that while all these gods are the imaginations of the Egyptian people, just like all false gods are the imaginations of people, even idols and icons, et cetera, behind them is a real spiritual darkness. I don't think it would be wrong to think that behind each of these gods is a real spiritual darkness. Some rabbis would say that these gods were actually manifestations of some sort of fallen angels. I'm not quite willing to go quite that far, but I would certainly say there's a real spiritual presence, a representation of the king of darkness manifest in all these ways through all these different gods that are being confronted. So far, there's been great devastation already in the first six plagues, but apparently, even though it's been devastating for the people, it hasn't affected Pharaoh quite enough to where he himself is ready and willing to repent. He refuses to back down. He can't see the writing on the wall. Remember that Pharaoh sees himself as a god. He sees himself as a manifestation of a god. And what he should see is that as one God falls after another God, answered by God's plagues, he should see that it's coming right at him. It's coming directly towards him, and it is. As we enter our passage, we're reminded of God's purpose. If you go back to chapter nine, where we start to look at verse 14, we're reminded of God's purpose. The command is that Pharaoh would let the people go. Here's some of God's purpose in verse 14. For this time, I will send all my plagues on yourself and on your servants and your people so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. None like Yahweh, none like Jehovah. And it's coming to be more personal. Did you notice that he says, now it will be on yourself. But God is showing restraint. God is showing mercy. We understand that at the stroke of God's hand, he could just annihilate all of Egypt. He could have brought it all to a grinding halt. But he doesn't do so. Verse 15. By now, I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you could 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 may be proclaimed in all the earth." If you are more of a New Testament person, and you're hearing that for the first time, you might think to yourself in an odd way, wait a minute, did Moses read Paul? It's just the reverse. Paul would know this narrative. Go to Romans chapter nine, if you will. We're talking about the absolute sovereignty of God and Paul is anticipating a debate, perhaps even a debate he had now reflected in this letter about the sovereignty of God. Romans chapter nine, beginning in verse 14. What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose, I have raised you up that I might show my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. Now you have this dynamic where Pharaoh is hardening his own heart, and at the very same time, God is giving him over to his hardness. And it's all ultimately for God's glory. It certainly shows us the smallness of Pharaoh. But this idea of the absolute sovereignty of God is very difficult to understand because our view of God is too small. If we understand how God is infinite, that we live and move and have our being in him, at least something of the absolute sovereignty of God begins to make sense. But we also understand that that does not undermine man's own culpability, his own actions and his own guilt. We get a little help here, I think, from John Calvin. He says this, how often was Pharaoh commanded to send the people away? And on every occasion, a ratification of the command was added. so that God no less thundered from heaven that he spoke on earth by the mouth of his servant and ambassador. Yet still the mind of the tyrant was not subdued into obedience because Satan alienates the minds of those whom by God's permission he holds in devotion and bondage to himself. Meanwhile, they heap up more terrible vengeance against themselves by their impious contempt of warnings. It reminds us of Romans 1 as well, that people are given over to the hardness of their hearts. But now we enter into these new plagues. Three more strokes. It may seem repetitive, but a close examination shows that there is a progression. The first one is going to be hellfire. Hellfire. The God of heaven speaking from heaven, sending down hail upon the people, sending a clear message. And there's a fair warning here. Hide your animals. Hide your beasts of the field. Hide your people in the field. Hide your people, put them in shelter and they'll be spared. Fair warning. Guess what? Some of the Egyptians fear the word of God. There's something happening even amidst the Egyptian people and some of them, slaves and servants, hide themselves in shelter. They hide their animals in shelter. But as is always the case, others were foolish. And though they heard the same message, they didn't do what they were told. And isn't that what mankind is like all around? We hear God's word and some will heed God's word and others will ignore God's word to their own demise. Well, God sends this terrible storm. Terrible storm. And so we've all seen hail storms, but there's no hail storm like this hail storm. And I don't know about you, but I've never seen a hailstorm that had fire from heaven mixed in it. I've seen lightning hit the ground, but I've never seen a hailstorm of this magnitude and with fire mixed in it. as we see here. And God says, it's never happened like this before and it will never happen again. But here is a clear message. The God of heaven is speaking and this is one terrifying storm. And again, the gods, the many gods of heaven and their gods of earth are under attack. But there is once again a significant distinction that we began to see after the third plague that the people in Goshen did not experience. this terrible storm. Does it get Pharaoh's attention? It gets his attention. And so he is going to seemingly repent. I have sinned this time. And you're right to immediately want to say, well, what about all the other times? Are you going to own up to all those other times that you defied God and you lied to God's people? And further, there is a deeper root problem here. Your problem is that your entire life is bent in opposition to God. That's the state of fallen man. So true repentance begins at the very core of our problem, and that's rebellion against God. And Pharaoh is certainly not there yet. He doesn't even recognize the problem of his continued sin against God and against Moses. And so this is just a form of repentance that's not really repentance. Well, God shows mercy, despite the knowledge that Pharaoh's heart is still hard. But because the message still hasn't gotten through, there's going to be yet another plague. And this time, when God tells Moses to go in, he tells him, as he's told him before, but he reminds him this far into the plagues, I have hardened Pharaoh's heart. Now, a lesser man, I think, would have hesitated to go in. But Moses has grown. Remember where he was when we started Exodus. Faltering, questioning, doubting, reluctant, all those things. Feeling inadequate, whatever things that he was dealing with before, they're starting to go away. And now he is not afraid to go into the presence of Pharaoh, even though he knows his heart is hardened. There's something significant in this particular plague because God says in this one and I think it not only has to do with this one But with all the plagues you have a story to tell Tell this story to your offspring tell this story to your children pass it on from generation to generation Because they need to hear the mighty acts of God and And that principle is not just true back in their day, but we need to continue to tell the story of the mighty acts of God. Throughout scripture, but certainly with the gospel, right? God delivers his people, God destroys his enemies. Simplicity of the gospel. The story is to be passed on. Well, here we have locusts. signed so often in scripture of judgment, a direct assault on gods that are supposed to protect the earth, protect the crops. And again, there are so many different gods that this could involve. certainly involves this one goddess named Isis, who was a very popular god. Every time I see that name, I have to laugh because in my former church, we had an Egyptian woman who was a very godly woman whose name was Isis. And when we first got to the church, one of my daughters said to me, Dad, I think Mrs. Zakari must really hate her name. And I said, why? Her name's Isis. That's an Egyptian goddess. You learn those things in homeschooling. I don't know if you learn those things elsewhere, but anyway. Anyway, so Isis is probably one of the goddesses being attacked here, but these locusts. Have you ever watched a video of devouring locusts, of waves of locusts? I've watched a number of them, locusts in Africa, massive swarms devouring crops. They come in here from an east wind into the land and they just are devouring everything, eating everything in sight, every edible green thing, every plant that they could possibly eat. They do tremendous damage. And the people are told, you've heard of massive incidents like this before, but none will compare to this. This will be like never before. They'll be in your houses. They'll be everywhere. Well, the servants start to get the message. The servants start to get the message. Come on, Pharaoh. Can't you see that the land is ruined? Let them go. So Pharaoh seems to come a little bit to his senses anyway, and he basically says, let's barter to Moses, let's talk. I need a security so you can't bring everybody. It's like he says, God bless you fella, if I let your families go with you, it's not happening. Just let the men go. Leave your family here, families here, as a security. Well, Moses, directed by God, sorry, no, we belong together, especially in this act of worship. In this festival to the Lord, men, women, and children belong together. Good principle for worship, even down to this day. We're not going to leave our wives and our children here. This is not just for men. This worship, this devotion, this service to God, as opposed to slavery to you, involves all of our families. Well, Pharaoh wouldn't have anything to do with it, so plague comes. Plague comes. And we see another fine act of repentance. Now again, I have sinned against Yahweh, your God. Now he's acknowledging Jehovah God, the God of Israel, and against you. Please forgive me. This is a death. but he's got a little qualifier in there that makes the whole thing dubious. I don't know if you picked it up. Just this once. Forgive me just this once. Have you ever been there? Have you ever been there where you are in this false repentance? You're reacting to something and please forgive me for what I've done. And then you forgive me just this once with no intention of ever forsaking that sin forever. Maybe Pharaoh knows his own heart a little bit. Just this once, forgive me. Well, the plague is lifted, but He's still not softened. So now we'll pick up in verse 21. Then the Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, the darkness to be felt. So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt 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 also may go with you. Only let your flocks and your herds remain behind. But Moses said, you must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. Our livestock also must go with us. Not a hoof shall be left behind, for we must take of them to serve the Lord our God. And we do not know with what we must 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 never to see my face again, for on the day you see my face, you shall die. Moses said, as you say, I will not see your face again. And so this plague of darkness comes upon the land. I don't know, no one seems to know exactly how this darkness was manifest. Some have suggested a dust bowl. If you've ever read or watched anything on dust bowls, they're tremendously troublesome. They make things almost pitch black and the dust gets into houses. But I tend to think that this is this special manifestation of this pitch blackness. And it's just limited to Egypt. I remember as a kid one time going to a coal mine, probably in Pennsylvania. I don't remember where, I don't remember when. But one of the things that they had us do when we went into the coal carts and went down into the mine, there were no lights. And they said, put your hand in front of your face and see if you can see it. And you could not see your hand, it was that dark. that dark. That's how dark it was here in this time. Pitch black. And yet this darkness had a thickness about it. A darkness that you could feel. A darkness that reeks of death. Remember for the Egyptians, darkness was the realm of death. And here we have Ra, Amun-Ra, directly confronted Pharaoh thought it was a manifestation of Ra, the sun god, no power to pierce the darkness. There was another plea with another qualifier. But it's a no-go. Pharaoh's heart is still hard. And he makes an ominous oath, a death threat against Moses. And there's an irony here because Pharaoh is once again acting like God, acting like he has the power over life and death, a death threat towards Moses, all the while his own death looms large. Now before we move on to next week, Lord willing, to the next devastating plague, a plague that only one man could ever turn around, ever conquer, a hint, it's not Pharaoh and it's not even Moses. Before we get there, a quick review of these plagues. And I want you to notice an increased intensity. And it doesn't all line up perfectly, but there seems to be an increased intensity. The first blood in the Nile, all around you, your very source of life, that which represents so many of your gods, turned to blood and becomes worthless to you. Frogs, another god figure that you worship, invading every realm of your life. gnats all around you and on you, flies on you and eating you, assuming they were stinging flies or maybe as some say, lice. So now they're not only on you, they're penetrating into you. Then your livestock are slain. Your life depends on them, your work depends on them, your worship depends on them, every aspect of your life. Boils not only something coming on you but things welling up from in you Pustules on your skin and on your flesh gets closer and closer Hail on the earth directly from heaven with no escape Locusts utterly devouring every morsel of food in the land. You are becoming absolutely desperate. I And one God after another cannot help you. And you're in darkness with no escape, trapped in the horror of darkness. And yes, it feels like death. And perhaps that's what's being represented here is that spiritual death of living in the misery of Christlessness, it feels like death. And they can feel this darkness. But the Goshenites, the Israelites, are living in the light, touched not by all these things, spared again. And you're wondering if they're bringing it all in as they look out from Goshen, what are they seeing? Are they standing there watching the storms come upon Egypt, the locusts swarming Egypt? Can they see this darkness? And yet they're untouched by God's mighty hand because of his mercy, undeserved mercy. Such is the case with the people of Christ. Untouched by the plagues that That plagued the souls of mankind God's people in Christ pick up on the theme of light if you will turn to John chapter 1 John chapter 1 beginning in verse 1 Here you have the people of God living in light and spared The wrath spared the plagues. The light theme's so prominent. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him nothing was, sorry, all things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life. And the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. simply said that Jesus brings the light of life to all who believe in him. And those who are in him walk in the light now in a world of darkness. Finally, if you turn to Revelation and the wonderful imagery that just gives us a glimpse when heaven is opened We have the light of light in Christ, we walk in the light now, but pick up on the imagery, Revelation 21, beginning in verse 21. Speaking of the new heavens and the new earth, and I saw, I'm sorry, and the 12 gates were 12 pearls, and of each of the gates made a single pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By this light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day, and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations, but nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life. No need of light. The glory of the Lord is the light. What did God say in the plagues that people should see? See His glory, so that He is I Am. Well, in our passage and in our context, there is a darkness coming a night like no other night, a night of death. Death is in the air for Egypt, but there's life for God's people. And that's the story of the gospel, isn't it? Isn't it? Light of life in Christ, walking in the light and dwelling in the light of God's glory forever and ever through Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us. The lamb, the lamb is the lamp. Let's pray. Lord our God, we thank you that you have not left us in darkness. You've not left us to be under that rain of death that people still bound in their misery feel and do all they can to suppress the knowledge of its impending coming. Lord, you have set us free from the grip of the devil, from the weight and burden of sin, and even from death itself. And we know that the only one who is able to do that was Jesus Christ, our Lord. And we praise you that you have made it so that even though each one of us will certainly face physical death, we have life in Christ, we have life forever. And even though we die, yet we shall live. Lord, we look so forward to being in your presence, where there's no need for sun or moon, but the light of Christ is all the glory. May we bask in the glimmer of that light even now.