We're back in Exodus. I'm going to ask you to turn your Bibles to Exodus chapter 9. And since it's been a few weeks since we've studied Exodus together, let's review the plagues briefly. We're up to number 7 by the time we finish today. So here are the plagues. We began in chapter 7 with that first plague. The waters turned to blood. The second plague at the beginning of chapter 8 with the frogs coming up on the land and they were everywhere. The third plague of lice or gnats in chapter 8. And then that fourth plague of flies, swarms of biting insects. That was at the end of chapter 8. That's where we left off the last time we were together in the book of Exodus. Then today we begin with the fifth plague, that is the livestock being diseased, and the sixth plague of boils, and the seventh plague of hail. So a lot, a lot of heavy, grievous stuff, but that's where we are. Chapter nine begins with the fifth plague, continues with the sixth and seventh, so we're officially halfway through the plagues today. And we'll continue, Lord willing, next time with the eighth and the ninth plague, As I studied this week, the Holy Spirit brought me repeatedly to the book of Proverbs, which seemed a little odd to me. That's not what I was expecting. But many cross-references to the book of Proverbs, and maybe I can explain it by offering you one for starters. This is Proverbs 21.1. The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. Like the rivers of water, he turns it wherever he wishes. I like that verse. I've prayed that verse over various political leaders over the years. And it tells us that God is in control of the heart of the king. And therefore this verse is also central to our study in Exodus. Because over and over we keep reading about Pharaoh's heart. Pharaoh is the king of Egypt. And God is in control of his heart. It's almost as if the Holy Spirit is Pharaoh's cardiologist, because he keeps giving us the diagnosis over and over. We've read things like, Pharaoh's heart is hard. Look, he's hardening his heart. Now God is hardening his heart. And we see these different statements about his heart, and we'll see more of them again today. And I hope you understand that we're not talking about his blood pumper. We're not talking about the organ in his chest. His arteries weren't clogged, at least not that we know of. That wasn't the problem. What we're talking about is the heart, the part of us that allows us to make decisions, the part of us that is the seat of our emotions. That's what we're talking about. Let's stand, and I'm going to read our chapter for today, and as I do, please notice all of the times we read about the heart of Pharaoh, or the heart of his servant, or both. This is Exodus chapter nine. Then the Lord said to Moses, go into Pharaoh and tell him, thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews, let my people go, that they may serve me. For if you refuse to let them go and still hold them, behold, the hand of the Lord will be on your cattle in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the oxen, and on the sheep, of very severe pestilence. And the Lord will make a difference between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so nothing shall die of all that belongs to the children of Israel. Then the Lord appointed a set time, saying, tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land. So the Lord did this thing on the next day, and all the livestock of Egypt died, but of the livestock of the children of Israel not one died. Then Pharaoh sent, and indeed not even one of the livestock of the Israelites was dead. But the heart of Pharaoh became hard, and he did not let the people go. So the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, take for yourselves handfuls of ashes from a furnace, and let Moses scatter it toward the heavens in the sight of Pharaoh, and it will become fine dust in all the land of Egypt, and it will cause boils that break out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt. Then they took ashes from the furnace and stood before Pharaoh, and Moses scattered them toward heaven. and they caused boils that break out in sores on man and beast and the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils. For the boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians but the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh and he did not heed them just as the Lord had spoken to Moses. Then the Lord said to Moses, rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh and say to him, thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews, let my people go that they may serve me for at this time I will send all my plagues to your very heart and on your servants and on your people that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. Now if I had stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, then you would have been cut off from the earth. But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up that I may show my power in you and that my name may be declared in all the earth. As yet you exalt yourself against my people and that you will not let them go. Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause very heavy hail to rain down, such as has not been in Egypt since its founding until now. Therefore send now and gather your livestock and all that you have in the field for the hail shall come down on every man and every animal which is found in the field and is not brought home and they shall die. He who feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his livestock flee to the houses. But he who did not regard the word of the Lord left his servants and his livestock in the field. Then the Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, on man, on beast, and on every herb of the field throughout the land of Egypt. And Moses stretched out his rod toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire darted to the ground. And the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt. So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, so very heavy that there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. And the hail struck throughout the whole land of Egypt, all that was in the field, both man and beast. And the hail struck every herb of the field and broke every tree of the field. Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail. And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron and said to them, I have sinned this time. The Lord is righteous and my people and I are wicked. Entreat the Lord that there may be no more mighty thundering and hail, for it is enough. I will let you go and you shall stay no longer. So Moses said to him, as soon as I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands to the Lord. The thunder will cease and there will be no more hail that you may know that the earth is the Lord's. But as for you and your servants, I know that you will not yet fear the Lord God. Now the flax and the barley were struck, for the barley was in the head and the flax was in bud. But the wheat and the spelt were not struck, for they're late crops. So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and spread out his hands to the Lord. Then the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain was not poured on the earth. And when Pharaoh saw that the rain, the hail, and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet more. And he hardened his heart, he and his servants. So the heart of Pharaoh was hard. Neither would he let the children of Israel go as the Lord had spoken by Moses. Let's pray together, please. Our Father, we thank you that you are God. You are all powerful. You are the one and only true God. You are the creator and you are in control of your creation. Lord, as we look at these next three plagues, these judgments that you sent on Egypt, would you give us understanding in our hearts? May this not just be a story that some of us learned as children. May we understand that this is something that really happened to real people. May we understand further what you want us to do with this information today. that these would not be facts in our head, but that these would be lessons for our hearts, that we would be submissive, that we would be obedient. Father, I ask for the help of your Holy Spirit as I teach your word this morning. that your power would shine through, that your words would come through, and that you would give us ears to hear and hearts that are willing to obey and eager to obey and to change, in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you, you may be seated. There is plenty in this chapter to teach you about the plagues, and I will try to do that. But what stood out to me as I studied this week is that in this chapter, more than any other so far, God tells us why he sent the plagues. Isn't that a favorite question of children? Why, why this? Well, God has answered it for us in this chapter. And for the main points I'm going to give you today, there are five of them, these are an answer to the question, why did God send plagues on Pharaoh and the Egyptians? Why did he do it? Well, the Bible tells us. We don't have to guess, we don't have to wonder, we don't have to come up with our own ideas. God tells us. First, we're gonna see in verse 14, to show his uniqueness, God is holy. That's another word similar to unique. He is set apart. So he's demonstrating his uniqueness. Second, to reveal his mercy. You say, but he's sending plagues on them. Yes, he is. But we're gonna read that this actually reveals his mercy that he's extending to them. That's verse 15. Number three, verse 16, says to display his power. And along with that in verse 16, to promote his name. to display his power, to promote his name, and then when we get almost to the end of the chapter, we'll see one more, number five, to exercise his authority. That's in verse 29. And I'll give you those again as we work our way through. But I realize that many of you are probably like me, and if I give you five things, you may not remember any of them. I know I can't remember more than three usually. So I have one summary statement that I'd like you to remember this week. If you don't remember anything else I say this morning, I'd like you to remember this. Every warning to Pharaoh was another example of God's mercy and another opportunity for him to repent. Every one. Every encounter with Moses and Aaron, every plague that God sent, every plague that God took back away, They're all extensions of God's mercy. They're all opportunities for Pharaoh to change course, to do a U-turn, to change his heart. Go back with me to verse one, and we'll work through this again a paragraph or so at a time. In verse one it says, then the Lord said to Moses, go into Pharaoh and tell him, thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews, let my people go that they may serve me. We've heard that before, but it's repeated here because it's the same message every time. Verse two, for if you refuse to let them go and still hold them, behold, the hand of the Lord will be on your cattle in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the oxen, and on the sheep, a very severe pestilence. What it says here is that the hand of the Lord will be on these creatures. And we've seen that phrase before. This refers to God's judgment. This was the first judgment to result in death. In this case, the death of animals, livestock. One commentator wrote, the fifth plague was also the first to destroy Pharaoh's personal property. This was only fair. If Pharaoh would not let go of God's property, then he would suffer the loss of his own. It's a variety of animals, isn't it? Cattle, horses, donkeys, camels, oxen, sheep. The death of all of these different types of animals would affect their lifestyle. They would affect their economy. Someone pointed out they affected transportation, camels, horses, et cetera, agriculture, oxen, cattle, and worship. Remember, they worshiped many animals, and particularly cattle. And all these are dying. The Bible calls it a very severe pestilence, and several scholars who've studied the medical side of this, who have studied the biblical and historical side of this, they've concluded that this is anthrax. We don't know for sure. If that's the case, then it could go all the way back to the Nile turning to blood. The fish died, and then we had the frogs, and Pharaoh begged for the frogs to go away, and they all died. And then we have swarms of flies. perhaps spreading disease, perhaps biting the livestock, and then later, with the boils, biting people. That is possible, but whatever this was, it was highly contagious and fatal to these animals. Verse four gives us the exception. The Lord will make a difference between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so nothing shall die of all that belongs to the children of Israel. We've seen this before in reference to the flies back in chapter eight, that God is making a difference, a distinction between his people and the Egyptians. Verse five, then the Lord set an appointed time saying tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land. So the Lord did this thing on the next day. And notice the terminology here, we're gonna read all Not one, not even one. Here we go. All the livestock of Egypt died, but of the livestock of the children of Israel, not one died. Then Pharaoh sent, and indeed not even one of the livestock of the Israelites was dead, but the heart of Pharaoh became hard, and he did not let the people go. Now if you were paying attention when I read through it the first time, or if you've studied this before, you may be a little bit troubled. about that word all. Because if all the livestock died during the fifth plague, then where did the livestock come from later in the chapter in the seventh plague, the hail? How could any livestock be killed by the hail if they were all killed earlier? And that's a reasonable question, but it's not a contradiction. It seems like one as we first read it. But notice the prepositional phrase in verse two. In the field. This is a time of year when many of the Egyptians' livestock were still in stalls. It was before they let them out in the field. Some of them would have been out in the field, and those who were out in the field died. But not all died, because not all were out in the field. Hopefully that makes sense. Furthermore, there's a commentator named Douglas Stewart. He wrote that all the livestock of Egypt died could also mean all sorts of Egyptian livestock died, or Egyptian livestock died all over the place. Apparently, the Hebrew allows for that. The point is, a bunch of Egyptian animals died. And Moses had told Pharaoh that God will make a difference. He'll make a distinction. And Pharaoh, logically, wanted to check it out. So he sent, I don't know how many messengers, I don't know who, but he sent to find out, is this true? Did any of the animals of the children of Israel die? And how many of them died? None. Not even one, is what it says. Now I want to explore that for a minute. Because maybe you're like Pharaoh, in that you have a lot of questions. And that's okay. It's okay to have questions about God and how he works. We've had many people attend our church over the years who had lots of questions about God. And that's great. He can handle our questions. What's more, we who are believers are supposed to be able to give an answer to those who ask the reason for the hope that lies within us. We're supposed to answer that knowledgeably and with meekness and fear. So we're supposed to be able to handle people's questions. So the questions are not bad. Please don't think that at all. But also understand Even though Pharaoh wasn't wrong in doing research or asking questions, he was wrong in refusing to believe the truth when he was repeatedly confronted with it. Let me say that a different way. Philip Graham Rikens said it with these words. There is a time and a place for investigating God. However, there comes a time to stop investigating and start believing. How much information, how many answers do you need before you're going to accept it by faith? Remember, we've been talking about the heart affair. His problem was not in his brain. His problem was not with the people who went to check out the situation and see if it was true that there were no dead animals among the Israelites. That wasn't the problem. The problem was his heart was rebellious and unbelieving. Please don't continue in stubborn unbelief. When God presents the truth to you, respond to it, believe it, accept it, obey it. Don't rebel against it or make excuses. I just need more information. I need to study this some more. Believe it. The sixth plague, like the third plague, came without warning. This begins in verse eight. So the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, take for yourself handfuls of ashes from a furnace and let Moses scatter it toward the heavens in the sight of Pharaoh. And it will become fine dust in all the land of Egypt and it will cause boils that break out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt. Then they took ashes from the furnace and stood before Pharaoh and Moses scattered them toward heaven and they caused boils that break out in sores on man and beast. And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils. For the boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians. So it's kind of weird to us. Go to a furnace and pick up a handful, handfuls actually, of ashes and scatter them. Well it seems weird to us because we're not in their context. The false priests, of the Egyptian system would take handfuls of ashes from their furnace and they would spread them to the wind and they were supposed to be, guess what, a blessing. They were supposed to be influencing everyone around in the land with blessing, by scattering ashes. And God took that and reversed it. Just like the frogs were normally a sign of blessing, this is the change of seasons, this is the Nile receding, this is good. No, not when it's too much. Well now, this would be blessing? No, this is pestilence, this is boils this time. What are these boils? David Guzik said the idea behind the ancient Hebrew word for boil is to burn. It has the idea of a swelling, painful skin inflammation. I appreciate the other elders preaching these last few weeks, and I believe you talked about Job last Sunday. This is the same word used for his skin sores. This is the same word used later for Hezekiah and his skin sores. This was the first plague to affect people's health. And notice the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils. Remember, for the first few plagues, they could keep up, they could counterfeit, they could bring up more frogs, and so on. And then we got to the lice, and that was the finger of God, and they couldn't repeat it. Well, now they can't even be there. They can't even stand there. I've told you that for Egyptians in general, for the priesthood in particular, they prized hygiene. They took multiple baths. They shaved all the hair off their body. And for them to have sores, they couldn't minister. They couldn't perform their jobs. So it could be they were in so much pain from the sores they couldn't stand before Moses. It could be that it was not appropriate for them to stand in Pharaoh's presence before Moses. But either way, they're in trouble. These are the best of medicine or magic or some combination thereof of the land of Egypt and they are defenseless. They could not perform their duties because they were unclean. Verse 12, but the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh and he did not heed them just as the Lord had spoken to Moses. This is the first time since the plagues began that the Bible says that God hardened Pharaoh's heart. God had told Moses this is how it's gonna go, I will harden Pharaoh's heart, but it hasn't happened in this sequence until now. And for any of you who haven't been with us for the previous studies, we've talked about this quite a bit. God was reinforcing Pharaoh's decision to double down on his rebellion and harden his own heart. We've read Pharaoh's heart was hardened. We've read Pharaoh hardened his heart. Now we read God hardened Pharaoh's heart. He locked in that decision. And now we've reached some of these purpose statements I told you were in this chapter. Here's the first one. Again, we're answering the question, why did God send plagues on Pharaoh and the Egyptians? First off, to show his uniqueness. That's in verse 14, I'm gonna begin here at verse 13. Then the Lord said to Moses, rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh and say to him, thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews, let my people go that they may serve me. For at this time I will send all my plagues to your very heart and on your servants and on your people. Here it is. That you may know there is none like me in all the earth. When we read the word that in that context, it's telling us why, it's giving us the purpose statement. That you may know that there is none like me. Yahweh is unique. That's Deuteronomy 6. The Lord our God is one Lord. As we've said before, the Egyptians worshiped many gods, somewhat like the Hindus do today. Thousands of gods. But in contrast, Yahweh is the one true God. And he is unique in all the earth, and that's what this is saying. There is none like me. None of your gods are like me, the one true creator God. Going right into these next ones that are in verses 15 and 16. Why did God send plagues on Pharaoh and the Egyptians? Number two, to reveal his mercy. And then number three, to display his power. And number four, to promote his name. Verse 15, now if I had stretched out my hand, remember God is speaking through Moses to Pharaoh. Now if I had stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, then you would have been cut off from the earth. But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up that I may show my power in you and that my name may be declared in all the earth. As yet, You exalt yourself against my people and that you will not let them go. We read early on in this chapter that God was going to stretch out his hand in judgment and he did. But what he's saying is, if I chose to end your existence as a nation, I could do it like that. But I didn't. So that causes us to ask why, why not? And he gives it to us here. It's his mercy, but let me see if I can explain it this way. We understand the Bible teaches us that the penalty for sin is death. When I commit a sin, I deserve death, eternal separation from God. That's the punishment, that's the penalty. But let me let you in on a little secret. I've committed sins. I know, I know, some of you are shocked. I've committed many sins, and he didn't just zap me and obliterate me when I sinned. Why? Because of his mercy. Because of his mercy. Mercy is God not giving us what we deserve. And that's what he's done for me, and that's what he's done for you. And that's what he was doing for Pharaoh right here, and that's what he was doing for the rest of the Egyptians. Warren Risby wrote, simply by speaking the word, God could have wiped out the entire Egyptian nation, but God in his mercy doesn't give sinners all that they deserve. The fact that you and I are here today, in this service, hearing again that there's a penalty for sin, but that God has made a way of salvation, that's his mercy. He's brought us here today to hear the gospel again. And to respond to it, if you have not for the first time. God says, I've raised you up. God is the one ultimately responsible for raising up human leaders. In Daniel 4.17, God taught Nebuchadnezzar the most high rules in the kingdom of men, gives it to whomever he wills, and sets over it the lowest of men. Interesting statement. We won't chase it right now, but it's a good one if you want to read about Nebuchadnezzar and his dream and his judgment in Daniel chapter four. that I may show my power in you. God has raised up Pharaoh to demonstrate his own power through plagues of judgment on Pharaoh and his people. That my name be declared in all the earth. God has raised up Pharaoh so that his own fame would be spread throughout the earth. Some of you may be thinking, well, that seems kind of arrogant. Well, he's God. He gets to make the rules. All power, all glory belongs to him. And if he desires for his name and the fame of his name to spread throughout all the earth, then it will and it should. Douglas Stewart summarized the verses we just read in this way. I liked what he said. The plagues ultimately showed that there is one God in control of all things and he alone can save. One sovereign God, one way of salvation. Verse 18. Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause very heavy hail to rain down, such as has not been in Egypt since its founding until now. Therefore, send now and gather your livestock and all that you have in the field, for the hail shall come down on every man and every animal which is found in the field and is not brought home, and they shall die. Very heavy hail. Now, rain is extremely rare in Egypt to this day. They get very little rain. So hail is even less frequent. They may have known what hail was, but some of them probably hadn't seen it in their lifetime. The Egyptians worshipped many gods. I've said that repeatedly. I've told you about some of them in the past. My goal in this study is not to give you all the names of their gods and goddesses, because I don't want you to go home thinking about them. I want you to go home thinking about the one true God. But they had gods they worshipped that were of the sky. They had gods that they worshipped that were of storms. But those were powerless against the one true God. What else is unique about this plague is that it comes with a warning. There was a way to avoid the consequences of this hail, at least for human and animal life. What did they need to do? Take shelter. Get your animals in from the field. Get your servants in from the field. Bring people, bring animals in under shelter so that they will not die. Because that's what's coming. Livestock had died in the fifth plague of pestilence. People may have wished they could die in that sixth plague of boils, but they did not die. But now in the seventh plague, both people and animals would die along with many crops. Verse 20 tells us the result. Because they had this warning, they could have responded, and some did. He who feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his livestock flee to the houses. but he who did not regard the word of the Lord left his servants and his livestock in the field. Which is a subtle way of saying they died. It's a very sad statement. There's a proverb that describes what's happening here that they feared or they did not regard. It's Proverbs 28, 14. Happy is the man who is always reverent but he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity. Those who fear God are happy, they're blessed. Those who harden their heart will experience disaster. That's what's taking place in this plague. When I was in eighth grade, my history teacher liked to quote a proverb to us when we came up on test time. Here it is, Proverbs 22.3. A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished. And he got a big kick out of sharing that verse with us. What he meant is that people who know there's a test coming should study. That's what he meant. But this verse also applies to what was happening in Egypt. People who know there's a hailstorm coming should protect themselves and their servants and their animals. They should make ready. Notice the phrase, he who feared the word of the Lord. Those Egyptians who believed Moses got their servants and livestock to safety and they were spared. The same is true today. Those who fear God obey him and they will escape judgment. In the New Testament, this is sometimes described as obeying the gospel. God has warned us about coming judgment if we don't repent of our sins and believe on his son Jesus. If we fear him, we will obey him, and we will find salvation in Jesus. Have you done that? Children here, adults here, have you found salvation in Jesus? Because there is judgment coming. There's eternal judgment coming for our sin. And yet we have a warning, and we can respond to that warning. We can humble ourselves and repent. Also notice the phrase, he who did not regard the word of the Lord. Literally, the Hebrew says, whoever did not set his heart to the word of the Lord. Philip Ryken wrote, our response to God is always a matter of the heart. Always a matter of the heart. A heart that is not set on his word becomes dead set against his will. If I don't purpose in my heart that I'm going to obey, I'm going to do what God has said to do, then sooner than later I will rebel against his will. I will not do his word. And that could describe us today. Are we heeding the word of the Lord right now? Are we listening? Are we paying attention? I've said this many times before, that hearing, when it comes to the Bible, what hearing means is giving attention with intention. It requires both. Hearing requires attention and intention. We must listen on purpose so that we can obey on purpose. Are we doing that? Verse 22, then the Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand toward heaven that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, on man, on beast, and on every herb of the field throughout the land of Egypt. And Moses stretched out his rod toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire darted to the ground, and the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt. So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, so very heavy that there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. Rain would have been bad enough, probably would have caused flooding in that climate. But it wasn't just rain, it was hail. How many of you have been in a hail storm before? You've seen, it's ice falling from the sky and it can get big. The largest ones in the U.S. in recent history are the size of a softball or even grapefruit. Those will hurt you. Do your own little Google search. You can find there have been people killed by hailstorms around the globe in the last decade or two. It happens. So that's serious. But it doesn't stop there, does it? When it talks about fire, it's probably talking about some sort of lightning. I got a kick out of this. Literally, there were great balls of fire. That's what it says in the Hebrew. So if you wonder where that came from, there you go. Great balls of fire, rolling bolts of lightning, flashing everywhere. It's described as heavy. This is the same word that has been used several times already to describe Pharaoh's heart. Heavy. This is a heavy, awful, severe storm. Verse 25, and the hail struck throughout the whole land of Egypt, all that was in the field, both man and beast, and the hail struck every herb of the field and broke every tree of the field. Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail. When it says it broke every tree of the field, we were just in Spain, and storms are not common there either. But we had a big one come through. To my knowledge, there wasn't any hail. But there were three and four inch saplings and branches of trees broken in half by this. We were in a restaurant area, and so there were lots of tables and chairs and umbrellas outside, and they were scattered and thrown everywhere. And that's what this says, that the trees of the field were broken. Think of that. Yes, for us that would be pine trees or oak trees, but fruit trees. So demolishing the crops, both on trees and in the fields. But for God's people, where they were in Goshen, there was no hail. He protected them again from this plague. Why? We've said this many times already in this study. God knows how and when to deliver his people, and he did. Verse 27, and Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron and said to them, I have sent this time. The Lord is righteous and my people and I are wicked. Entreat the Lord that there may be no more mighty thundering and hail for it is enough. I will let you go and you shall stay no longer. I find it interesting that when he says, please make this stop, he doesn't even talk about the hail first. What did he talk about first? The thundering. And it doesn't say much about that. From what I understand, there are parts of the Midwest where when they get a thunderstorm, it just thunders and thunders and rolls, and they don't have gaps. We think of it more as here's a crash of thunder, and then it fades, and then we get another one a few minutes later. That could be what was going on here, that the storm was so bad, maybe some of you have been near or in a tornado, and I've heard that's true as well, that sound of the freight train, the thunder that just doesn't stop. So that may be what was bothering Farrah the most. Please make it stop. Make the hail stop, make the rain stop, make the thunder stop, please. What does he say? I have sinned this time. That little qualifier, this time, gets me. I have sinned this time. The Lord is righteous and my people and I are wicked. He's wanting to share the blame, it seems, too. The first time you read it, it sounds pretty good, but his lack of repentance became obvious when he refused to obey. That phrase this time ignored and minimized everything that had happened before, all the other ways that Pharaoh had sinned and rebelled against God. Please understand this. When we ignore or minimize our sin, we reveal our pride and our lack of repentance. As long as I'm minimizing my sin, as long as I'm justifying myself, as long as I'm sharing that blame all around, well, it was all of us. It was everybody. They're sorry too. That's not repentance. What does the New Testament tell us? God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. What Pharaoh needed to do was humble himself and admit his guilt, not just this time, but throughout this whole process. Not just his people, but he has sinned. Just saying, I've sinned, doesn't mean I've repented. I'm not gonna go into it much for sake of time, but Warren Wiersbe has in his commentary, there are six examples in scripture of people who said, I have sinned, and there seems to be no repentance in their life. And Pharaoh's one of them. There are two who said, I have sinned, and they were repentant. I'll give you those, because it's quick. David and the prodigal son. They said, I have sinned, and their life showed that they repented, that they'd had a change of heart, a change of mind. There is a huge difference between being sorry for your sin and being sorry you got caught. There's a huge difference between begging for the punishment to stop and genuinely wanting to change. If you'd like to read more about godly sorrow, if this is ringing true for you. You can see a lot more about godly sorrow that brings repentance in 2 Corinthians 7. Paul talks about the carefulness and the clearing and the process that reveals a true change. One more main point, why did God send plagues on Pharaoh and on the Egyptians? To exercise his authority. So Moses said to him, as soon as I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands to the Lord, the thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, that you may know that the earth is the Lord's. But as for you and your servants, I know that you will not yet fear the Lord. What's Moses saying? Is he saying, when I go out, I'm gonna do this, and it's all gonna get better? Is this putting his hands in the air, what he means? He's going to pray. That was a common expression describing the posture of prayer. That is a way to pray. I'm not saying if you don't do this, you're not praying, right? But why do people sometimes put their hands up either when they're praying or when they're worshiping the Lord? Surrender is the first one I think of. Isn't that one thing we do is surrender? Okay, God. I surrender to you. I will do what you want me to do. I'm obeying. So that's one reason. What else? Think of a child, a small child. When you see this, what does that mean? Help me. Pick me up. Help me. And that certainly is a good reason to lift your hands in prayer or in worship to the Lord. What about this? Anybody ever do this in our culture? What? That could be defiance, that could be shaking my fist, but I was thinking more in terms of I'm excited. We got to see the game while we were in Spain, one of the soccer matches, and they were excited when they scored. And the excitement of praise, the excitement of I get to come into the throne room of God Almighty. So there's a few reasons. There are more that you can come up with, but what we're showing in lifting up holy hands is what it's called in Timothy, in the New Testament. But what's the point here? That you may know that the earth is the Lord's. He created it, he controls it, he exercises his authority in it. Now these next couple verses may seem out of place, they may seem irrelevant, but they're not. Verses 31, 32. Now the flax and the barley were struck and the barley was in the head and the flax was in bud, but the wheat and the spelt were not struck for they are late crops. What is this really telling us? It's telling us the time of year. It's telling us which crops were destroyed, that's good, but it's also telling us this is January or February. And that's gonna come back into play, because when we get to the Passover, we know that's March, April. So it's also telling us that these plans are taking weeks and months. It's not just this one's on Tuesday and this one's on Thursday. Lots of time is passing between these. Let's finish up, verse 33. So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and spread out his hands to the Lord. Then the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain was not poured on the earth. And when Pharaoh saw that the rain, the hail, and the thunder ceased, he sent yet more. and he hardened his heart, he and his servants. So the heart of Pharaoh was hard, neither would he let the children of Israel go as the Lord had spoken by Moses. The heart of Pharaoh was hard. In spite of what he had said and the additional promises he had made, Pharaoh continued to rebel against God and his messengers. God wasn't finished. Even worse plagues were still to come. Here's another proverb, Proverbs 29.1. He who is often rebuked, or we could say corrected, and hardens his neck, is stubborn, continues in it, will suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy. That's where we're headed in this story of the exodus. Pharaoh refused to humble himself and repent, so destruction was coming. And I have one last proverb for you, it's Proverbs 28, 13. He who covers his sin will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy. For as long as I cover my sin, for as long as I make excuses for my sin, for as long as I refuse to agree with God about my sin, I won't prosper. I will not experience God's blessing. But whoever confesses, agrees with God, whoever forsakes, turns his back on sin, what does it say? Will have mercy. Why did God send plagues unfair on the Egyptians? To show his uniqueness, his holiness, to reveal his mercy, to display his power, to promote his name, and to exercise his authority. Every warning. Or you could say every plague as well. But every warning to Pharaoh was another example of God's mercy and another opportunity for him to repent. So where are you this morning? Have you ever repented of your sin? Have you ever accepted the mercy that God is offering you? Again, what does it mean to repent? to change your mind, to change direction. That's what repent means. So if I'm like Pharaoh and I just say, I'm sorry, and nothing changes, then I haven't repented. It doesn't mean that I'm never gonna sin again, but it does mean that there's gonna be a change of direction. There will be a change in my life. Romans 3, 23 says that all have sinned. Romans 6.23 says that the penalty for sin is death. That's our warning. That's our warning for today. Extended to us by God because of his mercy. So how will you respond today? Have you responded to the offer of salvation provided in Jesus? Or will you harden your heart and ignore that warning? I don't care about the sign that says the bridge is out. That doesn't apply to me. Will you delay your decision? Oh, I'll think about that later. I'll decide. I'll get saved one day. No. The right response is to humbly submit yourself to God and say, I'm a sinner. I am a sinner. I'm not worried about the next guy or the next lady. I'm a sinner and I'm accepting your free offer of salvation. You paid the penalty for my sin, God. Jesus came, he died on a cross so that we would not have to bear that punishment. Believers, I know many of you in the room, have trusted Christ as Savior. But we read here about the people of Egypt, some of them took heed. They took the word of God to heart and they acted on it. and there are others who didn't. How are we treating God's word in our lives today? Are we listening to it? Are we heeding it? Are we obeying it? Are we setting our lives according to it? Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? Our Father, we are thankful for your word. We're thankful for how these ancient stories that are true nevertheless apply to our lives today. And I thank you for those to whom you're speaking today. I pray that you would continue to clarify for them how you want them to respond and that they would obey. We know that it's only by your grace that we can come to you and that we can return to you. Thank you for your grace. Pour it out on these. May we treasure your word, may we obey your word in Jesus' name, amen.