So good to know the truth of the omnipresence of God. It's a great comfort, it has been a great comfort to believers down through the centuries to know that even in the darkest of times God is there and with us if we know him. Let's turn in our Bibles this morning please to Exodus and chapter 10. The book of Exodus and chapter 10 we're continuing on the theme Plagues that Preach and we've entitled it, given it that title because we want to not only study the plagues but we want to learn the lessons that they teach us as we go along. so these are plagues that preach, they preach a message, there are powerful lessons to be learned in our study of the plagues in Egypt. Let's read Exodus chapter 10 as we have recorded for us now the details of the eighth and ninth plague, we're getting towards the end of our study of the plagues and then God willing in our next lesson we'll be studying the tenth and final plague and the Passover. probably the most famous of the plagues as it points so beautifully to the Lord Jesus Christ as our Passover lamb. Exodus chapter 10 reading from verse 1 to 29, the Bible reads, And that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them, that ye may know how that I am the Lord.' I think God's trying to demonstrate who he is, isn't he, through these plagues. Moses and Aaron came in under Pharaoh and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? Let my people go. Why? that they may serve me. Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow will I bring the locusts into thy coast, and they shall cover the face of the earth, that one cannot be able to see the earth, and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field. And they shall fill thy houses, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians, which neither thy fathers nor thy fathers' fathers have seen since the day that they were upon the earth unto this day. And he turned himself and went out from Pharaoh. And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Knowest thou not how that Egypt is destroyed? Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh, and he said unto them, Go, serve the Lord your God, but who are they that shall go? Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go, for we must hold a feast unto the Lord. And he said unto them, Let the Lord be so with you, this is Pharaoh speaking, as I will let you go, and your little ones. Look to it, for evil is before you. Not so! Go now ye that are men, and serve the Lord, for that ye did desire, and they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence. The Lord said unto Moses, stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left. Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night, and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. The locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and rested in all the coasts of Egypt. Very grievous were they, before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such. For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened. 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. Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste, and he said, I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin, only this once, and entreat the Lord your God that he may take away from me this death only. And he went out from Pharaoh and entreated the Lord. And the Lord turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red Sea. There remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go. And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days, but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. Pharaoh called unto Moses and said, Go ye, serve the Lord, only let your flocks and your herds be stayed, let your little ones also go with you. Moses said, Thou must give us also sacrifices and burnt offerings that we may sacrifice unto the Lord our God. Our cattle also shall go with us, there shall not an hoof be left behind, for thereof must we take to serve the Lord our God, and we know not with what we must serve the Lord until we come hither. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go. And Pharaoh said unto him, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more. For in that day thou seest my face, thou shalt die. And Moses said, Thou hast spoken well, I will see thy face again no more. Let's pray and ask the Lord's help this morning. Gracious God and Heavenly Father we thank you that we've been able to read the eternal word of the living God. We pray now for your help, we pray for grace and for strength to be able to proclaim your word this morning and that father your word might meet the needs and we thank you that your word is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword and so we pray that by the working of your spirit that power might be unleashed in our hearts this morning. Lord as we simply go line by line and verse by verse through this chapter may the truth of your word be imprinted upon our hearts we pray in Jesus name Amen well we've studied a seven plagues so far the first plague was the plague where the Nile River was turned into blood the Egyptians believe the Nile River was a god and as we have been studying in each of these plagues, God is really dismantling Egypt's religious system and exposing the false gods of Egypt. Then we looked at the second plague, the plague of frogs, and then the third plague, the plague of lice, and then the fourth plague, the plague of flies, then the fifth plague, which was against the livestock, the plague of muraine, then the plague of boils and then number seven the plague of hail and so those are the plagues we've studied so far and now in chapter 10 we have a the 8th and 9th plague recorded for us. So let's look at these. We have firstly there the plague of locusts in verses 1 to 20. The plague of locusts. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, verse 1, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I might show these my signs before him. And so I want you to notice in verse 1 to 2 what I would call the purpose of the plague. And so often when God is about to pour out one of these plagues, he first reveals something of his purpose. He reveals his mind and his grand design and his sovereign will behind what he is doing. so here in in chapter 10 we have a further revelation of what God is doing in the plagues and you'll notice that there are three that statements and God is is revealing his purposes here. And we can see, therefore, that God was working in order to do several things. Number one, to multiply God's signs, or his signs, before Pharaoh. So what is God doing? Or should we say, why is God doing what he is doing? Well, the first reason here that God gives was that he might multiply his signs before Pharaoh. That, I might show these my signs before him. Don't forget that Pharaoh believed that he was God. he believed he was really a false messiah of sorts, we'll talk a bit more about that later, and so God is demonstrating to Pharaoh, this powerful leader, that he is not God, that he is not the most powerful being in the universe, but rather God Almighty is the one and true God. But then I want you to notice a second purpose is revealed by God here. And that was that God was demonstrating these signs and multiplying these signs to minister to the next generation. And this is very, very important. So why is God doing what he's doing? What is his purpose? Well, his purpose is to multiply his signs before Pharaoh, but also to minister to the next generation that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son and of thy son's son what things I have wrought in Egypt. Do you see here the heart of Almighty God that God was very concerned that the knowledge of God be passed on to the next generation? And that is partly why God is doing, this is one of the reasons why God was multiplying his signs in Egypt, it was so then the children of Israel might be able to pass on the knowledge of God to their children and to their children's children, their grandchildren, that the faith might be transmitted to the next generation that the current generation that was living at that time might be able to tell their children and grandchildren something of the wonder-working power of their God. You know it's so important, isn't it, that we take to heart the principle here of passing on the truth to the next generation. It's very important that as parents, and not just parents, but as grandparents, we be concerned that the children in our family line and the grandchildren in our family line hear the Word of God and have us pass on the truth of who God is and what God has done. Of course, implied in all of this is the responsibility of both parents and grandparents to seek to pass on the knowledge of God. And we have, if we're saved, experienced something of God's power. You know, that's what my heart's desire is, my heart's desire and prayer for this church is that we might see God's power at work so that we can see souls saved? Yes, absolutely. So that we can see the needs met? Yes, absolutely. But may I tell you, I'm also concerned that we see the power of God demonstrated in our generation that we might tell our children. that our children might grow up in a church where they see God's hand at work, that we might be able to tell them of the wonders of God and of what God has done. It's so important that we know something of who God is and of what God has done and then pass that on to the next generation. Are you taking that responsibility seriously as a parent? Are you taking on that responsibility seriously as a grandparent as far as you are able with God's help and with the limitations that you may or may not have there to pass on the truth of who God is? Thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son and of thy son's son what things I have wrought in Egypt. You know the Exodus was really Israel's salvation story wasn't it? It formed such a critical part of the history of the nation, the development of the nation. The Exodus story was Israel's salvation story. It told the people of God where they had come from out of Egyptian bondage. It told them where they were going, the promised land. It told them what their purpose was and it revealed who God was, His greatness and His power. In like manner, the salvation message that we teach and preach, the salvation that we have experienced tells us where we came from. It tells us we came out of the bondage of sin and of Satan, we've been set free. The salvation message that we hold to teaches us where we're going by the grace of God, the victorious Christian life and ultimately to heaven itself there. The salvation story, the salvation message that we preach demonstrates who God is, His mercy and His power and His love. And so that was a very important purpose. in this plague to minister to the next generation. We're reminded in Deuteronomy 6 verses 4 through 7 of the parents' responsibility to seek to diligently teach the children the Word of God. Deuteronomy 6, 4 through 7 reads, Do you see how before God addresses teaching the children, He deals with the parents' heart? The Word of God needs to be in your heart. You've got to love God with all of your being. There must be a passion for God and a passion for the Word of God in the heart of the parent before the parent can ever seek to pass anything on to the children. You know your children are not going to receive much from you as far as instruction if you are not first a lover of God's Word. and it goes on... you see the word saturated home here, God desire is for the faith, for the knowledge of God to be transmitted to the next generation and I'm just saying we need to take our responsibility seriously today as parents to seek to pass on the faith to these precious children coming up in our church. By the way, it would be very sad, wouldn't it, if we spent a lot of time trying to reach the world and lose our own children. In fact, it would be sad, wouldn't it, if we are so consumed with reaching everybody out there, we forget the precious little ones in here. Now, I'm not pitting one against another, we need to reach the people out there, but let's not forget the little ones in here that God has entrusted to our care, that we might teach them that God is real, that we might teach them of this all-powerful, almighty, loving God who has demonstrated himself, whose word is true. There's a third purpose here. God says that ye may know how that I am the Lord. So, what was God's purpose in the plagues? Well, number one, to multiply his signs before Pharaoh, that Pharaoh would know that he is God. Number two, to minister to the next generation, that the next generation might be taught of the wonders of God and who he is. And number three, to magnify himself before Israel, that ye may know how that I am the Lord. So we can see what God is doing here. God is working, that Egypt might know that he is God. that the world might know that He is God and that His own people might know that He is God. You know, we need to be reminded at times, don't we, that our God is God, that our God is still God, that He has not changed, that His power has not changed, no matter what we are facing, our God is still on the throne. So that's the purpose of the plague. Then look, number two, at the prophecy of the plague. Moses and Aaron came in under Pharaoh, verse 3, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me. You know, you see that phrase coming through again and again and again? Just don't forget, as you read that over and over, that we see God's purpose in delivering the sinner. Let my people go, why? That they may what? Serve me. Why did God set you free? so that you might serve Him. We forget the second part, don't we? Praise God, Jesus set me free. Amen, He did. But He set you free so that you could serve Him, not live the rest of your life doing your thing, your way. And so Moses and Aaron come before Pharaoh here and they challenge him with this question here in verse 3, Do you see how Moses and Aaron really get to the heart of the whole issue here with Pharaoh? Pharaoh's pride was what was stopping him from submitting to the one true God. You know that's really the crux of the issue when it comes to you and God. the matter of your salvation, whether you're going to really believe on Jesus Christ or not, guess what it's really going to come down to at the end? Whether you're willing to humble yourself. Do you know what keeps most people from becoming Christians? Pride. Do you know why? Because the message of the Bible tells us, all have sinned. Romans 3.23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Now, that takes humility to accept that, that I am a sinner. Romans 3.10, as it is written, there is none good, no, not one. It's the complete opposite, by the way, to what the world says, isn't it? What does the world say? You're a good person. You make a few mistakes, but you're a good person. And that's, you know, no, no, no, the Bible says you're not a good person. You are a sinner. Now, I'm not saying you don't have value. The Bible doesn't say you're a worthless piece of trash. No, we are fearfully and wonderfully made and if you want to know how much God loves you and how much God values you, look at the cross and see the Son of God dying for you. That tells you that you're worth something. So when we talk about the sinfulness of man, we're not saying that you are worthless. No, not at all. You are very valuable to God. But we have to understand that sin entered the world through our first parents there, Adam and Eve, when they sinned in the garden and disobeyed God. And that sin nature has been passed down to us so that according to God's definition of good, we are not good. All you have to do is just run your eye down the Ten Commandments and see that we've lied, that we've stolen, that we've dishonoured our parents, that we failed to put God first, that we are adulterers at heart and the list just goes on there, we are covetous people and you see that we are not good, that we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. It takes humility to say those three words, I have sinned. You know, it also takes humility to accept God's offer of salvation. Isn't that amazing that God actually offers you forgiveness? Isn't it amazing that God offers you eternal life as a free gift? There's nothing you have to do, in fact the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 and 9, for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Romans 6.23, for the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Did you know it takes humility though to recognise that there's nothing you can do to earn God's favour? Do you realize it takes humility to recognize that there's nothing you can do to earn your way to heaven? That no amount of good works or good deeds will pay off your sin debt, that you have to come and kneel in humility and in repentance before God. You've got to come to the foot of a bloodstained cross where Jesus suffered for you and bled for you and died for you and say, God, be merciful to me, a sinner, believing that he died for you, that he was buried and that he rose again. You say, that just sounds so simple. Your pride is going to be your biggest barrier to accepting that message. But humility is the only way you ever receive eternal life and God's gift of salvation. You've got to come, Lord, there's nothing I can do. I am a sinner. So that was the crux of the issue here. As it relates to Pharaoh, his problem was his pride. How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? That's the voice of God speaking through his servant. I wonder if God might ask you that same question this morning. How long is it going to take for you to humble yourself before me? By the way, that might be a good question for some Christians to ask themselves too. God's been dealing with you again and again and again over something and God says to you that we're how long is it going to be until you humble yourself before me hmm Spurgeon writes forget Pharaoh and only think of yourself Let the Lord Jesus Christ himself with a thorn crowned head and the pierced hand stand by your pew and looking right down into your soul say in his matchless tone of music, the music of the heart of love, how long will thou refuse to humble thyself before me. Prophecy of the plague, we note the admonition to Pharaoh there. description of the play, look at how it's described, again it hasn't been poured out yet but it is described prophetically here, it's going to happen... So here's the prophecy. Pharaoh, if you don't humble yourself, if you don't repent, here's what's coming. locust plague that would be so numerous that you would not be able to see the ground. They would so blanket the ground you would not be able to see the dirt. And they would strip Egypt bare of any vegetation that was left. Now remember the previous plague, the plague of hail, had caused widespread devastation to the crops in Egypt and smashed the trees. Remember that? Those massive hail stones coming down, mingled with fire, the fire running along the ground. So Egypt was already in a terrible state. But now the locusts would come and completely strip the land of everything that was left. Scientists report that apparently a locust can eat its body weight every day in vegetation. You say, well, that doesn't sound very much for a little cricket-sized sort of creature. Well, when you consider the fact that a full-scale swarm covers several hundred square miles with between 100 and 200 million locusts per mile, it's like a giant vacuum cleaner. In fact, as one writer puts it, the locust is perhaps nature's most awesome example of the collective destructive power of a species. An adult locust weighs at a maximum two grams and its combined destructive force can leave thousands of people with famine for years. Some countries still struggle with these locust plagues. it's an awesome thing but here this is going to be on another level, it's going to be unprecedented in Egypt's history, the Bible's very clear, it would be unlike anything seen before and it would be like nothing ever seen in the future as far as Egypt is concerned. Verse 14 indicates that as well. Now, Egypt they worshipped a number of gods associated with crops and harvest, one of those gods was Min and they held an annual harvest festival and it's interesting, this harvest festival where they normally worshipped Min may have coincided with the plague, just a possibility. The Egyptians also worshipped Isis, the goddess of life, who prepared flax for clothing, and Nepri, the god of grain, Anubis, the guardian of the fields, and Sennachem, the divine protector against pests. Well, he failed with his pest control on that occasion. Even Brenton Wiedenhoff wouldn't have been able to sort that plague out, okay, with all his chemicals. almost okay all right so we have the prophecy of the plague so God is warning as is often the case doesn't do it with every plague but he's warning Pharaoh ahead of time of what is going to happen But notice now, number three, the proposition before the plague. And we have here in verse 7 to 11 what really amounts to a third offer of compromise. You remember we looked at the first two offers of compromise from Pharaoh in a previous message, and how Pharaoh would say, yes, I'll let you go, but... and there was some T's and C's that would apply. Well, what I want us to do is just review those first couple of compromises, just briefly, offers of compromise, and then we'll look at this one, there's a third and a fourth in the chapter here, just while we're dealing with this. So look at verse 7 through 11 there. And so, sorry, Abraham. Moses and Aaron have left Pharaoh's presence and after they leave the royal court, the servants of Pharaoh say, they try and talk some reason into him, which took some courage because Pharaoh had the power of life and death over them, they're looking around thinking, this guy's, they're thinking, this Pharaoh's lost his marbles, you know, can't you see Egypt is destroyed? And they try and reason with Pharaoh and say, just let them go! I mean, can't you see that Egypt is destroyed? And so because of that, Pharaoh then summons Moses and Aaron back into his presence for a second audience. Verse 8, and Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh, and he said unto them, go, serve the Lord your God, but who are they that shall go? You see again and again, Pharaoh is just so reluctant to let the people go in their entirety. The one thing that Pharaoh cannot come to terms with is the total separation of all the people of God and all that they own from Egypt and Egypt's system. And Moses said, It's almost like you can see the sick grin on his face there, it's like he's just speaking sarcastically and your little ones... Go now ye that are men and serve the Lord for that ye did desire and they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence. So we'll deal with this in a moment, but let's just quickly recap and remember the first two compromise offers. The first compromise offer was stay in Egypt and sacrifice to God in the land. Remember that? That was the first attempt. Exodus chapter 8, 25 to 70 says, look, you can just sacrifice and serve God right here in Egypt. In fact, you could just put your God alongside all of our other gods and we could have a wonderful ecumenical service here. we don't need to divide and we don't need to separate like that, I mean that's a dirty word that is, why do you have to leave Egypt? You can stay here and you can worship God with us and we'll get the palace band to play for your worship service. That's still the devil's tactic isn't it? You can worship God but just join hands with everybody else, just stay here, that's the ecumenical offer. Boy Satan's using that today isn't he? Then the second one, you can leave but just don't go too far away. Oh that's still the message of the devil today isn't it, to the Christian? Yeah you can leave, I mean if you really must leave Egypt, go but don't go too far away, stay close by! And of course, what that means is if you stay close by, you're within the sphere of Egypt's influence. It's so easy for Pharaoh and for Egypt to exert its control over you. You see the picture here. Egypt is always a picture of the world in the Bible, and therefore Pharaoh is a fitting picture of the devil who seeks to control people. You see the Satan's tactics here in Pharaoh's behavior, and that is what Satan will try and do. If he can't stop you getting saved, he'll try and stop you from being a separated believer. Just stay near the world. Don't get too far away from the world. Stay close to the world. Compromise with the world. Do you know that unfortunately today most of Christianity so-called is a stay near kind of Christianity? In fact, here's the startling thing, it's even preached as if it's the grace of God to do so. I'm serious! Oh, you know, should I have a glass of liquor as a Christian? Of course! That's your liberty in Christ! Really? Could you show me one verse in the Bible that says that the emblem of our liberty in Christ is a glass of red, a glass of wine, when the Bible says, look not upon the wine when it is red. When it says, wine is a mocker and strong drink is raging, whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. You say, why do you pick on alcohol again? Because I'm so sick and tired of latest in Christianity telling us that liberty in Christ means you can have a beer. No, you can have the Bible, but no beer. the sad reality is today is many churches and many Christians have believed the lie of the devil that they can leave Egypt at the same time stay near to Egypt they can still be near the world and participate in the world with its its amusements and with his wickedness that folks is not the kind of Christianity that God intends for us Now we come to this third offer which we find in the chapter before us. In the chapter before us, the men can go, just leave your children behind. You can go and serve God, but leave your children here with me in Egypt. You say, how does that picture the devil? I tell you what, I see it happening all the time. Parents that call themselves Christians but they leave their children to the devil to raise. They leave their children in the world, under the world's influence, under its spell and its pressures. How many Christian parents are doing that today? They're following God so-called all the while, their kids are back there on Instaglyphs, an Egypt book, drowning under Pharaoh's influence. Or today you've got Christian parents who place their children in Egypt's institutions to raise. I've gotten into a lot of trouble for preaching on that before but I'll just repeat that. There are a lot of Christians today that give their children to Egypt to raise. Just be careful and don't be surprised if you give your children to Egypt to raise if they don't come out Egyptians. It's happening. Mum and Dad, so-called serving God, following God. Where are the kids in Egypt? Why did Pharaoh want them there? Well, he can train them there. He can turn them out the way he wants them. You can go, but let me have the next generation. Oh, isn't that Satan's desire? He wants our children. If he can't get us, he's going to try and get our children. He wants to destroy the next generation. And we're going to have to have some parents who take it seriously and realise that the devil is after our kids. Absolutely the devil is after the children today. Look at what is happening in the world today with the transgender agenda and all these things going on. It's all calculated to destroy the next generation. You better be careful about leaving your children back in Egypt. You better be careful about letting Egypt's television raise your children. You know, Sometimes the problem is, in theory, parents want their children to follow the law, but in practice, they leave them under Egypt's direct influence. You better think carefully about what you do with those prime formative years of your child's life. By the time your child reaches five, that child will know about 50% of its vocabulary for its entire life. And you have just a tiny window of opportunity, really. When you think about it, Kate and I have been talking about this a lot lately, because we feel run off our feet, but we're like, you know what, we need to treasure these times because really we just have a very narrow window of opportunity. We've just got one shot in the life of our children and it's over, in a sense. I mean, we trust we can be an ongoing source of blessing in the lives of our adult children, but as far as their training time, it's just so short. And you're going to hand that training time to someone who probably doesn't know Christ, definitely doesn't love your children like you do. Just a thought, go through the Bible, what I see in the Bible is that the parents are supposed to be the primary educators of their children. We'll just go and check it before you yell at me please, go and check it for yourself, read the Bible and fathers are to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Deuteronomy 6, you see there, a home where the Word of God is central. Show me where the Bible says it's the government's role to raise your children. Show me where it says that it's the government's role to train them. Hmm? Do you know, even when it comes to the history of schooling in Australia, did you know that most of the education used to be done by the church? Until gradually, bit by bit, it was handed over to the state. Oh good, well what I'll do is I'll send them to a Christian school. Yeah the problem is that Christian schools, one of those near Egypt kind of institutions today, there's very few Christian schools, there are some by the way, but there's very few Christian schools that actually are truly separated and going to teach your children the right thing. Maybe some of these that are run by local churches, there's not many here in our country, okay I've heard of a few but very few, most Christian schools just give the world repackaged. a few Bible verses, in some ways I think they might be even more dangerous than the public schools because they basically tell your kids well you can be a Christian too and you can watch that dirty movie like we do and you can listen to that junky music like we do and you can have the world and Christ... no you can't! So he's at a rule at Northside Baptist Church Is it a rule that you can't come unless you homeschool? No. Just in case you've heard that, okay? But I make no apologies for encouraging you to think very seriously and I have no problems encouraging from the Word of God about what your role is as a parent. Ultimately what you do is between you and the Lord. We're not going to chase you out of here if you choose to educate your children some other way but I'll continue to challenge you about putting your children in Egypt's institutions. Pharaoh to train. By the way, why do you think, I think there's another tactic here or another aspect of this, you see if the children got left in Egypt, I think Pharaoh knew that it would only be a matter of time before the parents would probably get dragged back into Egypt... after all me little kiddies are there! You know how many parents today end up leaving the separated walk? Because why? Because little Johnny's in Egypt and I need to go and join him. By the way, and I sympathize with you if your heart's breaking this morning because you have a child who's in Egypt in the sense of just wrapped up in the world, the worst thing you can do is go back and join them, you'll never help them. If Abraham had joined Lot in Sodom, they would have both been captured by those, was it four or five kings? And they both probably would have disappeared from history. It took the separated man of faith to intervene on the behalf of the carnal, broken man Lot. If Abraham hadn't stayed separated, he would have been of no use to worldly Lot. There's another offer that comes up in this chapter and while we're dealing with this theme we might as well just jump down and look at that here, look at verse 24 to 26, we see that he also offered... the offer was made, sorry, that everyone could go but just leave your resources behind. Pharaoh called unto Moses, verse 24, and said, Go ye, sir, the Lord, only let your flocks and your herds be stayed. your little ones also go with you. So he's moved the goalpost now, sure you can go with your family, just make sure your time, talents and treasures stay invested here. Just make sure your resources are all invested in Egypt. Can you see the devil there? In fact the devil will tolerate you following the Lord just as long as All that you have is not really at the Lord's disposal. Just as long as all that you own is all wrapped up for Egypt and not available for the Lord to take and use. See how it went quiet? And Moses said, Thou must give us also sacrifices and burnt offerings that we may sacrifice unto the Lord our God. Our cattle also shall go with us. I love this statement here. There shall not an hoof be left behind. Not one hoof! Hoof, hoof, however you like to say it. For thereof must we take to serve the Lord our God, and we know not with what we must serve the Lord until we come hither. Do you know what he's saying? Pharaoh, everything we own needs to be available for the Lord to use. And until we get out there, until we take that step of faith and leave Egypt, we're not going to know exactly everything that God wants to take from us and use. There's an important principle there, isn't there? You know, you have to obey God and step out in faith, then God will show you the rest of His will later. God will reveal the details later. But the point is, He said we're going out of Egypt and everything that we are and everything that we have is going to be for our God if God wants to take one of our lambs or whatever we own and He wants us to yield it to Him in service, then it's for Him. You know, that should be our attitude, that everything we are and everything that we own is at the Lord's disposal. So are you saying it's a sin past this morning to earn a living? Are you saying it's a sin to have a car and a house? No, just make sure you remember that car belongs to the Lord though and the Lord may ask you to use it for Him. You know some Christians will never pick up another person for church because, oh, might mess up my seats, my leather seats. Well, let them get stunk up for the Lord if you have to. Not trying to be rude there but you pick up some little street kid or something bring them to Sunday school? Do you see the attitude here? But again I see the devil's ploy here, sure you serve God but just keep everything invested here in Egypt. Some Christians are like that, they're just... their time, their talents and their treasure are all bound up in the world. It's not available for the Lord to use. Are your finances at the Lord's disposal? It's not a sin to have some money in your account, but what if the Holy Spirit comes and says, tap, tap, tap, the missionaries here at the moment, you need to give them $500. That's not a word of prophecy for Emmanuel back there, but I'm just saying, what if the Lord says, I want you to take some of that and use it for my work? You see, that's the attitude. Moses said, no, no, no, when we leave Egypt, we're taking everything with us because the Lord might need it. And the Lord might want to use it. That's a great attitude to have as a Christian. You know that house of yours? It's actually for the Lord. And it's to raise your family, yes, but it's not about you building yourself some little pristine castle that no one can ever enter. No, I'm serious. Only a small percentage of the average church like this is really hospitable, to be honest with you. Pastor preaches on hospitality and hospitable people get more hospitable while the others still keep riding along for free. Some Christians' homes are like that, it's my little piece of paradise down here on earth. Actually, it wouldn't hurt for you to open the front door and let another believer in and offer them a cup of tea occasionally. Wouldn't hurt for you to have that family over that's going through a trial and feed them a meal and encourage them over the table there. I'm just saying, this is the attitude. We're leaving Egypt and everything that we own, it's there for the Lord's service. The devil's going to try and have it so that you just keep all your treasure in Egypt. And by the way, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Can you see the tactic there? Pharaoh knew if all of their investment was in Egypt, guess what? They're going to be drawn back to Egypt. You know I've seen that, Christians that go for a time and they really don't invest their time, treasure and talents in the Lord's work. eventually, usually, end up being drawn like a magnet back to Egypt. Why? Because that's where their heart is. telling you, I'm not just saying stuff for the sake of it, I've seen it, where Christians in theory, yes we belong to Jesus, yes we want to serve the Lord, but in practice their time, their treasure and their talents are all bound up in the world and the world system and none of it is available for the Lord to use, guess what happens? They end up worldly Christians. John Butler writes, No, I don't believe in tithing. Of course you don't. That's a convenient thing to believe in, isn't it? Or not believe in. don't believe entirely, it's for the Old Testament. Well good, you're a New Testament Christian? Yes I am! Good, in the New Testament more is required not less under grace. So thanks for that reminder. Butler goes on, Moses' attitude was that everything must be available for the Lord to use if he deemed it necessary. The phrase, until we come thither, also indicated that the will of God regarding Israel's service would be revealed when they got in the wilderness. God had revealed to Israel that they must go into the wilderness to worship. Once they did that, they would then be further instructed as to what they were to do. This is the usual way God works. If you want to know more of God's will, you have to first take a step of faith in obedience to what He has already revealed, once you do that, He will reveal more of His will. Now, I want you to see there's a common theme in all of these compromise offers, in all of these compromise attempts, they all have one common theme, it was this, avoid complete and total separation from Egypt. That's the bottom line. Just avoid being totally separated from Egypt, that's what Pharaoh was trying to get them to do. That's exactly what the devil tries to get Christians to do, so that if he can't, if you're saved, he can't steal your soul but he's going to try and destroy your usability for the Lord by luring you into a compromise deal. Watch out for the devil's deals. Because guess what? You do a deal with the devil, you're coming out on the wrong end of that deal. One hundred percent. C.H. Magandos writes, He would seek to keep their ability to serve, which would answer much the same end. If he could not induce them to sacrifice in the land, he would send them out of the land without sacrifices. Look now at the pouring out of the plague. All right, so Pharaoh refuses God and the Lord said unto Moses verse 12 stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts that they may come up upon the land of Egypt and eat every herb of the land even all that the hail hath left. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the land of Egypt. And the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night. And when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and rested in all the coasts of Egypt. Very grievous were they. Before them there were no such locusts as they. Neither after them shall be such. And so God did exactly as he said he would. He used a strong east wind that blew all that day and all that night to bring the locusts, apparently east winds are not so common in Egypt so that would indicate to people this is something unusual, something that God is doing, okay? And it blew there for all that day, as I said, all night and then the locusts came and the severity of the plague was exactly as God had said. Well, what does Pharaoh do? Well, in verse 16 through 20 he summons Moses and Aaron in haste and gives another one of his superficial confessions. He says, And so Pharaoh offers here another hurried confession. It's a little more explicit than the last confession but at its heart there was no real repentance. What we see in Pharaoh's confession is a man who was remorseful over the consequences, not repentant over his sins. Do you understand there's a difference? it shows that someone can confess, it can even sound good, he says I've sinned against the Lord and against you, forgive my sin, this one's... right? You know it's possible for someone to say I am a sinner and yet not get saved? He said I thought you said earlier you need to say I'm a sinner, you do but it must come from a repentant heart. There are some people out there today who are just sorry about the consequences, I'm sorry about the fruit of my lifestyle, and the fruit of my sin, and I just want God to fix the brokenness in my life, but you must understand that brokenness comes from your sinfulness. And if you want God to deal with the fruit, you must get God to deal with the root. You must understand that you are a sinner and that sin and suffering has entered the world because of our first parents disobedience, sorry, Romans 5, 12, wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all had sin. You see the heart is important. Romans 10, 9 and 10, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, believe in thine heart and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved for with the heart men believe with under righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.' Do you see the heart emphasised there? Yes, you need to confess to God that you are a sinner and that you need His salvation, you need Him to save you from your sin, but that confession must come from a repentant believing heart, a heart that is truly sorry for sin and a heart that believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, a heart that believes that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on the cross for sin, was buried and rose again. If you'll confess from that kind of heart, then you'll be saved. Well, we come then to the plague of darkness, verse 21 to 29, and this one won't take us probably so long... So God, by the way, God brought that plague to an end. He used a west wind, so the east wind brought the locusts, and then God sent a west wind to throw the locusts into the Red Sea, and not one was left in the land of Egypt. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart that he would not let the children of Israel go. Verse 20. Now, God gives another plague and as we've seen the pattern, no warning now. So warning to Pharaoh, warning not heeded, plague poured out, now another plague without warning. Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. Look at the description of this plague here. Look at the description of the plague. This was a plague where Egypt was blanketed in a thick darkness. was a supernatural darkness, this was not a natural event, it was not an eclipse, nor was it as some commentators say, some kind of sandstorm, okay. This was a supernatural act of God and you need to understand that the principal deity, so the Egyptians worshipped many false gods but if they had a like a main god, it was the Sun God called Amon-Ra or Ra. In fact, they believe that Pharaoh was Ra incarnate. The devil's good at coming up with Messiah stories that are false, isn't he? Kind of sound like the real thing but they're not. Okay, so you have Ra the Sun God and apparently Pharaoh was supposed to be the incarnation of Ra and I love what God does, he says, I'll show you who's God. Turn the light off. Just turn the lights out for three days. But it was clearly a supernatural darkness because it was a darkness that could be felt. And so dark was Egypt that they couldn't even move or leave their places. They stayed where they were for three days, verse 23. So it was a supernatural darkness. As I mentioned, in that plague, Jehovah showed his power over Ra, the sun god. because God is the creator of the sun. God created all these things, it's sad isn't it how often people worship the creation instead of the creator. It was also a segregated darkness because the Bible tells us that the children of Israel had light in their dwellings so God again draws a clear distinction between the Egyptians and the Hebrews. So get the picture here, in Egypt you've got the Egyptians under a thick cloud of darkness, darkness that can be felt, they can't even, they can't go about the normal activities of life, they just had to stay where they were, in fact it would seem that no light was possible. I know the picture showed people with torches and things but if they couldn't even get up and walk around, I submit to you that it was a kind of darkness that would not allow any other light, even man-made light. over here in Goshen, the people are enjoying life in the light. You know, I don't know about you, but I see a bit of a symbol there, it's symbolic darkness. Don't we see there a picture, Egypt pictures the world, don't we see a picture there of the world without Christ? people think, they're deceived into thinking they have life in the darkness. Do you know there's no life in the darkness? There was no life in the darkness here and the darkness was really representative of Egypt's moral and spiritual darkness there but here you have the people of God walking in the light, knowing the light of enjoying life in the light. Isn't that the... don't you see the contrast there between the people of the world who know not the truth and the people of God who know the truth? Isn't it wonderful to be in the light and to know true life in the light? If you would know true life, you must come to Jesus Christ who is the light and lead the kingdom of darkness. come through Christ, the kingdom of light. The Bible says in John 1.9, that was the true light, referring to Jesus Christ, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. John 8 verse 12, then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. You need to come to Christ, who is the light. If you would know true light and true life in that light, you need to come to Jesus Christ and be careful of all the false lights the devil promises. There's a lot of talk out there in the New Age about light, but they're false lights designed to lure you into destruction. they're the devil's lights, Jesus is the only true light. Colossians 1 13, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. You see the picture here, without Christ you are in spiritual darkness and spiritual bondage and what you need is to be rescued and taken by Christ out of the kingdom of taken by God of the kingdom of darkness which is the devil's kingdom and be transferred into the kingdom of light, the kingdom of God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. there are some negotiations after plague and we won't recap on that because we just studied that before when we looked at the compromise offers of Pharaoh and then the conclusion of the plague we see that God hardens Pharaoh's heart again verse 27 but the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he would not let them go and then Pharaoh threatens Moses and says get thee from me take heed to thyself see my face no more For in that day thou seest my face, thou shalt die, and Moses said, Thou hast spoken well, I will see thy face again no more. So, the plague of locusts and the plague of darkness. I'm going to ask you a question this morning, where are you going to spend eternity? Do you belong to the kingdom of darkness or the kingdom of light? Have you come to know Christ, the true light? And are you willing to truly humble yourself and repent? Because without that, except you repent, Jesus said, you shall all likewise perish. You say, well I've already done that, I'm a Christian, I've repented, I've received Christ as my saviour. Could I ask you a question as a Christian then? Where are you in relation to the world? Are you a Christian this morning who's falling for Satan's compromise offers? the devil's deal that seems to offer you both Christ and the world maybe you've already fallen for it you find yourself in that position aren't you thankful this morning if you're saved that God is a God of restoration who can bring you out of that what about Everything you are and everything you own. Is your attitude like that of Moses? Not one hoof will be left behind. Not one thing in my life will be kept from the Lord. Everything I am and everything I have is at his disposal. Let's bow for prayer, shall we? Let's have every head bowed, every eye closed. Are you saved? Do you know Jesus Christ as your Saviour? You're going to need to humble yourself and recognize that there's nothing that you can do to save yourself, that only Jesus Christ has the power to save you. Only Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is the light, has the power to set you free. Would there be anyone this morning who would just say, by raising their hand, Pastor Simeon, please pray for me as you close the service. I need Jesus Christ in my life. I need that forgiveness you spoke about. I need that rescue from darkness that you spoke about this morning. If you just raise your hand, I'm not going to call you out. I'm not asking you to join the church. No one's looking around. It's just between you, the Lord, and myself. I'll pray for you. And then after the service, I'd love to take God's word and show you how you can be set free from sin, set free from the bondage of Satan through the power of the Lord Jesus Christ and his blood that was shed for you on the cross. Would there be anyone at all? Would you just raise your hand if that's you? Pastor, please pray for me. I need to receive Jesus Christ as my savior. I need that forgiveness of sins, that gift of eternal life you mentioned. Anyone at all, would you just raise your hand? Lord we pray that you would seal your word in our hearts and Lord for us as your children we pray Lord that we would be very alert to Satan's craftiness in trying to get us to compromise with the world. Lord, we pray that we would be truly separated from Egypt, from the world, with all of its wickedness. Lord, not living a life of isolation, but Lord, living a truly separated life in this world. Lord, that our speech might be different. our walk, Lord, the way we conduct ourselves, what we feed our minds upon, Lord, we pray. Help us with the next generation, we see your heart in this passage, Lord, that the next generation of children and grandchildren might know that you are God. Lord, we pray that you'd help us as parents, help grandparents too, to be a part of this important process, Lord, of seeking to transmit to the next generation the truth of who God is, of who you are, Lord, and the truth of salvation. Keep us, Lord, from foolishly placing our children into the world's hands to raise Lord but help us to raise our children for you and Lord as we seek to reach those outside for Christ we pray that we might also be able to reach our children for Christ to strengthen parents that end we pray in Jesus name I'm in