From His Heart

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Do you have a hard heart or one that is receptive and allows you to hear the truth and receive it? Here's Pastor Jeff Shreve.

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Hey. The word of God, when it goes out into your heart, what does it find? What does it hit? What kind of soil do you have? Is it hard? Pharaoh's heart was hard.

And God had to keep bringing more pressure and more pressure and more pressure. And the pressure comes from a good God. Why? Because God wants you to respond to him.

There is true, there is bless. There is hope that you always dream love. He can heal every scar from his heart.

Speaker 1

The ten plagues that God inflicted on Egypt were devastating and destructive, but they didn't come without a warning. Multiple warnings. To be more specific, this is from his heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve. Thank you for being with us today for the lesson that may sound ominous but is really meant as a tremendous blessing.

The message today is entitled "Here Come the Plagues" from Pastor Jeff's eight-message series, "Faithful and True," introducing the one and only God. This is a study of the book of Exodus, and there are many truths that we'll learn throughout this series. But today, Pastor Jeff shares what we can learn from the first three plagues that were inflicted upon Egypt and why God was so severe with this mighty nation.

You'll not want to miss any of these lessons this month, but if you do, go to fromhisheart.org. There too, you can listen to it again. Just click the listen tab. You can also receive the entire eight-message series as our thank you for your support in multiple formats. Just go online today for details.

Now, though, open your Bible to the seventh chapter of Exodus, because here come the plagues.

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Why does God deal so harshly with Egypt? Egypt was ripe for judgment. They were grossly idolatrous. They had gods on top of gods, brutal with their slavery, bloodthirsty in killing the baby boys. And you have the staff of God going up against the serpent of Egypt. See, Pharaoh is a picture of the devil because the devil is called in Revelation, chapter 12, the serpent of old, who is called the devil and Satan. And so you have this cosmic battle taking place in the spiritual realm as well as in the physical realm. God is giving an opportunity here. Hey, you see my power. Don't test me to see how strong I am. But he said, ah, magicians. We have the names of two of them from 2 Peter, chapter 3, Jannes and Jambres. Hey, see what you can do.

And so they did some kind of magical trick, whether it's black magic or some kind of sleight of hand. I don't know what it was. But the devil has power. He can cause fire to come down from heaven, as it says in Revelation, chapter 13. He has power to do certain things. And so with his magical arts, he made this staff into serpents. But Aaron's serpent ate theirs, to show that God is going to make mincemeat out of you. He's going to eat you up. But Pharaoh didn't respond. His heart was hardened. So God is going to bring the plagues. Here come the plagues. And they were increasingly intense plagues from God that followed. He has a merciful sign.

Then here come the plagues. Verse 14: Then the Lord said to Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is stubborn. He refuses to let the people go. Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he is going out to the water, and station yourself to meet him on the bank of the Nile. You shall take in your hand the staff that was turned into a serpent. You shall say to him, 'The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, "Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness." But behold, you have not listened until now. Thus says the Lord. Thus says Yahweh. By this you shall know that I am the Lord.' He says it again, 'That I am the Lord. Behold, I will strike the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it shall be turned into blood. The fish that are in the Nile will die, and the Nile will become foul. The Egyptians will find difficulty in drinking water from the Nile.'

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over the rivers, over the streams, and over their pools and over their reservoirs of water, that they may become blood. There shall be blood throughout the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone." So Moses and Aaron did even as the Lord had commanded. He lifted up the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants. All the water that was in the Nile was turned to blood. The fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile became foul, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. The blood was throughout all the land of Egypt. But the magicians of Egypt did the same with their secret arts. Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said. Then Pharaoh turned and went into his house, with no concern even for this.

So all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink of the water of the Nile. And seven days passed after the Lord had struck the Nile. First plague: water to blood. The Nile to blood. Now, the Egyptian God of the Nile was a god named Hapi (H-A-P-I). He was the one that was over the Nile. They called him Lord of the fish and birds of the marshes, Lord of the river, bringing vegetation. The Egyptians knew when the Nile would overflow its banks, it would leave behind sediment that made for really good soil. They would grow crops there and they would flourish. And so they worshiped Hapi. And God turns the Nile into blood.

Now, significant: Moses' first plague was water to blood. Jesus' first miracle in the New Testament was water to wine. Water to blood is gruesome; water to wine is gladsome. Moses was over the law. The law condemns us. The law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ. The law says you can't make it. The law says the soul that sins shall surely die, and all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So the law condemns us, and it is gruesome. It says there's death for you. But grace found in the Lord Jesus Christ says there's life in Jesus Christ. Very interesting about this first miracle. But it takes this god, Hapi, and just destroys him. The Lord of the fish and the birds of the marshes— I mean, all the fish die.

Now you have some liberal theologians that like to say, well, this wasn't really a miracle. This wasn't really a judgment from God. I mean, there were just some microbes in the water that made it look red. Oh, yeah, yeah, it makes a lot of sense just immediately like that. And then it killed all the fish. I mean, they have microbes in the water now, and the Nile doesn't turn red and it doesn't kill all the fish. No, this was from God. And it happened immediately when Aaron stretched the rod of God over the waters. But Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he didn't care about that. He had no concern over that.

Even in God's judgment, there's mercy because there are some fresh water sources that the Egyptians could dig around and get some water. Otherwise, they would have all died with no water to drink. But see, they were killing Hebrew baby boys in the Nile. And God says, okay, you're killing my people in the Nile. I'm going to turn your Nile to blood. Egyptians hated blood. That was an abomination to them. They didn't have blood sacrifices in Egypt. And God turns their whole water source into blood. That's the first plague.

Then you have the second plague, the plague of the frogs. Chapter eight: Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and say to him, 'Thus says the Lord, let my people go that they may serve me. But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite your whole territory with frogs. The Nile will swarm with frogs which come up and go into your house and into your bedroom and on your bed and into your houses of your servants and on your people and into your ovens and your kneading bowls. The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your servants.'"

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the streams, over the pools, and make frogs come up out of the land of Egypt." So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. The magicians did the same with their secret arts, making frogs come up on the land of Egypt. Egypt worshiped frogs. They had a special goddess named Heket (H-E-K-E-T or H-E-Q-E-T), sometimes spelled either way. She was the goddess of fertility and she had a frog face. They liked frogs. They said frogs show fertility.

And so God says, well, you like frogs? I got a whole warehouse full of frogs I'm gonna send to you. They're gonna come up all over you. You're gonna find them in your bed at night, you're gonna find them in your cabinets. They're just going to be everywhere. You're going to have a frog fest for a while here because I am bringing judgment upon you, and I'm going to crush this goddess Heket. And the Lord brought frogs.

Now, isn't it interesting? The magicians, they could bring frogs too. It's like, we don't have enough frogs. Pharaoh says, hey, magicians, can you make some more frogs? I mean, wouldn't it be better to say, hey, magicians, can you make the frogs go away? They couldn't do that, but they could make more frogs. The devil is a copycat. He just can do things that God can do. He can't do everything, obviously, that God can do, but he can do some things. And so they made frogs come up.

Pharaoh, it says in verse eight, then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, "Entreat the Lord, that he may remove the frogs from me and from my land. I will let the people go that they may sacrifice to the Lord." Plague number two. He's ready to let the people go. He didn't care anything; he had no concern when the Nile became blood. He's got concern now because his land is overrun with frogs. He says, "I'll let you go." But when the plague of the frogs ceases, when there's relief, he hardens his heart again.

Then you have plague number three: the plague of the gnats. Verse 16: Then the Lord said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth that it may become gnats throughout all the land of Egypt." And they did so. Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and there were gnats on man and beast. All the dust of the earth became gnats throughout all the land of Egypt. The magicians tried with their secret arts to bring forth gnats, but they could not. So there were gnats on man and beast.

Then the magician said to Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God." But Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said. Now the Egyptian god of the earth and the dust was Geb (G-E-B). So what does God do? He causes the dust to become gnats. Some versions say lice, but most theologians believe these are gnats. Now, two church fathers lived in Egypt, and these two church fathers, Philo and Origen, they said there were gnats in Egypt that were nasty little creatures. They would sting you and they would be painful and they would creep into your eyes and into your ears and into your nose. They called them biting midges. They called them sand gnats. They called them punkies. They called them no-see-ums because they're so small. The smallest ones are 1/25th of an inch. They called them flying teeth.

They would bite you and create a sore. They had gnats all over the land. The Egyptian musicians tried so hard, "Maybe we can make some more gnats." No, we can't make any more gnats, Pharaoh. This is the finger of God because we can't make any gnats. Plague number three is gnats. So we've had water to blood, we've had frogs, we've had gnats. And they're already saying, "This is the finger of God." And God is just warming up. He had a bunch more plagues getting ready to come down the pike. Egypt needed to know that the Lord alone is God.

So what do we learn from Egypt's sin and stubbornness? Because it's going to be seven more before Pharaoh finally breaks. What do we learn from the first three plagues? Number one: A hard heart will face increasing pressure from a good God. Pharaoh kept hardening his heart. Hey, I know when I preach on any given Sunday or Wednesday or any other time of the week that I might be preaching. Jesus told us there are different kinds of soil. There's hard soil, there's shallow soil, there's thorny soil, and then there's the good soil. The good soil, when the seed comes into the good soil, receives it, welcomes it, and produces a crop 30-fold, 60-fold, even 100-fold.

The seed that falls on the hard pan doesn't penetrate at all, and the birds of the heavens come and snatch it away. The birds of the heaven are pictures of the devil coming and snatching away the seed. Hey, the word of God, when it goes out into your heart, what does it find? What does it hit? What kind of soil do you have? Is it hard? Pharaoh's heart was hard. And God had to keep bringing more pressure and more pressure and more pressure. The pressure comes from a good God. Why? Because God wants you to respond to him.

Some of you watch MMA. In MMA, they have this thing, you know, MMA is basically we lock you in this place until you just beat the snot out of each other. You got some pretty skilled guys in hand-to-hand combat, and they can get you in different holds, an arm bar, a leg bar, some kind of bar that's about ready to break your bones. What are they trying to do? Get you to tap out. Tap out. If you don't tap out, I'm going to break your arm. Well, God just keeps applying pressure. How long before you tap out? Proverbs 29:1: A man who hardens his neck after much reproof will suddenly be broken beyond remedy. God puts us in situations where he says, will you yield to me?

Listen, mark it down: you're not going to beat God. He is God. He is bigger, he's stronger, he's better. His ways are right concerning everything. I'm going to shake my puny little fist in the face of God and say, "Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice?" He could incinerate me just like that. That's who the Lord is. A hard heart will face increasing pressure from a good God.

Secondly, when you see God at work in your heart, yield to him and follow through. Very interesting. I left these scriptures out on purpose, and I'll go through them very quickly. Exodus 8, verse 8: With the plague of the frogs, then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, "Entreat the Lord that he may remove the frogs from me and from my people. I will let the people go that they may sacrifice to the Lord." Moses said to Pharaoh, "The honor is yours when I shall entreat for you. Tell me when I shall entreat for you and your servants and your people that the frogs may be destroyed from you and your houses, that they may be left only in the Nile."

Then he said, "Tomorrow." So he said, "May it be according to your word that you may know that there is no one like the Lord, our God. The frogs will depart from you and your houses and your servants and your people. They will be left only in the Nile." Then Pharaoh, then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh. Moses cried to the Lord concerning the frogs which he had inflicted upon Pharaoh. The Lord did according to the word of Moses. The frogs died out of the houses, the courts, and the fields. They piled them in heaps, and the land became foul. But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

Hey, when God begins to work in your heart, and you know he's working in your heart, and you know your heart is hard, what do you do? Today, if you hear his voice, harden not your heart. Behold, today is the day of salvation. You respond to him, and isn't it amazing? The honor is yours. Moses said, "You tell me, Pharaoh, when you want me to pray to ask God to remove the frogs." And Pharaoh said, "Tomorrow." Tomorrow the honor is yours. You got frogs jumping all over your bed. The honor is yours. Not now. No, tomorrow. We'll just do it tomorrow and not today. We have one more night with the frogs. That's okay. One more night with the frogs.

Do you know that speaks to so many people? That's what we do with sin. We say, well, tomorrow I'll get right. Tomorrow I'll get rid of this. Tomorrow I'll make a change. Come now, the Lord says, Isaiah 1:18, "Come now and let us reason together." You don't have the promise of tomorrow. All you have is today. Many people come to church and they hear the call that God says, "Hey, it's time for you to come out of your sin and come to me." And they say, "I'll do it tomorrow." How many people might have said during the days of Noah when he was preaching and the ark was there and the door of the ark was open, "You know, I think I believe what Noah's saying. I'll come and get on the ark tomorrow." But then God closed the door of the ark, and the day of salvation was over. The day of grace was over. They didn't come. They were waiting on tomorrow, but tomorrow didn't come.

Come now. Do business with God now. Now is the acceptable time. Behold, today is the day of salvation. Listen, I don't know where you are in your relationship with God, but I'm speaking to two groups of people. One group: you're lost. You've never put your faith and trust in Jesus, and you're participating in sin. It's kind of like the prodigal son experience. "Hey, this is fun." You just wait. You know, the fish is nibbling on the worm that's connected to a hook, and it tastes pretty good until they set the hook, and then it's not so good. The prodigal son ran out of money, and he ends up at the pigsty. Life is terrible.

Hey, it's time for you to get right with God. You don't know what's gonna happen to you down the road. Now is the time. Not tomorrow. Now. So for the lost person, you need to come to Jesus today and give him your heart and life, and he'll save you and forgive you and give you a future and a hope. The second group of people: you're the Christian, and you're not walking with God. You know you're not walking with God. You know you got frogs in your life, but you think you can control the frogs. You think, I can handle this? You know, I know I'm drinking a little bit, but it's no big deal. You know, I'm kind of doing some things that aren't so good over here and aren't so good over there, and I'm flirting around with this person at the office, but I can control it. It's not that bad. I really haven't crossed a line yet.

You're getting ready to see frogs unleashed in your life. You're getting ready to step over a line. You don't even know it, but the devil is setting you up for a trap. And listen, today, if you hear his voice, respond to him. Harden not your heart. Respond to God. Get your life right with God. Listen, our world is going to hell in a handbasket. Do you not see that? We need to get right, and we need to stay right, and we need to call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised. We need to stand in the gap of the land because judgment is coming to this world just like it came to Egypt. It will come to America.

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Now this has truly been an important admonition today to take very seriously the warnings and convictions of God. Here's the big truth we should come away with: one day God's long suffering towards sinners will come to an end. No one knows when that day is, but I know that today is the day of opportunity to have your sins wiped away forever and become a child of God.

But you say, well, I've never come to know Christ. I've never put my faith and trust in Him. And if that's you, you've never bowed your heart in repentance and faith and asked Jesus to come into your heart and forgive you, then today is the day for you to say, "Jesus, have mercy on me, forgive my sin and save me. I repent of my sin and I want to live for you the rest of my life."

We pray that you will go to fromisheart.org and click the "Why Jesus" link on the homepage. There you'll learn what that means for today and for eternity for you, and you'll never regret it. Your life will have eternal impact and meaning for our loving Lord. Again, go to fromisheart.org and click the "Why Jesus" section.

If you've been a Christian for a long time and you've been listening to these broadcasts for a while and been blessed, then we'd like to ask you to help us this month by supporting this ministry financially. This month we'll say thank you for your gift of any amount by sending you the series "Faithful" and introducing the one and only eight messages in the format of your choice. Call 866-40-BIBLE (866-40-24253) or go online to fromisheart.org and we'll send you the series.

Thank you for joining in this mission to share real truth, love, and hope with the lost in a dying world. God bless you. Thanks again for joining us here on From His Heart today. I'm Larry Nobles inviting you to be here again next time on From His Heart as we continue the series "Faithful and True" introducing the One and Only God. Join us for the lesson "God versus the Devil." Here on From.

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There is Hope and to know we.

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From His Heart is the listener-supported broadcast ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve, speaking the truth in love to a lost and hurting world.

Remember, no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

You can find out all about that when you go to fromisheart.org.