Sugar Land Bible Church

Dr. Andy Woods: As the children are being dismissed to their junior church program, let's take our Bibles this morning and open them to the book of Exodus chapter nine and verse 13, continuing our verse-by-verse study through the book of Exodus. Lord willing, making it through verse 21 this morning. We may get you out in time for the football game, but that's not until like 5:30, so this is going to be a long sermon.

The title of our message this morning is Two Reactions. As you know, the Lord is busy in this book, redeeming his elect nation, the nation of Israel, out of the bondage that it's been in for 400 years. He's raised up his man that he is going to use and work through, a man named Moses. Finally, at the ripe old age of 80, Moses is ready to get to work for the Lord. And boy, the work that happens is amazing. There's a long waiting period in Moses's life, and then suddenly, the Lord starts to move through Moses upon Egypt.

Through that has come the 10 plagues that we are studying upon the land of Egypt. We're now moving into plague number seven, but we've seen the Nile turned to blood. We've seen frogs, gnats, flies, and the death of livestock. Last week, we saw boils, not exactly a warm fuzzy thought for the day. And now, we're going to see hail, which we never see in Texas except in rare occasions. But I have seen it here. Have you guys seen it here every once in a while?

So, we are in judgment number seven, the hail, Exodus 9, verses 13 really through the end of the chapter. We're not going to get that far today through the end of the chapter, but there's a layout of the judgment of hail. It begins with God's instructions. God instructs Moses on what he is to say to Pharaoh concerning this judgment, judgment number seven. First of all, we have God's edict. Notice, if you will, chapter 9, verse 13.

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Rise up early in the morning"—by the way, I hate it when the Lord tells me to do that—"Rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh and say to him, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, let my people go that they may serve me.'" You'll notice that God here calls the special nation that he has brought into existence through the patriarch Abraham, the Hebrews. That's a name that goes way back into the book of Genesis.

You might remember that Potiphar's wife made the accusation against Joseph, and this may be one of the first times we see the word Hebrews in Scripture. There may be others beforehand that I'm just not thinking of, but this is the one that comes to my mind. It says she called to the men of her household and said to them, "See, he has brought in a Hebrew to make sport of us, and he came in to lie with me and I screamed." That's when Joseph is falsely accused of rape. In the process of that accusation, she calls Joseph one of the Hebrews.

But here, you'll notice that God calls himself the God of the Hebrews. God, apparently, is nationalistic. As we worked our way through the book of Genesis, we saw all the different names for God: Elohim referring to his power; Yahweh referring to his relational aspect; El-Roi meaning God sees, his awareness. Every name of God bringing out a different feature of his character. El-Olam, El is God, Olam, forever—he's forever God, he's the uncaused cause. Jehovah-Jireh, he's the provider.

He is to be referenced because he is the God whom Isaac feared. And it's not until we get to Genesis 33, verse 22 that God is referred to as God, the God of Israel. He is a national God. He identifies with a nation, the nation of Israel. That's why in the end times, when all of the problems Israel faces, she's going to be just fine because in the end, God is her God. Psalm 121 and verse 4, I wish the Ayatollah would read this verse. Psalm 121, verse 4 says, "Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep."

I don't spend a lot of my time worrying about Israel because Israel is God's nation. He's going to deal with them. I do spend some time concerned about America because America, as far as I can tell, doesn't have a covenant with God the way the nation of Israel does. But Israel, at the end of the day, is going to be just fine because God is the God of the Hebrews.

And so what does the God of the Hebrews tell Moses to tell Pharaoh? "Here's what you're to tell him: let my people go that they may serve me." The first thing you're to do is tell him, "Let my people go." And that becomes sort of a microcosm of what God does in our lives as individual believers. The first thing he wants to do is he wants to release us from bondage. All of us, in Adam's original sin, are in a state of incarceration and imprisonment. Satan is so good at putting us in prison that most of us don't even realize we're in prison.

But biblically speaking, we are taken captive to do his will. And Jesus is in the business of setting us free. John 8, verse 32, Jesus says, "You will know the truth and the truth will make you miserable." It doesn't say that, does it? "You will know the truth and the truth will make you free." Free from what? Free from the horrible consequence and price tag of sin. John 8, verse 36 says, "If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed."

Second Corinthians 3, verse 17 says, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." Galatians chapter 5 and verse 1 says, "It was for freedom that Christ set us free. Therefore keep standing firm and don't be subject again to the yoke of slavery." Boy, I don't want to go back to slavery because God has set me free. And he is doing this on a national basis, and he does this for us on an individual basis. But there's more to it than that. Why are they being set free? It's at the second part of verse 13, "That they may serve me."

A lot of Christians sort of have the attitude that God saved me, I'm set free, I've got my fire insurance paid up, I'm not on my way to hell, and praise the Lord for that. But they look like that is all that God had in mind when he liberated us. But actually, God sets us free so that we might ultimately serve him. The first phase is called justification; the second phase is called growth or sanctification. God wants us to grow up in him. He wants to bring us to a point where he can actually use our lives to expand his eternal purposes on the earth.

When God set me free at the age of 16, he also had in mind, of course I didn't know it at the time, the ministry that he wanted me to have. And I have no corner on God. God works in the same pattern in your life. He wants to set you free, but then he wants to use your life to set other people free. "Let them go that they may serve me" is what Pharaoh is to receive from Moses.

We see all of this in Ephesians 2, verses 8 through 10. It says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not as a result of works so no one will boast." I can't tell you how many books I read and studies that I've listened to and sermons that I've heard where everybody just stops quoting the passage at the end of verse nine. But the last time I checked, verse 10 follows verse nine. Can I get an amen on that one?

It says, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we might walk in them." I'm not saved by good works, but I'm saved for good works. I'm saved unto good works. And you'll notice that walk, *peripateo*, is in the subjunctive mood there, meaning it's the mood of possibility. In other words, I've got to cooperate with growth to be used by God. Some Christians are still heaven-bound but quench the Spirit at that point.

And they become unusable, although they will arrive in heaven. And we don't want to be that way. We want to be the type of Christian that once we arrive in heaven, we're not just in heaven but we're fully rewarded because not only am I saved by grace, but I've grown and matured to a point where God wants to use me to expand his purposes upon the earth. So being set free from liberation is very important, but phase two is important as well, usability unto God.

And then he describes here to Moses what he's to say to Pharaoh, the type of judgment that's about to hit Egypt. And you see that in verse 14. It says, "For this time I will send all my plagues on you and your servants and your people, so that you may know there is no one like me in all the earth." So you'll notice that this judgment of hail when it comes, it's going to be very comprehensive. It's going to hit your servants, Pharaoh, it's going to hit your people.

If you look at the judgment of boils that we studied last time, going back to verse 8, it's going to come upon your animals, it's going to come upon your beasts. And so what God is very good at bringing in—actually not verse 8 but verse 9, excuse me—you'll see that it's going to come upon these sores, man and beast. So you notice that when God brings judgment, he's very good at bringing it comprehensively. He's capable of bringing it upon every individual entity, whether it's an animal, whether it's a servant, whether it's people in the royal palace, whether it's people in the house, whether it's people in the field. It's comprehensive in nature.

And this becomes sort of a type, if you will, a microcosm of what's coming yet future on planet earth, where God is going to bring forth judgment similar to these, but they won't be national. They won't just affect Pharaoh; they will affect the entire world. The seal judgments, the trumpet judgments, the golden bowl judgments that we read about in the book of Revelation. And why is God bringing this comprehensive judgment upon Egypt? Look at the end of verse 14: "So that you may know," Moses speaking to Pharaoh, "that there is no one like me in all the earth."

God wants Pharaoh to understand that God is different. God is unique. God is special. And one of the things that we've looked at, and we'll say more about this a little later as we've moved through these various judgments, is each of the judgments is designed to mock one of the Egyptian deities. I was probably as surprised to learn this as you were as I was studying commentaries on the book of Exodus in preparation for this series, that the Egyptians probably worshiped around 80 gods, gods of course, little G.

They worshiped the Nile, and God says, "How's that working for you? I just turned it to blood." They worshiped frogs. God says, "I'll multiply so many frogs throughout Egypt you won't know what to do with them. You like frogs that much?" etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. In fact, one of the things the Egyptians worship is the firstborn, and you'll see that in plague number 10, where God is going to kill the firstborn all over Egypt. And why is God doing this? Well, one of his purposes in doing this is so that Pharaoh and the Egyptians and as the word of this redemptive event spreads through the entire world, that everyone would know that God is different.

God is unique. And I hope that's how you look at God. I hope when you look at God, you don't give him a place on the mantle next to all the other gods because he doesn't belong there. He's different, he's unique, he is higher and above any other thing that human beings could ever worship. And that is what is meant by this statement here, "So that you may know there is no one like me in all the earth."

If you can look at Jesus and see him just as one of many competitors, then you don't understand Jesus. You don't understand God. If you look at Jesus and see him as completely and totally unique, the one that spoke and the heavens and earth leaped into existence, the one that through his sacrificial death, burial, resurrection, and ascension paid the full penalty for our sins, he is our only redeemer, he is our only creator, then now you understand who Jesus is.

A lot of Jesus talk today in the culture. People throw this word Jesus around a lot, oftentimes as profanity, sadly. But the Jehovah's Witnesses talk about Jesus, the Mormons talk about Jesus, Shirley MacLaine and the New Age movement talks about Jesus. In fact, Don Lemon interrupts church services and says he's doing it to serve Jesus, if you followed that a few weeks ago. He claims to be a Christian. Kind of a strange behavior for a Christian to act like that, but that's where our culture is. Jesus is just kind of one of the crowd.

But here God says he's different, he's unique. Jesus is described as follows in John 1, verse 14: "The Word"—that's Jesus—"became flesh and dwelt among us and we saw his glory, glory as the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." I used to memorize these kinds of verses and I used to memorize this phrase, "only begotten," having no understanding what it meant. And actually there's a very easy concept behind the translation "only begotten."

It's a translation from the Greek word *monogenes*. You recognize the word *mono* as in monopoly, alone by itself, and *genes* meaning species or kind. It literally means one of a kind. Who is Jesus? He is different, he is special, he's unique, he's one of a kind. And in fact, when I do these miracles, as God speaks to Moses to communicate to Pharaoh, I want people to understand and I want the Egyptians to understand that are worshiping these 80 deities in the Egyptian polytheism, so to speak, I want them to understand that I'm different than all these other gods.

God wants his rightful place reclaimed. And he deserves it because he's God. So a comprehensive judgment is coming to Egypt, and it will demonstrate my uniqueness. And then you move down to verses 15 and 16, and you start to see the purpose in the judgment. God says this to Pharaoh through Moses: "For if by now I had put forth my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, you would have then been cut off from all the earth."

And what Moses is to communicate to Pharaoh is God could have taken Pharaoh out a long time ago. That would be very easy for God to do, but he has allowed Pharaoh to exist because God uses his enemies, and only God can do this, to accomplish his purposes. And even prior to using Pharaoh, which he's done throughout this book, he has given Pharaoh multiple opportunities to get right with God. And God says, "Okay, you won't get right with me, you want to set yourself against me, then I can actually use your rebellion against me to accomplish my will."

And that's the only reason, Pharaoh, you are breathing and you exist. And what you see here is the love of God for Pharaoh. God loves everyone. Second Peter 3, verse 9 says, "The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." And I say, "Lord, thank you that you didn't come back before 1983 because 1983 is when myself, an insecure 16-year-old, put my trust in Jesus Christ."

And God saw what I would do responding to his free gift, and he held up the whole parade just for me. And it isn't just me, he held it up for you. And obviously there are many people in this world that he's waiting for, he's being patient with, or else judgment would have come a long time ago. Genesis 6, verse 3 says he waited for 120 years, which is a long period of time. We're coming up on our 250th-year anniversary as a country this coming July 4th. And think of the length of the United States of America, half of it roughly.

That's how long God put up with all of the insanity and violence and genetic tampering and sexual immorality, you name it, that was taking place in the days of Noah. In fact, there's a guy in the Bible named Methuselah. Do you know what Methuselah's name means? It means "when he dies, it shall be sent," meaning that when he dies, the flood is going to come. Could you imagine having a kid like that living in your neighborhood? Every time he gets a bruised knee or something, everybody gets all nervous.

And it's interesting that the oldest living man in the whole Bible from a human standpoint was this man Methuselah. He lived to the ripe old age of 969. And it's not coincidental, it's not accidental that God attached judgment to Methuselah's death, who happened to live the longest. That's the patience of God, the love of God, the mercy of God, the forbearance of God. And this is what is being revealed here concerning Pharaoh. "Pharaoh, you wouldn't even exist, you wouldn't even be standing if I wasn't using your life."

So not only does God love people and postpone judgment for people, but when people set themselves against God, he actually uses their own rebellious lives to accomplish his purposes. We get more of a description on this in verse 16. It says, "But indeed for this reason I have allowed you"—so God is allowing Pharaoh to remain—"I have allowed you to remain in order to show my power, in order to proclaim my name throughout all the earth."

God uses wicked, evil human rulers to accomplish his will. When a ruler or a person of influence sets their heart against God, don't hit the panic button because God is so big that he can actually use the rebellion of that person to execute his purposes. So Pharaoh is stubborn as we're going to see, he won't let God's people go. God says, "Fine, I'll use that. I'll use that to bring forth the judgments upon Egypt, and as I do that, my glory and my name will be proclaimed throughout the earth."

God used a man named Cyrus that way. Cyrus is the man whose name is called out 200 years in advance by the prophet Isaiah. Cyrus would be the one who would allow the nation of Israel to return after the 70 years Babylonian captivity. And Cyrus did not know God at all. Isaiah 45 and verse 4, and think of his name being referenced 200 years before it happened: "For the sake of Jacob my servant and Israel my chosen one, I have also called you by your name. I have given you a title of honor though you have not known me."

See, what the Bible teaches, Proverbs 21, I believe it's verse 1, that the king's heart is like water in a watercourse. Just as a watercourse directs water wherever the course wants, God has the heart of a wicked ruler in the palm of his hand and he can direct it at will. And these wicked rulers, they don't understand that, and they think they exist because they're so great and wonderful. And the reality is God is saying, "I could have wiped you out a long time ago. I'm actually using your rebellion to accomplish my will."

Reminds me of the interaction between Jesus and Pilate. It's in John 19, verses 10 and 11. It says, "So Pilate said to him, 'You do not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and I have authority to crucify you? You're not going to talk? Don't you know who I am? Don't you understand my power? Don't you understand that your destiny is in my hands?' this man Pilate said to Jesus."

But John 19, verse 11 says, "Jesus answered and said, 'You would have no authority over me unless it had been given to you from above. For this reason, he who delivered me to you has the greater sin.'" The nation of Israel actually had the greater sin than Pilate because they had an Old Testament record and they should have known who Jesus was. Pilate didn't have that, but Pilate was sort of irritated with Jesus and said, "Do you know who you're dealing with? You're not going to respond? Do you know who it is you're dealing with?"

And Jesus is very clear that, "Yeah, I know who it is I'm dealing with. And you would have no authority and no power whatsoever if it hadn't been given to you by my Father in heaven." That's another way of looking at these wicked rulers. It's another way of looking at the Ayatollahs and the Putins and all of these wicked rulers that think they're so big and so strong. The truth of the matter is they wouldn't exist without judgment if God hadn't allowed it, and he's actually using their lives to accomplish his purposes.

We see in this a type of Satan, Pharaoh being a type of the devil. Satan only exists because God allows it. Ezekiel 28, verse 13, of Satan, it says, "On the day you were created." Ezekiel 28, verse 15 says, "You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you." The devil himself is God's devil. And God just keeps Satan around to accomplish God's purposes. And then we spend all of eternity marveling at God that God can use his enemies to accomplish his will.

And once God is finished with Satan, he'll be consigned where he belongs into the lake of fire. Satan and the demonic realm themselves understand that they're on the losing side of history. This is why when Jesus came in his first coming and he would encounter demons, they would say to him through possessed people, "Have you come to torture us before the appointed time?" I mean, they knew this time of judgment was coming, they just didn't know when, and they didn't want it to come. But they knew it was coming.

And that's how to look at evil and wickedness and wicked people in our world. It's so easy to sort of binge-feed on the latest news cycle without seeing these things through the prism and the paradigm of God. And you start to look at it from this angle and you actually start to feel sorry for these wicked people because judgment is coming and they have no idea that it's on the horizon. And so this is what Moses is to communicate to Pharaoh there in verse 15. "I'm actually going to use Pharaoh to accomplish my will, and as that happens, my name, not your name Moses, not Aaron's name, is going to be proclaimed throughout the entire earth as the earth and the inhabitants of the earth contemplate and ruminate upon these judgments that we're in the midst of studying."

One of the things to understand about God is that his purposes in history are doxological. *Doxa* means glory. His primary purpose in history is to glorify himself, which he has the right to do as God. His primary purpose in history is not even to save people. Now don't get me wrong, salvation is a big deal. But even when someone gets saved, that's not the ultimate purpose of God. When someone is saved, Luke 15 tells us that the angels rejoice and presumably God is glorified.

So even the plan of salvation itself is not the end-game, it's not the quintessential motive; it's God glorifying himself. His purposes in history are not soteriological primarily, but doxological. And so even my salvation glorified God. Even our usability and usefulness unto God glorifies God. And so it all needs to be subsumed under the category of the doxological purposes of God. And that's how to evaluate activities and behavior in the church.

Because there's a lot of things this church could do and there's some things this church doesn't do. And why do we make a decision about let's go this direction or not that direction? Well, the answer to that question is, does it glorify God? Because not everything in the Bible tells you exactly how to do this or that. I mean, should you start a Wednesday night Bible study? Should you start teaching at seven and end at eight? I mean, not if you want me as the pastor—probably more like 8:10. Should we do a Q&A session after it? How do we structure communion? Should we put communion before the sermon or after the sermon? How do we do that? And what time should we let people out on Super Bowl Sunday?

And all of these kinds of questions, and really there isn't like a manual that says thus saith the Lord, let them out at 12:30 on Super Bowl Sunday. That would be early, wouldn't it, 12:30? The issue is, does it glorify God? That's how you make any decision within the church. Ephesians 3, verse 21 says God seeks glory in the church. Does this glorify God? That's how you make decisions in your own life. Do I work here or work there? Do I marry this person or marry that person? Do I live in this town or that town?

There's no rulebook in the Bible telling you exactly what to do. You're just in the mindset of what's going to bring the greatest glory to God. And then you start making decisions along those lines, and then as you do that, you start to discover the purpose for which you were born, which is to glorify God. Should I attend this church or that church? Should I be involved in this ministry or that ministry? You just keep asking yourself, which glorifies God? Lord, I'm here, I'm available, I want to be usable, I want you to glorify yourself through me, and help me with these decisions.

And you wouldn't believe how life will start making sense when we start to have that mindset and that mentality. So those are the instructions that Pharaoh is to receive from Moses. And then in the process, God gives a prediction, verses 17 through 21. First, the culprit. Notice Exodus 9, verse 17: "Still you," being spoken to Pharaoh by Moses, "still you exalt yourself against my people by not letting them go." That's what sin is, isn't it?

You exalt yourself. My Holy Trinity starts to consist of me, myself, and I. I'm promoting myself instead of the Lord. I'm promoting my own way of thinking instead of the Lord's thinking. I'm promoting my own way of doing things instead of the Lord's way of doing things. "Yeah, I know the Bible teaches, abstinence before marriage as a young person or older person for that matter. I, you know what, the world says something different. I think I need to kind of check under the hood before I buy the car. And after all, I took sex-ed at the public school system and they told me it's okay."

But the Bible says something different. Yeah, but I'm just going to set that aside for now. Well, what have you just done? You've taken your own standard and our own way of doing things and you've elevated that ahead of God. And that's what sin is. This is what Pharaoh was doing. He was exalting himself, verse 17, against my people by not letting my people go. This is the whole problem with Satan's fall in Isaiah 14, verses 12 through 15. Satan had a bad case of the "I's." I makes five statements here.

"I will ascend to heaven. I will raise my throne above the stars of God"—the stars of God is a reference to the angels. "I don't want to run the angelic system on God's behalf, I'm going to run it myself for my glory. I will sit enthroned on the mount of the assembly," which is the holy mountain of Jerusalem, Mount Zion where Jesus will rule from one day. "I'll sit there." Isaiah 2, 2 and 3. "I will ascend above the tops of the clouds," verse 14 of Isaiah 14.

The clouds in Scripture refer to God's glory. When it says in First Thessalonians 4, verses 13 through 18, Jesus in the rapture is coming in the clouds. I used to think, "Lord, I don't see any clouds today. I guess you're not coming today." Then I started to understand, "Hey knucklehead, it's not the weather we're dealing with here. I'm coming in my glory in the rapture." And Satan says, "I want to be above the tops of the clouds."

And then he says something that has gotten more people into more problems than any other lie I can think of. This is what got the whole human race into problems going back to the fall in Eden. This is what was in Satan's head in his rebellion. He says, "I will make myself like the Most High." And the Bible's very clear that first comes pride and then comes condemnation, then comes a fall. And Paul says, "Don't put a novice into a position of leadership in the church, lest he," First Timothy 3, verse 6, "fall into the condemnation of Satan," which is what? A person that will elevate themselves and their way of doing things over the glory of God.

And baby Christians are prone to do that because they haven't learned the walk of discipleship. So the last thing you would ever do, Paul says as he's writing to Timothy, is to place a new believer into a position of authority within the church because they'll promote themselves over God and then they'll be in a lot of trouble. They'll fall into the condemnation of Satan.

Billy Graham said, "You want longevity in ministry? Here's three things you don't touch. These all begin with the letter G. Number one, don't touch the gold. Embezzlement, financial scandal. Number two, don't touch the girls. Sexual immorality. And then the third thing he said is, don't touch the glory. Don't promote yourself or position yourself or elevate yourself over the mind and the ways of God."

And you watch people fall, which happens sadly frequently in ministry. It's always those three things. Satan I don't think needs to be all that creative with us; we just fall for the same stuff over and over again. I read about people that fall in ministry and I say, "What was it? Girls, gold, or glory?" Yeah, that one was girls. Yeah, that one was gold. That one over there, that was glory or some combination thereof.

And so you have a tremendous definition of what sin is. And it's more of a spirit here. It talks in these passages about Satan when he was Lucifer as a high-ranking angel, very beautiful by the way. The Ezekiel 28 passage that I referenced a little earlier kind of gives you the impression with the jasper and the beryl and the diamond and the emerald and the gold. It kind of gives you the impression that as he was held up to the light of the glory of God—and God is light—First Timothy 6, is it, that he's clothed in unapproachable light? As he was held up to the light of God, he radiated beauty.

And he made sense in that role, but he got discontent with the role. He wanted to replace God. And the purpose for which he was created disappeared, and he became Satan, the adversary. The name Lucifer actually means light-bearer. The Bible tells us that Satan comes as an angel of light. This is why. Don't look at Satan as pitchfork, red cape, and horns. That comes out of the Middle Ages, not the Bible. He comes as an angel of light.

And the problem with Lucifer, the light-bearer, is just too many "I's." Five times he says "I will" here. And this is what Pharaoh is doing. He's got a bad case of the "I's." But you know what? God's using it because as Pharaoh does this, God gets the opportunity to showcase who he is by way of judgments. And God is going to use this to glorify his name, not just in Egypt, not just in Israel, but the Bible's very clear, it's going to be glorified throughout the whole earth as the earth and the inhabitants of the earth contemplate and ruminate upon these judgments that we're in the midst of studying.

The doxological purpose of God. How he can actually use rebellion in the lives and the minds of his free-will creatures to accomplish his purposes. And let me assure you of this, we're going to just spend all eternity just amazed at this as we contemplate and ruminate the working of God. And then there is some timing given, verse 18 of Exodus 9. Pharaoh is to learn this through Moses: "Behold, about this time tomorrow"—that's pretty specific; set your watch, in other words—"I will send you a very heavy hail, such as has not been seen in Egypt from the day it was founded until now."

So this is going to be supernatural. It's impossible to look at these miracles and just say they're naturalistic. The History Channel says they're naturalistic, but we don't go by the History Channel. The History Channel says, "Well, blood, that was like a special time of the year where that happened, and then the frogs jumped out because they didn't like the new climate," and so they come up with this naturalistic kind of explanation for the plagues.

But when you look at these biblically, this is supernatural. I mean, these are things that only God can do. Moses knew beforehand what was going to happen with these plagues. The plagues start on time and stop on time. They're described as signs and wonders. They intensify as Pharaoh's heart hardens. They're timed to precision, and they accomplish a moral purpose. And they were so profound that the Egyptian sorcerers tried to imitate them. And then finally, the sorcerers said, "Only God can do this."

The last seven plagues didn't even affect the Jews living in Goshen. And by the way, when the Nile turned to blood, it affected water out of the Nile in the vessels. I mean, who can do that other than God? And as I said before, each plague is designed to mock one of the Egyptian deities in the polytheistic pantheon. Ed Hindson says the Egyptian deities challenged by the seventh plague would have been Shu and Nut, I guess, the respective sky god and goddess.

Seth and Isis would have been affected, the respective god and goddess charged with providing weather conditions conducive to nature. And then Osiris, the god charged with crop production. I mean, there's like four or five gods, little G here, god and goddesses, and God in this plague is taking out five of them because he wants the worship. This is why there's so many statements in the Scripture about condemnation of idolatry.

And an idol is something that we worship instead of God. It could be anything: something that gives you power, something that gives you satisfaction, it could be a relationship, it could be money, it could be health, it could be a talent—things that aren't wrong on the surface, but they very quickly move into a place of preeminence in our hearts. And God says, "I'm not having that." And he'll start to put pressure on your life. And I know this because he's done this to me multiple times, where we will relinquish that god and restore God to his rightful place. We're so prone to idolatry.

First John 5, verse 21, John at the end of his little epistle says, "Little children, believers, guard yourselves from idols." Of course you know Matthew 6, verse 24, "No man can serve two masters. In other words, God is a lousy roommate. God doesn't want to be a roommate with somebody. He wants to take over. No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Mammon or wealth."

Not that wealth is a problem in and of itself, the problem is when our possessions own us rather than us owning possessions. Now it's a problem. The problem's when I'm looking to things of a material nature for my fulfillment, my future, and not looking to God. Now we have a problem. And God will start to work in our lives so that those idols are unearthed. Isaiah 42, verse 8 says, "I am the Lord, that is my name; I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to graven images."

And look how this judgment of hail is described here, verse 18: when it hits, "it will be such as has not been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now." How long has Egypt been around for? Egypt, that goes like back to forever, almost. You go to Egypt today, I've been there, and they can point to tombs and leaders going way, way back in history. Egypt was functioning in the time of Abraham, 600 years before this. It's highly likely that Abraham saw today what we refer to as the Egyptian pyramids.

And God says, "When I bring this judgment, it's going to be different than anything Egypt has ever faced. It'll be completely and totally unique." Well, folks, that's a description of the Tribulation period as well because the Bible says when that period comes, it'll be unlike anything this world has ever faced. Matthew 24, verse 22, Jesus describing that time period says, "Then there will be great tribulation, such as has not occurred until the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will."

Jeremiah 30, verse 7 says, "Alas, for that day is great, there is none like it, and it is a time of Jacob's distress, but he will be saved from it." Aren't you glad it's not a time of the church's distress, but Jacob's distress? You're not Jacob. We're not here during this time period. Isaiah 13, verse 12 of that time period says, "I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold and mankind than the gold of Ophir." Daniel 12 and verse 1 says there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time.

Joel 2, verse 2 of this time period says there has never been anything like it, nor will there be again after it to the years of many generations. I always loved listening to Charles Ryrie teach. He taught at a little Bible church a few doors from my house when I was living in the Dallas area. And I loved going to that little church and hearing him. And one time in this little class, very small, he held up four fingers. He said, "Everybody look up here. That's Revelation 6. That's Revelation 9."

Because Revelation 6 describes the destruction of a quarter of the world's population. Revelation 9 describes the destruction of a third of the earth's population, leaving two of four fingers left on his hand. And he said, "That's what half the Tribulation period is going to be like." One of the greatest theological lessons I ever saw, just in easy-to-understand illustrations. And this is what the Scripture is talking about. I mean, what happened to Egypt was very unique, but what's coming on this world is going to be even more unique.

And so you'll notice also that there's a prophecy of protection. Whenever you see judgment in the Bible, keep reading because you'll see God's mercy. And whenever you see God's mercy in the Bible, keep reading because you'll see God's judgment. They're always together. God tempers judgment with mercy. These are both features of the character of God. He is a God of love, and yet he is a God of holiness. And you can't have a God with one without the other.

I mean, if your view of God is just holiness but not love, you don't understand God. And if your view of God is love but not holiness, you don't understand God because he's both. And when we take one attribute of God and magnify it and shrink another attribute of God, we've just made an idol. We've misrepresented God. And God is against idolatry. This is why Jesus to the woman at the well in John 4, it's around verse 24, he says we are to worship God in spirit and truth. We're to worship God as he is, not as I want him to be or as I would like him to be or what makes me comfortable, but what he is.

And don't get me wrong, he's loving, but don't get me wrong, he's holy. He's both. And so in the midst of this judgment talk, as you would think, there would come a word of grace. I mean, there's a way out. You see that there in verse 19: "Now therefore send, bring your livestock and whatever you have in the field to safety. Every man and beast that is found in the field and is not brought home, when the hail comes down on them, will die." There's a way out.

The hail is coming, it's going to kill people, it's going to kill animals. So here's a way out: get under protective cover. There's a way of escape. Kind of like the Tribulation period. That's a terrible time that's coming. But you know what, folks? There's a way out. The way out is trusting in Christ now. I'm a path-of-least-resistance guy. I don't want to be plunged into this time period. And since it's coming and the Bible doesn't give me options in terms of maybe it's going to come, maybe it's not—since it's coming, why not take the escape route?

Well, gee Andy, you sound like an escapist. You know what? I plead guilty to that. I am the biggest escapist you'll ever find on planet earth. I will take the escape if an escape is possible. Isn't all of Christianity an escape? Christianity is an escape from hell. I don't have to go, I don't have to be there. I don't even have to be here during this time of judgment. And what I'm experiencing now is the worst that could happen to me. What a message of hope and optimism that is.

So the judgment is coming, here's the way out: get under protective cover. What is God's message to humanity today? Same message: judgment is coming, but get under protective cover. What's protective cover? The cross. Because at the cross, Jesus stepped into the line of fire and absorbed in my place the wrath of a holy God that should be on me. I mean, it should be me nailed to that cross, given the holiness of God. But Jesus took the penalty for me.

Fancy word time in theology that we have for this: the vicarious (in the place of somebody else), penal (punishment), substitutionary (in the place of somebody else) atonement of Christ. Don't take any words out of that because if you take one word out, you'll misunderstand the doctrine: vicarious, penal, substitutionary atonement of Christ. I thought Jesus came into the world to give us Jesus CEO leadership principles. I saw a book like that, *Jesus CEO*. Jesus is a CEO, he'll teach you how to run your business.

He probably will, by the way. You're going to learn great management truths in the Bible, but if you think that's the purpose Jesus came, like that's the end-game, what a shrinking of who Jesus is. Why did he come? Vicarious, penal, substitutionary atonement. He went into the line of fire, like a Clint Eastwood movie—pardon my trivialization of it—that's what I think of, and he absorbed the bullet in the place of who the bullet was intended for.

If you get anything askew there, you shrink who Jesus is. He died in my place. There's your protection. And as we entitled this sermon, there's two reactions. You would think the whole world would embrace this. You would think everyone in Egypt would embrace this, having seen the first six plagues, but they don't. Some do, some don't. The believers did. Verse 20: "The one among the servants of Pharaoh"—listen to this—"who feared the word of the Lord, made his servants and his livestock flee into the houses."

Who were the ones that took the exhortation, went into protective cover? It's very clear here: they were the ones that feared the Lord. What does that even mean, fear the Lord? It means to respect the word of the Lord. Proverbs 1, verse 7 says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. A person gets smart when they respect God's word. The problem with the unsaved world is they don't fear God. Romans 3, verse 18 says there is no fear of God before their eyes.

It's not that their behavior is the number one issue; they behave the way they behave because they don't have any respect for God. And we don't want to be that way. Hebrews 11, verse 7 says by faith, being warned by God about things not yet seen, speaking of Noah, in reverence—he feared God—prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world and became an heir of righteousness which is according to faith.

Why would Noah for 120 years build this giant construction in his driveway or wherever it was, when the world at that time didn't even know what rain was? Because Genesis 2 talks about mist arising from the ground and watering the garden. If I'm understanding my Bible correctly, he was building this giant ark, he was a preacher of righteousness (Second Peter 2:5 says that), and he worked on this for 120 years in a population according to the creation scientist Henry Morris says there were at least 7 billion people on planet earth.

Why would you do something like that and just be ridiculed for 120 years, warning of a flood and building this thing? What is this? When they didn't even know what rain was. Why would you do that? Because he feared God. I mean, he was more respectful of what God said than what everybody thought. See that? That's why the people that are wise here and get out of harm's way are people that respect, fear God. But look at the unbelievers. They do the exact opposite. And that's in verse 21.

"But he who paid no regard to the word of God, he who paid no regard to the word of the Lord, left his servants and his livestock in the field." In other words, they're sitting ducks. Why would you leave your livestock and those you love and your possessions and everything God says he's going to destroy with hail? Why would you leave them in the field? Because you really didn't respect the word of God coming from Moses. You have to respect the word of God to get saved.

Romans 10, verse 17 says, "So faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ." There's a lot of people in this world that just don't really have any real respect for this book, so why listen to it? And they find themselves in an unsaved condition. May God help us to respect what God says and to prioritize this book accordingly and escape the wrath that's coming through taking protective cover through the cross. Not a bad segue into the Gospel, huh?

Jesus Christ 2000 years ago, as we've said, absorbed the wrath of a holy God in our place. He says, "Believe or trust in what I've done. Don't work out your own salvation thinking that your own efforts can fix this problem. I fixed it for you 2000 years ago. Now receive what I have done as a gift. That's your protective cover." And so I hope many people within the sound of my voice will be placing their personal trust in Christ so as to be saved, receive his protective cover, and escape the judgment to come.

May the Lord help us to understand this and have enough respect for the Bible to do what he tells us to do. If it's something this issue of salvation you need more information on, I'm available after the service to talk. Shall we pray? Father, we're grateful for reading these things in the Bible that sometimes are a bit alarming to us, but you've given us these things for our own benefit. Help us to be the people that benefit from what you've said because of our reverence and respect for your truth. We'll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus's name. And God's people said, amen.