This sermon delves into the detailed account of the plagues in Exodus, showcasing God's power over the gods of Egypt and His deliverance of Israel. The narrative highlights the significance of the Passover, symbolizing redemption through the blood of the Lamb and the victory over sin. The instructions for the Passover feast and the Feast of Unleavened Bread are explored, emphasizing the spiritual truths and fulfillment found in Christ as our Passover sacrifice.

Let's open up our Bibles to Exodus. Exodus chapter 9. As we pick up the study here in Exodus chapter 9. The Lord has brought four plagues upon the Egyptians thus far that have demonstrated his power over the gods of Egypt. There are six plagues that God will yet visit on Pharaoh in Egypt in his deliverance from Israel. So we pick up tonight in chapter 9 coming now to the fifth plague God's judgment began upon the Nile River and you remember we talked about how the Egyptians worshiped the Nile under the name of the God hapti and they attributed all of their provision and blessing not to the living God that they attributed to the river to the Nile River and we saw how the water in the river was turned to blood. We saw that the next plague was this infestation of frogs and we pointed out how the Egyptians worshipped the frog headed goddess Hekka and so God giving them more frogs than they ever wanted to see and then as we went on we saw that there were the lice or the mites or the the ticks there in the dust and then we saw also the swarms. And so as we pointed out in each one of these there is a not only a chastisement coming upon Pharaoh in Egypt, but there is this judgment of the gods that they were worshiping. So chapter 9 verse 1 then the Lord said to Moses go into Pharaoh and tell him that says the Lord God of the Hebrews let my people go that they may serve me for if you refuse to let them go and still hold them behold the hand of the Lord will be on your cattle in the field on the horses on the donkeys on the camels on the oxen and on the sheep a very severe pestilence and the Lord will make a difference between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt. So nothing shall die of all that belongs to the children of Israel then the Lord appointed a set time saying tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land. So the Lord did this thing on the next day and all the livestock of Egypt died, but of the livestock of the children of Israel not one died. So now a couple of things here again, the Egyptians worshiped the the bull the God Apis was depicted as a bull the God Hathor as a cow and the God Kunam as a ram. So again here we see a judgment coming upon the gods of Egypt. Now it says here that it was all of the livestock that were afflicted but as we're going to go on in the story, we're going to find that there are still livestock that are going to be affected in various ways. And so in when the reference here to all is probably all that were out in the field. So at this point not every not every animal was affected but probably those that were out in the fields or maybe in a particular location. We see of course that they were not affected in Goshen where the children of Israel were so then Pharaoh verse 7 cent and indeed not even one of the livestock of the Israelites was dead, but the heart of Pharaoh became hard and he did not let the people go. So Moses had said that there was going to be a distinction Pharaoh sent messengers to find out if it were the case and it was the case. But once again Pharaoh hardened his heart and he did not let the people go. So the Lord said to Moses and Aaron take for yourselves handfuls of ashes from a furnace and let Moses scatter it toward the heavens in the sight of Pharaoh and it will become fine dust in all the land of Egypt and it will cause boils that break out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt. Then they took ashes from the furnace and stood before Pharaoh and Moses scattered them toward heaven and they caused boils that break out in sores on man and beast and the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils for the boils were on the magicians and on all of the Egyptians, but the Lord hardened or strengthened the heart of Pharaoh and he did not heed them just as the Lord had spoken. So understand and every time we read that the Lord Pharaoh the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart. We need to understand it in the sense of God strengthening the heart of Pharaoh. God is strengthening Pharaoh in his opposition to him. And so again, just one more reminder Pharaoh and the reason I bring this up is because of course people accuse God of being unfair and they give the impression that you know, God is just this God who is ruthless and mercilessly judging people and right. Here's a good example. He hardened Pharaoh's heart just so he could punish him, but we have to keep in mind that the hardening began with Pharaoh. He continued to resist and God is just confirming him in his ongoing resistance. Now the boils would not represent any particular God, but they would show that some of the gods and goddesses that they worshiped were unable to do what they were declared to do. Sekhmet was the goddess who allegedly had power over diseases. Sunu the god of pestilence and Isis a name that we're familiar with Isis was known as the goddess of healing, but yet they're stricken with these boils and there is no healing. There is no deliverance that comes to them through any of the Egyptian deities. Then the Lord said to Moses rice early in the morning verse 13 and stand before Pharaoh and say to him thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews. Let my people go that they may serve me for at this time. I will send all my plagues to your very heart and on your servants and on your people that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. Now, if I had stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, then you would have been cut off from the earth. So God is saying to Pharaoh essentially. Look, I'm being merciful to you. He's basically saying I could I could obliterate you in a second. I haven't done that. So you see the reality is God is patiently trying to turn Pharaoh toward the reasonable position of responding to his request, but Pharaoh continues to harden his heart. So now God says, all right. I'm going to bring all of my plagues to your very heart now, but indeed for this purpose verse 16. I have raised you up that I may show my power in you and that my name may be declared in all the earth. So Pharaoh is a man now. I don't know if I mentioned this or not, but you know, Pharaoh is for all practical purposes. He is the most powerful man in the world. Egypt is the greatest Empire at the ancient at the present time and Pharaoh is the head over Egypt. So this guy is basically the most powerful man on Earth. And so God says to him, let my people go Pharaoh says who is Yahweh that I should obey him. I'm not going to let him go. And so the Lord is basically taking Pharaoh and as he says here, he says for this purpose. I have raised you up raised you up into this position that I may show my power in you and that my name may be declared in all the earth. So Paul, maybe you remember reading this verse in Romans chapter 9 Paul quotes this in Romans chapter 9 and what the Lord is saying here to Pharaoh is basically this. Okay, if you want to oppose me if you want to resist me if you want to continue to be obstinate in regard to my commands, then I'm going to allow you to do that and I'm going to take you and I'm going to demonstrate my power by bringing a judgment upon you. Now, some people would say oh, well, that's not fair. Well, why isn't it fair? God wasn't forcing Pharaoh into the position that he was in it was the position Pharaoh was taking and so since he's taking the position God says, okay, since that's your position. Then this is my position. You're the most powerful man on the earth. You think you're a God? I'm going to show you and everybody else who's really God. That's pretty much what's happening here in this contest. That's transpiring. And so as yet you exalt yourself against my people and that you will not let them go behold tomorrow about this time. I will cause very heavy hail to rain down such as has not been in Egypt since its founding until now therefore send now and gather your livestock and all that you have in the field for the hail shall come down on every man and every animal which is found in the field and is not brought home and they shall die. He who feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his livestock fleet of the houses, but he who did not regard the word of the Lord left his servants and livestock in the field. Then the Lord said to Moses stretch out your hand toward heaven that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt on man on beast and on every herb of the field throughout the land of Egypt and Moses stretched out his rod toward heaven and the Lord sent Thunder and hail and fire darted to the ground and the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt. So there was hail and fire mingled with the hail. So very heavy that there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation and the hail struck throughout the whole land of Egypt all that was in the field both man and beast and the hail struck every herb of the field and broke every tree of the field only in the land of Goshen where the children of Israel were was there no hail. Now, I've lived my almost my whole life in Southern California few years over in the UK. I have not seen hailstones like I've heard told of people have told me about hailstorms and places like Texas and other places in the South hailstorms with hail the size of golf balls now, I've been hit with hail the size of marbles and that's troubling. So, you know golf balls. I wouldn't want to experience that but I think we're looking at something like bowling balls in this particular plague here. It's just smashing all of the vegetation and everything else to bits now. Do you see some parallels here with the boils? Is there another place that that reminds you in Scripture? Remember Revelation there's coming a day it it's interesting as you look at the judgment on Egypt, it becomes sort of a Miniature picture of the judgment that will come upon the world at the end time the judgment that's spelled out for us in the prophetic writings and most specifically probably in the book of Revelation, but there we have that foul sore that breaks out on those who have taken the mark of the beast and there we have hail stones that weigh as much as a talent. And if you look in your Bible and you know, you look alongside of the weight of a talent. It is anywhere from 50 to a hundred pounds. So unimaginable the devastation that's going to come but this notice it says here in Egypt that this hail there was nothing that had ever been like it before. So this was an unbelievably devastating thing last summer. Funny enough. It was summer. It was June and we were having a conference out in Marietta and you know how warm it can get out there in June. I mean it can be a hundred and ten degrees out there sometimes and it was actually fairly warm, but we had these really bizarre thunderstorms that kind of started hitting throughout the conference and I was walking along and this hail and you know, I mean it was really like the size of marbles started coming down but the thing that amazed me was when it hits you it was so freezing cold. I mean it you know, it felt like it was ice that was hitting and it would melt immediately, but it was really cold water. So it was a relatively warm day, but this kind of bizarre hail thing and you know, as I mentioned previously, you know, God is so amazingly gracious to human beings. He's so patient with us. Do you know how many billions of ways he could just wipe the planet out in a matter of seconds if he wanted to? You know, you think about it. We talked about the you know, the the swarms in our last study and we're looking at tonight some locust as well. How many of you remember Alfred Hitchcock's movie The Birds from years and years ago? That was a freaky movie, wasn't it? Well, you know, it could happen. It's a possibility. I think so, you know, it just astounds me how arrogant we are as people and just how quickly and of course we saw an example of that just recently with this earthquake in Haiti. I was watching a lady who was being interviewed and she said that it happens so instantaneously. It happens so fast. She walked in a room. The next thing she knew she was buried under rubble. So fast and just like Pharaoh so many today, you know, mocking God and dismissing God and blaspheming God not considering how quickly how instantaneously God could as he said here to Pharaoh I could I could wipe you out in a second if I wanted to and he could but he's gracious and he doesn't and so Pharaoh sent verse 27 and called for Moses and Aaron and said to them. I have sinned this time. The Lord is righteous and my people and I are wicked now. It seems like we've got a breakthrough here. Pharaoh saying okay. He says the first time he said he's actually sent. So now he's making a bit of a confession. I've sinned the Lord is righteous. It's me and my people were the wicked ones. Entreat the Lord that there may be no more mighty thundering and hail for it is enough. I will let you go and you shall stay no longer. So Moses said to him as soon as I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands to the Lord the Thunder will cease and there will be no more hail that you may know that the earth is the Lord's the earth is Yahweh's but as for you and your servants, I know that you will not yet that you will not yet fear the Lord God. Now the flax and the barley were struck. He's talking about during the hailstorm the flax and the barley were struck for the barley was in the head and the flax was in the bud but the wheat and the spelt were not struck for they are late crop. So based upon this statement and understanding the agricultural cycles in that part of the world. They figure that it was probably February or March when this was happening. Now somebody asked me this week and it's a good question. How much time transpired during this visitation of these plagues upon the Egyptians. We don't know exactly but the estimate is from 10 to 12 months. This happened over a period of almost a year. So Moses he went out of the city from Pharaoh and he spread out his hands to the Lord then the Thunder and the hail ceased and the rain was not poured on the earth and when Pharaoh saw that the rain the hail and the Thunder had ceased he sinned yet more and he hardened his heart he and his servants. So the heart of Pharaoh was hard neither would he let the children of Israel go as the Lord had spoken by Moses. Now the Lord said to Moses go into Pharaoh for I have hardened his heart. I have strengthened his heart and the hearts of his servants that I may show these signs of mine before him and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son's son the mighty things I have done in Egypt and my signs which I have done among them that you may know that I am the Lord. So Moses and Aaron came into Pharaoh and said to him thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews listen, how long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? You see this is the problem with Pharaoh. He's an arrogant man. He's the most powerful man in the world. Who is Yahweh to tell him what to do? And so it's his pride that's keeping him in this entrenched position and this is something that is utterly astounding to me how many people are entrenched in their pride against the Lord. It's amazing. You know, sometimes we see people who are very arrogant and prideful in regard to their attitude toward God. And we think oh, you know if we could just you know, say this to them or that to them and get them to you know, repent or whatever but you know, the problem is this the Bible says God resists the proud but he gives grace to the humble. So you see as long as a man is prideful and this is a huge problem with human beings, isn't it? We all have a degree of pride. We all struggle with pride to some extent or another but of course there are those people that are just so proud that they cannot humble themselves even before God and Pharaoh is the great example here. And of course Pharaoh is following the example of Satan. Satan is the father of pride his sin originally was the sin of pride. He wasn't content with his position, but he said I will be like the Most High I will ascend. I will place my throne above the throne of God. That's pride. That's the devil and that's where Pharaoh is at. How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me let my people go that they may serve me or else if you refuse to let my people go behold tomorrow. I will bring locust into your territory and they shall cover the face of the earth so that no one will be able to see the earth and they shall eat the residue of what is left which Remains to you from the hail and they shall eat every tree which grows up for you out of the field. They shall fill your houses the houses of all your servants and the houses of all the Egyptians which neither your fathers nor your father's fathers have seen since the day that they were on the earth to this day. So this is going to be the the plague to beat all plagues in regard to locust all all throughout the Bible. There's there's mention of these. These plagues of locust the Bible uses this terminology a lot that which the locust has eaten and in my lifetime, I've never seen a swarm of locust, but of course, we still have these kinds of things at different places in the world. As a matter of fact, if you want to go on YouTube when you get home tonight and type in locust swarms, and there's some pretty amazing stuff that you can find there and there's one great one with family in a car in the midst of a locust swarm just listening to the kids scream is fun in and of itself. So but my little girl is just absolutely freaking out as these grasshoppers are claiming trying to get in her car. But you know this this kind of thing again here is something that's not just a typical plague of locust, but it's it's something that has never been before. So these kinds of things are fairly common, but this is something that's going to go beyond anything that anybody has ever known. So as it says here that the whole Earth the land the ground will be so covered with these locust you can't even see the dirt that is boy. This is a you know, this is Alfred Hitchcock stuff. This is scary frightening stuff. So Pharaoh's servant said to him speaking to Pharaoh. How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed? Even now his own men are saying look it's enough. This you know, if you persist in this there's not going to be anything left Egypt's already destroyed. So Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh and he said to them go serve the Lord your God. Who are the ones that are going and Moses said we will go with our young and our old with our sons and our daughters with our flocks and our herds. We will go for we must hold a feast to the Lord. Then he said to them the Lord had better be with you when I let you and your little ones go beware for evil is ahead of you not. So go now you who are men and serve the Lord for that is what you desired and they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence. So once again, as we looked at previously and as Pastor Chuck was teaching this morning these compromises that Pharaoh is tempting Moses with we saw previously in our study of the eighth chapter how initially Pharaoh said, well, you can worship God just stay in the land. We talked for a minute about how you know, the enemy would try to suggest that same thing to us, you know be a Christian just stay a part of the world system. Just go to church on Sundays if you need to but you know, the rest of the week just be like everybody else and then of course in verse 28 of chapter 8 there was the suggestion that you could go but not to go too far away. And not going too far not going overboard not becoming a fanatic not you know, being at church all the time or reading the Bible every day or you know, not telling other people about Jesus, you know, just don't it's okay. If you're a Christian just don't go overboard with it. And so we see here further temptations to compromise Pharaoh suggest that if you're going to serve God you better watch out because evil could befall you tries to strike fear in Moses and the enemy will try to get us to compromise our commitment by striking fear into us. He'll try to get us to draw back by saying, oh, you know, if you if you really go for it all the way with the Lord, you know, you're going to turn a lot of people off. You're going to lose a lot of friends. You might even lose a position at work. You might even lose your job. If you lose your job what's going to happen? Or you know, if you really dedicate your life to the Lord if you really are determined to follow him, he's going to send you to that one place that you've always been afraid. That you might end up having to go to and these are the kinds of things the enemy really does. So many people have have held back and in the sense they've compromised their their commitment to serving the Lord because of fear because what Satan does is he will threaten evil consequences for obedience to God. He'll say hey if you obey God, this is what he's going to do to you. And it's a tactic of Satan. We see Pharaoh using it here. He says hey, you know, the Lord had better be with you when I let you go because there could be evil ahead of you. But then he goes on to suggest that the children are to be left behind another attempt at getting a compromise. Yeah, you adults you can go but you know, you just leave the kids here. And of course the whole motive of Pharaoh was he wanted to assure if he was going to let him go he wanted to assure that they would come back. He certainly didn't want to lose them as his slaves. And so verse 12 then the Lord said to Moses stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts that they may come upon the land of Egypt and eat every herb of the land all the hail all that the hail has left. So Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt and the Lord brought an east wind on the land all that day and all that night when it was morning the east wind brought the locust and the locust went up over all the land of Egypt and rested on all the territory of Egypt. They were very severe previously there had been no such locust as they nor shall there be such after them. Now again, it's interesting in the book of Revelation. We find a similar kind of thing. Remember the bottomless pit is opened and these creatures that appear initially from a distance like locusts come out of the bottomless pit, but upon closer inspection, we find that these seem to be little demonic creatures with hair like women and faces like lions and teeth like lions and tails like the tails of a scorpion. They have power to afflict men frightening that's yet in the future, but nothing like this had ever occurred in Egypt. Nothing since then for they covered the face of the whole Earth and the word Earth here would better be understood as land. They covered the face of the whole land so that the land was darkened and they ate every herb of the land and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left. So there remain nothing green on the trees or on the plants of the field throughout all the land of Egypt. So the whole agricultural system is in ruins then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and hasten said I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you now, therefore, please forgive my sin only this once and entreat the Lord your God that he may take away from me this death only so he went out from Pharaoh and entreated the Lord and the Lord turned a very strong west wind which took the locust away and blew them into the Red Sea. There remain not one locust in all the territory of Egypt, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he did not let the children of Israel go. So once again the hardening of the heart now, you know Pharaoh here's Pharaoh's big problem. Pharaoh has no genuine repentance in his heart, but he does come under duress when you know as these plagues are coming up on him. So he cries out to the Lord, but it's not genuine because it's basically only to be freed from the the immediate suffering and once the suffering is alleviated then he's right back in his position and tragically this is true with many people. Many people have a momentary show of repentance when they're under some sort of chastisement or the consequences of their sin have caught up with them and they're having to reap now the consequences of their sin and oftentimes under that kind of a thing you will find that a person will cry out and it will seem that they're crying out to the Lord. But the sad thing is that once everything changes and normalizes you see that their conversion was not a real conversion. And I cannot tell you how many times I have seen that over the years and you know where I've seen it so often. I've seen it so often in regards to marriage. I've seen it so often in regard to men who have been idiots and jerks and just have been abusive and just absolutely horrible husbands to the point that after numerous shows of mercy, the wife has finally said it's over. I can't do this anymore. That's it. And I can't tell you how many times we've seen the guys come. You know in weeping and oh my wife has left me and oh God, please bring her back and all of that sort of thing and there's a seeming repentance but so often once things change. You find that there was never really a genuine conversion seen it so many times. So many times that I finally got to the point of when I would have an encounter with a person like that. I would just say look this has nothing to do with getting your wife back. Don't even think about that. That's not the issue here. The issue here is you need to repent before God and get yourself right with him because you're going to be judged. You may judge for a lot of things and you're gonna be judged for the way you treated your wife and you're going to end up in hell unless you repent. So let's forget about your wife. Let's forget about your marriage and let's get you and God right and then if God wants to have mercy on you and restore your marriage. Well, that's his business see so often people get all of these things confused and what happens is they come to the Lord sort of like Pharaoh not really wanting salvation because they're humbling themselves and really wanted to repent for their own sins, but they just want to be freed from the situation that they're in. You've all heard about jailhouse conversions. A lot of people get converted in jail. What else you going to do in jail get beat up? Better get converted. Now, of course, there are some genuine conversions in prison. Thank God for that. But a lot of times and that that's what they refer to them as a jailhouse conversions. They're converted while they're in jail. Once they're out of jail, they're right back out doing the same thing again. Why because you see it was just the circumstances or the foxhole conversion. We've heard about those. You know, you call out to God and you know in the midst of trouble you call God. I'm sorry. Oh Lord, please forgive me. Oh God. I'll follow you. I promise that if you just deliver me from this, I'll be your servant forever and the Lord comes through. It's a repeat of what Pharaoh did. It's exactly the same kind of thing. See Pharaoh never really humbled himself. He never it was never really. The conviction in his own heart that he was a sinner and a rebel against the Creator God. And so none of this ever took it never translated into any any permanent change of heart because his motive was always impure. And so don't be like that. Don't be like that. Sometimes the most difficult thing for a person to do is to repent is to honestly say I am wrong. I have been wrong about everything. I am completely to blame and you know, it's the hardest thing to do but it's the it's the best thing to do and it's the only thing that you can possibly do to really get right with God whenever a person says, well, yeah, I'm sorry, but but you know, you want to know what they did. No, I don't want to know what they did because that's not the point. You see whenever we're trying to justify ourselves or make some even the smallest excuse. Then you have to question whether genuine repentance is really there because genuine repentance says I'm to blame. I'm at fault. I deserve everything that I'm getting. I deserve even worse. I deserve to be damned eternally to help somebody says that sincerely that's where you know. Okay, that person's repented at David is such a great example and I use David oftentimes when I'm talking to people about repentance. We know the story of David. Of course, the great king of Israel the sweet psalmist of Israel and the great giant Slayer and all of that, but we know also that David was a great sinner and he sinned with Bathsheba you remember committed adultery with her and then conspired to have her husband murdered. And you know all of this was brought out eventually and God dealt with it and then you know, there were all kinds of consequences that followed in David's life as a result of that and his children revolted against him and they rose up and one of his sons raped one of his daughters and her one of his other sons then murdered the one who raped his daughter and then we know the story of Absalom who eventually turned against his father and tried to drive him out of the kingdom and you remember maybe in reading the story there when David is fleeing from Absalom and he's leaving Jerusalem as he's going out of the city. There's a Benjamite named Shimei. Shimei hates David. He's a Benjamite. He was a he was Saul's man. So he hates David and as David's leaving the city Shimei is throwing stones at him and he's cursing him and he's calling him all kinds of names and one of David's men. He turns to David. He says, how could you allow this dog to treat you like that? He says, let me go and take off his head and David says this he says, what have I to do with you? He says, no leave him alone because perhaps the Lord has sent him to curse me. Perhaps this is God's judgment on me for my sin and that story is always impacted me because I see well, here's a guy whose repentance is so genuine and so sincere that he's willing to take whatever comes his way. He says, you know, maybe God sent him. I deserve worse than this. So maybe God sent him. I'm not going to touch him. You see that's the kind of attitude that we do not see in Pharaoh. And that's the kind of attitude that unfortunately, we don't see in people still to this very day. Repentance, true repentance is the key and that is not just, you know, turning to God to be delivered from the consequences of your sin, but turning to God truly, sincerely, whether or not those things ever get sorted or worked out. You know, some people have genuinely turned to the Lord who have been criminals and guess what happened? They've gone to prison afterward. Some have thought, well, I've become a Christian now. Isn't God going to get me out of prison or isn't he going to, isn't the judge going to be lenient? Maybe, but maybe not. You never know because God knows what's best. He knows what we need. And so Pharaoh, no real repentance, still hardening his heart against the Lord. Then the Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness. We're in verse 21, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness, which may be felt. That just sounds eerie, darkness, which may be felt. So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. Now, the great Egyptian God was Ra, the sun God. So out of all of the gods that they worshiped, Ra was the greatest of the gods and he was known as the sun God. And so here there's this thick darkness that comes upon the land that there's obviously nothing that can be done about it. So Ra is completely powerless to do anything about this darkness, but in the land of Goshen, there's light. Now, as I mentioned previously, there are those scholars and Bible commentators who want to take these plagues and naturalize them. And say that, well, you know, the red in the, like we mentioned, the red in the water that looked like blood, it was really, you know, plankton or something like that. Or, you know, the frogs were explained by the receding of the river and you know, they've got all of these natural explanations. And with this darkness, I've read many commentators who have said, well, this was due to a tremendous sandstorm. And then they went on to describe these sandstorms that can come and it's, you know, it will be dark and so forth. And, and you know, I just think this, if it was a sandstorm, it would have said a sandstorm. It doesn't say sandstorm. It just says a darkness came. So to me, this is a supernatural thing. Because the sandstorm surely would have affected Goshen as well, I would imagine, but it's a supernatural thing. God is judging here and God is making a distinction between the Egyptians and the Israelites with this darkness. Then Pharaoh called to Moses and said, go serve the Lord, only let your flocks and your herds be kept back. Let your little ones also go with you. So the final temptation to compromise here. Okay. Okay, you can go. Pharaoh's basically given him everything he's asked for except this one last thing. And you know, that again is the way the devil operates, isn't it? He will concede that. Okay. Yeah, take it all, go all the way. But that's just this one thing. And you know, if there's one thing that the enemy can trick us into holding onto, not turning over to the Lord. Just one little area, that one little thing can become a snare. That one little thing potentially could become our undoing. And so, you know, if there's things in our lives that God is dealing with us about, you know, if there's something in your life that the Lord has been putting a finger on and you know it, I don't want you to sit here and try to have to think, well, maybe I wonder, well, would it be this or no, you know, it's a thing that you would already know. It's a thing that you're trying to pretend isn't being pointed out to you by the Lord. But listen, when the Lord's pointing something out to you like that, the best thing you could possibly do is just let go of it. Because it could bring so much trouble down the road. It could be your undoing. And by holding on to it, you're just setting yourself up for trouble. By letting go of it, you're setting yourself up for blessing. Because God doesn't take anything away from us. But those things that are harmful to us in some way, and when he takes things away that are harmful to us, he replaces them with things that are beneficial to us and things that are going to bless us. You know, whatever it might be. It might be a relationship. You might be hanging on to a relationship. And God's saying, I want you to let it go. But you think, oh, no, but if I let it go, what's going to happen? Oh, trust the Lord. There's a blessing there. Might be a position that you've held on to and God's saying, I want you to let that go. Oh, but Lord, if I let it go, what's going to happen? Trust the Lord. He wants to bless you. You see, if he's speaking to us, if he's putting his finger on something in our lives, boy, we really... The height of wisdom is to respond to the Lord positively. So Moses said, you must also give us sacrifices and burn offerings that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. Our livestock also shall go with us. Not a hoof shall be left behind for we must... Notice Moses is very insistent. We must take some of them to serve the Lord our God. And even we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there. But the Lord stiffened or strengthened Pharaoh's heart and he would not let them go. Then Pharaoh said to him, get away from me. Take heed to yourself and see my face no more. For in the day that you see my face, you shall die. So Moses said, you have spoken. Well, I will never see your face again. And the Lord said to Moses, I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt afterward. He will let you go from here. And when he lets you go, he will surely drive you out of here altogether. Speak now in the hearing of the people and let every man ask from his neighbor and every woman from her neighbor articles of silver and gold. And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Listen to this. Moreover, Moses, the man Moses, was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of all the people. So Pharaoh's the problem one here. Many of the people are very impressed with what's happening. Then Moses said, thus says the Lord about midnight. I will go out into the midst of Egypt and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the hand mill and all the firstborn of the animals. So from the greatest to the lowest, even to the animals. Then there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as was not like it before, nor shall be like it again, but against none of the children of Israel. So a dog move its tongue against man or beast that you may know that the Lord does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel and all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me saying get out and all the people follow you after that. I will go out. Then he went out from Pharaoh in great anger, but the Lord said to Moses Pharaoh will not heed you so that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt. So Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land. Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying this month shall be your beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. So Israel is about to be born again, so to speak. They're about to begin a whole new life. God says this month is going to be the beginning of months for you speak to all the congregation of Israel saying on the 10th of this month. Every man shall take for himself a lamb according to the house of his father a lamb for a household. Now the month is called a bib or nice and a bib was the original name and then after the Babylonian period it was referred to more often as nice and and both words mean sort of the first or it had to do with the with the barley harvest a fresh harvest. So the idea is a fresh a fresh new thing. So if the household or to take a lamb if the household is too small for the lamb let him and his neighbor next to his house. Take it according to the number of the persons according to each man's need. You shall make your count for the lamb your lamb shall be without blemish a male of the first year. You shall take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the 14th day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight and they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the house where they eat it now notice here. This lamb is to come into their home four days before it is to be slain. And then it is to be slain notice. Also the whole congregation is to kill it. It's interesting. It doesn't say the whole congregation then will kill them says the whole congregation will kill it singular. Of course, this is all prophetic. This is all it's actual it's going to transpire just as God is instructing Moses, but we know it's also prophetic. It's a picture of the Lamb of God who would ultimately take away the sin of the world and we know of course Jesus is our Passover who was sacrificed for us. So this great event that transpires in the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt is a type of the great deliverance that would ultimately come to all people not from slavery in Egypt, but from slavery to sin and Satan through the shed blood of the Lamb of God Jesus Christ and so verse 8 then they shall eat of the the flesh on that night roasted in fire with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs. They shall eat it do not eat it raw nor boiled at all with water but roasted in fire its head with its legs and its entrails you shall let none of it remain until morning and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire and thus you shall eat it with a belt on your waist your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover for I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt both men and beast and against all the gods of Egypt. I will execute judgment. I am Yahweh now the blood shall be assigned for you on the houses where you are and when I see the blood I will pass over you and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. That's the key when I see the blood I will pass over you. So you see it had nothing to do with anything but that anybody in that house didn't matter if you were even an Egyptian you could have been an Egyptian if an Egyptian was in a house where there was blood applied then that Egyptian would have been safe. Anybody outside of the covering of that blood would be destroyed in the judgment and again, of course, this is a picture for us. So verse 14 this day shall be to you a memorial and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance seven days. You shall eat unleavened bread on the first day. You shall remove leaven from your houses for whoever eats leaven bread from the first day until the seventh day that person shall be cut off from Israel. Now leaven is symbolic of sin. So it's to be bread without leaven on the first day. There shall be a holy convocation a holy assembly and on the seventh day. There should be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on them, but that which everyone must eat that only may be prepared by you. So you shall observe the feast of unleavened bread for on the same day. I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance in the first month and the 14th day of the month that evening you shall eat unleavened bread until the 21st day of the month at evening for seven days. No leaven shall be found in your houses since whoever eats what is leavened that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger or a native in the land. You shall eat nothing leavened in all your dwellings. You shall eat unleavened bread then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them pick out the lambs for yourselves according to your families and kill the Passover and you shall take a bunch of hyssop. His hyssop was a fluffy little bush that grew around the rocks there. You're to dip it in the blood that is in the Basin strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the Basin and none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning for the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you and you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and for your sons forever. It shall come to pass when you come to the land which the Lord will give you just as he promised that you shall keep this service and it shall be when your children say to you what do you mean by this service that you shall say it is a Passover sacrifice of the Lord who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians and delivered the households so the people bowed their head and they worship than the children of Israel went away and did so just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron so they did and it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon and all the firstborn of the livestock so Pharaoh rose in the night he and all his servants and all the Egyptians and there was a great cry in Egypt for there was not a house where there was not one dead. Then remember what Pharaoh said you'll never see my face again get out get out from my presence if you see me again I'll kill you he called now for Moses and Aaron by night and said rise go out from among my people both you and the children of Israel and go serve Yahweh as you have said also take your flocks your herds as you have said and be gone and bless me also and the Egyptians urged the people that they might send them out of the land with haste for they said we shall all be dead so the people took their dough before it was leavened having their kneading bowls bound up in their clothes and their shoulders now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses and they asked from the Egyptians articles of silver and gold and clothing and the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians so they granted them what they requested and they plundered the Egyptians so all of those centuries of slavery they're now being reimbursed then the children of Israel journeyed from Ramses to Sukkah about 600,000 men on foot beside children and the ideas beside women as well so remember they went to Egypt 400 years earlier 70 people now there's approximately 2 million people coming out of Egypt there's also a mixed multitude who went up with them and flocks and herds and a great deal of livestock so this mixed multitude keep them in mind because we're going to come across them they're going to cause trouble for Israel these are Israelites who are married to Egyptians mixed families and probably Egyptians who just said Egypt's Egypt's wasted what are we going to hang around here for let's let's go with these guys so but we'll see that they will create some trouble and so they baked unleavened cakes of dough which they had brought out of Egypt for it was not leavened because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait nor had they prepared provisions for themselves now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was 430 years and it came to pass at the end of the 430 years on the very same day it came to pass that all the armies of the Lord went out of the land of Egypt it is a night of solemn observance to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt this is that night of the Lord a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout all their generations and the Lord said to Moses and Aaron this is the ordinance of the Passover no foreigner shall eat it but every man's servant who is bought for money when you have circumcised him then he may eat it a sojourner and a hired servant shall not eat it in one house it shall be eaten you shall not carry any of its flesh outside the house nor shall you break one of its bones all the congregation of Israel shall keep it and when a stranger dwells with you and wants to keep the Passover to the Lord but all this males be circumcised and let them come near and keep it and he shall be as a native of the land for no uncircumcised person shall eat it one law shall be for the native-born and for the stranger who dwells among you thus the children of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron so they did and it came to pass in the very same day that the Lord brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt according to their armies so sorry to have to rush through that 12th chapter so quickly but I sat here many years and pastor check you know times when he was doing like you know 10 chapters and there'd be 15 minutes left and you have five chapters to go and he would make it so I'm just following his footsteps here I did and I did just one I got through one but the Passover of course so many things about the Passover but as we go through this book and you know the the Pentateuch itself through Leviticus and through numbers and through Deuteronomy these things will come up over and over again so there's there's plenty of opportunity to delve more into the Passover but just a final word on it again Christ as Paul tells us our Passover was sacrificed for us and so he says so let us keep the feast not with the let us keep the feast with the unleavened bread of righteousness and so just as Israel was to observe this feast and and Passover and and the feast of unleavened bread were they were so joined together that in the New Testament we find that they're used synonymously but it's this idea of redemption through blood and forgiveness of sin and purging from sin and turning away from sin and so the Lord has fulfilled this great prophecy of course on the cross and as we have come under the blood of Christ our sins are forgiven we have passed from death into life we shall not come into judgment and not only that but God has provided us a victory over sin so just as the feast of unleavened bread represented that sinless ideal so by the grace of God through the power of the Holy Spirit we can progressively have that victory over sin and walk in the Spirit and in the newness of life and all of those things are there included in that great fulfillment of the Passover that Jesus accomplished and of course you know as well that it was on the Passover itself that Christ was crucified as a fulfillment of these things so we'll talk more about that in the future Lord we thank you that we could gather again tonight and study the word go through this the verse-by-verse chapter-by-chapter and trust that as we're just subjecting ourselves to your word that you are ministering to us by your spirit in our hearts each of us individually having different issues and different questions and different things that we're dealing with and wondering about and needing direction on thank you Lord that your spirit is able to take four chapters of the Bible and bring application to us today so Lord apply your word by your spirit we pray and Lord as we go this week may we go in the power of the spirit and the victory of the cross to live in righteousness as you would have us to do we pray in Jesus name amen amen well let's stand together pastors are up front if you'd like some prayer and as we mentioned there's extended time of worship and prayer over in the fellowship hall if you want to head over there as well we have just had a new grandson this past week and so we have we have three grandsons now and our newest one little Judah Haddon he is he's up in Santa Rosa and he's saying he wants to see his grandpa and grandma so so we're gonna hit the road early in the morning and go up and spend a couple days with them so just keep us in prayer as we travel up and back and may God bless you and be with you this week and we'll look forward to seeing you later in the week see Jesus Jesus were Jesus you're the man were it's taking my sin taking my sin my cross my shame rising again I bless your name you are my all when I fall down you pick me up when I am trying to fill my cup you are my all Jesus you're the lamb of God worthy is your name Jesus you're the lamb of God worthy is your name Jesus Jesus you're the lamb of God worthy is your name Jesus you're the lamb of God worthy is your name Jesus you're the lamb of God worthy is your name you you you