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Voddie Baucham - The Seventh Plague_ Hail · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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Speaker 1: If you have your Bibles with you, open to Exodus,
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Speaker 1: Exodus chapter nine. We're looking today at verses thirteen through
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Speaker 1: twenty one Exodus chapter nine, and here we see that
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Speaker 1: God's wrath reveals. God's wrath reveals. It doesn't just punish.
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Speaker 1: God's wrath also reveals, and there are a number of
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Speaker 1: things that are revealed by in and through God's wrath
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Speaker 1: in this text, and the Egyptians actually respond to the
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Speaker 1: revelation of God's wrath. Here in our text this week,
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Speaker 1: beginning at verse thirteen, we read, then the Lord said
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Speaker 1: to Moses, rise up early in the morning, and present
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Speaker 1: yourself before Pharaoh, and say to him. Thus says the Lord,
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Speaker 1: the God of the Hebrews, Let my people go that
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Speaker 1: they may serve me. For this time I will send
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Speaker 1: all my plagues on you yourself, and on your servants, and
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Speaker 1: on your people, so that you may know that there
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Speaker 1: is none like me in all the earth. For by
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Speaker 1: now I could have put out my hand and struck
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Speaker 1: you and your people with pestilence, and you would have
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Speaker 1: been cut cut off from the earth. But for this
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Speaker 1: purpose I have raised you up to show you my power,
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Speaker 1: so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth,
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Speaker 1: you are still exalting yourself against my people and will
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Speaker 1: not let them go. Behold about this time tomorrow, I
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Speaker 1: will cause very heavy hail to fall, such as never
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Speaker 1: has been in Egypt from the day it was founded
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Speaker 1: until now. Now. Therefore, send get your livestock, all that
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Speaker 1: you have in the field into safe shelter. For every
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Speaker 1: man and beast that is in the field and is
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Speaker 1: not brought home will die with the hail when the
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Speaker 1: hail falls on them. Then whoever feared the word of
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Speaker 1: the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves
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Speaker 1: and his livestock into the houses. But whoever didn't not
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Speaker 1: to pay attention to the word of the Lord left
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Speaker 1: his slaves and his livestock in the field. God's wrath
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Speaker 1: reveals you know, as we examine the text and think
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Speaker 1: about this portion, it's important for us to be reminded
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Speaker 1: of a number of things. First, that this is the
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Speaker 1: last in this series of plagues. What I mean by
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Speaker 1: that is, as we've seen, the plagues are divided into
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Speaker 1: three parts, and then there is a final plague. There
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Speaker 1: are three sets of three plagues, and then a final plague.
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Speaker 1: In each of these three sets of plagues. We've seen
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Speaker 1: that the first of the three plagues happens in the morning,
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Speaker 1: probably when Pharaoh is at the Nile or worship purposes.
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Speaker 1: The second of the three plagues happened to Pharaoh in
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Speaker 1: his official capacity, where Moses and Aaron go before Pharaoh
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Speaker 1: in his official capacity, perhaps in his chamber. And in
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Speaker 1: the final plague in each of the series of three
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Speaker 1: plagues happens without warning. Pharaoh is not told about the
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Speaker 1: last plague in each of these series of three plagues.
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Speaker 1: In this plague we see that then the Lord said
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Speaker 1: to Moses, rise up early in the morning and present
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Speaker 1: yourself before Pharaoh and say to him. So we're beginning
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Speaker 1: the last series of three plagues. We saw in the
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Speaker 1: middle series of three plagues that God was setting apart
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Speaker 1: his people Israel. God was redeeming his people Israel. He
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Speaker 1: was making a distinction between the Israelis and the Egyptians.
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Speaker 1: He was making a distinction between those who were his
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Speaker 1: and those who were not. In the last series of plagues,
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Speaker 1: the plagues would come on Egypt, but they would not
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Speaker 1: touch Goshen, for example, and God would say that he
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Speaker 1: was making a distinction, that he was setting apart that
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Speaker 1: he was redeeming his people even in the midst of Egypt.
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Speaker 1: And in this last set of plagues, God highlights a
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Speaker 1: growing sense of belief in Egypt. Starting even with this
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Speaker 1: first plague, we see we will see a response of belief. Now,
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Speaker 1: growing belief is not necessarily growing faith. Let me say
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Speaker 1: that again. Growing belief is not necessarily growing faith. The
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Speaker 1: key here is the contrast between Pharaoh and the other Egyptians.
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Speaker 1: You see the difference, if nothing else. You see the
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Speaker 1: difference between a person with a hard heart and the
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Speaker 1: person whose heart is at least inclined to believe what
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Speaker 1: he sees and respond appropriately. You see the difference between
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Speaker 1: a person who ought to know better by now but
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Speaker 1: doesn't or at least doesn't act on it because his
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Speaker 1: heart is so hard, and individuals who were beginning to
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Speaker 1: come to a place where at least they recognize that
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Speaker 1: what God says is going to take place and they
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Speaker 1: had better at least respond. This demonstrates what it looks
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Speaker 1: like and what it means for a heart to be hardened.
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Speaker 1: He's not even rational enough to respond in fear. We
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Speaker 1: see the other Egyptians who are responding at least in fear,
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Speaker 1: if not faith. They may not believe that God is God,
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Speaker 1: that Yahweh is God, that the Lord is God. They
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Speaker 1: may not believe that their gods are not God's. They
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Speaker 1: may not believe that the Nile is not divine or
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Speaker 1: that Pharaoh is not divine. But they at least believe
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Speaker 1: that when Moses says something is about to happen, it's
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Speaker 1: going to happen. And when he says it's going to
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Speaker 1: happen tomorrow, it's going to happen tomorrow. James says, of faith,
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Speaker 1: you believe, and that's good. But even the demons believe,
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Speaker 1: and he adds this line and shudder. The difference between
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Speaker 1: you and the demons, and between you and Pharaoh is
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Speaker 1: not that you believe and they don't. The demons believe.
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Speaker 1: They actually believe in a way more than you believe.
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Speaker 1: Number one, because they live in a realm that you
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Speaker 1: don't live in. They've been around longer than you've been around,
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Speaker 1: and they are well aware that God is who God
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Speaker 1: says he is, and that God does what he says
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Speaker 1: he's going to do. They believe, and they shudder. However,
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Speaker 1: their hearts are hardened. Trust me when I tell you
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Speaker 1: Pharaoh believed this, but his heart was hardened. The next
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Speaker 1: day he woke up and he was looking for Hale.
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Speaker 1: He believed it. In the Last plague, when God said,
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Speaker 1: it's not going to touch the animals in Goshen, what
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Speaker 1: did Pharaoh do? He sent someone to Goshin believes and
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Speaker 1: trust me. By now Pharaoh shudders. He is terrified of God,
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Speaker 1: as every human being ought to be and would be
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Speaker 1: under such circumstances. However, when your heart is hard believing
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Speaker 1: that God is going to do something and being afraid
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Speaker 1: of what God is going to do is not enough.
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Speaker 1: It's not enough when you were committed either to your
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Speaker 1: cause or just committed to not bending the knee. But
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Speaker 1: haven't we seen this? Sometimes we celebrate this. There's a
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Speaker 1: movie coming out now about a I believe it's a
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Speaker 1: World War two tank division where they're just a few
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Speaker 1: guys left, you know, and this tank division and they're
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Speaker 1: fighting against insurmountable odds, you know, kind of like another
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Speaker 1: three hundred, you know, this idea of standing a against
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Speaker 1: insurmountable odds and fighting no matter what. And usually in
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Speaker 1: cases like this, people aren't saying, hey, we can actually
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Speaker 1: beat them. There's a lot more of them than there
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Speaker 1: are of us, but just because of the sheer magnitude
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Speaker 1: of our personalities, we can whip them. That's not what
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Speaker 1: people are saying. That's not what happened at Thermopoli. That's
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Speaker 1: not what happened in this particular battle as well. The
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Speaker 1: idea here is we know that that's an overwhelming force,
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Speaker 1: and that we can't defeat this overwhelming force. But sometimes
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Speaker 1: you don't stand against an overwhelming force to defeat it.
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Speaker 1: You stand against an overwhelming force to say we will
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Speaker 1: not bow to you. And when it happens for our side,
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Speaker 1: we build memorials to them, we celebrate them, we have
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Speaker 1: days of commemoration for them when it happens for our side,
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Speaker 1: because we think that's honorable. But when it happens against
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Speaker 1: God folks, that's another thing altogether, And that's where Pharaoh
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Speaker 1: is now. I know you can do what you say
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Speaker 1: you're going to do. I know you can kill my livestock.
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Speaker 1: I know you can bloody denial. I know you can
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Speaker 1: send fire. I know you can send frogs and lice
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Speaker 1: and everything else. I know you can. But I am
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Speaker 1: not going to let these people go because I'm Pharaoh
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Speaker 1: and I have to continue to be Pharaoh. That's what
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Speaker 1: a hard heart does. You see, and you know, and
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Speaker 1: you still won't respond, You still won't bow. This is
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Speaker 1: what a hard heart looks like. You see. People don't
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Speaker 1: stand this way in opposition to God because they don't believe.
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Speaker 1: Everyone believes. We just suppress the truth in our unrighteousness.
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Speaker 1: Paul tells us in Romans chapter one, there is no
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Speaker 1: such thing as an atheist. Folks, anyone who tells you
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Speaker 1: they're an atheist, the first thing that you know is
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Speaker 1: that they're a liar. Amen, somebody, I'm an atheist? Really?
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Speaker 1: Is that why you fight so hard against the God
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Speaker 1: in whom you do not believe? You ever noticed that?
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Speaker 1: I mean, atheists write books against the God and whom
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Speaker 1: they do not believe. Why because they believe, just like
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Speaker 1: Pharaoh believes. But his heart is hardened. The wrath of
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Speaker 1: God reveals. And yet his heart is hard He is
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Speaker 1: the epitome of the leader who will condemn him his
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Speaker 1: people to die rather than acknowledge the truth that he knows.
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Speaker 1: This is a picture of a hard heart, And folks,
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Speaker 1: this is the picture of your heart. Apart from Christ,
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Speaker 1: this is the picture of some people in this room today.
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Speaker 1: And here's the irony some people in this room today,
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Speaker 1: because you're more like Pharaoh a couple of plagues ago,
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Speaker 1: where he says to Moses, Oh okay, fine, they can
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Speaker 1: go ahead and worship here. Oh okay, fine, you can go.
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Speaker 1: Just don't go as far as you want to go.
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Speaker 1: Oh okay, fine, I'll do you see some of us
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Speaker 1: because we say no, I will not bother me. I'm
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Speaker 1: go to church. I'll take my kids to church. I'll
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Speaker 1: do some spiritual things every now and again. But I
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Speaker 1: am going to live and lead and govern my own life.
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Speaker 1: I am I'm not going to believe that the world
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Speaker 1: is the way you say that it is. I'm not
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Speaker 1: going to believe that right is what you say is right,
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Speaker 1: and wrong is what you say is wrong. I'm going
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Speaker 1: to live in accordance to my own desires and design,
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Speaker 1: and I'll give you something, but I won't give you
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Speaker 1: what you demand. That's a hard heart as well. That's
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Speaker 1: a hard heart as well. There are hard hearts in
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Speaker 1: the church and hard hearts outside. That's why we cannot
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Speaker 1: say that these people are necessarily responding in faith, although
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Speaker 1: they are definitely responding according to their belief. But what
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Speaker 1: does God's wrath reveal. God's wrath, believe it or not,
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Speaker 1: reveals his mercy. I know that sounds ironic, However it's true.
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Speaker 1: God's wrath reveals his mercy. Wh we see God pour
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Speaker 1: out his wrath, we are reminded of God's mercy. How
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Speaker 1: is that? So? Look at verse fifteen, For by now
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Speaker 1: I could have put out my hand and struck you
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Speaker 1: and your people with pestilence, and you would have been
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Speaker 1: cut off from the earth. In other words, God says, oh,
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Speaker 1: by the way, all these things are coming upon you,
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Speaker 1: and this is horrific. However, it's not as bad as
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Speaker 1: it could be. And we see the mercy of God
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Speaker 1: whenever he pours out his wrath. Whenever, whenever God raises
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Speaker 1: up and does something like this, we are always be
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Speaker 1: reminded that it is not as bad as it could
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Speaker 1: have been, that God has showed mercy and restraint. Anything
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Speaker 1: God does sort of wiping out the entire universe is merciful.
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Speaker 1: So when we see God's wrath, remember that God in
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Speaker 1: his wrath is actually revealing his mercy. This is the
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Speaker 1: Seventh plague, folks, this is the seventh plague. Do you
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Speaker 1: know what that says, God has restrained himself six other times,
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Speaker 1: because if God had not restrained himself six other times,
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Speaker 1: there would have been nothing and no one upon whom
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Speaker 1: to bring another plague. You follow, except for God's mercy,
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Speaker 1: There's nothing to be plagued again for a seventh time.
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Speaker 1: It is only because of God's mercy that there is
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Speaker 1: something and someone left upon whom he can inflict another
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Speaker 1: plague some one O three six to fourteen. We heard
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Speaker 1: this in our call to worship, but listen to it again.
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Speaker 1: This is why it was part of our call to worship.
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Speaker 1: The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.
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Speaker 1: He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to
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Speaker 1: the people of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious,
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Speaker 1: slow to anger, and abounding and steadfast love. He will
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Speaker 1: not always child, nor will he keep his anger forever.
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Speaker 1: He does not deal with us according to our sins,
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Speaker 1: nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high
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Speaker 1: as the heavens are above the earth, so great is
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Speaker 1: his steadfast love toward those who fear him. As far
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Speaker 1: as the east is from the west, so far does
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Speaker 1: he remove our transgressions from us as a father shows
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Speaker 1: compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to
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Speaker 1: those who fear him, for he knows our frame. He
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Speaker 1: remembers that we are dust. God is compass and merciful,
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Speaker 1: and his wrath reminds us of that, especially for those
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Speaker 1: of us who are His, for those of us who
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Speaker 1: are children of God, and recognize that we sin, those
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Speaker 1: of us whose hearts are pricked and consciences are pricked
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Speaker 1: when we sin. Every time we see the wrath of God,
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Speaker 1: we are reminded that that is what I deserve for
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Speaker 1: what I've done, and that is what has been poured
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Speaker 1: out on Christ, on my behalf. Every time we see
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Speaker 1: the wrath of God, we ought to remember his mercy.
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Speaker 1: There was no series of plagues for Noah. You remember
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Speaker 1: that the flood was not part of a series. It
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Speaker 1: just came. It just came. There was no series of
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Speaker 1: plagues for Sodom and Gomorrah. Fire and brimstone came down
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Speaker 1: and consume those cities without warning. The only warning was
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Speaker 1: the lot get out. There were no series of plagues
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Speaker 1: for Sodom and Gomorrah. God simply wiped them out, and
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Speaker 1: not even this seventh plague is the final one. There
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Speaker 1: are more plagues to come, which means that God will
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Speaker 1: even be merciful in this plague, as hard as that
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Speaker 1: is for us to wrap our heads around. But the
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Speaker 1: only way that you can understand God being merciful in
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Speaker 1: the midst of plagues is to understand what our sins deserve.
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Speaker 1: That's why the Psalmist says that He does not deal
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Speaker 1: with us according to our sins, or as some translations say,
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Speaker 1: he does not deal with us in accordance with what
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Speaker 1: our sin deserves. God doesn't give us what our sins deserve.
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Speaker 1: He never gives us what our sins deserves. And make
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Speaker 1: no mistake about it, there is finality that comes, and
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Speaker 1: the finality that comes for those who are outside of
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Speaker 1: Christ means that they will ultimately get what their sins deserve.
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Speaker 1: But for those of us who are followers of Christ,
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Speaker 1: that will never be the case. And for those of
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Speaker 1: us who are not followers of Christ, as long as
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Speaker 1: there is breath in your body and you have not
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Speaker 1: experienced that final judgment, you have still not been dealt
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Speaker 1: with in accordance with what your sins deserve. God is
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Speaker 1: merciful even to his enemies and his adversaries. The fact
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Speaker 1: that there are people who hate God and are given
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Speaker 1: breath in their lungs to scream out their hate against
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Speaker 1: God is evidence of the fact that God is merciful.
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Speaker 1: The fact that the atheist or the so called atheist
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Speaker 1: gets to write his book and publish it and make
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Speaker 1: money off it is evidence of the mercy of God.
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Speaker 1: The fact that there is a Church of Satan today
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Speaker 1: is evidence of the mercy of God. God does not
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Speaker 1: deal with us in accordance with what our sin deserves.
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Speaker 1: This is true for the believer and the unbeliever alike.
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Speaker 1: The only difference is for the unbeliever it is God
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Speaker 1: has not yet dealt with you according to what your
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Speaker 1: sins deserve, but there is a day coming when he will.
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Speaker 1: The mere story and history of God's wrath is also
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Speaker 1: a merciful warning to the wicked. You know, for example,
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Speaker 1: we don't have to experience these plagues, we get to
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Speaker 1: read about them. Amen, that's merciful. We don't have to
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Speaker 1: experience the flood, we get to read about it. Praise
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Speaker 1: the Lord. God is merciful. These things are recorded so
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Speaker 1: that we could know this is merciful. Plagues used to
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Speaker 1: turn us toward God, turn US towards science the Bubonic plague.
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Speaker 1: Over a five year period from thirteen forty seven to
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Speaker 1: thirteen fifty two, twenty five million people died. In five years.
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Speaker 1: From one third to one half of the European population
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Speaker 1: was wiped out by the bubonic plague. It was indeed
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Speaker 1: a plague of biblical proportions. It so affected the lives
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Speaker 1: of the people that even children had their entire perspective
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Speaker 1: on life changed because of the bubonic plague. Ringing around
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Speaker 1: the roses, pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes, we all
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Speaker 1: fall down. That's a nursery rhyme about the bubonic plague,
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Speaker 1: growing up surrounded by death everywhere they look, and there's
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Speaker 1: a song that basically says, we try to treat them
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Speaker 1: with this, we try to treat him with that, but
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Speaker 1: eventually we all fall down. There's nothing we can do.
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Speaker 1: There's nothing we can do. What do you do when
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Speaker 1: that happens, Well, if your heart is not hard, you
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Speaker 1: turn to God. Amen. This doesn't mean that we don't
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Speaker 1: trust in medicine or practice medicine. That's not the point.
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Speaker 1: The point is we don't adopt a worldview that says
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Speaker 1: that this is just all about science and it's all
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Speaker 1: about medicine. It's not polio. In the United States in
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Speaker 1: nineteen sixteen, polio killed six thousilled about six thousand people,
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Speaker 1: and left thousands more paralyzed. AIDS has killed millions, and
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Speaker 1: we absolutely refuse to even have a conversation about what
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Speaker 1: that disease means. And today there's ebola little over four
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Speaker 1: thousand cases confirmed in West Africa lit alone of the
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Speaker 1: thirty five hundred deaths. And now we have ebola in
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Speaker 1: Dallas and maybe in Hawaii and who knows where else.
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Speaker 1: But here's the point. These plagues come in Egypt, and
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Speaker 1: we say, why don't the Egyptians fall on their faces
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Speaker 1: and believe that there is a god who is in
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Speaker 1: control the bubonic plague, polio aids, Ebola. Why don't we
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Speaker 1: fall on our faces and believe that there is a
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Speaker 1: god who is in control. Why aren't we reminded in
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Speaker 1: moments like these that there are things that are beyond us,
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Speaker 1: that this world is not as simple as we think
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Speaker 1: it is, and that these are consequences of the fact
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Speaker 1: that we live in a fallen world and we need
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Speaker 1: to be redeemed. We don't think like that. We're too
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Speaker 1: advanced for that. We're too advanced to call for public
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Speaker 1: prayer and repentance in the face of an almighty God,
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Speaker 1: because that's just not the way the world works. We're
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Speaker 1: more intelligent now, and so what we do is we
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Speaker 1: look to sciences and we say, come on, find a cure,
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Speaker 1: fix this, because the answer to our problems is you've
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Speaker 1: given us another pill we can take. Newsflash, folks, Polio's
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Speaker 1: gone from our shores, and people still die every day
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Speaker 1: from something else when these things happen. Here's what we
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Speaker 1: need to think. When you see a rash of deaths somewhere,
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Speaker 1: here's what ought to come to your mind. Because of sin.
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Speaker 1: That's what the world ought to be like everywhere every day.
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Speaker 1: But it's not. And it's only by the mercy of
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Speaker 1: God that the world's not like that everywhere every day.
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Speaker 1: Because what our sin deserves is bubonic plague everywhere every day.
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Speaker 1: What our sin deserves its aids and polio and ebola
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Speaker 1: everywhere every day. That's what the sinfulness of mankind deserves
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Speaker 1: everywhere every day. Turn on the television and look at
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Speaker 1: what we celebrate. That's what we deserve everywhere every day.
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Speaker 1: But it doesn't happen everywhere every day. The fact is,
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Speaker 1: most places don't have plagues right now. Why because God
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Speaker 1: is merciful. And sometimes it's only when we see a
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Speaker 1: plague somewhere that we are reminded that God is merciful,
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Speaker 1: because it's not like that everywhere every day. God's wrath
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Speaker 1: not only reveals his mercy, it also reveals his glory.
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Speaker 1: It reveals his glory Verses fourteen and fifteen. I mean
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Speaker 1: fourteen and sixteen. At the end of verse fourteen, so
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Speaker 1: that you may know that there is none like me
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Speaker 1: in all the earth sixteen. But for this purpose, I
28:02
Speaker 1: have raised you up to show you my power, so
28:06
Speaker 1: that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth,
28:10
Speaker 1: in all the earth, in all the earth, in all
28:13
Speaker 1: the earth, in all the earth, that God's glory might
28:17
Speaker 1: fill the earth. That is the purpose for which man
28:21
Speaker 1: was created, and that is the purpose for which man
28:24
Speaker 1: is redeemed, that His glory might fill the earth, that
28:29
Speaker 1: God's glory might fill the earth, that everyone everywhere might
28:34
Speaker 1: know God and give God the worship that God deserves.
28:38
Speaker 1: That is our purpose for existing. God is not just love. Amen.
28:51
Speaker 1: It's interesting. I saw a photograph and I looked up
28:55
Speaker 1: this photograph and I couldn't find much information about the photograph,
28:59
Speaker 1: but I knew it. It is a picture from the
29:03
Speaker 1: Vietnam War, and it's a picture of I believe it's
29:09
Speaker 1: a marine who is carrying and running with two small
29:15
Speaker 1: Vietnamese children, and he is running towards his radio man,
29:20
Speaker 1: and his radio man is crouching down taking cover and
29:23
Speaker 1: obviously calling in for a support of some kind. And
29:26
Speaker 1: this guy has his head ducks, he's got a kid
29:29
Speaker 1: in each arm, and he's running to get behind that
29:33
Speaker 1: same cover. And you see this picture. And the reason
29:39
Speaker 1: that this picture is so moving from my perspective is
29:44
Speaker 1: here is a warrior. He is obviously a warrior. There's
29:49
Speaker 1: no doubt. He's wearing the uniform of a warrior, he
29:52
Speaker 1: has the weapon of a warrior. He is in the
29:55
Speaker 1: midst of a war. But even in the midst of
29:58
Speaker 1: that war warrior is not all he is. It's not
30:03
Speaker 1: all he is. And this is true about God, is
30:06
Speaker 1: it not. And this is the problem that we have
30:09
Speaker 1: in our culture. This is the problem that we have
30:11
Speaker 1: with people who don't have a proper worldview, because people
30:15
Speaker 1: with a proper worldview look at something like this, or
30:18
Speaker 1: they look at plagues that are happening around the world,
30:21
Speaker 1: and they say, how could this happen? If God is
30:25
Speaker 1: a loving God, how could this possibly happen? Because we
30:30
Speaker 1: can understand how a marine could at the same time
30:34
Speaker 1: be a marine and a warrior and the type of
30:37
Speaker 1: man who would carry children out of the way so
30:40
Speaker 1: that they don't get hurt. We can understand this about
30:43
Speaker 1: a marine, but we can't understand this about God. Because
30:48
Speaker 1: God is supposed to be one thing and one thing only.
30:52
Speaker 1: How can God be more than one thing at the
30:55
Speaker 1: same time? How could God be loving and merciful and
31:00
Speaker 1: just and wrathful? How? How? And we think that disproves God.
31:11
Speaker 1: All it disproves is your simplistic notions of God. It
31:17
Speaker 1: doesn't prove that there's no God. The fact that these
31:21
Speaker 1: plagues happen, the fact that these horrible things are happening
31:24
Speaker 1: in Egypt, does not prove that there's no God. And
31:28
Speaker 1: it also doesn't prove that God is good. It merely
31:33
Speaker 1: magnifies God's glory because he's pouring his wrath out on
31:37
Speaker 1: the wicked. You see, here's our problem. We don't believe
31:40
Speaker 1: people are wicked. This is why it bothers us because
31:48
Speaker 1: we really don't believe people are wicked. Oh but they are.
31:54
Speaker 1: They are. God's wrath tells us as much about him
32:05
Speaker 1: as his love. In fact, if you don't understand God
32:13
Speaker 1: as a god of wrath, then it doesn't mean anything
32:18
Speaker 1: for God to love you. We try to illustrate that
32:29
Speaker 1: young man walks into a room, and as he walks
32:33
Speaker 1: into the room, he is captivated by a beautiful young woman,
32:40
Speaker 1: and his attention turns to the beautiful young woman, and
32:43
Speaker 1: she's looking back at him, And as young men are
32:47
Speaker 1: prone to do when beautiful young women look back at them,
32:52
Speaker 1: he smiles, and then she smiles. And as she smiles,
33:00
Speaker 1: she doesn't avert her gaze. So he approaches her and
33:05
Speaker 1: begins to speak to her, and she looks at him,
33:08
Speaker 1: and she bats her eyes and she smiles at his
33:11
Speaker 1: every word. She flips her hair. I mean whole nine yards.
33:21
Speaker 1: The young man gets up and he goes and he
33:23
Speaker 1: picks up the phone and he calls his mama and
33:26
Speaker 1: he says, Mama, Mama, I think I found her. Just then,
33:30
Speaker 1: another man walks into the room and she looks at
33:33
Speaker 1: him the exact same way, smiles at him the exact
33:38
Speaker 1: same way, bats her eyes at him the exact same way,
33:43
Speaker 1: flips her hair at him the exact same way, And
33:47
Speaker 1: when that young man runs off to call his mama,
33:49
Speaker 1: another young man walks into the room, and she smiles
33:53
Speaker 1: at him the exact same way, and bats her eyes
33:57
Speaker 1: at him at the exact same way, and flips her
33:59
Speaker 1: hand at him the exact same way, at which moment
34:02
Speaker 1: the young man's mother is on the phone saying tell
34:04
Speaker 1: me more, tell me more, tell me more, and he says, sorry, mom,
34:11
Speaker 1: nothing to see here. Hang up. Why Because if that's
34:19
Speaker 1: all she is, and she's that way with everyone, then
34:25
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean anything when she's that way with you, folks.
34:32
Speaker 1: If all God is is mushy, squishy, syrupy, sweet, loving kindness,
34:41
Speaker 1: and that's all he is with everyone, no matter what,
34:45
Speaker 1: then it doesn't mean anything for him to be that
34:49
Speaker 1: way with you. The only way you have a meaningful
34:56
Speaker 1: comprehension of the love of God is if you under
35:00
Speaker 1: stand that he is righteous and that he is wrathful.
35:04
Speaker 1: It is only in that moment that you recognize that
35:08
Speaker 1: he doesn't smile at everyone, He's not warm and welcoming
35:17
Speaker 1: with everyone. It is only then that you understand the
35:23
Speaker 1: glory of God that is revealed by his wrath. The
35:30
Speaker 1: wrath of God is praiseworthy. This is why we sing
35:35
Speaker 1: songs about the wrath of God. And we're uncomfortable with that.
35:41
Speaker 1: We're uncomfortable praising God for his love. We can do that,
35:45
Speaker 1: we can get all over that. But praising God for
35:48
Speaker 1: his wrath we have a problem with. And again, why
35:50
Speaker 1: do we have a problem with praising God for his wrath?
35:53
Speaker 1: Because we do not understand the sinfulness of man, and
35:59
Speaker 1: we don't that that's what sin deserves. But when you
36:03
Speaker 1: believe that that's what sin deserves, it changes things. This
36:10
Speaker 1: scene is referenced in Romans chapter nine. What shall we say? Then?
36:17
Speaker 1: Is there injustice on God's part by no means? For
36:21
Speaker 1: he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom
36:23
Speaker 1: I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on
36:25
Speaker 1: whom I have compassion. So then it depends not on him,
36:30
Speaker 1: not on human will or exertion, but on God, who
36:34
Speaker 1: has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, for this
36:37
Speaker 1: very purpose, I have raised you up that I might
36:40
Speaker 1: show my power in you, and that my name might
36:43
Speaker 1: be proclaimed in all the earth. So then he has
36:46
Speaker 1: mercy on whoever he wills, and he hardens whoever he wills.
36:50
Speaker 1: You will say, then, why does he still find fault?
36:53
Speaker 1: For who can resist his will? But who are you,
36:57
Speaker 1: oh man, to answer back to God? Will what is
37:00
Speaker 1: molded say to its molder? Why have you made me
37:04
Speaker 1: like this? Has the potter no right over the clay
37:08
Speaker 1: to make out of the same lump, one vessel for
37:11
Speaker 1: honorable use and another for dishonorable use. What if God,
37:15
Speaker 1: desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power,
37:19
Speaker 1: has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for
37:22
Speaker 1: destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory,
37:26
Speaker 1: for vessels of mercy which he has prepared beforehand, for
37:30
Speaker 1: glory even us, whom he has called not from the
37:33
Speaker 1: Jews only, but also from the Gentiles. As indeed he
37:37
Speaker 1: says in Hoseah, those who are not my people, I
37:40
Speaker 1: will call my people, And her who was not beloved,
37:43
Speaker 1: I will call beloved. And in the very place where
37:48
Speaker 1: it was said to them you are not my people,
37:51
Speaker 1: there they will be called sons of the Living God.
37:56
Speaker 1: The wrath of God is to be celebrated because it
38:00
Speaker 1: reveals God's glory. The wrath of God is also central
38:06
Speaker 1: to the Gospel. You cannot understand the Gospel if you
38:10
Speaker 1: don't understand the wrath of God. You cannot understand why
38:14
Speaker 1: Jesus had to die on the cross. Unless you understand
38:17
Speaker 1: the wrath of God and the doctrine of propitiation, where
38:21
Speaker 1: God has his righteous wrath satisfied by the death of Christ.
38:29
Speaker 1: You cannot comprehend the mercy of being saved by God
38:34
Speaker 1: from God for God unless and until you understand his
38:38
Speaker 1: wrath that is poured out on his son, on behalf
38:42
Speaker 1: of those who have faith in Him. Only then, only
38:47
Speaker 1: then do you understand the Gospel. Finally, the same wrath
38:59
Speaker 1: that hardens so works to soften others. We can't forget that.
39:06
Speaker 1: It would be easy to forget as you look at
39:08
Speaker 1: the plagues. We would think that, you know, God brings
39:10
Speaker 1: us wrath only to harden people. But the fact of
39:13
Speaker 1: the matter is not everyone responds this way. Beginning of
39:16
Speaker 1: verse eighteen, Behold about this time tomorrow, I will cause
39:20
Speaker 1: very heavy hal to fall, such as never has been
39:23
Speaker 1: in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. Now. Therefore,
39:27
Speaker 1: send get your live stock and all that you have
39:30
Speaker 1: in the field into safe shelter. For every man and
39:34
Speaker 1: beast that is in the field and is not brought
39:36
Speaker 1: home will die when the hale falls on them. Then,
39:41
Speaker 1: whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants
39:44
Speaker 1: of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses,
39:48
Speaker 1: But whoever did not pay attention to the word of
39:51
Speaker 1: the Lord left his slaves and his live stock in
39:54
Speaker 1: the field. This doesn't mean that some of these people
39:59
Speaker 1: will say, although evidence is that some of them were,
40:06
Speaker 1: it wasn't just Hebrews that left Egypt in the Exodus,
40:13
Speaker 1: some believing Egyptians as well. However, this is to say
40:20
Speaker 1: that there are individuals who did not respond the way
40:22
Speaker 1: Pharaoh did, and we don't have to know whether or
40:27
Speaker 1: not they were born again for us to know that
40:32
Speaker 1: it was better than the alternative. I've said this before,
40:39
Speaker 1: but it was probably months ago. Let me say it again.
40:42
Speaker 1: We have a tendency in America, and especially here in
40:46
Speaker 1: the Bible Belt. We have a tendency to say, you know,
40:51
Speaker 1: I'd almost rather just live around people who are honest
40:56
Speaker 1: in their unbelief. No, you wouldn't. That's not better. That's
41:03
Speaker 1: not better. It was not better for the slaves who
41:09
Speaker 1: were left out in the field or the animals that
41:12
Speaker 1: were left out in the field because of the people
41:14
Speaker 1: who said, my heart is hard toward God, than it
41:17
Speaker 1: was for the ones who said, you know what, I
41:19
Speaker 1: don't necessarily believe in Moses is God, but let's let's
41:23
Speaker 1: bring everything in. Our culture has been marked by biblical Christianity,
41:35
Speaker 1: and that's a good thing. Our culture is the most
41:40
Speaker 1: decent civilization on the face of the earth because of
41:43
Speaker 1: the Gospel, and that's a good thing. Granted, there are
41:47
Speaker 1: many people who are just paying lip service. There are
41:51
Speaker 1: many people who are not saved, and they're just doing
41:54
Speaker 1: things because it's an American thing to do. But it's
41:57
Speaker 1: better to be a part of that cult culture than
42:00
Speaker 1: it is to be a part of a culture that
42:03
Speaker 1: does not even pay lip service to the things of God.
42:07
Speaker 1: Don't believe me. Ask the tens of thousands of Californians
42:10
Speaker 1: who are moving to Texas every year in large part
42:14
Speaker 1: because of the godlessness of the government in that state.
42:21
Speaker 1: It's hard to live like that. Amen, we got Californians
42:24
Speaker 1: in here. It's hard to live like that. It's hard
42:26
Speaker 1: to live always turning on the television and picking up
42:29
Speaker 1: the newspaper to see what your radical leftist government is
42:34
Speaker 1: going to do next to make your life harder. And
42:38
Speaker 1: in fact, here's the other thing about that. For those
42:41
Speaker 1: of us who have the privilege of living where there's
42:44
Speaker 1: Christian consciousness exists, if you have a problem with that,
42:49
Speaker 1: you've got a problem with God. Because Paul says that
42:52
Speaker 1: we need to pray for kings and those in authority,
42:54
Speaker 1: why so that we can live quiet, peaceful lives. Amen
43:02
Speaker 1: Better to have people who listen to the word of
43:07
Speaker 1: God and fear the word of God than people who don't.
43:13
Speaker 1: Better to have a government where people think, you know what,
43:15
Speaker 1: this tink commandments thing, that's good stuff, let's start there
43:19
Speaker 1: and build. Better to have that than to have a
43:24
Speaker 1: government where people don't even pay lip service to that.
43:32
Speaker 1: As you know, in our trip, we didn't just go
43:38
Speaker 1: to Zambia, but we also went to Kenya, and we
43:41
Speaker 1: also spent some time in South Africa. Things are difficult
43:45
Speaker 1: in South Africa right now. Culturally things have been difficult
43:48
Speaker 1: in South Africa for a long time. Apartheid's not in
43:51
Speaker 1: South Africa anymore, but apartheid has been replaced with Marxism,
43:58
Speaker 1: and we went to a monument there and looked at
44:01
Speaker 1: these ten pillars upon which the new South African society
44:06
Speaker 1: is built. And as we're walking around reading these ten pillars,
44:12
Speaker 1: I'm looking around and I'm going half of these. I
44:16
Speaker 1: called our group together. I said, listen, half of these
44:21
Speaker 1: come directly from the Communist manifesto. I mean, they're barely
44:27
Speaker 1: changed from the Communist Manifesto. They come directly out of
44:31
Speaker 1: the Communist Manifesto. This doesn't give freedom. It stifles freedom.
44:39
Speaker 1: It strangles freedom. So I'm saying here, on the one hand,
44:49
Speaker 1: we don't know that these people have become believers. But
44:52
Speaker 1: on the other hand, here's what I'm saying. It is
44:56
Speaker 1: better for people to obey God than to not obey God,
45:02
Speaker 1: even if they're obeying for the wrong reason. It is
45:06
Speaker 1: better for you to live by neighbors who believe that
45:09
Speaker 1: they shouldn't steal from you for the wrong reason than
45:12
Speaker 1: it is to live by neighbors who believe that it's
45:14
Speaker 1: no problem to steal from you. Please tell me you
45:18
Speaker 1: can see that, Christian, it is better to live in
45:22
Speaker 1: a society where people believe that there's something to this
45:27
Speaker 1: biblical stuff than it is to live in a society
45:31
Speaker 1: that hates it and wants to replace it with man
45:34
Speaker 1: made Marxism. It's better, it's better. So enough already with
45:42
Speaker 1: this idea that you'd rather have some honest atheists than
45:46
Speaker 1: some hypocritical people who are just believing because it's what
45:49
Speaker 1: they've had passed down to Listen, bring me more people
45:55
Speaker 1: who are acting in accordance with God's truth found in
45:59
Speaker 1: His word that they don't necessarily believe as Christians. I'll
46:04
Speaker 1: take them all day, every day, and twice on Sunday,
46:07
Speaker 1: I'll take them. Do I want believers, Absolutely, I do.
46:12
Speaker 1: I want believers, But as a Christian, I am also
46:22
Speaker 1: grateful to God, and the more I visit the rest
46:25
Speaker 1: of the world, the more grateful I become to God
46:30
Speaker 1: for the fingerprints of the Protestant Reformation that are still
46:33
Speaker 1: all over our culture. And the rest of the world
46:39
Speaker 1: wishes they had what we have, even the ones that
46:43
Speaker 1: don't understand it, even the ones that don't understand it.
46:49
Speaker 1: Please remember that Saints, as we move into an election season,
46:55
Speaker 1: please remember that again, this is not the automatic application
47:01
Speaker 1: of this text, but based on where we are culturally,
47:06
Speaker 1: what we're experiencing right now, and where we're headed It's
47:09
Speaker 1: an important application of this text because for the livestock
47:14
Speaker 1: that was brought into the house, and for the servants
47:17
Speaker 1: that were brought into the house and that didn't die
47:19
Speaker 1: in the hall, trust me, it didn't matter whether it
47:23
Speaker 1: was genuine belief or just outward obedience that brought about
47:27
Speaker 1: the kindness and that brought about their rescue. They were
47:32
Speaker 1: just grateful to be rescued. Now. Is that enough? No,
47:38
Speaker 1: it's not enough. That's why we continue to preach the Gospel, Amen,
47:42
Speaker 1: because the Gospel is our only hope. Even obedience apart
47:47
Speaker 1: from the Gospel is a blessing to us, but the
47:50
Speaker 1: Gospel is our only hope. It remains our only hope.
47:56
Speaker 1: So if you're here today and you don't know Christ,
47:58
Speaker 1: I have two things to say to you. Number One,
48:00
Speaker 1: you need Jesus. Amen, turn to Jesus. Recognize that what
48:06
Speaker 1: you deserve is the plagues all day, every day. That's
48:09
Speaker 1: what you deserve. And worse than that, you deserve death
48:12
Speaker 1: and hell and the grave. But in the meantime, as
48:17
Speaker 1: you are still coming to Jesus, my prayer for you
48:20
Speaker 1: is that you be obedient instead of not obedient, because
48:24
Speaker 1: it's better for you and it's better for everyone else
48:27
Speaker 1: around you as well. But you don't even have to
48:30
Speaker 1: worry about that anymore. Why because you're here and the
48:34
Speaker 1: gospel is for you, and the gospel is for now
48:39
Speaker 1: the day you hear his voice, do not harden your heart.
48:43
Speaker 1: I don't want you to leave here and be an
48:45
Speaker 1: unbeliever who's just a little bit more obedient to the
48:49
Speaker 1: things that you find in the Word of God. I
48:51
Speaker 1: want you to leave here having placed your faith in
48:53
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ and in Him alone. Don't test the theory
48:58
Speaker 1: as to whether or not your life will better by
49:00
Speaker 1: just being obedient whether or not you believe the gospel.
49:03
Speaker 1: Believe the gospel. Amen, believe the gospel. That theory is
49:09
Speaker 1: for people who are out there who are not listening today.
49:12
Speaker 1: That's not for you. If you're here today, turn from
49:16
Speaker 1: your sin, turn from trusting and relying in yourself, and
49:20
Speaker 1: trust in Christ alone as your only hope of salvation,
49:25
Speaker 1: because that's precisely what he is. Let's pray, Oh God,
49:41
Speaker 1: we are grateful to you. We're grateful to you for
49:47
Speaker 1: your wrath that reveals so much to us, your wrath
49:53
Speaker 1: that reveals your mercy, your wrath that reveals your glory,
49:59
Speaker 1: Your wrath that reveal deals, your patience and kindness, Your
50:03
Speaker 1: wrath that reveals your love for us because it was
50:05
Speaker 1: poured out on Christ. Your wrath that reveals your justice
50:11
Speaker 1: because you are both just and the justifier of the
50:14
Speaker 1: one who places faith in Jesus. Your wrath that reveals
50:19
Speaker 1: what our sins deserve. And we are grateful that you
50:29
Speaker 1: do not deal with us according to what our sins deserve,
50:34
Speaker 1: but that you are kind, that you're patient, that you
50:37
Speaker 1: are lung suffering, that you continue to be kind and
50:46
Speaker 1: patient and lung suffering with us. Grant by your grace
50:51
Speaker 1: that we would be ever mindful of this. Father, I
50:55
Speaker 1: pray for the one here under the sound of my
50:57
Speaker 1: voice who has not come to you and repentance and faith,
51:02
Speaker 1: has not trusted Jesus as the Lord, savior and master
51:07
Speaker 1: of their life. And I plead that you, by the
51:11
Speaker 1: presence and power of your spirit, would awaken them and
51:15
Speaker 1: grant them life, that they might come to repentance in faith,
51:19
Speaker 1: that Christ might have the fullness of the reward for
51:22
Speaker 1: which he died. Father, we also would be remiss not
51:29
Speaker 1: to tell you how grateful we are to live in
51:34
Speaker 1: this land where we live to enjoy the freedoms that
51:39
Speaker 1: we enjoy. Thank you for those who opened their Bibles
51:46
Speaker 1: and tried to live and form a society in accordance
51:50
Speaker 1: with what they read. Thank You for those even those
51:56
Speaker 1: who didn't necessarily believe it as Christians, but understood it
52:05
Speaker 1: and walked in accordance with it. Nonetheless, thank you for
52:09
Speaker 1: the quiet and peaceful lives that we have been able
52:11
Speaker 1: to lead up to this point because of people who
52:16
Speaker 1: just believed what they were told about you, Grant by
52:23
Speaker 1: your grace, that we would not succumb to the mythology
52:28
Speaker 1: that says that that's not how we were founded, because
52:32
Speaker 1: that mythology robs you of your glory and robs us
52:36
Speaker 1: of our blessing. Thank you and grant as right now,
52:47
Speaker 1: people all over the world, and people even just to
52:49
Speaker 1: the north of us in Dallas, are wrestling and struggling
52:54
Speaker 1: and fearing the latest plague that we don't understand. Grant
52:59
Speaker 1: by or grace, not only that you would bring healing
53:03
Speaker 1: and wholeness to those who are sick, safety and protection
53:09
Speaker 1: to those who are not, but will you also use
53:12
Speaker 1: this to remind us that something like ebola, something like AIDS,
53:21
Speaker 1: something like a black death, something like polio, something like
53:25
Speaker 1: any of another thousand plagues that have hit humanity since
53:30
Speaker 1: the beginning. Something like that is actually more in keeping
53:34
Speaker 1: with what our sins deserve. And so may we turn
53:41
Speaker 1: not to fear but to faith, and may we rejoice
53:45
Speaker 1: in the goodness that we receive from your hand, even
53:49
Speaker 1: in terms of our health and safety. Father, we thank
53:57
Speaker 1: you for all of these things and previous in Christ name,
54:05
Speaker 1: Amen mm hm